So recently I was contacted by an individual who is a regular con attendee at Power Morphicon Convention. He was asking me to become friends with a woman who lives in SoCal (despite the fact I live in the Bay Area) and bring them to the next PMC (he is from the NY area but attends a number of CA conventions). Upon pressing further it turns out he

1. Only knew said person via online gaming in 2012
2. Something he did lead her to cut off contact and block him, however he has alternative accounts so he can still see her public facing profile
3. He says it’s his “mission” to meet up with her as he’s “changed” however he needs me to get her to come without telling her that he’s the real reason why
4. Claiming that “she just needs to learn to forgive” without considering how illegal or creepy what he is trying to do is. How it’s on her to forgive so that he can feel better
5. Additionally ignoring my repeated No’s, saying that he will protect me and that nothing is illegal if it works, stating “if the mission is successful nothing will go wrong”. He repeated the word “mission” constantly
6. He acts as if this whole thing is a military mission and that he is a commanding general despite never having served. He even uses a “general” nickname (and cosplays a spartan). He honestly seems like a significant narcissist who has basically decided other people exist just to be used, also that women are just objects and only matter as items to him

Furthermore I’ve been made aware he has been contacting others to get them to do the same thing, as well as done things to others. I’m not posting his socials as they contain his real name but the information I’ve posted should make it fairly obvious who this is. Feel free to share this post

Note the woman has been contacted and has asked to be left out of this

Idk man there just something off about him. The zenitsu videos are fucking cringe. He has this asshole energy about him. Anyone else?

so this happened earlier this year at a convention. i a 17 yr old female. decided to go to supernova with a group of friends and my ex (bf at that time) i was cosplaying as filo from shield hero as i found her character to be really cute and i just like her character design overall. so in other words it was pretty obvious i was a minor bc of my cosplay. i also told my ex that he should guard me and my friends since we where mainly girls and he seemed quite responsible so i made a "cosplay security" top for him (this is important for later). so far the con was going good and ppl where having a few laughs ab my exes top and over all it was really fun. at some point my ex noticed a guy who looked around 30-40 yrs old in a full hell divers cosplay (the game pre much relaced not to long before the con and my ex loved the game so he was over the moon) so my ex went over and asked for a photo witch they did and they started talking ab the game. at this point 2 of my friends went off to look around sm and it was just myself one of my friends and my ex. soon the guy noticed me and started talking ab shield hero.

now what I'm ab to say isn't to slander this guy or make him sound like a bad person cos most ppl at cons are socially awkward but i just want to bring this to light on how its not okay, especially if the person is a minor. he started to get really flirty towards me and was saying that he, "had a Naofumi Iwatani (the mc of shield hero) cosplay that he should wear next time so we could match and go to the con together." now this put me off a LOT bc he was persisting that we should definitely do it and that we could try find each other on social media too (also his WIFE was there and agreeing with him so i wasn't sure if i was just making up stuff or not).

i looked up at my ex to kina be like hey can you tell this guy hes been weird since it was obvious i was uncomfortable even my friend was getting weird out but she didn't say anything. she thought my ex would say something. especially since the guy was saying stuff ab how cute filo is and how cute i was. witch like bro your gf is getting hit on and your still gocking on ab his cosplay.

anyway he asked for a photo and my ex said i should since hes in a hell divers cosplay. he tried to put his ARM AROUND ME but luckily i shifted my self away before he could. we took the photo and walked away. and that was that. i didn't bring it up with my ex bc he seemed to really like the guy and we later on saw him at a cosplay comp.

btw if you are this person ik i should have brought it up with you personally or get one of my friends to but i was too uncomfortable to. and i think he had no idea he was been creepy. anyway i think the best thing to do in this situation is tell the person your uncomfortable cos like i said most ppl dont know they are especially at cons. if they don't back down then tell security or con workers. and trust me i thought i would be prepared
for when something like this happens but i was definitely not.

ps. sorry if this is a bit long and hard to read since i have dyslexia. also if you wanna talk ab if something like this happened to you please comment or make your own post. its good for ppl to know ab these things

I wanted to share this memory, and just recently discovered this subreddit. This happened a few years ago, at Power Morphicon 2018.

