Protecting your costumes at cons?

[Faeriefire]

Well I'm in the starting works of a cosplay of the dragoon form of Rose from 'The Legend of Dragoon' to all who might remember the PS1 game. I'm working on a pair of large wings, which will be able to move, exspand, and so on at my controle, but now I'm starting to wonder about rough crowds at cons...

I know the local cons I go to aren't very crowded, and I should be safe there, but I also go to larger ones, like A-kon, and I have had problems with crowds there not paying attention to their feet when I'm in a white dress with a large hoopskirt -_-;

Anyone have any good suggestions on how to protect yourself and your costumes when in large crowds or from rabid fangirls?  

[Yellow_Ronin2000]

I'm sure if you go to a big con where there is alot of room i'm sure you will be ok. I would say to have some friends around you in case a fanboy/girl tries to pounce you that your friend or yourself will halt them polietly before they do. Just tell them polietly to say that your outfit is fragile and may break if force is applied and hopefully they will understand.
I hope your outfit goes well though! I'm a big fan of Legend of Dragoon!  

[burgawinosourus]

Well the more extravagant and large your costume is the better likely people will move out of the way, unless you run into some weeaboo fangirls that have no manners or just some jerks in general.

Maybe yell certain things that might scare them off? I'm not quite sure, like I said if the costume is large then they'll stray away. But if you had like a really complex outfit but it wasn't easy to tell, then you'd need certain methods to get them to back off. But with wings I think you'll be fine. :3  

[Faeriefire]

Ronin-- I just might have to emply the help of my fellow con-buds, I've always found they've been rather willing to help protect me in the past.
A fellow Dragoon fan, huh? :3 Well I should be posting finished work on here sometime in early summer if you wanna see.

Erotic-- I hope your right about the clearance part, I'd hate if if my wings got dammaged early on in their show life.  

[Yellow_Ronin2000]

FaerieFire- Sweet! Rose was in my team along with Dart and Shana in the game. Her moves were really creepy you know? o.o I can't wait to see the finished outfit though  

[Faeriefire]

While her moves were dark, they were also very powerful, still adore her though. Think I used her and Albert the most durring the game, though I tried to keep everyone around the same level.
I'll be sure to post it then ^.^  

[La Ahna]

Scientifically Erotic

unless you run into some weeaboo fangirls that have no manners or just some jerks in general.

Or are just dumb. A friend was dressed as Kratos all of his chest painted, and a girl came up and asked for a hug. He was like "Uh... No. I'm kind of painted. It would all rub off." "Oh. ._."

Watch for dumb people. Use your con buddies as physical shields and mental shields from dumb people.  

[Sephiroths samurai girl]

Definitely have someone big and imposing with you to scare off the idiots. I generally dislike people touching my costume regardless of it being elaborate or not so I always have my husband for protection. X3
Most people will leave you alone if they can see it's a big costume, unfortunately there are idiots who think it's ok to just grab your costume and pull you around. On a more positive side, if you have someone protective with you these people will likely end up on the floor rather swiftly. XD

If you're really worried and if they're removable it might be an idea to ask if you can leave the wings with the cosplay organisers while you go in places like the dealers room that will be especially crowded.

I'm doing Ectvarr from Ninety-Nine Nights so I've got a stupidly elaborate and fragile costume this year (not to mention very white!), I'm enlisting the protection of all the guys I know who are luckily all over 6foot and scary looking. What's more worrying is that it's my entry for a big European comp so I'm terrified of it getting ruined by stupid kids before I can even enter. D=  

[Gennivieve]

Bring friends. There is strength in numbers. Honestly, I have to be very careful with my Umbreon... everyone wants to pet it and no one thinks about if they have some kinda of makeup that is rubbing off, food/stickiness all over their hands, drinks or candy, or anything like that. I always have to be on the lookout for people coming at me so I can dodge them.

Even though yours will not be a mascot costume, you'll have to think of 'security' in about the same way. Have a friend or two act as spotters, so they can detour people who aren't paying attention so they don't run into you. Also, they can intercept or warn you of glompers.

I got near glomped at Tekko yesterday. -.- The girl was making so much noise I heard her coming though. So always keep your eyes and ears open for those random crazies!

I <3 Rose. I would love to see how it comes out! It's on my list of 'someday' costumes biggrin  

[ll dell Orso ll]

Lol, I just found my copy of that game yesterday.
Like everyone says, strength in numbers. Also, large things like wings can be made to fold inward to take up less space which works wonders when going down hallways. From what I've seen.
Also, many people will be wearing their large costumes on the day of the cosplay contest. If you do as well, it can be both good and bad. Bad because more larger costumes means more room taken up in the halls. The good thing is that the glomping crowd has more prey so you are less likely to get glomped.

 

[7dancer10]

you could do what my friend did, they stuck a few signs on themselves and had their friend carry a sign that said Fragile, and no, that is not Italian  

[Glacirus]

Depending on HOW big and obvious that "THIS WILL BREAK!" or "THIS NEEDS ROOM" is for the costume, you'll need a group to be a barricade for you in bigger cons.

At the last NYAF there was a guy dressed as Bumblebee from the Transformers movies. Costume had to make the guy...8-9 feet tall, easy. He didn't GO anywhere because he had a mob surrounding him, but they realized he needed space for something that huge and stayed far enough back he could move a little. And when he did drop something he needed higher on his body, someone grabbed it and handed it up to him.