As I had shared in my post from Arc 2: Act 4, my first post for my archive section will come from my visit to New York Comic Con (NYCC) back in 2015. This was my first time attending Comic Con in person, so I didn’t know what to expect. Most of what I had learned about Comic Con were from people’s stories as well as media (pictures and videos) which were very descriptive about panels, booths, unique merchandise, and guests (including artists showcasing and selling work, individuals working on television shows, comics, etc.).

As I had discussed in my Arc II blogs (the ones started in kevinnissimo), Arc I will only cover blogs I had written from my past site. Any new pictures and updated work will appear in Arc II. I’m stoked to be able to bring back my past posts and provide it to all of you here on kevinnissimo to read.

This entry was originally posted on my previous site, LCDK on October 20, 2015.

(Side Note: After rereading through my NYCC entry here and seeing all of these themes, I planned to read through Kent Wayne’s (Dirty Sci-Fi Buddha) Echo series. I love reading through his updates and am quite stoked to dive into his work!)

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I wanted to devote a special individual entry on Comic Con here on LCDK. Originally, I was contemplating on whether to combine it with the regular monthly entry. However, I had seen that both the Comic Con experience and the regular monthly entry for October were packed with a lot of pictures and information which would be a bit much for one entry. I’ll include all of the pictures that I had taken so that you can get immersed in what New York Comic Con was like.

This was my first time at New York Comic Con (NYCC), so I didn’t know what to expect. I previously saw panels, events, and pictures in the press, but I knew that physically being there would be a whole new story. I’ve heard stories about tickets for popular days and the 3 or 4 day passes selling out within minutes. Tickets are usually sold in the spring and the event is held in October. For 2015, the tickets were sold at the beginning of May.

My brother and his friends are veterans of New York Comic Con, so they know the process better than me. During mid-summer my brother invited me to attend this year’s Comic Con. It was a nice surprise. I don’t think I would’ve been able to go if it wasn’t for him (from hearing all of the stories of the ticketing process being competitive!). He gifted me with a Friday pass for October 9, 2015. He had the 4-Day Pass so he would be able to attend the entire time.

NYCC does not usually announce main guests and panels until it is close to the event time (I think they usually announce it around August or September). I believe it’s because schedules change for many artists and actors/actresses, so things can only be solidified when it’s closer to October. When my brother invited me during the summer, I didn’t know which artists or celebrities would attend that Friday when I would be at the event.

Fast forward to September 2015, my brother texted me asking me if I was ready for the big event in October. He gave me a few instructions before attending such as activating the badge, bringing snacks and water, wearing comfortable shoes, and checking the NYCC site to plan out what I wanted to do for the day. When I met up with him for lunch one day, he gave me my physical badge and lanyard.

Before the event, I checked out which panels I would sit in on. I was excited to see that there was an Adventure Time panel! As many of you know from reading my past entries, I am a big fan of Rebecca Sugar and her work on Steven Universe. There was also a panel on Surrealism and Pop Art that I planned to attend. This brought back a lot of memories when I took the East Asian art classes and doing a presentation on Murakami Takashi.

It seemed a little bit overwhelming since I only had one day to take in the experience of NYCC. However, in the end I just decided to go with the flow and enjoy the day (with the two panels: Adventure Time and the Pop Art being the only ones set in stone).

On Friday morning, I met up with my brother and his friends at 34th Street. Prior to the event, I told my brother that I planned on attending the Adventure Time panel to see the executive producer and cast of Adventure Time. He agreed and said that it would be nice to experience it. His friends had plans to go wait at another panel at the Javits Center, but decided to attend the beginning of the Adventure Time panel.

The Adventure Time panel took place at the Hammerstein Ballroom. I checked NYCC’s Twitter page on my phone to verify the time and location.

I thought that it was better that NYCC moved some events into venues outside of Javits since it probably would have been insanely crowded had they not done this. As we walked down W. 34th Street, we saw groups of people lined up. We didn’t know if they were waiting for the panel, so we asked and confirmed. We arrived there at around 10:45 AM and the wait wasn’t too bad. People were eating their breakfast sandwiches, talking, reading, and pumping themselves up.

The line started moving at 11:20 AM. Hammerstein was spacious with plenty of seating. Everyone was settling in and finding their preferred seat. Security and staff were guiding people around and made sure that each available seat was occupied. We sat down and Cartoon Network provided the audience with little sword giveaways.

Clockwise (from top left): Everyone entering Hammerstein Ballroom and settling in, me posing with the sword, Adventure Time sword giveaway

I was pretty excited since I was about to experience my first panel. I was also going to see the talented voice actors/actresses and the producer in person. I snapped another picture of the panel stage as everyone prepared to begin.

