Just left DragonCon (a rant)

[Jaded Savage]

It's not just Dragon Con. It's mostly all of the nerd(lovingly said) cons.

[50 CENT LONG BOX]

They just showed some Dragon Con clientele on ESPNU game that is in Atlanta.

 

This thread is funny!

[Logan510]

You're in for a load of Columbia Comics.

 

Let's play a game....fill in the blank!

Done! (thumbs u

 

Aren't you two the funniest "freaks" on this site?!

O c'mon, that was funny!

 

It made me chuckle pretty well.

[lookwhoitis]

Hairy Rod!

 

whatever you do, Senor Rod. I suggest that, if you were nonplussed by DragonCon in Atlanta, you better never take in a Mardi Gras in New Orleans!

[ComicConnoisseur]

 

Thus began problem number 2 and one that i have with just about any gathering of comic, sci-fi, or fantasy aficionados

What a bunch of freaks

 

It is as if they took every prototypical stereotype of our hobby, force fed them crystal meth for a week and dumped them into downtown Atlanta.

 

I don't mind the kids.....kids will be kids and if they want to dress up, have fun and get into it, then so be it. What i do object to are the masses of 40-something man-child, adolescents, the shut-ins who are finally seeing daylight for the first time

 

 

If you are so turned off why don't you become one of the "shut-ins" you have such disdain for? It sounds like you were offended by the mere presence of people who don't look like you.

 

Your comments are offensive and surprising coming from a mature person whose board name is "Harry Rod".

Yep he came off mean spirited. Hey they might be different and unique, but they are paying thru the nose to buy stuff at these cons,so respect that Mr.Harry Rod.

 

[porky]

[sterlingcomics]

In regards to what you show your kid---agreed. There's not too much left to the imagination these days in the media/internet (which doesn't make it right) but appreciate the need to be sensitive to that fact. Your internet filter can't be applied in a real world situation.

[Flash105]

You could not have got me to go downtown today for a million bucks. You have a holiday weekend which always jams up traffic. Then you have Dragon Con, a concert at Phillips tonight, 85,000 at the GA Dome to see football, 40,000 for the Braves/Phillies game, and another 85-100K down at Hampton to see the race.

 

This town is a hoppin.

[Pike's Comics]

You pretty much described the average comic-con experience. Sounds like they don't let strippers in on Dragon-con. I guess that's a positive. The inexcusable thing here is the lack of organization/communication.

 

Dragoncon is amazingly organized for the amount of people who go to it and the type of environment they want. It is in a hotel as it is a PARTY CON. Ive gone for eight years straight and every year Ive run into different celebrities at various hotel parties. It isnt a comic con and the comic section is definitely an after thought.

 

Oh...On a side note, go visit the Pern track. Todd McCaffrey is there every year and is a great guy to talk to.

 

ONE MORE THING....strippers...just gotta find the right hotel party..

[Ryan.]

So the OP went to a con and saw a bunch of nerds? Do I have the premise of this thread right? Did you buy tickets to Lacrosse Bro Con and accidentally go to Dragon Con?

[Beige]

On come on - I wanna see the freaks!

Where are the pics!!

[A-DONIS]

Guys I've heard it from people that THIS was and IS the worse one to date

[BaltimoreLauren]

Dragon*Con, like any con, is what you make of it. I've heard the one thing that draws people to DC is that it's an "adult" con. You don't see that many kids/teenagers running around.

[aggr1103]

And geekdom has nothing to do with flatout being creepy and disturbing. I will post some pics later but the bald guy with the goatee wearing the female bondage costume was just flat out wrong.....

 

Actually, the definition of geek is an unfashionable or socially inept person. Wikipedia even goes as far as to say they are not mainstream. I'd say a guy dressed in bondage isn't really mainstream. Not sure how you'd feel standing in line with the guy dressed as slave leia waiting for Geroge Perez's autograph. And there's ALWAYS at least one guy dressed as slave leia at every con these days. Heck, there were 4 guys dressed as Powerpuff girls at Heroes this year.

 

At first I thought you were just being rude, but now I'm starting to think you're were just naive about what you were getting yourself into.

[Speedy-D]

Seriously though, so what? Some guy is dressed funny, how is that a big deal?

[fastballspecial]

I cant imagine a comic book collector complaining about another bunch of geeks going to their convention. Dragon Con isnt a comic book convention it just has some comics there. Good lord I cant tell the number of comic book collectors I could complain about all the same things that you just mentioned in your first post at several comic book conventions I have attended.

 

 

[sterlingcomics]

You pretty much described the average comic-con experience. Sounds like they don't let strippers in on Dragon-con. I guess that's a positive. The inexcusable thing here is the lack of organization/communication.

 

Dragoncon is amazingly organized for the amount of people who go to it and the type of environment they want. It is in a hotel as it is a PARTY CON. Ive gone for eight years straight and every year Ive run into different celebrities at various hotel parties. It isnt a comic con and the comic section is definitely an after thought.

