WonderCon 2023 - Highlights

Every year, cosplayers, artists, vendors and guests of all ages turn up for Wondercon located in Anaheim, CA. This year, visitors took to the Anaheim Convention Center for Wondercon 2023 which was held March 24-26th 2023. Some of the highlights of this event include cosplayers, panels and vendors. 

There was no shortage of Mandalorian cosplay from Din Jardin and Grogue “Baby Yoda” to Fennec Shand, Ahsoka and Bo-Katan. Let’s not forget the Boba Fett and Stormtrooper variations either. My personal favorite was the Ghostbusters variation of the Mandalorian who were all decked out in tan armor and proton packs. Academy Award winning Everything Everywhere All at Once was also a popular choice artists took cosplay inspiration from. The character Deirdre played by Jamie Lee Curtis in the film was seen in various forms whether it be sitting at a desk with a pile of papers or with hot dog fingers. Evelyn and Waymond made appearances as well. One of the most anticipated cosplays, which I was surprised I did not see more of, was Ellie and Joel from the HBOMaxx series and video game The Last of Us. I happened to catch a quick glance of a young Ellie and Joel speed walking through the convention like they were on a mission to escape the Clickers. There were a small handful of people dressed up as Clickers wandering around so I don’t blame them. At around noon, cosplayers gathered around the fountain outside to take one of the most impressive group photos I had ever seen. Hundreds of Marvel superheroes gathered and posed for guests for a solid 30-45 minutes so that everyone could get a chance at seeing them all in one place. From what I heard, Wondercon guests do these meetups on the regular and also do this for Disney, Star Wars and DC cosplayers. It was pretty amazing to see the hard work everyone put into their characters.

Panels are a great way to get off your feet and relax while listening to some of the most interesting people talk about their passions and share insight into their industry with guests. While I did not personally attend any panels this year, I did speak to someone who attended the Ashley Eckstein panel which revolved around her successful clothing company called Her Universe. Most people know her as the voice of Ahsoka in the Clone Wars animated series. She also has a clothing line that caters to those who want a more subtle and sophisticated nerd wardrobe. Her clothes are high quality and affordable. I own a few of her pieces so I can verify it is definitely worth looking into if you want cute outfits that are appropriate to wear to work while also expressing your fandom pride. The gentleman I spoke to who attended this panel told me she discussed what was new and upcoming for the brand in 2023 and even said there was a fashion show. Some of the other panels included authors, comic book artists and voice actors. The voice actors panel was one I wish I had gone to. Guests included: Joe Ochman (current voice of Jiminy Cricket), Kaitlyn Robrock (current voice of Minnie Mouse), Neil Ross (Transformers, G.I. Joe), Brian Hull (Hotel Transylvania), and Cynthia McWilliams (What If?). There was a lot to choose from and I liked that they had educational panels as well that focused on the art of cosplaying and special fx as well as the business side of comics and how to get work written, illustrated and published.

Wondercon would not have the appeal that it has without all of the amazing vendors. I walked the vendor floor in its entirety probably four times. It wasn’t very crowded and the venue is big enough to where you can step into booths and take your time looking at things without feeling claustrophobic. I noticed an abundance of vendors selling Funko Pops, a lot of which were rare or hard to find. I saw a lot of Loungefly bags, backpacks, purses and wallets. It took a lot of self control to not buy everything. I did end up walking away with a glow in the dark Ghostface backpack from the Scream movies made by Bioworld. Hero Within is another well-known company who had a booth there and they were showcasing all of their Star Trek jackets. For the most part, a lot of the vendors were artists and small businesses. There was a business called Geekify Inc which sold cloth maps from classic movies like The Goonies, Jurassic Park and Avatar the Last Airbender. They also had really nice quality 3 dimensional iPad eReader covers designed to look like books from popular films like Beetlegeuse, The Neverending Story, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There was an artist selling portraits of Marvel, Star Wars and DC characters sitting on the toilet in the bathroom and I had never seen anything more magnificent in my life. It made me laugh out loud and I appreciated all of the little details they included in each print. The business was Collector’s Outpost and they have a lot more non-potty related art prints for sale on their website as well.

All in all, I would say Wondercon 2023 was a success! Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and the weather was perfect outside so you could take a break, grab some delicious food from one of the many food trucks the convention offered and sit under the palm trees by the fountain watching people come and go. If you were like me, then you saw just about every variation of Spiderman walk by. You can never have enough Spidermen at places like these. I can’t wait to see what Wondercon has in store for next year.