Send in The King!

Over at ComicCon.tips, we’ve been writing about cosplay for quite a while now. We’ve written articles about panels, interviewed cosplayers, photographed hundreds of cosplayers both at cons and in actual photo shoots. But we keep making excuses about why cosplaying at a con does not work for us. Which makes some sense when you consider that we’re trying hard to cover as many things as we can and cosplaying could, well, get in the way a bit.

BUT, I’ve always loved the theater and costuming. At one point, I had planned to work in the theater business for my grown-up job. I had even received scholarships to do just that. And by the time I decided not to follow that career path, I had been involved in 24 some-odd productions of some sort or another. I guess what I’m really trying to say is that deep in my heart, I’ve always had a fondness for costuming and getting out there and pretending to be a character. We also thought it might be valuable to let you guys know what we discovered while cosplaying at a con.

So I decided to give it a go.

I pulled out a costume that I had built a while back (for Halloween) and spruced it up a bit and made plans to debut The Burger King at Salt Lake Comic Con 2014. I finally did get out on the floor as The King on Saturday and ended up hanging out in costume for several hours. I learned/noticed a lot of things:

1. Cosplaying is quite fun.
2. You get a lot of attention.
3. How on earth do you cosplayers ever get to any panels?
4. It can be hard to hear.
5. It gets quite hot.
6. It is very difficult to navigate.
7. My handlers were life-savers.
8. People are happy to express appreciation for your costume.
9. It’s hard to tell where people are next to you when taking a photo.
10. When your entire intent is to cosplay and there is a lull in people asking for a photo, it’s kind of surreal just standing there feeling like an idiot.
11. Wear it loud and proud! It was fun to strut and act like a nut-job
12. My costume seemed to work well for photo-bombing
13. Come prepared with some poses. My costume didn’t allow for a large variety of those, but I think I should have come up with more than just the thumbs up.
14. Have a good place to change. I was extremely glad that I had a changing tent I could use in the parking lot to get in and out of costume.
    Trying to carry the costume to a bathroom or something from across the street in the parking lot would have been a nightmare.
15. It gets sweaty. If you’re planning to get into normal clothes after, bring a comb and deodorant.
16. A skirt provides a little bit of cooling, so in my case I was only hot from the chest up.
17. Bring safety pins and backup supplies.
18. Store all of your cosplay stuff in a big box so you don’t lose all the bits and pieces.
19. Hot gluing EVA foam while still trying to shape it with a hot glue gun doesn’t necessarily work super good.
20. If you wear a mask, it can be quite difficult to figure out what people around you are doing.
21. If you creep up on friends that don’t know it’s you cosplaying, they can have a hard time wrapping their minds around it.
22. Repeat of point 1, it’s quite fun. If you haven’t tried it, go for it!

I had a blast. We sent a photographer around to try and get photos of people getting photos with me and general events. See if you can find yourself!

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Trevor Nielson

Writer & Photographer at ComicCon.tips

An avid photographer and con-goer, Trevor has spent the last few years developing great affection towards the cosplay community and comic conventions. Back in the day, Trevor spent all his spare time in the theater designing and building sets and lighting schemes. More recently Trevor has dabbled a little with cosplay by building an elaborate Burger King costume and lit Kevin Flynn. But in relation to cosplay, Trevor is probably most passionate about cosplay photography. Here on CosplayForAll, you'll find many of his spotlight articles and photos of local cosplayers showing off their amazing creations. Feel free to get in touch with him if you have any questions or requests.