The moderator for the panel was the talented voice actor Eric Bauza. He voiced many characters on shows such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Uncle Grandpa. He began with his voice of Belly Bag on Uncle Grandpa which made us all laugh. Eric introduced everyone starting with the executive producer Adam Muto. Adam discussed the main story for the upcoming season. The discussion between Eric and Adma led to the advanced screening of three future episodes of Adventure Time which are set to release in November. Everyone cheered when Eric asked the audience, “So, do you want to see some episodes?”

The episodes were projected onto the large screen (in the picture above which has the New York Comic Con over the skyline). The last two episodes they showed are going to be a part of an 8 episode arc focusing on the character Marceline. It had a deeper story which was really nice to see her character fleshed out more. I don’t want to spoil it here. They are going to premiere it in a few weeks anyway! 😄

Eric introduced the cast after they showed the first episode.

[Left picture] From left to right: Eric Bauza, Adam Muto, John DiMaggio, Jeremy Shada, Niki Yang, and Olivia Olson
[Right picture] Rebecca Sugar at the far right (next to the staff member wearing black)

They were all charming and warm. You could tell that they all had great chemistry. Niki discussed the story behind Lady Rainicorn’s lines. In the show, Lady Rainicorn speaks Korean so when she asked the supervisors, “Are there going to be subtitles for her?” She told us that they replied, “Nah, it’s fine“, and we all laughed.

After the panel discussion, Eric introduced Rebecca Sugar by stating, “If you all noticed, there’s an extra seat next to Olivia…” Once he called out Rebecca’s name and Rebecca walked on stage, everyone screamed and cheered. Rebecca spoke about their work and ideas from Adventure Time. They then sang “Everything Stays,” a song that will be featured on a future episode of Adventure Time. If you have ever heard them sing, you know about their amazing singing ability. It was so nice to hear them sing in person and they were absolutely sweet to everyone (the cast and audience) throughout the panel. Here is a clip of them singing Everything Stays:

After the producer and cast spoke, they had a Question and Answer session where they gave away free DVDs to those who got up to ask. John DiMaggio (who is the voice of Jake the Dog and voiced other known characters such as Bender on Futurama) was hilarious. He was sarcastic and rolled with the punches when people asked tough questions. He also sang the Bacon Pancakes song after someone requested it (you can find it online…I wasn’t fast enough to record it!). He made a joke about sausage waffles with the cast before singing the song.

Olivia’s character in the show sang a song about her father eating her fries. Someone asked her if a situation similar to that happened to her in real life. She told us a story where she made a birthday cake for her friend and put it in the fridge. Her father ate a slice of the cake even though it was labeled for her friend. Olivia had to then cut the cake where it was sliced and refrost it because of that. She then said, “That was when I decided to move out of the house!” John DiMaggio then rolled with it and said, “I think your dad did that on purpose to get you to move out” and then laughed. Jeremy told everyone how crazy it was when everyone did the Lumpy Space Princess voice for one episode. He started mimicking it which made us all laugh.

All in all the panel was incredibly fun. The audience was engaging and the panel had amazing chemistry. Eric discussed a line that he had to say in Japanese for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and he said that the supervisors said that it sound Italian. When he actually said the line, John DiMaggio replied, “That doesn’t sound Italian!” We all had a great time and the hour and a half flew by quickly.

As Eric concluded the panel, everyone clapped. Some people went up to take pictures while the rest exited to return to Javits. My brother’s friends left earlier in the middle of the Adventure Time panel to attend another panel at 12:15 PM. My brother and I head down to the Javits Center together. The closer we got, we saw huge groups of people–costumed and uncostumed. It was a sight to behold. The weather was nice, but the forecast stated that it would rain for a bit (luckily we were inside Javits when it had rained).

The Javits Center is huge! It’s all the way at the west end of Manhattan, so it took a bit of walking to get there. You could feel the energy and excitement of the people.

We followed the sign and instructions on where to enter. As soon as we entered, you could see all of the decorations and monitors. I love taking pictures, so I felt like a kid in a candy store!

Left to right: Outside Javits Center, Entrance at Javits Center for NYCC 2015, another view of the Entrance

The check-in process went smoothly. I think it was already 1:45ish when we arrived at the Javits Centers, so we didn’t have to wait. Everything worked out perfectly in terms of scheduling since the Adventure Time panel took place late morning, and I had the afternoon and evening to enjoy myself. The NYCC crew member tapped my badge with the handheld tablet so that I could enter.

