Interested in a convention?
Below are reviews of events I have attended with my honest opinions about them!
Katsucon
2025
Oxon Hill, Maryland
Katsucon 2025 Review:
Another February has come which means Katsucon has yet again happened in Oxon Hill, Maryland! I was lucky enough to cover the event as press once again. This year, many badges were mailed out to attendees beforehand so badge pickup was a breeze for those who went Thursday night or Friday morning. Artist Alley and the Vendor’s hall had great booths once again. Some people say there were better booths this year than last year too. Unfortunately a pipe burst this year in artist alley midday Friday but the convention handled the situation and let the hall stay open late on Saturday to try to make up for the lost time and sales. The cosplay game was as huge as ever this year with everyone bringing their A-game and having fun with friends and fellow fans.
Every day was packed full of different types of panels like they do every year. I attended 2: a late night panel about the origins and meaning behind Godzilla and another panel that was an intimate Q&A with the voice actor Ryan Colt Levy. Had a great time at both and highly recommend checking out at least 1 panel every year at Katsucon whether it’s to learn something new or support a panelist.
I hosted 2 meetups this year, Pikmin and Horror, both had great turnouts for their meeting spots. Horror got a little out of control for me personally so next year I will have to change it up if I host it again. I do wish one change the con could make is to put one meetup spot in a panel room so it’s in a quieter, less crazy space.
The hotel this year had “NO TRIPOD” signs all around which is understandable especially with the uprising in tiktok filming in public spaces because they are a tripping hazard in busy areas. The weather was decent most of the weekend except for Saturday so it was more crowded indoors thanks to the rain. My personal biggest pet-peeve of the weekend might be how people are not mindful of others or of their surroundings anymore. My stuff got kicked multiple times at my horror meetup, my boyfriend even got kicked twice while trying to get stuff on the floor. Friends were walked into by strangers without any apology. This isn’t a negative about the convention obviously, but it makes it rough to enjoy yourself when people are so rude and careless and the public space they’re sharing with others.
New York Comic Con
2024
New York, New York
This year was my 9th time attending NYCC and I had a great time yet again. I attended all 4 days for the second time this year and am glad because you cannot do everything in 1 or 2 days. The pro entrance was quick and organized every morning which made getting inside very easy right after 10 am every day. The show floor was organized like it always is. Some booth highlights for me was the Paramount Dexter booth where you got to lay on a “kill table” and then take a photo outside the storage unit with a dexter look-alike actor, the Yu-Gi-Oh booth where you got your photo for free on a card (I got this every day), and the Spongebob Booth was also fun for all ages. NYCC had so many great guests this year and even some booths had their own celebrities and voice actors to meet on the show floor. I got to meet Ella Purnell, Hayley Atwell, Sean Maquire, Lisa Ortiz, and Matt Smith this year. Over the 4 days I was able to attend 8 great panels and my boyfriend attended 10 panels. I wanted to see more but there’s never enough time in the day. I started the weekend off with the great Shrinking panel where season 3 got announced right at the start! I ended Thursday with a great panel by Peacock for their new show “Hysteria” where Bruce Campbell was a guest. Friday’s panel highlights were the panels for Putting Horror & Crime in Comics, “School Spirits” by Paramount, and Shudder is here to scare you. We got to see exclusive season 2 footage from “School Spirits” and I lost my mind, it was amazing! That’s the kind of stuff that makes comic con great and why I love going to panels. Saturday had a great panel in honor of Mike Flanagan and his Netflix horror shows and then I ended the night with a panel on a new movie called “Queens of the Dead” with the director Tina Romero herself and we got to buy an exclusive never before made poster after the panel! Sunday had a great panel with actors from House of the Dragon. The new building is fantastic for panels and was a great addition to the Javits years ago. My only complaint about NYCC is that they still won’t bring back 3 day passes which is unfair and a bit greedy. I also wish the artist alley had a bit more indie artist sellers than graphic novel authors but that could depend on who applies and who’s in charge of acceptances. Another year has come and gone but we’re already counting down the days to next year!
