The Magical Multiverse of Oklahoma Comic Con 2025

Like most parents who watched our Gen Alpha and Z kiddos endure the long, lonely isolation of the COVID Years, there’s little I love more than seeing my 14-year-old connect with other teens and absolutely mindmeld over a shared interest. 

There’s just something electric and purely magical about the way they warm up from shy and reserved to bubbling auctioneers mutually infodumping about their favorite fan theories — a phenomenon one of my favorite cousins calls “furbying” because it reminds her of the way two Furbys harmoniously chatter away in Furbish when pushed together. 

And of all the extraordinary events and experiences at fan conventions, it will always be my favorite thing. It’s something I got to see a lot at Oklahoma Comic Con this year thanks in no small part to the positive, family-friendly culture. Here’s a breakdown of everything we experienced at our first Oklahoma Comic Con (and why we can’t wait to go back again next year!). 

So Many Fandoms, So Little Time

While we typically travel with the whole Roe-Owen crew, it was just me and Luci this time — the type of mother-daughter time that hardly ever happens in our busy lives these days. This was our first time to cover Oklahoma Comic Con, and we were super excited to check out everything this sprawling event had to offer.

The convention took place at Arvest Convention Center, which was positively packed with cosplayers from the moment we arrived early on Saturday morning. Everywhere we went, we saw “our people” — the Trekkies, the LARPers, the groups of kids repping for Luci’s favorite object show Battle for Dream Island and her favorite game, Deltarune. That made it hard to get very far in any one direction but in the best way possible because we kept meeting the friendliest, coolest folks. 

We were pretty excited to see the variety of scheduled meetups, which included Star Trek, Disney, Power Rangers, Ghostbusters, DC, Marvel, Arcane, Star Wars, Horror, Hazbin Hotel, Genshin Impact, and Nintendo Universe. If you’re heading to next year’s con, be sure to check the convention’s Instagram for the meetup schedule ahead of the event. 

Our Favorite Vendors

As one of Oklahoma’s top fandom conventions, Oklahoma Comic Con had a fairly expansive vendor arena filled with all kinds of artists, vendors, and various fan merch from all over the country. These were a few of our favorites:

1. Evergarden Creations

The storefront of Tennessee voice actor/prop master/cosplayer Justin Evergarden, Evergarden Creations featured some of the coolest Fallout merchandise we’d ever seen including a custom Vault-Tec van kitted out with all kinds of Wasteland necessities right down to the Nuka-Cola and Buffout. When I tell you I could have spent all day obsessing over their adorable Fallout props — let’s just say the kid had to drag me away. 

2. USS Sun-Tzu NCC 1745

If you’ve read my blog for any amount of time, you probably know that I’m a massive Trekkie. In fact, that’s where the name “Coffee Nebula” comes from, a reference to Captain Janeway’s declaration that “There’s coffee in that nebula!” from “Star Trek: Voyager.” So of course I was excited to stop and geek out at the booth of the USS Sun-Tzu, a chapter of the International Star Trek Fan Association. 

3. John Marks’ Falkor & Friends

Propmaster John Marks brought along an entire Falkor you can literally ride on and film your own magical “Neverending Story” moment, and it was truly something to behold watching both kids and adults live out Bastian Bux’s dream on the back of the world’s cutest luck-dragon for a mere $20 per person. For a few bucks more, you could hang out with the Rockbiter, save Artax, or survive G’mork. And a portion of the proceeds go to the Make a Wish Foundation. 

Believe me when I say I’m absolutely kicking myself for not realizing this would have made the perfect senior picture for my rising senior sons until the convention was over. 

4. Oklahoma Garrison of the 501st Legion

The kids and I developed a fondness for these guys back when we were still playing GISH (Greatest International Scavenger Hunt) and every hunt seemed to feature a handful of Storm Trooper-related items. If you’ve never had the pleasure, the 501st is an international community of Star Wars cosplayers who portray “villainous, morally ambiguous, or non-partisan characters” — in other words, not the good guys. We’re talking Storm Troopers, bounty hunters, and various Sith lords. But unlike the real Vader, these folks actually use the dark side to promote good through charity work. 

