Finding friends at cons/before cons?

[Anonymous No.9980961]

This year I experienced my first anime convention and it was a blast. To spare you the needless "my blog"-posting I'm a dude in my early 30s that traveled to the US (also my first time) for his first Otakon. I had a lot of fun and I even met up with a small group of coworkers that ultimately ended up doing their own things at Otakon.

Attended a few fun panels, shoutouts to all the enthusiastic dudes screaming during the hentai anime watching panel, talked to a few interesting guys and girls and snapped photos of a lot of cute cosplayers. Overall, it was a really nice experience but also one that made me feel rather lonely.

I imagine people usually arrive at any of such conventions in groups or cliques and then just stick with their friends there, rarely breaking up into singular units. Thus, it becomes rather difficult to strike up longer conversations and actually hang out with people. I've just been wondering, where do you even go online to meet people before such events take place? In b4 /cgl/ and anime forums. This might sound like a naive question but maybe I can start up a conversation about it here.

[Anonymous No.9981116]

I have a /cgl/ group of people. No SJW fags either. Pretty good. Just ask for meetups in your conthread

[Anonymous No.9981266]

I give up on human interaction outside of work. Everyone will ultimately go away, more than half of them are assholes or push sjw bullshit on you. I think all of my social fun will forever remain in my high school years.

[Anonymous No.9981322]

>>9980961
Check your local facebook groups. I haven't made any lasting friendships at any convention, but local meetups are people you can interact with more frequently and create meaningful connections. People travel far and wide for conventions and I've ended up with many I wish you lived closer situations. Also, people tend to travel in groups for carpooling and room sharing so they're already there with a close group of friends, not the best situation for making new ones.

[Anonymous No.9981330]

>>9981116
Exactly, I don't recommend associating with /cgl groups as they will usually have as couple of /poltards like this who will ineviteably make anti-left wing and pro-Nazi references.

[Anonymous No.9981388]

>>9980961
>In b4 /cgl/ and anime forums
They do help though.

If you want to make friends DURING the con, it's easy as fuck dude, you're literally surrounded by people who like the same stuff as you. You can start by complimenting a cosplay and asking if they watched all seasons/read the original work, literally anything. People tend to be pretty open.

[Anonymous No.9981424]

>>9981330
Oh no, 4chan groups acting like 4chan. Oh the humanity.

Yeah it's always best to attend comic cons with mates. You just have more fun. Even if you separate to do your own stuff you have that group you can go back to. Most of the stuff you see about cons being open minded safe spaces are total bullshit. People just want to stick together. That's fine by me.

[Anonymous No.9981427]

Best way is to check:
-FB group page (if your con has an official one)
-Your con thread on cgl
What not to do:
-Create a discord server/fb group or wtv and advertise it and mention its your first year going to the con (it will just make you look like a desperate guy who has no friends)

If its your local con, what I ended up doing is staffing there and befriend all the non retarded staffs

[Anonymous No.9981469]

>>9981424
>Oh no, 4chan groups acting like 4chan. Oh the humanity.
>4chan is /pol/
This wasn't an issue years ago, it is an issue now. Any recent 4chan meeting always has a few guys who started browsing in 2016 and say "the j00s did this".

>>9981427
OP, this is good advice. If you liked the con, offer yourself to become staff.

[Anonymous No.9981705]

>>9981469
The /pol/ shit is certainly recent, but the polarizing us vs them thing is still ridiculous. Pre-2007 4chan would still offend anyone bothered by current trends.

[Anonymous No.9981734]

>>9980961
>where do you even go online to meet people before such events take place?
>In b4 /cgl/ and anime forums

>want to meet people online first
>doesnt want to use online platforms
uhh wut?
I honestly dont understand why this is a bad thing to you.even if you add in other social media platforms like facebook groups, its really all the same.

[Anonymous No.9981752]

>Meet some guy last con
>We chat it up about vidya
>we add ourselves
>He start talking about weird ass fetishes and how his sister is all about that shit

[Anonymous No.9981759]

Speaking of Cons, anyone going to crunchyroll expo?

[Anonymous No.9981855]

>>9981752
Get the hint anon

[TsundereBoys !!np+v8bDEsSa No.9981991]

People on Twitter will change their name to something like "Ashley @ NDK18" OR "Justin @ Colossalcon" that's my favorite route because it's easier to see their post history and determine if I want to befriend them.
Check con hashtags on Instagram too.

/cgl/ friend finder is good for finding specific regions but is a little harder if you aren't a girl (understandable)

Con threads are 50/50 because it's either drama or everyone saying "meetup when?" With no actual meetup.

Facebook groups have biggest concentration of local weebs, idk if anyone that actually posts in them is what you're looking for though

[Anonymous No.9982159]

>>9981424
>Oh no, 4chan groups acting like 4chan.

Reminder this is why we can't have nice things.

[Anonymous No.9982424]

>>9980961
I been going to Otakon dolo for years now (murican for solo) its always nice to walk around play some videogames give people tips on games they never seent before take photos of cosplay and chat up cuties.

I always end up walking around all day just taking in all the sights since I could watch most of the content outside of world releases or interesting panels. Sit and chat with people I've treated cuties to lunch while chatting and they'd be in costume the whole time. I'm not a total uggo and I can hold a conversation beyond "UGHHH FUCCCC GIMME THE PUSS~!" so its always fun. I usually end up going "aww shit I should have gotten her contact info or something."

