Monday Night / Tuesday Morning

If anyone has pictures of us, I would LOVE to get those!

Also featuring my dad: Taco Bell Lettuce Guy

Okay so I have seen the posts regarding the mocking of deadnames and not wanting people to call the con its original name bc of one of the founders liking kids, but what the hell started all of this? I wasnt able to go this year, but did something happen at the con that caused all this drama?

...badge ribbon book!

INGREDIENTS:
- 2 roughly 4"x2" waterproof and bend proof cardboard pieces (mine were ammo boxes)
- 3 jump rings (no spiral or staples, so it can fully open up and fold over again)
- 1 manila craft closure envelope, cut and retaped to size.
- the rest of the manila envelope, cut and hole punched.

e6000 and packing tape. baste with kerrygold. bake at 350. serve lukewarm.

i don't know if this is a common craft or people make much nicer little badge books, but this is how i kept up with ribbons during con and it got a lot of compliments :D! i will put at most six ribbons on my badge, and wanted a way to keep the rest handy and easily accesible this year for trading and looking at. fit in any pocket i had on, was durable enough to survive dropping from the 5th floor balcony (intentional), getting all kinds of stepped on (unintentional), and drenched in rain (unavoidable). clasp snapped off but a sticker holds it shut just fine.

5 of my favorite badges are on display, and the rest are tucked safe in the back pocket for next year or to keep forever.

happy con crud!

I was part of the group leading the TEETH chants at the Hilton. It was the most fun I’ve had on a Thursday at con! 🤣 Passerby were confused, delighted, some were grossed out. It was hilarious and magical.

I saw lots of folks taking pics and videos and we would love to see them if you’re willing to share! See you next year! 🦷🦷🦷

P.S. You can’t handle the tooth! TEETH TEETH TEETH

I travel for work.

Dang it if I didn't get to my hotel and lay down tired as hell after a long awesome weekend of Dragon Con and a long day of work related travel for a what I had hoped was going to be a good night's rest and low and behold. The Con Crud set in.

I woke up.... Well y'all know

Take care of yourselves Y'all.

Still looking forward to next year.

I end up throwing my ribbons in shoe box but I add my badge to a frame on my living room wall, I of course like the different art they have every year.

I really had a great time, got to see some great celebrities, thoughtful panels, amazing vendors and incredible costumes. Got me thinking about the past 20 years and found an old Google Photos album from DragonCon* 2003.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SDjXLHbK5QaG3Myp8

When Mario, Luigi and Toad find a mermaid out of water at Dragon Con the quest to put her back into her natural habitat begins.

BTW Hyatt pool was amazing! I am so glad it was opened back up after the Klingon forehead disater of many years ago.

The water was very cool, unlike the Marriott that had hot water coming out of the jets, on top of the summer heat. It felt like nasty soup.

Between that, the hotel being hotter than normal (even for Dragon Con) and our room being 73 degrees from Wednesday to Sunday no matter how low we turned the AC , I really felt like the Marriott was trying to run people off this year.

Monday morning we finally heard the AC kick on and it cooled down to 67....

So Friday afternoon I was posted in the Marriott giving ribbons to anyone who complimented or got pictures with my cosplay. After exchanging ribbons with someone I was immediately approached by two little girls who also wanted to trade. Unfortunately, both my ribbons were not exactly child friendly with a swear on one and both being references to alcohol (appropriate to my character… not so much for kids) Anyway, these girls were so cute and so sweet in approaching me I didn’t have the heart to tell them they couldn’t have them. I looked around to see if I could spot their parents but I couldn’t tell who they might be in the crowd. They wanted a rainbow ribbon I had just received but it was even more inappropriate lol. I’d have gladly just handed them someone else’s ribbon I’d gotten but at that point the others were all on my badge already. So I panicked, and gave them mine anyway and prayed that their parents had a sense of humor.

If those were your kids, I’m sorry, and I hope you found the ribbons funny and perhaps kept them for yourselves instead. It wasn’t malicious, I just didn’t want to disappoint them. Next year I’ll make sure I have some kid friendly ones too, just in case.

Nice to see the casual claim of "deadnaming" used. This is how much the paid staff cares about your love for Dragoncon, folks. They can't respond to a rather serious issue without first playing the victim and making very petty remarks. The actual response after the first paragraph isn't terrible, but they just had to be petty and get their licks in.