5. The Chronicles of Royal High

Litfin is the adorable author of this profoundly charming YA fantasy series with books like “The Lost Noble,” “Dragon’s Wrath,” and “The Siren’s Talon.” Here’s her description of the series: “This is ‘The Chronicles of Royal High,’ a series that follows the teenage nobility of the magical realms of Edenarth. 

They find they must band together to reforge the ancient order of paladins to fight back the dragons of their realm, all while attending Royal High, the finishing school for the nobility. The vibes on this series? Take the Princess Diaries movie, mix in Dungeons and Dragons, add a magical royal finishing academy.”

If that sounds as amazing to you as it does to us, you can pick up a copy of her books here.  

6. Josh Cullen’s Art

The best I can describe this is pop culture fan art with a Halloween skater vibe to it. Luci and I were obsessed with all of it from the Mario universe Shy Guy art to the Pan’s Labyrinth creature. It is some of the coolest and most unique fan art we’ve seen at a convention, full stop. Check out his stuff here.

7. Steve Garcia’s Art

Steve Garcia is a professional animator and illustrator for all kinds of comic books, movies, and book art. His long list of animation credits includes work on “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” and “The Iron Giant.” And his booth was full of fantastic horror-themed pieces including (our favorite) a couple of Bert and Ernie horror pieces. 

8. Sley House Publishing

Sley House is a small publishing house specializing in horror and science fiction books. The owner actually started off publishing his own work (The Sley House series) and has expanded over time to publish a ton of really cool content. He told me they’re also working on expanding into more YA and younger reader content. All my R.L. Stine lovers out there should definitely check out their offerings. They also accept submissions for any of y’all sitting on a cool spooky novel idea. 

Oklahoma Comic Con Guests

The sheer volume of big name guests for this convention was kind of mind-blowing and included Star Trek legend Denise Crosby, the brilliant Vicki Lawrence, Philip J. Fry himself Billy West, Good Burger’s Kel Mitchell, and my favorite Goonie, hobbit, and former Tiger Beat Magazine heartthrob, Sean Astin.  

And that’s really just the beginning of the convention’s outstanding lineup. Here’s the full list along with where you might know them from:

• Alan Oppenheimer (the voice of Falkor and Mighty Mouse, among others)
• Maurice LaMarche (Kif on Futuraman and The Brain of “Pinky and the Brain”)
• Rob Paulsen (Pinky of Pinky and the Brain and Yakko of “Animaniacs”)
• Cam Clarke (Leonardo from TMNT)
• Townsend Coleman (Michaelangelo from TMNT)
• Barry Gordon (Donatello from TMNT)
• Renae Jacobs (April O’Neil from TMNT)
• Steve Cardenas (“Power Rangers”)
• Cristina Vee (Rei Hino/Sailor Mars from “Sailor Moon”)
• Joshua Seth (Taichi “Tai” Kamiya from “Digimon”)
• Brianna Knickerbocker (Kanao Tsuyuri and Nichika Ubuyashiki from “Demon Slayer”)
• Sandy Fox (Chibiusa/Sailor Chibi Moon from “Sailor Moon Crystal”)
• Bryson Baugus (Leland in “Lazarus”)
• Lex Lang (Suguru Geto in “Jujutsu Kaisen”)
• Jonah Scott (Legoshi in “Beastars”)
• Ron Simmons (WWE/WCW)
• John Layfield AKA JBL (WWE)
• Danhausen (All Elite Wrestling)
• Michael Golden (Marvel Comics artist)
• Jeremy Clark (Disney Gargoyles and DC Comics artist)
• Arthur Suydam (Marvel comics artist)
• Mike DeCarlo (DC Comics artist)
• Renee Witterstaetter (Marvel and DC Comics artist)
• Brian Denham (Zombie Kid Diaries creator)
• Little Red Fox Cosplay
• Quirky Penguin Cosplay
• Bat Outta Hale Cosplay
• Justin Evergarden Cosplay

