More than 60,000 people attended the pop culture convention at The Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Northwest, D.C.
Stephanie Feama brought her children and grandchildren; she was thankful for the feeling of inclusiveness at Awesome Con, she said.
“I really love the diversity here,” said Feama. “My family is very diverse and so it’s great that my kids are not the only ones that are diverse here.”
No matter if you would rather fly with Captain Kirk or Han Solo, you would feel quite protected from the dark side thanks to people like Antoine Menthonnex.
The former employee of the World Bank was dressed as Star Trek star Nichelle Nichols. Menthonnex was inspired by Nichols’ groundbreaking portrayal of Lieutenant Uhura.
“To see this beautiful woman in space and she was a scientist was really fantastic and wonderful,” said Menthonnex. “Seeing her out promoting the sciences, especially for women and women of color, was really wonderful.”
Now, if you have ‘The Force” inside you, Gregory Hillick is the guy to meet.
The network engineer from Havre De Grace, Maryland, spent eight years and over $20,000 building a replica of everyone’s favorite Star Wars droid: R2D2.
WTOP asked Hillick what his wife thought of his hobby, and he answered: “I bought most of this before my wife.”
Comic books and superheroes are a big part of any pop culture convention. Both DC and Marvel were represented, especially by Doug Aldrich and 20-year-old Kirakaiya.
While Aldrich came to Awesome Con dressed as Batman, Kirakaiya came as everyone’s favorite “Web Slinger.”
Aldrich visits hospitals dressed as the “Caped Crusader” and drives in Baltimore-area parades in his 1979 corvette that he converted into his Batmobile, he said.
When not dressed as Spiderman or Iron Man, the 20-year-old Kirakaiya earns a living working for roadside assistance, helping people in Pennsylvania.
While there were a lot of cosplayers at Awesome Con, WTOP only found one duo that was father and daughter: Fairfax County, Virginia’s Archie and Tanisha Robinson.
Archie was decked out as Thor and jokingly said he loves coming to events like Awesome Con because he “looks so pretty.”
Tanisha and her father first bonded over comic books when she was young and started to team up at pop culture events, she said.
“The first time that we did cosplay together was because he was jealous that I did it first and he kept having to hold my bag because others wanted to take pictures with me,” said Tanisha Robinson.
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