DragonCon - Saturday!

So, for the first time since its inception, I actually went to the parade. The first year I went to DragonCon was the first time they did it. It was very hot and early and I never did it again. Mostly because we stay up late and I don't like getting up early and missing sleep. I'm always sorry to miss the parade, but I also generally don't get sick after DragonCon.

Anyhow, we decided to go with Jen & Raj this year and we got to sleep at a decent (for DragonCon) hour. We had intended to try and get a spot on the balcony of the Atlanta Grill (Raj had a reservation) but people had camped out there from 5:45 on, which is nuts!

So we ended up standing right below it.

But guess who else was on the balcony?

Katee Sackhoff! More on that later.

And some shots from the parade.

I was amused at Jar Jar in the back of the Men in Black car:
Stan Lee:

King Bender:

Cardboard Superheroes:

USO girls - I didn't get a good shot because we were shouting for our friends!

Browncoats!

This guy was impressive:

Back to the Future - I liked that they had Lea Thompson's character. At least I think that's her?

Then came the BSG people. I was really hoping they would spot Katee and sure enough, some sharp eyed person did. And they all got really excited and started chanting So Say We All in front of her. I got video:
 
 



The whole thing was actually really sweet. It must be amazing to have people who appreciate something you did that much. And it was nice of them to be able to show her how much BSG and Starbuck means to them.

Jen might have teared up. :-)

And then a giant firetruck pulled up in front of us, totally blocking our view. Luckily the parade was nearly over.

Look at all the people watching from the parking garage!

After the parade, our parade group headed to Sear for lunch/brunch and met up with David, Kathy's husband and Terry and Lesa. It was really fun!

Janine stopped by on the way to her panel too. After lunch, we met up with more of the gang to give Amber a real wetting down. She's recently gotten promoted in the Navy, and when you get promoted, you have a "wet down", which in the old days meant throwing you off a ship. We just threw her into the swimming pool. :-)

 

After that, Doug changed into his Drake costume from Uncharted 2. Roughly. We don't have the right belt buckle yet. But we do have a phurba dagger and a ring and a watch. The black undershirt is from the start of the game. And the holster isn't accurate. It's a work in progress.

And I got changed into my Amy Farrah Fowler costume from Big Bang Theory for our group meet-up. Sadly our Leonard and Bernadette couldn't make DragonCon.

In the elevator, we met Comic Book Guy. He said something to the effect of embracing the fact that he looked like him.

Doug as Drake:

Doug and Jen as Tali from Mass Effect - I wanted to get their picture together since they both had video game costumes.

 

And here we are!

 

 


Besties!


Shamie:

 

 

 


I love some of these pics!


We reenacted the tiara scene:

 


Zombie Disney Princesses:


Atrium:


A great Darth Maul:


Rogue, Caitlin, Sean et al:


After the BBT, Raj and I headed back to the Sheraton to change. We were going to try to catch the Barrowman panel on D*C TV, since there wasn't time to make the actual panel. But they showed the BSG panel instead. D'oh. But it was nice hanging out and relaxing.

I did make the 7pm Gillian Anderson panel. I'd heard she was kind of an airhead and not-at-all Scully-like. And it was pretty disappointing to see that was pretty much true. I'll grant her being nervous and alone in front of a big crowd. And she seemed to remember the process of auditioning for Scully and that was interesting. But then it seemed like she had no recollection of actually having been on the show. I know it was a long time ago, but really? You have no stories at all for a like 10 year period of your life? She was not really able to answer any questions at all. It reminded me of when Ron Glass was on a Firefly panel and he seemed not to remember much and Morena Baccarin (Inara) said to him, "You know, there's this great show called Firefly, you should watch it sometime, it's really good!" I kind of wanted to say the same to Gillian Anderson only about X-files. So yeah. Disappointing. I love that she brought Scully to life but clearly she and Scully are not the same.



The view out the window again:


Many levels of costumes:


The view from 10:


Which is where the evening meet-up started, so we could get pics of our friends' Gender Bender Avengers.


I liked the flash effect from someone else's camera. I'm sure that was Thor's doing, right?

 


Gen stopped by with K-9. Sadly she couldn't catch and elevator and she hauled him up 10 flights of stairs!

 

 

 


Now for more Avengers:

 

 


We spotted another Nathan Drake:


The view from 10:

More Avengers:


I was lent a Captain America shirt so I could be a fan. :-)

 


We found another group dresses as Lolita Avengers. I love the parasol Captain American shield:

 

 

 

 


After much walking around, we headed to the food court to sit. And get Dairy Queen. And accidentally ended up recreating the Schwarma scene.

 


And here are all the people taking pictures of the Schwarma scene. It was really funny seeing people doing double takes.


Thor taunting Loki:



I got to see Ashlee's amazing Evil Lily costume:


And her husband's awesome True Grit costume:


And lastly, from earlier in the evening, I couldn't help but photobomb this pic.