DragonCon 2008 Recap
I have received requests to post detailed info on my DCon weekend (oh so many weeks ago). Here it is, in all of its fangirly glory! LOL!
So here's the recap of DCon this year.
Thursday evening
Chikin arrives, much prepatory squee-age ensues.
We snagged food, talked about DCon, went to Wally World to grab me a messenger style bag, talked about DCon, you get the idea.
We also watched this video: Shopping with BillKa And giggled over the adorableness that is Bill Kaulitz. Chikin can make the exact "Brr" sound he makes when discussing what we assume is broccoli. She was very tolerant with me anytime I'd point at her & say "Quick do it!" She "brr"-ed every time. *squishes Chikin* We also giggled over the use of ool-tra and used THAT word quite frequently over the weekend.
Friday
Friday morning found us grabbing chikin-minis from Chick-Fil-A and heading down the interstate. I drove my faithful truck (lovinly named Vash the Stampede with my little Kuro Neko Sama kitty in the window) while Chikin looked over the info about the panels. I had highlighted several of interest (most of which we did not end up attending - lol) and we were discussing the merits of each. One panel offered was "Learning Elvish", to the best of my knowledge it is an actual language class on speaking Elvish. I pondered aloud whether or not they offered "German Elvish". Chikin cracked up. Tolkien rolled over in his grave.
The 2 1/2 hour drive flew by (even having to take I-20 instead of 75S the whole way - stupid construction) and we were there in no time. Mapquest came through for us and we found safe, CLOSE parking! YAY! It ended up costing us about $17 per day to park but we are two bitty females & weren't about to chance it to save a few dollars on parking!
DCon is hosted by three hotels (actually four this year), Hyatt, Marriott & Hilton are the three main hotels & they each span a block. Meaning you could go in the Hyatt on one side, come out on the other, cross the street, go immediately into the Marriott, come out on the other side, cross the street & go into the Hilton. However, the various entrances & exits are on different floors so it took us a bit to get our bearings and FIND the appropriate entrances & exits.
We went straight to the Hyatt which is the registration hotel. Lines were blissfully short which means we almost got motion sickness traveling quickly back & forth through the turnstiles set up for when the reg lines AREN'T short. We finally made it to the front & grabbed our badges. Total time - 15 min TOPS. Sure beats the three hours Chikin had to wait last year to get a badge at the door on Saturday. Note to people considering attending DCon. PREBUY YOUR BADGE! Even if you only want to attend one day, it is quicker & easier to pay for the whole con & just use the badge one day than to spend your only day at the con in line for a badge! Trust me! People were sending runners to go snag lunch & stuff for them last year. It is BAD!
After registration we went straight to the Hilton which was hosting the celeb photos & the Walk of Fame. For those of you who have never attended the con, the Walk of Fame is a room full of tables setup for actors & actresses to sign autographs - very cool! Even if you don't get an autograph you can say "I was in the same room as **insert squee-able actor(ess) here**." Most of the actors & actresses charge for their autographs but the prices are fairly reasonable considering the fact that you get to stand two feet from your idol & possibly shake their hand, maybe even chat for a minute. Also, many of the authors who attend do not charge for their sigs. YAY WRITERS!!
We arrived at the Hilton & quickly found the line for the celeb photos. You can prebuy your ticket & then just show up at the appointed time. Last year I got a pic with the Phelps Twins & Matthew Lewis. Of course, when telling that story I always have to say -- I. TOUCHED. FRED!?!?
Okay, back to DCon. So we stood in line & people watched for a bit and finally got to the head of the line. Ravenclaws that we are, we had studied the photo schedules religiously and already knew exactly what we wanted. It was $50 for a photo with Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk and then $30 for one with Michael Rosenbaum. Depending on your level of obsessiveness about the person, sometimes it is fine to just get their autograph, but with the pics you can say, "That is me standing beside Lex Luthor. I MET him!" It is firm proof to all of your skeptical friends that you didn't spend the weekend at home buying autographed items from eBay. LOL!
Also a word to the wise for people considering photos - if your person has already done photos at the con, you might want to look @ what they're wearing just in case. If you're a HUGE fan, it won't matter but if you're on the fence about a pic, it might make a difference to you if they're wearing a backwards ballcap and/or looking kinda stoned through pics they've already stood for. Just sayin.
By the time we had our photo tickets the Walk of Fame was open so we made a quick circuit just to see the layout. Nathan & Alan were there signing stuff but the line was kinda long so we decided to wait. We wandered for a bit & regrouped after the initial "OMG GET OUR BADGES GET OUR PHOTO TICKETS" spasm had worn off. I'll tell ya, the mini-guide is invaluable at the con. It has panel info, maps, info about where the actors are going to be at given times, etc. Very useful stuff!
About 20 mins before our scheduled pic with Nathan & Alan we got in line. The photos have been done (at least the last few years) by Froggy's Photos and they do great work. My sister-in-law took a Buffy cruise a few years ago & got to meet & chat with Froggy. She says he's a great guy.
