I am in a hotel in Louisville, it's only 8:30 and I have to force myself to stay awake till 11. I am bored, I have a sore throat.

and had a shitty weekend. DragonCon sucked ass.

all that money, time, and stress...wasted

we didn't even wear some of our costumes bc it was too hot and we had no time to actually spend putting them on

oof that sucks I'm sorry to hear it

I know you guys were pretty hyped

yeah, hence the even more annoyed at how crappy it was

and Rose is sick so we're both panicking about covid

oh no x.x

I hope it's just con crud

same

since it would have incubated since we arrived in Atlanta, we could have just picked up a cold virus in a gas station last week

what was so crappy about it? Like the con itself was poorly done or just a lot of bad shit happening

so, so poorly done. and it's gotten too huge for its own good

you have to literally choose whether you want to do normal con things OR sit in long lines outside in the hot sun for 3 hours to see John Cleese speak for half an hour. you can't do both.

geezeee

some people were reportedly waiting up to 7 hours to get their Baldurs Gate autographs

the Star Trek actors left on Saturday and nowhere in the schedule did it say they were only attending for part of the weekend

:<

we didn't get to go to any of the regular panels because were always in a line for something. an hour-long line to enter the dealer's hall. two hours to get into actor Q&As.

and only one of those lines was indoors. all the rest were outside, on the sidewalk crowded with people trying to functionally use the sidewalk, in 95 degree heat

goddamn

their crowd control methods might have worked at 50k people but not anymore. it's too crowded to be the same old party it used to be.

it sounds like they need to cap it

they honestly do

but they won't because $$$$$

they need to not sell day passes. Saturday was ASS.

(me and Rose however did get prominent camera coverage in the parade)

That's a plus. Maybe it can help business

lmao it won't.

I did hang a bit with one of my favorite clients, though. he's a cool dude.

aw XD

well that's a bonus

get any sweet merch?

yeah, there was a guy who does laser woodcutting who had some badass One Piece art, all natural wood/no stain or paint

so we got a small one to hang on the wall, of the Alabasta fists in the air scene

love that

and did get my TMNT mirror signed, the aging veteran actors were all so awesome and fun

awwww

I can't remember who did Raphael the name but he's my fave

oh and we had moments to chat with Seth Green and Manny Jacinto while they were signing for us

(unique cookie I know)

ohh

Raph is um.

Cam Clarke? I think

has to be since Barry Gordon was Donatello (my fave) and Townsend was Leo because that was all he talked about

XD

bless

oh wait no. Raph was Rob Paulson! aka Yakko Warner

OH YEAH

that sounds more familiar

we got a video of him singing the entire Yakko's World song from memory

you guys going to come out to Ohio in Dec for Galaxycon or is that too far away?

XD

I can sing the Americas kind of

the only good reports i've heard back from d*c have largely been from people who spent most of the weekend partying. anyone who was there for any other reason seems to be miserable

lemme look at it, we need a new all-genre con if we fiuck on outta DCon

yeah, the party scene was still good but the cosplay? not barely worth it. we took like. 10 pictures all weekend

I think it's a smaller con but I'm gonna try to get to it XD just nead the airplane tix really

and the money for it

fjkadhakjd yeah that basic pass is more than DragonCon

though that does explain that amazing guest list, damn

Weird Al?? George Takei??

aw man, sorry you had a sucky time of it, Gem I know you were prepping a while for it too

An hour-long line just for the VENDORS HALL? Those lines -outside-!? Oh dear, OUCH. Too big for what/where it is now for sure. D: Sorry it sucked so bad for you.
The woodcutting and TMNT mirror sounds cool, though. Glad you got those!

yeah, an hour for the vendor hall! because it was in a separate building with only one entry point so their own security could badge-check at the door

it wrapped around the block and then did serpentine lines inside the loading dock

sounded like it needed more volunteers too

oh yeah, it sure did

some poor dude who was just there to hold a line place for his gf got roped into helping with line management for the Baldur's Gate people

but because of his eagerness to be helpful, Neil Newbon paid him. slipped him cash, I saw it

woow

I'm sorry it didn't end up being a good experience. :C

there's a GalaxyCon branch here in Austin but they're basically an autograph farm con.

no other offerings besides that and a dealer hall, really

maybe some basic q&a panels, but that's it

ugh what a nightmare! I know you were looking forward to this for a while, what a bummer to have it all just be so many lines to wait in

but the one piece woodcutting sounds super cool!

yeah, a quick look around showed that Galaxy is basically like Wizard World (well, Fan Expo now I guess) - corporate owned chain

Lauren I'll get pics later!!

ok!!

Why the blazes was ANYTHING outdoors?? Last time I went, ages ago now, it was... normal. Most everything in one hotel, across-the-street hotel for a large chunk of membership, nothing weird like outdoor queues.

because for the last decade or so it's been drawing in the range of 70k people

you can't really contain that kind of crowd to a singular venue, unless that venue is massive

yeah the size is outrageous, but I feel like the outdoor lines worked better for under 50k. now, they really have to establish some firm traffic lines indoors and cut down on panels back to back in the same giant ballroom so they have time (and space) to manage flow

they've definitely struggled to handle their growth, yeah

they had five years I mean at least two, during the pandemic. they knew they'd be back up over 70k when cons resumed

Any news on the rona yet?

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