At this time, my brother and I parted ways. I thanked him for giving me an opportunity to attend Comic Con. He had his own schedule and plans to attend to (as well as meet up with his friends). He asked me what my plans would be and what other panels I would be attending. I told him that I would attend the Pop Surrealism Art panel and look around the booths and take pictures. He smiled and wished me a good time. I gave him a hug and we went our separate ways.

As soon as I headed in, I was greeted by the Jurassic World sign and groups of people. I already knew what to expect with attendance for NYCC growing larger each year. There were press crews recording and photographing the event, people were looking around, and I was just taking it all in. It was nice to finally experience NYCC!

At that point, I headed down to check out the cafe and locations of the conference rooms for the panels. I was also really hungry and needed to eat my lunch. Luckily, I brought a spicy chicken sandwich that I had bought beforehand. I saw an outside eating area earlier when my brother and I headed to Javits. I moved through the crowd to get to the area outside. I loved that despite it being crowded, everyone was incredibly polite. People would say excuse me or I’m sorry if they accidentally bumped into you. People were also patient as everyone navigated the venue. I got to find a cozy spot outside, settled down to the warm sun, and opened up my food.

As I ate my lunch, I looked through the panels and other information for the day. I wanted to see if there were other panels I could attend. This was my time to relax since I knew that I would be walking around and exploring for the rest of the day. There were people speaking with and photographing cosplayers.

As I got up to head back inside, I saw people turning their heads and pulling out their phones. It was someone in the Iron Man Hulkbuster armor and the Hulk next to him. They were surround by NYCC security and crew members. One the day I attended, Marvel had two panels at the Main Stage, I believed there were a lot of promotional and press work being done.

They were very friendly and posed for everyone. After a bit, Iron Man said, “It was nice seeing you all, but it’s hot so I have to get to somewhere cool now.” We all laughed, and Iron Man and the Hulk waved goodbye to us.

I headed back inside and went up the escalator to check out the exhibitor’s booths at the Show Floor.

There were a lot of booths to visit. I didn’t have anything in mind to purchase, so my plan was to just look around. When I got upstairs, the first thing that came into my mind was “which direction should I move in?” There was always something interesting to see.

I decided to move to the right and make my way around counterclockwise. The following will be pictures which I took while walking around. NYCC had unique diverse booths, artists, and panels.

Left side (from top to bottom): Chevy’s display at NYCC, Glass Eye Pix Inc.’s booth, and posters, toys, and cosplay wigs (with characters from Pokemon, Sailor Moon, and the Tales series)
Right side: Tall Pumpkin display (Happy Halloween!)

Moving around some more

Top three pictures
[Left: figures of Nintendo characters including Link, Super Mario, and Yoshi]
[Right top: Bandai Namco’s booth with Sailor Moon playing on the TV screen / Right bottom: Figures of Sailor Moon, Sailor Uranus, and Sailor Neptune from the Bandai Namco booth]

Middle: (left) Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans poster / (right) Super Mario

Bottom: (left) Cosplayer as Kakashi from the anime Naruto posing for us. We all loved the use of the smoke from the Jurassic World exhibit! / (right) returning to the entrance

More awesome displays and booths

Top: The Hobbit display (very nice and loved the detail)
Middle left: tokidoki’s booth (I’m always a fan of this style!) / Middle right: A look at the extensive aisles at NYCC
Bottom left: Various character designs (including those from Star Wars, Batman, and Spiderman / Bottom right: Taking a break at the outside general floor area

There were so many things to see at the Showroom! I went outside to the general floor area to take a short break. Look at the line at the Starbucks! It was amazing (and I only covered less than half of what NYCC had to offer). As I was looking through the NYCC book, a nice man in cosplay asked me where Artist Alley was. I knew it was at Level 2, but didn’t know which direction. I apologized and told him that I only knew that it was in Level 2. He smiled and said thank you. I just enjoyed the vibe of the entire day.

I walked around and saw a large balloon display of We Bare Bears (this is one of my favorite cartoons!). I thought it was adorable.

After my break, I headed back to the Show Room to check out the other side. I planned to visit Artist Alley before heading to the Pop Surrealism panel at 6:30 PM.

Top: (Left) Another display from Chevy, (Middle) A display of Ninja Slayer, (Right) People dancing Macarena on Just Dance
Bottom: (Left) The NYCC Livestream Village presented by Twitch and Courtyard by Mariott / (Right) To the left of the NYCC Livestream Village (very busy!)

As I was watching the people dance the Macarena, a man came over and asked me what it was. I told him that they were dancing to the video game, Just Dance. I still have my Just Dance games which I enjoyed breaking a sweat to! I also noticed that I was at the NYCC Livestream Village where they had cameras and media coverage. Many people were sitting down and relaxing. The monitors were live streaming NYCC online.

