Thursday, September 10, 2015

Dragon Con 2015

Day 1

Friday's view from our floor
I arrived for my first Dragon Con early on Friday morning. I've been to Atlanta before, but taking an exit right into the middle of Downtown on the first day of Dragon Con is like finding yourself on the battlefield standing next to Braveheart with only a pack of crackers and a rusty weapon on your side. There is no way to mentally or physically prepare yourself for this amazing thing that is DRAGON CON.

The first thing I did was to meet up with my con buddies, Stephanie and Tabitha Gentry. I met Stephanie while in line for Matt Smith at the Wizard World New Orleans con in February 2014. There's nothing like the friends that you make at a con. You know they get it, and you don't have to filter your fandom. It's like finding a long-lost sibling. Con friends are for life.

I had meticulously mapped out the panels I wanted to do, and we were able to go to the first panel of the con, for American Horror Story: Freakshow. I had my camera all set up and ready to go, but it turns out that, at Dragon Con, panels are huge, and sitting up close is a near impossibility. So I have a little bit of probably pretty crappy footage that will never see the light of day. Unfortunately, my batteries died just before the end, which was when things got really funny. I think that in the future, for this con in particular, I will just resign myself to enjoying the panels instead of worrying about filming or taking photos. The cast of the AHS panel included Matt Fraser (Paul), Naomi Grossman (Pepper), Erika Ervin (Eve), and Rose Siggins (Suzi). They were so funny, so engaging, and just a pleasure to share a room with. What a great start to the day and to the con!

Next, I headed to a panel for The Flash, which was Robbie Amell (Firestorm) and John Wesley Shipp (Henry Allen and The Flash). These guys were absolutely hilarious - playing off of one another like old friends. I think I actually shed some tears from laughing so hard. I did this panel on my own, sans my buddies, but I'm so glad I went to it. I was a fan of The Flash before, but they really solidified my appreciation of this show and I can't wait for the next season!

Shortly after the panels, I headed to my photo op for John Barrowman and Stephen Amell. To say I was excited would be a massive understatement. I'd met John at Fandom Fest Louisville in 2013, and knew he was just as fun up close and personal as he is on screen or stage. It was a hard decision for me to narrow down my photo to just these two out of all the Arrow cast members there, but in the end, it was the right decision. I was just about as up-close and personal as you can be doing a seconds-long photo with two of the most handsome men I've ever seen in my life. And let me just say that both of them are just as beautiful in the flesh as they are on your TV. I have to admit that when it came time to squeeze in between them, my heart was racing and I kind of wanted to cry a little. I wound up not making a total fool of myself and came out of it with this lovely shot to show. Both of these guys make a true effort to look you in the eye and thank you for coming to see them. They seem to really enjoy what they're doing for their fans. You can bet that I will jump at the opportunity to see them again at future cons.

John Barrowman, me, and Stephen Amell
We had some time before our next panel and my next photo op, so we headed to the Walk of Fame. The WoF is a room set aside for the celebrity guests to set up tables where they sign autographs and take selfies with fans. I had a list of things to accomplish in the WoF, and had mapped out when I needed to do them, so on this day, I snagged a selfie with Kristin Bauer, for both my love of her characters in True Blood and Once Upon a Time, and for her work with elephants, which I took part in and was glad to finally talk to her about. She seemed genuinely touched that I had participated in her project and we had a little laugh about how the picture she signed as a perk from that campaign was in my bedroom along with all my other True Blood memorabilia. As expected, Kristin is very beautiful in person as well and was lovely to talk with. Wow - I really am more blonde than red these days!

