By Samantha Morton
An article on the wonders of Cosplay.
Cosplay has been around for many years. In the early 90s we saw the rise of cosplay culture which originated in Japan. The focus of cosplay is to explore your inner most fantasies and portray yourself as your favourite fictional character from film, TV, comic books or anime.
The Yorkshire Cosplay Convention was founded in 2010 by 19 year old Kitty Furniss, who dreamt of creating an event for like-minded people to come together and enjoy all the luxuries of being a geeky, anime or comic fan.
Kitty explained why she wanted to start the Cosplay Convention; 'I always thought I was the only one in the area interested in this sort of thing, but Facebook was my launch pad and showed me I wasn't alone. Cosplay brings everyone so much closer together and it's fantastic to know you're a part of that'.
The convention itself is known for attracting hundreds of people to explore a variety of geeky cultures, live entertainment, workshops and competitions.
'I'll definitely be attending the next convention'
Five years on from the first convention and the Yorkshire Cosplay Convention has become an annual event.
On April 4th 2015, Magna held the 7th annual convention which saw thousands of people dressed head to toe as their favourite characters flocking through the doors.
The event itself saw many people embracing the cosplay culture and being happy for doing so.
Sophie Leanne Keeton said 'I was made to feel so welcome; I'll definitely be attending the next convention. I need to up my costume game though because everyone looked so fantastic'.
'The Cosplay Convention helped me make new friends'
Whether their highlights were having their photo taken with Dr Who and the dalek's or having a stand-off against Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers with the help of Chewbacca, everyone seemed to love the convention.
A few individuals were quick to spread their joy of the convention online, Facebook became the platform for all those who attended the event to share their experiences and photographs.
Alice Wright said 'the cosplay convention helped me make new friends and it was so much fun'.
The Magna Convention reached such a high popularity rate that tickets sold out within minutes. The event was advertised as tickets being available for purchase on the day but within minutes of the doors opening these tickets were sold out.
Even though some people were turned away and left a little disappointed due to the lack of tickets available, it was still a great event.
With the rise in popularity, The Yorkshire Cosplay Convention has now decided to add an additional event for this year. The 8th Yorkshire Cosplay Convention will be held at Magna on 8th August 2015.