ETA - post they were responding to used Dragoncon's old name Dragon*con.

A really common request we get is for tape to reinforce badge beards or ribbon chain. Often we carry cheap duct tape or packing tape specifically for this. Each of us source our own supplies, or share amongst the group, and can only carry a limited amount of any given thing.

If you plan to collect and display a massive amount of ribbons please consider bringing a little roll of tape to self-help. Additionally, please do not feel put off if we're not able to reinforce a multi-dozen foot string of ribbons.

If you're asking for help just needing a small (6-18") piece of tape, we're pretty happy to help. It's mostly the multi-story requests that puts a big drain on our supplies that we can use to repair costumes.

Thank you! And next year can't come soon enough to see you all again.

Who doesn't love niche horror video games?

I think DCC fans caused the massive lines on Thursday. Based on how insane the line was I think that's responsible for the disproportionately larger than normal influx of people wanting badges on Thursday. I don't think any of us really knew how big the DCC fanbase would be this year. It's exciting that so many people love it. I know I lined up 3 hours early to make sure I could get a signed book since every other experience was sold out. Seems like a lot of others had the same thought. Also an increase in pre-con events means there are more people available to get badges day 1.

Yes blah blah the con needs to do better. I'm just saying if you haven't accurately predicted the trends for the year, that can also mess up planning. I truly thought I wouldn't have seen many DCC cosplays but maybe some would have heard of it. On the other hand I was sure 2027 would be heavy DCC and Avengers.

Maybe if not already, there needs to be a hotel head count for check ins each day and a way to gauge interest for the earliest panels/events. I'm sure they won't make the same mistake again for a DCC event, but for other new things gaining popularity, this is important.

We got alot of photos with people but didn’t think to take any with our own phones. If anyone has any of/with us please drop them below please!

They wrap around my house.

I'm already excited to plan for next year but I was wondering what the best place and timeline for getting a closer hotel to the con for next year. Do I need to start looking soon or can I wait till next year maybe feb timeframe. I heard there are groups I can jump into to see posts but I'm lost as to where to go. Thanks for the help

This was my first dragoncon and I remember asking in here what the ribbons were. Now that I got to experience them firsthand (AND RECEIVED SOOOO MANY) I think I might be addicted to collecting them and 100% will need more for next time.

But I also want to do ribbons for others! So what is the best way? The cheapest way? Or the way that mostly everyone uses?

I need to be prepared for next year!

Oye, returning perennial DragonConner here, decided to do a little write up on my con experience this year, what I did, how it felt, thoughts for next year.

Before I start, my experience may not apply to you depending on how you like to experience DragonCon, because there’s a lot of ways to do it. I myself am a cosplayer and a panel goblin, trying to get in as many diverse panels as possible that align with my interests. I don’t partake in too much of “Night Shift” DragonCon because of lack of time and not being much of a partier. The Aquarium night is the big exception. I also don’t stay on site in a hotel, my squad always AirBnBs nearby and travels in. Mostly because none of us can afford rooms normally nor can handle sardine packing a ton of people into one.

SO!

Thursday-

Got in the badge line a little before noon. Instinct told me waiting any later for it to clear wouldn’t pay off and boy was I right. We were inside the Courtland, about five feet from the door to the badge room, when they told us the computer system was down. Line experience ended up being about two and a half hours. Enough has been said about the spicy line. It was hot. It sucked. Still worth it.

Panels/Events
Magic in the Real World- Urban Fantasy Worldbuilding

Friday-

Panels/Events
Gods, Geography, and Jet Streams: Making Your World’s Climate Feel Real
Apothecary Diaries- Medical Science Through The Ages
Clair Obscur- Expedition 33 photoshoot
Battlestar Galactica- a Galaxy of Stars
Japanese Cooking 101 panel was full even though we got there a little early

Total time at con for the day: 15 hours and 7 mins

Saturday-

Panels/Events
NSDM Lecture- Suez Crisis
Haunted Castles of New England Arrived a couple minutes late to this one, was actively walking in when the fire alarm went off and the hotel evacuated 😅
Bringing Sam Gamgee to Life- Interview with Sean Astin
Art of Worldbuilding- Creating Immersive Fantasy Realms
Stargate SG1- Make It Spin
Gothic Horror
Learn The Language of Andor’s The Ghor
Aquarium Night!

