DRAGON*CON 2014: Vampires, Time Lords, Dread Pirates, Werewolves, and Ghost, OH MY!

When I was a kid, being called a nerd was like being punched in the stomach.  It was hurtful and it was MEANT to be hurtful.  Today, it’s a totally different feeling to be a 'nerd'.  No longer the shame and humiliation but a feeling of pride.  A badge of honor.  A kind of joy.  Being called a nerd means you are able to find extreme  happiness in unconventional things.  When you go in, you go ALL in.   You don’t just love something, you LOVE something.  Obsess it could even be called.   You don’t just kind of like Doctor Who, you watch every episode at three least times and analyze it to death while sitting at the computer reading message boards with your sonic screwdriver no more than three feet from the keyboard.   You were not just a LITTLE sad that Firefly was canceled, you STILL tear up a little at the thought.  Being a nerd means you are passionate and analytical.  You aren’t afraid to love something with every fiber of your being, even when most of the people you know just ‘don’t get it’.   And there is no better place you can POSSIBLY go when being a nerd is your title than DRAGON*CON.  Where YOUR PEOPLE flock to be with their kindred spirits.  Where you can geek out the entire weekend in a 100% judgment free zone.  Where your cheeks start to actually hurt from smiling.   A place where it’s so hot and crowded you can hardly MOVE and you walk so much your feet swell and you are pretty sure you aren’t smelling all that great… but not only do you not mind you barely notice.

This year was my third year to attend amaze-co… I mean DRAGON*CON and it was just as good… nay BETTER than the previous two years.  Every second of every day was nonstop and it was nonstop FUN.  I was very excited this year for most of the guest lined up, but there were a few stand outs.  The cast of BEING HUMAN (which did NOT disappoint!!), Cary Elwes (Are you KIDDING me? Westley the Dread Pirate Roberts??? I’ve only had a crush on him since I was old enough to HAVE a crush), Colin Baker (Another DOCTOR to check off the list), and Tony Curran (aka Vincent Van Gogh!!! EEEEEEE!). 

My companion on this nerd-trek this year was my good friend and convention buddy Kerry.  It’s so nice to have a fellow geek friend with whom to share your obsessions.  And best news of all this year was that we had gotten a room in one of the host hotels! Excitement! We packed the car on Thursday AM and set sail.  Atlanta or bust!  The trip up was mostly uneventful which is always a surprise when the trip involves me.  I tend to invite calamity.  We arrived safely at the Hyatt and checked in.   I suppose because I rarely stay in phat hotels (being a mostly hotwire.com type of gal) is the reason I was super impressed, but when we walked into the room, we found this:

 
I mean, the TV knows my name.  And yes, that tiny bit of technology impressed me.  After we checked into the hotel, we walked over to the Sheraton for registration.  In previous years, it has been kind of a madhouse when it comes to this.  LONG lines, lots of waiting (usually outside in the stifling heat and humidity), and blah.  This year was SO DIFFERENT.  No lines.  Walked right in.  Right to where we needed to be.  No waiting.  Done in less than five minutes.  MAJOR kudos.  Was so nice!!!  Registration over, walk back to hotel and get dinner.  Bore bore.  You don’t care.  Cut to next AM.

FRIDAY:

