Photograph by Myrydd Wells
This past Labor Day weekend, 72,000 folks flocked to Dragon Con to celebrate all things nerdy, don incredible cosplay, collect badge ribbons, meet celebrities, sweat in the skybridges, and dance the night away. In the four days we spent on the convention floor, here are some of the things we noticed.
Costumes (and trends) by the numbers:
For the first time in our 10 years covering this convention, we actually noticed two franchises dominated the cosplay trends.
We spotted 116 characters from Hazbin Hotel, although there were certainly even more folks sporting outfits from the popular Amazon Prime animated musical. Radio demon Alastor was the most popular character, followed closely by Lucifer and Adam. Creator Vivienne Medrano’s other series, Helluva Boss, also had a strong cosplay showing.
Photograph by Myrydd Wells
Similarly, we spotted 113 characters from the Fallout franchise, but it was impossible to keep track of all those royal blue jumpsuits. Cosplay was split between the long-running video game series and the new Amazon Prime live-action series, as we spotted plenty of Lucys in her bloodied wedding dress and a few Ghouls.
Photograph by Myrydd Wells
32 characters from the Helldivers video game franchise, no doubt boosted by the popularity of Helldivers 2 earlier this year
28 Deadpools and 22 Wolverines, a cosplay that wasn’t nearly as popular as we expected given the massive success of Deadpool & Wolverine, but the film still left its mark. We saw at least four Nicepools, a couple of folks dressed as both Deadpool and Wolverine simultaneously, and a few Wolverine skeletons.
12 folks dressed as Gambit from X-Men, who got a boost not only from Channing Tatum’s portrayal in Deadpool & Wolverine but also from X-Men ’97. ’90s-era X-Men cosplay had a huge boost this year, with Rogue and Jubilee among popular characters.
A ton of cosplayers dressed as medal-winners and memes from the 2024 Paris Olympics, including at least 20 folks as Raygun the Australian break dancer and 12 folks as Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikec. Also represented: Simone Biles, South Korean shooter Kim Ye-ji, Italian gymnast Giorgia Villa carrying a wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, French pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati, and Bacchus and the masked torch bearer from the opening ceremony.
3 folks with outfits emulating the 1996 Atlanta Olympics
20 characters from Dune, including an impressive, massive sand worm puppet
2 people carrying the infamous Dune popcorn bucket and 3 folks dressed as said popcorn bucket, along with 1 person dressed as the Deadpool & Wolverine popcorn bucket.
Photograph by Myrydd Wells
12 cosplayers sporting oversized, mascot-like heads made from fabric, foam, or paper mache
46 folks sporting personal electronic fans, as temperatures were in the 90s every day of the con
6 people dressed as pop star Chappell Roan
1 person dressed as the late Richard Simmons
1 duo dressed as local legends Donna and the Wolfman
Photograph by Myrydd Wells
Photograph by Myrydd Wells
Photograph by Myrydd Wells
Photograph by Myrydd Wells
Photograph by Myrydd Wells
We also noticed:
Photograph by Myrydd Wells
• Aviva chef Kameel Srouji, who we dubbed “the happiest chef in Atlanta” back in 2020, has long been a Dragon Con favorite for his amazing Mediterranean food, free samples, and charming demeanor. We were lucky enough to be in line at his Peachtree Center restaurant during lunchtime on Friday when a group of more than 25 Kameel cosplayers showed up to honor the chef, who delightfully hugged them and even put a few of them to work handing out samples of baklava. One cosplayer handed out “Chef Kameel Fan Club” ribbons, which we happily attached to our badges.
Photograph by Myrydd Wells
Photograph by Myrydd Wells
Photograph by Myrydd Wells
• Speaking of ribbons, collecting and trading them is more popular than ever, and you’ll be hard-pressed at this point to find folks without at least a couple of ribbons attached to their convention badges. While most ribbons are fan-made, Dragon Con sold green ribbons supporting this year’s official convention charity, Arthritis Foundation’s Georgia chapter, at their official store, and local establishments like the Center for Puppetry Arts, which is heavily involved in the convention’s puppetry track, and downtown restaurant Alma Cocina also passed out branded ribbons. Workers in the host hotels hung ribbons from their name tags, with several staffers in the Hyatt wearing ones that matched the hotel’s one-year-old blue carpet. Much like Swag n’ Seek, this charming trend gets more fun every year.