[Left to right] Colorful toys and displays at a booth, display for a video game – Phantom of the Kill, Me with a cosplayer, plush organs display

As many of you know, people put in hard work to design and create costumes for Comic Con. One of them was a great sport and posed with me to showcase the detail to his costume. He was awesome. I know a lot of people devote time and energy to perfect their outfits, so kudos to all of you cosplayers out there!

The plush organ display in the Showroom gave me such a big smile. Coming from a health background, it was no surprise that I had to take a picture of them!

It was getting late and my brother texted me asking me if I visited Artist Alley yet. At that point, the sun was starting to set, and I was getting ready to head to my final panel to conclude the day. I told him that I was going to check it out on my way to the panel. I also looked around to make any last minute purchases as a souvenir of NYCC 2015.

A few evening shots of Javits as night approached

I checked out Artist Alley and was pretty excited that I was going to see some artists at the Pop Surrealism panel. I looked at the artwork, designs, jewelry, and other trinkets that these artists made. Unfortunately, I absentmindedly forgot to take pictures due to the time crunch. Now I know why my brother said that you’ll need more than a day to be able to take in everything!

Left: A few souvenirs from NYCC 2015 composed of comic books, post cards, and artists’ business cards
Right: Jurassic World Exhibit with the famous raptor

At that point my legs were exhausted. Even with my comfortable boots, I knew that I needed to take a break. I walked to the other side to head to the B rooms for my Pop Surrealism panel. On my way, I snapped a final picture of the floor of the Jurassic World display. The individuals were dressed up as the guides you would see in the movie.

Everyone seemed to really enjoy the Jurassic World display. After taking the Jurassic World picture, I went to the B wing to wait for my panel. I was just sitting down and reading the NYCC book.

Left: Pop Surrealism Panel, Courtesy of NYCC 2015
Right: (Top) Inside the Pop Surrealism panel / (Right) Panel concluding and going up to the artists

It didn’t take long before the NYCC crew ushered us into the room. I was pretty excited since this brought back memories of the art courses I took when I was an undergrad.

The panel was moderated by Carlo McCormick. Carlo is a culture writer and curator in New York City. I loved his laid back demeanor and wit throughout the panel. During the panel the artists’ work was projected onto the screen while they discussed their background and styles. The panel was composed of artists (Camilla d’Errico, Tara McPherson, Travis Louie, and Mab Graves) and a gallery owner (Jonathan LeVine). If you check out their sites (I will put links after I discuss the panel), you can take a look at their bio and artwork.

One of my favorite art pieces came from Camilla d’Errico’s Rainbuns. Who doesn’t love colorful bunnies? For Tara, it was Secrets of the Polar Aurora. There was a mystical quality to it and the blue color was hypnotizing. Alice in Wonderland is a favorite childhood story of mine and that’s what caught my attention from Mab’s work. Travis Louie’s work focused on its Victorian quality, and I loved how he was able to meld that style with mythical qualities seen in folklore. I was pretty excited when Jonathan discussed his gallery and featured artists. That will definitely be a gallery to visit soon!

Here are their sites if you want to go check their work out:

Camilla d’Errico / Tara McPherson / Travis Louie / Jonathan LeVine / Mab Graves

That concluded by day at New York Comic Con 2015. I had a such a great time and the experience was quite breathtaking! As I was heading home, I sent my brother a text to thank him for inviting me to NYCC. He was happy to hear that and told me that he was still attending panels for the evening. I wished him a good night and safe trip home. Overall, it was incredibly memorable. In one day, I got to see the cast of Adventure Time in person, meet artists, see a variety of displays and exhibits, and basically get immersed in the NYCC experience.

Prior to this I didn’t know what to expect and thought that the crowds would be a lot, but it ended up not being too bad. I was still able to take a variety of pictures and look around. When I spoke to my brother, he asked me if I would ever consider cosplaying if I attended NYCC again in the future. When I thought about it, I didn’t know which character I would choose to cosplay as. The designing wouldn’t be too bad from what I had learned in designing/tailoring. But making a costume would definitely be a new experience!

It did feel like an early Halloween and there was nothing better than seeing people from all backgrounds and walks of life have fun. I think that’s a major thing I liked most about Comic Con–everyone was able to enjoy their time and be who they wanted to be without any judgment. I also loved that I was able to get immersed in art and pop culture. It really did feel like an adventure infused with fantasy and real life!

Leaving Comic Con for the night

Goodbye New York Comic Con and thanks again for the exciting day! If I do get another chance to visit New York Comic Con (or another one at a different geographic locale), I’ll know that I’ll need more than one day. And yes, I did crash after I ate a small dinner when I got home! 😁