C2E2 was proudly back to full strength in Chicago this year. And the cosplay winner is ...
CHICAGO — The cosplay wrangler walked to the center of the conference room. “OK, anybody worried in here?” she asked. She was surrounded by fairies and monsters, one Batman, a Snow White, a Beetlejuice and super soldiers shouldering guns so large the barrels teetered above them. They were on the fourth floor of McCormick Place on Saturday night, preparing to be ushered into the Cosplay Central Crown Championships, one of the key events of the annual C2E2, Chicago’s largest comic con. It’s an elaborate, nail-biting, goofy international competition. Say what you will about the World Series, the Cosplay Central Crown Championships actually has competitors from around the world.
The room quieted down.
“What I mean is,” the wrangler continued, “is anyone worried about getting on stage?”
It was a fair question. Cosplay — if you’re unaware — is amateur costuming, paired with a tinge of method roleplay. Some costumes take hundreds of hours to build and thousands of dollars. Hardcore cosplayers make . Less committed ones turn the cakes, and they often take just as much care to move around. The contestant from Spain wore a grand homemade gown the British royals would have approved. One man’s “Fantastic Four” arms extended many feet before him. Beetlejuice walked slowly, ensuring the working carousel on his head didn’t topple. A Demogorgon from “Stranger Things,” head splayed open like a lethal flower, was so long and spindly, stairs were its kryptonite. Sara Jones of Urbana, dressed as a forest god from Dungeons & Dragons, wore a woodsy floral headdress so large it could have made a perfect Thanksgiving table centerpiece.
