COLUMBIA, S.C. — Thousands gathered at the Metropolitan Convention Center in Columbia dressed in their cosplay best during the 9th annual Soda City Comic Con Saturday and Sunday.
It was a judgment-free zone as people from all over came as their favorite character -- including brother and sister duo Kennedy and Nike Golden, who have attended several comic cons across the U.S. and finally got a chance to be in their hometown.
They said that people on the outside will never understand the joy events like these mean to them and others.
"I would say this is a geek convention, we are geeks. They hate us because they ain’t us. We’re the coolest nerds in town,” they said.
Both were dressed to impress with Kennedy representing Okoye, a strong warrior from Black Panther, and Nike dressing as character from a monster game.
"The spear didn’t take that long, I used a broom handle and painted it and wrapped it for my sister," Nike explained about the prop Kennedy held.
"But this, my sword from the monster game, took about a month. It took time to cut and trim my foam down and just painting it make it look old.”
“You know a lot of people are weirded out by it but once you get in here and you put your little costume on, whatever you are wearing, it’s a lot of fun and there is no judgement,” said Melissa Mason.
Mason and her family have been coming to Comic Con since 2018 and sees it as a tradition to celebrate their daughter’s birthday.
She dressed as a character from Lord of the Kings and says her costume took over 30 hours to recreate.
“I hand-cut all the foam, even the gloves are built. (Her husband) asked me to make it and we tried our best.”
Some first timers, including Marcus Duncan, says he made a group of friends after meeting another person dressed up as the same character from a popular anime. He agrees this event is a great way to find people that they can relate too.
“Its really nice to find people who like the same stuff as you, the same interest as you. It's really hard to find that outside. We all like the same thing. We can geek out here over the same stuff, so its really nice.”
Organizers say this year might be the record-breaking year for attendance with even more special events and bigger celebrity guests to make the 10th annual Comic Con even bigger and better.
“Be ready South Carolina, be ready be ready Columbia, because next year the 10-year anniversary is going to be massive.”
