Colossalcon East 2023 Convention Report And Gallery Part 2

I’d like to start off my second article on Colossalcon East 2023 here by making my intentions clear. This is not some sort of “hit piece” on the Kalahari or Colossalcon East staff and/or management. Although I’m not expecting it, I would love for people that are part of both organizations to read this and my other articles on the event, acknowledge and accept problems stated, and devise a plan to fix them. I can’t speak for everyone, but most of us that have attended Colossalcon East like the convention and want to love it. I will do my best to treat these matters and the people involved with respect, despite any frustrations I may have. That said, I think there’s been a bit too much effort put into silencing problems associated with the event, and I feel the need to dedicate this article to discussing them freely.

I will be writing about issues I’ve encountered myself, and ones I’ve heard from others. I made a post on social media just after the convention asking for feedback, and it received a large number of comments. I won’t be able to address every single one here, but I’ll try and mention some of the bigger and recurring ones.

I can’t help myself but to start off by mentioning the “no flash photography” at the water park rule made up on the spot during last year’s convention, which continued into this year. You can read my article from last year here for details on why I feel confident flash photography poses no significant threat to anyone. It just feels like nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to antagonize convention attendees under the guise of “safety.” The thing is, there are much more egregious issues pertaining to safety that have been seemingly ignored by Kalahari staff, some of which I’ll be talking about later in this article. 

I was also told on Friday morning that continuous lights were not allowed in the water park, because they too could trigger an epileptic seizure. This is just straight up false, as it is flashing patterns of lights that can trigger them. I saw people using continuous lights on Thursday, and I believe I saw them used later on in the weekend. This brings up another recurring issue with staff — inconsistency.

Another example of staff inconsistency pertains to staff’s enforcement of a dress code. Unfortunately, this was an issue with both some Colossalcon East staff members as well as Kalahari staff. I had seen reports of people being “dress coded,” as attendees came to refer to it, as early as Thursday afternoon of the event. I can tell you I saw thongs-a-plenty throughout the event, so it seems clear there is not any sort of strict dress code in effect. Whether or not someone would get stopped for this or not seems to be at the whim of whoever is on staff that day and what side of the bed they woke up on, which unfortunately seemed to be the case with a number of rules at the venue.

The night swim events at the water park were another area where rule inconsistencies were encountered. It has long been understood that while outside food and drink are not permitted in the water park, a drink contained in one of Kalahari’s cups, purchased elsewhere at the Kalahari, were OK to bring in. During the night swim sessions, some people were allowed in with them, but many were not. Worse yet, it was suggested by some Kalahari staff members that those trying to bring them in quickly chug them at the door. This is a genuine safety concern, since not everyone can “hold their liquor.” There were vomiting incidents during the night swim, and it’s certainly in the realm of possibility that they were triggered by such chugs.

One of, if not the most serious issues I read about concerns harassment and predatory behavior by some attendees. Neither Colossalcon East staff nor Kalahari staff have seemed interested in banning people committing such acts, even when they are repeat offenders. I realize this can be a tough issue to address, but both groups of staff need to do more in the future to help prevent this type of behavior. In an environment where the alcohol flows very freely, unsavory behavior may be expected, but should never be accepted.

One attendee replied to the post I made on social media looking for feedback, mentioning their encounter with a predatory person during the night swim. I won’t post all the details here, but they mentioned that they were distraught by the encounter and reported it to Kalahari water park staff. They stated that the staff members “were smirking the entire time” they talked to them about the incident and refused to speak to any of the witnesses of the encounter, who were still present and willing to speak to them. The word “inconsistent” isn’t an adequate adjective to describe this. If the allegations are true, this is just despicable behavior by Kalahari staff, who have no business having a job at the venue.

Another issue that was mentioned by several people in my post was that during one of the night swim events there was an infant in one of the hot tubs with their parents, both of whom were clearly intoxicated. While these events are for all ages (there is a lot of confusion regarding that), perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea to make them 21+. I feel like this could potentially prevent a number of problems associated with the event. Yes, it would mean less revenue, but is that more important than safety?

We all pay a premium price for our time at the Kalahari, and we deserve a premium experience for it. Sadly, in many cases, we seem to be treated more as a nuisance than as valued customers.

So, what can be done to improve the relations between Colossalcon East and the Kalahari, and between attendees and both management groups? I’ll give some suggestions regarding this coming up in my third and final article on the convention.

Among the cosplayers in this gallery are Nerd Caliber team member chocobobutt, indigohues_cos, _mycabbages, positivityelemental, Majestic Misato Cosplay, kidkryptonite89, 00mk_7, thedarkdoe, tavern.wench.cosplays, shir0gami, exchlo.cos, kevin.neff, girlonfirecosplay, and many more.

We now use Smugmug to present cosplay photo galleries and will post all photos there, with a link to each gallery in its own gallery article. This will allow us to give you higher resolution images to download — still for free.

To view the entire gallery, just click on the image below. If you are pictured in any of our galleries, feel free to download the images and use them non-commercially on social media, with appropriate credit.

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This was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, many of the characters being cosplayed here wouldn’t exist. Please consider donating to the Entertainment Community Fund here.