Arriving into Burbank straight from my recent adventure in Las Vegas the first thing I did was head East out to Anaheim in anticipation of attending my first Star Wars Celebration. Over the next few entries, I will do my best to bring justice to an experience that I will never forget.
Enjoy ?
Star Wars Celebration Anaheim – April 16th-19th – Anaheim Convention Center – Anaheim,CA
You’ve heard of Comic-Con & the like but what about an entire convention dedicated just to Star Wars & the culture & mythology that surrounds it & produced by the creators of the franchise so you know your getting the real deal?
Beginning back in 1999, Star Wars Celebration started as a celebration of the return of the franchise that year with The Phantom Menace, the first of the three prequels. Not an annual event, Celebration Anaheim is the first one in two years, the first to be held in the United States in three years, only the seventh one in the US, only the tenth overall, only the second time it’s been held in California and the first time since 2007.
The Cosplay of Stars Wars Celebration Anaheim –
Of course there would be no convention without the fans and Star Wars has the most obsessive, expressive, dedicated fans on the planet.
And how they choose to express their devotion visually is through the rise of Cosplay.
Cosplay Contest
As the popularity of cosplay has grown, many conventions have come to feature a contest surrounding cosplay that may be the main feature of the convention. Contestants present their cosplay, and often to be judged for an award, the cosplay must be self-made.
The audience is given a chance to take photos of the cosplayers. Cosplayers may compete solo or in a group. Awards are presented, and these awards may vary greatly. Generally, a best cosplayer award, a best group award, and runner-up prizes are given. Awards may also go to the best skit and a number of cosplay skill subcategories, such as master tailor, master weapon-maker, and so forth.
And trust me, there were some very innovative fans here that were in it to win it.
Check out some of these amazing fans I had the privilege of photographing.
Ladies of the Legion
There are also many subsets & communal collectives for Cosplay – In the case of Ladies of the Legion, they use their fandom to promote anti-bullying & what they call “Geek Girl Awareness” to show that the realm of sci-fi fantasy isn’t just for the nerdy dudes. There’s a wonderful organization that shows strength & community by promoting inclusion through fundraising.
Check out this amazing example of their solidarity via cosplay
Besides the obvious, this is awesome for a myriad of reasons, one specifically being that there are not alot (yet) of female characters in the Star Wars universe for them to choose from. Gotta love the pink R2-D2.
Emperor Hef & his Cosplay Bunnies
Cosplay may be presented in a number of ways and places. A subset of cosplay culture is centered on sex appeal, with cosplayers specifically choosing characters known for their attractiveness or revealing costumes.
Check out this impressive costuming & style from some of the more well-known cosplayers in the industry including Adrianne Curry & my old pal, Geek Girl Supreme Ryan Keely as Star Wars themed Playboy Bunnies.
Jennifer Newman (the amazing Admiral Ackbarr on the left) tells it:
“Lauren Bregman of Castle Corsetry was the mastermind of this group. She’s an extremely talented pattern maker and seamstress, and she personally hand drafted all of the custom corseted bunny suit patterns for each girl. With the help of her team and many of the bunnies, the costumes for this group have been in the works for a year but really came together in the last 2 months of non-stop sewing parties. Everyone involved has been a life long fan of the Star Wars franchise, and we were so happy to be able to show off Lauren’s gorgeous costumes and all of our hard work to fellow fans at Celebration!”
Because of the mass sex appeal, Cosplay has influenced the advertising industry, in which cosplayers are often hired for event work previously assigned to agency models. Thus, new variant of cosplay has developed in which cosplayers attend events mainly for the purpose of modeling their characters for still photography. Some cosplayers have since transformed their hobby into profitable, professional careers thus introducing the Pro Cosplayer,
Joanie Brosas
In addition to the more established cosplayers, there are more on the rise.
Meet Joanie Brosas – While discussing cosplay & especially pro cosplayers there is sometimes expressed dissent of genuinity vs. appropriation. I first met Joanie earlier this year at the Salt Lake City Comic-Con in her native state of Utah & trust me this girl is a true nerd who also just happens to be impossibly attractive. Seriously, no one is doing cosplay this legit, this hot & with such a fun, positive attitude.
Her Twitter feed is a delight of socially engaging inquiries, inspired photos & body/image positive messages that promote acceptance of all.
The appearance of cosplayers at these public events makes them a popular draw for photographers. And again because alot of the costuming is designed to maximize sex appeal, thankfully rules of etiquette have been developed to minimize awkward situations involving boundaries. While a bit bummed for their necessity, I was pleased to see banners declaring Cosplay is Not Consent all throughout the convention making the rules clear.
Is it an expression of fandom? is it based on necessity out of the lack of female characters? is it an absurd appropriation in the vein of sexy cop, nurse, firefighter on Halloween? Are non-nerd model types appropriating the entire genre as just another gig? Does anyone care? I would argue that it would be difficult to tell anyone that dressing up as any character that gives you attention that makes people happy that gives you esteem and could even be paid for it is somehow not fun and wrong.
Here are some other great Cosplayers that injected some much needed femininity into the Star Wars Universe –
The Slave Leias
And for the more free-er of spirits, who were in fact probably the majority which is a wonderful thing to see so many girls so comfortable and not feeling threatened most likely thanks to the rules in place that I mentioned earlier, was naturally the Princess Leia Slave Bikini from Return of the Jedi.
And they were everywhere –
Stay tuned as the next (& final) post of Star Wars Celebration will cover other Cosplayers, May the 4th Be With You parties & much more.
Photos –
Roy Turner
Albini Johnson
Justin Davidson
Manny Llanura
Enrico Adato
Sean Snydon
