From left, Zay Moore, Umeko Woods, Jackson Rogers, and Mel Gonzalez react during FAN EXPO, a sci-fi, horror, anime, and gaming event at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, in Dallas, Texas, Saturday, September 12, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
Fourteen-year-old Kase Williams did not need a movie studio to become Doctor Octopus.
He needed a wooden board, wire, pool noodles and dryer vent tubing.
Williams, a Dallas freshman, used them to build the mechanical arms stretching behind him Saturday as he walked through Fan Expo Dallas dressed as the Spider-Man villain.
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He had previously cosplayed as Doctor Doom and Magneto. This time, he wanted something more ambitious.
“I like doing characters where there’s a recognizable part to them,” Kase said. “I just kind of wanted to step that up and try to challenge myself.”
Fans waited in line, many already in costume, for the chance to reach the floor at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center and geek out over their favorite corners of pop culture.
Inside, the hall was a moving mix of capes, masks, armor and handmade props. People stopped strangers for photos, browsed tables stacked with artwork and merchandise and queued to see actors tied to movies and shows they loved.
People enter FAN EXPO, a sci-fi, horror, anime, and gaming event at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, in Dallas, Texas, Saturday, September 12, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
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For Kase, making the costume was nearly as important as wearing it.
“I like doing crafts,” he said. “I think I enjoy making it.”
Kase, who hopes to become an actor, said cosplay gives him another outlet for performing and building things himself.
A few feet away, Jerry Howell was dressed as He-Man.
Howell first connected with the character through the 1980s animated series he watched with his father. After seeing a newer version of He-Man, he said he ordered the costume almost immediately and began working out more to better fit the role.
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For Howell, the appeal went beyond nostalgia.
“He-Man is kind of self-motivation and the power you have behind yourself,” Howell said.
Saturday marked his fifth consecutive Fan Expo. He said he keeps coming back for the costumes, the fandoms and the creativity.
For 18-year-old Rylan Marks, Saturday was his first.
Marks came dressed as Billy Butcher from Prime Video’s The Boys. Actor Karl Urban, who plays the character, was one reason he wanted to attend. After a few hours, what stayed with him was less the celebrity draw than the work on other people’s backs and in their hands.
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“I love to see the creativity of many people and what they can come up with,” Marks said.
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For Ayanna Williams and Zoe Cooper, conventions had already led to something more lasting.
Ayanna, of Fort Worth, came dressed as Bowsette, a fan-created female version of Bowser from Nintendo’s Mario franchise. Cooper, 21, of Dallas, dressed as a princess-inspired version of Shy Guy, another of Mario’s foes.
Cooper said Ayanna is her best friend. They first met at an anime convention.
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“I love matching with her,” Cooper said. “I would love to do a couple more matching cosplays.”
Ayanna said conventions give her a place to be among people who understand the things she loves.
Matt Ronan dressed as Ronin Mandalorian lifts his mask for a cool breeze from his partner Lacey Lang at Fan Expo Dallas at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, Saturday, June 10, 2023, in Dallas. Ronan said he’s been cosplaying for about 6 years.
Elías Valverde II/Staff Photographer
“I feel like I’m surrounded by people who are like me,” she said. “It’s really nice to just be able to be introduced to new things and also be able to geek out with other people about something that I’ve been in love with forever.”
That sense of belonging has kept Lori Tergerson coming back for about a decade.
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“We were called nerds, and we didn’t have these places to go,” Tergerson said.
She attended Saturday dressed as a Ghostbuster while volunteering with Ghostbusters Texas Ranger Division, a nonprofit raising money for the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
Toward the community area, other Ghostbusters stood in full gear beside a replica of Ecto-1, the station wagon driven by the ghost-hunting crew in the Ghostbusters films. At the group’s booth, visitors could donate to play a ghost-busting game: find a ghost hidden inside a haunted object, then trap it in a replica ghost trap.
Jeff Brown, and his wife Julissa Aguilar walk down the hallway during FAN EXPO, a sci-fi, horror, anime, and gaming event at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, in Dallas, Texas, Saturday, September 12, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
Tergerson said the booth stayed busy.
“People are being very generous with their donations,” she said.
Her wife helped deepen Tergerson’s interest in Ghostbusters after joining the group and building her own proton pack.
What keeps Tergerson returning, though, is the connection that can happen as soon as one fan recognizes another’s costume.
“You have a common interest right away,” she said, “and it’s easier to make friends.”
By Saturday afternoon, that was happening across the floor: strangers stopping for photos, pointing out costumes they recognized and starting conversations over characters they both knew.