Comic book villains set to take over AggieCon in 54th year of celebrating fandom and more

AggieCon, run by Cepheid Variable, might be one of the lesser-known traditions at Texas A&M University, but has been ongoing for 54 years. As a self-described “congloma-con,” AggieCon includes a wide variety of interests and events such as anime, comics, tabletop gaming, video games and more. The convention will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 1 and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 2. Similar to past years, all events will be on the second floor of the MSC on the A&M campus.

Emma Tuttle, director of AggieCon 54, has been on the convention team for four years and takes pride in how much students are able to accomplish with the event each year.

“I would describe AggieCon as an intimate and exciting time to get together with your friends,” she said. “We may not be the biggest convention around, but I would say that our main focus is building community and creating space for people to connect with each other, especially when it comes to games and pastimes.”

A comic book convention, now colloquially called a comic con, is an event where fans of comic books and other pop culture elements can gather for panels, merchandise or to meet voice actors from beloved shows. Celebrity voice actors who will be guests at AggieCon include Barry Yandell, Emi Lo, Dani Chambers, Wendy Powell and Aaron Roberts, all known for their work in various anime series.

Alongside Tuttle, fellow student Jade Torres works as the Public Relations Officer for AggieCon and similarly feels passionate about giving niche interests a space on campus.

“AggieCon was my first con and my cousin was involved in Cepheid during AggieCon 50. I’ve been to my fair share of AggieCons,” Torres said. “When I was 16, I remember going in my little cosplay that I had made, it was all thrifted, and having this space where people recognized my character, that opened up a whole new world for me. It was like I realized there could be a space for me and all of these interests.”

At comic conventions, people may recreate outfits in honor of the character. This is called cosplay and can be done competitively or casually. At AggieCon, cosplay is encouraged and, for those confident in their cosplay skills, they can enter a cosplay contest with cash prizes for best in show, best in show runner-up, best craftsmanship, best rookie and best wig work. All cosplays must be family friendly and must be 60% made. More information can be found through AggieCon’s website.

“Definitely make sure to plan your day before you get there because we have a lot of stuff going on and you will want to be able to do everything that interests you,” Torres said. “Before coming, highlight what is important to you, what you want to do, and take care of yourself. Make sure you’re hydrating and make sure you’re eating food.”

The COVID-19 lockdown greatly affected the convention because its was forced to skip a year and thus lost funds. Tuttle, who said she has worked with AggieCon ever since students first returned from lockdown, said they were surprised at the attendance numbers for that year and were reinvigorated to continue working to make the convention better each year.

“When we moved to the Memorial Student Center, we got the whole second floor to ourselves, so that’s nice. Since then, we have been growing consistently every year and, with that, our budget has been growing. We’re nonprofit, so we spend whatever we get from the year before into the next year,” she said. “We’ve basically gotten back up to what our attendance used to be before COVID, so we are expecting around 1,000 people this year, and hopefully we’ll make all our money back.”

Working as the public relations manager for AggieCon has allowed Torres to combine her major, communication, with her passions, something she is extremely grateful for.

“A lot of my friends come from either working on a con board with them or working on stuff with them as well. It’s definitely helped me find a community in college while also doing cool things in my major,” she said. “I’m so thankful for the opportunity to be on the team this long and get all these amazing things out of it. I’m very blessed to be on a team of such amazing and awesome people.”

Tuttle said she also feels honored to continue working at AggieCon and contribute to the over 50-year-old event with her theme: “Going Rogue.”

“We have traditions for every year, like we theme our cons,” she said. “We love theming it because each director gets to put their own little stamp on it. … To be able to be a part of this tradition that is so unique to us and unique to A&M is super special. You’ll never experience this anywhere else in the world.”

Tickets can be bought online: $20 for students and $25 for general admission, or at the door for $5 more. Students must present a valid college or high school ID for a discount and Texas A&M staff are also eligible for the discount. All surface parking is free on weekends.