Normally I’d like to go into some whole big, wordy remembrance of NYCC2012 (with New York Anime Festival integrated in this year), but they say “brevity is the soul of wit” and a “picture’s worth a thousand words” so… Feel free to leave comments/questions on things you want elaborated on though, as I’ll gladly supplement this post with extra commentary if requested.
**For more detail, the “show in full size” option after you click the thumbnail is your best friend. 😀

General Show Floor + Cosplay:

Good Smile Company Booth:

Good Smile visitin’ for the U.S. for the first time! Gotta love how the prices are cheaper than the current yen to USD conversion rate, not to mention the money you’d save from shipping/customs. Also, note the exclusives from years ago you can’t get anymore. They also had their whole nendo collection on display as well! Great, fun to talk with staff to top things off. And before I forget, the staff mentioned that NYCC was a market test for the most part, so good sales = return with more diversity/stock. From what I’ve heard, they sold out quite a lot and it’s been said they’ll be attending other cons like Anime Expo from now on too!

Yoshitaka Amano Panel:

My article relating to the panel and Q&A portion over here.

Capcom’s Remember Me Panel:

SWAG:

Some pictures of my SWAG from last year’s NYCC.

Quick Final Impressions:
They let in a lot more people than they should’ve (which led to quite a bit of congestion and moments where they literally didn’t let in people for a bit) and there were a lot more scalpers/counterfeiters this year, but overall, a very enjoyable experience as usual. Spent much more than expected (no surprise there), managed to try archery for the first time via the Tomb Raider Archery Experience, and got a picture with + autograph of Jason David Frank as well. Got sick during the craziness of it all, but still darn worth it. Managed to go 4 days this year due to a great friend of mine whom I shall keep anonymous (Thanks though!)… and that’s about it I guess. The pictures pretty much show everything I want to say. I’d keep going on, but it’d take you guys days to read it, and take me days to write it! Haha.

UPDATE: Full final impressions at the bottom here.

63 Comments

    1. Bandai was gracious enough to supply like 15 of those posters and bunch of postcards for free at their booth, so I just went there (it was by the entrance) first day and free loaded em’ at the speed of light, haha.

    1. When there’s a comic con in the neighborhood…who are you gonna call? Zephyr!

      By the way, the first Yoshitaka Amano Panel picture has a broken link (I think there is an extra space).

      MasterDragonKnight
    1. Haha, well the prices were surprisingly decent eh, despite the “hefty price look” cause ya save money from the shipping costs/customs ya know?

      Cosplay… generally the usual I guess. Meaning er, there were a lot of people dressed up as comic book heroes (lotta Batmans), game characters (lotta Zelda), and anime characters (some SAO peeps, Guilty Crown, Gurren Lagann). Some were rather good, some… were kinda bad. Lol. Some of the more notable ones I’ve put above, but other times I sadly was in the middle of doing something so I didn’t get to take the pictures. =[

      Artist Alley was pretty awesome. They gave em quite a bit of space this year, similar to last. Not exactly how different the sizes were, but looks pretty comparable. They moved them to the North Pavillion this year where they had their own big section rather than just the other side of the main show floor (the show floor expanded this year). Mostly comic book artists, but some were there with anime prints/drawings/vectors and same goes for games. The Nova pic and Portal 2 poster were the two things I got from there (pics above in SWAG), but damn, wanted to get so much more. Ran outta budget though.

      1. There was one Asuna and one Kirito I saw… but the Asuna was during the Amano panel when I was… taking pictures of Amano, and Kirito was during my wait for Jason David Frank… when I was taking pictures of JDF. Lol.

    1. Yeah, I got the Meiko and Haku Vocaloid nendo petites from the random boxes for Good Smile (missed out on Miku! Boooo), Vocaloid – Hatsune Miku – 1/8 – CM ver. (exclusive), Koukaku Kidotai S.A.C. – Tachikoma – Cheerful Japan (exclusive), all from Good Smile.

      Also snagged the exclusive Kidou Senshi Gundam UC – RX-0 Unicorn Gundam “Banshee” – HGUC – 1/144 – Destroy Mode NT-D Clear from Blue Fin (Bandai’s official distributor).

      Also picked up a bunch of A3 Volks from a friend, but he was holding them for me rather than actually buying them at the Con.

  1. My brother went to comic con and got an autograph from Jason David Frank as well. He didn’t tell me he was going until a week before the con. I would have gone but I had to work and go to school. *sighs* Those figurines look so nice, though!

    animeluv04
    1. JDF was easily the most popular star there in terms of autographing. He was pretty cool about it though, as he arrived and started early all three days and then stayed late to ensure everyone on the line got something. Last day I waited over 1.5 hours in a line that looped three times around in the queue hall for that autograph. Phew.

