Would you believe I made the same mistake on Saturday of NYCC 2017 that I did Saturday of NYCC 2016? (And Sunday of ANEXT 2015...Christ I NEVER LEARN.) Yup. I carefully portioned out my morning so that I'd have time to wake Lani, get us both breakfast, get my makeup on, then have time to get dressed...only to put the wig on right as we were getting to leave (I hadn't even taken it out of the bag up until that point--it's super long, and I know super long wigs like to tangle, pretty much immediately) and realized, yet AGAIN, that what look like normal length bangs on a mannequin, are entirely too long on me. God. Damn. It.

Since Lani was leaving straight from the con via Amtrak, she brought her luggage along with her. For convenience's sake, she sprung for a cab to drive us all the way to the Jacob Javits Center. What swank! No changing trains and having to troop through subway stations in full costume. We even had them drop us off on 12th Avenue so we wouldn't have to walk the loop as far. It's not something I would indulge in when I'm by my lonesome, but I have to admit it was *really* nice, especially since I was working with depleted energy already.

However, somewhere between home and the con, her Stormtrooper helmut cracked! No wonder the Rebels ended up defeating the Empire--they were clearly fighting against outdated and weakened equipment. (I mean, if you think about it--why do blasters work on soldiers wearing armor anyway? What is the armor good for?) We had seen a "cosplay repair station" the day before while wandering, but for the life of us we couldn't remember exactly where it was. I knew I'd have time to kill during the day, so I promised to look for it, as she had a panel to get to at 11 A, and it was getting close to that time.

We headed to the coat check on Level 2 so Lani could stash her luggage, and then shehad to turn around and go right back out to get to the Hudson Mercantile on West 36th Street, one of the "off campus" spaces NYCC engaged once they started running out of space. She had bought a special ticket for the "From a Certain Point of View: A Star Wars 40th Anniversary Celebration" panel, which featured over a dozen contributors to the anthology. As I've mentioned before, I'm rarely interested in panels, and less so in panels I have to 1) pay for and 2) walk further for (plus the panel had sold out weeks beforehand), so I told Lani to have a good time, and went on a repair station and photo hunt. I mean, this was Saturday! The day the cosplayers bring their A game!

To be fair I think you see "A game" cosplay all weekend at this point, but there definitely were a LOT of awesome costumes. Wonder Woman has always been popular, but there was a pronounced upswing in Wonder Woman cosplayers, due to the movie. (Including my favorite, a woman who wore her blue ballgown, complete with the sword stuck down the back. I'm half tempted to do that myself someday. Maybe at the next wedding I'm invited to.) But there was the usual mix of older movies, comics, video games, anime, and American cartoons as well.

In the south end of the Dealer's Room, where there are more indie brands than the major publishers, one of the booths was selling sewing machines, had a cosplay repair station, AND a dog. In costume. (Why didn't I take a picture of the dog? Calcium brain, it's the worst.) I let Lani know I had found a place, and then felt free to wander the rest of the convention.

There was one more thing I wanted to check out before I left the Dealer's Room, though, and that was try to cement in my poor misfiring brain where the "Star Wars: The Last Jedi Experience" was, and if you needed to sign up or anything. Perhaps Saturday was somehow less crowded than Friday, because not only did you not have to sign up, but the line was only 20 minutes long. I really didn't want to go in without Lani, however, so I just tried to mentally file it away for later, and headed out.

After I had walked up and down the length of the hallways, I went towards the staircase nearest the main entrance to the Dealer's Room, as that's usually a good place to find people--and lo and behold, my hunch worked, and I got to see my friend Nes! He was there with his son, who seriously seems to grow another foot every time I see him. Nes and I got pictures together, as is our tradition, before he had to run off, but I'm just glad I got to see him at all! Cell phones do make it easier to find people in a crowd, but there's something to be said for the fortuitous run-in.

I realized I hadn't been outside all weekend (other than going through bag check, of course), and I knew a lot of meetups, and costumes that are too epic for the hallways, hang out there, so I decided to check it out. I saw some really great comic costumes (including Riri, the new Iron Man--I'm not a big fan of giving long established comic mantles to new characters, but I kind of adore her character design), but nothing as epic as, say, the Hulkbuster suit of a few years ago. Luckily, I'd see one con-winning costume before the day was over...but I'll tell that when I get to it.