Nathan came through yelling & whooping it up (so adorable). Alan was more reserved with his sunglasses & Starbucks but he gave a little shout out before they went into the photo room. We diligently separated into the appropriate lines (technically you could do pics with just one or the other so they sorted us out a bit) and shuffled forward. They told us we couldn't take our bags in the room which was a little upsetting but things were going quickly and there was a pile o' stuff in one corner so we hesitantly left our bags, making sure we had IDs and moolah on us, and went in for our pic. A few people in front of us, a lady had one of the hoveround type vehicles. She stood for her photo with the boys though. Well, after her photo Nathan sprints over, grabs a chair, gently helps her sit in it, jumps on her hoveround & takes off out of the room. Alan was right behind him with a camera. You could hear the people in line outside yelling as I'm sure he was doing donuts in the hall or something. He came WHIZZING back in the room & had to turn down the power before he gave it back to her. We were all cracking up!!! I need to see if there is any footage of the debacle on YouTube. Chikin, being unable to turn off the attorney switch, rattled off a few quick liability issues with that whole scenario but we still giggled insanely over it.
When it was my turn to take my photo Nathan extended his hand, introduced himself, asked my name, introduced me to Alan. It was very sweet considering the whole process goes very quickly and you hardly get to say hello sometimes. I grinned wildly for my pic standing between the two of them. Afterward Nathan looked down at me & said, "Wow, you're tiny!" Which is true since I'm 5'1" MAYBE. I grinned & agreed & then my turn was over. I exited the room, grabbed my bag & Chikin's & waited for her. She exited & we made it a considerable distance from the line before we collapsed against one another giggling and exchanging tales of our five seconds with 'the boys'.
After that high wore off a bit we decided to see if anyone new was in the Walk of Fame before we went to grab a bite to eat. It was fairly sparse (at least as far as the folks we were looking for) but Michael Rosenbaum (aka Lex Luthor from Smallville aka Edina from Sorority Boys - lol) was there and so was Vic Mignogna. We went to Michael's table first as there was no line. The autographs were $25 (very reasonable) but still, I was so... intimidated. I mean he was a nice guy & all but how often do you approach someone you're kind of in awe of & just strike up a conversation? And since he didn't have a line I couldn't very well say, "Crazy day, huh?" or something to that effect. So I just said the photos were lovely, picked the one I wanted, shook his hand, spelled my name (people always want to give me too many 'n's and not enough vowels) and stepped aside. Needless to say, I felt like an IDIOT. I wish there was some way to convey the fact that (a) I'm a huge fan but (b) not a CREEPY fan. Although, it's not like he could ever pick me out of a crowd & say, "That's the bumbling one!" Chikin said something about the fact that he has hair now & I think he replied with, "Yea, but does it look good?"
My self-esteem needed a boost so we went to Vic Mignogna's table. Vic is the voice actor who does the English voice of Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist, among other things. He's also going to do the voice of Tamaki from Ouran High School Host Club. *insert ridiculously excited fangirl squee here* If you ever get a chance to meet Vic, DO IT! He is one of the nicest, most sincere men I've ever met. He absolutely loves what he does and he adores all of his fans. So naturally I squealed "TAMAKI!" and hugged him when I walked up. *grin* We chatted about Ouran & the fact that I'll also be seeing him at AWA this year. I bought one of his CDs since he is a very talented singer as well. He signed the CD, and an Ouran card, and my autograph book -- all for free. YAY for humble voice actors! LOL!
As we were leaving we realized that Mickey Dolenz from The Monkees was at his table so we jumped in line for Chikin to get her compilation set signed. As we were waiting, I noticed my sister-in-law standing not ten feet behind Chikin just sorta scoping the place. I eased Chikin between my line of sight & her & told Chikin who it was. Now, my SIL is a nice enough girl but she tends to be a hair self-absorbed and any story you have, she has a better one. Since Chikin & I were going for a Cow (that's me) & Chikin ZOMGSQUEE weekend, we really didn't want to hear HER stories. A bit mean perhaps, but there you go. The fact that we got wide-eyed, spoke in the 'lips barely moving' manner, and adjusted ourselves very specifically in line clued in our fellow line-mates that something was up and one of the older gentlemen behind us (who was quite a bit taller than both of us) said, "You're hiding from someone." I looked up & grinned & said, "It's just my sister-in-law, it's no big deal." Well by then she'd wandered off so we continued through the line. Just as Chikin was getting her autograph, the gentleman leaned down to me again & said, "You've been spotted." I turned my head and sure enough there was the SIL. I cracked up laughing & thanked him for the heads up. So sweet!
Once Chikin was done we chatted with the SIL for a second wherein she complained about parking & the distance of the con from her hotel & etc. (She really reminds me of Eeyore most days.) About that time her phone rang & she started in on a conversation about parking with someone else. We waited for a bit but when it looked like she wasn't going to be done anytime soon, we gestured that we were going to eat & split.
We went to a nearby mall to eat, giggling over how crazy the mall patrons looked considering the fact that most of them were from the con & in full con regalia. Everything from comic book characters to movie characters to random costumed folks. I have a picture of a guy dressed as Mario from Super Mario Bros. eating with a guy in chainmail -- where else do you see stuff like that? LOL!
