Tag Archive for: dragon con 2021

DRAGON CON 2021

Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 9/26/21

The moment you look up the elevators have contorted creating a horror sci-fi scape looming down. Below beings have morphed into a range of monsters, aliens, prehistoric creatures, all caught in a sea of cosplay. Dragon Con can be whatever you make it, from Sci-fi horror scape to herds of bubbly t-rexes to living as a fairytale princess. The best part is you decide. What would you be?

 

One thing we focused on this year were the panels and getting to engrain ourselves in a fantasy world of vampires, superheroes, and zombies to escape for a little while. First, we attended the What We Do in the Shadows with Harvey Guillen who is just as funny and pleasant as his Guillermo counterpart. He mentioned he is very pleased with the trajectory of his character in What We Do in the Shadows, it’s more unexpected for sure! He really loves working on the show that’s 50/50 improv and scripted. We think laughing all day and enjoying going on set says everything. Plus, did you now he does 99% of his own stunts? He’s really fun to listen to talk about his journey as an actor. Some of the highlights were that he loves vampire movies like Interview with the Vampire and is a huge Buffy fan. Plus, he shared the story about how we got the part. Guillermo is supposed to be 20 years older than him, but when they found him he didn’t even have to do a read with the cast, they called him and told him he got the part when he was on the way to the mall with his sister. He said there was a lot of happy screaming. Can you be our friend, Harvey?

 

Another panel that was probably MY favorite of all time was the Smallville Reunion with Tom Welling, Sam Witwer, Michael Rosenbaum, and Laura Vandervoort. Don’t know if this is the case, but we could have sworn they were tipsy during this panel as we’ve never seen a cast of a TV show have so much fun on a panel! First, it is readily apparent that Tom and Michael and the entire cast are very good friends. They have a unique banter, and we could have watched the panel ALL DAY. The absolute highlight of Dragon Con for me was the Smallville Theme Song Sing-Along. Michael Rosenbaum started playing it and the entire cast asked us to stand and sing along to it! The sound of the actors and the crowd gave us goosebumps. Sam stood on his chair and turned around like they did in the opening credits, it was hilarious. We also enjoyed hearing about how Tom Welling was the force against Superman putting on the Superman suit. He said if they did that, it was basically the end of the show, because it was about a small-town guy becoming Superman and not ABOUT Superman. We totally agree with him and loved they waited until the very end. It really was the right decision. Some of the fun tidbits on this panel were Michael Rosenbaum wants to be a stand-up comedian, you can tell because he moderated the forum himself and brough a Golden Girls towel to the panel with him. Did you know Michael and Tom have a buddy comedy coming up? We don’t know if that was a joke or not, but we’re sold. Plus, Sam Witwer is a master face actor and does a mean Tom Cruise. We left the panel with a huge smile on our faces.

 

We also attended a Walking Dead panel, and with the final season in full stride, we enjoyed hearing what Ross Marquand (Aaron) and Gabriel Stokes (Father Gabriel) had to say about some of their favorite moments, grossest moments, and challenges of the Walking Dead set. They mentioned that some of the most challenging parts of the show are the working outside in all of the elements. We also got to hear Ross’ funniest moment was that he couldn’t throw a fake rock at a walker. It was too light and everyone made fun of him and they all laughed for hours. Gabriel said his grossest moments is when he and Negan had to dig into the guts of a zombie and spread it on them. It was sticky and gross. Ross mentioned his grossest moment was to watch his arm come off! It must have been surreal and odd.

 

Beyond the panels, this year was definitely a different year with less attendees, but with all that time to think about cosplays, the costumes were bigger and better than ever. We enjoyed the lighter crowds, it was easier to move around, get your favorite costume photos, and enjoy panels. But don’t forget the FUN. From the stunning Beauty and the Beast duo to the flood of hilarious and genius Loki Variants, to the never-ending heard of T-Rex herds, it really was a spectacle to behold. We’ve put up a photo gallery of some of our favorite costumes, cosplays, and snaps! You can go through and see some of the best! Enjoy!

DRAGON CON ADOPTS HEALTH & SAFETY PROTOCOLS

Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 8/1/21

Changes Create a Convention That is Both Fun and Helps Prevent Spread of COVID

 

Masks Are Required for All Fans, Attendance Will Be Capped, Panel Room Capacities Will Be Reduced, and Venues Will Follow Stepped Up Cleaning Protocols

UPDATED: Vaccine Card or Negative Covid Test now required.

 

Updated: Dragon Con, the internationally known science fiction, fantasy, and gaming convention, will require that everyone who attend the live convention show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test before entering the convention.

In order to pick up their badges, all attendees will need to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test taken within 72 hours of arriving at the convention. The new guidelines arrive as the Delta variant is causing more COVID-19 cases worldwide, including “breakthrough” infections of vaccinated individuals.

