Last year when I went to Dragon Con for the first time, I was immersed in an overwhelming world of cosplay and geekdom. It was a really fun time, but a somewhat stressful one as well. However, having the experience of the previous year, I found my way around Dragon Con 2019 much easier. Dragon Con is named so because of the hotels it’s held in, which are meant to represent the chain of a dragon’s body. With that in mind, it was much easier to navigate the dragon this time around.
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This time around, I knew how to get between the hotels more efficiently. I knew where to find the tracks and events more easily and had an even better time for it. Once you find your way around, it’s an incredibly fun time full of a variety of activities.
One of the highlights was watching the Black Lightning cast speak on the direction their excellent show is going in Season 3. Speaking with such warmth and familiarity to the audience, they put on a great discussion. All were palpably excited to be there and were eager to discuss what will happen in the upcoming season. They additionally spoke on their favorite character dynamics and more.
This year, the cosplays were as cool and innovative as ever. With so much new content coming out the past couple of years, fans had more diverse characters to cosplay as. Dragon Con typically has a rich array of characters walking around its halls, but this time around it felt even more diverse and inclusive than last time. It was really great to see.
The celebrity guests came from all over the comics, literature, film, and tv worlds. At Dragon Con’s Walk of Fame you can conveniently find many famous people in the geek world to meet, get autographs from, and take photos with. I went in there the first time this year and while I wasn’t able to meet a celebrity there, it was fascinating to see a space like that in which fans could easily interact with their favorite celebrities. The level of accessibility is something that you don’t often see at cons, at least in my experience, and I can’t wait to do it again.
There were a variety of events taking place all over the area, including photoshoots of various different groups of characters. Taking part in the Spider-Verse at Dragon Con 2020 photoshoot, in particular, was incredible. I’ve often cosplayed as Spidey at cons, and seen other Spider-cosplayers around, but Dragon Con offered me the first time to feel like part of a cosplay group and to be immediately welcomed while doing so. The organizers were warm and welcoming of all cosplayers from all backgrounds. It really felt like they aimed to encapsulate the spirit of the Spidersona.
With so many Spidey and Spidey character cosplayers joining together, it felt like we lived areal life Spider-Adventure together. I got to meet so many Peters, Miles, Gwens, and Cindys to meet in the group, it felt like I was my own version of Spider-Man thrust into the Spider-Verse. It also let me feel, on a higher level, that no matter what happens with the Spider-Man and its related IPs in the future, people are always going to love these incredible characters and their universes. The Spider-Verse has a bright future ahead, and the Spider-Community at Dragon Con reminded me of that.
Another great event the convention put on, as they do every year, was the “Last Night on Alderaan” Party held on Saturday night. Fans of Star Wars and other properties came together in a ballroom to party like it was there last night before their planet would be blown up. It was a fun time with friends with a solid DJ who melded classic remixed Star Wars themes with tracks from modern artists like Lizzo. It was both a raging and nerdy time.
If you ever have the chance to go to Dragon Con I highly recommend it. There’s a huge variety of activities to get involved in across the various tracks. Just make sure you know your way around the hotels and downtown Atlanta, and you’ll be more than fine at this great event. More people are starting to take notice of that too, with more than 85,000 attendees, up from 60,000 last year. If you can navigate these massive crowds in these hotels, you’re sure to have a great time.
