Rhode Island Anime Con 2026 Part 2
The fact that I took nearly 330 photos of cosplayers in just seven hours at Rhode Island Anime Con this year is one indicator of how strongly the convention encourages cosplay. Another is that between hosts and judges for both the Cosplay Masquerade and the Idol Showcase, the Cosplay Crew that staffed the cosplay information station and Cosplay Repair, and the cosplay guests who weren’t doing any of the above, RIAC had 19 cosplay guests.
Many of those were friends of Nerd Caliber, such as akanesaotome, jacky.ha.313, hailiumworkshop and duske2dawne, and our own team member nanaakaonasis. Even though Nana wasn’t at RIAC as part of the Nerd Caliber team, being a Content Creator Cosplay Guest, I am sure he was sending people to our studio spot, given how many cosplayers I discovered were already friends with him as I was tagging them in yesterday’s post.
That commitment to cosplay is likely a part of why RIAC seemed to be an overall happy time for most people attending. I heard almost no crying, shouting or other sounds of unhappy attendees. I did see the indication, via a security squad with a police officer passing by in the hallway, of one security-level issue, but it seemed to be resolved quickly and quietly.
One story tells it pretty clearly. I called to the Zorro and Luffy seen near the end of today’s gallery for photos as they passed by, and the Zorro asked for a few seconds to check her makeup. “Yeah,” she said upon checking herself on her phone, “I’ve been smiling so much my smile lines have messed it all up.”
“That’s good news for the convention,” I said.
“You bet it is!” she replied, with a smile in her voice as she reapplied her makeup.
Those happy cosplayers in this second of three galleries include _starlitcos, cream.puff.cosplay, tr1st0n_c0s, tallandwalking_, hyrules_light, aidysandy, don_garzzon_de_la_mancha, lori___d, the__devil__you__know, atticus._.cos, _spiderlilycosplays_, outsidersb64, elementaltori, tjlight03, goddy_on, saurianwarriorcosplay, silentzeecosplay, ashley1auren, bombshellbeckie, dittos_workshop, ecliptic.kiri, bookaddicted74, martin_queso_guapo, abadlime, abryl.sun, locin._agr, nerdypegasus_art, the_gabriel_a, and many more.
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If you are pictured in any of our galleries and want the high-resolution (3200 pixels at its widest by 300dpi) download for yourself, we can make it available via a private Smugmug link, for $10 per image. Just send an email to editor AT nerdcaliber.com. Currently limited to only photos taken by FirstPerson Shooter (aka Rodney Brown).
