;)
Otakon in 2009, about half the crowd are cosplayers!Pop culture-themed conventions and toy shows have allowed me to openly share geeky interests with other like-minded people, see different cities and connect with fellow fans from all over the world. At a typical "con" there are guests (such as actors, artists, writers and producers who worked on favorite shows, movies and comic books; Internet personalities, and musicians) who take part in related panel discussions and sign autographs and take photos with fans; amazing replica costumes, props and vehicles; some run speed dating events to match up fellow geeks; exclusive merchandise; and special events like costume contests, trivia game shows and concerts. Finally, most conventions and all toy shows have dealer rooms and artist alleys offering related merchandise and fan-made art for sale.
The main conventions I attend are in the Philadelphia area and consist of Retro Con (since 2012) a 1970s to early 2000s pop culture-themed con run by friends, The Great Philadelphia Comic Con (since 2015), TooManyGames (2013), ThyGeekdom Con (2015) and Zolocon (2016).
I also attended BotCon, the largest Transformers convention at its peak, and Otakon, the largest Anime convention on the East Coast, for many years. I attended Cybercons in New Jersey and New York City (2004-2005), and have also attended Wizard World (the national comic book convention) and VGXPO near Philadelphia.
Besides the tight group of people I know that live in the Greater Philadelphia area, I have met fellow "geeks" from all over the United States and even some from Europe at conventions and follow or talk to many of them online. Many of us meet up at the same conventions every year, many who dress as or "cosplay" characters from anime, cartoons, video games and geeky movies and TV shows such as Transformers, G.I. Joe, Spaceballs and Ghostbusters. Connections built over many years of shows have been a good thing.
Good friends Tony and Rose Tuski, whom I first met at BotCon, started Retro Con in 2012 with help from many of their friends who serve as volunteers and booking actors and voice actors they have befriended over the years well as locally-based web personalities. They are associated with cosplay groups Philadelphia Ghostbusters, the Finest (G.I. Joe characters) and the 501st, (Star Wars Galactic Empire troops and officers) who also help run events for various local charities.
Cosplay, or costume play, started at conventions as early as the 1900s. But there is a difference than simply looking like the character and having their tools, prop weapons and accessories, cosplay entails acting and sounding like them as well. Thus, performances and films as the character are a common sights at conventions. Creative costumes can be as effective as expensive, time-consuming, screen or page-accurate ones.
I've gotten into cosplay myself and you can check out my public page on Facebook, Catapilla Cosplay.
