Dragon Con 2023 Photos #7: Cosplay Parade Vehicles and Riders

Lightning McQueen! Ka-CHOW!

In 2019 my wife Anne and I attended our very first Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia. As one of the longest-running science fiction conventions in America, Dragon Con had received rave reviews from our internet friends over the past two decades, some of whom recommended it to us more than once and, according to my notes, would never shut up about it. We had so much of a blast that we returned in 2021. Third time was the charm this Labor Day weekend as we repeated the eight-hour drive from Indianapolis to that amazing colossal southern spectacle…

Huzzah! It’s our third gallery from D*C’s annual Saturday morning cosplay parade, always one of our favorite events. The starter exhortations in Part 5 still apply here: if you recognize any characters we didn’t, by all means please let us know! We like learning new names, eradicating our ignorance, correcting errors, and bridging the gaps in our aging memories where those character names used to be. Between us we took over 600 photos and couldn’t possibly have known everyone. Related note: if you or someone you know was in the parade and you’re hoping for shots of them, pretty-please let us know! We’re taking requests! We’ll be happy to search our files and post ’em if we got ’em. You might come away disappointed, or you might not!

Every parade, whether geek-themed or otherwise, lives and thrives on its vehicle assortment. An array of talented fans created replicas of cars from their favorite universes or personalized their rides to exhibit their fandoms, like how ’70s dudes used to paint barbarians and Valkyries on their vans, except several of these were cooler. Some cosplayers fetched rides aboard otherwise normal transports, all of which had wheels and therefore qualified for inclusion here. Enjoy again!

Someone in a big stuffed H.R. Pufnstuf costume riding on the back of a convertible with a very tiny and old Marty Krofft barely visible in the front passenger seat.

H.R. Pufnstuf carpools with co-creator Marty Krofft, one of this year’s special guests, who’s barely visible up front. Six Flags mascot Mr. Six trails behind.

Blues Brothers cosplayers in their stolen police car.

The Blues Brothers, still on the run.

Wayne's World AMC Pacer. Wayne cosplayer in the passenger seat gives us two thumbs-up.

Wayne’s World! Movie car! AMC! Pacer car! Excellent! Weeoo weeoo weeoo weeooooo!

Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler cosplayers in a Jurassic Park Jeep

Drs. Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park Jeep.

Recreated yellow truck and tornado-measuring meta canister instrument in the back.

The Dorothy device and the 1982 J10 Honcho that carried it in Twister.

A pickup truck painted entirely in the infamously bizarre Marriott Marquis carpet pattern.

The Cult of the Marriott Carpet flaunt their infamous pattern in traffic.

A blue sports convertible with thick black outlines painted all over, apropos of the Borderlands video games' visual aesthetic. A guy in a hockey mask sits on the back holding a weaponized buzzsaw, one leg hanging off the side.

A Borderlands-styled car picks up a Pyscho, not to be confused with today’s rush-hour psychos who run red lights and use turn lanes as passing lanes.

An inflatable Stay Puft Man, smaller than the one in the film, riding in the back of a pickup truck with a Ghostbusters symbol on the door.

The Stay Puft Man wouldn’t fit in or on the ECTO-1, so taking alternative wheels makes sense.

Comics writer Don McGregor in the back of a black van, standing and waving from its open side door. Black Panther panels decorate the outside.

For the older comic-book fans out there: special guest Don MacGregor, writer of Black Panther throughout the ’70s who laid down much of the groundwork for the nation of Wakanda.

This sports-Batmobile looks pretty keen. A shame it’ll explode ten minutes into Batman’s next car chase.

A car tricked out with logos from Stephen King's "It". Two Pennywise cosplayers ride inside. A red helium balloon is attached to the roof.

WE ALL ROLL DOWN HERE, GEORGIE!

The Pennywise car parked, with hood open. A Pennywise head is painted inside the hood. Down on the engine block is written the words "You'll float too."

QUICK INTERLUDE: Saturday afternoon, the Pennywise car and other entrants had a mini-car-show in front of the Hyatt.

A Venom-Mobile salutes one of his grandchildren, the sometimes-heroic Toxin. The Venom sequel technically introduced him, but we’ll see if that pays off in the third film.

Radagast cosplayer rides a brown mobility scooter with woodsy details. Four stuffed bunnies hang from a bow on the front, kinda like Santa's reindeer.

Radagast and the Rhosgobel rabbits pulling his sleigh.

A Green Lantern-themed car, green energy craclking everywhere.

A car dubbed Green Lantern 3.0 by its owner.

A gray Pontiac Slingshot, a sharp-angled roofless two-seat sports car.

Fan group Battlestar Group 75 brought their own Pontiac Slingshot for cruising around New Earth.

Yellow Surfer Boy Pizza van with red sign on top. A Demogorgon puppet hangs from the front passenger window.

Argyle’s Surfer Boy Pizza van from Stranger Things season 4.

Another police car, this one privatized and battle-damaged by Resident Evil zombies.

A 1920s couple stands up in the back of a beige pickup truck festooned with Fourth of July decorations. The duo waves and smiles to us. Red flags hang from the back with the Bioshock catchphrase "No gods or kings, only man."

Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth Comstock from Bioshock Infinite.

Two Men in Black hang onto a wheel-shaped cycle, set on a flatbed hitched to an offscreen car.

The Men in Black Monocycle.

A blue-camouflaged jeep with four big plastic red missiles ready for launching off the back.

From the world of G.I. Joe, this Cobra Stinger jeep bears the name of the Rattler, which was a Cobra plane. I’m sure there’s an anecdote there.

Guy walking a sales cart with "Olivander Jr." on the side, spelled differently from the books.

A simple magic wand salesman.

When we were kids, TV’s K.I.T.T. used to appear at all the local car shows.

Emperor Palpatine rides a trailer with a TIE Fighter model about his height.

Remember that Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns builds a tiny Spruce Goose model and then threatens Smithers with a gun to get in? Emperor Palpatine reminds me of that here.