The Madness that is.. Dragon*Con!
This is primarily a review for those of my New England peeps who couldn't make it down to see it for themselves. It's also a general recap about what I did for the long weekend.
Let me give a little info about Dragon*Con. It's a multi-genre convention, seperated into fan tracks. Each track is settled into a specific area around 4 hotels (they added the 4th this year) in the downtown Atlanta area. For example, the Star Trek track was in the Sheraton, the Anime track was in the Hyatt, the Costuming track was in the Marriott, etc. Each track can have guests that are related to it, plus overall guests that many people would come to see. It has been going on for over 20 years, taking over the area. They have maintained a relationship with local vendors; many food places in the downtown mall will stay open late. (The Dairy Queen remained open past 2 AM on Saturday night) They had a shuttle or two to transport people from outer hotels to the host properties, and even had a discount deal with AVIS. The numbers average to about 30,000 per year, which makes it one of the premier events in the country.
It also made for an interesting clash when fan(atics) from college football going on that Saturday clashed with fan(dom) around the same area.
I'm gonna break it down by days, to make it easier.
I arrived on Thursday, having been in Atlanta to visit family for a week previously. I was rooming at the Sheraton with a new set of people, due to not having space with another group. Dragon*Con's line started outside of the Hyatt and curved around the hotel. Once inside, the room is broken down to three groups: Pre-reg, at-con reg, and ticketmaster. The pre-reg was the longest of the lines when I arrived, the price of paying early and a lower cost. It averaged to be about 1 to 1.5 hour wait in line, which I spent partially sewing some snaps onto an old costume. By the time I left, the line was longer. Thursday is the best day to see about attempting to get some sleep, since the rest of the weekend will not allow for it. After getting some dinner and such, I turned in relavitely early at about 12.
Waking up on Friday about 10ish, I waited for the bathroom. I had decided to get into Nareesha (my sari costume from Bizenghast). This would be the costume that I decided to enter for the Friday Night Costume Contest. This contest is pure workmanship, no skits, and barely a walk-on was accepted. Since I had some free time, I decided to make my way to the Dealer's room. This was set up in the Marriott, in three specific locations. Two spots were devoted primarily to larger companies with guests, (called the Exhibitor's Halls)
The other room was more of a dealer's room. They were devoted mainly to corsets, comics, jewelry, occasional makeup and wigs, clothing, and weapons. I would guess that the area combined would make it the size of Connecticon's dealer's room. Not to say they didn't have enough stuff, just seemed to have smaller spaces for vendors compared to anime cons. I grabbed some comics from Joseph Michael Linsner's booth (I will come back to this later) and went off to the costuming track which was nearby. I sat through their introductory panel, which was part introduction and part plug for Costume-Con (I will get back to this later as well) A few of the panels intrigued me, so I decided to see them later on that weekend. After this, I decided to make my way toward one of the larger panels for prosthetics. It was supposed to be presented by a professional; I always want to improve on my technique. However, he never showed up. We were entertained with the in-house tv loop, which was partially psuedo-commercials, and part adult swim bumpers. I decided to give it a few more minutes, but even then I gave up. Floating around this point, I ran into Syragia. This is when I figured that I can't escape New England forever.
After a quick dinner, it was time to head toward the Costume Contest. Here, there was a *much* higher quality of costumes in comparison to the anime cons I've been to. Each one of the costumes could have been award winners in other contests. My only problem was the lack of recognition for these people. I know I was the last entrant at #54, and there were 6 awards. One of them was an audience choice award selected from the winners, and the best professional won the best in show. Not to say that the awards weren't deserving (There was a Wicked Witch of the West with soldiers that were *dead on*) I just merely wished they offered even honorable mentions or judges awards.
(One thing about photobooths, they are set up backstage while being judged. This is good because it means people don't need to be running around for pictures. It's bad because the time for pictures can be delayed and push back the event. Due to extra judging and photography, the hosts had to stall the Friday Night Costume Contest thrice.)
