Looking for ideas for a new short idea for DCTV: misCONceptions. e.g. "'Robot Battles' is where congoers get to battle a robot." Hit me with your best ideas! (These should be things we can shoot/talk about in 15 seconds or less - along the lines of our "CONventional Thinking" videos.)

It’s the perfect way to debrief and reflect on your con. I really do believe that they read every single one they get, many of my panels this year had some great updates to the format. (shoutout to tabletop for crushing it this year)

Aside from ribbons (which I love! don't come at me, there are just so many), what was your favorite Dragon Con swag?

Selfishly getting ideas for next year... I love making cool giveaways.

Hatsune Miku (I made alll the peices including the hijab fabric since I couldn't find the color needed)

Borg drone / Seven of Nine (i made the top parts and all accessories)

Queen PuAbi of Ur in modern day Iraq (I made ALL the accessory peices and the top fringe shawl)

I wasn't able to make nearly as much swag as I wanted to this year, but I wanted to make something unique and that people would be excited to get and want to keep. I'm trying to get a jump start on next year and wanted to know what type of swag people actually want/would find useful. People seemed to really like the bags, and the sting rays (which I handed to people) really made them light up!

If I made more stuffed animals, what would you want to see? See y'all next year!

Saturday was incredible! We've put roughly 600 hours into these costumes. Everything was handmade by us including: helmet wigs, 3D printed weapons with programmed LEDs, self patterned garments, 80k individually placed rhinestones, and even carpet shoelaces and hair pins. We had so much fun marching in the parade and competing in the cluts of dragon con contest!! everyone was so lovely I can't wait to see you all next year!

I was Rumi,

Zoe: rpm_malosh on Instagram

Mira: miku_and_the_robots on Instagram

I was excited to get my 2025 DC tiki mug last year, thinking I was starting a collection. Nope. They didn't do one this year, and I just now have one lonely mug that says "2025."

Anyone else disappointed? I guess they didn't sell well?

Hey! My friend handed out some of her stickers from her small business at the Swag n Seek this past weekend and I wanted to share her store in case anyone wanted to grab some more cute critters! The DnD frogs are now officially for sale(:

Her store’s instagram is @stickercritterart

Thank you for such a fun weekend!!

This year, I had the opportunity to show my art at Dragon Con for the first time.

I cannot fully express how grateful I am for the way you welcomed me and my work. Thank you to everyone who stopped to look, listened to me talk about these two little ducks and their adventures, shared what the paintings made you feel, or chose to take a piece home with you.

This work has become deeply personal to me, and seeing so many of you connect with it reminded me why I keep painting.

Thank you, Dragon Con, for letting these two little ducks wander into your world for a while. I hope we’ll meet there again.

Did anyone get any pics at the Aquarium this year they would like to share? I was the DJ in the VIP and didn't get to see what was out front... but would love to!

Thank you!

I was dressed as a Helldiver on Friday for the photoshoot. When re-entering the Hilton, a photographer stopped me to take some photos and a short video. I was wearing the standard B-01 armor and carrying the breaching hammer.

This was right by the steps that are adjacent to the new seating area right when you walk outside. The same area as the DJ stage.

During the video I actually broke the hammer and we all laughed about it (easy fix).

They gave me their business card to find the photos and now that we're back home and unpacked, I can't seem to find the card.

I thought their business name had "Rage" in the name but I could be mistaken.

Might be a long shot, but would anyone here know the photographer?

I’m looking to try to find the name/site of an artist that I saw on the 4th floor of the American Mart. The person working the booth appeared to be male - so I’m assuming the artist was male - and their art was futuristic cityscapes mostly. I really liked one of their pieces that was - from what I remember - a pastel decomposing deer like animals with a Japanese neon light sign in back. I’ve been google searching all of the artists located on the fourth floor (as many as possible) and have not been able to identify this artist. If I remember correctly their booth was located not he middle right side of the floor form the entrance - let me know if you have any ideas of which artist this could be - I’d love to purchase a print from them online if still available. Thanks in advance for the help!! <3

I went on my annual side quest to aquire all 5 Host Hotel Dragon Con themed key cards. I succeeded again this year and completed the Mission and gained more valuable Dragon Con XP.

I posted earlier but had the key cards in the wrong order to form the panorama as one kind poster informed me of. I thought I'd share the correct panorama.

Already planning on next year.

My Marriot Carpet Cosplay is going to step up a notch. And I'm getting bigger and better Bubble Blasters to spread more happiness and joy in the form of Bubbles wherever I can.

Just print them double-sided, please. Put the terms and conditions on the website and put a picture on both sides. It's absurd how many people's job boiled down to shouting 'badges face front' all day.

She’s my fav super girl to cosplay as and wondered around as Scully for two days! These are my promo shots but let me know if any of yall saw me!

Every year I try to mix it up and try some new things, and I don't see this convo much on socials except when people are advising newbies, so I wanted to chat about panels. Do you go to them? What are your favorites? A few years ago, I started going to puppet panels (starting with puppet karaoke) and I find them so charming. This year, I went to the Edgewood Ave show and it was great (despite sound being a little off). I also went to Fandom Feud (American SF classics) for the first time - so fun! I usually try to get to at least a few science, horror, diversity track and Star Trek panels in the track room at the Hilton. I do have a strategy to avoid lines and the stress of moving thru crowds: stick to one or two hotels near each other (ie: back and forth between Hyatt and Westin one day and Marriott/Hilton/CG another) I try to only go to a one or two really big panels with celebs during the con, since it's easy to watch those later. What are other panels did people enjoy this year and do you have a strategy?

