Cosplay Survival: How to Survive Post Con Blues

A big challenge we face after cons is having to deal with post-con as we head back to the real world having to deal with people who don’t understand us, people who don’t like what we do and people who don’t have similar interests as us, it happens as it’s all apart of life! In this blog article, I will be sharing with you strategies that cosplayers use to help them deal with post-con blues.

The Comic Con Build Up

We talk about the build-up towards cons, the making of the costumes, the cosplay planning with friends, meetups, catch up and gathering points, some of us are taking the kids and family as a day out, experiencing con as family time or a time to unleash your inner geek from within with your community, whatever the reason, make sure to enjoy it!

As our busy lives are either occupied with work, kids, gaming, anime, comics or manga. How do we really unwind and cope with the blues that come after the cons? Many of us use different strategies to deal with it or to even avoid having the blue in the first place by keeping ourselves occupied until the next con!

I’ll share with you how you can use some of the con stalls as a place to gather some useful products to take care of yourself post con as I believe we don’t look after ourselves enough after cons, usually we just get back home and crash out straight after, some may even take a few days to recover.

I have been scouting around the con stores to see what inventory they supply to help with dealing with post-con blues that range with stalls that supplied cakes, toys, mystery boxes, snacks, travel, comics, games, facemasks, cards, merchandises and many more goodies that keep us occupied.

We stock up our supply draws full of pocky, candies from the likes of Tofu Cute, Japan Center, Snacky Boy, that we can binge eat whilst catching up on anime, tv series, manga, comics or gaming heavily into the early mornings of the earth hour with our friends or family.

Post Cosplay Face Care

What I’ve been noticing during cons is that some of us use different makeup or face paint colouring to help us get into the character we want to cosplay, and we sometimes forget the potential damage it could have on our skin and we don’t think of anything to help it recover our sensitive faces.

What did catch my eye was Mask Time, a Korean sheet mask subscription service with the latest trends in face masks backed by beautician Estee Ng heading the forefront with quality tested facemasks for all different skin types ranging from Dry, Oily or a combination of both. These are directly sourced from South Korea and use quality ingredients picked out by a qualified beautician.

Now, we know how amazing the skin is with the people from Korea such as BTS, Big Bang, Psy, BoA, Rain, Girls Generation, Wonder Girls etc, how do they keep up with such beautiful skin with their busy schedules? Face mask routines are the secret that they don’t share as it’s part of their daily routine… (it simply won’t be a secret to them).

Do you plan for your next hunt on the next Funko collections or your favourite character from Estatic Arts, Forbidden Planet, Galactic Toys, In Demand Toys, XM Studios, Tokyo Toys or taking the time to build Gundams or drawing new fan arts?

Are you stocking up on your cute t-shirts from Epic Tees and Vinyl, Tee Turtle or arming yourself with the new weapons from The Sword Stall? These are all different ways that we could be  avoiding post-con blues.

Cosplayers’ Post Con Blues Strategies

Here are a few common themes and strategies that some of the cosplayers have shared with me during their interview:

Organise meetups online and offline with your fellow community friends that are local to you or are willing to travel to meet up at an agreed location to hang out and catch up.

Some would find new community groups that they’ve not been to before to make new friends and meet new community members.

Facebook groups to keep up the discussions with con repairs of potential damages that may have occurred with your cosplay costume, or even upgrading your costume for the next con. Some may even purchase new equipment from the different cosplay stores around the con.

Since there were so many different accessories such as flashy masks, ribbons, headgears, swords, armour, capes and cloaks, and different weapons widely available, it may be difficult to resist the temptation to purchase new upgrades and share with your community members your new discoveries or new plans for next cons.

Some would just sleep in and rest up to muster up energy again to go back to the real world, some would try and relax and find new interests to keep themselves occupied so that they don’t get occupied with the post-con blues feeling. 

Some would be looking to work on a new costume for the next con or even prepare and switch to a previous costume and change a few things to make it look different for the next con.

Photo editing, after a few days of the hectic con and hundreds of photos, that has been taken of your cosplay or community cosplays, some would spend their time looking over the Internet to find them or look for hashtags that they may have been tagged in and even plan for the next con.

Some cosplayers said to stay off social media for at least a week before and after so that it doesn’t kill the hype of what to expect or to see at the con and after, don’t revisit it so quickly otherwise you will feel the post-con blues due to the feeling of carrying on after the con.

A few would express their feelings openly and cry it out so that they wouldn’t have to suppress their emotions, which is a great idea! It’s never good to hide and hold in your emotions, sometimes you just got to let it out and go with it. Something we don’t do quite often is acknowledging our emotions from within.

Binge on series or binge on gaming to find inspiration for their characters or future cosplay ideas and spend the next few months planning and creating for the next con.

I hope that you found these tips useful in dealing with post-con blues! You’ll have to test it and see which one fits your lifestyle and something that you’re comfortable with, I would suggest trying the uncomfortable stuff because that is what usually helps you grow as an individual instead of just coping.

Jono Poon