I was tired of my heavy wig at this point, and went back to change into something lighter. I wanted to find a dance or something, but I did find the hentai panel. Sex Warrior Pudding with an audience is humorous to say the least. Once the panel ended around 1:30, I made my way back to the room to attempt to get some sleep for the busy day ahead.
I woke up on Saturday at about 8 am to get ready for the parade. One of Dragon*Con's major events is the parade that travels from a park a few blocks away around the hotels. Many co
n-goers and several spectators come out to see it. The children seem to enjoy it a lot, especially when some groups hand out candy. The stormtroopers and jedi overpower many of the other groups, but it makes for a cool sight to see. I got dressed in my gijinka outfit to meet up with aleathiaburns and she helped make a presentation script. After the show, we all had random ideas of what to do in 2008. It started off with BeDawn'ce, and went downhill from there. Aleathia backed out and went for the more traditional crone with armor. (You did an awesome job with it, BTW. I'll have to go find some garage sale signs) blikku ended up doing "The Goddess Formerly known as Dawn" with a Prince theme,
hentaigirl82 did Ma"Dawn"na, complete with rolling on the ground a la MTV awards. And I, I did Queen "Dawn" tifah! I found some old kinte fabric and made a hat, with a matching vest and made a lace robe that was sheer but sexy. A little music and intro, and 'tada!' The judges had a blast with it, and the other contestants loved it. The Dawn contest is full of all sorts of ideas. There was a rickroll. One of the winners was a Dawn, made out of cardboard! The one who won the $1000 prize went full Shiva dawn. Not FF Shiva full of ice, but Shiva with six arms and all. (She was from Portsmouth too. Told you I can't escape New England. I did mention PortCon to her, so maybe she'll come next June) The thing about the Dawn contest which makes it really awesome, is that everyone goes home with something. There are some prizes for categories, but all contestants go home with a Dawn portrait drawn spefically for Dragon*Con and not found anywhere else. And then there's the after party.
The after party is usually at the top floor in one of the suites. (The Marriott has 47 floors, it gets high pretty quick) This is where you can review the pictures taken at the photobooth (All those pics usually take a month or two to be released, so you're gonna have to wait for them) The Dawn contest is also replayed on the tv station (which is hooked up to the host hotels) and Lisner and crew offer free drinks (with tips of course) I ended up changing clothes to something a bit more durable to go to the after party. I was good and woozy after one hurricane, and I ended up having 3 drinks. I stayed there till about 3 AM and eventually wobbled back to my hotel room for some sleep.
Sunday started off pretty slow, because that lack of sleep + combination of alcohol was making me stay in bed longer than I intended. Besides, I knew that there was nothing I really wanted to see until 2ish anyway. So at about 1:30, I stagger off the floor and shower. Putting on my Victorian Loli outfit, I scavenge more in the dealer's halls. I went to see Linsner to get my picture signed, and said "Be Creative" When I got it back, I got his signature, a three-teared eye that is standard with Dawn, and a little Queenie crown. I laughed my behind off. I may not have won, but the judges loved the while thing. (One of them started singing U.N.I.T.Y while we did our last stroll across the stage) I then made my way back toward the costuming panel for a face-casting lecture. It was very informative, and confirmed that eventually, I'm gonna kidnap someone for the day to do face-casting with. After that, was the corsetry workshop. This was also very informative, especially since a future costume I plan will have to have a corset, because there's no way that the outfit would work without an unnatural waist. I'll have to invest in heavy boning. Next, was the airbrushing panel, which went over makeup primarily. It was stuff I already knew, but I did pick up some tidbits. (I may have to eventually invest in a compressor) I was debating going to see the Masquerade, but decided against it. The Masq is also different, as it is only about the show and presentation. The prizes are determined by judges and audience reaction, and nothing is looked at up close. It has a Showtime at the Apollo feel, such as if the audience doesn't like your skit, stormtroopers will remove you from the stage. (This can be problematic, because groups have been removed by mistake)
My feet overruled, and decided to stay put for the panel on fangs. This panel was very interesting, as it talked about the technique of making one's fangs from scratch. I never though hearing about fangs and contacts for over 2 hours would be so interesting.
