Costume play - or cosplay - may look like a high school theme party out of place or Halloween out of time, but it has grown into an art form and an industry all of its own.
Cosplay is now a vital and featured personality of most comicons and fan conventions. It's a way for fans to express their creative feelings for the characters they love, demonstrate some talents of their own, and spread the love for a part of the entertainment industry - sets, makeup, costumes, etc. - that no story can live without.
And who doesn't love a good story? For Bronson Lee Ramos, cosplay is a chance to get right inside some of his favourite stories. He has gone to great lengths to build himself a likeness of Gipsy Danger from the film Pacific Rim. With much cutting, gluing and sewing of EVA foam, Ramos fashioned the detailed costume that has now made him famous in Canadian cosplay circles, right from his apartment in Williams Lake.
Ramos will be wearing his Gipsy Danger persona in Prince George this weekend at Northern FanCon.
When The Mary Sue - a sci-fi, gaming, and comic fan website - held an online cosplay contest, it was Ramos' Gipsy garb that won.
His prize was vaulting out of the competition and onto the team of judges at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo.
You don't get to be a judge at that level unless you're a cosplay star. Even at the inaugural Northern FanCon, the cosplay judges are world renowned.
One is leather armour specialist Aaron Harrison. He currently builds armor and gear for the hit TV show Arrow for such characters as The Arrow, Deathstroke, Ras A Ghul, Arsenal and others.
Harrison has been in the props/costume industry for more than 25 years, and has built for Stargate, Chronicles of Riddick, and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, to name only a few.
Another is cosplay superstar Lindsay Elyse who is a professional costumer and gamer with an international convention schedule, her own line of merchandise and a number of company sponsorships.
And Ramos, who couldn't believe a cosplay event was happening so close to his hometown.
"Sometimes in towns like Williams Lake and Prince George you don't know if there is another cosplayer in town until you go to an event like FanCon, so it should be revealing for the whole scene there," he said. "I'm pretty much all on my own, with just a few close friends who do this. We have a few people who do big costume events like Halloween or fundraiser events. We build our own separate costumes but together. You look less insane when you have someone else beside you doing the same thing, giving you ideas, talking you through things."
Ramos is still adjusting to life as a celebrity cosplay judge after being the aspiring costume designer and uber-fan such a short time ago (and that part of his personality is still alive and well). Instead of maintaining a character, as he mingles in costume through convention crowds, he is now a representative of the event.
"When I'm judging I'm looking for confidence in what they did, people who maybe bit off more than they could chew but still went ahead and did it anyways," he said. "And just because I'm more of a specialist in making armour doesn't mean I can't appreciate fabric costumes. I actually really admire those skills because I have a whole different set of interests, so it's like magic to me."
Presentation and workmanship are the two main features of a cosplay costume. Northern FanCon has categories for kids and adults, experienced and novice. Register for judging at www.fancon.ca.
