The author (photos by both Ortiz and her brother).
I entered the room not as Tristie-Mattea Ortiz, but as the Invisible Woman. I walked past Batman and Cyclops. I greeted Doctor Doom and The Joker. This wasn’t a dream or a comic book. This was Terrificon.
Terrificon is an annual Connecticut comic convention, this year held at Mohegan Sun. The convention is home to interactions with popular media guests, all kinds of shopping opportunities, and a lively cosplay community, which I’m happily a part of.
For me, cosplay is a chance to embody the characters who have accompanied me through trying times, including discovering my identity as a transgender woman. One of my biggest struggles was getting past the wish to have been born cisgender, but comics like The Fantastic Four and Daredevil have changed that entirely.
Mark Waid’s run on Daredevil depicts the titular hero gaining a new sense of comfort with himself. Over a decade prior, the world had learned Daredevil’s secret identity—only for him to refute it. It wasn’t until later in the series that Daredevil finally came to accept that the world knew his identity, and was able to proudly be his true self. I was incredibly inspired by this showcase of bravery, which motivated me to come out as trans to my family.
Another comic book run by Waid on The Fantastic Four portrays the group facing problems that are otherworldly, yet still extremely relatable. In issue #512, for instance. the Fantastic Four have the chance to know everything about the universe. For a team of explorers, this seems like a dream come true, but they actually decline the offer. Their reason? It’s about the journey, and not the ultimate destination.
As a trans girl who used to wish I wasn’t trans, but still a girl, this resonated with me deeply. To see some of my favorite heroes decide a lifetime of adventure with the people they love over endless answers and peace made me reflect on myself. I realized that being trans, alongside being a woman, is integral to who I am as a person. It gave me a new sense of appreciation and pride for my own journey, and diminished my wishes to have been born cisgender.
Because of this, it only felt right to cosplay one of the team’s members, the Invisible Woman.
The journey wasn’t as simple as just deciding who I’d be: it was a long process of carefully selecting clothing pieces that represented my vision of “Marvel’s First Family.” I aimed for an outfit that included Jack Kirby’s retro futuristic style and John Byrne’s white accessories. I wanted something that felt like more of an explorer’s baggy space-suit than a superhero’s form-fitting costume.
After much trial and error with purchasing different items, I finally had my own Fantastic Four suit to show off at my second year of Terrificon. It led to many fun interactions with fellow cosplayers, such as Alice.
For 28-year-old Alice (she declined to give her last name), this was her third year attending Terrificon. This year, she decided to cosplay as her favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) character, Casey Jones. While her typical style consists of skirts, dresses, headbands, and makeup, she finds comfort and freedom in Jones’ denim vest, sweatpants, and hockey mask.
“I feel like I’m being more myself,” she said. “With a mask, you can just be who you are.”
Her reason for coming to Terrificon yearly is that it’s a “safe space” to indulge in her interests and socialize with others who share those interests. Alice has a particular love for the 80s, which she put on display during last year’s Terrificon when she cosplayed as the 1984 movie character Buckaroo Banzai.
Alice’s other reasons for attending include the size of the convention, how close all the attractions are, and the fact that she gets to take photos of and with other cosplayers. One of those photos even included a fellow TMNT character, Donatello, donned in a Jedi's robe from Star Wars. She also got a photo wielding Captain America’s shield that another cosplayer let her hold.
“If you don’t dress up, you’re a party pooper,” she said. She added that she’s able to laugh at the differences between herself and Jones—like the sheer size of the character, or the fact that lugging around his large golf bag can actually be pretty arduous. By the weekend, it had caused her some shoulder pain.
“He’s like a six-three man, and I’m a tiny woman, so I think it’s kinda funny to have that kind of off-beat humor,” she said.
The same can’t be said for James, who decided to cosplay video game Fallout: New Vegas’ Joshua Graham.
James, 23, visited Terrificon from Norwich and said that the “biggest impracticality” with his costume was the headwrap, as it prevented him from eating. Thinking it would make things easier, he decided to wear a ski mask under the wraps, but realized that only made things harder.
Though a mask like this is physically restricting, it does amplify James’ social comfort levels. James is shy; he decided to cosplay as a masked character so he could be more comfortable being around so many people taking photos.
