MeaganThis year, I had the awesome opportunity to attend one of the biggest comic cons in North America – New York Comic Con.
And let me tell you – it was truly an experience.
I went on both Friday and Saturday – on Friday with friends and on Saturday by myself. And by the end of the weekend, I wish I had bought a badge to attend on Sunday as well. The cosplays, the music, the excitement – it was hard to take it all in just two days.
In this article, I will highlight my experience attending New York Comic Con – both the good parts and the bad parts – and provide tips for those who plan on coming in the future. Let’s get to it!
Getting your badge for New York Comic Con
Getting your tickets for New York Comic Con is actually not that bad. I recently tried to get tickets for San Diego Comic Con this year (and miserably failed 🙁 ), and that process was more of pain.
Before tickets go on sale (usually in May), the first thing you have to do is make a Fan Verification account – aka an account to purchase New York Comic Con badges. This is a requirement.
Then, you wait until the day tickets come out. A quick reminder – New York Comic Con provides badges on a first come first serve basis, which means whoever has the fastest internet connection/clicks the link first would be the first to grab tickets. Missed the opening time by 5 minutes? Well, you’ll have less luck trying to purchase badges for the days you want to attend.
Once you log in during the opening time, you have to wait until the website lets you in to purchase your tickets (personally, it took me about 30 minutes to get in, and I clicked on the link at exactly 10:00:00 AM).
And, do not fear if you didn’t get a chance to grab a ticket. New York Comic Con has partnered with a company called Lyte that allows people to sell their badge if they cannot attend anymore. I’m not sure if it’s the only way to get a New York Comic Con badge, but it’s definitely the safest way to get a genuine badge.
Another thing to note is that Saturday is usually the most popular day and will sell out first, followed by Friday. So if you plan on securing badges for those days, definitely try to get on the website first.
Pre-New York Comic Con Experience
After purchasing my tickets, I kinda forgot all about New York Comic Con (I was preparing for DragonCon) until I received my badges sometime in August. The badges come in a blue Reed Pop priority mail envelope. You cannot miss it.
They’re also multiple lotteries that take place a couple of weeks before the con (so sometime around the end of September). You can win very rare items, access to panels, autographs from famous celebrities, and more. I had no idea there was a lottery and did not get a chance to enter, unfortunately 🙁 .
One way I made sure to prepare before the con was by downloading the New York Comic Con app. The week before the con, I planned out the panels I definitely wanted to go to and saw a list of celebrities that would be in attendance. I highly recommend doing the same – you don’t want to miss out on seeing your favorite celebrity or panel!
Arriving at the Javitz Center
I live in New Jersey, so getting to Manhattan was not a hassle at all. As soon as I arrived at Penn Station, I saw multiple people in cosplay running around or doing last minute shopping. This instantly made me excited for the day ahead!
I met up with a friend and we grabbed some breakfast at a restaurant in Midtown before heading to the con. One thing I can say for sure – there’s a HUGE difference in the atmosphere when you’re in Midtown Manhattan vs when you get to the Javitz Center. While in Midtown, it didn’t even feel like a comic con filled with 250,000 people was occurring nearby. It just felt like a normal day in NYC, if that makes sense.
My friend and I arrived at the Javitz Center at around 12 PM and it took us less than 2 minutes to scan our badges and go through security. I came on Saturday at around the same time, and it took me about 10 minutes to get in. I’m guessing this is because there were more people on Saturday vs on Friday.
Expect BIG Crowds At New York Comic Con
Guys, there were so
Many
People.
I’ve been to plenty of events in the Javitz Center before, however I have never seen it this packed.
It was very hard to get through the main floor because people would either stop at a booth in front of you, slowly walk around, or simply just stop in their tracks.
Also, the lines for almost everything were outrageous. There was a long line to get into panels, to use the bathroom (I must say, the women’s bathroom line was notably longer than the men’s bathroom line), to try out games at the booth, to grab food, especially at the fancy-looking Krusty Krab restaurant – you get the point.
Of course when they’re over 250,000 people in one place, this is expected. And personally the crowd did not ruin the experience for me.
Things to do At New York Comic Con
There were a TON of things to do at New York Comic Con – it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with stuff to do. I’ve learned pretty fast that there’s no way you can do every single that’s on your agenda. There are SO many things that you can partake in. And the crazy thing is the Javitz Center, as big as it is, couldn’t hold all of the events in one location – so New York Comic Con was spread out in 4 different halls in Manhattan. Anime Fest was also occurring that same weekend, but was held in another location.
Once you enter the Javitz center, you’ll most likely head straight to the main floor. Here you’ll find a bunch of stuff, such as the vendors, the main stage, games, pop-ups, and more. My friends and I spent a majority of our time here checking out vendors and cosplays. My favorite purchase was a pretty cool Kingdom Hearts photo that “changes” from Sora to Roxas when you move your head.
Downstairs, you’ll find the Artist Alley and the panels. I’ll talk about this later.
On the top-most floor, you have “Cosplay Central”, a hang out spot for cosplayers. My friends and I checked it out but didn’t find anything too interesting happening.
And on the first floor, you’ll find more vendors and the food court.
