The Coolest Merch We Saw At New York Comic Con 2023

Claire Jackson

17 October 2023 at 10:00 am·9-min read

A statue of Basim from Assassin's Creed is on display at Comic Con.

New York Comic Con is many things: long lines, shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, panels, cosplay, and, of course, merch...so much merch. Eric and I took a few trips around the floor this year to get a load of all the random knick-knacks, art, statues, and cosplay items that were proudly on display, and Comic Con 2023 did not disappoint.

Seriously, it was a ton to take in and we’ve got a lotta photos to share, so let’s waste no more time and get straight to the pics.

Hatchet in hand, blood-drenched snow, a Betsy Ross Flag, and one mean-lookin’ hound makes up this cool 1:4 scale Connor statue from PureArts.

Baby Mario scene from Yoshi’s Island

A diorama shows a scene from a Mario game.

Video Game Shadow Box’s dioramas immediately caught our attention. Here’s one featuring Baby Mario from Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario World 2.

Baby Yoda Beskar Chainmail

It’s hard to pay attention to anything else when you see a baby Yoda, or “Grogu” as some people seem intent on calling him for one reason or another. This one was wearing an adorable shirt of “Beskar” chainmail courtesy of Siouxsiequeue.

Lady Dimitrescu from Resident Evil Village

A Lady Dimitrescu statue is on display at Comic Con.

Even when you shrink her down to statue form, Lady Dimitrescu is still hard to fit in a single photograph. Behold this PureArts 1:4 scale (if you can believe it) figurine that still manages to tower over everything around it.

Caps from Fallout

The Pixel Empire booth had a number of cool art prints and items on display, such as this neat Fallout New Vegas sign with caps and caps cases.

Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard wood art

Fire-type pokemon are on display at Comic Con.

CDH Creations was selling a number of sweet works of wooden art featuring iconic video game characters and scenes. This one featured all three evolutionary stages of a certain well-known fire-type pokémon.

Chibi Godzillas!

Chibi Godzilla are on display at Comic Con.

Ezhobi Co. Ltd. had a wonderful display of Godzilla figures of various sizes, but we just had to obsess over these little guys. So cute!

Choose your weapon round 1: Halo, Gears of War, Fallout, Destiny, Star Wars, and more

Various video game guns are arranged on a wall.

Equipped with necessary orange tips (aside from, uh, those random guns that look totally not fantastical), here’s a pretty sweet lineup of replica rubber firearms from a variety of iconic franchises. The Destiny guns in particular looked the part in person.

NES cartridge coasters

Coasters shaped like video game cartridges are on display at Comic Con.

That Guy with the Coasters had some pretty sweet NES-cartridge lookalike coasters, featuring Kirby, Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, Duck Tales 2, and more.

Call of Duty Ray Gun

Pixel Empire had this neat-looking Ray Gun replica on display at its booth. It probably won’t do well against zombies, but it would look good on a mantlepiece.

Retro joy in wooden form

Wooden video game controllers sit on display.

These carved NES controllers featuring the stylings of Zelda, Mario, and Metroid from Spitfire Labs were another highlight of this year’s con. The d-pads felt a little stiff if we’re being honest.

Crash Bandicoot and Neo Cortex wood art

Crash and Neo Cortex are displayed on wooden art.

CDH Creations had a number of awesome franchises on display at its booth this year. Check out this one featuring a certain box-smashing bandicoot and his arch-nemesis.

Honkai: Star Rail’s Dan Heng

A statue of Dan Heng sits in a glass case.

The Honkai Star Rail booth had a few figures on display that are currently available for preorder, with expected arrival dates in 2024. This one featured Dan Heng and is expected to be available in August of next year.

Choose your weapon round 2: Destiny guns and Zelda swords

Of all of these, that Sunshot hand cannon to the right was perhaps most impressive, but the Zelda armaments were pretty sweet too.

Colt and Julianna from Deathloop (and that dude from Skyrim)

Characters from Deathloop and Skyrim sit on a shelf.

It was nice to see some Deathloop at this year’s con. PureArt showed off its renditions of the two main characters next to that guy who yells a lot in Skyrim.

Kassandra from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

A statue of Kassandra is on display at Comic Con.

PureArts had a number of Assassin’s Creed characters, including Kassandra from the ancient Greek-themed Odyssey.

Final Fantasy IV Zeromus diorama

A diorama of a Final Fantasy battle is on display.

Here’s another diorama from Video Game Shadow Box, this time featuring the memorable final boss fight from Final Fantasy IV. (The music is now playing in your head.)

Final Fantasy VII cover wood art

A wood carving of the cover of Final Fantasy VII sits on display.

CDH Creations’ wooden recreation of the iconic cover art from Final Fantasy VII had me immediately figuring out where I was going to hang one in my living space.

Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar wood art

There’s some lovely color work going on here with this wooden display of Gastly’s trio of evolutionary forms .

Honkai: Star Rail Herta Kuru Kuru spin toy

A chibi statue of a Honkai: Star Rail character is on display in a glass case.

Though we didn’t see her spin in person, this adorable chibi figure from Honkai is expected in May 2024.

Rainbow Six Siege’s Hibana with Assassin’s Creed Ezio and Amunet the Hidden

I don’t know if I’d fully say that Hibana was my main in Siege, but she was up there. It was nice to see some Siege figures amid the Assassin’s Creed characters from PureArts.

Mario Tiki

A Tiki of Mario and Bowser are on display at Comic Con.

Though the aesthetic looks more befitting of Crash Bandicoot, this Mario Tiki from Great Scott Designs caught our eye.

Minecraft chess set

A chess set with Minecraft stylings sits on display.

