One day when I was reading a newspaper, I saw that the NYCC (New York Comic Con) would be holding a week of comic festivals in the Javits Convention Centre. Therefore, I decided to visit comic festival to realize what the cosplay culture is.
As I stepped into the Javits convention center, a huge banner said “Greetings, earthlings! You have landed at the New York Comic Con!” It welcomed visitors coming. The convention lobby was very huge and it filled with people. Superman, Chun-Li, Batman, and Harry Potter were chasing me. There was a large red carpet placed on the white shiny floor. Cos-players stood on a red carpet and posed. A bunch of people were taking photos. Numerous flashing lights were flashing around the lobby. Some TV stations had an interview with cosplayers.Staff stood around the entry and directed people to the ticket window. There were two different lines to obtain a ticket: blue window was for people who didn’t buy the ticket yet, and yellow window was for people who brought ticket online. Most of people stood in yellow line more than in blue line.
I got a special design plastic pass and a program guide from the ticket window. In the program guide, it was filled with comic style. The guide also included advertisements, screening timetables, special guest’s lists, and a large map which showed the stores’ locations. There were four levels in the exhibition. The first floor was for panels, screenings, and the theater. The second floor was for autographing. The third floor was the show floor and show store. The fourth floor is the Anime galleria. Since the third floor is the main important area in the convention, I decided to go to the third floor first.
As I stepped out of the elevator, a loud heavy classical electric music and fighting sound effects were surrounding the show floor. I looked around and tried to find the source of the sound. Finally, I discovered that the sound came from multiple large hanging screens. Those screens were from Capcom to promote their latest game, Street Fighter IV. The sound of “Bing” and “ Bang” came out from the screen when the fighters were began to fight. It’s difficult to pass through the path because there were a bunch of visitors standing around the Capcom display stage , and watched people playing a fighting game.
Beside of Capcon, there were lots of different companies displayed their new products on this floor. Ubsoft built a large stage to display their new game “ Just dance 3”, Ubsoft staff invited a group of people dancing on the stage. As soon as the music begin, Adults, children, and cos-player danced on the stage. Some of them they looked funny and the others danced seriously. When they danced into final stage, the audiences cheered and clapped for them. Companies also gave out a lot of free products to the visitor for the promotion and it was annoying.
Many people were lined up at the Marvel and DC companies, waiting for their idol’s signature. As I was fooling around the show floor, I discovered that there were three types of visitors that join this festival. The first type of visitors dressed casually; they looked and searched around as observers. The second type of visitor just wore simple costumes. For example, some people wore a Pikachu hat, T-shirt and blue-jeans. These people just wanted to join the festival for fun. The third type of visitors dressed just like the characters, had heavy make-up and brought with them their handmade weapons. These people prepared for the festival seriously.
