Talk of the Town: Q-Con in Belfast

OUR VISIT TO BELFAST COINCIDED WITH Q-CON XXIII AT QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY, billed as the largest convention of gaming and anime in the UK or Ireland. Young people wearing lanyards with large registration placards were coming and going from the student center. Some were dressed casually, but many were in costume.

Who is this woman in a blue gown  walking
with Rey and the Question?

I recognized a few of the characters. Princess Peach in a pink hoop skirt, a tiny gold crown on her yellow wig is in a hurry to get to the bus stop. Rey from the new Star Wars in her sand-colored tunic and ivory sleeves carried BB-8 on her hip like a toddler. The Question, a faceless man in his blue fedora and trench coat looks right, and then left (yes, even without eyes) before crossing the street. 

A couple of young women in elaborate costumes stood at the top o the stairs, and I asked them about their experience at Q-Com. Both were characters from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Shelly Turtle was the Queen of Hearts and Liffie Lynas was the Mad Hatter. This was their third year to visit, and they talked about the fun of cosplay, the dressing up as characters from books, games, or films.

Shelly Turtle and Liffie Lynas like cosplay the best.

They made their elaborate costumes themselves. The Red Queen wore a black velveteen dress with a red bodice and gold borders. Her skirt was made with tulle, and the playing cards caught up randomly in the netting were reminiscent of the scene in Alice in Wonderland (or was it Through the Looking Glass?) where the playing cards go flying. The Mad Hatter's fabulous hat was over a foot tall with a peacock feather and a card reading "10/6" (for ten shillings, sixpence) stuck in the broad purple band. Her short jacket had green lapels and ruffled cuffs. Over her shoulder was a many colored sash made of spools of thread. It looked a little like a jeweled ammunition belt. 
Shelly told me she feels at home amongst the cosplayers. "They feel normal to us. Normal people feel weird; weird people feel normal." These women clearly have a great time with the collective creativity of the Q-Con community. As we were talking, lots of others, most, but not all, in character, came up to praise the costumes. This community welcomes engagement. It strikes me that people have immense commitment to this festival. I used to do a fair amount of seamstress work, and I can tell you that those spools of thread are expensive, and the handiwork was not simple stuff. Mutton chop sleeves, a bodice with princess seems: these are not for beginners.
Q-Con is reasonably priced. £22.00 cash will get you in for a whole weekend of games, lectures, entertainment, and fellowship. But I think even more, Q-Con is a convergence of imagination and camaraderie in service to a wholehearted communion and creativity.