A few days ago, I met Thor. Except it wasn’t him really.
It was an excited fan who spent money and time to cosplay as the almighty Thor.
At this year’s Dragon Con 2014, the 28th overall, thousands of pop culture fans showcases their fandom; dressed up in a myriad of intricate costumes, they crowded Atlanta’s downtown district to bask in the culture.
Spread evenly throughout five hotels, panels, events, meet ups, cosplay and concerts were available for fans to participate in.
Take a look inside why fans are drawn to the convention year after year and what were the standouts this year.
IMPROVEMENTS NEW TO THIS YEAR’S DRAGON CON
- Space provided for cosplayers to rest away from the spotlight and cameras.
- The Best in Show Prize for the Friday Night Costume Contest has now been upgraded, with a guaranteed reservation at one of the host hotels for Dragon Con 2015.
- A live feed on DCTV (Dragon Con Television) of the Dragon Con Parade for those
who are prone to staying away from crowds or simply don’t have the time
to make it. - Another stage was added to the concert venues, with a second stage on the back patio of the Hilton Hotel.
- A new app available for download for iPhone, Android, and a web based version.
DRAGON CON AFTER HOURS
While events and panels are the main publicized things to hit at Dragon Con, a lot of patrons wait in excitement for the days to get down in the nights.
“I’ve heard things about the night life at Dragon Con, it makes me nervous. Someone said you better keep your head on straight, cause the nerds can get intense”, a Tardis dressed first timer said.
A David Bowie from Labyrinth costumer loves the fan-specific niches of Dragon Con night life.
“I love to dance, so I love to go to the concerts,” Bowie said. “If I manage to stay awake ’til the rave DJ stuff, I’ll go there. Even though I only started partying in my 30’s, I think it’s a whole lot of fun”.
Psylocke from Uncanny X-Force explained why she parties separately from the crazy ’til dawn parties.
“I am looking forward to the later hours where I can get drunk, but I don’t want to get too crazy,” Psylocke said. “We’re not gonna hit the weird parties. We are gonna hang out here with our friends in their safe hotel rooms. I don’t wanna get arrested.”
CONS OF DRAGON CON
Through the hustle and bustle, testimonies were for the most part all excited and hopeful to take part in the activities. However, that was at the beginning of the day. Throughout the various conversations, it wasn’t hard to pick up on the downsides to the extravagant con, no matter how inconsequential or unchangeable.
The heat This is unavoidable, but with walking in it for hours, by the end of the day many don’t have the energy to make certain events or panels. And it was obvious who had been subject to it more than others, with their bodes lining the walls along the hotel floor, resting and cooling down before their second wind hits.
The crowds
- Dragon Con is not a
local small convention that can fit into a sizable community space. The myriad of people can be overwhelming and distracting. Where in the beginning
all the sightseeing was a treat to almost everyone, by the end of day
testimonies from people were focused around trying to move around
pleasantly around the limited space
The under-publicized places at the con.
- Many people spoken to had no idea about the film screening media room, and were upset to hear about it being tucked away in the corner. Many other things had been found out about late and left fans trying to remember to make the next year’s attendance more enjoyable.
The difficulty of seeing panels
- For people who have been coming for a long time or attend
numerous cons, they know the only way to make it to the panel they’re
dying to see, is to wait in line as early as humanly possible. Many
conversations with the attendees showed that they had given up on seeing
who they would have loved to see, because they didn’t know how early
they had to begin to wait and the line had already reached capacity.
The vast scale
- The con is so large enough to barely be held within
everything spread between the five hotels in the downtown district.
People would hustle to the Hilton to make an event or panel, and then
rush as fast as possible to make the other one that was at a completely
different hotel. While there are hotels close by with sky bridge access,
you could tell this inescapable fact was disheartening to members who
didn’t come with a play by play plan.
For the next Dragon Cons to come, to make the weekend event more of a well oiled machine, certain accommodations would help improve it.
- Sectioned off resting areas. It would make waiting for things to go to more pleasant, and keep the crowds off each other’s feet.
- Complimentary fans, water, etc. to keep the heat not get to the heavily costumed.
- Schedule of each day sectioned by times to prevent plan conflicts. The schedules should also include tips to attending certain things, such as recommended time waits for popular panel guests.
- Each hotel containing maybe a certain theme or subsect of nerdom or make it convenient for each guest and their perceived wants from the convention.
WHY DO PEOPLE LOVE DRAGON CON (the sections above besides the intro would be pullouts and this would be in the main section i suppose. idk i want it to begin it and also end it)
Some attendees are first timers, some have come for eight years and running, and some have traveled far and wide to make it to the southern convention.
The majority of said attendees are avid cosplayers, with the majority of the appeal set to showcase and interact with their costumes and others.
A Victorian woman all the way from New York ran into me in the bathroom celebrating her tenth year wedding anniversary
“We figured we’d make the most of it. What I love about Dragon Con and cons like it is the pageantry of it. Everybody likes to dress up and have a good time doing it. To dress up and go out and meet people is really exciting, you know people goes up to others in costume and wants pictures together.”
Psylocke from Uncanny X-Force was not a stranger to conventions.
“I’ve been to quite a few fan conventions, I go to Anime Weekend Atlanta and then local ones in my area.”
Her testimony on the appeal of Dragon Con was a similar one to many others, “My favorite part of any convention is being in costume and cosplaying, and hanging out with friends. The fact that so many people are coming from different countries and areas makes it all the more cool.”
“This is my first experience at Dragon Con”, Thor said surrounded by Bob Ross and Tony Stark, “It’s totally overwhelming. Everybody from all different backgrounds coming together and having a good time is exciting.”
Pokemon‘s very own Misty is attending for the first time as well, “I’m a little overwhelmed. But everything I notice and recognize excites me and I have my eye on the Harry Potter stuff and the TV panels of shows that I adore.”
This year there were Arrow, Stargate, Warehouse 13, Whedonverse, and many more panels offered to attend.
I even ran into an Celtic group all dressed like sea witches.
“We’re an acapella group, we sing about ship sinking and people dying, but we do it very upbeat,” Pandora Celtica, the five piece group who sings from traditional celtic music, to covers, to orginal folk music, said. “Our personas are fay, and each one of us comes from a different seasonal court with our very own back story. “Lots of begging to get us here, we’ve been here on and off for five years now.”
“I love Dragon Con because it draws in all the nerds from the entire South and more down here. It’s fun to see old friends come here and celebrate.” a vibrantly dressed steampunk woman said. It was her birthday that night and was planning on attending the party An Evening at Bree, a Tolkien inspired soiree. “No perfect place other than Dragon Con to party like some hobbits and dwarves.”
“It is Nerdi-Gras, it is a five day Halloween party.” Catwoman said.
A cosplayed David Bowie from Labyrinth comes all the distance from Canada to
reach Dragon Con, has been doing it for years, and is ready for the ones
to come. “This is the only one (fan convention) that is really like a
party with all of your friends. It’s 24 hours a day, no matter where you
are, if you’re in line, in a room, at a panel, or just even walking,
you feel like home and you’re having fun.”
