Dragon Con 2016: Dragon Con Turns 30, Part 2
Sunday
The Kim Possible reunion panel was the sweetest panel this year. Disney fans from as far as New Zealand showed up to marvel at mommy to be Christy Carlson Romano, well-mannered Jason Marsden, and the hilarious Will Friedle. Christy talked about voicing Kim from New York while she was in college and how her schedule was affected.
Will talked about his battle with anxiety and his many voiceover roles. He also talked about his character on Girl Meets World. Jason gave us some insights into his long-time friendship with Will and how they’ve been there for each other since grade school.
The Legends of Tomorrow: Vandalized panel was filled with laughs and fan theories about the upcoming seasons. Casper Crump was elated that the images of Vandal Savage looked like him.
Falk Hentschel and Ciara Renee talked about their characters’ relationship and if they’ll ever have a happy ending. Caity Lotz talked about her character rising from the dead and her possible love interests (which she didn’t mention; big tease).
My guilty pleasure this year was the Old School Anime panel. Samantha Inoue-Harte hosted this panel and talked about her career as a producer (Animetropolis), voice actress (Get Backers, Rurouni Kenshin and Gatchaman), and FX artist (DC Online Universe, World of Warcraft, and Tekken: The Motion Picture).
Older fans got to kick our feet up and talk about the early days of fandubbing and video cassette recording. We also talked about Samantha’s time recording voices for Gatchaman (They are much too mature to mention here).
We also talked about the trauma of anime voice actors voicing roles for Hentai (adult anime movies…oh the horror). We also discussed the ingenuity of voice actors maneuvering jobs and how animation companies use different tricks to make money in the midst of online streaming and the availability of dvds.
Monday, The Finale
The finale of Dragon Con started with the Firefly panel. James Leary hosted this panel with actors Adam Baldwin and Sean Maher.
The two stars talked about their love for Joss Whedon, Shakespeare and if they would come back to do a sequel to Serenity.
DC Crossover Panel
At the second DC Legend’s panel, the panelists discussed more fan theories and if the upcoming season would have more superheroes and villains. Ciara Renee was asked how being a woman of color affected her portrayal on the show.
Ciara tearfully commented that she was proud to be someone that could be a role model, and hopefully, her portrayal could help someone make the right choices in their own life.
The Guests of S.H.I.E.L.D panel concluded my weekend. Moderator Crispy Lloyd talked with Brett Dalton about his portrayal of Agent Grant Ward and later Hive, on ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Brett answered fan questions and later incited an alternative dance party with the fans.
Dragon Con 2016 co-chair Rachel Reeves stated that “[The] 30th Anniversary convention was a spectacular success. We notched a number of firsts, and were able to offer our fans an experience that was worthy of this special anniversary.”
Dragon Con’s annual blood drive attracted a huge turnout, with about 3,000 attendees donating some 6,000 units of blood and blood products.
This year’s fundraiser raised $98,000 for the Atlanta Center for Self Sufficiency, which helps put homeless individuals on a pathway to achieving a healthy independence.
Dragon Con matched the $50,000 goal for a total of $148,000 raised this year alone. Over the last five years, the convention has raised $440,000 for Atlanta charities.
This year was a radical experience, and I cannot wait to attend next year’s event!