I’m gay, and some of the Ranger actors are incredibly hot, and I definitely have a crush on a few of them. Case in point, one of the biggest crush worthy Ranger actors, in my opinion, is Phillip Andrew, Wild Force Lunar Wolf Ranger.

I went to my first Morphicon in 2016, and befriended Anne-Marie Crouch, who played Princess Shayla on Wild Force. Phillip was supposed to appear that year, but had a family emergency or something, and had to back out.

I confessed to Anne-Marie that I did have a crush on a few rangers, and she asked me who in particular. I proceeded to list a few of them, including Phillip Andrew and Firass Dirani(Mystic Force Red Ranger). She said that Phillip was supposed to be there, but he had previously mentioned family emergency.

Fast forward to 2018; and I was wandering around the booths, and saw Anne-Marie, who recognized me. I came by, and she gave me a hug, then said, “Your crush is here” while pointing to him, the next booth over. I turned a couple shades of red, and he had a quizzical look on his face. He asked us, “what are we talking about?”, to which Anne and I both said, “Nothing!” Looking like a couple of school girls gossiping.

I went over to his booth, and he saw that I was wearing my Lunar Wolf jacket, with the Lunar Morpher. He commented on my jacket, and signed my Morpher. As he was signing it, he whispered, “Real talk, what were you and Anne-Marie giggling about?” I told him that I had a crush on him, and felt my face turn red again.

He laughed, and replied, “A lot of people do, I appreciate it. Alas, I’m straight, but I have no problem with that.” We took a picture together, full on morph pose, and went on my way.

I've seen some people cosplay as a group not just for fun but also protection. There's that one person that undoubtedly will get asked by a creep because of their cosplay. So the cosplayer has friends cosplay as intimidating characters that are always with them. Like if someone cosplays Nami, they have friends who cosplay Sanji, Zoro, or Luffy who can back her up in case of any creeps. Or if someone cosplays Uraraka, she'll have someone cosplay Deku, Bakugo, Shoto, or other characters.

I was wondering who else has stories like these that they can share

Back in the 90s and 20teens, I designed computer games, some highly successful. As kind of a neat perk from my former career, I get invited to game conventions a lot as a guest. This works for me because I get free room and board and get to visit another city as long as I don't spend any time actually seeing the city, but devote all my waking hours to interviews, seminars, and other convention stuff. I'm not complaining. I like game conventions (as a guest) and I usually bring my wife, so SHE gets to see the local color.

Anyway, I was invited to a convention in an English speaking country in the 1990s (before the internet was as amazing) and one of my scheduled events was an on-the-air interview. I've done lots of these so usually don't do any prep. I just tell the truth to the best of my memory.

Anyway, the guy sits down with me. And every single question was an attempt to wheedle cheat codes or other game secrets out of me. In response I tried to tell stories about 'why there are cheat codes" (short answer, either artists' boredom or the need to get through parts of the game fast for testing) to "where the ideas came for cheat codes". Finally I told him flat-out that as a designer I wanted people to play the game straight so I never disclose cheat codes. Besides, plenty of people DO find the codes and I'm sure a tiny bit of digging would uncover them but he was relentless. I kept trying to wriggle the topic back to something remotely interesting for any listeners, but no dice.

It was all "Well can you at least tell me the cheat code that makes the big animated statue?" "Where is every single occurrence of the Dopefish in the game?" etc. etc. Ugh.

It just seemed insane to me. I mean it's not like these "secrets" are all that secret. You can get them from plenty of sources. Just not me.

This is many many years ago, when GenCon was still being held in Lake Geneva. The company I worked for had just released a superhero game which bombed completely. Before we realized what a dog we had, we'd commissioned a talented writer to do a scenario book for it. We'll call him "Duke" but if I told you some of the things he's done you'd recognize them (in the early 2000s he scripted one of the biggest digital RPG games of all time).

Anyway, the scenario book was not up to Duke's usual level and worse it was about a bunch of teenagers battling a super-cringy villain. So my boss had the bright idea of handing out free copies of Duke's booklet to anyone who bought something. Please note that we had plenty of high-selling items. Just not the superhero game. I don't know how many people were talked into buying something else in order to get the freebie, but if it was even one, that's a win. Plus we were getting rid of ALL of our copies of Duke's book so we wouldn't have to ship them back to California.

