convention Archives » Drewprops Blog

5 Years of Cardboard*Con

Cardboard*Con has been featured in the March 2014 issue of Atlanta Magazine. Pick up a copy today!!

It was a crazy idea to put on cardboard boxes and run around a sci-fi convention back in 2004. It was a crazier idea to do it again in 2005 as ghetto stormtroopers and to crash so many long-cherished costume contests with our whacky brand of earnest all-cardboard dedication. It was yet a crazier idea to found an all-cardboard science fiction convention back in 2010 but look at us… it’s been 5 years of Cardboard*Con and we’re on the path to legitimacy, what with a mention in the “Must-Do South” March issue of Atlanta Magazine and inquiries from other media outlets. Am I proud? Absolutely! But better than that I’m glad to have met so many of you imaginative people who have picked Cardboard*Con as one of your creative outlets. I look forward to seeing you folks on Saturday night!!

Where Is Dragon*Con?

I understand that my pals The Cardboard Troopers had a wild time this past weekend. They arrived in Atlanta for the 2009 edition of Dragon*Con, but they couldn’t actually seem to find a trace of the convention and the hotel people kept looking at them funny. I sure hope that they come back for the 10:00am parade on Saturday, they always seem to enjoy that.

Which reminds me that last month the Fall issue of the Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine hit the stands and I was simultaneously delighted (97%) and mortified (3%) to read the article about me that staff writer Van Jensen composed after we met prior to my surgery this summer. Entitled “How Did That NERD on the Left Become That PIRATE on the Right?“, the article does a really nice job of catching people up with the kid who won the Batman contest back in the 80s… and the second page features a certain cardboard trooper standing in front of a line of “real” troopers at Dragon*Con.

The Day That Drew Stood Still

Fox is about to release a remake of the Hollywood classic “The Day the Earth Stood Still” in a week or so and I realized that this is as good a time as any to tell you the story of my connection to the original 1951 version of that film. Be warned: it is a long and rambling story, filled with teenage nudity, a strip club, a Waffle Continue reading The Day That Drew Stood Still

Cardboard Dawn

So, like, last year we (the cardboard troopers) discussed something “new” (and socially disruptive) that we could do at Dragon*Con. The activity that rose to the top of our pile at this year’s Dragon*Don was to crash the Dawn Look-a-like competition, a costume contest devoted to one comic book entitled “Dawn”… a dramatic series about a “goddess” who dresses in lace and armor, which we all know to be important elements in any elemental struggle between good and sexy. Always a T&A show, the Dawn competition is the brainchild of a fellow named Joseph Michael Linsner, and was rife for a raid by those merry pranksters of merriment, whose only goal at Dragon*Con is to make people smile and remember that the weekend is supposed to be about genuine fun. While Dawn may come in every shape and color, we knew that our Dawn would be BIG, BOXY and far too unwieldy to manage lingerie… chiefly, that cardboard trooper known as “Gallo Whirlpool”… with big pink balloons taped onto his chestplate… but then, I explain too much… take a look at the video!!

Let the Sun Soak Through

Here’s a wonderful short film shot and edited by our pal and sci-fi fan/collector “SexyBeast“, documenting the misadventures of the cardboard troopers at Dragon*Con in downtown Atlanta, from sexy girls to maddening fights over our cardboard Dawn costume. The whole time he was shooting this video SexyBeast kept telling everyone “Hey, have fun!!”. Looking back at it, maybe we did. I especially like his choice of Human Highway’s song “All Day” playing in the background… and after reading the review of it Continue reading Let the Sun Soak Through

Chewboxxa

I’m undeniably proud of the Cardboard Craze that I started at Dragon*Con back in 2005, especially of the guys who have been such dedicated cardboard costumers along with me since that time! After our great success as cardboard troopers last year, a lot of people have expressed their desire to join us in at the upcoming convention in September. Several folks have expressed that, while they have the desire, they just don’t have any good ideas on exactly how to build a good costume out of cardboard. So, as a service to those people, I’m going to begin a series of posts that will continue up until September, designed to provide you some design ideas and construction techniques. First out of the blocks is my design for Chewboxxa, a “Booxiee” from the planet BoxxaHarveyKorman.
Continue reading Chewboxxa

Science Fiction Summer

I dropped out of the elevator, crouched low to avoid detection. Looking left and right, I rolled quickly over to the wall trying not to be seen. I’d been avoiding her for most of the morning but her spoor hung heavy in the air in this place. I knew that the big cat was looking for lunch and that she had me in mind for the main course.

She wasn’t your usual cat, this one. She stood five feet tall at the shoulder and her coat was jet black streaked with fluorescent red. Her claws were long elegant blades and she had mysterious green catseyes, but it was her black leather cape and knee-high go-go boots that were a definite giveaway that this wasn’t your everyday feline.
Continue reading Science Fiction Summer