DEF CON 33 · United States · 2025
Independent ESP32-S3 party badge with a scheduled DC33 BadgeLife drop
BigTaro's Tindie listing calls FightDystopia 2025 an electronic party badge, prices it at $150, and displays an out-of-stock state that says it has been sold out since August 11, 2025. The maker says it detects a user-defined list of BLE MAC addresses to give a heads-up about what is around the user; includes a CTF with Windows Vista-era throwbacks, hardware and software puzzles, unlockable bling and GIFs, two custom PCBs sandwiching a screen for a retro-TV aesthetic, an ESP32-S3-based fully-programmable claim, twelve RGB LEDs, a custom lanyard, and stickers. The DEF CON 33 Creator Events List independently schedules a Friday BadgeLife Community drop naming FightDystopia alongside Submarine and FrogStar. This establishes a source-backed independent 2025 electronic artifact and scheduled event association, not an official DEF CON credential, universal or completed handout, BLE detection mechanism, security or privacy assurance, firmware source release, party-benefit accounting, or reusable-image rights.
People
The DEF CON 33 Creator Events List names Jeff “BigTaro” Geisperger for the scheduled Submarine Badge/FrogStar Badge/FightDystopia Badge drop. BigTaro's public store profile separately says Jeff is also known as BigTaro. This credit records only the named public maker/event-presenter association, not sole authorship, manufacture, organizer status, party-benefit authority, or image-reuse authority.
SourceThe FightDystopia Tindie listing says the badge was designed by BigTaro's Badges. This records the source-named design/seller identity without inferring individual contributor roles, manufacturing, DEF CON issuance, party affiliation, or image-reuse permission.
SourceFightDystopia supplies unusually specific maker claims about Bluetooth-address awareness while leaving the implementation intentionally opaque. The dossier records the claim precisely and foregrounds its privacy, security, and documentation limits, instead of turning a seller description into a claim of safe, lawful, reliable, or technically understood BLE scanning.
The maker describes two custom PCBs with a screen sandwiched between them for a retro-TV aesthetic, an ESP32-S3-based device, and twelve RGB LEDs with custom light patterns. No reviewed source gives a board revision, ESP32-S3 module/flash/antenna, display type or bus, LED part/current, audio, battery, charging or power path, voltage/current limits, radio configuration, physical dimensions, lanyard attachment, schematic, BOM, PCB/Gerbers, enclosure/materials, assembly, test results, safety guidance, or compliance evidence.
The seller calls the ESP32-S3-based badge fully programmable and says it detects a user-defined BLE-MAC-address list, offers a CTF with hardware/software puzzles, and unlocks bling/GIFs. It does not identify firmware, source code, a binary, license, build/flash path, configuration interface, whether BLE behavior is passive or active, address storage/lifetime, scope/range/filtering, false-positive handling, network use, score service, update/recovery policy, security model, or test results.
The source calls this the FD party badge and says it helps support the FD party, with Windows Vista-era computing throwbacks, custom light patterns, bling, GIFs, a lanyard, and stickers. The DEF CON 33 schedule records a published BadgeLife Community drop by Jeff “BigTaro” Geisperger. The party-support language does not disclose the recipient, terms, amount, accounting, affiliation, or the outcome of the scheduled drop, and neither page creates an organizer-issued DEF CON credential or access item.
Lifecycle
The DEF CON 33 Creator Events List schedules a Friday BadgeLife Community Table 1 Badge Drop naming Submarine Badge, FrogStar Badge, and FightDystopia Badge, with Jeff “BigTaro” Geisperger named as creator. This establishes a publicly scheduled 2025 FightDystopia activity, not attendance, inventory, sale, recipient allocation, completed handoff, organizer issuance, or admission function.
SourceThe maker says an ESP32-S3-based device uses two custom PCBs with a screen sandwiched between them for a retro-TV aesthetic. No source supplies the module/flash/antenna, screen/display controller, radio configuration, power system, circuit, schematic, BOM, PCB files, dimensions, assembly, testing, safety, or compliance details.
SourceThe seller says a CTF with Windows Vista-era throwbacks and hardware/software puzzles unlocks bling and GIFs, and names twelve RGB LEDs with custom light patterns. It does not publish the challenge rules, source/licensing of content, LED part/current, score/service path, solution/reset method, privacy/data handling, or final behavior.
SourceThe listing says the badge detects a user-defined list of BLE MAC addresses to give a heads-up about what is around the user. It does not say whether behavior is passive or active, which address types/advertisements are used, how a list is configured or stored, range, cadence, false positives, logging, network use, consent, retention, security, or regulatory context.
SourceThe seller page shows $150, an out-of-stock notice, and a statement that it has been sold out since August 11, 2025. This seller state does not establish production quantity, number of purchasers, buyer identity, recipient allocation, payment, pickup, shipment, refund, replacement, support, or party-benefit outcome.
SourceOperational history
The catalogue preserves the maker's exact high-level feature claim without presenting it as a privacy-safe, legally cleared, reliable, covert, or generally appropriate tracking capability.
The catalogue records the advertised activity and party-support framing without assuming open source, an ongoing service, rights-cleared content, a particular beneficiary, or a verified fulfillment of support.
The record provides a traceable hardware surface without representing it as an electrically complete design, radio-performance guarantee, or safety validation.
The catalogue classifies FightDystopia as an independent BadgeLife artifact associated with DEF CON 33, not as an organizer-issued conference credential or admission item.
The entry remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying storefront, schedule, social-media, screenshot, placeholder, or generated imagery.
The catalogue preserves a dated seller availability statement rather than treating sold out as proof that every unit reached the scheduled event or every buyer received a badge.
The DEF CON 33 attachment rests on a documented scheduled activity without turning it into a universal attendee distribution, event outcome, or sale-allocation claim.