Report: Twin Cities Con 2025

After visiting the convention for the first time last year, I was excited to go again. Did the event live up to my expectations?

Thursday

Rather than flying from Madison, I took a bus on Jefferson Lines from the UW-Madison campus to downtown Minneapolis (the time is about the same, and it’s much cheaper). Instead of a normal hotel, I stayed in a converted studio apartment a few blocks from the convention center. After picking up my press badge, I ate dinner, and then returned to my room to prepare for the next day.

Friday

This first day of the convention started with me going into the dealer hall and browsing the items for sale. I also noted the locations of the guests I wanted to interview, and attempted to organize those. The first panel I wanted to go to was about the confluence of music scene and cosplay (recall that I sometimes cosplay musicians as Pokémon trainers), however after waiting several minutes past the scheduled start time, a con staffer came in and announced that the presenters had run into a personal emergency and the panel had been cancelled.

One issue I ran into several times over the weekend is that there would be several panels or other events that overlapped. That occurred on Friday afternoon, when a panel featuring Eric Stuart and Dan Green overlapped a panel with Marc Summers, Kirk Fogg, and Dee Bradley Baker, which in turned overlapped a panel of comic book authors (which included Pokémon Baking guide author Jarrett Melendez). Oh, and in the middle of all that there was a panel covering the 30th anniversary of Star Trek: Voyager. In any case, the authors panel was an interesting watch, with them eating chicken (or perhaps its vegetarian equivalent) while talking about the comics they had in front of them.

Saturday

In some ways, this was less busy than Friday, though I did spend a fair bit of time waiting for things to complete. First up was a RWBY panel (featuring Daman Mills, voice of Amethio and Quaxly in Horizions). As is usually the case, I placed myself towards the end of the question line since my question wasn’t about the featured show. Unfortunately, this meant the panel ended before I could ask my question.

After viewing a panel about taking cosplay photos with a phone, I headed over to the board/video gaming area, where I got to listen to guitarist Brian Koening (look forward to an interview with him), and then observe the Smash Ultimate tournament. I checked in periodically to see how the tournament progressing, and interviewed the winner after the tournament ended around 8:30 pm (having started around 4).

Sunday

The first order of business was the combined Nintendo & Pokemon cosplay photoshoot, which included a trio of Eeveelutions, a pair dressed as the Mario Brothers from the 1993 Mario movie, and even a Corbeau costume. I asked that last one about when they started putting their outfit together, and they indicated they had only started within the last week, which was actually impressive given the level of detail.

Following this, Jarrett Melendez had a solo panel where he demonstrated the brownies recipie from his Pokémon baking guide book. Between steps, he would answer questions from the audience, which covered a variety of topics, ranging from what kind of restrictions he was placed under (if there’s a volume 2, do not expect curry croissants), general baking advice, and what kind of materials he gets to work from when designing recepies.

As I had been unable to track down the cosplayers I wanted to interview from the morning photoshoot, I got in line for the Sunday cosplay contest in an attempt to talk to them. Despite the schedule stating that the doors would open at 2:30, we actually didn’t get let in until a few minutes after the 3pm start time. As for the show itself, the Eeveelution group from the photoshoot had made the contest, but seems to have left after not getting picked for an award. I did not see the Corbeau cosplayer anywhere in the crowd.

Other Notes:

-The entrance into the secure area lacked the long snaking queue from last year, in favor of having folks queue inside the dealers’ hall before it opened. 

-Guests seemed confused on the policy/procedure for interviews, despite me indicating who I wanted to interview in my letter of intent.

-The attendees I talked to generally seemed to prefer this year’s event over last year’s.

-The best restaurant I ate at this weekend was definitely “The Brit’s Pub”, which had excellent food and service.

A press pass was provided for this event.

Twin Cities Con 2024: Heracross Cosplay

Collin Magner

The following is an interview with Collin Magner, a Heracross cosplayer I met at Twin Cities Con 2024.

Where are you from, and how did you get into cosplay?

I'm from a small town in Kandiyohi County, MN. I've been crafting costumes since I was teenager, starting with a game my friends and I would play called "cardboard gladiators". In this game we would beat each other with cardboard swords while wearing protective cardboard armor. Since then, I've fallen into cosplay using the tricks I learned warding off papercuts.

What made you choose Heracross for Twin Cities con?

I was inspired by some excellent Pokémon fan art to do an homage of my own, as I express my appreciation for the franchise through my wearable cardboard creations.

What was the process of making the costume like? 

