The Different Types of People You Will Meet at a Convention

There are several types of people you will meet when you go to an anime convention. I decided that this was valuable information that everyone should have, because just because you've gone to one anime convention, doesn't mean you've met them all. So here we go, lets just dive right into it shall we?

The Noob: This person is probably cosplaying as (character from mainstream anime that is horrible) or wearing one of their t-shirts because this is their first convention. Being new to a convention is fine, you have to start some time. Being a noob is fine! You have to start some where. Being a noob forever is not okay. The characteristics of a noob are listed below for you convenience:
- They have only seen mainstream anime and will defend that its good til death, or at least until they've seen a good anime.
- They are probably younger in age.
- They are probably obnoxious about their love for the anime and have every single piece of merchandise for the anime and are probably very proud of it.
- Finally they will most likely think they are the best at any video game they play, until they meet serious people in the game room and have their butts handed to them and are shamed until the tournament next year.
The Noob probably travels with a group of some sort, if you should encounter a noob, I guess its judgment call, I try to suggest gateway animes to them to help them break the ice into good anime. :) However if they annoy me I just walk away because I have little patience.

The Fakeimes: (Fake-uh-may) This people have come to the convention but they are dressed up as a character from an American anime (a cartoon lol) instead of a Japanese one. I know Fakeime has a negative connotation, however I don't think its a bad thing. Lets face it, there are good American "animes" and there are bad Japanese animes. I consider Teen Titans to be a wonderful American "anime" and I consider One Piece a horrid excuse for whatever it is trying to be because it just sucks all around.... :/ yeah. That being said, congratulate them on their awesome costume and don't treat them any differently because its Teen Titans or Kim Possible, they both rock. :)

The Anime Lover (or Anime Veteran): This is a relatively normal person, they love anime and probably do a little gaming, not much though. They are cosplaying and this isn't their first convention. They are friendly and nice and might ask you for your number or e-mail to stay in touch. So yeah that's pretty much it, they dont watch mainstream anime, although they did at one point, like everyone else, and chances are this person has moved on to more underground animes and watch a lot of subbed anime. :) This is a pretty safe bet for a friend. (The other term is the Anime Veteran because they are an experiance anime lover and are past gateway animes and beginner animes)

The Otaku: She may seem like a regular anime lover at first, however if you talk about the right thing, her true nature will come flowing out. She is an otaku, she is obsessed with at least one fictional character and will fight you for him! She will talk forever and ever about how cool this character is and how much she loves him and how they are perfect for each other! She isn't a personality for everyone, but her friends love and (probably) pity her.

The Anime Snob: This is somewhere between a Noob and an Anime Lover. They are past Beginner Animes (i.e. Sailor Moon, YuGiOh, Naruto) and they have even passed Gateway Animes (i.e. Bleach, InuYasha) however they still only seem to watch very, very popular anime, otherwise known as mainstream. (Mainstream can refer to Mainstream animes in the real world, beginner animes, or mainstream animes in the anime world. The difference is the audience. When a mainstream anime refers to a beginner anime, we are talking about everyone in general, when we are referring to a mainstream anime in the anime world, this is something that everyone who is past beginner animes know of because it is so huge and everyone-in the anime society- has just seen it. ) The anime snob tends to only watch bigger animes like Vampire Knight, Code Geass, Death Note etc... However they haven't really seen a lot of underground animes that are only subbed and the main title is still in Japanese.