After that, I went to change clothes and begin packing, and went out with some night-wear. I stopped in the fetish/goth wear panel, which showed some amazing knotwork. I ran into Aleathia, and we decided to mingle around in the Marriott lobby, gathering pictures and asking questions. This is where I regretted bringing Ursula, because it was cold enough in the room to not be uncomfortable. It got so bad, I had to show pictures of Ursula on my phone. There were also some... costumes that leave little hidden. It seems like people skip on the decency laws for the weekend. I also stopped at one of the public parties, but I felt that it wasn't as good as the one the year before. We viewed more of the madness of Sunday night, which included a impromptu 'panel' with Dethklok, with people actually in character. After a while Aleathea didn't feel well, so we escorted her home. After re-hydration, she felt better. By this time, it was almost 4 AM, and I guessed to get some sleep.
Monday came around, and I woke around 10:30, and checked myself out. Made it easier to attend the con instead of leaving and ditching poeple. The exodus had already started. I wanted to catch some robot battles, but people moving cosplays to cars made my help more important. Blikku, Aleathia, and I do a last minute run-through in the dealer's room, I got some werewolf ears. We decide to get something to eat, and it's there that I run into Sketch. We probably missed eachother a few times and never even noticed it. At this point, Aleatha wanted to get some ICG info, which also turned out to be the closing ceremonies of sort for the costuming track. It turns out, that Costume-Con was started because some snooty literary sci-fi people didn't want people in costumes there. (I remember him mentioning specifically Boskone. If you know your history, they have evolved into nefe. It was at this point, that people began to separate, and the con started to close down completely. At this point, I went into my rental, and made my way back toward my family in Atlanta.
Overall, Dragon*Con was awesome! It must be done at least once in a lifetime. Some specific problems were: Badges. They weren't as strong as other badges, so it made ripping the tab easy. I had found a woman who had laminated hers at the ups store around the corner. She was a genius.
I'd also love to see some millerny in the future. This has confirmed that I really want to go to Costume-Con. That, and/or work on future projects.
There is one more thing:Check out this coat: I found this at the Museum Replicas stand. I *think* it's an org 13 coat. I think.
Let me give a little info about Dragon*Con. It's a multi-genre convention, seperated into fan tracks. Each track is settled into a specific area around 4 hotels (they added the 4th this year) in the downtown Atlanta area. For example, the Star Trek track was in the Sheraton, the Anime track was in the Hyatt, the Costuming track was in the Marriott, etc. Each track can have guests that are related to it, plus overall guests that many people would come to see. It has been going on for over 20 years, taking over the area. They have maintained a relationship with local vendors; many food places in the downtown mall will stay open late. (The Dairy Queen remained open past 2 AM on Saturday night) They had a shuttle or two to transport people from outer hotels to the host properties, and even had a discount deal with AVIS. The numbers average to about 30,000 per year, which makes it one of the premier events in the country.
It also made for an interesting clash when fan(atics) from college football going on that Saturday clashed with fan(dom) around the same area.
I'm gonna break it down by days, to make it easier.
I arrived on Thursday, having been in Atlanta to visit family for a week previously. I was rooming at the Sheraton with a new set of people, due to not having space with another group. Dragon*Con's line started outside of the Hyatt and curved around the hotel. Once inside, the room is broken down to three groups: Pre-reg, at-con reg, and ticketmaster. The pre-reg was the longest of the lines when I arrived, the price of paying early and a lower cost. It averaged to be about 1 to 1.5 hour wait in line, which I spent partially sewing some snaps onto an old costume. By the time I left, the line was longer. Thursday is the best day to see about attempting to get some sleep, since the rest of the weekend will not allow for it. After getting some dinner and such, I turned in relavitely early at about 12.