Kristin Bauer & me
I also hit up Sylvester McCoy to autograph my Doctor Who stamp. He's always so cute and funny and just a pleasure to be around. I can now add this to my signed stamps from David Tennant and Matt Smith, and will add Peter Davison and Colin Baker at Lexington Comic & Toy Expo in the spring, making for a quite impressive collection if I do say so myself.
Sylvester McCoy autograph
One of the biggest panels of the weekend was Stephen Amell Live! This was my first experience with a crazy line at this con, and the rumors did not disappoint. The line for The Flash was also insane, so I knew what to expect here to some extent. Having only been to relatively smaller cons (sans Matt Smith's first US appearance at WW NOLA), I have to say this is one of my least favorite parts of Dragon Con, but at the same time, not the worst situation in the world. There's usually very interesting people to meet in line for a panel, and you know you're there for the same reasons, so you immediately have something to talk about. I also used this time to just LOOK at all the amazing cosplay that IS Dragon Con. It's really hard to describe. People apparently spend the entire year working on their cosplays for this con and then they do no less than bring it. It's hard to get pictures of everything you're impressed by, as there's just so much. At every turn, I was saying, "look at that!" But this con is so packed that you're highly discouraged to stop and stare or take pics. So I found myself trying to sear onto my brain some of the amazing sights. Back to the panel...I will echo what my con bud Stephanie says by just starting off with "good looking." So much good looking. It's like looking directly at the sun. Am I going to go blind if I stare too long? Do I care? How is is possible that a human being is this beautiful? And the thing with Stephen is that he's not just good looking. He's funny, he's passionate, he's caring, and "nice" is an gross understatement. With literally thousands of people vying for his attention, when you come face to face with him, he looks you in the eye, says your name, and makes you feel like, for that millisecond, you're the only person in the room. I couldn't take my eyes off of him for entirety of the panel, and turns out, I'm not blinded, so keep looking, fellow Stephen fans.

The last event of the day was my photo op with two of the cast members of Lost Girl, Kris Holden-Reid and Ksenia Solo. Again, I had to make some cuts when it came to who I would get my picture with from this show. I love many of the characters, but these two win out. This happens a lot, so I should have expected it, but meeting Kris made me crush even harder on him. I told him he was one of the prettiest werewolves I've ever seen (sorry, Joe Manganiello). And Ksenia is absolutely adorable. I miss Kenzie *sobs*. I regret that I didn't also spring for the full group photo, so I hope these guys will continue doing cons and that I'll get the chance again. Stephanie is going to have to binge watch this before our next con together!

Kris Holden Reid, me, and Ksenia Solo
Day II


Saturday's view from our floor
This was to be likely the biggest day of the con, so I suited up. I actually felt pretty uncomfortable the day before in non-cosplay. Part of what I love so much about the #conlife is being Always River. To date, I have 15 complete cosplays of River Song. She is by far my favorite character from Doctor Who, and probably of all things ever. This was my debut of my most recently assembled cosplay as River Song from The Pandorica Opens. I wound up being pretty confident in how I did with this one, and no one, as I thought might happen, thought I was trying to be Black Widow or Black Canary. I was immediately recognized as River. It's impossible to duplicate Alex Kingston's amazing body and gorgeous face, but I don't think I did too badly. Here's a side-by-side of what I was going for and how it turned out:


The first thing on my personal agenda for the day was my photo op with 4 members of The Flash cast: Robbie Amell (Firestorm), Candace Patton (Iris West), Danielle Panabaker (Caitlin Snow), and John Wesley Shipp (Henry Allen). I was one of the first in line for the full group, with only a few people before me. Before the ops started, John came out to the waiting area, went down the line, and shook everyone's hand and asked their name. I love this guy. He's amazingly down to earth, incredibly humble, and rather good looking (he's no Stephen Amell, but still...). Everyone in line ahead of me was getting the standard arms around each-other pose. I had no plans in mind, but when it came my turn, I walked up and said, "so can you guys all just worship me for this shot?" Everyone laughed and proceeded to get into this pose. Awesome sauce. I am 100% in love with how this photo turned out. John even posted it to HIS Facebook page

Robbie Amell, Candace Patton, me, Danielle Panabaker, & John Wesley Shipp
We had the majority of Saturday afternoon open, since we decided against any fan-run panels or trying to get to the vendors. After all the photo ops and autographs, there's really no way for me to justify buying a bunch of stuff. I'll save that for next time 'round, maybe. At some point early in the day, we got our trio pose. I am also in love with this photo. We all look absolutely amazing and I can see why we were stopped several times for photos with other cosplayers or just fans of Doctor Who and the characters of River Song, Amy Pond, and Rose Tyler. I think it's kind of funny that we all wound up dressing as companions, even though we never planned it that way. We really do work well together and I can't wait to hit more cons with these lovely ladies. 

