Back then, we usually called them "hall costumes" or "con costumes."

And now, Grandpa tells a story ...

I don't think we had the Dirty Pair until about 1985. Although we didn't use tin cans and twine :) , we did have to circulate anime the old-school way: making copies of copies of copies of VHS tapes loaned by someone's "friend in Japan."

Even Robotech (er... Macross) didn't exist until around the mid-80s, so most of what you would now call "cosplay" wasn't related to anime at all. I know some fans were obsessed with Gatchaman and Yamato, but those shows would have been fairly obscure in 1980.

We also spent a great deal of time talking about books. (!) They were printed on paper back then, and science fiction conventions were usually more literary than most of the cons are today.

Thank you for the "retro convention awesomeness." I am ancient, so I always enjoying seeing this sort of thing on your website.