GalaxyCon Columbus 2023 Photos, Part 1 of 3: A Very Special Cosplay Christmas

My wife wearing a Santa hat and blue hoodie with a Starfleet insignia (drawn with Christmas lights wrapped around it) and the slogan "Trek the Halls". She happily hugs an elderly jolly man in Santa hat, beard, red vest with green Christmas trees on it, and a Vegas lounge jacket covered in red sequins.

IT’S SANTA! I KNOW HIM!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: Anne and I enjoy attending entertainment and comic conventions together, whether in our hometown of Indianapolis or in adjacent states (or sometimes beyond). She’s been doing them since the early ’90s, and invited me to tag along as our relationship evolved from classmates to coworkers to neighbors to BFFs to husband-and-wife. We’re the Goldens. It’s who we are and what we do.

Last year we attended the inaugural GalaxyCon Columbus in Ohio’s very own capital, which had arisen from the ashes of the top-notch yet short-lived GalaxyCon Louisville. We were happy the show went over well enough to merit a return engagement, with another lengthy guest list for fans of all media across the pop culture spectrum.

Before we showcase the latest additions to our celeb photo-op collection: it’s cosplay time! Per tradition we compiled an itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny gallery of the costumes we photographed during our hours in and around the exhibit hall whenever we weren’t trapped in long lines or traffic-jammed aisles. The humble duo here at MCC enjoys the panoply, and appreciates the makers and wearers who enliven every comic-con with their talents and their exaltation of various fandoms. We regret we can only represent a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the total cosplay wonderment that was on display this weekend. We’re just an aging couple doing what we can for happy sharing fun.

As lifelong Christmas observers we also couldn’t help spotlighting those players who leaned into the December occasion and showed up in Christmastime regalia, because ’tis the season and so forth. Winter is usually the worst time to hold a comic-con, but a combination of parking garages attached to the convention center and festive holiday spirit got us through the lousy weekend weather. Enjoy!

Stay Puft cosplayer wearing a Santa hat and boxing gloves, plus a face tattoo exactly like Mike Tyson's.

Mr. Stay Puft likewise has a Santa hat, plus boxing gloves and a face tattoo just like one of the con’s most infamous guests. (No, we did not meet that man or ask him to do jazz-fists.)

Santa in a red jumpsuit with a Ghostbusters symbol on the shoulder and a lime green proton pack.

Santa Stay Puft’s arch-nemesis, Santa Ghostbuster.

Star Trek crewman with a lightsaber through his chest. On its handle is a gift tag reading "To Starfleet, Happy Life Day, From Luke." He's also holding a broken Sonic Screwdriver.

A crewman who got a raw deal in the Star Trek/Star Wars gift exchange. Note the Sonic Screwdriver locking him into “one moment in time”.

Cosplay: Clark Griswold from "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" with Santa hat, Christmas tie and plastic moose glass.

Clark Griswold brought eggnog in his favorite Marty Moose glass.

Deadpool cosplayer with added Santa hat, Christmas lights, white fur trim and skirt.

Christmaspool!

Guy wearing a human-sized Barbie-style "Super Star Ken' box.

If you’re good this year, maybe Santa will leave a Ken under your tree! Mint in box! (He kept calling Anne “Barbie”, which is correct.)

Ken from the "Barbie" movie, from the scenes where he'd taken over Barbieland and wore a white fur.

If you’re naughty, you might have to deal with Ken during his brief reign as usurper of Barbieland. (He assured me I was Kenough, which I appreciated.)

Mandalorian cosplay in light blue, pink and white.

Also subject to cosplay variants; the Mandalorian! With Grogu!

Tasha Yar cosplayer armed with phaser.

Switching gears from Star Wars to Trek: Lieutenant Tasha Yar!

Woman in blue Guinan costume with appropriately large jewelry.

Picard’s friend/confidante/bartender Guinan!

Woman in a blue and pink ballroom dress, holding a stuffed dog.

La’an’s fantasy-world dress (and dog Runa) from the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode “The Elysian Kingdom”.

cosplayer couple accurately dressed per caption.

Gwen DeMarco from Galaxy Quest and Zapp Brannigan from Futurama.

Husband and wife in blue jumpsuits and covered in imitation Fallout in-game items.

Vault Dwellers from the Fallout games, soon to be an Amazon Prime series! (I’ve been playing Fallout 3 for months and can confirm the husband is the Lone Wanderer from Vault 101.)

Video game female warrior in black dress, blue trimmings, blue hair, hair clip, and pointed ears.

Madame Ping (her younger form) from the game Genshin Impact.

inflatable Ursula costume with a trident and two eels around her neck.

Ursula from The Little Mermaid and her pet eels Flotsam and Jetsam.

guy in a McDonald's Hamburglar costume.

The Hamburglar! I thought about him a lot Saturday night while we were driving home and I was starving and looking for drive-thrus.

Loki and Thor cosplayers. Loki is in a business suit.

Loki and Thor set aside their differences for five seconds, then get right back to warring.

Cosplay mashup of Spider-Man and Captain America. His America-colored shield has a big black spider on it.

Captain Spider! Or Spider-America! Whichever!

cosplayer in gray-and-silver Spider-Man armor, as appeared in actual Spider-Man comics

Spider-Man in his ’90s Spider-Armor, vying with the Santa in our lead photo for the title of Shiniest Costume of the Con.

To be continued! And then concluded!


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