(Version en Espanol de este articulo por hacer clic aqui)

I’ve returned from my adventure in Mexico at La Mole Comic Con . What a great event.

On Saturday, I met talked with many more cosplayers,  and I was struck by how many family groups there were.

My experience of groups attending together in the U.S. is that these tend to be affinity groups (groups of friends.)  I have met a few family cosplay groups- and after all, I blog as one, but I noticed how many more of these folks I met in Mexico City.

And I am very sure that this is the time I’ve met cosplay grandparents. : )

Ignacio and Estela as Snow White and The Punisher

Estela was quick to tell me that she isn’t normally the “Princess” type (she’s a fan of the Spiderman franchise)- but had dressed as Snow White for her grand-daughter, who was at the convention as Princess Peach.  Here she is with her little sister (who is the most adorable, tiniest Michonne you’ve ever seen).

Cosplay grandparents and granddaughters!

Fantastic. More on this family to come.

In addition to the grandparents, I also met groups of siblings and cousins.  Here- Diana, Aden, Joseline, Mariana and Edgar as various characters from Mario Kart (including the “final lap” cloud.)

They were a lot of fun- had collectively decided to cosplay, had worked on costumes together and were there as a group.

I also met two brother-sister pairs:

Javier and Andrea, taking advantage of the IT hype to give people a fun scare:

these two were having a great time and getting along famously.

There were also Rebeca and Ramon (with their father- who like my esposo, was just tech support).

Rebeca as Camus and Ramon as a Digimon

Rebeca and Ramon’s Dad, beaming proudly (and taking photos of me interviewing these two), is an example of some really nice family support dynamics that I observed, however briefly, at La Mole.

As I’ve written before, I often encounter U.S. based cosplayers who wish they had more family support. Sometimes I’ve met U.S. cosplayers who talk about open hostility to their hobby from their parents and family.

As a Cosplay Mom myself, I’ve always loved that Kiogenic (cosplay daughter) was into cosplay- it’s creative, it’s positive and it has really allowed her to make new friends while learning new skills. So many worse things a young person can spend their time on.

I mentioned this to several of the cosplayers I met in Mexico, but they all reported at best, enthusiastic family support (as in the case of Rebeca and Ramon’s Dad who spent a month of weekends making their costumes), and at worst sort of a shrugged indifference by family members- “huh, that’s a funny thing the kids are into.”

As the cousins told me, the saying is that (paraphrasing) “if your kids spend money on cosplay, they won’t have any for drugs or alcohol.”

True.

So many more people to talk to and much more to learn, but I was charmed and delighted by the wonderful cosplay families I met at La Mole!

A big shout out and thanks to all those supportive families.