Waking up on Friday about 10ish, I waited for the bathroom. I had decided to get into Nareesha (my sari costume from Bizenghast). This would be the costume that I decided to enter for the Friday Night Costume Contest. This contest is pure workmanship, no skits, and barely a walk-on was accepted. Since I had some free time, I decided to make my way to the Dealer's room. This was set up in the Marriott, in three specific locations. Two spots were devoted primarily to larger companies with guests, (called the Exhibitor's Halls)
The other room was more of a dealer's room. They were devoted mainly to corsets, comics, jewelry, occasional makeup and wigs, clothing, and weapons. I would guess that the area combined would make it the size of Connecticon's dealer's room. Not to say they didn't have enough stuff, just seemed to have smaller spaces for vendors compared to anime cons. I grabbed some comics from Joseph Michael Linsner's booth (I will come back to this later) and went off to the costuming track which was nearby. I sat through their introductory panel, which was part introduction and part plug for Costume-Con (I will get back to this later as well) A few of the panels intrigued me, so I decided to see them later on that weekend. After this, I decided to make my way toward one of the larger panels for prosthetics. It was supposed to be presented by a professional; I always want to improve on my technique. However, he never showed up. We were entertained with the in-house tv loop, which was partially psuedo-commercials, and part adult swim bumpers. I decided to give it a few more minutes, but even then I gave up. Floating around this point, I ran into Syragia. This is when I figured that I can't escape New England forever.
After a quick dinner, it was time to head toward the Costume Contest. Here, there was a *much* higher quality of costumes in comparison to the anime cons I've been to. Each one of the costumes could have been award winners in other contests. My only problem was the lack of recognition for these people. I know I was the last entrant at #54, and there were 6 awards. One of them was an audience choice award selected from the winners, and the best professional won the best in show. Not to say that the awards weren't deserving (There was a Wicked Witch of the West with soldiers that were *dead on*) I just merely wished they offered even honorable mentions or judges awards.
(One thing about photobooths, they are set up backstage while being judged. This is good because it means people don't need to be running around for pictures. It's bad because the time for pictures can be delayed and push back the event. Due to extra judging and photography, the hosts had to stall the Friday Night Costume Contest thrice.)
I was tired of my heavy wig at this point, and went back to change into something lighter. I wanted to find a dance or something, but I did find the hentai panel. Sex Warrior Pudding with an audience is humorous to say the least. Once the panel ended around 1:30, I made my way back to the room to attempt to get some sleep for the busy day ahead.
I woke up on Saturday at about 8 am to get ready for the parade. One of Dragon*Con's major events is the parade that travels from a park a few blocks away around the hotels. Many co
n-goers and several spectators come out to see it. The children seem to enjoy it a lot, especially when some groups hand out candy. The stormtroopers and jedi overpower many of the other groups, but it makes for a cool sight to see. I got dressed in my gijinka outfit to meet up with aleathiaburns and she helped make a presentation script. After the show, we all had random ideas of what to do in 2008. It started off with BeDawn'ce, and went downhill from there. Aleathia backed out and went for the more traditional crone with armor. (You did an awesome job with it, BTW. I'll have to go find some garage sale signs) blikku ended up doing "The Goddess Formerly known as Dawn" with a Prince theme,
hentaigirl82 did Ma"Dawn"na, complete with rolling on the ground a la MTV awards. And I, I did Queen "Dawn" tifah! I found some old kinte fabric and made a hat, with a matching vest and made a lace robe that was sheer but sexy. A little music and intro, and 'tada!' The judges had a blast with it, and the other contestants loved it. The Dawn contest is full of all sorts of ideas. There was a rickroll. One of the winners was a Dawn, made out of cardboard! The one who won the $1000 prize went full Shiva dawn. Not FF Shiva full of ice, but Shiva with six arms and all. (She was from Portsmouth too. Told you I can't escape New England. I did mention PortCon to her, so maybe she'll come next June) The thing about the Dawn contest which makes it really awesome, is that everyone goes home with something. There are some prizes for categories, but all contestants go home with a Dawn portrait drawn spefically for Dragon*Con and not found anywhere else. And then there's the after party.
The after party is usually at the top floor in one of the suites. (The Marriott has 47 floors, it gets high pretty quick) This is where you can review the pictures taken at the photobooth (All those pics usually take a month or two to be released, so you're gonna have to wait for them) The Dawn contest is also replayed on the tv station (which is hooked up to the host hotels) and Lisner and crew offer free drinks (with tips of course) I ended up changing clothes to something a bit more durable to go to the after party. I was good and woozy after one hurricane, and I ended up having 3 drinks. I stayed there till about 3 AM and eventually wobbled back to my hotel room for some sleep.
