I have no idea why I decided wearing Tifa Lockheart to New York Comic Con was a good idea; I was not in nearly as good shape as I had been the last time I wore her to Otakon 2012. But, since New York Comic Con is really more of a geek culture con than strictly a "comic" con, I figured I had represented my love for comics (or, well, at least, American superheroes) on Friday, and my love for anime on Saturday, it was time to give video games some love. I ended up being more than a little self-conscious for most of the day, but I tried to put it out of my mind and enjoy myself.

I had no plan in mind and nothing in particular I wanted to do on Sunday, so I just headed for the main Exhibition Hall to see what would develop. I have to admit I was kind of hoping I'd run into Penny, so I was glad when I ran into Pete. It turned out, however, that he had lost his phone through the misadventures of the weekend (what happens at con, stays at con?), so he really didn't have any way to contact any of the other members of his crew. I figured he'd run into them sooner or later, however, so I tagged along with him as he did his last day shopping, and then followed him into the Artists Alley again.

I was finally able to get through to my friend Vinnie--he had been in Artists Alley all weekend in his booth, but this was the first time that both my schedule and the Artists Alley had calmed down simultaneously, so I was able to actually hang out with him a bit and visit. It's a shame that we didn't really get to know each other until after he moved out of my area, but the good news is that he does a lot of shows around the country, and of course his family is still in my neighborhood anyway, so it's much more likely that I'll get to see him again sooner than I would most of my non-local friends.

After that, I really just spent some time going up and down the aisles of the Artists Alley and looking at all of the names as well as the art. It's funny; the "Artists Alley" at most anime cons is mainly comprised of amateurs and semi-professionals, who are just as likely to be selling homemade crafts as they are traditional fanart. At a comic con, the Artists Alley has almost no craftwork, and the types of people who are selling there range from self-employed starters, to animators who worked on some of my favorite televisions shows of my childhood. It's really wild.

More time passed than it seems like here; it was really just a lot of walking and looking around, so by the time noon had passed, I asked Pete if he wanted to grab some lunch. I think we were both pretty beat from our respective weekends, so we headed out of the Javits Center and tried to find a Subway that wouldn't be too crowded. We ended up walking a little further than we had anticipated, and by the time we were done eating, neither of us really felt up to the long walk back to the convention center, so we decided to call it a day and make our way to the subway (the mass transit system this time--that can get mildly confusing in New York.) I felt kind of bad that I really hadn't seen anybody besides Vinnie and Pete that day, but I'm willing to be a lot of people either left early or skipped Sunday entirely. Most veteran congoers will understand.

New York Comic Con is still a really fun con to attend. If you're looking for a true comic book convention, one that focuses mainly on creators, and buying and selling, then this is not for you. It's at least as much, if not more, focused on geek culture and pop culture, as it is on comics proper. Thankfully, that's what Special Edition is now for. But if you're just looking for a good time, if you're the kind of person who embraces the fact that comic books have now become almost entirely mainstream, and pervade so many aspects of the world, and you want to meet and befriend and party with other like-minded geeks, I highly recommend it. I wouldn't necessarily travel to New York Comic Con if I didn't live here, only because the cost of living in (and thus, the cost of visiting) Manhattan is astronomical. But if you have a friend in the outer boroughs and you don't mind commuting in, it's absolutely worth it. And if you don't already have such a friend, well, feel free to drop me a line. ;-)

Little kid cosplayers knock me out anyway, but little kid villains are the absolute best.

Tifa versus Little Mac!

One of the nice guys I met at the con.

Glad to see there's still some love for the older Final Fantasies!

Me and my friend Vinnie!

Now we're joined by Vinnie's friend Mikela.