By Rene Thompson, Editor in Chief | Photos By Rene Thompson
One of the most anticipated events of the Albuquerque Comic Expo is the costume contest, where cos-players flock from all over, even from out of state to win the convention’s contest for the coveted prize of $500 in gift cards.
The third and second place prizes were $100 and $200 worth of gift cards to be spent at the convention, according to acecomicexpo.com.
Contest organizers capped the entries to 50 people on a first come, first served basis, and cut out the pre-judging portion, which had taken the majority of the day during previous years.
Participants were judged by their originality, presentation, craftsmanship, hair and make-up, as well as how similar their costumes were to the sources that they were inspired by to enter the contest.
Such as with contest winners and couple, J.G. Perrish and Jessica Sarabia who said they had worked a total of 156 hours on creating and perfecting their costumes of the Rhino and Black Cat from the Spiderman comics series.
“We like to cos-play from the same genre as a couple,” Sarabia said, while Perrish added “We usually like to do more obscure characters.”
Both costumes were completely home-made from head-to-toe, and little details were added throughout both costumes to include hade-made claw gloves and a realistic looking rhino horn.
Sarabia and Perrish both agreed that the costume contest is their favorite part of the convention and that they liked the new format for how the contest was ran this year.
“I had some doubts at first, but it ran really smooth and I like the format that they came up with,” Perrish said.
Although the winners were honored to win the best in show first place prize, they were humble about their win, explaining that’s it really about meeting like-minded people and building a better community.
“It’s about having that mutual respect for each other, and wanting to be there to cheer everyone else on— it doesn’t matter who wins. The whole idea of the cons is to be able to meet people with the same passions as you,” Sarabia said.
Perrish said that while standing in line to get on stage they could tell that everyone was pretty nervous, but that they also got to learn how much effort and time the other contestants put into their costumes as well.
“They inspire you just as much as you inspire them,” he said.
Perrish, who owns a production company called Piggs-Filth Productions, said that he hopes to get local cos-players together for other local events, as his company delves into an array of artistic media to include costume making.
Perish said that he hopes to teach how to make quality costumes to people who want to learn about costume-making.
“I want to teach this and help people learn, so that the competition can get better; cause that’s what it is all about, is showing people your beautiful art,” he said.
For more information on help with costumes for next year’s ACE convention or to see what Piggs-Filth Productions is all about, go to facebook.com/ PiggsFilthProductions.
