Prepare to be glomped. Like it's not "there's a chance you'll get glomped". It's "you will get glomped, make sure your medical insurance is up to date and if you're really attractive, see that you have a reliable lawyer on your side".

But besides the crazy glompers, most Hetalia fans are pretty nice people. Whenever I'm alone and walking around awkwardly at cons, it's always Hetalia cosplayers that are all "Hey! Hang out with us and don't be so lonely!".

If you want to be a part of a fun, respectful, decent group, don't cosplay from hetalia.

Chances are looking back in a few months you'll be incredibly embarrassed for hanging out with them.

Not all, but most.

Think of the type of people you would like to meet and what your favourite franchise(s) is/are, then do a cosplay that will provoke people who are fans to want to talk to you.

Attend photoshoots and panels.

Once you're past the, "OH MY GOD IT'S A _____ COSPLAY, MUST HUG AND GIGGLE OVER" phase you can see whether someone would be cool to hang out with or not.

Last year at Anime North when I wasn't with my two friends, I was hanging out with this girl I met at the Nominoichi in 2008, her boyfriend, and her younger sister... plus while waiting in lines I met two different dudes who both ended up volunteering during the weekend (one cool black guy was basically patrol, the other guy (can't remember what his cosplay was) ended up being stuck at the con badge lost and found). Plus hanging out with Croik and Silverwind during the Ace Attorney photoshoot was fun. And there was some girl and a few of her friends from the Kingdom Hearts photoshoot.

Honestly, it's hard not to meet people. You'd actually have to go out of your way to avoid meeting someone.

Hetalia is a fandom known for hambeasts obsessed with yaoi. Of course, there are sane, mature fans of Hetalia but you'll have to search harder for them.

But if you like Hetalia, go for it. You can definitely make a lot more friends by cosplaying from a bigger fandom than a more obscure one since they'll come up to you and talk about the series, and there are so many of them walking around.

Just be prepared to put your foot down if anybody's bothering you (stalking or just being annoying). Be firm and blunt, e.g. "Will you please leave me alone? I want to explore the rest of the con on my own. Thanks."

>>4179885
This is reassuring, thanks. I guess I should look into a lawyer though, just in case.

Also, a lot of them sound like pretty sweet people (minus the very vocal, crazy ones that remind me of feminazis).

>>4179899
The only type of people that I could really see myself being embarrassed by is that one overweight France cosplayer that did the olympic version of him. I'm honestly pretty shameless.

I am not a Hetalia fan, but I would just like to say that they're not all crazies. Fuck, not even the majority of them are crazy. It's just the crazy ones hog all the attention. Most of them are just really nice people like >>4179885 said. Don't ignore the entire fandom of a show you like because you heard some con horror stories. You should be able to get the message if someone's cray-cray or not after a few minutes of talking to them. If they are crazy, leave. Simple as that.

bump

More good hetalia fandom stories please.