L.A. Comic Con 2025

I wish I could say I enjoyed L.A. Comic Con this year. I wish I could say I enjoyed any of the three L.A. Comic Cons I've attended. It's not that there's something wrong with the convention or how it's operated. Well, maybe there is, but that's not my issue. It's just there's always something that stands in the way of me enjoying this convention in the way I typically do. I'm a cosplay content creator. I make cosplay videos and that's essentially why I attend conventions. If something interferes with that, my experience is negatively affected.

For L.A. Comic Con, that interference was from the L.A. Fire Marshal of all things. This is such a weird thing to write about and it's not something that most attendees will ever experience. Most attendees will enter the building, climb the steps to the vendor hall, walk around for a bit, snap a photo with a Spider-Man cosplayer, and maybe walk out with a Labubu or Funko Pop toy. That's a pretty standard experience for a comic con. They won't be hassled by the Fire Marshall or building security. No one should be.

My interest for comic cons pales in comparison to anime conventions. I just don't align with comic book culture as much as anime culture. Star Wars, Marvel, DC Comics, and the other common American productions just don't entertain me as much as the often off-the-wall Japanese stuff. Captain America feels generic and boring when placed next to Goku or One Punch Man. Back to the Fire Marshal. I don't have anything against this guy personally. In fact, he was always polite when he approached me. What irks me is the fact that he's at a comic con on a weekend, telling photographers and videographers like myself that we can't have light stands. I attend a lot of conventions and I don't experience this at any other convention in the US. In truth, I've been told I can't use a light stand at other conventions, but not from a Fire Marshal nor from the perspective of fire safety. Not even at Anime Expo, which is held in the same facility just a few months prior, do I get told I can't use a light stand. It's just not an issue. But at L.A. Comic Con - it's an issue. "But Flannel", you say. "It's just a light stand. You don't need to use it." Yes, I know. But I want to. It's part of how I enjoy my time at events. When I use a light, it almost always makes my video look better and I pride myself on my video quality. I actually get in a bad mood when I can't use it and that's exactly what happened at L.A. Comic Con.

I put up my light and the Fire Marshal tells me I can't use it, or that I can only use it in a side area. I don't argue. I don't get an attitude, or at least I try not to. I fold up the stand and saunter away. When I think the coast is clear, I put it back up. He talked to me at least three times over the weekend. I heard that the convention center staff or security (who really knows) threatened some photographers with expulsion if they continued to use their light stands. There is no written or posted policy regarding light stands, so it's always a question as to what is allowed and where.

Did the Fire Marshal just want to come check out the show? Was the guy even legitimate? Maybe he's just a normal dude in a Fire Marshal cosplay. Perhaps if I asked to shoot with him he would have left me alone. To make this even more ridiculous, L.A. Comic Con staff experienced no interruptions from the Fire Marshal when they set up their own lights to record their own video. Does having a staff badge somehow make their light stands safer to use? Are the rules around fire protection different for staff? Are fires less likely to start when they are recording?

My frustrations aside, L.A. Comic Con is an alright convention. I can't report on panels since I didn't attend any this year. I also didn't see any events on the main stage which is located in the middle of the vendor hall. I did what I usually do and recorded videos of cosplayers in the lobby. If there was a different space where I could record video and avoid the Fire Marshal and perhaps have more interesting backgrounds, I would definitely have recorded there. This convention isn't big enough to envelope the surrounding areas like the "horseshoes" near the Crypto.com arena, so the lobby is my only choice.

L.A. Comic Con was doing some interesting things in the convention center's West Hall. They had a line of guest booths, some interesting displays, gaming activities, and food trucks. This was new for 2025 and it shows that someone within the organization cares and is trying things. Another interesting thing I saw was crowdfunding. L.A. Comic Con is literally asking people to invest in the event through crowdfunding. I'm not sure if this is a sign of financial trouble or just an interesting way of raising additional funds. My understanding is that the convention suffered quite a loss of attendees after changing names from the Stan Lee Comicpalooza. This was a number of years before I first attended. Did it lose something other than the name recognition? Why did the attendance drop? Is the convention in financial trouble? We may never know.

If you're in the LA area and you want to experience a professionally run comic con, give L.A. Comic Con a try. There are definitely worse conventions out there. Just be careful where you place your light stand. And say hello to the Fire Marshall for me because I don't wanna go back 🙎‍♂️😡

I want to give a special thanks to everyone who participated in my video. You make this worthwhile.