While coping with a situation that I’m dealing with, I have thought over a few things that I have done when I couldn’t attend an anime convention. In this post, I will talk about the effects of missing an anime (or sci-fi) convention, and what to do to recover from temporary depression.

In the midst of the convention season, especially when a convention near where I live draws closer, I would watch videos of previous conventions, such as this one from Otakon 2007:

I am not going to do this again. Why? Because it will just make things worse. Looking at videos of conventions with voice actors, panels, cosplayers, and shots of the dealer’s room will add to the excitement of attending a convention.

Looking at pictures will have the same effect as viewing videos. However, thankfully, it doesn’t have the same impact. Many of the photos I see are in an attendant’s hotel room playing around, playing trading card games, and often making their cosplay characters “out of character”. Cosplay photos really gets me in the guts. While I’m a fan of last-minute cosplay, looking at professional cosplay inspires me to buy a costume from eBay or make my own. However, making your own costume would have a “to-do list” effect, as making one would cost you time and money.

Every con-goers’ first place to stop by when attending a convention is the dealer’s room. The dealer’s room has everything: doujinshi, costumes, garage kits, anime OSTs, etc. Everything you could get from an online retailer or off of eBay, but without the two-to-three week wait. When I can’t go to a convention, I would buy the stuff I could have gotten at the con online. I am not going to do this anymore, because it is actually a waste of money. You can save up the money for the next convention nearest you and you will be guaranteed a safe trip home after thinking you blew all your money of Yaoi doujinshi.

Another solution I found to deal with problems such as this is attending an small anime event at a school or library. This worked for me, but it did not help as the participation of attendees were low. There were no dealer rooms, no artist booths, no cosplay, no panels. Just a screening of anime movies and OVAs handpicked by the event operators. However, I did get the opportunity to look at the various anime DVDs offered in the multimedia room and checked out Patrick Macias’ “Cruising the Anime City” book before leaving.

In conclusion: If you’re brave (and mature) enough to stomach the disappointment of missing your favorite convention, go ahead and do everything you couldn’t do. If you’re a wimp and start to cry at the cosplay photos and fanfiction panel videos on YouTube, void these during the week of the convention. Don’t look at them until after the week has passed. This way, you can keep a stiff upper lip until the next convention!