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Conventions, be they related to anime, comics, sci-fi, or multi-genre, are unique environments. When you get that many like-minded people with nerdy interests together, you are treated to fascinating displays of comradely, social awkwardness, exhibitionism, loneliness, and creativity. As someone who goes to plenty of conventions, I've wandered into some truly strange and interesting situations. In this thread, I will relate some of the most memorable. Feel free to react or post your own convention stories.

Metrocon 2016 (Tampa Bay, Florida)
I was in line to meet Wendee Lee, someone I had wanted to meet since I first played BlazBlue. As often happens, I struck up a casual conversation with someone standing next to me, a teenage girl (just to talk, honestly). After a few minutes, RWBY came up. She mentioned how sad things got in the third season and I replied that I had never seen a show improve so much so quickly. It was pleasant. Then I asked if she had been watching RWBI Chibi. Immediately, I heard a loud, obnoxious voice yell, "RWBI Chibi?" I turned around.

And there he was. The most incredibly pure example of a meme toilet I had ever seen. Upon his head sat a plush shit hat. His shirt also featured a cartoon piece of shit, but made up to look like Donald Trump, a caption reading "Dump". Under one arm, he carried a recently bought dakimakura cover of an anime character I did not recognize. His weight, substantial. His mind, no doubt, riddled with the 'tism.

"Nothing bad happens…EVER!" he yelled.

I smiled awkwardly and nodded as he yelled a few more catchphrases. Then he turned around to show off his dakimakura to others in line. I looked at the girl I had been talking to and we had a chuckle. Soon after, I got Wendee Lee's autograph and left the autograph hall.

I'm sorry that happened to you, that sounds very shitty(no pun intended) on what you went through.

I guess my current memories of convention is probably Otakon this year.

Again, nothing too exciting, my sister got to be a gofer(basically a Otakon volunteer/understaff ) again and I was left alone. Unfortunately, again I had to deal with long lines, and not able to get into the panels I wanted to see. I know, I know very common in anime conventions, but it's kinda of different from this:

Staff says not to form lines for an future autograph or panel and shoos the people away, KNOWING other people will come and form another line which the staff doesn't even bother breaking up. So that line will get bigger and bigger and it makes it harder to get in, knowing that you were screwed because of these line things.

And it very annoying because when you finish a panel, there's a line already forming, so if there's a panel in a room of a previous panel you're in, it's impossible to get in.

And it's frustrating when staff sends you away but doesn't bother with the other line. Lines are usually the pain, especially if you can't get you 18 band at register(which is an another story). True fact: My sister wanted to go to DIY steampunk googles, but people already formed a line three hours a head, even though staff doesn't allow it. And when she got there, the staff said that they closed the line an hour ago. I felt really bad for her.

At least I got an autograph from the author of Black Lagoon and Richard Epcar, but within the three day con, I didn't go to many panels or autograph signing due to these lines problem.

SGC 2015 in Frisco, TX

I attended a DBZ English Dub Cast Panel. The panel was scheduled so badly that the autograph lines were forming already at the other end since the cast would do autographs as soon as the Q&A ended. However, when people were leaving early to get a spot in the line, one cast member said that if they left early, then they would miss the airing of a scene from the upcoming English Dub release of Resurrection F causing people to make a choice of staying to watch 90 seconds of a movie or get a good spot in the autograph line. My brother was waiting in line for me, but he gave up due to a limited space. He then told me after the panel, that some VIP badge member went into a rage about not getting in. The man yelled to the ushers about how he was denied the right to be one of the firsts in line and ranted about how he paid 100s of dollars to get the VIP pass.

Went to BABSCon (My Little Pony convention) in 2014. Began walking through the Brony artist's displays, and lo and behold, one of the artists was extremely well known in the Brony community for drawing detailed gay porn (nothing NSFW was on display though lol). Went up to him, said I thought his work looked cool, and shook his hand. It was honestly pretty surreal, since you never expect anyone like that to be seen in a public con. Although you might expect MLP porn artists to look creepy this guy looked like a totally average dude.
The artist is Braeburned btw, and his porn is actually quite good.

I get what you're feeling, Muffin.
I went to BotCon 2011 and got to shake the hand of the guy who voices Optimus Prime.
Its the closest thing to a religious experience I will ever have.

Let's talk about cosplay. I've never been too deep into it, though I've tried my hand at sewing a costume and it turned out pretty well. My most successful cosplay, however, is Chris-Chan. I occasionally cosplay as him to prove that somebody might do that. It wasn't too hard to make. Just make a Sonichu medallion with Crayola Model Magic and acrylic paint, put it on a shoestring, and pair it with jeans and a polo shirt. It's amazing how many people have complimented me on it, sometimes even asking for pictures.

Anime Weekend Atlanta 2013
I attended a Q&A session with Mitsuo Iwata, who voiced Kaneda in Akira. Someone asked him what he liked to do in his spare time, to which he replied that he played Pokemon with his son. Then he spotted my medallion in the front row and said, "I see we have a Pokemon fan in the audience." I stood up and waved awkwardly at the other attendees. Blank stares all around, but I heard one guy laughing his ass off in the back. Exactly the sort of reaction I was waiting for. After the panel, I talked with the guy who recognized me for a few minutes and now we're Facebook friends.

Momocon 2014 (Atlanta, Georgia)
Most the guests I've met at conventions have been very nice and appreciative of the people coming to see them. A handful, however, have been less than enthusiastic to speak to attefansndees. One such example was when I met the YouTuber Chuggaaconroy. He was co-hosting a nighttime panel on making Let's Plays and immediately afterwards, a bunch of people rushed the table to get his autograph. I was one of the first there with my copy of Pikmin in hand. When I got to the table, I noticed that Chugga looked exhausted. He had been meeting people all day and just got done with a panel, so he was half-asleep already, when a crowd of people suddenly decided to seek his autograph. I felt bad for him and part of me thought I should just leave. I didn't, though. No, suppressing my guilt, I came at him and asked him to sign the game, which he sleepily and silently provided. Then he looked at me, smirked, and asked, "Are you who I think you are?" I nodded. We shared a little laugh and I left for another panel. I let him keep the pen.