Several celebrity cosplay (costumed play) artists will be appearing at the Illawarra’s annual comic and graphic novel convention, Comic Gong, on May 14.
Stars include Journalist and TV personality Wiradjuri Wonder Woman Rae Johnston, Roller Derby queen Chloe Feisty Cuffs and Instagram sensation Evey Dantes.
Ms Johnston has been travelling the country for years as a professional host at comic conventions, and MC for the cosplay competitions.
Her regular character is Wonder Woman as it enables her to become a “real life role model for kids”.
“I love the reaction from kids. I’ve had a little girl come up to me shaking because she was so excited,” she said.
“They look up at you with their big eyes and ask ‘can I get a photo with you Wonder Woman’, and to be able to make their day like that is amazing.”
Ms Johnston said what she loved about Comic Gong was the happy vibe seen everywhere and the “sense of gratitude” people had for being able to meet other like-minded fans.
“The first year I came it was a tiny little convention and it was beautiful and wonderful. Watching it grow is really heart warming. It just shows there’s a huge audience of comic book fans.”
Evey Dantes is one of the cosplay competition judges and is also impressed by the growth of the event and how the culture has developed in Wollongong.
She used to be the Emo kids in school, “the weirdo in the corner everyone was afraid of”, and was dragged to her first comic book convention six years ago by her little sister.
At the time Ms Dantes never imagined herself going out in public wearing a costume, however loved the experience and has never looked back.
“I’m quite an anxious person and get quite nervous, but being in costume brings me out of my shell,” she said.
She believes it’s a good creative outlet and stress reliever, especially as her day job as a nurse could be quite hectic.
In the last few years her following has flourished and now boasts 75,000 Facebook fans and 22,000 on Instagram.
“It’s pretty crazy, I can’t believe this many people would pay attention to my crazy, weird antics,” she said.
But having tens of thousands of followers on social media has it’s dark side.
Both Feisty Cuffs and Ms Dantes have both experienced identity theft.
Feisty has been alerted to at least three incidents in recent months where people were pretending to be her on various dating websites.
Ms Dantes has had similar experiences as well as discovering companies using her pictures to advertise without her knowledge.
“I recently had a convention which turned out to be all a con, they were offering prints of me with tickets which I had nothing to do with. So that was quite unsettling,” she said.
“I’ve also had a few stalkers in my time … it’s a little bit scary at times.”
Overall, all three still love dressing up and being part of comic convention world.
Catch them at Comic Gong, Saturday May 14.
For more information and full program click HERE