I have to warn you in advance, a LOT more capital letters are going to be used in the next two days of my report than I usually do. That's because my friend Lani HAS NO INDOOR VOICE AT ALL. And I am *incredibly* suggestible.

I'll spare you the tale of our Thursday night together, since it's not quite con related--the man who sat next to her (on an otherwise empty bus, naturally) and straight up poured liquor into a coffee cup and drank it (really?), the skunk my father murdered (really), the salacious stories she told me as we went through our yearbooks together--Lani is two years older than me, which doesn't mean anything now, but it meant that when she was a junior she was a little more protective of my virgin freshmen ears--and I can hear her making a joke about "THAT'S ALL THAT WAS VIRGIN" from HERE even though THIS IS A CON REPORT AND SHE CAN'T HAVE READ IT YET BECAUSE I JUST WROTE IT NOW. This is the way our humor works. And sure enough, the *minute* we were together again, we fell right back into our old roles. The decades just melted away.

Lani has embraced cosplaying General Organa, so I figured this was an excellent opportunity to wear another one of my Halloween-only costumes out and get some good pictures in it. We got up early Friday morning, and proceeded to torture each other's hair into submission: let me just say, Lani did far better with my cinammon buns than I did with her baboon's butt. Still, considering I barely know how to braid, by the time we were done shellacking that monstrosity into place, it didn't look half-bad. All hail the power of YouTube tutorials. I had decided to "upgrade" my costume for the con by buying a stormtrooper blaster off of Etsy, so after we were dressed and hair and makeup done, we headed to the con.

The INSTANT we walked into the convention, we were swept up into photos--I hadn't even put on my boots yet! I think it was at least a half an hour before we were able to escape to the bathroom so we could put the finishing touches on our costumes. Then we went back out and right back into the Star Wars gathering. I got to see my friend Christine, who now that Carrie Fisher is gone, *is* Princess Leia for me, and meet her friend Cate, and just *so* many other Star Wars fans.

I've had the misfortune of meeting cosplayers who feel like they "own" the character they're cosplaying (although not many, thank goodness); this was not at all the case here. Every time another Leia appeared, the other Leias called out joyfully for her to join us. There were old Leias and young Leias, black Leias and Hispanic Leias, tall Leias, heavyset Leias, and absolutely every one of them was greeted estatically. It was like we were all part of this great big space princess sorority, and it was one of the most positive and affirming experiences I've had in my 15+ years of going to conventions. It was absolutely beautiful.

Or, as Christine put it--we've lost our "space mom". So now, we all have a responsibility to BE "space mom". We need to be the light we want to see in our universe. And honestly, after seeing the way people treated each other that Friday, I honestly do think Carrie would have been proud.

We did this for over an hour--I honestly don't remember how long, because every time we thought we were done, more people joined us! We took photos of groups by character, then by allegience, then by trilogy--almost every permutation we could think of. I got a great photo with an Amidala and a Padme to show the female lineage of Star Wars. A group of Leias were interviewed by Chuey Martinez of El Rey Network. It just went on and on.

On the plus side, this ginormous group of Star Wars cosplayers was very conspicuous, and drew the attention of many of the attendees, including my friend Helene! She was absolutely *rocking* the White Lantern Corps version of Wonder Woman, but then I don't think there's a variant of the Themysciran that she wouldn't look amazing in. She had a friend with her who had done her makeup, including contouring (which I need to learn) and glitter (which really makes any costume that much better), but honestly she always looks incredible to me.

Between how long it had taken us to get ready, and how long we spent on the Star Wars gathering, by this point it was getting on to lunch time, and I needed to take in some calories and some calcium, so we started walking north through the hallway. Either one or both of us was stopped every few feet by someone wanting a picture--I can't tell you how much I enjoyed myself. And, of course, a few times we were the ones stopping people so we could photograph them. There were so many good costumes! But we managed to make our way over to the Concourse Cafe so I could have a bit of a breather and some lunch.

