You can find out more about Dragon Con on their official website, on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, on Pinterest, and on Discord.
You can also buy a membership for next year’s Dragon Con here.
2024 marked my tenth year of in-person Dragon Con events. Even though I’ve been writing about this convention that takes place over Labor Day weekend since I first joined oprainfall in 2015, the first time I attended in-person was in 2013. It was my first real convention ever at the time. And even excluding the 2020’s online-only event, I still find myself with brand new things to attend after a decade of solid attendance.
When I first started to attend Dragon Con 2013, Thursday nights was the night when people started to arrive and there weren’t any panels. In 2024 though? Thursday night is the night for Dragon Con Wrestling. With this year being the twenty-fourth show, Dragon Con Wrestling fills up the Marriott Regency Ballroom to capacity before the show event starts and you get to see all the kayfabe, babyface, and heel cosplay wrestlers enter the squared circle and wrestle. The Hooligans- the biggest, rowdiest fans who all come dressed in matching outfits and cheer and jeer as needed- show those who are new to pro wrestling that it’s okay to cut loose and juts have fun.
While Dragon Con Wrestling may all be a work, it was fantastic to watch all those participants pull off some genuinely amazing moves and fights back to back across the three-hour time block. And at the conclusion of this year’s series of matches, the work became a shoot as the overarching plotline- to prevent Dragon Con Wrestling from falling into the hands of Scott E. Cramton of the Establishment- happened as AJ (one of the founders of DCW) formally stepped away from the event.
Dragon Con 2024 was also the first year that I was ever part of a live album. Raspberry Pie, who I first saw at FreeCon a half-decade ago, announced through an email that they are making a live album at Dragon Con and they invited everyone to come be a part of the record. While Arizona Drive-In did not make the cut, so many other songs did, and I cannot wait to buy the CD when it comes out and hopefully hear myself as part of the crowd on it! It is also worth noticing that they all take the time to say ‘hi’ to anyone who wants to stop by the merch table afterwards.
If being part of a music album wasn’t enough, I attended my first Dragon Con game show too: the Match Game. If you somehow missed seeing the show on the Game Show Network with Jamie Farr as a perpetual guest, then the rules are simple. There are celebrities of various levels of fame on the stage, and two contestants are called up. The host reads a fill-in-the-blank question for one contestant, and the celebrities write their answer on a whiteboard. The contestant then gives their answer, and they see how many celebrities’ answers match the contestant’s answer. The Dragon Con Match Game has clearly been going on for many years, and it was filled with a LOT of fun answers and humor all throughout the entire panel. The best part, though, was that whenever someone won, they would try to take just one prize and then the host would tell them to go take a lot more because he does NOT want to be taking any of the prizes on the table home with him.
There were small moments that I finally also got to enjoy for the first time! Towards the end of Dragon Con, I finally saw DragonConTV (“DCTV”) film a segment live. I was passing through the Marriott, and I saw them interviewing Batman of all people! DragonConTV is the television network that runs 24/7 during the convention that you can watch before/after panels and in your host hotel room. If you don’t want to brave the two-plus hours outside to watch Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, and Elijah Wood (aka ‘Hobbits’) reflect on their careers and lives, you can just turn on the TV in your room and watch it all there. And thanks to the power of Discord, you can even submit questions to be asked during the panel too while watching it on TV! More than just showing off panels, there are fun nerdy music videos, comedy skits, and bumpers that play all throughout Dragon Con too. I have never seen a segment before actually being filmed, and it was really cool to see it happen in person.
Another small moment that I got to experience for the first time, even though I have been going to Dragon Con for ten years, was a marriage proposal. During Firefly Drinking Songs on Friday night (think songs about the show/movie Firefly set to original and non-original tunes), a man took the stage during the set and asked his girlfriend- who made both their costumes- to spend the rest of her life with him. And naturally, she said yes. It’s one of those you-had-to-be-there moments, but it was absolutely unforgettable to see. I’ve met multiple people who have gotten together with their significant other at Dragon Con before, but I have never seen someone take that next step before- much less at a sing-a-long panel!
Finally, Dragon Con ends on Monday. Almost everyone is leaving and going back to their own lives once the Closing Ceremonies panel is wrapped up. I stuck around for another day to see Avril Lavigne perform, and so I wondered around the hotels on Monday afternoon to see how different things looked. As I was walking by the Marriott Regency Ballroom, I peeked in to see 1) windows everywhere and 2) the tech group for Dragon Con had finished their eight-hour loadout and was about to take their ‘family photo’. Naturally, I volunteered to take it for them- and I took a photo for myself, too. I always leave Dragon Con on Monday to either go home or to cover another event such as Nintendo Live 2023: Seattle. Staying behind this year meant that I got to see Dragon Con end for the first time, and I got to see all the hard work that the volunteers put into wrapping up the event even after everyone else has left.
And the thing is- this was just my experience at Dragon Con this year. There is so much to do that I still missed out on and that I wished that I could have made the time to see despite some panels making their appearance year after year after year. Dragon Con is one of those events that you will never feel like “I have seen it all” at. I’ve been going a decade, and I can absolutely attest to that. If you’re looking for something to do over Labor Day weekend in 2025, you should really consider heading down to Atlanta, Georgia, and make time for Dragon Con.
You won’t regret it.
You can buy a membership for next year’s Dragon Con here.
Have you ever been to Dragon Con?
What is a panel that you wish you could see that you haven’t before?
Let us know in the comments below!
