The mega convention brought together enthusiasts of anime, fantasy, comics, sci-fi, gaming and more for three days last weekend at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
四虎影院 Morning Edition host Andrew Garcia and I were there for opening day and spoke to some of the hundreds of cosplay actors dressed as their favorite characters.
This was my first time at a fan convention like this, and although Andrew wasn鈥檛 quite the newbie I was, he鈥檇 never been to a fan con as large as this one and claimed to be out of the comic-book game for a few years now.
I suspected he was more of an expert than he let on, because he had no trouble identifying just about every comic-book character we encountered.
鈥淲ell, I do know the difference between Doctor Strange and Doctor Fate,鈥� he conceded.
Still, he had me beat. My knowledge of comic-book characters doesn鈥檛 extend past Archie and his gang.
But as it turned out, it didn鈥檛 matter, because there was an abundance of cosplay characters I did recognize, including those from the movie Ghostbusters.
COSPLAY BELLS AND WHISTLES
We hadn't even made it to the main hall when we caught sight of Erica Beasley in her elaborate Ghostbusters costume, complete with functioning blinking proton pack. She worked on her costume for months.
鈥�I started it in December,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 basically gutted this entire proton pack and redid the inside. It has custom lighting, custom sounds and stuff like that.鈥�
And Beasley wasn't the only cosplay actor whose costume came with bells and whistles. version of a Tusken Raider from The Mandalorian was equally impressive. It included a custom-made mask (which was actually pretty scary), long brown robes, a staff and a high-tech finishing touch that mimicked the character鈥檚 signature roar.
鈥淚 built a contraption where I have buttons on my hand,鈥� Lymbery explained. 鈥淚 have four different sounds here that I plugged in that I got from a soundboard. It's on a little memory card and when I hit a button it makes noise.鈥�
The sound that Lymbery demonstrated can best be described as a cross between a belt on a car motor gone awry and a pterodactyl in distress. In short, it was authentically scary and captured the character鈥檚 essence perfectly.
ANIM脡 OR NOT?
Andrew and I both agreed that the Star Wars characters were the easiest to identify, although he reminded me that, at first, I thought Lymbery鈥檚 Tusken Raider cosplay was Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. But being able to identify the characters wasn鈥檛 really necessary to enjoy the convention.
Case in point: One of my favorite costumes at the event was worn by 16-year-old Ava Williams. She was an explosion of pink and red 鈥� pink ears, pink wig, a red girly dress, and she carried a giant red hammer. I had no idea who she was supposed to be, but it didn鈥檛 matter. She was animation come to life.
Ava said she was Amy Rose, the female hedgehog with a crush on the title character in the video game Sonic the Hedgehog. She was there with her dad, Shane Williams.
鈥�It's a tradition for us every year. It's what we've done,鈥� Shane Williams said. 鈥淚t's like her Super Bowl for the whole year. She's been working on three costumes for the last 10 months.鈥�
Ava said it鈥檚 the challenge of making the costumes that she loves.
鈥�I love seeing the end product so much. It's just, whenever you see the end project and you look at yourself, you're like, wow, I can't believe I made that,鈥� she said. 鈥淚'm so proud of myself for what I did and I love seeing my projects progress over the years.鈥�
FIRST-TIMERS WELCOME
We met another Fan Expo first-timer, Rossell Lopez, who was channeling the Marvel superhero, Captain America.
鈥淚'm really a fan of the movies and the comics,鈥� Lopez said. 鈥淚 really like all the honesty. He's always for the greater good.鈥�
And the 鈥済reater good鈥� is on the mind of a lot of cosplayers, not just Captain America. Groups like the use their cosplaying prowess to raise money for charity.
Many people we spoke to said that the community aspect of the convention is why they do it. Not only does cosplay connect them to characters from a 鈥渓ong time ago, in a galaxy far, far away,鈥� it also connects them to their fellow fans.
Lymbery, our friend the Tuskan Raider, put it this way.
鈥淚t just opened up the door for a very lush world of characters that all have backstories," Lymbery said. "It makes me feel a little more connected and understanding that everyone has a story, everyone has a place and seeing a vastness in something like Star Wars or Ghostbusters reminds me of the vastness of the world I live in."
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