New York Comic Con 2015: Thursday and Friday

I hope ya'll had a nice holiday! I'm back with my second post for my time at NYCC. I hope you enjoy it :)

Thursday

I decided to wear Kagome the first day of the convention since I had already worn her once before at Waku Waku back in August. My commute was a little hectic coming in because of traffic in the George Washington bridge. That's okay, selfie time!

I got to the Javits Center at 11. Which wasn't too bad it was only about an 1 hour after the con opened. I met up with Rae on the walk over. She was killing the game in her Captain America hoodie. It's always such a blast geeking out with her.

The first thing we noticed was the food trucks right outside the Javits. This was the first time since I've been that they've done that. I don't know why they hadn't thought of it before. It really helped with grabbing food as you as you can in or came out.

Walking into NYCC is always so mind blowing because they really go all out. First Rae and I headed to the Artist's Alley to meet up with a few of her friends. Seth Meyer was actually there out in the open. I think he was doing some sort of social experiment and seeing how people would react to him just being there.

The whole NYC we wanted to try Cookie Cat because we love Steven Universe, but the tickets for the Fantasy Food truck would go SO fast we never got to. Tiff did get a recipe for it so that we can make it at home.

Seth Meyer a few feet in front of me

There was a remote controlled R2D2 running around and making sounds. Ugh, it was so cute! We rushed over, so Rae could meet one of her idols: the creator of Deadpool. He was really funny and charismtic! She was so adorable while she was meeting him.

We grabbed a corner of Artist Alley that wasn't crowded and took pics of my Kagome cosplay. For some reason I had a few people mistake me for Sailor Jupiter from Sailor Moon which was a little odd lol

Waku Waku +NYC Day 2 [Pic Heavy]

Hey y'all, I hope that had a wonderful Christmas or holiday if you don't celebrate it^^ I had a relaxing day with my friend at his apartment in Queens with his two cats Ali and Boom. I'm back to finish my adventures at Waku Waku +NYC.

Day 2
On Sunday, the first thing on our list was to attend a panel called Introduction to Manga and Anime Studies and it was really interesting. We both are writers (Tiff more so than me), so we figured it would be cool to go to a panel for a career or hobby we are interested in doing. Since I'm a big fan of the humanities (particularly literature) I spent a lot of my time reading in school and analyzing texts. I haven't analyzed manga or anime yet, but I think it would be something I could be potentially interested in doing. The panelists talked about looking at anime and manga under the same lens as film and other contemporary media. They discussed why such a field should exist and one of the reasons being that mainstream American pop culture has been influenced by anime and manga. You can see its influences in shows like Steven Universe and Adventure Time to name a few. Putting these texts and films into context is a great way to explore why these influences exist. I wonder if one day the US will be like how it was in Blade Runner.

It's interesting that for manga and anime to be such a huge influence on American pop culture that there is no such thing in schools as an anime/manga studies major or minor. There are a few schools that has Comic studies as a minor. But students that want to examine Anime and Manga are usually studying it under a Japanese literature or film studies major.

The also pondered what is categorized as manga and anime citing for an example that Miyazaki does not like his work to be called anime. I had no idea he felt this way because he is often heralded as a major front runner to the popularity of anime in the West. His work is usually synonymous with the word anime. They also brought up shows like Avatar the Last Airbender and RWBY and how there are debates about whether or not shows like this can be considered anime. It was a really informative panel^^

After the panel we headed back to the Brooklyn Expo center to grab something quick before lining up for the Baby the Stars Shine Bright fashion show. We remembered how long the line was the day before for the PUTUMAYO fashion show and figured it would be even longer for Baby whose show we did not want to miss. What I grabbed to eat was so scrumdiddilyumptious like oh my word! I got a chicken katsu sandwhich from Katsu-Hama and my life was changed.

Waku Waku +NYC Convention: Japanese Pop Culture Festival Day 1 (pic heavy)

Hey everyone! I hope the weather hasn't been too harsh for ya. NYC hasn't been told cold which is a relief and kinda worrisome at the same time. Fingers crossed for a mild winter! I've attended quite a few events and I'm behind on writing about them. Ah the convention season lol

Back in August Tiff and I attended Waku Waku +NYC and it was amazing! It was the first time that this convention had been held, but it didn't feel like it. It was ran very well except for a few minor snags here and there. Waku Waku +NYC is a two day Japanese pop culture festival that launched this past summer in Brooklyn. The festival consisted of many aspects of Japanese pop culture like anime, manga, music, food, film and fashion. There was a dealer's room, exhibits, panels, screenings and fashion shows.

We learned beforehand from the schedule that the event would be spread out over five locations in Greenpoint and Williamsburg (Brooklyn Expo Center, Transmitter Park, Wythe Hotel, Brooklyn Bowl, and the Verboten). They were also kind enough to have shuttles that went between each location and would also pick you up from the Greenpoint subway station. The first day I cosplayed as Kagome and Tiff wore her young Eren cosplay from Attack on Titan. 