Anyway, Duke walks up to our booth on Saturday afternoon. Naturally he asks, "How's (my scenario book) selling?" My boss says, "It's doing GREAT!" Then he stands up on top of our product table, and bellows across the convention hall.

"HEY! EVERYONE WHO'S GOT A COPY OF (DUKE'S BOOK) HOLD IT UP!" And hundreds of people hold up their (free) copies. Duke is amazed and all agog. "Wow that's amazing! I didn't have such expectations!"

He was super happy all afternoon. Then that evening at dinner he got the awful truth. To be fair, he laughed pretty long and loud.

A while back I posted about a group I was a lead admin for for over 10 years and got outed because they wanted to make sure that everyone was politically aligned their way and if they weren't they were labeled bigots and pushed out of the group. This person who used to be my friend decided to make a Cosplay Culture and Convention Etiquette video and once or twice says that the people who are not aligned with his political beliefs are not welcome to the cons. My own personal beliefs that everyone has a right to go to cons. I have friends on both sides Republican and Democrat. We all respect each other and have been good friends for years. It's sad to see this person willing to destroy friendships he had for years and also destroy the group we both put together years ago.

First time posting!

My friend and I were wondering if/when there were any conventions in/around Nashville/Memphis area (or really anywhere - we’ll travel 👀) that might have a high chance of having cod cosplayers. Specifically Ghost & König cosplayers.

Any help/links would be appreciated.

Sorry for being new. 🥹👉🏼👈🏼

Oh and if this isn’t the right place to post - help me out there too. 😂

Thanks!

What cons on the east coast (or California) have artist alleys that are pretty open to artists with small followings/ artists with merch that's kinda mid?

Me and my friend were waiting in line to enter Anime Expo 2019. We were waiting in a side-line on one of the closed-off streets with one chubby, Hispanic, security guard monitoring it.

Then, an unauthorized car enters through an intersection in the middle of the closed-off street. Once that car turned right, the security guy started yelling "HEY". The car appeared to ignore him and kept driving slowly towards a different exit of the closed-off street. That is when the security grabbed one of the traffic cones and launched it 50 yards across the street -- and it landed right in front of the car faced up. The car stopped seeming to finally notice they were doing wrong while the security guard went up to their window and guided them out.

From that day forward, we have dubbed him Luis the Cone Man: Protector of Anime Expo.

~~

[Self Advertising]: Me and my friend recently made a podcast comparing AX & EVO, we have a few miscellaneous con stories if you want to listen through.

Hi, guys! First time poster, coming with a question and any responses are appreciated!

We are preparing a discussion panel about weird encounters on conventions and wanted to gather some online. If you have something fun or interresting that falls under these catogeries please share your stories:

- Encounter with someone you know but not expect being on convention (coworker, boss, family member, teacher)

- Encounter with someone you dont know that well (you do not remember that person or that person does not remember you, encounter with celebrity or fan, encounter with someone you knew only online to that time)

- Encounter with a stranger (encounter with someone you met on convention and then never seen again, unforgettable encounter, encounter on unusual circumstances)

- Romantic encounters (meet cute, date on convention, encounter with ex)

​

Thanks in advance for any response and we would also appreciate yours tips for convention etiquette to prevent uncomfortable encounters!

Once upon a time in the wild west days of conventions, when prop check and carry regulations were much MUCH looser, a "fun" new trend began to rise amongst the people, for you see someone had invented a toy called an Airzooka, a funky plastic cone with a handle and a rubber/plastic sheet on the back that fired a burst of air at things up to like 6-8 feet away. Small, mostly harmless, mostly annoying.

Eventually someone had the idea to start bringing them to cons and poofing air at people with them randomly in the halls. This was the days of Yaoi Paddles and Baka Hammers still, there were worse things you could get chased with by random strangers in the hallways, so a random poof of air was no big deal, right?

And then, more people started bringing them, and more, and some people began deliberately aiming for people's faces, or trying to blow girl's skirts up, or messing with CCG tables by giving them a blast as they walked past, basically going from "that's cute" to "so help me I will set every Airzooka I see on premises on fire and roast marshmallows over their flaming plastic corpses" in a very short period of time.

And then, it escalated further, like a pneumatic arms race.

