ColossalCon East 2019 Friday Gallery And Writeup By Adam Etheridge

ColossalCon East returned to the Kalahari Resort & Convention Center in Pocono Mtns., Penn., for its 3rd annual event on September 13-15 this year.

I would be remiss if I did not address the elephant that has been in the room for some time, so let’s get that out of the way. ColossalCon East faced a great deal of turmoil and controversy in the weeks leading up to the event. Fortunately, I won’t need to recap everything that went down, as our website’s editor has already written an article regarding this matter which you can read here. 

Judging by the comments I had seen on social media, it’s clear that the events that transpired caused many potential attendees (including myself) to take pause and reconsider if they still wanted to go and support this event in any way. With the event drawing near, and little time to change plans and break commitments, most people I saw discussing the matter ultimately ended up attending the event, although I noticed a number of people saying they would not be buying a badge to the event.

This brings me to something else I should mention, for the sake of full disclosure. I did not receive a press pass to ColossalCon East this year, and I made the decision not to buy a badge to the event. This being the case, anything I discuss regarding the actual convention will be taken from the event’s official website, or based on my experience last year at the event.

ColossalCon East is billed as “an anime, gaming, and Japanese culture convention,” and attendees will find most of the staple attractions associated with anime-based conventions at the three-day event.

Panels on a variety of topics were held each day of the convention. Gamers could compete in tournaments in a number of different console games, and enjoy a nice assortment of arcade cabinets provided by Tokyo Attack! Cosplayers had the opportunity to compete in a costume contest on Saturday night of the event. A rather modestly sized artist alley and dealer’s room was also present for attendees looking to purchase artwork or other merchandise.

That sums up most of what is included with a badge to ColossalCon East. The major draw of the event to many attendees, however, is the resort itself, which of course includes its popular indoor water park.

The Kalahari resort features numerous activities for guests including a large arcade room, escape rooms, a “7-D” motion theater, mini golf, and a variety of VR experiences, just to name a few. The Kalahari also has several restaurants on-site, giving guests a variety of dining options without the need to leave the resort.

There’s no doubt, however, that the main attraction for many people is Kalahari’s indoor water park. Boasting “220,000 square feet, filled with wet, wild fun,” this part of the venue is one of the largest of its kind in the country. This is the place where the overwhelming majority of my photos from this event were taken, as many cosplayers would gather in the water park’s wave pool area.

Although the Kalahari is indeed a premium resort, it should be mentioned that almost everything comes with a premium price. Guests staying at the Kalahari hotel do get complimentary passes to the water park with their room, but rooms start at well over $200 per night during the convention dates. The cost of a day pass to the water park during the convention was $90 – $110 per day, and there is no discount for convention attendees. There was, however, an after-hours “water park party” for convention attendees during the late-night hours of Friday and Saturday of the event. Tickets for this were $30 for one night, and $50 for both nights (which is up from $25/$40 last year).

Last year things ended on a sour note at the water park on Sunday, with cosplay and photography being suddenly banned prior to noon on that day. I am happy to say that this issue appears to have been resolved, as there was no such issue at the water park on the final day of the event this year.

I would consider ColossalCon East’s third year to be “the end of act one” for the event on a number of levels. There have been personnel changes in a number of different positions in the convention’s management, including the event’s con chair. Due to this I would expect that there will be changes coming to future events, which I hope will be for the better.

Also, the Kalahari is currently in the process of construction for an expansion of the convention center, which is scheduled for completion well before next year’s event. ColossalCon East’s management has stated interest in utilizing some of this new space, so perhaps next year we will see the rather modestly sized dealer’s room and artist’s alley grow.

ColossalCon East is an event that I personally recommended to my friends from its inception, up until last year. I hope that with the changes in convention management, it once again becomes an event I can be proud to promote and support. I, and many other potential attendees, will be watching to see what happens over the course of the next year before making any plans for next year’s event.

Cosplayers in this gallery include ATK PWR, nihaokaiwen, Zadra, Jasminegg Cosplay, Kaytee Kat Cosplay – Kayt Supple, Lil Wolf, Jazzmin Jolly, JessilynCupcake Cosplay & Crafts, CuriousCat Cosplay, Dolly_Doki Cosplay, Majestic Misato Cosplay, Necromimi Cosplay,  Cel Cosplay, Shin-Ryuu Cosplay, kirstydopecosplay, becky_taka, jess_kitten, ranged_death, sylentcosplay, sandrafaust, craziecrissiecosplay, ectoplasmicbiologist, vileveronica, reiasukayui, Avarent Cosplay, Aaimz Tako, nicoblukitteh, zeekayart, tinypiranhas, moknowsdesign, asc_jkenn, Neko Uke Cosplay, em_mae_cos, lindsayotaco, filthyhippie00, cannolicat31, slawthe, baitosenshi365, and many more.

We now use Smugmug to present cosplay photo galleries and will post all photos there, with a link to each gallery in its own gallery article. This will allow us to give you higher resolution images to download — still for free.

To view the entire gallery, just click on the image above. If you are pictured in any of our galleries, feel free to download the images and use them non-commercially on social media, with appropriate credit.