Monday, August 27, 2012

Countdown to Dragon*Con: Prepare to Go Fangirl

Countdown: 3 days

I don't care who you are, how old you are, or whether you are male or female. If you are a geek, there will be a time at Dragon*Con when you will find yourself turning into a twelve-year-old girl, squealing and jumping for joy as your favorite person walks by/gets on stage/autographs your poster. 

Case and point: My middle aged father with a career of being an awesome cool pilot in both the military and airlines, when Richard Hatch from BSG walked by, pratically bobbed on his feet and squealed, "It's Apollo!". Suddenly this middle aged, military-vet, pilot was transformed into a fangirl.

There is at least one person for every geek that turns us into squealing balls of excitement. For me, there are a couple. I have this habit of stalking Brandon Sanderson, who is my favorite author. (Luckily, now that I'm done with my thesis, I'm allowed to read his books again). I tend to be the sit in the front row, shove a book in front of him for his signature, and then a walk away kind of person. I have no idea what to talk about. (Networking is not something I'm good at). But last time, at Jordan*Con, when I walked up to Mr. Sanderson and handed him my book, he looked at me and said, "You look familiar, do you go to these things a lot?" Cue fangirlish glee. 

(Of course, on the outside, I just said, "Well, I live in Atlanta and have been to Dragon*Con every year for a while plus some of your signings, so yes?")

And of course, there was the time I met LeVar Burton, where I walked up to him, shook his hand, and while he was signing, I blurted, "I'm an engineer because of you." I imagine he gets that a lot, because he took it well.

But this year, I get to go fangirl on a completely new and awesome person: Richard Dean Anderson. That's right, MacGyver and Colonel O'Neill himself. My love of Colonel O'Neill knows no bounds. When I was in high school, I used to wear O'Neill shirts, which are surfing shirts, but I wore them to show my love for my favorite member of SG-1. When the writers decided it would be a good idea to freeze Colonel O'Neill at the end of season 7 of Stargate: SG-1, one of my friends and I did an entire project on Colonel O'Neill....in Latin. That's right, we did an entire presentation in Latin about how SciFi better not kill off Colonel O'Neill because he was our favorite character. (They didn't kill him, for the record, but they did phase him out of the show. Sad day.)

I've arranged my entire Dragon*Con schedule around Richard Dean Anderson's Dragon*Con schedule, so I can stalk him all weekend. :)

I will not be the only one going crazy over Richard Dean Anderson, since he rarely makes appearances in the United States. So I imagine getting into a Richard Dean Anderson panel is going to require getting in line early and waiting a long time. However, as a Dragon*Con vet, I'm prepared to do just that. Everything else I want to see/do is flexible. Luckily, or unluckily depending on your perspective, he's only doing two panels. One is on Friday and therefore, will be less populated, so it will be easier to get in. But this panel is just him. Sunday is the "Supergate" panel, Richard Dean Anderson plus several other Stargate stars. Sunday is the second most crowded day, and the Stargate panels are always super crowded, so this one is going to be crazy. I will definitely have to get in line early. But at least, I'll have already seen him on Friday if I don't make the cut.

So, if you were going to a Con (or if you are) who would you go fangirl over? Who is the one actor/author/artist that you would love to meet and shake their hand?

4 comments:

  1. I'm going to D*C this year (for the first time!) and I can't wait. I was reading through the guest/speaker list and lost my mind at how many big names were going to be there. I'm excited to SEE them, let alone have the chance to shake their hand.

    You seem to be a veteran cosplayer, so I have a question for you... I will be cosplaying (again, for the first time!) two different days at the con - one as a random BSG crew member, and one as Leela from "Futurama." Can you recommend any temporary hair colors that won't make my hair scrunchy/hard, but that will rinse out within a couple of showers? Leela has a purple ponytail, and I'm trying to figure out how to make that happen without dying my hair permanently, since I work in a seminary library. :)

    Thanks!

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  2. C, I'm really excited about who is coming as well! Clearly Richard Dean Anderson is high on my list, but I'm also really excited about Connor Trineer and John Barrowman. DragonCon usually does a very good job with getting in big names, and I've never had any real trouble getting into a panel. The earliest I've ever gotten in line (for a panel) is two hours, and I've always gotten a decent seat. But more on that on Wednesday, when I'll post a D*C survival guide. :)

    As for hair...well I don't consider myself a veteran cosplayer, being fairly new to cosplay myself (only been doing it for about three years). But I totally get your hair problem. I wrote a post about it a week or two ago entitled Taming the Beast. Here is the link: http://bittersweetfountain.blogspot.com/2012/08/countdown-to-dragoncon-taming-beast.html

    The problem with temporary hair dyes is that they all suck. The two I have experience with are the spray-on stuff you get at Walgreens and the Manic Panic hard hair dye. The spray-on stuff works fairly well, but you have to make sure your hair is exactly how you want it to be before you spray it on, and beware--it gets everywhere. I usually spray it on inside the shower with a towel wrapped around my shoulders, and then I usually have to clean my shower walls because the stuff gets everywhere. If you have a lot of hair, I also recommend getting two cans, but the stuff goes fast. You also have to be careful about touching your hair once you have it in. It's pretty much like dousing your hair in colored hair spray.

    The manic panic gel will make your hair hard which doesn't seem to meet your needs. But either way, it's a toss up. From my experience, temporary hair color only comes in two varieties: hair spray or gel. Sounds like hair spray would work better for you. The spray-on stuff can be found at any Walgreens.

    Both of these types comes out in one or two rinses, and they are the only kind I've tried. I can't risk my hair being green for too many days in a row. The people at work wouldn't understand. lol.

    Hope this helps!

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  3. I hope you enjoyed RDA this weekend - it's a very special experience!While I was reading your blog though, I noticed a mistake - he's a honorary Canadian (given this honor while doing MacGyver in Canada.) He doesn't live in Canada, but near Los Angeles, California. He does travel a bit, but he's also raising his daughter, that's why he tends to stick close to home, most of the time. There's more info here: www.rdanderson.com

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  4. Oh I didn't realize! For some reason I thought he lived in Canada. Thanks for the correct info!

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