Can I start with saying that you absolutely must ask somebody for permission before you hug/glomp them?

Just because you never know if touching somebody could ruin their cosplay, they're not in the mood, and it's just plain polite to ask anyhow.

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Glomping (hugging)
To glomp is to forcefully or dramatically hug somebody, but often this is a weeb-like thing to do at a con, as most weeaboo’s think that this is a normal way of hugging, when actually what they do is either charge at a person from a distance to ‘hug’ them, squeeze the life out of somebody, or their glomp is so forceful they can end up bringing the victim to the floor. On top of that, weebs never ask permission to do so, so glomping is an attack move of the weeb. What makes it worse, is if a weeb glomps even gently, while still not asking permission just going for it, they will often smell bad, or use this as a way to steal a prop (see also, prop stealing). Glomping can also by an attack move of the non-shy creeper,
Advice on glomping is to always ask somebody for a hug, ‘Can I hug you?’ is a polite enough term, you never know if somebody’s cosplay is too delicate to, or if they really don’t want to. Also, to look for the signs that a weeb or creep may show when they are about to glomp you, should you be lucky enough to see it coming. A weeb or creep may, when they notice you, get wide eyes, often open their mouth wide, possibly drop any items they’re carrying, or hand them to friends. By this time, they are set into charging toward you, and now is the time to apply the glomping defence move. The right thing to do is to outstretch your arm as though to say ‘stop’, raising your hand, and firmly tell them not to touch you. However if you don’t get the chance to do this, try looking severely angry and disgusted, or get friends to help you. Sometimes, friends are the best defence.

Weeaboo (Weeb, weebs)
Weeaboo is a term for labelling somebody who acts a certain way, often a ‘new’ fan of anime, manga and Japanese culture or fashion, though the worst of them are often older and have just never grown out of the ‘new to it’ phase. The usual age for a person to be classed this way is 12-15 years old, where usually people are just getting into the scene, and so are new to it, becoming weebs. However, Weebs are becoming older more and more, and staying in this phase, usually within a group of friends there will be the one weeb, who hasn’t grown out of making ammatur actions and mistakes. For example, a group of 14 year olds discover Naruto, but growing up to discover new things and get to know the rights and wrongs of the scene, this one friend (or possibly all of them) will remain constantly obsessed, will still throw together bad cosplay as though they were 14, and will not know how to act socially with others or themselves. Commonly, Naruto, Bleach and some very popular anime’s are the biggest things that Weebs obsess over, also the Harajuku fashion, but weeb’s cannot dress properly, so never get it right.

^- I don't know quite what else to say on Weeb characteristics, there are SO many and I wanted to keep it short.

>>4636190
I think the key traits of the weeb are less being obsessed and more not knowing when to turn it the hell off, and disrespecting others.

So like, spurting anime catchphrases/"kawaii" BS/"Japanese" in public, failing to understand that cat ears and Naruto headbands are not a daily fashion accessory, that kind of thing.

And then "glomping", or deriding others' tastes for no damn reason, (particularly if they aren't Japanese), use of yaoi paddles. Generally bothering other people with their own obsession.

>>4636219
thanks! Yeah I'm writing this in no particular order right now, but good advice.

>>4636190
Let me help you with this.

"Weeaboo" refers to a species of bipedal parasite which shares aesthetic similarities with and are commonly mistaken for humans.

Several things set weeaboos apart from humans, not the least of which being their social habits which display what could only be called reverence for Japanese culture. This is in direct violation of my First Defining Law of Humanity, which states that no human could possibly revere a culture which believes that Batman can fly just because he has a cape.

It must be emphasized that consumption of Japanese products is not the same as reverence for Japanese culture. A person who watches Japanese cartoons or owns Japanese toys or games can be a human, while a person who works Japanese words into conversation with non-Japanese speaking humans is almost definitely a weeaboo.

EATING:

The jarring smell reported by many humans and observed by myself as emanating fro a weeaboo's mouth could only be attributed to some sort of corrosive acid, one which would most certainly negate the nutritional properties of any food ingested through the mouth before it finds its way to the stomach. Evidence suggests however that weeaboos do rely on food for nutrition like we do, and so I theorize that the weeaboo vagina contains a series of interlocking teeth and acts as a mouth in the case of eating.

It is easy to debate this theory by citing the fact that many humans have observed a weeaboo eating through its mouth in the same way that a human does. I attribute this common display to reverence for Japanese culture, which is of course a defining weeaboo trait. Given the chance, a weeaboo would naturally choose to emulate the eating habits of Japanese society, and by extension, humans.

It also must be noted that every one of these accounts have been reported by a human. Most people have at one time or another heard the question, "If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" I now ask the question if a weeaboo is hungry and there are no humans around to see it eat, does it not just cram the food up its vagina?

