This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend Youmacon, one of the biggest anime and gaming themed conventions in the Midwest.

Thousands of people donned costumes and walked the halls of the COBO Center and the Renaissance Center. From Thursday afternoon until Sunday night, it felt like the party never stopped

Two days of the convention I wore costumes from the show “Voltron”, a Netflix reboot of the 80s cartoon. That was a terrifying experience, as my only real interaction with the Voltron fandom was via Tumblr.

So I put on my wig and binder and button up shirt and went onto the convention floor Saturday, and I was honestly surprised. There were so many amazing Voltron cosplayers, and every single one was so kind to me.

I didn’t have the complete armor for the characters, nor did I have the actual casual outfits the characters wore. But even my “closet” cosplay was recognizable and people wanted to interact with me and take pictures with me.

I also got to hang out with one of my cosplay idols for a good chunk of the weekend, Actualsharkboi on Instagram. His Voltron cosplay was so amazing, and it was terrifying to share a hotel room with them at first but they were super nice and amazing.

Then came one of the panels I was hosting: Voltron and the Mech Genre. I was absolutely terrified, as I had no clue what my turnout would be. I saw a lot of Voltron cosplayers, but that’s hardly any indication of who will come to a panel.

The staff let us into our panel room half an hour early to set up, and by the time I finished hooking the laptop up we had a full panel room, nearly every single seat full. Ken sat on stage and joined in the conversation, too!

I was elated to say the least. These cosplayers and fans who once seemed so intimidating behind the screen finally came to life and accepted me within their community

After the panel I went back to my hotel for some sleep and wore another Voltron cosplay the next day. And after getting a body pillow of one of the characters, I decided I would carry it around all day to show a pairing of characters I happen to like, as I happen to like pairing the character I was dressing up as with the character on the body pillow.

However, online the relationship I was showing via costume was one that was hated by almost everyone. So I was super nervous, but I was shocked to have people ask for my picture, I was shocked that people liked the pairing too.

I got to an artist alley booth and struck up a conversation, where we talked about this shipping discourse, and it was almost heartwarming to hear that no one around us thought that I was some kind of horrible person for shipping two characters as Tumblr had led me to believe.

Coming home I sat down and looked at all of the pictures and thought about all of the stories of the weekend and I honestly couldn’t be happier knowing that I finally found another fandom in which I feel I belong. Where I feel welcomed, no matter how good my cosplay is or the kinds of things I ship.