Needless Things Podcast 127 – Dragon Con 2016: GI Joe: A Real American Hero with Larry Hama

It’s a LIVE panel from Dragon Con 2016!

A presentation of the American Sci-Fi Classics Track – Larry Hama answers questions about GI Joe, the universe, and everything!

Embrace, Promote, and Defend What You Love. Support Your Friends' Works and Others. It Can Pay Dividends – Jerry Chandler

Support what you love. Promote what you love. Those seem like pretty basic concepts. They also seem like easy things to do. But if you spend any time at all on social media you’ll see that a lot of people use their time “socializing” by doing things other than this. As a matter of fact, a lot of people- and I am guilty of this myself from time to time when it comes to the realm of politics –seem to spend as much time or more essentially promoting the examples of what they don’t like than they do promoting things they like. That really is something a lot of people should work on changing.

Toy Review – Marvel Legends X-Men Series Kitty Pryde, Rogue, & Wolverine from Hasbro

I’ve been giving twelfth scale mass market figures a hard time lately. I think they deserve it. Twenty bucks apiece for what we’re getting from the average Marvel Legends or DC Multiverse release is not a good value. Especially when you compare those figures to what Star Wars fans are getting from the 6” Black Series (although I understand the quality is dropping there, as well).

However, on the rare occasion that you can find some Marvel Legends for a few bucks less than twenty, they might be worth it. Especially if they’re my beloved X-Men.

Beth's Dragon Con Recap - Part Three

Parts 1 and 2 are up if you haven't checked them out yet. You probably should do that before you read part 3, otherwise you'll be pretty lost. Not LOST, just regular non-smoke monster lost. I don't think I could be trusted with a smoke monster anyway. Like superpowers, I'd only use it for evil.

Phantom at Dragon Con 2016 – Day 3

If you haven’t read Day 1 – Thursday or Day 2 – Friday yet, click those links and do it!

Saturday was the big day.

As excited as I am for all of the things that I do at Dragon Con, The Dirty Dirty Con Con Game Game Show Show is my baby.

But prep for that didn’t start until 7 PM and I had a morning panel to attend to first!

Needless Things Podcast 126 – Dragon Con 2016: The Shining vs. The Shining

It’s a LIVE panel from Dragon Con 2016!

A presentation of the Horror Track - Phantom Troublemaker, authors Karen E. Taylor and Clay Gilbert, and Thomas Mariani from Horror News Radio discuss Stephen King's book and its various adaptations!

Slowly Watching the Monsters Die Off – Jerry Chandler

I’m in my mid-forties. Among the various other things that this statement can represent, it means for this topic that I’m from the generation who was born into one of the biggest monster and paranormal mania explosions into pop culture of the last four or five decades. My elementary and junior high school libraries were stocked with “nonfiction” books about the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, the Abominable Snowman, ghosts, U.F.O.s, and the various compilation books looking at all the other “real” monsters and mysteries out there. Roughly a quarter or more of the selection of our school book fairs would be similar books to buy and own. Turn the TV on at any time of the day in the late 1970s and early 1980s and the odds were you’d channel surf into more than a few TV shows on cable and network television dealing with the paranormal and cryptozoology, and all of them treating the matters as if they had the scientific authenticity of a documentary on the making of the first atomic bomb.

Christina's Days of DragonCon Delight: Part One

We've all felt it.  That sensation the day after DragonCon where we are technically back in the real world yet we still feel like we are”back there.”  It still isn't over in our minds; it's just way too fresh.  Tis the day after the 2016 DragonCon as I'm writing this and I can tell you that I'm feeling that right now.  I look at the pics people took late Monday night or before check out Tuesday morning of a freshly cleaned and empty Peachtree Center or Hyatt/Sheraton/Westin/Hilton/Marriott, and it just leaves you feeling hollow.  So how does one fix this problem?  How do you fill the void?  With pictures, panel videos, DragonCon's Youtube goodies, DCTV stuff, and of course the fabulous Needless Things post-DC coverage. 

It's time for me to once again deny the real world access to my being and dive back in to the 2016 DragonCon.

Beth's Dragon Con Recap - Part Two

Oh Saturdays at Dragon Con. I both love and hate you. Love because it's when the best panels, costumes, and parties happen. Hate because it's when everyone in the entire world seems to show up and often slows things down to a crawl. I'm not complaining - I wouldn't give it up for anything. It's just a test of patience for those of us who get overwhelmed easily.

Phantom at Dragon Con 2016 – Day 2

If you haven’t read Day 1 – Thursday yet, it’s right here!

It is, unfortunately, inevitable that every year I will start at least one of these recaps by saying I didn’t feel very good in the morning. To one degree or another.

