Sunday at Dragon Con started with commuting in to the convention with my con buddies Riley and Aaron to get to the first Star Wars panel in the morning! I was already determined to make the most of the day as it would be my final day at Dragon Con 2018. I had panels to be at, panels to be on, friends to see, food to eat, and costumes to see!
We rolled into Dragon Con all serious business like:
The first panel we attended (that I was on) was the 10:00am “Crime and Politics in Star Wars” panel. This one was a ton of fun with Thomas Harper, Tom Hutchens, Matt Rushing, Brandy Blanton, and Swara Salih. We dug into the nitty gritty of crime lords, Darth Maul’s involvement in the criminal underworld, Black Sun, and the Jedi’s, Republic’s, and Empire’s way of managing (or in some cases taking advantage of) crime.
After that I sat in on a fascinating Kevin J. Anderson panel in which he talked extensively about how he got into writing, and into Star Wars in particular. This one is more difficult for me to describe, because it was funny, inspirational, touching, and informative all at once. I’ve never really attended a panel like that at a convention before.
We spent more time exploring around the convention:
We ran into a large group of elves singing:
Then we had coffee with some of our media friends in the press lounge. After that we went to the 5:30pm “Disney’s Galaxy’s Edge” panel where we learned all there is to know about Star Wars land!
After that we had a lovely dinner with a group of friends, one of whom had a shoes casualty (anything can happen at Dragon Con). And, there was an amazing pianist at the restaurant!
After that we rushed to make it to the 8:30pm “The Clone Wars 10th Anniversary” panel, which was another really nostalgic panel to go to, full of laughs, memories, and a few tears. Hearing all involved talk about their favorite characters, moments, arcs, worlds, and seasons was a great reminiscing of what came before. I’m still so excited The Clone Wars is returning, and this made me even more pumped!
Afterwards we ended the day with a group of friends all gathering at Gibney’s Pub to celebrate the convention, each other, friendship, fandom, and Dragon Con. It was a bittersweet evening for me, knowing I wouldn’t be able to attend Monday’s festivities at the con, but a good one too. All I can say is that if there’s any way for me to attend next year, expect to see me there!
Bethany Blanton
