Warning, these pictures may contain images that you do not want to open up at the work place (some people are easily offended, I am not.) Dragon*Con is not a little kid or Superhero convention. There are close to 60 jpegs listed.http://www.nosewheelie.com/dragoncon/
SATURDAY First off, the transit system in Atlanta is fabulous. The Marta train took us directly from the airport to within a block of the hotel.
The atmosphere at D*C is very relaxed, laid back and friendly, despite the fact that they may have a shelf of breasts in front of them. There were some beautiful corsets and bodices, right next to black vinyl outfit on 6" heels. Anime costumes next to KISS, Fairies next to Goths.
I was in the Comics Rooms, were I saw Panels for the first time in years. It was a pleasure to sit back & listen to the artists & writers do their thing. Most Pros were very nice, about 97%. But some of them, you wonder why they said "yes" to come in the first place? One guy didnÕt have anyone to watch his Artist Alley table, so they sent the Panel down to him. That could never happen at a larger convention. Most are just too big.
The ratio of men to woman was 5 to 1. Women & men paraded around in all sorts of things, All of it interesting. I decided to be extra weird one night & wear my pink & white candy striper dress. I decided that I was going to be the Anti-Goth :-) It worked, More people looked at me that night, it was funny. Physically, it was an average assortment of body sizes. Thin to Obese. Fit & Muscular to PeeWee Herman. Lots of 18 year olds and 40 year olds. Age range averaged out at 26-ish. Everyone seemed to be of legal age and never was a kid seen after 10pm (except for the Masquerade). No complaints were filed by the "American Angry Mom Association". It seemed to be common sense there, that parents not let their kids wander around when grown people were partying. Woohoo!
D*C was in 2 hotels. The Marriot & Hyatt are inches away from each other. The back of the Hyatt lead to the front of the Marriot. They even had a connecting tunnel. The hotels were interesting to look at on the inside. They each had a cool spacey style, that make most hotels look boring. (There are photos of the hotels)
SUNDAY The Masquerade was very good. The room seated 3,000. There is no rule about Hall costumes, so many of the costumes I saw Saturday showed up Sunday night on stage. People wore costumes every single day. 1 out of 3 people was wearing some sort of costume. I admit I wasnÕt wearing my normal clothes either, the atmosphere demanded it. I was really glad I had a red LoganÕs Run costume to wear. The Masquerade started at 8:30 and ended at 10:30-ish. It had 52 contestants. Most walked on and off quickly, some did skits. Awards were given to Best of Show, Best of Show Masters, Best Skit (Speed Racer was funny!!), Best Horror (Phantom of the Opera) & I forgot the other types of awards. Large groups won for Appleseed, Marvel, Star Wars & Farscape. The big winner that everyone loved was The Nightmare Before Christmas. 3 people did it and the Mayor had a spinning head! Awards certificates were given to all children who entered. The MST 3000 guys were the MCs. Mike Nelson & Kevin Murphy (voice of Tom Servo). They were great and went along with the flow. The crowd at D*C was very nice. When the lighting or sound cue went screwy the crowd didnÕt get mean & ugly. They waited patiently. And the MCs helped out a lot with nice little side comments.
THE DEALERS ROOM They had 2 Exhibit halls set up in the Marriot. The one upstairs was all exhibitors. The one downstairs was Artist Alley on the right, TV stars on the left and more Exhibitors in the middle, just to break up any Artist vs. Actor food fights. They had Exhibitors with Š Comics, Anime, Video/DVDÕs, Jewelry, Corsets, Whips, Leather crafts, Crystals, T-shirts(mostly none superhero), Weaponry, Dice, Gaming Figures & Heroclix(you will be assimilated). There did not seem to be any big company presence or any of the freebies that come with them. The freebie table consisted of flyers & information. But it was worth it to find alternative items, like solid gold or silver dice.
D*C lasted 4 days. But on the last 2 days (Sun-Mon) The Baptist Church Convention started to roll in. It was funny and horrible at the same time. All these older black women and a few men wandering around looking bewildered at the sheer freakiness of us all! :-)
I was tired, but it was a good tired. I definitely want to go next year for all 4 days, or at least 3 whole days and nights. But this time IÕll take No-Doz.
The Dragon*Con website is jam packed with information. To view that please go to http://www.dragoncon.org/
Mary, Marysgarage@hotmail.com