That D*Con stuff I promised.
Sep. 3rd, 2008 02:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chibi_trillianBecause I'm a slacker, I'm using my tweets from at con as a basic timeline of events and then writing elaborations next to them.
On the ground in Atlanta after some minor disasters. Chibi <3s Tiffy forevars. ;_; 08:32 PM August 28, 2008: The "minor disasters" involved me booking my flight for the wrong day and Tiff having to put the $250 it cost to change my ticket on her credit card. I was put on Standby for their (full) flight and wound up getting a seat primarily because the gate agent felt bad for me. The flight itself was uneventful, though Security was entertaining because all three of us had BJDs in out carryons and the TSA guy cracked up when he saw them on the x-ray and asked if he could see them to make sure they weren't tiny Martians. XD
Naked lady card! 10:17 PM August 28, 2008: Our hotel room keys did indeed have nearly naked comic-book ladies on them especially for Dragon*Con. I kept mine as a souvenir. Our hotel room was pretty nice. We wound up on the13th 14th floor of the Hyatt, and because Tiff makes so many convention reservations, she's part of their frequent stay program and gets nice stuff like fruit bowls.
Up for prereg line. Oh boy. 05:50 AM August 29, 2008
In line at D*Con, lol. 06:21 AM August 29, 2008: We got up waaaay early and spent an hour and a half waiting for prereg to open and a grand total of fifteen minutes actually getting registered. We made line buddies.
"I'm sorry, we can't find your registration" is becoming something of a theme for me. 07:46 AM August 29, 2008: D*Con misplaced my registration! Fortunately, correcting this was relatively painless.
Roooooobots! 11:50 AM August 29, 2008: This is what I spent most of my weekend on: the Robotics Track. I've got a shitfuckton of pictures from this track that I'll put up later, but Day 1 was Intro to Robotics and Intro to Combat Robotics. I also got to see the wondrous Bar2D2--a fully functioning robotic bar capable of rolling around and handing out alcoholic beverages. I also discovered that Dragon*Con's robot fighting challenges have some entertaining rules, like the Bad Idea Rule ("If at any point you go 'I wonder if this is a bad idea,' DON'T DO IT.") and the Frankenstein Rule ("If any robot or robot operator offends the crowd sufficiently, the crowd is permitted to seize both robot and creator and throw them in the nearest body of water.").
Shared elevator with lead singer of the Crüxshadows. :D 08:03 PM August 29, 2008: One awesome thing about this con? The guests are all like "'Sup?" Most of them go hallway-roaming at some point, and none of them get mobbed by screaming fangirls. Quite a contrast from most anime cons I've been to. Also, the bands they had at con were awesome. I got introduced to a steampunk band called Abney Park, and Tiff fell in love with a band called Ghost Project.
I have dice, and soon I will make a robot. An om nom nom bot, if I have anything to say about it. 10:02 AM August 30, 2008 The Chessex booth sucked out my goddamn soul and most of my money. My dice addiction has never been so freely and wantonly indulged. I also got hugged by the head of Troma Studios and got to flip through a promo copy of the newest CthulhuTech book. We started robot planning early that morning.
Robot completed. Name: Tetanus Shot. 04:36 PM August 30, 2008: Day 2 of the Robotics Tracks was an eight-hour kit-build session. We were split into teams and given Vex kits and vague descriptions of things out robots needed to do and eight hours to make a functional robot. It was the most fun eight hours I've had in a long time, and may have given me a lifelong love of homemade casters. Our robot also had a vicious swinging arm with an oversized, razor-sharp pin on the end, designed to pop balloons. It managed to bite a couple of people during building, hence the name.
Life lesson: do not give dudes you waited in line with your number unless you want them pestering you to hang with them all weekend. 01:17 AM August 31, 2008: My line buddy from prereg kept pestering me to hang with him and his friends. Unfortunately for him, he usually wanted to hang out while I was getting my sexploitation indie film love on, so I turned him down Friday and Saturday night.
