I vastly overcommitted myself on Friday.

My first order of business after getting to the con on Friday was to get in line for the DC Comics photobooth that Helene and David had pointed out to me the day before--one of the backdrops featured Aquaman, and I *had* to get my picture taken with "him". The problem was, every five minutes someone stopped me wanting my picture, which meant I had to put down my bookbag, the giant and unevenly loaded plastic bag that was carrying the holster and the poster, and stash my phone and my camera, smile for a few seconds, and then pick everything up again, all while trying not to brain anybody with my overly long trident. After a few times the people behind me on line took pity on me and offered to hold my stuff every time I was stopped for a picture. This helped tremendously.

My costume also led to a phenomenon I hadn't experienced since 2012: getting special treatment because of who I was dressed as. While I was waiting in line for the DC Photobooth, a gentleman from DC introduced himself, and asked if I'd be willing to film a promo for DC Daily. I explained that I was willing, even eager, but that I didn't want to lose my spot in line (the line was LONG, though it moved fairly well), and that I'd stop by after I was done. He seemed to accept that, but after another 15 minutes or so, came back. "Would you mind doing it now, if I held your spot in line?"

Well, yeah, sure. Okay.

So the first dude saved my spot in line, and another dude came over and introduced himself, and brought me over to a corner of the DC showcase in the South Pavilion, where he introduced me to yet a third dude with a big old fashioned looking television camera. They gave me my lines and filmed me saying them a few times, from different angles. All in all it only took another ten or fifteen minutes, at which point they thanked me, and escorted me back to the line for the DC photo booth, where my placeholder had made some progress towards the front, and I thanked him in return and he went on his way. Pretty cool.

While in line, I also got to meet a new friend: an *extremely* tall (well, to be fair, most people are extremely tall compared to me) P.T. Barnum cosplayer, and a beautiful Belle cosplayer, were walking towards me. I had just--finally--seen The Greatest Showman on my plane ride to and from Quebec a month or so before, and as he drew even with me, I asked him for a picture almost at the exact same time he asked me for one, so Belle suggested we hand her our cameras and she take one of us together. We exchanged cards and found each other on Facebook--turns out he does Marvel cosplay, too, so who knows? There may be some group cosplay planning in our futures!

Finally, I got to the front of the line, and it was my turn...to stand in front of the green screen...in my green and white costume. I don't know why it didn't dawn on me that there might be a problem with this. Luckily more of my costume was white than green, so I didn't completely disappear in the picture, and the background was watery aqua so it actually made sense where it appeared on me, so I'm not disappointed with the overall finished product. But I am astounded by my stupidity at times, I truly am.

Rich had texted me while I was in line to come find him when I was free, so after I got a copy of my photo I went down to the Artist's Alley to find him. The artist he was waiting for seemed to be perpetually away from his table, so we decided to get some of my signatures taken care of while we were waiting. First things first: David Schow. We left the Artist's Alley and went up to the Exhibition Hall, and I tried desperately to remember where his booth was--I hadn't done anything even remotely intelligent, like writing down the aisle number. But they say the female brain navigates by landmarks anyway, so after wandering around in what I thought was the general direction for a bit, I was able to find the Storm King Comics booth again.

I waited until he looked up to address him. "Hey. I'm the girl who asked you yesterday if you signed anything other than comic books, remember?"

He blinked at me. The day before I had been a green haired tavern wench. Today I was a redheaded sailor. Cosplay is fun.

But yes, he did remember, and was impressed by the age of the poster I pulled out for him to sign. I had deliberately chosen one that had his name on it, so he was able to draw an arrow to where he was listed in the credits, and then not only signed it but personalized it for me, which really made my day. And now I have another item for James O'Barr to sign the next time I see him. (I'm sorry I'll never get Brandon Lee's autograph. I'm sorry about a lot of things regarding Brandon Lee. The man was a treasure.) I rolled the poster up carefully and put it back in the tube, and put the tube back in the bag--now that I was walking around with Rich I at least had an extra pair of hands whenever I got stopped, which meant I did not have as many near miss accidents with my stupid awesome trident.

With one signature taken care of, why not try for another one? We took another swing through the Artist's Alley to see if Rich's guy was in, but of course he wasn't, so we went for the next. Again, call me a little slow, but it hadn't occured to me until *that morning* that, hey, this being a COMIC BOOK convention, the creator of the relatively recent and popular COMIC BOOK CHARACTER I was cosplaying just may, actually, be there. And sure enough, Ant Lucia, who had designed the DC Bombshells, had a booth in Artist's Alley. So even though I almost never go to comic book conventions to meet guests or obtain autographs, here I was pursuing another one.

