An Adult Swim coterie on the horizon at left. If you know the characters at right, let me know? That isn’t Princess Bubblegum, right?
Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:
For years we’ve been telling friends in other states that we’d one day do Atlanta’s Dragon Con, one of the largest conventions in America that isn’t in California or New York. We’ve been in Atlanta, but we hadn’t really done Atlanta. Hence this year’s vacation, in which we’re aiming for a double proficiency in Atlanta tourism and over-the-top Dragon Con goodness…
…such as that Saturday morning parade through downtown Atlanta. And it all comes down to this: one last catchall entry of parade pics that I thought had their own charms, uses, and/or recognizable characters. We have dozens remaining, but they’re largely shots of (a) tiny people waaaaaay in the distance, (b) characters we don’t know and didn’t think we did justice to, and/or (c) parade marchers who turned the wrong way at the last second and faced too far toward the other side of the street, or were obscured by the people next to them. If anyone’s interested in some of those, let me know and I’ll be more than happy to add them here for posterity and curiosity.
Same cautions apply as when we started:
1. We’re not professional photographers. We do this for fun and fandom, not for a living. We do what we can with the technology, skill sets, and opportunities we have so we can share with others. And not really in a conscious “social media influencer” kind of way. Imperfections are part of our process.
2. I take tremendous pride in accurate character naming wherever possible. More than a few characters in this entry are unidentified or poorly identified because I’m old and not proficient with every universe ever. Kindly corrections to my errors and omissions are more than welcome in the comments below. I like learning new stuff. Photo captions will be amended as needed, with credit given were due.
3. With a few exceptions, these will largely be presented in random order. Anyone out there who’s looking for pics of specific parade participants, characters, or universes is free to leave requests in the comments. If we happen to have some, I’ll cheerfully add them into the next chapters. We couldn’t possibly have gotten every single person we saw that day, but we aimed for many.
4. Enjoy! Let more random Dragon Con cosplay photos continue to begin.
Wonder Woman and a jester of sorts.
Fallout Tacticians, from the video game I haven’t played, not the HBO miniseries I saw on the subject.
The Arms of Middle Earth, traipsing for Tolkien.
Aragorn and Arwen, happily ever after.
Vikings!
Jesse McCree and more from the cast of Overwatch.
Others from the world of video games, apparently none of which I’ve played.
Torgo and the Master from Manos: The Hands of Fate.
Highlights from MST3K in the background, but I’m at a loss to identify the nice purple dress.
Hagrid, a groundskeeper in search of grounds.
A popcorn lady and Harry Potter in his Quidditch uniform.
A Cyberman separated from the other Doctor Who cosplayer pics due to my own oversight.
Marchers for a Sarcoma Awareness moth.
Charizard, the Pokemon most likely to fit in at Dragon Con.
My first thought upon seeing this was, what if Mojo Jojo were real?
We didn’t catch their names, but we saw these gents around the con space offering free, reassuring, consenting hugs.
One of many cosplayers who could probably get into finer downtown restaurants that barred us for our T-shirts and shorts.
Had we known “Dragon Con Over 40” was a thing, I would’ve gladly paid admission dues while we were in town.
More folks from Dragon Con Over 40, which I bet is ten times more fun than the AARP.
Among the non-costumed celebs in the parade was famed wrestler Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
A Blues Brothers car, from a rare example of an R-rated film that Anne has seen and I haven’t.
Downtown Atlanta’s skybridge collection makes parade floats height-prohibitive, but Netherworld Haunted House made it work.
Uniforms, not costumes: the very real Lakeside High School marching band. Anne did the same in high school and took a few more pics like this in case anyone asks.
Hogwarts wizards give way to the Cult of Marriott Carpet, who have a shocking number of products available online.
The cult of Marriott Carpet have a truck. Someone paid Earth-bucks to do this on purpose. Such is the power of its hypnotic allure.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Cult of Marriott Carpet cheerleaders!
Converts to the Cult include Marriott Carpet Endgame Thor and, trying to elude our roving eyes, Captain Malcolm Reynolds in a Marriott Carpet bonnet. WE SEE YOU, MAL.
…and that’s essentially it for the Dragon Con parade at long last, well after the cosplayers involved have probably already recuperated, forgotten about photos, and moved on to planning for their next major events.
We’re not totally done with D*C cosplay yet, though. To be continued! Other chapters in this very special miniseries:
Introduction: 20 Years of Road Trips, 2 Lifetimes of Geek Culture
Part 1: The Stars Our Destination – our usual roundup of actors and jazz-hands
Part 2: Cosplay on Parade
Part 3: More Cosplay on Parade
Part 4: Still More Cosplay on Parade
Part 5: Still More Cosplay on Parade Continued
Part 6: Still More Cosplay on Parade Continued Yet Again
Part 7: Deadpool Presents the Deadpool Cosplay Parade Starring Deadpool
Part 9: No Parades, Just Cosplay
Part 10: Last Call for Cosplay
Part 11: The Dragon’s Lairs
Part 12: Who Else We Saw, What Else We Did
Advance epilogue: Three Thoughts After Our First Dragon Con
Midlife Crisis Crossover! 
This is great! I made that marriott carpet Mal (and bro thor) for my boyfriend, and he didn’t think anyone would recognize him! I’m so glad you all called him out on this 😀
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My pleasure! I’m sorry we didn’t get a better photo of him. We’re still trying to wrap our heads around the whole “Marriott Carpet” deal. That is so wild.
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