Dragon*Con 2012, Continued

(Read part 1 here, if you haven't already!)

We didn't bring the zoom lens to the Eureka panel, so even though we were less than half the distance from the stage as at The Guild's, my pics are blurry messes:

Blech. Sorry.

Colin Ferguson made the panel a non-stop laugh riot, though, and this was easily my favorite event of the whole con. If you ever get the chance to see him in person, GO. He's hysterical.  (Niall & Tembe are wonderful, too; just not as funny.)

At one point this elegantly dressed older lady stood up and thanked Tembe for setting such a wonderful example for other women, and women of color at that, by playing such a strong, intelligent character. Tia then immediately started talking about Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) and what an inspiration *she* had been. It was a beautiful moment, and I know I wasn't the only one choked up by it.

Friday night we took my parents to Pittypatt's Porch, this fabulous Southern restaurant across the street from the Westin (try the pickled watermelon rind! Really!), and by some crazy random happenstance we walked in exactly one minute after the entire cast of The Guild. (!!) So, yeah, I may have spent the whole meal staring three tables over and being told by John to stop staring. Hee.

Saturday I decided to sleep in and skip the parade, while John went out and took pictures. I later learned he had a miserable time of it, though, since he emerged from the hotel into a solid wall of humanity, and it took over 45 minutes for him to navigate two block to the Press area - and once there he still couldn't see much, and then the Parade stopped moving for over 15 minutes while it backed up, and finally John admitted defeat and left. 

My parents also had a rough time: they arrived a full hour early to stake out a good spot, and at the last minute a big group of people elbowed their way in front of my parents so they couldn't see a thing.  >.<

Stuff like that makes me so sad and disgusted with people. I can only hope the rude ones were locals or other tourists, and not Dragon*Con attendees. Considering that most D*C folk are always amazingly polite, I really think that must be the case.

You can see from these pics just had crazy the parade crowds are. It's hard to tell where the parade stops and the onlookers begin!

I think from now on we're swearing off the parade, unless we stand at the very tail end by the Marriott - we've had luck there in years past.

In happier news, on Saturday I got a tattoo!!

Ok, so it's a Sharpie tattoo, but still.

This is the work of artist Jason Thomas of Red Rocket Farms, who I contacted ahead of time to demand/request one. I'm not sure he did any others the whole con, either, so here I am looking smug:

:D

The rocket ship was my idea, but Jason came up with a second tattoo design on his own. I think you can tell he designed it just for me:

Actually, this is just an in-process shot; somehow we neglected to take a finished picture until that night when it'd started to fade (oops!):

A robot and cake - perfect, right? (Have I mentioned that Jason is a fan?)

As you can see, Jason's art and daily comics have an adorably twisted and often morbid sense of humor, so I'm pretty sure you guys will like 'em. ;) 

Plus Saturday night we got to see the premier of his new cartoon, Cradle Me, Sky, which looks pretty amazing. The fates conspired against Jason & his partner Jennifer that night, though, with a room change, disappearing equipment, and a host of other problems, until the delayed premier was to a much smaller crowd than they'd hoped. So do me a favor and go check out the nine minute premier. I, for one, can't wait to see the next chapters.

Also on Saturday we attended the Gadgeteer's Showcase, where steampunk builders and enthusiasts show off everything from jetpacks to giant wings to weaponry. Needless to say, it's awesome.

That's the builder/creator in the cap. He rode this...erm...vehicle? through the whole parade! And I overheard him saying he's worked for Disney for years as a prop builder. Makes sense, right?

 I still don't see how the giant wheel didn't scrape his head. o.0

This group was there showing off their awesome Avengers steampunkery:

I like Thor's hat.

Also there were the Apparition Abolishers, a steampunk Ghostbusters group kind of similar to The  League of Steam. And as luck would have it, I got a photo of the lady Abolisher who would go on to win Best In Show in the big D*C Masquerade costume contest:

 This is Leah, aka "Chloe Seachord," and the secret to her costume's success is all in those wings!

Here they are in action:

Amazing, right? She's using an iPhone to control the wings mechanism. Hit the Abolishers link up there to see lots of information on how the group built it all.

Sunday night was the big night: the Mechanical Masquerade, and time for me to step out once again as Lady Vadore.

I was so nervous I had John loosen my corset twice, and even then I had to pace around the room a bit and take half a Xanax before I could don the mask and goggles. Once we left the room we discovered another problem, though: the dreaded elevator wait.

As anyone who's been to D*C knows, every host hotel has a LOT of floors, and the wait for elevators gets insane. At one point we talked to people on the 37th floor of the Westin who were stranded for over an hour, because every elevator that stopped was full. Even worse, the Westin forbade the use of stairs. Yes, really: an alarm would go off. (But we took the stairs anyway on checkout day with another large group. If we hadn't, I think we'd still be there!)