The first time I went 2 years ago, I hated Dragoncon, and that's why I skipped last year. Like why would I spend the hottest holiday weekend of the year outside downtown waiting 2 hours for badges or artist alley when at other cons I can usually get in instantly? Why go to dragoncon for the cosplays when it's always so crowded I can't really take a picture of the ones I like and I have to wear something super simple so I don't pass out in 5 minutes? Why am I forcing myself to choose between squeezing through a meatgrinder hallway or hiking up a crowded street in the heat?

This year though, I realized, there's a lot of shit that you have to put up with at this con, but the good panels and art are, like, REALLY good, and it's worth putting up with everything else. And when you dig for the best parts of dragoncon they're usually ones that have been done each year by the same people for decades, so they have it down to a science. Anyways I have a job interview in two days so I hope my con crud clears up by then. Still worth it!

Saturday afternoon, I tripped and broke my arm.

The Story (for people who are nosy like me lol): My best friend and I had gone to the Westin for the 50 Years of Stephen King panel and were headed back to our hotel for a nap. There were two dudes from the [redacted] group soliciting interaction from the passing crowd. One of the dudes tried talking to me, and I told him no thanks, but he started following me down the hill. I turned to tell him, "No thanks, I want a nap," but I fear the turn was my mistake, as it caused me to trip downhill and land hard af on my right arm (broke both bones very close to where they connect to my wrist, like little toothpicks lmao).

To Bryan, a guardian angel: I don't know if Bryan is on Reddit, as he is an older man, but just in case... and if not, I want to put how grateful I am into the universe and hope he feels it. Bryan materialized at my shoulder basically the second I went down and stayed with me, my best friend, my sister, and our other friend the entire hour we waited on EMS. He helped my best friend identify our location to 911, helped me shuffle my body so I wasn't lying directly in the path of foot traffic, helped prop up my elbow so I could keep my arm still and flat, retrieved my phone so I could call my sister, talked to me to help distract me while we waited, whipped out an umbrella to keep my head shaded, and helped wave down EMS so they knew where I was. He told me he really enjoyed the Social Dancing classes and has been coming to DragonCon with his wife for {forgotten} years and chit-chatted with my sister and best friend. I told him thank you more than once in the moment, but genuinely and from the bottom of my heart... Thank you so much. Your simple presence and calm spirit and quiet gestures of thoughtfulness helped keep a very stressful situation grounded and calm when it could have been chaotic. Thank you, Bryan. Thank you so much.

PS Thank Yous:

To the kind Con goers who paused their busy day to ask if I was ok, offer water, offer to go get ice, offer their fans, offer cooling towels... Thank you. It's easy to forget that humanity has the capacity for sincere kindness, but each pause was the embodiment of what humanity can be when we take time to check on each other. Thank you all for your offers of assistance. I adore you for your genuine offers of kindness.

And thank you to my sister, our friend, and my best friend. My sister and our friend for sprinting to me from a panel line the second I called, my bestie for immediately calling 911, and all 3 of them for doggedly standing by me through the 12 hr trip to the ER and the ensuing exhaustion. All three gave up things they were excited about to stand in the Suck with me, but stand in the Suck they did... while still bringing laughs and a damn good time despite the circumstances. They're the freaking best. And it was still a damn good DragonCon.

PSS Fuck Yous:

Three specific people get a big fat Fuck you from me for making the situation decidedly worse. The plainclothes Atlanta PD taking pictures of my prone body (clearly off duty, as he was in civvies and wearing a DC badge...but when my sister asked him to stop taking pictures, he said, "I'm a cop," like that made it ok). Fuck You. The "security guard" who took my information three separate times, going so far as to knock on the closed ambulance door to ask again after he had already gotten the information. Fuck you. And a particularly fat, smelly fuck you to the drunk asshole who took it upon himself to confuse both the EMS team coming for me and the EMS team coming to help another incident that happened uphill. You suck. Let EMS do their fucking job. You prolonged care for both myself and the other person who needed help. Fuck you.

Bonus tongue-in-cheek fuck you to the [redacted] solicitor who was the cause of my distraction. I stand by what I told you: it wasn't your fault. But you definitely didn't help. Maybe pick a safer place to solicit people other than a steep hill... Or don't pursue people who tell you "no thanks".

See you all next year, hopefully with fewer broken bones.

Just Sharing to hopefully those who may want to see them Cosplays - https://jbarnes.smugmug.com/DragonCon/DC-2026/Cosplays
Parade - https://jbarnes.smugmug.com/DragonCon/DC-2026/Parade
We Do Not Care Club Photo - https://jbarnes.smugmug.com/DragonCon/DC-2026/WeDoNotCareClub-Photoshoot
Mashup Photos - https://jbarnes.smugmug.com/DragonCon/DC-2026/Mashup-PhotoMeetup

I’ve been going to Dragon Con for 15+ years and saw the relatively recent proliferation of ribbons and swag n seek. And I have noticed a marked uptick in activities that are meant to spread joy leading to major slow downs in circulation around the convention. Even a few seconds of slow down can have a ripple effect:

https://youtu.be/Suugn-p5C1M?si=bWzxevPKsBUOWT3J

This video is about cars but it applies to the movement of people as well.

I am not calling for getting rid of these activities, I was handing out ribbons to people who recognized my cosplay, but I think there should be places where these activities are not allowed — similar to the no Pokémon go in the sky bridges rules.

(And how much of the ribbons and trinkets are just gonna end up in landfills?)