This year, Chris and I made our yearly pilgrimage to New York Comic Con. It’s one of the biggest events for DFAT and always a great time to meet more fellow Towelites and connect to geeks from all aspects of Pop Culture! The event was held in the Javitts Center again; and today I thought I’d take a bit of time to recap the event and use this is a future survival guide for any of you looking to attend the con.
The Good:
- The Main Floor was opened up this year. They cut down on the size of The Block, took out that huge gaming tournament that was there the last couple of years and expanded space for more vendors.
- The lines for panels was WAY more organized. This time the Main stages were cleared out between each panel and to get in, you had to line up and get a wrist band. Once you received your wrist band, you could line up for another panel. Genius.
- Television was prominent this year from panels on: The Librarians, Marvel’s Daredevil, The Walking Dead, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and more.
- The announcement of upcoming comics: The Secret Wars from Marvel, Digital First titles from DC including: The Wolf Among Us, Dark Horse going Alien and Predator crazy with the Fire & Stone series, and IDW doing a slew of new titles including bringing back Robots vs Zombies and the upcoming Edward Scissorhands series.
- TOYS! Mezco, Bandai, Square Enix, Todd McFarlane, Diamond Select Toys and NECA all brought their A-GAME!
- Meeting Matt Fraction, Steve McNiven, Gabriel Rodriguez, Kate Leth, Charles Soule and more amazing artists. I love the opportunities that you get just walking around a corner at NYCC and happening upon one of your favorite writers/artists. Truly a magical experience.
- Disney absolutely killing it with their Big Hero 6/Tomorrowland panel.
The Bad:
- Cutting down the artists in The Block was also a tad disappointing. It felt more cramped in that area than usual.
- Television was king, but only a few movie panels including Big Hero 6 and Tomorrowland
- Patrick Stewart not being able to attend his panel. It was still cool though because we had Warf, Tasha Yar and Deanna Troi in his stead.
The Weird:
- Absolutely no horror presence at all. Last year we had a Child’s Play panel and WWE films Leprechaun: Origins and Speak No Evil 2. This year, zilch. It’s Halloween time people!
- Marvel doesn’t want to show anything from Ant-Man or Age of Ultron?! You’re from NEW YORK. Such a waste, so weird.
- Things seemed a little chintzy at times. The lanyards weren’t the cloth ones as before, there was only television posters up around the lobbies, not as much swag. The con was attended by 151K, which is 18K more than last year. It’s not like ReedPop doesn’t have the money, give the people more free stuff and get back to upping the lanyard standards.
- Why do they completely waste the hallway leading to Artist Alley? Put more vendors in there or independent artists!
Here’s a bit of a checklist to make sure you have a good time and memorable experience at the next NYCC.
- Dress appropriately. That doesn’t mean to not wear cosplay, by all means, do it. It’s just that October in NYS can be crazy. Most of the days were very nice, much better weather than previous years in fact, but Saturday rained and was cold. Just be prepared.
- Cosplay is NOT consent. It’s written up all over the convention as it should be. You just escaped your basement and this is the first time you’ve seen a real girl dressed up as your video game fantasy; but don’t touch her.
- Wear deodorant, take showers, just be clean. You will be packed like a sardine on many occasions, you’ll be forced to talk to a stranger. Don’t smell like the bottom of a barge. Take this weekend as the only 4 days you really need to shower.
- Have FUN! This is an obvious one in my opinion, but oftentimes you don’t see it. Yes there’s a ton of people, yes there’s long lines for things, yes you spent a ton of your money; but you’re having fun doing it! People watch, play a game, talk to your favorite artist. This is a rare opportunity, especially on the East Coast, to meet people you’ve only dreamed about meeting. As much WORK as it is to walk the floor and stand in lines, and it is, BELIEVE ME; I have a ton of fun doing it and the good outweighs the bad. Every year.
Those are just a few tips and observances from this years New York Comic Con. As usual, we worked our butts off and had a blast. You’ll be seeing a lot more of the aftermath from the event in the next few days and weeks to come! Can’t wait to see you all next year at NYCC!!
~Casey