Thy Geekdom Con
2024
Oaks, PA
Another Memorial Day Weekend has come upon us which also means Thy Geekdom Con has arrived once again! Another year of convention goers returning to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center for 3 days of nerdy fun. I was only able to attend on Friday but it was a great time nonetheless. We arrived close to 5 pm and were pleasantly surprised to see, after the convention being open for 2 hours already, that there was still a line out the door to get in! This year’s Friday attendance seemed to be way up from last year which was great to see. When you walk inside, you are greeted by the video game room on your left and a Manga Library on your right, both lovely features that many people enjoy. When you walked inside the convention area, there was a great “photo op” carpet area run by Marvin Cruz of Hero Hotties. You then immediately walk into the dealer’s hall and artist alley which was full of different stuff, ranging from trading cards, fairy and dragon statues, corsets, tea, metal sculptures, and much more. All the artists in artist alley also had a great variety and different artwork and pins and stickers and keychains. In the back of the show floor, you were met by the car section and tattoo alley where you could grab a spot and get a cool tattoo done right there at the convention. The guests of this years convention were placed at the back of the expo hall which was full of great voice actors including: Johnny Yong Bosch, David Lodge, Austin Tindle, Justin Cook, Stephanie Nadolny, Jessie James Grelle, Aaron Dismuke, David Vincent, Mark Whitten, Tia Ballard, Joe Zieja, Lindsay Seidel, and Griffin Burns. These actors represent dozens of different animes which brought all types of fans to the convention. Everything ran very smoothly on Friday and I would highly recommend this convention to anyone, from teens to young adults to families.
Zenkaikon
2024
Lancaster, PA
I got to attend Zenkaikon in Lancaster, PA this year for press for the second time. It was once again hosted at the Lancaster Marriott Convention Center. I arrived by noon this year on Friday and was ready to go explore and get my badge by 2:30 pm after some hotel room mishaps. Hazbin Hotel, My Hero Academia, and Genshin Impact were among some of the most popular fandoms of cosplay at the convention this year. The convention once again had a ton of free water stations all around the entire building which were very helpful. The dealers hall was small but organized well. I wish the Chalk Twins came back this year. The masquerade was one of my top highlights of the weekend. There were 32 wonderful skits with fun cosplay themed ideas and Uncle Yo was an incredible host like always. I enjoyed the dance parties on Friday & Saturday night, especially the Saturday night female DJ, she was very energetic and loved to get the crowd involved with her and the music. There were great panels all weekend. I attended some really good ones: What a Twist!, A rose by Any other name, Lancaster's ghostly history, and the day the kids sat still: Saturday morning cartoons. The manga library was adorable and well organized. People were able to have a quaint and cozy place to quietly read. Loved the DCM Photo Booth so much! Was very pleased to see them back this year. The con was family friendly and had stuff for kids to do. My friends really enjoyed the 21+ plus lounge, and said it had good vibes. When a problem did arise, the con was very quick and proactive with finding solutions, like moving the outdoor meetups to good indoor places for example. There was a nice amount of different fandom meetups, but I’d suggest limiting meetups to an hour time slot max to allow for more meetups. My one complaint: just like last year, the press room after Friday afternoon was locked the rest of the weekend and not accessible for press people to use to rest or do work at. Overall, the convention was a great time yet again and I’m glad I attended.
AwesomeCon
2024
Washington D.C.
Awesomecon was in DC this year March 8-10th and what a weekend. I attended all 3 days for the first time, I usually only do one. I’m glad I did a 3day pass because I didn’t feel rushed to do anything on any of the days. I started off Friday with attending the lovely little Our Flag Means Death meetup where I got to meet about 10 or so other pirate fans. The one book panel I attended was called “Comfort reads for when the world is on fire” and I loved it. I love when conventions show that books are also important with a whole little book store on the show floor and a bunch of good book panels. I ended up finding a new author and book series to explore which I’m excited about. The show floor & Artist alley was very well organized just like last year. So much space in the aisles to walk around. Destination cosplay was a great area in the back of the show floor. The autograph and photo op areas were separated by being on the far right side of the show floor. There was play areas for kids in the back left of the show floor which is great for parents. Tattooing is becoming a big staple at most conventions which is interesting and intriguing. One thing I’d suggest them to add is maybe more food booths in the back of the show floor, there’s deff not enough food options close to the con area (NYCC had food booths scattered all inside their show floor last year which was very helpful). Star Wars was most likely the biggest fandom at the con this year. The Breaking Bad panel was so energetic and hilarious.
