Dragon*Con 2009
Dragon*Con is a great big party, covering fandoms of even greater diversity than the San Diego Comic-Con. There are panels covering Star Wars, Twilight, Harry Potter, Steampunk, LARPing, astronomy, robotics, Joss Whedon, writing, and more, and this diversity is evident in the costumes of the attendees.
Plus, because it is held in a complex of adjoining hotels, it is much more laid-back than any convention-center-based con. It feels more like a huge costume party than a convention.
I had a great time seeing friends and acquaintances from both the East and West Coasts, as well as meeting random strangers who had awesome costumes and shared some of my interests. I found it really easy to go up to complete strangers and jump right into conversation, because everyone was really friendly and happy to meet others who shared their fandoms.
I fucked up and missed my flight out from LAX. Fortunately, we were able to get onto another flight two hours later. Almost all of my convention roomies got there within the same window of time, even though we were spaced out over several different flights.
Welcome to the Marriott!
We were still waiting for Sho to get there when we took this pic in the Marriott lobby with bobbarker. Seems like every pic I take of rurouni_jedi, she has her mouth open. Still trying to get her money's worth from that tongue piercing, I guess.
The Marriott Marquis is distinguished by its beautiful, futuristic architecture.
daenerys and Brian relaxed in the Pulse Loft.
It's layer after layer of nerds! Like a geek onion!
The rooms at the Marriott were very nice, but sleeping arrangements were a bit... cramped.
Segue
Atlanta cops ride Segways. I wonder if it has a higher gear for high-speed chases.
Hail To the Chief!
I was on my way down to Bob's room to shoot Alien pictures when I encountered Aaron Douglas, Chief Tyrol from the new Battlestar Galactica. You can't see his hand, because it was on my ass. Of course, you can't see my hand either, because it was on his.
My awesome Nostomo uniform, which was a gift from Bob, was that of the science officer Ash, who later turned out to be an android. In the Alien universe, androids are filled not with wires and circuits, but with a mass of tubes and white fluid. This is why it looks like I'm sweating and drooling white stuff a little. It's part of the cosplay.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
These are the Voyages of the Starship Nostromo
Thursday night I did a little photoshoot with Bob and his band of Nostromo crew members. The Nostromo was the spaceship in the first ALIEN movie, directed by Ridley Scott.
After Hours
After the Nostromo shoot, I met up with my roomies and we hung out for a bit with Bob and Jim, the naked bartender.
What Happens At Dragon*Con
What more does an android need than the love of a good alien?
I See a Trend Developing
Apparently, rurouni_Jedi goes for tall guys.
Shoot Her! She's Still Moving!
My roomie kuronosho was kind enough to do some photomographing of me and scruffyrebel in our classic Star Trek outfits.
g_mal was paparazzi snipering kuronosho. And I was obviously shooting him, shooting kuronosho, shooting scruffyrebel.
She's Down! Shoot Her Before She Gets Up Again!
G_mal and kuronosho were working hard to get some great pics, but scruffyrebel's lazy ass was lying down on the job.
rurouni_jedi was getting her picture took too.
Long Lines For Badge Pick-Up
Although Dragon*Con doesn't officially begin until Friday, a lot of attendees (including ourselves) arrive on Thursday. The real hardcore attendees get there on Wednesday or earlier, to get an early start. After all, no matter how much you drink, there is always more to be drunk.
The lines for badge pickup were ridiculously crazy long on Thursday. Like out the door and down the block. On the other hand, picking up your badge on Friday afternoon meant we had to wait behind a grand total of two people.
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
On Friday night, arkadia, g_core, G_mal, and I dressed up as the cast of The Nightman Cometh, the play written by Charlie on the FX Network sitcom "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia." It was originally going to be three of us, but they talked g_mal into it, and even went out that day to buy some footie pajamas so he could join our group. We even got recognized by a couple of people. rurouni_jedi was my tattoo partner: she drew on my tattoos for Nightman, and I drew on her tattoos for her Sporty Spice cosplay.
Here, we got a picture with one of two people we found cosplaying the Green Man, who is from the same show (but a different episode).
g_mal as Nightman-Cometh-Dennis tries on 1940s Silk Spectre's wig. I think it works!
