![\"AXCrowd\"](\"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/AXCrowd.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Line Buddy<\/h3>\n
The first two rules of conventions are \u201cYes, there\u2019s a line\u201d and \u201cNo, this isn\u2019t the back of it.\u201d You and thousands of like-minded fans have all descended upon the same place at the same time, and you all want to do the same things. Is it any wonder you have to line up for anything worth doing?<\/p>\n
Luckily, the silver lining of this dark cloud is the line buddy. When you spend half an hour standing in one spot, you\u2019re eventually going to end up talking with the people next to you. The shared misery of interminable wait times creates a bond between con-goers that mimics the ties between war veterans. By the time the screening\/panel\/entire freakin\u2019 convention starts, you\u2019ll have gone from exchanging pleasantries to asking the guy in front of you to be your first child\u2019s godfather. All right, that may be an exaggeration, but you get my point.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Doppelgangers of Everyone You Know<\/h3>\n
Long lines aren\u2019t the only inevitable consequence of gathering scores of anime fans under a single roof. As you wander the crowded halls, you\u2019ll start to find yourself staring at random strangers with a baffled look on your face. Your brain will swear up and down that you just passed you best friend from middle school, or that your high school crush just walked by in a group of RWBY<\/em> cosplayers. What\u2019s going on?<\/p>\n While we all might be unique snowflakes, the fact is that many people look alike. Assemble a convention\u2019s worth of humans, and some are bound to resemble your past and present friends and enemies. Running into anime con doppelgangers is a weird experience, but not nearly as neuron-snapping as meeting\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As the weekend wears on, you eventually grow numb to the doppelganger phenomenon. No, that\u2019s not your English professor selling used manga. No, that\u2019s not your cousin in Doctor Who<\/em> cosplay. No, that\u2019s not\u2026 wait, that IS the tall guy from freshman orientation! What\u2019s he doing here? Was he always an anime fan? More importantly, what was his name again?<\/p>\n Random encounters with people you know can range from painfully awkward to mind-bendingly awesome depending on the individual. Mostly they average out to a half-hearted wave and a brief conversation about what you\u2019ve both been up to since that one time you met. Just remember to look on the bright side: they probably don\u2019t remember your name either.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n People make some really entertaining mistakes at their first conventions, but none is funnier than the person who gets \u201cfree stuff fever\u201d and eagerly takes every single piece of merch that\u2019s being handed out. Eventually, he or she is reduced to an unbalanced, exhausted mess, desperately trying to stuff one more rolled-up poster into a tote bag. (The tote bag was also free.)<\/p>\n There\u2019s a wealth of keychains, flyers, posters, lanyards, and more to be had at most anime conventions. Some are awesome and will fill you with happiness, while others are useless trinkets promoting some product or website that you\u2019ve never heard of. At some point, it\u2019s important to learn the difference, lest you become a leaning tower of freebies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Look at that smug guy, reclining on a bench while he scribbles nonsense in his fancy notebook. With his boring haircut and his geek-reference polo shirt, he\u2019s clearly trying to fit in while still dressing to impress all the industry folks. What a useless, dumb\u2026 oh, wait, that\u2019s me. I\u2019m staring at my reflection in a window. Damn it all.<\/p>\n Yes, I\u2019ll be at this year\u2019s Anime Expo and will spend most of my time taking illegible notes at industry panels. You\u2019ll probably mistake me for that annoying guy from your day job, but I promise I\u2019m not quite as bad as he is. Just be careful: you might end up in my next article.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kawaii Overthink is written by Paul Jensen. You can follow his ramblings about anime and manga on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>. Check back every Wednesday for new articles.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With Anime Expo 2014 kicking off this weekend, legions of fans are converging on Los Angeles. As diverse as convention-goers may be, there are a few personalities you\u2019re almost guaranteed to come across. From the awesome to the awkward, the first-timers to the grizzled veterans, here are five encounters to expect over the course of [Read more…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1273"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1273"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1277,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1273\/revisions\/1277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Someone You Actually Know<\/h3>\n
The Leaning Tower of Freebies<\/h3>\n
The People-Watching “Journalist”<\/h3>\n