Katsucon
2024
Oxon Hill, Maryland
Another February has come and gone and that means another Katsucon has happened. This year was my fifth time attending the convention, third time as press. It was another fantastic year in regards to cosplay and creativity.
The biggest fandoms I saw this year were: Hazbin Hotel, Baldur’s Gate, One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Resident Evil 4. I myself recently got into Hazbin Hotel so I was so happy every time I saw someone cosplaying from that show.
I helped host 3 meetups this year: Doctor Who, Horror, and DC. Nice little turnout for Doctor Who Friday, the horror meetup keeps growing every year which makes me happy, and the DC meetup had a great turnout as expected by the interest on the Facebook event page. I sometimes help out with a New York group called the DC Cosplayers East so it was an honor to host a DC meetup for the first time on my own in a different state where people come from all over the country to this convention. A staff member helped me out at every meetup which was great because I can’t yell that loud and they had megaphones. I was only able to attend one panel: Anime censorship in Japan. This was quite the educational panel for me because I had no idea how much anime is censored in Japan and how they censor it. I heard badge pickup was such a breeze this year compared to all previous years thanks to the new badge mailing system they implemented for this year. Hopefully they keep this system going for the foreseeable future. It felt like there weren’t as many people cosplaying on Sunday this year as there used to be in previous years. I want to give a quick shout out to the free water stations all around the convention area, they were the real MVP’s. I was happy that hotel security did not make the doors going out the back of the hotel one way traffic this year because it made it less complicated/annoying to go inside & outside when I needed to.
One complaint from other con-goers is that they wish there was more variety in the vendor’s hall, meaning a lot of the vendors felt like the same ones from last year. Another con-goer stated that there could be better signage for some of the rooms, like they had major trouble finding the Cherry Blossom Ballroom and staff kept giving them confusing directions. Speaking of signage, I wish the meetup areas had signs with the schedule of meetups for each day. I remember one year there was a sign at each spot with the times & fandoms which is helpful when the Wi-Fi is awful in the hotel and people can’t load the Guidebook app.
Fan Expo Philly 2023
Philadelphia, PA
I attended Fan Expo Philly for 2 out of 3 days this year. Badge pickup was easy at the main entrance. The vendors felt a bit tightly packed together compared to last year. They had live tattooing going on with about 6 different artists at all times during the weekend in Tattoo Alley. Artist Alley was on the right side of the show floor and was organized quite well. The cosplay runway corner was a nice touch to have again like last year. No one was there to announce cosplays or help the meetups though like last year. It was also hard to get to that area sometimes with lining people up for the Hall E panel room right next to the cosplay runway area which also had it hard to sometimes get to the escalator to leave. There was lots of space in the back in the celeb autograph area but the lines weren’t always too well organized. 2 good panels a friend attended was Anatomy of a Vampire and The Secret History of Judaism and Comic Books. I was able to get 5 autographs this weekend so I missed all the panels I wanted to see but sometimes you gotta make a choice with long lines. This con is worth going to if there’s a guest you want to meet. Photo ops were organized well and went fast for most celebs. On Saturday unfortunately the food lines were so ridiculously long until at least 5 pm. Some big names this year were: Bonnie Wright, Stephen Ammell, Tara Strong, Grace Van Dien, Jodi Benson, Danielle Panabaker, Christopher Lloyd, Michael J. Fox, Sean Astin, Hayden Christensen, henry Winkler, Steve Burns, Katee Sackhoff, Tom Welling, Kristin Kruek, Peter Cullen and more.
Thy Geekdom Con 2023
Oaks, PA
This year I attended Thy Geekdom Con for the first time. Located in Oaks, PA this expo center is a great size for conventions and has a giant parking lot to boost. The bathrooms here were also very clean. Badge pickup was a breeze and they had a bag check which is always nice to see. Walking into the con, you had a video game room on your left and tabletop gaming on your right. Next to the video games was the panel areas where they used curtains to create 3 panel rooms which was good use of that space. The vendor hall was packed with rows upon rows of unique crafters and vendors from prop weapons to unique soaps to Pokémon plushies and so much more. The back room had two more rows of vendors and the autograph tables for the celebs. I got autographs from 3 awesome Soul Eater voice actors: Chuck Huber, Todd Haberkorn, and John Swasey. The food court area was also next to the autograph area and offered a lot of different food options. They also had some cool cars behind the autograph area decorated in anime characters like Sailor Moon and Chun-Li. The con traffic seemed to pick up after 6 pm and there was a decent sized crowd inside at all times during opening day. A lot of young teens and children were also in attendance so this con seems family friendly. Definitely worth checking this con out if you’re in the area or there’s a guest you want to meet!
