Now that I’ve have time to recover from my 2 week East Coast con trip, it’s time to talk about the first con of the two I attended out there.
For only the second time I attended Dragon Con (first time was in 2021 and was a smaller show due to pandemic rules still being in place). Dragon Con 2023 was at full strength, and it showed with full panels, crowded hotel lobbies for the nightly events, and a packed vendor hall…and I loved it.
While I was there I made it a point to attend the Twisted Toonz panels (this year they had two of them) with the panelists consisting of Maurice LaMarche, Khary Randolph, Phil LaMarr, Billy West, Jeff Zaninni, and for the second panel only Dee Bradley Baker. This year the panelists read through the script of Wizard of Oz but as characters they’ve voiced over the years, or celebrities they do impressions of. As always, this panel did not disappoint and once again was a great way to kick off the 5 days of Dragon Con.
Check out the Flickr album below of pics I took over the 5 days of Dragon Con!
Some of the other panels I attended included the Celebrity Secrets w/ Sammi: Maurice LaMarche, Phil LaMarr, Dee Bradley Baker and Billy West, Marc’s Corner Q&A: An Hour with Adam Savage, Phil LaMarr: The Legend!, An Hour with Willa Holland, Caity Lotz, Katherine McNamara, Matt Ryan, and Adam Tsekhman, as well as the Brenda’s Agenda with Dan Fogler, Cooper Andrews (who replaced Ryan Hurst on the panel), and Khary Randolph. Because of the SAG/AFTRA strike the panelists weren’t allowed to talk about current or past projects, and Dragon Con had an interesting way of honoring that request. They let the attendees submit questions via a Discord chatroom, and the moderator would ask the questions. The panels flowed very smooth, and this was a great solution in my opinion.
The other big highlight for me was the annual Dragon Con parade, which sees hundreds (if not thousands) of people lining the streets as cosplayers and approved attendees march down the street. If you ever attend Dragon Con, the parade is a must see!
When I wasn’t attending various panels, wandering through the hotel lobbies taking pics of cosplayers, or at one of the many themed group photo shoots I wandered through the vendor hall and comic and pop artist alley. This year I broke in my sketch book that I picked up at SDCC with sketches from David Mack, Emma Kubert, Kyle Starks, and Phil Hester. In addition I picked up a sketch of Starscream from Andrew Lee Griffith, and remarques on comics from Sanford Greene, and John Giang.
All in all I had a great time, and can’t wait to go back again next year. As always Dragon Con takes place over Labor Day weekend so the dates for 2024 are August 29th-September 2nd.
Stayed tuned for recaps from our other 2 correspondents who attended the show, Ali Raphael (who made her first trek to Dragon Con) and Jeffrey Venture (who like me was attending his second one)!
Did you attend Dragon Con 2023? What were your thoughts? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter @TheConCollectve.
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