If you don't know what a round 30-55 gallon plastic trash can looks like, look it up, and come to know the sight that many came to FEAR in the time of the rise of the JUMBO HOMEBREW AIR CANNONS. It wasn't just the massive volume of air, or the loud TWHOMP they made when discharged, but the customizations to both small and large cannons of launching smoke rings, or colored powder, or confetti, or most heinous of all glitter into the air as well.

Complaints were made, councils convened, angry hotels, convention centers, and cosplayers alike raised their voices against the devices, and new rules were made. The banhammer had spoken for the good of the people, and Air Cannons as a category were banned from many conventions pretty quickly after that. Some shows still allow them as long as they're under a certain size and not launching a projectile like smoke or glitter or powder, but for the most part they've long faded from being the air-powered menace they once were.

I am pretty sure there are still people with borderline ptsd flinch responses to the sound of the snap of a bungee against plastic and the whomp of air being launched from attending cons in that era. It was... a time, something that was fun for a while but that got way out of hand faster than anyone expected, and I'm glad the fad has passed.

Gather ye round and listen to my tale of days long ago, a time of Yaoi Paddles and Caramelldansen, when being Glomped into a pile of pain by a random passing stranger was an active threat and fear of many.

I give you the tale of Kittykitty, half remembered as rusty brains tend to do after the passage of time and too many tackle-hugs to the floor by random cosplayers over the years cause some things to fade.

KittyKitty was a gentleman in tiger facepaint and a tattered punk denim jacket, often also with studded gloves and basically a very "possibly there at the birth of punk, possibly also a catboy zombie" look that was kind of interesting. He also liked to wear a lot of chains, including a collar with a leash on it, and therein we find a major part of our tale, for you see, Kittykitty had a character he played at cons, and rules for interacting with that character, sometimes written out on a sheet of paper he would hand to people he interacted with.

One of the rules was that if you were handed his leash, you became his "owner" and he would escort you around the con as long as you were holding the leash. Another rule was that to give up ownership, you needed to pass the leash off to someone else, and then he would follow them around instead as long as they were holding the leash. (There were a couple others, but the years have faded them from my memory.)

You begin to see the pattern of how the game is played, right?

Some people found it funny and played along, some people thought he was a con creeper and even tried to start a petition to ban him, most people just accepted it as there being another person in the building weirder than them and shrugged it off, he was even a bit notorious/famous for a time at the shows he attended.

Kittykitty and the rise of the Death Note "yaoi handcuffs" trend were the main reason a certain convention established a "no leashes/chains/handcuffs connecting people" rule. And then, one day he was just gone from conventions entirely.

I don't know what happened to him after that, and sometimes I wonder, occasionally I honestly wonder a great deal about the quirks and curiosities of that man, but like all things truly unique and of their time, perhaps it's all best left as mysteries and legend.

Or I guess Calgary Fan Expo, but we called it Comicon. I was also in grade 11 and had to skip school to go because it was late May/early June when it was being held back then.

Me and my (at that time) friend group planned this for months. We were:

Me: smol, kinda dumb, came in a weird proto-fursuit I made in sewing class and it was hot and horrible.

Horse: the driver of the group and the only one I still talk to

Smeg: annoying bitch, at that time still the most vocal and annoying person in the group. No one talks to her anymore.

Jess: the one guy. A veritable twink. Never liked him.

Boar: the most irresponsible one there.

So, to start with, Boar put off a class project (I think her English final portfolio?) Until the night before the con. So she got no sleep and told us she didn't want to come with, but Smeg flipped out over this and we had to drag her along. Boar got the front seat and slept the whole way there.

Smeg watched Netflix on her phone the whole drive up and killed the battery in it. No shit, Sherlock.

I, awkward but already stepping into my fursuiting path in life, suited up in this baggy, ugly werewolf costume to stumble and sweat around in. Regrets.

We get to Calgary. Smeg wants to leave 10 minutes in because her phone is dead. Boar is still trying to sleep and we ditch the two of them together since Smeg is literally screaming about how we're horrible people. She eventually bought a charger pack thing for $50, then immediately drained her newly charged battery watching Netflix while Boar slept on a bench.

