Cosplayer Eva Zemaitis was happy to see comic conventions return. She found it hard to stay motivated to cosplay during the pandemic.
“It was really difficult to work on cosplay throughout the pandemic knowing that there wasn’t a date that we could dress up for,” Zemaitis said. “Now that they are back and that it’s going to be a thing now, I want to make another [cosplay].”
Toronto Comicon made its return on the weekend of March 18, marking the first comic book convention in Toronto in more than a year. The long-awaited return had cosplay fans excited about making a return of their own.
“I’m so glad to be back. I’m so glad that we can come to events again,” said Zemaitis, who works in visual effects and loves how cosplay shows her the practical side of things seen in film and TV.
Mark Ramirez, a friend of Zamitis and new to the cosplay scene, was excited to try it out for the first time and noted it came with its fair share of challenges.
“There’s just so much to learn and so little time with work and other commitments and life,” Ramirez said. “So, you have to make time for it as much as you can.”
Zamaitis said saying she finds the biggest challenge in cosplay is learning new things and getting better at them.
“For me, I always have a hard time getting into something new especially if I don’t have anyone to teach me. So, I’m always eager to meet people who can teach me new things,” she said.
Zemaitis and Ramirez are fans of Magic the Gathering and made a cosplay loosely based on creatures from the game, Satyrs. They are a green and red creature that is part human, part goat.
The entire cosplay outfit, according to Ramirez, cost $150, which was made up of stilts, old bed sheets and material found at a thrift store.
Toronto Comicon is a Comic Book and Pop Culture convention show, where fans of superheroes, sci-fi, horror, anime, and gaming gather to participate in family-friendly attractions, events, shop and meet celebrities from their favourite TV shows and movies. The show featured hundreds of different cosplayers, ranging from anime characters to super-heroes.
This year’s Comicon featured a celebrity guest appearance from Mighty Morphin Power Ranger star Austin St. John, a fan of the cosplay scene at comic book conventions.
“I have a love-hate relationship with cosplay,” St. John said. “There’s a lot of incredible things but there are also things I’d wished I’d never seen. Other times I walk in and see stuff that is so good it should be on film.
“You can come in here and it doesn’t matter what you geek out on, it fits. I think this is a great place for it and I love the premise behind people being able to dress up and be what they want to be,” he said.
Toronto Comicon has been held yearly at Toronto Metro Convention Centre but didn’t have a convention in 2020 due to the pandemic. The next comic book convention to hit Toronto is Fan Expo which starts in late August.