Every year, fans of sorts flock to downtown Atlanta to take part in the five day sci-fi and fantasy extravaganza known as DragonCon.
DragonCon is a Atlanta’s biggest annual comic convention that attracts over 80,000 attendees a year. It takes place at five hotels in Peachtree Center.
“[DragonCon is] a giant five day convention over Labor Day weekend that’s basically a stop for anyone who likes anything remotely nerdy or geeky,” said junior Klara Nitsche. “There’s a bunch of panels for TV shows or authors. There’s an artist alley and vendors. There’s also cosplay and competitions for that. There’s everything.”
Nitsche attended the convention for just one of the five days, and spent her time looking at people’s costumes and attending panels, such as a “Stranger Things” panel with Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin, who play the characters Dustin and Lucas on the show.
“I didn’t go the whole time, but some friends went for three days, some went for five,” she said. “I went on Saturday, which was pretty packed, because that’s the day most people go.”
Among those who went for an extended period of time were junior Sam Russell and senior Thomas Wilson.
“[Wilson] and I stayed at the Sheraton for Saturday, Sunday, and half of Monday,” said Russell. “It was nice to have a little home base where I could drop my stuff off. “
The two enjoyed a sense of freedom from staying on-site.
“We were a lot closer to everything,” said Wilson. “It meant we could get up about as early as we wanted and come back as late as we wanted. We could get the most out of our experience.”
Russell and Wilson were still outdone by another student. Sophomore Madeleine Gregory attended the convention for four out of the five days it ran, as she has been doing for her entire life.
“I’ve been going to DragonCon since I was literally in the womb, so DragonCon is basically just a part of my life now,” said Gregory. “We always go, and we always have fun no matter what’s going on. It’s a big deal in our family.”
Gregory did not “cosplay”, or dress up as a specific fictional character this year, but she has in past years.
Russell and sophomore Julia Johnson, however, did cosplay. Johnson was Castiel from the TV show “Supernatural,”, and Russell dressed up as the movie character Napoleon Dynamite. Senior Olivia Brant joined them in their costume adventures.
“I was actually dressed up as Twilight Princess Link from ‘Legend of Zelda’,” she said. “I dress up every year. People take pictures. It’s a good time.”
Brant enjoys DragonCon for purposes of making friends and exploring the vendors.
“I actually didn’t go into any [panels] this year,” she said. “A bunch of my friends did, but I’m more there for talking to people and making friends or going to vendors’ halls.”
The vendors’ halls take up three large stories of a building, and are filled with hundreds of different businesses selling merchandise of all varieties.
“I bought so much stuff,” said senior Dharma Woodman. “I started out with $500 and now I have $1 left. I bought three t-shirts, a lot of jewelry, and books.”
In addition to the vendors, DragonCon offers parties, celebrity autograph sessions, and a series of concerts, panels, and other live performances. In the Walk of Fame, convention goers can talk to their favorite actors and writers.
With the diversity of fan communities represented and the wide variety of things to do, DragonCon proved to be an adventure for nerds and geeks of all shapes and sizes.
“I love all conventions,” said Woodman. “They’re kind of an escape for me from regular boring life, where I can be who I want to be.”
