Allen Ryde is a passionate, long time cosplayer and artist who has served as a judge for costume and cosplay competitions at various conventions such as Raleigh SuperCon, Katsucon and Anime USA.

In addition to being a costume competition judge, Allen is also a commissioner, artist, theatre professional and burlesque entertainer. He has been in the field for over ten years, branching out into different forms of costuming and entertainment and sharing his passion for costuming and performing.

Allen has worked for and supplied costumes for professional theatre companies, opera houses, and entertainment companies, and is a freelance pattern designer and product developer for the corset company, Timeless Trends. He is also the founder and head of party entertainment company Faerie Fantastical Parties, providing top notch quality character entertainment to birthday parties, school visits and corporate events with princesses, superheroes, pirates, and more. His company of performers also does frequent charity and hospital visits for children in hospitals or in partnership with foundations such as "Kids Wish" and "Hope for the Holidays."

"I love costuming and making new and exciting costumes and working with my friends to learn and advance my skills. I always like to challenge myself with each new costume I create! I've been costuming for over ten years and I love learning new things and meeting all the new people on my adventures in costuming! I am also super passionate about performing, dancing and bringing characters to life. I use movement and gestures to animate and bring life to a character and be as faithful to the spirit as I can and while also expressing what they mean to me. I love working in the theatre and I am grateful to have the ability to work with so many people who share my passions which I can hopefully share all with you! Burlesque has allowed me to express characters using my body and through comedy and dance, bringing a new side to something and putting my own mark on a character!" 

We asked Allen what he looks forward to the most at Escape Velocity.

"I am so excited to be invited to Escape Velocity and meet everyone and get to know all of you! I am bringing my experience and some fun and innovative panels to the convention that will entertain and share what I love with everyone there! I hope to bring some new costuming and dance panels for all of you who like to shake it up and move around! I would be delighted to share some of my experiences and get to know more about your experiences as well! Thank you Escape Velocity, and I hope to see you all there!"