The passing cars slow down, children begin frantically waving and a small group starts to surround the Cosplay Guardian as he walks around Flagstaff Point.
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He's dressed as Bumblebee from Transformers and is standing at more than two metres tall with an automatic mask and a voice changer to complete the costume.
Bumblebee will attend this year's edition of Comic Gong which is set to go ahead on Saturday, May 11. He'll be walking around the convention doing what he loves.
"I just love going out and just sharing all this with the public because so many people are like 'Oh wow'," the Cosplay Guardian said.
Cosplay is a hobby in which people dress as their favourite characters from film and TV, video games and books.
The Cosplay Guardian encourages people to give it a shot.
"I'd say 100 per cent do it. It gives you a fun chance to release your wild side and have fun and share the love of it."
He says he got invited to be part of Comic Gong after spending New Year's walking around Wollongong Harbour dressed as the transformer.
"I just did that for fun, I got a whole bunch of photos with people ... I got an email a couple of days later and they asked about it," he said.
Competition and growth
As part of Comic Gong, there will be a cosplay competition. The winners will go home with a trophy designed by local company Illustris Models, valued at $250.
The design of the trophy has been inspired by the art which Comic Gong has used and is designed to look like the jet pack.
Sian Webster, of Illustris, says cosplay helped boost her confidence during university.
"It really helped me come out of my shell after high school and stuff like that," Ms Webster said.
Illustris will provide two trophies - to the winners of the adult and teen cosplay competition.
For Ms Webster, supporting cosplay has become a personal passion and, with her partner Laith Noaman, they are involved in events around Australia. Comic Gong, however, holds a unique place in their hearts.
"It's our little local con and it's always got a special place in my heart, you know just very homely, very fun," she said.
"It's sort of family-oriented, and it's not just in one convention hall kind of tucked away like the Sydney ones tend to be. The whole city gets involved."
This year Comic Gong will also have a cosplay repair station, essential for conventions, that will be run by South Coast Cosplayers.
Joel Ehsman
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, experiencing life near the beach.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, experiencing life near the beach.
