This is a part of the IndieWebCarnival for the Month of July 2026
A small memory of the many masks I wore for attending a Comic Con event.
🎭 🔎 Improvisational Sherlock
I look around, "this seems right", "no not quite". I keep on thinking, nothing immediately strikes me, the inkwell of inspiration which usually flows is somewhat dry right now. I am looking for something creative for my first cosplay event. (I mean apart from fancy dress contents - do those even happen anymore?). A bunch of ideas cross my mind, something anime? No I am not an anime fan. Something Video Game, can work, but most video game stuff is excessive. It's cheap to create pixels, not to stitch cloth, I take a dejected look at my wardrobe.
Of course, I should probably inventory what I have and what I can do with it which is practical, not the other way round. So begins a round of tinder swiping on things that could work and that could not, obviously formals are destined to die on this hill, they are no use in cosplay, but a sliver of dark fabric crosses my eye.
I look the other side, at my PlayStation, staring at my slight reflection, I get an idea. Of course, I now have something that works. A black kurta, substituting for a proper long coat with an open collar, and my look will be close to complete, sure it's a budget build, but workable.
🎭 🗺️ Map Maker from Heaven
I need to plan this with my friend coming in from further away. Obviously timing and rendezvous is critical, I have charted out the path on Google Maps, potential locations have been noted. Plotting them out a route emerges, I start accounting for timings and traffic, and pit stops on the way. Once made, I present my path, and with enthusiastic agreement the itinerary begins.
🎭 🏗️ The Engineer
Well something broke on a weekend, as software does, and I have to fix it. Well good thing the office is on the way. Morning call means I should have enough time between now and planned rendezvous. I make a face at my phone, take a shower, get ready for the cosplay which was hours later (oh the inefficiency and horror), and prepare to leave. Book an auto, and to office I go.
At the office, I gladly find it in me to curse a menagerie of things, cursing vibe code, and other manners of software idiocies, having overlooked something simple, I am now faced with some options. I make an engineering decision, notify my manager and the team slack and revert and restart it is. The job expectedly comes back up online and healthy and now I have about an hour to kill before rendezvous. I grab some soda, and chug it before lolling around some more and checking other random engineer things on the weekend, until I get ready to leave again.
🎭 ✋ Patience
Of course my friend is delayed, I need to now spend about half hour or so waiting in the hot sun with a somewhat heavy cosplay, but what good does complaining do. I wait for some time, my friend arrives at the Rendezvous point, and we proceed.
🎭 💬 Amici
We catch up, after a very very long time. We tell about what has happened in our lives and what is generally happening. Also discuss other things while the cab takes us to our destination. I have also been feeling unwell a bit so the discussion slides into health. I was fortunate enough to have been gifted an Ultrahuman Ring recently so I show that. I personally don't believe these products have any effects beyond at least making you mindful about your health and I think it's a bit of a dud. Whatever the case may be, the ride goes quite well. We laugh at old jokes and make new ones, until we are at our destination.
🎭 🦸 Hero
Now that we are at the Convention, and tickets have been redeemed, it's time to come into the cosplay. My friend is kind enough to lend me a sword to complete the cosplay although the pauldron which was promised was forgotten so maybe there's some lapses in planning but no matter, it's time to cosplay. I put on the final refinements on the costume and we explore the Comic Con, including a bunch of booths. We engage in a bunch of games, meet some other really good cosplayers, have fun and generally hang around, meet other cosplayers who want photos and tell them about our heroic escapades.
🎭 ⛵️ Odysseus
Now that cosplays are over and the evening draws to a close, we must head home, fortunately it is a shared route for most of the way so we get some time to chit chat around. Unfortunately its still too long and we end up waiting some extra time because the driver needs to use the loo, understandable. It is finally time to return (to my rental) home, make some dinner and retire for the day.