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[TerraRising]

I have a bunch of horror stories from SDCC, but I'll share a cosplay-related one first.

Around 2005, I saw this young girl, who could not have been more than 15 (and I'm being generous) dressed as "Slave Leia Organa" from Return of the Jedi. So, underage in a bikini and loincloth.

It gets better.

Instead of the movie collar and fake chain, she had on this spiky dog collar and six feet of dog chain (the kind that weighs 5 to 6 pounds per foot).

So, an underage girl into serious bondage... it gets better.

She was also clearly a "medium," but was wearing a "small."

So, underage, into bondage, and exposing much more than necessary.

Security was called. They eventually found out that she had a child's pass AND that her "parent" was really her middle-aged boyfriend. <shudder>

[ladysphinx07]

At Ohayocon a couple of years ago, my boyfriend got really, really sick on Saturday night, problem from the food court most likely. I’ll spare details, but he was getting up every few hours hours that night for his stomach problem. Sunday morning, I knew we had to leave pronto. The poor guy had drank so much pepto-bismol that his lips were turning bright pink.

Anyway, i was driving a friend home with us, but she was staying off location at her bf’s dorm. I was calling and texting her for almost 2 hours begging her to come to the hotel so we could leave and get my boyfriend home (I didn’t know how to get to the place she was staying). During this, a hotel maid was knocking on the door asking us to leave the room so she could clean it, although the cleaning lady was almost an hour early before check-out. My friend finally called me (asking for more time which I stressed the severity of the situation) and met us at the hotel.

While packing the car, she informed me she forgot something at her bf’s place and she ABSOLUTELY needed it. I friggin' blew up. The whole way home was horrid because I was steaming mad and exhausted, she sulked and wouldn't speak at all and my boyfriend was passed out in the back seat hugging his pepto bismol bottle. I never thought a 2 hour car ride could be so damn long and we'll never eat at that gyro place again 0__o

[seiryuux]

Fan Expo Canada 2010 was a terribly booked con all around. The usual, much larger venue was undergoing reno so they had to move to a smaller venue. The crowding was just unbelievable. My friends and I still had fun, but it was still badly booked.

Anime North 2012 started out on a bad foot for me. I wanted to help my artist friend with setting up in the artist alley, but I had to get my sword prop checked out. Afterward, security wouldn't allow me back in, so I tried to call her, but didn't get any answer because she left her phone in our hotel room. Then while waiting outside, I lost my actual glasses frames I was going to use as another prop and couldn't find them afterwards. I still had the lenses luckily but I was pissed and it affected me the rest of the con. I was basically a bitch and prima donna to my friend the rest of the weekend, which I completely regretted.

[Lithium Flower]

Originally Posted by UsakoLuna

I got hopelessly lost at otakon this year. It was scary

It is really scary getting lost at cons, I am glad I don't go alone anymore :\ Youmacon was the first con I went to alone and wandering around by myself in a building I wasn't familiar with was..pretty scary.

[Elinu]

Back some years ago when I was first going to conventions I was really young and innocent.. so this guy used to always see me at this one convention in artist alley... he'd like take me to the side and start talking to me, and a lot of times get overly too close and start running his hands up my body @__@ I didn't really understand what he was doing. I was perfectly legal age, but I was extremely innocent for my age at the time. I thought it was a very uncomfortable..hug... @__@

[vertikal]

This is more a blanket thing than bad congoer experiences or cosplay malfunctions, but I have really bad anxiety attacks sometimes, especially in crowded areas with a lot of noise and had forgotten to take my medicine for one convention. On the second day, I had lost my friends on the way to a major panel and couldn't seem to find where they had gone, and spent ten minutes wandering and trying to find them in the middle of a giant panic attack. I almost broke down sobbing then and there and was on edge and out of it for about another hour. (Then we can-caned our way to a restaurant to dinner and all was swell.)

Also, my friend and I have been to five conventions together, and she's managed to have a cold during every single one of them.

