I woke up October 8th , 2015 with two interesting prospects before me: one, this was going to be my first four day convention ever; and two, since my office was closed for Columbus Day, I was looking at the super rare and ultra-coveted prize of the salaried worker, a five day weekend.  No matter what happened, I was sure it was going to be glorious.

The trip to the Javits Center was inexpressibly easier due to the 7 train being extended to 34th Street and 11th Avenue; previously I had to get out at 34th Street and 8th Avenue/Penn Station, and walk the three avenues to get to the Javits Center.  That doesn't sound like much, since it's just under a mile, and only takes about fifteen minutes, but that can be quite a hike when you're in costume!  Plus, the new subway station had been opened to the public less than a month before, I don't think I've ever seen anything so clean in my life!

As I approached the convention center, I was a little boggled by how many people were there.  Thursdays used to be mainly just for industry people; I'm not sure (since I didn't attend that year) but I think that mostly changed in 2013, when single day passes for Thursday went on sale.  At any rate, I expected Thursday to be mostly empty, but while it wasn't packed wall-to-wall, the crowds were on par with what Friday used to look like!

Nevertheless, at least the line to get in didn't extend outside, so I was able to get my badge scanned and get inside in fairly short order.  My first order of business: find Squall!  Greg had gotten to the convention well before me (men somehow manage to get ready so much more quickly, but then again my hair appointment takes at *least* an hour on a good day), so I texted him while I was waiting in line, and met him right in front of the Dealer's Room entrance.

He looked fantastic!  He was already in costume, but he wanted a little help in applying Squall's trademark facial scar, so we tried to get out of the crowd to find an out-of-the-way place to do his "makeup".  Immediately we were stopped for pictures!  So if you see pictures of a Rinoa and a scar-less Squall floating around (including on my costume page for Rinoa), it's not that we were lazy or inattentive to detail, we were just pounced on, and way too flattered to tell people, “No, we're not ready yet!”

In fact, one of the people we ran into was my friend Nes, who always takes amazing photos.  It can be so hard to find the pictures strangers have taken of you after the con, so I wanted to take at least one that I'd be sure of having after the fact!  Nes looked amazing, as usual, and I promised I'd find him on Saturday, when I'd be wearing 1966 Batgirl, and he'd be sporting Batman.

Once we were 100% ready, Greg and I decided to take a tour through the Dealer's Room--judging from the size of the crowd on Thursday, we could only imagine that it would be so crowded the rest of the weekend that we probably wouldn't be able to get close to any of the "good" booths.  Right away we spotted Sailor Moon goodies, and I melted--I just love, Love, LOVE that there is *still* new Sailor Moon merch coming out.  Even if I can't afford it, it makes me happy even just to look.  Greg had also gotten a Final Fantasy lanyard from the Square Enix booth, so we swung by there so I could get a matching one.  We were dressed appropriately, after all!

Our first pass through the Dealer's Room complete, we wandered further afield--it was such a nice day out , which was lucky for me because it meant that I didn't have to schlep a coat back and forth to cover my costume, but far unluckier for poor Greg, who was just about dying in his heavy pleather coat and pants.  We decided to go outside for a bit of fresh air; neither of us had any particular deadlines or anything we wanted to catch, so we were free to totally wing it.

There were people and other cosplayers just about everywhere, which gave me a chance to do my usual photo hunt, both outside and when we ventured back in.  I even ran into a Sailor Moon!  Five years ago, I would have been lucky to spot a single Sailor Moon cosplayer all weekend, the fandom had died out so much.  Now there was one on a Thursday.  I can't tell you how happy that makes me.  Sailor Moon merch and Sailor Moon cosplayers--it doesn't take much.

We were also surprised how many people recognized us!  Final Fantasy VIII was fairly popular (though not on the level of VII, in my opinion), but it was released sixteen years ago, and there have been a number of games since then.  Some of the people who stopped us to take our pictures were *clearly* teenagers, and after they complimented us, Greg would turn to me and say, "There is no WAY that child was alive when this game came out.  Absolutely  none."  Maybe we're bad at estimating ages, or I guess they may have downloaded it on the Playstation Network, but still, it was really, really sweet.  I really hadn't expected to be recognized as often as we were, and it was really gratifying.  Hands-down, this was the best time I've had wearing Rinoa.

We also had fun playing with the smoke machine by the Dealer's Entrance.  Universal had sprung for this really incredible setup with the "Jurassic World" park entrance sign, the entire corner covered in ferns and other prehistoric looking plants, and a smoke machine.  We had a lot of fun posing Greg in front of the entrance, and a videographer did this neat 180 degree pan shot of him that we're still looking for!  (If you've seen it, e-mail me please!)  I almost lost him when the smoke machine was at its strongest, but it made for some really neat shots. 

Universal had *also* brought along a velociraptor.  I questioned the wisdom of this move.  He was accompanied by a handler, but I don't know--something about forcing dinosaurs to provide entertainment in crowded public places...it just feels like the plot of a movie where something goes wrong, you know?  (All kidding aside, it was quite startling when it'd suddenly be right behind you, and you had no idea!)

