The Spirit of Dragon Con
This is quite difficult for such a chatty Kat to keep short because there is so much to Dragon Con. If you are unfamiliar with it, it is a multi-fandom convention held every year around Labor day in Atlanta, GA. Click the link to visit their site: DragonCon.net. It is one of the largest conventions on the East Coast and probably one of the largest in the country for costumes & round the clock activities. This post is merely my perspective of experiencing Dragon Con. :)
Since I’ve become a cosplayer and put a ton of time, energy and money into my costumes, this becomes one of the biggest focuses for me at the convention. Preparing for Dragon Con, where most costumers premiere their best work, can start as early as a year ahead of time! For some…years!! 
I try my best to start early, but I always end up stressin’ and working up to the last minute. Doh(Homer Simpson)! I started my big D*Con costume in June this year. This insanity starts with researching how to go about making the pieces, putting together the pieces, where to get the materials for the pieces, pulling some teeth, messing up the pieces & finishing the pieces… and unfortunately sometimes working on the pieces in your hotel room at the Con! :/
Now…convention time! The vehicle is packed… hopefully the night before, because we are getting up early! This is so we can get to check-in, get settled in a room, then run down the street to get in line for registration & eat somewhere in-between. Dragon Con veterans know that the registration line is a nightmare! It’s so bad people have started coming to the con a day early just so they are set up in a room already and then can get in the line early to beat the crowds. Last year we got into town the day of registration(Thursday) and got into the line late afternoon. Spent 4 & 1/2 hours in line!! We didn’t know it would be this bad and weren’t prepared. I was hungry, exhausted and had to pee. By the time we got out of the line I was in a terrible mood to start off the con and it took time to get into the spirit of things. This year was much, much better. They had a new computer system to get things rolling faster and we only stood in line for 2 hours.
It feels good once you get that big beautiful D*Con badge! Every year it is well made with some Dragon themed Art and this year we received a luggage tag and Dragon Con themed room keys at the hotel. This was to celebrate Dragon Con’s 25th year. Now we’re ready to party!
Dragon Con 25th Anniversary room keys!
It was a good feeling this year getting out of the line in a decent amount of time, so we could start off the con by relaxing a little bit and getting our room set up for the weekend. I unfortunately still had some work to do on Elina. With some help from a friend I was able to finish up on time! I’m really happy with the quick paint job I did on the shoes! I had this great view from the hotel room as I sat against the window in the sunlight and painted.
We all decided to go to dinner that night off site since the usual chow for the Con comes from the food court that is in one of the adjoining hotels. We taxied our way to Chow Baby! I had the best mojito ever there, just wish it was bigger. :)
There is actually a good selection of food at the food court and I didn’t seem to mind it this year. A big thank you to My Friend’s Place for having good soup!! I <3 soup! hehe..
So of course the registration line and the food court are not really what you think of when it comes to the spirit of Dragon Con.
A huge part of the spirit of Dragon Con is the costumes! So of course you go through all of your costumes and the discomfort that goes with them, but there’s this amazing feeling you get when you go out and all of these people are taking pictures of you. People are requesting you to stop for a photo or they are asking how you made your costume.
They thought you bought it somewhere and are amazed to find out you made it yourself. Those are some of the moments you wait for and why you go through all of the painstaking work of building a costume. Sometimes just seeing the perfect shot of your costume is the best moment–or sometimes you might even have a celebrity at Dragon Con want their picture with you!!
Felicia Day, Amy Okuda, and Robin Thorsen asked for a picture with us!! One of the sweetest moments at D*Con!
Can’t get much better than that!
For a lot of people the celebrities showing up at Dragon Con or the amazing panels make their trip worthwhile. Unfortunately I get so wrapped up in costume time that I end up only making it to a few panels. This year was the worst since we didn’t make it to any panels and didn’t even get to the Walk of Fame. I would like to change this next time around. I think if I can get my costumes done sooner and therefore work on making them more comfortable, I could stand to get around better and spend no time working on them at the Con. I can dream right??
