Convention Review: Connecticon 2022

Another Connecticon is in the books fellow Otaku & Metalheads!

Once again, the city of Hartford, Connecticut, beckoned me to travel to it’s streets, and seek refuge in the monolithic Hartford Convention Center. To mingle amongst the numerous geeks, weebs, nerds, otaku, metalheads, cosplayers, etc. Okay, I admit that was a bit on the dramatic side a second ago, but this convention means a lot to me! I’ve been going for over a decade (Save for 2019......long story), and not at any time did I hate my experience. 2022 was no exception, so let’s not waste anymore time, and take a look at my review for Connecticon this year! Let’s begin.

Good Points ***
For starters, we got the venue & hotel. The Hartford Marriot was always a place I loved, and this year was no different. It has always given me a sense of awe stepping into the main desk area (Which is only eclipsed by the Gaylord Hotel for Katsucon), and it’s got a kind of energy I can’t quite describe. This translates over into the convention center, which is a titan in it’s own right. When I went to my first Genericon, I was definitely impressed, but when I came to Connecticon my 3rd eye opened (Once again, only eclipsed by Katsucon’s venue). The hotel was stocked with a lot: Starbucks, a bar, and a restaurant are just some of the things that were useful. As always, the breakfast buffet delivered on it’s quality, and the woman who was at me & my friend’s table was quite nice!

Next up is the Dealer’s Room & Artist Alley. As it has always been in years past, these two areas of the convention center are always filled to the brim with a giant variety of vendors selling all kinds of goods. Cosplay parts, figurines, anime, manga, MTG and D&D, etc. In the Artist Alley, there’s webcomic artists, jewelers, soap & tea makers, you name it! One of the best ways for a convention to succeed is having a varied and well-stocked Dealer’s Room & Artist’s Alley, and Connecticon always delivers in this regard!

Adjacent to the Dealer’s Room and the Artist Alley, the panels have always been a big plus for Connecticon. To this very day, the con’s “Everything But The Kitchen Sink” moniker is highly apparent in the massive variety of panels that are hosted. Cosplay tips, badass women in media, The Great Old Ones in RPG games, and Heavy Metal were just a tiny sprinkle of salt among an entire spice rack of panels. I actually made sure to go to as many as I possibly could this time around, when in prior years I didn’t go to as much. I did have one issue with the panels this year (More on that in a bit), but said issue in no way impacted the experiences I had in each & every room I entered.

Next positive this year was Cosplay Championship Wrestling. They first showed up last year, and made their return for Connecticon 2022. CCW is just pure geeky fun! Take characters from comics, video games, and a hint of anime, then dump them all into a 6-sided ring for some damn good fights! Cosplay Championship Wrestling definitely isn't WWE, AEW, or even Impact Wrestling. Instead, they're their own quirky little company, concerned with just putting on a fun time for those in attendance. The wrestlers do a damn good job in the ring, and really try to embody the characters they're representing (Some do have their own spin if a story needs to be advanced). I hope they come to Connecticon until the end of the world, because they're one of the few reasons why I still love professional wrestling!

And finally, there was the cosplay. Normally I’d talk about this earlier in this portion of the review, but there was something special. As usual, I saw a wide variety of cosplay from a wide variety of mediums. There was also a wide variety of quality, yet nothing was ever bad. However, the one particular cosplay trend I saw was a lot of people cosplaying as the precious metallic jellybean from Stranger Things season 4, Eddie Munson. Dudes, Chicks, and everywhere in between. I saw a lot of people dressed up as the wholesome Heavy Metal cinnamon roll, and it brought a smile to my face. Partially because his character brought back renewed interest in old-school Metallica (As we as other classic Heavy Metal bands), and also because for seemingly the first time ever, we got a positive representative of a metalhead in media. Eddie’s not an asshole, nor a meathead, but an honest-to-goodness human being. Practically everybody cosplaying him embodied this heavy ray of sunshine, and it warmed this old Heavy Metal fan’s heart.   

Okay Points
The one thing that surprised this year was the announcement that there was no vaccine card requirement, nor did you need to wear a mask within the venue. This was due to the local government, who said that since cases of the Plague have been down since the end of May (Someone correct me if I’m wrong about that time) I’m genuinely conflicted on this, as on the one hand it was nice to not constantly have a piece of cloth on my face during a gathering like this, and I appreciated not needing to bring along an important document that could potentially get lost. On the other hand, I admit I was a little nervous about it. I will say I did bring a mask along, and it was worn in certain areas I felt it was needed (Panel rooms, Dealer’s Room, Artist Alley, Game area). It felt weird & strange, almost like some mutant form of what things were before 2020 came. I can easily understand why some were scared by this, even infuriated, and I think because of this mix of feelings I felt putting this solitary point here.

Bad Points
There honestly isn’t that much wrong with Connecticon this year. The staff put on a hell of a con, and there was so much going right for it. Unfortunately, there is a little I found wrong with it. For starters, the lack of a physical conbook bugs me. To play devil’s advocate, I understand the need to save a little bit of money, and going for a digital guide is an easier route. Personally, I’m not a fan of this. I loved being able to flip through a con booklet, and writing out the stuff I wanted to do. Again, it’s easier to keep track of stuff digitally, but I had issues downloading the program for whatever reason.

The second issue is the severe lacking of games this year! In the case of gaming in the hotel, You still had the various card games & such, but there was absolutely no board games! It’s always been a tradition from among the group I come to the con with to sit down & play a board game or two (Betrayal At The House On The Hill in particular is a favorite). If there was an issue in this regard, such as logistics or not enough of a desire, then I never saw it anywhere. This is doubly so for the games room adjacent to the dealers. There was still plenty of console gaming both old-school & new, but the company that brought in the Japanese game consoles were not there this year. At first, I thought they just decided to bail out, but then I learned the last day that said company closed! I admit that I never frequented the machines that often, but when I did I hate a lot of fun! If this fact was announced on the con website or Facebook page, then I never saw it.

Final Thoughts & Rating
Connecticon 2022 was just fun. Pure, unadulterated fun. Yeah, it’s got a dent or two in it’s armor, but otherwise it stands tall as one of the best I’ve been too. With it’s mighty return last year, I can only hope that this con stays around for a very long time. If anyone reads this and hasn’t gone, do yourself a favor.....book a room, grab a 3-day pass, and take in the energies of one of the finest conventions hosted in the northeast. You won’t regret it!

Connecticon 2022 gets a 8.5 to 9 out of 10.

And that was my review for this year’s Connecticon. It was simply wonderful to walk along the hallowed paths & halls of the Hartford Convention Center once again, seeing all the sights & experiencing all I could. Much like last year, it was a hell of a time. So, I’ll see you all towards the end of the month, when I’ll take a look at another Sci-Fi anime classic. See you then. 

(Updated on 7/19/2022, 10:45 PM, Eastern Standard Time)