After we re-energized with food, we decided to check out the exhibitor halls, which are in the Marriott. (They have exhibitor halls & dealer rooms -- don't ask me to explain the difference as both of them sell stuff. All in all, I prefer the stuff the exhibitor halls sell, but that's just me.) I bought a costume / Pieceworks card of one of the costumes Jensen Ackles wore when he was on Smallville. I love Pieceworks cards as they are (allegedly) pieces of the actual costume the person wore. It was nice because the Smallville card was $20 while a Supernatural card signed by him was $150. Yea, love him & all but gotta go with the cheap. In another exhibitor hall (there were two) we found various pins/buttons (such a pin addict) and a whole section of 8 x 10 photos of various actors as themselves & playing their various characters. I bought one of Lucius Malfoy that I one day hope to get Jason Isaacs to sign. (Riiiight.) I also found a pic of Michael Rosenbaum, Tom Welling, Jensen Ackles & Jared Padalecki... and some blonde chick that I'd give about a million dollars to BE in that pic!!!! (And oh the slash fodder THAT foursome creates!!) For my Joe I purchased a pic of Jensen Ackles shirtless in a cowboy hat. Chikin says I went about ten shades of red when I found it. But who can blame me, I was casually flipping through - "Regular pic, regular pic, regular pic, pic of Ackles in what looks like the opener for a Playgirl spread" - the ideas & images that ran through my head in that instant were too many to count or name! Hahaha!! Google: Jensen Ackles cowboy -- yea, THAT one! Now you see what I mean!
As we were exploring and discussing the fact that one day we will own & wear corsets - and make them look GOOD, not like scary boob shelves, my friend B-chan called. I told him that we were in one of the dealer rooms (DOH - it was an exhibitor room). We looked around a bit more waiting for him to find us & I offered to sell his soul to a vendor in exchange for an autographed photo of someone, don't remember who now. Finally we realized, through various phone calls, that we weren't in the same places. So we exited the exhibitor halls & waited for him to finally find us. Which he did & we chatted for a bit. I love B-chan because I can glomp him without worrying that Zbra (hubby) will get upset or that B-chan will take it the wrong way. B-chan loves me because I'm shorter than him & because I point out half-naked chicks. It's a nice, symbiotic relationship really.
The time for our Michael Rosembaum pics was drawing near so we said good-bye to B-chan & headed back to the Hilton. We picked up our Nathan / Alan pics and giggled accordingly. Then we waited in line, enjoyed Ray Park's lovely arse as he walked by, even though he's kinda short. I prefer taller guys but being so short myself, that isn't a hard feat to accomplish. Chikin likes TALLER guys and fretted that Michael wasn't going to, haha, measure up. We were part of the first few in the door for the Michael pics - woo! The woman in front of me was an older lady and she just wrapped her arms around Michael's waist. Which kinda made him freeze for a second like, "Um, okay, not used to THIS." Once her pic was done she whispered something to him and his eyes went as wide as saucers. He immediately started saying, "Can I tell them what you said?" He then approached Froggy and told him. It sounded like, "I know what you do." or maybe, "I can take care of you." something kinky. Anyway, I was next so when I walked up & kinda laughed & said, "I don't know if I can compete with her." Without missing a beat, Rosenbaum looks down at me & says, "You can try." ... And Byaghro falls over dead. Okay I didn't, and I didn't grab him & snog him, or set up a date for later. All of which ran through my head AFTER the fact. Which is just as well since I doubt Zbra would have appreciated that. Heh. But he also didn't say, "Hey! You're the bumbling one from earlier." So it's all good.
Once Chikin got done, I told her what happened & she was actually the one to suggest, "Hey, hotel bar, 10pm good for you?" That little encounter with Michael is what, finally, got the "OMG that really just happened" nerves going. Last year it was meeting the Phelps twins. -- We fidgeted through the line, shook their hands, got their autos, got Matthew Lewis' auto, made it ten steps from the tables... and had a nervous breakdown. We had to go sit down, wherein we proceeded to shake like leaves and speak in nervous giggles for about ten minutes. LOL!
After all of THAT excitement we decided to call it a day. We went back to our hotel - which was a considerable distance from the con but is a hotel I know & trust, namely the hotel they host AWA in. We got checked in, went to our rooms & had a squealing fit!!! Much jumping, screaming, & shouting of "WE DID IT! WE DID IT!" ensued. Once THAT was out of our systems we decided we were too zonked to go anywhere to eat so we looked at the hotel food options. A couple of the restaurants were too pricey but one seemed reasonable. We went down to the lobby only to discover that the restaurant closes right after lunch. WTF? We said 'screw it', went back to our room & ordered room service. The food was good, expensive too but we got a lot for the price so... eh. It was supposed to be a crazy girls' weekend, we decided to live a little.
I pulled the various & sundry pics I'd taken off of my camera and we discussed which panels we wanted to attempt to attend on Saturday. (Yes, I made a detailed list, Ravenclaw, sue me. LOL!) The only big one was the Smallville panel with Michael Rosenbaum. Oh, and did I mention that the day was FRAUGHT with wandering past celebrities? We saw Lou Ferringo, Grant Wilson from Ghost Hunters, James Marsters (who is super short by the way), etc. Chikin recognizes these people, I am generally clueless. (And also way to lazy to link all of those peeps, it's called Wikipedia, use it. LOL!)
