Every year we bring you a great collection of costumes from the SD Comic Con (see 2012, 2011, 2010), and it seems every year I have a harder and harder time slimming my selections down. Aside from the fact that it seems better and better cosplayers turn out every year, I keep taking more and more pictures. In fact, I took almost 1000 this year, mostly of cosplayers, which is why I couldn't cut down my final selections more than I have here. Of course, if even this massive collection of costumes isn't enough for you, I have even more over at my site, Rue The Day, and for those of you who really only appreciate beautiful females in costumes, I even have a seperate collection of beautiful cosplayers.
So, without further ado, I bring you the best costumes from SDCC 2013 -or at least the best ones Zeon Santos or I got a picture of).
There are always tons of Star Wars costumes at the convention, but for some reason few people dare to take on the Emperor's ensemble. Of course, few people would ever be able to do it as well as this guy. The only thing he was missing was some lightning bolts coming out of his fingers.
Darth tends to be over done to a large extent, which is why it's always so refreshing to see someone sporting a Darth Vader costume with a little more unique flair to it.
Even just seeing Darth covered in scars with his helmet removed is refreshing...and discovering he and Darth Maul are both female, now that is an amazing discovery.
Boba Fett is similarly overly done, but it's always nice to see someone portray the character in a drastically different style.
While there were plenty of the obligatory Slave Leias hanging around, I was happy to see more women cosplaying as the more classic Leia -especially little girls like this one.
I even had the pleasure of stumbling across two tiny Princess Leias with fabric buns in their hair.
This was a great year for adorable baby costumes. I also got to see baby Pikachu with Misty.
While The Flash may be a DC character and The Black Widow is from Marvel, this mother and her child seemed to still get along pretty well.
And while it may not have been the most elaborate cosplay ever, I was beyond thrilled to discover a Dalek that looked this cute.
This little guy might not have been dressed up, but his K-9 stroller sure helped him fit in with his family's group cosplay.
Of course, there is something to be said about letting each member of your family select their own costume like this tiny Doctor and his slightly older sister, Harley Quinn.
One thing a lot of first-time cosplayers forget are accessories. These can help set you apart from the legion of Doctors and Roses so people will remember you as The Doctor with the awsome lunch box gizmo and Rose with the giant, awesome gun.
Alternatively, you can always make your costume reflect one specific moment of your character so you will stand out to true fans. Tardis dresses are a dime a dozen these days, but a Tardis dress depicting Van Gogh's take on the Police Box, now that's something special.
Sometimes it pays to mix up two fan favorites, like a Borg from Star Trek and the Muppet's Swedish Chef.
Or, just take something rather common and make it something completely different. These Avengers costumes are far from generic and totally beautiful.
If you're in a wheelchair or scooter, take advantage of your moving prop like the Queen of Hearts did.
Props really can add a lot to a costume. There were tons of Vanelopes at the convention, but only one with a giant candy and cookie mallet.
Similarly, without the beets basket, you'd probably never realize this was Mose Schrute. This costume cracked me up, it was one of my favorites from the convention.
Or you can take a pretty generic video game costume and make it really girly with lots of pink, a tutu and Hello Kitty ears.
If you're a man, cosplaying in a really feminine costume is always good for a laugh, especially if you make up your own character, like Sailor Bacon, for a good cause, say for the sake of getting donations for your wife's MS charity walk. (Thanks Craig L1 for letting us know we had the name wrong.)
Another costume great for a laugh is anything to do with a meme. A lot of girls go for the hipster princess look because it's easy, girly and funny.
Of course, if you want to make the costume a little more original and a little better suited to Comic Con, you should modify it by, say, making hipster princesses out of Peach and Daisy.
If you want a mash up costume that people are sure to love, try including Dead Maus or Dead Pool...ideally, why not try both?
Part of the appeal of Dead Pool costumes is the fact that the people in them always seem to have fun and people always want to hang out with them, whether that means turning Deadpool into a walker...
Or a girl leaving her boyfriend and her comic book universe to be with him.
