Dragon Con 2019 – Day By Day
We’ve tried to sum up everything we got up to over the 5 days of Dragon Con 2019 for you guys. There was a LOT though, so we might have forgotten a thing or two. Don’t forget to check out Angel and Clare’s report on Dragon Con from a first timer’s perspective. They have a lot of cool recommendations for how to make the most of it if you plan to attend Dragon Con!
Wednesday
Jenn and I arrived on Wednesday after a side trip to Covington – home of The Vampire Diaries, The Originals and Legacies, amongst other things. After checking in to our hotel rooms at the Marriott we began to get organised for the convention beginning on Thursday. This mostly consisted of me standing around in awe at the sheer scale of the place and wondering how many times I was going to get lost (spoilers – it was a lot).
The Marriott Marquis hotel Atrium © Angel Miller/FANdemonium Network
I thought we might have over packed (seriously, Jenn brought a Keurig coffee machine for her room) but when I spotted a luggage cart at check-in with an honest-to-god refrigerator on it, I realised maybe we hadn’t after all!
We also had a bunch of items from our sister company Fandom Made to hand out as swag (a very Dragon Con thing) so we spent an hour or so bagging up magnets, keychains and temporary tattoos for various fandoms. We handed them out or hid them all over the convention over the course of the weekend, so if you happened to find a bit of Fandom Made swag, we’d love to see a picture of it.
Angel arrived late Wednesday night and after a quick room service dinner we all crashed out ready for the madness to begin on Thursday!
Thursday
The first official day of the convention, although some parties do kick off on Wednesday night. I believe there’s a video of a Wednesday night T-Rex rave at the Hilton kicking around the internets. The first task on Thursday was badge collection. We sauntered over to the Hyatt to get our press passes (regular badge collection is at the Sheraton) and then hustled up to the Hilton to meet the lovely Dan for the new reporter tour. This tour included my first fangirl moment, as we happened to run across the path of the fabulous Jen Yates, creator of the knicker-wettingly, hysteria-inducingly funny Cake Wrecks. I’ve been a follower/fan of hers for years, so had to go and say hi before running to catch back up with the tour.
I think it was on the tour that the real scale of Dragon Con hit me. Especially as we wended our way over to the Sheraton to see where Registration was, fighting our way through crowds on the streets in both directions. Also the heat. Good lord I understand now why they call it Hotlanta. I was extremely grateful for the folding fan I had packed (convention staple, never leave home without it) and my water bottle.
Party Time
The first event I really wanted to attend was Thursday night’s Black Hat Ball, run by author Sherrilyn McQueen (formerly Kenyon). I’ve been a fan of her work for many years but have never had the opportunity to meet her until now. We all got ourselves dolled up, donned our black hats (courtesy of Jenn’s epic collection) and headed to the Westin.
After a chance to buy Menyon merch, the event kicked off with a Q&A with Sherri. I wish I’d gotten up and asked a question. Since I’m a little behind on the series I didn’t want to ask something that might already have been covered in the books. After that Sherri took to her signing table and I hopped into the line when my number was called. If you bought a book, or wanted to get something signed you were given a numbered ticket that allowed you to enjoy the rest of the event until your number was called. This is something that we see a lot of at UK conventions, so called “virtual queues”. I think it’s something I think Dragon Con’s Walk of Fame could benefit from. I had a lovely chat with Sherri when I got up to her table. She signed my book and gave me lots of hugs before we took a picture and I went back to find the others.
After a little while we drifted back to the Marriott and encountered a group of cosplayers we would see repeatedly throughout the weekend. The 300 DC Spartans are a group of fitness enthusiasts who also cosplay. As the name might suggest they focus on embodying the characters from 300 and 300: Rise of an Empire. They also do a few other group cosplays, including kilted Avengers and, as they were the first night we spotted them, the volleyball scene from Top Gun.
They inspired us to reach out to some cosplayers we saw around Dragon Con for a post exclusively about cosplay at the event. You can read the first one here.
Friday
Friday was the big day for me. We had requested interviews with the 6 voice actresses from RWBY who were attending the convention and were successful. You can read my report of the interview session, as well as see the video, here.
Saturday
Saturday was definitely the busiest day for us. It started with Angel and me trying to find our way to the press area for the cosplay parade. Sadly we didn’t find it, despite asking every volunteer we saw if they could point us in the right direction. A lesson learned for next year is to head out much earlier as the streets become virtually impassable as it gets closer to the start of the parade. Nevertheless, it was incredible to see such amazing costumes both in the parade and in the watching crowds.
We joined up with a group of Jenn’s friends she knows via Outlander on Friday evening. They are all Matt Ryan fans, so our aim for the day was to go see him and surprise him with yours truly. We headed down to the Walk of Fame only to discover that he wasn’t going to be there until much later in the day due to filming and flight delays. We explored a little, and it was nice to get to know the others as we all had a lot in common.
Walk of Fame
I took some time to grab my autographs from the RWBY ladies, who all remembered me from the previous day. I wish I could have chatted to them more but they were all incredibly busy and I didn’t want to hold up the lines.
