It’s sometimes called a Woodstock for Nerds – or is it Cannes for Geeks? Whatever you may think of it, Comic-Con has become a staple of genre entertainment. Fantasy, horror and sci-fi rule the Convention Center and all of downtown San Diego for that matter as thousands of fans give free rein to their passion with costumes, which in themselves are wonders of creativity. The HFPA’s Janet Nepales gives us a tour.
Comic Con Street Fashion and Make-Up 2015
Captions By Janet R. Nepales / Photos By Ruben V. Nepales

Make-up

Sadness from Inside Out
Lily Logan, a student, took one hour and a half to do her make-up as Sadness from the Pixar animation Inside Out. When she poses for the camera, she even emotes the sadness look. The blue wig she got from Target and added powder paint and sparkles.

Sylvanas Windrunner from “World of Warcraft”
Rachel Day did her own make up for one hour and got her wig from Ebay. She used
red contact lens to create the Sylvanas Windrunner (the Dark Lady or the Queen of
the Forsaken) look from the World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer online
role-playing game.

Character from Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared
Catlin Crowley, an aspiring actress, did her own makeup to look like one of the characters in the short musical film Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared. “It took me one hour and a half to do it,” she said. She added that she just got the wig from Ebay.

Fashion

Departed Mariachi
Robert Apodaca, a Mexican-American constructor from San Diego who does golf courses, created this Mariachi character from The Departed. It took him one year and a half to make the costume work and he says, “I am still working on it.” He said his next-door neighbor made his mask and he has been working on it for the past 10 years.

Manny Pacquiao
Vietnamese-American Cuong Huynh, an IT computer guy, grew his goatee just to get the perfect Manny Pacquiao look. “I love boxing champ Manny Pacquiao and since people tell me that I look like him, I tried to grow my goatee so I can look more like him,” he said.

Wonder Woman
Nadia Limdstron, a student who is 6’1” tall, chose Wonder Woman because “I love her.” She revealed that her mother made her the costume and this is her first time to attend Comic-Con in San Diego. “I used to go to New York,” she said.

Cat Woman
Catura Loreta Vampz, a fashion designer, made her own costume with a little help from her friend Don Corbitt. “It took us a week to finish it,” she said.

Hawaiian Star Wars Characters
Tyler Elevins, left, and Landon Abbott, right, created the Hawaiian Star Wars characters because they think, “they need a vacation.” They just got the grass skirts from a dollar store.

Lord Chamberlain of Dark Crystals
Ryan Wells, a props and costume designer, made the Lord Chamberlain of the Dark Crystals costume in a month and a half time. “I love the manga series and my favorite is Lord Chamberlain,” he said. It is his first time to be in Comic-Con and he even walks around with an assistant to guide him since it is hard to be seeing where he was going with his costume.

Zelda, the Twilight Princess
Megan Pendleton, a grocery store clerk, did her Zelda the Twilight Princess make-up in only 10 minutes using Halloween make-up. “It is my favorite video game,” she said. She also did her own costume in a month’s time

Bonita Blue Bin and Can Man
Nick Walsh (Bonita Blue Bin) and Mad Watson (Can Man), both interns at the City of San Diego, decided to promote recycling and saving the earth by coming to Comic-Con as Bonita Blue Bin and Can Man. “We want to get a lot of attention on saving the earth and recycling so we came as a blue recycling bin and a can man here at Comic-Con,” they said.

The Hound from Game of Thrones
David Baxter, a marketing executive and comic book writer, came as The Hound from The Game of Thrones and carrying a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken because “he loves to kill people for chickens.” He said he created his costume with some friends and it took them a year and a half to perfect it. The 6’8” tall David easily gets attention not only with his towering height and amazing costume but also with his growl.

The Bride in Kill Bill
Ellen Suder, a student, created her bride costume in Kill Bill using an old wedding dress that she bought from a thrift store. “It was a little ruined already so I just added the fake blood on it and on my body,” she said. She got her sword from a thrift store.

Character from “Darkest Dungeon” video game
Anastassia A. Tselikova, a biologist, created her costume as one of the characters in her favorite video game, “Darkest Dungeon.” “I just improvised a lot on my costume and just had fun,” she said.