Conventions and cosplay: An older fan's prospective

I haven't been to many conventions over my short con career, but i have been to enough to see the ins and outs of them. Some can be very fun while others can be bad. I have yet to be to a convention i really didn't have a good time at.

In 2008, i attended my very first anime convention, AnimeNEXT in New Jersey. I have never been to one or know what to expect from the convention other than it was the first time ever i have done a costume for one. I have been going to Renaissance faires for a good part of my life, never dressed up for them either. The sight of people dressed up, taking photos and conversing about the convention center gave me a new understanding to the cosplay world. I was a rookie cosplayer, having only a Solid Snake cosplay from Metal Gear Solid 2, which doubled as my Super Smash Bros. Brawl cosplay so i could join up with friends for our massive SSBB group.

Since then, i have been hooked. Its been a blast meeting people from all over the north east as well as from other parts of the east coast. The cosplay scene around here are some of the best i have seen.

This brings to mind the concept of "e-famous cosplayers". I have never considered myself "e-famous" or even remotely famous by any means, i am known for my cosplays and i am always willing to give advice to those who seek it on curtain things regarding a series or costume someone in one of my preferred series. To me, the "e-famous" cosplayer could be one of two things, 1. stuck up or 2. grateful. Lucky for me, i have not met any really stuck up cosplayers. The ones i have met have been really appresative and also very willing to help, which is what i always try to be. I know they do exist, but for the time being i have yet to encounter any.

Which brings me to my guide to convention goers:

The Underage
These types are everywhere. You look around a convention center at any con and you see them running around and being loud. Not saying all underagers are like this, but a good majority of them are. We the older crowd have affectionatly named underage kids, "red badges" at a recent convention, which made our game of "spot the trap" less fun but did give us another game in the process. As you see, the exceptions to the rule are like the girl shown in this photo of me from AAC'10. She was a very shy, quiet reserved type, who told me she was kinda scared about doing photoshoots with groups because of her shyness. One thing i had to assure her was that nothing was gonna happen to her in them and we are all good people. Which brings me to our next type seen at conventions.

The Creepers
You see them everywhere, from online forums to websites. Creepers make everything ten times worst. With me getting up in age, i try not to be creepy to those around me. Many people i meet at cons are under the age of 18 too, and i dont want to go down on the internet as a creepy old man. Being 26, i like to consider myself a older brother figure to them. I never went to a con to meet girls or try to hook up. I go to have fun, but the creepers ruin all the fun, much like this one guy on the train at Halloween time i saw(different scenario, same effect).

The Super Serious
These ultra serious people are critical to every little detail, and would often criticizing a persons cosplay for the littlest thing. I can be overly critical of other Snake cosplayers being that i have done them in the past and i know what goes into making one. These are people who look on, not even in costumes their selves and judge. The ones who told me i wasnt Snake unless i had a box, or the ones who said online i was not Big Boss but Naked Snake (while technically they are correct, i am also correct because he will become Big Boss, i just dislike the name Naked Snake).

I know there are plenty more types, but i think that should do it for now.