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The wait for the Sixth Edition of Comic Con was finally over this Saturday. Comic lovers donned their favourite avatars — Princess Mononoke, Maleficent, the Joker and many other anime characters were in attendance and it was plain to see that the youngsters in the city had put in sheer hard work and creativity to get their persona, costume and even that sinister look just right. People were thrilled to spot Gavin Aung Thang, creator of Zen Comics, Scott Hampton, illustrator of iconic properties like Batman and Star Trek and Tabitha Lyons, an international pro-cosplayer in the crowd.

Of the many at Bengaluru Comic Con 2017, was Samantha Joseph, a home schooler, who was a vision in a dark blue dress with a white cape as Princess Mononoke. Samantha says, “I made this costume yesterday. I stitched it myself as I had completely forgotten to make it.

When my friends called, I was like, ‘oh no!’ Then, I rushed to get it ready.”
Among the many characters seen strutting about, was Rito Chatterjee, a journalism student who was dressed as Rick from the cartoon show Rick and Morty. His costume didn’t take as much time to make as the others. With a creative bent of mind, Rito made Rick’s gun with spare parts of a broken CCTV camera, an old camera tripod and a bulb. Quite innovative.

Even the nerds were out for this comic celebration, and we spotted a few game developers dressed in pretty spiffy costumes, almost as good as the games they develop! There was 23-year old Pavitra Verma dressed as Maleficent, who also took part in the costume contest, “I am looking forward to the contest and excited about what’s in store.”

Spotting a Joker from Batman wasn’t that tough as it seemed that it was the costume to bat! Hardware designer, Khalid Zafar, Bosch, came in a very convincing Joker avatar. He had been working on his costume for a week, “My sister did the face paint, and I borrowed ties, coloured my hair green myself,” says Zafar.

If there were any anime fans in Bengaluru, they were all present at Comic Con which ran from December 2 to 3 at the KTPO, Whitefield. Many had taken great pains to turn up in their favourite costumes and even made accessories like swords and knives themselves.

The 19-year-old, Tejas Sharma from Jain University dressed up as Tsunade from Naruto. His costume took a month in the making, “I had to hire a wig as the wig I ordered was unfortunately still stuck in Japan,” Tejas added.

It takes a lot more than just buying costumes to Cosplay. Rowang Rogers, a design student dressed up as anime character Ichigo from Bleach. He took three months to make the costume, and even sported a big blade he had fashioned himself!

Sasha Arora, a graduate took six months to make her costume. Dressed as Gasai Yuno from the anime Mirai Niki, Sasha said, “It takes a while to get the costume right. I had to order a wig, costume, and lenses. I made a knife too.”
Jatin Varma, founder of Comic Con India is thrilled at the response, “Our first show was a tiny one at an open-air market in Delhi. The response made us feel like we are onto something. Now, it’s a legitimate business,” Varma said.