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Big Apple Comic Con 2006
January 14
Meryl Strife
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All right, so, as you Northeasterners know, the weather on Saturday wasn't all that great. It started out mild and rainy, and ended FREEZING and rainy. Ordinarily, rain = the bane of my cosplay plans, as any type of humidity holds the power to ruin my hair, even if all I'm doing are Chun Li's bangs. But this day was not an ordinary day. This was a day of WIGS! |
For those of you living under a rock, Ranma is dressed as Luigi, from the Mario Brothers games. |
Naturally, the subway system of the weekends was utterly retarded, so I ended up getting to the city about a half hour later than I expected. Louis had been there earlier than he anticipated, because his parents didn't want him taking the train dressed the way that he was. (Ha, ha.) So by the time I met up with him, he had already made a preliminary round of the con (which, by the way, just so you get an idea of what it was like, was not a "con" the way our anime cons are. I believe Sai said it best when he called it a "Comic Book Flea Market".) He had already bought me a giftie: the three issues of Black Orchid, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's first work here in America! I already thumbed through it, and it's absolutely beautiful, I can see why DC took a chance on them. |
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One of David Chan's friends was running a table, and was one of the few other people in costume! |
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While waiting for Ranma, we ran into Terry, AKA Doc the Stampede. This was something of a new experience for him, as he's never been to a comic con, and doesn't really collect anymore. But as he's going to be working on the New York Comic Con next month, it was a valuable experience. I'm sorry we didn't get to hang out more, Doc. What with trying to get all my ducks in a row (and what wayward ducks they are!), I think I was outside more than I was inside the entire time we were there.
Finally Ranma showed up, and with coffee in tow! (I don't drink coffee, but Louis does--and Ranma made it just the way he likes it, too!) |
P|-|3@R t3h g33K5. |
Louis, Ranma, Doc, and I started our circuit of the goods. I was shopping for:
1) The double-length comic that ended the first "The Crow" series, first and foremost. Once I buy this, my Crow collection will be complete for my intents and purposes.
2) Old NES comics. Those are fun.
3) Ridiculous comics, such as the ones featured on Super Dickery.com
Of course, no one had The Crow comics. No one ever does. I paid (well, Mom paid) an arm and a leg to get me the first four issues that started it...and supposedly they're not worth that much, but when you don't see them for sale ANYWHERE, you begin to wonder, you know? |
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Lou and I as Vash and Meryl. |
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We had only completed about a quarter of the room, when Ranma got a call that Mamoru-sama was downstairs, and couldn't come up yet because he was with Amy-chan, who only had a few minutes before her kendo class started, so I ran down there to meet up with them. It was my first time talking to Amy-chan in person, though we had talked online before, and she's so cute and sweet! I snuck up on Mamoru-sama again. It seems like the priestess could teach the prince a thing or two about warfare. ::smirk::
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Anyone need any hired guns? No? How about an insurance girl? |
Eventually Louis and Doc and Ranma came down too, and the six of us hung out outside for a while. It had just begun to rain again, when Jersey Boy (Mamoru) suggested hey, let's stand under the awning out of the way, when who should I run into but an old friend, David Chan! I haven't seen him in a year, I think, so running into him was an unexpected pleasure. Doc had to leave presently to visit his grandmother, and Amy-chan took off for class, so the rest of us headed back upstairs to shop. |
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Good lord, I look like Fatty O'Fatenstein. |
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They had light sabers there! And they were the ones that "power up" (ie, the light in the tube doesn't just turn on, it lights up vertically like they do in the movies), and that make appropriate noises as you swing them and as they connect. And they were only $90! Think Geek has them for $100+...but I didn't cave and buy any, because I didn't have the Think Geek specs there to compare, you know? What if the Think Geek ones are better? (What if they're not? What if I just lost out on a great deal? Oh, well.) Mamoru-sama had a ball testing them out. We can't take him anywhere. And then I got inspired to try to recreate a famous poster, as you see above. |
AWESOME. 'Cept we'd need to CG Louis's hair sticking out there. |
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Going to CG some smoke in the tilted gun, to make it look like it has just gone off. That was Mamoru-sama's idea. |
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I also bought Louis a tiny Harlequinn plushie. You know, that boy has more stuffed animals then I do. He's quick to point out that I bought most of them for him. Yeah, but I wouldn't have bought them for him if I didn't know he WANTED them. (Stuffed Menchi, plushie Sumomo, plushie Vash, plushie Luigi, plushie Harlequinn, and that stuffed tiger he took from my room...is that all? I feel like there's more.)
