I fucking love stickers.
And really, nothing you can buy at a convention is of any practical use.

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I don't often buy merch at cons, but I did once pick up a pack of Get Backers playing cards.

Almost never play card games, and in fact I have not even opened the case to look at them. GB rocks so no regrets, though.

Pencilboards.

Collectable but impractical.

Dude, stickers are cool.
You can stick them on things and hope that a fellow fan recognizes them.

You know what's useless? Trading cards.
No one fucking does that anymore.

>>6414816
A single figure of a ensemble group.

[spoiler]A Meduka figure is kinda lame without the other 3 magical girls[/spoiler].

I always end up buying a bunch of posters from artist alley. Before I just used them to make a weaboo shrine over my bed, but now that my room actually looks acceptable, I just have a big folder of them in my closet. I still can't stop buying them though.

I dream of having a a small room in an apartment that I can just deck out to a horrendous extreme with anime merchandise, and then hide from everyone. It will be my weeb paradise.

>>6414831
Eh, but what if you don't like the others?

Photographs of a cosplayer that you can easily see online.

>>6414840
i'd have to agree. that and prints, especially ones that are available on the person's site. yeah, they're not giant billboard quality, but hell, you could probably still get a decent result spit out by your printer.

Crafts from the alley. They might look so unique and cool but when you get home you realize that you're wearing a fucking expensive sloppy-looking Sailor Moon earrings.

I only buy figurines and plushies. Those aren't useful either, really, but at least it feels good owning them.

I feel kind of guilty since I sell bookmarks and cards with my friends, and take art requests. It all sells so well. But I just have no idea why people buy that shit.

>>6414875
I usually buy the prints to support the artist

Prints from Artist Alley. Why the fuck even?

>>6414798 (OP)
Masks

BUTTONS
DEAR GOD
GUMDROP BUTTOMS

>>6415291

I actually collect buttons, I get a new one or five at every con and pin them to my lucky hat.

>>6415123
Agree. Commissions I get, if you've got ideas but no skill. But prints are pretty pointless. 90% of the time they're just below-average fanart. I can print out pixiv art for 2 cents, why would I want your sameface Hetalia crew?

>>6415112
>>6415123
>>6415121
You gotta support the locals.

poky

>>6415123
Seriously prints. Except for a couple mature, well-designed things I can't imagine that these are worth it.

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I got so excited when I saw these Fate/Zero straps at Fanime. It was the first merch I saw of it in the states. I spent $24 on each blind box and was stoked to pull Lancer and Suit Saber. But besides tying onto my con badge these things are pretty damn useless. They're two inches tall, big and rubber and are supposed to be put on DSs and cell phones which would just be obnoxious. I'd give them a keyring and put them on my keys but my keychains just get beat up and dirty too easily.

Those perler bead pixel art things are kinda sweet when you see them but I can't use them for more than fridge magnets. They're too fragile for much else.

This post covers a lot of the big ones.

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2012/06/the_8_worst_types_of_merchandise_on_sale_at_every.php

I enjoy stickers and buttons, if they're neat. I probably shouldn't. They serve no purpose.
But I usually avoid prints. A waste of money for things that usually aren't too terribly well executed. And the ones that look nice, yes they look nice, but that's about all. All the really fancy ones that I see are sold by the same artists year after year after year, so even I'm bored of them and I don't even own their stuff.

Once I bought a print. And I framed it and hung it up on my wall and I love it. But only once. And even then it wasn't anime or anything. Some lady drew some amazing dragons.

Mainly... anything you can buy in the artist ally is pretty useless, is kind of my rule of thumb. Look but don't buy. If I wanted stuff from a series, I'd buy stuff from the dealer's room. Not fanart.

Who's that one person who draws those same-face kawaii uguu shiny shiny pinka pinka Photoshop lens flare prints and sells them at EVERY CON IMAGINABLE? The weebs eat the art up even though it's just super shiny stand alone character pics with boring poses. I think they got in huge trouble at Otakon one year for buying 12 tables under several names.

>>6415421

I'm >>6415123, and I admit that I once bought a print. But, it was a funny one, of a drunk as hell Sailor Moon drawn in thick lines and block colours, flipping the bird and yelling "In the name of the moon, FUCK YOU". I bought it for my cousin, who is the biggest Moon fan ever, and he framed it.

>>6415476

Oh shit, I know who you mean. Youmacon got wise to them I think, and told them to get a vendor booth, because I didn't see them there this year.

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>>6415419
>mfw weapons and nerdy shirts

>>6415476
>>6415499
Ah yes, Ramy and Amuria.

The only useful thing I've bought at a con was a handmade pair of earrings in the shape of mushrooms from Mario. I love the fuck out of those earrings.