Sunday started off pretty slow, because that lack of sleep + combination of alcohol was making me stay in bed longer than I intended. Besides, I knew that there was nothing I really wanted to see until 2ish anyway. So at about 1:30, I stagger off the floor and shower. Putting on my Victorian Loli outfit, I scavenge more in the dealer's halls. I went to see Linsner to get my picture signed, and said "Be Creative" When I got it back, I got his signature, a three-teared eye that is standard with Dawn, and a little Queenie crown. I laughed my behind off. I may not have won, but the judges loved the while thing. (One of them started singing U.N.I.T.Y while we did our last stroll across the stage) I then made my way back toward the costuming panel for a face-casting lecture. It was very informative, and confirmed that eventually, I'm gonna kidnap someone for the day to do face-casting with. After that, was the corsetry workshop. This was also very informative, especially since a future costume I plan will have to have a corset, because there's no way that the outfit would work without an unnatural waist. I'll have to invest in heavy boning. Next, was the airbrushing panel, which went over makeup primarily. It was stuff I already knew, but I did pick up some tidbits. (I may have to eventually invest in a compressor) I was debating going to see the Masquerade, but decided against it. The Masq is also different, as it is only about the show and presentation. The prizes are determined by judges and audience reaction, and nothing is looked at up close. It has a Showtime at the Apollo feel, such as if the audience doesn't like your skit, stormtroopers will remove you from the stage. (This can be problematic, because groups have been removed by mistake)
My feet overruled, and decided to stay put for the panel on fangs. This panel was very interesting, as it talked about the technique of making one's fangs from scratch. I never though hearing about fangs and contacts for over 2 hours would be so interesting.
After that, I went to change clothes and begin packing, and went out with some night-wear. I stopped in the fetish/goth wear panel, which showed some amazing knotwork. I ran into Aleathia, and we decided to mingle around in the Marriott lobby, gathering pictures and asking questions. This is where I regretted bringing Ursula, because it was cold enough in the room to not be uncomfortable. It got so bad, I had to show pictures of Ursula on my phone. There were also some... costumes that leave little hidden. It seems like people skip on the decency laws for the weekend. I also stopped at one of the public parties, but I felt that it wasn't as good as the one the year before. We viewed more of the madness of Sunday night, which included a impromptu 'panel' with Dethklok, with people actually in character. After a while Aleathea didn't feel well, so we escorted her home. After re-hydration, she felt better. By this time, it was almost 4 AM, and I guessed to get some sleep.
Monday came around, and I woke around 10:30, and checked myself out. Made it easier to attend the con instead of leaving and ditching poeple. The exodus had already started. I wanted to catch some robot battles, but people moving cosplays to cars made my help more important. Blikku, Aleathia, and I do a last minute run-through in the dealer's room, I got some werewolf ears. We decide to get something to eat, and it's there that I run into Sketch. We probably missed eachother a few times and never even noticed it. At this point, Aleatha wanted to get some ICG info, which also turned out to be the closing ceremonies of sort for the costuming track. It turns out, that Costume-Con was started because some snooty literary sci-fi people didn't want people in costumes there. (I remember him mentioning specifically Boskone. If you know your history, they have evolved into nefe. It was at this point, that people began to separate, and the con started to close down completely. At this point, I went into my rental, and made my way back toward my family in Atlanta.
Overall, Dragon*Con was awesome! It must be done at least once in a lifetime. Some specific problems were: Badges. They weren't as strong as other badges, so it made ripping the tab easy. I had found a woman who had laminated hers at the ups store around the corner. She was a genius.
I'd also love to see some millerny in the future. This has confirmed that I really want to go to Costume-Con. That, and/or work on future projects.
There is one more thing:Check out this coat: I found this at the Museum Replicas stand. I *think* it's an org 13 coat. I think.