The year 2013 saw the formation and birth of Awesome con. Confined to a single room of the Washington DC convention center, the convention pulled together the worlds of comics, Sci-Fi, fantasy, and pop culture in general into an intimate fan centric event. Seeing the potential of what had been started, organizers turned to Kickstarter and the fans to make Awesome con 2014 an even more special, fan centered event. After a successful Kickstarter campaign and a year of gestation, Awesome con emerged in 2014 having grown leaps and bounds beyond its previous incarnation. With its expansive guest list of fan favorites actors and creators, panels, and events, Awesome con 2014 sought to redefine the very meaning of awesome.
The guest list featured a who’s who of special pop culture icons including legendary comic artist George Perez, the Walking Dead’s Danai “Michonne” Gurira, Dr. Who’s Billie Piper, and Billy Yost and Walter Jones; the original Blue and Black Power Rangers. In addition the guests, the convention featured a robust artists alley with independent creators busy selling their unique and innovative applications of the medium to the crowd. A few of the standouts included the line up of titles from Advent comics and the team of Ben Shaw and Mike Lunsford with their creator owned paranormal investigator title Ethan Stone P.I.
As with any convention the panel schedule was dominated by questions and answer sessions featuring the suite of media guests that were in attendance, however there were panels that sought to question our ideas of that thought about the genre. One such panel entitled”What is Science Fiction?” boasted a panel of NASA scientists, writers, and academics discussing how sci-fi has changed over the years and how we have changed with it. Citing that what may have been sci-fi 100 years is now more in the fantasy realm based on our increased understanding of the scientific world. In addition to the panels, the convention also boasted such programing including sci-fi speed dating, a cosplay after party, a concert, and a comedy show.
No show is complete or made possible without the support of the fans. The fans certainly showed their support as over 15, 000 (and counting) of them showed up in force. The fan response precipitated more cosplay, and cosplay there was. Attendees could be seen in a wide array of costumes from movies, anime, video games, comics, and anywhere else that you could thing of. The cosplayers were vibrant and brought an added element of fun to an already excellent event.
In its attempt to redefine awesome, Awesome con 2014 succeeded and exceeded all expectations. It has cemented itself as the go to convention in the Washington, D.C. area, but more importantly it had firmly established itself as a required yearly destination for fans everywhere.
Checkout the slideshow for more of the cosplay from Awesome con 2014
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