As will happen from time to time when attending conventions, I came home sick. I have the Con Flu. Mine is really more of a cold, but Con Flu sounds better. I suppose it’s bound to happen when you get that many people together.
The last I heard, Dragon Con was estimated at 40,000 people this year. Sounds about right to me. There were about 12,000 people trying to squeeze into the anime track panels. Well, maybe not that many. Though it does seem like Dragon Con severely underestimated the anime track’s popularity.
Even though I spent a lot of my time in the anime panels, I don’t think I caught this bug in there. I blame the elevators. Small boxes that a high percentage of convention goers are packed into at one point or another. Yep, the elevators seem the most likely candidate to me.
I believe I’ll pack a few cans of lysol next year. Maybe even a few surgical masks. Think if I dress like Adrian Monk I’ll seem less crazy?
With all the recent posts about Dragon Con lately I’ve almost forgot about my favorite holiday. Halloween. I even have a costume ready. I made it for Dragon Con, but due to circumstances outside my control I didn’t get to wear it at the con.
So I didn’t get to wear it at the con, no problem. Halloween isn’t too far off. I’ll just wear it then. Yep, this Halloween I’m gonna be Space Ghost. Well, Chad Ghostal, his evil twin. Either way, same costume.
The power bands and the shape of the cowl are made from wonderflex. I heated it with an iron and wrapped it around molds I made. The power band mold was made from poster board and masking tape I wrapped around my arm. The cowl mold was made from paper mache.
Cowl and power band molds.
Once I had the wonderflex shaped for the power bands, all I had to do was finish ‘em. I cut rectangles of wonderflex that I heated and bonded to the bands. Then I just painted them with acrylic paint. I was afraid it wouldn’t stick, but I didn’t have a problem with it. It may start to flake before Halloween. I hope not.
The cowl was tricky. I had the top part of it, but I had to add the jaw line. I cut strips of wonderflex and bonded them to the sides. Then I cut another strip for the chin and joined the ends together. Once I had the full piece, I used an exacto knife to cut the holes for the eyes.
Once I had the wonderflex cowl finished I set it back on the mold and laid fabric over it. Then I put a paper towel over that and used the iron to heat the wonderflex. By putting a little pressure on the iron I was able to bond the fabric to it.
Once the fabric was attached I used a pair of scissors to cut a slit in the eyes and in the open area on the face. I folded the ends inside the and heated the wonderflex again. That way I was able to bond the edges to the wonderflex. I didn’t have to do any sewing, which is a good thing because I suck at that.
After all that work I had this.
Space Ghost’s cowl and power bands.
It may not look like it in the photo, but I can see pretty well when wearing it. I was going to leave the eyes uncovered and insert some paper to white out the eyes if someone wanted a photo at the con. That setup didn’t work too well in testing so I removed it. What I wound up doing was using kerlix gauze bandages. You can see through them, but from more than a couple of feet away the eyes look completely white.
Where’s the rest of the costume? I’m not wearing that. Don’t worry, I won’t be streaking. I’m wearing a hawaiian shirt in some Space Ghost like colors. A white shirt with pineapples.
Wooooo! That was fun. This year was probably one of the better Dragon Cons I’ve been to. I stuck to the anime track mostly. I’ll be writing up some reports on the anime track over on AnimeFansOnline.com. There will be recorded panels posted and even the chance to win some cool stuff, so check those out.
I did have problems with my camera. The indoor pictures look really bad. A couple I took outdoors look fine. I should have taken more of those, but it’s Atlanta on labor day weekend. It’s just too darn hot to stay outside long. Most of the time I spent outdoors was focused on 1 of 2 things.
This is one of the costumes that covered the most skin.
Hurry up and smoke so I can get back inside.
or
Hurry and get to the other hotel before I melt.
So I only have a couple of pictures that turned out ok. One is at the top of this post. This is the other one. This is one of the costumes that covered the most skin.
Damn cheap ass camera.
I will have to get a better camera before next year.
Just taking a couple of minutes to let you know a couple things. There may be a possibility of audio files being posted sometime after Dragon Con. I did find a digital recorder that is supposed to record for a good long time, and has a usb connection. I can’t make any promises on quality though. We’ll see how it turns out.
If it sounds ok, then I may end up posting clips of some panels. If I’m really lucky, maybe even entire discussions. If it’s not good enough to post, I’ll at least have a recording to refer to when typing up my reports.
With Dragon Con coming this weekend there are things I need to get done. I’m afraid that posting on FanaticSpace will be more sporadic than usual. What does that mean? Basically that unless something happens and I just have to write about it, there aren’t likely to be any posts.
I might be able to do a few of short ones from Dragon Con. Maybe give you a peek at what’s going on, and what’s coming up on the blog. I’m hoping that my time at the con will give me plenty of material for the blog. It is a site about fandom after all.
I’ll be trying to take lots of pictures. I’m also looking into getting a tape recorder for the panels. If I can get one that will let me transfer to the computer I’ll see if I can post a few clips from the panels I attend. Even if I can’t find one with computer connections built in, I’ll see what I can do.
If by some bizarre twist of fate you see me at the con, come by and let me know you’ve read the blog. I might buy you a drink take your photo for the blog.
Dragon Con. It’s almost here again. I’m getting excited. I can’t wait to see what happens this year. The panels, the costumes, the parade and the fun. It’s really something else.
I thought I’d search for “Dragon Con” on Youtube so I can share a little bit of what it’s like. I got more hits than I expected. I found a great video that sort of gives you an idea, though not entirely. You’d have to be there to really get it.
I don’t know if it’s from the official DVD that they sell at Dragon Con. Yeah, they sell DVDs of Dragon Con at Dragon Con. They’ve been doin’ that the last few years I believe. Probably for the folks who aren’t sober enough to make any home movies of their own.
Anyway, official or not here’s a short look at last year.
I’d recommend checking Youtube if you want to see more videos of Dragon Con. There’s quite a few there.
