Over 80,000 people came together last July for the Los Angeles Anime Expo (AX), one of the biggest anime conventions in America. For 96 hours, comic buffs, anime fans, and video gamers from around the world came together to celebrate their passions, interests and hobbies under one roof in the Los Angeles Convention Center.
For sophomore Sophie Imbler, this is an annual trip. For the past three years, Imbler has gone to both AX and FanimeCon, a different anime convention held annually in San Jose. Many participants in these conventions choose to come decked out in cosplay—a costume of one of their favorite anime or comic characters.
“My dad makes the eight-hour drive every year,” says Imbler. “The trip is definitely worth making. There are so many people, and it’s amazing to see some spectacular cosplays. I saw a guy a year or two back dressed up as a huge robot—the costume had to be six or seven feet tall. It came with LED lights, sound effects—the whole package.”
However, costumes like these can be expensive, so cosplayers have developed their own strategies for lowering the costs.
“The time and money spent on a costume depends on how much of it you need,” says senior Rachel Leung. “Some people actually make the costumes from scratch, but that’s a huge time commitment and hassle. I usually buy my costume, and then make the accessories myself. It takes a lot of time, but it’s really an enjoyable activity.”
There are also some cosplayers who create their costumes by hand.
“For the most part,” says senior Dasha Shestakov, “cosplayers like what they do because it’s fun and popular at a lot of conventions. Some people put a lot of time and effort into it because they like the process of making a cosplay in and of itself.”
Junior Gillian Toledo has been to the biannual Sacramento Anime Convention four times. Over the years, she has cosplayed various characters from movies such as Silent Hill and video games like Kingdom Hearts.
“I started cosplaying in eighth grade,” says Toledo. “I’ve realized that it’s honestly something that takes a while to go through. I mean, I remember having to plan my costume months prior to an event. My mom and I would take multiple trips to fabric, arts and crafts stores like Joanne’s or Michael’s, and then we’d get right to work. Cosplaying is not something you can conjure up in a day or two. It can take weeks, or even months.”
Imbler is planning on going to the Anime Expo again, which is coming up in about six months, and she has already started working on her costume.
“For this year’s expo, I’m cosplaying a character called Ruby Rose from an online anime show called RWBY,” says Imbler. “I started with her outfit, which was pretty simple. All I had to do was draw out patterns for her outfit and sew them, which took about two weeks and $50, since I managed to get everything on sale. The main part of my costume was Ruby’s weapon, which is this huge scythe that’s taller than me. I started out by making blueprints for it, and then I bought the materials as I went along. I made the entire prop out of a couple of different materials, like foam board, plastic, PVC pipes and expanding foam.”
Imbler’s cosplaying passion may lead her to going into prop design after college.
“I’ve done a lot of costume designing, and it’s something that I love. For first timers or people not really acquainted with cosplaying, it may seem a little weird, and it totally is—like there’s always gonna be someone who thinks I’m a giant nerd so I’ve just learned to deal with it and move on,” she says.
Ultimately, cosplay unites people from around the world.
“Cosplaying is definitely something that’s really popular,” says Toledo. “I think people like it because they can become someone else for a change, and make characters from their imaginations come alive. It’s great that there are huge communities and conventions where people come together and really bond over their hobbies and passions.”
