Art You May Hate: Cosplay From A Sci-Fi Convention In 1980

Kathy Sanders @ Westercon

In my ongoing research of all-things-niche I've come to several conclusions. One undeniable truth is that the geeks, nerds and misfits of today are products of something and/or someone.

We grew up in the time of Lord Of The Rings, Transformers [unfortunately], Scott Pilgrim and if you're an old fogey like me ... Willow. But this all came from something. This all came from someone. Several someones.

As a new year starts, I thought it'd be most pertinant to look back to a group of people who grew up in the age of a Day Of The Triffids, The Outer Limits and the good Star Wars movies. More importantly, when our elders say "they don't get kids nowadays" (a phrase I'm finding creeping into my vernacular), we can dig into their shadowy past and say, "maybe you just didn't hang out with the right people?"

This post also functions as monument to me kinda-sorta coming around to cosplay as a culture. There are still aspects that I don't get, but I think me not getting something makes it all the more worth knowing about. You know, as opposed to giggling and pointing, whispering, "look at those weirdos." 

After the break are more amazing photos. They come courtesy of The Los Angeles Science Fiction Society [yes, that's a thing that exists]. More importantly, there was a photographer around this time that said, "you know what? This is worth documenting." His name is Dik Daniels. 

Enjoy!

Adrian Butterfield & Victoria Ridenour [They win my "Cutest Couple" award]

I guess Westercon was also a place to show off homemade, umm, sculpture art?

It's labeled "Kathy Pilsbury, Unknown, Unknown"

It was at this moment I realized that the carpet and walls were just as awesome as the attendees.

Another "Unknown"

Only a few of the attendees could fit into this shot.

If you're interested in seeing more from Dik Daniels photos of Westercon go here. Ask anyone who knows me, it's really easy for me to find the funny in anything. You really don't have to try hard to find the hilarity in these images, but, I don't know ... I didn't find any of this immediately joke-worthy. I actually think these people are really cool.

F**k. What does that say about me?