Why nerds are the best thing for a healthy body image.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to an event that I have never been to before:

I'll give you a hint... the conventions name starts with a "C" and ends with "2E2"

The Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) is the first convention that I have ever been to. I know, coming from the giant nerd that is me, this is surprising. I had an experience that was overwhelming, accepting, fun, exciting, expensive and AMAZING in every way.

When I first got to C2E2 and saw the cosplay (costume play... that is dressing up in a costume... like Halloween but without candy. Usually.) I immediately thought of my readers. The 5's and you who read this came to mind as I went around snapping pictures. My original intent was to simply show that cosplay and passion are fun and sexy at any size, gender, or level of expertise. What I ended up experiencing was a level of acceptance, openness, and passion that was truly moving.

Before I talk about what I saw, I want to talk about why these things are important. As we all struggle through the process of changing our lives, one of the biggest factors in victory or defeat is self image and support.  This is one of the main reasons I do this blog. If I was only in my own head then I would surely fail. Even if I don't hear your voices (but really I should... start commenting... and telling your friends... and sending me free things) when I see that the amount of people who read my blog goes up it makes me feel better about myself and makes me want to get out there and work more on the weight loss.

On the other hand, when you feel bad about yourself, are put down, or don't feel like you are making progress, you are considerably less likely to work through tough times. The weight that one feels when they are in a bad mood or bad place is so much more than anything they lift at the gym.

With that in mind, I would love to praise nerds and nerd conventions. Even in the nerd culture, the trend of seening white, thin lead characters is prevelent. There is more diversity here than in many other forms of media but there is still a clear majority. It is with that in mind that I would like to show some of the amazing cosplay that I've seen over the weekend. As you look at these, know that they are not only people who love their craft but they are taken at an event where no matter what a person's size, race, gender, appearance, or passions were, I did not hear a SINGLE (I literally did not hear a single one!) negative comment about any of the people. The breadth of people and their passions were astounding. We saw every body style from the "classically" beautiful:

The Siren from Borderlands. Absolutely PERFECT duplication! Her clothes even look like they are animated!

Or the plus-sized beautiful:

Tattooed and beautiful curvy Miss Piggy!

Gender-bending beautiful

Gender-bent mushroom kingdom!

Group beautiful:

Various cosplay by the beautiful Sugar Gamers (Find them on Facebook!)

Race-bending beautiful:

Race-bent Chung Lee!

Historically beautiful:

The always funny and always beautiful Jane the Phoole (follow her on Facebook too!)

Species-bending beautiful:

The STUNNING Sweets4aSweet cosplay as Fiona! (Follow her on Facebook!)

As I said before, these are all people who love what they do, did it well, enjoyed it and (from what I saw) were never put down for it. Every single person I met was beautiful in their own way. They are passionate, loving, open, and so much fun! As you can see in the above picture, my cosplay was NOT great. It was hastily thrown together and not that creative. That being said people were happy to see me, they called me Ash, they took pictures with me, they loved me for trying, not for being the right body type. There is no better love that the unconditional love of the nerd community. If you have never experienced it, get out to a con!

Have you ever been to a con? Did you dress up? Which convention? What character? Where do you go for your every day support? Leave them in the comments below. Don't forget to follow the blog!

Always full of the Nerd!

~Guppy

P.S. As always, thanks to HK and ED for their help making me pretend I write like an adult!

P.P.S. Below I will post many of my pictures from the convention! If you don't want to see them, you may click away!

Batman and Batgirl

Cyclops and Gambit

Big Sister (Probably my 2nd place for best costume at the con!)

Walking dead cosplay.

Mario Bros having a little fun!

Weeping Angel (Don't blink!!)

Beautiful Zatanna!

The 10th Doctor! (Sadly, I saw 0 people who were the 9th... sad day)

Avatar Kora. I tried to have her do some bending... she didn't want to)

Flapper Ivy and Riddler. Nothing good will come of this.

Jay and Silent Bob. I laughed so hard when I saw them leaning against the wall.

