Collect-A-Con is the nation’s largest trading card, anime, and pop culture convention with events previously held in cities like Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, and Orlando. And on July 20 & 21, Collect-A-Con debuted its first Northeast convention at the New Jersey Expo Center in Edison, NJ! As one of its biggest regional events, Collect-A-Con New Jersey featured special guests, panels & musical performances, grading companies, and over 1,000 vendor booths showcasing the best in collectibles today.
Trading card dealers from all over the country were set up to sell every kind of trading card imaginable: Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering, Lorcana, Weiss Schwarz, Yu-Gi-Oh, Bandai sets like One Piece & Digimon, sports & entertainment cards, and budding manufacturers like Kakawow, Gem Blenders, Otherverse, and LIFE. It’s truly the Super Bowl of card shows, filled with singles, slabs, packs, rare boxes, tins, cheap bulk, uncut sheets, error cards… you name it!
In addition to notable booths by Troll & Toad, CardRich, The Pokemon Network, and Pokemon Butler were local fan favorite vendors like All Around Retro, XPcollect, Alternate Universes, Progress CCG, “Magikarp Pro Shops” (with Jwongboutique, Daedalus TCG, and others), and EC3 & LI TCG, who both brought along Pokemon voice actors Jay Goede (Mewtwo), Michael Haigney (Psyduck), Matthew Sussman (Meowth), and Stuart Zagnit (Professor Oak) for meet & greets. Plus surprise cameos from content creators like PokeRev & PokiChloe, and over a dozen official Collect-A-Con guests:
Get autographs from “King Pokemon” Gary Haase, Ray Park (Darth Maul), and voice actors Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime), Sean Schemmel (Goku), Dan Green (Yu-Gi-Oh), Charles Martinet (Mario), and many others who were meeting fans, participating in panels, and, in the case of singer Jason Paige, performing the original Pokemon theme song live:
PSA was also on-site to authenticate items signed at Collect-A-Con, on top of accepting trading card & Funko Pop submissions for grading. Plus so many other unique experiences each day! We’re talking about same-day grading with AGS, exclusive promo cards, live breaks, mystery bags, and plenty of raffles & giveaways:
And for the non-card collectors, Collect-A-Con has it all, too! Funko Pops, action figures & statues, plush toys, video games, lightsabers & prop replicas, LEGO, enamel pins, comic books & magazines, apparel, assorted decor & 3D printed items, lenticular posters… just to name a few!
With additional dates scheduled through the rest of 2024, you won’t want to miss your chance to experience the largest trading card convention around. Be sure to see if Collect-A-Con is coming to a city near you! And in the meantime, check out our photo gallery from Collect-A-Con New Jersey & recap video below.
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