It’s a convention floor like no other. Instead of doctors, engineers and other typical conventioneers, you’ll find superheroes, space aliens and medieval warriors roaming through the concourses during San Diego's Comic-Con.
But for many of the cosplayers, as they are known, this is way more than just a weekend of dressing up.
“There's a lot of people that choose dressing up, cosplaying as kind of their art form and their way to show their creativity, but also their appreciation for the character and the actors that portray them,” said longtime cosplayer Micha Ella.
Ella uses cosplay to show her love for Carol, one of the main characters in the zombie apocalypse show “The Walking Dead.” In the show, Carol survives an abusive ex-husband and grows into a confident and capable leader. For Ella, she is a role model.
“I was part of a handful of folks, both men and women, who were hardcore Carol cosplayers to the point where we had our own little Facebook group, and we would hunt down screen accurate items,” Ella said. “I did meet a lot of people that I don't think would be in my life or that I would even know of if it had not been for the cosplay community.”
On the surface, as a younger Filipino woman, Ella doesn’t at all resemble Carol, a middle-aged white woman. But that’s part of what makes the experience special for her.
“I'm not a white person. I'm not in the same age bracket as (Carol) and I'm nowhere near as skinny or as tall as she is,” said Ella. “I most enjoy getting the reception from both fellow cosplayers and fans and especially the actors themselves.”
A new level of acceptance
Jimmy Sherfy came to cosplay for the costuming, but stayed for the acceptance he felt from the community. He said his first costume, a piranha plant from Super Mario Bros, opened up new friendships.
“Even those first couple conventions where I was wearing a mascot costume, eventually on social media is kind of where I would find my community … either they were cosplayers or they were nerdy like me,” Sherfy said.
Then, cosplay opened another door for Sherfy that allowed him to more deeply explore his identity.
“I used to do cosplays that were in drag, like female characters a little bit when I was starting my cosplay journey, and that kind of got me started in the drag community, as I got asked by Chad Michaels, who's a famous Cher performer here in San Diego from (Rupaul's) Drag Race to Urban MO's, and he wanted me to be part of a Disney show,” Sherfy said. “I was like, 'Oh, me? What am I gonna do?'”
Sherfy realized drag and cosplay had a lot in common. In both, people do skits and lip sync as a character. But more than that, he gained a greater acceptance from the LGBTQ+ community.
“The cosplay community is kind of more accepting, I would say, about different body types, different ethnicities, different sexualities in general and obviously the LGBT community — that's what it's all about,” Sherfy said. “So I just feel like there's a good overlap there with the communities, and I've kind of found my little place in there.”
Sherfy now makes a living as a combination cosplayer/drag queen performing at conventions and venues across California.
An early start
Miles Montgomery was a shy middle schooler when he first encountered cosplay.
“I started going to Comic-Con when I was 11 or 12 years old, and that was the first time that I had seen people dressing up as comic book characters and fantasy characters,” Montgomery said. “And I was like, 'Oh, normal people can just do this?'”
Montgomery said cosplaying helped him to break out of his shell.
“It was interesting because you never think that anybody is quite as nerdy as you are. And then you meet other people that are literally dressing up as characters from these anime, from these video games,” Montgomery said. “So meeting those kinds of people gave me the confidence to be more outgoing, it definitely helped me with social anxiety and just meeting friends that I never would have otherwise.”
Now in his early 30s, Montgomery said he treasures the diversity of cosplay.
“I would say that we're people from literally all age groups, all walks of life. I literally started cosplaying, I think, 15 or 16 years old … I've seen people, seniors, cosplaying as well, like with walkers and stuff,” Montgomery said. “It just creates that community of people that understand where you're coming from. But it doesn't matter where you come from physically.”
As Comic-Con approaches, Montgomery, who mainly cosplays characters from apocalyptic movies like “Mad Max,” said his costume might not come together until the last minute.
“Well, since I've been cosplaying so long, I've got pieces of my costumes just thrown all over my condo,” Montgomery said. “We always love to procrastinate and leave that final couple hours right before you leave to sew that last one thing or sculpt that last one thing and hope it dries.”
Whenever he makes it, Montgomery will relish a reunion with friends on the convention floor.
