DragonCon 2010 – Day 2 and World of Warcraft

Saturday morning at DragonCon began with the traditional – or not so traditional – 10:30 parade.  The walk to the parade route was no less interesting than the event itself.  In the midst of several Lady Gagas, costumed infants in strollers, and superheroes on smoke breaks, groups of runners wearing numbers across their chests wove in and out, focused on a marathon.  As if the traffic cops don’t have enough to manage this weekend.

The crowd was cheering before the parade even started when a huge red Budweiser truck roared down the street, the driver smiling and waving at the attention.  While a variety of interests were represented during the march, clearly the steampunk crowd outnumbered all else.  The usual favorites and expected characters appeared often in multiples, such as the seven Ghostbusters cars that followed the ecoplasm-clobbering huddle, and packs of Stormtroopers and Trekkies that played to the cameras.  My main man Darth Vader came in several shapes and sizes, but Chewbacca stood out as a one and only, looming in his height and adored by fans screaming his name.  A family in LSU shirts tried to cross the street, lost and confused within the spectacle around them.  A group of militant walkers wearing shirts with the elements of the periodic table cheered as they stamped along: “We matter! We matter!”  When a man walked by carrying a rainbow banner that bore no explanation with two Rainbow Brites stepping close behind, someone behind us called out: “What does it mean?  The rainbow, what does it mean?  I don’t understand!” Lost on the countless children sitting in the front, it was enough to raise laughter among the rest of us.  Twenty minutes passes quickly in the guise of such fine entertainment, and in the case of the parade, the pictures really do speak for themselves.

The photo-snapping crowds at the Marriott were huge and immobile all day, prompting the hotel security guard to yell: “Every moment is a Kodak moment, just not in front of the escalator.”  The cosplay contest was our big event for the early and mid-afternoon, involving lots of patience as we waited in a line that ran back into the hotel kitchen, where we saw the cast of Firefly as they were escorted to the hysterical fans in the ballroom next door.  The costumes were numerous and in most cases the products of hours of detailed work in the creation of a piece of art that pleased the very appreciative audience.  A multitude of titles and characters were represented, including a strange but humorous one by a man dressed as Hancock.  We’re still not sure how he wandered in, but his pose on stage, gulping down a red liquid that looked suspiciously like wine, brought on a wave of applause.  We were especially pleased to see a beautiful Ulala, one of our favorites from the classic Space Channel Five, appear on the walk.

This year the World of Warcraft party was much earlier, leaving time for the more adult WoW social event later in the evening, during which a marriage proposal was offered and accepted – now, that’s romance.  Kevin and Krystalle, master and mistress of the double entendre, reprised their emcee roles and brought us all around to the right frame of mind with the classic ROFLMAO vid by Oxhorn, who was present for the festivities.  Oxhorn endured audience questions that ranged from “How long did it take you to make ROFLMAO?” and “What will you be on Cataclysm?” (3 days and Goblin) to “What is your favorite vid by someone other than yourself?” and “Where did the Hat character come from?” (Illegal Danish and his pet turtle, Hat).  The WoW party requires constant and heavy audience participation, which was not a problem.  Volunteers were necessary for gnome punting and dancing, the second requiring stamina of great proportions.  We cheered as they bumped and grinded and performed strange movements that only geeks at DragonCon could manage in a public forum, to “Do You Want to Date My Avatar?” “Hamsterdance” and “The Final Countdown.” Kevin pulled, of course, for the well-endowed female contestants, but in the end allowed the less demonstrative Oxhorn to be the final judge.  After awarding prizes to four tired performers, he shared more personal information with us (he hates Night Elves, is a Tauren Druid – like me – and he loves to channel Mr. Evil’s voice), and we ended the shindig with a look at the Cataclysm beta.  While several errors occurred, Kevin was persistent and took us through enough to see a Worgen and Goblin in action.  On the Worgen character creation screen players can change the features on the wolf form – which is not available until the tenth level – and the human form. Like the parade, this is best demonstrated through the attached pictures, but suffice to say it will be worth the wait and if it takes a few extra months to work through the glitches that brought about the errors, so be it.

I retire for the night with the images of the last costumed Con-ers I encountered this evening in mind: Chung Lee from Street Fighter, who just happened to be the Sailor Jupiter of hairy leg fame from last year; a Klingon who, upon closer inspection, was just a poor kid with extreme premature balding; and a skinny guy with white face paint, a black curly wig, wedge shoes, a thong, and fishnet stockings on garters.  Bring on the nightmares.