By: L. Sahara McGirt (DarthSagaSwag)
In case you have been living in a bunker or busy taking a shuttle to space, our staff recently attended New York Comic Con as exhibitors. (Thanks, ReedPOP!) Here is a little rundown of our New York City adventure.
Location, location, location
This was my first time in New York City, and I have always wanted to go. I wasn't sure what to expect. So far this year, I've been to Indianapolis, Seattle, and Florida for Stack Up-related events. As far as locations go, I wasn't a fan of Seattle. There aren't too many food options in and around the convention center, especially if you have dietary restrictions, which meant eating at the same three places for most of it. Indianapolis was fine, but location-wise, the Gen Con convention center is located in a very busy area, especially if there is a football game going on.
New York Comic Con is held in the Javits Center in Manhattan, NYC. If your hotel is situated close by as ours was, it's a perfect walk to get to the convention center. Food access was hardly a problem. The Javits Center boasts a diverse food court with options for your various dietary needs. Not to mention a food truck area and the hot dog & kebab vendors that line the sidewalks on the way to the convention center. The area is busy during the convention, but most of the people around are there for NYCC.
Times Square and Broadway were a simple 10 minute walk from our hotel, and food options were not only aplenty, but they were also open late into the night. After a long day at the booth, it's easy to go back to your room, take a shower or nap, then get food without worrying too much about closing times.
If you ever get a chance to go to NYCC, be sure to grab a slice of New York-style pizza. You will not regret it. We ate at Vito's Slices & Ices a few times, and they even offer gluten-free options for any of you out there who cannot eat gluten like me.
Stacking Up at the NYCC Booth
Our booth was located on the main con floor, with vendors such as Metallic Dice Games and some local comic stores flanking us. Comics vendors galore filled the center, showing their wares, and rare comic book finds. There were also numerous nerdy T-shirt and collectible vendors holding the floor, with some fun activities spread throughout the convention center. Stack Up, as a charity, was a bit of the odd one out, but we took it in stride.
We have a few new activities going on at our booth. Stack Up now offers Veteran and Active Duty tags you can attach to your con badges. All you have to do is swing by, tell us what your branch is/was, and whether you are a Veteran or Active Duty, and we'll give you one! We'll be doing this at any future conventions we happen to be at.
We also held a Quest 2 giveaway. All attendees had to do was stop by and roll our giant inflatable dice, and if they rolled greater than 10, they received 1 entry, 2 entries for rolling greater than 15 and rolling a 20 gained participants 3 entries. Donating gave participants a chance to roll with advantage, meaning they could roll again and take the higher number.
We announced the winner via Instagram and Twitter. We hope he enjoys his new Quest 2 when it lands on his doorstep soon!
So much to do! Only one weekend
NYCC as a con is huge. The Javits Center itself is very large and boasts several floors of merch, panels, autographs, and photo ops, and a floor set aside for artists. Exploring the whole place takes several hours, and to get the full picture of everything takes at least two days. While this was a toned-down version of the event, it was still the largest of the events Stack Up has gone to this year.
We made sure to visit our friends at Guardians Mental Health who were placed a bit out of the way in one of the panel rooms at NYCC. Rex always enjoys checking in with them, and we're hoping to do something fun at the next convention we both attend.
Hanging out with friends at the convention center isn't the only thing to do at NYCC. I recommend taking in whatever New York City has to offer nearby if you aren't from there and happen to get the chance to go. While we were there, Stack Up Rex, PerkyDaisy, and I all went to the USS Intrepid museum and checked out the Growler and the Enterprise Space Shuttle. Rex has dreams of going to space, so it was a big deal for him to see it.
Our staff made sure to visit Times Square and snap plenty of photos to memorialize the fantastic time we were having. While exhibiting at the convention was exhausting because of the hours spent on the con floor at times, it was good to interact with our fellow nerds and geek out over some of the anime, comics, and cosplay we were seeing. Some of our staff were occupied trying to arrange the Trivium Air Assault event while at NYCC, so the fact that we could still come together and do our best to enjoy ourselves felt good.
We'll have more about the Trivium Concert Air Assault later. For now, check out these photos our staff took as a group at Times Square.
Thanks for reading our recap! If you see us at a convention, be sure to drop by.