Dragon Con 2023 Photos #2: Friday Cosplay (The First Half)

cosplay: Barbie in pink jumpsuit, Barbie in pink farmer's daughter dress, and Ruth Handler as played by Rhea Perlman in the movie.

Hi, Barbie! Hi, Barbie! Hi, Ruth Handler, creator of Barbie!

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…

…and now is the part of every comic-con adventure when we share cosplay photos, starting with our Friday encounters. Thousands of cosplayers were in attendance this year, surrounding us on all sides at any given moment. No single human, duo, or entire international photography company could hope to capture more than a tiny percentage of the costumes that graced the hotels, streets, and downtown hot spots with their value-adding presence. Over the next several chapters we’ll be sharing batches of pics we took in between our moments of gawking and recognizing and racking our brains trying to remember some of the more obscure character names. When they weren’t from our fields of expertise, my son helped us identify a few, especially in the anime and video game fields. Our meager galleries will number several, yet will represent a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the total talents on display. We’re merely amateur appreciators passing along some of those sights and wonders to You, The Viewers At Home.

As you can imagine, this year’s hottest cosplay theme was Barbie. Hundreds and hundreds of fans represented for the biggest film of 2023. She and Ken were everywhere. If you loved the movie (I’ve seen it; Anne hasn’t), you might also love how Barbie cosplayers kept greeting each other with a peppy “Hi, Barbie!” as they ran into each other all weekend long.

cosplay: Barbie in tacky leotard and visor, walking around inside a human-sized Barbie box

Stereotypical Barbie in her L.A. leotard and box designed by the Mattel patriarchy.

cosplay: Barbie and Ken in matching pink striped shirts, holding up a cardboard Barbie Boat facade.

From the montage where Barbie and Ken take the Barbie Boat from Barbieland to L.A.

cosplay: Obi-Wan Kenobi but all pink. Not pictured: the back of his cape says "KENobi".

Jedi Master KENobi!

cosplay: Barbie-themed pink Spider-Gwen costume.

Spider-Barbie!

Cosplay: Barbie in pink jumpsuit and Star Trek Gorn mask.

Gorn Barbie!

my wife doing jazz hands inside a human-sized Barbie box that someone just left in a hallway.

Anne Barbie! Not actual cosplay, but you can’t abandon a Barbie box at the Hilton and expect everyone just to leave it alone.

Switching gears from Barbie to Star Trek, apropos of Part 1 and of our own interests…

Star Trek cosplay: Uhura and two female Enterprise crew members.

Uhura and two ladies from the Original Series crew.

Star Trek cosplay: Montgomery Scott from the films.

Engineer supreme Montgomery Scott from the classic Trek films.

A crewman from Enterprise (the series).

Star Trek cosplay: Boimler and Rutherford, with a large cardboard Badgey evil mascot.

Boimler and Rutherford from Lower Decks, plus the formerly educational Badgey.

Star Trek cosplay: Christine Chapel, all-white uniform.

Nurse Christine Chapel from Strange New Worlds.

cosplay: La'an in wondrous fantasy-world dress.

La’an’s fantasy-world dress (and dog Runa) from the Strange New Worlds episode “The Elysian Kingdom”.

Switching gears from Star Trek to “and the rest”…

cosplay: the vampire Nadja holding a Cabbage Patch Doll dressed like herself.

From What We Do in the Shadows, Nadja and Cabbage Patch Doll With the Spirit of Deceased Human Nadja Inhabiting It.

Cosplay: woman wearing a wagon. On the front, the wagon reads, "You have died of dysentery."

The Oregon Trail wagon, which taught all of Generation X some harsh lessons about road trips.

cosplay: two young ladies wearing fake Girl Scout vests and sort of singing together. One is also wearing Loki horns.

Two troop members from the Pawnee Goddesses of Parks and Rec, one of whom may also be Loki.

cosplay: Big Brother, walking around downtown Atlanta.

Full disclosure: this was our only Thursday cosplay photo. We arrived in town that evening and walked several blocks from our hotel to go fetch our badges and dinner. We were exhausted after driving in from Pigeon Forge, but I had to brake for Bioshock‘s Big Brother.