Because of the horror show that was my NYCC 2022 (due entirely to external circumstances and through no fault of the con), I approached NYCC 2023 with a small but not insignificant amount of trepedation. So many of us put so much work into it and look forward to it for so long, I know I do. So yes, I was worried that what I got out of it would not be in proportion to what I had put in. But I also had plans to meet friends along the way, so I straightened my hair, put on my makeup, got dressed up, headed out and hoped for the best.

The first person to find me was LunarChandalure, who was dressed as Eda Clawthorne, a character from Owl House, and that is officially all that I know about that, but as we were catching up (because sadly, we no longer work in the same office) other fans of Owl House spotted her and gave us some really cool stickers that I presume are from the show. I have to say I'm so grateful to have a younger friend to keep me in touch with culture produced in this century because let's face it, left to my own devices I'd probably just watch the same anime over and over again. (I mean, I still DO, but at least this way I'm aware other anime exists.) And I was excited to show her my retro Mars in all its glory, because LunarChandalure is the one who made me my zap gun! I swear, I have THE most talented friends.

While LunarChandalure and I were chatting, we were approached by this really awesome photographer, Rich Wexler, who in addition to taking fairly normal photos that he then did some really awesome editing to, he also had a 3-D camera, the kind that requires the old red-and-blue glasses to view! Besides one for his own photography, he also has an Instagram account that is dedicated to vintage images called Vintage Annals Archive, which is 100% up my alley. We ended up exchanging information because we wanted to see if we could run into each other at other points throughout the weekend.

I also recognized my friend Charli, possibly because she was dressed as the ballerina version of Sleeping Beauty, and she had been wearing classic Sleeping Beauty the first time I met her at 2019's Comic Con. I love following Charli on Facebook because her outfits (especially the retro 50s ones, but I love them all) positively inspire me. She didn't have long to hang out because she was on her way to meet up with some others, but we grabbed a few cute and funny photographs together before she had to dash off again. I would LOVE to do a Disney group again someday that included her!

I spent a little more time in the entrance area, snapping pictures of cosplayers, while I waited for more of my friends to arrive. One of the things I noticed is that there seemed to be a lot more Rocky Horror cosplayers than usual. I wasn't complaining, Rocky Horror was a pretty formative movie for me (as it was for a lot of elder freaks, geeks, and queers), but I did wonder about it. Later on I learned it was not coincidence, both Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon were guests on Thursday and Friday. Barry Bostwick would be in Patchogue later in the month to do a Meet & Green, why on earth couldn't their agents have gotten them all together? For the record I imagine RHPS would be seen as more than problematic when viewed through a modern lens, but what the younger generation needs to remember is that Rocky Horror was one of the ONLY celebrations of being different that existed at the time. (Also, the music is pretty bangin'.)

Pete, Age, and Cheezburger showed up not too long after that, so we started walking the aisles of the main show floor. I see Pete from time to time since we don't live that far from each other, but I don't think I had seen Age or Cheez since last Comic Con. Age even had gifties for me--prints of the gorgeous artwork he drew for me based on when I cosplayed Mera (which I believe is when we met), and another print of his MST3K poster! Pretty soon I'm going to have an entire Adrian Velez wall in my bedroom! As for Cheezburger, he'd been busy with a lot of life stuff, but I'm always especially interested in his music, and can't wait until the next time I get to watch him rock out on stage live.

The right side of the show floor is almost entirely made up of huge companies like Marvel, Viz, and CGC, whereas the left side, while still housing some biggies like CrunchyRoll and Nickelodeon, has more of the indie artists, some of which we know peronally, so that's where we headed first. The boys wanted to see their friend JD at Unstoppable Comics, who I had also met in 2019 before the world ended. He had libations to share, but I tend to not drink until the very last day of a con for a variety of reasons, so I was happy to play photographer while they cheered.

Age and I, meanwhile, were looking for our friend Jessie, who we both know from the cosplay community. I don't think I had seen her in person since, Christ, Otakon 2012? Something crazy like that. At any rate, she was in town working with What's Your Passion Jewelry, which sells really gorgeous high quality fandom inspired stuff. I didn't want to take up too much of her time while she was promoting so we didn't get to talk for *too* long, but we took a TON of pictures and I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that the next time she's in town I'll have enough spoons to actually go out and be social. Age had a print for Jessie, too, because he 100% knows how to treat his muses.

Meanwhile I was dealing with my own issues--the boots were not hurting my feet too badly, thank goodness, but I had to take off the visor periodically (seeing nothing but red for too long at a stretch is really not good for your eyes--it won't damage them or anything, but it can cause eyestrain. Just ask the Nintendo Virtual Boy), and for some reason my headphones kept slipping off of my head, which hadn't happened the last time I wore them. Plus, with the gloves on, I couldn't operate my phone, so I kept having to hand it off to someone else in the group whenever someone texted or called or I wanted to look anything up. Thank God I have patient and helpful friends.

The next people I found were my friends Eric and Wilson! I hadn't seen Eric since my PAX-ination party in 2016, and Wilson...my gosh I can't remember the last time I saw Wilson. See, this is exactly why cons are important, even to people who ostensibly live in the same geographic area and could easily see each other whenever we wish: WE CAN'T. People are busy. When you have full time jobs and families and relationships and god knows what all else, it feels like every spare moment is booked solid. At least there's one weekend we all know about ahead of time that we know we will all be in the same place. That's important.

