There are a considerable number of conventions across this country, and the world, ranging from business, to food, to books. The most widely known, and attended, of these conventions, or Cons, is Comic Con. Other cons include Dragon Con, a largely cosplay (costumes of professional quality, or close to it) based convention, and Comicpalooza.
Whatever convention you go to, you will find people dressing up as their favorite comic book, video game, or film character. This pastime is called cosplay. Cosplay is a quickly developing industry, with people being paid by companies to make mascots for them or build props for the conventions they are presenting at. But more often than not, they do it for themselves and the people around them.
A very notable name in this industry is Adam Savage of “MythBusters” fame. Adam used to work at ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) and worked on the ship models for Star Wars. His most recent cosplay was at SiliCon where he suited up in his full Iron-Man Mark1 armor.
Cosplay as a whole is made easier by people who are willing to help.
“I would say generally they’re [the cosplay community] very welcoming to newcomers” Garrett Robinson, a member of said cosplay community, about the good natured-ness of the rest of the community.
“I generally like the one [cosplay] I’m working on in the moment.” “I have a hard time finishing things though.” That being said, his favorite cosplay to work on specifically, so far, is Essek Thelyss (Critical Role, a Dungeons and Dragons show), and by favorite he means “Essek is probably the one I have learned the most from.”
Garrett is in the minority of people cosplay this specific character; most of them are women due to most of the skills required to accurately portray the character being traditionally female skills to possess, skills like makeup, sewing, and hair.
In 2018 Comicpalooza had a gross attendance of 50,778 people. Dragon Con, in 2017, let 80,000 people through their doors. But one thing all cons have in common… the atmosphere is one of wonder and amazement.
Eric Keith, a West Virginia local and regular Con-goer, described the atmosphere as “fun and enjoyable” as well as “very inviting” due to the cons he has attended being well run.
Most Cons were put on hold for two years due to Covid 19, but they are finally gathering themselves up and getting back on their feet. This will mark the second year in a row that our local convention CauseACon has been canceled because of the coronavirus.
CauseACon is a Beckley-based non-profit convention that donates all its proceeds to a local women’s housing charity. In other states, there are quite a few more local cons, but because of West Virginia’s size and relatively small cosplay community no one has set very many in motion.
Comic Con is the most well-known convention for comics, film, sci-fi, fantasy, pop culture, and everything in between. It has panels for celebrity appearances, costume contests, parties, upcoming movie trailers and much more.
Because of how mainstream Comic Con has gotten there are many variations of it. The names of these conventions usually follow a similar pattern, Silicon Vally Comic Con, Boston Comic Con, and names similar to those. But as you can imagine there are cons that do not follow that naming convention, like Intervention in the D.C. area and STAPLE! in Austin, Texas.
Comic Con International went global in 1970, and since the early 2000s with the insurgence of comic book movies, Comic Con has had its attendance bolstered. At most cons you can buy signed artwork, collectables, miniatures, and the occasional vintage comic.
You can usually find celebrity artists signing their work, and/or random items. Eric’s favorite thing to do at a convention is to buy things in the seller’s room. The most he has ever spent on a single item at a con is $256, but not everything is overpriced.
The sheer number of people who attend simply to browse is astonishing. In 2019 over 130,000 people went to San Diego Comic Con, and their highest attendance ever recorded was around 167,000 individuals.
That figure was in 2015. To put that in perspective, that is about twenty times the population of the entire city of Oak Hill.
Some people travel from all over the world to go to certain cons. People will fly from Sydney to Atlanta for Dragon Con, or from Charleston, WV to San Diego for the biggest Comic Con on the planet.
There are people who will drive 1000 miles (about the distance from Florida to New York City) for the chance to experience one of these conventions.
Eric, an exception to this point, said the most time he has traveled for a con was two hours to Parkersburg. The con he attended in Parkersburg was Popcon.
On the cosplay side of Cons, there are a huge number of people who simply enjoy being in the company of others who share their hobby. Cosplay is a great way to show off the kind of work you specialize in, and to show others the things you are learning. “They seem pretty open to sharing experience with newbies.”
The best part of the cosplay community is even if you have no idea how to do something, you can nearly always find someone who does. Cons open up a large number of entrepreneur-ing ventures for all sorts of people.
Sometimes those people who tailor or fabricate start an Etzy shop and sell their work. That sold work (depending on the quality) can go for quite a bit, especially custom-tailored clothing, and armor.
“A lot of men are pressured away from the sewing and makeup side of cosplay, so you’ll see a many more of them in foamsmithing and prop building.” so depending on who is setting up the shop you can usually tell what kind of product is going to be sold.
Conventions are a fun way to get to know people who share your hobby and enjoy the things you do. So, once the global pandemic is over, go to one. You might enjoy yourself and meet some people.