The Good, The Bad, The Sexy: DC on CW invades DragonCon
By Bobby Doherty @thehorndogg
As a self proclaimed ‘Convention Whisper‘ I was not prepared for the ride I was about to take. For those who’ve never been to a normal comic book convention let me set the table for you. It’s normally one room in a convention center with exhibitors, artist ,writers, vendors and celebs signing autographs. Then a floor of smaller rooms where you can go listen to your favorite people speak about anything from projects they are working on to how to get into costuming. This on the other hand was nothing like that. This was something that was completely unexpected and without my friends all D-Con vets, I have a feeling Ryan and I would have been lost in Nerdy Gras
The Good:
The atmosphere was unlike anything I have ever experienced before at a con. It is a party like I have never seen and it didn’t stop ever, I really mean it to ever. The convention itself had activities planned from 9 am to 5 am every day.
Dragoncon celebrity guest were amazing. I might be partial because most of the cast from our shows (Flash and Arrow) were there but they seemed to have Celebs for every taste. They had signings and photo ops almost every day but they also did multiple panels with each one so you have plenty of opportunities to talk and see your favorite celebs. Normally at conventions you are lucky to get one panel with the guest. We did do a photo op with the Arrow which was well organized and went pretty fast for all the people that were there. Ryan had a brief conversation with Stephen Amell and Katie Cassidy which after I explained to him what I heard him say it turns out to be a pretty funny story (Tune in to our next show to find out the details). All 5 members of the cast seemed very happy to be there.
I can honestly say by far this was the best food situation I’ve ever seen at a con. Normally your in line for 40 mins for overpriced food or you just don’t eat at all because it’s too big of a hassle to find anything. There was plenty of quick place to stop and eat and there was a food court connected to the hotels all with normal everyday prices.
The costumers really make the convention. An A costume at any other convention is about a C here. Everyone really steps up their game here. Surprising enough there was such a wide variety of characters, not just the a main characters from the movies, like Mr DNA from Jurassic Park. You also saw plenty of spot on group costumes. From Archer, 300 to Scooby Doo but by far my favorite of the con by far was Mystery Men. It was just one of those double take costumes where it catches your eye then it clicks who they are. Common themes for costumes: Star Wars, Mash-ups, Underwear Super Hero’s (see Sexy section).
The Bad:
As I explained earlier the convention is normal in one hall everything is there and everyone sees everything. At DCon everything is spread out through about 4 hotels over about a square block of downtown Atlanta. The artist are in one. The vendors in another. You had to go find everything through a maze of tubes connecting the hotels. It was very easy as a rookie to get lost. Then if you needed help good like finding anyone official from the convention. The only time I remember see anyone working the convention was at 3 am in a rave when they were yelling at us about where our badges were.
The Sexy:
Remember at the beginning when I said I wasn’t prepared I will now explain. The debauchery going on in this convention was unreal, especially after hours. I am pretty sure the first night was a underwear party that I didn’t get the invite to. Most guys were running around in superhero underoos and girls in lingerie. Crossdressers, trannys, bunnies, drinking, and tons of grab ass mainly dude on dude. It was far from the keep it ‘PG’ Phx Con rules. I had a female tell me on mic about a fiber optics butt plug with a tail that you could wear and walk around as a unicorn with. Just went you think it couldn’t get any better the rave was basically clothing optional. Formal wear for chicks was pasties and g-strings. It all just shocked me not in the weird I can’t believe this shit but in the ‘Shit, I should have brought a onesie to wear.’
Overall DragonCon is by far one of the better conventions out there. I liked that it never stopped the party kept going. I will say if you have kids or are into comics I’d stay home but if you have a group of friends that just want to experience and giant peaceful everyone loves everyone else convention. This is the one for you. Just remember if you come in costume step it up competition is steep and everyone is judging….
