This weekend, you might see someone with a spiky blue wig and a foam gun walking around the city of Lancaster.
Friday marks the first day of the Zenkaikon weekend anime convention, which is being held at the Lancaster County Convention Center for the first time since 2019.
Zenkaikon, and its attendants who dress in fun costumes, bring cosplay to the forefront of Lancaster for one weekend, as people travel from far and wide to visit the annual event.
For the uninitiated, cosplay, short for “game costume,” is the practice of dressing up as a character from some form of media, be it television shows, anime, movies, and books. (You don’t have to just include media stuff; people can dress up as their favorite characters they’ve created, or dress up as something completely original and unique.)
Cosplays can be as simple or as complicated as the person wearing the cosplay wants them to be. Some people work feverishly on every detail of their costumes, while others are more lax.
Jade Lind, a special education teacher from Royersford, about an hour east of Lancaster, loves cosplay. She has been cosplaying since 2014 and chronicles her costumes on her Instagram page @arcadejade_.
Her favorite part of going to conventions in costume is the reactions she gets to the characters she plays.
Lind is close friends with Kate and James Farbo, owners of the Farbo Co. game and general store in downtown Lancaster at 9 W. Grant St. Together they have run Dungeons & Dragons and cosplay workshops.
“They are very dear friends of mine who hold a special place in my heart, and they also love nerd culture as much as I do,” Lind says in an online interview with LNP|LancasterOnline. “I like to call them the nerdy king and queen of Lancaster!”
Lind plans to head to Zenkaikon this weekend, posing as the Scarlet Witch from the upcoming Marvel movie “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and Sprigatito, the new grass starter Pokémon announced for her upcoming games, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. .
She says she often hears that people struggle with cosplay as they feel they have to be a certain body type or size for a costume to work.
“It doesn’t matter if you look like the character, we cosplay because we love those characters, and what cooler way to show that than to put your own spin on it?” Lind says. “Anyone of any age, race, religion, size, gender, etc. can cosplay whoever they want and make it their own. At the end of the day, we’re just nerds doing something we love. That should bring us together more than anything!”
Ahead of Zenkaikon, Lind put together five tips, in her own words, for LNP|LancasterOnline readers interested in finding a cosplay to wear before convention this weekend.
1. Make a casual or modern version of a character using the clothes you would normally wear.
2. Use bits of old Halloween or cosplay costumes, like wigs.
3. Savings! You’d be surprised how much you can find in thrift stores that can be used for cosplays. Dollar Tree is also a great place to get cheap craft supplies to make props, accessories, etc.
4. Don’t worry about the little things. Fine details are usually not noticeable to others.
5. Cosplay is for everyone and depends on your interpretation. It’s totally fine to do it however you feel comfortable! Just have fun with it.
Zenkaikon runs Friday through Sunday at the Lancaster County Convention Center. For more information, visit zenkaikon.com.