The Portland Wizard Con may not be as big as Comic Con or even their Anaheim incarnation -Wonder Con. Even so, there was tons of great cosplay at the convention -giving Zeon and myself a great excuse to take a work vacation up to the Rose City. Here's some of the best cosplay we spotted throughout the weekend.
One of the best events of the whole weekend was the children's cosplay contest. There we were treated with cuties ranging from Sally and Oogie Boogie to...
head strong Harley Quinn. The contest was great because it was sponsored by anti-bullying charity The Stewart-Beavers Institute.
Not that anyone would ever dare to bully Rocket Raccoon.
The kid's contest was packed with cuteness, so it really would have been impossible to pick a best costume.
So it wasn't all too surprising when the judges announced that everyone was a winner and could collect a prize.
I mean really, would you want to be the one to announce to tiny Rick and Daryl that they were any more or less awesome than balloon boy?
While the kid's contest wasn't packed, it really was the best part of the convention so everyone who missed it really missed out. I really hope they start adding kid's costume contests to more conventions -especially the SDCC, where there are already tons of awesome kid's cosplays every year.
The charming host of the contest, Jessica Merizan from Heroes of Cosplay, even said the event was the #1 thing she was looking forward to the entire time. Afterwards, she was super excited to post an Instagram pic with a bunch of the contestants.
Of course, the kid's costume contest wasn't the only place to see adorable little ones in costume -this little Maleficent charmed a whole hallway of people waiting in line to see the Box Trolls puppets close up.
Speaking of charming, the Dragon Theater company brought a few of their costumed characters to the convention and they probably had thousands of portraits taken of them.
That's hardly surprising when their costumes were so detailed and magnificent.
There are some budget kid's party entertainers out there, but if I wanted to impress my little ones at a party, I would sure hope to get a company that put this much effort into their costumes.
Though I'd be happy to settle for this cute little Eeyore cosplay as well.
By far my favorite costume of the convention was this amazing Falkor by cosplayer Ryan Wells. It not only took a ton of dedication to make the thing, but every time he posed for a picture he had to bend over and put his head down since it was located in Falkor's neck.
As always, the adult costume contest was also loaded with great cosplay including this steampunk Tinkerbell by Firefly Path.
I was particularly impressed with this steampunk dress version of Dory from Finding Nemo.
This sexy Alien costume is also pretty amazing.
Shockingly, this Warhammer Space Marine costume looks like it weighs over 100 pounds, but it was actually very light -though still encumbering due to its size.
Speaking of encumbering, I'd hate to encounter stairs with this Dalek costume, but it is seriously epic and looks fun to ride in.
I'd love to see this lady Tom Baker take the Dalek in a fight.
This Harry Potter group was pretty much epic and seeing them posed in such a perfect spot was just plain lucky.
I've attended a lot of conventions, but I've never seen someone pull off such an impressive Mars Attacks cosplay once again, this one was by the talented cosplayer Ryan Wells.
Similarly, I've seen a lot of Emma Frosts, but never one willing to go this bare (just like the character).
Though I was still quite impressed with this group and their many different takes on the character.
This Black Canary and Wonder Woman were also looking good.
And it's always a treat to see Star Lord and baby Groot together.
And lady Loki looked delightfully mischievous.
Poison Ivy was largely au naturale.
While these DC heroes looked bad to the bone in their leather get ups.
This mighty family could stop any foe with the epic force of Marvel and the Lord of the Rings behind them.
This guy was there promoting a local horror con and I was in awe of his makeup, which included real dried mealworms to create the look of maggots.
Speaking of real dead things, this Vikings costume was the first one I've seen to incorporate real furs and it make the outfit look that much more impressively authentic.
This Borderlands cosplay was some of the best I've ever seen, but I've never seen someone do the hair so perfectly as
As this gal who was hanging out with Marshal Lee of Adventure Time.
We also spotted Prince Gumball on the scene, but surprisingly, none of the female princess characters from the show.
Now, I've tried to include credits to the cosplayers where I could, but if you know the names of anyone featured here, let me know and I'll go ahead and add them.