Me, Jess, and Horse actually walk the convention. I was kinda dying but also having fun. Horse was looking for a specific comic book line but with no luck, and Jess kept running off after ever my female cosplayer he saw; Horse would leave me at a booth to hunt him down each time. I managed to scare a middle aged man who thought I was a statue I guess? Screamed when I moved.

We notice, after a few hours, were getting calls from Boar. Apparently Smeg hijacked her phone to call her parents demanding a ride home, which they didn't want to do because of the distance, and now Smeg is waiting for us at the car. Which we have no intention of returning to until we've seen everything.

It's another hour or so and a shitty panel on fanon/canon before we leave. Smeg is pouting, claiming the convention was the worst thing she's ever been to. She never once went inside. Boar apparently realized she hadn't emailed her portfolio to the teacher and is sobbing because she's going to fail English (she didn't) and it's our fault. Even though it's her own damned fault she didn't bother doing the work in the weeks prior.

Jess bought 2 body pillows. He gave one to Boar to cheer her up and she let her dog shred it the same day after we got back. Both pillows cost him over $100 as I recall.

So yeah...shitty experience, don't go con-going with convience friends?

Trying again this year with my FWB/bestie so hoping it's better. If I catch him watching Netflix on his phone I'm leaving him behind.

I don't know how active this sub is anymore but I feel this is worth posting here regardless.

I've been to a few furcons (Midwest furfest for about 4 years in a row, red deer minicon for 2) and I've seen a good mix of what to expect: normally the con makes sure there's free water, a room to cool off (headless lounge), sometimes even signs warning of doorways that could catch on parts of your fursuit.

One year, for fun, me and a friend went to fur-eh, the convention in Edmonton, AB (it's 2 hours or so from where we live). It was kinda pricey for one day ($25) but it seemed like a fun trip. Until we showed up.

It was easily 30 degrees C outside. The hotel they use (and still use I believe) is from the 70s, in a sketchy looking area, and all the parking is in the sun. We went in first out of suit first and noticed there was no water. It was hot and humid inside, to a pretty intolerable degree. The actual dealers den was tiny and had a diaper-fur booth at a family friendly convention (this booth had legit porn at it as well, they ditched it after someone complained but left the signs up). Artist alley was a table with 3 people who didn't actually speak English, an issue in an English speaking convention. There was no where to suit up so I had to do so out of my trunk and walk back across a filthy parking lot.

Then it got worse. The dealers den suddenly was closed. And they announced it was time for the parade and group photo.

The photo was in an empty convention room, that stunk like BO, and some over-tall asshole blocked me and my friend. Like, intentionally kept hopping up in front of us.

The parade was worse. We assumed it was just in the hotel and went to join up...but then found out it was A) separated into species groups, meaning we'd be separated and with total strangers B) outside, in the brutal July heat and C) you were literally expected to dance and sing to the con anthem.

We left. Immediately. There's a big difference between a fun casual parade at a nice convention and a hot, smelly old building that wants you out in the dangerously hot sun for "fun".

I went to a local con and was just appalled at how bad people smelled how do you wake up and just not put deodorant on at the very least I couldn't even enjoy it as soon as I walked inside It was just smell and heat I couldn't take it I threw up in the bathroom and left it sucks cause I really enjoy attending cons and supporting small businesses as well as seeing all the anime things that people have or made to sell but I just can't do it I can't take that smell it's just too off-putting for me hats off to those who can take it on the chin and keep moving idk how you guys do it shit is just insane to me

I was at my local convention alone today because my irl friends were busy. I kept myself distracted by going to the artist ally and buying whatever I found interesting. While I was in line to buy something, I over heard someone say "I'd put atleast 3 wig caps on". I never thought about that until recently and realized that they were talking about me. The thing is, I recently just got into cosplay tho I barely do it. How should I feel about this?

So I've been attending cons since 2013. Anime and gaming conventions played a big part of my teenhood and truly helped shape me as a person. There were so many cosplayers who I idolized growing up but some are not who they're made out to be. In this thread I'll be sharing my experiences with popular cosplayers over the years. Feel free to add yours too!