Though I think I’d struggle to tell some of these figures apart in a heated chess match (which would see me lose because I always lose), I did very much consider taking this Minecraft chess set home. The green board in particular stands out.

Monster Hunter Nergigante statue

A statue of a monster from Monster Hunter is on display at Comic Con.

It might be a struggle to find shelf space for this epic Nergigante statue from PureArts, but damn it would look impressive almost anywhere.

Playable Orlog dice game from Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

I’d be personally terrified of losing all these little pieces, but PureArts’ real-life set of Orlog as featured in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla sure is cool-looking.

Jumbo Pokemon cards

Large Pokemon cards are on display at Comic Con.

While you probably can’t show up to a game of Pokémon with these, they do look cool and aren’t under assault from scalpers, so that’s nice.

Dark Souls III’s Pontiff Sulyvahn

Statues of characters from Dark Souls III are on display at Comic Con.

Just like in the game, I died when I saw this at the PureArts booth.

Altair skeleton

A statue of a skeleton and Assassin are on display.

Assassin’s Creed’s first protagonist, Altair, isn’t lookin’ so hot in this scene. At least his skull form looks pretty awesome in this PureArts recreation.

Sand Land tank figure

The Sand Land booth had an enormous tank outside of it, but there was also an adorable little one behind a glass case.

Johnny Silverhand

The rockerboy stands tall (but less tall than in real life) in this 1:4 scale recreation from PureArts.

Smoke and Ash from Rainbow Six Siege

Statues of Smoke and Ash sit on display at Comic Con.

More R6 love! Unfortunately, that nerf that took away Ash’s ACOG looks like it transferred over to PureArts’ statue. RIP those beautiful headshots.

Solomon Reed from Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

A statue of Solomon Reed sits on display.

This PureArts statue of Idris Elba’s character in Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty expansion looks pretty sweet, though it doesn’t come cheap!

Sonic & Knuckles from Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Sonic and friends are in a diorama at Comic Con.

Here’s another sweet diorama from Video Game Shadow Box, this time featuring the visual stylings of Sonic’s third game.

Zelda: A Link to the Past maps

We loved seeing various scenes brought to 2.5D life in Video Game Shadow Box’s framed artwork, but there was something special about seeing these classic maps in person. Tempting.

The Vs from Cyberpunk 2077

Statues of the two V character choices ist on display.

Fem V is the real V, but both get some love here from PureArts.

Dark Souls III’s Vhorm

A statue of a Dark Souls III character sits on display.

Again, it might be smaller than it is in the real game, but PureArts’ Dark Souls III recreations definitely killed me.

Basim from Assassin’s Creed Mirage

A Basim statue sits on display at Comic Con.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage only came out a short time ago, but Basim was already at New York Comic Con courtesy of PureArts with another sweet 1:4 scale statue.

The Legend of Zelda title screen (and Sonic 2)

Title screens are presented as dioramas at Comic Con.

Check out these video game title screen recreations from Video Game Shadow Box, featuring Zelda and Sonic. Don’t try pressing start, it’s a trick.

Zelda sword display

Zelda swords and shields are on display at Comic Con.

These rubber replica weapons were abundant on the con floor, but some would just stick out and immediately grab your attention. Case in point.

Space Godzilla prototype

An unpainted statue of Space Godzilla sits on display.

Ezhobi Co. Ltd. showed off a few prototypes of upcoming Godzilla statues. This one of Space Godzilla was striking despite the lack of paint and finish.

Godzilla atomic breath

A statue of Godzilla with a breath attack sits on display.

There were too many Godzillas to count, but this other one from Ezhobi Co. Ltd. breathing a devastating atomic breath ray was pretty sweet.

Deforeal little Godzilla

Look at the eyes! This guy wasn’t getting by me without at least a few pictures.

Godzilla on freaking fire

A statue of Godzilla on fire is on display.

No, not actual flames. But Ezhobi Co. Ltd.’s rendition of a burning Godzilla was certainly a hot look.

Gamera kills things

With dead beasties, this Gamera statue from Ezhobi Co. Ltd. was both hilarious and awesome.

Baby Yoda eats things

Don’t bother typing “Grogu” in the comments, I won’t read it and I don’t know who that is. But what’s more adorable than Baby Yoda? Baby Yoda killing things for lunch, of course!

Crash Bandicoot, Mega Man, Sonic, and more in Nanoblock

Various video game characters sit on display.

Nanoblocks have a wonderful way of making these figures look like real-life pixel art. And while Crash wasn’t a pixel-art game, he sure does look good in this format.

Halo energy sword bottle opener

A bottle opener shaped like an energy sword from Halo sits on display.

Geekthirst’s Halo energy sword is the perfect way to use super-heated plasma to open your drink (without risk of burns).

Final Fantasy sword keychains

Swords from various franchises sit on display as keychains.

This assortment of Final Fantasy swords might get you in trouble with the TSA, but at least you’d look cool while the agents are pestering you.

A Final Fantasy VII buster sword that’s rubber yet still friggin’ heavy

How do Cloud and Zack wield these things? Rubber buster swords were for sale all over the show floor, but damn were they still a strain on the arm every time I picked one up.

Final Fantasy XIV’s gunblade

A gunblade from Final Fantasy XIV lays on top of other swords.

It might not be the model favored by a certain moody teenager, but these replica FF14 gunblades were pretty cool (and way lighter than the buster swords).

Final Fantasy gunblade and buster sword bottle openers

Bottle openers shaped like iconic weapons sit on display.

More from Geekthirst, I wonder if these could also help slice cheese and other snacks that’ll pair well with whatever bottle you’re cracking open.

And that’s our list of cool artifacts that we saw at this year’s New York Comic Con. Were you there this year? Did anything catch your eye?