The following is my unofficial guide to surviving New York Comic Con / New York Anime Fest for anyone new to the massive convention. I’ve been going to cons in the U.S. and Japan since 2004, and have compiled most of these tips from personal experience. Please keep in mind that although these things worked awesome for me, they may not be best for everyone. These tips are in no particular order. Use your discretion and enjoy!
I’ve finally gotten a chance to recover from New York Comic Con / New York Anime Fest 2011 and really wanted to write up my thoughts about the weekend. This year’s convention was a blast – lots of great panels, special events and announcements from all the big names in Comics, Movies, Video Games, and Anime. Previews night was my favorite – mostly because it’s about 1/10th as crowded as Saturday and you can really take your time to check out the Show Floor and Artist’s Alleys. This year New York Anime Fest had its very own Artist’s Alley on the 4th floor – but a lot of larger vendor booths were still located in random spots about the regular Show Floor – for me, this was nice because I was there to cover NYCC and NYAF – but for those looking to focus on NYAF it was probably frustrating to have to get from the Funimation booth on the Show Floor back up to a special event at the NYAF stage on the fourth floor. (Especially on Saturday – crowds had reached somewhere in the vicinity of a record-setting 105,000 people, and it must have taken somewhere around 30 minutes just to get from one booth to the next, but the other days were average as far as crowds were concerned. Author’s Tip: If you’re okay with spending the extra few bucks on a four-day pass, you can check out a lot of exclusive stuff on the show floor by waiting in much shorter lines on Thursday than on any other day. This means you can test video games and get hands-on access to a variety of cool things (like taking a photo on the Avengers’ set while holding Thor’s hammer) without waiting in the insanely long lines that develop on every other day of the convention.)
The Show Floor early on Friday morning.
First off: As someone who has been to a lot of conventions (my first was Anime Boston in 2004), I suppose the best advice I can give you right off the bat is to plan ahead, register early to receive your pass in the mail/avoid registration lines, buffer your schedule with walking / line waiting time, and get a map of the Javit’s center as soon as possible when you arrive at the convention. Once the crowds have hit capacity you’ll find it takes you a really long time to get anywhere – and if you don’t get into a panel or line early enough you may miss out on something you really wanted to see.
A full house at the Mark Hamill Experience (held in the MTV Theater) – this photo was actually taken with my zoom cranked and my hand held way up above the people seated in front of me.
Panels: This brings me to perhaps the most controversial aspect of NYCC/NYAF (and this happens at pretty much every large con) – they do NOT kick people out between panels. I totally see why, because having the resources and manpower to do so would be difficult and frustrating at best, but this in turn ends up coercing attendees to camp out in earlier panels in order to see the most popular evening events (like the Avengers’ Panel – which had people in attendance that had camped out from 10AM all the way until 7PM). Yes, people will camp all day for their favorite events, and NO, you cannot go to the bathroom or leave for any reason during this time. If you lose your spot it is highly unlikely you can re-enter and get back to your seat (someone told me it was against con policy to let anyone in once a panel had begun…but I’ve done this at many, many other conventions so I was skeptical that they were telling the truth. This is the only aspect of the convention that, in my opinion, royally sucks. Authors side-note: as press, we don’t have time to camp out panels all day because we are running around trying to get in interviews and make it to as many panels as possible. Contrary to popular belief, we don’t get reserved seating (we wait in line just like everyone else, which would be easier if they cleared rooms between panels). Thus, I unfortunately didn’t get to go to the Avenger’s Panel – but honestly I knew it would be on the internet within minutes, anyways. And you know what? I had TONS of fun at NYCC/NYAF and am really glad I didn’t bother waiting in line too long for anything.
I still got into a remarkable amount of panels despite not waiting in line or camping out – I managed to go to Marvel’s Ultimate Spiderman Panel, Joe Simon’s: “My Life in Comics,” and the Mark Hamill Experience (all without waiting in line for more than 30 minutes). Admittedly, the Ultimate Spiderman Panel was right before the Mark Hamill Experience (so I didn’t have to go anywhere) but I was much happier taking my time and not bothering to wait in any lines more than half an hour.
Here’s a video of Joe Simon (co-creator of Captain America) entering his panel, “My Life in Comics,” and being sung happy birthday by a room full of fans. He turned 98 years old just before Comic Con.