 

Oh...On a side note, go visit the Pern track. Todd McCaffrey is there every year and is a great guy to talk to.

 

ONE MORE THING....strippers...just gotta find the right hotel party..

 

Thanks for giving the other side of the story. I've personally never attended and was taking the OP on his experience alone.

 

And on the hotel party...

[sterlingcomics]

I cant imagine a comic book collector complaining about another bunch of geeks going to their convention. Dragon Con isnt a comic book convention it just has some comics there. Good lord I cant tell the number of comic book collectors I could complain about all the same things that you just mentioned in your first post at several comic book conventions I have attended.

 

I'd say the traditional notion of a COMIC BOOK convention died about 5 years ago. For those who go for comics have to endure the other media aspects (toys, video games, odd dressers) to get to it now.

 

The very small local shows are still traditional, but that's about it. Anything bigger than a small show will be a much different experience.

[B-Smooth]

Just went to my first DragonCon....and promptly left my first DragonCon.

 

All i can say is.....WTF?

 

I know that this isn't a comic convention, but rather a pop culture thing, but still.....wow.

 

Here is how my morning went.

 

left the house at 0700 so that i could arrive downtown around 0800 to buy my tickets and get inside.

We were only buying a day pass as we weren't sure what to expect and didn't want to spring for the whole weekend since football and dinner would be the priorities on SAT and SUN.

 

This is where problem number one came in.

MAJOR disorganization on the part of the people putting this thing together.

 

Little to no directions, signage or anything pointing people in the right direction once you got downtown. We parked on Int. Blvd and kind of stumbled around looking for any sign of the convention. After asking several people who appeared to be part of the convention where we could buy tickets, we were a little frustrated as none of them could give us the correct answer, or better yet put together two coherent words to form a sentence to give us an incorrect answer.

I finally ran into a dealer buddy of mine who told me where to go.

 

It is now 0845 and we have our passes and are off....to where we don't know but we are off anyway!

 

We then proceed to look up the maps on our phones and decide to start at the Hyatt.

The line literally wrapped around a city block to get inside.

I don't mind waiting but damn....

 

Thus began problem number 2 and one that i have with just about any gathering of comic, sci-fi, or fantasy aficionados

What a bunch of freaks

It is as if they took every prototypical stereotype of our hobby, force fed them crystal meth for a week and dumped them into downtown Atlanta.

I don't mind the kids.....kids will be kids and if they want to dress up, have fun and get into it, then so be it. What i do object to are the masses of 40-something man-child, adolescents, the shut-ins who are finally seeing daylight for the first time, and in general all of the flat out wierdos, and believe me there are plenty.

Once again...I know that this isn't a comic-con so i am sure it draws a different crowd, but it was still disconcerting standing there with my 7 year old son while a 300lb mouth breather who looks like a slightly more creepy version of the Simpsons comic store guy perpetually tries to strike up a conversation with him.

Also....to anyone attending one of these things.....TAKE A SHOWER!!!!!

It is Atlanta in August....it is going to be humid and warm.....INVEST IN DEODORANT!!!!

It was 9am on a friday morning and it occured to us that some of these people hadn't seen soap and water since last friday morning.

 

My third and final gripe is placement. I think it might be time to look for a different venue for this little shindig. Instead of spreading it out over 4 different hotels, why not try to arrange for it to be somewhere a little more hospitable and maybe have it all in once place so people aren't having to walk across half of God's green acre to get somewhere.

Not to mention the fact that it might cut down on people being accosted and harassed by aggressive taxi drivers and homeless camped out in the area.

 

We ended up leaving the line to get into the Hilton after waiting for another hour and just chalked this up to something we probably wont repeat and will instead focus on comic cons and hope for a better experience.

 

I know that his will probably come across as very D-bag'ish and snobbish, but that really isn't my intent. I just think that when i am walking down the street past a reporter covering the event and they are openly mocking it and the people there, and when we stopped at Varsity's for lunch and hear a minimum of three different conversations about the "wierdos down the street" and all the "losers invading downtown" it bothers me because i deeply respect our hobby and would love for it to be seen as something that grown and responsible adults are interested in as well as children.

 

Just my two cents.....let the beatings begin.

You forgot the tic-tacs they need to pass out at the gate. At the Boston con, it was a large room of dragon breath and body funk. We had to leave, it was that bad.

[HarryRod]

I know my original post came off as mean spirited, but believe me it wasn't meant in that way, but more as a commentary on what i saw.

When i referenced "losers" and "wierdos" i was referring to the conversations that i heard going on around me while at Varsity for lunch.

 

I guess i just got spoiled. I lived in one very high tech town and got spoiled early on by one of the greatest comic shops I have ever seen....i still miss Tattooed Lady to this day.

 

Now living in GA i am being spoiled by a shop that is even better. Heroes and Villians in Warner Robins.

 

Maybe it is because I have never been into the part of the hobby that necessitated going to cons and such until the last couple of years. DragonCon was my first and perhaps i did have some unrealistic expectations....i was just a little disheartened to see what i saw i guess.