FlameCon 2024 was absolutely amazing!

FlameCon 2024, which celebrated its tenth anniversary earlier this month at the Sheraton Times Square, was phenomenal! Walking into this LGBTQ+ comic convention, you immediately realized that everything was queer, and it was beautiful. As a Black queer woman myself, it was so much fun to walk into a convention made by us, for us.

There was an exhibition hall with all kinds of queer items, including t-shirts, keychains, posters, pins, bags, books, and basically anything you can imagine. Artists sold anime and cartoon art, as well as posters from shows, movies, and games like Steven Universe, One Piece, Genshin Impact, She-Ra and the Power Princess, The Owl House, Heaven Official’s Blessing, Honkai Impact, Scream, Haikyu!!, Supernatural, Naruto, Sailor Moon, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and many more.

Among all the vendors present, I was drawn to Apparelleelexi, a booth where Lexi was selling her handmade anime bags. Some designs included the Soot Goblin from Spirited Away and a Calcifer from Howl’s Moving Castle, both from Studio Ghibli. Lexi told the AmNews that she started her business around the pandemic in 2021. “I wanted an All Might bag. I couldn’t find it anywhere, so I made it myself. I also started designing pins for my bags. I wanted to make it accessible to everyone and make it as fun as possible.” Lexi’s goal is to turn this into a full-fledged clothing store.

Some other vendors sold LGBTQ+ manga and novels, like Yen Press with their romance books for girls and boys, including “She Loves To Cook, She Loves To Eat,” “The Red Thread,” “Cuckoos Three,” and “This Monster Wants To Eat Me.” After exploring the exhibition hall, it was on to the panel discussions. One of the panels I was able to attend was “The Art And Biz of Queer Voiceover,” moderated by Princess Weekes with panelists such as JP Karliak, Noel Palmer, AaimzTako, and Tom Cat, who talked about their experiences being queer and trans in the voice acting community; the types of characters they enjoy voice-overing; and how they discovered themselves during their voice acting careers. The panelists talked about the importance of having a Plan B when pursuing a career in voice acting. People were also encouraged to stand up for themselves when given certain scripts. When asked how they felt connected to their characters, Palmer was quick to respond: “There’s always a part of the character that’s a part of you.”

The whole room said in unison: “Everyone’s voice counts.” It was a powerful moment.
Cosplays were galore from various fandoms including Marvel, DC Comics, Hazbin Hotel, Steven Universe, Sailor Moon, Power Rangers, Pokemon, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Yu-Gi-Oh!, My Hero Academia, The Owl House, Heaven’s Official Blessing, and even Chuck E. Cheese. As I walked around, I came across Doctor Strange, Batman, Luffy, Steven Universe, Peridot, Neptune, Izuku, Luz, and many others.

This was my first time at FlameCon and it was a great experience. I will definitely be back next year. Hope to see you there! For more information visit www.flamecon.org.

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