I started by sourcing over 30 boxes from a local retailer of uniform shape, then after sculpting the shape I wanted. This involved a lot of listening to the material and feeling what shapes it would let me create naturally. That and several hot glue gun burns.  I mounted the eyes (made from a single dollar store strainer painted yellow) and painted everything with gesso and a pearlized acrylic. 

What other cosplays have you done recently?

I was a caricature of an NPC from the Dark Souls franchise at my local renaissance festival-that one was a lot of fun!

What else did you do at the convention this year?

I attended several panels, met other enthusiastic cosplayers and Pokémon fans, and met some of my favorite voice actors   like Wes Johnson from Elder Scrolls and Tom Kenny from Spongebob!

A press pass was provided for this event.

Cosplayer Interview: Goosaphone

The following is an interview with Goosaphone, a cosplayer I met at Pokémon NAIC 2023.

Where are you from, and how did you get into Pokémon?

I’m from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I got into Pokémon when I was just 3 years old from the Indigo League anime. That year, I got Pokémon Yellow and a Game Boy Color for Christmas. I was obsessed!

How did you get started in cosplay?

My first cosplay I wore to a convention was May from Ruby & Sapphire when I was a sophomore in high school. I used my natural hair and clothes I bought-I only made the bandana myself. I’m remaking the cosplay this year with a proper wig and more accurate clothing, since that was over a decade ago. My skills have improved so much since then!

How did you choose costumes for this year’s event?

To be honest, attending NAIC was a bit of a last-minute decision for me, so I didn’t have a plan for a cosplay lineup initially. I was already working on Elesa, and since I wore Skyla to Milwaukee regionals a month before, I thought NAIC would be a good fit for her debut. 

And the other costumes for the weekend?

For Saturday, I initially wanted to be Sonia from Sword & Shield on Saturday, but the outfit wasn’t really weather appropriate. Serena was better suited for the warm weather, and she’s a very recognizable character, so I decided to bring her. For Sunday, I chose to bring my “Champion Ash” to celebrate Ash's victory in the Master’s Eight tournament that came to Netflix the week before NAIC. 

What went into making the Elesa costume?

Some of it is secondhand and some of it is handmade. The dress is made of a flexible material in three colors, the collar is from my Serena cosplay, and the headphones I painted and glued some cords onto.

You also wore a “Champion Ash” outfit on Sunday. How did you make that one?

Part of the outfit I got online, like the vest, and other parts are altered clothes or official toys. For the logo design, like the backpack and hat, I used a machine called a Cricut to cut out foam and vinyl (respectively). I got some basketball shorts online that I custom-dyed. For the wig, I used a black wig that I already had, and I cut, crimped, and spiked it. I had to use thinning shears to thin out the fibers so I could fit the hat on top! Ash uses all three regional gimmicks between gens 6-8, so I wanted to incorporate that into the cosplay. I glued a mega keystone of the glove for the mega glove. I purchased an official Z-Power Ring with Pikachunium Z and Dynamax Band replica toys for the other two gimmicks. I also have an official Rotom Phone like Ash has. I bought Leon's cape online as a finishing touch. Lastly, for the makeup, I contour my face to look more boyish, thicken and darken my eyebrows, line my eyes with black, and use an eye pencil to create those Z-shaped cheek marks he had.

Is it difficult to bring multiple cosplays to an event?

It depends! It’s always a challenge to cosplay on Sunday, since it's shorter, and a lot of the times you have to worry about checking out of the hotel too. It’s only really a pain if there is a lot of armor or big props, and most Pokémon characters don't have that problem, fortunately. Most of the problem is having the motivation to get up, get ready, and for Pokémon events, potentially compete. 

What other cosplays have you done recently?

Most of what I cosplay is from Fire Emblem, but lately I've done a lot of Pokémon. Goh from the Journeys anime, Rosa from Black & White 2, and Vaporeon are some of my more recent ones. My Rosa cosplay was even featured in the trailer for Chuggaaconroy's BW2 Let's Play!

What else did you do at NAIC this year?

I competed in Pokémon Puzzle League! I play this game very seriously, and it’s based on the anime, which is one of my favorite things about it, because there aren't any other Anipoke games out there. I ended up placing 1st on Friday, 3rd on Saturday, and 2nd on Sunday. I also did side events for GO and VGC. Between all of those, I won a ton of prize tickets that I cashed in for plushies and other merchandise!

Professor Laventon Cosplay at Pokémon Worlds 2022

At the recent Pokémon World Championships in London, I was able to interview Richard Smith, a cosplayer dressed up as Professor Laventon from Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Find out what it took to put the costume together:

Pachirisu Cosplay @ Anime Milwaukee 2020

At Anime Milwaukee 2020, I had a chance to interview "Laughing Rat", a cosplayer who dressed up as Pachirisu for the convention. A lot went into this costume, and I asked her about it:

What prompted John Cerabino to cosplay as Gary Oak?

