Cards, Comics, Kicks and Community: Harlingen to Host First Collector’s Collision Convention

(This article was written by Abigail Muniz-Garcia and was featured in the November 2025 issue of Explore Harlingen Magazine.)

Sneakerheads, comic book aficionados, cosplayers and collectors get ready for an event that is gearing up to be a momentous occasion for new and seasoned participants of the hobby world. It is set to take place on November 29 and 30 at the Harlingen Convention Center.

Jesse Rosales, owner of Kulture Shock Collectibles in Brownsville and a partner of the Collector’s Collision Convention said the idea for this event came from a desire to bring all the cultures of the hobby world together.

“You never really have an event focused on trying to bring all of them together and that’s where we came in,” Rosales said. “We talked to the Harlingen Convention Center. They agreed, they were on board to try to do something like this… we appreciate it.”

The idea was also inspired by Collect-A-Con, the nation’s largest trading card, pop culture and anime convention. Rosales mentioned that interest in collecting cards has increased since 2020, and they wanted to make sure that it was something that would be part of their convention.

“That (cards) had been kind of a dead market for twenty years,” he said. “But all of a sudden now it’s the hot collectible– sports cards, Pokémon cards, pretty much any kind of cards.”

Rosales reached out to the owners of J&V’s Toys, Games and More of Harlingen in March of this year and set things in motion for the convention. They, along with a silent partner, are all organizing, planning, promoting and coordinating the many aspects of the convention in conjunction with the Harlingen Convention Center.

Rosales’ history with events and conventions of this type spans decades, and he has a sense of pride to be able to have the event in Harlingen, where his family is originally from.

“I’m very proud to be able to bring things like this to the Valley,” he said.

 Viola Garza, co-owner of J&V’s Toys, Games and More feels similarly about the convention.

“This is something we like to do and we like to share with the community- what better than here in Harlingen, our beloved Harlingen,” she said. 

Garza and her husband, Jaime Cruz, have been operating their business for over seventeen years. She has been passionate about the hobby world since they opened and shares that she believes it brings families together.

“We want to make it affordable for them to enjoy it and have that extra cash to go in there and go spend with their kids,” Garza said. “That’s when they spend their quality time as a family, something that they like to do.”

Over 100 vendors are expected at the convention. Items that will be sold include comics, sports cards, memorabilia, Pokémon and trading card games, toys, Funko Pops, sneakers and many more. A gamer tournament is also scheduled for the event. There will also be opportunities to meet and get autographs and photos with cosplayers, voice actors and artists such as Guy Gilchrist who is a writer, musician and artist known for his comics and children’s books.

For more information, you can find the event page on Facebook: Collector’s Collision Convention 2025 or follow J&V’s Toys Games and More and Kulture Shock Collectibles Brownsville on Facebook as well.