Saturday morning I woke up before Louis did, as I usually do, but I got moving a lot more quickly than usual, because I had a secret costume that I hadn't told him about that I wanted to surprise him with, and if possible I wanted to be fully dressed and waiting for him on the couch when he woke up.

Louis got dressed in his Vash costume, there was much running around looking for his gun, then I finished my makeup and it was time to go. It felt a bit odd walking to the subway station in full costume, but I did realize I had made the right choice in selecting low heels for my Rogue boots instead of the higher ones. My legs might not have looked as sexy but my feet were definitely thankful!

We were only on the train for about one or two stops before a girl in fairly normal clothes and a boy dressed as the Riddler approached us: “Um, are you on your way to the Comic Con?” Yes, yes we were! That's how we met Yan and Greg. We ended up talking about comic books and manga and video games and anime the entire rest of the way to the con.

As soon as we entered the convention center Greg got swept up into a group Batman photoshoot, so we said goodbye to him and Yan and started to head into the Exhibit Hall. And, oh my God, was that place CROWDED. Friday was crowded for a Friday. Saturday was crowded as if the Titanic was sinking and the Exhibit Hall was the last lifeboat available. The crowds were surging everywhere and it was all we could do to stick together, but once again, thanks to the modern technology of cell phones and the fact that both he and Louis are so tall, we were able to find Mario Rob right away.

Directly to the left of the main entrance was a stage set up where New York Comic Con was premiering the new dance game, Michael Jackson's {note: enter real game name}. You know you have reached your people when there are three, accurately-sized Chewbacca cosplayers moonwalking to Beat It to a cheering crowd of hundreds. That's a little unusual, even for New York. You need nerds for that level of surreal. But it was amazing.

After admiring the dancing Chewbaccas (…now there's a band name) for a little bit, we joined the throng and began making our way through the aisles and lanes of the con, stopping to look at many of the vendors' booths that we had noted the day before, and comparison shopping in earnest. And I, of course, had my trusty camera looped around my wrist so I could take as many photos as my little heart desired.

Let me just take a moment to say, I had SO MUCH FUN being Rogue. It was fun using my own naturally curly hair, and not having to worry about a wig, or humidity frizzing me up. It was fun cosplaying a character a little bit closer to my age than 14-16 years old. It was a little nerve wracking running around in what amounted to a skin-tight bodysuit, but physically it was exceptionally comfortable. And the instant recognition was a new experience for me—even Sailor Mars has gotten mistaken for Wonder Woman before.

The first friends of ours that we met up with were actually more of Mario Rob's boys: his friend Nick and his cousin Alex that I've nicknamed Jailbait. (What do you want from me? I met him when he was 18 and I would've sworn he was my age. A nice fedora will do that.) I hadn't seen Nick since Otakon and I can't even remember the last time I saw Jailbait so it was great getting to hang out with the guys again.

And we briefly got to see Hal for a moment, long enough for him to flatter my costume (thank you SO much, hon!) and say hi and bye, but sadly between him working and us running around, we really didn't get to spend any time with him. Boo!

Most of Saturday morning was spent with Louis shopping and me taking pictures, but one highlight of the con was getting interviewed by a correspondent from Fox News! (Not my favorite news source—let's face it, the only newsman who can claim to be fair and balanced with any accuracy these days is Jon Stewart—but hey, any publicity is good publicity, right?) Both Louis and I were pretty nervous but I think I managed a few sentences without sounding like a complete mental case.

As a bonus, Setsunachan happened to catch Fox News that night, recognized me, and DVR-ed the interview! Not only that, she uploaded it and sent it to me so that not only could I see it, I could add it to the “Appearances” section of the website! Thank you so much, Setsunachan!

Not long after, I got a call from David Ng on my cell letting me know that he had arrived at the con. Louis still wanted to do a bit more shopping, so we split up for the time being and promised to meet up for food later. I left the large Exhibit Hall and made my way through the rest of the convention center—from what I understand, most of New York Anime Fest's events were being held in the other rooms, but as far as I could tell, they weren't being advertised very well.

