WeebCon 2026
The Biggest Little Anime Convention in Texas
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WeebCon is North Texas's premier anime convention, held at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, TX. It features a large celebrity guest list, 150+ hours of panels, a maid café, V-Tuber meet-and-greets, and a Japanese Cultural Pavilion.
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After a detour to the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas in 2025, WeebCon returned to the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in 2026 for its sixth anniversary. With an estimated attendance of 15,000 individuals, this relatively new con has quickly grown to be a recognizable event in the crowded Texas anime convention scene. It certainly has some competition, though, with the greater Dallas, TX metropolitan area being home to no less than five anime conventions.
Theories abound as to why it moved away and then came back, but it was a welcomed move. The posh and spacious Gaylord Texan resort leaves an impression on everyone who sets foot inside. It's difficult to describe the sense of awe one experiences when first entering the grand atrium. It's overwhelming to look up at the expansive glass ceiling, complete with a star of Texas in the center. It was overflowing with lush landscaping which was in top form with plants and trees exquisitely maintained.
If you are fortunate enough to have an atrium view room, you can further take in the scale and grandeur of the space from your private balcony. The walkways were tidy and tile floors shining with fresh polish. Many guest rooms were also updated with new flooring, furniture, and lighting.
The strong Alamo-style theming is a prominent feature of the resort and makes photos from the event easily recognizable. In my Weebcon article from 2023 I dubbed this theming "Pirates of the Caribbean" and it's still an accurate description. You are literally walking into a large themed attraction, the quality of which rivals that of a Disney resort in design and construction. There's even a small re-creation of the San Antonio Riverwalk. While some broken tile and general wear and tear are starting to show in places, that's an acceptable concession considering the resort is already 22 years old.
Officially, WeebCon only occupies the generously sized convention center. It makes use of most of this space with a vendor hall which is much larger than it should be for an event of this size. It combines the vendors, artists, Itasha cars, guests and more in one large open space. Over 50 in-person guests were invited including 46 English-speaking voice actors, 5 Japanese voice actors, a band, and a wrestling troupe. Yes, there is an actual wrestling ring in the vendor hall with cute Asian women wearing maid outfits wrestling WWE style 🤯. The gaming hall was very small by comparison which points to the fact that WeebCon is an anime con first, second, and third. It shared a space with cosplay sets which were appreciated even though I didn't take advantage of them.
A claimed 150 virtual guests were listed as well, which seems a little ridiculous. How did they all attend? Was there a wall of TVs or monitors to display them? Is it even possible to meet all of these guests? At some point WeebCon could claim that every v-tuber on the internet is a guest since all they have to do is stream to some device at the con. I hope attendees enjoyed having these virtual guests because I'm definitely not the target demographic.
Cosplay is welcome at WeebCon, of course, and it is duly noted that there was some effort to coordinate with the Gaylord management to allow for more photography opportunities in the atrium. This is a marked improvement over previous years when the Gaylord management took a rather draconian approach towards cosplayers and photographers, allowing only handheld photography lights in the atrium in 2023 and no lights at all in 2024. They also had numerous security guards stationed throughout the atrium to keep watch in 2024. To top it off, they still have a policy against bunny cosplays since the event falls on Easter weekend! These reasons combined are why I produced no video for the 2024 event even though I was in attendance.
I assume the harsh stance against photography equipment was an attempt to reduce the number of photoshoots occurring in the precious atrium where normal guests might see. If so, it seems incredibly contradictory to accept the money of an anime convention while simultaneously restricting its attendees from enjoying certain parts of the resort. The resort and its atrium are what draws events to the convention center in the first place. It makes me think the management didn't understand the nature of an anime convention or its attendees.
Thankfully that animosity and lack of understanding seem to be gone. For 2026, the Gaylord designated two approved areas in the atrium where photography equipment such as light stands and lights could be used. A map was provided which highlighted the areas and outlined some policies. I saw no security guards at all this year, nor anyone being approached by hotel staff in regards to cosplay or photography. I used my light stand and light in the designated areas with great results. "A" for effort to both parties for coming up with a working solution.
As is typical, I have nothing to report about the actual WeebCon events. I did not attend any panels, contests, the maid cafe, nor the rave. I have in years past and there's really nothing which stands out. I do not apply for press for WeebCon since they previously had rather onerous requirements to cover specific events. Working for a con for free is ridiculous. The biggest and best events like Anime Expo and Anime NYC distribute press credentials with no strings attached. Besides, the best marketing is to allow established creators to do their thing and share with their audience as they normally do.
I'm really curious how the attendance numbers were this year versus previous years. Judging by the number of cosplayers I recorded with, I'd say it was the same as in 2024 or potentially less. The move to the Irving Convention Center might have hurt their growth momentum since that venue is broadly disliked according to my contacts.
This year, the vendor hall was quite busy throughout the weekend, which is always a good sign. I heard that vendors had a short five hour window of time in which to load in on Thursday. This was evident by the line of vehicles pulling trailers leading to the venue. This is in addition to issues around changes to booth layout and table numbers. It's typical for traffic to be backed up over the weekend for this event. The parking garage fills up quickly and people are forced to park in distant lots and walk or Uber to the resort. There are, of course, the usual complaints against WeebCon, but no convention is perfect. In past years there were issues with the cosplay contest, but I didn't hear of any issues this year.
The Cosplayers
I want to give a big thanks to all of the cosplayers who I shot with over the weekend. Give them a follow on their social media, linked below.
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