Nightman does karate across the stage. "I'm gonna put on a clinic!"
Spice Up Your Life
Meanwhile, daenerys, scruffyrebel, rurouni_jedi, and a couple of other people I don't really know were doing their Spice Girls group. Everyone loves(d) the Spice Girls!
Mighty Muggs Chewbacca
Remember this post?
On Saturday night, after doing some final work on it, I began getting geared up in my new Mighty Muggs Chewie costume. It was too huge to carry as luggage, so I had it shipped to me at the hotel. Actually, it's too huge to fit through the hotel room door. I had to assemble it in the hallway.
It's pretty convenient to ship things to Dragon*Con, and they even bring it up to your room for you. Shipping things home is a breeze too, because there is a FedEx right in the lower floor of the hotel!
It was a struggle to get into the costume by myself, and before I could begin the arduous process of trying to get down to the lobby, a bunch of my roomies came back and helped me! Thank goodness for them.
We carried the pieces down to the lobby floor, then got into it in a corner. arkadia was still dressed as April from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, and g_core was still wearing part of his Casey Jones (also TMNT) outfit. Here, rurouni_jedi fits my left arm into its socket while scruffyrebel in her sexy Disney Princess Belle checks on my right arm.
Finished! ^_^;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
(yes, I sweat a lot in that thing)
Sexy Disney Princesses love Mighty Muggs Chewy!
daitenshi_dream's Cinderella, scruffyrebel's Belle, and
rebel__princess's Ariel were all designed by the talented rebel__princess!
Twobaccas!
Cosplaying as a Mighty Mugg owuldn't have been possible (or would have been a lot more difficult) without the help of kuronosho and g_mal acting as my handler and helping me navigate the crowds, and g_core who kept an eye on my limbs and fanned me to keep me from suffocating. They also gave me water to keep me from collapsing from dehydration.
Some People Got Con Sars, I Got Red Eye
We hit the Colonial Fleet Party, the big Battlestar Galactica party over in the Sheraton. I dressed in my casual cosplay, season 2, episode 9 of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." I met a bunch of friendly Battlestar fans, though my personal interests gravitate more toward the classic costumes.
A New Companion?
There was a life-size TARDIS in the lobby of the Sheraton! How awesome is that?
Is that Yvonne Hartman, former head of Torchwood, exiting the Tardis? What would she have been doing in there...?
Can I Take Your Picture?
bobbarker was taking a picture of me while I took one of him. His picture came out better.
Jabba's Angels
Sunday night I spent a couple of hours airbrushing scruffyrebel so she could join rebel__princess and rurouni_jedi as slave girls.
After the girls were on their way, I spent a couple more hours "Mugging" with the help of kuronosho and g_mal, along with slave_to_anime. We hung out with the perennially popular lionboogy in the last hurrah of his awesome Bumblebee cosplay.
Party Animals
I think I finally got out of Chewie at 1:30 AM. Fortunately, at Dragon*Con, the party isn't over that early! I changed into some dry clothes (Nostromo uniform, actually), and headed out with some of my roomies!
"Open 24 hours." But not in a row.
One improvement of this year's Dragon*Con over last year is the increased availability of food.
Food can be hard to come by conveniently at a lot of conventions. But Dragon*Con is located in a complex of hotels which adjoin a food court. This makes getting a wide selection of cheap food very easy, without even going outdoors! You can't say that about Comic-Con.
This year, several of the vendors in the food court stayed open until 1 or 2 AM specifically to serve Dragon*Con. And from the looks of the late-night crowd, they were financially rewarded for their effort. Even the Starbucks and the convenience store in the lower lobby of the Marriott decided to stay open 24 hours for Dragon*Con.
Or so they claimed.
When we got there on Sunday night, they were closed. They had a sign up, that they would be back in 15 minutes, but it was about an hour before they opened up again.
g_mal and kuronosho look so forlorn, waiting for their coffee.
Dance Dance Revolution
After getting caffeinated, a few of us hit up the Dragon Dance with DJ Catt Ninetails. It kept going until 7 AM. In addition to the dancers on stage, they had a video screen on which they were projecting Spaceballs. Probably no coincidence that the DJ looked like she was cosplaying Princess Vespa, complete with hair bun headphones, which she was actually using to DJ!