I know nothing stands out in my memory now and we certainly didn't make it to any of them. However, I did run into my friend Selphie Fairy in her adorable Hogwarts Phys Ed costume! Sadly she was on her way in the other direction so we only had time for a quick photo, but it's always wonderful getting to see her!

I stopped for a few more pictures along the way, but as I got to the entrance, who should I run into but Rhi-chan and Anna Neko! I hadn't even know they were going to be there! They both looked adorable in their frilly Lolita outfits, and as we stood there chatting for a bit Doc joined us, so by the time Dave got to our group we all decided to head outside and catch the beginning of the setting sun for some photos.

Let me tell you, two people conducting two different photoshoots of three different subjects can lend itself to a lot of hilarity and crossover. Dave had deliberately come to the con sans camera, but since I knew I'd want my usual “matching shots” for when I made my Rogue page for the website, he indulged me with a few taken on my camera.

Meanwhile, Doc was shooting Rhi and Anna being frill-butts, and Anna and I kept running back and forth and photobombing each other's shots. SO much fun. Nevertheless, Dave got some great photos of me, Doc got some great photos of Anna and Rhi, and both of them got good photos of all of us together.

The shoot being over, it was time to meet Louis for lunch/dinner. Doc had some other things he wanted to check out so we said goodbye for now, but Dave and the girls decided to join Louis and I at a nearby diner. I felt so bad; as we were on our way out I got a call from Pope Cerebus, who had been batting around the idea of doing a shoot with me prior to the con, but since we were on our way out I decided I'd meet up him with later. Alas, as often happens, I ended up not seeing him again until we were on our way out that night! I'm so sorry, we'll have to try again another time!

We had a great time at the diner, catching up with Anna and Rhi since I hadn't seen them in so long, playing with Anna's doll, hearing about Dave's most recent foreign channels, talking about Louis's purchases, comparing what TV shows and anime we'd seen lately, and what movies we were looking forward to, and just generally being giant nerds together. There's nothing as comfortable as letting your inner geek out when you're in the company of your own kind.

We went back to the convention after that, but mainly it was to talking Jen out of buying a ridiculously overpriced Alex Ross print (don't get me wrong, I think Alex Ross is THE most talented comic artist out there, and possibly one of the most talented artists alive right now period, but I believe in spending big money on ORIGINAL pieces, not reproductions) and see a last round of friends who we had missed all day due to the crazy, maddening, at times frightening crowd.

I was glad that we had made the trip back when we ran into the gang from Pete's Basement again, complete with Trish and Rich, who I hadn't seen in forever! All of the ladies looked supremely sexy in their Pete's Basement tank tops, and Rich looked like Rich. LOL. (No, Rich always looks good.)

It was good luck running into Rich, too, because he was looking for a specific era of comic books (I forget which now) and Louis was able to direct him to a table not far away where he had found some great deals just a little while earlier. That's another great thing about comic book collectors; of course you have bad apples in every bunch, but for the most part, they look out for each other.

And just as we were about to leave, Pete surprised me with a Hot Bartender Jess! Always one of my favorite ladies to spend time with, no matter what the circumstances. Sadly we don't get to see each other outside of Crew hosted events these days, but I aim to remedy that soon!

However, by this time it was full dark outside, and we had a long way to go to get home, and another full day of the convention to look forward to tomorrow, so we said our goodbyes and headed out again. As we were crossing the street on the way to the train station, who should we run into but Yan again! It was nice to start and end the day with her, and to have company on the long subway ride home.

Let me just say: getting the white out of my bangs was a pain and a half. Overall Rogue was SO much fun to wear and is definitely one of my new favorite costumes and if I can I'm going to wear her to every comic con I go to for as long as I can pull it off (or on, as the case may be) but really, by the third shampooing I was wishing my hair would just go gray already…though not all over! Luckily, I had a wig planned for my third and final costume of the con to be worn the next day.