At this year's Anime Milwaukee, I had a chance to talk to John Cerabino, also known as "Moderately Okay Cosplay". As turns out, one of his many cosplay outfits was Gary Oak. I asked him why he chose that character, and what went into the costume:

On a side note, we're also looking for comments on the music of the twentieth Pokemon Movie, "I Choose You!". Here's some info on that:

Pokemon World Championships 2017: Tour & Cosplay

Ever wonder what you can find at the Pokemon World Championships? We take a look at this year's event in Anaheim to find out:

Additionally I had a chance to discuss one of the attendee's cosplay outfits, where she dressed up as "Yellow" from the Pokemon Adventures manga. Find out the materials she used and the process of making the outfit:

Mega Shiny Garchomp Cosplay (Geek.Kon 2016)

At Geek.Kon 2016, I had an opportunity to interview Ross Cunha, a cosplayer with an amazing Mega Shiny Garchomp outfit. Find out what materials he used, and what went into the build process:

After this video was posted, Ross provided us some photos showing the construction of the costume:

Claws

Partially assembled headpiece

Partially painted headpiece

Wire planter used for tail

Dorsal fin

This is definitely one of the most impressive costumes I've ever seen at a convention, and I had a great time interviewing Ross about his creation.

Transcript:

Steven: What does it take to make a killer Garchomp costume? Let’s find out.

Hi, I’m Steven Reich, here at Geek.Kon 2016 with Ross Cunha, who has made an absolutely fantastic Mega Shiny Garchomp costume. We have a little bit of it here, but you can see a full picture of it right now.

And Ross, let’s talk about a few parts of it. Start at the beginning. Why did you choose to make a Shiny Mega Garchomp in the first place?

Ross: Well, I was playing Pokemon X and just wondering around Route 13, the desert area. I came across a random encounter and it was a Shiny Gible. Like, oh my goodness, that is the first Shiny I’ve ever encountered in the wild. So, I just had to capture it. And I did. And I leveled it up into a Garchomp and Mega Evolved it. I had no idea that the Mega Evolution form would look so drastically different from the regular version. I’m like, wow that is beautiful. That is going to be my next cosplay.

Steven: Absolutely. That’s sometimes the inspiration there. Let’s just do this head to toe. So, you’ve got right here with us, you’ve got the headpiece. Which, you can see there has the face, and the teeth, and the little side things. How did you go about making that? Where did you start? And what was the process like?

Ross: I started off with a bicycle helmet. I decided I would build up the basic shape with paper mache and wiring. And then I wanted to experiment with a type of thermal plastic. So, I decided to go with WonderFlex. What I did was I basically used cardboard that I got from my work. The fins here are made from cardboard tubes. So I built up the basic shape, covered it in WonderFlex. Then, I decided I wanted an articulate jaw.

Steven: Oh, it actually moves. That is really neat.

Ross: I built up the jaw using wood and cardboard. Made the teeth out of wood. And I put little hooks and rubberbands on the inside of it so that the jaw would move when I talk. After that, came the painting. And it just came out better than I had ever expected. I put a lot of time mostly into building the helmet alone, compared to the rest of the costume.

Steven: But we do still want to talk about it and let the folks at home know about the rest of the costume. So besides the head, you also had to build basically a jumpsuit. What went into that to cover the torso and legs?

Ross: Well, first came the material. I wanted to do a Shiny version. But knew that if I went with anything that was actually shiny in material, it would probably look pretty bad for pictures. So I went with a dull satin. And I managed to find just the perfect color at my local fabric store. Started off with the leggings, and then I built the shirt to go with it, and I sewed them together. I left a slot in the back because I knew that I had to be wearing a dorsal fin as well. So, I had to accommodate for that as well.

Steven: You really got everything in there. The fins in the back- well, there’s a fin and then there’s a tail. How did those come together?

Ross: First thing that I had to do was I made the fin out of wood. And I took pictures from the game, blew it up, and made it to scale. So I cut out the fin, and I made myself a harness using a metal plate, and bolts, and brackets.

Steven: And you actually attached- the tail is attached to the fin by a wire there. Is that just to keep it from dragging on the floor?

Ross: Yes. The wire is also a conscious safety choice for other people that might be near my costume. Because obviously, if they get caught on it, it could damage their cosplays or anything like that. Fortunately, that’s never happened. But yeah, it’s for both support and visibility.

