Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello.
I am new to this forum and wish to meet like-minded people. I have Mild Autism with dyspraxia and dyslexia. As my first post, I want to discuss the topic of cosplay as it means a lot to me, and it seems to matter to others.
I wish to know others' cosplay journeys, comic con experiences, and memories to understand why it matters to us. I also want to support other cosplayers and hope to work together.
I also have trouble speaking and meeting others at conventions, so I am after advice. With anxiety, I struggle to approach and meet people at conventions or ask them to take a photo with amazing cosplay, especially with famous people who are there.
I have done cosplay for many years now, and I wish to expand my creations and meet all the other wonderful creators out there.
I will leave on an introduction. Hello there, I am Joe, and I am a creative person. Who wants his big break and a chance to shine!
Thanks for reading!
Hi Joe-NA, hope you quickly find yourself at home here.
I have only limited experience of actual,convention-going (Doctor Who cons in the late 1990s) as I live somewhere where the sort of event I'm more comfortable at (panels, no large crowds etc.) doesn't turn up much. The big signing events scare me a bit! Social anxiety remains a lifelong challenge...
As for cosplay, I think it brings a lot of character and colour to such events. I'm way too self-consious and introverted to ever participate other than in admiration for those who are confident enough to do it.
A little shameful confession: at one of those Doctor Who gatherings I mentioned above, my 20-ish years old self, alone, deeply self-loathing and anxoius to the core, witnessed a young teenager turn up at the entrance wearing an impressive Tom Baker scarf. I felt a kind of combination of embarrassment and envy and, out of earshot from him said (in a pathetic attempt to ingratiate myself with anyone closer by) 'There's always one, isn't there?' I absolutely hate that I said that. It was wrong, it was cowardly, and I still can't even explain why I did it. I certainly wouldn't now. He was wearing his fandom loud and proud, just as I (by showing up) professed to be doing, and if I could time travel back I'd have a word with myself and then apologise to him.
By the end of the day, I'd chatted pleasantly to both the young fella in question and his dad - 'There's only one Doctor for me, and that's Pertwee' I remember him saying (the father I mean) and a lot of my inner cringe was gone. As it should have been. Cosplay is awesome, and these days I like to think I'd have said something like 'Fantastic scarf, love it' or something similar instead.
We live and we learn...