Day
4 Late Night
It
had been my intention that the Puppet Slam
would be the grand finale of my Dragon*Con coverage, but I have just
enough more to say to warrant another post. Not only are there a few
hours on Monday to cover, but there are a few random thoughts and
follow-up things I want to put out there.
So
now, two weeks after Dragon*Con ended, I’m finally wrapping things
up.
But
much like irony, the Hyatt was a dead scene. We needed to get back to
the Marriot:
That’s
better.
But
maybe not. I could tell the Hooligans were winding down. Heck, the
whole con was winding down. Rather than the normal final night of
wild abandon, Sunday felt more like an obligation. It just seemed to
me like everybody was out because they felt like they had to be.
K-Dawg and Soozi and the Monkeys had left,
for goodness sake! I don’t think it’s that Con was bad or any less
fun this year, I just think that Thursday night is too much. Three
nights of partying is doable and continues to feel like a special
thing. But four is just too many. So Sunday night suffered as a
result.
Now,
this may not be true for everybody, but it seemed to be the case in
my experience this year. And honestly, people were still out and
partying when we gave up and headed back to our rooms:
So
I’m thinking we just got a little burned out.
I
was hardly even inebriated when I got back, so I laid in bed and
watched DC*TV for a while. At some point the audio fell out again and
I fell asleep.
Day
5
Yeah,
a fifth day might be a bit much.
But
at the same time, I woke up early enough to pack, take a shower, and
check out without running around in a panic. It was a nice change
from my usual Monday morning at Dragon*Con. I was also excited that
the missus was bringing Lil’ Troublemaker down with her. I wasn’t
sure how much entertainment there would really be for him, but it
would be neat to cruise around as a family. Without a mask on.
Holy
shit, you guys. Those masks. I mean, they’re honestly very
comfortable. They breathe well and don’t get too hot for the most
part. The fit is good around my face and neck. But even the
finest-crafted luchador masks (and mine are pretty fucking fine) are
only meant to be worn a couple of hours at a time at most. Just
because I personally am curious to see, here’s my best recollection
of my mask schedule from Dragon*Con:
Thursday:
Regular Mask – 8 PM – 2 AM
Friday:
Split Mask – 11:30 AM – 3:30 PM, Demon Mask – 5 PM – 3 AM
Saturday:
Sparkly Mask – 2 PM – 6 PM, Leopard Mask: 8 PM – 2:30 AM
Sunday:
Split Mask – 1:30 PM – 4 PM, Regular Mask (with 4th
Doctor costume) – 4:30 PM – 6 PM, Sparkly Mask – 8 PM – 2:30
AM
So
that’s about 41 hours of mask time. I say this not to make you go,
“Oh, wow! That’s rough!” but just so you understand how nice it
was to not have to even think
about wearing a mask on Monday. As a matter of fact, I was so over
masks after Dragon*Con I didn’t even wear one to PCW the following
Friday night. I went incognito, as it were. As comfortable as they
are, they do all sit right on the bridge of my nose and after that
much time I had a painful abrasion there. I needed a week off.
The
family got there around 11:30 and we loaded everything into the car.
I went back over to check out and was happy to see the line wasn’t
too long. I was even happier when a manager came out of the back,
checked me out right there in line, and then handed me a form with
information for reserving my room for 2013 at 3 PM the very next day.
That was pretty awesome. I truly appreciate that, because there’s a
good chance I wouldn’t have known about it if I hadn’t manually
checked out and he hadn’t told me. As it happened I was able to
make my reservation and put up a link for the Hooligans on Facebook
so we’re all in for next year. I even helped a couple of
non-Hooligans get theirs in early. Truly, I am a hero.
After
all that we went to the Marriot. We wanted to check out the
Exhibitors’ Halls and the Dealers’ Room, but mainly I wanted Lil’
Troublemaker to see the puppetry table and meet Lolly Lardpop. As
happens from time to time, though; Lil’ Troublemaker was just not
into the thing I wanted him to be into. He wasn’t opposed
to the puppet action going on, he just wasn’t all that interested.