Lorentz_iwood- I met him at katsu 2020. I'm a very awkward and shy person lol but when I saw him I knew I had to say something. I loved his prop making skills and cosplays! I went up to him, he was standing alone on his phone. He was cosplaying Bakugo I believe? I said "hey! I really like your cosplay, I've been following you for years" and before I could even finish what I said he walked away from me. He knew I was talking to him, we made eye contact. Idk what his deal was. I stood there dumbfounded and muttered "wow" under my breath. To this day I don't follow him. That experience completely ruined my view of him.

Leon Chiro- omfg this dude. You can tell just by watching Leon at cons that he thinks his shit doesn't stink. He wants you to think he's a genuine person but I believe that's a facade so he can get bitches. Met him at katsu 2020 and he completely ignored me when I was standing with my friend. I heard he has a habit of being rude to women. Idk but he gives me bad vibes.

Jessica Nigri- definition of white girl wasted. I saw her at katsu 2020 drunkingly stumbling around. She almost fell down one of the escalators 😭

Mariah Mallad- she seemed very standoffish tbh. I saw her with her friend Maddie aka umbrawitch. Yes her tiddies are just as big in person.

Ragegearprops- I didn't speak to him because of the absolute stank face he had and the intimidating vibe he had going on🥲 I heard that he's a sweetheart when you get to know him but gah damn he isn't that approachable in my experience.

Cowbuttcrunchies- she is absolutely SO SWEET and talented! I talked to her about her cosplays and she was so genuine and even gave me advice on sewing and crafting.

This was back in the early 1980s. I was at the Origins game convention, which at that time bounced around the country, switching venues every year. Pretty clever really - basically they'd take over a local convention and super-size it. (Nowadays it's always in Columbus OH).

Anyway, the game company I worked for was attending and my co-worker was so proud he got us a bedroom clear down on the third floor. We didn't have to fit into a crowded elevator each night. We were all happy. Until we got there.

After a hard day of working the booth, running RPG games, and being annoyed by teenagers who needed to show us their cool character in excruciating detail, we retired for a good nights rest. Turns out that our room was in between:

1. THE ELFQUEST HOWL For those who don't know, there was a pretty popular comic back in the day about elves who rode wolves. So of course a bunch of cosplayers and fans got together and howled until 2 in the morning.

2. THE ARCADE ROOM. The convention had packed a bunch of early-80s arcade machines into some large rooms and these suckers making their be-boop, padumpet noises literally all night long. It never stopped. To this day I can perfectly quote every single line of Sinistar's dialogue.

Next day we asked the hotel if we could switch our room. Nope the hotel was full. We weren't evil enough to trick a group of fans into swapping with us. But we did go looking for earplugs. It helped a little.

The THIRD night we actually managed to switch out our room. Riding to the 14th floor with two 300-lb bearded cosplayers was never so relaxing.

hey r/TalesoftheConvention !

today I'm here to talk about one of the worst experiences of my life, and I'm gonna put a t:w before I get more in detail.

t:w self harm, suicide, abuse for some parts of this story so, if you're sensitive to these topics please dont read!!

Okay so, 2018 was the year i decided to start going o conventions again, I hadn't gone because of money and lack of cosplays, and a local con was happening near me which I had wanted to go to, since two of my favorite vocaloid producers one of which was a voice provider for a vocaloid at that point were going to be guests at the con! vocaloid was what started my journey and helped me slowly get into making music more often, but thats besides the point. day one of the con comes and there's this guy, lets call him Dollar Store Dante (DD for short), since his dmc3 Dante cosplay wasn't the greatest, and he believed in bleaching his hair for the cosplay, which literally killed most of his hair due to it being so thin. DD approaches me, and asks:

"Hey, are you ___?" mistaken me for someone else since we had cosplayed the same character (D.va, from overwatch)

"No, Sorry, I'm Miko.." (just gonna use a shortened version of my username for this) and I walked off into the vendor hall.

I went and bought a few things and got something to eat as I had a small amount of time to kill before I was on an ask a cosplayer panel, I waited for the panels to start, mine included along with a few others I enjoyed, attended them, and walked around for awhile, met up with a few friends, went and grabbed a iced coffee, and attended a few after hours nsfw panels, and eventually went home.

Now...Day 2, is where it really kicked off.

