For the past few years, New York Comic Con has become the convention that I hype up throughout the whole year. It's the convention that I tend to save my latest outfits for to debut. In the case of next year, I should be finished with the Wolf O Donnel gijinka that I commissioned Ely Renae to design before NYCC 2017. In any case, Dad and I attended for our 5th year through 3-Day passes and I brought along Ringabel, Steampunk Nightwing, and the Greninja hoodie my friend CJ made for me. Most of the time I spent the con walking around visiting cosplayers at booths not to mention friends of mine that were wandering around. Majority of my shopping consisted of ALL THE PRINTS and Filthy Casual stuff which I'll get to later in the report.
All the girls I saw gave me such loving compliments about my outfits and it's stuff like that which keeps me wanting to cosplay more. There was an absolute plethora of cosplayers who attended this year. Jessica Nigri of course was stationed at the Dial Up Games Booth with long lines as always. I made sure to take time out to see her and Ryan since it's at best a once a year kind of thing to see them. Jessica wore her Sith cosplay she recently made as well as her genderbend Roadhog from Overwatch which was truly amazing to see. Though it was a little hard to hear her under that mask, we did have some heart to heart chats. She exclaimed how much she enjoys the cosplays I make in that they're characters I'm super passionate about <3.
In addition to Jessica, I managed to spend a lot of time with Lisa Lou Who which meant a lot to me. In the past it's been a usual one day visit with her at PAX East but she managed to come out all weekend! Her booth was not that far and she was paired up with Meg Turney. Cosplay wise, Lisa made a brand new outfit in genderbending Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, her Ballerina Harley Quinn (WHICH I MATCHED WITH HER) and Yang from RWBY! Each of these outfits were super cute and beautiful, Lisa's figure really stuns me and I'm honored to have such a loving friend like her in my life :).
The SonicBoomBox booth was where the party was at with Stella Chuu, Riki (Riddle) and Ani Mia stationed there. I unfortunately was only able to see them Saturday and Sunday since Friday was an absolute mess to get in. Riki wore her Squirrel Girl (which I saw briefly while waiting in line for Yaya Han), debuted the Batgirl style from the 1966 Adam West Batman show and my first video game girl crush of Tifa Lockhart (again, fangirled on the inside). Mia wore Cassie from Hack/Slash, a DBZ Saiyan outfit borrowed from Becka Noel, and her Lucy Ghostbusters outfit based off the Bishoujo Kotobukiya statue. Stella brought along Master Yi from League of Legends and Imp Mercy from what I saw off of her pcitures!
All 3 of these girls were so happy to see me and said how much they loved my Performer Ringabel. The sassy posing and nature of the character came up in our talks. Mia shared with me upcoming video games she's excited for (pretty much the same as me) along with her excitement for both my blog and my next cosplay. Speaking of which from earlier, I saw Yaya Han at her booth Cosplay Fabrics while she was wearing her Pokemon Go trainer. At her booth I admitted that I was still slightly confused as to how someone of her notoriety followed what I do. Her words really warmed my heart and reaffirmed that I just have to stay the way I am, and that many other cosplayers adore me for that.
Kristen Hughey alongside LeeAnna Vamp made an appearance working the Superhero Stuff booth. I LOST MY MIND when I saw Kristen debut her Cidney from Final Fantasy XV and we both collectively admitted at not knowing how her name will pronounced until it's in the English verison XD. I opened up to Kristen about my past bully/harassment event through my blog and she reassured me that it was none of them (which made me paranoid in thinking that from what the person was saying). Again, just lots of love and kindness from everyone here. Byndo Gehk was at the Hashtag Comics booth and was wearing some pretty adorable casual outfits. Unfortunately I was unable to see her the last day but I totally snagged a Mudkip print from her!
