All Photos By Gail
In the interest of full transparency, I confess that I stopped attending Halloween costume parties about 20 years ago. The reason for this is three-fold:
- My costume ideas are lame.
- I am lazy.
- My competitiveness is such that if I can’t be the best at something, I would (almost always) rather not play.
That said, I have an overabundance of admiration (read: jealousy) for the amazing Cosplayers who go out of their way to make fan conventions like New York Comic Con and Anime NYC such over-the-top hits! Seriously, without all these passionate fans impeccably dressed as their favorite characters from Anime, Comics, Movies and Manga, the experience wouldn’t be nearly as head-spinning. If you’ve been to one of these fan conventions, I think you will feel me on this: Cosplayers are the Martial Artists and Fire Jugglers of fan conventions, and they deserve respect.
I was excited to be of the over 100,000 attendees at Anime NYC 2024, last month, where I had all kinds of crazy fun, and have the photos to prove it. Let’s take a look at some of my favor Cosplayers who swarmed Javits Center, transforming the space into a fantasy wonderland.
I will generally ask before taking someone’s photo, because that is only polite, and 99% of anyone you ask is excited and willing to pose for you. Sometimes, however, the candid ‘spy pic‘ is really the best way to capture a fleeting mood and the ‘Oh Wow’ nature of the immersive experience. You’ll see what I mean.
Ladies First!
These ladies were only too happy to have me take their photo. I don’t know what characters they are portraying but I noticed that many female characters resemble what I would call Fancy Schoolgirls or Sexy Maids. Optional accessory weapons can transition the latter character into Sexy Maid Assassin.
Sexy Maid Assassins Spy Pic!
Here is another Sexy Maid Assassin with her GI Joe Robot Dude companion and their accessory weapons! Hot! (Note: it is possible that she is dressed as the charter Ellen Joe from the roleplaying game Zenless Zone Zero, although that has not been confirmed.)
Okay, here’s a character I know: Princess Peach from Nintendo’s Mario franchise. She looks fantastic.
This woman is not dressed as Princess Peach, but if I could get away with wearing her outfit (plus, awesome pink wig) on the street, I sure would give it a go. A+.
As you can see, the pink wigs come out in force for Anime NYC! Here’s very meta meeting, where a sexy cosplayer discovers a fellow fan holding a doll of the character she’s dressed like. Whoa.
I’m glad I was there to capture the special moment!
I love the look of confident sassiness on the face of this elegant blonde woman sporting a pretty fierce set of horns and cradling a plush duck companion. Is the duck part of her character or just something she bought at the show? Who knows!
A cool thing about Anime NYC is that it’s quite common for women to dress like male characters and guys to dress as female characters. No amount of creative Googling could help me figure out this character’s identity, but I do know there’s a man behind the mask, which is awesome.
From Adventuretime — one of my animated favorite shows — its Flame Princess and Princess Bubblegum!
That helmet looks super heavy, but it might be made from a very lightweight plastic for all I know. At any rate, what a bad ass.
Why don’t people dress like this just to shop at Trader Joe’s, I ask yez.
These ladies are the characters Asagiri Gen and Senku Ishagami from the Dr. Stone manga. They look so cool!
Some Cosplayers make a nice living appearing at conventions and fan gatherings, where they sell photos and branded merchandise. Nice work if you can get it! This professional cosplayer lady is known as Jenny Bellycos and she is not only gorgeous but also very nice to her fans!
Sometimes, being asked to stop and pose endlessly can become annoying, as indicated by this woman’s expression after being asked to hold the pose while my friend shot her with two different phones and a camera! Geez. She gets the Good Sport award for sure! (Note: She’s portraying the character Ruan Mei from the game Honkai: Star Rail).
OK that was fun, but let’s peace out on the ladies and get to the guys!
Check out the character below and tell me he’s not from whatever the (literal) Hell this is.
Hi There!
In profile, this gentleman sure does resemble Timothy Chalamet. He’s portraying Ace D. Portgas, one of the most popular characters from the roleplaying game One Piece. Ace belongs to the Whitebeard pirates and this tattoo, the emblem of this pirate group, is added to the backs of its captains and higher-ups. The tattoo is probably fake, but you never know. I saw a few guys showing them off.
Somebody brought a friend!
Ghost from Nightwar: Don’t Shoot!
The Mandelorian!
Wolverine!
The line to use the Mens Room!
Chainsaw Man!
Let’s wind it down now with some mixed-gender cosplayer groups, like these friends who came dressed as various characters from One Piece.
“Wakanda Forever!”
And…we’re outta here! More exclusive coverage of Anime NYC will be coming, so stay tuned!
Pink Thing of Anime NYC: Kirby!