Following my first Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (otherwise known as C2E2) back in 2011, I wrote that I believed the event had a ton of potential going forward. Having the opportunity to attend again this weekend, even I was surprised at just how much it had grown in only two short years. Granted, this time around I was visiting on a Saturday as opposed to a Friday. That said, in 2011 I was mostly able to enter the convention floor at my leisure without even a hint of a wait. This year, I found myself buried a few thousand deep in a line not terribly dissimilar from ones I’ve encountered at that one convention that’s held in San Diego every summer. I may be wrong, but I can’t help but think that the day of the week I attended isn’t solely responsible for the increased demand.

After the jump you can check out some photographic highlights from my Saturday at C2E2 2013 in Chicago’s McCormick Place. Mostly comprised of Cosplay, some of my personal favorites include Chewbacca sharing a moment with Mega Man, Zombie Robin, Wayne’s World, and a stellar Spawn costume just to name a few. For this and a lot more, join me after the break.

Every year at WonderCon, half the fun is seeing all the people that Cosplay.  While the convention is full of famous panelists, Cosplay allows Con-goers to dress up like any superhero, anime character, or even  Darth Helmet from Spaceballs and get huge props from their fellow attendees.   I’m always impressed with the level of detail and dedication.

While walking around the convention floor, I was able to snap over 100 pictures.  If you’re a fan of Star Wars, Batman, Catwoman, Punisher, Zelda, Elmo, The Simpsons, Doctor Who, Ghost Rider, G.I. Joe, X-Men, BioShock, and Marvel superheroes just to name a few…hit the jump to see the pics.

One of my favorite things about Comic-Con are all the people that cosplay.  Since I’d never been to a convention outside the United States, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I went to London Comic-Con yesterday afternoon.  Would anyone dress up?  Are fans in London the same as the rest of the world?  After spending hours walking around the convention, I’m happy to report geeks and nerds are the same no matter where you live.

However, while many at London Comic-Con cosplay, I found more people dressed up as their favorite anime/manga/video game character instead of a movie/TV show character.  Since I only attended London Comic-Con yesterday, it’s possible that over the weekend, the percentage would be the same.  Either way, some of the costumes were pretty great, so hit the jump to check out about 100 pictures including Doctor Who, The Last Airbender, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Thor, Portal, Batman, Zelda, Mortal Kombat, and a lot more.

As someone that has been attending San Diego Comic-Con/Sci-Fi/Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book conventions for almost my entire teenage and adult life, this year’s New York Comic-Con blew me for one reason: I’ve never seen so many people Cosplay in one place.  While conventions always get a few people dressing up, NYCC absolutely set a new record for percentage of attendees willing to cosplay.  I was very impressed.

Over the last four days, as I walked up and down the convention floor, I always had my camera ready to go.  So if you’re a fan of cosplay and want to check out some great costumes including Batman, Bane, Spider-Man, Captain Planet, Doctor Who, Megatron, Admiral Ackbar, Two-Face, Terminator, Ghost Rider, and so many more, hit the jump for almost 200 images.

The first question from those who miss out on Dragon*Con is always “how were the costumes?”  Too great to explain in words.  The amount of craft, effort and sometimes sheer genius that goes into Cosplay is overwhelmingly amazing.  Dragon*Con distinguishes itself from other conventions by having more of a fantasy angle than specifically sci-fi or comics, but the Cosplay is all over the board — from movies to TV shows and fantasy novel series, almost no fandom goes unrepresented by the devoted.  One of the biggest parts of Dragon*Con is the parade, and though I don’t know the exact numbers yet for this year, I know that the con grew 30% in attendance from last year, which means about 60,000 folks, plus all of those who just showed up for the parade and to see the costumes and sights.

For pictures of all kinds of incarnations of the Avengers, Star Wars, Star Trek, Catwoman, Bane, MegaMan, Doctor Who, Avatar, even Legends of the Hidden Temple (a personal favorite), and some things that just can’t be defined, hit the jump.

Every year at Comic-Con, half the fun is seeing all the people that Cosplay.  While the convention is full of famous panelists, Cosplay allows Con-goers to dress up like any superhero, anime character, or even  Darth Helmet from Spaceballs and get huge props from their fellow attendees.  While the percentage of people doing Cosplay this year felt a little lower, I was still able to snap over 140 images.  If you’re a fan of Star Wars, Star Trek, Beetlejuice, The Silver Surfer, Batman, Catwoman, Bane, Shazam, The Flash, Zelda, Elmo, Ghostbusters, G.I. Joe, Pixar’s Up, Total Recall, Prometheus and so much more, you should definitely hit the jump.

Like I said Friday night when I posted our first Cosplay recap, every year at Comic-Con/WonderCon, half the fun is seeing all the people that Cosplay.  It’s actually one of the reasons the conventions are so much fun, as you can dress up like any superhero, anime character, or comic book icon and get huge props from attendees.  While the percentage of people doing Cosplay at WonderCon is lower than Comic-Con in San Diego, I’m always impressed with the costumes and attention to detail.

Anyway, over the past two days I took almost 100 new pictures of people doing Cosplay.  So if you thought what I posted Friday night was cool, you definitely want to check out these new pics.  That’s because I found Bane, the Penguin, Green Lantern, Cobra Commander, Batman, Robin, Wolverine, Superman, Wonder Woman, and many other superheroes walking the convention floor.  I even found some Jedi’s fighting Star Trek: TOS officers, and an Ape holding a human prisoner.  Hit the jump for the images.

