Dragon*Con is the world’s largest Sci-Fi and Fantasy convention, held annually in Atlanta, GA. For years friends have been urging me to attend, but I’d always come up with an excuse be it money, time, effort or my own social anxiety; but this year, my wife and I stopped procrastinating and made the trek from Orlando, FL to Atlanta over Labor Day Weekend, and wow, am I glad I did. Here’s what I saw, what I learned, and why Dragon*Con changed my life.
1 - What a day, what a lovely first day!
John Crichton and Dominar Rygel XVI of the Green Lantern Corps?
From the moment we got off the interstate, my wife and I realized this was serious business. The atmosphere at Dragon*Con is, for the lack of a better word, overwhelming. Just driving to the parking garage we saw a flood of costumed people flooding the busy Atlanta streets. Upon entering our hotel lobby, our senses were bombarded with a flood of sights, sounds, and (unfortunately) smells. It was intoxicating, but definitely intimidating. Luckily, the people are very accepting and very friendly. There really is no time for judgment as attendees are either rushing from one panel to the next, off to get their picture with the next Deadpool variant they see, or busy with their own cosplays. Everywhere you look are people revealing themselves to be just like you. This incredible energy is everywhere you look for five city blocks; an ocean of people reveling in their inner nerd, saying to the World, “Nerd and proud.” Cosplayers were EVERYWHERE and their costumes ranged from simple characters from Disney to the most obscure anime sidekicks. My personal favorite was a John Crichton and Rygel from the TV series Farscape, but they in turn were cosplayed as Lanterns from the Green Lantern series - a very creative cosplay within a cosplay. It was amazing to see so many variants of favorite characters with people putting insane amounts of detail into their characters.
2 - It’s all fun and games until you actually learn something!
Your Dragon*Con membership includes unlimited access to panels, discussions, and activities, but they also have some amazing workshops that cost a little extra but are well worth it. While at Dragon*Con I took the opportunity to sign up for several of the workshops to help improve my writing. These workshops were taught by the likes of none other than Timothy Zahn, Michael A. Stackpole, and Gregory Wilson – real authors, whose work I actually READ! As an aspiring author myself, I hoped these courses would help me figure out where to get started. The authors helped by giving advice on how to get started and explaining what the steps were for moving forward. They were great at advising on the creative side, as well as on the business and marketing side. I also took the opportunity to step into a few of the free classes as well and those were less, but still very, helpful. These classes gave me the much needed kick in the ass I was looking for to help me move forward.
3 - Losing my wife to John Barrowman…
While I was at Dragon*Con, I was astounded by the number of celebrities that were in attendance. My wife and I were shopping at the miniature mall that Dragon*Con provided (more on that later) when we stumbled across John Barrowman (Dr. Who, Torchwood, Arrow), just shopping like normal people. I was a little star struck to say the least, but my wife took it upon herself to stalk him like a lioness hunting a gazelle. While we were at Dragon*Con, I also took the opportunity to meet Jim Butcher (author of The Dresden Files, Codex Alera, and Cinder Spires) an author who I really respect and enjoy reading. After a thirty minute wait in line, I was getting my books signed and having a conversation with him like it was no big deal. While on our way to vendors, we also stumbled across what we thought was a cosplayer of Jim Henson with a Kermit the Frog in his hands. While the gentleman may have been cosplaying as Jim Henson, my wife and I later learned that Kermit the Frog actually was at Dragon*Con and that there is a solid chance we had a completely casual conversation with THE Kermit the Frog. How many people can say that? The celebrities who attend these conventions really love their fans and enjoy being around them.
4 - Buh-bye money! It was nice to know ya!
As mentioned before, there is a miniature mall available for all kinds of merchandise. The vendors are super cool and proud of their wares. They have everything from back stock comic books, novels (both new and used), metal work, furry gear, dice, dice tables, and so many other things that I have lost track. My wife and I trekked over to the mini-mall from our host hotel and perused through the vendors wares like kids in a candy store. My wife and I saved our money the first day (mainly because we were already too exhausted to continue and did not want to hold things) but it turned into our benefit. We ended up shopping again on Saturday after we allowed our brains and eyes to adjust to what we saw. I ended up buying a snazzy new pocket watch while my wife got a set of goggles. We also snagged two beautiful, handcrafted boxes which we are now using to hold our many sets of polyhedral dice. The sheer amount of leather working, metal working, and fur work that goes into many of these vendors’ wares though showed me why this convention has been around for thirty years. I only wish I brought more money.
5 - I’m the dude, playin’ the dude, disguised as another dude
The cosplayers stole the show. Their dedication showed in all the work they put into their outfits. One thing I noticed concerning the cosplay aspect: it is not mandatory. I always had this stigma in my head that I would have to cosplay, and it would have to be amazing to be accepted among the fellow convention goers, but this is not the case in the slightest. These cosplayers love being the center of attention and many of them with flux between being super friendly to being fully dedicated to their character. One example is when my wife and I were people watching (aka catching our breath) when we found the girl from the Ring franchise. I (like a fool) yell out “Hey, isn’t that the girl from the Ring?” The cosplayer apparently heard me yell that and stopped in the middle of the crowded hall. As throngs of people continued past them, the cosplayer continued to stand completely still. After remaining as still as the grave for over thirty seconds in the crowd of people, the cosplayer finally began to turn their head in our direction. Of course this is while my wife and I were at first amazed at their dedication, then slightly nervous as the act continued. Similar events happened several more times while we were in attendance.
6 - 24 hour gaming room … ‘Nuff said.
For the gamer in your life, or if you were just in the mood to try out a new board game, they were happy to accommodate you at Dragon*Con. They offered 24 hour gaming at Dragon*Con in the lower floors of the Hilton hotel, everything from Fluxx to Dungeons and Dragons Adventurers League to all other kinds of games that I can’t even remember. There were people there during all hours of the night and day and, in theory, you would never have to leave that room for the entire convention. The people were friendly, though the sign up process was a little difficult to learn when you have been sleep deprived, over stimulated, and hungover. Just some advice to avoid being all those things at once. We didn’t stay long in the game section namely due to exhaustion, but the time spent there was lot of fun.
I have to say that as a first time attendee to Dragon*Con my wife and I had a blast. We saw a lot of new things, experienced a lot of new experiences, and met a lot of new people. The people were amazing, from the DJ in the elevator of the Marriot, to potentially meeting Kermit the Frog, to buying a new box for my Dungeons and Dragons dice, to being chased around by Deadpool because I refused to vote for him. I had a blast, and they in turn got an attendee for life. Fair trade.