This was my first ever comic-con.
In my naivety I never knew comic-cons were big in England, I thought it was just an American thing. I was pleasantly pleased to be proven wrong.
This was brought to my attention by one of my friends. She invited us to join her and recommend we all buy priority tickets. Which, in hindsight, was a huge waste because (although we had priority) we all didn’t arrive until the time that general entry went in. All we managed to do was beat the queues a little!
In our group, we had Red Hood (me), Cher Horowitz, Dean Winchester, Scarlet Witch, Princess Fiona, Emma Frost and Liv Moore. (Later on a horse when one of our friends brought a horse mask 🤣). We all had a great time!
I was excited about cosplaying for the first time. I have always loved dressing up. My favourite time of the year was always Halloween. Moreover, I was always excited to attend themed parties. It’s part of the reason I loved the nightlife at University as well. In fact, at one point I was making a costume with no end goal for it. I was making a Link costume over the course of a couple of years and it ended up getting sold off and dismantled. Therefore, getting the opportunity to dress up again was amazing. I only had a few weeks to get ready for it, but I managed to throw together a basic Red Hood costume; with the limited amount of skill or experience I had at the time.
I was also excited because I thought (naively) I would be the only Red Hood there. The reason I thought this was because (within my circle of friends, family and colleagues) nobody knew the character. I saw several when I was there. I tried complimenting them but pretty much all but a couple turned their noses up at me… which introduced me to the elitist part of cosplay very early on. However, fortunately, it was a mere few. Most were very positive about my cosplay, even if it was evident that I was a new cosplayer.
Upon arrival, a Green Arrow cosplayer invited me to a DC cosplays meet, which I inevitably I was unable to find! I also met someone who kept following me and calling me, “Nightwing.” The same person also creeped around our friend who was Emma Frost.
My main focus though was to attend a photoshoot, which due to our late arrival; I didn’t have much time to get a lay of the land. With help, I found where the celebrities were and queued up to meet one of my heroes. This comic-con coincided with the release of Rogue One. Now, for those not in the know, I have been training Wing Chun Kung Fu since 2016. This was due to Donnie Yen inspiring me to adopt this art form. So meeting a hero of mine was incredible. I queued for half an hour and when I got there I tried to tell Donnie Yen that he inspired me to learn Wing Chun and midway through me trying to say those few measly words; the photographer aggressively shouted at me to pose. I asked Donnie Yen if we could do the stance and the photographer didn’t even give him a chance to get his hands up before taking the photo. Then I was ushered out quite aggressively. So although meeting Donnie Yen was a dream come true, the experience of paying to see guests left much to be desired. I told myself that I would henceforth only pay to meet someone I am passionate about meeting (which I have stuck to; subsequently having better experiences as well). This was both a positive and negative experience, both the positive and negatives being very overwhelming.
After my photoshoot I tried calling my friends to realise phones don’t work in the excel centre during comic-con. I managed to text my best mate who informed me they were on the steps outside. I found my friends and enjoyed watching the cosplayers outside. Once everyone caught up with each other we explored the inside. Taking photos where we could. I went to the DC Comics area and got a mystery box and we all had a laugh. We eventually took a rest on some seats by the canteen area. Showed each other what we brought, took some more photos and then left.
For most of my friends, that was their first and last Comic-Con. For me, as I write this now, it has been over a 150 events and 8 years of cosplaying. I fell in love with the whole experience (warts and all). The next con I struggled to get people to come with me, but that ended up being good for me.
TJC Cosplays 
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