2026 ApollyCon Recap: Part 2

Here you have it, Part 2 of my ApollyCon recap posts for this year. I'm making my way through these posts one by one. Sigh. Not that I'm not excited to go through the memories of the events, it's just tedious gathering all of the information for it after I've waited for so long. But, that's my own fault. I should've written this up months earlier. Work was just overwhelming, so I delayed it. Anywho, Part 2 is just going to cover the Welcome to the Capital event during night two of ApollyCon. It's the signature JLA panel event where she discusses all things Blood and Ash and/or her writing in general.

  

When we walked in to the Welcome to the Capital event, they were handing out poppy flower crowns. I didn't put mine on because I didn't want to mess up my hair and it didn't match my green outfit. It turns out, that was a mistake. JLA specifically mentioned how cool it was to see all the flower crowns in the audience and wanted a pic of everyone with theirs on. Oops. Oh well. As usual with these events, there are so many things to take pics of. There are cardboard cutouts of the characters, large dragons, fancy decor, it's all very cool. On the walk in, there were even revenenants that we had to follow. I think you can see me in the original video, but I don't know if I want to watch it back. I'm sure I looked swell after waiting over an hour for the event to start.

 

A lot of the decor was from previous events, like the cutouts of the Flesh & Fire characters from 2025. However, they had an awesome spoilery image of Cas as the backdrop behind JLA and the Blue Box Press ladies, Jillian and Liz. There was also a more 3D cardboard version off to the side. It was super cool. JLA even took pics with attendees before the event started, which was great as my Friday signing day photos ended up being blurry and terrible, so at least I got these.

 

 

 

And here is where I start the photo dump of all the cool decor and cutouts. I don't have  much to say about them at the moment. Because I, once again, don't remember much since I let so much time slip by before writing this up. I also didn't take pics of some of the things that were there in previous years. I was trying to make good use of my limited time before the event started. I also had to take some selfies, which was difficult. Normally, my friend (who didn't attend this year) takes pics with me. The friend I did attend with took pics, but, understandably, she had to rest after we waited in line for so long. I must say, even with it being a selfie, the pic with shirtless Reaver is pretty great. Oh, there were also free macarons.

 

The panel itself didn't really consist of any new information. I think the biggest piece of news was that the final Blood & Ash book, The Throne of Bone and Ash, wasn't finished yet and probably wouldn't release in 2026 due to JLA's health and also because of how stressful the world currently is, which is definitely understandable. It was also mentioned that JLA designed the FBAA endpapers/edges and the A Crown of Ruin edition. 

 

As Ascended ticket holders with panel passes, we received a free Lug bag with the ApollyCon exclusive paperback of The War of Two Queens. My friend said the Ascended Lug bag looks like a lunchbox, and I can definitely see it. To me, it looks like a freezer bag or a sci-fi tote bag. I ended up giving mine to the friend I usually attend ApollyCon with. I thought about keeping it, but I have so many totes and there just wasn't any point. The Primal ticketholders received a mug and something else in their fancy silver bag. I was fine with what I got, though. I don't even use the Lug bag they gave out in 2025. I will say that trying to exit this event was a nightmare. People did not listen to the announcement about how/when to exit. It was chaos.

 

Well, that was all for the JLA event. This event is typically my favorite part of ApollyCon, followed by the signings, so I'm always taking more pictures than I probably need to. I felt like I didn't get as many good ones this year, though. My usual friend wasn't there to force me to pose better or make sure the pics weren't blurry. But, oh well, I still got some good ones. Stay tuned for the next recap post. Part 3 should cover Friday panels and a majority of the Saturday signing time.