This year I ordered a few more Froggy Photo pics than usual, but there was so many people I just REALLY wanted a picture with that would be guaranteed good.  I ordered all of my pictures for Friday thinking I would then have Saturday and Sunday open for panels and stuff.  Which turned out to actually be a very good idea.  All of my pics were first thing so I was done by 1130 which was amazing!  First pic was at 1000 and it was the cast of BEING HUMAN.  I don’t usually get nervous around celebrities anymore.  I mean, I told Dean Cain how utterly handsome he was and how I couldn’t even look directly at him… but for some reason I was really nervous about these guys.  Maybe because it was three of them at once.  I’m not sure.  But I was.   Arrived at the time appointed and waited.  I was a bit towards the back of the line, so by the time I arrived in the room I was able to watch others getting their pics.  I had seen previous pictures of people meeting these guys and the pics were always genius.   I assumed the person paying for the photo had just said they wanted the actors to do certain poses so I was nervous that I would be boring because I had nothing in mind.   Nothing to worry about, Steph.  Nothing at all.  Sam Huntington (JOSH) would call out right before the picture was taken what he wanted everyone to do.  “Everyone pretend like you are really bummed out.”  “Kick your leg in the air.”  Ect…. When my turn came I was felt like I was in a bubble of “I don’t know how to function as a human being any longer”.  They were all so good looking and SO SO down to earth and nice.  They asked my name and said nice to meet me and the usual drill  (Also Sam Witwer (aiden) is too hot to be an actual person in existence.  Dang.)  Huntington to Witer: “Okay, pretend like I am kicking you in the stomach.”  Me: “Am I happy about this!?”  Happened so fast.  I had no idea what I had done.   Huntington asked if the picture had worked and the photographer said that it had.  He said “That was a weird one! I was trying not to cover you up!”  They said nice to meet me again and I left.   It was amazing!   And when the picture came out I could not have laughed harder.   Why am I doing the “Peter Pan”???!!!! I have no idea what made me stand like superman/the 50s TV Mom saying “Oh these kids.” But the whole picture is just amazing.  They definitely gave me my money’s worth and an awesome memory.  So amazing to their fans and such fun people.

My next picture was with Cary Elwes.  Mr. Princes Bride/Men In Tights/The Crush/Psych/Saw/my dreams.  For some reason I thought, if anyone is going to be more business and less ‘friendly’ it will be him.  Not that I thought he would be mean, but more proper and business.   I could not have been more wrong.  What a NICE guy!  I was at the front of the line so I got to see him walk in and when he did, myself and the two women behind me all let out a gasp.  He.  Was.  SEXY.  He still has it.  100%   He was wearing sunglasses, jeans, and a leather jacket and a guy behind me said “He’s going to be hot in the jacket.” To which I said “He already IS hot in that jacket.” And the women quickly agreed.   He did pictures with the people on crutches or in wheelchairs first and he was so sweet.   Getting down on his knees to make sure the picture was good.  Shaking everyone’s hand.  Asking names.  Talking to them.  So wonderful.  SO glad I got my picture with him.

And almost immediately after was Colin Baker.  The sixth Doctor.  THE DOCTOR.  No matter how many of them I meet I will always be a fan girl.  Once you are ever The Doctor you are ALWAYS The Doctor.  And he was equally nice as the others.  Smiled and asked my name and pulled me in tight for the picture.  Such an awesome moment!!! The Doctor!

After my pictures I immediately reunited with Kerry who had been having a blast people watching and we headed over to get in line for the Being Human panel.  If you ever have the chance to see one of their panels PLEASE PLEASE do it.  It was full throttle from beginning to end.  Those guys love what they do and they love their fans and its SO evident.  Also they are HILARIOUS.  I wish I could remember and just type a complete  transcript here.  You would love it even if you have never seen the show (which if you haven’t, it’s on NETFLIX.  GO watch.  SO good!)

After the panel we did a walk through of the Walk of Fame to see all of the people signing autographs.  Kerry got Lafayette from True Blood.  He’s so smooth even when he is just sitting there talking.  Seriously  it’s crazy!  She also got to meet her first Doctor when we walked over and got Colin Baker’s autograph.  Awesome guy! After we saw caught a quick glimpse of everyone we made out way to the Colin Baker panel line.  (Side note, this might get slightly out of order and crazy because due to circumstances I had to wait a while to write this blog and I have a slightly shorter memory than a gnat so I’m really scraping to remember everything close to correctly.  Sigh… old age.)

The Colin Baker panel was amazing! He loves to tell stories and every one was SO interesting! I’m really becoming a pretty big Colin Baker fan.  He’s awesome! Need to go back and watch some of his episodes.   I’ve only really mostly seen new Who with just a bit of the classic.  I really need to fix that! Awesome panel! Completely enjoyed it!

After the panel we found some dinner and again… blah blah… bore bore… cutting to the chase.

