The first Masquerade Ball held at San Diego Comic-Con was in 1974 during the convention's 6th event. Voice actress June Foray was the master of ceremonies.Photographer Dan Golden saw a photograph of Stevens in the Vampirella costume while visiting Ackerman's house, leading to him hiring her for a non-speaking role in her first student film, Zyzak is King (1980), and later photographing her for the cover of the first issue of Femme Fatales (1992).

Cosplay started in 1984, Nobuyuki Takahashi, founder of Studio Hard, attended the 42nd Worldcon in Los Angeles. He was impressed with the masquerade and reported on it in My Anime, coining the term kosupure (from which cosplay is derived) in the process. The term "cosplay" https://www.ccosplay.com/was coined in Japan in 1984, meaning "costume" and "play". Cosplay is very popular among all genders. It was inspired by and grew out of the practice of fan costuming at science fiction conventions, beginning with Morojo's ""futuristicostumes" created for the 1st World Science Fiction Convention in New York City in 1939.