The thing about going in groups is people always have their own preconceptions of what its going to be and usually it means people wanting to be connected at the hip. If you liked Otakon you should check out MAGfest these two are always my two big expenditures in the year. I take PTO from work and get a hotel for MAGfest and split it with friends. Otakon is close enough to do a day trip and visit family getting brunch etc before checking in.

I hope you find a nice rhythm for cons my dude and if we cross paths I'll stop and kick it with you a bit.

[Anonymous No.9982575]

>>9982424
I'll be sure to remember you, my man. I hope I'll gather enough funds to go again in a year. Traveling half the planet is a bit costly.

[Anonymous No.9983107]

>>9981705
>Pre-2007 4chan would still offend anyone bothered by current trends.
yeah, but we weren't *that* serious about it. you can't even bring up pedobear anymore without being called "a leftist faggot"

[Anonymous No.9983197]

>>9982424
>some normie without a costume is paying for my food

yeah no shit id hang out with you for a bit, but for the right reasons

[Anonymous No.9984337]

>>9983197
>normie
sweetie I . . . lmao

[Anonymous No.9984372]

>>9983107
Yeah, the ironic nazism is what attracted the real nazis.

[Anonymous No.9984513]

>>9981427
In all honesty, the discords posted here are shit as well. There's a reason why they had no friends and why they latch into each other so closely.
You're better off just being social and meeting people off Facebook or at series shoots

[Anonymous No.9984516]

>>9984372
It's not that it attracted real Nazis, it's that real neonazis and klansmen saw a bunch of loner sad sack teenagers on 4chan and realized they would do anything to have a group they belong to, even be "ironically" or unironically racist.

[Anonymous No.9985012]

I feel like the only way to make friends in the con community is to cosplay in some way. I met most of my friends in the community through being complimented/or complimenting others on their cosplays. it give insight into a show/series you like and shows that you're engaged w the comm. then i moved on to photogs, general con ppl, etc..

[Anonymous No.9985023]

>>9985012
no one likes a normie. its only natural that u gota cosplay to make friends

[Anonymous No.9985031]

>>9985023
i feel like more and more normies/non cosplayers are coming to cons now because they think its a place to pick up girls and or make a scene. its so frustrating

[Anonymous No.9985138]

>>9985031
There's also the fact that nerd culture is becoming more and more mainstream.

[Anonymous No.9985768]

>>9981469
How would becoming staff get me friends?

[Anonymous No.9985922]

>>9985768
It's great. If anybody feels vaguely uncomfortable, no matter how stupid the reason, you can lord your power over them to get them to leave, even if they didn't really do anything but try to friendly or take pics. Also, if the person tells you to go piss up a rope, you can call the pi...I mean the police, and they will immediately take your side and then you can act like a real tough guy with the cops backing you up.

[Anonymous No.9985975]

>>9980961
>be me cute girl

LF for convention onii-chan to carry my bags and make me feel less alone. Thanks.

[Anonymous No.9986113]

>>9985975
Which part is more important, the carrying of the bags or not feeling alone?

[Anonymous No.9994112]

>>9986113
the carrying of the bags, obviously

[Anonymous No.9994118]

i walked up to a group of resting cosplayers with a convenience store pizza and offered it to them in exchange for letting me sit with them
turns out they were super baked and i got both friendship and a free hit

[Anonymous No.9994702]

>>9994118
That’s fucking pathetic. I hate it when good people have go trade for companionship.

[Anonymous No.9994939]

>>9994702
How else would I get companionship?

[Anonymous No.9994995]

>>9994118
I'll try that at the next con I go to.

[Anonymous No.9995223]

>>9980961
usually end up going by myself.
but after X years of going to cons i've made friends and now i just txt to see if they're there. we hang , but i know they have they're own things they like to do (same for me, ie. get autographs/photos).
but i do hang with them. sometimes i make more con friends.

[Anonymous No.9999203]

>>9980961
I haven't been able to make friends in years, that's why I'm here

[Anonymous No.9999497]

>>9985138
Don't worry. You're all still pathetic enough to make any normal person very uncomfortable. Trust me. I tried bringing my normal gf to Animecon once. You guys disgusted the shit out of her so bad that I had to pretend it bothered me too.

[Anonymous No.9999972]

>friends either drifted apart or live across the country
>going 50 miles out of town to see MHA Two Heroes
>alone

[Anonymous No.9999980]

>>9994702
im not a good person anon

[Anonymous No.9999992]

>>9999497
What happened anon?

[Anonymous No.10000179]

>>9999992
It doesn't take much for someone not ready for it. I'll just name the two biggest things that were part of it.

1. There were several giant booths dedicated to fucking hentai everywhere. Even though I did not care, even I didn't realize that was going to happen. A fucking Fakku booth totally closed up with nerds lined up all around it to get in to see porn. I honestly don't blame her. Anyone that hasn't been on the internet for a while immersed in places like 4chan would not be ready to handle a bunch of dudes basically lining up in public to jerk off.

2. A bunch of crossdressers all over the place being very openly gay along with very loud and very obvious childish behavior all over the place. It's not like the place was drowning in these activities but they were all over the place. Dotted everywhere just enough to make sure it's never really out of your sight for long.

Personally, while I would never engage in that stuff, it doesn't bother me. I could handle all that and worse all day but there's no fucking way a person used to normal everyday life would be able to process it.

[Anonymous No.10001000]

>>10000179
oh so shes a redneck bigot who hates homosexuals, k gotcha

[Anonymous No.10001073]

>>10001000

Triple nuts!

[Anonymous No.10001093]

>>9999972
U too?

[Anonymous No.10001557]

>>10000179
weak hands out of the pot