I mentioned that this was coming back in April, and now it's here.

Popularly known as the New 52 Booster Gold, this variant is called "Booster Gold (Futures End)" by McFarlane Toys. But neither of those names is quite accurate.

For one thing, there are actually two Booster Golds in Booster Gold: Futures End, and the one who should be considered the primary protagonist of the issue wore an Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans costume instead. It's never explained why he was wearing it. Maybe it was just so readers could to tell the two Boosters apart?

The other Booster Gold in that issue doesn't really wear this costume either. That character is wearing the Jim Lee design that first appeared on and in the New 52's Justice League International #1. (Here at Boosterrific.com, I call that the Mark XIII Booster Gold powersuit because it was the 13th costume Booster wore.) It has square goggles and a tight-fighting cowl that covered the cheeks with gold piping but left the forehead mostly exposed. As you can see, this figure's head is wearing something more similar to Booster's traditional Mark I costume.

(Since we're on the topic of McFarlane and inaccurately costumed action figures, the A.R.G.U.S. suited Booster Gold from Booster Gold: Futures End is the same character who became Waverider in Convergence. So if you want a complete collection of Future's End Booster Golds, you'll need this one and that one.)

If you're so interested, you can find links to purchase this action figure on mcfarlane.com.

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My friend Michael likes attending DragonCon more than I like anything. He's finally recovered enough from his annual week of whatever it is one does at Dragon Con for a week to send me this pic of the only Booster Gold cosplayer he spotted this year:

I love the little Skeets on her shoulder, like a 25th-century parrot.

Thanks, Mike! (And thanks, cosplayer, whoever you are!)

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Remember that time when the powers-that-be at DC decided to scrap (almost) their entire shared universe for another, new shared universe of unfamiliar characters in familiar costumes?

Yeah, okay. That's a little vague. We *are* talking about DC here.

Specifically, I'm talking about the relaunch 12 years ago, the "New 52." If you'll recall, sales were down, and something had to be done to goose them. That something was determined to be a line-wide reboot. However, before a new universe could be launched, the pre-existing universe had to be canceled. Which is how Booster Gold #47, released on this day in 2011, became the final issue of that series.

Sadly, it's not a very good comic book.

Most of the story deals with Booster's tragic but inconsequential misadventures in the Flashpoint alternate universe with doomed Alexandra Gianopoulos — all drawn by a fill-in artist who seems to be operating under an unforgivingly tight deadline.

But the issue ends with a Dan Jurgens-drawn coda teasing that perhaps Booster had returned to the mainstream DCU in time to continue his story in the incoming New 52 Universe, where all DC characters would be wearing new costumes designed by Jim Lee.

It would be four more years before it was clarified that the New 52 Booster Gold (introduced the following month in Dan Jurgens-written Justice League International #1) and the original, post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Booster Gold were not actually the same entity at all. (All was revealed in 2015's Convergence Booster Gold.)

It's that sort of confusion that made the New 52 such a frustrating experience for longtime fans. If the creative teams don't know what the new rules are, how can the readers?

Frankly, over a decade later, I'm still irritated. The less said about Booster Gold #47, the better.

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As was recently pointed out to me by way of Reddit.com, check out cosplayer cosplinds (Instagram) in her Goldstar costume at Toronto Comiccon 2022:

And since no Michelle Carter costume would be complete without a Booster Gold, here she is with crazymikecosplay (Instagram) as her fraternal twin brother, Mike:

And since no Carter family reunion would be complete without Booster's BFF, here both Booster and Goldstar are with messiahcomplexcosplay (Instagram) as the Blue Beetle!:

All of those very Boosterrific images were taken by veryfrankpictures. The whole gallery can be seen on Facebook.com.

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The clock is ticking down on 2021 (thank goodness!), but there's still time for a little Booster Gold/Blue Beetle cosplay, as demonstrated by boostergolddevo at C2E2:

Looking sharp, you two! Click the image above to see even more @boostergoldvevo cosplay pics as "TheRealBoosterGold" on Twitter.com.

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