Teenagers, children and adults found common ground at the Bengaluru Comic Con 2017,which opened with a bang with everyone dressed up as their favourite superhero from Spider-Man to Iron Man. For many it was an introduction to cosplay, where fans dress up as comic book and film characters.
Popular among fans this year was the Marvel Avengers series, with most of them preferring to dress up as Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man. Ashwini K. Bogadi, an HR professional, was at the event with her two children and her friend was dressed as Batman, while her children had chosen to go with Iron Man and Spider-Man respectively. “Avengers is a popular series in our house. My children were very enthusiastic about dressing up. This place is like Disneyland for them. They are absolutely enjoying it and so are we.”
Another popular theme this year was pirates, with many cosplayers opting to dress up as Jack Sparrow. Talking about her interpretation of the pirate, Rajalakshmi R.N. said:” Jack Sparrow is someone whom I love the most. I was determined to dress up as him and even convinced my friend to dress up. It took almost a week to assemble the costume and around four hours to put on make-up and accessories.”
It takes effort and time to get that perfect look where the distinction between fantasy and reality blur. Rowang Debbarma, a student, who dressed up as a character from Bleed said: “It took four months to make my sword from cardboard, and two weeks to stitch my robe.”
Sampras Xavio was dressed up as Deadpool and said cosplay requires a lot of dedication. It took him almost two months to decide on the right character and secure the costume. Pavitra, a game developer, dressed up as Maleficent, one of the few female characters at the Comic Con.
