60+ Costumes From The 2014 San Diego Comic Con

If you've been on the internet at all over the last week, you know the San Diego Comic Con was last weekend. If you are a regular Neatorama reader, then you know that Zeon and I go to Comic Con every year to collect the greatest cosplay we can find at the convention. This year was no exception, and despite losing my badge on Saturday night, I am happy to bring you some of my favorite cosplay photos from the convention.

You'd be forgiven for thinking this crazy street display wasn't cosplay -but there was, in fact, someone inside this massive suit, operating it almost like a puppet. It even had conversations with the giant crowd surrounding it!

This Ice King costume was also massive. It was so big, I'm pretty sure he never even set foot on the convention floor that day.

Young Marceline here, on the other hand, had only her large prop to worry about.

There were a lot of great costumes this year, especially from Adventure Time, but of all the hundreds of cosplay characters I saw this year, I think this warrior Fionna was by far my favorite.

As far as bad-assed, yet adorable cosplays go, there were a surprisingly large number of them. This Rocket Raccoon costume was a particularly good example. Oddly, with all the buzz about Guardians of the Galaxy coming out, I only saw two cosplays based on the franchise.

Two costume trends I did see plenty of were Harley Quinn and Deadpool. This tutued Harley and Avengers Deadpool at least put a fun spin on the costumes.

This punk rock Harley Quinn was a delightfully unique twist on the character.

And she wasn't the only one to bring her character into a new music subculture. Hip hop Deadpool was pretty cool, rolling around the convention blasting "Gangster's Paradise" from his boombox.

These two culturally-diverse Deadpools sought out a Game of Thrones character and a Doctor in order to protest the Red Wedding and show their support for everyone's favorite evil organization.

Of course, even the plain Deadpool costumes were pretty darn fun when the cosplayers really got into the character -like this Deadpool, who was counter-protesting the religious picketers at the convention.

On Deadpool even photobombed this huge group of Whovian cosplayers.

Similarly, this Harley may have looked quite traditional, but her personality (and her partnership with Catwoman) made her stand out from the crowd.

One of the big trends for female costume mash ups these days involve mixing a character with the Playboy Bunny costume. Even so, this was the first Two-Face Bunny costume I've seen and this gal did a seriously great job putting the design together.

Lots of women also doll up a classic character's ensemble to make it more feminine and this Riddler costume is perfect not only for Comic Con, but also for a ballroom masquerade. 

Surprisingly, I haven't yet seen too many Western-style costumes. I think that's surprising because this Wild West Wonder Woman looked fantastic -and her lasso only helped sell the concept.

Then again, so did this fantastically sparkly Wonder Woman costume that could easily be used to distract baddies as she hits them with her Lasso of Truth. 

Of course, not all takes on our classic superheroes turn out so well for the character. Aged Superman doesn't look like he's ready to jump into bed in a single bound. (On a sad note, I lost my badge shortly after taking this picture. If you happen to find or buy one with my name, I'd still really like to have it back to go in my collection of badges from past years. So if you happen to have it, leave a comment so we can talk about it).

If you prefer old-timey over old-timer, you might just like this steampunk Iron Man costume that Victorian-Era Tony Stark would absolutely approve of.

Of course, to do an original comic cosplay, you don't need to think of a way to change the character. You can always just go for a less-common version of the character -like this cosplayer who dressed up as Wolverine as was wired up for the Weapon X project.

If anyone from Marvel happens to read this, take note that an all-female version of the X-Men set in the 1920s would be absolutely fantastic as these gals showed us.

Alternatively, sending some of the Avengers back to the '40s to watch over Captain America's superpowered daughter could also be a pretty awesome story arc. 

If you couldn't yet tell, gender-swapping continues to be a popular twist on cosplay. These three Indiana Jones characters look downright fabulous as ladies.

Speaking of gender-swapping, I bet you never thought a Ninja Turtle could be sexy, but cosplayer Toni Darling did one heck of a job with her Leonardo costume. And, of course, April always was a babe, but she looks particularly great when played by Ani Mia.

I was also pretty charmed by this surprisingly sexy version of Marty McFly, though in this world, it seems Doc is still a bald old man.

This Roger Rabbit was adorable in every sense of the word and I have to say, it was a refreshing change from all the Jessica Rabbits you see at the convention every year. 

Speaking of Disney characters, I couldn't think of a more appropriate place to spot Cinderella and Prince Charming than right outside the Once Upon A Time Castle.

Vanellope didn't need to be photographed in the perfect spot though because she had a moving setting.

These two also rolled around with vehicles that pretty much made their costumes work.

Disappointingly, this trio, headed by Maleficient, would have made up my best photo of the year were it not for the weird spot on my lens that totally obscured the elf on the left. 

At least Gandalf's picture came out clean.

There was tons of great fantasy cosplay there this year -especially when it comes to Game of Thrones costumes. These two pulled off the look particularly well.

This pair of Littlefingers and Red Women was also quite good. In fact, I think the Baelish and Melisandre furthest to the right could even be stunt doubles for the real actors.

