So, I finally made it back to Dragon*Con this year! This is a good thing, as I really needed a vacation. Andy and MSG had a room for me, which I shared with my old friend Marie and one of Andy and MSG’s friends named Alan. I’ve met Alan before and all was cool, so I knew the room situation would be to my liking. We were on the second floor of the International tower of the Hyatt, and that was an incredible room. As usual, I brought way more stuff than we needed, on the off chance that it would prove useful. As it turns out, we ate about 2/3 of the food I brought, used some portion of all of the supplies I brought (even pulls some meds out of my first aid kit), and we never found ourselves *needing* something for our visit. Even if I caught some flack for over packing, I think the benefits of that outweighed the ribbing.
The trip there was kind of a bitch… my phone was being a real pain the whole way, and that had my GPS and navigation info on it, so finding the hotel was kind of a pain in the ass. Parking was $75 for the weekend, and I had to park a block and a half away from the hotel, which made getting my gear too and from the room difficult. Then there was the 4 hour wait in the muggy Atlanta evening before I got my con badge. After that wait, in which a very nice fellow con-goer took pity on me and bought me a bottle of water to stave off heat exhaustion, I made it back to the hotel where Marie and Alan helped me unload the car. We called it a night and got ready for the con to start bright and early on Friday!
I made it to more panels than I expected too, including one on Eureka and one on Warehouse 13. MB Weston’s panel on Zombies vs. Unicorns was a hilarious group debate, and Cherie Priest’s reading and discussion about her Clockwork Century books was lots of fun. I was a bit disappointed to see the DC Universe Online panel canceled, but I got a Beta Key for the game anyway, and have already given it away to my buddy Bobby, who’s dying to play it. I didn’t make it to the Eureka/Warehouse 13 crossover panel, but between the other 2 panels and what I saw on DCTV, I got enough of a fix of both shows to be happy. I really like the actors behind both shows, and it was really nice to see them out of character and talking as real people. Also, Erica Cera (Jo Lupo, from Eureka) was crazy Hot in person.
The real fun of Dragon Con is rolling around the crowds, admiring the costumes and meeting up with old friends or making new ones. I new the costume watching was off to a good start when the first group of people I saw was a Deadpool Universe group!
Thos of you who know me, know that I’m a huge Deadpool fan, so this sort of set the stage for me and the crowd over the weekend. I took about 160 pictures total, and Andy, Marie, and Alan all took as many more themselves. I need to get their collections…. Alan got a good shot of the entire Ironettes group, with Rhodie and Tony Stark. I also somehow missed the bad ass War Machine costume rolling around the con. However, of all the pictures I took at the con, this one is my favorite, showcasing some of the top badguys from the recent Batman Arkam Asylum game:
Predictably, I was blown away by that Harley Quinn costume. I’ve always been a big fan of Harley, but the new outfit from the Arkam game was too hot for words, and the level of detail this chick went too on that costume really did it justice. She even had the warden’s name badge on, with the character portrait from the video game. Two Face and the Joker’s costumes both looked custom made, and the trio put on a fantastic show, just sharing drinks on the patio out behind the Hyatt.
While I was there, I managed to catch the Voltaire concert and his Q&A panel, both of which were a blast. One of the big pieces of news at his Q&A panel was that he’s got 2 new CD’s out this year… one was a kid’s album (mostly a compellation), and the other was a Country CD. The country CD took everyone in the room by surprise, and even got some Boo’s at the Q&A, to which Voltaire responded ‘THANK YOU! That is exactly the right response, because I hate country music!’ He wrote this in the style of Johnny Cash, and it’s making fun of country music and country music ideals. I’ve heard a few tracks off the CD, and love it. I bought a copy of it and had Voltaire autograph it for Melissa, who will get it in the mail as soon as I’m done ripping the tracks ;) I bought myself the live CD and his CD from last year, which I never got. After his show, I even got V to pose for a ‘snarky’ picture, just for Melissa.
All in all, I had a blast! I got to meet some interesting people, I got to hang out with old friends, and I got to really enjoy myself for the weekend. It was totally worth it, and I'm already looking forward to next year. For reference, here’s the cost of the vacation:
Food and Supplies bought before the Con: $200
Room for the Weekend (split 3 ways): $300 (or $900/3)
Parking for the Weekend: $75
Money Spent at the Dealers Rooms: $150
Misc food/gas/snacks/etc: $75
Total Cost: $800
Not bad for a 4 day vacation. I’m going to shoot for the internationally tower in the Hyatt again, that was a stellar room, and if I can get it low again, it’s much easier than waiting on an elevator. 2nd floor was super awesome, even if we could hear the crowds out front of the hotel late at night. Not a big deal, since we were all so exhausted at the end of the day that we slept through them anyway ;)
Crash
