Fandom Friday: 5 Experiences I got At Cons

This fandom Friday is all about Cons. The original title was about things that we’ve got in Cons. Instead, I decided to make a list of experiences I got at Comic cons. Most of them have been in Tokyo, so, this list might sound a little bit weird. Okay, here we go!

1. Countless hours of patiently waiting to enter the Con, going to the loo, purchasing something, taking a coffee…

Cons like the Comiket in Tokyo can be crazy. They’re very well organized, but, you can end up queuing endlessly for everything. Please note that in Tokyo you end up queuing for everything anyway, but these queues are mammoth queues. The monster queues of your worse nightmares. The cool thing about them: they’re organized.

So, what have I learnt with all my experience queuing endlessly at cons: patience, my friend, patience. I might have even turned out to be British!

2. Knowing when to take the right Cosplay picture.

After queuing for yonks, and asking politely, and also bowing, you get to take the pic you want from the Cosplayer you want. Almost like appealing to someone a bit. Since all my experience has been in Japan, I suppose it might be only useful in part when I’ll attend a Con in EU. (Wish me luck!)

3. Explaining where stands are, or when events start, having no idea whatsoever about the program.

I might have a post-it paper on my forehead or something, or perhaps have a google-maps face, but people ask me all sort of stuff at Cons. Even in Tokyo, where I was strikingly different racially, Japanese tended to approach me to ask for directions. Of course: in Japanese. And about all sort of things, specially about where stands were or what the events program was. Telling a “I don’t know” in the western way can be extremely rude, so you have to apologize (even if you don’t care at all about the issue), kindly say that you cannot remember it clearly, and that the information point might have more info than you do.

4. Having that odd feeling that you’ve crashed your credit card after five minutes of setting your feet on the Con…

Let’s be honest: we all end up buying that cute plush, or that comic we don’t have in our collection, or that whatever-it-is-but-it-is-cute-and-I-need-it-now just to discover that your pockets are empty in record time. Cons are credit card crashers. We all know that. Oh, yeah, our collections at home are really large and cute. I tried to limit my purchases on Cons, and it has worked. Like: this is my budget. Before doing that… Con attendance meant that my credit card would be on fire. Literally.

5. Having Post-Con-Attendance Syndrome.

Even after queuing during a life-time, even if you crash your credit card, even if you think you had enough of it: you don’t. Every time I’ve attended a Con, I’ve ended up wanting more. The Post-Con-Attendance Syndrome can be fierce and last during months. I just love going to Cons. Problem is: they’re those evil places in which you can find tons of cute stuff you want and like-minded people you want to meet… I can’t have never enough of it!

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The idea of 5 Fandom Friday was started up by Super Space Chick, and I found it out at the Nerdy Girlie.

Copyright: Images on this post (C) Female Geek Bloggers / Memes (C) by their owners.