Evolve Pop Culture Expo took place over one day at The Rise, Maylands, Perth WA on October 6th, 2018.

This one-day event had a huge focus on cosplay and played host to many talented exhibitors, artists, prop-makers and suppliers.

Cosplay judges this year included PikaPi, whom this year had the absolute honour of representing WA in the National Cosplay Championships returning from Evolve’s April event alongside AdamantiumLoz Cosplay, a lover of all geek and fandom. New to the cosplay judges was Kirilee Cosplay, who recently returned as a part of Team Australia in WCS 2018! (World Cosplay Summit).

Cosplay Ambassadors and MC’s included Poison Peach, and GypsyGeek!

The Cosplay scene here has been constantly improving over the years and this year was unsurprisingly, a riot of dazzling costume designs and photography opportunities, and a jaw-dropping spectacle of creative ingenuity.

Photo Walls

Featured photographers in the photo walls included Glen Buktenica Photography, RedScarf Cosplay & Photography, Lightscape and CKImagery. With different photo walls running at the same time, this section was bustling with cosplayers to have their photo taken professionally.

I attended much later in the day, due to work commitments, though I was still happy to have the opportunity to photograph the ACE contentestants, right before they made their appearance on stage.

Australian Cosplay Elite Finals

The finals of the ACE (Australian Cosplay Elite) played host to range of amazing cosplayers at a very competitive level. The first qualifying round took place earlier this year in April.

Of the Fforest Cosplay presented an original character of hers, a bard healer faun whose home is deep in the forest.

Nicki Campbell drew inpiration from the Japanese artist, Sakizou. She wanted to apply a skillset that was very different from what she used in the qualifying round.

Princess of Perth cosplayed as La Carlotta from the “Phantom of the Opera” movie, played by Minnie Driver. The costume is from the song Primadonna II Muto Scene.

Histoiri drew inspiration from the East Witch, also designed by the artist Sakizou. Learning many skills along the way, Histoiri chose this character design because she had always loved Sakizou’s work, but when she saw this one, it became her dream cosplay.

Mercat Cosplay selected a character skin of Ahri from League of Legends, known as Star Guardian. As a fan of Sailor Moon as well, her love for this particular costume became her choice as both fandoms have combined to create this fantastic design.

The winner of the ACE competition for 2018 was Histoiri!!
And the prize for her amazing work is a fully paid trip to PAX Australia 2018 in Melbourne (October 26th to 28th) including all flights and accomodation, as well as yours truly accompanying her to document the trip in photos and video!

For more information, news and announcements, visit the Evolve Perth website.