DragonCon Thurs/Friday

DragonCon!

We started out the trip with the 10th Doctor on our flight. I literally almost bumped into him and recognized the fabric first. I looked up and he looked at my t-shirt (Doctors crossing Abbey Road) and I said "Nice suit" at the same time as he said "Nice shirt". It was very funny. And then I worried that the Doctor was on our flight since nothing good happens when he shows up, right? :-)
 
We stayed in the Sheraton this year, which ended up being quite nice. Hardly any waits for elevators, just a block or so from the Marriott (and frankly it was often a relief to walk outside instead of through the crowded tunnels), and relatively quiet. Plus the Marriott changed their policies this year and rooms are non-refundable (1 night) and non-transferrable. Lame. Especially when you have to reserve a full year out. The Sheraton is still refundable. And this was the view from our room - which was adjoining with Raj and Jen's room, which was awesome!






We caught Gen right away at the Sheraton and got to hang out, which was awesome. After she went to bed, we decided to head over to the Marriott to see some friends. We made it there right before a huge cheer went up - signifying midnight and the official start to DragonCon. Waynes World:
Daxy as Amy Pond:
 
Me and Lesa:
 
Eventually we all ended up in Cassandra's room and I took a little bit of video of everyone saying hello to each other. It was really nice to have a reunion with some of my awesome friends!
Terry and Raj accidentally matched:
 
 Later on, in the Marriott - Moss from the IT Crowd:
 

Female Victorian 10th doctor. Loved her costume!
 

Middle Earth!

This little Amelia Pond was awesome. She even had a TARDIS key.
 

Those pics were all on line for the Lord of the Rings panel with Craig Parker, Billy Boyd, and John Rhys-Davies. With all that waiting in line, we were still towards the back.
The best line from JRD was when he was talking about all the ways his characters have been killed and he said something to the effect of "I've been beaten, stabbed, eaten by an anaconda, thrown into a volcano... when it comes time for the real thing, it's going to be a letdown!"

And this exchange - Billy Boyd: "It's the devil!" Cosplayer: "No, I'm Fluttershy from My Little Pony." Billy: "The devil always says that." After the panel, Doug, Ed, and I headed to the Walk of Fame, since if you're going to get any autographs, Friday is the time to do it. Ed waited in Katee Sackhoff's line and I waited John Rhys-Davies. At $40 a pop now, it's harder and harder to justify spending on autographs. I would have liked Katee's to go with Jamie Bamber, but I just couldn't do it. I was really happy with JRD though because he was SUPER nice. I told him we were all big fans of him where I worked and he shook my hand and then said, "I'm on the Advisory Council for the Planetary Society!" And then we had a really nice conversation about the importance of science. And he told me how they wanted his professor on Sliders to be evil and he didn't want the scientist to be evil. And said that it's great that things are changing because more and more now the scientists are the heroes and the good guys. It was awesome. He shook my hand a second time and wrote an awesome autograph for me.


By the time I was done there, Billy Boyd was at his table with no line. I didn't have much to say to him but we had a conversation about his accent and the accent of our friend Tommy who is also from Glasgow, who doesn't like his accent as much as we do. (Billy said "You gotta own the accent!") and we determined that he did not know my friend. And that was about it. He was nice though. And so after spending $85, I was done, though if they'd only been $20 instead of $40 and $45, I might have tried to get others. But then we got to meet Dean Cain because Michelle wanted an autograph. His line didn't move for a while because he was taking a break. But finally he got back and Ed and I got up there. We explained about Michelle having to miss DragonCon because of her brother's getting married and he said "Married, Ugh, good luck!" jokingly, since I guess he had a bad experience with it! And then he was like "Just kidding, don't tell her I said that!" (which is what I'm basically doing now). But he was really nice about it and wrote out an autograph for Michelle saying "Sorry I missed you in Atlanta" and he shook both Ed and I's hands twice (we had said we were also fans of Lois and Clark) and was generally very pleasant and nice. It's nice when you feel like you got something out of spending $40 on an autograph. So positive experience there.

 I caught this Leia Bespin costume (embroidered) in the Mall. She did a great job:
And I caught this awesome Nathan Drake from Uncharted 3 and Sully:
 
Inspector Spacetime!
 
Boggart Snape!
 
TARDIS!
 

Next I tried to see the Guild panel but the line was wrapped around the building already so I went over to the Marriott to catch Betsy in her awesome Effie Hunger Games costume.
  

 

 
Baby Captain America!
 
The TARDIS:

Then a nearby 10th Doctor spotted the TARDIS!

 Then together they tried to vanquish an adipose:
 
Then Doug texted me that he was on the end of the Guild Line. So I went back to the Sheraton and managed to get in. And since it was just me, I was pretty far up - but way to the side.
They had the full cast though and it was a funny panel.
More hall costumes - this Harry Potter group was great. They all looked the part, especially their Ron.

Next we all met up on the 10th floor with stuff from the food court for dinner together!
Pretty sunset:
 
Caitlin's adorable outfit - I had seen her earlier and not realized it was her.
 
 This Silence was really creepy and was good at lurking.
Good Labyrinth costumes:

The Silence again. Good thing I took a picture, I forgot I saw him! Har har.
 
Then it was time to get dressed in Star Trek for the Friday night meet-up! I didn't make my costume, it's one of the Anovos ones. Here is Doug, Raj and Jen, and I:
Christina:
 

 
Doug and Raj being all casual:


 (I'll note that I forgot Doug's Trek badge but was able to borrow one from Jen - for nursing. :-)) Shoe shot since both Doug and Raj have the accurate NuTrek boots (though they were both painted black):
Shoe shot!
 

My Trek costume:
 




 


 


 



 
Jem and the Holograms:
 








Terry as The Walking Dead sheriff:



Me and Q:
 




Nice Ewok:
 




Dianne's Brave costume:
 
The Yip Yip aliens were so funny!
Nice Voltron!
 
Barf from Spaceballs:
 
Moulin Rouge:

 It was so nice finally meeting Michaela!
 




 It was also nice seeing Ashlee again and getting to hang out for longer than last time! I didn't get a picture of it, but I got to see her black MA masquerade outfit, which was fab! As were all her costumes!
 
Betsy looked amazing in her Jessica Rabbit costume - the pics do her no justice!
Me and Kathy:
 
Vera's amazing Hunger Games Girl on Fire Gown:
 

 

 

Caitlin and Rogue and family:




One of those cat doctors from Doctor Who:
And that's it for Friday!