OK, let's say you transfer to a new school in the middle of your high school years.

& you're all social, you're making friends, trying to blend in. but everyone's been friends since they were in their freshmen year, or maybe even grade school. so even though you find new friends, there's still something that they share with each other that you will never have.

so you may not be acting like an outcast..but that doesn't necessarily mean you don't feel like one.

High school's tough :/

But seriously, you don't have to go to preschool together to be friends. My worst excuses for friends are the ones I've known the longest.

There are only two instances where anyone should feel like an outcast and at a con isnt one of them. Everybody is there to have fun, eat bad con food, and hang out with people that are into the same weird stuff they are. Last con I went to I ended up; playing D&D, dancing with the hotel manager, sneaking my way into one of the luxury suits by pretending to be one of the bellhops, and leading the effort to get the con's band to play "Come Sail Away" getting nearly half the con to burst into song in the process. Con's are nothing but good fun, good friends, and legally questionable good times.

Maybe I just go to a good con but I've always felt perfectly at ease around the people there. I don't cosplay, I can count the number of anime I've watched on one hand, but I've never had a problem getting along with even the most hardcore anime enthusiasts (I actually had a pretty good conversation with a guy dressed up as a mudkip). That being said I will advise you avoid crossdressing cosplayers of your own gender they are very...exciteable...don't ask.

The only advice I can offer for being at a con is let loose, never hold back, don't think before you act or speak, and talk to everyone you meet...and keep a mental map of all of the elevators and stairwells :D .

I have to agree with Wilson. Maybe our local con is "special" but I have never been in a more inviting situation. Cosplay or not, anyone could talk to anyone because we were all there for the same reason..maybe not the EXACT same reason, but mutual respect seemed to be the underlying theme.

I thnk you explained this much better than I could. I was "out of the loop" for the anime stuff, but I didn't have a bad time because of it. I enjoyed myself, and I did meet some really cool people. I guess "out of the loop" is the best way to describe my experiences with cons as opposed to being "outcast".

New plan.

You tell me about these Amazing-Incred-o-Cons and their locations.

I'll make like Harold and Kumar and epically road trip it there, becuase they sound like a hell of a lot more fun than the cons I go to, which is composed of (mostly) morbidly obese people who think watching Inuyasha for 12 hours straight whilst listening to soft J-Pop in the background is a good time.

There's only Kawaii-kon here in Hawaii, and sure, there can be a bit of clique-ish clumping here and there, but there are always a ton of friendly fan-folk who are just happy to put on their costumes, watch anime together, play games, and enjoy being with a great big herd of other people who like the same thing and won't think they are strange because they like 'cartoons.'

It's not very nice to say, but it's enjoyable watching the 'normal' sorts there, obviously feeling like outcasts themselves for once. They look so lost, it's almost cute. Heh.

The first con I went to, I went with my mom (I couldn't drive then) that was the only time I felt out of place. Now, next year I'm bringing two of my friends to their first con (I get to corrupt them :D)