Cosplay on steroids! The impressive costumes of the Comic-Con Masquerade competition

Get ready to be amazed by the talent of the contestants of Comic-Con's 44th Masquerade Costume Competition that took place on the third official day of the convention. 

Ballroom 20 was once again the perfect venue to host over 100 costumes that can be completely original or a re-creation of a favorite fandom but the trick is that contestants have to make the costume themselves.

The contestants must do a performance to go along with the costume on stage for the three judges and the audience. The categories to win are: Best in Show, Judges' Choice, Best Re-creation, Best Original Design, Most Beautiful, Best Presentation, Most Humorous, Best Workmanship, and Best Young Fan.

I was in the photographer's section for the first time so I did not get to see the performances but I can show you the hero poses and war faces contestants made for the camera. 

We didn't get any introductions so for the largest groups I will be mentioning the names that we received in the list for the photographers.

Let's check them out in the order they performed, starting with Killer Frost from The Flash. The outfit was created and designed by Amber Bates.

Amber is only 12 years old and started the show by performing to Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do".

This costume was designed and made by Kyra, Carmen and Kevin Kasner.

Kyra Kasner is showing off her best Ursula impersonation.

Gabrielle Jones models her version of Katsuki Bakugou from My Hero Academia.

Gabrielle was the Best Young Fan Award winner.

Designed and made by Gabrielle and Brad Jones.

Ethan Stroh shows off his Mark 1 from the original Iron Man.

Ethan made and designed this impressive armor.

A three piece costume worn by Diana and Nicole Arnold. Diana was in charge of making it and worked on designing it.

Ryan MacCodach gives us his version of Doctor Stephen Strange.

I really like the details on the back of the cape.

And you can't have a Sorcerer Supreme of Earth's Universe without a little magic.

Ryan made it and also did the design.

Jacqueline and and Robert Devaney are performing a scene of Rapunzel. This was quite funny and the pose was a request from one of the photographers.

It was fun to see him removing the chair arms from his arms. 

The costumes were created and designed by Jacqueline and Kathleen Devaney.

A super family portrait performed by Ken Hezelett, Natalie Lawson and Bryn Hazelett.

The three costumes were designed and made by Natalie Lawson.

Jason Alucino from Nerd Alert Cosplay is wearing Soundwave from Transformer.

Of course it had to include the cassette.

Jason made and designed the impressive Decepticon.

This jaw dropping costume of Davy Jones was worn by Jose Davalos. I wanted to show you a close up of the details of the face.

Incredible detail all around.

Jose Davalos was the designer and he also made it.

Vanessa Maiko and Amy Spencer are the cosplayer and they also created the costumes. 

A look at the back of the costumes. That was a very long gun.

This beautiful ensamble transports us to Alice in Wonderland. The performers are part of Cosplay on the Rocks.

I had to share the white rose from up close. Stunning!

The costumes were designed and made by Cindy, Lynleigh and Kie from Cosplay on the Rocks.

Jezzer Reyes and Davidson Sim worked hard on their costumes and added a prop that seemed pretty heavy. 

Tala transformed in beautiful Catrina and takes us to Día de los Muertos.

Tala made this costume with the help of her mother.

The complete dress from the back.

Angus and Aubin Duff transformed into Big Daddy Delta and Big Sister Eleanor from BioShock.

This pair was the Judges' Choice winner.

Great craftsmanship on the backs. They both made and design the costumes.

Allan Lavigne, Davey Halley, Joseph Palone, Jeff Knight and Ismael Gomez are the performers of the scene.

Allan Lavigne designed and made the costumes. 

Jen King and Peter Burt are showing off the costumes made by Jen.

Daniela was both the maker and designer.

Daniela Lo Presti models her version of Alice.

Broke, Arron, Rob and Natasha Bowman with Jacob Rodebaugh. 

The hard work paid off because they won Best Presentation.

Broke, Arron, Rob and Natasha and Jacob designed this magnificent costumes.

Claire Fraser from the television show Outlander and the episode The Wedding.

This costume won the Most Beautiful.

Rebecca Roberts Ryan is the designer, the talent behind this dress and the cosplayer.

Check out these incredible mechanical wings made by the hands of Julia Fields with help of Chris Muise.

Julia also deigned this costume with the help of Chris.

Birdy showing us her Scorpio.

Birdy also designed and made her costume.

All of The Doctors are in the house! 

This costume was an impressive prop that included lights. Cessie Decicco performed with the help of Jeanie Herger. The Green Lion was so big that they couldn't use the stage.

Jeanie and Cessie designed and made the costumes together.

Worn by Heather Water of Cosplay Siren.

This character is also referred to as "the Dark Lady." The performance was in charge of Heather Waters.

This cosplayer blew us away with a hologram to make his cosplay even more impressive. Wayne Harris made and designed this costume.

You have to see the complete set of pictures so you can appreciate the detail of the castle. Nina London Cosplay is the one showing us her design.

This cosplay took the Most Creative Use of Materials.

Incredible details on the castle from the classic Studio Ghibli film.

The back also has a lot of detail.

I totally started hearing David Bowies voice in my head. I also enjoyed the performance of Liz Todd and Heidi Schilling. They are the winners of Best In Show.

The perfect dance scene.

The costumes are creations of  Liz Todd and Heidi Schilling.

Bri Solth, Taylor Robison and PrueDense give us a little piece of Wrecked Ralph P. Bri and PrueDuctions Cosplay were in charge of the design and crafting of the costumes.

This ensamble won the Most Humorous award.

This looks like a mash up between Guardians of the Galaxy and Elvis. Jeanie Lopez, Daniel Moyer, Lucas Queen, Joe Queen, Jarean Tavares and Daniel Crane made the costumes.

Jeanie Lopez, Daniel Moyer, Lucas Queen and Joe Queen are the performers.

Nancy from Space Queen Cosplay gives us Hiro Hamada from Big Hero 6. She made and designed the costume.

She-ra, Bat-Man and Catra Helen Simm, brought to you by Sofie Graham and Michael Mackie.

Mat-Bat has a great over the shoulder look. Helen Simm designed and made the  costumes.

Vincent Clervi is under the costume of the chief apothecary of the Forsaken's Royal Apothecary Society.

This cosplay won Best Re-creation.

This World of Warcraft character was designed by Vincent.

This dark apothecary was also made by Vincent.

This ruler of Bartertown Weapons Crossbow is presented by Catherine M. Fisher, she also help with the designing with the help of Dialogue & Stage Music by Dylan Warren and Enhanced by Ian B.

Jenny from My Life as a Teenage Robot was designed and created by Imani Allen.

That is a mighty cape.

Gregory Price made Batman Ninja.

It was fascinating to see her walking.

Leah Thomas made this impressive Fauno.

An incredible Star Trek ensamble by The Bodly GoGos. They also created and designed their costumes.

To guide us through the event we had the wonderful Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio as Master and Mistress of Ceremonies. This year they had 39 contestants because sadly there was an incident on stage and one of them had to leave the show due to a broken ankle.