I was recently made to observe a ritual in which a flock of weeaboos held their hands over their heads and appeared to mime large ears flapping, doing so in time with a piece of what the Japanese call music. Since several animals and even some human cultures use similar displays to attract a mate it is understandable that many would mistake this ritual as having the same purpose, however I have seen no evidence to suggest that all "genders" of weeaboo do not have vaginas and so have ruled out sexual reproduction as a weeaboo trait. I theorize instead that the purpose of this "dance" is for each weeaboo to attract a smaller weeaboo for them to eat.

Deoderant/Antipersperant (n.) and Showers (n.)
This are some basic needs that a con-goer, cosplayer or not, should have.

There is no exception, even if a cosplayer thinks that they wake up every morning in their life smelling like flowers or the "I don't sweat" excuses, for a lack of use of deoderant/antipersperant. It's hygenic and also keeps cosplayers from ruining their costumes with nasty sweat pit stains. It also keeps people's eyes averted away from said stains. Con-goers, both cosplayers and non-cosplayers alike, should always be groomed and at least put some decent effort of being groomed. It doesn't have to be a religious "shower twice-a-day" thing, just enough for people not to have to deal with nasty odor or even just for a person's overall presentation of themselves, it should be beneficial. Once again, this is hygenic and will improve the con experience for them and everyone else around them.

>>4638422

actually, some of the stains are caused because of deodorant. I do alot of fashion shows and, as a rule, models are asked to go deoderant-less so that it doesn't affect the garments.

not defending the 'lol I don't need to wear deodorant!' party, but just throwin' that out there.

>>4638463
True, true. :D
I think it's generally to just to be somewhat decently groomed/don't smell like bleggh.

>>4638463
Don't give weeaboos any ammo! Also, If you find a good deodorant (I use a hypoallergenic gell deodorant because I am allergic to most) and I have never had a problem with stains as long as I let it dry before putting clothes on. (Takes a few seconds) It also has no scent but keeps you smelling nice.

>>4638422
The worst part about a lot of congoers is that they don't realize how bad they smell and how uncomfortable it makes people. Maybe instead of the "excuses" part of that section, say "even if you THINK you smell fine, make sure to take a shower every day and wear deodorant just in case." Because that removes people's "I'm not making excuses, I smell fine" stupidity. Just a thought.

>>4638479
>>4638485

Yup! Not going to lie- I was expecting a "UR SO WRONG WHATEVA DEODERANT DOESN"T STAIN" response. way to go anons on knowing irrelevant fashion knowledge.

Rule of thumb for cosplay and what I have models do when we have shows that involve outside, long time wearing, or otherwise chance of sweat (especially when in the middle of fashion show madness at the start of buying season and may not have the time to get every garment properly and completely cleaned)

Do very light application of gel deodorant, and then the spray. The spray has less chance of affecting the clothes. Then.. FUCK YES THOSE INSERTS. those are life savers. they also tend to take the blunt of the smell factor, too, so your clothes aren't permeated with the sweet sweet smell of sweat, just the inserts are.

>>4638503
Dude, remembering this. Thanks for the knowledge, anon.

>>4638492
That is true. It'll be just better to have a general, "just groom and put on deoderant (or whatever else) as long as you are decently clean.

>>4638529

No prob, bob. I'm here for the people.

>>4638534
"Decently clean" varies from person to person, though.
I frequent a comic book store an there is one man who constantly complains because the owners make him shower the Friday morning before he comes in to play but he thinks he's perfectly clean without one.
You can smell him from across the room. It's terrible. People tend to stay away from people who don't shower, but they don't even notice how bad they smell.

If I don't shower for a whole day I feel terrible and gross. I understand having to skip a day sometimes, it happens, but one should try to be as clean as they can be and make an effort to shower ASAP after skipping one.

ALSO! ALSO! Teeth brushing. It boggles my mind as to the bad breath congoers have because every hotel offers toothbrushes and tooth paste for free. And it's not expensive to buy them anyway -- it's definitely cheaper than a cosplay.

/hygiene rant

>>4638567
>to play
to play what?

Yaoi Paddles- Most of the people at cons are not into yaoi and yuri; we are aware of it and HATE to be harassed by people with them. I cosplay as a character who has a lot of yaoi fan-fiction and when I was paddled I broke the little shits paddle and nothing happened to be because technically I could have pressed charges. But it the fan girls were butt-hurt and I made my point that Yaoi paddling is a huge peeve that should never be tolerated.
Photography- For gods sake have dome manners. It is better to be overly polite than to be obnoxious. Many cosplayers wnat their photos taken(including myself) but when we get overexcited, obnoxious(see: Weeaboos) being overly enthusiastic and draining to be around it is a drag. Remember that we want to enjoy the cons as well and not have to cater to rambunctious people.
Seaguls vs. LARP- One of the things that causes unnecessary drama is the idea that cosplayers are in character and role playing; though in good fun this happens at times but it is not like a LARP where cosplayers are constantly in character in fact even if we are most of the time we are not. This is important to understand because if in character than you may act hostile in act. When there are those who assume this notion when it is not desired drama, tension, and annoyance are manifested and can go wrong very quickly. This leads to fights.
It's really quite simple have fun and don't be rude. Everybody wins.

