An experience you have to see to believe
Words and photographs by Valley Lizard
Fans all over the world celebrate the legendary Marvel co-creator Stan Lee. If he were alive the 28th December would have been his 96th birthday. This is why Orchid Princesses Cosplay decided to create a cosplay tribute to him on 28th December at 11am Melbourne, Australian EST at Marvel Stadium. This was a chance for Marvel fans to come together to honour Stan Lee. As many as 40 people came cosplaying Marvel characters, others wore Marvel t-shirts and/or came as photographers to capture the event.

Apart from the weather, it was fantastic to meet fellow Marvel fans and to see your favourite Marvel characters brought to life. In typical Melbourne style it rained, with periods of intense sun, wind enough to blow capes/cloaks and overcast at times too. Some of these weather patterns worked to our advantage, however most people ended up getting pretty hot and sweaty. I was really impressed by not only the quality of the cosplay, but the fact that these people would wear these costumes knowing how hot it would be. The only Marvel cosplay I have is leather clad Loki, which I couldn’t have coped with wearing. Since I’m a journalist I just wore a Marvel T-shirt.
Overall the event went pretty well. One of the most joyous and surprising things about the day is when a dog joined in for the photos.
Who can think of a good superhero name for this dog?
Animals make most people happy and I can tell you this little cutie won everyone’s hearts. He was so popular especially with the various Spider-people cosplayers.
What I think was the most amazing thing about the event is seeing just how much one person can make a difference. I interviewed a few people for my assignment and Stan Lee genuinely had a very real impact on these people’s lives.
Spider-man is one of the most recognisable Marvel characters and certainly the most cosplayed during the tribute. I think there is a reason for that, which I’ll explore in later posts. For now I’ll leave you with a few words from Stan Lee himself:
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