I only had one panel to help with that day. it was a small FMA panel, just some bad acting done by a few weebs I used to be friends with but I'm not now due to personal reasons, (thats a story for another time, the weeb that lived with me) and before that me and a few friends gathered and did some anime dances in the open back part of the vendor hall. Thats when DD came back, it took me a bit to recognize him due to the fact I had my time divided in my head of what I'd be doing for the rest of the day at the con.

while we were walking back it clicked with me, he was blending in with the group pretty well...."Wait....You're DD, Right?"

"Yes, that was me yesterday" he smiled, he seemed really cool at first and he seemed to fit my vibe well.

The panel goes on we're having a fun time, and after the con we all go to Denny's. Mind you, some hippie kid in a kigurumi in the parking lot was smoking a j, and I was like ayo?!? so they let me puff a few times before i headed to my friends car, DD rode in the backseat and I was controlling the aux, DD seemed to enjoy my music tastes a lot as he had similar tastes or liked the same artists. I Started to sorta have a crush on him, I was dumb and I was only like, two months into being 18. A few weeks go by, and we're texting. He invites me to a party at his place. A few of his friends were there, and it was your typical stoner messy college guy apartment. We kept looking at each other the whole night, little did I know what the absolute fuck I was getting myself into.

We see each other on a more frequent basis at that point and then we agree that I would move in. However, he wasn't open about what his diagnoses were, and he left most of them untreated causing him to have explosive anger. When he wasn't angry he was literally trying to be an irl edgy anime guy! he thought he was a main character!!! When he would catch me cringing or not agreeing with him he would scream at me and harm himself (two occasions really bad to where I needed to call 911 and he got admitted the second time.) He would somehow bring up anime into anything, like he really thought he was this edgy protag guy, but he was a shell of a person who would throw a tantrum anytime someone wouldn't agree with them. I eventually told him I was done and I was packing my things.

"MIKOOOOOOOO DONT. DO. THIS" he looked at me like he was gonna punch me, instead he grabbed my phone, threw it and smashed the screen into bits.

"DD WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR ISSUE?!?!" I couldn't believe it, I shoved him away, but he came back swinging and he almost landed a punch in my stomach, I turned so he hit my back instead. i ran out of the small apartment screaming and crying until i found someone who could let me contact my parents and police.

I haven't heard from him in years and I really hope I dont have to ever again. He was a real weeb from hell. If I remember anything else I'll add edits later.

TL;DR: My Weeaboo Ex was unstable and mentally and physically abusive.

Stay safe goonz.

I was talking to a friend about cosplayers that we liked and I said that my favorite cosplayer was Leon Chrio. She gave me a strange look and I asked her what was up. She told me that he was very condescending and treated female cosplayers like crap and when they go to complain, he and his group would blow it off as drama. Someone she knew when to Drgaoncon back in 2017 and met him. He said that Leon made unwanted comments on his wife's chest saying " Wow, your dating a stripper ?''. After that, he didn't want to do anything with him. I've also seen on Twitter that he has touched women inappropriately. Also, I've heard that he acts arrogant and that you have to do something for him to get into his circle of friends. Is any of this true? please let me know! I used to look up to this guy. Is he really that toxic?

I laugh at this now but at the time I literally thought I was going to die. I didn’t know that I had chronic cholecystitis which is chronic inflammation of the gallbladder. If you have ever experienced this, you know it is one of the worst pain a person can experience.

I was aware I was having digestive issues but I still went as I was perfectly fine the first day. It was just after lunch when I felt the pain begin in my upper right stomach and spread into freezing, stabbing pain and nausea. It quickly got worse and I left my stuff with my friends and ran to the nearest bathroom. By the time I made it into a stall I was soaked in sweat and felt like I was going to vomit everything I ate in the last week.

A group of young cosplayers I’d say (middle school-early high school) walked in after me loudly talking and laughing. They went to the lounging area in the back where there was a couch and large mirrors to retouch your makeup. They started criticizing and commenting on other cosplayers at the convention and obnoxiously giggling.

I tried to stay quiet knowing they would leave eventually. I was folded in half clutching my stomach and keeping a hand pressed over my mouth to keep from making noise. As minutes passed the pain and nausea got worse and worse until I had tears streaming down my face and I was biting my lip so hard I could taste blood.

They still had yet to leave and I could hear Tik Tok music they were dancing and singing to. At this point I was dizzy and actually thought I was going to pass out from how hard I was breathing.