“Having a mask lets me do that stuff very easily,” he said. “This is one of the few places where I can be my little weirdo self, and talk to other people that are just their little weirdo selves.”
Though Joshua Graham isn’t the most popular character, James has had many interactions with fellow con-goers recognizing his cosplay, and making in-universe jokes with him. One of those interactions had somebody realizing who he was cosplaying before he even put the mask on.
“Not as many people recognize it, but the people who do recognize it, they probably played the game as kids, so he’s got a place in their heart,” James said.
A cosplayer of many Disney princesses, Eilee Dingus can certainly relate to the magic of a cosplay getting recognized.
Dingus, who is 26, wore a different costume for each day of Terrificon. On Friday, she dressed as The Hobbit character Tauriel to match with her father, who cosplayed as the wizard Radagast and planned to meet the character’s actor, Sylvestor McCoy. On Saturday, Dingus cosplayed her favorite Disney character, Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Lastly, she wore her recently finished cosplay of Rapunzel from Tangled in its Terrificon debut.
“I love the carefree, bright and bubbly spirits of the princesses,” Dingus said.
Outside of conventions, she happily wears her costumes as a performer for parties. Dingus’ performances include singing, which she’s been doing for 10 years. She said children and Disney fans frequently get “stunned speechless” and sometimes even “nearly tackle me to the ground” when they see her.
“Their faces and their reactions to the costumes make me happier than anything in the world,” she said.
She said that each interaction “is memorable in its own way.” One of those interactions at Terrificon was with a little baby who was dressed as Belle on the same day as Dingus. The baby touched Dingus’ face and hair, as well as leaned her forehead against Dingus’ while closing her eyes.
A lifelong fan of Disney, Dingus has put many hours into bringing her favorite characters to life. Someone who’s been sewing since around the age of 10, she puts her years of the skill to use whenever she creates one of her own costumes herself. This includes purchasing patterns, cutting them to her size, stitching pieces together, and much more. A costume like Belle took two months, whereas Rapunzel took three weeks.
Dingus has grown to feel very physically comfortable wearing her costumes, she added—so much so that she will redo an entire piece if anything happens to it. That doesn’t stop her from taking risks: she worked with a wig fiber optics before Terrificon to mirror Rapunzel’s hair, which lights up when she sings. Because she works a night shift at a hospital, it meant she was up for.a full 24 hours by the convention’s first day.
As to why she keeps coming to Terrificon, it’s a tradition for her and her family. This year, they came as “guests” at the convention, meaning they had a designated place to sit. She also won second place in the costume contest, for hair that glowed as she sang Tangled’s “Healing Incantation.”
“My family and I, we’ve kind of just found a community there of people and we’ve made so many good friends,” Dingus said. “It’s a must hit con every single year.”
One of those friends includes actor Michael Rooker, who Dingus went viral for signing to while cosplaying as Mary Poppins. They both make it a goal to visit each other whenever they’re at the same convention. Rooker was present at this year of Terrificon, and Dingus said he visited her several times.
While many may view costumes and the people who wear them as silly, comic book writer Mark Waid finds that they say a lot about the people who wear them.
For fictional characters like the Fantastic Four, Waid, 62, said that the group’s matching outfits stand out because, at the time of their creation, “very few superheroes before that had that.”
“I like the unity. It tells you that they’re a family,” Waid said.
Additionally, Waid says that a character like Daredevil’s costume fits him because “red is the most exciting color.”
“It says ‘I’m willing to take risks.’ That’s what the costume says, and so the color of it is perfect for him,” Waid said.
In terms of real world cosplays worn by real people, he admires it, even if he doesn’t do it himself. Waid said that there’s no reason to critique cosplayers for simply wearing outfits that represent the stories they love.
“I get to play in Metropolis and Gotham City every single day, ‘cause that’s my job, and it’s the joy of it, but cosplayers– that’s their way in, so I never look down on cosplayers,” Waid said. “I think it’s awesome because that is their way into my world.”
This article comes from the 2024 Cohort of the Youth Arts Journalism Initiative. Tristie-Mattea Ortiz is a 2024 graduate of West Haven High School. She is headed to Simmons University this fall.