Tetanus Shot put up a valiant fight, but did not win the day. We love it anyway. 05:50 PM August 31, 2008: Day 3 of the Robotics Track was the big competition. Tetanus Shot was designed to be very fast and very agile, but it was also a bitch to drive for anyone inexperienced with it. We only got five minutes of driving practice, so our sweet little bot was done in by bad driving. We did manage to make the finals in Capture the Flag by breaking the other robot and forcing it into sudden death, and we came in second in the balloon popping part of the robot challenge. The robot that beat us was the one that won overall. We then had to disassemble our awesome robot, because the kit it was made from was only on loan. ;_;
Reminder to self: you don't actually like Mindless Self Indulgence that much. 12:26 AM September 01, 2008: I finally broke down and hung out with my line buddy and his friends on Sunday night. We went to the Dub Your Own Hentai panel, which was awesome, and the Mindless Self Indulgence concert, which was not.
At airport on time and in one piece. It's a miracle. 03:30 PM September 01, 2008: Made it in for my flight on time, breezed through security, and actually got into Baltimore early.
Home at last! 11:40 PM September 01, 2008: I had, however, booked an earlier flight than Tiff and Val, and THEIR flight was the one that got delayed. They had to switch planes, and their flight got in an hour and a half late. Since we'd all come in in the same car, I had to wait for them. I tell you, once you pass the TSA Point of No Return, there is nothing to eat, nothing to do, and nowhere comfortable to sit in BWI. ;_;
On the ground in Atlanta after some minor disasters. Chibi <3s Tiffy forevars. ;_; 08:32 PM August 28, 2008: The "minor disasters" involved me booking my flight for the wrong day and Tiff having to put the $250 it cost to change my ticket on her credit card. I was put on Standby for their (full) flight and wound up getting a seat primarily because the gate agent felt bad for me. The flight itself was uneventful, though Security was entertaining because all three of us had BJDs in out carryons and the TSA guy cracked up when he saw them on the x-ray and asked if he could see them to make sure they weren't tiny Martians. XD
Naked lady card! 10:17 PM August 28, 2008: Our hotel room keys did indeed have nearly naked comic-book ladies on them especially for Dragon*Con. I kept mine as a souvenir. Our hotel room was pretty nice. We wound up on the
Up for prereg line. Oh boy. 05:50 AM August 29, 2008
In line at D*Con, lol. 06:21 AM August 29, 2008: We got up waaaay early and spent an hour and a half waiting for prereg to open and a grand total of fifteen minutes actually getting registered. We made line buddies.
"I'm sorry, we can't find your registration" is becoming something of a theme for me. 07:46 AM August 29, 2008: D*Con misplaced my registration! Fortunately, correcting this was relatively painless.
Roooooobots! 11:50 AM August 29, 2008: This is what I spent most of my weekend on: the Robotics Track. I've got a shitfuckton of pictures from this track that I'll put up later, but Day 1 was Intro to Robotics and Intro to Combat Robotics. I also got to see the wondrous Bar2D2--a fully functioning robotic bar capable of rolling around and handing out alcoholic beverages. I also discovered that Dragon*Con's robot fighting challenges have some entertaining rules, like the Bad Idea Rule ("If at any point you go 'I wonder if this is a bad idea,' DON'T DO IT.") and the Frankenstein Rule ("If any robot or robot operator offends the crowd sufficiently, the crowd is permitted to seize both robot and creator and throw them in the nearest body of water.").
Shared elevator with lead singer of the Crüxshadows. :D 08:03 PM August 29, 2008: One awesome thing about this con? The guests are all like "'Sup?" Most of them go hallway-roaming at some point, and none of them get mobbed by screaming fangirls. Quite a contrast from most anime cons I've been to. Also, the bands they had at con were awesome. I got introduced to a steampunk band called Abney Park, and Tiff fell in love with a band called Ghost Project.
