Loaded Couch Potatoes

Ah, DragonCon. The nerdz paradise and a costumers release. I just completed my threepeat of visits to the con, and it just keeps getting better. Each year ive sported a costume, so i figured i would give a little bit of an insight to how a costumer’s con is different than a regular nerdz con.

First off, if youre actually wearing something that looks decent, youve spent a solid chunk of time before the actual con preparing your costume, so you already have more time invested in your trip / experience than most people do. This year we pulled together a set of costumes from the upcoming title Halo 3: ODST, and had several friends participate. We were building all summer and were still building on Friday when we were actually at the con in the hotel room. After talking to several other Halo comrades i realized that that wasnt an irregular occurrence for many costumers. Last minute builds and repairs are always necessary.

When you get out to the actual convention floor,  if youre not in costume already, then its a nightmare. All you want to do is go back and put on a costume. Once you wear one and get the attention and excitement, you never want to go out without something on. The same nightmare repeats anytime i go out without a costume during a convention. Need. Costumes. Badly. Its an addiction for me.

Once you get out on to the floor in your complete costume, the entire experience starts ripening. Youre instantly famous, assuming you knew what you were doing and made a good costume. Even the less detailed / involved ones make someone a star. Walking from panel to panel becomes a walk of fame. Everyone is stopping you and asking for pictures, or advice on their costume builds, or just wanting to buy your gear straight off your back. We usually take a group of people all sporting the same costume, which adds to the effect, so for us, when it rains…it pours. Last year we had 7 in our group all sporting Ghostbusters uniforms, and a few of us had the complimenting Proton Packs to go along with them. Once one person stopped us, another one would sneak in behind them and snap a picture at the same time. And then another. And then another. And then 5 minutes later youre still posing for the semi-circle of people that has come to notice you. 15 minutes after that, security is coming over to see what the group is crowding around. Then finally after around a half hour of snapshots with individuals or group shots, either you start moving towards your panel because youre about to be late, or security starts ushering you on your merry way. Now, repeat this for the next 4 days. You almost have to be rude to some people and let them know that youre a convention attendee also, and that you have things that you want to see, or people that you want to hear speak. Insanity.

Now we get into the life of semi-professional costumers and prop builders. This year we joined up with the parade, which is a completely different experience all together. Its a concentrated version of the panel to panel photo sessions mentioned earlier. Youve got the streets lined and packed full of convention attendees, all waiting to catch a glimpse of you in whatever super rad costume youre in. To make things crazier for us, we brought a vehicle this year. Now instead of just making extra time for pictures, im waking up 3 hours before everyone else even thinks about waking up, strapping in to my armor, loading up my vehicle and heading to the start of the parade. And its still not even 9 am. It all seems like a lot, but once i put my helmet on and cranked up the ATV that i would be driving 2 mph in the parade, all the stress, fatigue and morning grogginess all wore off, and it was half an hour of pure glory. And if youre anything like me and are a zombie until you get some kind of breakfast or coffee in you, you definitely need a morale recharge, and this is just the thing to do it. People all over the place yelling at you to look at them, point your gun at them, teabag them, blah blah blah is exactly what the doctor ordered to make you forget about everything else. 30 minutes later its all over, and you melt back in to the routine of stopping for pictures as you make your way to wherever you go.

And there you have it. A summary of a costumer’s con experience compared to a regular experience. Ill take the ultra crazy over the regular visit any day.