Even grumpy, antisocial Hellboy digs hanging out with Deadpool.
Not every Harley is so quick to leave her man. In fact, this Harley Quinn needs two Jokers, a Planet of the Apes version and a vaudeville version.
This Harley had a quite dashing Joker by her side, but she seemed much more excited by her weapons collection.
Not all Harley Quinns need a man though. This lovely lady did just fine on her own.
While Harley is a comic book fan favorite, she's not the only comic book gal girls enjoying cosplaying as. Many of them even prefer the more classic villians crossplayed as cute girl versions.
Crossplay has been really popular the last few years and it continues to become even more popular. This female Daryl Dixon was fantastic...
As was this lovely lady Ash...
While this Hugo Strange was cosplayed by a gentleman, Walter White and Edward Scissorhands were both girls. Oddly, Walter said no one recognized her, but I think the costume is pretty darn obvious.
Not all crossplay is done for the sake of making a character cuter. Sometimes it's just a matter of getting a handsome prince to cosplay with a group of girls when no men are available.
Technically, this ED-E costume is crossplay because the robot was a male, but when you're dressed as a floating robot from Fallout, the gender isn't really a major concern.
The same goes for this Hypnotoad, you sort of assume it's a boy in the show, but does it really matter when a person is going as Hypnotoad?
Speaking of totally creative takes on somewhat odd costume ideas, these Up! costumes are pretty amazing. While I've seen people cosplay as the little boy and the old man, the addition of the bird, balloons and dog made this pairing particulalry wonderful.
While it's true I had never seen someone cosplay as the bird from up, this year I happened to see two different girls wearing it. Funny how that works, isn't it?
Similarly, while I've seen plenty of khaleesis (they were possibly the most popular female costume this year), I haven't seen many Cerceis before, let alone one that was happy to make out with the king slayer.
And I've certainly never seen one that was actuall friends with the Khaleesi, especially two of them.
When it comes to odd friendships, it's hard to beat Tank Girl and a kilt-wearing Shadow Stormtrooper.
Really, I see Tank Girl getting along with Lady Gaga better, even if it does seem odd to see her at Comic Con.
Speaking of rockers, Hedwig was there this year in fantastic styles, as always.
If you're a fan of frenemies, then you'd love seeing Gloomy Bear and Pity in person.
Bebop and Rocksteady have never looked so rugged as they did at this convention.
And the Joker never looked quite so horrifying.
Speaking of horrifying costumes, both the Joker and this spider queen were both being created at the convention by a make up arts school. I'd say they were pretty convincing when it comes to demonstrating their skills.
I don't even know what this costume was, but man, it was impressive.
This Headless Horsemen cosplay for the upcoming Fox show was also pretty creepy.
While he may not be creepy, you certainly wouldn't want to mess with this Ezio.
On the other hand, this Plants vs. Zombie zombie wasn't all too intimidating.
Nor was this fantastic horned sabter tooth creature.
Even this zombie kitty was more adorable than intimidating.
Then again, it's easy to feel safe when you have Sloth on your side.
And if Sloth couldn't protect you, Cyclops surely would.
One of the most common complaints about the San Diego Comic Con is that it's not about comic books any more, but that's simply not true. Everywhere you look there's something related to comic books.
Sure there's a bit of fantasy...
and sci-fi...
and video games...
and even general pop culture favorites around the entire convention...
but the heart of the San Diego Comic Con continues to revolve around comic books.
In fact, even a lot of the movies represented at the convention are still based on comic books.
And sure, there are people there who don't recognize that this is Galactus,
or that this gent is representing Supernatural Law,
but even they understand and appreciate that without comic books, we wouldn't have Avengers movies that are appreciated by everyone around the world.
So happy Comic Con everyone. I know not everyone can drop everything to visit San Diego and even those who can have a hard time getting tickets, but hopefully this article will at least give you a good taste of some of the great cosplay the convention has to offer. And if all those links at the top still didn't give you enough cosplay enjoyment, then check out this article showing cosplayers eating.
