Not much of an effect.
Just woulda spent those weekends studying, gaming, our out on the town.

If I never got into cosplay I would still be extremely quiet and more awkward without any friends, really.

I'm much more social and happier with all the people I meet and fun times I've had

I don't think I wouldn't have gotten into cosplay. I like reading manga and I like dressing up, match made in heaven?

I've never cosplayed -_-

>Would you be a different person altogether?

Nope.

I would not know how to sew.

>>4873578

Pics of u in cosplay or ure just a piplup.

I would be a lot lonelier. Most of the friends I have now I met through cons or through said con friends.

The ones I had as a kid I drifted apart from. Some of them sad drunks and drug addicts. Maybe I'd be wasting away with them.

I would've never met a certain someone.
I probably would've gone to a college further away.
And I'd have a lot more money.

That's about it.

If I didn't get into conventions, anime, and other things like that honestly I would have been like everyone else in this area. Jeans/Shirt, Ugg Boots, Starbucks cup in hand, giant sunglasses. I would have gave into pressure and started dating assholes like my best friend did. Ugh. I don't even like thinking about it. I have a lot less friends now, but the ones I do have are amazing and actually have common sense. I like geeks and I like being a geek. I'm very lucky I turned out this way, it humbled me.

i'd have a lot more money
probably would lack a couple of friends though

Good question OP, nice to something different on the board.

For me, I'm in the "old" category. So, I'm not your average teen finding themselves. Growing up I've lived 3 different personalities, all of them conflicting but if you knew me they all fit.

Athlete, artist and weaboo(power level was always low due to previous stated hobbies). So, for me depending on who I was with I would talk about different interests. I already know that if no one had introduced conventions to me, I feel that I would have gravitated it anyways just cause of my love for Sailor Moon. No one introduced that to me, I loved it on my own.

For the friend side of it, I've never had an anime friend really stick with me through out the years. Only through cosplaying do I have a friend, but it's really not the same. I'm referring to my friends that went with my to my first con and we'd have anime nights. I don't keep touch with them at all any more. I feel that they didn't change me because the friendship was short lived. They did influence my weaboo stage though... I really kept anime and my other hobbies separate.

As far as my life w/o cosplay... I think I would still love anime. If you asked me a year ago, could I give it up. I'd have said sure. Now I don't think I could easily, I really enjoy the time I spend with my partner and the creative aspect. I love learning new things.

Do I think I'd be a different person? If I had grown up w/ cosplay I know that it would have changed me. Because I am grown up and cosplay it's different. I'm sad that I found after I my career decisions but there's nothing that I can change, and honestly I think it was for the best.

pic unrelated

I probably wouldn't have gotten into ABJD's or costuming. My sewing wouldn't have improved, I wouldn't have the friends I do now.

I probably would never have gotten up to Maryland for a chance to meet my long-time online friend, who I have now been dating for almost a year.

Who knows what I would be doing instead. Maybe off at college? or more depressed without my two main hobbies. I wonder what would have replaced cosplay and bjd's as my main hobbies...

I'd probably have $3000 less in camera gear and therefore $3000 more in my pocket.

I was kinda already drifting towards Lolita when I met the "friend" who'd act as my catalyst. Unfortunately, she and I are no longer keeping in contact; on account of MY belief that two times in a row is too many times to stand a person up.
But if I never found the style, I wouldn't have the friends I have now. I wouldn't have the understanding of fabrics and lace. I wouldn't have the ability to tolerate people I don't understand or like quite so much. (OH YES, Seagulls. Being teased has actually made me NICER. I know how it feels and don't pass it on.)
So all in all, because of Lolita, I leave my house and accept Ugg-Boot loving hecklers for who they are.
Woo yeah.

So I just cosplay, no lolita... it's 11 years now.

Well, I got myself into it and then turned some people. Those friends probably would be out of my life now without cosplay. I made some great new friends through cosplay... I'd have a hell of a lot more money and animation cels now, and probably would have created more stories and paintings because of the free time. Why do I do this again?

Life without cosplay would be a life without worries. I've been a long time fan of anime, I've been into it since I remember, but only started to cosplay after I entered university. So my personality, social life and everything else were not influenced by cosplay in the least.