Dragon Con, the internationally known science fiction, fantasy, and gaming convention, has adopted a number of health & safety protocols designed to help reduce the spread of COVID while making the convention fun and memorable for all returning fans.

Now in its 35th year, Dragon Con runs from Thursday, Sept. 2 to Monday, Sept. 6 with events and activities across five host hotels – Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Marriott Marquis, Hilton Atlanta, Westin Peachtree, and Sheraton Atlanta – and AmericasMart Buildings One and Two.

“We are excited to welcome fans back to Atlanta for this milestone convention,” said convention co-chair Rachel Reeves. “While the health and safety of our fans is always a priority, we have worked hard this year to balance the need to protect our fans’ health with our tradition of throwing an awesome convention that fans will remember.”

The protocols include a requirement that all fans wear a mask while indoors in a convention venue, reduced attendance during the convention by reducing the number of memberships available for sale before the convention, reduced room capacities in ballrooms, panel rooms, and other programming spaces, and increased cleaning and sanitation throughout the venues.

Other changes are designed to reduce congestion, improve traffic flow, and increase personal spacing within the convention venues.

In addition, Dragon Con encourages all fans to get a vaccination as it has been shown to offer the most personal protection from illness related to this pandemic. It also encourages fans to stay home if they do not feel well, or have been recently exposed to somebody with COVID.

To help spread the joy that is Dragon Con to fans who are not comfortable with attending a live convention (or who are blocked by international travel restrictions), Dragon Con Goes Virtual, a live-streamed version of the convention, will be available for fans to enjoy from the comfort of their own home in the company of close friends and family.  A Dragon Con Goes Virtual subscription is $10.

The protocols and convention changes are listed below and will be available on the convention’s website: https://www.dragoncon.org/updates/

 

Face masks and reduced attendance

  • Appropriate face masks will be required at all times inside convention venues regardless of vaccination status, in keeping with updated CDC guidelines (link to https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/about-face-coverings.html) and City of Atlanta requirements (link to https://www.atlantaga.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/52010).
  • In 2021, Dragon Con will have reduced capacity from prior years. We have worked closely with our hotels and AmericasMart to determine how many people are permitted in the buildings each day and at a given time and taken further steps to reduce capacity to allow for personal spacing.
  • There will be no Saturday-only membership sales before or during the convention. One-day badges will only be available for Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday.
  • Related to that, there will be no onsite membership sales to reduce congestion, increase social distance, and improve traffic at badge pickup in the Sheraton. If memberships are available for purchase, they will only be available online through Growtix.

Room capacity, including Walk of Fame

  • All panel rooms and other programming venues will have a reduced 2/3rds maximum capacity at all times.
  • In the Walk of Fame, we will have approximately 50 percent fewer guests signing to provide for better spacing, personal distancing, traffic flow, and line management. There will be a one-way flow enforced throughout the room and limited capacity at all times. Additional safety precautions may be enforced, including temperature checks.

Traffic flow, congestion, and personal distancing

  • Badge checks will be expanded across the show to support the capped attendance and spacing.  If you don’t have a membership for Dragon Con, we ask that you participate in some of our awesome virtual elements highlighted below, as the hotels will be closed to badge-holding members only.
  • Lines for events and panel programming will be closed once we reach the 2/3rds reduced room capacity to reduce the number of people congregating in an area and to improve traffic flow. As always, ballrooms will be cleared between panels and the existing line policy, #18 described here (https://www.dragoncon.org/about/dragon-con-policies/) remains in effect and will be strictly enforced.
  • Other specific changes to improve traffic flow and reduce congestion include.

o   The Concourse Stages will have longer breaks between each performance, rotating between both locations with fewer bands and performances overall.

o   Fan tables will not be openly available for 2021 to reduce lobby congestion and improve traffic flow.

o   Our traditional arcade partner, Joystick Game Bar will move from AmericasMart to a unique pop-up experience located at 161 Peachtree Center Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30303, with activities going on from 10a – 4a daily.  Dragon Con members get in free.

o   The Chosen Costume Contest, hosted annually at Dragon Con Night at the Georgia Aquarium, will take a hiatus to prevent crowding.

Venue cleaning

  • Our venues have adopted enhanced cleaning protocols and are committed to delivering above and beyond the sanitation standards established.  If you would like details, we encourage you to check with each property individually.
  • All panel rooms and programming spaces will be closed twice a day for deep cleaning – once during the day and once overnight. These closures will happen on a rolling basis, with specific times indicated in the app, so there will ALWAYS be lots of programming options to choose from.
  • Gaming in AmericasMart Building 1 will have limited hours to meet our cleaning commitments and other enhanced safety measures. The building will be closed from 2 am – 8 am daily.  Open gaming will be available in the Savannah Ballroom will be available 24 hours a day, except during daily cleaning periods.

