Comic-Con after hours

Many of the Comic-Con attendees I have spoken to this year have said that their favorite aspect of the four-day event, apart from cosplaying, is hanging out at the clubs and on the streets of the Gaslamp after the convention.

The night of July 24, after hours, the streets were packed with Con attendees.

Waiting in line in front of the Geek magazine pop-up, I snapped a photo of Wonder Woman and two Harry Potter characters.

Kim Farley and Marcus Selby dressed as Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. Selby even has the English accent to compliment his costume. The pair has each attended Comic-Con three times. They like attending the off-site events put on by various companies. Their favorite event to date was Borderlands Nerdist Laser Tag.

“We were on the winning laser tag team and won free t-shirts,” said Farley.

Tomorrow Farley and Selby plan on dressing up as Sailor Jupiter and Kid Omega.

"Wonder Woman," Felicity Trevine, has attended Comic-con 13 times. She drives down from Los Angeles every summer, brining along various costumes for each day’s events.

“In the past I have dressed as R2D2, Darth Vader, and a Sailor Scout. This is my favorite costume I have ever worn,” Trevine said of her Wonder Woman suit.

Walking on 5th Avenue, I ran into 31-year old John Garcia who was dressed as Russell, the 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer, from the movie Up. His costume was pretty spot-on, although the lady standing behind him does not seem very impressed. This is Garcia’s ninth Comic-Con. He lives in LA. Garcia was headed out to hang out in the Gaslamp for the evening.

Sean Thibert was decked out as Ezio from Assassin’s Creed. This is the first time he has attended Comic-Con. He drove from Arizona to attend the event. Thibert was accompanied by James Nguyen and Nicholas Prior. The threesome met that day at the Convention Center thanks to their similar-in- theme costumes. The duo had plans to hang-out at a nearby bar.

Nguyen was dressed in what he referred to as "the nonexistent Asian character in Assassin’s Creed."

“I’m sure that will stir up some fan boy controversy,” he said with a laugh.

Prior wore his own made-up character that he calls "Nykember."

“The best thing about Comic-Con is that everyone is here for the same reason: to have fun,” said Prior.

A block down, in front of the Hard Rock Hotel, I ran into Daft Punk wannabes. The pair posed for photo after photo with Con attendees. The guy in the jeans and gray t-shirt performed a stellar photo bomb. If you’re interested in attempting to make a similar costume, there is a great how-to listed on instructables.com.