Three women stood outside of the exhibit hall at the Colorado Convention Center on Friday, all dressed in handmade outfits designed after characters from the hit anime and manga, Demon Slayer.

The trio, who have been attending Fan Expo Denver since 2017, were eager to get inside and show off the handsewn cloaks bustling with color that they had made over the last year. 

“It’s an opportunity to be creative and get to dress up,” Emilee Ploegstra said. “As well as getting to meet people and celebrities and build a community.” 

Behind them, thousands of other locals donning elaborate costumes moved through the convention hall at this year’s Fan Expo Denver — Colorado’s largest convention regarding all things comics, movies, television, art and animation. 

The expo, running from Thursday to Sunday, is filled to the costumed brim with celebrity meet and greets, cosplay competitions, shopping, gaming and panels. 

Fan Expo HQ, the self-proclaimed largest comic convention producer in the world, has been bringing the convention to various cities for over 25 years, with the genesis occurring in Canada. 

Over 25 years later, there are Fan Expos held in 16 cities across the United States and Canada every year, including Denver.

Fan Expo HQ eventually combined with Denver Pop Culture Con following the pandemic in 2021. Prior to the group agreement, Denver Pop Culture Con had been bringing the nerdy fun to Denver since 2012.

“Regardless of what fandom you’re into — sci-fi, gaming, comics, anime, horror, fantasy — we celebrate it here under this one roof,” Andrew Moyes, vice president of Fan Expo HQ, said. “It’s a place where the fandom community can come together in a safe, inclusive environment to be themselves and celebrate what they love together.” 

And all of those different fandoms were certainly represented through the convention.

Storm troopers, super heroes, Klingons and samurai lined the halls, perusing various pop-culture goods and waiting for signatures and pictures from celebrities like Brie Larson, Andy Serkis, Rainn Wilson and Rosario Dawson.

“I remember it being a small part of the convention center at the initial con,” Anthony Tari, a member of the Colorado Ghostbusters cosplay charity group, said. “It’s certainly expanded over time and become a thing of its own. It’s definitely a cult following.”

Following the convention’s postponed year in 2020 due to the pandemic, Moyes noted that there was a “huge, pent-up demand.” Since then, it continues to grow. 

“You can’t replace this digitally. We have a lot of access to our celebrities and heroes online, but there’s not that much access to them face-to-face,” Moyes added. “You also can’t replace that sense of community. It’s those friendships you make waiting in line and finding out you’re wearing the same costume. It doesn’t happen unless you’re here.”

Those aforementioned costumes are a significant part of the fun surrounding the convention, according to the trio wearing anime cloaks outside.

Though the three hadn’t stepped foot in this year’s convention yet, they were already thinking about next year’s outfits. 

“We start planning right after this event is over,” Bethani Ploegstra, Emilee’s mother, said of the outfits.

“Do we always execute? No,” Katie Garcia laughed, noting that they usually end up crunching out their multiple outfits right before the convention every year.

Fan Expo Denver continues through Sunday. Tickets and event information can be found at Fanexpohq.com/fanexpodenver/