On my way back inside, I spotted my friend Jeff! We're friends on Facebook (of course) but I hadn't actually seen him in person since we met the year before at a mutual friend's wedding (and let me tell you, that boy can DANCE.) I knew he did Saber Guild (a Star Wars themed performance organization that does charity events, for those of you not in the know), but I had never seen his Jedi costume in person, and oh my gosh it is amazing! AND HE HAS A TRADING CARD! And he gave me a trading card and now I will walk around with a Sharpie in my bookbag for always so I can get him to sign it for me the next time I see him. And he had a Moana with him and she was just SO adorable. I'm sorry, I know I sound gushy when I talk about my con experiences, but how can you NOT get excited getting to hang out with a Jedi and Moana? You'd have to be made of stone.

I also have to say, walking around as Amalthea was a completely different experience compared with any other costume I've ever worn. I have to say about 90% of the convention goers either didn't recognize me (possible but unlikely, considering how many other 80s movies are representated there) or didn't care (way more believable, but still surprising to me.) However, the other 10% were women who chased. me. down. in the hallways, grabbed me by the arm, and said, breathlessly, "Oh my God, are you Amalthea? You were--the hero of my childhood!" And just beamed as if I had made their entire day.

Heh. Come to think of it, maybe the only reason certain people recognized me were because only some of them could see me. After all, if men no longer know what they're looking at, there may be other unicorns in the world yet, unknown...and glad of it.

One more Amalthea story, but this one's the best. As I was crossing from one side of the Javits Center to the other, using the escalators (yes, I was running out of energy again) by the food court, a little girl--really no more than a toddler--spotted me. She YANKED her mother's arm, stopping her in mid stride (side question: how on earth are tiny children who weigh about forty pounds sometimes so strong?), pointed at me, and said in a very much not inside voice, "MOMMY! LOOK AT THE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS!"

That may, quite possibly, be the best compliment I've ever received in my entire life. Yes, normally I hate being called a princess. But that kid made my day. My weekend.

Around noon I took another lunch and medicine break, of course, and then decided to walk the loop again. I had just gotten to the north end where the Artists Alley used to be, when I spotted a Jareth from Labyrinth. Jareth was my first ever crush as a child (which...severely impaired my standards of men for the rest of my life), so I knew I had to get a picture with him. After we were done, a tall guy in a black mask asked if he could get a picture of us together, and then one of just Jareth alone, and then one of just me. "Thanks," he said, taking off his mask, "you're a really good Amalthea."

It was Louis! That was an even *better* surprise appearance than the one I had made on Thursday, I had to hand it to him. And with him was "Work Chrissy", a woman he had worked with years ago (and whom I had met) before we were even married! He was dressed up as Black Mask from Batman, and she had put together a really neat "Day of the Dead" inspired ensemble--I really love that he's dragging people into the hobby he used to claim I dragged him into. It just goes to show that cosplay is as addicting as any other stimulant. We squeed over each other's outfits, Louis offered to buy us both drinks (I had to decline, I wasn't sure how alcohol would interact with calcium and Vitamin D supplements but I knew it wouldn't do any good for my already befuddled brain), and then we stepped back outside so they could have a cigarette break and I could have an "oh my god I'm so TIRED" break.

I was getting texts from Cheez and Doc by this point, and Lani had just gotten out of her panel, so I decided to head inside to find a good meeting place and wait for all of them. Louis and Work Chrissy decided to come with me so we could catch up some more, and we ended up back at the Concourse Cafe, as that had the most clear floor space. Doc arrived, Cheez arrived, and we had a nice little roundtable bull session going. By the time Lani showed up, the table nearest to us had cleared up, because she is magic that way, so we were able to commandeer some chairs. Honestly, I was exhausted already, but I wasn't the only one--all of us were more than happy to spend a half hour just sitting down and letting the con go by. I never realized how much these weekends take out of you.

Fun little side note: Lani had actually found another, different cosplay repair station at the bottom of the escalators! I can't believe we've gotten to the point where there are multiple people willing to help you repair your costume at the convention for tips. People like them restore my faith in humanity. Yeah, it's a little thing, in comparison--it's not like building houses with Habitat for Humanity. But it's people going out of their way to make someone else's day better. It springs from the same source of kindness.

At any rate, Lani and I had only one more thing on our schedule, and that was the Star Wars Fan Meetup at 1:30. I texted Jeff to see if he knew about it, because it was clearly relevant to his interests as well, and then we headed down to the lowest level to room 1C01. We said goodbye to Louis, Work Chrissy, and Doc, but Cheez elected to join us, so he and I made an honor guard for Miss Stormtrooper 2016 as she made her grand entrance into the meetup.

There weren't as many fans there as I expected (I think we had more at the colossal Star Wars photoshoot the previous day), but there were still a LOT. Cheez and I grabbed chairs in the back of the room, since we weren't in costume (and because I was, already, getting tired again), while Lani mixed and mingled and took part in the picture taking: the same as usual, groups by character, allegience, all that jazz. She had Kylo Rens to play with to her hearts content, and her Miss Stormtrooper costume was a big hit with everybody--as was the Ballet BB-8 cosplayer. One of the best things about Star Wars cosplayers is just how creative they get with their costumes.

