New York Comic Con

In the flash of the eye, New York Comic Con 2019 has come and gone. Yet again, one of America’s biggest conventions was full of celebrity and comic guests, amazing cosplayers, and some surprises.

The surprises started on Thursday with Ryan Reynolds showing up during the Free Guy panel alongside Shawn Levy, Jodie Comer, Joe Kerry, Lil Rel Howery, and Utkarsh Ambudkar. The audience was able to get an exclusive first look at the upcoming video game comedy film. Needless to say, the crowd was blown away.

The next big surprise came on Saturday during a mystery signing at the DC Comics booth the mystery was Birds Of Prey which had the stars of the upcoming movie, Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn) Jurnee Smollett-Bell (Black Canary), Rosie Perez (Renee Montoya), and Ella Jay Basco (Cassandra Cain). The cast even took some time to take some pictures and videos with Birds Of Prey cosplayers as well as snapping some selfies with each other.

Saturday was also the day of NYCC Championship of Cosplay where competitors get then chance to battle it out for over $5,000 in prizes while also being qualified for the final round of the 2020 C2E2 Crown Championships of Cosplay in Chicago, which is the final stop in the Global Championships of Cosplay. The winner of the $3,000 first prize was Akellyz on Instagram with his version of a dystopian Mario. His costume consisted of a yellow block that was used to hold a robotic Yoshi that moved and breathed smoke and had a caged Boo hanging from it, Bowser’s shell as a shield and a Bullet Bill blaster made of green pipes that was decorated with a sticker of Princess Peach and a Piranha Plant coming out from the top pipe. The $2,000 second prize went to Cosmonaut Cosplay as Four of Diamonds and the $1,000 third prize went to Steampunk’d Batman.

Throughout the entirety of the four-day convention, there were also many opportunities for fans to purchase photo ops and/or autographs in order to meet some of their favorite actors. There were names ranging from Marvel movies to some of the voices behind Disney princesses cast, such as Tom Hiddleston (Marvel, Loki), Paul Rudd (Marvel, Ant-Man), Billy Dee Williams (Star Wars, Lando), and the three of the most popular Disney princess Jodi Benson (Ariel), Paige O’Hara (Belle), and Anika Noni Rose (Tiana).

Alongside the celebrity guest was a comic and non-comic artist. In the Artist Alley, fans had the ability to meet some of their favorite comic artists and get prints or comics signed. Many of the artists were even doing commissions so there were chances to buy a piece of your favorite character drawn by your favorite artist. The Show Floor is where the non-comic artist resided among many other booths selling merchandise and memorabilia.

This year’s New York Comic Con was definitely one to remember with reunion panels for shows such as Angel and panels talking about new and even some final seasons like The Walking Dead. Another NYCC down. I can’t wait for next year!