I was lucky, and Ant Lucia actually was in his booth, and his face lit up when he saw me. I didn't have any copies of DC Bombshells for him to sign, so I chose a really gorgeous Mera and Arthur print, which he sold to me at a "Bombshell" discount that he was offering to any cosplayer dressed as a Bombshell, so score two for my costume choice. He not only signed the print but invited me behind the table when I asked if I could take a picture with him--I love when creators are friendly. I know fans such as myself can be kind of obnoxious, especially after four days of us, so their kindness is so very much appreciated.

Unfortunately, I now had a *fourth* item I had to lug around and try not to rumple or tear. Trident, holster, poster in tube, print in some plastic, bookbag, phone, camera. I must have dropped my phone at least fifteen times per hour. Thank goodness it's a POS that is also a tank. Rich did his best to help me, and we took one more trek to the other side of the Artist's Alley when, glory be! the artist Rich had been waiting for so patiently was finally at his post. Rich got his comic signed and I posed for about thirty million more pictures. On the plus side, I also got to see my friend Kaine Maxwell, who is an old school Umino cosplayers. He's more into the collection scene than the cosplaying scene these days, but it's always great to see him.

Sadly, all too soon I had to leave Rich to make my way to the DC Cosplayers East photoshoot--but not before we got one last special picture of our own. It's nice to know at least one guy who's strong enough to lift me, especially without grunting. I took back my Bag O'Stuff, and staggered towards the escalators.

Onward and upward to the South Pavilion! Even though I was a little early (I try to start making my way to photoshoots early, in case I'm stopped along the way--plus, again, I had too much stuff to wrangle), there were SO MANY cosplayers there already! Right away I found Robert, my friend, the founder of DC Cosplayers East, and my movie date for Black Panther. He's always busy at these meetups, because he's the one who organizes them, so I only grabbed him for a quick picture before letting him get back to his duties. I also found Jon, whom I had met at a similar DC photoshoot at New York Comic Conn 2016. His Superboy Prime costume was *really* impressive! Since we had some time to kill, Jon suggested we take some pictures of me over by the Aquaman movie display while we were waiting--after all, who knew what else the day might hold? So all of the pictures you see of me with the movie paraphenalia are all courtesy of Jon.

Once we were back with the crowd, Robert and Mike Byrnes, who is one of best Superman cosplayers I've ever met, called me over. "We're ready to head down to the stairs," they told me. "Would you mind leading the mob?" Now, honestly, I know they only asked me because I had this ginormous trident--which when I held it over my head probably soared at least 10 feet into the air-but I still felt very, very honored, to lead such a parade of amazing cosplayers. I may never get to carry the American flag in a rodeo (shut up, we all have strange dreams from our childhood) but this was the next best thing. And it was so much fun calling out to other DC cosplayers we passed, inviting them to join us.

The DC Cosplayers East shoot was *enormous*! It's incredible to think about how much the group has grown since I joined two years before. There are over fifteen hundred members! I don't think we had *that* many at the group photoshoot, but it was still incredibly huge. Luckily the stairs made it easy for everyone's face to be seen, even if you would be hard pressed to pick out any one of us from a distance!

The organizers started breaking us up into smaller groups, and as I moved off of the stairs, I ran into my friend Jailbait! He had spotted me by, you guessed it, my giant trident. It was his first time attending a convention out of costume, and the poor boy got pressed into service almost immediately as photographer and bag handler. I felt bad, but he said he was so unused to attending without being dressed up that he was almost glad to have a purpose. I think he may have just been being nice, but again, I was *so* grateful to have the help.

Once the DC Cosplayers East photoshoot was over, we decided to head up to the Exhibition Hall, because unbeknownst to me (but knownst to Jailbait), our friend Artiga had his very own booth! I had to see that. Sure enough, Jailbait was able to look up the booth's "address", and we found him, surrounded by all of his beautiful art! After we had finished gushing over each other (he making very kind remarks about my costume, I being absolutely blown away by his pieces, and the fact that here he was, a vendor at New York Comic Con!), we caught up for a bit, and then I told him I absolutely *had* to commission him for something, for luck if nothing else. I remembered that he had mentioned wanting to draw the ridiculous concept that had come up back at Otakon 2017 when we were playing Red Flags, so I decided that would be my very first commission from him. He took Square and everything. I am so, SO proud of my Staten Island kids. They have all grown up to be such wonderful adults.

