Just curious if anyone had opinions about cosplay guests at cons? Obviously there's some who seem to have hardcore fan bases online but it never seems like there busy and it's hard for me to wrap my head around paying twenty or thirty dollars for a pic of them in costume. Anyone else have an opinion or am I off base here in terms of having them at cons?

I follow several cos players on social media, and I have seen them post about going to various cons. They are fun to ogle, but I really don't see a need to pay them for a picture or an autograph. Especially since so few people would know who they even are.

They add fun and excitement to cons. The kids love them. It also brings in a different crowd than the normal comic book people and exposes them to comics.

My feelings pretty much mirror the op. I get why attractive women dressed up as superheroes would appeal to a certain segment of con goers, but they're not necessarily all attractive and they're not all women. In a vacuum I guess I can appreciate the craft behind a well done costume, but I cannot even begin to imagine paying a cos-player actual money for a picture or an autograph or whatever. I just don't get it.

I guess it's one thing if the cosplayer buys table space at the con. To me, that's no different than the artists selling unlicensed prints and merchandise of characters to which they do not technically have the rights. If people want to do business with them and get pictures or signed prints, great. Obviously this is a whole gray if not black market as IP holders turn a blind eye to all of this for the most part and allow it to continue at cons.

If they are just random people wandering the con floor or loitering outside the con, then they're taking advantage of both the con organizers AND the owners of the IP they are portraying if they charge guests for pictures.

Didn't we used to have a 'this thread is useless without pics' smiley?

Hot chicks. Although, they are the biggest cock teases at these shows. The mouthbreathers just want a pic or even a whiff of a pretty girl and they'll pay. What irritates me is that the majority of these women have Patreon and Amazon wishlists. I get that having a Patreon account makes it so that folks essentially "support" your trade. The wishlist stuff is just asking losers to buy them stuff. Pornstars do that shit and it's insane how many chodes out there buy them crap.

I met Jessica Nigri a few years back, took a couple of pics, got a few things signed. She was pretty cool. I think her sig was very inexpensive too, probably just for the print.