Lessons Learned at AB 2022

[RayneDeanZ]

Hey gang, it’s been 3 years in the making, but it has finally come and gone, which means it’s time for The Annual Lessons Thread!!

-If your cosplay needs new shoes, order them ASAP. Amazon delayed Kiki’s twice and I had to ask my mother to drive them an hour down to me.
-After Dark Dating Game is a lot of fun to be a part of, just make sure you have a solid sense of how you’re playing your character.
-There’s no shame in taking the evening off if you’re dying in your cosplay. I ended up not putting most of my casual Kazuichi back on after I showered to wake up before LAVA and Shenanigans.
-Not a lesson I learned the hard way thankfully but I can honestly say I feel like I was doing better at con just by virtue of having water all day.
-Cosplay Games is a family that will absolutely have your back. While learning my fights Sunday morning, my wig flew off and i was offered Bobby pins to hold it on, not to mention both of my opponents being very good about adapting to suddenly fighting me last minute.
-This one my friend learned from following me around con: Go to panels and games and events. It may seem strange, but my friend has been going for years but always was led away from going to things by their ex and my ex. Following me rekindled their love of cons.

[Rhys Ifane]

1.) Ask yourself periodically when you last used the bathroom. You may not feel dehydrated, but if your answer is "12 hours ago", you should have some water.
2.) Before you take 3 hours worth of public transit home, make sure you remembered to get your house keys or off your friend's room.

[iLoveToxicAnimeMen]

1. Don't walk around in big stompy goth boots because you "don't have room in your suitcase". Carry them in a separate bag or get a bigger suitcase.

...my feet are dead.

edit: also, don't get grab bags. My friend and I each got one and I'm sorry but they were nooot worth it at all, big big yikes.

[Penti]

From this year...

• If you plan to use the commuter rail as a means of getting from where you're staying into Boston, make sure it's fully operational; due to construction, a significant chunk of the ride was taken over by a slow, cumbersome bus, which took up a lot of time.
• Beef jerky and applesauce are great as rations, to save from buying so much takeout.
• Trying to do the con with an injured wrist is not an easy experience, but it can be done.
• If you bought some new face masks in fun colors, be sure to wash them before the con; the blue dye was coming off on my face from how sweaty I was getting

[Sayoria]

- Find other people to enjoy the con with who has as much energy as you do. Otherwise, it will feel boring experiencing things by yourself.

[Victablook]

1. Make sure you know where all your cosplay stuff is if you're planning to pack the day you leave for Boston. Otherwise, you'll end up in the car an hour and a half later than anticipated, fully packed but stressed out of your mind.
2. Applesauce pouches are OP, and make great snacks even if you can't stomach anything else.
3. You don't have to feel bad about not cosplaying the ENTIRE weekend. It's important to take care of yourself first, even if people won't get to see your cosplay as much.
4. In the future, plan to get comfy shoes for your cosplays. I wore my matching sneakers instead of the actual boots I had planned for my cosplay. Nobody cares about shoe accuracy as long as it's not for Masquerade.
5. DRINK. LOTS. OF. WATER. Even though I couldn't stomach much solids this weekend, the fact I continued to stay hydrated probably kept me from fully passing out.
6. If you're sleeping on the floor in the hotel room, bring your body pillow if you own one. It helps so much with much needed comfort. Don't care about what others would think about you.

[Master of NERV]

6. If you're sleeping on the floor in the hotel room, bring your body pillow if you own one. It helps so much with much needed comfort. Don't care about what others would think about you.

"You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!" -- Rudyard Kipling, 1890

[Garysanderson96]

Need to be more bold to ask to take a picture.
Missed most of my favorite character cosplay due to I didn't have the courage to ask for a picture, until the last day...
I missed taking a picture of Shamir

[Master of NERV]

Beef jerky and applesauce are great as rations, to save from buying so much takeout.

Nuts, raisins, and M&Ms (esp. peanut) mixed up in a ziploc bag also work great.

[GemSola]

1. If possible next year splurge on a hotel room. I usually take the T in and am fine, but for some reason this year I missed out on some earlier panels cause I was just too tired to get up early enough to get there in time. Live and learn.

2. Plan out lunch/dinner plans better. Next year planning to make out a list to keep on my phone of food places, I'd be willing to leave and walk to along with their addresses and price range ready to go instead of just going with the flow and hoping for the best.

3. Stop being so dang self consious and interact with people more. Had a few nice conversations with people throughout Saturday about Percy Jackson and it was nice (though sorry if I was awkward ^_^;).

[JosephW]

Don't forget your good mask at home. I haven't worn masks in forever (other than doctor visits, since that is the only place they're required anymore) so my mask wasn't in my bag, and the only mask I had was the emergency backup mask I keep in my car. Which sucks because it's too small and causes my breath to go upward and fog up my glasses with every breath. So I had to spend all day Friday not wearing my glasses and it was obnoxious.

Don't try to throw together a cosplay 1 month before the con. I tried to put together a Swatchling (Deltarune) cosplay, and had everything in place, but ultimately didn't use it because I didn't like the look of the mask and the whole thing was uncomfortable to wear. Just standing around in my house, I was hot enough to be sweating...I probably would have died of heatstroke if I actually wore it to the con.

Also, try to find a cosplay that works "solo". I've used my Nick Wilde cosplay multiple times at other cons throughout the years, and when I'm just by myself, nobody seems to really notice me....but twice, in 2017 and 2019, I happened to run into a Judy Hopps cosplayer and we couldn't walk 30 seconds without someone stopping us to take a photo. But at AB, most people didn't seem to even recognize me, though I'd assume that's mostly because...it's an anime con, not a western animation con, and the movie is six years old at this point. Of the few people that did seem to recognize me, I only heard them calling me "that fox from Zootopia"

I think what I'm gonna end up doing is just going to one of those premade cosplay sites and searching through there for anything that interests me. Probably a lot easier than trying to piece together something through eBay purchases.

[coffeecake]

-Not a lesson I didn't know before, but if you're able to do so bring food and drinks to your hotel room with you so you have something waiting for when you need to take a break and refuel/rehydrate (This one I couldn't do because I had no one to carpool with to the hotel so I couldn't carry any additional stuff).

-In a similar vain, plan a food budget (again, not one I didn't already know). Swear to god the prices for food were RIDICULOUS this year. The only exception I make to splurge on purpose is at Cheesecake Factory on Thursday night (became a yearly tradition for me).