Cosplaying At Tokyo ComicCon 2018

The interesting thing about an event such as Tokyo ComicCon is that pretty much all attendees have a unique experience. People go to Makuhari Messe Convention Centre in Chiba for a variety of reasons whether it be to get a photo or signature from one of the special celebrity guests, to buy exclusive merchandise, to geek out with friends or to cosplay.

The latter two are my principle reasons. Meeting up with friends I haven’t seen for a while is always good but I do find that cosplaying is a slightly different experience these days. In the past it was novel and people were constantly snapping away on their cameras. Nowadays though cosplay is nothing new to Tokyo people with the huge Halloween “events” dominating the calendar so I think that just about everyone who wants one now has a photo of a stormtrooper, Spider-Man or whoever.

Once again I donned my X-Wing fighter pilot costume which is certainly nothing new! A few people have commented in the past that I shouldn’t have a lightsaber but there was actually a brief moment during the Battle of Hoth scenes (on 32 minutes) in ‘The Empire Strikes Back‘ (1980) where Luke uses the lightsaber to attack an AT-AT whilst wearing the orange coloured outfit. I am cosplaying those few seconds!! It’s never good to see someone else wearing the same outfit as you, especially when theirs is far better or more professional-looking!!

Of course this costume isn’t hugely popular and really isn’t worthy of too much recognition but I can usually be expected to pose for a few photos. This year was different though and only a few people actually asked to take a photo of or with me. You gotta laugh really! One guy said nice costume and that was about it beyond the almost compulsory compliment whenever you ask to take a picture of someone. If you think I sound down about it all then I’m really not as a couple of others said it was a similar experience for them. Anyway, it all means more time to walk round without too much interruption!

The first load of photos (below) are all Star Wars related featuring cute little ewoks, Princess Leia, Queen Amidala, Jango Fett, Darth Maul, Jar Jar Binks, Han Solo, R2D2 and a load of those ubiquitous stormtroopers. Hanging around the Tokyo Saber Guild and 501st Legion booths for a lot of time certainly helped lend itself to getting such shots.

Next door to the Star Wars booths was the Star Trek one. Who ever thought that would be a good idea!! I got a photo of two of the guys (their tops were a bit baggy for my liking) and was then persuaded to go round the other side of the desk for a mash-up of Wars and Trek complete with the Vulcan salute.

The cosplayers are a fundamental part of this annual event and it is always awesome to see the efforts that some of them go to in portraying an endless array of characters in fine fashion. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so instead of writing that many words about Tokyo ComicCon 2018 I’ll just let these exclusive pictures speak for themselves. Here is a collection of the best of the rest.