The Dragon Con family. It’s a strange thing referring to a major fan convention of 75,000+ as ‘family’, but it’s not an inaccurate title. This was the first year I consciously heard the phrase, but it’s highly likely that it was used around me over the past 15 years. Dragon Con, in and of itself, is a unique thing to experience and comprehend. It’s a massive celebration of pop culture that happens over Labor Day in Atlanta.
It doesn’t focus on the hot intellectual property of the moment. That IP might be there, but it’s not the usual dog and pony press tour. It’s more likely that cast member is there from the franchise, but is attending for a different vehicle. There are freebies and tchothkes that booths might give out, but that’s the exception. And if it’s a freebie, the ones that have a higher currency are ribbons that people stick on other ribbons that are dangling down from their badge.
Each year we attend Dragon Con, our focus has shifted. When our kids were younger, we exclusively went to the children’s tract. As they got a little older, we went to the science track, preferably the sessions with experiments. When they entered middle school, we went to some of the sessions in Silk Road so they could hear about Asian lore and myths.
They still wanted to go to some of the tracts they enjoyed when they were younger, but it was becoming their event. When stars from Back to the Future, Mission Impossible or Assassin’s Creed were talking they wanted to hear what they said.
My wife and I were in line for one of the major panels. We managed to get in the queue early, but it quickly built up behind us. By the time it started snaking its way into the hotel, it was one of those massive lines that goes around city blocks. In that line, we met a very charming couple who were deep into their cosplay. They were complete opposites of us in most areas. However, that half-hour we spent in that line was loaded with effortless conversation. We exchanged tips about how to navigate Dragon Con, things to do in the area and their favorite haunts back home.
That was on our first day of the con and was repeated seemingly at every turn. It’s statistically impossible to have a group of 75,000 and have all of them be cool- or at least mildly pleasant. But, every time we struck up a conversation with someone we didn’t know, they were friendly and had a unique perspective to offer.
On many occasions we reached out to families with young kids. Because that was our scene a couple of years ago, we were able to recommend hotels that the kid areas were concentrated in.
Waiting in line for the Merchandise Mart we struck up a conversation with an older couple who come every year to experience the science track. They jump around between science talks and have a wide variety of topics to choose from. Everyone realized that we were in the same talk for the Star Trek science advisor, Erin Macdonald. We them started exchanging aspects of her talk that we each found the most fascinating. Our family found The Fermi Paradox to have the most potential for conversation, debate and frustration. Do some research on it and you might agree with us.
Once we got into the Merchandise Mart we saw some friends from Washington. They said that we’d be suckers if we didn’t watch the Dragon Cup fights. It was described as Medieval Times, but with physical combat. It’s got medics on-site and is a timed battle with maces, swords and….by the time they had said that it’s real combat I had stopped listening to them and was already searching the Dragon Con app to see which hotel it was located in.
If pop culture is your thing then Dragon Con will not disappoint you. When it ends you’ll wish that it was longer, and start wishing you had more time so that you could’ve seen more of this or experienced that. It’s Labor Day Weekend in Atlanta and will exceed your expectations at every turn.
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