Saturday, I woke up dead.

Just as I got to the crosswalk just outside of my local subway station, when...riiiiip.  The hook and eye closure on my cape came loose, and my cape fell to the ground.  This is 50% my fault, I had noticed the hook was literally hanging on by a thread, but I naively assumed that was an intentional feature?  I guess?  Anyway, I wasn't about to turn around and go home, I figured I'd be able to fix it at the con.  Maybe I'd run into Emergency Repair Man, or at the very least, be able to snag a free pin or something that I could vandalize to jerry-rig something (it's been done before!)

Thankfully, the rest of the trip in was uneventful, and I arrived at the Javits Center and tried to orient myself.  The first person I spotted was Nes, as promised, which is why if you see the pictures he took of me, I tucked my cape into the neckline of the costume, just so it would stay.  We hung out for a bit, but I knew he's always got a million things he wants to do and a million people he wants to see, so he left soon after.  However, the main entrance is a prime place to hang out, because sooner or later everyone passes through there, so I wasn't alone for long--Greg dropped by to say hi.  It was so weird seeing him sans-wig, after getting used to him with his long Squall hair all day Thursday!

Meanwhile, I was busy texting back and forth with my friend Mike.  Thankfully, after receiving my desperate "PLZ HALP COSTUME BROKEN" text, and being the dear, sweet, resourceful man that he is, had showed up with a pin that he had, sure enough, gotten as free swag from a table, and then pried loose.  It was enough to keep my cape intact!  I finally felt secure enough to walk, so it was time to explore the con again.

Thank goodness, my worst fears were not realized--Saturday was equally as crowded as Friday had been (and thus, equally as crowded as it had been the year before), but no more so.  I suppose with more people have the option to go all four days, the less likely they are to go ALL four days, and stay all day each day.  Don't get me wrong, I don't mind crowds and I love that people are so into it, but I also like being able to move!

After one full trip around Exhibition Hall, Mike had some panels that he wanted to check out, so we said goodbye, and I made my way back to the entrance, looking for the crew of Pete's Basement (who would be sans-Pete, because the little punk had something BETTER to do, or something.  Apparently being the best man to your best friend in the whole wide world is more important than a comic book convention to SOME people.  Heh.)  While I was searching, I almost literally bumped into my friend Giovanny, and his Sailor Boy Scouts!  They.  Looked.  PHENOMENAL.  Words can't do them justice.  (They were only missing a Sailor Mars!  Had I but known!  Ah, well--they were fabulous without me!)

Of course, in a crowd that size it's entirely possible to miss even a group of people, so the next time I checked, the PB boys were actually behind me, back at the Jurassic World exhibit near the hall entrance.  (The exhibit made for a really great meeting spot, though the smoke made it hard to see sometimes!)  They were already hard at work, with a full schedule of interviews ahead of them.  I didn't see Penny, and when I asked them where she was, they said she had already gone on to the DC photoshoot that was planned for the early afternoon.  If she was there, it was later than I thought, so I figured I'd better catch up.

I went out the first exit I came to, because the group Facebook had said to meet "by the pillars"--unfortunately, there were more than one set of pillars outside!  I only saw a few people floating around, including a really good Aquaman who asked if I were there for the DC Photoshoot, but no Penny, and no one else.  Again, it was such a nice day outside that I didn't mind waiting for a bit, so I sent out a text and sat down to wait, which gave me a chance to rest my feet and check my 3DS.  Before too long Penny texted back that, sure enough, the gathering was at the other end of the convention center, so I headed that way.

Trying to get there early was the right decision; there was a HUUUGE mass of people gathered outside already!  I guess I should have figured, seeing as how the group photo at Special Edition had been pretty big, and that's a really small con, but this was just madness.  While I was searching for anybody I knew, or even anyone who looked like they knew what was going on, I spotted Richie, Helene, and Shawn--Helene wasn't there for the photoshoot (although Elvira *did* have some comics out in the late '80s, and they *were* published by DC!), but Shawn, dressed as Nightwing in brand new armor, certainly was.  Thank goodness; Richie offered to hold my little bag (bless the best friends who hold the bags during photoshoots, you are among God's chosen), and I dived back into the throng of people, as they were starting to separate us based on which DC "universe" we were from.

As we all did the penguin waddle as we tried to accommodate the ever growing crowd, I found myself jostled against another Nightwing, also familiar...it was Ziggo, the Nightcrawler I had met while dressed as Rogue back at Special Edition 2014--he had called "Hey, sis" while I was leaving, which got me to laugh out loud.   He introduced me to his girlfriend Lori, who was dressed as Fem!Riddler, and we laughed and joked while progressively being turned into human paté.  Finally, between the press of people and his sclera contacts (which cover your whole eye, not just your iris and pupil), it got to be too much, so Ziggo and Lori got out of there.  Silly me, I decided to stick it out--it's not like I had anything else I needed to do!