Elevators are another thing that trigger my anxiety; every time the doors close I have to suppress a moment of panic that we'll be trapped. When we checked in we initially were assigned the 40th floor, but after one shaky elevator trip up I made John get us a lower room. We ended up on the 16th floor, which was a vast improvement, but that meant getting down to the lobby could be a challenge: every elevator going down was already full. (There were 72 floors total.) So...we waited. And I paced. And we waited some more.

 Fortunately after only 10 or 15 minutes we were able to cram into an elevator and get downstairs. (Phew!)

As soon as people saw us and started asking for pictures, my nerves evaporated. Like most things, it's the waiting that's the hardest part. I think my parents were surprised by how many people wanted all of our photos, not just mine, but I was delighted each time to wave them over beside me. (John wore a cap, vest, and goggles, but still managed to duck out of most pictures.)

The Masquerade was getting a late start, though, so rather than stand around at the Westin we decided to trek down to the Marriott - you know, that pace where you have to trade places with people to move? - and wander around a bit.

 (There's that lack of peripheral vision again: could I....BE any closer? Ha!)

If ever there was a test for crowd anxiety, this was it. It was the most crowded night at the most crowded hotel, and I quickly discovered that the lack of movement (due to both the crowd & photo requests) caused my goggles to fog up. When I walk the cooler air gets in on the sides, so I hadn't noticed this problem before. My already limited vision got worse the longer we stood in one place, until I had to cling to John's sleeve to lead me through the thickest areas.

(See how much brighter my mask is here? That was after a quick battery change.)

I'm sure this sounds like some people's worst nightmare, but somehow the crowds at D*C don't really bother me. (Well, there was one point when we got caught right outside the main ballroom just as the Masquerade let out, and we literally couldn't move for about three solid minutes. That made me a bit antsy - but eventually we shuffled along to a slightly clearer spot, and all was well.) There's just so much to see, and overall you do keep moving. If I didn't have John, though, I could see it getting too much too fast.

And, surprise surprise, a LOT of readers found me in costume! Some were too shy to stop me, instead choosing to yell to the person next to them, "THAT'S JEN. FROM CAKE WRECKS!" Most stopped to grab a photo or chat (or attempt to chat, at least) for a few minutes, though.

Here's my favorite photo from that night:

Someone said they saw more kids in costume than ever this year, which baffled me, because I saw almost none! I guess that's because I skipped the parade and was mostly out in the later afternoons and evenings, but I was still pretty bummed I didn't see more. Anyway, aren't these two girls great? When they asked for a picture, I made sure John grabbed one with our camera, too.

After an hour or so we made our way back to the Westin, where we met a bunch more readers, including Little Girl Spock (aka Bryden)'s mom, Rachel! Check out how snazzy she and her guy Wade looked, too:

You can't really tell in this picture, but they're both wearing the coolest steampunked Star Trek insignias. Plus, Rachel was carrying the first steampunk prop I've ever seen that reduced me to a squealing fangirl. I WANT ONE SO MUCH, you guys:

 It's a steampunk tricorder. (!!) Wade made it himself! And it has switches! And different colored lights! AND I REALLY REALLY WANT ONE. (Oh, Joo-ooohn...)

The Mechanical Masquerade itself was nice, but held in a giant dark room that made photos almost impossible:

Creeeepy.

Plus the music combined with my mask made conversation extra impossible. So after making the circuit through the room once or twice to make sure we met all the readers who were looking for us, we headed back to the Marriott.

In the end we stayed out 'til 2AM in costume - a new record! - and John and I were both nearly crippled from all the walking. Ha! Not to mention the gouges on my face from the mask & goggles took nearly two days to fade completely.

BUT IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT.

Ben Franklin, Cat Woman & Harley, and a steampunk lady Vader - only at Dragon*Con.

Speaking as a cosplayer (and who knew I'd ever be able to say that?), I have to say I preferred Star Wars Celebration to D*C, even though I had my photo taken far more at D*C. Less crowds actually means more people can see - and therefore appreciate - your costume. As John pointed out, I'm so short that many people never saw me in the masses until I was right next to them. Plus the teeming crowds pushed people past so fast that often they'd only have time for a quick picture; no time to stop and chat. In fact, I think part of the reason Dragon*Con is known for the big spectacle costumes is just because that's the only way you can guarantee people will see you. You know, like this:

I guess it's just a quality-time thing for me; I'd rather have the option of chatting with the person who freaks out over my costume, instead of standing stock still while a steady stream of people file past and snap pics along the way. But that could be just me. (And it was still fun, so don't think I'm complaining!)

Now, speaking as a cosplay photographer, I'll take Dragon*Con over any other con all day, any day. You just can't beat it. Wait'll you see my next posts - you'll see what I mean!

And now, my friends, I will end this insanely long post, because it really is getting insanely long. If you're still reading this, thanks for making it this far! I hope you've been able to enjoy Dragon*Con vicariously through my ramblings. 

Next, stay tuned for the best Dragon*Con costumes! (And watch my Flickr account for all the pics I don't post here on the blog; I'll be updating it as each post goes up!)