Fan convention
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A fan convention, or con, is an event in which fans of a particular TV show, comic book, or actor, or an entire style of entertainment such as science fiction or anime and manga, gather together to meet famous personalities (and each other) face-to-face.
The actors often give out free autographs to the fans, perhaps in exchange for a flat appearance fee, and sometimes may perform songs that have no relevance to the shows so as to entertain the fans. Such conventions are usually quite expensive and are hosted in hotels. There is often tight security for the celebrities to protect against potentially fanatic fans. (It should be noted that such features are not common at traditional science fiction conventions, which are more oriented towards science fiction as a mode of literature, rather than towards visual media, and do not include any paid appearances by famous personalities.) Many conventions have award presentations relating to their genre (such as the Hugo Awards which have been presented at the World Science Fiction Convention since 1953).
Anime conventions are very popular types of conventions. From such cons has arisen the widespread stereotype of the fans' tendency to dress up as their favorite characters (known as cosplay in anime terminology) in elaborate costumes that are time-consuming and/or expensive to assemble. Anime cons, gaming cons, filk cons and furry fandom conventions may all be considered ultimately derivatives of science fiction conventions, which began in the late 1930s.
