Dragon Con 2025 Photos, Part 3: Slightly More Cosplay!

Four costumes as in caption

Insurance mascot role call: The General! Lady Liberty! Flo! AFLAC Duck!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

In 2019 my wife Anne and I attended our very first Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia, one of the longest-running science fiction conventions in America. We once again made the eight-hour drive from Indianapolis and returned for our fourth nonconsecutive Labor Day weekend at that amazing colossal southern spectacle. We can’t conscientiously afford to do D*C every year, but we’ll see how long we can keep up an every-other year schedule before we’re too old or overwhelmed to handle it…

…but in the meantime: more cosplay pics! Except where noted, the following pics were taken Saturday between 11:30 a.m. (when the final marchers in the annual cosplay parade reached the end of the route) and 7:00 p.m., when we dragged ourselves down the Marriott’s fire-exit stairs to circumvent the out-of-order escalator and take our leave of the festivities. Same as last time, we snapped a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the total talents on display, as mere amateur appreciators who like sharing such sights and wonders to You, The Viewers At Home. Sorry we missed thousands more! We just kept doing other stuff! And we’re too old to keep up this pace for 72 straight hours!

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Dragon Con 2025 Photos, Part 2: Some Cosplay!

Peacemaker and Eagly costumes in a giant hotel lobby.

Peacemaker and Eagly! They’re here to bring peace no matter how hard they have to party to do it! (Full disclosure: the gent at left is an official Friend of MCC. I’m sure the other guy’s cool, too.)

[CONTENT WARNING! The following entry contains one (1) crude gesture, in-character.]

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

In 2019 my wife Anne and I attended our very first Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia, one of the longest-running science fiction conventions in America. We once again made the eight-hour drive from Indianapolis and returned for our fourth nonconsecutive Labor Day weekend at that amazing colossal southern spectacle. We can’t conscientiously afford to do D*C every year, but we’ll see how long we can keep up an every-other year schedule before we’re too old or overwhelmed to handle it…

…and of course costumes abounded everywhere. Thousands of cosplayers surrounded 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 welcome 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. 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.

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Dragon Con 2025 Photos, Part 1: The Stars in Our Galaxy

Us doing jazz hands with four guys from Voyager.

Star Trek: Voyager jazz-hands role call: Robert Duncan McNeill! Tim Russ! Garrett Wang! Robert Picardo!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: 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 internet friends who refused to shut up about it. It’s become a biannual tradition for us, even in the face of 2021’s rigorous pandemic precautions and 2023’s unfortunate coinciding with Hollywood’s dual SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, which meant the celebrity guests couldn’t actually talk about work, as if actor Q&As at comic-cons weren’t already awkward enough.

Newbies no more, we once again made the eight-hour drive from Indianapolis and returned for our fourth nonconsecutive Labor Day weekend at that amazing colossal southern spectacle, this time unhampered by pandemics or greedy studio-exec shenanigans. We can’t conscientiously afford to do D*C every year, but we’ll see how long we can keep up an every-other year schedule before we’re too old or overwhelmed to handle it.

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Dragon Con 2023 Photos #12 of 12: Three Days of the Con-Doers

Dragon Con ribbons affixed to Anne's badge, mostly Star Trek-themed.

Ribbons to affix to your badge, the quintessential Dragon Con souvenir.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

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 it all comes down to this: what else we did at the big show besides meet actors and see thousands of cosplayers swarming everywhere. In keeping with our personal boundaries, we only attended Friday and Saturday, but that experience was more than enough for us aging geeks.

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Dragon Con 2023 Photos #11 of 12: Last Call for the Cosplay Parade

Clippy cosplay, flanked by Wednesday and Morticia Addams.

Clippy probably drove more ’90s computer users to Apple than any Apple ads.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

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…

It’s our seventh and final gallery of wild, wondrous costumes from the annual Saturday morning cosplay parade. I wish I could’ve rushed to post all our hundreds of pics in a timely manner within 1-2 days after the show, when anyone was actively interested in them, but life didn’t work out for me like that. Now that all 65,000+ D*C attendees have moved on, it’s past time for me to do the same. Hence our last-but-not least assortment of boldly talented folks that deserve a place in the MCC lineup. A few belonged to the cosplay groups we previously posted, but their pics got sorted separately. Several of these were lone wolves, out there doing their own things. If you think these seven entries contained an awful lot of photos, the outtakes outnumber them. Regardless: enjoy one last time!

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Dragon Con 2023 Photos #10: Cosplay Parade Teams Sampler Platter

Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler!

The Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler, marching with the Prydon Academy Doctor Who group.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

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…

You’re still here? You’re awesome! It’s our sixth 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! Our egos aren’t so fragile that we can’t handle corrections and lessons about stuff we don’t watch or read, especially if we did watch/read it but then totally forgot about it. 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!

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Dragon Con 2023 Photos #9: Cosplay Parade Animation and Gaming

refer to caption

A Vault Dweller from Fallout 76 and an Assultron from Fallout 4.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

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…

Hey-HEY! It’s our fifth 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 welcoming new shows, increasing our awareness, 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!

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Dragon Con 2023 Photos #8: Cosplay Parade Presents the Walt Disney Family of Companies

Mandalorians marching, one in the foreground who's red with gun pointed to the sky.

Hey, kids! Mandalorians! This one’s from the Mandalorian Mercs cosplay group.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

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…

Hi-diddly-ho! It’s our fourth 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 meeting new faces, broadening our knowledge, 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!

Continue reading

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

A life-size Lightning McQueen car!

Lightning McQueen! Ka-CHOW!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

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!

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Dragon Con 2023 Photos #6: Cosplay Parade Presents Barbie and Deadpool

Movie Barbie in pink cowboy gear, holding hands with another young lady in non-Barbie non-pink cowboy gear -- white hat, jacket, and frills hanging from her belt. Both are on roller skates.

No, there’s no Deadpool in this pic of Barbie and her equally Western companion. I didn’t say “Barbie versus Deadpool”, though I might’ve trampled other fans for such a pic.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

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…

Welcome to the second 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 about new IPs, curing 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!

Continue reading