>>4716295
You're an old fuck. Don't bother cosplaying, you peeeedo.

>>4716295
Yeah its time for you to move on, you're don't want to be some loser 30 years old faggot watching cartoons, do you? GROW THE FUCK UP

>>4716300
>>4716319
you left your trip on

>>4716295

Move on to Comic/Scifi cons anon. It's the best thing for you, older more chill crowd. I'm in my mid-twenties and still feel like jailbait at Dragon*Con.

what Captcha those numbers are upside down.

>>4716295
Fucking faggot.

>>4716300
>>4716319
>>4716339
Uh, ten...your samefag is showing. And where are your reaction images at?

>>4716338
Yeah, I've heard a few people tell me Dragon*Con is more along my lines. It's pretty close, and I have a friend that could let me crash in his room, so I think Dragon*Con is a score.

>>4716339
You're an extremely unique and creative individual.

>>4716352
it's a fake
this is the real trip
i feel like a tool for having to post this

>>4716337
Its not her, just a troll ripping her trip.

>>4716352
I don't have time for that! Removing my trip and name soon. Thanks for the reminder.

>>4716359

Just expect to spend a decent amount on the badge. They're 120 at the door this year, 105 if you buy before the 15th.

Though considering it's officially five days (Thursday-Monday) now and the guests they manage to get, it's worth it.

Pretty sure this is a troll. Most of the things listed haven't been features of conventions for a couple years now. Don't remember the last con I was at that had more than 2 l's, not to mention emo has long since developed into a multitude of other obnoxious subcultures. And none of the major cons still allow signs.

I would say San Diego Comic Con but for one it's hard to get tickets unless you enlist the help of someone else. For two it has progressively gone downhill, a victim of its own popularity.

>10 fucking billion L's from Death Note.

In 2011? People still do this? I thought the craze was over.

Also:
>ect
You are way too old and probably too well-educated (what with the serious-ing up about college and all) to still not know that it's e-t-c, not e-c-t, so I'm assuming that this was a typo.

Cons are just different now. People don't go to watch anime, we can do that at home.

Deathnote, Naruto, and Bleach being everywhere will happen when they're popular and easier on construction. Don't tell me that back in 1999-2003 there wasn't a really popular anime a lot of people cosplayed. Especially not when it's easy to make.

The shouting is stupid, I'll agree. But whatever. It's a community. The Game isn't even relevant anymore. It's fucking Butt Scratcher. have you even been to a con this year?

"Emos" are the new punk rock. I'm sorry stylish people like the same things as you know. You gonna complain about how the only people who like your obscure cutting edge anime are pbr sipping hipsters, too?

Signs are banned at most cons.

Moeblob is the new harem shit. Deal with it. K-On and Lucky Star are just the new Ranma and Love Hina.

Fuck off. I'm sorry that everyone doesn't walk in single file to events anymore. There's nothing wrong than dancing around with people, playing the part of your cosplay, or just being active in general as long as you're careful about not running into people. Yeah, Caramel Dansen is stupid. You should still fuck off.

>>4716387
also oldfaggin' it in here
i can assure you if you talked or brought up EMO in 99' or 2000 people would most likely ask about bands like Rites of Spring, Dag Nasty and the likes

the current fucktard EMO is definitely a newer bastardized term/scene, also I don't know what con's you go to but I still a plentiful supply of l's and tons of signs even though they are banned.


to OP, yeah you need to check out the more scifi oriented cons, dragon*con is definately a must

>>4716295
oh I know how you feel.

I used to like cons, well my first and weirdest one was probably around 2000, first time to see NGE ... in cinema *weee*

Yes, there ALWAYS were a lot of weirdos. When Naruto still was "underground" there barely were cosplay, maybe 1 sasuke and a lot of random cosplays ranging from ok to hell yes.