So with all of that done, we drifted to sleep with visions of delicious actors dancing in our heads.
Saturday
On Saturday we got up, made our way to the con, parked in the great parking garage again & wandered in to find foodage. We grabbed muffins from a hotel breakfast shop & sat outside to eat them. And oh how lucky we were to do that! The Walk of Fame wasn't open yet but it was in the building we were sitting outside of. We saw Nathan, Alan, Gareth David-Lloyd, Matthew Lewis, etc. etc. it was LOVERLY! We decided then & there to go straight to the Walk of Fame instead of trying to watch the parade.
If you've never seen the parade, you really need to watch it on Saturday morning. You'll see zombies, Halo characters, Harry Potter characters, LOTR, Star Trek, Star Wars including the 501st, which that in itself is a sight to behold, Spartans, etc. Because we're both short (and therefore have a hard time muscling through to a good spot to watch the parade) and because we'd both seen it before, we decided to go get our Nathan & Alan autos while everyone else was at the parade. It was PERFECT! There were virtually NO lines!!! WOO!!! We got Nathan & Alan. Of course they didn't remember us but considering the sheer volume of people they'd been exposed to that weekend, who expected them to? I got Matthew Lewis's auto again, mainly because he didn't have a line & it was cheaper this year than it was last year. That child is such a sweetie! I also got Gareth David-Lloyd's auto for myself and for my Joe! YAY! Then Chikin & I stood & debated getting Sean Astin's autograph. We finally succumbed because his line was short. He's a really nice guy and I'm glad we did it. Although when I shook his hand, part of me was thinking, "You've touched Legolas and Frodo and Aragorn! Which means I'm touching them by proxy! WOO!!!!" *iz dork*
After that fun experience we went to the ACTUAL dealer room and wandered. On our way there we got caught up in the end of the parade crush and got to see a lot of the parade costumes without having to stand on a street corner to watch them go by. Yay! We bought a few things in the dealer rooms that we really didn't need but convinced ourselves we couldn't live with out. You know, typical con mania. LOL! We then got lunch from people associated with the con who were selling pizza & hot dogs & such. B-chan called & we met up with him to see his costume. He came as Irresponsible Captain Tylor. The costume was very good and he looked cute in it. *squishes B-chan*
We messed about for a bit longer then went to get in line for the Michael Rosenbaum panel. We got there an hour early and we weren't the first ones in line! B-chan said he stood for quite some time the day before to get into the Nathan / Alan panel but he managed to get in & get a good seat. We got good seats for the Rosenbaum panel & had a blast. He's such a funny, ADD guy! And he had a buddy there with him who he introduced as his writing partner. People got to line up & ask him questions about his work, Smallville stuff, future stuff, etc. Someone asked him to do the "Kneel before Zod" line. Which he said he hated but then gamely did for her. After that he'd randomly tell people asking questions to kneel, all of whom did. LOL! He also wandered the crowd and while I don't remember the setup, he asked this one young girl if she remembered 'Happy Days', which she didn't. So he told her to say 'happy days' when he pointed at her. He then sang, "Sunday, Monday" *point* *deadpan from the girl* "Happy days." He did that several times, amusing himself to no end because the kid's inflection never changed. It was hysterical.
We exited the panel once it was over & decided to go to the art show. Now they have an artist's alley and an art show. The art show is where professional artists display their work & where amateur artists put items in to be bid on & possibly auctioned. The work is AMAZING & I could drop a paycheck in there because I'm a total sucker for art!! (Artists on my flist, if you ever offer commissions, hit me up, I typically can't resist!!) They also have an artist's alley which is more fanart stuff. However, that is also where you can get commissions done so I could spend a ton there too. The artist's alley at AWA is very centrally located and I always come away with tons of buttons & postcards & just stuff done by the artists there. SUPPORT BUDDING ARTISTS! WOO!!
Sooo, we head to the art show & right before we go in, I decide to put my camera away. As I'm doing that I realize, I've lost my con badge. I had it on a clip and part of me KNEW I should have purchased a lanyard for it but I didn't. So I retraced my steps EVERYWHERE and couldn't find it. Finally we tracked down who to ask about lost badges (security as it turns out) and I put my name down for having lost my badge. My only option was to stand in line for another badge & pay full price, which would only be refunded to me if they found my original. At that point it was late in the day on Saturday and there wasn't anything, besides the Firefly panel, that we REALLY wanted to do so we decided to call it a day. I felt so bad that Chikin got cheated out of the Firefly panel but she swore it was all good. We called B-chan & let him know what happened & then headed to our hotel.
After we'd detoxed for a bit, we went & found a Mexican restaurant so we could drown our sorrows in salsa. When we got back to the hotel I downloaded my new pics to the laptop and we went to bed. The next morning we slept in. When we got up I hadn't heard from the Con folks so we just decided to check out & go home.
All in all it was a GREAT con and I hope that someone found my badge & was able to get their girlfriend in for the day or something.