Always River, Stephanie as Amy Pond, & Tabitha as Rose Tyler
The Walk of Fame was definitely on our collective schedule for the day, and we had a lot to accomplish. These are pretty much in the order they happened, but the WoF is kind of like a track - you basically walk around in a circle, round and round, until you've seen and sometimes talked to everyone you're interested in. Something that's not represented here but that Stephanie mentioned is that I think we're all going to start watching Bitten. The guys that were at the con from this show were mind-bogglingly gorgeous. We stalked their tables through several laps just to stare at them. My eyes still hurt a little (must be that direct sun effect I mentioned earlier).

Most importantly on my WoF list was to cozy up to Tony Curran. I met him at Fandom Fest in Louisville in 2014, and was immediately just enamored with him. He is the nicest, funniest, most charming, beautiful human I've ever met. I simply cannot say enough about my adoration of this man. Next time he does a con, I hope there is a VIP option for him. There is no one better. He spends so much time with each and every fan and has more fun than any celeb I think I've ever seen. We chatted about a book I had recommended to him the last time I saw him (Dear Theo), which he said he read because of my recommendation! I then told him of a song about this book by my favorite musician (O, Theo, by Matthew Perryman Jones). He asked me to tweet it to him and that he would check it out AND follow me on Twitter! Argh! Seriously? How do you keep getting better and better, Tony Curran?! (More on how this story ends later...)

Me & Tony Curran
Tony also signed my exploding TARDIS poster. It reads, "To Sweet Lana, the complex magic of nature blazes before our eyes!" We had a good laugh about how he left of the "t" in "Sweet" and how that sounded French. Seriously, people, it's all laughs, hugs, and smiles with this guy. 


At any con, there's always someone from Doctor Who that you may not necessarily recognize as such unless you read their bio beforehand. Having done my homework, I had run the list of guests and found that Julian Glover would be there. He had the supreme honor of working with the First Doctor, William Hartnell. So I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get an autograph from this gentleman. He was very kind and asked if I had seen the episode of the photo I had selected for him to sign (Richard the Lionheart). I told him that of course I had, as I was not only a Whovian, but a Shakespearian as well. This was such a unique opportunity to meet someone from Classic Who and to add something so cherished to my collection.

Julian Glover autograph
Next up for me, I wanted to head around the bend to see the American Horror Story people. Matt Fraser's character on the Freakshow season was my absolute favorite. Again, such a sweet guy and a pleasure to have the chance to talk to. I'd been dying to ask the cast how they felt about the dedication to Freaks in this season of AHS, and when I mentioned this, Matt's eyes just lit up. He was more than excited to talk about the filming of that scene and how the mark of a true fan was that I recognized this tribute. Recognize it? Hell, I'm pretty sure I jumped up off the couch when it started and squealed like a little girl. Not that Freakshow needed any improvement for me (I loved that season!), but this scene sealed the deal for me. It was nothing short of outstanding work all the way around. Matt told me that Todd Browning's grandson(?) directed that episode, which was uber cool in and of itself, but that for the dinner scene, they actually had Browning's passport and they put it under the fruit bowl on the table so that he was there with them in spirit. OMG this gave me chills! Talking with Matt was definitely one of the highlights of my experience.

Matt Fraser & me
Next in the line of AHS was Naomi Grossman. Straight away I have to ask if you can even believe that this beautiful woman is turned into what you see on the right for this show?! She is adorable, sweet, and apparently quite the party girl, as we saw her out and about later that night knocking a few back. So cool that some of the celebs knock about with the rest of us and seem to really enjoy the #conlife as much as we do. I asked her if we would see her in Hotel and she was a tad closed-lipped about it, which I'm going to take as an indicator of "yes!" I hope I didn't seem a dolt to her, as I haven't read up on the new season, so this may have already been revealed and I just don't know about it. I wanted to chat with the other two cast members, but there was a bit of a line for them, and you're always watching your time at Dragon Con, so...