Now.
Naruto Cosplays ranging from omfg my eyes to "there goes my breakfast from 2 days ago"
Bleach Cosplays from "wat" to "WHAT
L's from all Genders all ages all body sizes *some sucking their toes <_<*
not "emo" here, but "Visual K" ... emos with more accessories
u mean those free hugs signs ? we have them too, mostly carried either by disgusting ale hambeasts zits everywhere. or (cute) preteens (pedobait they are called over here) to teens revealing way to much skin for "free hugs" (hell some hookers were more)

Till now I just saw one fatfuckhambeast habbo that got a lot of wtf looks.

yes i am 30 too. I feel like I am getting to old for these austrian cons. cosplays instead of getting better, get worse ... hey somebody smaller than me with same body size in swatpants, female with huge (f)tits, tank top jumping on the stage screaming "ore wa gackto desuh" *i still rage at here when I see here coming out of the japanese class D:

While at AX 2011 I noticed all that you have noticed but I am 8 years younger yet still feel as you do. The conclusion I came to was simple. Anime has been on a rise and is clearly growing by the year in popularity. But you cannot expect to see 10 year old animes all over the place as if we were still in the 90's. What happens is the people who are die hard fans and love anime that is not all the mainstream rage often cannot afford to go because their money is spent on anime and the people who go, do so to socialize with other main cliques which are going to be mainstream. But you know what? With the 10' of 1000's of people there why do you bother with all the people of that caliber when there are more people like you there is you simply look?

>>4716406
I think AWA in 2001 was the year of the Animal Magnetism.

Also Angel Sanctuary and Final Fantasy 7 was pretty over populated.

I doubt this was recent.

Naruto, Bleach, and Death note have actually died down.

>>4716415
damn .. proofread fail <_<

I find the anime convention scene to be very high schoolish, immature, and cliquey. People are not friendly unless you fit into some social category. You may as well not cosplay unless your outfit is just about perfect, as handmade as possible, and your body is totally fit and attractive.

You try to start up conversations with people at anime conventions and you get dirty looks because you don't look a certain way.

I prefer the sci-fi conventions. People are more mature and laid-back, they're more friendly and less judgemental. Yes there are some jerks, but for the most part everyone will at least have a decent conversation with you.

>>4716295
Wasn't Naruto getting big around 2003?

I digress, you missed the HUGE Bleach and Naruto wave a few years ago things have balenced out as the huge cosplay series are Hetalia, Pokemon, Tohou and Homestruck. I would agree that most of your list is true minus the amount of L's as Death Note cosplay has been on a huge decline along with Host Club.

>>4716450
I highly doubt that. It's the same shit everywhere, regardless of fandom.

Well, the older you get, the younger the other fans get. Classic anime tastes are less prominent now of course, and moeshit and the big 3 (Bleach, One Piece, and Naruto) are of course going to be seen everywhere. And yes, you are going to have retarded underaged /b/fags yelling out memes everywhere. At AX, a bunch of Hetaliatards kept yelling out "YOU JUST LOST THE GAME" and there were people with reaction face masks everywhere. It's ... eh. I enjoy being with my friends and buying figures, so I try to filter that stuff out.

D*Con and Wondercon would probably be the better choices.

>>4716450
>You try to start up conversations with people at anime conventions and you get dirty looks because you don't look a certain way.

Chances are that you're talking to the wrong people or you say some truly bizarre shit. You're already coming off as bitter, people can usually pick up on that.

>>4716481

Gaming focused stuff tends to be a lot more a long this. People are there to play together and have fun, but generally you also don't have things like dealer's rooms, artists alleys, or a lot of cosplay.

You have to deal with different kinds of problems, though. The whole unwashed sperg thing actually is still a problem at gaming conventions, where as it's very isolated at anime cons.

>>4716450

Go to smaller cons. You get a con of 30k people, a lot of them people who aren't apart of the "core" demographic, and they're not their to meet people and talk to much. That's just the way it is.

Okay, I'm from the South East, so maybe we're abit behind on the times? Too much debate, don't want to turn this into drama time, so I'll talk about some oldfag tl;dr times:

I remember playing chu chu rocket till 4am at Katsucon 007. I remember Commander Hacok, Kat's Outenkun cosplay, Yiddish Dirty Pair, Orgy mailing list, Kevin Lillard and A Fan's view being at like every convention. The asshole Pope Hentai, Foam wig era Derek, AFO when it started, Jacon when it started. Meeting AnimEigo (back when AE had a chat room then when it closed fellow chatter Neo-Alec opened up Neo-Alec chatoom then he went on to open J-Fan) chatter Felis Concolor at NDK. Lindze and others awesome Animal Magentism costumes at Katuson. Also the biggest cosplays I remember from back then was: Angel Sanctuary, Final Fantasy 7 and 8, Trigun. I did see one or two Kakashi's from Naruto around 2003. The one cosplayer was that dude who had the Kenshiro scar tattoo on his chest, straight edge X's tattoo on his arm.

