Orlando comic-book and sci-fi nerds – ASSEMBLE!
It’s the weekend of MegaCon at the Orange County Convention Center.
Hundreds of thousands of fans show up every year for the four-day festival to meet genre artists, writers, and big celebs like actors from Stranger Things and Doctor Who… and many of them dress up as beloved characters from their favorite shows, books, anime, and movies. In this Nerd-vana, artistic expression meets fandom in cosplay.
The performance art of cosplay has become a culture all its own. Many cosplayers hand-sew or 3-D print their own costumes, planning them meticulously over months.
It can be intimidating, until you hear about cosplay subcultures like “bounding,” which focuses on the joy of dressing up like your favorite character, not the exactitude.
Orlando’s Jaimz Dillman has become a costuming expert through, among other roles, her ten years as leader of the Central Florida-based burlesque troupe Corsets and Cuties, and her experience as a performer and cosplayer. She’ll be bringing some looks to MegaCon this weekend.
She said her boyfriend is also a costume designer, and they are cosplaying together, with costumes from the GI Joe franchise.
“This year we did Cobra and Baroness,” Dillman said. “And my daughter has gotten into it, and she brings her friends along.”
Cosplay without pressure
Dillman noted that the cosplay culture has expanded in recent years, opening the door to more avenues of expression, like “bounding.” She said bounding became popular because it’s a way to cosplay Disney characters in Walt Disney theme parks, without breaking the rules. The parks don’t allow guests to dress exactly like Disney characters, of course, but Dillman said it’s fine to dress in the style of, or in a manner inspired by, a favorite character or movie.
For instance, she said, she will be bounding as a Ghostbuster at MegaCon one of the days she attends.
“I'll wear a Ghostbusters T shirt,” she said. “I have a nice hoodie that kind of looks like the jumpsuit [worn in the movie], and swag, like a lanyard that'll be Ghostbuster themed. I have a Ghostbuster hair bow.”
Do the Monster Mash
Another way to cosplay is “mashups,” said Dillman. At MegaCon or other similar conventions, you may see one person paying tribute to two distinct fandoms with their outfits.
“The mashups are really creative,” Dillman said. “When you see a Bridgerton/Star Wars character walking through MegaCon, you're like, ‘Okay, Darth Vader and his horse, okay, sure!’”
“And then you'll see all sorts of different crossovers with the horror genre, too - you'll see cheerleader Michael Myers [from the Halloween movies] or a pinup-style Freddy Krueger,” she laughed. “I mean, why not? It goes as far as the imagination does, and every year, that's my favorite thing, is to see what's next and what's new!”
Dillman stressed that the cosplay culture welcomes you if you’d like to be, say, a Marvel superhero for a day.
I know some people are intimidated by what they've seen and how impressive some people make their costumes, but I always say, give it a try,” she said. “You gotta start somewhere. Everybody is encouraging in the community, and if you want ideas or help or suggestions, reach out. There's cosplay communities all over social media, especially within the MegaCon community, and everybody just wants to help everyone be better or achieve their goals.”
