Sophomore K Bryan won the youth section of the Comic Con Costume Competition, on Sep. 11, after three years of competing. 

Comic Con is a popular convention held each year where people of all ages dress up as characters from their favorite fandoms to show off their hard work to other enthusiasts. K is one of those enthusiasts who goes every year in their own handmade fursuit. 

Their love of making fursuits has grown so much that, as a way to fund the expensive hobby, they created an online Etsy store to sell fursuits. Now, as well as creating costumes every year for Comic Con, K actively makes fursuits to sell to other cosplayers.

K said that while winning the competition was a surprising and exciting experience, the main reason they went to the event was not just to have their cosplay win, but instead to interact with their community.

“The reason I do it isn’t about winning, it’s about meeting people with similar interests,” K said. “Everyone there is so nice and it’s really a welcoming environment, you can walk up to someone and they will immediately invite you to sit with them.” 

Frankie Moongordon, a sophomore at Grant High School, is also an annual attender of Comic Con. They love how close-knit the community is at Comic Con and how much support the community gives. 

“Seeing how many people had sewing kits to mend a tear in a competitor’s cosplay is really beautiful and shows how much everyone cares for one another,” Moongordon said.

Moongordon appreciated how having different categories and age groups in the competition “empowers young cosplayers to branch out and honors the time it took to make the costumes.” 

While K was competing at Comic Con, their mother, Stephanie Bryan, was present and watched with pride as K got closer to victory. 

Bryan has always been proud of K’s creativity that presents itself in their fursuits and their maturity at navigating their own online company. 

She said that K has “found a community that she connects with at these conventions. The community there has always been very supportive, welcoming and inclusive.”

She explained that she was trying not to get her hopes up during the competition, even though she always thinks K’s cosplays are the best, but when it got down to the last few competitors, she got her camera ready and prepared to watch K take the trophy. 

Stephanie said that she loves Comic Con and the fursuits K sells to other kids. 

“[It] provides [other kids] with a way to explore identity and feel acceptance in a community in a way they don’t elsewhere,” Bryan said.

K will continue making fursuits and impressing others with their cosplays at future Comic Cons.