My experience at Day 1 of 2014 New York Comic Con October 10, 2014

Posted by Mike C. in Animation, Art, Books, Comedy, Internet, Interviews, Media, Personal, Photography, Radio, Technology, Travel, TV, Video, Video Games, Weather.
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Other New York Comic Con recap: 2012 Day 2, 2017 Day 1, 2018 Day 1, 2019 Day 1, 2021 Day 1

Yesterday marked my second trip to New York Comic Con, held annually at the Javits Center in the Midtown West portion of Manhattan. This time, I went with my girlfriend. We met each other at Penn Station, going our own ways to get there. I came from Wantagh, she came from Wallingford, Connecticut.

My way to her began at around 12:15 when I walked two blocks to a bus stop for the southbound NICE (Nassau Inter-County Express) n73. The bus arrived at 12:28, two minutes ahead of schedule. That ensured I would arrive at the Wantagh LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) station in time to board a 12:32 train, an earlier train than I had planned for. If I hadn’t bought my round trip ticket the day before, I’d have to wait for the 12:57. 50 minutes later, I was at Penn Station. I met up with my girlfriend and we began the half-hour walk to the Javits Center.

We entered at West 38th Street, tapping our badges before going inside. Conventioneers were greeted by giant inflated Teen Titans – and, by extension, Teen Titans Go! – characters.

Beast Boy and Starfire:

Cyborg and Robin:

And, of course, Raven:

Time to head inside…

My first plan was to meet voice actor Billy West, whom I interviewed back in 2005 at WCWP. Since autographing was involved, and not knowing offhand where Booth 1280 was, despite going to NYCC two years ago, I headed downstairs.

A fellow conventioneer informed me that Booth 1280 was on the show floor. So, my girlfriend and I headed there.

On the floor…

We searched the aisle numbers and headed for the 1200s. It was there that we found Billy West.

Billy and I had a brief conversation, he signed my copy of Futurama, Volume 7 – which has Zoidberg on the cover – and my girlfriend took our picture:

He signed the cover this way:

To Mike!

…Zoidberg could eat…

Billy West

It was the highlight of my afternoon. But there was more to do. My girlfriend and I walked the floor back to a downward escalator.

Along the way, this is what we saw:

We finally reached a downward escalator:

There were a few panels I was interested in attending, but the one we settled on was here in Room 1A21:

It was for the latest (and upcoming) Transformers TV series, Transformers: Robots in Disguise. The panel began at 4:00, but we got in line at 3:00.

The line was small when we arrived and we ended up near the front. It pays to show up early. After 50 minutes in line, the door was opened. We ended up sitting front row center. It was fantastic.

The panel was moderated by Mike Vogel, the Vice President of Development for Hasbro Studios:

From right to left on the dais, there was Jeff Kline, executive producer:

Jose Lopez, director:

Adam Beecher, producer and writer:

And the voice talent:
Will Friedle (Bumblebee):

Khary Payton (Grimlock):

Constance Zimmer (Strongarm):

…and Mitchell Whitfield (Fixit):

Now that you know the stars, here are random panel wide shots:

Khary set up the clip about to be shown:

Q&A:

After 45 minutes, the panel came to an end:

Constance and Khary stuck around to sign autographs:

Transformers: Robots in Disguise premieres in early 2015 on Cartoon Network. I can’t wait. I’m so glad I chose this panel.

After a few fun hours at New York Comic Con, my girlfriend and I called it a day:

We didn’t go right home, though. We walked down 11th Avenue to West 35th Street, taking that to 8th. We stopped in Trattoria Bianca for an early dinner. An hour later, we boarded an express LIRR train back to Wantagh, which also took an hour.

As I did for my 2012 Day 2 recap, I’ll leave you with a picture of the ticket holder I wore and the badge it carried:

10/11 UPDATE: There is an in-depth recap of the Transformers: Robots in Disguise panel at Newsarama.

And unbeknownst to me, because I didn’t look at the NYCC schedule beyond Thursday, there was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles panel yesterday. Bam! Smack! Pow! has a recap of that, while IGN’s Scott Collura interviewed Rob Paulsen (Donatello), Greg Cipes (Michelangelo), and executive producers Ciro Nieli and Brandon Auman.

If tickets for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday hadn’t sold out so fast, I would have gone either of those days. But I’m glad I went when I did. As I noted in the original recap, I got to meet Billy West in person and to whet my appetite for Transformers: Robots in Disguise, sitting front row center for their panel in the process.