While we didn’t get a chance to see everyone we hoped to, Luci and I did get to see both Kel Mitchell and Sean Astin’s appearances. The one thing that just really struck us was how gracious, present, and completely appreciative of their fans both guests were. It was such a blast to hear their stories and experiences bringing characters we love as fans to life. 

Convention Fan Panels and Gaming

This wasn’t the first convention where we found ourselves wishing for some sci-fi trope like clones or multiple timelines to let us experience multiple panels at once. Oklahoma Comic Con has super cool, thoughtful, and interesting panels on their lineup on a pretty broad range of topics including things like cosplay basics, pop culture analysis, DMing, and fandom.

Here’s a handful of what I thought sounded like the coolest panels:

• Fandoms through the Ages
• SFX on a Budget
• Magic & Illusions
• Utilizing Graphic Novels and Manga in the Classroom
• Historical Building Techniques in Non-Historical Cosplays
• The DM Bible

There was also a board game library and Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Magic the Gathering tournaments throughout the weekend as well as a video game area with SMASH and Street Fighter 6 tournaments. 

And on the lobby stage, Luci and I got to see Okie Idol Fest. If you’re unfamiliar, these are dancers who pay tribute to J-Pop and K-Pop idol culture through their performances. They’re incredibly talented, and it was a ton of fun to check out. 

The Big Cosplay Event

The big moment in every convention is the cosplay competition, and Oklahoma Comic Con attendees certainly brought their A-game. We really loved that this convention has a category for Masquerade and Kids Masquerade, which basically means you don’t have to handcraft your cosplay to participate. 

If you or your kiddo has ever wanted to try competitive cosplay but you’re not at the level of hand-sewing every little detail and carving all your props, this is a fantastic low-pressure way to test the waters and try out the performative aspect of cosplay, especially since cosplay can get pretty competitive. I’ll never forget how formative and confidence-building Luci’s first experience was in a kids’ masquerade at Tulsa Pop Expo a few years back when she DIYed her own Toy Freddy cosplay from FNAF. 

The kids in the kids’ masquerade were too cute for words. And even with the adults in the masquerade category, it was just so much fun to feel like we were all rooting for them. All of us were there for the same thing: to appreciate the fandoms we love together. As ugly and difficult as the Real Adult World has been lately, it was good to be reminded of the positivity and love we can all share together when we focus on finding something we love to share together and just rooting for good things to happen. 

And then there were the competitive cosplayers, a few of whom blew me away with the talent and dedication they put into their costumes. The creativity and pure artistry is impressive on its face, but once you stop to consider the countless hours of work and the amount of patience that went into some of these cosplays, it’s even more mind-blowing. 

The Magic of the Comic Con Multiverse

Luci and I left the convention on a wave of serotonin after so many wonderful conversations and new connections we’d made throughout the weekend. Although it’s only for a couple of days each year, conventions like these create a sort of pocket universe full of like-minded souls, kind folks who long to connect and share something magical together. Especially for teens like Luci, conventions like Oklahoma Comic Con create a much-needed third space where friendships can form and creativity can blossom. And the fact we found a calm room for neurospicy folks on the convention grounds made it even better. 

To check out more Oklahoma Comic Con adventures, check out the amazing photos and reels from Kayty Developed Photography, the gifted cosplay photography crew we had the absolute pleasure of meeting at OCC, and the Facebook page of our old convention photography buddy Destroyer X. And please go subscribe to the Voice of the Heroes podcast where you can hear interviews with some of the folks featured at Oklahoma Comic Con this year!

Thanks for reading, and we hope you have an enchanted week in your little nebula!