Connecticon 2023 was good. Damn good in my opinion. Outside of a dent or two, this convention was one of the most perfect I’ve been to in a very long. With things being tough for me & my family in recent months, I always knew that coming up to Hartford was just the (mostly) cure for how I was feeling. I confess I’ll probably be gushing quite a bit in this review, with nary a negative comment or something bad to say. So, with that out of the way, here is my review for Connecticon 2023. Enjoy!
Good Points
As usual, the Hartford Marriot is a perfect venue for a convention like Connecticon. The hotel itself always looks good, and outside of the “Up” escalator this year being broken, it was easy to get from point A to point B. The rooms as usual were well kept, spacious, and comfortable to relax in if needed. The center, as always, was a warm hug when I stepped inside. There’s been years where the amount of people there make things feel cramped, but this year was nice. There were a lot of people in cosplay or not (12K people to be exact), but it didn’t feel overwhelming strangely enough.
Yet again, the Dealer’s Room & Artist Alley always deliver. Though I had 1 issue this year (More on that in the “Bad Points” section), the depth of goods is always jaw-dropping. Cosplay parts, figurines, anime, manga, MTG and D&D in the dealer’s area, while things like webcomics, jewelers, soap, and tea makers occupy the artist’s alley. It’s always a sight to see, and definitely made me take a look at least twice.....and buy stuff I normally wouldn’t go for!
Panels & other events came back in force for Connecticon 2023. Though I didn’t go to that many panels this year, I was definitely impressed by the variety of things going on. Heavy Metal (A staple since 2018), Jon St. John’s Sexy Late Night Panel, Drunk “Con” History, and The Legend Of Zelda as a rock opera were just a couple of the ones that caught my eye. Main events have always been the big staple of Connecticon, and they did not disappoint this year. Cosplay Deathmatch has been a spectacle for over a decade, and an added safety measure was put into place for 2023. Some local marines were standing by the stage with Toys For Tots boxes so people could come up to donate any unused toys. If anyone recalls last year’s Deathmatch, you know about the bum rush of people that came running up to the stage, and stacking up plushies right by the god of the Cosplay Deathmatch. Odin is his name, if you didn’t know.
Cosplay Championship Wrestling was another big plus. Being at Connecticon for the 3rd year in 2023, the independent & lo-fi wresting group once again put on great show after great show. The one thing I loved this year was the surprising attention to story detail. Specifically, the downfall of Green Arrow into heel status, and his desire to take the title from Little Mac to spite him & his former partner Black Canary. Coupled with new wrestlers D.Va, Shego, and Neagan (The highlight of the new combatants), CCW continues to be a fantastic alternative to the likes of WWE, AEW, and TNA Wrestling, while being a fantastic promotion in their own right!
Another positive about this year’s Connection may be a little small for some of you, but for me it was big, and that happened to be the game room. If I recall correctly, 2022's go around didn’t have board games, or if it did I either never noticed or there wasn’t enough. In 2023, we got them back & then some. In addition to the normal board games, there was also some demonstrations of new ones throughout the weekend. Even Steve Jackson, the creator of Munchkin, had a table in the game room showing off some stuff. That’s neat if you ask me!
Finally, the last positive about Connecticon 2023 was one panel in particular. One that virtually everybody knew about, much less attended.....and to think it all happened because the guy thought it would be a joke, but wound up being perhaps the biggest highlight of the weekend. What panel am I talking about? A link is right below:
https://www.facebook.com/Kamfan88/posts/pfbid0tsAWmFBruGSKArW9xAK4e5p6vzgjDZuTgdkBwdNf3M3YEZhRdep9yNdm5EDEuWeel
Okay Points
Kinda like last year, I found the lack of masks/Vaccine Card entry requirement to be a little creepy. Ironically, I wasn’t as creeped out by it this time: with the amount of normality we’ve been getting back since around the middle of 2021, it seems that some sense of sanity has been coming back. I championed the mask & Vaccine Card entry requirement back in my review for Connecticon 2021, and I still stand by that. However, it feels weirdly refreshing to not have to worry about losing my Vaccine Card & seeing people’s faces once again.
Bad Points
For starters, there was an odd lack of sellers that had things I wanted to purchase. Not that I didn’t purchase anything, because I definitely did. What I mean to say is that there was hardly any anime sellers (Media Blasters was the biggest seller, and they always deliver), hardly any manga sellers (Outside of used sellers & hentai sellers), and even MTG sellers (There was only 1 stand that had big products, and a tiny few others that were selling just singles). To play devil’s advocate in one case, Otaku Joe’s wasn’t going to be there because he was going to take a break (He told me this back in February at Katsucon), but I found it baffling that the sellers of those product weren’t in as big of numbers as they were in prior cons. Ironically, the lack of Manga sellers did push me towards purchasing from the Dominic Deegan/Star Power, and I intend to do so next year!
Ironically enough, this next bad point didn’t even involve me, but rather an acquaintance. As he was telling me this past Sunday, a group of cosplayers were outside the upper part of the convention center (Outside where the coffee stand), and this was Friday if I recall correctly. Anyways, he was telling me that this group was trying to get it to avoid getting wet & pelted on by hail, but they were told to go the other way to get back in. Not only did some of them have cosplay that got ruined, but some got hurt by the hail! In that kind of situation, I think it’s perfectly for the center staff to say screw the rules.....AND LET THEM IN!
(There may be a detail or two in that story I’m getting wrong. If any of the cosplayers in that situation see this, please let me know what I got wrong or missed.)
The final bad point also was a problem, but not for the convention. The one thing I love about the hotel is the little Starbucks on the Lobby level. I can get my coffee, something small to nibble on, etc. I don’t know what the hell it was this year, but deal god were the workers getting overloaded! In prior years they definitely could get overwhelming, but they seemed to have been under a lot of pressure in 2023. Lines were long, food & drinks were taking a bit, and some people didn’t know their stuff was out. Maybe it was because there were too many people this year, I’m not sure. All I know is that maybe next year they have a few more people working behind the counter to not have any kind of overload.
Final Thoughts & Rating
Connecticon 2023 was near perfect in my opinion. The lack of sellers & that one story not withstanding, one of my many geeky home away from homes was as fun as it has always been. I won’t go into details, but things have been rough for me the past few weeks, so to come back to this slice of heaven in this sea of hell we all call Life is nothing short of quasi-spiritual for me. I may be getting close to 40, but coming to places like Connecticon makes me feel young again.....if just for a weekend.
Connecticon 2023 gets a 9 out of 10.
So that was Connecticon 2023. An absolute banger of a convention this year, and one that’ll stick with me for the rest of the year. I will say beyond a shadow of a doubt.....I will be back in Hartford in 2024 for damn sure. In any case, part 2 of the Summer of Nu ends next week. See you then!
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