My oldest, Rayn, just returned from their first Comic Con: Cardiff Film and Comic Convention at the Motorpoint Arena. They had an amazing time, and one day they’ll take me with them!

It was the culmination of great desire and months of hard, hard work creating their own costume…to go to a Comic Con and not cosplay? No way!

They finally decided on Thranduil from The Hobbit and got down to it. They needed much, including a sword, crown, elf ears, long blond wig and an elven coat. I saw it in many states of array and watched the whole costume come together. I was wide-eyed at the range of their talent, talent they already had and new ones! The silver coat was miraculously hand sewn from scratch, and is gorgeous!

The money, time and dedication that goes into a cosplay costume is legendary, and a lot…then they got to wear it, and they looked stunning!

They got to take photos with Sylvester McCoy, the Seventh Doctor and Radagast The Brown and also sat upon the Iron Throne! They were stopped, too many times to count, by other fans wanting to take pics with them, and they loved the time to meet so many like-minded cosplayers! The costumes were first rate…and this is where the most amazing guy turned up.

Antti Karppinen, a young Finnish photographer, was there with a small set up and took photos of the fans. Seriously, this young man’s talent is fantastic, but his ethos was even better…he wanted to take pictures of the fans because he realised what the Comic Con was all about – without the fans the celebrities wouldn’t be celebrities – and he wanted to give something back.

Please read his story here, you won’t regret it and take a look at the other stunning photos he took! Assasin’s Creed, The Beast, Constantine,Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Super Girl, Spiderman, Loki and more…they all rock! Follow him on Facebook too.

His photo was probably the culminating moment of Comic Con, a permanent photographic record of a costume that took hours and hours of blood, sweat and tears, and lots of determination and love! And a photo of my child that I can treasure…Now take me next time! 

* Note – This post has been edited to use Rayn’s pronouns, and their deadname has been removed. This hasn’t been done in the comments, but the comments are very much appreciated! (2026)