[Quinn The Spazz]

When I "Cosplayed" Alois Trancy (it was so bad I don't even consider it a cosplay) my pants almost fell down (Apparently I lost weight between buying them and wearing them) several times. By the end of the con, they were held up with paper clips and an FMA button I bought in the dealers' room.

[Shirayuki~Chan]

Speaking of Kuroshitsuji, when I was fem!Ciel- y'know, the giant ballgown version, I had a hard time walking, I had to lift up my dress other wise I'd step on it and fall, which almost happened a lot. And when I was walking, being careful, lifting up my dress, I missed a step. I didn't see them because of the hoopskirt, I totally face planted. On the ground. In a really popular place. It was only two steps, though!

My friends didn't laugh, and they helped me up and asked me if I was okay~ I always laugh at that memory because I'm a dork and of course I fall down stairs. It's what I do!

[Shana05]

It was the first year of a new convention in my town and it was held in this really cheap hotel. I'm staying there alone and I went to sleep around 11. Then around midnight a man just walks into my room. He said "Oh sorry." But took a little too long to leave. I talked the front desk about this. They said they have nighttime housekeeping for vacant rooms and I must have checked in late so my room was listed as vacant. In truth, I checked in at 4 and I really doubt he started his shift before that. There's no excuse for them not printing out a list of vacant rooms the minute he starts. Be a lone woman, it's very frightening to have a man walk into my hotel room in the middle of the night. I skipped the next year's convention because they were holding it at the same hotel. The third year they moved to another hotel so I came back and it's been pretty good.

[SA2R]

Originally Posted by Shana05

It was the first year of a new convention in my town and it was held in this really cheap hotel. I'm staying there alone and I went to sleep around 11. Then around midnight a man just walks into my room. He said "Oh sorry." But took a little too long to leave. I talked the front desk about this. They said they have nighttime housekeeping for vacant rooms and I must have checked in late so my room was listed as vacant. In truth, I checked in at 4 and I really doubt he started his shift before that. There's no excuse for them not printing out a list of vacant rooms the minute he starts. Be a lone woman, it's very frightening to have a man walk into my hotel room in the middle of the night. I skipped the next year's convention because they were holding it at the same hotel. The third year they moved to another hotel so I came back and it's been pretty good.

That is insanely scary ;; I am sorry that happened to you.
I find that rather unacceptable that the hotel would let that happen.


Hmmm as for me~


Probably the worst I can think of:
Some fat guy was spitting on people. He was at the very top floor of the connecting mall to the convention center. Not only was he spitting~ he was throwing garbage, and just being~ well something I don't even want to say. We were right under him when we noticed what he was doing. We went to the elevator, and as bad luck would have it~ he was in the same elevator car. He told us he was trying to hurt people, and thought some people deserved to be hurt...I can't even explain the sinking feeling I got. I wanted to just punch this guy in the gut!

The second was @ ALW. My little sister was dressed as Pluto in our Kuroshitsuji group. A bunch of fan girls fanned over her, took her by the leash that her gf put around her neck~ and the fan girls jumped on the elevator. Leash in hand, and my sister on the other side of the doors.
As the doors began to close I ran up cursing my brains out, and shoving the doors open, and grabbing the leash from them.
All the said was: "Why are you being so mean...?"
I said...screamed actually:
"Why am I being so mean...? WHY AM I BEING SO MEAN?!? BECAUSE YOU ALL ARE BEING INSANELY STUPID!!"
Maybe I shouldn't have yelled at them, but come on~ I was really scared. It remains in my mind a dreadfully sad and scary memory. Some fan girls are just so brainless...

[Quinn The Spazz]

I just remembered. First con ever, I was carrying a giant bag (one of those huge SDCC swag-bag totes) and about halfway through the day, the strap broke. And it was a big bag that was really full of stuff, and I could no longer carry it over my shoulder, which sucked DX

When I did Detective!Xerxes Break at Otakon this past year, I ran into a shelf in the dealers' room and my Emily doll's head snapped off (it was made from a styrofoam ball) fortunately her head was glued to her neck bow so it didn't come off completely, but she looked like nearly-headless Nick during several pictures at the end of the day.

