NYCC has come and gone, like every year since 2013 when I first started attending. I attended again for a total of 4 days, but it feels like it happened in the blink of an eye.

I ended up deciding to redo old cosplays and it turned out refreshingly well. I really do enjoy cosplaying, but I don’t enjoy spending money on it anymore and putting together anything new. And I found there’s nothing wrong with rewearing my favorites since there are always new attendees, new crowds and well, I breathed some new life back into my old cosplays with my improved physique so the photos turned out pretty well. Unfortunately, I’m still waiting back on more photos from all the photographers I’ve worked with during that weekend so for right now, enjoy the quick preview edits by the ever lightning fast Jason Laboy and Boris Quezada. I’ll probably do another post of finished photos as soon as I get them all back and organized.

I still do enjoy cosplaying a lot. I love dressing up (duh) and being my favorite characters. I also found that in contrast to previous years where I stuck with a group, I did find it more freeing to enjoy the con on my own this year. It was easier to get through crowds and easier to dart through. I enjoyed both being on my own to shoot and look around and then meeting up with friends and family later on in the day to check out booths. It was a nice change of pace and I felt better not having anyone wait on me while I did my own thing photoshooting, which is what I spent a majority of the con doing since I still really do enjoy shooting, as well as cosplay.

The funny thing is I could tell you that you don’t need to be there all 4 days. That one day is all you need, but I could be both right and wrong about that. Yes, you can do the entire con in a day. But that all depends on what you’re there to do. If you’re just there to browse the booths and buy merchandise, you can probably do a lot if not all in a day. But some days feature some things more than others on certain days, and there are also different types of panels on different days. And if you’re there to check out cosplay, you’ll see a lot on any day you pick, but you won’t see everything. You might just miss a particular gem if you go a different day. But the other thing about NYCC is that it’s so big, you might still not see everything somehow. For example, I was there all 4 days, but some people still missed me somehow. And some people saw me there all 4 days. So there’s really no right or wrong answer if you were to ask me how many days or which days you should choose to attend. If you’re on a budget, I would say go on Thursday. Thursdays to me, are actually my favorite days. It’s the least crowded, the first day so you have first dibs on all the merchandise, albeit not the best sales since they leave that till the last day but you’re guaranteed to get the t shirt you want in your size. It’s also the cheapest day of the cons in terms of badge prices. And usually easiest to purchase badges. There’s always Thursday tickets still left while Fri-Sun sell out quickly. Don’t let that fool you though. It doesn’t mean Thursdays suck. The same booths are still there all 4 days. The quality of content you’ll experience is not relative to the price of the badge, nor the number of attendees.

I took some photos of the convention center and some cool stuff I saw at booths but honestly it’s not the same. You just have to attend and see for yourself. The figures, the big displays, the artwork, the beautifu wares you can buy that the vendors bring in, the experiences you can take away, the photos, the different content in all the booths. It’s a lot. In short though, I found I still love NYCC and can see myself coming back again next year. I had a lot of fun this year despite not seeing a lot of the con due to shoots. I want to say maybe I’ll choose 4 different old cosplays, but at the same time, I really did love the 4 I chose this year and would have no problem bringing them back again next year. I’m not concerned if I become a one trick pony - I’m totally okay with those being my signature cosplays.

I also attended the Bruno Mars concert on Thursday night after the convention and I’ll keep this segue short but Bruno is just amazing in concert. He gives it his all as a performer and puts on a great show. I would say he’s this generations’ Michael Jackson with how talented he is at song, dance, performing, everything. My only disappointment is that he didn’t sing Gorilla, which is my favorite song from him. But everything else was absolutely over the top. He had glitter, he had pyrotechnics, he had rainbow lights, he had lasers, he had it all. He’s definitely worth his concert price.

Friday night was a busy day and night for me as well. In the morning I stopped by the New York Magic Lab pop-up and in the evening I visited the New York Historical Society’s Harry Potter exhibit (that blog post is also soon to follow) before heading to my early birthday dinner celebration (aka birthday dinner #1 because I’m extra and need 5 outfits, 3 cakes and a holiday to celebrate).  This was one of my favorite parts of the weekend, simply spending time with my favorite people. It was just really nice. I’m walking into my 30s with all smiles. Life is good when you’re surrounded with the best things in life and the best people. And you’re looking and feeling your best finally.

Saturday was a nice slow day, in terms of no crazy plans having me run all over the city. I simply enjoyed the con and then went to dinner with my best friend and tried out a new restaurant and new ice cream shop. I was watching what I ate for the most part that weekend so I allowed myself little cheats here and there and it ended up being fine because when I returned home Sunday night and weighed myself, no progress was lost so score!

Sunday was the last day and another easy slow day. I went to dinner with my family afterwards and tried more new dessert shops with them before finally heading home. I still have yet to go through the pile of business cards in my bag from everyone who snapped a pic of me. Fingers crossed I can get some decent photos back. If you were one of the few who snapped a nice pic, please email them to me!