So, that's my endless rambling tale of DragonCon 2008!
So here's the recap of DCon this year.
Thursday evening
Chikin arrives, much prepatory squee-age ensues.
We snagged food, talked about DCon, went to Wally World to grab me a messenger style bag, talked about DCon, you get the idea.
We also watched this video: Shopping with BillKa And giggled over the adorableness that is Bill Kaulitz. Chikin can make the exact "Brr" sound he makes when discussing what we assume is broccoli. She was very tolerant with me anytime I'd point at her & say "Quick do it!" She "brr"-ed every time. *squishes Chikin* We also giggled over the use of ool-tra and used THAT word quite frequently over the weekend.
Friday
Friday morning found us grabbing chikin-minis from Chick-Fil-A and heading down the interstate. I drove my faithful truck (lovinly named Vash the Stampede with my little Kuro Neko Sama kitty in the window) while Chikin looked over the info about the panels. I had highlighted several of interest (most of which we did not end up attending - lol) and we were discussing the merits of each. One panel offered was "Learning Elvish", to the best of my knowledge it is an actual language class on speaking Elvish. I pondered aloud whether or not they offered "German Elvish". Chikin cracked up. Tolkien rolled over in his grave.
The 2 1/2 hour drive flew by (even having to take I-20 instead of 75S the whole way - stupid construction) and we were there in no time. Mapquest came through for us and we found safe, CLOSE parking! YAY! It ended up costing us about $17 per day to park but we are two bitty females & weren't about to chance it to save a few dollars on parking!
DCon is hosted by three hotels (actually four this year), Hyatt, Marriott & Hilton are the three main hotels & they each span a block. Meaning you could go in the Hyatt on one side, come out on the other, cross the street, go immediately into the Marriott, come out on the other side, cross the street & go into the Hilton. However, the various entrances & exits are on different floors so it took us a bit to get our bearings and FIND the appropriate entrances & exits.
We went straight to the Hyatt which is the registration hotel. Lines were blissfully short which means we almost got motion sickness traveling quickly back & forth through the turnstiles set up for when the reg lines AREN'T short. We finally made it to the front & grabbed our badges. Total time - 15 min TOPS. Sure beats the three hours Chikin had to wait last year to get a badge at the door on Saturday. Note to people considering attending DCon. PREBUY YOUR BADGE! Even if you only want to attend one day, it is quicker & easier to pay for the whole con & just use the badge one day than to spend your only day at the con in line for a badge! Trust me! People were sending runners to go snag lunch & stuff for them last year. It is BAD!
After registration we went straight to the Hilton which was hosting the celeb photos & the Walk of Fame. For those of you who have never attended the con, the Walk of Fame is a room full of tables setup for actors & actresses to sign autographs - very cool! Even if you don't get an autograph you can say "I was in the same room as **insert squee-able actor(ess) here**." Most of the actors & actresses charge for their autographs but the prices are fairly reasonable considering the fact that you get to stand two feet from your idol & possibly shake their hand, maybe even chat for a minute. Also, many of the authors who attend do not charge for their sigs. YAY WRITERS!!
We arrived at the Hilton & quickly found the line for the celeb photos. You can prebuy your ticket & then just show up at the appointed time. Last year I got a pic with the Phelps Twins & Matthew Lewis. Of course, when telling that story I always have to say -- I. TOUCHED. FRED!?!?
Okay, back to DCon. So we stood in line & people watched for a bit and finally got to the head of the line. Ravenclaws that we are, we had studied the photo schedules religiously and already knew exactly what we wanted. It was $50 for a photo with Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk and then $30 for one with Michael Rosenbaum. Depending on your level of obsessiveness about the person, sometimes it is fine to just get their autograph, but with the pics you can say, "That is me standing beside Lex Luthor. I MET him!" It is firm proof to all of your skeptical friends that you didn't spend the weekend at home buying autographed items from eBay. LOL!
Also a word to the wise for people considering photos - if your person has already done photos at the con, you might want to look @ what they're wearing just in case. If you're a HUGE fan, it won't matter but if you're on the fence about a pic, it might make a difference to you if they're wearing a backwards ballcap and/or looking kinda stoned through pics they've already stood for. Just sayin.
By the time we had our photo tickets the Walk of Fame was open so we made a quick circuit just to see the layout. Nathan & Alan were there signing stuff but the line was kinda long so we decided to wait. We wandered for a bit & regrouped after the initial "OMG GET OUR BADGES GET OUR PHOTO TICKETS" spasm had worn off. I'll tell ya, the mini-guide is invaluable at the con. It has panel info, maps, info about where the actors are going to be at given times, etc. Very useful stuff!
About 20 mins before our scheduled pic with Nathan & Alan we got in line. The photos have been done (at least the last few years) by Froggy's Photos and they do great work. My sister-in-law took a Buffy cruise a few years ago & got to meet & chat with Froggy. She says he's a great guy.
