Day two!  No sweat.  My hair was done already.  I popped in my contacts, got dressed in my costume, slipped a pair of comfortable shoes in my bag because I have never worn these shoes without being in IMMENSE pain, and took the new route to the Jacob Javits Center again.

Right away I could see that the crowd on Friday was proportionately more crowded--just as Thursday had seemed as big as Friday used to, this Friday seemed as crowded as Saturday used to be!  It made me really nervous about what Saturday, traditionally the biggest day of any con, would hold.  And it was still early yet!  Thankfully the Javits Center is big enough and the flow of traffic wasn't too bad, so I didn't get stepped on or crushed or anything.

After the Artist's Alley, I headed to the main room of the Exhibition Hall.  And immediately ran into a Sailor Moon cosplayer!  And then another.  AND THEN ANOTHER!  Words cannot describe how happy my little fangirl heart was.  Throughout the day, almost no matter where we were or what we were doing, sooner or later, I'd run into another Sailor Senshi.  Maybe not as many as at an anime convention, but still WAY more than I expected to.  I gave out a bunch of Sailor Moon Avatars cards, and I haven't had a lot of response yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Not too long after I arrived, Penny turned up!  She's really become one of my favorite people to pal around the con with.  Her costumes are *always* much more creative than mine; I'd heard of Gen13, of course, but I wasn't really familiar with it.  And the stuff that she makes is incredible!  I couldn't even sew a strip of fabric onto a shirt the one time Louis wanted to be Tycho, but Penny can create gravity spheres out of stuff she has lying around the house.  She's fantastic.

The first part of the morning, we mainly just spent walking around, seeing what, and who, there was to see.  We ran into Nick, who had introduced me to the DC Cosplayers East group (even though Rogue is my all-time favorite female comic book character, the fact remains that I own more DC costumes than Marvel), and his girlfriend Frances, who is just one of the most gorgeous Harley Quinn cosplayers I've ever met.

We also saw someone who, bar none, had to be the most popular man of the convention: a guy walking around with a sign that stuck up in the air calling himself the "Emergency Costume Technician", with bandoliers crisscrossed on his torso that held almost every kind of tape and every shade of thread imaginable, and he offered to fix your costume for free.   Ladies and gentlemen, if you want to make friends at conventions but are unsure on how to strike up a conversation, this approach is *gold*.  My costume was good to go, thank goodness, but I would have reason to look for him the next day...

At any rate, before the morning was over, I got a flurry of texts from my friend Richie--those of you who have gone to cons can imagine the exchange: "Where are you?"  "Wait I was there but I moved now."  "Okay I'm by the southern exit!"  "What are you wearing so I'll know who to look for?"  All right, the last wasn't necessary--I've been friends with Richie for over two decades now; I'd like to think we can pick each other out of a crowd.

With him were Helene and her boyfriend Shawn who, as usual, were dressed to kill.  Helene was Wonder Woman in her Dawn of Justice costume, and Shawn was Batman from the same.  It never fails to impress me when cosplayers turn out professional quality costumes from movies that haven't even be released yet!  I can't imagine the amount of time they must spend researching on the internet.  That's a level of dedication you can't help but admire.

We also ran into Gerick!  I don't know why he wasn't with the Pete's Basement boys at the moment--considering he was wearing their shirt--but since he moved to Arkansas, they're not exactly traveling together these days.  Helene and Shawn had photoshoot obligations to fulfill, so Richie, Penny, Gerick and I decided to tour some more of the con together.

We meandered outside a bit before we went back in; I don't know what it is, but summer seems to be lasting later and later these days (although it also seems to take a while to get started.)  Even though it was early October and technically in the middle of meteorological fall, it was warm enough outside that all of us could be out without coats on--even Penny and I with our bare legs.  Plus, with it being a little less crowded, it was a little easier to see the costumes around us.  Some costumes were so big and bulky, they couldn't even go inside!

It was getting on to about noon, and we were all starting to feel a little hungry, so we decided to see how crowded the food court was, and make our decisions from there.  Once we got down to the lower level, a table magically opened up, but with no chairs.  (You know how that happens.)  Quickly Penny claimed the table, while Gerick and I scavenged the other tables by asking people if we could take their spare chairs, and Richie swooped off to buy a large pizza, figuring it would be easier and quicker than all of us having to go one by one to the different vendors.  Once he came back, he refused to accept payment and treated us all to lunch, even though he had never met Penny before!  (And Gerick the one time--when they compared sizes of their, um, "rigs".  Look up NYCC 2010.)

We had such a good time at lunch, and not only because I was happy for *any* chance to get off my feet.  Maybe it's because we're all nerds at heart, but all of our senses of humor just seemed to mesh so well--we talked about comics, and bad movies, and what we were up to these days, and generally had a ball.  I know it sounds corny, but for me, at least, it did more than let me rest my body, I really felt like it gave me a little mental rejuvenation as well.

After lunch, we headed back into the Exhibition Hall to see what we could see.  The cosplayers were really out in droves by this point, and I saw so many characters I recognized, not just from comic books, but from movies, cartoons, books, and video games.  It's funny, there are so many ways to really impress the crowds.  If you dress up as a character nobody recognizes, but you've got a really elaborate costumes, people will take your picture regardless.  On the other hand, if you dress up as a character that people love, just by raiding Good Will...same thing.  People are just really there to have a great time, no matter what.

