Chris Wildrick, an associate professor at Syracuse University’s School of Art in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, had a “Star Wars” fan video playing in the background while he mingled with attendees clad in colorful cosplay.

As more of his students and Syracuse locals dressed in costumes wandered into Shemin Auditorium, Wildrick put light-up LED plastic disks on his wrist to complete his Marvel’s Jack of Hearts outfit. He paused the video and began to emcee Syracuse’s third cosplay contest on Sunday.

The Campus Cosplay Contest was held from 2-3 p.m. on Dec. 8. It was open to SU students and the community, including both experienced and inexperienced cosplayers. Prizes were awarded in multiple categories, including skill and accuracy; and performance.

Wildrick had two judges from the local community: Cassondra Dumas, a well-known local cosplayer, and Jeff Watkins, the previous owner of the recently closed Cloud City Comics. The duo sat in the front row of the auditorium while contestants came to the front and showed off their cosplay garb and equipment. Contest participants dressed up as characters from a Cinderella Jedi to Mama Madea from Tyler Perry’s “Madea” movie franchise.

The contestants primarily consisted of Wildrick’s ARI/AIC 300 class, which focused on cosplay design. Students spent months meticulously creating their cosplay costumes during the course, eventually culminating with the-end-of-the-semester contest.

Cosplay 300 is taught every other year, and this semester, 10 students were enrolled in the class. The course is taught by Wildrick, who has been cosplaying for years. His cosplay passions began in 2012 when he saw the “Star Wars” cosplaying group “501st Legion” at a Star Wars Day event in The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, he said.

“The class is very individualized, and everyone gets to have their own personal vision of how they can incarnate themselves as one of these pop fictional characters,” Wildrick said. “It’s a very wide media like you have to be able to sew, make-up, wig styling, foam, plastic, metal, leather and painting all those things coming together.”

Wildrick also invited people from the Syracuse community to participate in the event, including Nick Morman, a local Syracuse resident and cosplay journalist who interviews fellow cosplayers.

For the contest, Morman suited up as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character, Casey Jones. He dressed in a fake-blood splattered denim jacket and carried a golf bag on his back loaded with a club, hockey stick, and a fake rubber bat.

Morman said he got into the cosplaying scene after his friends encouraged him to try it.

“One year I was like, I can’t not try it. I picked a costume that I thought would be easy, and it was Spider Man costume and I loved it,” he said. “Once I put on a mask, my life changed.”

After all the contestants showcased their costumes, judges Dumas and Watkins went outside the auditorium and began deliberating for around 10 minutes while people complimented each other, examined one another’s costumes and mingled.

Upon reentering, Dumas said it was challenging to finalize their decisions. They soon announced that for the category of “Best Precision Design,” the winner was a cosplayer who dressed up as a character from “Sailor Moon,” a Japanese manga series and popular TV show. Another award category was for “Best Performance,” which was awarded to a cosplayer dressed as Heath Ledger’s Joker from “The Dark Knight.”

Dumas, who has been cosplaying for over ten years, dressed up as Hatsune Miku, a pop-singing anime icon, for the event. She said that judging cosplay is often very challenging.

“People put a lot of time and effort into it, and it’s incredibly difficult to judge someone because everyone is at different skill levels. You can’t lump beginners in with experts,” Dumas said. “It’s like comparing apples to potatoes.”

With the verdicts in, Wildrick handed the winners their DC and Marvel comic book awards and offered up his gratitude to all who attended. As the contest concluded, Jedi Knights, Pokemon and a vast array of other pop culture characters exited the building. Some had already begun to peel off makeup and costume elements, while others were gearing up for group pictures.

Published on December 8, 2019 at 10:42 pm

Contact Christopher: [email protected] | @chrisscargs