As usual, there was a really great mix of genres in the costumes that people wore; there were comic book costumes, of course, but I couldn't say they were even predominant.  The distribution was fairly equal between comic book costumes, older movies, video games both current and classic, and anime and American cartoons, and then a smaller amount of "miscellaneous".  It really amazes me how creative people can be.

We also traipsed through the Artist's Alley, because I knew a few people who were going to have booths there, but I was completely unprepared and didn't have their booth numbers on me or anything, so I didn't find anyone there on Thursday.  It was still fun to wander around and be knocked out by the incredible art on display.  I'm not as up on the indie scene as some other people are, or even as much as I used to be, but the amount of talent that's out there is inarguably impressive.

By the time evening had rolled around, Greg had to leave for a prior engagement.  I was sorry to see him go, not only because I was losing my costume partner but also because he's just fun to hang out with--we both share a, I don't know if "love" is the right word, but certainly "affinity" for really bad movies like The Room, and he can usually make me laugh.  I walked Greg down to the cosplayer changing rooms so he could change out of his costume--a new addition this year, New York Comic Con now has cosplayer changing rooms. 

This stunned me.  Cosplayer changing rooms may be the greatest addition to any convention, ever.  I have no shame so I ride the New York City subway in full costume, but I can see why, if I were wearing something I couldn't sit down in, or couldn't travel in for really any reason, this would be a God-send.  Oh, sure, you can always change in the bathrooms, but why not have a separate space available, so that the bathrooms are always free for people who need to use specifically those facilities?  (Also, if a costume isn't travel-safe, it may not fit in a bathroom stall, either.)

On the plus side, I didn't have to wander around by my lonesome for too long, because not too long after Greg left, I got a flurry of text messages telling me that the cast and crew of Pete's Basement were around and free.  They had just finished up their last interview at the Dark Horse booth, so I headed over to say my hellos.  It turned out to be a perfect meeting place: not only did I get to say hi to Ramón and Pete, but also our Rich and Usagi Seion (who you might recognize from many prior con reports and photoshoots!) 

Not long afterwards Hal happened by so I was able to pounce (not literally, I don't want to break him) on him, and as I was talking to Hal, Jess and her husband Jonah came along!  I haven't been in such a large group of "my" friends (especially non-cosplaying ones, especially ones that I know off of the con circuit) in, God, ages, it was wonderful.  It's been kind of a rough year (actually, it's been kind of a rough few years), but being around so many people who are pretty wonderful really made me smile.

Usagi Seion and I especially haven't had any quality time together in a while, so we decided to break off from the group, and go Sailor Moon hunting--Sailor Moon has always been and always will be our special bond.  She really wanted to get one of the Tamashii Buddies, so we went from one vendor to another, comparison shopping.  That's right; there is now so much Sailor Moon merch in a mainstream comic book convention, that you have your choice.  I'm surprised we didn't both explode into clouds of glitter.  By the third vendor we had a good price...such a good price, that I knew I had to get one, too, despite my usual rule of not buying anything the first day of the con.  And because we're both exceptionally sentimental, I bought the Sailor Moon figure for her, and she bought the Sailor Mars figure for me.

Not long after we finished shopping, I got a call from Greg--he had lost his Squall pendant!  It had been at least an hour since he had left, so I wasn't sure if I'd find it with all the shuffling feet that must have come and gone since then, but we headed over to the changing area to see if we could find anything.  We had to wait for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to get out of the way (...so there's an odd sentence), but after they had cleared out I explained to the area supervisors what I was looking for.  They let me take a look around, but I couldn't find it, so I told Greg we'd have to check the lost and found another day.

Night had fallen by this point, and most everyone had something else they had to go to, or an early day the next day, and to tell you the truth, despite how comfortable the costume was, I was feeling kind of beat myself, so we all decided to call it a day, exchanged our goodbyes, and headed for home.

Sailor Moon

Jason from Friday the 13th

Not the worst crossover I've ever seen

Jason would win, though. Squall *is* a teenager.

"Come on, Squall, let's go in there!"
"NO THERE ARE DINOSAURS IN THERE."
"Exactly!"

"LOOK WHAT SHE MAKES ME DO."

At the entrance to the dinosaur park...

Squall faces his greatest test...

Smoke. It's the smoke.

I think the smoke is winning.

Maybe the graphics just needed time to render.

There we go!

Zack, Yuffie, Rinoa, and Squall

This is what happens when you let Greg hold your camera.

The two swordsmen

Pretty epic

Love the wings on this costume!

Rinoa, Squall, and Terra Branford

Fem!Squall and Rinoa

Ramón and me

Me and Pete

Me and Rich

Me and Usagi Seion

Hal and me

Jonah and Jess

80s kids unite!

I'm sorry, he was just awesome.

Balamb selfie!

Nes and me

Greg kept calling Nes "Lou" after they met, as in Lou Ferrigno, because LOOK AT THOSE ARMS!