The cosplay community is chock-full of extremely talented cosplayers from all levels of experience and skill. It’s more than just being good at sewing. To really excel at the hobby, you need to know how to think outside of the box and take your creativity to the next level. Most cosplay costumes are not simple and require a lot of creativity to complete in order to look as authentic as possible. This month’s Cosplayer Spotlight celebrates one such cosplayer who faces every challenge with determination and amazing ingenuity! Read the full story

Another epic convention has passed, so how was it? The crowds were back, the guests were more incredible, and a world record just may have been accomplished. If you ask me, Dragon*con 2009 was a huge success. Not able to make it this year? Here’s just the tip of the iceberg of what you missed. Read the full story

Prepare your cosplay and get ready to stomp and roar, because Dragon*con is calling the undead (and not-so-undead) to break a world record by dancing to the late King of Pop’s “Thriller”. It’s one of the major events planned for this Labor Day weekend’s convention and it’s something no geek will want to miss. Read the full story

2008's D*Con Parade Pirates

Everybody loves a parade! And what do we love more than parades? Geeks on parade! When you have thousands of colorful geeky costumes running around a convention, it’s easy to miss out on some of the best. It’d be much better if they could parade in front of you, and at Dragon*con, that’s exactly what they do on Saturday morning. Read the full story

The West Coast may have Comic-con, but the East Coast is home to an equally enormous pop-culture extravaganza that surpasses San Diego in size, scope, and interests. It’s Dragon*con, the U.S.’s largest multi-media pop-culture convention and one of the largest of its kind in the world. Read the full story

D.Gray-man Group

While it’s the super-large conventions that get national attention and industry exposure, the smaller conventions appeal to the heart and soul of fans both local and beyond. Ask any fan or cosplayer, and most will tell you that they prefer the smaller conventions over the larger ones. Just because a convention is smaller doesn’t mean it’s any less fun. In fact, they tend to be a lot more fun. Read the full story

Just who will Team USA be competing against this year at the World Cosplay Summit? There are more international teams for 2009 than there ever has been and that means more awesome competition. Here’s a brief profile of three of the teams who will also be making the ultimate cosplay trip to Japan.

Team Australia

Australia

Katherine Lee and Gabriella Lowgren are not new to cosplay. With six and three years of experience respectively, they plowed through the preliminaries to ultimately be chosen as Australia’s representatives at this year’s WCS. Their favorite series include Kazan, Fullmetal Alchemist, D.Gray-man, Naruto, Junjo Romantica, Soul Eater, Angel Sanctuary, Bubble Gum Crisis Tokyo 2040, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Kingdom Hearts. Their winning costumes that won them their spot as Team Australia were Ed and Al Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist.

Team Spain

Spain

Laura Fernández and Bereniç Serrano both possess nine years of experience as cosplayers and it shows. With favorites like Nana, Cowboy Bebop, Slayers, The Rose of Versailles, Candy Candy, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Paradise Kiss, Nana, and Cardcaptor Sakura as favorites, they know how to create some elaborate and detailed costumes. They’re really looking forward to the competition in Japan this year, claiming it as “the highest goal a cosplayer can reach.” Their Rose of Versailles cosplays as Oscar and Marie Antoinette won them their place as Team Spain.

Team France

France

France won the championship in 2007, and no doubt Albanese Cecilia and Turpin Eva are eager to reclaim their county’s title. With six and four years of experience respectively, both girls are very excited to represent France for 2009. Their favorite series include titles from CLAMP and Sailor Moon—series known for insanely detailed costumes. 2008’s Team France was at Japan Expo earlier this summer to congratulate the new team, who won with their Magic Knight Rayearth costumes.

This year, the competition will take place August 1 and 2. GEN will be updating throughout this week with information about the competition, the teams, and our own Team USA so check back frequently for updates!

Get more information at WCS’s official web site.

What do you get when you combine cardboard and plastic bottles with some mad skills? An awesome costume, of course! The ingenuity of cosplayers is seemingly limitless, and for July’s Cosplayer Spotlight, I had the opportunity to interview one young man who took a bunch of household materials and turned them into something out of this world. Read the full story

Blasted kids, get off my con! Read the full story

Styling wigs is a challenge, but a rewarding one!

Perhaps one of the most challenging, daunting, and complicated aspects of cosplay would be the wig. A lot of characters don’t possess simple hair styles, which often lead some cosplayers to omit a wig from their costume completely. However, even if you have the most accurate and well-made costume, you’ll stand out like a sore thumb if you leave out such a detail. Odds are people will look at your head first before they notice what you’re wearing and you’ll find that you’ll be overlooked more than the other cosplayer who took the time to get all the details head to toe. Read the full story