>>4638575
Magic the Gathering. Sorry, that was a little ambiguous, wasn't it?

>>4638586
EVERYTHING YOU JUST SAID.
When I was at my first con, and quite a bit younger I might add, I was heavily into yaoi (I still enjoy it now but heavens I am not at all in anyone's face about it).
I (frivolously) bought a yaoi paddle. I carried it around but oh my god I could never imagine hitting anyone with it, especially without permission. I can't believe there are people out there who are that obnoxious. They make people like me who enjoy those things amongst my friends and refrain from throwing it in peoples' faces (or... their asses?) look bad.
TL;DR I bought something stupid a my first con, but heavy fangirls make me sad. :c

>>4638619
Well there are those people and there are people like you who enjoy what you do and don't make strangers involved in it. It's as I say to every subject; For every class/genre/stereotype/etc. there is the ignoramus' and the intellectuals; Shit tier and God tier; wild and controlled. Good to know you are in the positive spectrum. :]

Just throwing this out, but how about the con people who see you cosplaying a certain character and then proceed to attempt to take your 2+ hours talking about what they thought of the series? Or about their fanfiction??

I don't think it's wrong at all to approach someone, obviously you can make great small talk to bigger conversations starting off with talking about opinions on an anime or cosplay...but really, there's a limit to how much you should share about your Roxas and Axel smut that maybe that one Axel cosplayer might not feel comfortable to hear or are just short on time.

>>4638665
THIS. I did an Roxas and some weebgirl decided that because I like the game and the charactersi that i absolutely must want to listen to her yabber on and on for ages about her fanfictions both yaoi and hentai involving Roxas hand her OC, which, even though i consider myself very open-minded, made me very very VERY uncomfortable and she wouldn't stop even when i said i was a chick, she just gave me creepy elevator eyes and said she was bi *shudder of horror*

>>4638647
I conciser this one of the highest complements any person can give me. xD
Though I have become a very reserved person since my weeabo days.
People don't really notice me at cons. I've only had my picture taken twice. It was very flattering though, and they were very nice! So I've never had any bad experiences with photography. I've heard horror stories about bad photographers though...
>>4638665
>>4638687
Fanfiction pushers are the worst. I don't want to hear about how much Naruto loves your OC. I can't take it.
Also, I have nothing wrong with people being gay/straight/bi (I myself have always identified as bi). But it's the issue of FORCING IT ON OTHERS that I can't stand. I think most people's problems with fangirls (actually, a lot more than just fangirls) comes down to just that.
There are places where that is welcome and hopefully they'll realize -- or someone will tell them -- that it is so much better received there.

>>4638741
I have nothing against bi people either (having had a few relationships with women) however i was the content of her ranting that made me very uncomfortable, bordering on freaked. My anime club has recently aquired our first true weeb and lo and behold she has pronounced me her seme (grrr at her misuse of the term) and to make it worse she is underaged. this is happening to often for my liking. I've saved quite a few members from becoming true weebs but she is beyond salvation.
PROTIP never mix weebs cosplay and drinking, you will not like where it ends up.

>>4638751
I figured it was just the content of her ranting, but the fact that she threw the bi part in as if it makes it okay irks me.
Oh man, that sucks.
Just be like, "if I'm you're seme I get to do whatever I want to you" and just punch her in the face.
Or something less violent.
But seriously.
Do that.

Really I've always figured all people need to know is somethign like this:

You're perfectly allowed to like or dislike whatever you do.
You can like yaoi, yuri. you can be convinced only canon couples should ever be allowed, you can consider 2 characters your one true pairing oryou can utterly despise a character.
This is all perfectly fine.

The thing is, we're all different people and we all have DIFFERENT likes and dislikes.
No not every cosplayer or random congoer is going to like or dislike this series and this or that pairing as much as you do.
Contrary to some people's beliefs, this is perfectly normal and no reason for them to need to be re-educated. And needless to say, they like hearing about the things they dislike as little as you do.

Basiccally put, your own like/dislike/obsession is perfectly okay, we all have them. What's not okay is making everyone in a 20 meter radius privy of it wether they like it or not, pushing it on everyone you talk too, or causing bodily harm because of it. (Wether it'd be fighting, yaoi paddling any sort of ehtusiastic glomping or something else.)

Don't scream, don't hit people, don't glomp, ask before hugging, and talk about a series or game in general first before carefully gauging if this person might like the same pairing/any particular part of the fandom/whatever you do.
And should they not, accept it.

Combine this with basic hygiene and generally trying to be polite and you'll be one marvelous congoer.