Best/Worst Cosplay Experience: And The Winners Are…

?I knew you guys weren’t going to make it easy for me. I just knew it. I’ve judged a few contests so far for TR, but this one was far and away the most difficult thanks to the hilarity and woe of your stories. Not to mention the fact that most of you decided to blatantly ignore my word count stipulation. Grr. Anyways, this contest gave me a new respect for cosplayers in general. I knew about the humiliation cosplayers endure, but I had no idea of the seediness that goes on at some of these events (do gropers get discounted ticket rates or something?) So thanks to everyone for entertaining and sharing your stories with me. Pat yourselves on the back, you are all superstars!!! Um okay, not that I’m done buttering you up, let’s get into the nitty and the gritty

Here are the honorable mentions (in no particular order):

James Johnston said:

At NY Comic-Con 2009 there was this little Asian kid
dressed as Wolverine. Not just in some crappy Target store Wolverine
costume, but he was wearing a wife beater, dog tags, and drawn on facial
hair. He also had this apparatus where he attached real pieces of metal
to small pieces of wood that looked like pretty genuine claws.
Compared to the masses of overweight 40 year olds with cardboard claws
not caring or some jackass teenagers (such as myself) dressed lazily as
John Constantine this kid was different. This kid was in character. This
kid WAS Wolverine.

Okay everybody at once, ready? AWWWWWWW!

Kaio 18 said:

For my worst experience I think it would have to be when I was working
as a cashier at a grocery store. It was the past October and I wanted to
dress up like Hal Jordan so I did, but I also wanted to make a little
joke about how Hal’s a ring whore for wearing a good amount of the rings
so I wore all 9 Lantern Corps rings (Black, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green,
Blue, Indigo, Violet and White) while I worked. Unfortunately for me
none of my coworkers nor the customers knew what these meant, so for the
rest of the night I kept getting asked what Gay Rights organization I
was part of.

Kaio 18, did you tell this story in another contest I judged? It sounds totally familiar. Or maybe its just a common occurrence.

Artemis said:

WORST:
Being convinced by my Naruto friends to dress as Itachi Uchiha, despite
knowing nothing about him, and then learning halfway through the con
that I was cosplaying an asshole who killed his entire family and was
also dead.

Congratulations. Your friends are bastards.

Benjamin Siegel said:

I was 12 and obsessed with all things The Crow. I used to cosplay as the
character whenever the hell I felt like it (Halloween, birthday
parties, just chilling around the house). So in 1996, the bullshit storm
known as “The Crow: City of Angels” came out. What did I do? I donned
my black long sleeve shirt, my black jeans, my combat boots and EVEN THE
FUCKING FACE PAINT to go see the movie.

The problem: I saw the
movie in Westport, CT. And it wasn’t even opening night. It was a
Saturday afternoon. So there I was, in a darkened movie theater in
suburbia, wallowing in the simultaneous shame of watching a horrible
film AND dressed as it’s protagonist. I wouldn’t wish the evil-eyes I
received from those movie patrons on my worst enemy.

The shame of
cosplaying is nothing compared to the feelings of inadequacy that arise
from being THE ONLY cosplayer in a room full of uptight, upper middle
class New Englanders. As the light from the film projector flickered on
that fateful day, I distinctly remember a single tear running down my
clownishly made-up face.

I like the idea of someone dressed as The Crow “just chilling around the house.” Please elaborate.

thepariaheffect said:

When I think of Cosplay, I think of one thing only: Jedi Guy. Jedi Guy
was a man of indeterminate age (I assume late 20s-early 30s) who wore a
Jedi cloak to the same convention every year. This was not a Star Wars
convention, by the way – no, it was a roleplaying and anime convention.
One would at least think that he’d have something to do with the
roleplaying game aspect, but sadly…no. He spent most of his time in
the “hentai” room of the anime side. He’d occasionally come out to go to
a regular event, comment creepily on underage girls, and disappear.

Only
recently did I realize that he may not have actually been cosplaying,
and may have in fact had an ulterior motive for wearing a large,
billowing cloak.

