In 2007. People were as retarded then as they are now.

2003
back when cardboard armor won BOS

>>4369102
Oh wow I don't think I've ever even seen a pic of Boner Robin NOT as Boner Robin

1997
Since the crowd moved from being primarily 17-25 yr olds to 13-18 you have a bigger group of people who have no idea what to do in social situations (someone is dressed better than you, roommate has a gang bang on your bed, dude is following me around, , you think ____ is stealing your friends) without using the most immature logic possible.

Granted it isn't their fault they haven't seen life outside of a high school. But it is their fault for not at least acknowledging that maybe they should think before whatever comes out of their mouth doesn't immediately result in "wow I could have handled that better"

Um. If cosplaying with out going to a con counts 2006, I made it to my first con in 2007 and in 2008 I started cosplaying at cons. I'm black and all my friends told me I should stick with brown characters so I wouldn't get made fun of and stuff. I also wasn't good with the internet so I never found any black cosplayers, so I thought what they said was true and was worried about going to cons and getting made fun of and such. I still get insecure sometimes, but I'm not letting stupidness hold me back. I would say that people aren't being as ignorant to say that if you are not a pale, creamy white then you shouldn't cosplay a character now. I mean it still happens from time to time on /cgl/ and last year someone said a disgusting remark to me at a con, but I just shake off the haters.

Also, every con I have been to in my state except for one has gotten progressively worse each year, there are no interesting industry guests, no good music, panels are shit, screaming people, rude hotel staff, shitty dealers rooms, I could go on...I want to know why these cons aren't trying harder to be good. It's depressing.

First cosplay was in 1995, first cosplay at a convention was in 1997. The fan scene is unrecognisable now from what it was back then. It was much smaller, everyone seemed to know everyone else, the average age of con attendees was a fair bit higher (mid- to late 20s up, I'd say) and there were markedly fewer women at cons. My first masquerade had about a dozen entrants in it. If there was any drama, you didn't see it. Cosplayers are a lot more enterprising and technique-savvy now than they were back then, too.

It was Pokemon that changed the scene most, I think. The year that they started showing the anime on TV was the year I noticed lots of teenagers suddenly appearing at cons from nowhere, as well as a more even split between male and female attendees. And I think the internet has made it easier for people to discover new, more professional costume construction techniques, as well as getting hold of better-quality materials to work with.

>>4369074
2006. Yes.

2010 but been comic con-ing since 2007.

More casual people (lol the twilight incident), but since it's SO extremel well known, especially here in S.D. I never have to explain cosplay. Rarely do people know the word, but "I'm making this for comic con." "Oh! Cool!" is about all there is to it.

>>4369102
WHY IS HE SO GOD DAMN TINY

I started in 2004 when I was 13.

The community seemed much more accepting when I started. But then things like Catsonmars came along and there's more and more snark every year.

I started in 2003, but I can't really say I was aware of the community outside of cosplay.com and my local cosplayers until 2006 or so.

There may have been changes in the hobby itself, if even just on the level of where people get their materials/wigs or what sort of things people have more know-how about...

But otherwise it just seems like the same drama, different people.

2002. Yes, yes, dear god yes.

2000, comic cons. 2001, animu cons.

Most has already been said - crowd average became younger, cosplay wasn't ttly cereal, people weren't as public when it came to drama, etc. etc.

First costume that was finished was in 2003. I started another one the previous year, but it didnt get finished.

In my opinion, its a lot more SRSBIZNISS now.

Dutch person here.
I started in 2005 (15) at the time, went as Edward Elric.
Around 20 cosplayers on the whole con.
Fast forward: 2010 (20) This time went as Shizuo.
Fuckton of cosplayers! Everywhere!

First con was Fanime which was 2005

While I can't say that Fanime itself has changed or the general crowd I did notice a huuuuuuuge shift in the online aspect of cosplay. Back then the photography aspect of cosplay wasn't that big of a deal. Not too many of us owned digital cameras and many uploads comprised of pictures taken from kodac cameras. In general we took photos as if we were making a scrapbook and were more concerned with just being in the photo than making the photo look good.

Another thing that was different was cosplay.com. Back then there weren't as many users who updated regularly therefore it was a lot easier for you picture to be seen. The comments section was used quiet often giving the place a nice sense of community. Pretty much if you cosplayed as a character someone liked you were going to get a favorable comment from someone.

I think one of the biggest shifts between then and today is how proactive cosplayers are when it comes to getting photos. Back then the photographer and the cosplayer never really interacted with one another and many people have had moments where they would get tons of photos of themselves at cons but can find a single picture. Photoshoots are very common and the practice of booking appointments for one during a con was unheard of back in the day.

Another big change is the lack of comments being posted on cosplay.com. Nowadays it feels like everyone is just simply uploading pictures of themselves while no one seems to be browsing. If you want comments the best place to go is deviantART or livejournal.

I started in 2006.

I didn't really get to explore alot of the community until after AX 2007. I probably missed alot of the good/fun stuff when or before I got into this hobby.

I started in 2004. I'm not going to say the community has changed a lot since then. When I started Naruto and Inuyasha were huge. Now it's Vocaloid and Hetalia. Meh. Cons are also constantly getting bigger.


I think we may have gotten crazier younger fans, or that could just be me forgetting I saw any when I was younger. My first few cons were a blur.

Hehe my first con someone asked for my signature... I'm pretty sure I signed a death note. Didn't even know what it was at the time but looking back I'm pretty sure that's what it was. I also remember blatantly staring at a man crossplaying as Sailor Venus. Aw man memories~