Zenkaikon 2023
Lancaster, PA
2023 was my first Zenkaikon and I attended as press. Some of the most popular cosplay fandoms of the weekend were: Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Genshin Impact, Soul Eater, and Mario characters.
Below are my highlights of Zenkaikon 2023:
-Finding registration was easy and a breeze. There was no designated press pickup area though so there was an issue with trying to obtain my badge but it was quickly fixed.
-There was supposed to be a Press Room for people to use and relax or network or recharge but Saturday morning I found the room completely empty and then Saturday evening the room was locked so what was supposed to be my quiet space for a break wasn’t accessible.
-The con staff checked for badges only in convention areas so that helped you know where you could unmask in hotel space if you needed to. The con staff were also good with enforcing the mask mandate everywhere, even while people danced in the dance parties.
-There was a nice Manga library and good maps of each floor by every escalator which was helpful. and every floor of the building and some panel rooms had FREE WATER!
-There are lots of events and panels happening all day every day well into the night time.
-For how busy the hotel looked, the elevators weren’t too bad a wait at any given time.
-The masquerade blew me away by the talented people doing amazing skits and dances!
-There were plenty of food options within walking distance of the hotel.
-There were some cool exterior areas for photography all around the hotel but if you can’t go outdoors there’s decent locations inside like around some balconies, stairs, and even the parking garage depending on the cosplay.
-The social media team, especially for the Twitter page, was so great with announcing meetups and events all throughout the weekend to keep people informed early online.
-The cosplay repair room was so helpful! They had everything you needed up there including actual full sewing machines with staff to help you. They had safety pins of all sizes, tons of hair ties, colored thread, wig fixing tools, all the stuff you need.
-Special shout outs go to DJ Trickstar at the Saturday night dance, he was amazing!
-My other shout out goes to the DCM Cosplay team who had the photo-booth upstairs. They had a great private space for people to get affordable and fun photos done without being stared at in a nice chill environment. Really hope to see them again next year.
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Castle Point Anime Con 2023
Secaucus, NJ
For 2023, I was only able to attend the convention for one day but it was the usual fun anime con like expected. We had great artists in the artist alley with prints, keychains, pins and more of many different animes. Chainsawman and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure had a lot of merch along with the popular Genshin Impact.
The dealers room had some nice plushies and figurines of many different characters too.
Food trucks were back again this year but this time you had to take a little walk outside the back of the building which wasn't great with the heavy rain unfortunately. I also wish the eating area in the back of the building had a bigger setup with more chairs and tables if possible. Lots of people ate on the floor by the bathrooms.
Different cosplay meetups also happened throughout the day in one of the panel rooms which is a great way for fans of different shows to meet each other and take some nice photos together.
I once again had a nice time at Castle Point Anime Con and hope everyone else who went also enjoyed the con!
Fan Expo Philly 2022
Philadelphia, PA
Check-in was easy and fast at the press booth when I arrived. I was surprised to see no bag checks when I entered the building or vendor floor like some conventions do. There was a good variety of vendors & artists, a little something for everyone was featured here. There was a good variety of panels and I loved that Fan Expo used so many of the downstairs panel rooms that were very spacious. The Demon Slayer panel was great with 3 voice actors from the show. The cosplay corner was a great new thing that the previous convention Wizard World never did. The cosplay red carpet spotlight brought in a big crowd to that area and boosted morale of everyone around.
Katsucon 2022
Maryland
Here's some thoughts from Katsu 2022:
-the wind on Friday & Saturday was horrible and killed the mood to try to photograph outside but I was able to shoot outside Sunday so that made up for it a bit.
-loved having a seperate press badge pickup line cuz it made it fast & efficient.
-I think the attendence was over half less capacity comapred to previous years which made it easier to photograph and move around the hotel in general.
-I will say Katsu needs to figure out some type of badge mailing system because I felt so bad for my friends who had a 2+ hour wait for badges all weekend.
-They had a mask policy in 2022 which was observed by the attendees fairly well.. It's just difficult to know what is public hotel space and what is convention space because the hotel had no mask policy so there were some issues with this gray area.
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