Feel the Burn with Flame Con

FlameCon was a blast this past weekend. Hosted by GEEKS OUT, this convention is on its second year and we can say that they bought the burn that left us wanting more. Here’s what you can expect when attending this event and here’s why you should check them out next year:

FlameCon at The Sheraton in Times Square

The Convention

FlameCon is the world’s largest LGBTQ+ Comic Convention held at The Sheraton Hotel. They’re very straight forward when it comes to diversity as that is their primary focus. It felt very welcoming when entering and it’s pretty easy to get around as well. For a convention held in a hotel, I was surprised by the amount of space that they had here. No matter where you walked, it did not feel too crowded, maybe a bit in the dealer’s room when going through vendors but even the dealer’s room and artist alley were huge. The staff and volunteers were super friendly and knew where everything was, the guests there were also very interactive as well which is always nice. The lighting in this hotel would be my only issue as it’s not the perfect lighting for photos unless you have a really good camera with a flash that can make up for the poor lighting, other than that everything was absolutely great about this convention.

Dealers Room & Artist Alley

When we said that it was huge, we mean literally. The dealer’s room was more towards the main entrance as for the artist alley was in the back of the dealer’s room so they were both in the same area. It was entirely diverse, they had something for everyone here. We were amazed to see how many vendors were here, I want to say there had to be at least more than 60 in total, it made it extremely hard to decide what to buy since the variety was so good. There were also seats around the dealer’s room where people could sit at, not to mention a lot of space on the floor where you can sit down at and it didn’t interfere with the attendees walking around. There was even a photo station at the far right of the convention as well where you can take really good photos, it was perhaps the only spot that really had the best lighting in that area but even there was a line for the photo area. Did I mention that they had a coat & bag check for $6 and not only that but they had a Cosplay Repair Center as well which is always a plus for us.

Panels

The panel rooms were also huge, there were 3-panel rooms in total: the main stage on the first floor and 2 on the second floor. The main stage could seat about 100 or a even a bit more attendees. As someone that has been going to conventions for years, the bigger the panel room is the better. They had 2 Cosplay Contest as well, 1 for each day which is really nice because it gives you a chance to show off your best 2 cosplays and gives multiple people a chance to win. The winners for each day were diverse and by that I mean that no matter what you wore, you had a chance to win. I’m sure those can tell you that some of these cosplay contests can sometimes be biased when it comes to cosplayers so it was nice to see that this one wasn’t and treated everybody as an equal. The best panel was Bear Sailor Moon Lip Sync on Sunday. I was honestly left shook watching the contestants sashay and loved every minute of it so I hope to see it come back when I go again next year. They also had the Gaymer Lounge going on all day for both days which they held a variety of events such as D&D Sessions, Speed Dating Sessions, Gaming Tournaments and more.

Cosplay Contest Judges & Cosplay Contest Winners

Wrapping Up

FlameCon is a blast and it is definitely a convention that you should check out. The convention has a great atmosphere, excellent staff, fun panels and more. Although we wish the lighting was better, we can’t wait to see what GEEKS OUT has to present to us next year as they know how to bring it. We’ll be back for 2020, see you until then!!!!!

*Be sure to check out our gallery to see if your cosplay made it in on our website.