I have been going to conventions for several years now and while I consider myself a huge Nerd, I have yet to take on cosplay. My circle of friends are not exactly a part of the con culture and while they love to follow my adventures, they don’t quite understand it. The first thing I am asked when I tell people that I go to Comic Con is, “Do you dress up?” The answer is always no, I can’t pull that off. Honestly, I have always been too intimidated to cosplay. The costumes are creative, detailed, and look so amazing. How could I ever manage that?
I went to the Heroes and Villains Fan Fest in San Jose this past December. To say that this trip had a lasting impact is an understatement. First day of the convention I met the love of my life. He has helped introduce me to the wonderful world that is Cosplay. He helped me understand that you do not need to have a movie authentic costume with every detail recreated in perfect accuracy in order to cosplay. He showed me that the “play” in cosplay is the best part.
I was impressed at the cosplay represented there. I loved watching the people in costumes, and the reception they received for their cosplay. I saw celebrities get up and run to people dressed up to get a picture with THEM. It felt like such a warm and welcome place to celebrate with others who love the same things you do. Decision made…I would be in costume at their next event. Thanks to the world’s best boyfriend (see above paragraph about the amazing human), I now have my first official cosplay costume! I was set and ready to be the next Wonder Woman!
I was so excited to attend the Heroes and Villains/ Walker Stalker event in Portland the following month. I was a little nervous to walk around with my new costume on until I arrived at the convention center and saw SO MANY people all dressed up and ready to have fun. My Wonder Woman was accompanied with her Batman and it was the perfect pairing. I was expecting to hear a few people comment on the costume and thought that maybe a few people might want to get a picture of it. My mind was blown when I couldn’t walk more than 2 feet without people talking to me about the costume or taking pictures. What I thought would be a slight acknowledgement of my cosplay ended up turning into such a warm reception.
Walking to the convention and around the exhibit floor was so much fun. The interactions with people were so uplifting. We hadn’t even made it through the doors, when a Joker found us and joined in on a ton of pictures with people. My favorite part of all was taking pictures with kids who were so excited to see their favorite superheroes. It melted my heart to have the little girls come up and be so excited to “meet” Wonder Woman. It felt so remarkable to be a positive role model for the kids.
We got a photo op with Stephen Amell and it is one of my most favorite pictures. He was such a good sport and willing to go along with our serious business pose. Waiting in line for the pho op was almost as much fun. We talked with fans, took pictures with other Batman/Wonder Woman teams, and had lots of fun getting pictures of us snuggling together in line.
The next day, I dressed as Rey and my boyfriend was Kylo. I wasn’t expecting as much attention because that is a more popular costume currently. I had a cheap Halloween costume that I was wearing and didn’t have any accessories to go with it. It didn’t seem to matter at all. People LOVED seeing Kylo and Rey together (and couldn’t get enough of the romantic poses). It was so fun to think up different scenarios for the pictures. The 501st had a great set up with a few different back drops and photo ops with people in costume. They were great sports with our photos and gave out some fantastic high fives afterwards.
What started out as a curiosity has officially become an obsession; being at Heroes and Villains was the perfect safe-place for me to try this out. The atmosphere is one of family and fun with the celebs being so generous and kind to the fans. I can’t wait for my next opportunity to Cosplay and I’m already building up an arsenal of costumes!