I think he wanted to go and look at toys in the Dealers’ Rooms.
Also, he had just gotten there and was pretty overwhelmed.
Just
for old times’ sake we went to the Marriot café thing and got some
nine dollar sandwiches. I believe it cost me over $40 to feed the
family. We sat down on the sidelines where a Harley Quinn with a
bloody, severed Batman head decided to come and stand right beside
us. Mrs. Troublemaker was dismayed by this and I can see where Ms.
Quinn might have chosen a spot that wasn’t right next to a
4-year-old child. Particularly one that was wearing a Batman t-shirt.
But at the same time, I’m not going to pretend that Lil’
Troublemaker hasn’t seen some gruesome stuff. The horror toy
section of the Man Room is full of stuff much more disturbing than a
fake Batman head. We don’t let him watch horror movies or anything
and are very careful about what kind of shows or movies he watches,
but my son understands fake monsters and such. He didn’t seem too
bothered.
We
wandered around for a while and bought a couple of minor things for
Lil’ Troublemaker. He absolutely loved the prop vendor in the
Dealers’ Room – the one with all the Batarangs and blasters from
various sci-fi properties and whatnot. We spent a while standing
there looking at everything. He tried to convince me to buy a
Batphone and came close. I’ll tell you – if that thing worked I
would have.
Finally,
we headed over to Artists’ Alley.
I
saw Avengers
twice while it was in theaters. The first time I saw it with Evil and
his son, who I think is seven. Maybe six. We all enjoyed the heck out
of it and in my review
I said that it was a non-stop, action-packed flick. Then I saw it
with my family. And let me tell you – you do not realize how much
standing around and talking there is in a movie until you see it with
a four-year-old who is waiting for Captain America to put his costume
on and punch people. Don’t get me wrong – I too was waiting for
Cap to put his costume on and punch people, but I understand that
moment needs to be earned in the story. But after that second
viewing, I realized there was a ton
of standing around and talking in Avengers.
Similarly,
upon visiting Artists’ Alley with my son I realized there was a ton
of smut in Artists’ Alley. Like, a
lot of
stuff I didn’t want my son seeing even more than I didn’t want
him seeing a severed Batman head. And I’m not even one of those
weirdos (okay, Spellcheck just told me that “weirdoes” is the
proper way to spell that and I simply do not agree) that finds sex
more offensive or inappropriate than violence. I don’t think wither
one is particularly okay or children to see. But I certainly do not
want to have to explain to my son why Batgirl is sitting on a bed in
her panties fingering herself, you know?
But
there was also a lot of really neat stuff for Lil’ Troublemaker to
look at and I think it’s important for him to see and learn the
process behind art; as well as meet the people that make it. Whether
or not my son will have any talent or affinity for art remains to be
seen, but I want him raised in an environment that celebrates and
encourages artistic pursuits of any kind.
We
visited Lori Muffinface and Sarah at Third Half Studios and they let
Lil’ Troublemaker pick out some stuff. Lori tried to get a dance
out of him, but he doesn’t dance for girls the first time he meets
them. She still let him have a couple of buttons.
While
we were walking around one of the artists called out to us and asked
if Lil’ Troublemaker would like a really cool Superman print. He
ran over and grabbed it, thanking the guy. I also got a Wonder Woman
print out of the deal. I wish I had grabbed a business card, because
I’m not entirely sure who he was. I really dig his work, though.
Next
we did something I’m not sure I’ve ever even done before – we
visited the art room. Or whatever it’s called. The place where
there’s a bunch of really cool art that you want to take pictures
of but aren’t allowed to. Expensive
art. Art so pricey that people actually write down bids for it. I
feel sure I’ve gone into that place before, but I sure can’t
remember it. We had a great time looking around in there and ran into
Gnoll and Sarah Conner shortly after entering. And then again halfway
through. And again at the end. I’m pretty sure they were stalking
us.
The
reason I haven’t been in that particular area of Dragon*Con more is
that it’s easy to miss. It’s kind of off to the side of Artists’
Alley and doesn’t really draw a whole lot of attention to itself.