When To Catch a Predator was on the air, did they ever do any remotes from sci-fi conventions? Might’ve been a good idea.

neonlexicon said:

Worst: Just crossing a smidge over that line into furry territory. I
love Silent Hill & have done a nurse & Valtiel costume in the
past. My most recent one is by far my most terrifying. It’s Robbie the
Rabbit. Here’s a photo of me in it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/3…

Now
the hardcore Silent Hill fans at conventions LOVE the shit out of this
costume, & I’ve gotten tons of compliments & photos. I love it
too, & I intend on wearing it many more times. The only reason why I
nominate it as the worst, is despite how much fans & I love it,
& how cool it is to scare kids in it… most of my friends HATE
furries. These friends tend to go to conventions with me. Thus, when I
put this baby on & go to join them, say like… in the bar, within
minutes, they begin coming up with reasons why they need to go. Nothing
like a costume that alienates those close to you!

On the next Dr. Phil: Furry outcasts.

The Pirate Star said:

A few years ago I had it in my mind that I wanted to make myself a
She-Ra costume. I never had a chance to wear it the year I made it, but
when I was invited to a Hallowe’en party in 2009, I pulled it out o the
closet, fixed it up and wore it. Everyone commented that it was a great
costume, considering I don’t have sewing skills. I was quite proud of
it. However, as the night went on, a lot of guys thought that because
She-Ra’s costume is rather skimpy, it was an invitation to grope me,
such as laying their hands on my thighs or poking them with my fake
sword. It was the most uncomfortable experience in my life. A lot of
people were drunk and didn’t realize that it was going on, so I had to
ask someone else to ask for it to stop. It bothered me that because
though I chose to wear a costume that was composed of a bustier and
miniskirt, I was treated like I was open to sexual advances. I imagine a
lot of women may get this treatment but it kinda sucks. I think women
that cosplay do it because they love dressing up and they love the
characters, not because they want a guy to sloppily fondle them, unless
they’re booth bunnies making a killing on pretending they like that kind
of attention.

Reilly Weakley said:

In 2008 I was at
Wizard World Chicago with some friends. At one point, near the end of
the day, my friends were in line for something, and I volunteered to go
grab food for everyone. As I was walking to a fast food place, someone
jumped out of an alley, grabbed me, and attempted to mug me. Without
really thinking about it, I grabbed my pocket knife (No mere Swiss Army
knife, but almost a hunting knife in its own right) and stabbed him in
the shoulder. I was able to wrestle him to the ground and hold him there
while I called the police. What makes this all interesting is that I
was in costume as Cobra Commander at the time. The cops, who appeared to
be about the age to have watch GI Joe as kids, arrived quickly, and
immediately began laughing their asses off, chuckling about how “Cobra
Commander just stabbed a guy!” One of them even took a picture with me.
So, yeah, the attempted mugging sucked, but now I have a cool story to
tell and try to use to finally get a damn TR shirt.

This
was the most controversial entry in the contest. Many people called
bullshit on the details. Any more Chicagoans want to chime in to support
or debunk Reilly’s story?

Mount_Prion said:

Last Halloween I dressed up as the Nerve Ending Fairy from Ren n’
Stimpy. This was both an awesome and a terrible cosplay experience.

It
was great because it was a great thing to dress up as and because I did
a great job and because I’m a hairy dude and that only made it
worse/greater. I found a witch chin that I stuck cotton balls to to get
that wild abraham lincoln thing he’s got going on, and even
spray-painted a crown of the right shape.

It was bad because all I
did was go out to a bar with a few people in it, and nobody recognized
my costume. One or two people got it when I told them, and the bartender
said she thought I was a “Scary God-mother”. Also, since I don’t know
anything about cosmetics, I used off-brand Sharpie as my nail/toenail
polish, which dyed my finger/toe tips pink for months. I also had a huge
zit.

Cosplay isn’t big on dignity sometimes. I admire Mount Prion’s commitment to sticking with his esoteric costume choice.