      1. That’s Amano-sensei for you 😀

        I wish he still did the character designs for the FF franchise. Not that Nomura is bad or anything, but FF just isn’t the same without Amano’s works (promotional art and title logo designs are just not enough).

        beeboobeeboo
  2. Damn…. Wish we had this kind of con in Malaysia. We had AFAMY’12 last June with GCS and Bandai booth and all, but the rest seem just average to me. At least I get to enjoy the music performance by Kalafina.

    Terrorhunt
  3. I made it to NYCC on Saturday and Sunday. And yes Zephyr, the venue was beyond congested. It seemed almost illegal. I saw quite a bit of Minecraft cosplay this year. And I loved the Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 gameplay. Good times 🙂

    fullmetalmya
    1. Yeah, I noticed Saturday that there was definitely more peeps than last year’s Saturday. The fact they had to close lines at times for 10-20 mins. to clear congestion really just emphasized how much extra tickets they oversold this year.

      Bad decision on their part, but it wasn’t helped by the counterfeiters who forced them to manually check each pass and hold up the lines either sadly.

    2. There were that many counterfeiters?! THAT’S why they were so much more strict on seeing your pass this year! I remember I did pass ONE suspicious guy announcing over and over again about selling passes outside the building, but that’s the only guy I noticed doing that!

      starss
      1. Hmm, that might’ve been a scalper. There were quite a few along the route. But yeah, they were literally taking each person’s pass individually and folding them to test out the material, so I assume that means the counterfeiters were out in full force this year. -_-

  4. I would totally buy that Spike/Viscious figure set regardless of cost….and that Luka Vocaloid one too.

    Also, that Gerordi looks like Don Cheadle.

    Looks like you had an awesome time. I’m jealous.

    Gouka Ryuu
      1. Oh don’t get me wrong if i had seen that at Otakon I would probably have agonized over it until Sunday and then bought it. $70 a figure is pretty big money, especially if you don’t work full-time. Still, even as the biggest expense of a convention weekend it would still be totally worth it. Deserves a place of honor in a living room.

        Gouka Ryuu
    1. Was there even a Dr. Who panel?? There were so many cosplayers of him that they wound up gathering together on Sunday outside and taking a picture of all of them! I did see several sexy TARDIS’.

      starss
  5. Thank for letting us tht live outside of US a glimpse of NYCC, Zephyr.

    Oh how would I like to have 1/4 of those goods you showed… But I guess I will have to find a local store tht sells posters.

    D-LaN
  6. I went to 2011 and 2012 nycc. They really did let too many people in this year. Last year’s saturday felt awfully similar to this year’s friday. I looked forward to going on friday this year to really talk and take some awesome photos but was too cramped.

    Rok
  7. https://randomc.net/image/Miscellaneous/NYCC2012/General%20-%20Large%2034.JPG

    THAT SHOE!! He tried to pass himself off as the dark flame master to the host’s at the niconico booth. Was pretty funny really…

    Well nice pics, a shame you didn’t get one of that bumblee bee cosplayer I think that was probably the best one I saw from the live nico nico stream.

    I still regret missing friday’s stream ;-;

    Wait…what…good smile market tests? YES! All those nendos…gaaaaaah!

    Mukyuu
  8. it’s interesting that i live in PA yet I’ve never been to an American con yet. It seems to be quite spacious from the looks of it, very much unlike FF or Comiket it seems. I don’t see any doujinshi stands, were they just not taken or do they not exist in US cons?

    thenewhorde
    1. The first con I went to a few years back had a line of stands with lots of juicy goodies. They were incredibly NSFW. And that’s an understatement. Being in front of that entire area was the most embarrassing thing but so very rewarding. Lol I bought a Spice and Wolf art book. :3 Totally worth it. They usually have it past the weapons and stuff you can kill people with ironically.

      Shirt
  9. I want to cry because I couldn’t go. Zephyr, you don’t live out here?

    Man.. I wanted to see the first time GSC would be in a US Con.. God I can’t believe I missed that. I’m sure they don’t mind seeing as the reason I couldn’t go we because I pre-ordered so many of their Nendos and Scaled figures all the way into March of 2013! LOL I remember the last one being Leonmitchelli Galette de Rois from Dog Days. Woo she’s going to be expensive. If she’s on sale at the next comicon in New York from Good Smile Conpany, I’m picking her up and reselling mine I ordered because its not as special as getting it from their very own hands!

    I’m surprised there’s no crazy picture of that Deadpool that was prancing around the place like a clown and dancing like a nut. I swear if he had a rocket chair he’d use it! Last year I saw some amazing things like this girl cosplaying as Horo and even another that he only tape as her costume. (Boy was that a good nosebleed..)

    Lol writing to much. Glad you had fun!

    Shirt

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