 I know I've been here about two hours today so far and I've been stopped at least a hundred times probably. I know that for a fact because my sister was counting. I read pop we run 12 events you know in the pop culture space but New York Comic Con is the biggest, most exciting. It was the first event we launched it's sort of the closest to our heart. We are the second largest event in New York City. It's the New York Marathon and us. This year will be about a hundred and seventeen thousand people which is insane. I've been coming folks since 2006. I was a little embarrassed at first I came in regular street clothes then I just started getting a little courage coming in dressed. We have a mutual acquaintance and we met through Facebook just so many similarities between the two of us once we were getting to know each other it was he just decided that he wanted to meet up with me and here we are. I've been going to Comic Cons since 2003 and I've never been to one as my real self. I've always cosplayed. You wouldn't show up in like shorts and a tank top if you work for Goldman Sachs you know you're coming to the con you know to a certain percentage of the population you got to dress up or you're just you're not living it man. My name is Vanessa Perrin. I'm a mechanical angel. I wanted to do something that was like steampunk but mechanical but like ethereal like an angel. Oswin Oswalt from the new Doctor Who and we have here one of those nasty Daleks. Exterminate. He thinks they're really cool they're robots that kill people. He loves to make the voice. I'm not a robot. Oh sorry they're octopus people. In costume you can actually be whoever you want while in real life you're pretty much boring. You can't do this outside like people just give you strange looks but in here you're who you are you're in costume. It's almost empowering everybody wears masks every day let's let's be honest but here I'm wearing a mask and people are recognizing it and people having fun with it and they're enjoying themselves because of me and I'm enjoying myself watching them enjoy me and I'm watching them enjoy their costumes. It's it's a big community right and like any community you get to know people over time you get close to them. I like to wear women's clothes but it's today I could do it without being hassled. You could be whoever you want to be. It's wonderful. This is actually our first year. Yeah we're so confident. Yeah we assimilated. We're like jumping into pictures with people that don't even want us. People always ask us for pictures. Oh my god look at Iron Man made out of boxes. I'm Sarah and I'm Casey and we are Captain America and Carter Peggy Carter. We have an infinity for a couple of costumes. We're actually cosplaying as Amy and Rory separately and met at a convention. It's not unanimous we usually like can come to an agreement eventually like I'll be like I really want to do this character and he's like I don't really want to do that. Yeah like I really wanted to do a Shredder costume but she's like April O'Neil? No. So you know. Yeah I like to have a weapon generally. Everyone is a people watcher so everyone is staring at everyone else constantly and it's perfectly acceptable because you're just admiring the costumes. I love people watching. I love seeing the love of either anime or science fiction or anybody's character. You can tell how much heart these people put into it. It's a fun place where you're gonna see something new every second and you're gonna enjoy yourself. We kind of share the same philosophy that cosplayers we all are part of a universal family and we try to lift each other up. No one hassles you, no one bothers you. You could be whoever you want to be. It's wonderful. I love coming here. It's pure and utter joy. This is my Super Bowl.
 I know I've been here about two hours today so far and I've been stopped at
 least a hundred times probably. I know that for a fact because my sister was counting.
 I read pop we run 12 events you know in the pop culture space but New York Comic Con is the biggest,
 most exciting. It was the first event we launched it's sort of the closest to our
 heart. We are the second largest event in New York City. It's the New York Marathon
 and us. This year will be about a hundred and seventeen thousand people which is
 insane. I've been coming folks since 2006. I was a little embarrassed at first I
 came in regular street clothes then I just started getting a little courage
 coming in dressed. We have a mutual acquaintance and we met through Facebook
 just so many similarities between the two of us once we were getting to know
 each other it was he just decided that he wanted to meet up with me and here we
 are. I've been going to Comic Cons since 2003 and I've never been to one as my
 real self. I've always cosplayed. You wouldn't show up in like shorts and a
 tank top if you work for Goldman Sachs you know you're coming to the con you
 know to a certain percentage of the population you got to dress up or you're
 just you're not living it man. My name is Vanessa Perrin. I'm a mechanical angel. I
 wanted to do something that was like steampunk but mechanical but like
 ethereal like an angel. Oswin Oswalt from the new Doctor Who and we have here one
 of those nasty Daleks. Exterminate. He thinks they're really cool they're robots that kill
 people. He loves to make the voice. I'm not a robot. Oh sorry they're octopus people. In costume you can
 actually be whoever you want while in real life you're pretty much boring. You
 can't do this outside like people just give you strange looks but in here you're
 who you are you're in costume. It's almost empowering everybody wears masks
 every day let's let's be honest but here I'm wearing a mask and people are
 recognizing it and people having fun with it and they're enjoying themselves
 because of me and I'm enjoying myself watching them enjoy me and I'm watching
 them enjoy their costumes. It's it's a big community right and like any
 community you get to know people over time you get close to them. I like to
 wear women's clothes but it's today I could do it without being hassled.
 You could be whoever you want to be. It's wonderful. This is actually our first year.
 Yeah we're so confident. Yeah we assimilated. We're like jumping into pictures with people that don't even want us.
 People always ask us for pictures. Oh my god look at Iron Man made out of boxes.
 I'm Sarah and I'm Casey and we are Captain America and Carter Peggy
 Carter. We have an infinity for a couple of costumes. We're actually cosplaying
 as Amy and Rory separately and met at a convention. It's not unanimous we usually
 like can come to an agreement eventually like I'll be like I really want to do
 this character and he's like I don't really want to do that. Yeah like I
 really wanted to do a Shredder costume but she's like April O'Neil? No. So you
 know. Yeah I like to have a weapon generally.
 Everyone is a people watcher so everyone is staring at everyone else constantly
 and it's perfectly acceptable because you're just admiring the costumes. I love
 people watching. I love seeing the love of either anime or science fiction or
 anybody's character. You can tell how much heart these people put into it. It's a
 fun place where you're gonna see something new every second and you're
 gonna enjoy yourself. We kind of share the same philosophy that cosplayers we
 all are part of a universal family and we try to lift each other up. No one
 hassles you, no one bothers you. You could be whoever you want to be. It's wonderful.
 I love coming here. It's pure and utter joy. This is my Super Bowl.