SUNDAY. I MADE IT. Everything made sense in CrissyWorld again.

 

The weather was better and I felt more secure in my costume, so I went back to relying on mass transit to get to the convention center. A word to the wise to any out-of-towners coming to NYCC for the first time: the subways run differently on the weekend than they do on the weekdays (for some reason, they're worse--don't ask me why.) But I've been doing this for a few years now, so getting to the con isn't usually a problem.

And almost the first cosplayer I saw was a Chun Li, which immediately made my day. I would find a few more Street Fighters throughout the day, and all of them were happy to take photos. There didn't seem to be a huge increase, the way I would expect with a new one having just come out, but it seems to be eternally popular as a franchise.

And, as usual, the crowd in general was a bit thinner due to it being Sunday, which made it thankfully a bit easier to walk around and find people. After all, this was the last day of the con, so if you missed people you hadn't seen today, you'd likely have to wait another year.

The first person I had to find was David; we had tried to meet up on Thursday but he ended up stuck in a bunch of lines, and then again on Friday I never got any of his messages (the WiFi at the Javits Center is TERRIBLE) and he had to leave early, and he didn't attend Saturday, so Sunday was do or die. Thankfully he was helping out at a booth so I wasn't trying to hit a moving target, but I still managed to miss it an embarrassing number of times before I finally found him.

And as per our tradition, he had a wonderful pair of socks for me! This year's are pink and feature Luna and Artemis, a nod to my deep and everlasting love for Sailor Moon. (No, really--so far my relationship with Sailor Moon has outlasted every single relationship I've ever had with a romantic partner. I have a feeling it's not even going to be close.) And then, because he prefers to get me socks that match the theme of something I've cosplayed that year but couldn't find anything, he *also* gave me a minifig of Agent Carter in her army uniform that now keeps me company at work every day.

Now, I had something I had promised Lady Terentia I would do, so I asked David if he wanted to accompany while I tried to find the Genshin Impact booth. David had some other people cover his shift as it was about time for his break anyway, and we went in search of the enchanting world of "Fontaine".

It turned out to be easy to find, as not only was there a glowing blue tunnel that marked the official entrance, but there was also a LONG line filing past the staff, because you see, while anyone could enter the booth and marvel at all the goodies, in order to *receive* said goodies, you needed to A) follow the official Genshin Impact Twitter (I refuse to call it X) account, and show proof in order to get a NYCC exclusive poker card. I don't have a Twitter account, and was reluctant to sign up for one just for this, so David offered to use his to get the card for Lady Terentia.

Then, B) you had to first take pictures within the Genshin Impact booth (that colorful, glowing tunnel was PERFECT for pictures, but anywhere in the booth probably would have been fine) and post them on Twitter with the hashtags #FontaineNYCC and #GenshinImpact to get a NYCC exclusive foldable shopping bag (this is the one I really wanted, that's *practical*.)

The problem was, I hadn't actually looked up the rules before I left for the con, and of course David hadn't even known we were going to be doing this, so we were scrambling to even get our social media accounts to open, and as I said, the WiFi at the Javits Center is barely accessible. The entire time we were on that long line we were trying to log in, and we still hadn't by the time we got to the front, so the staff let us step aside and keep trying. Finally they told me I could use Instagram instead of Twitter, so at least I got that going, and then David finally got his Twitter, and thus we got our poker cards, so we proceeded in.

The digital graphic tunnel was *beautiful*; even people who didn't care about Genshin Impact at all were taking pictures there because the lighting was so interesting. I decided that, if I was going to take pictures and post them on social media, I wanted them to be good, so I tried to get into character as Chun Li and had David take pictures on both his and my phones. We dutifully uploaded them to Instagram and Twitter respectively, and got the bags, and exited the tunnel to the larger area of their booth.

And then finally C), you could play the game for five minutes (seriously, staffers kept timers), and then you got an in-game gift bundle. This one I cared about the least, because even though I tried playing so that it was something I could share with my friends, I just couldn't get into it. But I figured even if I didn't use the in-game bundle, Lady Terentia would, so I played my five minutes, and then naturally completely crashed after the con and didn't get the code to her in time and it expired. But thanks to David's help, I was at least able to get her a playing card and a bag! And it gave David and I extra time to hang out, which is always lovely.

