Some unexpectedly warm and snowfree weather a couple weekends ago left me with a decision to make.
Ohayocon, an anime (Japanese animation) convention, was coming up in Columbus, Ohio. I usually preregister for these conventions but stopped doing that for this one because it’s always scheduled in January.
I reserved a ticket for it in 2014, when a blizzard covered the entire midwest. I went anyway. About 25 mph for 250 miles, quite the nightmare.
I didn’t plan to go to this one, especially with this year’s snowy winter so far. But then they forecast 40 degree weather the entire weekend, so I changed my mind.
Then I figured, if I’m going, I might as well cosplay – wear a costume of a TV, movie, or comic character. I went down to Sutton’s Costumes shop down Dixie Drive and rented one of their Batman suits.
It was a double costume for me. The outfit included fullbody black tights, which when complete was covered with a bunch of black rubber pieces, cowl, and cape. For the drive down to Columbus, I just wore the body suit with jeans and a jacket over it.
Like Bruce Wayne, if he traded in his Lamborghini for a Chevy Malibu.
This wasn’t the first time I dressed as the Caped Crusader.
I took a Sutton’s rental to Washington D.C. in 2015 for the Awesomecon convention. I rode the Metro in that costume, mask off, to get to a gathering of cosplayers on the National Mall, right in front of the Capitol building. I ended up helping an older gentleman with poor eyesight get on and off the subway, as any superhero should.
No heroics at the Columbus event, except to bring amusement to kids and parents there for karate and gymnastics events also booked at the convention center that weekend.
Ohayocon also had a gathering of cosplayers – DC comic characters, which meant many Jokers, Harley Quinns, and entire Bat families. A lot of people took pictures, which was good, because I couldn’t wear my glasses in the mask – I was a Blind-as-a-Batman. Couldn’t hear very well either.
Maybe I’ll get the urge to be Batman again sometime. If I do, I’ll just buy a set.