FletcherFox said:

My friends and I were coming down from the hotel to go pick up our staff
reimbursement. Our room was in the top floor of the Renaissance, so
the elevator ride was a bit long. A floor below us, a very
distinguished, older, Asian gentleman got on the elevator. We exchanged
hellos and it was clear from his accent that he was not from Canada or
the States. A few floors down, the door opens and this tall, gangley,
white kid gets on the elevator. He’s wearing a costume that’s a
mishmash of Asian vestment; a d?u l? on his head, a “Japanese” kimono
covered in Korean characters, a Samurai’s topknot, a walking stick, and a
pair of Geta. I’m not sure if he was cosplaying anyone in particular,
but the whole outfit just screamed “I idolize eastern culture, but I
don’t know a damn thing about it”. The kid got on, bowed to us all,
turned around and pushed his floor button. At this point, I looked over
at the Asian man. He didn’t say a word, but I could see years of
disappointment and rage behind his eyes. The look he gave this kid, as
if to say “how DARE you? We are human beings, not a damned hobby,” was
more powerful than any words could have been. Pretty sure my friend on
the other side of the guy noticed this too, because that was the last
year he ever cosplayed.

Life lessons were learned that day my friend. Life lessons.

Arsenal said:

So here I am in line dressed up in a poorly made Jedi costume and a girl
that I had basically had a crush on since junior high walks up, she had
taken my invite and wanted to see the movie with my group and more
importantly me, I of course looked like a huge douche and was pretty
much too embarrassed to figure out what to do even after she made sure
to sit by me in the theater for the movie, another guy squeezed his way
next to her on the other side and spent the whole night after the movie
hitting on her. I didn’t figure out why she was really there till well
after the lightsaber fight in the parking lot.

Okay, so apparently I actually have a heart and this story just broke it.

Ridureyu said:

BEST: I went to Anime Expo dressed as Faust from Guilty Gear
I got hit on by everybody (including the I-Nos).

WORST: I went to Anime Expo dressed as Faust from Guilty Gear.
I got hit on by everybody (including the Bridget).

http://i5.photobucket.com/albu… (yes I know, wrong pants color).

Wait, I’m unclear on something. Was the person playing Bridge an actual guy or just an underage girl?
 
SpindashShoryuken said:

Dr. Manhattan costume. Complete with briefs painted blue with a penis on it. ‘Nuff said.

Nuff said indeed, pal.

So, over the course of 2 years, I put together what I thought was a
pretty sweet Bowser costume for Halloween. I wore it all day that
Friday at work for a party I was going to later on. I got nothing but
compliments from my coworkers, and random people on the street. I made
it to the party where I continued to be told what a fine job I’d done.
Life was pretty sweet for me, let me tell you. Then, on the way back
from the party, I walked past a local bar. The door burst open, and a
guy dressed like Mario whipped a couple red nerf balls at me. I tried
to jump to avoid them, but they simply had to much english, and they all
caught me. I didn’t go back towards the bar to talk to the guy, or
congratulate him because I was struck by how perfect that situation was.
Some things are simply meant to be.

I’ve had fantasies about witnessing stuff like this. Don’t analyze what that says about me too much or you may start to weep.

Disappointed Spidey said:

This is the best/worst experience I had: Spider-man 3 New York City
opening weekend, my friend and I are dressed in homemade Black-Suit
Spidey and Red-Blue Spidey costumes, people handing us their children to
take our pictures, stopping traffic, getting the crowd pumped up, and
then we saw the movie… We didn’t have clothes to change into
afterward and were interviewed by someguy on the PATH for his YouTube
show.

Damn it, I never get to meet Spider-Man.The rest of the honorable mentions and the winners are after the jump.

—-

Theboywhosleptin said:

At one point in time I had made a Scott Pilgrim costume just for the
hell of it, having all these pieces of what is basically normal clothing
then ended up in the normal cycle of clothing rotation, one day I just
happened to go with the outfit that Scott sports on the cover of vol 6. I
ran into a girl with a Ramona Flowers purse and got a phone number. The
day was mine.

The thing is, this sounds like something from a Scott Pilgrim comic come to life.