While we were walking around the Exhibition Hall, I noticed a large...black...horned...monster...stalking my steps.  I was inclined at first to be a little nervous, until I noticed he was also carrying a...glittery pink princess wand?  It had to be Rob, *the* most creative costumer I know.  He was once again dressed in a character of his own invention, some sort of video game demon beast, who also happened to have magical girl powers, because of course.  Rob has more originality in the fingernail on his left pinky than I have in my entire body.  I'd be jealous if he wasn't also so incredibly nice and funny.

I also met just about the nicest Sailor Mars cosplayer I've ever come across.  Don't get me wrong, the days of "You can't cosplay that character, I'M cosplaying that character!" are pretty much behind us (or at least they are among all of the people I choose to associate with), but this girl really stood out--she gushed over my costume before I could even tell her how much I loved hers (she was wearing Rei's miko robes), she begged to take a picture with me, she was super enthusiastic about coming up with poses, but, best and most meaningful of all, she said that she just happened to have a "ton" of ofudas (the prayer scrolls Rei uses to seal away evil spirits), and not only did she offer me one to pose with, she insisted that I keep it. 

I posed with her ofuda the whole rest of the day, and I'm saving it with the rest of my Super Sailor Mars costume--I have an older ofuda at home that I keep with my first Mars costume, but this one will forever be special to me, because it will remind me of this incredibly nice girl.  I didn't even get her name, but if she happens to read this, you were a joy to meet, and you made my day.

No one else had any particular events or meetups they were looking to go for, so we resumed just randomly wandering around the con, talking about whatever we thought of, taking pictures of whatever appealed to us.  Every so often either Richie or Penny or Rob would run into somebody they'd know, and we'd stop and there'd be introductions all around, and costumes admired if they were wearing any, and just general small talk--but not the "searching for something to talk about so let's settle on the weather" that's prevalent out in regular society; among nerds, it's a lot easier to find topics in common.  That's one of the reasons so many people go to these things, you meet the most wonderful new people.

Helene and Shawn texted Richie to tell him they were on their way out, so he and Rob wanted to see them before they left.  Penny and Gerick had stuff of their own to do--possibly interviews for Pete's Basement, though I forget now--so we said our goodbyes, and parted ways.  It's funny, Helene and Rob seem like total opposites: here you've got this tall, beautiful glamour girl, and then you've got this bizarre looking video game monster, and yet people flocked to both of them.  For completely different reasons, I'm sure, but equally.  (It's a good thing I know what Rob looks like under that mask...although the grin is eerily similar.)

The one thing about going anywhere with Rob, though, is that he knows absolutely eeeveeeryyybooodyyy.  I've been accused of that myself, but I don't think it's nearly to the extent he experiences it!  Everywhere we went, we were stopping because people knew him and loved him.  The man is like a Care Bear.  And he plans and goes to THE most interesting social events I've ever heard of, everything from cardboard robot battles to adult pajama parties.  I need to get out more.

It was starting to get a bit dark out and I was starting to get a bit tired--which worried me.  I couldn't really fault my body, as far as it was concerned it had endured two full days of con already, surely tomorrow would be a rest day?  But in actuality, I was only halfway through, and I was saving my most involved costume for tomorrow.  With that thought in mind, I decided not to head out to any after parties or events, as fun as they might be.  If I was feeling this tired now, who knew how I'd survive a night of drinking and dancing? 

There was one more thing I wanted to do before I took off, though; I had gotten a text message from JinDjinn, the really pretty and sweet Utena cosplayer I had met at AnimeNEXT in June.  She was only going to be at the con for one day, so it was now or never!  After another exchange of the "Where are you?" series of texts I mentioned above, we managed to meet up in the Artist's Alley, although I almost passed right by her!  I will never get good at recognizing people out of costume (you have to admit, anime hair makes a big difference in a person's appearance!)  We wandered around the Artists Alley together for a while, since I hadn't really "shopped" it earlier when I was more focused on finding my friends, and just generally caught up on what we had been up to since we had seen each other last, and what we had planned for down the pike.

But all good things must come to an end, and when you're getting as old and decrepit as I am, they come to an end a little sooner, so after another hour or so,  I bid all of my friends goodbye, and limped back to the subway station.  Those stupid shoes.  They're so sexy and so perfect for Sailor Mars, but they hurt so much...

Usagi Tsukino and me

Sailor Saturn, Sailor Venus, Usagi Tsukino, and me

Sailor Saturn, Sailor Venus, Usagi Tsukino, and me

Tuxedo Kamen and me

Me and Sailor Jupiter

"Fire Soul!" "Supreme Thunder!"

Me and Sailor Uranus

Genki desu!

Two Sailor Marses

She's so pretty!

Me and Rei Hino

Me and Sailor Saturn

Sailor Neptune

Me and Penny

Me and Richie

Me and Helene

Gaaahhh my faaace!

Me and Shawn

Me and Gerick

I get silly when I'm tired

Another shot of Black Cat and I

I love that wand.

Super Sailor Mars hires some heavies

Then decides to try out good-guy protectors

They had some great costumes

Look at the detail on this shoulder armor!

The posed pic is nice, but I love the shot above better because it looks like Princess Vespa is setting something on Dot (maybe the Virgin Alarm?)

Me and JinDjinn

End of the night!

"Warriors, come out and play-ee-aaay!"