Comicpalooza 2025 Recap — The Joyful Aches Of Cosplaying In Your 40s

The Comicpalooza logo. The anime and comic book convention is held in Houston, TX every year. In 2025, it ran from June 20-22.
The Comicpalooza logo. The anime and comic book convention is held in Houston, TX every year. In 2025, it ran from June 20-22.

When my wife and I first started dating in 2013, one of the things we bonded over was her introducing me to anime conventions. I had attended comic book conventions in the past, but I had never dressed up in costume. After going to the likes of Oni-Con, Anime Matsuri, and IKKiCON, Comicpalooza was the first big anime and comic convention that we attended. We used to go every year leading up to the pandemic. This year, I’ve now gone to seven different Comicpalooza conventions, and it’s changed quite a bit over the years.  

I’ve written about Comicpalooza on a few different occasions, but this was the first one I’ve been able to go to with my wife in six years. The convention is held in the George R. Brown Convention Center, which is attached to a Hilton hotel by skybridge. If you wear costumes to a convention, you need a hotel regardless of whether it’s held in your hometown or not. It’s more expensive, but it’s way more convenient when it comes to getting into your costumes by a reasonable time before the show floor opens at 10 am.  

Our group dressed in costume at Comicpalooza 2025. My wife and I are in the middle as Riddler and Batgirl.

We had a group of friends to coordinate with this year, and the themes were DC characters on Saturday and something cute on Sunday. My wife was Batgirl on Saturday, and I was Riddler, and she was an anime cat girl on Sunday, and I wore a suit, blue wig, and brown cat ears. Comicpalooza typically has the biggest attendance on Saturdays, so we usually plan our biggest and best costumes for that day with Sundays being something a bit more comfortable. The doors don’t open until 2 pm on Fridays, so we either don’t dress up or do our easiest costumes then.  

My father-in-law 3D printed all our accessories for Batgirl and Riddler. The question mark ring and the green staff were 3D printed and painted by him while he also 3D printed the utility belt, the shin guards, and the gauntlets for Batgirl. We used to have to order expensive props from Etsy and other random websites that you never knew were legit or not. There were still some issues like glue holding the length of the con and scrambling to locate a pair of scissors at the last minute, but overall, I think we prefer the 3D printing process more especially if you know someone willing to work with you. 

My wife and I dressed as Batgirl and Riddler at Comicpalooza 2025.

The worst part of the con experience was an issue with the Hilton. They decided to incorporate a new key system one week before the con began. This included an app where you could check in or out and even have a digital key to unlock your room. Physical keys that unlock your room were now also needed to go up in the elevator past a certain floor. However, our keys wouldn’t unlock our room at first. When that was fixed, they wouldn’t work in the elevator. Then only one key worked. It was a nightmare, and it was happening to everybody all weekend.  

Parking used to be a free-for-all and was first come first served for around $25-30 a day. Now you must reserve your parking weeks and months in advance online. My in-laws came Saturday and were considering returning on Sunday at the last minute, but couldn’t find parking so it was a no-go.  

Ever since Comicpalooza has been pulling itself away from comic books and leaning more into animation, the panels haven’t been as interesting. The only guest I wanted stuffed signed by was Sean Schemmel, who canceled his appearance the day before the con. Every panel I was interested in I skipped to either wander around the show floor or because I had to make adjustments to my costume.

We did make it to the costume contest but left shortly after because it was awful. We either hit the lowest point of the entrants or costume contests have taken a huge nosedive over the years. Everyone looked like they slapped something on from a Temu discount special, and the hosts were annoying as hell. One dude sounded like Seth Rogen but wasn’t Seth Rogen and they both thought Circus Baby was a gender-swapped Five Nights at Freddy’s character.  

Totoro at Comicpalooza 2025. Whoever was in this could barely walk. It made the heavy breathing Totoro noises and filled up with air every few steps.

My very small but expensive haul included an 11-inch Golden Great Ape figure from Dragon Ball GT, a 7.9-inch Heat Ray version of Godzilla Minus One from Bandai Ichibansho, a 5-inch Banpresto Godzilla (1954) figure, a Bill Cypher from Gravity Falls car decal, and a pink Kid Buu T-shirt.

I’ve been cosplaying on and off for over a decade and maybe it was because I hadn’t done it in so long, but this year hurt as a 41-year-old. I get between 10K and 13K steps every day that I work and I was getting maybe 5K-8K at Comicpalooza. It could be because you’re mostly walking around on a flat surface, but my hips were screaming like crazy all weekend. Couldn’t sleep Friday night because the bed was weird; on Saturday, I woke up feeling like I was getting sick. Thank goodness for the medicine ball drink at Starbucks, there’s one in the Hilton and another right after you cross the skybridge.  

Our group from Sunday at Comicpalooza 2025. Cute was the theme for the day.

Before this year, I was convinced I was done cosplaying. I attended Comicpalooza in 2021 for one day out of costume and without my wife for a reason I can’t recall. I got everything I wanted to get done on that day. So much goes into what costume you want to wear as you must plan it out, figure out how you’re going to make it and squeeze into it for at least a day if not the entire con. If you want a different costume every day, then that’s two to three times as much work. You luck out if the costume is comfortable, but odds are your feet will hurt from weird shoes, and you’ll have a headache from the tight-ass wig and or hat you must wear. It’s also not cheap as you typically must get something specially made whether it’s part of your costume or a prop like a weapon. Back then right after the pandemic, it seemed like such a hassle.  

However, despite all the additional expenses and issues we had with our hotel, we still have the itch to hopefully return next year with new costumes. There’s something about walking around a convention and people asking you to get your picture taken makes you feel fulfilled. The costume you spent so much time building over the last few months was worth it and the vision you had is as good as the execution.

My wife and I on the last day of Comicpalooza 2025. She’s an anime catgirl and I’m like…a butler with cat ears?

Both my wife and I missed not only that but also just the convention atmosphere. You’re going to run into smelly and nasty people at every convention, but for the most part, people are very nice and funny and want to have a good time just like you. Being around people like that as well as being surrounded by nerdy sh*t you love, and the people that created it, is a high you can’t find anywhere else except for at a convention. Comicpalooza still makes us feel that way, and I think we’ll continue to go either as long as we’re physically able to or until it isn’t fun anymore, which at this rate will be never.

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Chris Sawin is a Tomatometer-approved film critic who has been writing about film for over a decade. Chris has ... More about Chris Sawin
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