>>4716511
What are some smaller con's, again, I use to think AFO or NDK was a small con, but that isn't the case anymore. I need you guys to tell me what the smaller con's are and where.

>>4716546
Katsucon really hasn't taken the hit that, say, Otakon has. It has it's annoying shit, but there's not a lot of people shouting and the cosplay is always varied.

It's still a 20 something party con, though.

>>4716546
Also I'm pretty sure his name was Captain Havok? I think he was the main guy behind Orgy Mailing List? I remember he did a Alabama Man costume from the South Park episode.

>>4716563
Small cons outside your region are hard to hear about.

Like, I only know about Virginia for small cons, in which case it's Neko, AMA, MAGFest, and Richmond Comic Con. Depending on what you consider small, AUSA and Katuscon might be for you, too.

>>4716605
Maybe I will, I was only ever able to make it up as far as Katuscon for Katsucon 007. That was where I saw the Jet Set Radio, and Animal Magnetism group.

Also I do remember a very popular cosplay back then. Di Gi Charat was getting pretty popular before I went off to college.

Thanks, Dragon*con in SEPT and Katsucon in Feb (2012) for me so far.

>>4716563

Animecons is a good resource - they list cons by the dates or you can search for it by region too. However, it's not perfect since they don't list /every/ con so you'll still want to ask around depending on where you live or how far you are willing to travel.

This year's Otakon will mark my 10th year going to cons, and the only thing that's changed between my first con and my latest cons are which characters get massively overdone.

I remember a couple of years (04-05 prob) where there were at least 100 Vash the Stampedes and 100 Wolfwoods running around. Wolfwood especially was susceptible to the 10 million variation cosplays: Jewish Wolfwood, Black Guy Wolfwood, etc.

somewhere in that timeline was when every girl no matter her size and attractiveness level decided to cosplay Yuna and Rikku and, to a lesser extent, Lulu. 99% of them were disgusting. Fat rolls squeezing out under a rainbow bikini top, flat, pancakey boobs being hoisted upwards by fur-lined corsets in clear defiance of gravity and decency.

Also around that time was probably the heydey of the yaoi paddle - 'free hugs' and '$1 for yaoi' - YOU LOST THE GAME bullshit. When Otakon cracked down on that shit, they cracked down hard. I have basically never seen another sign or yaoi paddle since about 2006.

When Naruto started getting played on TV in the states, it was like everyone forgot FFX had ever existed and go right on the orange jumpsuit, pink hair, sharingen train. Everyone was Naruto one year. Girl Naruto, fat naruto, duct tape Sasuke, that fat kid who eats the chips, I've seen 'em all.

Two years later, it was bleach. Now, it's hetalia, because fat girls love nothing more than an excuse to dress like men and scream catchphrases at each other. Within two years, I guarantee the next yaoi wank-fest or shounen DBZ ripoff derivative will appear and it will be as if Ichigo and Italy never existed.

Cosplay... cosplay never changes.

>>4716766
Man this is so true. I remember commenting to a friend that no con is complete without a Vash and a Sephiroth running around. Now it's getting real hard to spot them. While I do agree that there will always be trends, trends seem to be less centralized as usually three to four series get really popular while five to six of them get a steady following that holds strong. I remember when FF8 was getting tons of buzz mainly Rinoa and Sailor Moon was the go to series for female costumes.

Other trends I remember, Kingdom Hearts became really huge after the second game

>>4716766
You sir are a man among men.

This is true though. This Otakon will be my third Otakon, and my seventh convention. I started going when things were just getting retarded. It was right when Death Note got popular, and I saw Bleach everywhere but didn't know what it was.
Signs everywhere.