As I mentioned before, cosplay is one of the biggest features of Dragon Con, and something that I've definitely gotten into in the mere 2+ years that I've been a Whovian. Yes, it's only been that long! As a matter of fact, Stephanie and I suspect we may have begun watching on the very same day. How's that for timey-wimey?! So these two lovely people are professional cosplayers (Allison Farrell and Joe Thompson). I had seen them on Friday and wish I would have gotten a shot with them then as well, even though I wasn't in cosplay myself. Add that to the list of "next time 'rounds." We chatted for quite a bit about how much our girl here really looks like Billie Piper and how there is a certain Rose cosplayer out there that has gone to the lengths of plastic surgery to look like her character. I will definitely never do that to look like River Song, but am seriously considering getting a perm. You'll want to keep your eyes peeled for that.

Always River, Ten, & Rose Tyler
Speaking of cosplayers that really invest themselves into their characters, this may not have been the most spot-on Eleventh Doctor we saw in looks, but he absolutely nailed it. He sounded like, moved like, and acted just like Eleven. At the time of this photo, he was surrounded by Rivers and Amys and Roses and absolutely playing to each and every one of us - the true spirit of Eleven. I commend you, sir. Brilliant.

Amy Pond, Eleven, & Always River
Something else I love about cosplaying and cosplayers is that they're most always willing to pose for a photo op. I need to work on my River Song poses. I know I have the attitude, but I'm no actor, so here's proof that cosplayers can be outstanding based not only on how they look but how committed they are to the portrayal of their character. Don't fret, Sweeties, I'll have some moves down for next time! Here we have Captain Jack Harkness, a Vashta Nerada, and a Tenth Doctor

Captain Jack Harkness, Vashta Nerada, Always River, & Ten
This Silent was very good. He had the sound of the Silents piped through his mask somehow, so it was pretty creepy to stand next to him. We saw another Silent the following day at the Who Ball, but I'll get to that.

Silent & Always River
I'm fairly certain it's impossible for me to just walk by anything Wizard of Oz. I asked where the Tin Man was, and he was apparently resting somewhere due to his heart condition. The Wicked Witch and I had some fangirl moments about Wicked and discovered we had both seen it several times, including once in London. I think we were blocking traffic and were whisked along to the next fun thing. But I love this picture.

Wicked Witch of the West, Scarecrow, Glinda, & me
I may have things a bit out of order, but sometime on this day I went to the Lost Girl panel, which was outstanding. I'm always surprised to see how many fans there are of a show that no one at home seems to have ever heard of. The line for the panel was surprisingly long but was inside and on carpet, so no complaints here. It's horribly uncomfortable to sit on the floor in a corset, though, so I stood up while waiting and uploaded somethings online while I had a few brief moments of connectivity. This show had the most cast members of any other show at the con, and they are all hilarious. I really wish I could have sprung for full cast photo ops and autographs, but I would have had to have taken out a loan, methinks. #conlife is expensive, ya'll. The Lost Girl panel consisted of: Anna Silk (Bo), Kris Holden-Reid (Dyson), Zoie Palmer (Lauren), Knesia Solo (Kenzie), Rachel Skarsten (Tamsin), and Paul Amos (Vex). At one point, they even called Richard Howland (Trick) on the phone and let a fan ask a question. I definitely wish he would have been at the con, and I hope to someday meet him, as he's one of my favorite characters, too. They were all so funny that my face physically ached when leaving the panel. There was some issue with the mics and the sound, and every time they made a pop, Kris would fall out of his chair on to the ground. I need to also mention that he lifted his shirt to show his abs at one point. For the life of me, I can't remember the context of this, but it's not important. Kris's abs. That is all. I stand by my statement that he is the prettiest werewolf I've ever seen and has one of, if not THE best body on TV. I should have asked a question to the panel (why does no one seem to care that Kenzie's gone?). They actually ran late because they started late (travel issues), which I think was very gracious of them to do for us. I love these guys and I love this show. 