NYCC this year was arguably about meeting new friends and seeing old ones who were wandering around. Jaycee Cosplay I managed to get a quick visit in and she was just the sweetest girl ever. Rocking her Captain Marvel cosplay! I didn't get to see her wife Aerilaya Cosplay but the pics of her Black Widow were stunning! Becka Noel I managed to meet for the first time and I had the biggest smile when she said she recognized me and loved the write ups I've done on her in the past! There was also Victoria otherwise known as Scruffy Rebel who you guys might recognize from the Heroes of Cosplay show! Here and there I'd chat with her mainly about how we're both Nightwing obsessed and it was just so so fun getting to geek out with her. Partly we would just grin at each other rocking back and forth and it was hilarious!
I briefly saw Casey Anne (Vanity Fox) in her Suicide Squad Harley Quinn and met up with Mink the Satyr who was Pearl (Steven Universe) one day and an incredible Ninetails gijinka the next. We chatted for a little while and told each other of how each of our days went! I also saw Ireland Reid the last day and she was rocking a Filthy Casual shirt. Had an important/heart to heart kind of conversation and it really made me feel better knowing we'll be here for each other when we need it. She also debuted an incredible Emma Frost done entirely out of Worbla! As for Filthy Casual, the gang there is always a blast to chat with. I snagged another one of their shirts (the Pokemon like logo) and their new pins. Dad and I even picked stuff up for my cousins who we were with that weekend!
I also met Ms Rae Cosplay who styled/made my Ringabel wig and she looked killer as Black Canary. Her comments about my cosplay as a whole made me happy since she loves seeing people rock what she makes. To me, that meant the world to hear <3. I got some comics signed at Artist Alley and spotted the lovely Uncanny Megan each day throughout. Though proper pics didn't come through until Sunday <3. Time was also spent visiting Ivy Doomkitty who was as gorgeous as always and just the sweetest. Every cosplayer I had drawings for loved them which made me smile a bunch. Kaybear won her trip there but unfortunately we were unable to meet up. Her cosplays though were stunning from the pics I saw.
One person who I was anxious as all hell to meet was MegaWatt Cosplay. Her and I have formed a really strong friendship in the literal one-year we've known each other (found her shortly after NYCC 2015) and she's just shown so much love and support to me in everything. She wore her Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games as well as a Steampunk version of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz along with her S/O as the Wizard himself (that's my best guess)! I hung out with the 2 of them on the days we saw each other and it was one of my favorite parts of the con. Other loot I grabbed include a super cute Cloud Strife Plush and a variant con exclusive of the DC Comic Trinity! I also attempted to do the FFXV demo but alas, they ran out of tickets like...14 minutes after I got in the line feeling hopeful XD.
A common thing you will see in this post is love and kindness. The relationships I've formed with everyone I've seen is at the point where they all know me, they all are excited to see me. Mia and Ms Rae were excited for my Wolf gijinka, Jessica exclaimed how much she missed me after each day of the con, and so many other statements we're made. Throughout this whole year I've dealt with depression, lots of harassment (ironically through a single weird individual) and basically a rough break up of sorts so it made me felt so loved that I have a family of people who want me to be happy. I want to continue to show the appreciation I have for all of them. I hope you guys are all ok with that, and I don't want to let you all down.
Ending note, thank you to everyone I saw this past weekend. You made me feel so lucky to be a part of the cosplay world. Thank you Jessica for all that you've done (basically what I messaged you with during the weekend) in my life. Thank you MegaWatt and Mia for being there for me and standing up for me throughout the year. Thank you Lisa for being my buddy this whole weekend and letting me hang near your booth for a little bit each day. Thank you Uncanny Megan for showing concern about what I went through and feeling relieved that I'm much happier now. I pretty much, like all NYCC's in the past started crying on the way home with realizing how much I missed everyone. Pretty sure i'll have small bouts of cry-fests for the next few weeks ;-;. I hope this report gave you all a good idea of how it was for me. So now comes the picture dump!
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| Photo by David Ngo |
With NYCC done, that probably wraps up my cosplay/convention year. RI Comic Con is next month and that might happen depending on how many friends I know will be there. I will try/think about Katsucon next year but if not, PAX East and NYCC are definite. Really hope you guys enjoyed this post! :D thank you as always for your continued love and support!
