As is its annual wont, there was another stellar appearance of many rabid fans of the sci-fi comic book fantasy genres as they got their personal game on with cosplay at the WonderCon 2013 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA this weekend. There was a high display of originality this year as costumes ranged from charmingly homemade to dazzling professional, highly reminiscent of the original articles.

Judge for yourself here below in our Photo Gallery as we spotlight some of the best of the best and most fun, as well as some scenes from the convention show floor, as we scoured the Con and captured some of the action for you [...]

Cosplayers are extraordinarily passionate about their craft, most going to great lengths to achieve the mimicry they desire. Now there may just be even more incentive to find the characters said cosplayers feel they can best embody, and do everything in their power to replicate that character.

Russian cosplayer Anna Moleva is one such case. The Moscow resident, who’s also known as “Ormeli,” has an affinity for video game characters, and when she saw Elizabeth, the female lead in Irrational Games’ upcoming BioShock Infinite, she knew she had to become her. The results were so successful, so eerily similar, that the makers of Infinite, including game designer Ken Levine, decided to hire her as the face of Elizabeth going forward. [...]

New York Comic-Con, the gathering of all things geek, sci-fi/fantasy, comic books, and action figures, has hit the East Coast, as the Jacob Javits Center in New York City is hosting the convention all weekend. You can see our photos of Friday night’s coverage here below.

While certainly not as big as the convention held annually in San Diego (which is generally considered the archetype mecca of geek conventions), the NYCC has its share of zealous minions who congregate in the large glass and steel edifice that is the Javits Center, milling and moiling around its carpeted floors, checking out its voluminous amount of booths filled with sci-fi/fantasy arcana, figurines, T-shirts, original and reproduced artwork, comics books dating back to the Silver Age, and the artists, writers, and creators of said minutiae. But without question, one of the coolest appeals of the entire convention has to be the scores of fanboys and fangirls, just regular Joes and Janes, decked out in costumes of their favorite superheroes, ranging from dollar store versions to authentic, mindblowing replicas of the genuine articles [...]

Dragon*Con is always held on Labor Day weekend, which means that Sundays are basically a whole extra Saturday. In many ways, Dragon*Con Sundays are better than Saturdays. Whereas many conventions are wrapping things up on Sunday, Dragon*Con is still packed with major events, interesting panels, dusty vendor booths, awesome parties, and hot cosplay. On Sundays, the crowd is still crazy thick, but it’s nothing compared to the cacophonic chaos of Saturday’s mass confusion. By this point, most con-goers are aware of Dragon*Con’s nuances and have mastered most of the tricks. Or we’re all just experiencing a collective hangover from throwing back insane quantities of liquor the night before.

On Sunday night we hit the bars at the Hyatt and Marriott and a couple of parties at the Sheraton. The cosplay was out in force. Game of Thrones, True Blood, Iron Man, and Star Wars had a heavy presence at this year’s Dragon*Con. Even Hunger Games made a late comeback in cosplay representation — I was surprised at the lack of Hunger Games costumes on Friday and Saturday. Some of the more unique costumes included a group of lizard aliens from V, Mary Poppins, Consuela, and Jurassic Park fossils.

Check out the cosplay gallery here below [...]

Sunday at Dragon*Con is full of panels and workshops, but this day is truly all about the official costume contest. Cosplayers bring out their best but only just under 40 were chosen for the event along with 13 in the children’s bracket.

As usual, the show did not disappoint! Check out our gallery of images here below and pick your favorite! [...]

Saturdays at Dragon*Con always start with a huge cosplay parade through downtown Atlanta. It also is, by far, the busiest day of the convention. This year’s Dragon*Con had the most jam-packed Saturday I’ve ever experienced. The ticket line wrapped around the hotel well past mid-afternoon. The Marriott hotel closed its entrance and only allowed entry through the connecting skybridges. The dealer halls were crammed with vendors desperately hawking their wares to con-goers. Dragon*Con is infamous for its nightlife with crazy, cosplay-filled parties such as my annual favorite, The Last Party on Alderaan, where us geeks let loose, drink ourselves stupid, and dance way past our bedtimes.

I braved the masses and snapped some cosplay pics while gathering loot and taking in the whole Dragon*Con experience. My personal favorites among this set are Marty McFly from the parade with his awesome VHS camcorder, the day-glow Green Lanterns Corps, and the group from Hocus Pocus. Okay, maybe I’m biased on that last one. My wife, cousin, and sister-in-law cosplayed the Sanderson Sisters and I made my debut as Billy Butcherson. We had an absolute blast playacting our roles all night. Nothing covers your shitty dancing like zombie stumbling on the dance floor [...]

We’ve been snapping tons of cosplay pics from Dragon*Con this weekend, and there’s still more to come!

In this set of photos, we have 28 photos of cosplayers, plus an extra gallery of cosplayers reenacting scenes from Kill Bill!

Check out the photos here below, along with our previous installments:

- Dragon*Con 2012: Photo Round-Up: Cosplay Begins!
- Dragon*Con 2012: Cosplay Photo Round-Up: Day 1
- Dragon*Con 2012: Cosplay Photo Round-Up: Day 1, Part 2
- Dragon*Con 2012: Cosplay Contest Photo Round-Up: The Battle for Good and Evil!
- Dragon*Con 2012: Cosplay Street Parade Photo Round-Up [...]