One of the biggest ideas for me when I think of the Spirit of Dragon Con is how it brings us all together. People from all over the country and even abroad come together at Dragon Con to celebrate their love of Sci-Fi, anime, fantasy and many other genres. I am able to see many friends I don’t get to see very often here and we all just have a great time.
People’s creativity really shines & they get to be themselves here or a different person for the weekend, depending on the individual. Some of us take advantage of the con atmosphere and dress up differently than we would at home. Others feel like they can be themselves and freely talk about the things they really enjoy and not shield their true passions from those who might not understand. For me it’s a combination of the two. At home I’m a t-shirt and jeans kind of girl. I still go with this for part of the con(geek themed of course), but then I really love wearing my goth/lolita clothes around the con when I’m not in costume. A lot of my friends & family know about my geek passions and hobbies, but I tend to keep those topics to myself when it comes to being at work. It’s just a completely different crowd at work. :)
This year at Dragon Con, everyone was starting up early and getting to Atlanta days early. It seemed to really mess with everyone’s internal clock. Everyone was a day ahead and when Friday came around, it felt like Saturday. When Saturday came around, it felt like Sunday. Unfortunately the biggest night of the weekend(Saturday) seemed very odd and there wasn’t as big of a turn out as usual because of this. I started getting that sadness about the Con ending earlier than usual and it just messed everything up.
We had our usual tradition on Sunday night and watched the masquerade in our friend’s suite with some pizza! We jumped on the raves Friday & Saturday nights, but they started waaay too late for most of us…3am!!? I really wish they would have started at midnight like last year. :(
I made a terrible attempt to learn poi at the raves. People kept asking to borrow my sticks after seeing how I sucked. NO MORE! I will have to say no from now on. I will be a pro next time around!
And then there was the sadness of packing up and getting ready to say goodbye to everyone. We learned from some good friends that it’s better to pack up most of your stuff the night before check out and then just keep what you need for the next day with you. Only because it’s impossible to get a cart at Check Out on Monday. This works quite well and leaves you with less stress the next day. So what do I want to improve for the next D*Con?? I want to make more comfortable costumes & be able to walk around in them more. I want to attend more panels and when things seem like they are getting boring, I want to move around more and go explore the con. We tend to spend too much time in one place. This convention is so huge that there is always something going on. I promise to go explore the other hotels more and see what else Dragon Con has to offer!
One of my favorite pictures at the Con because I looove Tiger and Bunny!! 
I’d prefer Kotetsu be a male, but that’s okay! She did a great job with her cosplay.
Please check out all of the great photos we took at the convention! Click here to go to our Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramenempire/sets/72157627533125637/ My boyfriend took these photos! Good job baby. :)
Till next time!!
Ja Mata,
-Neko Chan
I only went to ONE panel! I definitely want to go to more panels next year, have some better (aka more comfortable, more weather-appropriate) costumes, and come up with a sleep schedule. I always feel like I’m missing part of the con when I sleep, but I absolutely HAVE to sleep. I need to make a trip to the consuite, too.
I wish they would start the concerts earlier, so the raves could start earlier, too.
It’s so hard to get to the other hotels, especially in costume because we tend to get stuck standing in one place or stopped while walking. I always put things in the Sheraton and Westin on my schedule, but I never go because walking 1 block during Dragon*Con is apparently too hard for me!
Yeah, I agree!! If I can somehow get away with not wearing special contacts(BRS) or uncomfortable shoes(Afro Suki Suki) or paint all over my skin(Cortana), then I’d feel better! lol. Black Rock Shooter would have been fine for me without the contacts. I don’t even mind carrying the cannon around that much.
I’m going to have to get some more comfy costumes together and my biggest thing is to move around the con when we start feeling like it’s not grovin’ for us. There is so much going on around us and we have no idea. Thanks for writing Jess! 