Dragon*Con: The Recap (Part I)

So, Curious Jorge, you wanna know about Dragon*Con?

Well, it was pretty terrific. One of the most fun weekends I've ever had... and that says a lot.

And I didn't really do too much, either. I only attended one panel (on Doctor Who, and it wasn't nearly as revealing as I would've liked), skipped all the role-playing games (since I'm running two, yes, two, games this weekend, so I'll get my fill soon enough), and was pretty frugal on merch (I think I just bought goggles with 3-D lenses, a homemade computer RPG, and some gifts).

So what did I do, then, that made this such an awesome vacation?

In a word, Cakey.

For most of Saturday and Sunday, about 18 hours total, Cakey and I walked around, met people, got our photo taken, and handed out stickers. And it was a LOT of fun, more fun than I can put into words without making this entry too self-promoting.

From this n00b's perspective, a big part of Dragon*Con is taking pictures of people in costumes. I love doing it, but instead was one of the people getting their picture taken, because a talking cake is a pretty interesting novelty, even at a place like Dragon*Con.

And I normally shy away from the spotlight, too, even when acting in the Renaissance Festival or announcing for roller derby. Strangers scare me, what can I say? But Cakey made it totally easy. Whoa, reading that makes me think I'm gonna end up like Scarface (the Batman villain, not Al Pacino).

But I spent all day doing this. I'd go to one hotel, do a round, and be psyched because there were all sorts of new people in costumes, and decide to go around again. And that's how 9 hours would slip by, just going between two hotels.

One of my favorite experiences (and I don't wanna bog down the blog with a lot of boring details) was meeting Silent Bob (someone dressed up like him, not the actual Kevin Smith) warily watching Cakey and me as we did our thing.

I asked if he'd like a sticker, he hesitantly nodded, and, totally in character, didn't speak. From that point on, whenever we ran into him, Cakey would gleefully scream like a baby and want to be near Silent Bob, who was pretty freaked out and would run away. It was a very true and beautiful comedic bit between two awesome dudes at a con.

Also, I'm not crazy in acting like Cakey is a real person. I'm really not.

Anyway, this is the first picture I've found of us on flickr (Cakey's distracted by the merch)...


As you can see, I'm not dressed like a Ghostbuster, a priest or a gnome, because it wouldn't make sense for any of them to be with Cakey. And I wasn't gonna wear boring civilian clothes, so I wore my roller derby announcer attire.

You know, because we're classy like that.

I was frequently mistaken for...
- Ned from Pushing Daisies, I guess because Cakey sort of looks like a pie.
- The hallucination scene from Young Sherlock Holmes, which is more conceptual than anything.
- The cake from Portal. People would constantly shout, "The cake is a lie!" to which I'd respond, "No, the cake is alive." This lost its novelty after about the 50th time I said it.

And there's really gnome more to say about the Cakey-related part of the convention.

I'll write about everything else in another (shorter) entry.