Why Cosplay?

As I wandered the floor of Salt Lake Comic Con I saw a lot of cosplayers. Costume play has become an integral part of the convention experience and Salt Lake didn’t back down when it came to bringing great costumes to the floor.

There was a cosplay contest during the convention, which seemed to bring out people who were really on fire with some of their costumes. Everything was there, from Bioshock to Star Wars. Almost every property that nerds and geeks hold dear was represented.

We really set out to share with you some of the best cosplay we saw at Comic Con. We started sharing some on our Instagram, and hopefully in this section you’ll see a fair presentation of what Comic Con was really like.

To get a real perspective on cosplay, I talked to a cosplayer who was attending Comic Con with his wife. Dressed up as headhunting Fett’s, with a head for every convention under their belts, they wandered the floor looking about as menacing as they possibly could.

Jason Grasseschi of the Colorado Fett’s opened up with me about what cosplaying is really means, and why he does it. “It gives you a chance to be something you’d never be,” He told me. It was a way for him and his wife to, “get away from reality.”

Escapism isn’t the only reason they spend time and money on these costumes. Though they were looking slightly scary at this year’s convention they still love “seeing kids smile.” It was one of the reasons they decided to head out to Salt Lake with their group.

We talked for a bit about his costume, which started as a pre-made base costume that he had completely re-done along with some custom pieces to transform it into an impressive piece of work.

The smile on his face as he talked about what it took to make the costume was what made me realize that this is an enjoyable lifestyle for him. He seemingly couldn’t contain his joy over being here with his wife, and the amount of fun they had while putting their costumes together for the purpose of showing it off during the conventions.

He said his goal for the future was to ”start conning all the time” with his wife. With the passion he has for cosplaying, it shouldn’t be too hard.