Friday Rucht Hour: The View from Dragon*Con

Well, two weeks ago, I went down to Atlanta to Dragon*Con, a convention best described as a place for all things geek. It started over 25 years ago as a gaming convention with comic books, celebrities, and other geek things thrown in.

Over the years, the celebrity aspect of the convention has grown and grown. For a long while, people like Mark Hamill were seen as sort of sad figures, floating from convention to convention. However, now, they're seen as cool again.

ComicCon, too, has made the convention scene something that's cool to do and so now, the lid has blown way off of the top of Dragon*Con. It's not just the geeks who come any more, but many gawkers or young people who want to see one of the greatest parties in Atlanta.

I was never into costumes at all until the Dragon*Con attendees started getting crazy with it. There was the one year in which someone came as Bumblebee the Transformer, and his suit actually transformed into a small car. There was the year that 20 girls dressed up like the Iron Man dancers from Iron Man 2 and stood around while Tony Stark stood in the middle of them.

Then there are the amazing cross-over costumes. Steampunk Boba Fett. Steampunk X-Men. Zombie Iron-Man. There is nothing I like better than wandering around the convention with a drink, talking to people I've not seen in a long time, and gazing at cool costumes. 

Anyhow, here are some pics I grabbed this year. 

So, this one was awesome, right? A father and son team. The suits were near seamless. They gave off the impression of being 100% metal. In the chest, the guy mounted a smart tablet so that it could give different read outs. 

Voltron!

From right to left, Steampunk Hawkeye, Steampunk Spider-Man, Steampunk Wasp, and Valkyrie.

Only at Dragon*Con. From right to left, Cyrax and Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat, He-Man, and the kid from Up.

I thought this one was extra clever. Just about every gamer has turned a Crown Royal bag into a dice bag. Well, this girl turned Crown Royal bags into a dress and purse. 

Ultron!