Copy/pasted from Facebook.

I wanted to get this written down before I forgot too much of it. My friend Kelly is a reporter for the local paper, the Augusta Chronicle. She was covering DragonCon, and I took the opportunity to tag along, never having been to a convention before, certainly not one of this magnitude. Some thirty thousand people attended, occupying space in four large hotels in downtown Atlanta.

We arrived around 9 am Saturday morning and spent nearly an hour tracking down passes. As soon as we got them, it was time for the parade to start. Every single person that was in a costume that wanted to participate was involved in the parade. It took nearly an hour for all the stormtroopers, Aliens, Predators, Jedi, Sith, zombies, zombie-hunters, fairies, Ghostbusters, Trekkers, Stargate personnel, stormtroopers with kilts, vampires, werewolves, furries, anime characters, space marines, Browncoats, Baltar groupies, and WoT fans to pass by, along with four Darth Vaders. Included in the parade were Richard Hatch, an actor in both the original and remade versions of Battlestar Galactica, and Lou Ferrigno, the Incredible Hulk. After the parade was over, we walked around while Kelly took photos and interviewed many of the attendees. There were panels and discussion areas for just about every book, movie, comic book, and game ever written. One hotel had a floor for tabletop gaming, a floor for actors, a floor for PC gaming, and a floor for LARPing. We spent several hours walking around and trying to take everything in. Another hotel had several rooms dedicated to selling fan merchandise - not just professionally made items, but items made by fans as well. I listened to a rockabilly version of "The Hero of Canton" produced by some Firefly fans, and looked at orange wool knit caps like Jayne's. They were $37 a pop though, so I decided to pass on that.

The highlight of the whole day came at the end of it, however. We were both starting to fade out (I'd only gotten 2 hours of sleep, and Kelly wasn't feeling well) when we decided to visit the hall of fame, where actors from popular TV shows and movies were signing autographs. I didn't particularly expect much, but was stunned when I walked in. From the Stargate TV shows, they had Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Gary Jones, Colin Cunningham, Rachel Luttrell, Jason Momoa (playing an acoustic guitar) and the guy who played Dr. Beckett whose name I forget. They had James Marsters (who was out at the time), and Charisma Carpenter, who I only caught a glimpse of. Remarkably, she was one of the few people that looked the same in real life as she did on TV. I spoke briefly with Ben Browder and Colin Cunningham, and Colin Cunningham gave me an autographed photo. Tom Felton from Harry Potter, Cristine Rose from Heroes, and Peter Facinelli from Twilight (for the two friends I haven't kicked off my friends list yet ) were also there. The whole back wall was taken up by cast members from the new Battlestar Galactica. I don't remember all their names, so I'll just use the characters - Laura Roslin, Colonel Tigh, (looking much better with the addition of an eye), Ellen Tigh, Mr. Gaeta, Dee, Kat, and Tom Zarek. It was weird seeing them laughing and smiling - we never did see it onscreen much. Next to them was Ron Glass, who played Shepherd Book in Firefly and Serenity. I talked briefly with him, as well as with Dwight Schultz, who had guest roles on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Stargate SG-1. The highlight of all of those highlights for me, though, came at the end, where they had cast members from Babylon 5 - Tracy Scoggins, Bruce Boxleitner, Peter Jurasik, Stephen Furst, and Claudia Christian. It was a real kick getting to meet the men who played two of my favorite characters on that show - Londo and Vir - and Peter Jurasik gave me another signed photograph.

Overall, it was a really great experience and definitely worthwhile. If I get the chance to go next year, I would plan it all out a little better, get a pass ahead of time, and spend more time seeing everything and participating in more activities. When I get the chance, I'll upload some pictures as well.