Hanyaan said:

My best cosplay experience comes a bit closer to home and didn’t include
any cross-country flights: San Diego Comic Con last year. Thanks to
some serious costume malfunctions and the trolley being amazingly stupid
and delayed, I managed to miss Michael Zulli’s panel, which made me sad
because he’s one of my favorite artists who’s ever worked in comics and
was THE event I wanted to see that morning. I was hanging around the DC
booth dressed as Death from The Sandman looking at some new figures,
when a woman came by and asked to take a photo because she absolutely
loved my costume. It turned out she was Zulli’s girlfriend or wife (I
wasn’t quite sure which) and she wanted to take me to show him my
costume. He was, beyond a doubt, the nicest creator or artist I have
ever met. There really are no words for how wonderful this guy is. After
hearing how sad I was to miss his panel, he went over to the booth next
to him, borrowed a boxcutter, took out his personal leather-bound
sketchbook, cut out one of the most gorgeous pen sketches of Dream that I
have ever seen in my life, and gave it to me. I couldn’t believe it; a
lot of my family are artists, so I know how much original art and not
prints is REALLY worth; getting a piece like that made me feel like I
was floating on air. On top of that, this was right before Death
appeared in Action Comics, so the DC people asked me to hang around the
booth a bunch to hopefully get pictures with some of the staff for that.
Being seen in that costume talking with so many DC staff ended up with a
lot of people thinking I might actually be working for DC, so while
admittedly nothing I got even remotely compares to the Zulli sketch, I
have never gotten so many free things given to me while just standing
around in my life. Overall it was entirely fantastic and entirely worth
painting myself white, although if Zulli has a panel this year, there is
NO WAY I am missing it!

Just a sweet story of a fan meeting a creator. Consider my jaded heart warmed.

MacGyver said:

Ok, my best cosplay experience by far is when I dressed up as Dr.
Horrible to the NYC Comic Con. (My friends tell me I have an uncanny
resemblance to NPH, so I had to make the costume) Anyway, Joss Whedon
himself was there that day, having a signing. They raffled off tickets
to get in, but by the time I found out about it, it was closed. My
friends and I decided to hang outside the signing room, hoping that we
could maybe catch a glimpse of him as he walked out or something.
People kept walking by asking if I had a ticket, to which I sadly
responded no. I also chatted up the people guarding the door. So it
was obvious I has no ticket to get in.

Well apparently they
weren’t smart about the signing. They were simply checking to see if
you had a ticket, but not actually collecting them. So one guy who
already got his stuff signed walked out, saw me in costume, and asked me
if I had a ticket. I told him no, and he handed me his and said, “Go
for it.” So I walk up to the door guard with this goofy ass grin
holding the ticket out saying “Someone just gave me it!” He didn’t want
to let me in at first, but eventually said “Screw it, I don’t care, go
in.” And away I went.

When I got to the front of the line,
first thing I realized was that Tahmoh Penikett was there with Joss to
promote Dollhouse, so I got a signed Dollhouse print from him (He kind
of looked at me weird when he saw the costume). But when I got to Joss I
will never forget what he said when he saw me: “Finally someone is
dressed for the occasion!” I burst out with nerd joy at that moment.
And so I got him to sign my Dr. Horrible glove, and for several months
my facebook picture was me dressed as Dr. Horrible next to Joss Whedon
and fucking Helo! I routinely wear the costume to comic book
conventions. I always love seeing Whendon fans first flip out that I am
dressed as Dr. Horrible, then flip out again when they see the glove.

Clearly MacGyver did not pay attention to my word count rules, but he gets an HM anyway…mainly because if I didn’t give him one the Whedonites would never leave me alone.

In The Garage said:

This year at PAX east, we were privileged to see a live action FFF
running wild. You see, in line waiting for their passes, were Ash
Ketchum and Pikachu. Unfortunately, they were not of the good buddy
variety. More of the ‘jam my tongue down your throat’ kind. The entire
line was treated to unexpected show of a 15 year old puberty ravaged
Ash making out with a similarly ravaged slutty pikachu, ears and all.
Luckily this was the worst we had to deal with that day.

Pikachu, I choose you indeed.

