DragonCon 2011

[Glitch Girl]

Well, tomorrow morning I head off for my yearly geek pilgrimage to Atlanta. 

See, originally, this was going to be a light costume year.  No new ones, maybe an old one, mostly t-shirt & jeans... And then  I saw this group and I just HAD to try one for myself, so I'll be debuting my Riddler costume on Sunday.  Wheee!

Pictures and report when I get back. 

[captmorgan72]

This I can't wait to see.

[Mr. Hamrick]

Can't wait to see either.  Actually will be at DragonCon this year with a media pass (will be doing some blogs for a website that I have been doing some work for over the past few months.)

[JeyNyce]

Have fun GG

[captmorgan72]

Hmm, been sitting here waiting on those pics Glitch Girl and I'm starting to get really thirsty. 

[Glitch Girl]

Hi all!

I got back tuesday and... well, basically slept the rest of the day.  Wednesday was mostly laundry and unpacking, and now I'm back at work, but the memories of the weekend live on.  I had a great time - there was tons to do with even more people than before.  I went a little crazy with the camera and shot over 700 pictures, but I'm thinking maybe a third of them didn't turn out (I did multiples, shot for coverage) so I still have to sort them out.

Oh yeah, and I caught a cold somewhere that thankfully didn't decide to kick in until I was home.  Ah well, c'est la vie.

More details soon!

[Uncle Yuan]

Pictures!

[Panther_Gunn]

Pictures!

Or it didn't happen!

[Glitch Girl]

Pics may have to wait because they're still downloading from the camera.  So in the meantime, here's some random thoughts...

- Atlanta has really REALLY embraced this con.  It was the 25th anniversary and there were banners commemorating it on the lamp posts and in the airport and in the metro.  The streets are PACKED for the parade of not just con-goers, but tons of locals as well (the kids seem to love it, they get all dressed up in costumes and everything) The food court and local restaurants are open extra late for us. Even Hard Rock had a commemorative set of inlaid pins you could get.  Apparently we have quite the economic impact.

- I really enjoyed my Droid this year.  I've only had it a few months, but on this trip, it got me to the hotel (one we hadn't stayed in previously, which BTW turned out to be pretty nice), gave me the Conn schedule and helped organize my trip, and helped me coordinate with my friends when we invariable got separated for most of the day.  Yay technology!  (BTW: Does San Diego Comics Con have a schedule app?  Just curious)

- The crowds were bigger than ever this time.  I'm hearing numbers between 65 and 80 thousand.  I'm leaning towards the former, only because I don't think we could actually FIT the latter here. The Conn was spread over 5 hotels this time and I think I did at least something in all of them (I didn't have a panel in the Hilton, but I did go with one of my friends to get autographs there)

- I spent a good chunk of one day hanging out with the folks I've done some volunteer writing/animation for which was fun.  Seeing some of the team in person is a bit strange, since we all go by our handles online, but also a lot of fun.  Never did organize a dinner for our team together, but there's always next year.

- I witnessed my fourth convention marriage proposal this year, the first one I'd witnessed that wasn't part of the Masquerade.  The groom-to-be borrowed a suit of plate mail and hid behind one of the info booths while his fiance-to-be was still in the art show.  When she came out, they'd arranged for two Klingons to each take her arm and start leading her off.  She had no idea what was going on, but she played along as someone started narrating up to the point of "Will anyone come to save her?" At that point, the guy stepped out (full plate mail remember) carrying a lightsaber and mock-battled the Klingons into submission, got down on one knee, and proposed.  It was very sweet and very strange at the same time.  And yes, she said "yes".

- Themes among costumes that stuck out this year: Mashups, gender-swaps (mostly female playing a male character, but a few the other way around), Doctor Who Dalek Dresses and Tardis dresses/suits, zombies, and Finn & Fionna from Adventure Time.  Also saw way more My Little Ponies than I ever thought I would.

- For one of the Smallville panels, Sam Witwer (who played Doomsday and is currently playing a vampire on "Being Human") arrived sparkling.  "I can explain" he said and then told us he had just come from a photoshoot where there was some crazy woman going around putting glitter on everyone.  He hadn't planned on going along with it until the "crazy woman" turned out to be Carrie Fisher, "And how do you say no to her?".  Every time the monitor camera zoomed in, he twinkled. 

- Ernest Borgnine may be hard of hearing, but he's still got a quick wit and a sparkling personality.  He told us stories about nearly getting arrested by the Mexican army during the Dirty Dozen, reflections on various directors that were both funny and touching, and was just an all around great guest.

- Even though I primarily went to the Back to the Future panel to see Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson stole the show. Plus since I barely got in (this was at The Westin, which was where the Alternate History tracks were primarily, but really was not set up for the kind of crowd he was going to draw) so I was towards the back and it was hard to hear him when he mumbled.  We did get a "GREAT SCOTT!" Though. 

- Tome Kane's story on how he got into voice acting is hilarious and almost improbable. I also have a newfound respect for Ashley Erkstein (voice of Ahsoka on Clone Wars) after the voice actors panel I went to.

- Atlanta Radio Theater managed to combine steampunk, Sherlock Holmes, and LOLCats.  And it worked. 

- The parade was MASSIVE.  So massive that they stopped taking on-site registration this year.  It meant a few areas were skimpy (like the anime group) or missing (no Pirate float), but it still took over 45 minutes for it to all pass by.  In included Ghostbuster chapters and their Ecto 1s from three states (LA, GA, & AL), A LARP group that would stop, beat the tar out of each other with padded weapons until only one or two were still standing, and then everyone get back up and move on for the entire parade route, A marching periodic table of elements, a marching band and a small drum corps, live victims on the Road Warrior vehicle, the best animated Netherworld float to date (IMO), a HUGE Doctor Who group, and a lot more I'll have to add after I review the footage.

