The Emerald City Comic Con was just held this weekend, March 6-9, 2025. It was my first comic con. It was also my first time making and wearing a cosplay creation. Now, I’ve sewn and made plenty of other costumes and clothing pieces. But this time, it was different.

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What counts as cosplay?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, cosplayer is defined as:

“someone who dresses up as a character from a movie, TV show, comic book, etc. as a hobby”

So that makes me feel like renaissance/pirate/medieval doesn’t apply to cosplay. The big difference for me when considering whether this was my first cosplay or not was the fact that when I dress pirate, it’s my own character. I’m not trying to copy any established character from a movie or book. So I’m going to go with that this is my first cosplay and you’ll see why in a moment.

Why I chose Ashe

Ashe

I wanted to go to the comic con, I wouldn’t have to travel anywhere, and I had a friend who wanted to go too. I insisted on making and wearing a costume. But what to wear? League of Legends has a ton to choose from (as of today, there are 170!). I systematically went through all of them, choosing my favorites and finally narrowing it down to Ashe. The selection criteria was that the character couldn’t be too crazy difficult, the outfit shouldn’t be too revealing, and I wanted it to look nice! Then my decision was locked in.

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As you can see, I made this decision many months before the con.

How I made this costume

I will make a more detailed post about that. But basically, the closer it came to the con, the harder I worked to finish. The majority of it was created in the last two weeks. I’m going to try really hard not to do that again, but as a lifelong procrastinator, I can’t make any promises. I had papers due days before the con, and I was lucky that my professor extended the deadlines. That last week, I also got an unhealthy amount of sleep. Let’s not do that again!

First impressions

I finally put everything on for the first time (I’d tried on different pieces but not everything at the same time) and despite how tired I was after getting only a single hour of sleep (yes, I know, not good) I was ready to get out there. We didn’t get there until late (6 PM or so) so it wasn’t as crowded as I expected. We participated in a murder mystery party (which I am terrible at, but it was still fun) and walked around the artists’ shops area.

They knew who I was

Me

This was the really exciting, new-to-me experience. When you dress up for the renaissance fair, unless you have something crazy fancy, you just look like everyone else. You’re not emulating any particular character. No one is going to come up to you and say, “I like your costume!”. But this time, they did. The first day going there, I was counting the number of compliments and photo requests, but day 2 I lost count. Walking down the street, I’d see people taking pictures of us, others shouting from their car “I like your costumes!” or I’d get tapped on the shoulder from people passing by.

For the first time in my life, I got to be the popular girl.

I was definitely not the popular kid in high school. I associated with the art kids as the goth girl on campus (some would argue emo and they’re probably right).

But this weekend, I was. Many people even knew my character by name!

I guess I did a good job

I am extremely critical on myself. So when I had multiple people comment on the craftsmanship of my bow, I thought, “Are you sure? It’s bent, the seams are coming open, it’s uneven” but nobody saw that stuff. I realized, “You know what, I did do a good job.” This was my first time working with foam! Of course it isn’t going to be perfect. This just gives me more opportunities to make this costume even better.

The things they said

Me2

People were pretty excited to get pictures. Some just wanted me while others took turns standing in the photo. And just little things I heard people say:

That bow is sick!

WHOA! IT’S SO BIG! - said by a little kid in reference to the bow

Ashe! How’s it going?

Would you mind if I got some photos? - said by professional photographers

We’re interviewing cosplayers at the con, can I ask a quick question for our social media?

Omg my friend is an Ashe fan, they would love to get a photo, would you mind if we took one?

*Insert other positive comments here*

In the end

I was so tired after spending 3 days at comic con, and going home and changing into regular clothes left me feeling kinda empty. Like all the excitement was over. That the next time I’d be walking down the street or riding the metro, I’d be just like everyone else. There was SO MUCH stimulation and things to look at, that being back at home was just sad. It’s the feeling I get after coming home from a vacation. You had a great time, were probably really busy, and then you’re home, needing to do laundry so you can go to work/school the next day. Back to reality.

What’s next?

I’m back to reality, but that doesn’t mean that my days as Ashe are over. In fact, I want to become Ashe again at the next con, which will most likely be Pax West on August 29-September 1, 2025. I have some upgrades to do, things I didn’t have time to make for this costume, and repairs (my bow took a bit of damage!). I am SO looking forward to doing this again. I hope to make friends along the way too.