Mittens said:

Worst: This was my second year cosplaying (and my best friend’s first).
We were both 16 at the time and massively into Kingdom Hearts, so we
decided to cosplay as Sora and Riku from Kingdom Hearts 2 and spent our
entire school holiday break meticulously crafting hand-made costumes
(this was the first time either of us had made costumes, btw). We were
so proud and kept on getting really positive comments about the
costumes, then we were spotted by one particularly rabid fangirl (that
I’ll just call A). A was also cosplaying as a character from Kingdom
Hearts 2, and took the fact that we were cosplaying from the same series
as an open invitation to sexually harass us. Every time we walked past
she’d run up to one of us, grab us from behind, whisper ‘surprise
buttsex unf unf unf’ in our ears and dry-hump us. We repeatedly stressed
that we were really uncomfortable with this, but she wouldn’t take
‘please get off me’ for an answer, and HUMPED HARDER. One of my
friends managed to save me for a bit by running behind me, grabbing my
shoulders and yelling ‘BACK OFF SHE’S MINE!’ A no longer had access to
my back, because my friend was standing there.She then runs around
to my front, grabs me even tighter and attempts to french kiss me. At
this stage a lot of more experienced cosplayers came to our aid and
managed to pry us apart, and I didn’t enjoy the rest of the con because I
physically had to have somebody stand behind me at all times for fear
of A coming up and dry-humping me again.

Jesus. I’m not making a joke here as this is really troubling. People, cosplaying is not for the timid.

StrawHat said:

I was at an anime convention, and I saw this amazing costume of Sakura
from Naruto. I got excited and went up to ask for a picture with her,
and just as I am asking, I notice the five o’clock shadow…

No amount of sensitivity training in the world could have prepared you how to react to that scenario.

Scooter Atreides said:

I don’t Cosplay: No money, and no sewing skills, but I do have a
Halloween costume story to relate (which I may have already used in
another contest). Back in the mid 90s, at the height of MST3K’s
popularity, I put together, from scratch, a kickass Torgo (“Manos” The
Hands Of Fate) costume. I had everything I needed: The outfit, the hat,
the beard, the eyebrows…even fake knees! (which were really hot and
refused to stay in placeXD). And the Crown Jewel: A tape recorder in my
pocket playing the “Torgo Theme” on a continuous loop! (all I forgot was
the staff 🙁 )

And after all this, how many people recognized who I was supposed to be? One….ONE!!!! >_<

Now,
this wouldn’t be a problem if I were at a bar, or some mundane costume
party amongst mere mortals…But this was back when I was a cast member
of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and this was our annual Halloween
Gala! These were Geeks! Movie People! Fanboys and Girls!…WEIRDOS!!! MY
BRETHREN AND SISTREN!!!!

Those who didn’t greet my ensemble with blank stares thought I was a character from Fiddler On The Fucking Roof!!!

I
was so disheartened I ended up taking the costume off within an
hour…Nobody was recognizing me, and my knees were sweating like crazy.
I only wish I’d gotten a picture!

Awesome costume, sad story. Torgo deserved better Scooter.

SoooTrypticon said:

In 2004 I took my friends to go see David Bowie in Washington DC. This
was our first time seeing him live, so we all dressed like him
(different eras, I was Pirate Bowie) or went inspired by him (one friend
friend went all dressy like the ballroom scene in Labyrinth).

To
sweeten the deal, I made a batch of life size “Bowie Heads On Sticks”
that we could wave around excitedly. They were flat prints of his
different guises, mounted on foam core.

During the encore we
sprung from our chairs and ran as close as we could get to the stage
waving our Bowie Heads. His bassist noticed us and tugged Bowie’s arm.
He turned from waving goodbye, saw us, and putting the back of his hand
to his mouth, giggled.

We made David Bowie giggle, and it was
wonderful. It was the classiest giggle I’ve ever seen, and will likely
ever see again.

That’s pretty far out man.

bibliophileemily said:

My costume was Raven from the animated Teen Titans show (http://i95.photobucket.com/alb…
The costume was one of the most difficult I’d ever made: I’d sewn the
cloak myself, painted my body gray to match her skin tone, and even cut
myself horribly the night before the convention while making a few
last-minute pieces (I still have the scars on my fingers). This was no
throw-together-the-day-of costume; I was working on this thing for
several weeks at least. Plus, due to the nature of the body paint, once
I’m in the costume, eating, drinking, etc. become almost impossible. I
was worried that all this effort wasn’t even worth it.

