By: Becky Čoček
Costumes and conventions go together better than when PB and
J first hooked up. Yes we all remember those nerds that would go to the Star
Trek/Wars dressed up like skinny prepubescent Vaders and Mr. Spocks. Remember
how we all laughed at them and their silly little get ups? Well… looks like the
joke is on us.
Costume Play or commonly known as “Cosplay” has become a
flourishing subculture amongst today’s nerds, where anyone can dress up as
their favourite character in any type of genre related to fan culture from
sci-fi, to classic Halloween horror. So
this summer I was lucky enough to be a part of magic that unfolded that fateful
weekend at Fan Expo Canada, and boy my first year did not disappoint!
I must say when I arrived on Thursday, the moment that
escalator descended down amongst the hordes of people and stuff, I had the expression of Taylor Swift’s award show face.
Yeah that one
There was everything to take in. The people, the vendors,
the mountains of unlimited merch, the overpriced munchies at the food court,
(Really Pizza Pizza, $8 for a crappy cold poutine?) and of course the
cosplayers. I might sound a little biased when I say that the costumes were my
favourite part of the weekend, but I say this with good reason.
#1: Homemade Costumes
If you’re like me, there’s nothing more satisfying than
making your own costume. Every Halloween season had me rummaging through Value
Village and other thrift shops, trying to find the perfect pieces of fabrics
and clothes. As any costume maker or seamstress should know, this shit takes time. Not to mention
effort, detail, money, measuring twice, cutting once and above all else, patience, because I can’t count how
many times I’ve messed up on one stupid part. But damn, it sure pays off when
strutting around the building and you have a dozen people that want your
picture. It’s something I’ve always admired about this subculture and they look
amazing. Some of my faves:
Annnnd the nightmares begin
#2: Attitude and Respect
It was very pleasing to find that despite being in a crowded
building, sharing the body heat of the ones around you, picking up a whiff of
B.O here and there, wanting to rip off the head off the slow person in front of
you and oh yeah being in your heavy, sweaty costume; most if not all the
cosplayers I met kept a smile on through it all, and that’s something to
commend especially in a room like this:
Or this:
This is why I starved myself all
weekend
Not only that but the level of respect I witnessed between
cosplayers and general attendees alike were also something to note. I’m not
saying it’s all peaches and gravy on this topic as I’m sure plenty of you fan
boys and girls know, but we’ll cover that story later.
#3 Unlikely/Rare Characters
If you were one of the 100,000 fans at the Metro Convention
Centre you probably saw a lot of
Harley Quinn, Doctors, Loki, Batman, Finn and other popular costumes there. And
not that it was a bad thing either! Lots of great and amazing interpretations of
almost every genre were executed! However one treat for me was seeing a couple
of lone costumed folk roaming the floor with no other imitator around like
Frank here:
Why am I not terrified?
...or maybe a handful of people knowing who the hell they’re
supposed to be. Case in point:
#5: Fun! Excitement!
Coming to
this year’s Fan Expo was like stepping in a TARDIS and emerging two months
later at Halloween, but instead of trick or treating the name of the game is to
relax and have fun acting like a superhero for the day. Because come on! Who
doesn’t want to be a superhero?
I’m just going to leave this right
here.
Twitter & Vine: @beckscocek