The Topper: I have previously spoken about an anime Topper before. This person is the most annoying person you will ever meet in your whole entire life. No matter how many animes you've seen, they have always seen more, no matter how vast your manga collection, they always have more, no matter what this person is on a quest to top you...even if they have to lie. Toppers make up roughly 25 to 45 percent of the female population at anime conventions. Brace yourself and if you meet one, don't compete with them because it will only frustrate you more, just leave as soon as possible and avoid contact with them for the rest of the convention, don't be mean, just avoid them because no one wants to get punched in the face like you are likely to do to this girl if she says one more word about how her friends calls her manga collection a library because they pretty much "check out" manga from her because she has so many......screw her, no one cares, just be quiet! (If you do prepare yourself to tango with this check, make sure you have a silver bullet or ace of some sort that can top everyone, and do your best to make sure its true in case proof is asked for, and more importantly, flaunt this as little as possible, DO NOT TELL ANYONE ABOUT THIS UNTIL YOU HAVE TO USE IT IN BATTLE! Other wise it becomes less impressive. :P )

The Weirdo: She takes things from anime way to seriously and she actually thinks she a dog demon. She has a whole background that she is half way consistent with that has details about how, while she is human and is only 16 years old all of her memories and her parents memories are fake, because she is really from either back in time or a different dimension and how there she is a reincarnated demon, her old soul was 5000 years old and she is tormented by how her lover died in her past life.....yeah...She will growl at you and possibly bite...beware of this character, she is highly dangerous and if you try to point out that she is crazy she WILL attack. When you come in contact with this person, you may not know it at first, she may just seem eccentric at first, however you will realize sooner or later (hopefully sooner rather than later because these girls have a tenancy to latch on and believe you are partners in crime or something and that you are destined to be friends forever) you will realize it and the best thing to do slowly back away.....

The Gamer: A foreign species to most anime lovers because I have noticed that most people are either anime fanatics or hard core gamers. While I'm not saying people who watch anime don't play video games, and that people who play video games don't watch anime...thats just not true. The difference is the severity of time and effort put into the hobby. A Gamer will spend the majority of their time playing video games, completing them, and being the absolute best at them. To me, they are the jocks of the anime world. They play to win and the look cool doing it. You may wonder how this relates to jocks, well in high school a jock plays football or baseball or something like that, and lets face it, when the entire stadium is cheering for them, its pretty hot. Now take DDR for example, while it may not seem very masculine, it takes time and LOTS of energy and athletic ability to master it. When the player goes in for the final stretch and is getting perfects all the way for the final seconds of the game and they finally beat it, the crowd that had gathered to admire him goes crazy that he actually won on expert mode on the hardest song imaginable! Its the same for guitar hero and all the games like it. Now you may wonder, 'what about games that you just use controllers with?" Well its the same thing. We all gather to see who will win at some shooting game or Super Smash Brothers, we cheer and we get into it! So when the game is over and victor emerges, face it again, its exciting. That is their rightfully earned fifteen minuets of fame when girls in slutty anime costumes hug and congratulate them. You will usually find Gamers in the designated Gaming room of the anime convention most of the time, they may not know a lot about anime, but for some reason gamers and anime watchers mix perfectly and in harmony.

The Know It All: This is the geek of the anime world, the know everything about every game and anime and about anything else you can imagine that falls under the spectrum. The know what kind of gun and every single attachment to it that is used by the main character in the video game down to whatever kind of metal it is made out of...how they know? I don't know, I'm not one, but they have their ways.


The Skinny Girl: You walk into the anime convention in your well thought out costume that, while it may be low cut, you chose it because it is flattering and makes you look good....then you see her. The girl in a warrior battle armor bikini or something like that that shows their stomach and amazing legs and cleavage. Yes, they are usually very nice people and if you had that kind of body, you'd wear that costume too, so don't be too jealous, or try not to be. Instead ask for a picture cause her costume is cool and she IS that character you love and in your head be glad that someone got to look that good. Then look in a mirror, cause you look good too and we all know you're beautiful! :D Alright?

