New York Comic Con 2014

A Small preview of a much larger crowd

Well...New York Comic Con is ever so slightly bigger than Cardiff...just a bit...multiplied by a hundred! I knew it was going to be huge but the scale of the Javits center blew my mind!

Wow just wow and wow again!

Teen Titans go!

I travelled to New York with 3 good friends with the sole purpose of the trip being NYCC. I'd only ever been to Cardiff CC before so this was going to be a real treat. We spent about 12 days here with two of those being at comic con. So after seeing the sights and driving down to Washington D.C for the weekend we hit comic con on the Thursday and Friday as the Saturday was sold out.

Got my pass!

I'll never forget this comic con because I met the person I most longed to see which I thought would never happen. I'll say who at the end.

Fortunately we visited the Javits center the day before CC started and were able to pick up our tickets which weren't really tickets but more like pass cards that you used to tag yourself in and out of the event. On Thursday, full of anticipation, and after we 2 missed trains (they were full due to construction delays) we walked for what seemed like an eternity to join the queue we required. There were plenty of cosplayers around with the usual superheros, anime and gaming related characters of their choice strutting around the place and posing for photos. I even had a few comments on my Bucky O'Hare T-shirt too :)

Cosplayers posing

Portal!

Despite the long queue it didn't take very long to enter comic con and...I was spoilt for choice. Where should I go? Artist Alley? The Show floor? Panels? Autographs? Well I chose autographs as for me I love meeting my favourite celebs. My friends are more interested in the merchandise you can find though. I planned on seeing Karl Urban but he wasn't signing as scheduled. Seeing as most of the people I wanted to see where appearing Friday I joined my mates back upstairs and we explored together for about 10 minutes before one of us went missing and the rest of us decided on a time to meet up outside. So off I went exploring on my own and got lost. Yes, you read that right. This place was huge and I wasn't following any particular pattern and failed to notice the aisle numbers hanging from the ceiling above. To be honest I was so overwhelmed at the scale and everything that was on offer that I just didn't have a clue where I wanted to go or what I wanted to see!

I watched some people dance on stage to Just Dance surrounded by a crowd before taking a look at the collectible statues Square Enix had on offer. If it wasn't for the lengthy queue I might have well purchased one. Final Fantasy has always been a favourite of mine.

I did buy season 1 & 2 of Black Butler on a Blu-ray as it's one of my favourites and it was in region B too :) although saying this I haven't tried it yet haha.

So I spent my first day exploring and turned the corner and found someone I recognised...The Hurricane from WWE! What's up with that!? He wasn't in his superhero attire (he was the next day) but I went up to him nonetheless and he was a nice guy. I had a signed picture off him and a photo. Oh and he recognised Bucky too :) That was my highlight of day 1.

Stand back! There's a Hurricane coming through!

Now day 2...I was ready!

Thursday night I went back to the hostel, powered up my ipad and planned my schedule. Who I wanted to meet, what table they were signing at and what time. I travelled to comic con on my own Friday morning as the trains were still delayed but I managed to power my way onto one ;) My friends said they'd meet up with me later. In fact I didn't see them again until 5 that evening.

There was a much shorter queue on Friday and I entered swiftly. So first up was an autograph off Jennifer Morrison! Better known as Emma Swan from Once Upon a Time. Now usually I prefer photoshoots with the celebs but fancied meeting and chatting to a few. Jennifer Morrison was lovely and very beautiful. She made such an effort with her fans and we talked about her coming to Cardiff comic con as she didn't know there was one. I was very happy having met her. 

Once upon a time I met Jennifer...

However Some times your heroes can disappoint you...like Gillian Anderson.

Yeah, Scully from X- Files. X-Files is one of my top 5 favourite TV series and Gillian is a great actress and great in it but I felt somewhat deflated by meeting her. Her booth was right next to Jennifer's and the difference in queues was phenomenal. Because Gillian's was short she left after only 15 minutes to take a 'short break'. This was just before I joined her line. It took her over half an hour to return and her assistant kept coming out to the floor to count (yes, I was watching her) how many eager fans there were waiting for her. Basically the line wasn't growing which surprised me because X-Files is huge! I can understand Gillian feeling deflated herself but you still had fans eager to meet you such as me! When I did reach her, her assistant wanted an extra $20 for it to be personalised so I decided just to have her write her name. She didn't seem very warm and at the same time I was with her Jason David Frank came out and the fans were screaming for him! She stopped and just looked over saying 'what is that about?' Twice. Yeah I'm still standing here Gillian. I wasn't going to let her ignore me, this was my moment I had been patiently waiting in line for. I was starting to run out of patience too. I quickly asked her about a third X-Files film and she said she didn't know but hoped so. She shook my hand at the end too so that made it better but I won't rush back to see her again.

So after this I went upstairs to meet Jerry 'The King' Lawler! I noted where his booth was (same as Hurricane) but he wasn't there. However I returned in a short while and he was there with his wife, nice looking too :)

The King!

King was exactly as you see him on TV, cracking jokes and genuinely caring about his fans (cough *Gillian* cough). His wife asked me where I was from and I said Wales and that I'd seen the WWE live in Cardiff, Birmingham and London. This was when King piped up 'my mum was from Wales, but my dad came from normal parents, get it'?

I rolled my eyes at that but he did make me laugh. I also had a photo with him and he asked the girl who took it to take it again as she stood too far back so was good to see he cared about that.

The 4th person I met that day was JBL, John Bradshaw Layfield. He wasn't as fun as King but it was good meeting him and I had yet another photo. I was on a role!

I could take that title from him...but security would catch me running away

There were a few older WWE wrestlers there too. Ted Dibiase and Hacksaw Jim Duggen. I didn't bother with them as this was an expensive day and I was saving my money for the main event ;)

The Honky Tonk Man was also there sat next to Jeremy Shada, the teen who voices Finn off Adventure Time.

I checked my watch and decided that I couldn't let this opportunity go. What opportunity? Oh just Lucy Lawless... ;)

I queued up 1hr 40 mins before she was due to show as people had started queuing early and this was quite possibly the only chance I'd ever have of meeting her!

I've always loved Lucy since seeing her in Xena, she is just an amazing actress and I was over the moon when she replied to my tweets 3 times! She was at the top of my list to meet.

As I was queuing, I was given the option of a photo or autograph with Lucy. I chose photo for this one as it would be something I'd cherish forever although it would have been good to talk to her for a bit but I wanted to have a memento to remember this.

 

Possibly the best I've seen

Catwoman & Link...strange combination but why not?

Lanterns!

When it was my turn she saw me, shouted 'Bucky O'Hare!' as obviously she recognised my t-shirt and pulled me in close for the photo. Yes I wore the t-shirt both days. I had my arm around Lucy Lawless! She had her arm around me! We were both beaming! I told her I loved her and it was a perfect moment. I'm incredibly happy with the photo too! Oh I'm not in love with her but you know what I mean.

All in all it was absolutely amazingly fantastic! I kept pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Fortunately I wasn't and I'll never forget it :)

Cardiff comic con is next month but I don't think it will come close to this!

Lucy Lawless!

I need a new number 1 now...

Man I'm so happy! Oh and I'm currently in JFK airport writing this and if my friends were to look over at me now they'd see me beaming still. We board in 2-3 hours and I'll publish this over the next couple of days which has just happened because you're reading this!

So I'm back, Matropolis is back and the future is bright indeed :D

Lucy Lawless!!!

 

Dream come true!