GalaxyCon OKC: When worlds collide

Pop Culture can take many different forms. There's a fandom out there you had no idea about that has already shared art, stories and passion projects for years, if not decades. Stemming from a favorite movie, book, anime, or most things creative, GalaxyCon tries to appeal to a wide array of fans with special guests, vendors, and fun things to experience all around.

Three days is an appropriate amount of time for a convention this big, and from May 23rd to the 25th, the Oklahoma City Convention Center made for a pretty nerdy good time.

Here you'll find a few notable highlights and a lot of creative voices pushing the envelope in a local and national scale, so find your niche and hope to see you at next year's GalaxyCon!

Oklahoma City Ghostbusters

Besides busting ghosts, the Oklahoma City Ghostbusters function as a charity entertainment group making showings across the state for public and private events. The group work with non-profits, small businesses, and big franchises for outreach or to help with any fundraising their presence can help with.

Oklahoma City Ghostbusters Chairman Jeff Songer explains how being at big conventions like GalaxyCon helps them raise money, in this case, for their big year-long toy drive. "It benefits children in the Oklahoma foster care system," Songer said. "We've done work with the American Lung Association, Walk for Alzheimer's, and stuff like that."

The Oklahoma City Ghostbusters isn't like most fan groups, they have a thorough vetting process when it comes to who they consider to be a member.

"We do background checks for sure. We want to make sure we mesh well with the people we want to be working with," Songer said. "We're a little more extensive then just allowing anybody to join. So there's a little bit of criteria when it comes to joining."

The group parades with their classic "Ecto-1" car, and proudly showoff how the vehicle has been in the iconic New York firehouse from the films and has been signed by notable Ghostbusters like Dan Aykroyd.

If accepted, you will be inducted into the group's network of charity events and performance showings as an official Ghostbuster, which comes with a custom initiation and an induction ceremony at the end of the process.

Head to their official Facebook page for more information and to make sure you remember who you're gonna call.

"It's the gear, it's the music, it's the car, it's people saying 'what are they doing?'," Songer said. "We get a lot of attention, we do really well as a charity group."

Official Goosebumps Illustrator Tim Jacobus

"R.L. Stine and I, we did our first book back in 1992," Jacobus said. "I was able to do over 100 Goosebumps covers. And what's interesting is here we are in 2025 and we're still talking about it."

The nostalgia is strong when it comes to anyone remembering their favorite Goosebumps book. Finding one at your local book fair, just to be tempted to open the pages for a good spook was a thrilling experience for any 90s baby. Official Goosebumps Illustrator Tim Jacobus cherishes the lasting memories he's provided for the millions of fans he's left an impression on, and explains how rewarding it is to meet the same kids he ran into at the many meet-and-greets back in the day.

Goosebumps, for those who don't know, was a series of scary children's books that has seen worldwide success after hundreds of books and a TV anthology show. Those same children who read the books, are well into their 30s or early 40s nowadays, so the conversations Jacobus recalls now have been more than memorable.

"In the 90s if I did a book signing and the kids showed up then, they would've been 10 years old and be with their parents, so we wouldn't really have a conversation," Jacobus said. "Now they're all grown up, and I get to hear the stories on how much the characters scared them. The fact that everybody still finds a place in their memory for it, is fantastic. That's what blows me away."

Horror and kids isn't really a pairing that is seen much in this current age of media. Jacobus recalls how the 90s were a heyday for kids horror.

"All the cartoons had an edge to them. Goosebumps, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, a whole bunch of it there," he said. "I don't know why we 'nerfed' it. Goosebumps especially, is harmless fun. No one dies in the stories, but it gives you that little thrill. It's a rollercoaster ride."

You can find Tim traveling across the country at events like GalaxyCon, but if you can make it to one, you can find his art over at his official website.

Enchanted Tide Mermaids

Enchanted Tide Mermaids Owner Ashleigh Ash was surrounded by wide-eyed and attentive children as she performed the pages of the children's book she read to them. With a playful back and forth, her cohort pirate and fellow actor Drew Sears enhanced the experience with a gruff English accent and a jolly presence for the kids to laugh at.

As the exclusive character entertainment company for Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks, OK, Enchanted Tide bring a depth and charisma to their travelling performances, no matter the event.

"We have original mermaid characters, pirates, fairies. And some princesses every now and then," Ash said. "The summer is the busiest season for sure, and that's not counting the 50 performances a year we do for the Oklahoma Aquarium."

In the culture, most people are familiar with Cosplay, which is when fans of any particular character from any piece of media do their best to find all the right garments and accessories required to dress up as them. This could take a full set of armor or just the right wig, but Ash explains that their company and goal is much deeper than just cosplay.

"The philosophy behind cosplay I would say is behind the individual, but character entertainment is for the audience," Ash said. "You're performing. It's a professional, theatrical performance that you're providing, so the quality level has to be fairly high."