The pre reg line was great which was a welcome change from what happened at AnimeNEXT. They were kind enough to direct everyone to stand in the shade. The line was slightly wrapped around the block but it went very fast to our relief.

6% Doki Doki booth

We headed straight to the dealer's room the place where your hard earned coins go to die lol I lied to myself sayin I was only gonna spend $50 haha Yeah right! I went in the first day and spent way more than I originally wanted. I don't feel like anything I bought was a waste :)

Mi spoils lol

GNA Chronicles: May

Hey home skillets, this has been filled with so much geekery and yet I've had so little time to partake. I have a feeling that this wont change in the next week or two as I have two events to go, but best believe these events are going to be awesome. I'm really excited to check them out; you'll hear more about them later! Here's my GNA Chronicles for May.

Video Games
Rune Factory 4

This game is soooooooo good. It has pretty much all of the video game genres I like in one from farming sim to elements of Pokemon and RPG goodness. I actually stopped playing it to give Story of Seasons a go. Now I want to stop SOS and got back to Rune Factory. I'm gonna hold off a little longer because I feel like I haven't put enough time into SOS. 

Story of Seasons

A few of you know that I have been waiting for this game to come out for awhile. While I have enjoyed the game so far, the prologue is dragging a little too long for me. I believe I'm on the last day and will get my farm soon. But I've actually taken a break from playing. I need to pick it back up >_< I bought Boba Witcher 3 yesterday, so I'll most likely resume this game tonight while he plays.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

Not too much to report on this game right now. I've heard great things about the Monster Hunter series, so I decided to give it a go.

Anime
Ore Monogatari
I blame Tiffany for getting me addicted to this sugary goodness of an anime. This anime, oh man this anime has drop kicked my in my feels it's soooooo good! It follows the story of Takeo Goda's first love. I really love all the characters, and it's great to see someone's first love blossom. The unconventional story line is amazing. It's also really hilarious! I remember hearing about seeing art from the manga prior to watching and really didn't pay it any attention. The need to watch it was so bad that ya girl signed up for Cruncyroll which to be honest I should have done a long time ago. We also watched an episode of Gekkan Shojo Nozaki kun and The Rose of Versailles after we binge watched Ore Mono.

Comic Books

Jem and the Holograms
I decided to pick this up on Memorial Day because I am a huge fan of the cartoon. This comic is amazing and I read all three in one day. I can't wait for the next comic to come out. Everything about it is really good. I wish I could actually hear the songs because the lyrics are awesome. I wonder if they'll actually make the songs and provide links to them. I recently bought the first trade of the Bee and Puppycat comic and they was a story in there about a music box. They added QR codes for each music box that would take you to a link for the song on YouTube.

Cartoons

Steven Universe
Tiffany is also to blame for this one haha This show is so amazing. It's often on my Tumblr dash, and I hadn't paid it any attention. I really should have watched it a lot sooner. The characters are amazing, and I'm really excited to catch up.

TV Shows

Daredevil
Netflix is winning with their original shows. Their take on Daredevil is amazing; I love the main actor and remember watching him in Stardust. Boba and I haven't finished it yet, but we plan on finishing it soon.

That's it for me! I'm gonna enjoy the rest of this day, and I hope you all do as well^^

Escape from the Walled City| Real Escape Game's Attack on Titan event

Hey shawty! Last month I had the chance to attend Real Escape Game's Attack on Titan themed game called Escape from the Walled City. Being a huge Shingeki no Kyojin fan I jumped at the chance to go. I hit up my friend Alex and asked him if he would be interested. He watched the entire season one of the show before we all went haha. His brother is also a fan of the show and came along. The three of us had a blast!

It was all of our first time heading out to Staten Island, so we decided to meet up at South Ferry. We were surprised to learn that the ferry was free. I figured that it would cost something because you have to pay for pretty much any other other form of transportation in NYC. It was such a nice peaceful ride across the water. It took us about thirty minutes to get there.

I'm so happy that I finally got a chance to take a ferry. I live in NJ and there's a ferry here that will take me into the city. I don't end up using it because the bus is cheaper. I haven't been on a ferry since I was a kid, and I don't even remember it. It was such a nice smooth ride, I would definitely do it again!

 The three of us ready to give our hearts!

The event was held at a stadium about a five minute walk from the ferry station. It was easy to figure out where to go, all you needed to do was follow the folks wearing AOT merch and you were set. There were some awesome cosplayers! I loved that the organizers of the event encouraged cosplay.

The first thing I noticed when I went in was how large the stadium was and the cut outs of the different characters from the show. I believe it was the actual height of the characters, too. Levi was super tiny, I think he was a little shorter than me and I am short as a mug.