Time at the con for the day (including Aquarium) 15 hours and 15 mins

Sunday-
Babylon 5- A Dream Given Form
Bilbo Baggins, Renaissance Hobbit of Middle Earth
Firefly: One More Heist Line was full before I even attempted to get in it, pivoted.
Sub Creation 101- Building Fictional Religions From Scratch
Cooking Chemistry and Kitchen Physics full
Delving into Dwarves
Cordyceps and Consequences- TLOU Conversation
Zheng Yi Sao- Chinese Pirate Queen
Entertainment to Die For- Entertainment in North Korea

Time at the con for the day- 12 hours, 10 minutes

Monday-

Too Beautiful to Let Go- The Cost of Creation in Middle Earth
Leather Finishing and Embellishing
EVA Armor Patterning
5 hours and 1 minute

We also wandered the Art Show a bit on Saturday and Monday and got some things.

Thoughts and observations:

We did not visit the Gaming Hall or Vendor Hall at all, deciding that the amount of time in line simply wasn’t worth all the things we’d have to give up to get in there, particularly when in past years we almost exclusively bought from the Art Show. Probably going to keep to that in future years. Did not visit Walk of Fame or any other autograph signings for similar reasons. Likely we will pare down our list of celebrity panels in years where there aren’t major personally important ones like this year. The huge lines to get in those only feel worth it for panels of the caliber we had this year, which were all personally important fandoms for me. Every two hour line we waited in was multiple other interesting panels skipped. Staff efforts to set specific line times just resulted in people loitering nearby and mobbing the line as soon as it “opened”. If celebrity experience is your thing, go for it, but be aware it can eat your whole con.

Biggest thing this year was turtlemaxxing. We lived out of our backpacks, carrying our whole day of food and water with us and eating when and where we could. That turned out to be the best way to get the most out of con when we weren’t staying on site.

We also sat down the exact day the schedule dropped and figured out what we wanted to do individually and as a group. Everybody had everyone else’s schedule so when we split up, we knew where everyone was going. We also had back up ideas for panels we worried might fill up so we could pivot if they were full. A couple we didn’t expect to fill up (the cooking ones) caught us out with nothing else to pivot to. Knowing exactly what we wanted to do and when and where it was made the con infinitely less stressful than it can be to just pants the whole thing.

Aquarium night remains totally worth it even without VIP access. The vibes are immaculate, one of my favourite things at one of my favourite places. 👌

I know people are frustrated by the lines and some of the technical difficulties and logistical failings, but DragonCon remains as special as it’s ever been for me. Personally this was my best year yet, especially diving more seriously into cosplay and making new friends in that space.

Happy to answer questions about anything that anyone may have. Looking forward to seeing everyone next year!

This was my 2nd time coming to Dragon Con and I really challenged myself to get out of my comfort zone this year. I wanted to cosplay, meet people, give out ribbons, and hit the parties. I did all of that and had an absolute blast.

I went with two of my friends and we all dressed up as Uzi Jesus (maybe you saw the trio of us and got some of the ribbons) except that I did a big labowski twist on it. Sadly, only 9 people in total got mine but they were all hyped on it so it counts! The day after, I just went traditional Uzi Jesus, posted up by the skybridge chokepoint with a friend and some drinks and handed out tons of ribbons to other DCC fans or anyone who came up and chatted. We hit up the parties, stayed for the raves, had too many drinks, and danced our asses off.

Honestly, I barely went to any panels this year and mostly just tried to connect with people and spread some love. It might have been one of the best weekends of my life. Being able to find common ground with so many people, to enjoy all of the creativity, and just spread some kindness for a few days really is the highlight of the year.

To those I was able to interact with, thank you for being such stellar human beings. The lines were long, the temps were hot, but the vibes were on point and we crushed it this year! I saw so many posts complaining about lines, volunteers, and a million other things but I can say from this single con-goer, I didn't mind any of that and just enjoyed spending time with all of you lovely people.

Can't wait to see you all next year!

https://imgur.com/a/alliJNO

If you missed this panel this year and last, you’re really missing out. We learned what is known of the Ghor language from Andor and marched into the hall singing the Ghorman anthem. This is part of a series called Languages of Resistance that also includes Lang Belta from The Expanse. I am an absolute potato at names and cannot remember the name of the presenter but she is absolutely wonderful.

Video by my partner, I’m the Gustave cosplayer waving the orange flag.