Acey's got it right on the nose. Peeps just want to have fun, and while yes, some people may have costumes that can be highly questionable, why should those become the stereotype of what congoers are?
Granted, I've only been to one in costume (Terezi, with Aux as Aradia), and another, which was way more indie and thus, completely costumeless (if you're wondering, it was CAKE, and it was the very first year), but the idea behind these cons are the same, and it's to have a good time.
In fact it's fun to just let go of inhibitions about costumes and just have fun with them from time to time. I went to several panels at CAKE (since I was getting a little overwhelmed by the small crowd), but I still had fun listening in to discussions and watching an hour and a half's worth of animated shorts by comic artists
including this one, which I had seen a few times before. <--I had to stifle myself saying "This cartoon predicted what today's TV content has become!"-->
In short, cons are fun, they are fascinating. You meet new friends, and possibly new connections in the industry. I've started following three comic artists because of cons, that's for sure! Definitely not something to diss just on face value. And even if you hate big cons, smaller ones like CAKE can be great alternatives. Small lines, small time artists, and it just feels more personal between creators and congoers. Not to mention the small, alternative cons are much cheaper overall, but I'm starting to get off track.
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