Cosplaying at Boston Comic Con

It's been a really long time since I've cosplayed, mostly because I found a new passion in my art. I have designed over several dozen minimalist posters, did a variety of Photoshop edits, and even designed a few book covers for my friend's book series about superheroes. I was keeping my love of geek alive in different forms and I was having a blast. A lot had been happening as of late, so the very thought of trying to get back into it designing and dressing up again was scary to say the least. I had cosplayed before, even going as far as doing photo shoots as the characters.  However, it was a long while before I thought I would be doing it again.

Photo: 16 Degrees Studios

If I was to get back into, it had to be a mash-up cosplay, IE taking one concept from one thing and putting it with something else. It needed to be something different.  The very idea of putting two unlikely things together was crazy and challenging.

But what to do?

I was planning on doing Mario cosplay at some point, but maybe doing an edgy/tough version of him or something. I started finding pieces, ie things to build a hammer, but as I slowly realized, my mind was drifting into a mash-up of some sort. Mario meets Marvel...Something...Then it hit me: Mario had wings on his hat like Thor. They both had hammers. Both had red in their costume. Thor and Mario: THORIO.

I decided I wanted to keep the elements that made them both recognizable, ie the hat, hammer, arm guards, overalls, red colors, etc.  I wanted to stand apart as something that was a nice balance between the two. After pitching the idea to my friends, one of them, Colin, piped in with Luiki, ie a mash-up between Luigi and Loki.

A wonderful and insane idea was born. I was floored. Thorio and Luiki.

From there, my fiance Sue and I started building the props and costumes. We planned to have them ready for Boston Comic Con. After several weeks of planning, creating and building, Thorio and Luiki made their debut.

We had horns, wings, a wrench staff and hammer staff. In our overalls and arm guards, we hit the floor.

Little did we know that this simple idea would be a huge hit. Everyone who saw us loved the mash-up. People stopped us ever couple of minutes to take a photo of us or with us. We got to pose with other cosplayers as well, making sure we got pictures with the Lokis, Thors, Mario Bros and everything else. It was surreal and incredibly rewarding.  I couldn't believe it. I was so happy that people really liked what we had done. I was honestly expecting to get some good reactions, but nothing that was so overwhelmingly positive.  The energy of the con was amazing as well. The people there were awesome and it just created an unforgettable atmosphere. Everyone was so nice and supportive. That, combined with my elation and happiness, created this small high for me. I could almost attribute the feeling to the one I got when I would be on stage performing, or even just finishing a run for a series of shows. It was a blast.

Every single person celebrated their love of all things geek. It was a special weekend for everyone who went there . I can't wait to do this again. I think Thorio and Luiki will need to hit the comic con circuit as long as they can.

A shout out to everyone and everything at Boston Comic Con that made that weekend one never to forget.

To be continued...