After that, it was time for another NYCC tradition: finding Nes! I had also missed him Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but on Sunday he promised he would be at the top of the stairs in his usual spot, where I pounced on him. We caught up, and I did my best to recreate the original Chun Li picture he took of me back in 2012, which come to think of it, may have been the first time we met? I'm not sure. At any rate, I probably should have opened up the original picture on my phone, because I ended up mirroring it instead of recreating it, but ah well. It's more than likely there will be more Chun Li cosplaying in my future, and I *know* that for as long as we're both attending, we're going to meet up every year, same Bat Time, same Bat Channel.

Meanwhile I was also trying to use Snapchat, which I normally only use with Pete to video call him when I'm with my mom's dog (because dog) and "my" kid Firesketches now that she's off at college, but I do have one or two other contacts on there, and one of them is Smiley Eyed Thor, who I should really start calling Sean now that we're actual friends and I'm not just randomly running into him in the hallways. He told me he was near the entrance to the River Pavilion, which I hadn't checked out all weekend, so I went there to meet him. I love all of his costumes of course, but Thor will forever be my favorite, and it's my fondest wish to get a group of Valkyries to flank him one year. A girl can dream.

Neil also texted me around this time so I told him where I was, and when he came to meet us I burst out laughing--it was too perfect. I got to introduce my Smiley Eyed Thor to my Bucky who was dressed as Loki. Heck, it makes as much sense as anything else in the MCU. I took a picture of the two of them together (as well as a selfie or two with Sean) before Sean had to run off, as he had many more people looking to meet up with him. Popular guy! That's what happens when you don't take sides in Civil War.

Since we were right there, and as I said I hadn't been inside of it yet, we decided to check out the River Pavilion, and holy heck am I glad they did! So, in addition to their cosplay repair station, and a photo booth, and a whole bunch of other booths, they had MULTIPLE little...mini studios set up? I don't know quite what to call them; there were backdrops and furniture and props of all sorts; in addition to the two Neil and I used, I remember a coffin (and I hope The Undertaker cosplayer got to take his photo in that!), and an entire mini camping setup complete with tent and fake fire. I must remember to visit these in the future!

First Neil took a few photos of me in front of a cherry blossom backdrop, which seemed perfect for Chun Li. I had had a few pictures of me taken that day, but gone are the days when everyone dumped their convention footage onto Cosplay.com; these days at least 80% of the pictures you pose for at a con are never seen again, so I wanted at least a few on my own camera so I could show of Patti and Steph's handiwork.

If you looked up the definition of the word "pandering" in the dictionary...

The next backdrop we found was a throne set in front of a majestic hall...perfect for a frost giant child born to be a king. And what luck Neil had his scepter on hand. In spite of the Low Key (ugghhh I hate puns) T-shirt, Neil looked 100% at home, and I urged him to move along before he decided to invade Earth or something. You never can tell.

And then next to that we found ANOTHER backdrop perfect for Chun Li! I wouldn't have asked, because I didn't want to take advantage of Neil's kindness, but he pointed out himself it was just too fitting to pass up, so I took a few more pictures in a backdrop made up to look like a traditional Japanese room (granted Chun Li is Chinese). The pictures came out absolutely beautifully despite being on my phone (I miss my digital camera) and I can't thank Neil enough for taking them.

Neil had to leave for real world adulting related reasons not long after, so I decided to spend my last hours at the con poking my head in areas I hadn't been to before, and what better way to start than at the very south end of the Show Floor. And oh dear God it was surreal. Now, I understand that the Show Floor is organized in such a way that the "biggies" are going to be in the prime spots right when you walk in the main entrance; Funko on your left, Square Enix (I thought they were going by SquareNix? This is better) on your right, Marvel dead ahead. Therefore the fringe stuff has always been pushed to the side, with actual old comic books for sale (sad to say) at the utmost right, and it used to be small vendors to the utmost left.

This year, almost every booth I passed on the left boggled my mind. In addition to the ones I photographed and captioned here, they had stuff like The Wildlife Conservation Society. The Wildlife Conservation Society? Really? It's a great cause and all, but what on earth does it have to do with pop culture, nevermind comics? Vintage flannel shirts and denim jackets? I guess nerds and hipsters have quite a bit of crossover. I mean I guess anything can be related to Comic Con if you slap a nerd sticker on there somewhere, but really the ENTIRE section just seemed like SUCH a STRETCH.

In fact, I was all ready to spend my last hour just photographing the WTFness of everything I was seeing and nothing else, when a tall handsome man approached me. "You're Chun Li!" he said. I acknowledged it was so. "I'm Chun Li too!"

And with that he flings his bookbag down on the floor, and drags out a Chun Li costume! He had been wearing it all day but had decided to take it off to tour the end of the con, but upon seeing me decided we HAD to take a picture together, so he was going to change back into it right then and there. I started cracking up and trying to shield him with my body because, while I *have* seen actors and cosplayers perform some AMAZING costume changes without flashing anybody before, I didn't want staff to get the wrong idea. And the entire time this guy is just chatting away a mile a minute as if we were the best of friends. I couldn't stop laughing.

Then he plopped down on the floor and asked me if I had a compact, and when I handed mine to him he just started doing his makeup with the tips of his fingers, and damned if it didn't come out at least as good as mine does on a usual day. And by the time he was done I knew his name was Will, he's an amateur chef, obviously a cosplayer, and we had bemoaned our heartbreaks and bonded over being Of A Certain Age and geeked out about NYC and, of course, followed each other on Instagram.

Once we were done, we looked around to see if we could find someone willing to take a photo of us together, and that's when we met this ADORABLE Spider-Gwen cosplayer who offered pretty much as soon as our eyes met. She also talked to us a bit about New York City because she was relatively new here, and a little new to the cosplay scene herself (which was hard to believe, considering how amazing she looked.) Ah, to be young again and know that so many cosplaying years are ahead of me--I wonder what route she'll travel? Will she pick a "main" character (or three) like I did, cosplaying her at least once a year for the next twenty years? Or will she fall in love with a new series every year, and be a trendsetter? Will she become an award winner or an influencer? Or will she have had enough and decide to try her hand at baking or ice skating? We never know what path we'll end up taking. I know I'm mostly content with mine.

The con was wrapping up at this point, so I said goodbye to my two new friends, and headed for the door along with the rest of the mass exodus. Before I could get to the exit, I spotted a familiar face with a rolling suitcase. It was Lawrence! I said hi to him real quick and made sure we got a selfie, but we really didn't have time to talk much because the staffers were very much doing the "You ain't gotta go home, but you can't stay here". Besides, as comparatively comfortable as Chun Li was, I wanted out. I wanted to take my three pounds of makeup off, and get into a hot bath with a glass of whiskey and just let everything seep out of me.

New York Comic Con 2022 had, through no fault of its own, led me to conclude that my cosplaying days were behind me. Lady Terentia and the fun I had at Otakon reminded me that, for better or for worse, this is what I have the most fun doing, and it's ridiculous to try to convince myself that I should learn to live without it. Everyone needs some passion in their life. And Pete and Comic Con reinforced that decision, if only to remind me I am NOT the only nerd my age doing this; I have a lot of good friends in the fandom, and in fact some are even older than I am, hard as that might be for the 20 year olds to believe. Am I going to do this another 20 years? Maybe not. It's hard to imagine.

But I wouldn't rule it out.

We had to take the picture in Snapchat in order to share it in order to get the gifts.

I love twinning!

I can't say enough how much I love this tradition.

Speaking of traditions I adore

This one goes back at least 8 years now

I took this picture before it occurred to me that I should, you know, actually get in there with them.

I like that they made me look tall

Greg looks way more dynamic even though I was really swinging!

More twinning!

Seriously she looked terrific

Smiley Eyed Thor!

Also known as Sean

Someday I will get a group of Valkyries for this man.

At least I got him a Loki

You know, when he said he never wanted the throne, I think he was lying.

Really just started getting into costume right on the con floor.

He did his makeup in like 10 minutes and still looks better than me.

Checking to see his pose so I can mirror it...

...getting there...

Got it!

It was harder for me to balance like he was.

Hey, I *am* getting older!

But mainly I'm out of practice.

Also laughing so much didn't help.

Then he was going to show us how he does her Lightning Kick

And I can confirm that he could, indeed, do it.

It was just hard to get a picture of him doing it.

Because the button takes a minute to react.

Eventually we gave up.

Ah yes, another photo with Chris Evans

Me and Nes