Well,
these are the words I have been dreading to say for a while. Dragon
Con is over. We call an end to the 2014 convention. As previously
stated in my thoughts on Dragon Con here on Needless Things - this was
my first journey to the con in well over five years.
It
was safe to say that I was super excited and even danced my way into
the hotel room when I finally arrived Wednesday night. Yes, I said
Wednesday night because Wednesday is the new Thursday and Thursday is
the new Friday and so on.
Last
time I went to the con I believe I stood in the badge line for
upwards of five hours. Back then this was considered normal. So
Thursday morning I headed down at 10:00 in the morning to get my
badge. Upon arrival I was amazed that there was not a line. Sure,
there were people going in with me but as soon as we entered we were
dispersed to different counters with people there to help. I think I
may have waited 2 minutes for them to finish up with the person in
front of me. I prepaid for my ticket so that may have been a big
advantage for me.
The
best time I had was actually Thursday night, as there was a Buckets Of
Rum kick off party which was excellent. If you don’t know what the
now infamous Bucket Of Rum is, then you probably have never talked to
anybody from Dragon Con before. Over the past few years they have
become somewhat famous for making a good time even better. Most of my time was spent at the Hyatt bar listening to nerdy music
from the DJ.
Towards the end of Thursday night I made my way to a Ghostbusters
panel. That's right - there are now panels as early as Thursday before
the con even opens. Before I went to the con people told me that the
fan panels were fairly easy to get into. This year that was not the
case. There were a few panels that I was standing at the back of the
room. The Ghostbusters panel was jam packed and a great first panel
for me to go to. It was a fun discussion with knowledgeable people. I
did not try any panels that had celebrities as those were hours of
line waiting that I did not want to do. I did get to see some great
panels about LOST, Land Of The Lost, a 1984 Dice Roll panel (which
was amazingly fun) as well as a few others.
Overall
Thursday night was probably the most fun I had at the con and that
may or may not be the result of much alcohol consumption. I also met
some really cool people as well as being able to chat with Phantom
Troublemaker for a few minutes too.
I
sort of had a game plan for Friday which involved knocking out the
dealer room and Artists Alley. I didn’t feel the dealer room as
nightmarish as most people, but I did go first thing in the morning.
Once inside it turned into a bit of a maze, so it was hard to tell if
I had already been to a section. When I was ready to leave it was
nerve racking trying to find the exit but eventually I did get out
alive. I wish I would have bought a few things but I came to the
conclusion that I didn’t want anything bad enough. Although I sort
of regret not buying the Terminator (ReAction) figures because this
one dealer had all of them at a decent price. Also, there were Lego
Minifigures galore at this one dealer but I thought the prices were a
bit too high for me to support the fact that sets are being pieced out. But that's a whole other article.
Once
I finished there, I made my way over to the Artists Alley which was
fantastic. Lots of great talent gathered in that room to display
their abilities. There were two people I was specifically looking for
because they are nice guys and I like to buy their stuff. Jason
Flowers is an artist I met years ago and one I followed on MySpace,
but that should tell you that it's been a while. His art is both
affordable and wonderful. Lots of pop culture movie-style posters; and
if you like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles than you have to check this
guy out. He is one of the best at portraying the green guys and I
have too many originals and prints to name all of them. He did a Casey
Jones for me that is all sorts of awesome!
The
second was “Howdy” Michael Gordon from both the Earth Station One
Podcast and the writer/creator of the comic book Tiki Zombie. This is
a great book that I can best describe as almost like a Saturday
morning cartoon. It's got great and funny characters and artwork that
pops off the page. It's in black and white, but that is one of its best
qualities in my opinion. The series has two issues and I was told
that more issues should be coming in 2015 to celebrate Tiki Zombie's
5th year anniversary.
Friday
night had two events that I got to attend. Dragon Con Wrestling and
the Earth Station One Meet and Greet. The wrestling was a fun event
with commentary by our very own Phantom Troublemaker. It had some
cool surprises like an appearance by She Hulk and a tribute to
Ultimate Warrior with one of the wrestlers doing a great impression
of him. I stayed for about an hour and a half and then headed to the
ESO Meet and Greet. It was great to hang out with a group of people
that I listen to on a weekly basis. I got there a little late but had
some fun conversations despite the weather being a bit on the warm
side.
On Saturday
I spent a lot of time at a few panels and around five o' clock I had
to head back to reality. Apparently you can only spend so much time
away before the day job calls once again. I thought that the ride
back would be awful with me regretting leaving but oddly enough it
wasn't. Don't get me wrong - I was sad to go and wanted to stay but I
also felt complete at the same time. Even though Saturday night I
heard the parties were off the charts, I'm glad that at least I was
able to go for most of the weekend after such a long hiatus.
I
have heard many people complain that Dragon Con is getting too big. I
am not going to get into this debate, but I will say this - I had a
great time. Are there a lot of people? Yes. Absolutely. This being my
first Dragon Con in a while and it being nearly double the size since
last time, I sort of went in with a plan. I knew Saturday would be
crazy so I spent Friday doing the stuff that I knew would be insane.
I also wanted to do panels, which is something I did not do the last time I
attended. Plus, I got some good party time in meeting and conversing
with new people. Although I still don't know how to handle that
awkward lull that happens about 15 or 20 minutes into the
conversation. I'm sure I will figure that part out eventually.
The
best thing about Dragon Con for me is that I could absolutely be
myself with no questions asked. If I wanted to sort of dress up like
Bane, nobody looked at me weird. If I wanted to wear a shirt tied
around my waist (cuz thats what we did in the 90's, boys and girls)
then nobody was going to tell me that I looked like an idiot. They
might have thought it but chances are they were too busy having fun
and being even more dorky than I was.
On
a daily basis in the real world there is always this moment where I
feel out of place. Where other people look at me as if I don't fit
in. A laugh or a snicker or a simple “really?” can instantly make
me wish I was among my friends. By friends, I mean 65,000 people that
I don't know but if you have ever attended Dragon Con than you will
totally understand.
-R.T.
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