Karen Bloomfield, a 47-year-old competitive cosplayer with a fastidious eye for detail, was dressed as Queen Brahne from Final Fantasy IX. She he had painted herself blue. Her daughter, Hayley, was dressed as Fay D. Flourite, a character from the manga Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle.

“It took me five months to make all our costumes,” explained Bloomfield. Apparently, the family had been attending Animania for two years, but the pressure was really on this time. “There’s definitely competition here, especially since we're entering the cosplay comp – we want to get to that cosplay summit in Japan.”

Walking around the various cons, it doesn’t take long for the cosplay hierarchy to become apparent. A few hours into my first convention, I could already pick out the good cosplayers from the bad. The good ones paid attention to detail – their wigs looked good, their costumes were accurate to the point of absurdity, and some would even go so far as to adopt their character’s (often annoying) mannerisms.  

The bad cosplayers were also easy to pick out. Usually, they tried making their costumes from what was already in their wardrobe. If they carried a sword, it would often be made of cardboard and be poorly taped together. Once, I saw someone cosplay as Link, but instead of investing in a proper wig, he made it out of crepe paper. Bad cosplayers look cheap and no one wants to take photos of them or talk to them, whereas good cosplayers are worshipped and constantly photographed.

Harmony, Silver, and Meeka – all in their early twenties – are good cosplayers. Talking to them, I discovered that they would sometimes spend up to half a year and hundreds of dollars preparing their costumes. Naturally, they draw a crowd wherever they go.

“The most I've ever spent on a costume was $800,” said Harmony, who was dressed as Matt from Death Note. “It's expensive, but we enjoy making them and it's nice when people tell you that you have an awesome costume.”