Zip-tying your proton pack to its frame means you're getting ready for one of two things: saving New York from paranormal activity, OR Comic Con. Or both, really; you never know what's going to happen in NYC.

My friend Age texted me as I was on my way in, as he was also on his way in, so we decided we would meet up outside and head in together. He was wearing his brand new, screen accurate red parka from the latest Ghostbusters movie, Frozen Empire, but October in New York is fickle, and it was at least 60 degrees. Between that, and all of his gear, he was dying. But he looked amazing, and of course, that's what counts.

(Disclaimer: I give bad advice, especially when it comes to cosplay. Never emulate me in any form.)

But Age soldiered on, and we approached the Javits Center, only to be directed to the end of the line, a good block away from the entrance. We had to walk all the way around the parking lot, down to the water, to approach the convention center from the west, which was my first time dealing with that. Even in retrospect, I'm not sure why; NYCC is still not *quite* back to its pre-pandemic levels of attendance, and this was Thursday, still the least-attended day. I wasn't sure why we were traipsing around the block, though at least the line was moving quickly. But all this time, Age is really struggling.

 

We got inside, and I almost immediately spotted a Terry Bogard cosplayer, so as per my usual, I dashed after him to get a picture. It turned out to be the same Terry I had gotten multiple photos with the year before. I asked him if he remembered me, but really I look so different from costume to costume I don't blame him if he didn't recognize me.

Meanwhile, I was texting the second member of my team, and Jailbait found us while we were still in the hallways on the main floor. Of course, it was even warmer inside of the convention center than it was outside, and Age couldn't take it anymore. It turned out we were next to the? one of the? coat check area(s), so we convinced him to check his parka and go around in his jumpsuit--yes, it was too bad that he wouldn't be able to show off his new jacket, but on the plus side, we'd all match now, and also, he wouldn't die. He was still looking a bit out of it, so we went to the food trucks to get him a cold sugary drink, and then headed back inside to relax a bit on the couches in the north wing--I do miss the old Artists Alley but I must admit that new seating area is really relaxing.

Once Age was feeling better, we hit the main floor. Right away Age ran into someone he recognized, his old friend Sean, who I believe he also knows through the Ghostbusters fandom, but was bounding Donkey Kong that day. They chatted for a bit, but not for too long, as my team and I were on a mission.

 

You see, Hallmark has had a booth at NYCC for a few years now, and they always have exclusives for sale. Normally this isn't the sort of thing I nececessarily care about, but their exclusive for NYCC was an enamal Slimer pin--the PERFECT flair for our team uniform! So we made a beeline to the Hallmark booth--only to be told they were already out of tickets. Tickets? You need a ticket in order to buy merch? I was ready to despair, but the same worker told us to come back at 1 PM, as that's when they would be holding open sales, and as far as he knew, they weren't sold out of anything yet.

There wasn't much time left before 11 AM, so it made sense to spend the rest of it on the Show Floor. Age's and my mutual friend Jessie was working a booth not too far from Hallmark, so we looked her up so we could say hi. I always have a great time catching up with Jessie, and one of these days I'm actually going to make it out of my house to see her outside of a con (a resolution I have often made, and have a mixed track record of keeping, but I am trying!) She's one of Age's muses, too, and I always look forward to seeing the beautiful art he creates of her. We didn't want to occupy too much of her time, as she was there to work, but we managed to steal her away for a few quick pictures before we said goodbye.

It was now a few minutes before 11, so we made our way back to Hallmark Booth and got in line. A staffer handed us a small card where you marked off which exclusives you wanted to buy, and I immediately started to panic, because it was (understandably) only one of each type per customer, and while that covered the three of us, we had two more teammates who wouldn't be at the con that day, who also needed matching pins. However, Age spotted our friend Tom Chu on the same line, who offered to get us a pin, and a kind stranger who was waiting on line directly in front of us also offered to get one, so with help we were able to get Slimer pins for the whole team. I hope I managed to get across how truly grateful I was when I was thaking them, stuff like that (having matchy match thingies with my friends) is really very important to me, and that was probably what I was most looking forward to on Thursday, next to actually spending time together of course.

With our main shopping complete, Age really wanted to check out the Artist's Alley, both because he likes art (of course), but also, as a graduate from Art and Design and an artist himself, he knows a lot of the people with booths down there. The first one we found was Buzz, who I have *possibly* met before (I think he's been on Pete's Basement before) and who is incredibly funny in addition to being incredibly talented, which I find patently unfair. He had his newest artbook, The Art of Buzz, for sale in addition to the usual commissions and prints, and his stuff really is impressive.

As it turns out, after two decades of attending cons, I've met a fair amount of people myself, and running into them is one of the reasons I keep coming back year after year. While we were going up and down the aisles, I spotted my friend Jon, who you may recognize as the Dabi that Firesketches and I posed with at AnimeNYC when we were all dressed as characters from My Hero Academia. Jon's a real sweet guy who goes out of his way to check in on me from time to time, and I've been promising to shoot with him for just the longest time, but life keeps getting in the way. One of these days, though, I swear! I'd love to see how he'd make my latest Tifa costume look, and it would be nice to hang out outside of a con someday.

 

Jailbait had to split off from us before too long, though, as he had booked both a photo op and an autograph session with Vivziepop, the creator of Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel, which I knew he was a huge fan of, but I hadn't watched myself at that point. (Since, though...oh boy. Why did I wait so long? But that's another story for another day.) We had even seen a few Hazbin Hotel cosplayers walking around, which thrilled Jailbait, and impressed me even though I didn't know who they were, but the costumes were just so well done.

Once we were done with Artists Alley, Age and I decided to wander a bit, which is how we ended up back in the hallways, where we saw a photographer with a really neat lighting setup doing a professional looking shoot of two women dressed as Ghostbusters! They spotted us immediately and pointed at us excitedly, and came out of the setup so we could get a few quick photos together. Only a few quick photos turned into a LOT of photos, as more and more people gathered around and started taking their own photos. I felt a bit bad, because I know photographers often have their own schedules to keep to, and it was possible we were throwing him off, but in my defense, it's not like I kidnapped the girls against their will, and we truly had no idea how much it would snowball. We got out of there as quickly as we could without being rude to the people who wanted photos, and continued on.

Pete texted me that he had arrived by this time so we went up to the main show floor to find him...at least, that was my intent...

...but life had other plans. As soon as we hit the main floor, Age and I met up with another big group of Ghostbusters, and of course we wanted to take a picture with them. And then two other people came up and asked if they could take our picture. And then four more. And it grew *EXPONENTIALLY*. I'm only slightly exaggerating--we ended up doing photos for close to a half hour. I've gotten caught up in impromptu shoots before at cons, but I don't think I've ever been part of an unplanned group quite that big, or a "hall" shoot that went on quite that long. The love for Ghostbusters is incredible. Age and I also spent some time exchanging Instagram info with the other team, and they really are a great bunch of guys. I can tell I'm really going to enjoy being a part of this fandom.

On the other hand, it was a nice change of pace to keep Pete waiting for me, rather than the other way around, and it's not like he was standing around with nothing to do. After exchanging a flurry of texts, we eventually found each other...and immediately looked at our phones to try to figure out where to go next.

My friend David had also texted me. Last year, I hadn't gotten to see him at all until the very last day (although on the plus side, I then got to hang with him quite a bit), so I wanted to make him a priority this year, especially since we never know what the rest of the weekend holds. I was able to find his booth much more easily this year, as it was more or less in the same place it had been last year, so we were able to meet up fairly quickly. Now, if you've read my other con reports, you'll have an idea of the surprise David had for me, although I try to never take it for granted, but I *was* amazed that not only did he get me Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Socks, but he managed to guess (or remember?) that my favorite Turtle was Raph (although it IS possible he just knows Raph is the best turtle. I will not be taking any questions on this.)

Unfortunately we couldn't really hang out long, as David had to work, and we had another friend text us wanting to meet up, who I believe was only going to be there Thursday. I promised David we'd spend more one on one time together later in the con, as he was planning on being there all four days, and then Age, Pete, and I went to find our friend Andrew. I've mentioned before that I adore hanging out with Andrew, not only because he often puts a fascinating angle on things that I never would've thought of on my own, but also because he is able to keep up a steady stream of put-downs directed towards Pete that keep me howling.

I wasn't laughing for long, though, because by this point, I was REALLY limping. I had worn my new-ish combat boots for Ghostbusters Day earlier that year, and my feet had hurt, but I had assumed that was because the soles were so flat and hard, and that gel inserts would fix the problem. Well, the inserts solved the sole problem, but they also naturally took up room in the boot, so my feet were SQUISHED, and cutting badly into my heels. I grin and bear pain caused by ridiculous cosplay shoes whenever I can, but I could barely walk. So without further ado I sat down as close to one of the trash cans as I could (so that I would impede traffic as little as possible--I didn't want to be like that guy we were side-eyeing back in 2021. I spent most of the rest of the con walking around in my socks.

One of Pete's priorities at every NYCC is finding Seb from Stranger Comics, creator of Niobe, the main character in the world of Asunda, and protaginist of many titles out of Stranger Comics. He was delighted to see Pete again, and I think he's starting to recognize me too, which is flattering. Pete and Seb chatted for a bit about what they'd both been up to, and then talked about where the story was. He also had some amazing deals, including a gorgeous limited edition metallic cover that I just couldn't leave behind. It's really a great read, and Niobe's one of the best characters I've been introduced to, I highly recommend.

 

Our next stop was another author and artist friend of Pete's, JD from Unstoppable Comics. He and Pete had known each other for a while, but I had first met him back in 2019, when Pete and I were dressed as Tony and Natasha, and he had loved our costumes so much he came out of his booth to take a picture with us. Stopping at Unstoppable Comics has become something of a tradition over the years, and I was looking forward to seeing JD again.

And it turned out I had more reason to look forward to the booth than I knew: alcohol! JD had brought a new whiskey for Pete to try, and since he's just the best he offered me a shot as well. Normally I have a rule about not drinking at cons (not for any moral reasons, it just makes me sleep badly which makes the circles under my eyes darker which shows up in photos and I am surprisingly vain for a dumpy middle-aged woman), especially on the first day, but, I mean, whiskey, and I hate to turn down something offered in good faith. The whiskey (the name of which I can't remember now, unfortunately) smelled amazing, and tasted great, and toasting with friends is rarely a bad decision.

Having just got there, Pete hadn't seen Artists Alley yet, and being that he went to the same high school Age did (it's how they know each other), he knows a lot of the same people, so that's where we went next. I, of course, don't know any of the artists there, unless I've met them through the A&D crew, so I spent most of this time looking for cool costumes, or people I know.

And then I found both in one! I spotted a really amazing looking Spider-man, and when he came closer, I recognized my friend Arsenio! Arsenio and I met at a Street Fighter 6 photoshoot in Dumbo that our mutual friend Charlie had set up back in April, he had made an amazing Ken, and once I found out he had done Terry Bogard in the past, we started plotting a Fatal Fury photoshoot at some indeterminate future. Arsenio does some really awesome stunt work that I've been following on Instagram, I just love how many different people I know that are in so many different fields and walks of life, I feel like I get to learn new things every day.

It was actually getting fairly close to show close by this point, so we decided to call it a night and head out. Thursdays are usually chill days and this was no exception, but having such a good group costume on opening day made me extra excited for the rest of the weekend--although I knew my feet would need a lot of TLC before I tortured them again the next day.

10,000% chased this guy down to get a picture with him again.

I hope I haven't frightened him.

It's important to introduce the classics to the next generation.

They invited us to apply!

I doubt we will, but only because of the time commitment--we barely get to see each other as it is!

Love seeing her.

I'm insisting these be part of our uniforms going forward.

Random run-in!

This is the other reason you should wander around cons.

Age and Buzz

More Ghostbusters!

I was trying to get "Do, Re, EGON" going...

...but we couldn't get the timing right.

We still had fun taking photos though.

At least we're all aiming right.

Age showing off his pack.

Mine is 20% smaller.

It was so nice of the photographer who was shooting them to agree to take a few pics on my phone.

Then people at Comic Con are used to this kind of thing, I guess.

Still, that doesn't take away from the kindness.

Okay last pic before we move on!

...only to get caught up in another Ghostbusters group!

Seriously there were even more of us at some point.

This is just the part where I was able to hand off my phone.

DID I MENTION RAPH IS BEST TURTLE

Andrew made fun of Pete for this one because it looks like they're snuggling. WHICH I KIND OF LOVE.

Bonus pic of my thumbnail?

It smelled great, I don't know why I'm making that face.

To the provider of the alcohol!

This would set a trend for the weekend.

Me with Arsenio

She was PERFECT

This costume may be in my future, too.

Age, Sean, and me