Nathan came through yelling & whooping it up (so adorable). Alan was more reserved with his sunglasses & Starbucks but he gave a little shout out before they went into the photo room. We diligently separated into the appropriate lines (technically you could do pics with just one or the other so they sorted us out a bit) and shuffled forward. They told us we couldn't take our bags in the room which was a little upsetting but things were going quickly and there was a pile o' stuff in one corner so we hesitantly left our bags, making sure we had IDs and moolah on us, and went in for our pic. A few people in front of us, a lady had one of the hoveround type vehicles. She stood for her photo with the boys though. Well, after her photo Nathan sprints over, grabs a chair, gently helps her sit in it, jumps on her hoveround & takes off out of the room. Alan was right behind him with a camera. You could hear the people in line outside yelling as I'm sure he was doing donuts in the hall or something. He came WHIZZING back in the room & had to turn down the power before he gave it back to her. We were all cracking up!!! I need to see if there is any footage of the debacle on YouTube. Chikin, being unable to turn off the attorney switch, rattled off a few quick liability issues with that whole scenario but we still giggled insanely over it.
When it was my turn to take my photo Nathan extended his hand, introduced himself, asked my name, introduced me to Alan. It was very sweet considering the whole process goes very quickly and you hardly get to say hello sometimes. I grinned wildly for my pic standing between the two of them. Afterward Nathan looked down at me & said, "Wow, you're tiny!" Which is true since I'm 5'1" MAYBE. I grinned & agreed & then my turn was over. I exited the room, grabbed my bag & Chikin's & waited for her. She exited & we made it a considerable distance from the line before we collapsed against one another giggling and exchanging tales of our five seconds with 'the boys'.
After that high wore off a bit we decided to see if anyone new was in the Walk of Fame before we went to grab a bite to eat. It was fairly sparse (at least as far as the folks we were looking for) but Michael Rosenbaum (aka Lex Luthor from Smallville aka Edina from Sorority Boys - lol) was there and so was Vic Mignogna. We went to Michael's table first as there was no line. The autographs were $25 (very reasonable) but still, I was so... intimidated. I mean he was a nice guy & all but how often do you approach someone you're kind of in awe of & just strike up a conversation? And since he didn't have a line I couldn't very well say, "Crazy day, huh?" or something to that effect. So I just said the photos were lovely, picked the one I wanted, shook his hand, spelled my name (people always want to give me too many 'n's and not enough vowels) and stepped aside. Needless to say, I felt like an IDIOT. I wish there was some way to convey the fact that (a) I'm a huge fan but (b) not a CREEPY fan. Although, it's not like he could ever pick me out of a crowd & say, "That's the bumbling one!" Chikin said something about the fact that he has hair now & I think he replied with, "Yea, but does it look good?"
My self-esteem needed a boost so we went to Vic Mignogna's table. Vic is the voice actor who does the English voice of Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist, among other things. He's also going to do the voice of Tamaki from Ouran High School Host Club. *insert ridiculously excited fangirl squee here* If you ever get a chance to meet Vic, DO IT! He is one of the nicest, most sincere men I've ever met. He absolutely loves what he does and he adores all of his fans. So naturally I squealed "TAMAKI!" and hugged him when I walked up. *grin* We chatted about Ouran & the fact that I'll also be seeing him at AWA this year. I bought one of his CDs since he is a very talented singer as well. He signed the CD, and an Ouran card, and my autograph book -- all for free. YAY for humble voice actors! LOL!
As we were leaving we realized that Mickey Dolenz from The Monkees was at his table so we jumped in line for Chikin to get her compilation set signed. As we were waiting, I noticed my sister-in-law standing not ten feet behind Chikin just sorta scoping the place. I eased Chikin between my line of sight & her & told Chikin who it was. Now, my SIL is a nice enough girl but she tends to be a hair self-absorbed and any story you have, she has a better one. Since Chikin & I were going for a Cow (that's me) & Chikin ZOMGSQUEE weekend, we really didn't want to hear HER stories. A bit mean perhaps, but there you go. The fact that we got wide-eyed, spoke in the 'lips barely moving' manner, and adjusted ourselves very specifically in line clued in our fellow line-mates that something was up and one of the older gentlemen behind us (who was quite a bit taller than both of us) said, "You're hiding from someone." I looked up & grinned & said, "It's just my sister-in-law, it's no big deal." Well by then she'd wandered off so we continued through the line. Just as Chikin was getting her autograph, the gentleman leaned down to me again & said, "You've been spotted." I turned my head and sure enough there was the SIL. I cracked up laughing & thanked him for the heads up. So sweet!
Once Chikin was done we chatted with the SIL for a second wherein she complained about parking & the distance of the con from her hotel & etc. (She really reminds me of Eeyore most days.) About that time her phone rang & she started in on a conversation about parking with someone else. We waited for a bit but when it looked like she wasn't going to be done anytime soon, we gestured that we were going to eat & split.
We went to a nearby mall to eat, giggling over how crazy the mall patrons looked considering the fact that most of them were from the con & in full con regalia. Everything from comic book characters to movie characters to random costumed folks. I have a picture of a guy dressed as Mario from Super Mario Bros. eating with a guy in chainmail -- where else do you see stuff like that? LOL!
