Dragon*Con 2011, Day 2

Saturday was light on panels for us. We started with another steampunk lecture, but really the most interesting part was meeting some of our fellow attendees beforehand:

There was a handy backdrop set up in the back of the room. Check out all the detail on these ladies!

Steampunk Girl Scouts:

Her backpack had lights and sound effects, too:

Our only other panel that day was a Back to the Future Q&A:

We were waaaay in the back, and unfortunately - and surprisingly - we couldn't hear a word Christopher Lloyd said. He is amazingly soft-spoken! All that reached us through the speakers was a barely audible murmur - except when someone asked him to say, "GREAT SCOTT!" - which he did, and with enthusiasm. :D It was such a shame, though; he was the main one we all wanted to hear!

Now THAT is an awesome Jareth. (See? Geek girls do everything better!)

We spent most of our free time Saturday in my favorite place at Dragon*Con: the art rooms. Upon first entering Artist's Alley we ran into Jason Thomas. Well, actually, his booth partner chased us down the aisle and asked us if Jason could draw me a free sketch. (Like I'm going to say no to that!) It turned out he's a CW fan!

Here's Jason and my finished cake-loving robot sketch:

As you can see, Jason makes *adorable* robot and monster art. He even gave me two t-shirts - he's wearing one of the styles in the picture. So. Cute. And his paintings are fantastic, too. You can see it all on his website, Red Rocket Farm.

While Jason was drawing my cake 'bot, reader Amber found us and gave me *another* amazing gift:

Why yes, that IS a painting of Darth Vader riding a My Little Pony over a rainbow. (Careful there; you're drooling.) In fact, Amber is the one who painted my Spock Carrot Jockey for me at last year's Dragon*Con. Needless to say, she is AWESOME. (I had to ask several times if she was sure I could actually have it. "Really?" "Really." "No, seriously: REALLY?")

So as you can see, I was spoiled rotten before I even made it 30 feet inside the room.

Outside the gallery again, I of course had to get a photo with a group of Ghostbusters:

I'm wearing my Ghostbusters/Pacman shirt, naturally. (And those are the famous yellow boots, for those of you who were searching but never spotted 'em.)

We also ran into one of the steampunk Ghostbusters:

John had the camera at this point, and he likes to tell people he's photographing, "Now you're a tiger! You're a tiger!"

So, uh, here's the guy being a tiger:

LOL
(And check out the pack! Sweet!)

A few more costumes from around the con that day:

"Fabulous, Harry, I love the feathers."


The Wheatley puppet! YES!! (Though I'm still bummed I didn't get to talk to her.)

Um...
Ohhh kaaaay.

This next one's a lousy picture, but do you recognize the characters?

It took me a second, but then I was screeching, "Labyrinth! Sweet!!"

Saturday night was the Jonathan Coulton/Paul and Storm/Molly Lewis concert - practically a mini Wootstock - so I was super excited to go. For some reason it started over an hour and a half late, though, which meant we spent about two hours in the Marriot lobby costume-hunting while we waited.


Now, if you've never been to Dragon*Con, it's hard to explain just how crowded the place is. This convention takes up five enormous hotels and entire city blocks, but the lobbies are so filled each night it can be quite literally hard to move. This is part of the challenge - and fun, if you're a bit warped like me - of getting costume photos. You can't back up. The lighting is horrendous, everyone's in the way, everyone's moving, and it's hard to get the cosplayer to look at or hear you. Plus you often can't reach that awesome costume you spotted from 50 feet away before the person has hopped on an escalator and gone up or down a few levels:

Kind of like this group of Nerf Punks I chased all over the hotel. Heh.

And, if you're short like me, often times you'll dive into the thick of an enormous crowd only to find you can no longer *see* the costume you wanted, because you're packed in like sardines and aren't tall enough to look over all the head and shoulders around you.

If that sounds like a nightmare to you, then I wouldn't recommend costume hunting at Dragon*Con. :)

Usually I love the challenge of it, though, and use my shortness to squirm and squeeze through the crowd, dancing through drunken parties, ducking foam weaponry and mechanical wings and any number of other unwieldy costume bits, all to smoothly jostle my way into position for the perfect shot.


I've even learned the photographer's sign language: just catch the person's eye, hold up your camera, and raise your eyebrows. They almost always respond with a nod: no talking needed until I yell out a "thank you!" and rush after my next target.

Saturday night while waiting for the concert, though, my energy level tanked. After walking all day on not enough sleep I was pretty well done in by 9pm. Suddenly, it wasn't fun. It was crowded and miserable and stifling with no where to sit. So, I slumped against a railing and handed the camera off to John. He was a trooper, too, scoring some fabulous shots for me:

Daft Steampunk! Ha!

An elegant steampunk witch:

Check out her "broom."

KNEEL BEFORE ZOD.

Eventually, after a pack of peanut M&Ms and some restful wall-leaning, I regained enough energy to take over again.

Check out this fun gender-swapped Joker & Harley:

And a nice Hogwarts group:

Complete with mini dementor.

And another "only-at-Dragon*Con":

:D

The rest of Saturday's photos will be on my Flickr soon, so check there to see everything.

We ended the night with the concert, keeping my parents out waaaaay past their bedtime but still having a great time. If you've never heard of the Wootstock performers, I highly recommend going to Youtube and watching some of the show there. (Here's Coulton singing Still Alive from the D*C concert.)

We're on the home stretch now; just one more full day and the Steampunk Exhibition to go!