New York Comic Con 2019

October 3 - 6

Day Four

Sailor Mars - Pokémon trainer

On the last day of NYCC, I once again let Lady Terentia sleep in, as my first order of business was a photoshoot scheduled away from the convention center itself: it was time for Senshi In The City to reunite! As I mention in my 2018 con report and on the Sailor Mars - Pokémon trainer costume page, we had decided on which costume we wanted to do for 2019, before our 2018 shoot was even over. 2019 was going to be ALL about comfort. So I trekked into the city and hiked to Hudson River Park and started looking for a group of brightly dressed girls. Before too long, I found them down by the water.

Janelle showing off her Gastly to the local children

It turns out that children are really into Pokémon. Who knew? While Cat took us aside by turns, for solo and small battle shots, there were at least two groups of kids (one was a whole birthday party!) who spotted Janelle's floating Gastly (it was like four feet in diameter!) and came running over to see the real-life Pokémon. We had so much fun interacting with the kids in between shots!

Janelle was so good with the kids.

The absolute best, however, was when we were shooting the grass-type Pokémon in a wooded area by the carousel. While Cat and their assistant were shooting Nicole and Rachael, suddenly we heard the calliope music of the caoursel morph into the familiar strains of...the Pokémon theme song!!! We looked over and saw the workers grinning and waving at us. We absolutely lost our minds and started shrieking and dancing. Let me tell you, when people say cosplayers dress up for the attention, it's not that they're wrong, it's more that not every cosplayer is doing it for adoration or even admiration. For a lot of us, it's to inspire silly, funny moments like that. It doesn't take much to brighten someone's day.

Cat conducting our shoot

After we had finished the shoot, some of us went on to other shoots they had scheduled, and the rest of us headed to the Javits Center so we could wander around together, and especially to get a photo by the Viz booth. Sunday was still pretty crowded, but we were able to find each other in the crowd due to Janelle's Gastly floating head and shoulders over everyone else! Terentia joined us while we were walking, and helped manage crowd control while we were trying to get our picture. I also spotted a gorgeous Peggy Carter with a Captain America, and it turned out to be my friend Josh and his wife Trish! I was glad I got to run into them even if only briefly.
Following Gastly!

About this time Pete texted me saying that he had an interview to conduct and no cameraman, so Lady Terentia and I said goodbye to the rest of the girls and headed to Artists Alley to help out. As we were splitting up, Nina (our Pluto) asked if anyone would like her Umbreon plushie, as she didn't want to take it home with her and was thinking of just ditching it. I can't bear to see a gorgeous handcrafted item go to waste, so even though I wasn't sure where I'd find room for it, I decided to give it a home. Once we found Pete, we set up the tripod, and again Lady Terentia did her best to block people from walking in front of the camera (some people are clueless, some people are just rude) and I did my best to keep the camera steady and my mouth shut (because oh man do I have an embarrassingly loud laugh if something strikes me as unexpectedly funny) as Pete did his Pete's Basement thing.

Following the Gastly, the Gastly, the Gastly, we're following the Gastly, wherever he may go.
As we were filming, an amazingly cute girl stopped us to tell us how awesome my Umbreon plushie was. I couldn't answer, but Teren told her that if she waited until the interview was over, she was sure I'd let her hold it for a photo. Which, of course, naturally. As I took the picture and Teren complimented the girl on her costume (she had, in fact, photographed the same girl herself the day before), the penny dropped: she was cosplaying a Gijinka (human version) Umbreon! She complimented the plushie and of course I told her I wasn't the one who made it, but one of my friends. She said it was beautiful. The other penny dropped--here was someone who *obviously* loved Umbreon way more than I did, and I really didn't have the room, so I asked her, would she like to keep it? I gotta tell you, I don't think I've ever seen a real live girl's eyes get quite that big before, I think it's safe to say she was pretty ecstatic. In fact if memory serves me correctly I'm pretty sure she told us we made her weekend. That was a pretty awesome feeling.
Tricia and Josh as Peggy and Steve
Lady Terentia and I couldn't stay long, as we had a birthday party for my grandmother to attend, so we said goodbye to Pete and headed back out to try to find a taxi to Brooklyn. The first one refused to leave Manhattan, which I am enough of a native to know is 100% illegal, and by this time I was so tired that I actually grew a bit of a backbone and told him to pull over, let us out, we would not be paying him, and that I would be reporting him. Thankfully the second cab was cooperative and we made it to my family safely.
Umbreon from Pokémon
Final thoughts: I've said this before, but for me, what makes a great con is great people. But cons are also a great way to *meet* great people. Okay so Pete I knew in "real life" before I started attending cons--but he brought me to my first one. I met Doc at Big Apple Anime Fest 2003. I met Lady Terentia at Otakon 2004. Senshi and the City came about because of the Silver Millennium Masquerade Ball in 2017. I'm sure I'd have fun at cons even if I went solo, but for me, getting to wear matching costumes with some of my best friends and then go out for dinner with others and do photoshoots with others and just get to share a four day weekend of being nerds with all of them is really all I could ever ask for.

 
A great end to our con

More Photos (none by me)

Cameraman Crissy
Filming is srs bsns