Tim and Mary were first-time cosplayers but long-time Game of Thrones fans. “I’m a really obsessed fan and I kind of dragged her down the rabbit hole with me and now she’s an obsessed fan,” Tim said, elaborating that while he started off as a show watcher, his interest in Westeros quickly expanded to the books. “I was watching the show and then I deployed, so I didn’t get to see the last two episodes, and then someone told me it was a book. And I don’t read. But I read the book, and I couldn’t stop reading the book.” He quickly finished all five books published thus far in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and particularly enjoyed the companion volume of Targaryen history, Fire & Blood, which inspired their Aegon the Conqueror and Rhaenys Targaryen costumes.
For their outfits, the two did what they could themselves, and then enlisted help for the rest. “Me and my mom made mine. My grandma helped some. And a friend of ours did the embroidery,” Mary said, referring to the Targaryen sigils on their costumes. Meanwhile, Tim learned leatherwork to do riveting and some other pieces of his costume — including his crown, which he made from leather and AC vent material. While they might have been first-time cosplayers, their enthusiasm strongly suggested there would be more cosplaying in their future. “It’s Halloween whenever we want,” Tim added.
Alan and Becki Cassidy (Cassidy’s Cosplay) have been doing cosplay for about seven years now. They started with Harry Potter and from there moved into Star Trek, Star Wars (Alan does a mean Count Dooku), and of course, Game of Thrones, which they both agree is their favorite cosplay fandom by far. “The story was a phenomenon — it played in over 170 countries around the world. We can post pictures of our cosplay costumes and people in Peru and Brazil and Germany and the Netherlands and England and Australia and New Zealand, they all comment, and we all associate with each other throughout the world just based on this fandom alone,” Alan said.
While they have gone to many conventions — being from the Atlanta area, they are long-time Dragon Con attendees — it was their first year at Con of Thrones. “We are loving it,” Alan added. “I hate that we’ve already missed the first two.” As can be seen in the images above, they showed off multiple cosplays over the course of the weekend. It was the debut for Becki’s Olenna Tyrell cosplay, and she also sometimes does Catelyn Stark.
While they got plenty of chuckles and picture requests with their companion “paternity test” Tywin Lannister and disgruntled Cersei, Alan admitted a special fondness for Beric Dondarrion. “[He] is a protector. He’s why Arya lived to be able to kill the Night King. I’m retired military — a protector. I love Beric Dondarrion. He is my all-time favorite character.”
They make all their costumes themselves, from weapons to sewing to beadwork, Becki’s favorite part. They sometimes even lend out their skills to help other cosplayers. When I met them, Alan was carrying an arakh in addition to Beric’s iconic flaming sword — something he made for a Dothraki cosplayer.
“We don’t sell anything,” Becki clarified. Alan continued, “It’s just when I hear somebody who’s in a certain fandom who says, ‘Oh, I need one of these,’ I’ll go in my workshop and I’ll start working.” And it’s impressive work. Alan showed me his rendition of Beric’s sword — “the best part of this costume” — and added that his version is also capable of Beric’s favorite party trick. “I’ll put lighter fluid on the blade, for photos, and it’ll light up. It actually works.”
Daylon Walton has been doing cosplay for about five years. When I asked him what sort of cosplays he does, he had a very simple answer: “Momoa.” He then elaborated. “I do Aquaman. Khal Drogo. Before that I did Wolverine — Logan. You know, the bearded cosplays. Whoever’s got the beard.”
While he doesn’t have any particular sewing or crafting skills, he told me that that’s not a barrier to entry when it comes to cosplay. “The thing about the cosplay community is that there’s always a fabricator out there. So I suck at sewing, but I’m like, ‘Can you make this?'” And apparently, within the world of cosplay, it’s usually not too hard to find someone who, in fact, can — often within the North Texas Cosplay Facebook group in which Daylon is an active member. “I’m good at sourcing things, I’m just not good at making things.”
He showed me the most expensive addition to his Khal Drogo costume thus far: custom-made knives with blades of real (blunted edge) steel. I remarked on the incredible craftsmanship and range of skills I had seen displayed in the costumes I had encountered, and Daylon elaborated on the many levels of investment in cosplay. “There’s like the guys that do Worbla, you know, the fake armor, and then there’s my buddy Zach — con.snow is his name on Instagram; he looks exactly like Jon Snow — it’s full legit plate, leather, rivets, fur. I mean, it’s film quality.”
He brought up Karolina’s costume and her sourcing of the screen-accurate fabric as another example of top-tier cosplay. “As soon as you think you have your shit dialed in, you see somebody walking by and you’re like, ‘Well, fuck.’”
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