Grils dressed as film characters pose during the 2015 Fan Expo in Vancouver, Canada, April 4, 2015. This year's 3-day extravaganza highlights celebrities, shopping, panels and workshops, and is the place for thousands of devoted fans to find the newest and hottest in Anime, Manga, Comics, Sci-Fi, Gaming and Horror.(Xinhua/Sergei Bachlakov)
Click for more photos: Cosplay looks from Fan Expo
VANCOUVER, April 4 (Xinhua) -- For those who happened to visit downtown Vancouver on Saturday, maybe they would notice some famous superheroes having lunch or strolling the streets, as hundreds of cosplayers were in town to attend the Vancouver Fan Expo.
The annual convention draws some 25,000 fans to Vancouver and is a major event for movie and TV buffs, as well as anyone who loves comics or science fictions.
The three-day event, which ends on Sunday, also gives fans a chance to meet their favorite actors.
Peter Smida paid 85 CAD (67 U.S. dollars) to enter the Fan Expo, wishing to meet William Shatner, a Canadian actor best known for acting Captain James Kirk in famous sci-fi TV series Star Trek.
"I've been like a life-long fan. My dad suckered me into the Star Trek craze when I was young, and I've kind of been hooked ever since," Smida said.
While celebrities and movie stars got most of the attention at the convention, the real attraction of the Vancouver Fan Expo was the small army of ordinary people who came to the show dressed in the costumes of their favorite characters on TV or in movies, enjoying the enactment of the thrilling life of those fictitious characters, even if it was only for one day.
Cosplay, a portmanteau of the words "costume play," is a performance art in which participants wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character or idea, which generally are from animations, comic books, video games, TV series and movies.
Terry Christy came to the Fan Expo dressed as Wolverine from X-Men. He told Xinhua that he had spent more than 4,000 CAD (3,160 U.S. dollars) on costumes over the years, and events like the Fan Expo give him a chance to get extra use out of them and to meet other people who share his passion for comics and fan culture.
Christy said that as a 40-year-old man, the show is one of the few opportunities to dress like this without being mocked.
Another visitor to the Fan Expo, Ashleigh George, shared Christy's feelings, saying that it was just a really great way to show one's love for the show.
"Getting people to like and recognize what we're actually playing is amazing," he added.
A woman dressed as film character poses during the 2015 Fan Expo in Vancouver, Canada, April 4, 2015. This year's 3-day extravaganza highlights celebrities, shopping, panels and workshops, and is the place for thousands of devoted fans to find the newest and hottest in Anime, Manga, Comics, Sci-Fi, Gaming and Horror.(Xinhua/Sergei Bachlakov)
A woman wearing a cosplay costume poses during the 2015 Fan Expo in Vancouver, Canada, April 4, 2015. The ongoing three-day extravaganza offers fans a place to show off their favorite cosplay postures. (Xinhua/Sergei Bachlakov)