Finally, with a lot of effort from all of the group leaders (including Nick, who I made sure I sought out after getting *completely* confused about which group I belonged to), everybody was organized.  Once again, even though the group was so much larger than the one at Special Edition, the group leaders were just as coordinated: they made sure the photographers were lined up and (mostly) not blocking each other, they arranged us so the taller people were in back so you could see even the shortest among us (and there were a few kids), and they ensured that everybody got a chance to be in at least a few pictures--even if you were a really obscure character, you would at least be in either the "ladies" or "gentlemen" group (and if you were crossplaying, you got to pick which one you went in), and at the end, there was a huge, ginormous group picture.  It took a really, really long time, I'm not going to lie about that, but it really was a ton of fun.

Plus, after the official group shoot was over, you had plenty of DC characters milling around to take your own private photos with!  I had to grab Nick for a Batgirl and Robin picture, of course, but my favorite find of the day was a Commissioner Gordon cosplayer.  He seemed a little nonplussed when I flung my arms open and called out, "Dad!" but he was really nice and posed for a few photos with me anyway.  There was a classic Catwoman, too, but for the life of us, we couldn't find a classic Batman!  Who would've thought?

Richie, bless his heart, had waited patiently throughout all of this, and was able to hand me back my bag after all the photos were done.  (I felt bad; he had a pretty big suitcase that was holding his video equipment that he was rolling around to begin with, and then I had to go and throw my bag on top.  Well, at least it had wheels.)   As I mentioned, we've been friends for a long time, so after he had gotten a look at my face, he asked me abruptly, "Are you all right?"

"I'm not sure I can focus my eyes," I answered.  It was true; I had used double-sided tape to try to keep the cowl in place, and while it was working, it was tugging at my skin, and therefore pulling at my eyes, which messed with the surface of my contact lenses, which screwed up my vision.  Plus, the contacts were colored, which interferes a little bit to begin with.  I also felt like I might be fighting a cold, but I really didn't want to admit it, and truth be told, it might've also just been exhaustion.  You'd think I'd think about going home at this point.  You'd be wrong, but I wouldn't blame you for thinking it.

I wanted to see if I could catch up with a few more people, and Richie had some filming he wanted to do, so we split up for the moment, and I walked back to the first set of pillars I had originally been waiting around, and commandeered a spot on the steps to, again, rest my feet.  (The heeled boots may have been cushioned, but they were still heels.)  Luckily, this gave me a chance to meet up with Doc, who I hadn't seen in a while.  He expressed his enthusiastic approval of my choice of costume (frankly I think he just likes me in red hair), and introduced me to his friend Jim, who I think I had met in passing at other events, but this was our first formal introduction.  We decided to head into *other* Artist's Alley at the back of the con--I hardly know how to differentiate between the two, but the Artist's Alley that is opposite the Exhibition Hall is one thing, with all kinds of different vendors in booths, but the Artist's Alley in the back is pretty much exclusively artists, and they have tables only.  It's hard to describe.

Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for the artists who had tables there, the crowd was a LOT thinner back here.  It's so out of the way that it has to affect the sales for the artists, but on the plus side, it's a lot easier to walk, and it's a lot easier to *see* the art that's on display.  There was a wide spectrum of talent there;  from people like Chris Claremont, who's had one of the longest runs on X-Men (and who co-created my favorite character, Rogue), to current artists like Babs Tarr (who helped design Batgirl's newest and more practical costume) who had just recently been picked up, to independent/self-published artists--more on that on Sunday...

We made one lap of the Artist's Alley and I had to sit down.  Yes, I had just been sitting down outside after the photoshoot, but I was just done in.  Doc, thankfully, had no qualms about squatting on the bare floor, so we just made sure we were out of the way, and rested for a bit-in our defense, we weren't the only ones doing it.  Rob, dressed in another fantastic costume that I can't put a name to, found us not long after, and came to hang out while we just shot the bull for a little bit.  Again, photoshoots and celebrity guests and free stuff are all great, but nothing beats just getting to hang out with cool, like-minded people at a con.

It felt good to sit down.  Too good.  The longer I sat there, the more I realized I really didn't want to get up again.  I had had it; I was done in.  I felt bad about leaving before it got dark, but, I mean, it's not like it was *that* early, and I really, really didn't want to miss Sunday.  Not for any particular reason (although I was VERY much looking forward to wearing my very favorite wig again), but I had paid for all four days, and damn it, I was GOING to go all four days!  I promised Rob and Doc that I'd text when I got home, and admitted defeat.  He who cons and runs away, lives to con another day, I suppose.

See? Put a tag on your ear and you have an instant costume.

Greg as Dr. Simon Tam from Firefly

Greg and me

I found a '60s Robin!

Robin and Batgirl

And THEN a '60s Batman!

Sweet!

We only had time for a few quick pics though.

Me and Ramón

I took this quickly because I was so afraid of missing them!

Me and Helene

I admit we posed for this, but this did start off naturally.

Commissioner Gordon was a good sport

My countrymen. (Mars joke.)

Penny as Madame Xanadu

I LOOOVE her costume.

And her props, too.

Nes and me

Doc and me