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Dragon*Con 2004 began on Friday, September 3, 2004. We met with Wing Commander CCG co-designer Margaret Weis and WC1 Claw Marks author Aaron Allston. In the evening the Wing Commander contingent suited up and patrolled the hotel lobbies to mix with other costumed attendees.
| Day One Events - Friday, September 3, 2004 |
ChrisReid: Usually I start with pictures of people sleeping, but the day really didn't start like that. The Wing Commander card game we started at 11:30 pm the night before didn't end until about 6:00 am this morning.
Hades: Four player games are fun, if a little confusing and time consuming.
Blonde: I was asleep at this point but...
ace: It's pretty easy to get tired of the CCG after six hours, but we'd always play again a few hours later.
ChrisReid: After the card game we did some top secret investigation and stayed up a little more.
Blonde: I was awakened about an hour later to take part in the top secret investigation.
LOAF: The shocking results of the investigation are directly below!
ChrisReid: Finally Frosty headed for bed.
Hades: Frosty has a fun kennel that we made for him. It's actually just the two tables we pushed together to play CCGs on.
Blonde: Well there really isn't much to say about Frosty's ass.
LOAF: Oh, I beg to differ...Okay, you're right, there isn't anything to say about Frosty's ass... so I'll use this picture to explain the horrifying details of my trip to Atlanta.
ace: I would feed him parmesean Goldfish through a crack in the tables if he behaved himself.
LOAF: If he behaves himself?! Then how'd he get so fat?!
Hades: Chris slept on top of Frosty's kennel. I got a bed, and ace and blonde got the other. Other people slept in the other room.
ChrisReid: Meeting Margaret Weis is an annual treat. She's famous for writing fantasy and sci-fi novels, but we know her as one of the co-creators of the Wing Commander card game. Each year we have her autograph copies of the Mr. Kat card and instruction book.
Blonde: I was reading a combat example from the CCG manual.
ace: It was nice to have finally played the card game this year before having her sign things.
LOAF: If you're interested in giving the four player game a try, you can find the original rules here... because, haha, you know three other people who still play the Wing Commander CCG.
ChrisReid: Last year Frosty lost his badge, so we're trying to make it harder for that to happen this year.
LOAF:
Hades: As usual, Margaret was really nice about being swamped with stuff to sign.
LOAF: I sort of wish these people would remember us more clearly, though. I'm sure she signs a lot of Star of the Guardianses each year, but we're the only group of people who consistently show up with WC:CCG instruction booklets.
ace: This picture makes me look gigantic.
LOAF: And it makes me look like I love Frosty.
LOAF: Signed WC:CCG booklets, with a few decks of CIC playing cards thrown in for odd measure.
ChrisReid: Aaron Allston is a famous Star Wars author, but we know him as the author of Wing Commander 1's Claw Marks guide. We dump a pile on him whenever we get a chance.
LOAF:
Hades: Nine Claw Markses! Add those to the ones we've had signed over previous years and we must have about 30 of them, all signed by Aaron.
Blonde: Actually there were ten. I didn't do a very good job on fanning them all out.
LOAF: Nothing is more erotic than the fabled Claw Marks fan dance... except for possibly the legendary Victory Streak striptease.
Hades: This Metal Dude guy had some really neat things, all made out of scrap metal. He had an awesome full size alien with a sheet of glass on top so you can use it as a table. Tye thinks he was trying to sell it for $10,000.
LOAF: Tye thinks he wrote 'Pretty Fly for a Drakhai', too.
ChrisReid: For $9.00 you can get a scoop of random dice.
LOAF: No dice.
Hades: Or for $13 you can fill a mug with dice of your own choosing.
LOAF: You know what's even more enthralling than a picture of the stand that sells D&D dice? Two pictures of the stand that sells D&D dice.
Hades: There are a few artists in the dealer room, but most are in the art show which we haven't had a look at yet.
LOAF: But now we have! We bought art! But which art? You'll have to wait until the Sunday gallery to find out. Based solely on the average piece there, it's good bet it features naked girls and snakes!
ace: Blonde and I were in search of relatively cheap Twilight Zone figures from the same vendor that we purchased one last year.
