Awesome Con, the premier pop culture event in Washington, D.C., returned to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center this past weekend, June 3-5 to celebrate all things comics, anime, science, video games, toys, motion pictures and more.
This years Con was another blockbuster return of stars & fans converging on our nations capital. The Main Stage lineup this time around featured plenty for fans of all different genres and shows. Star Trek fans where covered with Anthony Rapp & Wilson Cruz from Star Trek: Discovery, meanwhile Amber Benson & Charisma Carpenter took the stage to discuss “Buffy” and “Angel”. Beth Broderick, Caroline Rhea, and Melissa Joan Hart joined the stage together to discuss Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Haley Atwell provided plenty of Marvel Cinematic Universe conversation, and she wasn’t the only Marvel star to be on hand as the cast of Shang Chi took the stage early Saturday morning for the ACE experience. Other guests included Anthony Daniels aka C3P0 from every Star Wars movie, Giancarlo Espositio discussing being the bad guy in everything he does, Kel Mitchel talking being a Nick Kid, Noah Schnapp discussed “Stranger Things” and after having to postpone last year Sean Astin was on hand to close out the main stage.
This year truly presented a main stage of celebrities that made it must see entertainment. But it wasn’t just the main stage you needed to be because the Exhibit Hall had plenty going on from the Artist Alleyway to the DJ Remix Stage (which I found myself hanging out at a few times for the dance parties & triva).
A big theme for any Con is that this is an event that allows you to be yourself. If you are someone who loves pop culture then you are in a room full of like minded people. As was always said at the Main Stage “Turn to someone in this room & introduce yourself because this is the only place where you know all of us have at least one thing in common”. That is 100% fact when attending these events. During the Shang Chi panel I ended up having a great conversation with the gentleman next to me about our favorite MCU characters. He was a big Spider-Man fan and while I love Star Lord we both agreed the best Spider-Man is Tobey.
That is what Awesome Con is all about. Being you and letting all of you be shown for the world to see. That theme was clear throughout the entire event as a place of welcome & acceptance in all places. A lot of the panels even dove into accepting you & representing the things that bring you joy. If it is giving love to the cast of Buffy and Star Trek for their representation of the LGBTQ community & what that meant for them to something as simple as Kel Mitchel & Melissa Joan Hart telling someone to keep loving the 90s if it brings them joy. The theme of acceptance & love for all was present and it made for a weekend of joy & expression.
Awesome Con will celebrate it’s 10th anniversary next year on Father’s Day weekend June 16-18. Hopefully you can join them for this anniversary year. If it ends up being your first year, fifth year or 10th year I can guarantee you will have a blast finding your passion and sharing your love of pop culture with others just like you.
