Dragon Con 2014

The iconic carpet inside the Marriott Marquis!

Because my usual Birthday Con didn't fall on my birthday this year, I decided to go to a convention I've heard so much about - Dragon Con!

Dragon Con is unlike any other convention I've been to. It's often compared to San Diego Comic Con because of its size, but it's a totally different beast. SDCC is a giant celebration of consumerism - there's a bigger focus on celebrities and swag. Dragon Con feels more genuine and fan-run. Both are massive in scale, but have totally different focuses. I also noticed that overall, Dragon Con has more elaborate costuming - probably because there is far less walking involved - as well as just really obscure costumes.

At the airport - Dragon Con, I'm coming for you!

Dragon Con runs literally 24/7. I'm not one to stay up too late at conventions - usually, I want to wake up pretty early to get into costume so that I don't waste the day. It's so disappointing to get into costume late in the day and wind up changing out before you get to do anything! At most cons, programming ends pretty early. At Dragon Con, though, most of the events I wanted to go to were late at night. I got back to the hotel room around 4 AM every day, still in costume, and was shocked to see how many people were still hanging out, still in costume! It's just a totally different vibe, but I loved it.

I also think Dragon Con differs from other cons because while there are multiple host hotels, they are mostly connected by easily accessible sky bridges. For the most part, I used these instead of heading outside - they were more convenient and I didn't have to deal with the threat of street harassment for being in costume. This makes it feel like Dragon Con is its own world. It's amazing.

I can't begin to list everything I did at the convention, because most of it was spontaneous, but my weekend definitely included rum buckets, kigurumis, nerdy burlesque, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, photoshoots, and, as always, lots of cosplay.

Costume-wise, I wore Ramona Flowers, Luna Lovegood, and a new costume - Butters from South Park: The Stick of Truth! My beautiful friend Mary has an amazing Princess Kenny costume, and when she asked me to join a giant South Park: The Stick of Truth group at Dragon Con, I couldn't say no! This was my first time cosplaying a male character and my first time in a group so large. It was so much fun to get to meet everyone in the group and chat with other fans.

Photos by Agent Topanga Lawrence Cosplay!

You may remember Mary as the Roxy to my Ramona from SDCC last year - we reprised the roles again this year! I always love having other Scott Pilgrim cosplayers with me, especially my favorite evil ex-girlfriend. I also cut and styled Mary's wig for her to make it more fluffy and voluminous, and it was surprisingly fun! I want to take on more wig projects in the future.

Photos by Agent Topanga Lawrence Cosplay!

Have you ever been to Dragon Con?

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