It’ll either be the more comfortable Jedi outfit or the uncomfortable but striking Iron Man costume.
Those are TikTok influencer Gino DePolo’s probable choices for Natso Mini-Con, where the Colorado Springs cosplayer and creator will take his seat as the event’s celebrity. He plans to show off his 3D-printed cosplays and props and help teach people how to make their own.
Gino DePolo, a Colorado Springs digital artist, creates cosplay outfits and props.
DePolo, who graduated from Discovery Canyon Campus High School and University of Colorado in Boulder, has more than a million followers who love to watch him show off his Marvel and Star Wars characters, as well as Wolverine and Deadpool.
“Just about everything I have and make is 3D printed,” DePolo said. “I grew up such a big nerd. My parents introduced me to Star Wars and Marvel, and when I learned you could make anything with a 3D printer, I wanted to make movie props of all those things I’d see from movies. My first project was a full-size R2D2 as first project.”
DePolo won’t be the only one in cosplay at Saturday’s free Natso Mini-Con at WhirlyBall. About half the crowd will be dressed as any number of recognizable characters from TV, film, comic books and pop culture, such as the Ghostbusters team, winged fairies, people with lightsabers, Admiral James T. Kirk, Marilyn Monroe, Stormtroopers and pretty much any character a person can dream up.
But there’s a difference between cosplay, a portmanteau of the words costume and play, and dressing up for Halloween.
“When you dress up as a character you become a character as cosplay, whereas for Halloween you throw on a mask and run around and look silly all night,” said Brian Swanson, owner of GalaxyFest, which owns Natso Mini-Con. “Cosplay is a lot more serious. Professional cosplayers design and build their own cosplay. You can have someone who builds a Disney princess dress-up or guys who create Transformers — full 3D-printed types of costumes. They can be very elaborate.”
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Saturday’s all-ages event will offer two cosplay contests, one for 13 and younger and one for 14 and older; about 150 geek vendors from around the state selling pop culture items, such as 3D printing and collectibles in the comics, sci-fi, anime and horror genres; and a neighborhood celebrity.
A lot of the love for cosplay is the ability to transform into somebody else for a while, Swanson says.
“It takes away a lot of inhibitions,” he said. “Another reason is creativity, the artistry and, of course, fandom. When it comes to this world a lot of things are very artistic, whether it’s a new comic book creator or new cosplay creating a costume.”
The three-day GalaxyFest started in 2012, but Swanson and a partner didn’t take it over until 2015. It shut down in 2019 and returned a few years ago as Mini-Cons.
Over the years Swanson has seen a lot of cosplay, but one sticks in his memory — the set of triplet toddlers.
“Mom and dad dressed them all as the same character for years or something that related to it,” he said. “They’re much older now and going their own independent ways. That’s the family aspect of it.”
Contact the writer: 636-0270
Contact the writer: 636-0270
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source gazette.com ’