I have dice, and soon I will make a robot. An om nom nom bot, if I have anything to say about it. 10:02 AM August 30, 2008 The Chessex booth sucked out my goddamn soul and most of my money. My dice addiction has never been so freely and wantonly indulged. I also got hugged by the head of Troma Studios and got to flip through a promo copy of the newest CthulhuTech book. We started robot planning early that morning.
Robot completed. Name: Tetanus Shot. 04:36 PM August 30, 2008: Day 2 of the Robotics Tracks was an eight-hour kit-build session. We were split into teams and given Vex kits and vague descriptions of things out robots needed to do and eight hours to make a functional robot. It was the most fun eight hours I've had in a long time, and may have given me a lifelong love of homemade casters. Our robot also had a vicious swinging arm with an oversized, razor-sharp pin on the end, designed to pop balloons. It managed to bite a couple of people during building, hence the name.
Life lesson: do not give dudes you waited in line with your number unless you want them pestering you to hang with them all weekend. 01:17 AM August 31, 2008: My line buddy from prereg kept pestering me to hang with him and his friends. Unfortunately for him, he usually wanted to hang out while I was getting my sexploitation indie film love on, so I turned him down Friday and Saturday night.
Tetanus Shot put up a valiant fight, but did not win the day. We love it anyway. 05:50 PM August 31, 2008: Day 3 of the Robotics Track was the big competition. Tetanus Shot was designed to be very fast and very agile, but it was also a bitch to drive for anyone inexperienced with it. We only got five minutes of driving practice, so our sweet little bot was done in by bad driving. We did manage to make the finals in Capture the Flag by breaking the other robot and forcing it into sudden death, and we came in second in the balloon popping part of the robot challenge. The robot that beat us was the one that won overall. We then had to disassemble our awesome robot, because the kit it was made from was only on loan. ;_;
Reminder to self: you don't actually like Mindless Self Indulgence that much. 12:26 AM September 01, 2008: I finally broke down and hung out with my line buddy and his friends on Sunday night. We went to the Dub Your Own Hentai panel, which was awesome, and the Mindless Self Indulgence concert, which was not.
At airport on time and in one piece. It's a miracle. 03:30 PM September 01, 2008: Made it in for my flight on time, breezed through security, and actually got into Baltimore early.
Home at last! 11:40 PM September 01, 2008: I had, however, booked an earlier flight than Tiff and Val, and THEIR flight was the one that got delayed. They had to switch planes, and their flight got in an hour and a half late. Since we'd all come in in the same car, I had to wait for them. I tell you, once you pass the TSA Point of No Return, there is nothing to eat, nothing to do, and nowhere comfortable to sit in BWI. ;_;
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-09-03 08:50 pm (UTC)Sounds like a fun con!!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-09-04 08:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-09-04 10:54 pm (UTC)~The dealers' rooms (all three of them--YES, THREE, PLUS ARTISTS' ALLEY AND A SECOND ARTISTS' ALLEY JUST FOR COMIC BOOK ARTISTS) will suck out your money, your soul, and your life. You will leave with excellent swag, though.
~You will sleep a total of perhaps twelve hours between all four days of the con, as there is too much stuff to do. This is the only con I've ever been to where I couldn't do everything I wanted to do and see because it wasn't physically possible--there was too much awesome.
~You will see epic cosplayers and get to say howdy to your favorite geeky celebs. Some of them cosplay as their characters and then complain when they're not even the best [insert character] there.
~And you will marvel that all of this goes on with a fraction of the property destruction, theft, and vandalism that usually marks anime cons.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-09-05 02:38 am (UTC)I'm in Colorado, so I guess I'd better save for a plane ticket, among other things.
BaR2D2
Date: 2008-09-15 07:25 pm (UTC)If you want to see more on BaR2D2 the drink droid, check out the entire build diary:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28127470@N03/
Jamie (bar2 maker)