Since Jailbait had gotten to the con later than I had, and pretty much come straight to meet me, he hadn't really gotten to see much of the con, so we decided to wander the Exhibition Hall together. I had also not taken very many photos, due to the unfortunate circumstance of being born with only two hands, but now that I had help I wanted to make up for lost time. There were so many wonderful costumes to photograph! The absolute funniest thing that happened, though, was when I was talking about how, even though I don't want to have children of my own, I love other people's children. Almost as soon as that sentence left my mouth, a stranger tapped me on the shoulder, and asked if I wouldn't mind taking a picture with his kid. I turned around, expecting a grammar school kid, or maybe a toddler...only to see the TIIINIIIEEEST LITTLE CAPTAIN AMERICA EVER. Oh my God. He was so adorable, I about lost my mind. After the parents (and about seventeen other people who popped up out of nowhere) finished taking pictures, I asked them for permission to kiss their baby. When they granted it, I bent down, and whispered to the sleeping infant, "I, Mera, queen of Atlantis, grant you protection on the seas, wheresoever far you travel, for as long as you live." Corny? Yeah. But heartfelt, definitely.

I hadn't heard from Penny all day, and I was a little worried she was walking around with an "incomplete" costume as I had the other day (again, we should be so lucky if that's the worst thing that ever happens to us, but it's still an unsettling feeling), so, knowing she had a new phone, I texted Pete to see where he was, figuring the entire Pete's Basement crew would probably be together. Sure enough, they were conducting another interview, so he texted me the booth they were currently in, and Jailbait and I went over to find them. Once again, I have to say how *markedly* differently I'm treated when I'm in a popular costume, versus an obscure one like Lily. The guys Pete was interviewing grabbed me for photos as soon as the filming was finished. Which was good, because one of them was a Red Sox fan, and I saw Pete about to Hulk out, so I was glad I was already in between them and able to intersperse my body to avoid bloodshed. Tip for people traveling to New York for the first time: keep your yap shut if you don't support the Yankees. Yes, that goes for Mets fans too--trust me, I am one, Not worth the agita.

Thankfully, Penny needed the guns and holster for her weekend costume, so my lateness did not mean she was incomplete at all! Some of the other dudes were with them as well, Greg, out friend Andrew (who joked that he was dressed as "Angry Commuter Number 5"--a joke he made out loud and several passersby laughed at), and an old school friend of Pete's named Age, who, it turned out, was the artist behind an MST3K fan poster Pete had given me as a gift a while ago, and has the distinction of being one of the only pieces of art hanging in my bedroom! Age is an *amazing* artist and really needs to be doing this professoinally already--check out the fanart he did of me on my Mera - DC Bombshell page if you don't believe me. Dude is so talented it's *scary*.

And, once again, I was approached by a professional because of my costume! A woman working at the booth for Cryptozoic Entertainment stopped me and said, "We have a figure of you at our booth! You need to come take a picture with it!" So our entire party trooped all the way over to the very first aisle in the Exhibition Hall so I could take a picture with the figure, which is, in its defense, *adorable*. If I hadn't just bought the Designer Series figure earlier in the week I so would have bought it--I still might, at some point. It's that cute.

Pete had finished all the interviews he wanted to do (over the course of two days, he had done about seventeen! I was so glad for him, and proud of him, too) so we were free to do whatever we wanted for the rest of the day. He had a friend of his own with her own booth in the Artist's Alley, so we decided to head back down so he could say hello, and so Jailbait could see what all else was down there. And even though it was getting later in the day, we just kept running into more and more amazing cosplayers. I was in heaven.

We were all starting to fade a bit at this point, so I borrowed yet another press badge from Pete (shhh...I'd be more worried but there's no way any NYCC staffers are reading my con report--and if they are, then that's proof I deserve my own damn badge) and we traipsed up to the Press Lounge again...primarily so I could use the bathroom without having to wait on line for a half an hour or more. And as I said in the previous day's report, the River Pavilion was now being shared with Cosplay Central, where who should I run into but one of my favorite Leia cosplayers, Christine! She was wearing General Organa's outfit from The Last Jedi, and she looked undeniably amazing. We started to talk for a bit, but she had a panel to do, so we just had time to exchange a brief hug, and then she was off to host and I was off to--well, you know.

