This was the day where I did only straight shopping for exclusives or simply first dips on whatever was available. My shopping list is based on what dealers announced through their social media or newsletter and exclusives listed on the convention website. However, any good veteran of NYCC knows that to get the goods, you gotta wake up at the crack of dawn. I reached the area and lined up around 7:30am. The line was already down 40th street and 12th Avenue. It’s good to have something or someone to keep you occupied for the LONG wait until 10am. Yes, the early bird DOES catch the worm at NYCC.
When it was time for us to go to the show floor, the first booth I went to was Good Smile Company. They announced their exclusives on their Instagram and there’s one that I’ve been eyeing on. When I first discovered it, it was only available at Wonder Festival 2015, which is in Japan. So, obviously for me, it was my first shopping target. There was only about 6 people in line for the booth, so I had a good chance of purchasing it. When it was my turn, I asked about the product to get official confirmation that it’s the same figure from Wonder Festival 2015 and yes, it was. It’s basically a convention exclusive, so I couldn’t get it officially from retailers. $50 flat and I’m done with the first thing on my list!
Next booth I went to was on the other side of the show floor: IDW Publishing. They were selling a convention exclusive Revolution #1 black and white cover comic, which has Transformers in it. There was no line, so it was fairly easy for me to get it. Smart move on my end was that I brought a bag and board for the issue. It would have died in my bag.
Viz Media’s booth was visibly nearby, so I went there to get the Assassination Classroom Vol. 13. However, I was only getting that if the free pin was still available. Because they were selling the book at retail price, there was no point of me getting the book without the pin. Yes, they had the pin and I got the Sailor Moon tote bag and whatever freebies were there.
Then I went to Chevy, because they were giving away free t-shirts. However, when I reached the booth, apparently, they were other giveaways: a cape and string bag. Since my goal was to get the t-shirt, I went for that first. It was fairly simple. All I had to do was fill out a survey and sign up for information on a specific car that I was interested in. Here’s the best part, the booth people said that I can come back each day to complete it again and get another freebie. Sweet!
Now after my adventures at Chevy, I decided to just go to the nearby booths that were on my list of freebies instead of continuing with my shopping. I was confident that those things I wanted were still available. So I went to the Yen Press and Crunchyroll. Yen Press was giving out pins that was announced prior to the show date and their other freebies like posters and tattoos. Crunchyroll had grab bags for sale, but it’s the same ones from Otakon. Didn’t want to get the same merchandise. I ended up getting free posters instead.
Since I couldn’t think of what else I wanted, I decided to go back to my shopping list. Back to the other side of the show floor! I ended up reaching McCalls and Simplicity’s booths. They were literally adjacent to each other, McCall’s was facing the back of Simplicity’s booth. I went to the latter first because I was intrigued by the booth. It looked like a 1950’s malt shop with mannequins dressed up in the styles from that era, but inspired about our comic book characters. They RARELY have sales on their websites, so I had to buy their $5 patterns. Unfortunately, they only brought a select few, but it’s better than not being able to buy any. Then I went to McCalls booth and brought their $10 and $5 pattern from their Cosplay by McCalls and the Vault Collection, respectively. It’s better than paying for the shipping and handling and the price was better than their sales online by a few dollars.
By now, my bag was probably close to 20lbs: purchases and freebies. However, I had to buy a limited edition Persona 4 pins, and then, hours later, I remembered to go to the booths that sold Lolita fashion items. I went to The Block to get blind box pins. Yes, each box contained a random pair of limited edition pins. I forgot the price…$15 or $25? Well, I only brought one box and I got Yukiko Amagi and Naoto Shirogane. Thankfully, the booth staff had pins on the side that I could do a trade. I switched Yukiko for Yosuke Hanamura.
I started randomly roaming around and getting freebies. Then somehow I remember the two Lolita fashion booths. I was hoping to find something music related because I was a musician and grew up loving music. I went to the Lolita Collective booth and was contemplating on whether or not to buy a $60 violin belly bag. I decided not to, because of the stitching. Then I went to Twylite Fashion and I saw a headband with a violin on it. Since I have straight hair, I had to make sure the headband didn’t fall off. After I tried it on, the headband stayed put and I gladly purchased it. Lastly, a kind individual gave me their unwanted Geico plush…that I’ve been trying to get for years!
So, that’s basically my Thursday! It was the perfect day to shop and grab whatever freebie was available! Definitely going back next year on a Thursday for whatever exclusives or first day freebies there are. See you in NYCC 2017!
© 2016 Linda Thai
Photography by Linda Thai
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