The Skinny Girl We All Hate: She's in animes, she's in real life, heck she's every where, and she is probably by your side as your best friend. This girl is skinny and in a revealing costume and she is just smoking hot...and she has a huge bag of sweets, the reason is because she already devoured her first bag and she is starting on her second. Even though she is probably very nice we are all jealous of her because she can eat and eat and eat whatever she wants whenever she wants and she is still gorgeous. Don't worry though because like I said before you are beautiful too and unlike girls at school, she is probably nice and doesn't even think about her weight, she can't help it she's perfect. XD

The In-The-Closet Anime Lover: This person is dressed normal attire, jeans, maybe some kind of anime or gaming T-shirt or an adorable/cool hat. The bare minimun for the convention. This person tries their hardest to be normal in day to day life, keeping their love of anime or gaming a secret and it is possible that this is their first or second convention and they just aren't ready to cosplay, or in some cases cosplay seriously because they may also be in a generic cosplay outfit of a school girl or priestess or something. They may shy away from the hard core cosplayers and the stranger panels. (The difference between an in the closet anime lover and a noob is easy, noobs are beginners, if you are simply in the closet about your love, you have years of experience under your belt, go you!)

The Stud Muffin: The Stud Muffin is attractive, he is dressed in regular clothing, but you think he could probably be in the closet about his love of anime, or maybe it was his first con. Well no such luck, sorry, he is a stud muffin for an anime convention, he probably very nice, and he has no problem with anime lovers, he actually probably likes them and accepts them as close friends...but he isn't an anime lover himself even though his friends have tried to convert him. The only reason he is there is actually only there because he is with his friends or he is looking for his family member or friend who have attended the convention.

The Mr.Perfect Fake Out: He is gorgeous, or at least hot for an anime convention, and he is in cosplay! He MUST like anime! Then you find out he is only in cosplay for his girlfriend or because his friends forced him too, sorry, better luck next time.

The Mr.Perfect: He is amazingly hot. He is just beautiful, he is in cosplay, you approach and ask for a picture to strike up conversation and you find out he is single and he loves anime! He likes your cosplay too, chances are this won't result in some sweeping, manga-type romance but you gained a new friend, probably a phone number, and hope that "he" is out there.

The Couple: This is simple. You will see a lot of couples at anime conventions. It is anywhere from gay, lesbian, to heterosexual couples. They might be friendly, but they tend to kiss in the hallway and block your way a lot, also if your single, they are really annoying to see. :/ So if you're bringing your someone special to a convention, please keep it in mind to be courteous and have manners, don't be over excessive with your PDAs in public, you are there for the convention anyways, not to suck face. Don't stop in the hallways, conventions are always crowded and people are eager to get around, so step to the side or find somewhere to sit out of the way. I think that's about it. :)

The Group: This is not a person, but rather a group you will meet, you will actually probably meet several of these. In this group there are an assortment of characters, there is probably one very strange person although after you hang around more he is cooler. the rest of them are usually friendly and they are probably either all already friends with each other or chances are they met up at the hotel because they are in the same one or something like that. Either way most groups you come across will be easy to interact with because of the variety of characters in it. So don't be afraid to approach groups, cliques don't exist in anime conventions...not really.

The Rare Cosplay Group: This group is the coolest group of people you can ever meet at an anime convention, everyone is cosplaying as a different character from the same anime or video game. The most common group I have seen is Kingdom Hearts and yes it is magnificent to see all the kingdom hearts characters together. You often see these marvelous groups shining and posing for pictures together, doing a cosplay skit for a crowd, or dancing tech tech para of some sort in sync. They have worked all year decided who would be what character and making sure their skit or dance is perfect, all for this convention. It usually goes off without a hitch and once again, this is probably the coolest group you will ever meet. Unfortunately they probably move kind of fast and all already know each other so while they are probably very friendly people they might not exactly have time for you to follow them around like a puppy trying to be their best friend. Sometimes this group uses the same cosplay every day, or they might only go one day. I like to think of this cosplay group as a rare phenomenon of sorts at an anime convention that takes months to perfect. The only thing more rare is when several people cosplaying from the same anime come together and group at the convention by chance.



I think this concludes our guide to the different types of character you will meet at a convention. I warn you this is a pretty basic guide to them and there are always exceptions to the rule. :) Keep that in mind as you try to keep an open mind at the anime convention.

(nov.7,2011)
(11:30)