Saturday:

This year I didn’t go to the parade even thought it was right in front of the hotel we were in… I wanted to sleep in… and I’m pretty glad I didn’t go only because of how many people were there! Enormous crowds!!! Even more than last year! It’s so exciting to see how many of  ‘us’ there are.  As the parade was finishing we were making our way over to the shopping.

crowd outside hotel after parade

We spend the next few hours looking and buying and braving the elevators (side note, riding the elevators in the Hyatt was a very crowded and time consuming event.  Every.  Single.  Time.  It was like waiting in line to ride the Superman at Six Flags… if the Superman was a very crowded/smelly ride) to put our newly acquired stuff in the room and then headed back to the walk of fame.  We first got in line to meet Tony Curran whom I now am even MORE in love with.  He was SO nice and that Scottish brogue…  I told him about my ultimate ginger shirt and he said I was the ultimate ginger (which I’m sure he says to all ginger fans but I do not even care) he let me rave to him about how amazing he was in Vincent and The Doctor and said he never tires of hearing it.  He was just so wonderful.  He even winked at me which I know don’t be a fan girl but come on… I AM a fan girl.  Kerry and I loved him.  Such an awesome guy!

 

Next  we got in line to meet the cast of Being Human and get autographs.  And again they were AMAZING.  Sam Huntington LOVED my pic and agreed I looked like Peter Pan.  He was so nice! And fun.  We watched Sam Witwer fan boy out himself a bit over some guys dressed as his character Starkiller in the Star Wars Force Unleashed. He took a picture of them then with them and light sabers.  It was awesome.  I love when the celebs are also geeks.    When he was talking the selfies with us he pretended to bite Kerry’s neck and she almost lost it.  It was hilarious.  He also loved my picture.  He showed it to Chloe Dykstra who was sitting as his table.  And he also called me Peter Pan and pretend to fly away. 
In the second picture he asked me if we could see Huntington in the pic and I was answering in the first which is why I look weirder than usual.  He wanted us to look like we were looking at Huntingon with disgust… I of course laughed so he’s doing it and I am not.  But still love the pictures!

 

 

Happy about a Vampire bite, but who wouldn't be with this guy!

Lastly was Meaghan Rath.  (Sally). This woman is GORGEOUS.  Truly.  And So so sweet!!!! She said the picture was so good she just wanted to keep looking at it.  And she wanted to do selfies because she said they are more personable and fun.  Love the faces she made.  HATE the lighting because I look weird.  But still, she was so sweet!  Again, get on Netflix and watch this show if you haven’t.  It’s really very good and these guys are amazing!!! Can’t wait to see them in whatever they do next!

Autograph's on Pic

After we finished here we made out way to get in line for the Doctor Who showing.  Little did we know that even though early we were still all the way through the building and then outside and then wrapped AROUND the building and almost to the back.  I really wasn’t sure we would get in but I told Kerry let’s keep the faith and give it a try.  It was SOOO muggy out waiting in line….. As we walked through the long long line to get in they told us that we HAD to turn off our phones and show them because we were getting to watch it before anyone else in the country (which I found utterly cool even if only for a few hours).  We walked and walked and I was unsure… BUT we made it! AND the way they filled one section at a time had AWESOME seats.  It was amazing! Me and roughly 2,000 of my closest friends got to enjoy something we all love and obsess over together in one place.  It was so awesome to be with my kindred spirits while we enjoyed something we love so much.  One of the most exciting parts of the con and that is saying SO  MUCH! 

Afterwards we limped back to hotel exhausted because I am old and don’t have the hang time I had in my twenties and made it just in time to watch OUTLANDER (Jamie Fraser… sigh…..  A moment of silence for his ginger hair, abs of steel, thick Scottish brogue, and kilt) and again… Boretown.

Sunday:

By Sunday there wasn’t much left we were dying to do, plus this is the day we have to drive back to the real world.  We finished shopping in the areas we didn’t make it to Saturday.  Spend some more time in the Walk of Fame, and people watched and took pics of the AMAZING Cosplay that DRAGON*CON is so famous for, then checked out and started the long journey home.

I am already chomping at the bit for next year.  As long as I am able to go I WILL go.  I’ve already purchased my membership for next year.  If you have a love for all things nerdy or even SOME things and want to be able to let your geek flag fly I definitely recommend going.  It’s a long weekend full of amazing, judgment-free, nerdy things!