Beth
Not SDCC
This was my first time at New York Comic Con, and I have to say: there are definite pluses to this one. I feel like a San Diego veteran, but that took 2-3 years of attending, so getting a little lost and overwhelmed at NYCC was something I was actually kind of anticipating. However, this con is run so well that it took less than an hour to get my bearings and get my nerd* on.
*like this nerdery where my eyes can’t find the camera
The Floor: YOU CAN MOVE AROUND AND SEE THINGS. It’s amazing. As the weekend progressed, it got steadily more crowded, but I will still amazed that there was Room! To! See! What! Vendors! Were! Offering! And they were offering great stuff. I saw great authors doing well organized and calm signings. Giveaways. Fantastic Beasts costumes! Less crowding meant that I got to browse Artists’ Alley, talk to creators, get business cards, and meet new authors and vendors.
Panels and Lines: They have this whole system with lines and tapping in your badge and no one is outside in tents and very few people smell and it’s amazing. I tended to walk into any panel I wanted to see, not because lines weren’t long or panels weren’t popular, but because the con was organized. AMAZING!
John Krasinski
Remember how I told you guys in my tips for San Diego Comic Con that you needed to have one holy grail of the week and stick to that one thing as being the thing you see no matter what … because if you try to do it all you will fail and be super sad? Well, sometimes your holy grail turns out to be the thing you didn’t know was a thing you could have. That’s what happens at NYCC.
And for me, this weekend, that thing was sitting in the front row directly in front of John Krasinksi. Yes, that John Krasinski. The one in my bio. My #1 Ride or Die. My all time fave. Right in front of me. Looking directly at me (for a couple of seconds one time). It was glorious.
Well that was the best ever @johnkrasinski ?
A photo posted by Beth Thorne (@bethorne) on
It happened completely by accident and dumb luck (I don’t push my way to front rows, y’all. I don’t think I’ve ever sat on a front row of a panel in my life, and basically a staff member SAT ME THERE and said DON’T MOVE). GLORY. This was worth the trip.
Lorena
This was my second NYCC and it didn’t disappoint. Last year I missed out on some things because I only went for two days, and one of them I was basically in press interviews all day (which is in a totally separate section so you’re not really “in” the action). This year was a 180° of that! While I still got to do some great press opportunities, I also checked out several panels and did a more thorough interaction with the show floor. My faves included…
Doctor Who
SO MUCH Doctor Who stuff this year! Last year had basically nothing, but this year had both Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman, and Alex Kingston panel PLUS Peter Capaldi, new companion Pearl Mackie, and showrunner Steven Moffat (along with some others — more on that later this week!). I really got a great dose of Who, and the panel with the old gang was much more lively than when they were on the show. They really seemed freed up to talk about whatever, even mentioning drinking wine on set during season 5 (in the Weeping Angels episodes of Amy’s first season — who can blame them?!). Here’s a clip of that conversation, where the cast answers an audience question asking what is their favorite episode or moment on the show.
In a later question, Alex also said that John Barrowman, who was Captain Jack in Doctor Who and plays Malcolm Merlyn in Arrow (which Alex is also in), is very keen on relaunching Torchwood! I really hope that happens because Torchwood has a more adult tone than Doctor Who, while still existing in that universe and allowing for fun guest stars from previous seasons…like River Song!
Original Costumes
So many costumes on the floor! We put the footage of them in the montage video, so check it out for a closer look. I loooooved seeing the Fantastic Beast costumes, which are as gorgeous as you’d expect… though Porpentina’s coat is actually grey in real life, not blue like it appears in the trailer. DC’s booth had the Wonder Woman costumes on display, and the detailing was really cool. Costumes from Suicide Squad were also on display at some vendor booth, and seeing Harley Quinn’s costume up close was pretty great. When comparing it Deadshot’s costume, I definitely get why Margot Robbie didn’t love wearing it for many of the scenes.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
I love this man! I saw him at my first panel of the con on Thursday for the NatGeo Star Talk panel. He’s so personable and great, and he had Chuck from the show plus a real life astronaut there as well.
source: Lorena’s phone camera
We learned about using the bathroom in space as well as how Dr. Tyson determined that Thor’s hammer weighs as much as a dying star’s core… later proved wrong by a trading card, but really who do you trust in this matter? And how does the hammer not break everything it rests on if it weighs so much? For some reason I didn’t realize he ran the podcast/show Star Talk, but the clips they showed were really cool, so I definitely will be checking it out.