Needless Things Podcast 125 – Dragon Con 2016: Toy Stories

It’s a LIVE panel from Dragon Con 2016!

A presentation of the American Sci-Fi Classics Track - Phantom Troublemaker, Rebeccah Hunter, Noel Wood, Sean Reid, Gary Mitchel, and members of the audience share Toy Stories! Tales of Masters of the Universe, GI Joe, and creepy 80s toys share the spotlight this time around.

Why Ghostbusters 2016 Went Bust – Jerry Chandler

(Okay, a bit past its prime as a topic, but this was being written before the Dragon Con coverage on the site started. Besides, from conversations I heard at Dragon Con it’s still a topic of discussion in fandom.)

Why did the Ghostbusters reboot fail? It’s actually an interesting question. It’s actually a question I’m seeing a lot of articles on, and that in and of itself should be seen as a part of the film’s problem. Yes, I understand that there’s a bit of unintentional humor in stating that in an article meant to discuss why the film failed. But there is a reason I cite it as a part of the problem. The focus on agendas over entertainment by so many likely did the film no favors. But that was also only a tiny problem for the film.

Comic Book Wednesday – Previews September 2016: “More Old Than New”

If you don’t know, Previews is the catalog that Diamond Comic Distributors use to offer the products they distribute to comic book stores around the country. This is where you can view and order (through your favorite Local Comic Book Shop) comic books, trade paperback collections, t-shirts, books, media, and toys and other collectibles from hundreds of different vendors that deal in geek-oriented merchandise. The genius part is that you actually have to pay for your copy of Previews for the privilege of ordering other things to pay for. It’s like the Ren Fest except without the horse poo smell.

So every month a new edition of Previews is sent out to comic book stores. Contained in the pages within are products that might be currently available or could be released anytime in the next year; but are typically about three months away. Most of this month’s offerings are scheduled to ship in December.

Now it’s time to discuss a few of the weird and/or wonderful items offered in this month’s edition!

Beth's Dragon Con Recap - Part One

It's the 30th year of Dragon Con, 25 years-ish since I first attended, and my third year as a reporter. You might be expecting big things from me this year. If you were you were expecting too much you may be disappointed. I didn't get approved for any interviews or chosen for any panels. But that's their loss because I still had an awesome time. I didn't get the "con crud" (Emergen-C works guys), and although I was tired I didn't want to die. Today I'll go over the first 2 days of the con, by which I mean Thursday and Friday since official stuff starts on Thursday now.

Phantom at Dragon Con 2016 – Day 1

77,000 human beings - the final official attendance number for this year’s Dragon Con. That’s just crazypants. And yet, it didn’t seem quite as crowded or hectic as it usually does. I discussed this with Mike Gordon on the last Needless Things Podcast, and I’ll be taking a look at it here, as well.

But I’m not here just to talk about numbers and statistics. I never want to talk about numbers and statistics. I want to talk about fun and hard work and living the dream of entertaining people at the greatest science fiction, fantasy, and pop culture convention known to man!

It’s time for my annual recap of what went down at Dragon Con.

Needless Things Podcast 124 – Dragon Con 2016: Wrap-Up w/ Mike Gordon

On today’s episode Phantom Troublemaker and Mike Gordon file their after action reports for Dragon Con 2016!

I Miss My Tribe

I sit here in the late afternoon, the Thursday after Dragon Con, organizing my various notes and thoughts about Dragon Con 2016. It can all be summed up in a simple line- It was a big show, and it was a lot of fun. Of course, I’m going to expand on that a bit more.

One thing that doesn’t need much expanding upon though is the headline. I miss my tribe. So many people I see at Dragon Con are family at this point, and still more become more and more like family each time we see each other. The first two weeks after con are the worst. It’s withdrawal that has no fix, no cure. Well, at least not until next Dragon Con.

Phantom at Dragon Con 2016 - Cosplay Wins

Welcome to what essentially serves as a filler article until I can get some real writing time in this weekend!

Before I get to the pictures, I want to urge you to check out SupportPhantom.com - the only source of income for Needless Things, the Needless Things Podcast, and any convention-related entertainment I provide like The Dirty Dirty Con Con Game Game Show Show.

If you see fit to contribute there are some exclusive rewards available, like access to Patron-only podcasts. A new one just went up:

If you can't contribute, every share counts.

And now, on to some of the best cosplay I saw at Con!

Beth's Dragon Con History

It's been 25 year since my first Dragon Con. 

Dragon Con is...

Pocket Program PDF? Get it here.

It’s kind of an interesting sentence starter. What is Dragon Con? What do you write to tell people what it is? What do you write when you’ve already written thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of words about Dragon Con in the past? I’ve written many words about it here on Needless Things as well as on my own blog over the years after all. Dragon Con is…