Gamer conference Pax West is on this weekend, so downtown has been repopulated by gamers and cosplayers. If you want a sub from the Subway attached to the Washington State Convention Center, you are going to have to fight for it with someone who has the wherewithal to make their own sword. Or, you'll just have to wait in a really long line.
I went up to Freeway Park—where the cosplayers go to mingle, eat sandwiches and smoke—to chat with this extremely committed group of video game fans.
Widowmaker from Overwatch a.k.a. Kawaii Besu a.k.a Beth. The Stranger:"What are you serving there?" Widowmaker: "It's poison."
Junkrat and Bastion from Overwatch. "We also do Deanna Troi and Will Riker from Star Trek a lot. He proposed to me at EMP dressed as Will Riker."
Papyrus—"Spelled just like the font"—from Undertale. The skull is made of a pumpkin pail and papier-mâché. The jaw is fully articulated, controlled by his real human face.
The Stranger: "What...who...are you? Your mask looks like a mushroom." Laurel: "I'm a Clicker. From The Last of Us. It's a product of a fungal bacteria that wiped out a population. They're basically zombies."
A robot from a new PS48902439053 game Horizon Zero Dawn fights a Xena escapee.
Carmen Sandiego aka Shannon. "I have Waldo with me."
The Stranger: "How long did it take you to make your costume?" Batman a.k.a. Bryn: "About four months. Everything is homemade except for the mask."
Tingle "A wannabe fairy mapmaker from Legend of Zelda" and Mettaton from Undertale. Tingle: "We're really lazy cosplayers." The Stranger: "I'm not going to lie. You are."
Dude: "Great costume!" The Stranger: "Sorry?" Dude: "Stranger Things! Have you seen the show?" The Stranger: "These are just my clothes." Dude: "You look like that friend who went missing at the beginning..." The Stranger: "Barb?" Dude: Yeah! Barb! The Stranger: "?"
Important Poll: DO I LOOK LIKE BARB?
EOD=End of Day. We're done. Go home. Then go to Bumbershoot.