I met back up with Stephanie and Tab for dinner, which would unknowingly lead to something really cool. Let me just say that eating at a con of this size is always an ordeal. Somehow we managed to have really good food and a good time everywhere for the whole weekend, and I'm happy I was able to eat more than the almonds and protein bar I keep in my bag for emergencies. This night, we wound up at The Big Kahuna and sat outside after Tab so bravely pointed out to the hostess that those tables were available. I like sitting outside during a con for the people/alien/monster/superhero watching. What we saw that night was unusual even for a con like this. A girl in what I suspected to be a Mad Max cosplay stood on the sidewalk with her male companion, took her top off, and proceeded to walk down the street in this manner. She did have body paint on, but still, this was full-on boobies on display. I have no issue with this, and come to find out later, there was some nipple day or something about breast cancer awareness, so, you know, rock 'em out, sister. We had a good giggle over this, as did the table next to us. We finished our meal and were informed by our waitress that said table was buying our dinner. Keep in mind we had each had a *few* cocktails, a huge appetizer, and full meals. And nothing at any restaurant is cheap, especially during a con. We thought at first these two guys and a lady to be some kind of creepers hoping to hook up. Long story short, not at all. They are some of the nicest people I've ever met. Who are they, you ask? Oh, you know, Patrick Stewart's agent and friends, no big. He was there representing John Wesley Shipp and Barry Bostwick, and a couple of other guests. We all became fast friends and would see them the next day (coming up...).

Upon returning to our hotel, we decided to stay up late and do some reveling, making a trip to the Pulse Loft, which was basically the Geeks Gone Wild party floor. We saw some things. Things I can't repeat. Aside from that, I think there was some informal gathering of Daredevil  in the Loft, as this happened:




That's right: 2 Daredevils and 1 Wilson Fisk. The Daredevil in red took a liking to us and tried to chat us up. Somehow Daredevil is so much hotter with the mask down. Sorry, dude. Married, married, and not interested. Moving on...

Day III


Tab had made it to the vendor hall the day before and picked up the makings of what everyone perceived to be The TARDIS, so we just went with it. So here you have The Doctor's best friend/mother-in-law, The Doctor's wife, and The Doctor's wife. This picture was taken while in line for the Arrow panel. This day was to be a crazy flurry of running from panel to panel, or so we thought. We had to make some on-site decisions as to what was integral to our con experience. So, at the time this was taken, John Barrowman was in his panel. In a TARDIS dress. And heels. But if we had tried for his panel, we probably wouldn't have made it into the Arrow panel. Since we missed the one the day before due to unofficial line chaos, we couldn't let that happen again. I mean, this was going to be John and Stephen. Together. *Swoon*.

Amy Pond, Always River, The TARDIS
Their panel was nothing short of amazing - funny, hot, hot, funny. There were some other people there, too, including Katie Cassidy (Laurel Lance) and Matt Nable (Ra's al Ghul). I am not a fan of the character of Laurel Lance in the slightest, so it was not a big deal for her to be there for me. I do love Matt, and I was a little sad for him that very few questions were for him. Stephen and John were definitely the draws for this panel, and with good reason. We had relatively good seats and by this point were pretty delirious, so lots of things were funnier than they would have been on a normal day. We lined up, we laughed, we became dehydrated, you know, the basics of #conlife.

Here again, I've probably gotten things a bit out of order, but I'm doing good to remember all of it, so here's how the rest of the day went:

I met this lovely River Song and she actually recognized me as Always River! That, I have to say, was a very cool moment, especially for me as a fairly new cosplayer trying to build an online presence. There aren't that many River Song cosplayers out there, so we do tend to gravitate toward one-another, giving tips on where to get this piece or that piece, or what brand of wig works the best. I do have a great wig, but it's not comfortable for days like this, and when I do a cosplay where my hair needs to be up, the wig is not an option. Yet another reason I'm still thinking about a perm.

Always River& River Song
The Walk of Fame is a good place to just hit up when you can, so we made another trip there. Matt Nable had no one at his table, which I don't understand. I mean, have you SEEN Arrow? Do you understand how freaking good this guy is at portraying such an important and legendary character? Plus, his accent. Yum. I got to have a lengthy convo about his role on as Ra's al Ghul, and he seemed very appreciative of my compliments on what he's done with it. Another lovely guy that I can't wait to see again.

