Awesome Con 2023
1. Awesome Con: we bought Friday passes to check out DC’s comic-con for the first time in several years! Awesome Con took place June 16-18 at the convention center downtown. Attendee-wise, it’s about half the size of San Diego Comic-Con, but AC feels smaller because it doesn’t take over downtown DC the way SDCC does in SD. Our plan was simply to walk the exhibit hall, people-watch, and soak up the nerd vibes. We spent a solid two hours doing so. AC is cool because it gets some interesting vendors who can’t exhibit at SDCC for a variety of reasons. We noticed a lot of 3D-printed stuff for sale, as well as some artwork that appeared to be AI-generated. If those things are up your alley, have at it. It’s not really to my taste, but there was plenty of other good stuff. And some great cosplay!
2. Geeky Coffee + Funko Pop: I don’t recall seeing coffee and tea vendors at a con before. The packaging on these Merlin’s Munchies Coffee bags totally caught my eye, so I picked up a couple small bags: Cinnamon Sugar Cookie Delight and Pumpkin Spice Showdown. They had so many flavors that sounded enticing! I haven’t tried them yet but I will once I finish the TJs coffee that I’m currently using. Also, you know it’s hard for me to leave a con without at least one Funko Pop. Pumpkinhead Dwight was a must-buy for me!
3. Horror Valentines: several years ago I bought horror Valentines from Matthew Lineham, and I was happy to see he had a booth at Awesome Con again this year. He had new Valentine designs, so I bought two of them! I love these so much. His artwork is very cool—he does a lot of 80s music-inspired art too. If horror and/or 80s music are your jam, I recommend checking out his work.
4. Copper Coast Confections Fudge: this vendor had not one, but two booths selling fudge and other sweet treats. I don’t recall seeing any sort of confections being sold in an exhibit hall at a comic-con before. It was one of the first booths I spotted when we walked in; the booth drew me in with its colorful (and colorfully-named) fudge offerings. I immediately picked out two fudges: Unicorn Poo and Slayer Mint. Both were delicious!
5. Post-Con Dinner: once we wrapped up our meanderings inside the convention center, we headed to City Tap House, where we’ve gone to eat after the con in the past. After two hours of wandering, it was time for a drink and pizza! Our decision to go to Awesome Con was somewhat last minute, but we were very glad we went. Until next year, Awesome Con!
