Again, we see the "The more you do, the less you blog" phenomenon. (Doo-doo-dododo) So much to tell about DragonCon, so little time...
First, looks like I will be doing DCon, not WorldCon, next year -- because DCon is 45/person if we buy now, and WCon is ONE-FRACKING-HUNDRED-SEVENTY-FIVE dollars per person if we buy now. Yeah, the con is a day or two longer, but still...no way in hell. Besides, after three DCons, it's becoming familiar.
According to some people I know "in the industry", DCon as I know it today is significantly more "PG rated" than it once was. Uhm...I'll leave that judgment to the photos coming soon.
Costume contest was good this year. Apparently, they decided last year's "No Skits" policy was a flop, so this year, there were some extended displays...some so extended that the stormtroopers (yes, stormtroopers) had to come and clear off the contestants. The hosts were two people from Mythbusters, whom I will refer to as "Cool Asian Guy" and "Ditzy Chick". CAG (No relation to Apollo) earned massive Geek Cred by dropping terms like "protoculture". DC lost major Geek Cred every time she opened her mouth. So it goes.
The most spectacular costume, IMO, was a guy who built a full Cyclone suit -- so massive he needed help just walking across the stage. He was in the "Novice" category(!). The winners were a bunch of Sailor Scouts who did an extended dance to the tune of that song from Moulin Rouge. The oddest and most useless entry was someone who dressed in a yellow jumpsuit and walked across the stage with a "Hilary in 2008" poster. No, I don't understand it either.
There was also a children's costume entry, featuring Adorable Moppets, including a well done brother/sister pair of Sith/Jedi duelling over a holocron. Of course, EVERYONE in the children's contest won *something*, since we wouldn't want the little darlings to learn that sometimes, not everyone is a winner. Sigh.
Filking was generally good, though a bit too much Luke Ski for Beth's taste. (And, frankly, mine). The main problem IMO was that open filk didn't start until 1. This meant a lot less than I'd have liked.
We playtested a game where you play gods duelling for control. It's got a lot of nice concepts and ideas, but needs some play balance retuning.
Rumour has it that this was the Biggest DragonCon EVAR, with projections of 40-60 thousand people, and I believe it -- the place was a madhouse. Police were actually in the hotels to direct traffic and regulate the flow of people.
Art show was pretty good, but a bit less spectacular than I've seen at some cons.
Photos later today.
Comments (1)
He's got serious, SERIOUS geek cred. Plus, HOTTT!
Ditzy Chick was probably Kari Byron, who's mostly an artist and metalworker, but who does build minis in her spare time. She's more of an artist than a geek.