Useless stuff I've bought includes buttons, posters of things I'm not really a fan of, and printouts of little known webcomics signed by the author.

Pins, fan-art posters, playing cards, and fans with characters on them.

Nowadays I only buy figures and plushies.
Anything Gintama, I'll buy it. I guess that's still useless sometimes...

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What everyone else is saying and the summer fans you can get with some anime series on them see useless too, especially at cons during winter. This is what I got at my last convention. Personally buying the melon pan was pretty useless if only because I didn't like it. The fate/zero keychains are also useless but so cute and I got Waver and Rider. I saw some tiny Lamento figures but they were asking a shit ton of money for them.

Honestly the most useful stuff to buy at cons for me is the sweets and I recently discovered how amazing a half sized dakimakura is. Best thing I ever bought at a con so far.

Buttons/stickers/badly made accessories that I get quilted into buying because I chatted with the (usually lolita) artist for too long.

I usually buy anything Sgt. Frog related.

Playing/trading cards, wall scrolls, and plushies...

I've gotten out of the trading card thing but damnit I own over 400 cards from different series. I've also gotten out of the wall scrolls because I run out of space for them.

Plushies are harder because I love them... the only reason I don't own a ton is that after a few months I give them to my friends for their birthdays...

Those stupid trading cards that have no value.

I remember I would always get so fucking disappointed when one would pop up in one of my grab bags.

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>>6415800
>mfw everytime I buy and open a grab bag
Every Goddamn Time

>>6415799
I have 1,300 Pokemon cards... There is no such thing as too many trading cards!

Grab Bags.

>>6416196
One of my friends got me a grab bag, and it turned out they just stuffed the entire 50 Shades Of Grey trilogy in there.

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>>6419609

>go to con
>go to an artist who worked on the Buffy comics
>haggle him to shit
>get artwork
>1 week later it is folded in two under a stack of movies

and so buying artwork is my number one most useless shit. unless it's a piece you just have to have, it'll go to waste.

>>6419665

Worst grab bag I got had the following:

Broken Gurren Lagan keychain
Issue 6 of a manga I've never heard of, nor had anyone else in our group
3 packs of a japanese card game that got canned after it's first set
6 Sailor Moon finger puppet things
Shit ton of stickers
Vinyl Statue of Freddie Kruger
Other shit I just gave away

$40 bag. Worthless. I've had some great ones though, but man did that one just suck ass.

>>6415291
I picked up one that says "CAUTION: Fanfiction in Progress" at a con, it made me chuckle a bit.

>>6415419

>(8) Weapons

What bugs me about this one is that some of these dealers don't check ID's on the people who buy these weapons.

Licensed stationary products that are so expensive you'll never use it.

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>>6415640
>mfw you got the pillow I almost bought but decided not to because of pride.

>>6419742
They're legally suppose to.
I remember talking with another vendor at a convention. He sells weapons and always checks ID. Another vendor was selling live steel weapons, including to kids. Some 13 year old bought a sword from the guy, and when his parents came to pick him up, shit hit the fan. The convention banned any sellers from selling weapons directly at that convention, and any weapons that were paid for at con, had to be shipped to the customer's address.

Apparently the vendor who was selling to underage kids has apparently been banned for cons and always tries to sneak back in to sell again by changing his business name. He had the balls to try to do it at the same con he sold the live steel sword to the kid, the other vendor who shared the story was there and basically warned the con about the guy as soon as he saw him, and the other vendor was promptly removed from the con.

>>6415419
I can see safety wise why not to sell weapons, but they are some classy decorations. And T-shirts are always good to sell, no matter how cheesy you think they are.

Plushies. Always crazy over-priced.

And those little boxes with random mini figures of a series. Only cause a vendor persuaded my friend into spending $35 on a full set of Hetalia ones a few years back when she was still into the series, and we cried laughing opening them. A few were missing arms and stands, were on mismatched bodies and painted incorrectly.

Yaoi/Yuri/Uke-Seme Paddles. I know most conventions stopped / can't sell them anymore. but that.. just ugh...

Airsoft guns. I've been to a few cons where there were dealers selling Airsoft guns (Accessories included)

As far as Art prints and stuff go, I see nothing wrong with it. it's getting your name out there, and making profit off something you enjoy doing.

For me, the most useless stuff is calendars of cosplayers (YaYa anyone?) And this was at a convention in September, And it was for THE SAME YEAR. Not next year, THE SAME YEAR. Seriously.. Who is going to buy one when in a few months, it's useless?

Prints of cosplayers as well. Unless that cosplayer is there and you want it autographed, It's pointless otherwise.