This is why I feel it is a huge mistake for the leather goods people
to be in there. Because guess what? This is where I found the guy
with cool wrist cuffs. As a matter of fact, he’s going to make some
custom ones for me with my logo on them, to my specifications. And I
never would have found (leather company) if we hadn’t decided at
the last minute to go in there.
We
bought a couple of prints in that room and just generally enjoyed
checking it out.
We
stopped by TheOneRing.net’s table on the way out to visit Rebecca,
who we had met at TimeGate.
Rebecca
told us about some shitheads (my word, not hers) that had vandalized
the table and stolen some shirts the very first night of Con. There
was this pipe over the table with some t-shirts hung on it for
display. TheOneRing.net folks had (understandably) thought that they
would be perfectly fine overnight. They were wrong. Upon returning
the next morning they discovered all of the stuff from their table
strewn across the Hyatt and the pipe knocked down. The t-shirts were
gone as well. It’s a shame to think anything like this would happen
at Dragon*Con, but I will say that incidents such as these are rare
and hopefully the tighter restrictions on badges and hotel keys this
year will continue on and improve things. More on that in a bit.
And
that was pretty much it. We headed back to the Troublemobile, paid
the absurd parking fee, and went home.
Wrap-Up
As
I stated in the first post of this lengthy recap, I wasn’t bummed
after Dragon*Con this year. I’m just stoked about next year.
Hanging out with all of my fellow ESO Network crew members was
awesome, as well as meeting Gary, Kevin, and Shaun from the American
Sci-Fi Track; who I hope to work with again sooner than later. I need
to check up on their podcast schedules.
As
far as the hotel staff and D*C Security checking badges and hotel
keys at all the major entrances all weekend – GREAT. Yeah, it might
have jammed things up a few times, but to me it was more than worth
it. I paid a lot of money for me and my family to go to Dragon*Con
and I don’t think just anybody should be able to walk in and enjoy
it. Not even just in the hotel lobbies. If you want to see some
costumes, you can either go to the parades or hang out outside. You
don’t get to come in and freeload.
I
can’t think of a whole lot of negatives this year other than my own
decision to go down Thursday night. The guy outside of wrestling that
told me there was no line obviously sucked, but I think that was
about it. I can’t fault DC*TVs audio problems too much, I’m sure
they were a lot more upset about that than I was.
I
said this on the podcast the other night, but I want to reiterate
again here:
I
am truly thankful to Mike Faber, Mike Gordon, and Bobby Nash (plus
everybody else at the ESO Network) for bringing me into their family.
A whole new world has opened up to me thanks to those guys and their
acceptance of me. Not only that, I just have a whole heck of a lot of
fun dorking out with them whenever I can. Having a crew of
like-minded geeks to convene with every week or so is more rewarding
than you can imagine. And having the support of creative and talented
individuals like that has given what I do here and elsewhere on the
internet a whole new depth of meaning and satisfaction.
All
of that good stuff went down this year and next year promises even
more. I’ve even got a couple of ideas for panels that I think would
be really good for next year. I’m just going to need to talk to a
couple of people to see if it’s something I could even manage with
my schedule.
We
talked about this one the ESO Dragon*Con podcasts, but I’d be
really hard-pressed to pick a favorite moment or event from this
year. The things I mentioned above were great and will certainly be
milestones in my career as Phantom Troublemaker, but honestly the
thing that meant the most to me was the Hooligans showing up for my
panels. They’re my family. Whether I was in front of thirty people
or thirty thousand people, those guys are the ones that matter.
Here’s
all the Dragon*Con-related stuff from the past couple of weeks, in
one spot for your convenience (not including the two weeks of pre-Con
posts):
Dragon*Con
2012 – ESO Podcast Episode (?) – Post-Con Report (not up yet - will update)
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Tomorrow
it’s back to business as usual, and then in just two weeks(!) “31
Days of Halloween” will begin! Where else will you find a whole
month of commentary on the SyFy Network’s viewing schedule?
-Phantom
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