Shannon Cottrell

Helmetgirls at San Diego Comic-Con

​See more photos in "2011: The Year in Cosplay." Read more in this years "Best of the Cons," Part 1 and Part 2 and "Top 10 Cult Stars of 2011."
While some conventions attract more people in costume than others, there's no denying that cosplay has become a very important aspect of the fan convention circuit. From how-to panels to masquerade events to impromptu meet-ups, cosplayers are everywhere.

This year, we put together a slideshow of 50 great cosplays from events like Anime Los Angeles, Anime Expo, San Diego Comic-Con, Dragon*Con, Comikaze Expo and Pacific Media Expo. Here, I'm giving a shout out to five that stood out either because they were unusual or they saw an unexpected surge in popularity this year.

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Photos by Steven L. Sears

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For the debut evening of Cosplay Karaoke last month, the promo literature asked, "What would Harley Quinn sing if she had a chance? What would Peter Parker belt out? You have a chance to find out as NerdMelt hosts COSPLAY KARAOKE!" and warned "YOU MUST BE IN COSTUME IN ORDER TO SING!"

The rules were relaxed for Saturday's second go-round, once again presented by renowned comic book writer Scott Lobdell and hosted by Playboy Radio personality, adult star and "cosplay queen" Nicki Hunter. For one, just a single lone attendee explained her karaoke choice (Lana Kane of FX animated series Archer dedicated Pink's "There You Go" to her titular ex). And two, there was a whole lotta singing by those who remained un-costumed, including an "I Got You Babe" duet, Journey's "Don't Stop Believing," Dom the Nerdmelt bartender crooning Seal's "Kiss From a Rose" and a LA Weekly reporter who shall remain nameless taking the stage for 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up."

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Shannon Cottrell

My Little Pony fans at Anime Expo

​There are still a few more conventions left for 2011, but it's not too early to begin the countdown of the best of the superfan scene. This week, I'm counting down a few of the most popular trends spotted at conventions this year. This list avoids perennial favorites (i.e. Star Wars, Star Trek and Dr. Who). Some of the entries have been popular for a while, but the fandoms surrounding the franchises are more visible this year.

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Shannon Cottrell

​See more of Shannon Cottrell's photos from Power-Con/ThunderCon in "Celebrating He-Man, She-Ra and ThunderCats at Power-Con/ThunderCon."

For nearly a decade, Johnny Bilson has been making costumes based on Masters of the Universe characters for himself and his friends. He has tackled He-Man, Skeletor, Evil-Lyn, Tri-Klops, Trap-Jaw and King Randor with a mix of leather, metals and a smattering of objects found at home improvement and auto supply shops.

"I pride myself on getting all the details as accurate as possible based on the action figures or the movie or whatever I'm replicating," says Bilson.

We met Bilson, who is based near Sacramento, last weekend when he set up shop for his custom costume business, Johnny's Perfect Costumes, inside the dealer room at Power-Con/ThunderCon, the first convention in the country for Masters of the Universe and ThunderCats fans.

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Hollywood Boulevard stripper bunny

​Those people who stand outside of Mann's Chinese Theater in costumes, taking photos with tourists for tips -- do they have a union? Is there some kind of street performers license they need? Are there a bunch of unspoken rules about territory?

What it I became one of them for a night? Would I get arrested (like a costumed SpongeBob recently), or beaten, or both? I had no idea, but I was about to find out.

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Shannon Cottrell

​See more photos in "Southern California Crossplay."

Crossplay is exactly what you think it might be, cosplay that involves crossdressing. It's not the same as gender-bending an existing character, as Gender Bent Justice League did this year at San Diego Comic-Con. With crossplay, a female fan will present herself as a male character and vice versa.

Ultimately, crossplay is no different from cosplay, it's a fan-oriented art form that can take many different paths. Some people don't make a major effort to conceal their actual gender. Others take painstaking measures to resemble the opposite-gender character as closely as possible. The choice is up to the fan.

While you may stumble upon crossplayers at any event that encourages costume, the phenomenon is most common within the anime fandom. Sure, we may see a few girls portraying male characters from The Venture Bros. at San Diego Comic-Con, but nothing draws the sheer amount and diversity of crossplayers like anime conventions. In Southern California, we tend to see the most crossplayers at Anime Expo and Anime Los Angeles.

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Shannon Cottrell

Filming Tank9's new Anime Expo video

​For the past three years, Tank9 has been filming himself dancing with cosplayers at Anime Expo. The popular videos are filmed in some of the busiest portions of the Los Angeles Convention Center-- including the food court and the South Hall lobby-- so viewers get a good idea of what the convention really looks like.

Tank9 and dance partner Mary Nine, who also appears in the video, specialize in industrial dancing, but that style isn't a requirement for joining them at Anime Expo. You're as likely to see cosplayers stomping as you are to see them breaking.

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Gendy Alimurung

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Feeling zombified? Walk it out.

On Saturday, people will be gathering on Hollywood Blvd for the latest SoCal Zombie Walk. Meet at 5:30 p.m. at 1718 N.Cherokee Ave in the courtyard of the parking structure located one building up from Geisha House restaurant. Walking starts at 6:30 p.m. Here are the Do's & Don'ts:

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Shannon Cottrell

Kit Quinn as Superma'am and Tallest Silver as Batma'am

​Check out more of our coverage from San Diego Comic-Con 2011.

See also: Dragon*Con vs. San Diego Comic-Con: Which Convention Should You Attend?

Gender Bent Justice League is a group of cosplayers who have taken characters associated with DC's Justice League and transformed them into something that is more Rule 63 than it is crossplay.

"A couple of us like to do female versions of preexisting male characters. One of our friends, Psykitten Pow, she had a female Flash," says Tallest Silver, who organized the group and who dresses as Batma'am. "One night, we were all hanging out and I said how funny it would be if we had a whole Justice League with swapped sexes."

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Gendy Alimurung

J. Shea: Thestral

​If you couldn't handle waiting in line for two hours to get into Nucleus Gallery's recent extremely packed Harry Potter-themed art show, this is the sort of thing you missed. That's a hanging sculpture of a thestral in the photo above. Awesome, right? The rest of the art was also pretty amazing.

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