Logan Goodrich

Contributing Writer

This past weekend, ColossalCon East hosted a public event at the Kalahari Resorts in the Pocono mountains. This event was an anime, gaming and pop culture themed event that brought many fans from throughout the United States. The event lasted from Thursday Sept. 10 to Sunday Sept. 13 with many activities beginning in the afternoons lasting into the evenings.

“I was in another world where everyone felt comfortable to be expressive in their hobbies and passions. There were so many events to go to and meet people. I feel like I got to experience a culture like no other. It’s hard to put into words how a convention feels but it was honestly just a great time,” Maya Romano, president of the ESU anime club, said.

With the coming of this event, many East Stroudsburg students went to the event to participate in the festivities. One of the big groups that went to ColossalCon was from ESU’s Anime Club. The club makes a yearly trip down to the event every fall semester in order to participate in a space where they can express their excitement of being with giant crowds of like minded individuals and fun themed activities.

ESU Anime Club officers and members worked together to find transportation from the college to ColossalCon. This involved carpooling by the members who had cars for the students that did not. They often went together to events such as a formal ball, cosplay creation events, and karaoke that went throughout the day. The students had lunch as a group on Friday and Saturday of that event, allowing them to get together for photos and laughter even if they split up to go to different places. There were many rooms set aside for ColossalCon Activities, there were times when many activities happened at once, which had members splitting up to head to events of their liking.

Many members of the club who showed up to ColossalCon shared their opinions on their experience there. Most went off the record to say that they had a blast, but a few people wanted to share a more in depth experience.

“This was my second year going but it was a year of a lot of firsts. I went to the Kazha concert, the rave, and tons of other events. My favorite part of the trip would have to be the Bleach fan meetup I went to, I cosplayed as Ichigo and had a lot of fun interacting and taking themed pics with all these amazing people there,” Jayden Cooke, a senior art media design major said. He also went on to talk about how they loved the sense of community and they really enjoyed all the people that went along with them.

Romano went on to say that she was thrilled how smoothly this Con went when it came to execution and that the officers of the club really locked down to make sure everyone had a great time. She said that out of her previous 4 times at ColossalCon East, this was her favorite.

“The community at ColossalCon East is friendly, spontaneous, and built on providing fun side quests to each other that go beyond the ribbon collecting,” said Nathan Gilmartin, a member of the anime club.

The event officially ended for the year on Sunday, having its last event around 5:00 p.m. that evening. ColossalCon will be continuing to happen throughout the United States, in locations such as Sandusky, Ohio, Round Rock, Texas, Wisconsin Dells, Wis., and Spotsylvania, Va.