By this point, it was afternoon, and we were pretty hungry, so we decided to go to the Manhattan Mall and grab some Mickey D's. Before we left, though, we asked Mamoru-sama to snap some photos of us, as my wig was actually behaving for once. (This would be the first and last time ever.) |
He's pretty hardcore for someone who doesn't kill. |
I, of course, felt a little chunky in my costume...but after seeing what the original Daisy Duke grew into--she was one of the guests--I promised I wouldn't call myself fat for the rest of the day. That day, however, is over, so I'm free to abuse myself again. But Daisy Duke--yeesh. If you have a style of shorts named after you, you should really keep yourself in shape. IMO. (Yeah, I know, I know. Let's see what I look like at that age. Stipulated.) |
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Blowing away imaginary smoke |
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Off to Mickey D's!
On the way out, we ran into s0ni and Sai, which was cool, because it's the longest I've ever gotten to talk to Sai in person. :) I LOVE HIS HAIR. More rockstars should put effort into how they look, like Sai does. :) |
Nyaw! I think this is the best Vash and Meryl picture we've taken. I think it really captures their romantic relationship, without being too mushy. |
We met up with Rich and Amy-chan at lunch, s0ni molested a Spiderman action figure, and Sai fixed my wig with s0ni's help. Then we headed back to the con, where we met up with Usagi Seion. She bought herself a sword and some brass knuckles (yeah, those'll come in handy in
Brooklyn), we ogled the porn girls (and while I'm cool with porn girls...I think
they had their moms with them...that's just kind of weird) and shopped some
more. |
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I'm actually not posting most of the pictures we took at lunch, because they're not really con related, but I left this one in as a cute "Cosplayers Behind The Scenes" shot. |
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I had lost David when I we had left for lunch, but I found him again at the "teeth" table, getting measured for some vampire teeth. The guy doing it had some all black contacts in. It's funny; I hadn't really been impressed by colored contacts before. Red just looks fake (although it depends on the person), and cat's eyes just look like cat's eyes, which I don't find sexy, but this guy looked at me with just this...expanse of black in his eyes, and I almost walked into someone. It really was like falling into them if you looked into them too long, and I see why they'd be used for vampires. Sexy in a...weird, helpless sort of way. I'll stop talking now. |
This was everybody in costume at the con. No kidding. Well, it was a small one day con with no costume competition, so I can understand. |
I was getting really overheated in my costume by now, so I ended up taking off the wig and the costume, and putting on a white shirt and pleated skirt I had brought along. Of course, no sooner had I come out of the bathroom, then a guy who was there ran up to find us (remembering us from before) to ask us to pose with him and his girlfriend, in costume, of course! I put the cape back on and shrugged. This is just how stuff happens. :) |
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The girlie in the front was the guy's girlfriend, and I believe she's dressed as a gladiatrix of some sort? I don't think she's from any show in particular.
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I forgot to mention, one guy who had admired our costumes twice already found us
by this point, and gaped at my hair, going, "How did you manage to FIT it all under there?" I had it up at this point, so I took it down to show off a bit, and he was just overwhelmingly complimentative. So yay. :) I love having long hair. (I want it to be longer!) We also called Stephanie to say hi, but I think we got her in the middle of something--sorry! I hope we didn't distract you from your costume making or something!
Some of us were getting tired of shopping at this point, so we went downstairs to camp out (typical con behavior) and just relax and goof around. |
Lesson #2 of the day: Sai is adorable asleep. Oh my god.
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There was so much randomness. I don't even remember it all. I know at one point I jumped on Mamoru-sama's back, and Usagi Seion jumped on Louis's back, and we had a chicken fight, but I think Ranma got a picture of it. We'll have to wait until he gets his photos up to laugh at that.
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I wanted to take him home and cuddle him. All I could do was offer him a massage when he woke up, though. |
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Eventually, we left the con, went comic book shopping (yeah, I know), and met Jacob Pitts, Cooper from Eurotrip (we love that movie a little more than is healthy), and went out to dinner.
Eventually, Louis and I made our separate ways home. I bought three comics, and got to act like an idiot with my friends.
The End. :) |
Group picture from dinner |
More Photos (none taken by me, mind you.)
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