Dragon Con Report
POSTED BY: ncbrowncoat
UPDATED: Tuesday, September 9, 2008 08:37
VIEWED: 7109
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I couldn't post this as a blog so here's my Dragon Con (and first con ever) experience.
I had to write all of this down before I forgot the details. Sorry it's long but then it could be MUCH longer!
Whoooo! I'm still excited and it's after 11 Monday night.
Here's what happened in a nutshell. Left Raleigh at 10 am Friday. We spent the night at the Days Inn near the airport. I worked only half a day Thursday, threw my suitcase in the car and headed to Raleigh. Of course I couldn't get much sleep.
The plane ride was uneventful. My daughter, who hadn't been on a plane since she was a baby was more than a bit apprehensive and held my hand the whole hour we were in the air.
When we got to Atlanta we had no trouble finding the Marta station and were whisked downtown. Ran and got our badges. No problem there at about 1:30 p.m.
We were hoping to see the Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk panel at 2:30 but it wasn't to be. Saw a friend at the front of the line. She had been there since 8:30 in the morning and went looking for the end of the line. Followed it outside and round and down the block. We survived about 45 minutes before fatigue and hunger forced us out of the line. When we left it was around the corner and all the way down the next block.
Checked into our nice hotel, the Inn at the Peachtrees, just across the street and half a block down from the Hyatt. Perfect place to stay. Quiet and the best hot breakfast to begin the day with. Saw lots of Alabaama Crimson Tide and Clemson Tigers fans at the hotel too. They had a game at the Georgia dome scheduled for Saturday.
Also tried to go to Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. Same thing with the wait. It was horrible and we were so tied so we left and got a good nights sleep.
Started Saturday fresh with the Dragon Con parade. There aren't words to describe it. Every fandom and sci fi and fantasy genre was represented. The best represented seemed to be Star Wars (501st and Jedi Warrior groups) , BSG (Colonial Marines) and of course the Browncoats (76th Indepdent
Brigade and lots others).
Spent the rest of the day just gawking at the costumes and the people and also visited all 3 of the dealer rooms. I tried on and bought a beautiful Asian inspired pantsuit. Purple pants and sheer top that goes past the knees. Had a good conversation with Jason Palmer, the artist, and bought one of his Mal prints (he signed it). I had also bought a photo with Nathan Fillion but I couldn't find out where or when the photos were being taken.
Decided to do some regular touristy stuff too. Walked down a tremendous hill (I never knew that Atlanta had such steep hills. Right now my legs are a bit sore from all the walking!) to the Coca-Cola Experience and the Georgia Aquarium.
The Coke Experience seemed to have the shorter line so we went there first.
I have mixed feelings about the Coca-Cola Experience. It's very well done but it seems that they learned a lot of lessons from Disney. The film is very cute and clever. After it's over the screen lifts and you walk into the "experience". There's a Coke polar bear to have your picture taken with and a presentation on the history of Coke and a simulated bottling line.
Then you go to the tasting room where you can taste Coke products from around the world. The ones from Latin America, the Middle East and Africa are almost candy sweet.
Rested and went to "A Mighty Fine Shindig" around 8:30. I wore my new Asian outfit. Quite a few Browncoats were around taking pictures. There were more than a few Inaras, Rivers and Jaynes. Only 1 or 2 Zoe's.
One particular Jayne stands out. I don't know his real name except his handle was Sid from Onatario. He really looked and acted like a young Jayne Cobb. He had the look down perfectly.
The Shindig was awesome and was THE party to attend. For once everyone got in. It was held in the Ball Room of the Sheraton and the BSG group had the other one. Emerald Rose played (I ended up buying 2 of their CD's the next day) and everyone had a great time
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Sounds like you had a shiny D*C experience!
It is an unfortunate fact of life that Dragon*Queue is full of event lines. There are just so many folks all wanting to do the same things that it is inevitable. Best thing to do, if you really want to go to a Firefly panel, is to plan on camping out. The silver lining is that you'll be sitting with a couple thousand like-minded folks, and, if you play your cards right, the wait can be like a mini-shindig.
It's great that you actually got to see our BDHs in person! They are all so very good to the flans. If he can ever get to Dragon again without being called away, Adam is just as shiny. He really loves hanging out with Browncoats, and absolutely hates missing the event. But, work is work, and it seems that, often as not, he doesn't get to come.
