Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

For years we’ve been telling friends in other states that we’d one day do Atlanta’s Dragon Con, one of the largest conventions in America that isn’t in California or New York. We’ve been in Atlanta, but we hadn’t really done Atlanta. Hence this year’s vacation, in which we’re aiming for a double proficiency in Atlanta tourism and over-the-top Dragon Con goodness…

Longtime MCC readers know our frequent ventures to entertainment and comic-book conventions around the Midwest have their staples: the cosplay photos, the sojourns through Artists Alley, the pile of newly acquired graphic novels at the end, and, of course, photos with actors and other celebrities in attendance, often featuring our favorite jazz-hands motif. We don’t perform for every con photo-op, but those that meet the standard are kept on a dedicated Pinterest board so future generations can look upon our assembled montage and think to themselves, “…oookay.”

But first, a selection of non-jazz-hands photos with a few fine folks:

D*C also offered a photo-op with the two of them alongside costar Robert Englund, but we met him six years ago at a previous con, where we gave him a few seconds’ break from bloodthirsty Freddy Krueger poses.

Recapping previously shared MCC trivia: Wang was the very first actor I ever met at a con, way back in 1997 at a tiny show in Lafayette, IN. Twenty-two years later, here we were again for a better photo, feeling less rushed than that show’s lines had been.

I know Woodside best from season 7 of Buffy, in which his character Robin Wood was the son of a 1970s Slayer killed in combat by Spike, years before his reformation. Woodside made an interesting foil for Buffy and was an uncommon example of a positive portrayal of a school principal on TV. Usually they’re mean bosses and/or jerks, so that alone was refreshing…though Buffy might have disagreed.

Speaking of cool TV principals:

…and there’s me looking sheepish as the words “I’M NOT WORTHY! I’M NOT WORTHY! I’M NOT WORTHY!” took up all the real estate in my head for the space of this shoot, which is why I look weird and off-model and I’m severely annoyed with myself in hindsight.

Bonus points awarded here: Christine Adams was also in the wonderful Pushing Daisies, in which she was an extremely proficient, no-nonsense dog trainer. She’s the second actor I’ve met from that much-missed, short-lived series after last year’s Lee Pace encounter. Meeting more of those folks would be awesome.

And now: it’s time for jazz hands. In addition to Freema Agyeman shown above, the following participants indulged our whims:

While her bold performance was one of the best things about The Gifted, I remember her as one of the stars of Bunheads, a dramedy about a small-town ballet school that ran on ABC Family (now Freeform) for a single, frustratingly underappreciated season. Dumont was one of the four main teens who had to learn about dancing and life from Broadway star Sutton Foster, who’s since been on TV Land’s longer-lasting Younger.

I was among the few viewers writing Bunheads episode recaps while it was still on the air. If you’re a fan of creator Amy Sherman-Palladino’s other shows Gilmore Girls and/or The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, it stands to reason you’d also enjoy Bunheads and I blame you for ABC Family’s decision to cancel it after 18 episodes and instead invest heavily in an Alfonso Ribeiro game show that died after eight episodes. Thousands of fans may still be bitter about Fox canceling Firefly too soon. I’m the guy still bitter about Bunheads.

More MCC trivia: the only other Bunheads participant I’ve met to date is Sean Gunn, costar of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy films, who was at Motor City Comic Con 2017. He had small, scene-stealing roles in two episodes as the most anal-retentive barista in the world. Their indirect support of Bunheads means that Dragon Con and Motor City are presently tied in my mind as the Best Conventions in America.

Back on topic, though: Emma Dumont was awesome to meet in person and a lot less wary than Sean Gunn when I mentioned Bunheads.

Harvey Guillen costars in the FX series What We Do in the Shadows, which is set in the same universe as the 2014 indie film of the same name. Co-writer/directors Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement also wrote and directed some of the first season, and reprised their characters in one episode alongside other famous vampire actors such as Tilda Swinton, Wesley Snipes, and Paul Reubens.

A few of the TV-MA gags are a bit beyond my level, but Guillen excels as Guillermo, a put-upon familiar who’s been waiting in vain for nine years to be “turned” by his master, only to stumble across a deep family secret near the end of the season that complicates matters. Fun times.

At C2E2 2018 I took advantage of the chance to pose with Legends costars Caity Lotz, Brandon Routh, and Dominic Purcell — Canary, the Atom, and Heat Wave. This new pic with Agent Sharpe, Steel, and Zari makes a fine companion piece — perfect bookends, really. The best part about this moment was Ashe dissing Zano’s initial jazz-hands attempt and showing him how it’s done. As I walked away, Zano sneered back at her and they kept on bickering. It was totally a Legends moment.

…

…and those are our happy results from D*C’s “Epic Photo Ops track” (using their parlance) as well as our wandering through their “Walk of Fame”, a phrase which here means “autograph hall” but sounds loftier and cooler when they put it that way.

To be continued! Other chapters in this very special miniseries:

Introduction: 20 Years of Road Trips, 2 Lifetimes of Geek Culture
Part 2: Cosplay on Parade
Part 3: More Cosplay on Parade
Part 4: Still More Cosplay on Parade
Part 5: Still More Cosplay on Parade Continued
Part 6: Still More Cosplay on Parade Continued Yet Again
Part 7: Deadpool Presents the Deadpool Cosplay Parade Starring Deadpool
Part 8: Ultimate Final Cosplay-Parade Climax Endgame Finale
Part 9: No Parades, Just Cosplay
Part 10: Last Call for Cosplay
Part 11: The Dragon’s Lairs
Part 12: Who Else We Saw, What Else We Did
Advance epilogue: Three Thoughts After Our First Dragon Con