An AMAZING Sora, even the shoes are the right shape.

Pyramid head. Also... that is a woman in there. She was a smaller woman too... which makes her walking around in that REALLY impressive.

Plus sized, race-bent Phoenix... so much love for this picture!

The single funniest costume I saw all weekend. Gender bent slave Leia... but the costume isn't changed.

Old school Lara Croft

Gender-bent Batman villians. Bane, Joker, Cat (man?), and Two-face

It's the Great Saya Man!

Gender bent X-Men (plus random passers by) Love the female Wolverine.

Female Scarecrow and Jokers.

Harley Quinn (one of many... many.... MANY Harleys)

Game of Thrones Clan! I see so many Ghosts!

The family that cosplays together, stays together... or at least has fun!

AMAZING Moxi cosplay

Dead Maus, Lollipop Chansaw, and Assassin's Creed

Female Kick-Ass. Looks AMAZING!

Classic Joker and Batman. POW!

Rebel Pilots (Oh Porkins!)

Two of the most adorable Ewoks I've EVER seen!

My nerd-fu is failing me.... I have no idea who this is. Help?

Battle Ready Peach!

More GoT. Is it bad that I want to hit him for even dressing up as the boy king?

I would DIE if I was walking around in that all day.

Best male Quinn I saw all weekend.

The Fairy God parents, always have Da Rules!

Link with the Master Sword

Zatanna and Power Girl with a very happy fan... I wonder why.

Joker and Chucky. One of the best examples of using your body type to match your cosplay!

Splicer, Booker, and two Elizabeths (and totally in canon! If you don't know what I mean... finish the game)

Warhammer 40K. Must be SO uncomfortable but looks so cool!

Gorgeous Blackcat!

Wolverine and Gambit. What you can't see is Gambit's card is in a clear case that glows purple

Weapon X Wolverine

Amazing protal cosplay. The gun 

Dai Le Agent. His cloves looked like rock.

Katana. I didn't dare ask if the fans were sharp

Big Boy. Yum!

Poison Ivy. she looks like she wants a hug... probably not in your best interest.

Comic book Bane. I laughed because the sign made the costume PERFECT for his body type!

Red Ranger and Ash Ketchum (Hey! That's me! I totally lost my Pikachu stuffed animal that day... I'm a terrible trainer)

Joker and Harley. Very common and very GOOD cosplay 

Full body shot of me. Notice the luxury ball... yeah I'm fancy.

More cos-play I feel bad for not knowing. Anyone help with this one?

Doctor Horrible and Captain Hammer. I don't know what the Hammer would be for her though...

Another Kora, I asked her to bend.... I should have specified that I didn't want her to blood bend me...

One of the best Rogues I've seen. I gave her a hug.... woke up 3 hours later. Totally worth it.

New School Laura Croft. Obviously before MOST of the bad stuff has happened

Android 17. You can't see it, but his shoes are PERFECT!

Vulpix! Is it too cheesy to call her a foxy lady?

The Guild. I want all of this!

Great expression on the TF2 Cosplay.

Body type bent booker and I LOVE it!

Hands down the absolute best cosplay I saw all weekend. He had a voice modulated so he sounded like the Bumblebee.

I will admit, I was slightly scared that his fingers would slip and I'd take a blunt arrow to the eye (or  knee...)

Astonishingly well done spider man cosplays.

Sith cosplay. too bad you can't see the awesome red contacts he had.

Iron Man. His visor was automatic... Seriously cool.

Body bent Raven. So awesome that she wore this so proudly and was shown support all weekend!

Yet another Joker. This one sans Harley

I think that is supposed to be the guy from Far Cry 3. Someone please correct me!

Gender Bent Deadpools and Tim. Deadpool was VERY common.

More Deadpool, old west style, with a storm trooper

All of the Harleys... All of them!

Starwars family cosplay.

Steampunk is perfect no matter where you go!

Beautiful Catwoman! Showing off the claws.

The line to enter the convention... an hour before it opened... on Friday. These are the dedicated ones!