The softly blowing wind outside only helped make Inara's dress look even more beautiful and delicate.

There was a pretty good number of Firefly costumes out there this year, like this Kaylee, but I'd like to point out to all the lazy people out there that merely wearing Jayne's hat doesn't make you a cosplayer.

As always, there were tons of Star Wars costumes being worn this year, but I was happy to see how many of them had creative twists, like this gal's handmade dress and hat combo.

Or like this pink Stormtrooper costume. Like many pink versions of things these days, this person was wearing the suit to help raise money for breast cancer research.

There was also dozens of Slave Leias at the convention, but her epic prop helped distinguish her costume from the rest.

Props can make a big difference in a costume when used properly. For example, this girl wasn't Princess Peach in a wheelchair, but Mario Kart Princess Peach all because she brought her wheel with her.

Zeon already shared this picture, but it's another example of what props can do for a costume. In this case, they made Link a rupee-beggar rather than a boring 8-bit shell of a character.

Of course, adding a dose of realism to a costume can also make a big difference. For example, this Wario somehow seems like the cartoon version would really look in real life -and it's not very pretty.

BizarroAuGogo.com always has some impressively weird cosplays at the convention, which undoubtedly gives them good traffic boosts when everyone shares their pictures of the costumes.

When it comes to making up unique characters, Bizarro Au Gogo isn't alone. In fact, plenty of people and businesses do this to attract attention to their message. As you may have guessed, THC-Man here was trying to bring attention towards the legalization of marijuana.

Not that weed legalization needs any new heroes around as long as Bluntman and Chronic are on the job.

If you're looking for someone to push harder drugs on convention goers, Doctor Rockzo was there spouting off about how much he loves cocaine... although he seems like more of an anti-drug message than a positive one.

Speaking of Adult Swim, I was a bit surprised to only see one Rick & Morty costume -but the one I saw was pretty well done.

This bizarro polar bear costume was worn by one of the employees outside the Adult Swim Fun House. It was suitably weird.

Also right by the Funhouse were a bunch of guys (and a few females) wearing distinctly Mad Max styled outfits. These guys were out representing the Wastland Weekend event in September, which basically involves going out to the desert and living as though you're a Road Warrior.

The Wastelanders have some pretty great costumes, but they can be pretty intimidating to those not in the know.

Speaking of scary costumes, zombie Teletubbies are a perfect way to horrify those afraid of Teletubbies and those who grew up loving them.

The Haunted Hotel is always open during Comic Con and they would be happy to scare you, though I can't imagine anything scarier inside their haunted house than an undead Teletubbie.

There are always a lot of zombies around. In fact, I had my makeup done at the Courtyard by Marriot stage outside the convention and a lot of people took pictures of me and my cosplay for a change. Coincidentally, I happened to get my zombie makeover the same day as the Zombie Walk (which I didn't participate in) and the day I had scheduled to take photos of the Walking Dead Experience (where I was supposed to go through the survivor route).

As it turns out, I wasn't the only person wearing zombie makeup going through the Walking Dead Experience as a non-zombie. I told everyone that I was going undercover like Bill Murray in Zombieland, but I think these two just ran too fast for anyone to ask them questions.

The three guys on the left were hired to help promote the Walking Dead Experience, while the ones on the right were there to participate in the Zombie Walk. That's some of the magic of Comic Con -you may run into someone cosplaying the same world as you for a totally different reason.

You might also run into the king of undead killers while dressed as a zombie, without having to worry about having your head blasted off by a boom stick.

Another great thing about Comic Con is getting to see people in cosplay from entirely different universes hanging out -like Shredder and Woody.

Or, like this totally bizarre S&M furry thing with female Loki. (If the thing on the left is an actual character, let me know in the comments so I can correct it).

Speaking of strange, it really is surprising what kind of odd, non-sensical costumes you run into at the convention and it seems like the truly strange cosplay, like this one, are actually there to help promote something.

In the case of this odd tiki statue, the goal wasn't advertising, but recording the audience the costume attracted (see the Go Pro on top?). I still don't know what that footage was for.

Inevitably, you find some costumes you don't recognize at the convention as well. Like this odd bird man. Do you recognize him?

Or this odd puppy and bird combo. Know who they are playing as?

I assume she's wearing an anime costume of some type, can you identify it?

If this isn't enough great cosplay for you, I have even more pictures from the convention on Rue The Day. You can also go back and look at our photos from 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010 on Neatorama and 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008 on Rue the Day. I also have photo sets of some of the hottest gals at Comic Con from this year, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2008 and the hottest guys from 2012 and 2011 (sorry ladies, there just aren't as many half-naked dudes running around). And, if this giant list of links still doesn't satisfy your cosplay obsession, don't miss these photos from WonderCon from this year, 2013 and 2012 on Neatorama and this year and 2013 on Rue The Day. Lastly, if you want to see more stuff from the actual convention (aside from all the cool stuff Zeon's been posting), you can check out pictures from this year,2012, 2011, 2009 and 2008. If all this still doesn't satisfy your obsession, you might need professional help.