My first trip to Dragon Con since the mid-90s! This huge event takes place over four days, and encompasses five hotels and America's Mart. We (myself, Doug and Benjamin) were there only one day and had to constantly make hard choices as what to see and do.
Our first decision was to try to see the parade. Even though we were pre-registered, it still took us almost an hour and a line that circled a block to get our entry lanyards. We got to the parade late and went up on a parking deck to see the parade. The view was actually better than staying in the back of the tens of thousands watching the parade from the street. We were behind glass windows, and the sounds of the parade were greatly muted.
Most of the characters in the parade were from fairly new things, particularly a lot from the video and gaming world. But I was pleased to see these old favorites in the parade - the TV version of The Addams Family - Fester, Morticia and Gomez!
Oh, look! It's an honest to gosh super-hero! All by himself. In fact, he was the only super-hero I saw in the parade. Yes, I realize it's called Dragon Con and not Comic Con, but still, I was surprised to see what a huge backseat that comics took at this convention. In fact, readers in general were in short supply. You got the impression that the hordes of cosplayers that were there throughout the crowd, knew their characters only superficially, either through visual media (video games, art stills, TV or movies) or by someone telling them "Hey! You could look like so-and-so if you were made up right!") I saw one scantily clad female later in the day, and someone asked her what character she was, and she said, "Oh, I don't know! I just thought this looked right for being here!" Oy!
There were so few super-heroes in the parade, that poor Spider-Man had to watch the parade from the top floor of the Peachtree Center parking deck.
But I guess there could have been more, because one of our hard choices was to leave the parade early in order to make the 11:30 events. We separated as I wanted to go to something different than what the boys did. Fighting through the crowd to get to the Hyatt was one of the toughest things I've done, and I was late getting to the panel I was trying to make. Luckily, since mine had to do with READERS and WRITERS, it was less crowded than most. AND, for a panel about how to promote your writing on social media, two of the five panelists were actually podcasters, and one specialized in hateful, racist and vile slogans on t-shirts and stuff (example: TORTURE HELPS THE MEAT GET TENDER).
We met up at Anime History, which we thought would have pictures or video clips, but was just a couple of people chaotically talking about Japanese history.
For the 2:30 panels, we broke up again and went to three separate ones. I tried to go to a science discussion about the Jupiter moon, Europa, as I have a story idea I want to write about it, but I got there too late and it was full. A science discussion - full.
So I wandered about for an hour between two hotels, getting lost and pushed around by the crowds. I'm not claustrophobic, but I do tend to feel lost and worthless and insignificant in crowds, like I don't deserve to be there.
I found the Walk of Fame where all the celebrities were, and I got to feel even more insignificant. I did notice that the number one celebrity I wanted to see was there, John Noble (Walter form Fringe). I craned around to actually see him and some woman started yelling at me to get to the back of the line if I wanted to see him. I tried to tell her that I wasn't in line, but she wouldn't stop. I finally just left.
I went back to where Benjamin was (Role Playing Game panel) and waited for him to come out. I got yelled at again for standing in a place where they were taking pictures for a costume contest.
After the parade, my picture taking became strictly limited, as my phone battery was dying rapidly, and I conserved what I could in case the boys needed to contact me.
The picture above was my favorite. That's Barf the Dog from Spaceballs. I think that's Little Bo Peep walking away, but who knows? It might be The Sheepanatress from The Nightmare On Video GameStreet.
We junked going to any more panels the rest of the day, and stayed together. We went back to the Walk of Fame, and I was able to talk to John Noble and get a signed picture that he signed to Alison. He was very nice and polite. We also were able to get an autographed picture and selfie of another celebrity that is meant to be a surprise for somebody else in the family. There was another celebrity that someone wanted me to meet, but it was going to cost me $50 to do so, so I passed. Sorry!
A highlight was the Comic & Art Alley, and I got a print of Supergirl (with Krypto the Dog and Streaky the Cat), and the artist, Amanda Conner, signed it for me. I got to have a great conversation with Jimmy Palmiotto, Amanda's husband, and one of the best writers/inkers in the business. I LOVE the comics he and fellow writer, Justin Gray, do (including their run on Jonah Hex). I got to tell him my concerns about comic numbering, and I was pleased that he agreed with me. Whole numbers rock!
We watched a Longsword tournament, which the boys really liked, and then to wrap things up we made the long trek to the the Vendor's building, making the seemingly rational decision that if you were going to buy things, you should wait until the end of the day so you don't have to cart around all day what you bought.
We made the journey not alone, but with hundreds of others, only to finally get there and have a guy shout at us, "The Vendors are closed! The Vendors are closed!", and doing so in a very arrogant and nasty fashion. It was not even 7 PM yet. We had money burning in our pockets, ready to spend, and we were being turned away. There was nothing in the program I had that spelled out how very early the vendors would close.
Sometimes nerd culture has a hard edge. They really like to lord over their superior knowledge, and as a generalist, sometimes that can be a little hard to deal with. Some of the Dragoncon staff were friendly, but most were very bossy and arrogant. I guess that's only natural when you're herding tens of thousands of people.
So it was a day of some good times, but also of many hard choices. We saw probably only 1% of what we could see.
Would I go again? Yes, but with a better plan. If my boys are up it to it, I certainly am.
But what would I really like, in my heart of hearts, in my fantasy dreams and hopes?
I would like to someday go as a guest.
I need to start getting my stories out there. As unlikely as it may be, it's like they say about the lottery - you can't win if you don't play.
Damn the odds. Let's go for it!
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