With over 55,000 tickets sold for the five-day event that took over the city of Atlanta, Zombies, Steampunk and the world of Cosplay collided in a vibrant display of love, life and fandom put itself on display for the masses to be entertained by
Review and photos by Danielle Boise and Chris Eason
“I think somebody said that Dragon*Con is the only place hipsters would never be able to be ironic. There is no way to make people ashamed of what they are or who they are; here it’s just people accepting themselves and enjoying that with other people. That’s why I think that this is the most beautiful con.” – Felicia Day (right)
Geek culture descended downtown Atlanta August 31st through September 3rd, over the long Labor Day weekend, for the 26th Annual largest multimedia, pop-culture convention on the East Coast, otherwise known as Dragon*Con. With over 55,000 tickets sold for the five-day event that took over the city of Atlanta, Zombies, Steampunk and the world of Cosplay collided in a vibrant display of love, life and fandom put itself on display for the masses to be entertained by.
Fans really had the ability to delve completely into the universe of their choice with the option of over 40 tracks of interest in Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Gaming, Comics, Art, Music, Literature, and Film; and of course one could not forget about all the costumes and the world of Cosplay that was actively on display all around Atlanta over the long weekend. The pinnacle of Cosplay was the annual parade that took over Peachtree Street Saturday morning, as tens of thousands of people became sardines in order to see the vivid festivities, as people marched dressed up as their favorite characters, heroes and villains alike.
Buffy Horror Musical Sing-Song-Along photos by Danielle Boise
“Husbands” panel photos by Danielle Boise
If dressing up wasn’t something of interest, then the guests also had the chance to attend panels where they could interact with some of their favorite writers, actors and directors to learn about the behind the scenes and back stories on classic television shows and web series, like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Husbands.” The lines were long, but was worth it to get a good seat to be able to see and hear people like Felicia Day(click to read our interview), John Barrowman and Jane Espenson answer all those burning questions that audience members had for them.
Of course there is more to Dragon*Con than long lines, panels and costumes. There is the Walk of the Fame, where an attendee can spend a few minutes getting an autograph, along with a photograph of the celebrity of their choice. Also, Artist Alley and the Web Gallery, where one could find artists like Jennie Breeden, who is the Web Comic creator of “The Devil’s Panties,” and actually be able to interact with them and find out what inspires their creative process; this was one of my favorite areas of Dragon*Con.
Pool Party photos by Danielle Boise
Theme parties play a significant part of the convention, like the Pinup Pool party, where the 1950s never looked so lush as it did Friday August 31st. As mermaids swam in the background, with music from this era waffled in the air as people drank and had a good time just soaking up every ounce of the environment.
Cruxshadows photos by Chris Eason
Frenchy and the Punk photos by Danielle Boise
Dragon*Con really is like the largest family reunion in the world, with people flying in from California and as far away within the Continental United States as Hawaii, but even going beyond that and coming in from Australia and the United Kingdom to participate in the convention. Here is the breakdown of just how much people love participating in Dragon*Con; with over 55,000 tickets sold, which happened to be a 25% increase over last year’s numbers, five hotels participated in the convention (Hilton, Hyatt, Sheraton, Marriott and Weston) where over 400 celebrity guests interacted with fans and became fans themselves over the five day event – who wouldn’t want to partake in this kind of event. So much, fun, happiness and love on display it was hard not to fall under the spell that was Dragon*Con.
DragonCon photos by Chris Eason
For more information on all things related to Dragon*Con or to get your tickets for next year’s event visit, www.dragoncon.org.
DragonCon photos by Danielle Boise