Also on my list to meet was the lovely Karen David. Many of you might know her from Fear the Walking Dead, Once Upon a Time, or CW’s Legacies. I know her from one episode of my favourite show, Strike Back. She played the waitress in the first episode of the Project Dawn season that Damien Scott meets in a bar and hooks up with. She’s also a fellow Brit, so it was cool to hear another non-American accent at a point where I was getting a little overwhelmed by them! We chatted a bit, and I told her I’d started watching Legacies as it’s on US Netflix but not UK. She was about to tell me something before she asked what episode I was on. When I said 2 she clammed up and told me to tweet her when I was done watching.
My only other autograph of the weekend was down in the author’s signing room. Many years ago they started producing tie-in novels to a little show called Supernatural. You might have heard of it. The first of these books was written by a wonderful author I knew from the Firefly fandom, called Keith R.A DeCandido. When I found out he was working on a Supernatural book I asked if there was any chance he could write a fangirl in, and he did. If you’ve ever read Supernatural: Nevermore, the keeper of the orangutans at the Bronx Zoo’s name might be familiar. Keith and I have chatted online over the years, but this was the first time we have met in person which was so wonderful. He signed my copy of Nevermore and we chatted a little before I went back to find the others.
Matt finally arrived around 5 pm, so we assembled our little gang and went to his booth. We had to wait in the overflow line as he was pretty busy, but once we got over to his mainline I hid behind everyone else till they got to the booth. Matt’s reaction when he saw me was priceless, and he gave us all hugs and had a great chat with us all.
Sunday
Sunday was photo op day for us. I must say that my first experience with Epic Photos was very positive indeed. They operate multiple studios, in very tight batches, with lines building up for subsequent shoots as one is taking place. Prints are produced immediately as you exit the shoot, and are great quality.
Clare and the awesome RWBY voice actresses Samantha Ireland, Lindsay Jones, Kara Eberle, Jen Brown, Arryn Zech and Barbara Dunkelman
Some were running a little behind schedule, but not badly. Also, show me a convention where that doesn’t happen.
We also went back to see Matt for autographs and selfies from him and he still had a huge line, which honestly is really great to see. Whenever I have seen him at events in the UK he’s been busy and it’s awesome to see that carries over in the US.
Panels
The only panel we managed to make it to was on Sunday. The Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow cast members in attendance joined together for a jumbo DC TV panel. The line-up comprised Matt Ryan, Colton Haynes, Jes Macallan, Nick Zano, Tala Ashe, and Paul Blackthorne. Highlights of that included:
- Matt Ryan was the center of attention at the panel, fielding the most questions at the Q&A, and being teased by the rest of the panel. So much so the others banned him from answering questions at one point! Bringing his Constantine on board the Waverider was a great move by the show.
- Colton confirmed he had flown in from Vancouver and was heading back there to continue filming for the final season of Arrow. That’s right, Roy will be back.
- Arrow will hopefully not be the last we see of Blackthorne’s Quentin Lance. The man has charm and presence, and we hope his story does not end with the show.
- The Q&A did reveal that Matt’s Constantine and Blackthorne’s Dresden(the 2nd great wizard in literature named Harry – played by Paul Blackthorne on the short-lived SyFy series ) wouldn’t fight so much as chill and have a pint at the pub.
- Matt was asked about Astra in the upcoming season of Legends. He mentioned that he’d spent the day before coming to the con suspended upside down in Purgatory by the lady herself. We cannot WAIT to see how that plays out on screen!
- A discussion about British candy at Christmas that Clare completely understood, but Angel could only guess at!
- There was a lot of genuine camaraderie and chemistry across the panel and therefore across the CW Arrowverse shows. There were no egos, no sniping, and it was great to see the actors complimenting and complementing each other. Although by the end I think Tala was ready to kill Nick. He kept yanking her wheeled chair back away from the mic every time she went to answer a question!
- And yes, Jes Macallan is that beautiful, and not a clone!
Monday
The final day, and the most chilled for us. We finally made it over to America’s Mart, home of the vendor’s area and Comic and Pop Artists. I am equal parts furious and very glad that we didn’t make it over there until the last day. Had we gone any earlier I think I’d have blown all my money on any number of goodies (and probably had to buy another suitcase). As it was I did pick up a couple of comics (reviews hopefully coming soon). I also had a great conversation with a comic writer called Eben Burgoon. He’s currently working with the brilliant Dean Beattie on a new title which he showed me a few panels of. It looks great and the pitch was awesome. I can’t wait to read it when it comes out. Indie comics can be a REALLY small world at times.
We shopped til we literally dropped in the vendor halls which cover THREE ENTIRE FLOORS. There are stalls for everything you could conceive of, much like the event itself. From Steampunk and pirate gear to fandom inspired merch of every kind. My favourite thing I came home with was some tea inspired by Supernatural from the wonderful Tea & Absinthe. It smells like leather and blackberry pie. It’s basically Dean Winchester in a mug. It’s so good I am drinking a cup right now.
So that’s it. FANdemonium Network’s Dragon Con 2019 – Day By Day. We tried to cover everything, but in the general chaos (fun chaos, but still chaos) we might have missed a few things. Something I’ve learned for next year is to make more notes. I know we did a few things in the evenings but I can’t remember what was when.