After we re-energized with food, we decided to check out the exhibitor halls, which are in the Marriott. (They have exhibitor halls & dealer rooms -- don't ask me to explain the difference as both of them sell stuff. All in all, I prefer the stuff the exhibitor halls sell, but that's just me.) I bought a costume / Pieceworks card of one of the costumes Jensen Ackles wore when he was on Smallville. I love Pieceworks cards as they are (allegedly) pieces of the actual costume the person wore. It was nice because the Smallville card was $20 while a Supernatural card signed by him was $150. Yea, love him & all but gotta go with the cheap. In another exhibitor hall (there were two) we found various pins/buttons (such a pin addict) and a whole section of 8 x 10 photos of various actors as themselves & playing their various characters. I bought one of Lucius Malfoy that I one day hope to get Jason Isaacs to sign. (Riiiight.) I also found a pic of Michael Rosenbaum, Tom Welling, Jensen Ackles & Jared Padalecki... and some blonde chick that I'd give about a million dollars to BE in that pic!!!! (And oh the slash fodder THAT foursome creates!!) For my Joe I purchased a pic of Jensen Ackles shirtless in a cowboy hat. Chikin says I went about ten shades of red when I found it. But who can blame me, I was casually flipping through - "Regular pic, regular pic, regular pic, pic of Ackles in what looks like the opener for a Playgirl spread" - the ideas & images that ran through my head in that instant were too many to count or name! Hahaha!! Google: Jensen Ackles cowboy -- yea, THAT one! Now you see what I mean!
As we were exploring and discussing the fact that one day we will own & wear corsets - and make them look GOOD, not like scary boob shelves, my friend B-chan called. I told him that we were in one of the dealer rooms (DOH - it was an exhibitor room). We looked around a bit more waiting for him to find us & I offered to sell his soul to a vendor in exchange for an autographed photo of someone, don't remember who now. Finally we realized, through various phone calls, that we weren't in the same places. So we exited the exhibitor halls & waited for him to finally find us. Which he did & we chatted for a bit. I love B-chan because I can glomp him without worrying that Zbra (hubby) will get upset or that B-chan will take it the wrong way. B-chan loves me because I'm shorter than him & because I point out half-naked chicks. It's a nice, symbiotic relationship really.
The time for our Michael Rosembaum pics was drawing near so we said good-bye to B-chan & headed back to the Hilton. We picked up our Nathan / Alan pics and giggled accordingly. Then we waited in line, enjoyed Ray Park's lovely arse as he walked by, even though he's kinda short. I prefer taller guys but being so short myself, that isn't a hard feat to accomplish. Chikin likes TALLER guys and fretted that Michael wasn't going to, haha, measure up. We were part of the first few in the door for the Michael pics - woo! The woman in front of me was an older lady and she just wrapped her arms around Michael's waist. Which kinda made him freeze for a second like, "Um, okay, not used to THIS." Once her pic was done she whispered something to him and his eyes went as wide as saucers. He immediately started saying, "Can I tell them what you said?" He then approached Froggy and told him. It sounded like, "I know what you do." or maybe, "I can take care of you." something kinky. Anyway, I was next so when I walked up & kinda laughed & said, "I don't know if I can compete with her." Without missing a beat, Rosenbaum looks down at me & says, "You can try." ... And Byaghro falls over dead. Okay I didn't, and I didn't grab him & snog him, or set up a date for later. All of which ran through my head AFTER the fact. Which is just as well since I doubt Zbra would have appreciated that. Heh. But he also didn't say, "Hey! You're the bumbling one from earlier." So it's all good.
Once Chikin got done, I told her what happened & she was actually the one to suggest, "Hey, hotel bar, 10pm good for you?" That little encounter with Michael is what, finally, got the "OMG that really just happened" nerves going. Last year it was meeting the Phelps twins. -- We fidgeted through the line, shook their hands, got their autos, got Matthew Lewis' auto, made it ten steps from the tables... and had a nervous breakdown. We had to go sit down, wherein we proceeded to shake like leaves and speak in nervous giggles for about ten minutes. LOL!
After all of THAT excitement we decided to call it a day. We went back to our hotel - which was a considerable distance from the con but is a hotel I know & trust, namely the hotel they host AWA in. We got checked in, went to our rooms & had a squealing fit!!! Much jumping, screaming, & shouting of "WE DID IT! WE DID IT!" ensued. Once THAT was out of our systems we decided we were too zonked to go anywhere to eat so we looked at the hotel food options. A couple of the restaurants were too pricey but one seemed reasonable. We went down to the lobby only to discover that the restaurant closes right after lunch. WTF? We said 'screw it', went back to our room & ordered room service. The food was good, expensive too but we got a lot for the price so... eh. It was supposed to be a crazy girls' weekend, we decided to live a little.
I pulled the various & sundry pics I'd taken off of my camera and we discussed which panels we wanted to attempt to attend on Saturday. (Yes, I made a detailed list, Ravenclaw, sue me. LOL!) The only big one was the Smallville panel with Michael Rosenbaum. Oh, and did I mention that the day was FRAUGHT with wandering past celebrities? We saw Lou Ferringo, Grant Wilson from Ghost Hunters, James Marsters (who is super short by the way), etc. Chikin recognizes these people, I am generally clueless. (And also way to lazy to link all of those peeps, it's called Wikipedia, use it. LOL!)
