How Phoenix ‘Warhammer 40k’ fan Joe Ramirez conquered the cosplay world

Tony Stark would feel right at home in Joe Ramirez’s workspace. The 55-year-old Queen Creek resident’s two-car garage feels like the testbed of a mad genius. Or, at least, a mad genius cosplayer. Along one wall are stacks of colorful EVA foam mats. The opposite side is lined with plastic tubs filled with decades of action figures, collectibles and memorabilia. A massive desk and worktable outfitted with cutting mats, tool chests, a glowing PC and a 3-D printer takes up an entire corner. Standing watch throughout the garage are several hulking costume armors inspired by the otherworldly tabletop wargame “Warhammer 40,000.” A royal blue Adeptus Astartes Ultramarine Captain stands tall next to a red and gold Chaos Space Marine armor. Elsewhere, an intimidating black-andwhite Battle Sisters armor looms over the scene. Sign up for the Arts & Culture newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox The crowded space is Ramirez’s sanctuary, a place where he spends many offhours from his day job as an enforcement and compliance officer for the Arizona Department of Transportation crafting these fearsome and formidable costume armors. “I spend like 50% of my time in here,” Ramirez says. “And honestly, it’s probably too much.” If a glass bookcase in one corner laden with trophies and medals Ramirez won from Phoenix Fan Fusion and San Diego Comic-Con is any indication, it’s been time well-spent. Ramirez, also known as Beyonder Joe, has become one of Arizona’s more notable cosplayers over the past four years. He’s known for creating massive and attention-grabbing “Warhammer” costumes using EVA foam. In his workshop, Ramirez transforms the spongy, flexible material used in play mats and yoga blocks into formidablelooking armors from the popular game set in a dystopian future where mankind battles evil aliens and supernatural creatures. His Instagram contains hundreds of videos documenting his activities as a cosplayer, maker and foamsmith. In some, he cuts, shapes and crafts EVA foam into Ultramarines and other “Warhammer” characters. In others, Ramirez and his friends and family wear his creations at conventions like Phoenix Fan Fusion. And his costumes have frequently wowed geek crowds over the years. He won Best in Show for groups at Phoenix Fan Fusion’s cosplay masquerade in 2023 with a legion of nine Warhammer costume armors. He’s also collected awards from San Diego Comic-Con, Southern California’s WonderCon and Tucson Comic-Con. Some of Ramirez’s “Warhammer” armors have earned millions of social media views. A handful of his costumes appeared in a 2025 online commercial for Scottsdale’s Octane Raceway. Some, including an 8-foot-tall Dreadnought, are on display at the San Diego Comic-Con Museum. Joe Ramirez with the Saturnine Terminator costume armor he’s building for this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Next month, he plans to bring the biggest and most ambitious project of his cosplay career to this year’s San Diego Comic-Con: a towering “Warhammer” Saturnine Terminator costume armor that will stand more than 7 feet tall and ride atop 12-inch stilts. “This bad boy is gonna be huge,” Ramirez says. It will be his 19th Warhammer costume in four years. It’s also his last competition piece, as Ramirez says he’s stepping away from cosplay contests. The reasons behind the decision are both familial and practical. Some of the family members and friends he previously enlisted to wear his costumes at conventions have either moved away or had theirfill. Ramirez also says he could do without the stress. “I want to go back to the fun part of it,” Ramirez says. “The competition is nice, but it’s a lot of work and very stressful.” This weekend, Ramirez will attend Phoenix Fan Fusion 2026 alongside friends and family, all of whom will wear his previous “Warhammer 40K” costume armors. He won’t compete in the event’s costumemasquerade, but will instead spend a few hours away from the grind of finishing the Saturnine Terminator for SDCC and having fun. “Phoenix Fan Fusion is definitely where my heart is,” Ramirez says. From comics to cosplay Like many geeks, Ramirez’s path into cosplay began with a childhood fascination with comic books, science fiction and far-flung and imaginative worlds. He grew up in Oxnard, California, roughly 35 minutes from Hollywood. His mother introduced him to “Star Trek” when he was 8 years old. She also exposed him to kung fu movies, Godzilla films and other cult favorites. He was also into comic books as a kid and was particularly fascinated by the god-like Marvel character Beyonder. Ramirez says the character left a lasting impression. “He comes from another level of reality and is super-powerful, like a god almost,” Ramirez says. “He can make things appear from nothingness like magic.” The character stuck with Ramirez. Decades later, after he began crafting costumes, it inspired his nickname, Beyonder Joe. “When I began to create and started imagining what I could do, it felt like magic happened,” he says. Ramirez admits cosplay didn’t enter his life until 2018, when he began dabbling in the art form. After devouring YouTube tutorials from cosplay creators like Odin Makes, Ramirez crafted a Hellboy costume complete with the iconic anti-hero’s Hand of Doom built from EVA foam. “I’ve always loved Hellboy,” Ramirez says. “He’s this character who needed to be redeemed and became a protector of humanity even as a demon himself.” Ramirez admits it was more of an introduction than a breakthrough. “It was very crude,” he says, laughing.Geeks at Phoenix Fan Fusion, then known as Phoenix Comic Fest, loved it, which convinced him to keep his cosplay pursuits rolling. His family’s reaction was less enthusiastic. “My brother, my son and everyone else in my family was like, ‘Oh no, we don’t get dressed up for conventions. We just go,’” Ramirez says. They’d soon change their minds. The following year, Ramirez’s brother Michael, who also works in local law enforcement, approached him about creating costumes inspired by Judge Dredd. “He goes, ‘You know, I really like Judge Dredd.’ He was basically telling me to make him a costume with actually telling me,” Ramirez says, laughing. “I was like, ‘Brother, we’re both cops. Wewear this crap for work every day. Why do you want a costume of this?’” Ramirez agreed to do it, but gave it his own spin: Judge Dredd … in space. He reimagined the fictional cop as a heavily armored intergalactic knight and crafted four costumes for himself, his brother and some friends. Ramirez says the costumes were solid, but “very rudimentary.” He wanted to aim for something bigger and better at the next year’s Fan Fusion. Around that time, he started getting into “Warhammer 40,000.” Joe Ramirez, right, adjusts the Chaos Space Marine worn by his nephew, Noah Ramirez, left. COVID-era cosplay By early 2020, Ramirez’s family had become obsessed with “Warhammer 40K,” the beloved tabletop miniature wargame created by the UK’s Games Workshop. “My son and nephew started playing it and got my brother and me involved,” Ramirez says. “We all bought armies (of miniatures), painted them and created this huge table at my brother’s house.” Ramirez says he was hooked. Only he wasn’t any good at it, though. “I realized that I didn’t play the game at all very well,” Ramirez says, laughing. He had better luck at cosplaying characters inspired by the game. In early 2020, Ramirez was planning to cosplay an Ultramarine Captain from “Warcraft” at Fan Fusion that year. Then COVID hit. After the pandemic shut down the world, Ramirez spent countless hours inside his garage honing his skills at shaping EVA foam and crafting costumes. “I was just practicing, practicing, practicing, practicing to get my skill up,” he says. “I spent the COVID years teaching myself how to make this stuff better.” Armed with a straight-edge razor and countless YouTube tutorials, Ramirez experimented constantly. He built helmets, armor pieces and props. When Halloween arrived, he handed many of these early efforts to trick-or-treaters after his garage became cluttered. In 2022, Ramirez debuted his first “Warhammer” Ultramarine Captain armor at Fan Fusion,albeit colored purple instead of the proper blue. Fellow geeks immediately pointed out flaws. “They’re like, ‘There’s no purple Marines,’” Ramirez says, laughing. Instead of becoming defensive, he returned to the garage and rebuilt everything. “Every generation gets better and better, because my technique, my technology and my approach gets better,” Ramirez says. Joe Ramirez, center-left, accepting a Best in Show award for groups during Phoenix Fan Fusion’s costume masquerade in 2023. Conquering Fan Fusion and other cons When 2023’s Fan Fusion hit, Ramirez was prepared. He’d rebuilt his Ultramarine Captains. He created additional characters, like Sisters of Battle and a Chaos Warrior. At that year’s Fan Fusion costume masquerade, Ramirez marched on stage in his “Warhammer” costumes with eight other people. Despite an awestruck reaction from a packed crowd, Ramirezthought he’d lost. “I started taking my costume off and I almost fell asleep,” Ramirez says. When his name was announced as winner of the Best in Show award for groups, he was stunned. “It just blew me away,” he says, “that kind of love and recognition.” Later that year, Ramirez brought his “Warhammer” armors to San Diego Comic-Con. He won Best in Show, Audience Fan Favorite and a Costumer’s Guild West Guild award. More accolades followed in 2024 at Tucson Comic-Con, where he claimed another best in show trophy. Joe Ramirez, center-right, brought four “Warhammer” armors to Phoenix Fan Fusion in 2025, including a massive Dreadnought. In 2025, Ramirez stunned the crowd at Phoenix Fan Fusion’s costume masquerade with a small army of four “Warhammer” armors, including a towering, mech-like Dreadnought standing 8 feet tall. The massive creation, which had already racked up more than 1.1 million TikTok views, helped him win second place in the Fan Fusion costume masquerade’s masters category. It’s currently on display in the San Diego Comic-Con museum. “It’s an amazing costume,” Ramirez says. All of Ramirez’s adventures in cosplay came at a cost, though. Joe Ramirez wearing medals he won at San Diego Comic-Con while holding trophies from Phoenix Fan Fusion’s masquerade costume contest. By 2022, Ramirez had developed severe carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands, as years of cutting and shaping EVA foam had taken a physical toll. “I couldn’t turn the blade to cut the foam,” he says. “It was just excruciating.” His wife, Holli, convinced him to seek treatment, including surgery on both hands. Ramirez credits her with helping save both his cosplay pursuits and his ability to continue building. “My wife has done so much for me,” Ramirez says. “She handles the business side of things. She’s also my painter. I can’t paint fine details to save my life, so she does it all.” Joe Ramirez kisses his wife, Holli, after winning the “Best in Show” award for groups at Phoenix Fan Fusion in 2023. ‘One last competition’ Ramirez says he plans to retire from law enforcement in 2028. His retirement from cosplay contests will come much sooner. “I’m doing one last competition,” Ramirez says. “So I don’t want to call it a full-on retirement (from cosplay).” He plans to go out with his biggest build yet. Ramirez is hip-deep in crafting a Saturnine Terminator, which debuted in “Warhammer” lore in 2025. He says he became a fan of the armor almost immediately. “I got wind of it a year ago and I just fell in love with it,” he says. The challenge is enormous. There are no established plans as the armor hasn’t been cosplayed yet. That fact doesn’t seem to bother him, though. “I have to somehow make it all work,” Ramirez says. “But I don’t know how I do half the stuff I do. I just start and figure it out along the way.” With seven weeks to go until San Diego Comic-Con, Ramirez is confident he’ll get it done. “This year I’m pulling out all the stops,” he says. Phoenix Fan Fusion 2026. Friday, June 5, 10 a.m. to Sunday, June 7, 5 p.m. at Phoenix Convention Center, 100 N. Third St. Daily passes are $54.20 to $76.40 via phoenixfanfusion.com.

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