‘Let your freak flag fly’: The stars and sights of Planet Comicon Kansas City 2025
“I love your costume.”
“Thank you. I love your costume, too.”
These two phrases were the most commonly shared among fandoms inside Bartle Hall at the Kansas City Convention Center as Planet Comicon Kansas City took over downtown this weekend. The three-day convention welcomed stars from popular television shows and movies, comic book writers and illustrators, cosplayers, and vendors to celebrate their favorite stories.
Thousands of visitors showed up dressed as their favorite characters from all parts of pop culture — superheroes and supervillains, wizards, elves, goblins, animals, Ghostbusters, Jedi and Sith, who all are calling Kansas City home base from Friday, March 21, to Sunday, March 23.
Allons-y!
The most-seen costume in the crowd? Doctors, specifically dressed as British science-fiction television character Doctor Who in one of the many forms the titular British character has taken over the course of 60 years.
The 2025 event brought actor David Tennant to Kansas City, who portrayed the 10th and 14th Doctor in the series, first claiming the role in 2005. Chris Jackson, Planet Comicon Kansas City’s founder and CEO, said Tennant’s name was always at the top of the list when he asked fans who they wanted to see at the convention, and it was easy to see why.
The line that wrapped around the 40,500-square-foot, 4,000-people capacity Kay Barnes Grand Ballroom for his panel Friday afternoon only showed a snippet of his popularity. Before the panel began, one fan’s costume garnered a lot of attention.
The spotlight was on 23-year-old Alec Collins from Olathe and his custom-built Dalek, the fictional militaristic alien race of mutants from “Doctor Who” whose goal is to exterminate the Doctor.
His Dalek was very close to achieving this goal, as he was just a few feet away from Tennant during the star’s panel.
Collins built the costume with his father, 53-year-old Eric Collins, who dressed as a character from another popular science fiction television series, “Star Trek.” The costume’s seen hundreds of dollars in repairs over the years since they built it 11 years ago for Alec Collins’ Cub Scout costume contest.
Their fandom started with watching the season starring the Ninth Doctor, which aired in 2005, on Netflix. Tennant’s reign as the Doctor followed right after, and the Collins family said they were hooked. This year, they went from saying they’re done with going to conventions to buying the VIP pass to meet Tennant in a heartbeat.
“David Tennant is our favorite Doctor,” Eric Collins said. “He was the whimsical doctor and we loved his portrayal the best, so we just had to come out and see him.”
‘Let your freak flag fly’
Other than Halloween and other costume-themed celebrations, Planet Comicon Kansas City is one time each year when thousands of people can dress up and share a common interest with everyone in the room — a love for entertainment of all sorts.
Video game stations were set up in one spot of the room, where guests could show off their skills fighting games like Tekken 8, Street Fighter 6, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, or they could partake in popular tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons, Magic The Gathering and Pokémon.
Fans could dive into vendors’ booths and buy artwork, toys, statues, masks and other items featuring their favorite characters. Many of these items were later autographed by some of the celebrity guests in attendance.
Near the cosplay showcase on the floor, father Tim Gillam was dressed as Krampus while his son, Tim Gillam Jr., and his son’s friend, Riddick Ackerman, were dressed as Krampus’ minions in costumes made by Ackerman’s dad, Anthony. Not too far away was Jameson Brettmann, who traveled from Fremont, Nebraska, dressed as Pepsiman, a Japanese superhero based on the soft drink.
Erin Carpenter showed up to Planet Comicon Kansas City with a costume over a year in the making; Washi, an antagonist from the 2016 stop-motion film, “Kubo and the Two Strings.” She fell in love with the character after watching the movie for the first time and knew one day she would create the costume.
Her skills finally reached the point where she could precisely apply 700 individually carved feathers to her cape, and the rest fell into place. Being in a room with other creative people makes her feel right at home.
“It’s something about being in a big room with people where everyone has at least one common interest, which I feel like you don’t get very often in the real world,” Carpenter said. “You can let your freak flag fly and just have fun with it.”
Finding inspiration in fiction
There’s a background for every costume you see around Planet Comicon Kansas City. The Doctors seen running around the floor were in full force as Tennant and actor Alex Kingston, who starred alongside Tennant in “Doctor Who,” were in attendance.
The guests dressed as Ghostface had the chance to buy a pass and meet Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich, who were the first killers in the “Scream” franchise (apologies for the spoilers). A few were also dressed as Shaggy from “Scooby Doo,” who Lillard played in the live-action movies in the 2000s and has voiced the character in animated movies, television shows and video games since 2009.
Other costumes might be an inside joke shared among friends or a chance to honor a character who’s inspired them throughout their lives.
Hela, a Marvel character who’s portrayed as a villain in comics and in the 2017 movie “Thor: Ragnarok,” resonated with Amber Rae, a Springfield resident who hasn’t been able to work for the past couple of years due to chronic pain. Despite setbacks, both Rae and Hela have risen from the ashes time and time again.
“I’ve done a lot of physical therapy to get back up on my feet, so like her coming back and coming back to the top, it’s empowering,” Rae said.
Hela was one of her dream costumes, and the entire outfit she wore to Planet Comicon was a gift from her friends. Even though she hadn’t finished creating the crown, she knew she had to wear it.
“The amount of support I get is amazing,” Rae said. “That’s what this community is all about; supporting each other and our dreams.”
This story was originally published March 22, 2025 at 12:44 PM.