So with all of that done, we drifted to sleep with visions of delicious actors dancing in our heads.
Saturday
On Saturday we got up, made our way to the con, parked in the great parking garage again & wandered in to find foodage. We grabbed muffins from a hotel breakfast shop & sat outside to eat them. And oh how lucky we were to do that! The Walk of Fame wasn't open yet but it was in the building we were sitting outside of. We saw Nathan, Alan, Gareth David-Lloyd, Matthew Lewis, etc. etc. it was LOVERLY! We decided then & there to go straight to the Walk of Fame instead of trying to watch the parade.
If you've never seen the parade, you really need to watch it on Saturday morning. You'll see zombies, Halo characters, Harry Potter characters, LOTR, Star Trek, Star Wars including the 501st, which that in itself is a sight to behold, Spartans, etc. Because we're both short (and therefore have a hard time muscling through to a good spot to watch the parade) and because we'd both seen it before, we decided to go get our Nathan & Alan autos while everyone else was at the parade. It was PERFECT! There were virtually NO lines!!! WOO!!! We got Nathan & Alan. Of course they didn't remember us but considering the sheer volume of people they'd been exposed to that weekend, who expected them to? I got Matthew Lewis's auto again, mainly because he didn't have a line & it was cheaper this year than it was last year. That child is such a sweetie! I also got Gareth David-Lloyd's auto for myself and for my Joe! YAY! Then Chikin & I stood & debated getting Sean Astin's autograph. We finally succumbed because his line was short. He's a really nice guy and I'm glad we did it. Although when I shook his hand, part of me was thinking, "You've touched Legolas and Frodo and Aragorn! Which means I'm touching them by proxy! WOO!!!!" *iz dork*
After that fun experience we went to the ACTUAL dealer room and wandered. On our way there we got caught up in the end of the parade crush and got to see a lot of the parade costumes without having to stand on a street corner to watch them go by. Yay! We bought a few things in the dealer rooms that we really didn't need but convinced ourselves we couldn't live with out. You know, typical con mania. LOL! We then got lunch from people associated with the con who were selling pizza & hot dogs & such. B-chan called & we met up with him to see his costume. He came as Irresponsible Captain Tylor. The costume was very good and he looked cute in it. *squishes B-chan*
We messed about for a bit longer then went to get in line for the Michael Rosenbaum panel. We got there an hour early and we weren't the first ones in line! B-chan said he stood for quite some time the day before to get into the Nathan / Alan panel but he managed to get in & get a good seat. We got good seats for the Rosenbaum panel & had a blast. He's such a funny, ADD guy! And he had a buddy there with him who he introduced as his writing partner. People got to line up & ask him questions about his work, Smallville stuff, future stuff, etc. Someone asked him to do the "Kneel before Zod" line. Which he said he hated but then gamely did for her. After that he'd randomly tell people asking questions to kneel, all of whom did. LOL! He also wandered the crowd and while I don't remember the setup, he asked this one young girl if she remembered 'Happy Days', which she didn't. So he told her to say 'happy days' when he pointed at her. He then sang, "Sunday, Monday" *point* *deadpan from the girl* "Happy days." He did that several times, amusing himself to no end because the kid's inflection never changed. It was hysterical.
We exited the panel once it was over & decided to go to the art show. Now they have an artist's alley and an art show. The art show is where professional artists display their work & where amateur artists put items in to be bid on & possibly auctioned. The work is AMAZING & I could drop a paycheck in there because I'm a total sucker for art!! (Artists on my flist, if you ever offer commissions, hit me up, I typically can't resist!!) They also have an artist's alley which is more fanart stuff. However, that is also where you can get commissions done so I could spend a ton there too. The artist's alley at AWA is very centrally located and I always come away with tons of buttons & postcards & just stuff done by the artists there. SUPPORT BUDDING ARTISTS! WOO!!
Sooo, we head to the art show & right before we go in, I decide to put my camera away. As I'm doing that I realize, I've lost my con badge. I had it on a clip and part of me KNEW I should have purchased a lanyard for it but I didn't. So I retraced my steps EVERYWHERE and couldn't find it. Finally we tracked down who to ask about lost badges (security as it turns out) and I put my name down for having lost my badge. My only option was to stand in line for another badge & pay full price, which would only be refunded to me if they found my original. At that point it was late in the day on Saturday and there wasn't anything, besides the Firefly panel, that we REALLY wanted to do so we decided to call it a day. I felt so bad that Chikin got cheated out of the Firefly panel but she swore it was all good. We called B-chan & let him know what happened & then headed to our hotel.
After we'd detoxed for a bit, we went & found a Mexican restaurant so we could drown our sorrows in salsa. When we got back to the hotel I downloaded my new pics to the laptop and we went to bed. The next morning we slept in. When we got up I hadn't heard from the Con folks so we just decided to check out & go home.
All in all it was a GREAT con and I hope that someone found my badge & was able to get their girlfriend in for the day or something.
So, that's my endless rambling tale of DragonCon 2008!