There's rurouni_jedi with her mouth open again. We are one sexy gang!
There was a remote-controlled robot bartender!
COSPLAY
Dragon*Con is the place for variety, and quality! There are lots of really good costumes, and a wide range covering everything from Tv series that were cancelled decades ago to movies which haven't yet been released, from novels to comics to videogames to infomercials, from steampunk to goth.
Here are a few I found interesting. They're not all the best, but they're unusual, inventive, and entertaining.
A Song of Ice and Fire
We were coming back from badge pickup, dressed in our Trek uniforms, when we got stopped for a photo by this guy. Pardon the bad photo, but I was excited when I recognized the sigil on his chest and cape as being the gold Kraken on a field of black, the crest of House Greyjoy of the Iron Islands! Yes indeed, he was cosplaying a character from George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire books. The name on his badge was "Theon Greyjoy."
Backstabber!
Big Trouble In Little China
This awesome group was cosplaying from the 1986 Asian fusion action classic "Big Trouble In Little China." They had a bunch of the black-and-red-clad Wing Kong, plus a couple of black-and-gold-clad Chang Sing, and of course the evil Lo Pan. They even had Miao Yin in her wedding gear!
So awesome.
Darth Cluck?
Someone cosplayed Robot Chicken Darth Vader!
You're Lumpy and You Smell Awful. Hey, I Calls 'Em Like I Sees 'Em.
animeangel was dressed as the Whale Biologist from season 4, episode 16 of Futurama, "Three Hundred Big Boys." dr_teng was, of course, Zapp Brannigan! He didn't have any underwear on, but at least he dyed his pubes to match his tunic.
The Greatest Show At Dragon*Con
I got to see fatwetdog's deconstructed burlesque-style circus group. It was glittery and colorful and sexy!
If You Aren't Shaking Then There's Something Very Wrong
The Oogie Boogie (from Nightmare Before Christmas) came to Dragon*Con! This was done quite well, it had a nice shape and I liked the texture. I wonder if he's full of bugs.
Basketball is a peaceful planet! Please, we have no weapons!
It's Princess Leia, with actual cinnamon buns for hair!
The first Star Wars fan film was a spoof called "Hardware Wars," which featured "Princess Anne-Droid," who had bread rolls of hair buns. But this Leia costume looks more accurate to Star Wars than Hardware Wars.
I Tell Ya Whut
It's King of the Hill! And they even brought their own fence! Someone said they were there, standing like that, for like 6 hours. That's dedication! And a lot of beer.
Revolution No. 9
This guy had a really terrific costume of the main character from 9, which had not yet been released. g_core was moved in religious inspiration.
What is "Steampunk" for "X"?
Steampunk was huge at Dragon*Con this year. It seemed like every fourth cosplayer at the con was in Steampunk. And, this being Dragon*Con, a lot of the outfits were really good. One popular subset of Steampunk is people who do Steampunk versions of non-Steampunk characters. For example, lots of people have done their interpretation of Steampunk Ghostbusters. After all, goggles, backpacks, and guns are popular Steampunk accessories, and Ghostbusters has all three as prominent parts of their costumes.
This fellow was part of a small group who did Steampunk versions of the X-Men. So he steampunked the hell out of his wheelchair. It had a smoking smokestack, and these lighted tubes of liquid which could dispense booze. Because, y'know, Dragon*Con.
Airport*Con
Who wants the con to be over?
A bunch of us had departure times late enough that we could get to the airport and enjoy ourselves hanging out together. And why not the airport food court? It's has plenty of seating, food, drinks, and even a live music performance. Even though rurouni_jedi, g_mal, and lionboogy were all leaving from different terminals than we were, they came over to our terminal so we could keep the con going a bit longer!
Where's Waldo?
Can you spot arkadia, g_core, and rebel__princess? At least the five of us managed to get the same flight back home together! And the Delta entertainment system was pretty good. They had a lot of TV shows and movies available, many of which were complimentary. arkadia and I watched Slumdog Millionaire, while scruffyrebel enjoyed a bunch of sitcoms.
I Love You, Man
Especially you, in the front, with the glasses. You're awesome.
My roomies!
I love you guys! You rock!