Other changes

 

  • Because children under 12 years old are not recommended for the COVID vaccine, the Kids Track will not host the Kids’ Character Encounter or Family-Friendly Dance.
  • We are excited to again partner with Epic Photo Ops, who has adjusted their policies with the safety and wellbeing of our guests and fans in mind, including limiting the number of individuals in a photo op.  For a detailed listing of additional protocols, visit https://epicphotoops.com/covid-19.
  • We have received our parade permit and at this time will host a modified and scaled back parade. A Dragon Con membership is required to view the parade live and in person for 2021. All others can watch the parade on CW69, our broadcast partner, or on line at YouTube and other social media platforms.

About Dragon Con

Dragon Con is the internationally known pop culture convention held each Labor Day Weekend (Sept. 2 -Sept. 6, 2021) in Atlanta. Organized for fans, Dragon Con features more than 3,500 hours of comics, film, television, costuming, art, music, and gaming over four days. For more information, please visit www.dragoncon.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

DRAGON CON NAMES ITS 2021 ARTIST AND LITERARY GUESTS OF HONOR

Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 7/26/21

Convention Retains Big Brothers Big Sisters as its Official 2021 Charity

 

Dragon Con, Atlanta’s internationally known pop culture, fantasy, sci-fi, and gaming convention, has named American fantasy artist William Stout and American fantasy and science fiction writer John Scalzi as its 2021 Artist and Literary Guests of Honor.

The convention also announced that Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta will remain the official charity for this year’s convention. BBBS had previously been announced as the 2020 charity partner, but no fundraising effort was made last year after the convention, responding to the pandemic, shifted to an all-virtual format.

Now in its 35th year, Dragon Con 2021 runs from Thursday, Sept. 2 to Monday, Sept. 6 with events and activities across five host hotels – Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Marriott Marquis, Hilton Atlanta, Westin Peachtree, and Sheraton Atlanta – and AmericasMart Buildings #1 and #2.

Since 2013, the convention has consistently raised more than $100,000 for each of its annual official charities, including a dollar-for-dollar match from the convention up to an additional $100,000.  Funds are raised through convention-based auctions, special merchandise sales, special events, and the convention match.

The mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters is to create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth. Nearly half a million children in Metro Atlanta live in communities with low or very low child well-being. The organization’s vital mission is to recruit volunteers to become mentors to children facing adversity, with a goal of matching each child with an adult who will ignite their full potential.

“Every kid is a bundle of potential, and we love Big Brothers Big Sisters because they help kids unlock that potential and find their right path. We’re proud to have them as our official charity this year,” said Rachel Reeves, convention co-chair.  “We are equally delighted to have William and John join us as our Guests of Honor this year. Their creative output has fascinated and entertained science fiction and fantasy fans for a generation, even longer.”

Beginning with its first convention in 1987, Dragon Con has recognized an author and an artist whose creative contributions to the realms of fantasy and science fiction are widely recognized as among the very best as Literary and Artist Guests of Honor. Both Stout and Scalzi will be recognized throughout the event for their contributions to their individual fields, and will be on hand to meet fans and participate in panels to provide insight into their success and love of fandom.

Stout is an artist of exceptional breadth, ranging from fantasy-oriented comics, graphic novels, magazines, and movie posters – as well as the longest running Dragon Con logo – early in his career to production design work for 30 feature films, including Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and two Conan films. In the 1980s, he created a ground-breaking reconstruction of dinosaurs leading to a book and six-year travelling paleoart exhibit that served as an acknowledged influence on Michael Crichton’s book Jurassic Park, while also working on the creation of theme park attractions for Walt Disney and Universal Studios as well as rock band ZZ Top’s Recycler tour. In the late 1990s, William dedicated himself to explaining the complex beauty of Antarctica through art, leading to a traveling exhibit, an award-winning book, and ongoing work as a natural history muralist. For more information, see www.williamstout.com.

Scalzi, a multiple Hugo Award winning science fiction novelist best known for his Old Man’s War series of novels and his popular Whatever blog. In addition to 23 novels and novellas, he has written short fiction, non-fiction books, and columns on diverse topics such as finance, video games, films, astronomy, writing, and politics, and served as a creative consultant for the TV series Stargate Universe. His total output has garnered a score of awards, including a 2020 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction novel for The Last Emperox. Scalzi served as president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America from 2010 to 2013. At 2020’s Dragon Con Goes Virtual, he was one of the most popular guests, leading fan discussions, bringing fans (virtually) into his kitchen to make burritos, and spinning tunes overnight with his deejay skills.  For more information about Scalzi, visit whatever.scalzi.com.

About Dragon Con

Dragon Con is the internationally known pop culture convention held each Labor Day Weekend (Sept. 2 -Sept. 6, 2021) in Atlanta. Organized for fans, Dragon Con features more than 3,500 hours of comics, film, television, costuming, art, music, and gaming over four days. For more information, please visit www.dragoncon.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.