[Kenkaya]

Wow... I've never been assaulted at a convention. Reading those stories both scares and angers me (anger toward the jerk-holes who think they can get away with doing things like that). A lot of the time I'm with one of my guy friends at cons and I've seen them give the warning look to several creepy looking guys who've approached me. One of them told me that a mutual friend of ours had a very scary experience with a con stalker before I knew them so he's pretty protective of his female friends.

As for the worst that's personally happened to me at a con... that would probably be at Fanime 2007. It was the first con I went to with my ex after we started dating and we got into our first big fight on Day 1. He also lost my camera (and all the cosplay pics I took on it) on the second night. I still had fun at the con thou, despite the drama.

[Amaya]

Originally Posted by ladysphinx07

At Ohayocon a couple of years ago, my boyfriend got really, really sick on Saturday night, problem from the food court most likely. I’ll spare details, but he was getting up every few hours hours that night for his stomach problem. Sunday morning, I knew we had to leave pronto. The poor guy had drank so much pepto-bismol that his lips were turning bright pink.

Anyway, i was driving a friend home with us, but she was staying off location at her bf’s dorm. I was calling and texting her for almost 2 hours begging her to come to the hotel so we could leave and get my boyfriend home (I didn’t know how to get to the place she was staying). During this, a hotel maid was knocking on the door asking us to leave the room so she could clean it, although the cleaning lady was almost an hour early before check-out. My friend finally called me (asking for more time which I stressed the severity of the situation) and met us at the hotel.

While packing the car, she informed me she forgot something at her bf’s place and she ABSOLUTELY needed it. I friggin' blew up. The whole way home was horrid because I was steaming mad and exhausted, she sulked and wouldn't speak at all and my boyfriend was passed out in the back seat hugging his pepto bismol bottle. I never thought a 2 hour car ride could be so damn long and we'll never eat at that gyro place again 0__o

Out of curiosity, are you talking about that Gyro place in the food court of the convention center? I want to know so I won't eat there...ever..

[AllYourBase7745]

At AX some time ago, my girlfriend passed out because she was wearing a corset that I warned her would be too tight... being the boss I am, I picked her up (In my "generic anime student" cosplay, so it looked like an improv skit) and sprinted her to the nurse, who helped loosen the corset.
Don't worry; she woke up and we went back to marrily cosplaying as if nothing happened, since the whole scene looked like an improv.
But behind the scenes, I was scared shitless.
And that, ladies and jellyspoons, is my horror story for tonight.

[TenTigerLilies]

Two small ones, but eh, whatever...

I went to Mobicon 2011 and I had made 3 costumes (since this was still when I was seriously un-experienced and just throwing shit together); Kankuro from Naruto, my OC Sammy, and my OC Kelly. Kankuro was alright, Sammy was a little "sad", and Kelly looked great (whether anyone would recognize him or not, I didn't care.) Well, I'm packing my stuff, and so I get Kankuro and Sammy packed, and I absolutely cannot find my Kelly costume no matter where I looked. I was SO pissed. So I ended up just wearing scrap costume stuff the day I was supposed to wear Kelly. I got home, and my Kelly costume was on my desk...

Secondly, my friends and I do this thing, usually late on Saturday night, where we put on white t-shirts and carry sharpies around and ask people to sign our shirts and "get a free hug." We're not easily creeped out, but there are some people that are just weirdos. For example, at Persacon 2011, there was this one guy dressed as Jiraiya and my friend asked him to sign her shirt, and he was joking around sort of "in character" and drew an arrow towards her butt and wrote "Jiraiya's." It was funny, but then some other guy in a costume I didn't recognize did the same thing to her and far closer to her butt. It was freaky, and so I actually told him, "Uh, yeah, sorry, I don't want you signing my shirt." XD

Not really many other creeps via that, except one time while doing this same shirt signing thing, there was this GIANT guy (and I mean he was probably 6'4", 200 lbs, just BIG), but he was really nice, and so I ask him to sign my shirt, and afterwards when I hug him, he, like...picks me up. And I didn't expect it, so I sort of started to freak out, and everyone turns and looks at me like "Da fuck?"

.__.