But the
next day, as me and my friends dressed as Starfire and Slade walked
around the con, a tiny little girl saw me from across the room, ran over
to us, looked up into my face, and asked, “Are you Raven from Teen
Titans?” I answered her in Raven’s voice, “Yes, I am.” Her face got so
surprised, and she exclaimed, “You sound just like her!” Without missing
a beat, I replied, “That’s because I AM Raven.” Her eyes got huge, and
before I could react, she hugged me and ran away. She later brought her
dad over to meet me and get her picture taken with me. She even followed
me a bit throughout the rest of the convention.

Although wearing
the costume was fun in and of itself, knowing I made a little girl THAT
happy was what made all the work and all the discomfort and all the
restraint of acting in character so worth it. I never saw the little
girl again, but I hope that she has as fond memories of that day as I
do.

*sniff* I’m not crying. *sniff*

Saustinom said:

Worst Experience: I went to a fancy dress party dressed as Arthur Dent.
The costume included a copy of the guide that I had made myself and a
watch that was the same model as the one shown in the tv series.

Almost
no one knew who he was, most of those that did made reference to the
modern film. It was at that point that I realised that I wasn’t the same
as these people.

If I didn’t know better, I would suspect that Saustinom was aware of my loathing of the Hitchhiker’s Guide film and trying to curry favor with me to win a TR shirt. It almost worked. Well played Saustinom, well played indeed.

Roguesmurf6 said:

I’ve only recently started going to Cons, including Baltimore in 2009
and NYC in 2010. Both times I’ve dressed up as Henchman 21 from Venture
Bros. and both times everybody has loved my costume! One of the coolest
parts, aside from all the compliments, photos and girls who liked the
costume, was that the moment I walked into the lobby of NYC, I
immediately bumped into a skinnier guy dressed as Henchman 24! We stood
together for like 20 minutes with everybody running up to take pictures
of us.

Were I there, I totally would have been one of those people running up to have my picture taken with you. Very impressive.

Stareyed wrote:

My daughter and I went to the first comic convention in our town and
decided to cosplay. LJ’s seven and desperately wanted to dress as Black
Canary, but specifically Black Canary from Batman: Brave and the Bold.
This was mostly driven by the Gail Simone written ep with the Birds of
Prey, so she wore that (more kid-appropriate) costume while I went as
DC’s Zatanna.

Luck upon luck, Gail Simone was a guest at the
con, so LJ got Gail to sign a screencap from the BoP episode and wrote
her a little note ‘in case I got too shy to tell her’. Well, Gail was
over the moon to meet her littlest fan and there are gorgeous pics of
the kiddo with her idol. Then, when we got home, we found Gail had
tweeted about meeting LJ and her fab costume, then wrote a tumbler entry
about it! LJ loved the attention and the signed screencap is now framed
and lives on her bedroom wall.

I’m just a big softie for tales of intergenerational nerdery.

Jim Meyer said:

My college roommate had a costumed wedding which I MCd in character as
Dr. Doom. My best friend, who was staying with me for the wedding, was
Mysterio. The whole thing was a blast and it allowed me to speak in
third person all night.

Unfortunately my Dr. Doom costume
doesn’t have any pockets so I wisely didn’t take house keys. 3am that
night Mysterio had to scale the back wall of the house to crall in
through a second story window while I/Doom stood in the alley screaming,
“Help! Spiderman! Spiderwoman! Any Spider Folk at all! My HOUSE!”

Please tell me there is video footage of this somewhere.

Matt Wells said:

I’ve never personally cos-played, but I do have one awful story from a
British convention. There was this one guy dressed as Pedo Bear…yes,
you can see where this is going…

His costume was pretty decent,
well padded and everything, the size and proportions were a good match
for the character image. The problem was the guy took the role a little
TOO much to heart. He started lurking and stalked the numerous teenage
Naruto cosplayers. He was wearing a full body costume, but rather than
muting his body language, it made it seem all the more exaggerated and
DELIBERATE.