When faced with any of the performers, the quality shows. From intricate jewelry pieces, to impressive details on the mermaid fins and scales, Enchanted Tide goes above and beyond to give kids or anyone interested a dazzling time.

"A mermaid character design can range anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000," Ash said. "Depending on what type of tail you have, all your costuming, accessories, everything."

The mermaid experience isn't just all about pearls and story time though. The company has ambitious plans and a few surprises hiding in plain sight.

"We would love to have an aquarium experience where we could swim. Our mermaids are fully submersible and we are fully trained in diving, swimming, and performance underwater" Ash said. "It would be lovely to flex those talents. But the next step would be putting our fully fleshed out character backgrounds I've written and turn them into children's books."

You can find the Enchanted Tide Mermaids for any event over on their Facebook or Instagram pages.

Misty Mountain Gaming

If you're into any hobby requiring dice(we're talking boardgames, tabletop, Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer, Magic: The Gathering), the folks over at Misty Mountain Gaming have you covered.

The U.S. based and Veteran owned company don't have a physical storefront, so the company reps travel to shows and also sell their products online.

Products range from $12 all the way up to $110. Everything comes with a lifetime guarantee and they're still considered a small business, but the type of engagement and presence they're wanting to offer warrants the effort to be at these types of events.

This is Misty Mountain Gaming Sales Associate Mori Martell's first time in Oklahoma, but has been travelling across the globe with the company for some time now.

"I absolutely love GalaxyCon, working them are some of my favorite shows," Martell said. "Oklahoma City, this is actually my first time being here and I'm loving the city. It's really pretty here. To be able to enjoy the atmosphere and the parks nearby is always really pretty."

The energy and effort to attend conventions all over the world is vast, but Martell expressed how it's worth it every time.

"I'll be gone for five weeks at a time. Occasionally, we're very grateful that we get to go even to Canada or the UK," Martell said. "We really want to be able to meet with our customers and actually get to know them and see what they're interested in. I absolutely adore just having people come up and tell us how much they love our products. It makes me so happy just because we put so much love and effort into these dice and we want these to be amazing for everybody."

With sponsorships and collaborations all over the YouTube and internet-sphere, Misty Mountain Gaming are looking into different partnerships to expand their reach. With collaborations alongside internet hit-shows like Critical Role, the company looks to make the perfect dice for that perfect roll.

Head to their official website for details on products and other treasures they offer.

Explosm Entertainment

Better known for their Cyanide & Happiness comics and animations, Explosm Entertainment has been producing jokes and memories since 2005. Based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, the web-comic and animation powerhouse saw one of the more attended and successful panels at GalaxyCon this year.

You've probably seen their line of slapstick and goofy boardgames in places like Walmart and Target, but it always comes back to the over-the-top web comics and animation that has stuck with people over the last two decades.

I spoke with Connor Murphey, Animation Director for Cyanide & Happiness, about the journey and scale their projects take now that they've found momentum creating shorts for many platforms.

"We have a bunch of different types of fans. People connect with the animated shorts we put all over YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, or wherever. Then there's the people who only know about the comics, and finally the people who only know about the card games," Murphey said. "It's for people who like unexpected silly humor that occasionally has a touch of heart. Occasionally."

Fans who have dealt with things like depression have expressed to Murphey how a character like "Sadler" from their stories have helped them cope with things, and see the humor even when it can almost be non-existent.

"It helps when you can find humor of it all, no matter what," Murphey said.

At their convention panel, they premiered new skits and characters with a chance to brag about the 10th year anniversary of the companies animation division.

"This year was our ten-year animation anniversary, and we had a compilation that was like, I want to say 10 hours long or something crazy like that," he said.

Adam Nusrallah Animation Producer, Head of Creative Development on the Animation and show side of Cyanide & Happiness, said travelling and meeting fans for over those ten years has always been worth it.

"It never gets old to me," Nusrallah said. "Super, super, super fortunate and grateful and never take it for granted. Getting to meet all the fans is really humbling and rewarding, and it is a good reminder that what we make, for some reason tends to matter to others."

The subject matter can definitely lean on the crude and unusual side of things when it comes to the company's most popular brand Cyanide & Happiness, but even through the insane situations the creators put their characters in, the fans have enjoyed their style of humor from the start.

"Everybody says we have a dark and twisted sense of humor. I think it allows for more freedom of expression," Nusrallah said. "We tend to push the envelope, and say things that people are probably thinking, or come up with stuff that might be shocking, but we never try and be directly offensive to any specific group, person, or thing. We just like to have fun."

The 'If it makes us laugh' approach to the writing and animations by the creators has seen massive success, and the people behind the animated madness just want to give people a break from it all.

"All people want to do is just take a break from the reality of things and enjoy a good laugh," Nusrallah said. "And I think laughter is ... I don't know. I don't know where I'm going with this. I'll let you improv on your writing on that side."

You can find all of Explosm Entertainment's butt jokes over on their official website.