{"id":32163,"date":"2025-11-04T01:45:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T01:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/32163\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T01:45:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T01:45:22","slug":"spooky-empire-brought-a-terrifyingly-creative-legion-of-cosplayers-to-orlando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/32163\/","title":{"rendered":"Spooky Empire brought a terrifyingly creative legion of cosplayers to Orlando"},"content":{"rendered":"

Horror lovers and sexy-garment wearers flocked to Orlando\u2019s Spooky Empire this weekend for a three-day convention featuring celebrities, vendors, panels and cosplay. So much cosplay.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

We grabbed photos and talked to cosplayers about the careful artistry behind their looks.<\/p>\n

For married couple Daniela Caceres and Zachary Sotomayer, @dizzyddaniaha on Tiktok, their cosplays didn\u2019t have to be from the same story, but they were crafted in their shared art room. <\/p>\n

For this year\u2019s Spooky Empire, Caceres knew she wanted to be a zombie but with more of a story behind it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately this hiker ran into some trouble,\u201d she said. \u201cI was enjoying the scenery and someone behind me took a big bite, and along the way nature took its course on me and yeah I\u2019m never coming back home.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sotomayer dressed as the water cube trap from the fifth Saw movie, a look that took about two weeks to make.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe helmet was the main production, it took the most time,\u201d Sotomayer said. \u201cIt took like four to five days to get the mechanics to work and glue everything together so I could paint it, then I just thrifted the rest of the outfit and bloodied it all up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cosplaying, for this couple, is a lifestyle. Caceres said that her mom would force her to dress up for Halloween every year as a child. That\u2019s where her love for dressing up started.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jefferey Loichle, dressed as Chop Top and Nubbins from Texas Chainsaw Massacre said he usually cosplays something with armor, but wanted to step out of his comfort zone to try something new.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Loichle said that he usually specializes in Star Wars characters like Boba Fett and\u00a0 Stormtroopers but found that while crafting this cosplay it was far different than his usual armor-making.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI do a lot of foam-making, like with my Mandalorian, but this is the first time I\u2019ve ever done any facial special effects,\u201d Loichle said.<\/p>\n

Longtime cosplayer Kyle Morey, dressed as Hiro Hamada from Big Hero 6, makes his outfits months ahead in the summer so they\u2019re ready for the fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy microbots are made using a transparent fabric from easter baskets for kids, I put metal inside of it so they look like tentacles,\u201d Morey said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Morey has quite the track record of making his own cosplays, including his latest made earlier this year: Roger Rabbit, oversized mallet included. He praised Hobby Lobby and thrift shops for all his crafting needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese thrift shops I go to, I always find what I\u2019m looking for, by fate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Casey Schmehl, dressed as a moth, has been costume designing since middle school, when she fell in love with wigs and all things cute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schmehl used a combination of store-bought items like punch lights for her eyes and black clothing like a turtle neck, tights and shorts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wings itself are the bellydancer wings that they use, and I use two ostrich feathers.\u201d Schmehl said. \u201cI think the lunar moth is my favorite, they\u2019re just so beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dimitri Riabovich and friend Daniel Daugherty, both in fur-suit heads and eclectic outfits, use their looks \u2014 or, their fursonae \u2014 to escape something.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name is Lufer Golone, the angel in disguise and I live to serve,\u201d Riabovich said. \u201cI sat down one day and said, \u2018Lets do it.\u2019 And by the end of the night this thing existed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A fursona is an original anthropomorphic character used by those a part of the furry fandom.<\/p>\n

Using his artistic skills and a friend\u2019s craftsmanship, Riabovich created the mask using a drawing and a little creative liberty.<\/p>\n

Daugherty\u2019s fursona, Chaos the Werewolf, was born from a place of pain and as a way to escape, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI created Chaos as a kid and it helped distract me from life at home,\u201d Daugherty said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Daugherty made his own mask and said he often alters the appearance to his liking as he grows up with the mask.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The two said their love for dressing up however and whenever they want shouldn\u2019t be as taboo as it is.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all for fun,\u201d Riabovich said. \u201cI thought to myself, \u2018Man, what doesn\u2019t have to have eyes and blink, because that\u2019s too much maintenance.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Horror lovers and sexy-garment wearers flocked to Orlando\u2019s Spooky Empire this weekend for a three-day convention featuring celebrities,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,22780,141,140,1628,19141],"class_list":["post-32163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-cosplay","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-slideshow-gallery","tag-spooky-empire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}