Dates: April 12-14, 2024
Where: Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland, OH
Overall Experience
After weeks of super late nights, we were relieved to finish the Egghead cosplays just in time for the convention! It was fun to cosplay a character that I love, and since this was only my second cosplay ever, I was really happy with how well-received it was! This wasn’t much of a cosplay con in 2024, but that just made it more special when we did run into others.
We got to speak with Elijah Wood (and my friend was ecstatic to get an across-the room wave from Brent Spiner), which kind of felt like a surreal dream after being sleep-deprived for weeks.
Cosplay
Egghead Robin – First Appearance! (with my friend as Egghead Nami)
Some Fun People I Met
Elijah Wood
We specifically went to the panel with Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd, which was a fun experience. We weren’t planning to go for an autograph because the convention was super busy and standing for hours in our boots would have been terrible, but when we walked by on the last day, Elijah Wood’s line was empty! He seemed super down-to-earth—he asked about our cosplays, we chatted about a breakfast place in my neighborhood that he tried, and he said that the fact that my friend works at the local cat cafe near there was “rad”.
Dressrosa Zoro
Such a fun, niche cosplay! We thought it was super funny, and the idea of doing a sillier arc outfit inspired my friend to do Punk Hazard Sanji-Nami the following year.
Convention Whimsy
Rather than other congoers, us trying to navigate the crowded aisles was the funniest part of this weekend! The boots are able to be walked in, but it’s a workout. I think that most people didn’t recognize us since the Egghead arc just started airing in the anime early in 2024. However, people still thought the craftsmanship was cool, so we got stopped genuinely every few steps to take pictures.
Very rarely, men specifically would try to gatekeep and say things in a rude tone to the effect of “Well, I don’t recognize that from One Piece!” and though it’s maybe a little petty, it was pretty satisfying to tell that type of person that they just aren’t as caught up as we are. đŸ¤·
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