As the room started to clear out (and after my energy had recharged at least a little bit) I went to the front of the room to take some pictures of my own. I think this is when Cheez and Lani really started to hit it off, as they took all the craziest pictures they could think of--with each other, with me, with total strangers. This is why I love cons.

On our way out, we also saw one of the *best* Ruby Rhod cosplayers I've ever seen-- he was strolling down the hallways doing THE walk, and all the ladies (and some of the men) were just SCREAMING. Lani got video--I couldn't get my camera out in time to even take a picture. But he was phenomenal. I admit I don't stay in character too much when I'm cosplaying--I'm just too excitable to be anything other than Crissy--but certain characters just beg to be acted out. Usually the larger than life ones like Ruby Rhod. You just can't half-ass him, and it has nothing to do with costume quality. It has everything to do with attitude.

While we were riding the Star Wars high, we figured our next order of business should be the "Star Wars: The Last Jedi Experience", so while Cheez went off to take his own pictures for Pete's Basement, we got in line. It actually wasn't bad, and I got to do a lot of cosplayer-watching as we waited (although by this point I had forgotten which bag I had put my camera in, so my last three pictures are taken with my phone. Spoiler alert, my camera was DANGLING FROM MY WRIST. CALCIUM. BRAIN.)

"Star Wars: The Last Jedi Experience" was a lot of fun! We missed the performance given periodically (I think) by actors, where Stormtroopers burst in and demand to know where the Rebel spies are, but there were so many props and information panels to check out that it was still worth it--the set alone would have been worth the wait, it was *that* cool. (I'm still mad we didn't make it while we were both dressed as Leia!) Lani took a ton of pictures, and I tried to get some of her because that really was the best backdrop ever for her Miss Stormtrooper 2016 costume.

And then someone cosplayed THE JAVITS CENTER ITSELF and I about died. Really. That has to win for most creative costume ever.

We had a bit more time before Lani had to leave to catch her train, so we texted Cheez, but seriously, even with cell phones, finding each other in a crowd that size is still a challenge--there were over 200,000 people there! This task, however, was helped enormously by the fact that Lani has no indoor voice, and was unabashedly standing at the bottom of the escalators shouting, "Cheezburger? Cha-heeezburger! CHEEZBURGER CHEEZBURGER" until I was doubled over laughing.

(We found him.)

So, we took one more trip through the Dealer's Room, where Lani bought her 356th shirt (not that weekend, but in general), and we stopped to ogle the (what else?) Star Wars figures. But it was getting close to her depature time, and while Lani was hoping we'd catch a cab to take us to Penn Station, we knew we'd have to factor in walking time if we didn't see one, so it was time for us to head out.

Back to the second floor coat check, and while we were waiting for the clerk to grab Lani's bags, I spotted Michael Byrnes, one of the best (and most prolific) Superman cosplayers I know! We took a selfie with his phone (honestly, my brain was not working well enough to operate a camera anymore, or even anything as simple as a safety pin) before he had to gather up his own stuff and head out, but I'm glad I got to see him and his wife if only for a moment.

Once we got outside, luck was, maddeningly, against us and we couldn't get a cab (I mean, it was close to five on a Saturday night in the middle of midtown Manhattan, so...yeah), but Cheezburger stepped up like the true hero that he is, and gallantly offered to not only see us to Penn Station, but insisted on dragging Lani's luggage for her as well. Ordinarily I don't accept such chivalry from men, but I was so exhausted at this point I couldn't really form coherent sentences--in fact, I accidentally transferred to the wrong train on our way to Penn, so we had to do even *more* walking. I was sad to see Lani go, but in all honesty I wouldn't have been very good company that night anyway; as soon as I walked in the door, it was all I could do to get out my costume. I don't remember a single thing about the rest of that night.

Sailor Neptune

Sailor Chibimoon

These were randomly stuck up around the convention center and it was hilarious.

Various Ghostbusters

Nes and me

And again

Amalthea and Jareth

These were two huge movies in my childhood

Fans at the Star Wars meetup

Cheez and Lani

We had entirely too much fun with this

Balaur is confused

But Miss Stormtrooper is just so charming!

Even I got into the insanity

Again, this isn't really much different from how we acted in high school

Although our costumes are WAY BETTER now.

Lani Luvs Kylo

Cheez and me

Star Wars group

Stormtroopers got to stick together

Empire couple

Bless this guy for being such a good sport.

Nes and me

Me and "Work Chrissy"

Two C(h)rissies!

I adore her

Cheez is pretty awesome too