Going to Comic Con has been something the city of Salt Lake has been doing for a couple years, and there’s no shortage of shopping, unhealthily good food, and laughs to be had. One of the most interesting aspects of Comic Con however, has always been the elaborate cosplays that fill up the building with capes, masks, and colorful wigs.

Cosplaying is a form of making costumes, much like one would do for Halloween, except it’s on a much larger scale. People dress up as their favorite characters from TV shows, books, movies, and interact with other’s. People will sometimes spend weeks or months making these elaborate costume representations of their favorite characters.

Lexie Smith has been making these costumes and attending cons in them since the first Salt Lake Comic Con in 2013, which actually inspired her in the first place.

“The second I got there, I knew I wanted to be apart of it,” Smith explained.

It’s one of the brightest, most influential elements of Comic Con, and Smith has cosplayed as everyone from Levi Ackerman from Attack on Titan to Han Solo from Star Wars, and she was even Mikasa (also from Attack on Titan) at school one day for Battle of the Clubs. Her cosplays aren’t the easiest things to make either.

“It takes patience and dedication. Rushing a project like that is the most frustrating thing in the world!” she laughed. Cosplays generally take a lot of hot glue, wig styling, and rustling around in costumes, but Smith insists it’s definitely worth it.

“It’s the biggest stress reliever, it’s my go to during a hard time. Being able to step into someone else’s shoes and see things differently and other see you differently, it’s quite the experience. The more you cosplay someone, the more that character grows on you.”

Fictional worlds have always been something that people escape to, and through cosplaying, one can literally step inside the character and see how they feel. Besides, the audience loves it, everyone who attends Comic Con conventions is delighted when they see one of their favorite characters in cosplay form. It’s certainly Smith’s favorite thing about cosplaying.

“Nothing pays off more than someone asking to get a picture and then complimenting your hard work. Not to mention, I met my best friend cosplaying and she’s practically family now!”

Smith also balances her cosplaying with softball and school work, but still manages to make them beautiful and elaborate, spending weeks before each con preparing for what she and her best friend will dress up as next, and no one can argue that they’re some of the best cosplays out there.