Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Dragon*Con Report by Lara Hansen

My friend, Lara Hansen, attended Dragon*Con 2009 in Atlanta recently. She graciously agreed to share her experience by answering a few questions for my blog.

1. What is Dragon*Con?

The exact definition from the Dragon*Con website is: The largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music and film in the US. My definition is...an opportunity to meet like-minded individuals (people who love the same crazy stuff as me), see some amazing (and frightening) costumes, listen to music, see spectacular art & comic book artists in action and STAND (or sit, lounge or shuffle) IN LINE. Hours and hours and hours and miles and miles and miles of lines! Our saying for the weekend..."It's not Dragon*Con without lines." or better yet, "Hey, what's this line for?" (Normally this statement was made after standing in line for a while.) I heard later fans started lining up to see Patrick Stewart from Star Trek 7 hours before his panel.

2. What is the craziest costume/person/thing you saw at the convention?

There is all kinds of craziness going on all 4 days. You never knew what you're going to see when you round a corner, step off an escalator or walk through a door. I saw a man dressed like Elasti-Girl from The Incredibles - platform boots, body suit, bobbed wig and boobs! He actually looked pretty good...as far as costuming was concerned. There were some people who stretched the Georgia state laws on nudity to its limit. Hundreds of stormtroopers, several women dressed in Princess Leia's slave girl outfit, tons of members of Star Fleet and a great group of Spartan Warriors from the movie 300. Whew! They were hot! *fans self*(And a set of Spartan Warriors that had no business letting their hairy beer bellies hang over their leather underpants.) My favorite costumes by far were the Steampunk fans. They were amazing. Each costume looked professionally custom made and so incredibly intricate. I wish I had been bold enough to ask to take their picture. But by the time I was so bold they seemed to have disappeared. I later found out they had a Steampunk Ball Friday evening and they had all wore their costumes that night.

3. What was your favorite thing/event?

Jason Momoa! I must preface this by saying I went to Dragon*Con solely for the Stargate Multiverse Panels/Events...and those events gave me the opportunity to get my photo taken with Stargate Atlantis actor Jason Momoa. His character, Ronon Dex, is my favorite from the series. For those who don't know, a Panel is the opportunity for the fans of a TV show or Movie to ask questions of the Stars. The actors sit at a table at the front of a large ballroom and participate in an hour long Q&A. I attended all of the Panels with members of the Stargate Atlantis cast. To get the best seats in the house, it is necessary to get in line at least two hours early. In those lines, I met a group of fellow SGA fans who quickly became close friends. We helped each other get that elusive 'best picture' of our favorite stars and relived the best moments after each panel was finished. (Oh and I attended a couple of writer workshops as well...at least I sort of tried to learn something while I was there!)
Jason Momoa & Lara
4. This was your first trip to Dragon*Con. Was it your last?

Yes, this was my first trip to Dragon*Con. Is it my last? NO WAY! I've already booked for next year. I'm going to stay in one of the host hotels so I'm in the middle of all the action. I never dreamed I would have as much fun as I did. Dragon*Con is something - if you’re a SciFi or fantasy fan - you have to experience. As my new Dragon*Con friends say, "Post-Con letdown bites." The excitement and sensory overload keeps you going over the 4 days of bad hotel food and lack of sleep but reentry into reality is a serious letdown.

Thanks so much, Lara!

10 comments:

LaLa said...

Thanks for having me on your Blog, Rae Ann. I need to give photo credits to Krista Whitlock for her picture of Batman and the gang. And to Craig Damon of Illumina Productions for the picture of me and Jason.

Rae Ann Parker said...

Thank YOU, Lara! I love the photos. Thanks for sharing.

Kim Law said...

WOOT! Lara you did a good job selling Dragon*Con. I'm not a sci-fi/fantasy fan but you made want to be in the middle of all that! I'm glad you had such fun.

Hi Rae Ann!

Anonymous said...

Hi Lara! It's Tiffany your fellow Stargater and Paul McGillion Lover. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this interview! I couldn't have said it better myself. We went to Dragon Con for the exact same reason only I was there for Paul and your were there for Jason. I can't wait to do it again next year!

Rae Ann Parker said...

Thanks for stopping by KIM & BECKETTGIRL2009. Lara is a great interview subject. I bet her books will be just as fun to read.

Annie Solomon said...

Hey, Rae Ann! Just stopping by to say howdy and saw the Dragon Con interview with Lara. I'm soooo jealous! One of these days I'm going to get there, though I admit the whole idea scares the pants off me. I saw excerpts from the Farscape panel online. Man, that would have been great. Ben--in person!

Rae Ann Parker said...

Annie, thanks for stopping by! I love Lara's interview. I'm not a huge sci fi fan, but she makes me want to go to Dragon*Con.

Shauna Roberts said...

I've heard of Dragon*Con many times before, but this is the first time I've heard what happens. Thanks, Lara, for your report and Rae Ann, for hosting her.

Rae Ann Parker said...

SHAUNA, isn't it interesting? There is also Comic Con in California if you want to go.

Shauna Roberts said...

Actually, Rae Ann, I had a free ticket to Comicon (courtesy of Clarion), and I didn't go. Too big of a crowd scene for me, and I don't have the patience or stamina to wait in line for hours for one autograph. I AM going to World Fantasy Con in October, which I hope will be smaller and more easy going.