[SDCC ’26] Confessions II

Sometimes I like to just hide in the shadows. Create a new persona, a different identity. I can be whoever I wanna be.

I sat on the 90 minute train ride thinking how far I’ve come in my author career. I started writing my book in 2022 and then became a published author in 2025 with a book discussing anime fandom and girlhood of the 90s and 00s. I was so excited to meet readers and meet new ones too. My family, friends, co-workers, and fellow authors were so excited for me to have this opportunity! 

I started my SDCC on Thursday. Volunteers were running all over the place in the hot sun. It was not even 9AM yet and there was a cluster of people trying to enter the convention center to snag exclusives. I couldn’t see the entrance to where I had to go to get my industry badge; a volunteer gave me the incorrect directions. The show had not begun, I already felt the sweat on my back and I was not even in the building. It was Hell trying to get in while hauling my suitcase full of books.

After traversing through the crowds and trying to not get overtaken by the crowd, I made it to the booth to drop off my things. I had a few panels I wanted to check out and a few booths I wanted to window shop at. Planning in advance where to go is helpful; I had my plans on my Notes app. The official app is kinda wonky. I’m old school and I love to rely on the printed program if I changed my plans. 

The Thursday crowd was busy. I met a few of my indie author friends at their booths and my idol, Timothy Zhan. He was very excited to hear I was going to have my first comic con signing. I stopped by a few artists including Karen Hallion, Art of Pao, Crysta Fett, Moonbound Studio, Julie Draws Stuff, Martin Hsu, and Arielle Jovellanos. I also attended the Writers Coffeehouse panel; this is a live Q&A for writers of all skill and professional levels to hear from veterans in the field and a great place to network. (Success Story: One of the panelists was able to book my first Barnes and Noble event!) 

Thursday was busy. In the afternoon, I had my first of three book signings at the Diwata booth. It was a bit chaotic, but I tried to make it work. It was hard to see people in such a small area of the periphery, but it was a good place for foot traffic. At the end of my signing on Thursday, I was going to look forward to my Friday and Sunday signings now that I knew what to expect. However, that would not be the case. On both days of my remaining signings, I found out that they were cancelled. Anyone in my ballet flats would have felt devastated. I was at comic con, and I was not going to let the bad news get to me. I was going to sparkle and shine no matter what. I started giving away the stickers I was going to sell because LV worked so hard on them. I was going to give away bookmarks because my target audience was all around the con. I was going to sparkle no matter what.

And when I sparkled, I met the OG herself, Samantha Newark, the voice of Jem of Jem and the Holograms. I had to ask her about her work on Project A-Ko. We started to sing “In Your Eyes” from the anime comedy together at her booth. I was dressed up as Taylor Swift in the evermore outfit and I was singing with Jem! It was my Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift moment! In fact, I had a handful of Swifties recognize my Taylor Swift cosplay and we started geeking out over Taylor Swift lyrics! 

I only went to a few offsites at SDCC. It’s an annual tradition to visit the cat cafe. I got to bond with Pumpernickel. I called him Nickel for short; he reminds me of a chill version of my Nico.

I also visited the Spaghetti Factory.  It’s also one of my SDCC traditions. I had my usual pasta and I chilled with photographers from the Associated Press who just came back from the Spaceballs panel in Hall H. We talked about sports while waiting for our drinks. I had my first Dirty Shirley (and second one on the house). 

I did have a third Dirty Shirley when I stumbled upon the Dungeon Crawler Carl cosplay meet up. Okay, it was technically a Shirley Temple in a small red solo cup graciously served by a reader. While I’ve only read the webtoon adaptation, this was a good group of people. I made it in time for the last photo. A few people thought I was Marrion Dom, but I explained that I was Taylor Swift. I loved seeing how Princess Donut cosplayers had their different interpretations of the Tortie Persian chonky showcat. I also loved how people traded trinkets and stickers after the meet up. I also had my stickers to trade too; I had to continue spreading the sparkle. Seeing how passionate this fandom is made me want to listen to the audiobooks. As of this blog post, I am currently on the second book in the series.

I haven’t competed in masquerade since Anime Boston 2023. I was invited to be in a Strawberry Shortcake x Sakizou group. The costumes were mainly inspired by the Japanese artist, Sakizou’s, 18th century aesthetics. For our group, we had Purple Pie Man, Sour Grapes, Plum Puddin’, Blueberry Muffin, Lemon Meringue, Raspberry Tarte, and of course, Strawberry Shortcake. Since masquerade entries had to debut their costumes during the show, I spent most of the day in regular clothes. It was nice to navigate the con in normal clothes and then take a long nap before showtime. 