Along with the costume contest, Saturday at Dragon*Con always features a massive street parade down the streets of Atlanta between the hotels where the convention is held. There are costumes galore, tricked out vehicles, and really anything else you can imagine.

Check out our gallery from Day 2 of the Dragon*Con 2012 costume parade! [...]

For years, on the second night of Dragon*Con there is a look-a-like contest for the comic book character Dawn. This year for the first time in many years the contest has been changed. The new contest is all about comic book characters of all sorts.

The winner of the epic battle this year was a truly amazing Hawkgirl who had hand-made giant wings. There were many other fantastic heroes and villains to behold too though. The contest was hosted by the surprisingly hilarious comic book icon George Perez and author Peter David.

Check out the photos from the contest here below [...]

The cosplay at Dragon*Con 2012 is legit! It seems as though every year more con-goers are cosplaying and making higher quality costumes. This year, the costumes are everywhere, which makes for an awesome Dragon*Con experience where people-watching at the Marriot bar is like chilling at a dive bar on Tatooine.

I attend a fair number of conventions in Florida; however, I only cosplay during my annual pilgrimage to Atlanta’s Dragon*Con. Here, you’re the weird one if you’re one of the few not decked out as your favorite pop culture character. Dragon*Con simply creates an environment where even the most normal among us want to spend an absurd amount of time and money stitching together a costume of sheer awesomeness. I speak from experience. I used to be a salty old coot about cosplaying at convention and swore that I’d never do it. This weekend, my wife and I packed three costumes a piece and brought along a group of friends to cosplay with us. We’re hooked.

The effort and craftsmanship exhibited in the armor and fabric costume this year is, in a word, amazing. My only disappointment is that more con-goers aren’t cosplaying Hunger Games, but I’m guessing that everyone else was also afraid that Hunger Games would be everywhere. Nobody wants to be one of a thousand Katniss’s.

Below is a small sample of the awesomeness. My favorite overall cosplayer in the gallery below was Kenny Powers. The guy totally had the part nailed and was hysterical. Well played, Mr. Powers [...]

Friday was the first day of Dragon*Con and it’s when everyone shows up bright eyed and excited, ready for four days of fandom at its best. There are some smaller track (specialized programming dedicated to one particular fandom or aspect of fandom) specific costume contests but most people in costume are just there to Cosplay and get pictures taken.

A vast majority of costumes bring multiple costumes with some even making a few changes throughout each day. But since Sunday is the day of the big main track costume contest, it’s easy to consider Friday as a teaser with the best stuff yet to come. Here’s our costume round up for the first day of the Con [...]

As I write this it’s, 4 AM Friday so it technically is Dragon*Con Day 1. This first group of images though where taken Thursday on into the wee hours of Friday and already the costumes were in full force. As I begin covering Day 1 of Dragon*Con 2012 I can only excitedly imagine what’s to come.

Check out the cosplay image gallery here below.

Dragon*Con is quite a special event. It’s known as the largest fan run multigenerational event held in the southeast. Dragon*Con is different than SDCC in that it’s not about breaking news about the next genre event. It is however the same because many celebrity guests appear at both shows. The difference is that at Dragon*Con the celebrities are here to truly interact with fans. At SDCC they are out to announce their next big thing then run for the secret exit. At D*C generally there are no big announcements, just stars here answering the fans’ questions and interacting with the people that made them who they are [...]

Other than basking in the glory of all that is Star Wars, one of the highlights of attending Star Wars Celebration is to just kick back and take in the amazing work that fans put into their costumes.

At Star Wars Celebration VI this weekend, fans were given the opportunity to meet Star Wars legends such as Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Timothy Zahn, and some dude named George Lucas even made a surprise appearance. The convention also gave attendees exclusive looks at Star Wars: Attack of the Clones 3D and the upcoming season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Here’s some of the best cosplayers we found just browsing the aisles of the convention’s main floor. Included is a picture of Dude Slave Leia. Carrie Fisher personally requested a picture with this guy. I captured a picture of him right after it happened. What you are witnessing in that single photo is the greatest moment of a man’s life [...]

After an exhausting but fun week covering movie and comic panels we spent our last day at San Diego Comic-Con walking the convention floor, visiting all the awesome booths, picking up a bit of swag, and speaking with a ton of comic creators, cosplayers, and fans of Geeks of Doom, and snapping as many photos as humanly possible.

Check out our extremely colorful cosplay gallery here after the jump [...]

If you’re a fan of Star Wars, then you know that Sand People always travel single file to hide their numbers. Hence, when in the first film Obi-Wan and Luke find the dead Jawas made to look like they were slaughtered by Sand People, Obi-Wan notes the tracks in the area are side-by-side, something the Sand People wouldn’t do (a-ha!).

Therefore, you can imagine how excited we were this weekend when we happened upon a rare moment of two Sand People travelling side-by-side at San Diego Comic-Con!

Check out our extremely rare photo here below [...]