DRAGONCON 2005
We got married formally in August, but work schedules made even a small honeymoon unlikely until Labor Day weekend. We'd been to Atlanta's DragonCon before, but this would be our first as husband and wife.

We made costumes based on the "Lost" TV series because they were easy to put together, cheap, wouldn't involve large props, and allowed us to carry water and backpacks in character. Unfortunately, the convention was so crowded, the costumes didn't stand out unless you were really looking. Even attendees who loved the series needed a minute to realize it.

And this year was packed. I don't see how the convention can continue with the current floorplans and turnout. The celebrity/dealer room was a polite but crushing mob, sometimes with four single-file lanes of traffic in one aisle. I love DragonCon, but that kind of tight spacing is just asking for a mishap. We attended Saturday only.
If there was a dominant theme this year, it was Star Wars. I'd say three of the first 10 costumes we saw were from the Lucas franchise. The pictures below are in the order we took them, but in no way reflect the number we encountered.
We ran into this guy just after we registered. If you've never been to DragonCon, I cannot overemphasize your need to pre-register and buy your tickets in advance. As we left the registration area, the walk-in registration line had to have reached 1,000+ people. I've been there before; it's a good two-hour wait. In comparison, we -- the pre-registered -- were in line for maybe 10 minutes amid 15 people.
Not only the first Leia we saw (and I'll state flatly, the best in costume and character), but the first to recognize our "Lost" costumes. She snapped our picture after we took hers.
Allow me to both applaud and question the sanity of those dedicated enough to wear head-to-toe costumes in Atlanta in early September. You people are truly a cut above and a few marbles short. This was a top-notch outfit by the way. We saw some get-ups that were little more than black jeans and aluminum foil.
More Imperials. The bad guys easily outnumber the good guys at DragonCon. There are Jedis and Leias and Hans, but many, many more stormtroopers and Vaders.
Of all the prequel characters you'll find, Amidala is the most popular. Without question. Earlier trips to DragonCon proved this as soon as Phantom Menace was released. And this shoots down another stereotype of such conventions: Women not only flock to them, they dress up more often than the men.
These guys are part of a group that uses costumes to raise funds and connect kids to police figures. That homemade GL ring actually glowed. Psylocke, from the X-Men comics. This is as close to perfect a translation from comic to costume as you can find.

Here is a pair of just-right costumes. Frodo, on the left, even wore hairy feet sandals and couldn't have been more than five feet tall. This pair, like many folks, were happy to stop and pose for pictures, and for that I thank you all. Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker from "The Muppet Show."
We, the married folks, wanted to meet two specific people and did so very easily. Mercedes McNabb was seated next to the folks from the Serenity film, as they are all connected by Joss Whedon, the writer of "Firefly," Angel" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." McNabb played Harmony, the valley girl vampire, and was the most consistently funny performer, for my money. Many celebrities were donating fees for pictures such as this to hurricane relief.
The missus wanted to meet Erin Gray, who played Wilma Dearing on the 1980s "Buck Rogers" TV show. Grey also was raising money for the Katrina cleanup.