People started laughing at first, but as the con wore
on, he kept doing this insane mock rapist stalker walk. For hours on
end. It really began to creep the more internet savvy con goers out, and
these dozens of kids in headbands were soon getting quite genuinely
disturbed. By the time he started making fake lunges for the kids, a
Haku cosplayer’s father had brought in con security personel.

At
this point the guy seemed to really panic, and made an attempt to run.
You can guess how well he managed that in a full on furred body suit.
The guards caught up with him quick and surrounded him, forcibly taking
his large pedo bear hood off. The guy underneath seemed really flustered
and embarassed, sweating like mad and understanding he’d gone too far
in pursuit of a joke.

They threw him off the premises, and a
police constable took him in for questioning. In the remaining two days
of the convention, no one saw him again. Rather sad tale of a guy who
seemed a few years older than myself who didn’t know when enough was
enough.

Pedobears are always crossing the line, aren’t they?

The Winner for Best Cosplay Experience:

Ectospinner said:

Went to a convention where Ernie Hudson (Winston in Ghostbusters) was
going to be signing autographs. Myself and a large group of friends went
dressed as fully equipped ghostbusters with replicas of the proton
packs, traps, meters, etc. When Mr. Hudson wasn’t busy with a line, he
came over to us, hugged each of us individually, and invited us to stand
with him for a TV promo he had to do. Afterwards, he borrowed my proton
pack for his scheduled photoshoot, signed all of our stuff for free,
and gave us a free personalized portrait. Before we left, I gave him a
card with our fan group’s information on it. He turned right around and
gave me his personal email and cell phone number. Best day ever.

Ectospinner also submitted a follow-up entry in which he said that Dan Aykroyd was equally cool. When cosplayers can connect with the people they are dressing like in a cool and meaningful way, it not only vaildates their efforts but also shows that celebs/creators have a great sense of humor about fandom. I was so thrilled by his story that it seemed like a no-brainer for the win. So congrats Ectospinner, and be sure to wear your Topless Robot shirt under your Ghostbusters jumpsuit!

The Winners for Worst Cosplay Experience:
I decided to award two shirts to the winners due to the fact that their nerdy pursuits landed them in legal (and in one situation, financial) hot water.

Paige Wesley said:

This past Halloween I made a film faithful Cherry Darling costume,
complete with a gun leg that strapped on to my leg using bullet belts of
expired rounds. I thought it looked super cool, but understandably
couldn’t walk around just anywhere covered in bullets, so when we
stopped at the store to get some frozen pizza after our Halloween party I
tossed the bullet belts into my purse and left the fake gun in the car.

The
only problem was, I forgot they were in my purse. A week later, I
rushed to LAX to get on a plane to San Francisco, and tossed my purse
onto the X-ray machine. About 5 minutes later I was taken into custody
and interrogated, turns out they take bullets, dead or live, pretty
serious at the Los Angeles airport. After questioning me for about half
an hour, photographing me and the “evidence” (bullets). I was allowed to
go free, I’m pretty sure it was because I spent the entire
interrogation sobbing like a child.

First off, Paige is great for realizing the awesomeness of Planet Terror in the first place. But to have her little cosplay experience almost get her into trouble with Homeland Security is certainly worthy of a measly T-shirt methinks. Wear it with pride…but keep it at home if you are planning another incident at an airport, okay?

Jon Lewis said:

Sadly this is a true story and a reflection on how the Canadian police
don’t have common sense. I was dressed as Kyle Reese from T1. I was at
the train station coming home from the con and I was jumped by 6 police
officers because I had a toy shotgun on me (it was in a bag but the bag
had a hole). I was arrested and sent to the police station were I was
charged with Assault with a deadly weapon. I was then released. I had to
appear in court several times. The last time I go to court, I go see
the judge and my lawyer isn’t there. I ask the judge to wait a sec for
him. As soon as I said that my lawyer and the head crown (district
attorney) come in. The head crown recaps my story in favorable light and
asks to have the charges drop. The judge agrees and looks at me does
the Vulcan hand sign and she tells me live long and prosper. And that’s
my $7,500 stressful cosplay experience. I don’t cosplay any more….

Well, you lost $7,500 but you gained a shirt. Even Steven! Okay, not even close. But hey, it’s better than nothing!