Tuggeranong banker Andrew Grayson spent his entire wedding day in Nike shoes that were one size too small - all in the name of pulling off a very specific Forrest Gump vibe.
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Such is the life of a hardcore cosplayer, where going to extreme lengths to bring your favourite character to life is standard. Cosplay is the practice of dressing up as a character from a film, television series, comic, book or video game, especially one from the Japanese genres of manga or anime.
Andrew Grayson and wife Bec met at, you guessed it, a fancy dress party in 2013, where both had gone absolutely "all out" on their costumes to impress the birthday girl, a mutual friend. He was V from V for Vendetta, she was The Joker.
Thousands of cosplayers are expected to drag their swords, shields, capes and in the Graysons' case - babies - to AIS Arena this weekend for pop culture festival Gamma.Con.
What started as a few stalls in a room at ANU in 2012 has grown into a mainstream event attracting thousands of visitors and filling AIS Arena with exhibitors, retailers and cosplay obsessives.
Andrew and Bec's outfits for Gamma.Con will be based on iconic 90s film Wayne's World, with Andrew as Garth, Bec as a roadie and three-month-old daughter Aurora (yes, she's named after the Disney character) as Wayne himself.
"The best thing about cosplaying is putting all this energy into one thing and then you execute it and it's just awesome," Bec said.
"Bec is the brains behind our outfits," Andrew said.
"I'll come up with the ideas and Bec is like 'well, this is how we make it a reality' - she's the executor."
The couple's cosplay rack includes costumes from video games Skyrim and The Last of Us, the movie Evil Dead, and the Harry Potter series. And they're currently working on an outfit from video game Overwatch that will have all three family members bringing a single character to life.
Andrew and Bec are building a cosplay creative workshop in the garage of their new home in Chisholm and would love Aurora to grow up dressing as her own favourite characters.
"It's always been cool to be a nerd, regardless of what those kids say," Andrew laughed.
"The world I want Aurora to grow up in is definitely one where she doesn't have to worry about being bullied or to justify why she likes something," Bec said.
Just down the road in Chisholm, cosplayer Paige Jema is pressing an iron to an elaborate League of Legends costume she'll wear to Gamma.Con on Saturday.
"I have a tendency to try to make a new costume for each event," she said.
"It's like if you go to a formal event and you wear a dress and then you're like 'okay, well I can't wear this again because there are photos of me wearing this now'.
"Every two months I make these big costumes and slave away and make myself cry and throw tantrums - but it's all worth it."
Like all serious cosplayers, Paige goes to intense lengths to create an exact replica of the character she's portraying. Her recent embodiment of Seras from Japanese manga series Helsing Ultimate required a corset to pull her 29 inch waist down to 24 inches.
"I wore the corset for 11 hours straight, it was hell," she said.
"When I'm creating a costume, I wrap myself in glad wrap, cover myself in duct tape and then draw the pattern on my body.
"And then I cut the duct tape off and I've got a flat pattern for a new costume."
Twenty-year-old Paige receives free fabric from Spotlight Queanbeyan in exchange for displaying her amazing pop culture costumes in-store, and has applied to study costume construction at NIDA. She dreams of working for WETA Workshop, the creatives behind the Lord of the Rings and Avatar movie costumes.
This year's packed Gamma.Con program includes video game and board game tournaments, KPOP dance workshops, a cosplay showcase, an art and craft creative zone, a quick draw art contest and a short film festival.
Gamma.Con pop culture festival, Saturday & Sunday, August 5 & 6, AIS Arena. Tickets and more information at gammacon.org.au
