My website stats are going up, must mean that it’s getting close to Halloween! Some of my most popular posts are Simple & Cheap Family Costumes, More Simple & Cheap Family Halloween Costumes, How to make a DIY Boy’s Elvis Jumpsuit Halloween Costume, Last Minute Yogi Bear Costume and DIY Family Costume: Life Cycle of a Butterfly. Halloween is my most celebrated holiday of the year, and my family is lucky enough to drag it out starting in September by attending both The New York Renaissance Faire and New York Comic Con–that makes for three family costumes in the fall!

I shared some lessons learned, my favorite costumes, and covid protocol differences from New York Comic Con 2021, but I wasn’t writing in the blog so much in October 2022–life got a bit harder when my preschooler stopped taking naps. But! I got an email the other day announcing TIM freakin’ CURRY as a guest at the convention, and thought I’d round up some of my favorite costumes from the event.

Is it worth it to go to New York ComicCon?

Last year, my oldest son–a once walking encyclopedia of Marvel Comics trivia–wasn’t sure if he really wanted to go to New York Comic Con at all. He was a freshman in high school and his art style drifted from constant super hero drawing to a graffiti art style influenced by street artists like Basquiat. Superheroes felt juvenile, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to keep going to ‘Con.

Then, we went. I, too, forgot how fun it is to see everyone in costume. Some people really go all out, others just wear t-shirts of their favorite fandom. Some don’t dress up at all, others get so decked out that they spend no time in the actual convention–just time standing outside of it posing for picture after picture.

It was thrilling! We’ll never again forget how fun it is to see people who are interested in the same characters, and the feeling of community you can get at a Con.

Our DIY Family Costume for NYCC 2022: Good Burger Staff

My oldest son argued for quite some time that Good Burger is the “greatest film of all time.” He’ would carry on about its cinematic value and aesthetic qualities like it wasn’t a Nickelodeon movie from nearly 30 years ago. It came as no surprise that he wanted us to dress as Good Burger employees for NYCC 2022.

What did come as a surprise, however, is that there was one other person we saw at the convention who shares our love for the film.

My son was channeling Ed’s character when we’d take photos that day, with a silly clueless look on his face.

Seeing that person, and that excitement of knowing that she loves this obscure-ish old movie enough to dress up like the cast, is exactly what I was referencing in the above section. Regardless of how ubiquitous a film, comic, show, or game is, when you see someone across the room dressed up as someone from it, you have an instant connection of sameness. Fill a convention center with those people, and you have an instant community.

Favorite Costumes at NYCC 2022

Before we walked into the Javitz, we knew we we were amongst our people. We saw others in costume on the subway over, and even the street performer in the subway station was dressed as Wonder Woman along with her violin.

My favorite costumes are often from 90’s cartoons, especially from Nickelodeon. I don’t really watch TV these days but TV characters like these raised me so they have a special place in my heart.

Since we’re on the subject of Spongebob, the Nickelodeon area had a really great set up with interactive games and photoprops. Here’s a photo of us at one:

Though South Park was a far cry from a Nickelodeon show, I was one of the first kids to hear about the show when my mom (yes, my mom) introduced my sister and I to some clips from it when I was in fourth grade. I definitely grew up tuning in!

Beetlejuice was one of the VHS tapes we had in our limited collection–someone had recorded it from live TV, commercials and all, and given it to us. I can still vividly remember the Honey Bunches of Oats and Pepsi slots, and it was over a decade of watching the film before I saw the first ten minutes.

TALK ABOUT NOSTALGIA.

I’ll blabber less.

Runner Up Costumes

These are cool looking and well executed, but not characters I fangirl over. Still worth photographing!

A Few Extras to Round it all Out

There’s always tons of talented artists at Comic Con, of course, and their booths are obviously the ones I’m most interested in visiting. I’ve got several photos of the various booths and have bought prints, but I wanted to share this work from James Hobson.

I love that he used Keith Haring-inspired characters to illustrate scenes from the film, Pulp Fiction. I’ve created several Keith Haring inspired works and I like what he did with the idea.

Tobias was stoked to meet John Leguizamo, he even got a signed copy of his comic–yes, apparently he makes comics.

WILL TOMAGOTCHIS MAKE A COMEBACK?!

In conclusion, heed this warning: