During a hot summer day in July, my sisters and I had been talking about what most college students tend to talk about: being broke. We tend to all enjoy a good TV show and anime, and even artwork.
At the beginning of October, I headed over to New York Comic Con with my sisters, which also happened to be our first convention ever. Here’s a little bit about the convention. The comic convention itself runs for four days, Thursday through Sunday, and it is a chance for the comic book, tv show and film, anime, and art fans all around to gather and share their passion for these pieces of work. The convention is held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, but there are different panels held throughout the city, like at Madison Square Garden and at the Hammerstein Ballroom at The Manhattan Center. So, a lot of walking.
Since I only went for two days, we had to plan what exactly we wanted to do because there was so much we could choose from. Friday morning, we headed over to the Hammerstein Ballroom for the Voltron: Legendary Defender panel, in which the cast and writers shared their favorite moments since the show itself is coming to an end in December. I personally do not watch this show and honestly had no clue what was going on, but my older sister had never been happier, plus seeing people in their element is the best feeling.
Next, we headed over to Madison Square Garden, where the cast of Marvel’s Runaways had their panel and showed the first episode of its sophomore season, which returns on December 21st on Hulu. There is something about Lyrica and Virginia making fun of Rhenzy’s character struggles that make that panel such a great one.
On Saturday, we mostly spent time at the Javits Center where we headed over to Artist Alley and hung around the food trucks. My older sister chose to wander off into the center to look at the anime places they had while I stayed out in the food trucks where I actually got to meet Katherine McNamara from Shadowhunters, who is an absolute sweetheart.
Overall, NYCC was both stressful and amazing since I’m not someone who usually goes out into large crowds. Seeing everyone cosplaying and meeting some of their favorite people who create the things they love the most made me feel so happy for everyone there. Also, I got some free stuff, which can make any experience 10 times greater than it already is. Being able to listen to the actors talk about the show they’re in and the writers teasing what is to come makes everything so exciting, and the fact that being there means you’re one of the first people to know about it is even better. I would definitely love to go to more conventions, especially more about shows I’m into since NYCC has a lot more anime and comic book stuff than television and film. Being able to see everything you only usually see on social media in person and meeting the people you talk to online is a one of a kind experience.