This isn’t a review of the event. That will come later.
But I’m constantly asked what my favourite comic con event is? And one of my answers will always be New York Comic-Con.
Now let me say this now, it’s nothing to do with “it’s bigger”, “it’s better” or “the UK will never be as good” type of thing.
I don’t know if other people have this with comic con events, but I get a different feeling between events, a certain atmosphere, a vibe once you step into the venue.
For me, it’s meeting the cosplayers who can’t get to the UK as easily as I can fly to the USA. I love meeting people and talking to them. There is only so much on social media you can write without feeling it’s being lost in translation or unable to get the right tone or emotion into a message.
Each year I’ve gone to NYCC, I’m full of excitement about who I will get to see, what cosplays I’ll see, will I get to bump into any celebrities on the con floor (that’s only happened once Btw).
I mainly go for the cosplays there and the major cosplayers who attend such as in the past, Stella Chuu, Monika Lee, Jessica Nigri, Hendo Art, Elisabeth Rage, Kristen Hughey, D-Piddy, etc. I always try and grab their photo and say hello and let them know how much I appreciate their work.
The keyword I use when describing NYCC is “more”. There’s more cosplays, more variety of cosplayers, more versions of characters, more space for all the vendors, more range in vendors there, etc. This year I took a friend with me to NYCC who has never been before and I was gaging through him what’s it’s like to attend an event like this for the first time. He was stunned by how big it was, how many people were there, the level of cosplay he could see and find. I kept asking him if he was ok, and I swear I could see “error 404” on his face, he couldn’t process how vast it was.
As someone who has gone six times, there are people who I see regularly and it is so nice for either myself to find them and say hello or they find me and still “gush’ over me, excited to see me and want photos from me. I always want to have the feeling of “being at home” and welcome and I certainly get that from here.
The city of New York is also magical. There are certain places NYC that I always revisit such as Rockefeller Centra, visit Grand Central station, get pancakes from Penelope’s and it’s these things which make me happy as it experiences I want to remind myself how lucky I am to visit such a wonderful place. I’m at a point where some of my cosplays friends who live in NYCC, I get to hang outside of the comic con event and have a proper catch-up.
I could talk about NYCC for so much longer but if you’ve not seen all the selfies I’ve taken on Twitter and Instagram, that will give you a sense of how much I love NYCC. I’ll do anything to return here, every year.
Check out this CMV from The 86th Floor of their time at NYCC and see all the incredible cosplays there.
