Hi, my name is Irene Yu.
I'm Colana.
I'm Michael.
I'm Michelle Waffle, and today,
we're becoming the X-Men.
Hi I'm Jax of Jax Cosplay, and today I'm becoming Magneto.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
There was a local comic book store in my hometown
that I would beg my dad to go to,
so he usually would take me after soccer games.
The X-Men are probably the gold standard, for me at least.
My parents came home with like one of those variety
packs of comic books, and there were
some Marvel comics in there.
And I will never forget the first one I ever saw.
It was one that had Rogue and Gambit embracing.
I'm, like, oh!
What is this?
I'm 10 years younger than my brother,
and he was the one who introduced me to these things
like comics, playing video games.
And I would sneak into his room, and just, like, oh, my gosh!
What is this? What is this?
And I just became fascinated with it.
What drew me to the X-Men I think is just the fact
that they were different.
Avengers and everybody, they have their thing, but X-Men,
they were strange from the beginning.
Well, I think one of the cool things about X-Men,
it's such a diverse group.
You've got people of different ethnic backgrounds, people
of different, I guess, origins.
Similar to real life, that we all
come from different industries, and different backgrounds.
My first cosplay ended up being Blade.
I've got a lot of looks from that one.
And then from there it just spiraled out of control.
Magneto, he's one of my all-time favorite super villains.
I don't see him as really a villain,
more as a revolutionary.
I looked through hundreds of pictures of Magneto.
I went through all of that.
How is it going to look?
Looking at the limitations.
And it ended up being probably one of
my all-time favorite cosplays.
My background's in dance, and when I went to a convention
for the first time, I saw all these people
in all these different vibrant costumes.
And so, I felt, like, this is another outlet
for me to kind of perform.
Growing up as a 90s kid, just the '90s genre
is just really important to me.
So I wanted to do Psylocke in a '90s version.
Three years ago is when my wife
and I went to our first con.
Well, it was the first con, and also the first time
dressing up at a con.
We felt like a celebrity for people wanting to take pictures
with you and everything.
Scott, I thought, you know what?
I think I can pull that off.
The first thing that drew me into him was the costume--
the bold blue and gold colors, the contrast.
And then just the fact that he was the leader.
So this all goes back to my brother.
He actually went to a convention when I was really young.
And so my brother took me, and I was, like, starstruck.
I was, like, oh!
They're dressed like the character!
Can I do that?
My love for Rogue, the one thing,
was she was one of the top powerful female characters
of all.
But she uses herself as a symbol good,
even though she can take the life of everybody.
I always loved Halloween, but you only
get to dress up once a year.
And so, I thought, well, hey, I can dress up
every time I go to one of these conventions,
and people won't think I'm silly.
They'll be, like, oh my gosh!
I gravitated mostly towards Jean Grey.
I think maybe it started with the red hair.
I was just very fiery and spunky.
Being on a con floor with a group of people from,
like, the same squad, that is fun.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
You basically turn into a celebrity.
It's exciting to be able to meet new people, you know?
You kind of already know who they are through social media.
Actually Jax cosplay, he organized a huge X-Men meetup.
I heard about him-- but I never knew who he was--
through a mutual friend.
He's super welcoming.
And I just met him at a convention, and I don't know,
it's been awesome.
Organizing the X-Men, even though I was Magneto,
there's a lot of iron in this ny!
Well, we all like our bad boys, right?
When you cosplay as a group, you have this great energy.
You know, you kind of just roll up in there,
and everybody's taking pictures.
And that makes it more comfortable.
I didn't know any of these people,
but when we go to a convention, we're, like, hey!
You're in my universe!
It's just an automatic connection, because, you know,
that they've put in the time to make their costumes.
And then, I mean, we'll run into people,
and they're like, oh, my gosh!
This is my childhood.
It's just cool to just see people who you love,
and that they love too.
You had this community as a mutant
to kind of celebrate our differences,
and that's really how wonderful this is.
Everybody there is just to support you,
especially in these groups.
And you're, like, oh, my gosh, I'm not alone
in my love for this character.
I'm living out my childhood.
I always wanted to be an X-Man, especially doing it
with like-minded people, people that look like me,
people of different ethnicities, and that's
what I like the most.
And that's what X-Men represents.
[MUSIC PLAYING]