The average cosplayer heads to conventions to show their love for a favorite TV show or movie, but for some, cosplaying provides a chance to reconnect to a world they left back home.
At this year’s Long Beach Comic Con, cosplayers from hailing from Long Beach and even as far as Russia were in attendance to celebrate a culture they love so much, they are willing to get dressed up for it.
John Castillo, born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico decided to move out at the age of 19 to find work in San Pedro.
When his father passed away at a young age Castillo became the only man in a home that included his mother and three sisters.
“When I finally decided to move to California, it was difficult to make friends because I wasn’t going to school anymore, I was just going to work,” Castillo said.
Back in Monterrey, Castillo found great joy in comic books and pop culture, but never went to any conventions because of how uncommon it is in Mexico.
After a few months in California, Castillo started to become more isolated and antisocial, and decided to join a world he couldn’t in Mexico.
“After I found out about how many conventions going on around me, I was like “I have to go to all these,” Castillo said.
“My mom always teases me by saying that I like dressing up because my sisters used to dress me up when I was little.”
When James Luis isn’t cosplaying at Long Beach Comic Con he works at the convention center.
“It’s always weird because I see people who I work with, and they see me in these clothes,” Luis said.
Luis was born and raised in Columbia until the age of 6 when his entire family moved to Fresno to reconnect with relatives that moved prior of them.
In 2014, Luis started working at the convention center and one of his first events that he had to plan for was Long Beach Comic Con.
“I never really read comics but I like a bunch of comic book movies and so one year I decided to go for it,” Luis said.
“I bought this horrible makeup from a Halloween store to cosplay as Joker and it went horribly. But then I found this guy who makes these costumes and so he’s my guy now.”
Luis went to Long Beach City College for half a semester but had to drop due to personal issues.
Soon he enrolled at Cerritos and majored in public relations.
After graduating, Luis moved to Signal Hill to live with his girlfriend.
“My girlfriend doesn’t cosplay with me. She just laughs when I walk out of the house in my costume and get in my car,” Luis said.
Nadir Zokhrabov loved watching action movies with his dad when he was little, which led him to pursue the dream in Hollywood.
At 21, Zokhrabov decided to move to Los Angeles to become just like the people he used to watch on the screen with his dad.
However the decision didn’t come easy; He had to leave all his family and friends behind in Russia where he was born and raised.
Zokhrabov now attends conventions to remind himself to have some fun on his journey.
“It’s very difficult to find a good job here in America, and it can be very tiring,” Zokhrabov said.
“But doing this always reminds me of my dad, which is good.”
The time and craftsmanship that goes into creating a costume has provided cosplayers with therapeutic nostalgia at Comic Con conventions across the world.