American Cosplay Paradise was seeking out iDolm@ster cosplayers to help out at the Funimation booth at New York Comic Con. I was one of the few to be selected. I brought four Azusa Miura outfits. I didn't think anyone would recognize the big sister type idol, but I brought the Miura-san puppet for to entertain a wider audience of fan. If only it were easy to teleport from Boston to New York in an instant like Miura-san. The Bolt bus ride was fairly smooth and got us there a little before 1PM. The convention haven't even opened up. I left my bags at the New Yorker Hotel and then proceeded to my favorite hole in the wall cafe for lunch. Already, you can see industry professionals and artists revving up for the big weekend.

I wandered around the familiar Javits Convention Center. The layout was similiar from last year's - the Block on the South Side and Artist Alley on the North Side, panel rooms downstairs and dealers hall upstairs. Already 2PM, there already was a line to get into the dealers hall. Cosplayers were perfecting themselves in the noxious convention center bathrooms. There was a cosplay changing room, but no one knew how to get in.

The Block

Doors opened up at 2:50. A sea of people poured into the dealers hall ready to buy exclusives, plushies, collectibles, accessories, an of course, comics. The Block had a very different feel this year. I was always under the impression that The Block was meant for underground, independant artists. It was nice to see the likes of Troma, D20 Girls, video game pyschologists, Good Smile, etc. However, it was confusing seeing Intel having an exhibit worthy of Consumer Electronic Show (CES). I was not around long enough to see what Intel was promoting.

However, The Block still delievered on having some funky stuff in the mix. I liked that there were make up set ups if you wanted specialized make up on yourself whether it would be facepaint or zombie effects. It was also nice to see homemade make up and J-fashion brands like Liz Lisa have booths. I felt pretty mixed about The Block this year. I wanted to see more podcast booths for networking purposes and Intel being there just felt out of place. What I can say is I liked the fact that GSLEN had a huge presence to promote anti-bullying no matter who you are. The fact that New York Comic Con had this booth shows that they cared that this is a safe space to be a nerd. Seeing kids of all ages come and stop by to share their stories was pretty amazing.

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