To being to cap off Miniatures Week 2026, I’ve decided to take a broader glance back at March’s convention trail. This year has been a lot, so far. I don’t believe that I’ve done this many shows in such a short period of time recently. Back in the 00s and into 10s, I’d average about 9 to 10 shows a year, but they tended to be more spread out throughout the year. I have a solid chance of getting up to 12 or 13 shows in this year, which speaks to how busy the companies in the Geek Culture space are this year.
March was good because it gave me a wide view of what is going on in each segment of the games industry, comics industry, and collectibles business. Here are a few observations that I discerned per show I attended:
GAMA Expo. This was the best show for the games business in 2026 (thus far). The traffic at our booth was insane, people were constantly stopping by to engage Milton and I whenever we sat down there to rest from walking the floor. I appreciate all of the positive feedback we received from manufacturers and retailers alike at the show. Thank you all, and please keep supporting our site.
In general, the biggest theme of the show was delayed releases. I kind of had an inkling going in that I’d see a bunch of stuff I saw last year (that had ended up being slated for 2026 because of tariffs). It seemed like a lot of companies bided their time to see how the tariff situation panned out, and then jammed all their 2025 releases out the door when things stabilized. Beyond that, the TCG companies are just making money hand over fist, and trying to squeeze as many precious eggs as they can out of the Golden Goose that is the hot TCG market before it slows down.
Gary Con. This show was the best regional show in the first half of the year (thus far). The big takeaway from this show in 2026 was that the new D&D design team came out and officially recognized that their ship had sailed away from the expectations of their core fan base. It took a lot of guts for Head of the D&D Franchise Dan Ayoub to actually show up in Lake Geneva, the birthplace of the game, and say that (see “The Franchise“), and I give him real credit for beginning his campaign to reconnect with fans at that show. Beyond all that, the show also highlighted how strong the RPG business is, as there are so many small companies rising in the ranks.
Chicago Greater Sports Spectacular. I try to do a few sports card shows every year, and this spring, I went to the Chicago Greater Sports Spectacular. The main reason I do these shows is to get a bead on the non-sports card business and to meet with auction houses and grading companies. The lesson I learned from this show is just how popular Pokemon TCG, One Piece CG, and Dragon Ball Fusion World actually are.
The TCG industry is so large that it is actually encroaching upon the sports card space. According to a Gemrate survey, there have been more Pikachu cards graded all-time than Michael Jordan and Shohei Ohtani cards combined. Monkey D. Luffy is a rising star in the graded card world; there are more of his cards graded all-time than Aaron Judge cards (and the printing of Judge cards predates the One Piece CG). The dealers at these shows have figured this out as well; at most tables, dealers had at least two to three cases filled with Pokemon TCG, One Piece CG, and DBZ cards (oddly, Magic was nowhere to be found).
AdeptiCon. I had wondered about how the miniatures space was doing and was a little worried going in because of what I saw at GAMA Expo (it was tough to tell what was going on there from the booths at GAMA Expo). AdeptiCon quelled all those fears. Starcraft (see “‘Starcraft: Tabletop Miniatures Game’“) and Gundam Assemble (see “Buzzworthy“) are the real deal and potential hits. Hobby enthusiasts are spending big money on the big miniatures lines; Warmachine is killing it, BattleTech is doing great, AMG’s lines are doing well, and Warhammer is still Warhammer. Trench Crusade is also a notable up and coming game.
C2E2. This was the only show that I attended that concerned me a little. Now, for those of you that are unaware, the comics industry has been absolutely on fire going into 2026. The DC Absolute titles were hits last year (led by Absolute Batman), blind-bagged books are selling well, Keenspot’s Mark Spear’s books are hot, and Image Comics had recent hits with D’orc and White Sky. Manga is also still hot, fueled by the popularity of anime events in theaters and new releases on streaming channels.
However, at C2E2, there were more TCG companies present than major comics publishers. The Artist Alley was pretty well populated, but there were very few actual comic book dealer booths. Additionally, there were several random non-comics related booths strewn throughout the show floor (the Chicago White Sox, different cell phone providers, food vendors, etc). It was confusing for me to know that comics industry is doing this well, but C2E2 is having issues filling their floor with more actual comic book companies. This show may need to do something to reconnect with its core premise (the comics that brought them there).
Well, that’s what went down over the course of March 2026. My next show stop will be at MagicCon Las Vegas, so I’ll see you all there.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
Read more at this site