Even while eating I couldn't quite keep still--as we were sitting on the floor (all of the chairs and tables were occupied, naturally) having an impromptu picnic, I saw a great Luke Skywalker (there had been a surprising dearth of him at the Star Wars gathering--but then I've often thought that Luke is the least interesting character in Star Wars, no offense) that I just *had* to get a brother/sister picture with. While we were taking pictures, his phone went off, so he handed me his light saber so he could answer it...so of course we got a picture of me sneaking off with his saber. I love fandoms. I truly do. (And I really want my own light saber.)

Cheezburger had been texting me since we had gotten to the con, but since I didn't want him to basically have to stand around and wait while we took ten thousand photos, I promised him I'd find him when we were done. One of the good parts of having to stop and take breaks so often was that it made it a lot easier for people to find me, so he came and joined us next to the kiosk. I introduced him to Lani and they hit it off immediately, to my distinct pleasure. Honestly I don't think there are too many people who can meet Lani and not instantly love her.

Lani couldn't get over the size of the crowd--and I told her this was nothing, she should've seen when the con was only three days for most attendees, and what Saturdays looked like. While I am *incredibly* annoyed that they make you buy individual passes to go each day (not annoyed enough not to buy them, though, apparently), I do think extending the con to four days has helped crowd control significantly. It's still crowded, but it's not "last helicopter out of Saigon" crowded.

Once I was back on my feet, it was time to check out the Dealer's Room, because Lani hadn't seen anything of the con other than the hallway thus far. We didn't get very far, however, before we stopped a Yondu and a Star-Lord to take their picture. They were both incredible, and Star-Lord had music playing from speakers hidden in his costume. Lani got distracted by something, so while waiting for her, Star-Lord started dancing. So I started dancing with Star-Lord. So Cheezburger started dancing with me. So Star-Lord's friend started dancing with Cheez. So we got into this dance-off in the middle of Comic Con, and have I mentioned again how much I love fandoms? And that's when I turned around and realized Lani had filmed the whole thing, and I burst out laughing. Just fantastic.

All right, dance-off over, time to check out the Dealer's Room! And, again, I completely ignored any and all merch in favor of stopping cosplayers for more pictures. I think Lani did some actual shopping, if I remember correctly, and Cheez did some browsing if not some actual purchasing. I was pretty content to wait outside of the booths, because all of the more popular vendors *were* overcrowded to the point of not being able to move. I wasn't feeling well enough to be a linebacker, so I had to be content to sit on the sidelines.

On the plus side, who should find me while we were trawling the Dealer's Room but my friend David--AND HE HAD ANOTHER PAIR OF SOCKS FOR ME! DOBBY IS A FREE ELF! All kidding--well, most, anyway--aside, if you want to know about the sock thing between us, you'll have to read my 2016 New York Comic Con report, but he had stepped it up this year--knowing I was going to be wearing Princess Leia on Friday, he had bought me R2D2 and C3PO socks (and semi-matching Boba Fett socks for himself.) I truly have the greatest friends and I don't deserve them one bit. If the exhibitor floor had been less crowded I would have plopped down right then and there and put them on under my boots.

Lani had done some actual preparation before the con regarding scheduling, which is just...totally foreign in concept to me. You mean there are some people who go to conventions to do more than just derp around in costumes and occasionally stalk James O'Barr? In the afternoon there was a Star Wars panel that she wanted to attend, a bunch of Star Wars authors doing a roundtable about their upcoming works, so we headed down to the panel rooms to wait in line. I guess it was no surprise that we ran into Christine and Cate, maybe about two "lanes" in the queue ahead of us.

It was a long line, but it actually moved pretty well, and every time Lani and I ran into Christine and Cate, we traded barbs back and forth--by far the best was Christine shaking her finger at Lani and saying, "Well, I see SOMEONE brought her SASSY buns today!" Lani also jokingly harrassed a General Hux cosplayer to the amusement of all. Unfortunately, we had gotten in the line too late and just barely didn't make the cutoff to get into the panel (seriously, I think there were only three people ahead of us), but as I told Lani, we had so much fun in the line I really didn't mind.

