Best. Day. Ever.

Good evening (for me) everyone! Today I attended Dragon Con in Atlanta. This convention has everything: anime, sci-fi, fantasy, novels, movies, cartoons, comics, ponies, you name it. they call themselves the largest sci-fi and comic convention in the world and after this, I believe it. Today wasn't even as busy as yesterday, where I hear as many as 100,000 people crammed themselves into the 5 hotels that made up the convention.

I did not attend any panels, but rather looked at merchandise, of which there was a bunch of great stuff, but practically nothing pony-related, and walked around seeing the sights, looking at cosplayers. There were, of course, a ton of awesome cosplayers from all kinds of everything. Most of the best I took photos of that you'll see. One regret I do have is not having my camera readily available when I came across an amazing Rarity cosplayer. She had dyed her hair purple, had a white horn, and a perfect human replica of Rarity's gala dress. It was awesome.

At some point I joined the line for the "Walk of Fame" where many actors and actresses sat doing signings and pictures and greetings. My target?

TARA

STRONG

That's right, Tara was at this convention, and she's the only one I went to. I blew all my spending money on her (since the merch I'd seen didn't interest me a ton). She signed a lot of my stuff and got a picture with me. A few minutes after, I actually went back to get her to sign another thing and buy a Twilightlicious keychain, which she also signed. When I walked up to her, I had my Twilight cutie mark hat on forwards so she could see it (I usually wear it backwards because that looks best on me) and she yelled at the top of her lungs, "I LIKE YOUR HAT!" xDDD

There was one panel I wanted to go to called MLP 101, but it was full when I got there and it turns out it was a little boring anyway. So I drove 45 minutes out to pick up a friend to whom I offered a ride to get to the meetup they were having. Unfortunately, the long ride made us miss it. *cry* From what I hear as many as 200 bronies showed up to it, too. After that, I headed with the friend to the location of Tara Strong's second panel that day, where I met many of my Canterlanta friends. There I heard the story that they actually ran into Tara as she left the Walk of Fame and she brohoofed them all. ^_^ One of them said something about Twilight being best pony, to which another, decked out in all Pinkie stuff, said "I don't know guys..."

Then Tara turned to him with a stern/angry look and said "Watch it!" and then turned back to the others, her expression remaining forbidding. xD Oh Tara, you are best troll. I didn't stay for the panel though, since I was tired and had accomplished what I had set out to do. So I brohoofed everyone present and bid them farewell. To top the day off perfectly, I stopped for some Zaxby's chicken on the way home. For those of you who don't know, Zaxby's is a fast food restaurant that serves amazing chicken-related dishes and is probably my favorite fast food joint.

Now! For pictures. There are a lot, so I'll just embed my swag and link the others. First off: cosplayers!

Zabuza, Haku, Jiraiya, and Kakashi (Naruto)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7715.jpg

Zabuza, Haku, Jiraiya, Kakashi, Azuma, Konan, Sandaime Hokage, Kushina Uzumaki (Naruto)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7717.jpg

Skull Kid (Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7718.jpg

Scarecrow (Batman) ((I think. Could just look similar))
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7719.jpg

Fang (Final Fantasy XIII)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7720.jpg

Tim the Enchanter (Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7721.jpg

Jawa (Star Wars)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7724.jpg

Fallout 3 armored Vault uniform and Tunnel Snake Dolan (Fallout 3, Dolan)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7725.jpg

Cloud, Lightning, Snow, Mog (Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XIII, various FFs [most notably VI] respectively)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7726.jpg

Chell (Portal)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7727.jpg

Alice In Wonderland-inspired
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7729.jpg

Imperial Janitor (Star Wars-inspired)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7730.jpg

Darth Maul (Star Wars)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7732.jpg

Celestia and Luna (derp)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7733.jpg

Pinkie Pie Hat
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7736.jpg

Monarch's Henchman (The Venture Bros.)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7737.jpg

Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7738.jpg

Jade (Mortal Kombat)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7739.jpg

Lyner (Ar Tonelico)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7740.jpg

Link (Legend of Zelda)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7741.jpg

Loki (Marvel universe, Avengers)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7742.jpg

The Riddler and Poison Ivy (Batman)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7755.jpg

Various Fallout cosplayers
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7757.jpg

Roy Mustang (Full Metal Alchemist)
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7758.jpg

This one is unique. This girl made this dress herself, and it's a dress of Vincent van Goh's "Starry Night" painting
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7761.jpg

Now. A couple of miscellaneous pics before the swag.

The lanyard a brony gave me at the remnants of the meetup I missed.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/2012-09-02_22-29-59_531.jpg

This little girl was just being adorable while waiting for a panel to start. Her mom said she'd been riding the escaltor doing this for 15 minutes.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7731.jpg

And also, and interesting restaurant I came across in the food court.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Pony Merch/DragonCon 2012/IMG_7728.jpg

Now, time for swag!

Spoiler: Swag. The first pic is what I walked around with all day.

[youtube]tEDY0-vPFR8[/youtube]