DragonCon, in Atlanta, Georgia, is the second biggest costuming convention in the country, the Super Bowl of cosplay, second only to the Los Angeles ComicCon. Four glorious days of parties, fabulous costumes, the epic parade, and discussion panels during which one could learn of almost every conceivable pop culture subject. It is a wild scene; some pictures can not be posted here. Sleep is minimized as every hour is precious, and participation involves months of preparation, and of course, there is the road trip from Florida to Atlanta. These are the best of the pictures taken during the five years I attended.

This was my costume, Snake Plissken from the cult classic Escape From New York starring Kurt Russell. I had more than a couple of people tell me that my Snake was the best one they had seen.

Snake Plissken in Escape From New York

Myself with Ernest Borgnine, who starred in the film

It’s not a comic con unless you’re getting pictures with other cosplayers

I was asked to participate in a photo shoot at the convention, posing for staged fights with Batman and other characters. A crowd of about forty people gathered to watch

There were other Snake Plisskens, of course…

Enjoying a good cigar late at night after a day of costuming craziness

Another huge draw of DragonCon is meeting celebrities; here I meet a childhood hero, Lee Majors, The Six Million Dollar Man

DragonCon TV

One of the many fun things about DragonCon is DragonCon TV, a series of fan-made skits, videos and wacky productions that run 24/7 on the room hotel TVs. If DragonCon had an official theme song, this would be it: Last DragonCon, by Deena Roth and Tommy Byrd.

The Costumes

Cosplay is a legitimate art form; some attendees spend a year of work getting their costumes ready for this convention. Below is a group of Tron cosplayers complete with lightcycle

This fabulous costume is a Big Daddy, from the video game *Bioshock*. He had to use the freight elevator to descend to the convention floor

More top notch costumes from the video game *Bioshock*

This 1950s retro space girl costume is pretty creative

On the left is a nurse from the horror video game *Silent Hill*; I have no idea what the costumes on the right are

A boxed set of different William Shatner action figures

Very clever cosplay from the sci-fi miniseries V

Slave Leias are popular costumes for the ladies; this Slave Leia meets a *Predator* and an *Alien*

A woman cosplaying as Ilsa from the trash cult classic film Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS

Some costumes make you scratch your head

A combination of the Pope and Emperor Palpatine from *Star Wars*

This woman’s costume is a Renaissance painting

Alice, from the videogame *American McGee’s Alice*

This guy is cosplaying as *Magnum P.I*., complete with red Ferrari

Spider Jerusalem, from the graphic novel series *Transmetropolitan*

The evil Captain Kirk from the *Star Trek* episode *Mirror, Mirror*

A fantastic costume from the underrated Tim Burton movie 9

Imperial Stormtroopers posing with a fan

The Parade

The highlight of DragonCon weekend is the parade, with thousands of costumed characters and dozens of movie-accurate vehicles which winds its way through downtown Atlanta. It all begins at he staging area, a mass of pop culture busyness before the parade starts.

Meeting the Blues Brothers with a replica Bluesmobile, and the guy from the wacky Six Flags theme park commercials

A Cylon space fighter from the TV show *Battlestar Galactica*. Below, the interior:

Penelope Pitstop, from the animated Hannah Barbera cartoon

An amazing replica vehicle from the movie *The Road Warrior*, with movie cosplayers. This vehicle was transported to Atlanta on a flatbed trailer.

I participated in the parades as well; I am standing behind the 501st Legion banner

It is wall-to-wall people along the parade route

The Hotel

The Atlanta Marriott Marquis Hotel is the main host hotel for DragonCon, and looks like a futuristic alien city on the inside, a fitting place for such an event. Getting a hotel room here requires a LOT of luck, advanced planning and quick keyboard skills. Rooms become booked within seconds after registration opens.

The view looking up from the lower concourse

Looking down onto the multi-level concourses; detailed view below:

The corridors of each level, which look out into the central open space of the hotel

A mother spends a quiet moment with her baby in one area of the hotel

A picture of the mirrored ceiling of one of the elevators; if you look closely you can see my hand holding the camera

Crowds are part of the experience; claustrophobic people should not plan on going

DragonCon Mariott

A brief glimpse of the fabulous madness (and crowds) that is DragonCon, in the Marriott Marquis hotel (filmed before I had a GoPro, hence the retro visual look of the scenes)