Somehow, convention organizer Rebecca Seepersad – a high school chemistry teacher by day – found just the right formula to create a super successful trading card game conference on Long Island with her LI TCG Shows. It was a little bit of science, a little bit of luck, and harnessing a whole lot of potential energy built up in like-minded folks who didn’t know what they were missing out on, until Seepersad launched her LI TCG Show in 2023.
A Collector’s Passion
Seepersad is a TCG buff. (For the uninitiated TCG is the hip way to say trading card game, you know, like Magic the Gathering.)
“I’m a huge Pokémon fan,” Seepersad said in an interview with SciFiSland.com recently.
Seepersad fancies herself as more of a collector than an actual game player but her first love in the space is definitely Pokémon. As someone who went out into the natural world as a little kid and came home with collections of rocks, she immediately identified with Ash Ketchum whose goal in the anime is to become a Pokémon Master.
“As soon as Pokémon came out I was hooked,” she said. “All my cards are in mint condition from 25 years ago.”
In addition to Pokémon, Seepersad collects Avatar the Last Airbender and other Nickelodeon cartoons. She’s basically a Nineties kid.
Seepersad had been attending TCG shows out of state and for good reason.
“There was literally nothing like that near us [on Long Island],” she said and after attending shows in New Jersey for years, she took matters into her own hands. “I basically said to myself, ‘if no one else is going to do it then I will.’”
That’s how Seepersad became Long Island’s very own Pokémon Master in June of 2023, launching her own small show at the Plainview Holiday Inn. She organized the vendors and was able to snag a special guest voice actor. She expected a few people might show up.
“Stuart Zagnit was the first voice actor I got; the voice of the original Professor Oak in the series,” Seepersad said. “It was so packed you couldn’t even move.”
Rapid Growth and Evolution
When people started asking her when the next show was, she knew she had a hit on her hands and the LI TCG Show evolved from a one-off experiment to a real business.
“I never expected it to be a business,” she said. “I was just doing it for fun because I’m a huge Pokémon fan.”
The next show was in October of 2023 with more voice actors and more tables. That was followed by another show in February and June 2024 and then in July she organized the first Pokémon-themed Chu ‘n Brew (“As in Pikachu,” she said) at Great South Bay Brewery in Bay Shore. While those were all one-day events, her next show in November will be LI TCG Show’s first 2-day festival promising an even grander experience.
There will be over 150 vendor tables and more special guests Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Naruto, Sonic, and One Piece. adding biggstar power to her event. The November show will also have panels, TCG tournaments, and retro games brought to you by the LI Retro Gaming Expo. It runs Saturday, November 16th and Sunday, November 17th starting at 10am both days in the Melville Hilton at 598 Broadhollow Road.
“We’re expecting 3,000 people to attend,” she said.
Expansion Packs
If that wasn’t enough, Seepersad casually slipped in the fact that she’s planning a new pop culture con for 2025 when we were talking about LI TCG. The new con is called Extrava Con and will be held Saturday, November 15, 2025. Not limited to TCG, this one will be comics, collectables, cosplay, and more. It fills a hole in the con schedule on Long Island about a month after NYC Comic Con.
She also mentioned that LI TCG’s two-day event next year will be held May 3rd and 4th at a bigger and better venue that’s under wraps for now. (When we get the go ahead we will unveil the new location!)
Although her shows have grown into a full-fledged business endeavor, Seepersad is not giving up her day job.
“I love being a teacher,” she said.
Check out everything that’s coming up in our 2025 Ultimate Guide to Long Island Cons here.
Cover photo: Rebecca Seepersad (right) with one of her show vendors.