Food/Drinks: Another tip for those of you new to conventions – food and water are exorbitantly priced. Seriously. My husband and I started doing this a couple of years ago and have probably saved hundreds of dollars: buy a big loaf of bread, sandwich fixin’s, a case of water, a case of gatorade, little bags of snacks and little bags of cookies (and carry a backpack – you’ll need it for all the awesome swag you’re going to buy anyways). You have now successfully made yourself lunch and dinner for probably around 6 – 9 dollars a day. Meanwhile, everyone around you will be shelling out 20 bucks or more for every less-than-stellar food court meal and 4 dollars for each bottle of water. Spend all the money you saved on more goodies from the Show Floor! (Aside from con exclusives, make sure to take advantage of Sunday – the day in which most vendors apply discounts to their product so they don’t have to lug it all back home.)
Hotels: If you are going to the convention with a group of people and need a hotel room – book months in advance. This is something people often overlook and then miss out on the best deals that may disappear almost a year ahead of the actual convention. Some conventions offer great hotel discounts to the official hotels – but keep in mind if you are willing to walk a few blocks you may still get a better deal elsewhere. Shop around, a lot, and don’t forget to read reviews on Hotels.com or some other trustworthy review site – NYC is famous for expensive hotels as well as its very-cheap, roach-infested places, but there are some good deals to be had if you know where to look. If you know somebody who lives in or has traveled to NYC a lot – ask them for their recommendations. It will be worth every bit of research you do in the long run to have a comfortable, clean bed to sleep in after a long day of con-going. It doesn’t need to be fancy – just clean and comfortable!
Since NYC is so huge – you’ll have lots of really great, affordable places to choose from if you plan early.
Courtesy: Unfortunately, courtesy sometimes goes out the door when lots of people are crammed into a room and patience runs thin. I have had several unfortunate encounters with those who push, shove, swear, make rude and un-called-for remarks (especially to staff and volunteers – keep in mind that volunteers are usually fans who give their time to make the con BETTER FOR YOU), and my least favorite con-goer of all – the one who wastes everyone’s time by asking a really un-informed and/or offensive “question” during a panel. Seriously, the microphone is not there for you to offend the guests – it’s there because someone wants to give you the chance to connect as a fan and ask a meaningful question. One person at the Mark Hamill Experience found himself boo’ed by the crowd because he made a very controversial and un-called for statement about the former Heath Ledger’s Joker.
But I digress… just watch out for those who’s patience has run to the minimum. Most people are fine and will just want to get from Point A to Point B like you do and have a good time. You’ll often meet some great people at conventions and connect with them through your similar love of comics, games, etc. Particularly awesome for fans are the Artist’s Alleys – because you get a chance to chat with some of your favorite folks in the industry and purchase some of their work.
You might even spot Stan Lee! We saw him signing autographs and taking photos with colleagues at the Archie Booth.
As for Cosplay – NYCC / NYAF is one of the best places to see some of the most amazing cosplay you will ever see at a convention. People often plan for these big events well in advance and come up with some fantastic creations. My only complaint with NYCC / NYAF is that they didn’t really have any designated photo-taking areas – this caused people to take photos everywhere and block hallways/alleys/other areas that many people were using to get from one place to another. Though mildly annoying I think most people tried to hurry up and get out of the way so it wasn’t too bad. Other conventions usually solve this problem by having designated photo areas because it’s better for the cosplayer and the photographer – it creates more time for cosplayers to explore fun poses and for photographers to take better pictures.
Krypto the Superdog was one of my favorite cosplayers of the weekend.
Free Stuff at Comic Con is plentiful – if you keep an eye out for flyers announcing giveaways you can leave the convention with an impressive collection of really cool stuff! One of my favorite freebies of the weekend was this Mameshiba poster from Viz Media:
Con Exclusives and Autographs – there’s really only one strategy for these: get in line and get your bracelets early – as early as possible! If you wait, you’ll probably miss out. And remember – con exclusives and autographs can be really expensive. Make sure you plan ahead if you want to pick up specific items. Mark Hamill, for instance, was charging $100 per autograph.
Well, that’s about it. I’m sure I may have missed some things – so if you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments below. Thanks for reading!