• While Dragon Con always brings a solid roster of celebrity guests, this year’s lineup felt especially strong, with Monty Python’s John Cleese and Star Trek‘s Walter Koenig joining modern nerd legends like Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk; Star Wars newcomers Natasha Liu Bordizzo and Manny Jacinto; Lord of the Rings hobbits Elijah Wood, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd; Harry Potter wizards Bonnie Wright, James and Oliver Phelps, and Matthew Lewis; Breaking Bad‘s Giancarlo Esposito; Ming-Na Wen of Mulan and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D; Supernatural‘s Jared Padalecki; Doctor Who‘s Jodie Whittaker; Robot Chicken‘s Seth Green; and Marvel TV stars Vincent D’Onofrio and Mike Colter, just to name a few.
Photograph by Myrydd Wells
• Despite being best known for his villainous roles as Breaking Bad‘s Gustavo Fring and The Mandalorian‘s Moff Gideon, Giancarlo Esposito became the convention’s hit motivational speaker. We watched Esposito speak on three different panels, including his own solo panel on Friday, and every time, he imparted words of encouragement with booming enthusiasm. In Friday’s panel, he stressed the importance of making your work “play,” asking for what you want out of your life, the importance of breathing and centering oneself, and the power of manifestation. “What you do today determines your tomorrow,” he told the audience. “If you take 10 minutes a day to meditate on, to invite what you want in your life, in your future, in your career, in your relationships—if you focus your energy on that for 10 minutes a day, it will come true.” He exemplified this by telling a story about wanting to do a project with Guy Richie. Just a day after thinking about wanting to work with the director, Esposito was offered a role on Richie’s The Gentlemen. “And my agent in New York said, So I kind of think that maybe you conjured this up,” Esposito recalled. “I hadn’t even told them that I was meditating on Guy Richie. And I said, out of my mouth, When am I going to work with Guy Richie, and that’s how The Gentlemen happened.” He brought similar sentiments to his Saturday and Sunday Star Wars panels (along with stylish hats and blazers) and left audiences feeling ready to take on the world.
• Crowding is always an issue at Dragon Con, as anyone who has ever tried to cross the Marriott to Hilton skybridge at a peak travel time will tell you, and skybridge traffic both there and in the Hyatt to Marriott bridge seemed to be even worse this year. But one technique the Hilton tried to do to relieve elevator congestion was to man the elevators and assign certain elevators to run to certain floors. Convention goers were skeptical of the new system, but ultimately, many reported the technique did indeed work. In general, we noticed the Hilton also seemed to have the best traffic flow.
Photograph by Myrydd Wells
• While the convention’s cosplay always reflects what’s happening in the current pop culture zeitgeist alongside perennial favorites, we have noticed in the past couple of years an uptick in characters from TV shows that are 30, 40, even 60 years old. This year, Alf proudly stood in the Marriott atrium; we spotted Al Bundy from Married with Children on the floor; and more than one Maxwell Kinger from M*A*S*H made his way through the halls. Multiple folks cosplayed as various games from The Price is Right, and we were delighted by a full group of Gilligan’s Island cosplayers who stopped by Trader Vic’s. Just as last year, a colossal group of Mrs. Ropers from Three’s Company joyfully paraded through the hotels (Mrs. Roper-themed pub crawls have become an international trend), and even 1990s Nickelodeon cartoons like Rugrats seemed to have an uptick this year. The old-school costumes were spotted on folks of all ages; perhaps the advent of streaming has made it so younger generations are able to more easily discover and love these classic shows.
(Costume statistics are approximated and don’t include the parade.)
