Best and Nerdiest Costumes from Toronto's Silver Snail Party

The ghosts and ghouls of Halloween have all scuttled back to their shadows now that the witchy festivites are almost a whole week behind us. Greasepaint-stained costumes have gone to the laundry basket; Twitter names and icons have reverted to normal; and we're officially drinking all that pumpkin spiced caffeinated milk froth strictly for Thanksgiving reasons now.

Before we unwisely turn our back on vampires and Frankensteins for another year, we have one more tradition to observe; the annual Snailoween Party in Toronto. As we've done for the last few years, we sent our friend Paul Hillier, cosplay photographer extraordinaire, to capture the very best outfits at one of North America's nerdiest costume parties.

The party is organized every year by Toronto comics retailer the Silver Snail, and draws in a crowd of fans and pros alike, all in their most elaborate Halloween cosplay. This year's guests included comic creators Francis Manapul, Jim Zub, Stacy King, Marcus To, Kalman Andrasofszky, Jason Loo, and Steve Manale, plus live music from Transformers tribute band The Cybertronic Spree, and some truly epic costumes bringing superheroes, movie characters, animation icons and Masters of the Universe to life.

Check out our favorite pictures from the night in the photo gallery above.

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