MidSouthCon 35

Fans gathered to celebrate their favorite fandoms this weekend in Memphis, TN. MidSouthCon had their 35th annual event on March 24th through March 26 2017 at the Hilton hotel.

I packed two cameras, a notebook, a pencil, and my phone with the intent to chase and photograph cosplayers in the convention halls and cover cosplay events such as panels and the masquerade, a costume contest.

Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra

Chris cosplayed as Aang from Avatar the Last Airbender.

An interesting challenge Chris said he faced when putting together his costume was getting his body painted. His friend, Von Hase, did the paint. It took 1.5 hours. He says his cosplay inspiration is rooted in his love of theatre, dressing up, and seeing fans get excited to see their favorite character. Chris is a fan of video games, theatre, art, and anime. He does community theatre and works as a technician with an internet service partner. He started cosplay ten years ago today (March 24) at his first MidSouthCon at 18 years old.

Left: Sylvia and Rene Motta as Barbara and Adam Maitland from Beetlejuice. Right: Ryan Jones as Scarlet Spider

Sara Bielaczyc as Purple Link

Sara Bielaczyc cosplayed as purple Link from The Legend of Zelda Four Swords Adventure DS game. Her work can be found on www.aradani.com

An interesting challenge Sara says she faced when putting together her costume was choosing something that would be comfortable and cool to wear for an eight to nine hour day. Sara has been making elf ears for the last fifteen years, but she says she is most proud of her belt buckle because she designed it and it was a new challenge. It is from Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker. Sara said she is inspired to cosplay by characters with elf ears and the original designs she makes for Renaissance festivals. She told me her favorite costume was a troll because she got to wear horns. Sara is a fan of fantasy; she currently watches Shannara on MTV. Sara started cosplay through dressing up at Renaissance festivals. Sara said nerdiness runs in her family and they love Halloween. She has worked with her brothers making costume parts since she was 13.

Katie as Princess Leia

Katie cosplayed as Princess Leia from Star Wars. She said her greatest challenge was making her costume authentic, but keeping an element of her own personality in the costume. Katie said was proud of how her buns came out. She used sock donuts and wrapped her hair around them. Katie said she is inspired by characters who mean something to her. Princess Leia and Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones are strong women and have hardships. She does villians too! And inanimate objects like a TARDIS. Katie is a fan of Dr. Who, Star Wars and a huge Game of Thrones fan. She also likes all kinds of video games, anime, especially Black Butler. She is waiting for season three of Rick and Morty. Katie started cosplay years ago. She did it before having kids, before cosplay was a thing. Then, her kids also got into cosplay.

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This story is part of my Medium blog that I made for Advance Social Media, a class I took at University of Memphis. Full class portfolio: https://medium.com/@cosplayblog