Dragon*Con was awesome! I enjoyed it so much that I (again) pre-reg'd for the next con a year in advance. Also, you can't beat the 50% pre-reg discount.
Plus, because it is held in a complex of adjoining hotels, it is much more laid-back than any convention-center-based con. It feels more like a huge costume party than a convention.
I had a great time seeing friends and acquaintances from both the East and West Coasts, as well as meeting random strangers who had awesome costumes and shared some of my interests. I found it really easy to go up to complete strangers and jump right into conversation, because everyone was really friendly and happy to meet others who shared their fandoms.
I fucked up and missed my flight out from LAX. Fortunately, we were able to get onto another flight two hours later. Almost all of my convention roomies got there within the same window of time, even though we were spaced out over several different flights.
Welcome to the Marriott!
We were still waiting for Sho to get there when we took this pic in the Marriott lobby with bobbarker. Seems like every pic I take of rurouni_jedi, she has her mouth open. Still trying to get her money's worth from that tongue piercing, I guess.
The Marriott Marquis is distinguished by its beautiful, futuristic architecture.
daenerys and Brian relaxed in the Pulse Loft.
It's layer after layer of nerds! Like a geek onion!
The rooms at the Marriott were very nice, but sleeping arrangements were a bit... cramped.
Segue
Atlanta cops ride Segways. I wonder if it has a higher gear for high-speed chases.
Hail To the Chief!
I was on my way down to Bob's room to shoot Alien pictures when I encountered Aaron Douglas, Chief Tyrol from the new Battlestar Galactica. You can't see his hand, because it was on my ass. Of course, you can't see my hand either, because it was on his.
My awesome Nostomo uniform, which was a gift from Bob, was that of the science officer Ash, who later turned out to be an android. In the Alien universe, androids are filled not with wires and circuits, but with a mass of tubes and white fluid. This is why it looks like I'm sweating and drooling white stuff a little. It's part of the cosplay.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
These are the Voyages of the Starship Nostromo
Thursday night I did a little photoshoot with Bob and his band of Nostromo crew members. The Nostromo was the spaceship in the first ALIEN movie, directed by Ridley Scott.
After Hours
After the Nostromo shoot, I met up with my roomies and we hung out for a bit with Bob and Jim, the naked bartender.
What Happens At Dragon*Con
What more does an android need than the love of a good alien?
I See a Trend Developing
Apparently, rurouni_Jedi goes for tall guys.
Shoot Her! She's Still Moving!
My roomie kuronosho was kind enough to do some photomographing of me and scruffyrebel in our classic Star Trek outfits.
g_mal was paparazzi snipering kuronosho. And I was obviously shooting him, shooting kuronosho, shooting scruffyrebel.
She's Down! Shoot Her Before She Gets Up Again!
G_mal and kuronosho were working hard to get some great pics, but scruffyrebel's lazy ass was lying down on the job.
rurouni_jedi was getting her picture took too.
Long Lines For Badge Pick-Up
Although Dragon*Con doesn't officially begin until Friday, a lot of attendees (including ourselves) arrive on Thursday. The real hardcore attendees get there on Wednesday or earlier, to get an early start. After all, no matter how much you drink, there is always more to be drunk.
The lines for badge pickup were ridiculously crazy long on Thursday. Like out the door and down the block. On the other hand, picking up your badge on Friday afternoon meant we had to wait behind a grand total of two people.
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
On Friday night, arkadia, g_core, G_mal, and I dressed up as the cast of The Nightman Cometh, the play written by Charlie on the FX Network sitcom "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia." It was originally going to be three of us, but they talked g_mal into it, and even went out that day to buy some footie pajamas so he could join our group. We even got recognized by a couple of people. rurouni_jedi was my tattoo partner: she drew on my tattoos for Nightman, and I drew on her tattoos for her Sporty Spice cosplay.
Here, we got a picture with one of two people we found cosplaying the Green Man, who is from the same show (but a different episode).
g_mal as Nightman-Cometh-Dennis tries on 1940s Silk Spectre's wig. I think it works!
Nightman does karate across the stage. "I'm gonna put on a clinic!"
