Most costumes are only as good as the sum of quality for all of their parts. A particularly simple cosplay can be made great or mediocre largely depending on the accessories carried by the cosplayer and how well she does her hair or makeup. But a mashup is truly greater than the sum of its parts because it takes two great concepts and mashes them together for a clever and truly original creation. Here are some of the best mashups we saw at this year’s Comic Con.
All photos by Zeon Santos or myself.
Captain Native America
It’s easy to read into the political message of this costume, but regardless of how you feel about the message, there was no denying that cosplayer Casey, aka Hot Glue Burns, created a brilliantly executed costume with incredible details like hand beading throughout.
Tank Belle
In the post-apocalyptic world, there’s no more Ms. Nice Tink when Tinkerbelle discovers a tank is a far better friend than Peter Pan ever was.
Kobe-Wan
There are a lot of stereotypes about geeks hating sports and jocks hating anything geeky, but the reality is that there is plenty of crossover between the two groups as evidenced by this clever Kobe-Wan costume.
Summertime Beetlejuice
There were a lot of summer-inspired cosplays this year, including a group of superheroes in swimsuits floaties that I was too far from to get a decent photo. This Beetlejuice was perhaps the best of the bunch though with her totally brilliant sandworm floatie.
Barf the Ghostbuster
Who you gonna call? If you like great 80s comedies you might wanna ring up this great cosplayer who imagined Barf the mawg fighting the supernatural with the legendary Ghostbusters.
Meowster Chief
The Master Chief mashup, this cosplay, worn by the artist of I Just Want a Comic Con Booth, is simply purrfect.
Predator Pool
You’d be forgiven for thinking that “if it bleeds we can kill it,” but that’s certainly not the case for this super-powered alien hunter.
Beauty and the Beast
This young lady is part princess and part beast and entirely beautiful.
Jedi Master Prince
Head down to the Cantina and you might just be lucky enough to catch this crooner singing “Little red Fett’s ‘Vette, baby you’re much too fast.”
Game of Thrones Bunnies
Mashing up pop culture characters with Playboy Bunnies, with or without someone there to play Hugh Hefner, is a pretty popular and always fun choice. Seeing Uncle Hef as the Night King was pretty delightful though as was seeing the Iron Throne in this leggy incarnation. There was also Aria and Cercei Bunnies, but they weren’t there at the time.
Grinch Tracy
Somehow I can’t see the Grinch acting as a gumshoe unless the Whos of Whoville are all happy little gangsters.
Apocalypse Joker and Harley
When the world ends, only the crazies will survive, which certainly bodes well for the Clown Prince of Crime and the Harlequin of Hate.
Cobra Kai Harley
If anyone could sweep the leg well enough to take down Daniel-san, it would be the wild and incredibly acrobatic Harley Quinn.
Cholo Batman
San Diego is home to a large and proud Hispanic population and many of them like to include their own culture in their costumes like this Cholo Batman.
Mexican Harry Potter
Again, while many people would find this offensive, many Hispanics in San Diego like to make jokes about the stereotypes about their people. This is certainly one such example with a magical boy wizard who carries a dustpan with his broom and sells Chiclet gum to finance his Hogwarts supplies.
Wintertime Hogwarts Students
Sure it’s summer in San Diego, but Hogwarts is a magical place where the weather isn’t always so predictable. These two bundled up buddies certainly looked comfortable despite the fact that everyone else seemed to find themselves sweating throughout the weekend.
Workout Avengers
You’d better not miss leg day around this crew. You know Earth’s mightiest heroes didn’t get that way by sitting on their butts, well, I guess maybe some of them did. Still, it doesn’t hurt to work in a little cardio, does it?
Nightmare on Sesame Street
Sure this Freddy/Elmo mashup might seem scary or at least funny to adults, but my toddler thought he just met the real Elmo and was thrilled to take a picture with him.
Moana Fett
This bounty hunter is on a mission, to find Maui and make him return the Heart of Te Fiti to Jabba the Hutt.
Want to see more cosplays? Check our great collection of genderswapped cosplays or Neatorama’s gallery of costumes from this year, or other mashup costumes from 2018, 2016 and
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