Since we had missed our panel, we decided to head back to the Dealer's Room and do a little more exploring. There was this SUPER cool "Star Wars: The Last Jedi Experience" that David had told us about when he had met us there earlier, but--damn, spit, and dirty drawers--by the time we made it over there, they had closed the booth, either because they were done for the day, or because one of their interactive "skirmishes" was going on. I *really* would have liked a picture of myself as Princess Leia on an Imperial ship, but Lani and I promised each other we'd at least make sure we'd check it out together the next day.

We also tried to get our friend Richie to come out--I've mentioned him in here before, since he usually covers the con for his own online presence, but due to one thing and another (not the least of which being the ridiculous new badge policy I mentioned above), he hadn't gotten tickets to the con. I would have been happy to host him at my house that night--since we were all high school friends, and since my house is literally five blocks away from our high school, my house was always the default hangout place anyway--but he was in the middle of working roughly five jobs seven days a week (I'm not exaggerating), so he was exhausted. And in a way I guess it was payback for me not coming out to SantaCon the last time Lani had come to the city and they had gotten together. Someday we'll get all three of us together!

There were SO MANY other Star Wars cosplayers--I'm not sure if there were just always that many, and I never noticed before (the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, also known as the frequency illusion, where something you just got interested in seems to be popping up *everywhere*. It isn't, of course, you're just noticing it more because it's on your mind), or if there really is an upsurge in Star Wars cosplayers due to the new trilogy. Either way, we had SO much fun. Lani in particular took enormous glee in teasing every single Kylo Ren that we passed. "SON, I AM DISAPPOINT." She even got me doing it!

This is probably about the time I started flagging again. I noticed I took less pictures for a Friday than I have previously, but I did try my best. Cheez got enough for the Pete's Basement Instagram. Lani had a full album's worth from the morning's photoshoot alone. And we got some good ones in the Dealer's Room--including Lani and I posing with an oversized chibi (I'm aware that's a bit of an oxymoron) Darth Vader that cracked everyone up.

After a bit more walkabout, we decided to meet up with the rest of Pete's Basement so I could take another rest--I was having a fantastic time, but just like the day before, the longer it went on, the worse I felt. The worse I felt, the harder it was for me to talk. There are those that might say that a silent Crissy is an improvement, but it's a little hard to suddenly be incapable of conversation at a convention. On the positive side, at least my friends knew I was sick and took pity on me, but it did mean I interacted with new people far less than I would have otherwise.

But, yeah. When Lani saw that I was more and more content to just huddle on the floor next to my friends and not speak, she decided it was time to get me home. I was so grateful to have her looking out for me--honestly by the end of the day I wasn't 100% sure where home *was*, or how to get there. We headed for the exit, and even with as bad as I was feeling, we still got stopped a few times for a few last photos, and I took a few last ones myself.

Eventually we made it outside , and since I was fading so badly, she even insisted we take a cab. We walked a bit of a ways outside the con, but had absolutely no luck--if I remember correctly (and again, the later in the day, the foggier my memories are) we ended up having to go all the way to Port Authority and get online for the taxi stand there. The up side to this (other than, you know, getting to sit the whole way home rather than fight the crowd of commuters) was that we were able to call and order dinner on the way home, because by this point we were ravenous.

Once home, we removed approximately 37,126 bobby pins from our respective hairdos, put on Star Wars: A New Hope with Rifftrax commentary on ("Porkins?  The fat guy's name is Porkins?"), and got text messages from every single member of Pete's Basement with pictures of their dinner (...why). I shampooed about ten tons of hairspray out of my hair, and then we both passed the frig out.

Princess Serenity

We got caught up taking pictures *immediately*

All of the Leias were so amazingly nice!

A crowd quickly gathered

I make the derpiest faces when I'm happy

I was so happy there were some Hans to pose with!

Helene is so incredibly sweet, you have no idea.

I love cheesy back-to-back action poses

The family that cosplays together, stays together!

See my note above re: my derpy faces

Spaceballs!

Leia, Dot Matrix, and Princess Vespa

Consent is important, kids. I always ask before hugging.

Han and Kylo Ren

Lani and I had entirely too much fun with the Kylos

I tried to take a candid of then while they were just hanging out, but they had a sixth sense about cameras. Uncanny.

"We Can Do It!"

OMG SOCKS AGAIN THANK YOU DAVID!!!