Sapphira Mohammed, Copy Editor
Superman, Bumblebee, Pompompurin and Frank-N-Furter all walk into the same bar. Why? Because they just got back from GalaxyCon, obviously — the annual convention filled with some of Richmond’s finest entertainers and performers.
GalaxyCon LLC is a convention company based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that organizes comic book and anime conventions in the United States. The company has hosted the convention in Richmond since 2019.
Actors, directors and entertainers from all areas of pop culture media come to the convention to speak on panels and meet fans. This year included actor Hayden Christensen from “Star Wars” and the director of “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World,” Edgar Wright.
Inside the exhibition hall is Artist Alley, a designated area in a convention where artists display and sell their work to convention attendees, according to GalaxyCon’s website.
Austin Vestel, a Salisbury, Maryland-based corset maker and leather worker, has been vending at conventions for 15 years. He said conventions like GalaxyCon have been a huge help to his boutique, Corset & Cogs.
“I quickly learned that in a weekend, I could make what I made in an entire month in my physical location,” Vestal said. “So just getting my work into the eyes of people who understand me, understand my work and understand the culture is a humongous game changer.”
Cosplaying is a big facet of GalaxyCon — attendees were dressed up head-to-toe and several cosplay took place. Cosplayer Morgan Le Foy said that she has been cosplaying since 2014.
“I always was like the kid who took Halloween and Spirit Week extremely seriously. The first time I went to a convention and I saw everyone dressed up, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to get involved with this,’” Le Foy said.
Le Foy is also a cosplay contest host and admires GalaxyCon’s inclusivity.
“I like that Galaxy Con works really hard to have something for everybody. A lot of conventions won’t acknowledge niche communities, and I feel like they’re really good at pinpointing that and creating spaces at their convention for everybody, not just comic fans,” Le Foy said.
What happens after dark
One of GalaxyCon’s known features is its 18+ After Dark events, where the “Rugrats” go to sleep and “Josie and the Pussycats” come out to play.
Friday night included Drag Bingo from 6-7:30 pm, in which queens Michelle Livigne and Javon Love hosted several rounds of bingo with performances sprinkled in between. Love was dressed up as Ruby Rhod from “The Fifth Element” and Livigne in her own flashy attire that Love described as a “prolapsed anus.”
The drag queens were showered with money, applause and laughter from the audience throughout the night and ended their performance by telling the audience to go support your local drag queens and drag shows because “drag is joy, and joy is resistance.”
One of the final shows for the weekend was GalaxyCon’s annual Cosplay Cabaret, hosted by emcee and burlesque dancer Ginger Oh Snap. Snap has a background in musical theatre and got into burlesque performing after having emcee’d conventions that had burlesque shows she would attend.
“I just love being in front of the live audience and having that immediate energy feedback. I have done film work and music videos, things like that, and that’s also really fun, but nothing beats a live audience,” Snap said.
Snap thinks that the reasoning behind the Cosplay Cabaret being such a hit at conventions is that media such as comics and anime have the same kind of satire and farce that burlesque does.
“When you think of how prevalent fan fiction is, right, that’s what nerdy burlesque is. It’s our nerdy burlesque fan fiction for a character that we love,” Snap said. “And so they get to see characters that they love and know in a certain light, in a very different light at our show.”
The Cabaret was from 10 pm to midnight with a packed audience, its line wrapped around the entire left side of the second floor. Performers Snap, Rosie Cheeks, Redrum, Chère Noble and Guns Ahimbo performed as femme Loki from “Avengers,” Scar from “the Lion King,” historical figure Grigori Rasputin and Cammy and Vega from “Street Fighter,” and many more performances.
Attendees Elijah and Dashawn came to GalaxyCon as their first-ever convention. The two dressed up as Monkey D. Luffy and Roronoa Zoro from “One Piece” and traveled a long way from their home to be at the event.
“I’m just glad that there’s a lot of people who came in cosplay because normally when I cosplay, I feel like the oddball out, and now I usually cosplay with my friends, but now I get to see people and it’s just normal,” Dashawn said. “I feel like I’m at home. So glad I got to come out to one of these.”
GalaxyCon has two other convention branches across the country— Animate! — which focuses on animation, and Nightmare Weekend — which specializes in horror and Halloween-themed events, according to its website, galaxycon.com . To find out about their upcoming events in different cities across the country, visit their Instagram @galaxyconlive.