Spice Up Your Life
Meanwhile, daenerys, scruffyrebel, rurouni_jedi, and a couple of other people I don't really know were doing their Spice Girls group. Everyone loves(d) the Spice Girls!
Mighty Muggs Chewbacca
Remember this post?
On Saturday night, after doing some final work on it, I began getting geared up in my new Mighty Muggs Chewie costume. It was too huge to carry as luggage, so I had it shipped to me at the hotel. Actually, it's too huge to fit through the hotel room door. I had to assemble it in the hallway.
It's pretty convenient to ship things to Dragon*Con, and they even bring it up to your room for you. Shipping things home is a breeze too, because there is a FedEx right in the lower floor of the hotel!
It was a struggle to get into the costume by myself, and before I could begin the arduous process of trying to get down to the lobby, a bunch of my roomies came back and helped me! Thank goodness for them.
We carried the pieces down to the lobby floor, then got into it in a corner. arkadia was still dressed as April from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, and g_core was still wearing part of his Casey Jones (also TMNT) outfit. Here, rurouni_jedi fits my left arm into its socket while scruffyrebel in her sexy Disney Princess Belle checks on my right arm.
Finished! ^_^;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
(yes, I sweat a lot in that thing)
Sexy Disney Princesses love Mighty Muggs Chewy!
daitenshi_dream's Cinderella, scruffyrebel's Belle, and
rebel__princess's Ariel were all designed by the talented rebel__princess!
Twobaccas!
Cosplaying as a Mighty Mugg owuldn't have been possible (or would have been a lot more difficult) without the help of kuronosho and g_mal acting as my handler and helping me navigate the crowds, and g_core who kept an eye on my limbs and fanned me to keep me from suffocating. They also gave me water to keep me from collapsing from dehydration.
Some People Got Con Sars, I Got Red Eye
We hit the Colonial Fleet Party, the big Battlestar Galactica party over in the Sheraton. I dressed in my casual cosplay, season 2, episode 9 of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." I met a bunch of friendly Battlestar fans, though my personal interests gravitate more toward the classic costumes.
A New Companion?
There was a life-size TARDIS in the lobby of the Sheraton! How awesome is that?
Is that Yvonne Hartman, former head of Torchwood, exiting the Tardis? What would she have been doing in there...?
Can I Take Your Picture?
bobbarker was taking a picture of me while I took one of him. His picture came out better.
Jabba's Angels
Sunday night I spent a couple of hours airbrushing scruffyrebel so she could join rebel__princess and rurouni_jedi as slave girls.
After the girls were on their way, I spent a couple more hours "Mugging" with the help of kuronosho and g_mal, along with slave_to_anime. We hung out with the perennially popular lionboogy in the last hurrah of his awesome Bumblebee cosplay.
Party Animals
I think I finally got out of Chewie at 1:30 AM. Fortunately, at Dragon*Con, the party isn't over that early! I changed into some dry clothes (Nostromo uniform, actually), and headed out with some of my roomies!
"Open 24 hours." But not in a row.
One improvement of this year's Dragon*Con over last year is the increased availability of food.
Food can be hard to come by conveniently at a lot of conventions. But Dragon*Con is located in a complex of hotels which adjoin a food court. This makes getting a wide selection of cheap food very easy, without even going outdoors! You can't say that about Comic-Con.
This year, several of the vendors in the food court stayed open until 1 or 2 AM specifically to serve Dragon*Con. And from the looks of the late-night crowd, they were financially rewarded for their effort. Even the Starbucks and the convenience store in the lower lobby of the Marriott decided to stay open 24 hours for Dragon*Con.
Or so they claimed.
When we got there on Sunday night, they were closed. They had a sign up, that they would be back in 15 minutes, but it was about an hour before they opened up again.
g_mal and kuronosho look so forlorn, waiting for their coffee.
Dance Dance Revolution
After getting caffeinated, a few of us hit up the Dragon Dance with DJ Catt Ninetails. It kept going until 7 AM. In addition to the dancers on stage, they had a video screen on which they were projecting Spaceballs. Probably no coincidence that the DJ looked like she was cosplaying Princess Vespa, complete with hair bun headphones, which she was actually using to DJ!
There's rurouni_jedi with her mouth open again. We are one sexy gang!
There was a remote-controlled robot bartender!