When I came out, I ran into another cosplay friend, Lawrence! Usually when I see him he's either manning a booth or working as a photographer but this was one of the rare cases when he had a chance to cosplay himself! He looked great as Vision, *and* still had the time and dexterity to take a few pictures of me as Mera! I'm a little jealous of people who are talented in multiple areas. Is there such a thing as talent socialism? Share the wealth a little, guys.

Back we went to the Artist's Alley. Oh, one more note--because I am utterly unskilled with bobby pins, I had been precariously balancing my hat on my head all day, and it kept falling off. I knew I wanted to get a special picture with Pete the way I had with Rich, but significantly different in tone. After we had tussled over the trident (and for those of you who think that photo is posed--it is in that we did it for the photo, it's not in that we really were both yanking on the pole as hard we could. Because when it comes right down to it, everything with Pete and I is a contest. At all times), I put my hat back onto my head for what must have been the 37th time that day, when Greg said, "Why don't you pin it to your hair?"

"I tried that," I told him. "It won't stay."

"Lemme see," he said.

A few pokes later, and durned if the silly thing wasn't secured to my head! Oh, I'm sure it could've been *yanked* off, but now I could bend over and pick things up and turn my head without having the stupid hat going flying. It was amazing.

"How," I asked him.

"I have sisters," he answered.

Fair enough.

Since it was getting late, we decided we'd make one more trip through the Exhibition Hall, and then call it a night. Again, I wasn't really looking to buy anything, but it is fun to look--to see what's available and out there to buy, if and when, you know? And, as always, it was a chance for me to get a few last costume pictures of the night.

My feet were *killing* me at this point--they weren't the worst shoes I've ever worn for cosplay, but they weren't the best, and while I had been bright enough to bring along a pair of comfortable shoes to change into, I couldn't walk more than a few feet before being asked for a photograph, so it didn't do me much good to put them on (in fact, it slowed me up even more.) Nevertheless, at this point I had had it, so it was time to cry uncle. I think the Pete's Basement crew headed out about this point too, but honestly, I can't remember--all I could focus on was Jailbait asking me if I wanted a ride home. Yes. Ordinarily I may have demurred, but oh my gosh, yes.

Jailbait had actually parked not too far from the convention center, but I was still grateful to slip into my more comfortable flats. Once we got to the car, we had the fun of trying to make the trident fit without interfering with Jailbait's field of vision, but luckily the top comes off, which makes transporting and storing it easier. As we drove through the boroughs I could literally *feel* my feet swell--I had really abused them.

I offered to buy Jailbait dinner to thank him for the ride home, which he accepted and so accompanied me to my apartment. When we got there, the lights and the television were already on--you see, the Yankees playoff game (against the Boston Red Sox, no less) was being shown on Fox, which technically my father has access to, but he doesn't have the big screen T.V. that I do. Since my aunt is a *huge* Yankees fan, and this was a rather important game, they had let themselves into my apartment and helped themselves to my T.V. I couldn't get mad, as I did the same for the Mets wild card game the year before that I could only access on the radio, and my father was the only person I knew who still had a working radio. I introduced Jailbait to my father and my aunt and ordered food for us.

It was actually pretty nice--baseball always relaxes me, and the fact that my family was involved turned it into the perfect downtime for me. Jailbait and I got to catch up while we waited for the food, and it was just generally what a nice, quiet Friday night in would be, if my face weren't red from being scrubbed to take the makeup off, and my feet weren't swollen, and my hair all frazzled from being bound up under a wig. But it really helped rejuvenate me for the next two days to come.

I made a new friend!

Comic Mera and Movie Mera

He was a very dapper Aquaman.

Me and Mike

I really should get around to friending him on Facebook.

But he has so many friends already!

The Mask finds another henchmen

What can I say? The Mask was one of the earliest comics I started collecting.

My wingman

I love that we know so many artists

Lawrence in front of the camera instead of behind it for once.

Her trident was AWESOME.

Me and Jon

Cosplayers coming down the stairs!

Look at us all!

The Queen of Atlantis and one of her subjects

This little pischer was REALLY trying to wrest it away from me!

Andrew, Age, Greg, Pete, me, and Jailbait