We spied the huge Eren prop at the back of the stadium and figured that would be our end goal. We were right^^ I really loved how the used the whole stadium for the game. There were parts where we were running up the stairs and using the area behind the stadium.

We were given two sheets of paper with a crossword on it. We lined up and the initiation scene for the Survey Corps played. A man came out dressed in the Survey Corps uniform and let us know there was a breach in the wall and titans were invading the city. We were given our mission, asked to salute, and urgently dismissed to fend off the enemy and wake up Titan Eren.

We received more items to help decipher the puzzles as the game went on. There were three steps to the game, and we completed all of the steps and got stuck at the very last puzzle. We almost won! I was surprised at how much many puzzles were in the game. There were a lot and there were different kinds, too; I was really impressed! Some of them were quite hard and it was amazing how me, Alex, and his brother worked together. They were awesome teammates and it was interesting how each one of us would pick up on a different aspect of the puzzle. When we combined our thoughts together we would get the correct answer! The event was an hour and a half and we ran our butts of solving the puzzles. I would definitely go to another one of their escape games in the future^^ Thanks for reading!

Recent GETS: Sailor Moon Edition

Hey everyone, I'm happy to say that I've been treating myself for the last few weeks and my items arrived! I'm hoping to buy a new Lolita dress soon fingers crossed! I finally sat down and watched the original Sailor Moon and I am loving it so far. I haven't met any of the other senshi yet, but I believe Sailor Mercury will show up in the next episode.

Sailor Mercury dust plug

Complex Wish

I've been told by a few of my friends that I would most likely be Sailor Mercury out of all the senshi. I've been wanting to get a cellphone charm or dust plug for my phone for awhile and figured this would be a good character to get. I found out about this store when I went to the Ghibli brunch for Geek Girl Brunch. One of the girls at the brunch got the cutest Howl's Moving Castle dust plug that I later bought with the Sailor Mercury one.

My next purchases came from J List in the adorable bag below. I've been wanting to purchase from this website for a long time, and I'm happy that I finally did. I really enjoyed their customer service. One of my items had to be backordered, and they kept in contact with me through out the whole process.

 The adorable bag my order came in

I'm so excited to try this Sailor Moon eyeliner. I heard that it's similar to Dolly Wink, so I can only imagine it'll work great. It'll also be my first liquid eyeliner^^ 

I bought a strong charger for my phone. These chargers you pre-charge and then can plug them into your phone when you need a charge on the go. My previous charger was really cute, but had the strength of 2600mAh and would only give me one charge. This charger has twice the strength and has an LED so I can see how much charge I have left. My current phone is my first smartphone so I never thought about how much I would be on it. Also, most people in the NYC area don't drive, so you don't have a car charger as an option. It's lightweight and super cute. It also already came with a charge :)

I may have made a fatal mistake today by signing up for Crunchyroll. Blame it all on Ore Monogatari aka My Love Story. That show is SO good and addictive! I watched the first three episodes with Tiff and was immediately hooked. I went on Crunchyroll today to watch the latest one but couldn't because I wasn't a member. I figured I'd sign up so I can watch it the same time it comes out in Japan^^ The one thing that's amazing about Crunchyroll is that it's super cheap and has anime, Asian dramas, and manga on it. So I will def get a lot of use out of my account, Boba probably will too haha If you like the shoujo genre, give My Love Story a try! Night!

Cosplay Ideas for New York Comic Con 2014

Hello gang! I am trying to be decisive and figure out what I will cosplay as for NYCC. I am more excited then usual because this is the first time that I will be attending more than one day for this con. I will be going Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! I get to dress up lots and lots^^  So, I want to get a head start and play my cosplay now rather than waiting until the last minute. I'm not sure if I want to dress up all three days. Tentatively, I am thinking about wearing a maid outfit one day, cosplay the second day, and my first Lolita coord on Sunday. I hear that constructing your first Lolita coord can take a lot of time, so I may not be able to get that done in time. I also don't even know what style I want to try -_- My lazy butt might just do two cosplays instead haha

I'm also wondering how buying my 3 Day tickets will go because the VIP tickets, 4 Day tickets, and Kid's Day passes sold out super fast on the 18th. Tickets went on sale at 12 pm and then were basically gone an hour later. I think the VIP tickets sold out after a few minutes, and I know the 4 Day passes were gone an hour after that. The Kid's Day are back in stock so if anyone is trying to get those, you should be fine. I haven't purchased my tickets online right after they come out before, so I think it will be interesting to see how it goes. Last year, I bought mine at a Japanese toy store in NYC. When I went in 2010, I bought them offline, but a month after they went on sale. This year I'm gonna try to be buy them the day after they go onsale, so we'll see how it goes lol I noticed on their FB page that a lot of people are upset that the guest list hasn't been announced. I usually don't go for guests because they don't have a lot of Japanese entertainment guests anyway and that would be what I would be pumped about. I love the aspect of dressing up and the booths. Anywho onto the list of my cosplay ideas!