COSPLAY
Dragon*Con is the place for variety, and quality! There are lots of really good costumes, and a wide range covering everything from Tv series that were cancelled decades ago to movies which haven't yet been released, from novels to comics to videogames to infomercials, from steampunk to goth.
Here are a few I found interesting. They're not all the best, but they're unusual, inventive, and entertaining.
A Song of Ice and Fire
We were coming back from badge pickup, dressed in our Trek uniforms, when we got stopped for a photo by this guy. Pardon the bad photo, but I was excited when I recognized the sigil on his chest and cape as being the gold Kraken on a field of black, the crest of House Greyjoy of the Iron Islands! Yes indeed, he was cosplaying a character from George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire books. The name on his badge was "Theon Greyjoy."
Backstabber!
Big Trouble In Little China
This awesome group was cosplaying from the 1986 Asian fusion action classic "Big Trouble In Little China." They had a bunch of the black-and-red-clad Wing Kong, plus a couple of black-and-gold-clad Chang Sing, and of course the evil Lo Pan. They even had Miao Yin in her wedding gear!
So awesome.
Darth Cluck?
Someone cosplayed Robot Chicken Darth Vader!
You're Lumpy and You Smell Awful. Hey, I Calls 'Em Like I Sees 'Em.
animeangel was dressed as the Whale Biologist from season 4, episode 16 of Futurama, "Three Hundred Big Boys." dr_teng was, of course, Zapp Brannigan! He didn't have any underwear on, but at least he dyed his pubes to match his tunic.
The Greatest Show At Dragon*Con
I got to see fatwetdog's deconstructed burlesque-style circus group. It was glittery and colorful and sexy!
If You Aren't Shaking Then There's Something Very Wrong
The Oogie Boogie (from Nightmare Before Christmas) came to Dragon*Con! This was done quite well, it had a nice shape and I liked the texture. I wonder if he's full of bugs.
Basketball is a peaceful planet! Please, we have no weapons!
It's Princess Leia, with actual cinnamon buns for hair!
The first Star Wars fan film was a spoof called "Hardware Wars," which featured "Princess Anne-Droid," who had bread rolls of hair buns. But this Leia costume looks more accurate to Star Wars than Hardware Wars.
I Tell Ya Whut
It's King of the Hill! And they even brought their own fence! Someone said they were there, standing like that, for like 6 hours. That's dedication! And a lot of beer.
Revolution No. 9
This guy had a really terrific costume of the main character from 9, which had not yet been released. g_core was moved in religious inspiration.
What is "Steampunk" for "X"?
Steampunk was huge at Dragon*Con this year. It seemed like every fourth cosplayer at the con was in Steampunk. And, this being Dragon*Con, a lot of the outfits were really good. One popular subset of Steampunk is people who do Steampunk versions of non-Steampunk characters. For example, lots of people have done their interpretation of Steampunk Ghostbusters. After all, goggles, backpacks, and guns are popular Steampunk accessories, and Ghostbusters has all three as prominent parts of their costumes.
This fellow was part of a small group who did Steampunk versions of the X-Men. So he steampunked the hell out of his wheelchair. It had a smoking smokestack, and these lighted tubes of liquid which could dispense booze. Because, y'know, Dragon*Con.
Airport*Con
Who wants the con to be over?
A bunch of us had departure times late enough that we could get to the airport and enjoy ourselves hanging out together. And why not the airport food court? It's has plenty of seating, food, drinks, and even a live music performance. Even though rurouni_jedi, g_mal, and lionboogy were all leaving from different terminals than we were, they came over to our terminal so we could keep the con going a bit longer!
Where's Waldo?
Can you spot arkadia, g_core, and rebel__princess? At least the five of us managed to get the same flight back home together! And the Delta entertainment system was pretty good. They had a lot of TV shows and movies available, many of which were complimentary. arkadia and I watched Slumdog Millionaire, while scruffyrebel enjoyed a bunch of sitcoms.
I Love You, Man
Especially you, in the front, with the glasses. You're awesome.
My roomies!
I love you guys! You rock!
Dragon*Con was awesome! I enjoyed it so much that I (again) pre-reg'd for the next con a year in advance. Also, you can't beat the 50% pre-reg discount.