- Colin Ferguson (Eureka) is hilarious.  Put him on a panel with Will Wheaton, and they pretty much shamelessly steal the entire show.  At one point, someone asked the group what the weirdest thing they'd ever signed was, and Will remarked "You know I've been at this con for several days and so far I haven't signed a single boob."  So naturally Colin volunteered his own.  Hilarity ensued.

- I'm trying to remember if it was Louis Ferreira or Patrick Gilmore (both Stargate Universe) who found out during the panel that pictures of him without his pants from the night before had apparently made it onto YouTube.  (at least he was wearing boxers from what I heard)

- Speaking of DragonCon Nightlife, it was crazy over at the Marriott.  Tons of people, many in costume having a very good time.  I don't think I went to bed before 2:00 am for most of the con.  This is probably why I have a cold now (or as I'm hearing it called, "the DragonCon Crud")

- While waiting for Abney Park's concert, I got to see a group of breakdancing luchadores.  It was a bunch of guys who brought their own boom box, set up in the middle of the floor and started dancing.  They'd tag each other in and out and occasionally would do some stylized wrestling moves along with the dancing.  Later a ninja who seemed to be part of the group joined in.  It was rather cool.  I saw them again the next night, sans masks on the now-empty acoustic stage just kind of freestyling.  Sadly NONE of the pics came out 'cos they were all moving so fast.

- Speaking of Abney Park, they put on a great show.  My feet were killing me at the end of it (to the point where I was glad a cane was part of my costume) but totally worth it!

- I'm one of those line campers when it comes to the Masquerade.  There's usually good conversation to be had in the line so I don't mind much.  This year I saw with a group of girls who were dressed as zombie Pokemon trainers.  We talked about upcoming superhero movie gossip and the convention and it was a lot of fun.

-The masquerade this year was one of those "lesser" years -  there were some very good costumes, but it wasn't quite the same "Holy COW!" jaw dropping awesome level that other years have.  Then again, these things tend to move in cycles and we'd had two really solid years in a row so it's about time for there to be a lull while people work on their labors of love (no I take that back a bit - the kids costume contest was one of the overall strongest I've seen).  One thing that didn't help was the hosts.  Aaron Douglas (BSG) wasn't too bad, but John Lenahan (so-so illusionist, comedian, and voice of Red Dwarf's Talky Toaster (see two toasters as hosts ha ha ha... whatever)) was kinda bleah. I was hoping for Peter David and George Perez again (they're always funny), but this time they were judges.  Oh well... Anyway, this year FUZE was one of the Masquerade sponsors and gave the hosts each a free drink.  They also had a special category for best "fusion" costume, so each costume that was eligible for this would get a little "FUZE" announcement and the hosts decided that they'd take a drink each time it happened.  In no time, there was a running gag where the audience would yell "Fooot-zay" (the earlier joked about "Italian" pronunciation) to make them take another drink.  Even the video tech guy was encouraging us by flashing the "FUZE logo on the video screens.  In no time, the non-alcoholic FUZEs were drained and replaced with something stronger.  

- I got to shake Martin Landau's hand which was very very cool.  He gave a wonderful talk on the last day of the con early in the day but it was totally worth it. 

- Sylvester McCoy, the 7th Doctor, is also amazing.  His name is not "Sylvester McCoy" BTW< that's his stage name, half of which comes from an old World War II song, and the other half comes from a dirty Scottish joke.  He told us some fun reflections on being Doctor Who, how he accidentally popularized Ferret-legging, how he's going to be in the Hobbit, how he just finished King Lear with Ian McKellen, and how he's about to tour with a production of the Mikado.

- I haven't heard the numbers on the Blood Drive yet, but I think we handily beat San Diego again. 

- DragonCon TV brought back Bob & Carl, the Sci-Fi Janitors.  Whoo!

- I didn't do much shopping this year.  True there was a lot of cool stuff, but a few things I was looking for had not been released yet, so they weren't available.  I did find a box set of Last Exile, a couple of music CDs and a few new T-shirts.  I considered buying another painting, but decided against it primarily due to timing as it was late when I finally did get around to shopping on the last day.  I did linger at a booth that made custom arcade cabinets and had one loaded with Marvel vs Capcom.  Someone left midgame so I took over and did pretty good considering I hadn't played that one in about a decade. Then a couple of people challenged me and I transported back to my college days and reminded of why I miss arcades so much - you can't get this vibe from online games where everyone is miles away.  Silly, I know, but still.

- There was light rain on Sunday afternoon, but it did get a bit heavier on Monday.  On the plus side, the three hotels  I had things in were all connected by walkways so I didn't actually have to go out in it until much later.  It was weird though, over the course of the weekend it went from very hot and humid summery weather to almost late fall temperatures. 

And that's most of the high points I think.  As I said I still have to sift through 700+ photos to take out the ones that didn't turn out, so it may be this weekend before any go up but I promise to link ASAP.  Still, I had a GREAT time even if I didn't get to everything I wanted to.

[Uncle Yuan]

Sounds awesome, GG!  Thanks for the excellent report.  Grendal_71 and I have been contemplating doing a con together sometime, and this really kind of seals it for me.

I still want pictures, though!

[Cyber Burn]

Sounds like you had a blast Glitch, one of these years I definitely want to go to a Con (Seeing as how I missed this years local AnimeCon, again).

[The Phantom Eyebrow]

Wow, that does sound like an amazing event!  I was all set to riff on the inherent nerdliness of such an endeavor (what's that log doing in my eye, gimme a sec to clear it out...  ) but that really does sound like a lot of fun.   

[Alaric]

Sounds like a lot of fun! Some year, I'll make it over there...