Every year at Comic-Con/WonderCon, half the fun is seeing all the people that Cosplay.  It’s actually one of the reasons the conventions are so much fun, as you can dress up like any superhero, anime character, or even a zombie Stormtrooper and get huge props from attendees.  While the percentage of people doing Cosplay at WonderCon is lower than Comic-Con in San Diego, I’m always impressed with the costumes and the attention to detail.  While the Con just started today and the masquerade ball isn’t until tomorrow night, I was able to snap a number of people in costume during my few hours walking the convention floor.  Hit the jump to see the pictures and look for a lot more WonderCon coverage all weekend.

One of the things I love about Comic-Con is how many people dress up.  As you walk through the crowded hallways, you’re guaranteed to see at least a few people in the most amazing costumes.  Some years the level of commitment is astounding, with costumes that look like they took the entire year to put together.  It’s because of the passionate fans that I usually carry my camera everywhere I go.  I love being able to post a huge cosplay image article on Sunday night after the Convention ends.  And this year is no different.

While I only was able to take photos today due to an insane schedule, I was still able to snap about 50 pictures of people in costume.  So if you are a fan of cosplay, or just want to see some great costumes, hit the jump.

Just a little while ago, I was at the Los Angeles Convention Center taking tons of pictures at this year’s Anime Expo.  While the Expo used to be held in Anaheim, it moved to downtown L.A. a few years ago so they could accommodate more people.  And based on the crowds the past two years, it was a smart move.

While I’ve attended many conventions, the thing that really impresses me about Anime Expo is the level of fan participation. A huge percentage of the crowd dresses up.  While Comic-Con may be more popular, Anime Expo beats it in terms of attendee participation.  At any rate, I went to the Expo to take pictures of people in costume, and if you hit the jump, you’ll see almost 70 images.  Some are really well done.

Every year at Comic-Con/WonderCon, a huge percentage of people dress up.  It’s actually one of the reasons the conventions are so much fun, as you can dress up like any superhero, anime character, or even a zombie Stormtrooper and get huge props from attendees.  While the percentage of people doing cosplay at WonderCon is much lower than Comic-Con in San Diego, I was still very impressed with the costumes and the attention to detail.

So if you’d like to see almost 60 high resolution images of people in costume, hit the jump.  You can check out Green Lantern, X-Men characters, a Cylon from Battlestar Galactica, Scott Pilgrim and friends, Buzz Lightyear, Baby Doll from Sucker Punch, G.I. Joe characters, a Jawa, Batman, and many more.

Every year at Comic-Con, a huge percentage of people dress up.  It’s actually one of the reasons Comic-Con is so much fun, as you can dress up like any superhero, anime character, or even Colonel Sanders from Kentucky Fried Chicken and get huge props from attendees.

While some costumes are clearly better than others…at Collider, we don’t discriminate.  If you wore any sort of costume and one of our writers saw you while walking around the convention, your picture is after the jump.  What’s great about the people that dress up at Comic-Con is everyone loves to get their picture taken and they always strike a pose.  It’s really worth checking out the 80 something images as some of the costumes are pretty awesome.

Just a little while ago I was standing at the Los Angeles Convention Center taking a ton of pictures at this year’s Anime Expo.  While the Expo used to be held in Anaheim, the convention moved to downtown L.A. last year to try and accommodate more people.  And based on the crowds today, they’ve succeeded, as everywhere I went was crowded and all the food vendors had long lines.

At any rate, while I’ve attended many conventions, the thing that really impresses me about Anime Expo is the level of fan participation. A huge percentage of the crowd is dressed up including the dealers!  While Comic-Con may have more attendees, Anime Expo beats it in terms of costumes per person.  Anyway, I went to today’s Expo to take pictures of people in costume.  If you thought last year’s picture article was good, today’s is going to blow you away as I’ve got 90 something images and some of the costumes are amazing.  Hit the jump to take a look:

Last August, we ran a story featuring some photos of Kirsten Dunst in Tokyo’s Akihabara shopping district wearing a sailor-suit costume and a blue wig.  She was wearing the cosplay costume because she was filming a music video with director McG (Terminator Salvation) and artist Takashi Murakami titled Akihabara Majokko Princess.  While we weren’t sure where the video was going to end up, it eventually played at London’s Tate Modern museum as part of the Pop Life: Art In A Material World exhibit.  Anyway, the video has finally hit the net and you can check it out after the jump.  If you’re a fan of Sailor Moon, Kirsten Dunst, Cartoon boobs, and Tokyo, it’s a must watch.

While we rarely cover music videos, when a well known director is making one with a big star in cosplay, we’ll sometimes make exceptions. So when I saw a few images of Kirsten Dunst in Tokyo’s Akihabara shopping district in a sailor-suit costume and a blue wig, I figured it was worth a short write-up. Anyway, the video being shot is being directed by McG (“Terminator Salvation”), who has expressed his love for “Sailor Moon” in the past. According to reports, the video is going to be displayed at the Tate Modern in London later this year. No other info is known yet. For a few images of Kirsten Dunst in costume, click the jump: