Yesterday we went to the New York Comic Con, in New York City.
The day was an early start (3:45 am early!) since we were training it down. The trip was relaxing however, and we were in the city around 8:30 in the morning. 20 or so minutes of walking later we arrived at the convention center, and joined the line for entry. Although the wait ended up being about 2 hours in total, it was far from unbearable since the crowd was entertained by an assortment of cosplayers (almost all Star Wars characters) and – closer to the end – a sighting of Stan Lee as he entered the center via an escalator.
< Waiting in line
Once we entered the convention hall, well that’s when the madness began. The place was big with hundreds of exhibitors and (to paraphrase the Doctor paraphrasing Disney) ‘More to see than could ever be seen; more to do than could ever be done’ 🙂
Rather than try to describe the days events, I’ll ramble on with a few thoughts on highlights (especially since I’m very tired at the moment).
Cosplayers first; they were everywhere. Most were, in my opinion, rather good. Some were excellent, and some were professional (such as the 501st legion). They mingled with the crowd (obviously, they were at the convention for the same reason as everyone else) but eagerly posed for photographs and in some cases competed in a costume contest. Star Wars was by far the preferred theme, followed by anime (Bleach and Naruto particularly) and then superheroes. Unusual costumes we saw included Cookie Monster, Mr T and Sweeny Todd.
(I apologize for the poor quality of some of these photos…conditions were not perfect for flash-free photography.)
These next two merit particular attention:
The leftmost are three models in the ‘Gothic Lolita Fashion Show’. Much like the giant crowd of other snappers, I was actually taking a photo of the girl in the middle, who was really hamming it up for the camera. The rightmost shot is of me and ‘Lactate Girl’. KLS took the photo, and it wasn’t until I looked at it much later did I notice she was exposing her (fake) self. As a performer she was quite funny, desperately trying to get passers-by interested in her small press comic.
Speaking of comics, we didn’t spend a lot of time looking at any! For me, as far as merchandise was concerned, the figure kits were the biggest draw.
The first photo above shows some World Of Warcraft minis, which were amazingly detailed for their size. I very much doubt the final product will look as good (unless they are expensive for minis… The 3rd and 5th photos show two prototype figures from the Kotobukiya booth (one of the best of the show – you should see the new Star Wars bounty hunter kits!), due out later this year. The 4th photo shows a life-sized Yoda sculpture that can be yours for $4000 (includes delivery anywhere in America). And the 2nd and final shot shows two ‘Figma’ kits, which is a Revoltech competitor that is hands down superior in every way (bonus points since they are both Haruhi figures). When they are released later this year, we’ll surely get them.
Some things we definitely won’t get include these:
What you see above are the holy grails of Star Wars figures, MTG cards and comics all together. All of these were available at the show. According to a handy price guide I received (free) at the show, both the Jawa and Yak-Face figures are ‘worth’ $2000. The MTG card has the price shown (amazingly high, given the condition) and the comic shown was priced at ‘about $80,000’ according to the besuited guy in the booth displaying it.
Other big ticket items available at the show included original art, both comics and fantasy art. For instance, Alex Ross was selling his originals at the show; each of which cost thousands of dollars (one was priced at $25,000 – and I think others could have been much higher). One of the guys that draws art on the World Of Warcraft TCG (as well as MTG cards) was also selling his originals for $100’s and in some cases over $1,000.
As mentioned, we saw Stan Lee (from a distance). Other famous people we saw at the show included…
Seth Green and Sid Meier. For me, seeing Mr Meier was far more of an honour than Seth Green 🙂
But both were far eclipsed in importance to KLS and myself by this guy:
< Simone Legno
He is the creator of the Tokidoki design. KLS has a purse and wallet with his designs on them, as well as quite a few vinyl figurines. More were bought at the show, and after buying one the seller said “He’s here you know – you should go and get it signed!”. After a bit of wandering we found him and lined up, and ultimately had him sign not only a poster we bought at the show, but also the inside of KLS’s wallet. He was extremely friendly and gracious, and it was an enormous treat to watch him personalize our stuff.
In fact, I videoed him doing the sketch on the poster and you can watch it here 🙂
The day was long – we were at the con until after 5pm. We scored enormous amounts of ‘swag’…
The rule was ‘if it’s free, take it’ and believe me we enforced that! As a result, we spent hours yesterday lugging around heavy bags full of all sorts of comics, posters, stickers, toys, books and whatever else we either purchased or had shoved in our hands by eager reps. Much of it (shown in the rightmost photo spread out on the floor this morning) will end up in the trash. A good chunk of it will be passed on to some of you reading this blog 🙂
We caught the train home after 9pm, and didn’t get back here until after midnight. Then, and especially now, we’re exhausted. But the day was big, big fun, and I can say with certainty there’s a 100% chance I’ll return next year (possibly with a weekend pass). It was my first con, but it certainly won’t be my last.
Oh yeah, I had Yoshinoya for dinner..
