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Anime and\/or cosplay cons are now so commonplace you can find them in cities big and small across America, but in 1995 people\u2019s options for sharing their interests (and buying associated merch) were a lot more limited.<\/p>\n

Back then you could know some kids from school who were also into roughly the same stuff as you, meet some people through a local comic\/book store or, if you were really lucky, reach out and contact a relative handful of like-minded fans on the internet. That\u2019s it! Given how hard it was to network and make friends in the scene back then, having a visual record like we\u2019re about to see of these pioneering days to look back on is incredibly cool.<\/p>\n

(If you\u2019d like to see some really <\/em>pioneering convention stuff, though, here\u2019s an excerpt from my cosplay book on what cons were like in the 70s and 80s<\/span>). <\/p>\n

Cosplay in America<\/em> shared<\/span> this video earlier in the week, finding it on a dusty old YouTube account that hasn\u2019t uploaded anything since 2009. Called oldschoolanimecons<\/em>, it has extensive records of two early cons, Anime America 1994 and Katuscon Ichi, which as the name suggests was the first ever Katsucon. In this video, for example, we get a guided tour of the Katsucon show floor, which alongside the posters and shirts and signings also includes…stacks of copies of Penthouse <\/em>and a company selling desktop screensavers. <\/p>\n