I started thinking they were actually going to find my dead body face-first into a convention bathroom floor as Lisa from Genshin Impact.

They finally stopped filming when one of my friends walked in to check on me and they realized I was there the whole time. I hope they realized it really wasn’t a good idea to talk sh*t and film in a public bathroom. They left and I had the bathroom to myself to fully curse and vocalize my pain in peace. In the end I didn’t throw up but I was done for the day.

I stepped out and my makeup was beyond repair and I looked as bad as I felt. I tried to get off as much makeup as I could with paper towels and water before going back to the con floor. It turns out I was in there for nearly an hour and the convention was pretty much done anyways so we went home.

I can laugh about it now but it was equally the most awkward and painful scenario I have ever been in.

When my friends and I were 19, we went to a local multigenre convention. It just so happened on that year the convention had relocated to a larger hotel downtown. On the Friday night, me and Friend 1 went to sleep at 10pm because I was in the masquerade the next day. While we were in our hotel room, Friend 2 and his 21 year old girlfriend went to a liquor store and she bought him bottles of hard liquor. They then chugged the bottles and stumbled around the neighborhood acting like asses and pissing people off. The police noticed and chased him back into the hotel and arrested him. On their way to the police station he passed out and had to be diverted to the hospital. I get a call at 1am saying that my friend is in the ER so me and Friend 1 walk, barefoot and in pajamas to the hospital at night. Thankfully we didn't step on any heroin needles lol at 19 I wasn't thinking about foot safety while walking on sketchy city streets.

I found out the next year from Friend 3, who was on the convention committee that this convention had to be held back in the older, smaller hotel on the outskirts of the city. I asked why, she said "last summer there was this 19 year old rip roaring drunk guy causing a scene in the lobby and resisting arrest. The hotel management didn't want to deal with that again."

When I was a kid, I loved White Castle. I guess that's the time your brain gets damaged by eating them, so you keep loving them as you grow up. I have never seen an adult try White Castle for the first time and like it (not saying it hasn't happened. Just I have not seen it.)

I now live in Texas, so no White Castle, but I do attend a big convention in Indianapolis almost yearly, and lo and behold there is a Castle just 2 blocks from the convention center. Note that I am the president of my small company.

The first day in Indianapolis, we are setting up for the convention, and I am strutting and talking like the asshole I can be and boasting that I am going to White Castle which zero of my team is jealous of but I am clueless.

My business manager says, "[Distributor] wants to meet with us this evening. Can you come?" Well to be fair, I am not really needed at the distributor meeting though I suppose I could add some gravitas, so I say, "No way guys, I'm getting my sliders tonight!"

The distributors show up at the booth. I do a quick greet and head out the door. And get my damn sliders. They are as good/bad as I remember. When I get back to the convention the next morning I find out that the distributors took my guys and gals out to Ruth's Chris for dinner. So by snooting those guys I bought a few crappy nostalgic sliders on my own nickel instead of letting a distributor buy me a triple-A steak. Oops.

The team did not let me forget about it. I still sneak out to a White Castle lunch at this convention now and then but I now always first find out if there's any kind of meeting that might conflict. Even if it's not at a steakhouse.

Do not have the autistic tiger at your conventions. The parents behavior at villicon was deplorable. The owners of villicon treated him with respect worked to resolve an issue and he threw a fit, live streamed and ranted about how everyone should avoid villicon because he did not get his way. I witnessed this behavior from the father... do not I repeat do not bring this "vendor" to your convention unless you want your convention slandered and attempted to be boycotted, boycot autistic tiger and save yourself the trouble. Pass it along so other conventions so they know to say no. The father is an absolute creep, the reason for his temper tantrum as I learned on the second day of villicon was he wanted to hit on and harass the burlesque girls that were performing on the main stage and couldn't because his kid was in booth with him on an 18+ day. He then proceeded to not only bash other vendors in his live stream video but the convention its self. The level of immaturity from this vendor deserves a blacklist from conventions. Because if the owners of the convention are bending over backwards for you and all you can do is try to ruin their convention after they went out of their way for you, you don't deserve to be at a convention ever again. So please do yourself the favor and boycot the autistic tiger at your conventions.