Leading up to this con was something I never thought I would experience. It was pretty much a split decision on whether or not I should go due to a couple of reasons. One of which included the knowledge that certain cosplayers I knew weren't able to be in attendance. The other stems from deeply personal issues hindering my Dad's ability to go. After persuasion from both family members and friends, I decided on driving up to NY on Thursday afternoon. Reaching my main area of sleeping between 4-5 pm. The weekend itself was different each day in terms of who my traveling partner was so I'm gonna go through each day briefly mentioning which cosplayers I managed to run into. As well as any friends I managed to meet up with, though at this point most cosplayers I saw I have pretty solid friendships with <3.
Due to family working/school I attended Friday on my own. This involved getting on a train straight into the city (yay Express!) and walking alone in the massiveness that is NY City. I reached the convention with no issues and ended up at NYCC an hour before the main floor opened up. Much like PAX East to those who came early, people were escorted to the area below where autographs were held. Basically it was a giant crowd waiting to get in above. After that hassle was over, I entered the hall already wanting to get as much shopping done as possible. Particularly for myself and certain individuals who I wanted to treat because they've been incredible to me. Especially within that past month or so :).
I'm gonna come out and say it, this is the most I've ever spent at a convention in all my years of going to cons. I'm damn proud of that accomplishment XD. The Square Enix booth was a huge contributor to this, several figures for friends, a mug and 3 for myself. The Prompto Play Arts Kai was sold out completely on Thursday so I ended up purchasing it online Friday night XD. I had the lovely opportunity to finally meet cosplayer Kristen Lanae who I've been following for several years now! Here on the left, she was rocking Ciri from the Witcher 3 and man was the makeup intense! Totally treated myself to one of her many Polaroids she had on sale.
Other individuals included Scruffy Rebel (who still gives beastly amazing hugs) Byndo Gehk in passing along with Joanna Mari and Becka Noel! The latter 2 ladies were rocking the comic version and movie version of Domino respectively! Getting the chance to see them was such a delight and having them wanting to take pics with me was very sweet <3. Picked out a print from Joanna as well! If you guys recall my Hero Within Flash Hoodie review, I stopped by their booth and had a short but sweet convo thanking the CEO of the company. They even snapped a pic of me and posted it on their social media! How cool is that?
Several times I stopped by the Square Enix booth, when it wasn't for money splurging, it was to visit my amazing friends ItsYoru, Princess Gigglesnort and Teragarm Cosplay. These lovely peeps were working the booth there and promoting the upcoming RPG Lost Sphear. They also happened to be my roommates from Katsucon so of course I had to go say hi. They helped in boosting my mood A TON. Uncanny Megan made her annual appearance alongside her friend Scott Blair in Artist Alley and oh man all the affection she showed me had me swooning like crazy <3. Ms Rae Cosplay was working at the Cosplay McCalls booth and oh man was she handsome af! I didn't recognize her at first :O. Sweet conversations were had and I bought other items such as a comic variant and a print from Nightwing writer Tim Seeley. I managed to have a very nice talk with him about his eventual leaving of the series.
As I mentioned above, each day of NYCC was different in who my traveling companion was. Saturday was a mess coming in but my Aunt and I managed. This was her first convention ever and I could tell how overwhelmed she was XD. Though she was instrumental in helping me get into signings with comic creators to get even more issues signed so that was amazing! More statues and items were purchased, I definitely didn't want my Dad to feel left out so of course I picked up something I think he would enjoy <3. I managed to run into Azumii who looked AMAZING in her genderbend of Seto Kaiba (her husbando) from YuGiOh. I got to spend lots of time with her at the Konami booth with creating our very own token cards using a photo taken at the booth.
I gotta say, hearing her fangirl over a character like him was pretty fabulous. I got to properly see Byndo Gehk at the Sonicboombox who made their annual appearance featuring many other cosplayers, and their afterparties of course. Speaking of which, mad props/congrats to Stella Chuu on a fantastic final burlesque show this weekend. I heard it was simply incredible :D. I had to def grab prints from Byndo and one was certainly lewd :3. Her female Negan was pretty spot on, I'm just glad she didn't bash my face in (if that's too soon for spoilers then OOPS).
Getting to meet Tom King (current writer of Batman) was pretty stellar too! The remaining time on that day was spent with my long time friend Marie Grey and some buddies, that was a pretty rad time for sure <3. Sunday I had the pleasure of having my younger cousin come with me and same deal with it being her first convention too! Kristen Lanae was wandering the con floor and while I didn't see her, I did manage to catch her on Saturday as Power Girl. Holy smokes did she look killer! Minimal shopping was done and I managed to clear majority of my convention must buy list. All the while I was trying to search for friends like Jaycee Cosplay, and new ones I've wanted to meet like Microkitty Cosplay (who is probably a ghost like she says). It was Mink the Satyr who was at the TOP of my list due to the many meaningful conversations we've had leading up to the con.
After finally deciding to call her at the con, I got all the info I needed to track her down. Having spent the remainder of the con with her, it was so worth it. Mink looked simply incredible as Aloy from Horizon Hero Dawn and just the amount of detail was insane too! I also had my good friend William accompany me the entire time as well and good times were had people :).
I won't completely delve into specifics, but I definitely got emotional throughout the whole weekend with my Dad especially not being able to come. I was also sad I didn't get a chance to see people like Vanity Fox or Danielle Beaulieu who were both wandering around the convention. I will say though I definitely revisited people several times and was met with the same high level of love and enthusiasm. Oh, I forgot to mention I only cosplayed on Saturday. There I was Prompto and had a blast being him. Getting pulled into a group of FFXV Cosplayers was pretty rad! I also gave out Polaroid selfies taken with people, mostly with the people I saw. Dollilicious was also another wonderful lady I got to see again, she was working the Chevy booth dressed up as her New 52 version of Wonder Woman!
This also continued on Sunday. Hearing both my Aunt and cousin had a fantastic time absolutely warmed my heart. I was very happy to see them enjoy something that truly changed my life when I started going back in 2012. I've got the rest of the pics and snaps of the Polaroids I took down below for you all to enjoy :).
And so that concludes my time at NYCC 2017. It was different greatly from previous years but I felt all the love and happiness that I needed. I don't know if RI Comic Con this year will happen or what the future holds for next year. I'd love to go to Katsucon and meet even more friends from across the country. We'll have to see how it goes, for now thank you for reading, I hope it was an enjoyable read <3. Thank you as always to you readers for taking a liking to my work and supporting me. It's always appreciated!
