By Jennifer Mustoe
FanX19 in Salt Lake City at the Salt Palace Convention Center is a wild three-day ride and I took that ride with several of my reviewers and THOUSANDS of people all three days. FanX19 had many pieces to its delightful madness. One HUGE piece is cosplay. If you don’t know what cosplay is, here’s a definition: the practice of dressing up as a character from a movie, book, television show, or video game. At this year’s FanX19, there were so many cosplayers that it would take me days to gather photos. But I’ve gotten many and am happy to share them.
I myself cosplayed this year. In years past, I’ve just dressed up in costume, usually Steam Punk, and it was fun. But the delight ramps up significantly when I played a real character. People stopped me to snap photos. When we went to the mall to get lunch, my husband heard someone whisper to a friend, “I think I just saw Molly Weasley.” (From the Harry Potter books.)
As you can see from the photos, some cosplayers take this very seriously and spend countless hours creating their costumes. I know one fellow took six costumes for the three-day event and changed halfway through each day. Impressive!
I admit with only a little chagrin that all of these characters tromping around the Salt Palace are so remarkably cool but I have no idea who many of them are. (I may need to watch more TV, movies, read some comics, and invest more heavily in the types of media cosplayers portray. Or, of course, ask my son and daughter-in-law, who are far cooler than I am so they can tell me what I’m missing.) The amount of detail is incredible. And it’s so fun to see characters from the same genre and even the same movie/comic/book/story find each other and start to snap gobs of photos and laugh and clap one another on the back. It’s like finding long-lost family members.
Here is a link to a bunch of photos snapped by me, my reviewers, and others, that I will continue to add to. Prepare to be WOWED!
There is a strong cosplay community in Utah—and beyond!—that makes the FanX events so much fun. In the live feeds I posted on our Facebook page, I encouraged people to JUST COME TO FANX, but to those who did go and didn’t dress up, or to those who have never gone, or to those who think, I’m not sure I’d like it, I am suggesting: COME to FanX and go the distance. Find a character and make a costume. Or buy one. Or even just dress in comfortable clothes (and comfortable shoes are a must!) and wear a mask, or a fun hat, or extravagant make-up. This community of geeks (let’s be honest) are some of the most enthusiastic, supportive, plain fun people you’ll meet. I heard very little complaining, very little profanity, very little negativity at all as I wandered the halls of the Convention Center. People are there to have lots of fun.
Many families, friends, even littles, got in on the act, and the groups that were from the same story were super great to see. My son and daughter-in-law were students from Harry Potter’s Ravenclaw House and we got to go to two of the FanX Meet-ups: Families that Cosplay, and Harry Potter Meet-up. In fact, at the Harry Potter Meet-Up, fellow cosplayer Samantha Collett dressed up as Bellatrix LeStrange (a very evil witch) and handed me a wand and said, “Let’s duel!” And we did, and the effect and enjoyment was really top notch. Meet-Ups are for those who have cosplaying genres in common. All those who are involved climb onto the Convention Center’s large stairway for a group photo, then hobnob afterwards with their particular community’s cosplayers. This is a wonderful feature at FanX and everyone loves it.
If cosplay or even a slight dressing up isn’t your thing, the people watching at FanX is totally worth the price of the ticket. See our other reviews for what else happened at FanX19, but the cosplaying alone is fantastic and completely worth it—whether you are a participant or an onlooker. Getting to the venue is almost as fan as being there when you go on Trax. There’s nothing like being on local rapid transit with Fat Thor, Tinkerbell, a myriad of monsters, and a bunch of wizards and witches. Mark you calendar for next year’s event, starting thinking of a costume to design or buy, and come and enjoy yourself with thousands of others!
FanX19, Salt Palace Convention Center (100 West Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84101)
FanX19 Website
For lots more photos that are being added all the time, go to:
FanX Comic Convention Facebook Page and
Cosplay—FanX Comic Convention Facebook Page
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