Planet Comicon Kansas City 2023 cosplay and more

Planet Comicon Kansas City wrapped its 2023 pop culture convention yesterday, another great show this time leading into next year’s 25th year for the event. The event was well-attended each day, estimated well north of 50,000 guests, maybe as many as 70,000 or more. We snapped several photographs of some of the best cosplay and displays we saw at the show.

PCKC’s cosplay photo spaces get better each year. Forget about the Game of Thrones sword throne, this year attendees could get their photo taken on a brilliant reproduction of Boba Fett′s throne (you didn’t even have to fight him for it):

You may recall my Radagast cosplay back at PCKC 2014. This year thanks to some magnificent costume work by borg contributor and Planet Comicon guest, author Elizabeth C. Bunce, your humble editor attended Saturday as Gandalf the Grey:

Here I encountered a cosplayer visiting from Arkansas with this stunning Darth Maul cosplay:

Anyone up for a little power struggle between Kylo Ren and Gandalf?

We have high hopes for the new Ahsoka Tano Disney series. Here she is with Grogu:

Have you ever seen a better lookalike to Lando Calrissian?

He was attending the show with his grandson.

You could even get your photo with this static K-2SO display (the droid voiced by Alan Tudyk in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story)…

… while listening to Figran D’an play (minus the other Modal Nodes):

You may remember an evil Fett, but how about an Evel Fett, here with his wife, Marvin the Mando…

And no, it wasn’t just about Star Wars. Look into the eyes of this Moon Knight:

Our friend Frank (from Donnie Darko) was back, with Alligator Loki. What a great couple!

This will stop a crowd: Here’s Doctor Crusher and Deanna Troi as the cellular peptide cake (with mint frosting):

You can always count us in for great Green Arrow and Black Canary cosplay like this couple:

Here I am with my Fourth Doctor cosplay and a friendly telepathic Ood:

Look at this brilliant Prince Namor:

And here is Elizabeth in her practically perfect in every way Mary Poppins cosplay:

And here she is with Kaonashi (we did not take any coins) and Chihiro from Spirited Away:

Elizabeth introduced these costumes she created back in 2018 for the first San Diego Comic-Con with The Orville, and we brought them back again this weekend. Coincidentally Jonathan Frakes remarked in his panel he’s interested in returning if there’s a renewal:

Here I am with a new pet, Vinz Glortho the Gatekeeper from Ghostbusters (although I felt like Commander Kruge with his loyal Targ):

The Big G Monster Cereals were represented well this year, led by our own borg hall of Famer Frankenberry. Bonus points for remembering Frute Brute and Yummy Mummy, who couldn’t have matched the character better!

Here are Nicholas and Jennifer as Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender at the Fancy Jen Cosplay booth:

Will Farrell impersonator Dave Babcock was back again, yukking it up this time as the over-the-top Ricky Bobby:

Mario Bros.’ Mario and Luigi were ready to play a game…

Here’s Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop:

Was anything bigger in the past year than the Netflix Wednesday series? Here’s a fellow regular at Kansas City Renaissance Festival with a super Wednesday Addams (and Thing!) cosplay:

Nobody worked the crowd like this fantastic Jawa:

Except perhaps this glorious Detective Pikachu…

… or our lovable neighbor Totoro…

Congratulations to my friend, showrunner Chris Jackson, on the 24th anniversary of Planet Comicon, and another successful show. Thanks to the wonderful Kris Manthe for all the assists!