MegaCon 2018: So Many Fandoms Under One Roof

Orlando’s annual geek Mecca, MegaCon, returned this past weekend to the Orange County Convention Center. This year’s event seemingly had something to offer for everyone, covering such fandoms as Jurassic Park, DCU, Xena, The Walking Dead, LOTR, X-Files, Doctor Who and Star Wars. The event also served as a reunion for the cast of The Princess Bride. A rare appearance was made by fan favorite, Paul Reubens, who commanded long lines at his autograph section all weekend long. Surprisingly, MegaCon also included WWE among its regular fandoms with appearances by John Cena, Alexa Bliss, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Braun Strowman. We attended the panel with the WWE superstars on Friday afternoon and left in awe of their genuineness and affability.

We spent a chunk of time at Marvel Comics panels, which included games and the ability to get close to some of our favorite writers and illustrators for the brand. Additionally, the panel with Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner allowed for great insight into 2 of the best representatives for DC Comics.

Of course, the highlight of MegaCon remained the amazing cosplay from so many of the event’s attendees. This year seemed to bring out some of the best and most elaborate costumes we’ve seen to date. MegaCon also designated an area specifically for cosplay meetups throughout the weekend, along with backdrops for photographers, videographers and fans to shoot their favorite cosplayers in front of. This was one of many well thought out aspects of MegaCon this year, including a well oiled ticketing and queue area, fan group areas (501st, Ghostbusters, et al) and group meet up times for specific factions to meet for pictures (GOT, Marvel, Disney, etc.). Our own Jess took advantage of the inflatable dinosaur meet up with hilarity ensuing (video below).

MegaCon continues to grow bigger and better each year, with expansion into additional fandoms and small tweaks to help the event run better. Their constant communication through their app as well as social media were a pleasant surprise. The Tampa version of MegaCon is just over 3 months away (9/21-9/23) and we can’t wait for our second helping in 2018.