I do have one question though for the older congoers-- have the incidents of violence been on the rise at cons in the last ten years?
I've been reading con horror stories on various websites, in order to get pumped for Otakon, and it seems like there are more and more hambeast attacks then ever.
This is a serious question-- have people been getting more violent at cons over the years, or is it basically the same?
pic from Ota 09 on my shitty phone. So much Phoenix Wright that year.

>more and more hambeast attacks then ever.

In 2004 I convinced my brother to cosplay Heero from Gundam Wing so I wasn't alone as Duo. This is back when the series was on TV and was probably the most well-known mecha anime next to NGE.

We were standing in the main entrance way later in the evening, just shooting the shit, probably waiting for a showing to start (GTO live maybe? This was the year they screened it at Ota), when across the hall, echoing across the convention center, we hear this disjointed, wheezy bellow:

"HEEEEEEEEEEERROOOOOOO!"

We look up to see this MASSIVE, gargantuan beast of a woman THUNDERING toward us in a stained, cheap-looking dress and off-center wig, just galloping right at us like a charging hippopotamus. I now know what deer feel like staring down the glare of an oncoming semi. My brother froze with fear, paralyzed by the horror to come, and this unpopped zit of a woman just barreled into him at full speed, knocking him over in the process, screaming the entire time. I think if he hadn't managed to get his wits about him and chew her out she would have tried to get impregnated right there on the con floor.

This was 2004, mind you, in the heady, wild days of youtube's birth, before the days of wall-to-wall manga sections in Borders. And here was this hambeast, this destroyer of men, lurking in the con halls even then.

I've... I've seen some shit, man.

>ITT us oldfags complain about the current state of things

Remember "chair"? God, I sure do. Now when I accompany my wife to these things... kids. Nothing but small, prattling, annoying children. And less money at the end of the month.

No wonder I spend most of my time sitting at the bar, throwing them back like Bruce Willis in Last Man Standing...

>>4716766
This year was my tenth Fanime.

and yeah, I cosplayed wolfwood back in the day. I wonder if there's any photos of said wolfwood cosplay.

Man, I miss the day.

>>4717158
someone actually made a Chair AMV one year. I'm still looking for it online.

Hell,do they even show This is Otakudom at otakon anymore? I doubt the babbies of today would even get the jokes. The Chair reference (overdoneius jokeius) always makes me laugh, but I think it's me and some grey haired folks chuckling it up while the rest of the kids don't get it :(

I graduated to other types of convention, to be honest.

Gaming cons (like PAX) and scifi cons seem to have a much older and more mature demographic. The costumes tend to be better, and you don't have kids screaming internet memes all the time.

OP, are you me?

I hadn't gone to an anime convention since Animagic 2002 (had hit all the AX, Fanime, and AM between 2000-2002), SDCC/Dragon*Con types only, and I went to Anime Expo this year for the first time in ten years.

Holy jesus I am dissapoint, guise.

>>4717170
I'm sure it's unfunny as fuck. Like the majority of little weebs. God I hate weeaboos. Breathe my air. Take up my space. Waste my time and bother me.

Do I look like I wanna fuckin' be your friend? Don't fucking touch me, you sweaty fuck! Take your goddamn shitty Jap cartoons with your low framerate and terrible fucking Jap RPGs to someone who gives a damn.

You know, /cgl/... I wasn't always so bitter. I used to be a nice kid. Got along with everyone. Hell, I'd have even given you the shirt off my back, if only for your fat fucking weeb of a girlfriend to oggle my well-developed abdomen.

Now, when I look at you I just want to drive you out to the middle of the fucking desert and make you dig your own goddamn grave.

>>4717238

Shut up Matt. You always were an asshat. Even your "wife" agrees behind your back.

>>4717238
Fuck off matt. I'll give you a beating next time I see your goofy face. Say hello to your fat wife for me.

>>4717238
Love how you insult weebs and Jap shit even though you cosplay from Resident Evil which is a game made in Japan.

>>4716295
>Fucking signs. When did this sign horeshit epidemic happen?

Signs are banned at almost every convention I've been to in the last five years.

>>4717263

His wife is many things, but she's definitely not fat.

More like "needs to eat a sammich".

