Get Wild with KatsuCon
Back at it again at the National Harbor and this time it’s for KatsuCon. KatsuCon is a fun exciting convention that many con-goers and cosplayers look forward to every year. Located in the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. This year was quite a blast and now let’s get into why you should show up to the next one:
Convention & Hotel & Staff
The convention center is huge with plenty to do. This dealer’s room isn’t 24/7 like the last one but best believe people are still hanging out around the convention center all night long. With plenty of panels and events happening including the awesome arcade they had as well, there was always something to do throughout the day. Katsucon is notorious as the go-to a con for cosplayers every year, with excellent indoor and outdoor scenery, this is where you’ll get your killer shots for your cosplay. Now just similar to Magfest, there isn’t much of a lottery but a first come first serve basis for the hotel. Once hotel rooms are announced, they usually sell out within a day so if you want to stay at the Gaylord you better stay up to date with the convention. $85 for the weekend badge wasn’t bad but you can snag the early bird special at $55 if you get your ticket early. Not to mention showing your badge at certain restaurants gave you discounts on your meals so the perks weren’t that bad. The staff at katsu were great and very attentive, it was great to get quick and friendly responses from staff on where to go without a problem. Security was tighter this year to stop ghosting, hotel attendee capacity, safety reasons, and more.
Dealer’s Room & Artist Alley & Arcade
The dealer’s room and artist alley were huge. It’s always amazing seeing so many different vendors come to this convention. There’s always something for everyone here merch wise, so there is no need to worry if you won’t find anything you may like as the dealers cater to all types of people here. You’re able to find everything anime, gaming, tv-show, cosplay, and more. There was even a cosplay repair shop here so if you were in a jiffy, there was someone here to help you out. Katsu likes to switch up their arcade hosters at times and this year was pretty rad, there was a big selection of games to play from which is always good as variety is big when it comes to arcades.
Panels & Guest
Panels run from day to night at this convention so there was always something to do at any time of the day. They had panels you can interact with even including main events, they had quite a few cosplay events there as well. They bought on a few voice actors this year, my favorite guest was seeing Michelle Suzanne Ruff but I loved seeing Cherami Leigh, Johnny Yung Bosch, Bryce Papenbrook, and other voice actors/actresses as well. Bringing on a few known guests is a great way to get fans to meet their idols and the people they admire. I wish the area was bigger for where the guest was as it took quite some time to get the lines moving.
Photoshoots & Cosplay
The Gazebo might as well just get it’s own section for this article because that is where everyone goes to get their main photoshoots done here, either the gazebo, the staircase, the fountain or the garden. It gets super packed at the gazebo so if you have plans to take photos here just know you have to be there bright and early. There was a line and the staff gave about 5-15 minutes to get your shots done so that way everyone has a chance at getting photos. They had very strict photography rules as well, everyone who goes to katsu every year knows how rough it can sometimes be finding a good spot to take your photos at. There were so many outstanding cosplays here, you’ll always find some of the best work debuted here at Katsu. This convention is a favorite for cosplayers so don’t hesitate to bring your cosplay here as you're going to see perhaps 85% of attendees here in cosplay.
Con Party & Rave & Ballroom Masquerade
These took place on the Saturday night of Katsu if you were looking for something to do Friday night of katsu, there was the club Pose that is open only strictly to 21+ hotel and katsu attendees. They had something going on for everyone here so if you weren’t a party person you were free to go to the ballroom masquerade which was more formal but required strictly formal attire to get in. For the rave you were not allowed to come in with bags or sweaters, it was a bit of an inconvenience for many but the reason behind it is more than understandable. Now Pose nightclub was booked for Saturday night last minute for a private event (there’s a bit of a story behind this) so the convention bought it upon themselves to create a con party by the fountain for their attendees which was still 21+. It was very smart of Katsu to do this as a last-minute resort, Pose getting rented out was not Katsu’s fault but the Gaylord themselves.
Conclusion
Katsucon is an excellent convention to go to and would recommend it if you are looking for a con to go to out of your state. The staff is very welcoming and it’s easy to get around the convention center despite how huge it is. There is plenty to do here in and outside of the convention so you will never be bored. This year was a blast and we can’t wait to see what they have in store for us next year.
