By Christina Sizemore
The shenanigans continue. Well, the milder variety, anyway. But hey, still cool DragonCon stuff regardless right? Time to wrap-up my DragonCon wrap-up, guys!
It was my
turn to speak again and this time it was on the Shipping The Heroes panel. I normally wouldn't be one to gush over
romance or relationships; I'm not very girly.
But sometimes you just have a thing or two to say on such matters,
especially if it relates to character development. This panel was outstanding. The audience got involved and I loved their
enthusiasm. The panelists had so many
variances in favorite/least favorite pairings and their effect on fandom
universes....it led to many great conversations and kept the flow so well
during that hour. We brought up
everything from Arrow to Smallville, Once Upon A Time to Flash. This panel was proof of why I love speaking
at DragonCon. You get on the right panel
and you have can have a lively conversation that everyone enjoys, is
lighthearted, raises excellent questions, and becomes something people want to
see again and again each year. It was an
excellent conversation topic that I hope comes back around for next year.
The
rest of our evening was spent checking out the gaming hall in
"Amerimart" Building 1. We
crashed there with our own gear after we ate dinner in Peachtree to play cards
all evening. We come equipped for
gaming; we even have our own gaming suitcase.
No joke. So we brought with us
that night several Magic decks, Firefly Tall Card, and We Didn't Playtest This
At All. Now, you all saw the
CoolStuffInc bags all around Con this year?
Well there is a reason. They are
freaking awesome. We saw someone in the
Dr. Horrible line with a copy of the best card game ever: Sushi
Go! They had bought it from the
CoolStuffInc booth, so my lovely husband snagged one on Saturday. This was one of the many games we dove into
Saturday night. My stinking teenager has
turned out to be a Sushi Go!
master and spent Saturday beating the crap out of us. She just sucks.
I
had planned as the evening neared 10 to leave and help out at Phantom's
legendary Dirty Dirty Con Con Game Game Show Show, however a massive
Cosplay malfunction befell my teen. Her gender
bend Jack Frost was fantastic... except that her sandals broke. Letting my child walk the streets of Atlanta
in bare feet? Heck no. So the evening was spent going in search of
gaffers tape from any DC store that had some to spare (volunteering there has its perks) so that could repair the show
at least temporarily until we could get back to the apartment. You can't win em' all I guess.
Sunday
was a day of hurry up and wait. We got
to the Con Suite early for breakfast, grabbed it and ran to get in line for the
Firefely Guests panel. We're a family of
dedicated Browncoats; my teen even had a Firefly themed birthday party complete
with Simon's crappy birthday cake. So
getting to sit in on Summer, Adam, and Sean made my normally peppy kid even
peppier (is that a word?) Time
afterwards was spent with card playing and eating in the Con Suite, killing
time and people watching a bit. That
went on until 3 when we went to the Westin to try out a new multi-player Star
Trek based game available on Steam called Artemis. My gosh....I think I fell in love with a computer simulator. Six stations are set up where each person takes
on a different role from the ship; Helm, Captain, Engineering, etc. Everyone works together to pilot the ship and
work together to complete a mission. It. Was.
Awesome. I highly encourage
everyone to buy it and give it a go. It
was the best gaming experience I have had in ages. My teen isn't even a Star Trek fan, but she
was begging to sign up for the next available slot to play again. Freaking epic!
We
left out Star Trek high to join in on some Gothic doom-and-gloom
frivolity. Going to Voltaire's Gothic
Homemaking web show panel was a Con highlight.
The husband and I have always LOVED Voltaire. He is a staple in our family, but our
daughter never really understood why until this panel. Our little Gothic teen now has a new Goth
hero. His web show is fantastic and will
be a cult fanaticism.
While
the husband went to a 3D Printing panel, the teen, myself, and a good friend of
ours went to the Whendonverse track for Whedonverse Family Feud. Questions about anything and everything Joss
did were asked...and they got hard. I wound up in the first game and wow, I'll be darned if my team didn't win the
first round. I scored a
card that gave immediate access to the next Guest panel out of the deal, which I gave to our
friend to get in to the S.H.I.E.L.D panel later. I love the gaming panels. They inspire audience involvement and are
always lively. And honestly the Whedonverse Track knows how to get their audiences involved and interested, laughing and just feeling like part of the group rather than people that are just listening.
Our
evening ended sadly with a search for a lost tablet- which luckily we found- but it took us away from
the Dr Who part that we had planned to hit after Family Feud. But that was alright
as we made up for it by seeing the Doctor's Wife the next morning when we met
Alex Kingston. Her panel was our first
hit Monday morning and she was so personable. Threw in
her own discussions toward the crowd, was so animated, and wasn't shy about any
questions. As wonderful as the
characters she plays. This was really
the only panel we saw on Monday as the rest of the day was spent with catching
more pics, Con Suite, snagging more time for cards, and getting last minute shopping in (such as nailing down time at the Cruxshadows booth.) The hubby and I had to report for volunteer
work to take down the DC stores so time was winding down. But as you can read from the many pages I
have gathered up here, the time we spent was far from productive.
This
Con isn't the type of place you go to for lounging by the pool to relax. It's a different kind of relaxing that
energizes you. You learn new things,
meet new people, get tons of exercise from all the walking, experience so
many wonderful sensations and even new skills that will cause you to actually walk away learning
new things about yourself. Twelve years
of DragonCon and it has ceased to get old.
I don't think that it ever will.
Christina Sizemore is trained in only four
things: writing, fighting, paranormal
investigating, and being a mom. At this
point in her life she truly feels that she is not qualified to attempt to learn
any new field. A twenty year martial
artist, mother of three, and writer who is working on the publication of her
first book titled “Finding Your Way: A Guide To Your Path In The Martial Arts,”
she spends her days working out, writing, making fanvids, going to DragonCon,
and playing board games/video games/out in the yard with her kids and husband
who are just as geeky as she is. She is
convinced that one day her skills will be of assistance in the Zombie
Apocalypse and that while she is of no use in the kitchen, she can Buffy that
zombie for ya or teach you the best way to get the blood stains out of your
clothes (Psst…the secret is mixing Crown Cleaner and Shout. Just sayin’.)
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