LOAF: Hades and I searched similar locales for the Ginger Lynn action figure. Unfortunately, all we found was a bunch of Jenna Jamesons.
ChrisReid: I wish actors wouldn't ever break character.
Blonde: :(
ace: You almost wanted to give him money out of pity.
LOAF: How ironic that a man named Wang went for seven years on Voyager without ever getting any.
Hades: Porn stars are there too. They don't whip out their breasts at the con though.
Blonde: At least not that we know of.
ace: They probably have too much self-respect.
LOAF: Porn stars have self respect in much the same way as a caterpiller may someday become a bulldozer.
ace: Her hair has improved much.
LOAF: This is Nicole deBoer, who played Dax in Season 7 of Deep Space Nine. She looks slightly less like a sexy little boy now.
LOAF: This is Asher Lawson, who played Frosty in Seasons 2 through 8 of #WingNut. He looks slightly less like a sexy little boy now.
Hades: Finishing off food from the night before.
ace: I defeated ChrisReid by winning the notably bigger piece of chicken.
Hades: Poor Frosty was so tired. We should let him sleep.
Hades: But Lisa had other ideas. Sadly this woke Frosty up.
LOAF: Lisa did that?! I'm shocked, shocked, SHOCKED! I had absolutely no hand in any of this!
ChrisReid: The elevator trips can be a nightmare, so we freaked out when we saw a broken one.
Hades: It's nothing a trip up 26 flights of stairs can't fix.
ChrisReid: Bathroom party.
Blonde: Everytime we said bathroom party ChrisReid was there in a flash to take a picture.
Blonde: All suited up and ready to find some adventure.
ace: Aren't we a bunch of cool, suave, organic beings.
Hades: The group leaves to patrol the Hyatt.
Hades: There was lots of random people interested in Wing Commander and our flight suits.
ace: We weren't in the lobby but for a few minutes before we were approached and correctly identified. The night started off great.
Hades: Left to right: Teonnyn, Lisa, LOAF, ace, blonde, Frosty, Hades, Death, Chris, Tye, Hadrian.
LOAF: Right to left: Hadrian, Tye, Chris, Death, Hades, Frosty, blonde, ace, LOAF, Lisa, Teonnyn.
Hades: I like how everyone is a blur in this photo except us. It makes it look like we're moving really fast. Or everyone else is.
ChrisReid: We ran into "Jordan" out on patrol. Apparently he's the world's biggest Wing Commander fan. He's building a WC3 style flight suit and is constructing a half-scale model Dralthi in his parents' basement. He was astounded that there were Wing Commander fans on the internet. He'd never thought to search for sites such as the CIC.
LOAF: He is pretty big.
ChrisReid: "Jordan" is back sporting a nifty Prophecy flight suit. He couldn't wait to buy one of our spare suits.
LOAF: Jordan sure is pretty. Oh.
ChrisReid: Aaron Allston was out and about checking the costumed fans.
Hades: Friday night in the Hyatt is relatively quiet. There are only a few thousand people trying to pack themselves in there.
Hades: The Bride in this shot seems to wear a different costume every day, and they're all pretty good.
LOAF: Oh, yeah, big deal, she just bought a jumpsuit and made a few alt... oh.
ChrisReid: The guys from Nightmare Armor live near Atlanta. I was hoping to run into them.
LOAF: HALO FRIENDS!
LOAF: A girl? Something went wrong in that cloning tank. THANKS, EPISODE TWO!
ChrisReid: ace took a rest in the forest.
LOAF: I think that I should like to spend all my salad days here, resting peacefully in this artificial forest.
ChrisReid: We held a big public 2x2 Wing Commander CCG game Friday night.
Hades: Frosty performs excellently as our waitress.
LOAF: Frosty and LISA! Lisa brought donuts without being asked or anything. How can you not love her?
ace: God approved of our game.
LOAF: In actuality, God sent a hurricane to destroy everyone who ever played the WC:CCG (so says Steve, the fellow I sat next to on the plane ride down).
Hades: Once again the game goes on for a long time, but we can't afford to stay up late.. the parade is tomorrow!
LOAF: I seem to recall that Death once got a Thunderbolt VII Elite in his first hand...
Continue to Day Two
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