FlameCon 2022

Wow. What a con! I’d heard nothing but good things (and seen nothing but fabulous photos) from previous FlameCon events, and I’m so thrilled that I was able to join in the fun this year after a two year hiatus. This is truly a con unlike any other. If I had to sum it up in one word, that word would be

Connection

I met some of you for the first time, and we simply chatted at my table about science, about cryptids, and about rubber ducks. Some of you I know as artists, and I got to tell you how you’ve inspired my journey to this point. Some of you I met for the first time as artists, and I’m still marveling a bit that you’ve accepted me as a member of your ranks. And some of you I reconnected with after an almost three-year hiatus from the cosplay scene, which I left rather unceremoniously as I struggled with mental health.

I loved the casualness of cosplay at this convention. No one was running from shoot to shoot, unable to talk for more than a minute — not that great shots weren’t taken! Although there was an official cosplay competition, the air of competition between cosplays for “most accurate” or “best lookalike” was not present. I saw so many people bring lesser known but nonetheless-beloved-to-them characters they were excited to talk about, and I was equally delighted by the creative takes people put on their cosplays to fully embrace the LGBTQ+ theme.

I’m left with the feeling that FlameCon provides something vital not just to the LGBTQ+ Community, but to the cosplay community that so frequently intersects it. As cosplay becomes more and more mainstream, more commercialized, it’s easy to forget that an essential part of the word is

Play

We’re drawn to these characters for a reason. We see something of ourselves in their journeys. Sometimes they even help us to understand something about ourselves that we didn’t have the words for before. We each own our own experiences. Seeing those experiences brought to life this weekend by so many dedicated individuals willing to share their stories was a privilege.

I’m giving myself a day of just basking in the joy of this weekend before I get down to business to defeat the Huns break down my analytics and tell you about what will come next for ScienFae. I’ll simply close with this sentiment: Thank you for making this such an incredible weekend. I was blown away by your art, by your cosplay, and more importantly by your generosity buying things for friends and supporting my quest to donate to Love More. Judge Less. You let me spend my days trying to put good into the universe, and that keeps me going. I’m eternally grateful.

Thanks New York! I’ll see you again in October for NYCC!