Steven: You also had to make some claws on your arms for the costume. Is that more wood there?

Ross: Yes. Those are made out of wood. And I drilled finger holes for them. So, I’m basically holding them like this at all times. And the interesting part about that one was making the sleeves that cover up my wrists. So, I wanted to go for a complete look. And my wrists are completely covered up. I have literally no use of my hands at all while I’m wearing the costume.

Steven: Yeah, it’s obviously not something you want to wear all the time. Which, is one reason we only brought the headgear down for this interview. How much would you say the costume weighs, overall?

Ross: Let’s see. This helmet alone weighs about 7 pounds. The tail itself is made from an old tomato planter that I found in my back tool shed. And that’s about 2.5 or so. The dorsal fin, probably another 2. All around, I’d say probably about 15 pounds. The sides themselves are rather heavy for their size.

Steven: Yeah. That’s always something to consider. But, it looks like you managed to accomplish getting around at the photo shoot yesterday pretty well. You sort of implied earlier you’ve made other costumes. Which ones have you made?

Ross: I’ve never done any other Pokemon costumes before. The ones I’ve done before this are Batou from Ghost in the Shell, and Dust from Dust: An Elysian Tail. I’ve never actually made a costume of this size and scale before.

Steven: Absolutely neat. And like I said, super impressive costume when it’s all put together. Alright. Well, this has been Steven Reich from Geek.Kon 2016.

Transcript by GetTranscribed.com

Pokemon US Nationals 2015-Team Rocket Cosplay

At last weekend's US Nationals, I got to interview Dawn Maier, a cosplayer dressed up as Ariana, a Team Rocket Admin from HeartGold and SoulSilver. We discuss the individual parts of the costume, what went into making it, and some of the other characters she's cosplayed as:

Pokemon US Nationals 2014: Seniors TCG Winner + Cosplay

At the recent 2014 Pokemon US Nationals, I got a chance to interview the winner of the Seniors Division of the TCG event:

Cards  discussed in the interview:

-Empoleon (DE)

-Dusknoir (BC)

-Exeggcute (PF)

-Miltank (FF)

-Duskull (FF)

-Jirachi EX (PB)

Additionally, here's an interview with a US Nationals cosplayer:

Preview: Anime Milwaukee 2013

We recently got a chance to ask Crystal Hampton a few questions about this weekend's Anime Milwaukee 2013:

PokePress: How did Anime Milwaukee get started?

Crystal: In 2007, the Anime Milwaukee convention was formed by the Japanese Animation Association, which is an anime club at UW-Milwaukee. It started off as a one day convention on the day of a blizzard. Only about 50 people attended. Since then, the convention has blossomed! The UW-Milwaukee club members, with the help of local anime clubs in Milwaukee and staff from nearby anime conventions helped the con grow to 3,500 attendees by 2012. Too large for campus, Anime Milwaukee moved to the Hyatt Regency hotel and Delta Convention Center in 2011. Anime Milwaukee is now the 6th largest of all conventions in Milwaukee and the largest anime convention in Wisconsin.

PokePress: What activities might be of interest to Pokemon fans?

Crystal: You will find tons of fun Pokemon related events in the Pokemon Trainers Rendezvous room, all weekend long! Wear your Pokemon cosplays because there is a cosplay contest! There will be a Pokemon Elite Four and Snap tournament, fun panels, and lots of gaming. Even challenge the Anime Milwaukee convention chair to the Pokemon Trading Card Game! Outside of the Trainers Rendezvous room, find more Pokemon fans at the cosplay meet-up at 1pm on Sunday.

PokePress: What are some of the other things going on at the convention? Which guests are back, and who are the new ones for this year?

Crystal: Anime Milwaukee partnered with the Distant Worlds Concert to welcome Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy composer) as a special guest. Special guest voice actors are Chris Cason, Todd Haberkorn, Alexis Tipton, and Ian Sinclair. Special guest comic artists are Trevor A. Mueller, Alan Evans, and Russell Lissau.

The Anime Milwaukee Rave has been extended and has more DJs for you to party with, Saturday night! Another dance option is the charity Masquerade Ball on Friday night! Continue to groove to the beat with the Pillowcases (The Pillows cover band) and Arc Impulse (video game rock synth). If you like chess, you're going to love Cosplay Combat Chess! Check out the Anime Milwaukee website to find out how to participate.

PokePress: Where can people find more information about the convention?

Crystal: Find out more information, check out the schedule and map, and more on the Anime Milwaukee website. To find out more about Pokemon Trainers Rendezvous, check out their website!