Dressing up as their favourite characters, MagnetiCon attendees took to the stage to strut their stuff.
Cosplayers were out in force at MagnetiCon (held at the Townsville RSL Stadium on 3-4 June), including special guest Nicole Marie Jean from California.
“Cosplay literally means costume play and you can dress up as your favourite character from a wide range of different fandoms, whether it’s cartoons, sci-fi or comic books,” Nicole Marie says.
“Some people go as far as personifying the character and really acting it out.”
Nicole Marie’s journey Down Under for MagnetiCon is her fifth international trip already this year, having previously travelled to Portugal, Ireland, Dubai and Belgium for conventions. With a social media following of over 2.5 million she’s a much sought-after cosplayer.
“I went to my first convention in 2010 and I was hooked,” Nicole Marie says.
“I’ve always been into sci-fi, comic books and all the geek stuff so it was very normal to me. I’ve been into sketching, painting, costume design and sculpture since I was a kid.”
Nicole Marie’s favourite comic book character is known as The Mariner and is Marvel’s version of Aquaman. He’s quite the ladies’ man and very sarcastic but also very powerful as he was the first comic book character to fly (yes, even before Superman).
“One of the reasons I developed a following is I became known as the girl who was taking on male characters and redesigning them to be female,” Nicole Marie says. “It’s become really common now, which is great.
“Cosplay literally means costume play and you can dress up as your favourite character from a wide range of different fandoms.” – Nicole Marie Jean
Another special guest drawing attention at MagnetiCon this year was English actor Jeremy Bulloch, who is famous for his role as bounty hunter Boba Fett in the original Star Wars trilogy. Jeremy says less is more when it comes to being menacing.
“Making lots of noise and waving around guns isn’t as scary as standing dead still with just the occasional deliberate movement,” says Jeremy, whose brother was an associate producer for the second Star Wars film. Funnily enough, his brother said “It’s only a small part, with hardly any words…” but the character turned out to be a cult favourite. Jeremy admits standing still in a heavy costume for hours on end is challenging.
“It’s not like you can run to the toilet,” he laughs. “One of the dressers was wonderful because he said ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be here to get you out if there’s a panic!’.”
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