>>4717263
Gonna have that neckbeard Zack brandishing his shotgun, too? You have fun with that, daisy.

>>4717278
Don't mind him. Just some fat weeb. Either that or one of his fatass friends or his cunt girlfriend.

>>4717590
Totally ignored my comment I see. Such a hypocrite, you call out people for liking Japanese shit then cosplay Resident Evil.

I felt the same way, I'll tell you what the problem was and is. The older generation both not letting go of a phantasy and two thinking they can control, manipulate and feed off the popularity by creating drama. Most cosplayers are scum of the Earth, a lot just don't know better and some just do it for fun. If you'd stay you'd witness your generation ruining cosplay for the younger generation.

>>4717674
This is getting old. Either fight me or go to bed, fuckup.

>>4717707
No clever counter argument? Ladies and gentlemen, lacking any resistance to defend himself Marsh has openly admitted and shown how big of a hypocrite he is. You sure love those Resident Evil games that come from Japan. You love them so much you show off your Chris Redfield costume numerous times.

I'd love to fight you, why don't you post a list of cons you're going so we can throw down while the dirty jap loving masses you adore so much watch on?

>>4717707
Where do you live? You look like a faggot little nerd with a bad crew cut and glasses. I'll smack your glass and let it shatter.

>>4717590
LOL beta faggot.

- fat
- glasses
- hands in his pocket
- bad haircut

nerds will be nerds

>>4717770
Hey fag I pull off fat glasses hand in pocket bad haircut nerd without being beta. Go fuck yourself kid.

>>4717960
>smoker
>not beta

Pull the other one, it's got bells on.

>>4717978

>>4717738

>Smack your glass and let it shatter.

What the fuck are you trying to say?

>>4717978

I'm relatively new to conventions (first one I went to was in 2008)

But I know how you feel about the anime. I watched Inuyahsa, Rurouni Kenshin, Orphan, Cowboy Beebop and all of those shows when I was growing up. I went to my first convention expecting to see that and all I saw was Naruto, Death Note, Bleach and all this other gimmicky shit.

Why do all Emo's have to like anime?

Who cares, it's just a big mixing bowl now with more popular shit being cosplayed more. If anything it just makes the costumes from less popular series more valuable since it's so scarce.

>>4716946
>Sham-wow guy and Billy mays.

And as it anime keeps growing the amount of people cosplaying will increase.

So who cares if the majority of the new people do typical Bleach stuff.

sure is 2008 in here.

>>4717197
Gamers have their own brand of immature faggotry.

Don't know about the SciFi crowd.

>>4717270
lol, RE? That piece of shit of a series?

Turning 26 this year. I totally agree with OP. and i only STARTED going to cons in 2003. It's like some cultural black hole opened up and is draining humanity. Either that or some jackhole gave Slenderman a call before summoning Cthulu and finally legalizing ALL sex offenses. I don't see this change only happening at conventions, it's happing across the board.

When I went to cons in the 2004-2008 years, the signs (and friggin' yaoi paddles) were epidemic, but some cons were banning them.

I figured it was the kids, the 14-16 crowd. I mean what's so squeal-worthy about a yaoi paddle? It seems like the fanbase has moved steadily younger.

>>4718732

Lots of cons got into the habbit of banning signs over the last few years, or having the people with signs kicked to a different area of the convention center.

Heck, at one con a guy made a sign for "free high fives" just because he got sick of all the "free hugs" hambeasts.

He got so many people wanting to slap him five, that he single-handedly got the "huggers" to quit.

I feel like the gender ratio has changed. A decade ago the typical con-goer was a 20-30 comic book store guy type, fat, unshowered, lived in parents basement, obsessed with minor details of obscure shows. Always proud to know something more obscure than you did. Women who were there seemed the more desperate "there will be a lot of desperate, easy guys here" types. The occasional Lum cosplayer went to be worshipped by drooling masses.

Now it's more a 14-18, social awkward hambeast type, squealing, glomping, and what not.

Weight and social awkwardness seem to be the defining traits, either way.

I admit these things are horrific, but the times change. You can't expect old anime series and old memes and old fashions to stay relevant after 10 years.