Wow, what a blast Washington State Summer Con was this past weekend! It was so nice to be out in the sun and spending time with my friends, and it was so great to see all the cosplayers. Everyone was showing off their new cosplays they’ve been hard at work on, or the ones that are some of their most comfiest.
This was very much a star studded weekend, every line was packed to get autographs and photos ops. I got to see a glimpse of Charlie Hunnam from around the swarm of fans at his table for autographs, it was worth everything to see that amazing human (insert all the swoons here please). On my first day at the con, which was the second day of the convention, my friends and I headed straight away to the signing area to get those knocked out. I am so happy we did! I got to meet the English voice actor for Uta (the star of One Piece Film: Red), and my friend got a really touching moment with Aleks Le (voice actor of many popular anime characters). The Helluva Boss cast were so much fun to see interact with each other and were so sassy (con goers were loving it, cause the voice actors were really playing into their characters right in front of us all).
The boba truck was hit multiple times over the weekend, and helped to fulfill my boba thirst. Anyway, day two started right away with the One Piece panel with almost every main cast member on stage (two were missing unfortunately). There was so much teasing going on between them all, and the audience got to hear all about the pranks they were pulling on each other while at con. Some of the cast was being pretty tricky and getting those watching excited as they teased theories that have been floating around about who Luffy’s mom is, and the One Piece. We also got to hear some shocking lore for the first time about how Eric Vale (voice of my man Sanji) almost had the role of being Luffy’s voice (almost guaranteed) and then Colleen Clinkenbeard showed up and blew them all away (her response being “hahah, I won!”). This was probably the best One Piece panel I’ve been too and it was a packed house for it as well, with so many young kids getting up to ask questions (they were so shy and sweet). I would say the best question of the panel was one that’s been keeping us all up every night thinking about the answer, who really is Sniper King? Alas, we will just have to keep waiting and hoping it will be revealed with the what the one piece is.
Other than the amazing guests at the convention, and playing out in the sun with the other cosplayers, there wasn’t much of a draw to the convention itself. All of the food was overpriced, which I know it always is at convention but twenty bucks for one burger (which came with an insane amount of onions) should not be that much. The artist alley and exhibitor halls were very just okay, no big companies or stuff you couldn’t go out and buy on Amazon (or any other chain store for a fraction of the price it was being sold at con for). There was a gaming area and tabletop gaming area that you had to take a shuttle to, most likely because they did sell tickets for just that area. The best part of these areas was the ride over, cause you would be riding in style on the speeding golf carts (that fit five).
It was also pretty funny how easy it was for anyone to just slip into the convention, bags were checked, and badges were glanced at. But if someone wanted to, they could just slip in in they had a pass to a different day. There was also quite a few people enjoying the bars and the policy that allowed you to bring in your own food and unopened drinks, I think these attendees were having the most fun out of all of us.
The biggest highlight of the event other then the celebrity guests, was hanging out in the garden with friends. Every cosplay meetup was being held here over the weekend, and it was also a hot spot for TikToks to be made. Photographers were also setting up shop here because of the two plant covered arches that lead into the garden area, and some of the best photos could be taken. My friends and I spent a lot of time here taking fun photos.
During our time in this outside garden area on Saturday, we did get to see quite a sight. One of the sweetest proposals happened, between two cosplayers. Starting with custom Funko Pops presented first, a sweet gift, and one way to distract the future bride from seeing the soon to be groom getting into position behind them. If you couldn’t already tell, this cosplay story has a good ending. It’s always so sweet getting to witness a proposal, especially when it’s between cosplayers (they always add some fun). They always add in something super geeky but oh so charming! I want to wish the happy couple congratulations and I can’t wait to see them at another con.
Same as last year though, this is very much a one day con and if you can’t get all your celebrity meetings done on that day come back just for that on another. Because the majority of your time will be in line, or outside taking photos of the cosplayers. Because you’d only spend around an hour looking at at all the wares for sale, then heading outside to see if there was anything interesting going on. So Summer Con? More like Friend Con!
Were you at Summer Con 2024? What were your highlights? Feel free to leave a comment below or chat with us on Twitter/X at @TheConCollectve, Threads at @theconventioncollective, or Bluesky at @theconcollective.bsky.social
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