 New
York Comic Con / Anime Festival 2010 Review
Friday, October 8th - Sunday, October 10th, 2010
 New
York Comic Con / Anime Festival 2010 was a three-day event held in
New York City's Jacob K. Javits Center. The NY Comic Con (NYCC) and NY
Anime Festival (NYAF) featured a host of guests from Japan and the United
States as well as a range of activities including an exhibit hall, panel
discussions, screenings, art exhibitions, concert performances, cosplay,
meet the guests receptions, and much more. AsiaFinest was at the NYCC
all three days to cover as much as we can. With the Comic Con and Anime
Festival combined, there was way too much to cover. There was always something
going on in different areas. It was hard to decide which fun event/panel
to cover during the comic con. We rushed around and tried our best to
cover the most popular events. AsiaFinest took hundreds of pictures
and videos of the NY Comic Con / Anime Festival 2010, so be sure to check
them out.
Friday October 8th: Day 1
Day 1 was filled with excitement as it was the first time that the Comic
Con and Anime Festival was held together. The festival crowd lined up
early and was hyped and full of energy. The opening day line was really
long. The wait time for people who brought tickets online and had to pick
them up was over 45 minutes. Even the press line to pick up the press
badges was a good 25 minutes long. Everyone that was there didn't know
where to start. There was so much to do. So many comic and anime panels
to choose from. We decided to hit up the major booths which was mostly
from game companies. The first huge booth that you see as you step in
to the convention area is the Michael Jackson the Experience Wii game
booth. It was a huge stage where the attendees was able to get on stage
and dance to the late great Michael Jackson. This was the only time you'll
ever see various anime and comic character on stage dancing to Michael
Jackson. A very interesting sight indeed. The most popular booth belonged
to Capcom which allowed fans to play the upcoming game, Marvel vs Capcom
3. Other major game booths included Dead Space 2, Megaman Universe, Red
Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, X-men
Destiny, Captain America: Super Soldier, and more! There was giveaways,
pictures with booth babes, and other entertaining interactive things to
keep attendees interested at each booth. The Green Hornet movie had a
nice display area too, which allowed the attendees to take pictures with
the Green Hornet's bike and the Green Hornet's car plus 2 sexy Green Hornet
ladies. We didn't get to do much except wait in line for each booth the
whole day. It was way too crowded to really enjoy all the other merchant
booths. Little did we know that tomorrow was going to be even worse.
We interviewed first time Comic Con attendee, Eddie Rodriguez, from NY
on what his thoughts was for the event, and this is what he said: "This
was my very first comic con and what I enjoyed most were the opportunities
to take some cool pictures such as the ones with Chun Li and X-girl .
Although I didn't take advantage of it, you could demo games that are
not coming out until spring such as Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 and buy some cool
products like Mega man action figures. Cons for me included the line to
get your pass (took about 40 minutes for me) and to get the best experience
required a lot of time and patience as the crowd was large and there were
so many exhibits."
Saturday October 9th: Day 2
 Day
2 was insanely packed! NY Comic Con even had to stop selling tickets.
The line was literally out the door at one point. The cosplayers came
out in full force today. Costume characters ranged from old school favorites
"Dragon Ball Z" and "Spiderman" to the popular "Deadpool"
and "Bleach", and even a gigantic Mech from the Avatar movie!
The major movie panels was scheduled for today. First off was the Hanna
movie starring Saoirse Ronan and Eric Bana, along with the director Joe
Wright. They showed clips from the Hanna movie as well as answered questions
from fans. Next movie panel featured the movie, The Thing starring Adewale
and Eric Christian. The exhibit hall today was jam packed. A lot of attendees
didn't even bother checking out the merchant area due to the huge crowd.
We stopped by the Archie comics booth which had signings all day. Paul
Castialia, the writer for Archie Comics, brought his own stack of comics
from home and was signing and giving them out to fans for free! That was
a real nice gesture compare to a few artists who made people purchase
something at the booth before signing it. At around 5pm we headed to cover
the "V" TV series panel with guest Morena Baccarin, Laura Vandervoort,
and Jane Dadler. The 3 beautiful ladies seem like they enjoyed and had
fun at the panel. After that it was the final two main events for the
night, Minori Chihara concert and the Cosplay Masquerade Costume Contest.
A costume showcase that is part fashion show and part talent show. Glowsticks
was given to everyone to went to Minori Chihara's hour long concert and
it wasn't long before everyone was waving it in unison. Immediately right
after the concert was the Cosplay Masquerade Costume Contest. A fan favorite
event that consisted of the top costumes from the NY Comic Con / Anime
Festival. By the time it ended it was almost 11pm!
Sunday October 10th: Day 3
 The
final day of the NY Comic Con / Anime Festival 2010. It was children's
day so a lot of cute little kids came dressed as their favorite superhero.
It was like an early Halloween. We showed up early for a book signing
which was canceled at the last minute. We then made our way to cover the
Nikita panel which stars Maggie
Q. It was a pretty entertaining panel that showed us a few clips from
the new TV series Nikita. Maggie
Q also talked about her life and other juicy things. Be sure to check
out our pictures and videos on the Nikita panel. Right after the Nikita
panel was the Vampire Diaries panel. Sadly the three main stars of the
TV show did not show up for the panel. The Vampire Diaries showed us scenes
from their upcoming episodes along with Q&A from their fans. The merchant
area was less crowded today, so we decided it would be the best time to
really check it out. Since it was the last day, a good number of the merchants
had discounts on their products, so we couldn't help but to make a few
purchases ourselves. By 5pm everyone was tired from the long but fun filled
weekend and is clearing out of the Javits Center. Everyone left happy
and was looking forward to the next NY Comic Con / Anime Festival!
Conclusion:
The New York Comic Con / Anime Festival 2010 was a blast to cover, and
was fun for everyone! There was a few negatives for having both the comic
con and the anime festival merged into one. Most felt that the anime festival
was overshadowed by the comic con. The event was sometimes way too overcrowded
with a reported 90,000+ attendees. There were times where there was a
few good panels and signing going on at the same time. The signing lines
got so long that it had to be cut off. The panels in the smaller rooms
were hard to find, even some of the staff / volunteer didn't exactly know
where the panels were either. Asides from those negatives, it was offset
by the numerous positives at the event. Most of the attendees are friendly
and is more than willing to chat with you. We met a lot of cool people
and enjoyed all the guest panels and events that took place. It's a great
experience for people who are new to comics and anime alike. There was
something for everyone. Most attendee would agree that it was worth every
penny. We would recommend that everyone get a 3 day pass, as you would
need all 3 days to experience everything. We are definitely looking forward
to next year's New York Comic Con / Anime Festival 2011. The NY CC / AF
2011 will actually be held at the same place, Jacob K. Javits Center,
on October 14 - 16, 2011. Two huge events in one again. So be sure to
mark it on your calendar and we'll hopefully see you there!
New
York Comic Con / Anime Festival 2010 Pictures || New
York Comic Con / Anime Festival 2010 Videos
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