It was about a week ago when the PiercingMetal High Command was once again in attendance at the always inclusive “Flame Con” convention. As mentioned in the previous installment, the event comes care of the folks from GEEKSOUT and is the largest LGBTQ+ convention of its kind and it continues to be held at the Sheraton Times Square Hotel. I’m continuing from where I left off in the previous post and will finish up here since I was only able to attend on one day. Let’s start with one of the team working on the DC Comics “Blue Beetle” comic series.

I didn’t know this cosplay at all but was fascinated by it just the same. I hope those cosplayers could breathe under all that stuff.

Perhaps I should have sung “Breaking The Law” at this unmasked coser since one was supposed to be sporting a mask at the convention….again.

The artists Thomas Kozell and Emi Grimm had some nice stuff on display and I was happy to include them in my overview. They didn’t feel like doing interviews which was a bummer but not everyone feels like doing that stuff at busy conventions.

A creepy Brightburn cosplay was walking around and I mean the outfit not the cosplayer. I have to see this one still, its apparently about an evil Superman type child.

Here’s Mara Jayne Carpenter who we spoke to for a few minutes.

There was a little of everything in this cosplayer group. DC And Marvel united for Geeky Good.

Everyone at this sticker and pin booth was super sweet and kind. Smiles hidden because masks.

I helped this Luffy with a picture for their own records and she kindly let me include her in the coverage as well.

Here’s the awesome Sarah Myer who you might know from all of the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” comics that they have worked on.

Here’s Kaylee Rowena and Tehlor Kay Mejia who had a number of interesting artwork, stickers and books. We had a fun chat as well and I hope the convention rocked for them.

Always great to find some Trekkies in the building.

This is a creator known as HamletMachine and they create a series called “Starfighter”. Sadly I wasn’t able to peruse it based on my being behind schedule and being close to the time that I wanted to head back home.

Aquaman was here and I hope he got to some water fast enough.

There was a step and repeat for attendees to pose with two of the newest “Flamies”.

I headed over to the press room but outside of the sign there wasn’t much to share with you. A room full of tables and chairs is not that interesting. Unless you are a convention layout designer I guess.

As you can see by all of the photos of the people that were in these narratives, Flame Con has chosen to remain a masked affair based on COVID-19. This is despite it no longer being a mandate or even something that a majority of people are no longer doing. Truth be told I understand where they are coming from but I think at this stage of the game it should be “mask up if you’re uncomfortable”. Having worked in the COVID Safety sector during the height of it I was pro-mask when it was required to be that way. To not wear one on the subway ride of two packed trains here to walk a chaotic city with scores of people into a hotel that didn’t require them to visit an event that did makes no damn sense to me anymore. As someone who needs to talk the entire time I was out of breath from mine being on all day. My two cents but I did speak to many who were over these things in such a space.

They were holding a bit of a Scavenger Hunt, so the interested had to find all the stamps being delivered at a number of exhibitors tables. I don’t recall what you won if you participated but I think I heard someone say it was a special sticker. This card was being filled by a friend at the convention. I don’t have times for such things when doing our media canvassing.

Warnings are good and one must always mind their devices.

I found the 10th Anniversary Flame Con jacket to be stylish and sleek but felt this kind of item was better suited for staff or other convention associates, like vendors or volunteers.

So that’s going to wrap up my adventures from the 10th Anniversary edition of Flame Con. I had a good time but did this solo which meant there was no one to bounce ideas off of or do some additional research for interviews and coverage pieces. The Sunday edition of the convention let’s the younger attendees come in for free which is a nice idea. Now that I’ve attended for several years I think they do need to offer up some changes to keep this a special affair. It’s a good time though and I was happy to attend once again. Next up for me will be the Anime NYC convention and then the mighty New York Comic Con. The interested folks in all this stuff might want to keep up with the PiercingMetal happenings via our Branded Linktree which can be accessed by clicking the hyperlinked text.

Official: https://www.flamecon.org/
Official: https://www.geeksout.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flamecon
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/geeksout/