By this point we had covered a good chunk of the "indie" side and had moved over to the more mainstream area (and even after all these years, it blows my mind just how "mainstream" this originally nerdy little hobby has become). And one of Pete's friends has done so well for himself that he gets to hang out a great big end booth--Sebastian A. Jones of Stranger Comics. Pete makes sure to stop in and see Seb at every Comic Con, and thus I've gotten to know him a little bit myself. None of the girls Lady Terentia and I had met in 2019 were with him this time, unfortunately, but he still had a fair bit of help at the booth, and they were doing good business, which was wonderful to see.

Pete's buddy Andrew met up with us as we were roaming the aisles, and I always love meandering with Andrew for three reasons, in ascending order: 1) I love catching up with him, hearing what he's been up to; 2) I love the incredibly insightful (if occasionally snarky) remarks he has about everything and everyone we see, and 3) and most importantly, I love hearing him torture Pete. He's known Pete for a long time and knows *exactly* what buttons to push and has a long history of pushing them, and often has me laughing so hard it's hard for me to walk. It is DELICIOUS.

After that, we were mainly focused on shopping. Pete's "To Buy" list has dwindled in recent years, and some of his browsing is more price comparison for his private "To Sell" list. I do tend to get a bit glassy-eyed at some of the comic book tables, as my own comic-book buying days are pretty much behind me (I have NO MORE ROOM, so what comics I do read these days, I read digitally), but the merchandise is still fun to look at.

Especially one booth in particular: almost without warning, at one point, we found ourselves in The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. That's only slight hyperbole, the vendor Heroes & Villains had built their booth with faux wood panel walls and surprisingly plush carpet, with portraits of the X-Men hung alongside the merchandise they had to sell. That alone was enough to get us browsing, and then I saw a familiar hint of yellow and green...

...and I pulled out the softest lounge set I think I've ever touched. The colors were actually kind of the inverse of Rogue's classic outfit on the pants, with the yellow being the stripes on the outside and the green being the interior, but the cropped hoodie top had green sleeves with yellow in the midsection ,with "Sugah!" It was fleece-lined, AND IT HAD POCKETS. There was only one left in Medium so I broke my own rule about not buying anything on the first day; I had to have it. One of my best con purchases thus far (the two-for-the-price-of-one lightsabers might still be better, but I have to admit, I use this a LOT more often.)

It was getting on to 6 o'clock at this point, and everyone was flagging, so we agreed we would start making our way towards the exits, albeit slowly because stuff kept catching our eyes, or I would see people I wanted to take photos of. Pete also stopped us for a minute because he got a text from Kris and Rocco, saying that they wanted to say hi. After we found them, we spent a few minutes catching up, and then I decided that while I had taken a good deal of pictures (especially for a Thursday), I felt like I hadn't been *in* a lot of pictures, and I wanted to rectify that, so I asked Kris and Rocco if I could take a picture with them.

It's funny; at Otakon I seem to spend most of my time surrounded by my gorgeous female friends. At New York Comic Con, I seem to spend most of my time escorted by my handsome male friends. It's not the main reason I go to conventions...but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a factor. (And I'm not leaving out you Enbys. Y'all are hot too. I just have yet to be the meat in an NB sandwich. I wouldn't mind rectifying that at some point in the future.)

We had said our goodbyes and started walking again, when off in the distance I spotted a familiar red and white hat, and red jacket with a white star on the back...TERRY BOGARD! Yes, even though I had fulfilled a two-decade-long dream of getting a photo of myself as Lily with a Terry not three months before, I am not about to stop chasing them down. Sometimes literally, as in this case, as I had to run in my ridiculous chunky high-heeled boots to catch up with him. Thankfully he was super nice and not at all creeped out when I asked to take a picture with him. Little did I know we would meet again...

...at any rate, we were finally within a few feet of the door, when I heard "CRIIISSYYYY!" and I turned around, and there were (some of) my Senshi in the City girls!! It probably helped that I was wearing the first costume we all made together (talk about blood, sweat, and SO MUCH glitter), but also Jackie just has eagle eyes. With her was Elena, who I admire not only for her cooking skills but also her desire to cosplay every single senshi (a plan I intend to help her with), and Brittany, who I was *supposed* to be the Biker Mars to her Biker Venus at Senshicon 2022, but I had missed due to the same external circumstances I mentioned at the top of the page, and my goodness but is she even more beautiful in person. They were also on their way out so we didn't have a lot of time (or energy!) to hang out, but at least we got to say hello!

It was only Day One of the con, we had almost made it to closing, and we still had three days (and I had three costumes) to go, so it was time to call it a night. Preparations needed to be made, and rest needed to be had. Discretion the better part of valor, and all that. (Look, I'm old, I need all the beauty sleep I can get.)

The first time we met, Charli was also wearing Sleeping Beauty! (Non ballerina version)

It's okay we are WELL over 21

Age was excited to see Jessie, too

They are friends from way back

So he took a ton of pictures

Not that I was complaining!

We took three pictures...

...one for each of us, because we still think we're in the days of film.

Pretty sure she's Hera Syndulla from Star Wars Rebels

Which I've never seen and only know about because my friend Alyce loves her.

No really this is meant in an utterly consentual and respectful manner.

I was very excited to find a Terry Bogard

When am I *not* excited to find a Terry Bogard.

I kinda like the diamond shape we have going on here.

And then my headphones fell off

That happened more and more as the day wore on.

There fixed again.

All right that's enough selfies now.

Jackie, Elena, Brittany and me

Elena spotted my costume!

Age and me

And then Retro Sailor Mars shot Ballerina Sleeping Beauty, because Comic Con

I found a Terry!