As for attending next year, now that you have an inkling how things work, you can plan on refining your experience, next time.
I do strongly recommend, should you make it in 2009, that you consider preregistering for 2010 while you're picking up your badge. I hardly takes any more time, and it means you only pay $50 for the whole weekend the next time around. And, if it turns out you can't go, there is provision for transferring your membership to another person (there's a place for it on the D*C website, if I am informed correctly) for what you paid, which means someone will jump on it with both feet.
Thanks for sharing your experience, NCBrowncoat! Hope to seeya there, next year!
-Raycheetah =^[.]^=
The enjoyment of any good thing is only enhanced by sharing it with others.
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=30176
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Thanks for the report and the photos, ncb.
Most of us will never get a chance to go to
a Con, so the opportunity to experience it
second-hand is most welcome.
bun
a/k/a Vi Carious
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Thanks Bun!
I think this photo shows the best of two fandoms. I have to admit I laughed when I saw it. This guy was beside the Conoooga (Chatanooga, TN con) table.
http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/
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That should be titled "When Fandoms Collide"
shouldn't it?
Fantastic.
bun
Frisky Browncoat
when in doubt -- um -- i'm not real sure
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Glad you had such a good time. Did you get any sense that the Browncoat presence is increasing over time at DC? I know the Firefly panel was moved to a largest room, and the Firefly lines were very long. But how could we find out if the growing fan presence is catching the attention of the PTB in SciFi or elsewhere?
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I really can't say because this was my first con ever. But Browncoats were every where.
Not only was the first panel moved to the largest room but the other two also produced lines around the block. Also, the lines for Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Jewel Staite and Moreana Baccaran at the Walk of Fame were the longest. And the ballroom at the Sheraton (1500 capacity)for "A Mighty Fine Shindig" was packed on Saturday night.
And from what I observed people are into more than one fandom. I know of one person that brought 5 costumes from 3 different fandoms.
http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/
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Hi - This was my third year at D*C and it was obvious that there were more browncoats there than EVER before. Now, that coulda been because in the three consecutive years I've attended - there were more BDH's there than in the past three years - but I don't know. I did hear, quite often, members of the crowd saying things like, "This Firefly thing is HUGE," - and I'd discussed with several the fact that, while other fandoms seem to be on the wane - (again, that could just be because some of their stars weren't in attendance) Firefly and Serenity continues to GROW - years after the series and film. Don't know if anyone (PTB or not) notices. It was a blast, though and I'm hoping to get there next year as well.
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I'd estimate that a good 25% of the crowd was browncoats (judging from the shirts, costumes or lanyards that the people who passed our booth all weekend). I know that several other fandoms were griping that "the Whedonverse Track is taking over the whole con! They keep giving them the largest rooms and Firefly is dead!" (and actual quote from a tolkien fan next to me)
I think that's because A) 4 out of 9 BDHs were tehre and B) the whedonverse track people lined up some AWESOME programing!
I had a blast and got to see Nathan and Alan (waited only an hour) and got into the shindig (although people were turned away at the door, but after the first hour it emptied a lot so anyone could come in then) and saw the amazing job they did with the Dr Horrible show (again, only waited an hour). I had a blast!
My full report is here (I have yet to finish blogging about Sunday and Monday, but those will be added soon, so check back)
http://fireflycargobay.blogspot.com/
naturally, the posts are inverted order, so start at the bottom of the page :)
Shiny stuff for not a lot o coin:
www.cafepress.com/FireflyCargoBay
and www.FireflyCargoBay.com
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Quote:Lol, highly ironic considering that Tolkien actually is dead.
Originally posted by earthgirl:
I know that several other fandoms were griping that "the Whedonverse Track is taking over the whole con! They keep giving them the largest rooms and Firefly is dead!" (and actual quote from a tolkien fan next to me)
Does anyone know if there's been any talk of splitting Firefly/Serenity into its own track, separate from the rest of the Whedonverse? I've never been to D*C, but I'm hoping to go next year, so I'm trying to get a handle on how things work out there. Maybe more panels on Firefly, running concurrently with Buffy or Dollhouse tracks, might clear up a bit of the congestion?
~CK
You can't take the sky from me...
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