This past Saturday, I was able to attend the ever-glorious New York Comic Con/New York Anime Festival (NYCC/NYAF) held in the Jacob Javits Center. This is my 4th year attending the convention and every time I go, I gradually grow more and more impressed with the outcome. As I walked in, it was hard to even fathom how many people attended. The convention center itself is fairly large but the number of people attending was massive. The day passes for Saturday had even sold out. The popularity of the convention is just growing larger with each year.
Starting just last year, NYCC and NYAF had combine both conventions into one. I was definitely surprised with how they handled this situation this
year. They moved NYAF upstairs into a larger, more spacious room that had access to the outside area. It was definitely nicely handled. NYCC itself had the largest areas to itself. The amount of vendors and booths there were outrageous. As I first walked in, I noticed the amount of video game booths that had been attending. There was Square Enix, Nintendo, Capcom, and more. Square Enix focused on Final Fantasy XIII-2 (the sequel to Final Fantasy XIII) that will be released early 2012. There were many trailers and figurines that could be bought from the series. Nintendo focused on promoting a select few games for the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii. It’s main focus was letting con-goers demo the upcoming Legend of Zelda game, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Nintendo also pushed the new Nintendo 3DS game, Professor Layton and the Last Spectre (a prequel to the previous Layton games). There was also an exclusive screening of the animated movie Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva. Capcom held tournaments for their hit game Marvel vs. Capcom 3 while promoting their reboot, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The crowd that showed to view and participate was overwhelming but fun.
There was something for everyone at this convention. There was a Sesame Street booth along with various video games, comics, and even K-pop being viewed and sold. Of course the only downfall to any convention is the large crowd but it’s incredibly worth the experience. We even got to see some great costumes worn by con-goers as well as costumes on display. The upcoming movie, The Avengers, had a large promotion and even had a costume contest as well as the costume from the movie Captain America on display (I snagged me an Avengers poster for myself). In another section of the convention, a view of the Dark Knight’s costume could be seen on display.
The amount of shopping, browsing, activities, and more someone could do is just simply astounding. Every year it seems like there’s just more and more to do. The guests that had attended this year are gradually getting more and more exciting and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year.
Here are various links you can check out for more information:
http://www.newyorkcomiccon.com/