Matt Nable & me
Here's a shot of our aforementioned new con friend, Bob Catalano, aka Patrick Stewart's agent. He and his cohorts are just such all-around good guys. I hope we keep in touch and see him at future cons.

Tabitha, Stephanie, Bob, & me
This was also the day I finally was able to secure my John Barrowman and Stephen Amell autographs. I fielded these on my own while Stephanie and Tab went off to the photo ops and to meet up with Stephanie's parents, who had come to the con for the day. John and Stephen were too big for the WoF, so they had their own rooms set up. I stood in que for a while for John but they had to cut us off so he could go do photos. They have a pretty cool system in place so that they give you a ticket to get back in line at the front if you need to leave and come back, which I did. Before I headed out of the room, though, I snagged one of the last copies of John's sister's book on Torchwood (that John co-wrote) and had her autograph it. It wasn't a planned expense, but I LOVE Torchwood, so I'm sure glad she was there. When I came back, ticket in hand, I swooped to the front of the line and got ready to meet John again. I had brought my Torchwood comic that Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloyd had signed at Fandom Fest a few weeks before.

John Barrowman autograph
While he was signing, I snagged this selfie:

John Barrowman & me
Stephen's line for autographs was probably the longest. But worth it. I brought a Green Arrow comic for him to signThere was a point where I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to catch him or John in a signing, so I feel really lucky that it happened. As I said before, Stephen takes as much time as you want with him. He said my name, and that he like my numbers on my arms. I have no idea if he had any clue what they meant, but I'm OK with that. Stephen Amell talked to me. TO ME. And made glorious eye contact. I should get some kind of award for not fainting. Make that happen, Dragon Con people.

Stephen Amell autograph
With no more panels for the day, we popped about here and there before getting ready for the Doctor Who: NuWho 10th Anniversary Ball. We considered not going, since it was in a different hotel, but I think we can all agree we are so glad we went. It was amazingly fun. Imagine a prom of fandom. We were surrounded by Whovians - with our own kind. It was like nothing I've ever experienced before. We danced, we swooned over hot cosplayers, we took selfies. You can see all our selfie selves on my Instagram. But for now, here's a video of a dancing Silent:



Day IV

The saddest of all the days - time to start thinking about the real world back home - 7 hours away. We were worried about the time it was going to take to get loaded out, but none of that ended up being too horrendous. We had 1 panel left to shoot for - Karen Gillan - especially since we had missed her the day before. Pure dumb luck landed us in the for-real line, inside, just before it branched outside. Stephanie had gone to get her photo with Karen, so Tab and I were determined to hold the line and to get her in by whatever means necessary. I'm kind of glad the volunteer who was there when we showed up went to another place in the line, since he was very adamant that there were to be no places held. The lovely gentleman behind us in line was a joy to share the line with. We made him a sign that said "Karen Outside, Hobbits Inside," since so many people thought we were the end of the line. Are you kidding?! I wish I had caught our line buddy's full name, Preston ____?, since we talked at length about David Lynch and our mutual appreciation of him. You really do meet awesome people at Dragon Con. Hope to see you again next year, Preston! Oh, and a steam-punk Ood came by to see if we needed anything:


All in all, this was an amazing time, despite Alex Kingston's cancellation. With 1 Dragon Con under my belt, I'm ready to start planning for next year. Some amazing things have happened since returning home, too. Remember how Tony Curran asked me to tweet him and that he would follow me? Well, so that's done:


He also commented on my Instagram photo of us. Stephanie has found at least 1 picture of her so far from #DragonCon2015. I'm hoping that everyone's just been asleep since then and we'll start seeing some results soon. There's nothing that can be said or read to truly explain the experience that is Dragon Con, but I'll close this report with this: where else can you give directions to a panel on corsets in cosplay to Catwoman by telling her to "go down to the floor where Jafar is standing, take a left at The Incredible Hulk, zig-zag toward the Deadpool party, and if you've reached the Hobbits you've gone too far?" Nowhere but Dragon Con, that's where. See you in 2016!

#DragonCon2015
#AlwaysRiver
#bewarethefallout