There were plenty of nightlife events after the con as well. For example, Kristian Nairn, the actor that plays “Hodor” in Game of Thrones, DJ’d a party in the downtown area of Brooklyn. There were other themed after parties, so the festivities did not end once NYCC was over.
My Experience Attending the Panels
There were plenty of interesting panels to go to at New York Comic Con. If you’re interested in anime, gaming, TV shows, Movies, art, celebrities, comics – there was a panel for you, for sure. Panels are held either on the lower floor of the Javitz center, or in an offsite location (such as the Hulu Theater or Madison Square Gardens). If you would like to see a list of panels at New York Comic Con, then go here: https://www.newyorkcomiccon.com/Explore/Panels/Panels-And-Screenings/
My friends and I attended a mixture of both the big panels and smaller panels. I would say that the bigger panels felt like a 1-hour commercial. The hosts used a majority of their time selling their company’s merchandise or featuring upcoming shows, without any emphasis on what’s currently out. As a result, the bigger panels were a bit… disappointing. I found that the smaller panels were more conversational and engaging.
Another thing to note – the mainstage panels (ones that feature popular celebrities) are harder to get into and half of the seats are given out via a lottery before the show. If a panel you want to see is in the lottery, and you win seats, it makes the rest of your day much easier. If you don’t win a panel lottery seat, you can still get in! Just get there in the morning to register (tap your badge) for that panel. And if you plan on attending an offsite panel, make sure you line up at least an hour beforehand.
Freebies Everywhere!….??
Sadly, I did not receive many freebies at New York Comic Con. The only free stuff I got were pens, an orange bracelet, two protein bars with crickets in them, and a 2-month Playstation Plus subscription. However, according to this Reddit thread, there were plenty of vendors giving out free stuff. Perhaps I did not look in the right places.
Also I realized that I received the most exciting freebies when I wasn’t searching for freebies – I was simply standing next to the company’s booth for a couple of minutes. For example, I received the cricket granola bars while searching up the location of a panel. And my friend and I received the free 2-month subscription to PlayStation Plus while standing next to a PlayStation booth. Now I wouldn’t say you’re guaranteed to receive free stuff by standing next to a booth, but hey, YMMV.
The Cosplay
My favorite part about going to cons are the cosplay. And New York Comic Con definitely did not disappoint. There were a LOT of amazing cosplays – you can tell people put a lot of effort into their outfits.
But I should also note – it seemed like more people wore normal attire and did not cosplay. Definitely bring your camera and don’t be shy – you will not be the only one taking pictures. But definitely ask before taking a picture of someone – it’s polite and less creepy.
I cosplayed Tifa from Final Fantasy 7 on Friday and wore regular attire on Saturday. And I would say it’s definitely more fun dressing up. You get to meet people who are into the same stuff as you, take group photos, and show off your creation.
And here are a couple of pictures of my favorite cosplays at New York Comic Con.
Celebrity Appearances
So as you may already know, celebrities also attend New York Comic Con as a guest, most likely in cosplay. As a result, you might spot a celebrity while walking around. For example, this year many people ran into Adam Savage who was dressed as “No-Face” from Spirited Away.
John Krasinski and Ryan Reynolds also made a surprise appearance on SyFy Wire’s main stage. However I did not get to see them since they had arrived early in the morning.
The only celebrities I got to see were three hosts from Impractical Jokers. Like I mentioned before, it’s really tough to see/meet celebrities at New York Comic Con because the wait times are really long, or panels get booked really fast.
My Overall Opinion of New York Comic Con
New York Comic Con was such a fun time, and I would definitely go again. If I were to rate the whole experience l would give it a 7.5/10. The reason why I knocked 2.5 points off is because looking back, it did feel like a huge corporate trade show. I also didn’t get a chance to see many celebrities, but I now know better and will arrive earlier next time!
Some tips for future New York Comic Con goers:
- Download the New York Comic Con app before going!
- Wear comfortable shoes!
- Bring some extra snacks and a water bottle. Plus, make sure you eat a big meal beforehand. Food at New York Comic Con is very expensive and will not fill you up. (A pretzel cost me $8 and a water bottle cost me $4 ><)
- Oh and if you need it – they do sell coffee and alcohol.
- Also, make sure you bring cash with you. A few vendors did not accept credit cards, and nearby ATM fees are ridiculous.
- Go on Friday and Saturday if you want to get a lot of the experience. Go on Thursday if you want to avoid the crowd (there is a tiny difference – the crowd will always be there). And go on Sunday if you’re going with family. On Sunday, most booths start shutting down early.
- Bring an extra bag to store the things you’ll get. There is a coat check, so you can bring a jacket or a backpack.
- The easiest way to get to the Javitz Center is by taking the subway to 42nd Street, and then the 7 train to 34th Street and 10th Ave (the last stop). You can always take an Uber/Lyft, but rideshares are expensive in NYC.
- Prepare for the cold weather in the evening. NYC has very diverse weather in October – it’s extremely warm in the morning, but it gets freezing cold in the night time. This year, the high was 60 degrees and at night the weather dropped to 40 degrees.
Hope this article helps you out! Do you plan on going to New York Comic Con in the future?