One of the highlights of our costumes, just like Strawberry Shortcake dolls, our outfits were scented. To get the Plum Puddin’ scent, I used Bath and Body Works’ Vampire Blood and sprayed it on my cosplay. Even after the con, the scent was still there. Our group showed off our costumes to Lady Gaga and Doechii’s “Runway.” 

San Diego Comic Con’s masquerade has a reputation of being cream of the crop. Tickets to watch the show are in demand. The pavilion also has a livestream where they serve free popcorn and nachos. It’s meant to be a live, shared experience. What I love about masquerade is seeing all the costumers in the green room. Some highlights included Trogdor, Disney’s Hercules, a masculine interpretation of Glinda and Elphaba from Wicked, a Muppet interpretation of Peter Pan, Warhammer 401k, X-men, among others. I was truly impressed by everyone’s costuming skills and loved talking to everyone! 

What I love about SDCC’s masquerade is that they move fast! I was planning on having my Trader Joe’s salad I brought with me while watching halftime (which was a lovely performance by the Corps Dance Crew set to Bridgerton). Yet, the winners of the show were immediately called up.  We won Best Original Design! I’m so used to conventions awarding random swag from the dealer’s room, but a complimentary badge for the following year is alright with me! 

I almost had energy on Sunday. I thought about getting something at the Art Show, which was in our hotel. I had dropped by on the first day right after the Her Universe simulcast. The Art Show, while no photos allowed, sold and auctioned crafts, plushes, paintings, models, and more. There was an emotional support cougar plush I was thinking about getting, but I hope it went to a good home. 

With a frappuccino in my head and a sparkling attitude, I was planning to give my San Diego Comic Con experience a happy ending. I attended the Babysitter’s Club panel where we had live drawings and the comic artists reminiscing on their favorite BSC stories. I sat in on the last few moments of the Air Bud Cinematic Universe panel because it was right before the Sailor Moon panel. The Sailor Moon panel aimed to highlight the impact of the series and featured four Viz English dub voice actors. I do like hearing how a few of the voice actors were fans before they were cast. I also liked seeing Michelle Ruff and Debi Derryberry interact as Luna and Diana. However, I would have loved to have seen more folks up there that were involved in fandom and in the DiC dub since Sailor Moon has such a huge history! Overall, the panel was amazing! 

I also had time to check out the cosplay wrestling meet up. While I do partake in Cosplay Wrestling Federation, I wanted to take a peak into the WWE / AEW fandom that cosplays. 

And after a coffee break at the professional lounge, it was time for the Y2K Anime Fandom panel. This is the second time I ran this panel at SDCC. This time, I was the moderator and presented with my masquerade comrades of Berryland – Kie, Lily, Lynleigh, and Ashley. All of them had insight to share about cosplay and anime fandom back in the day. Additionally, we highlighted Anime Expo 2000 (when it was on Disney property) and AniMagic (aka the anime con in the desert of Antelope Valley). 

We had quite a few people talk to us and hang out with us after the panel. I was able to sell and sign several copies of my book to fans of this era of fandom. Cash purchases allowed me to treat myself to a steak dinner that night. 2026 was a wild San Diego Comic Con. While there were life lessons learned, one remains constant – your real friends will always be there for you and above all, keep sparkling no matter what.

Overall, you don’t need the Hall H experience to truly get the most out of San Diego Comic Con. There were a ton of panels that I would have loved to have gone to such as the Forgotten Island panel, a few of Matt Dinniman’s panels, a few book roundtable discussions, etc. The vibes were friendly, and I do appreciate people in the Artist Alley lines to see popular artist that understood how overstimulated I was trying to find the end of the line. While ADA isn’t a perfect science at SDCC, I appreciated the lady who gave me the ADA sticker. I think when she saw that my hands were shaking; no questions asked. She gave me the ADA sticker. I just wished sticker distribution was closer to badge pick up. 

Artist Alley could use a huge overhaul. While San Diego Comic Con is my favorite summer con, this is the worst laid out Artist Alley. It needs a bigger space and bigger aisle ways. Wonder Con does this better with the space, but I would love to see the Artist Alley expand. Otherwise, I really feel that your experience at any con is what you make of it. So keep shining, keep sparkling – stay bejeweled (And go read Dungeon Crawler Carl! Princess Donut is best girl!).

Many thanks to friends, Laura Cee, Albert, Kie, Stan, Costumers Guild, etc for the extra photos!