Debrief: Dragon Con 2025
Atlanta, GA – August 28 through September 1, 2025

Dragon Con 2025 has come to an end. Despite being a busier year, it seemed a lot lower key and easier to manage than in previous years.

Attendance was reported at 75,000, up 3,000 from last year. That attendance number was capped by badge sales, and traffic management felt much better this year. Those 75,000 fans did a lot of good charity work this year. NAMI Georgia will be receiving at least $320,000, and new convention record. The blood drive was very successful as well, earning about 10,600 blood components from more than 3,950 donors.

I left the con physically exhausted and both creatively and emotionally energized. Sadly, I wasn’t able to capitalize on the energy after contracting COVID immediately following the con. Luckily it was a minor case and none of my friends or family picked it up from me, but it was still two weeks spent confined to my house with a lot of resting and sleeping. Work picked up significantly as well since con, hence this after-action report being so late. Such is life.

On to the discussion!

First on the list, I want to thank the track directors and their volunteer staffs for welcoming me into their homes for the weekend and offering the chance to talk on their stages.

• Joe Crowe and Gary Mitchel (American Science Fiction Classics)
• Kellen Harkins (American Science Fiction and Fantasy Media)
• Karen and James Henson (Military Sci-Fi Media)
• Caro Tidwell (BritTrack)

Second on the list, but by no means any less important, I’d like to thank the volunteers. There are so many who help bring this convention to life every year. In fact, the vast majority of the people who keep the convention flowing are volunteers. As always, I’d like to especially note Disability Services, Safety, and Tech Ops. These folks push the limits and innovate to keep this show moving. Your hard work does not go unnoticed.

Number the third, I’d like to thank the convention for having me back as an Attending Professional. This was my sixteenth Dragon Con (counting participation since 2009, missing only one year in 2023) and my eighth as an Attending Pro (counting participation since 2016, though I wasn’t an AP in 2020 or 2023). I appreciate them having faith in my abilities to both participate and moderate programming events, and really enjoy spending the weekend having fun, catching up with my geek family, and meeting new people.

One of my core drives in life is helping people and building communities. The Dragon Con Newbies program does that by offering walking tours and Q&A sessions to help people get their bearings and start Dragon Con on the right foot. Sue Kisenwether, Kim McGibony, and Kevin Bachelder are amazing friends and a joy to work with. Thanks to all of our tour leaders and wranglers for volunteering their time and knowledge, as well as our team of moderators in the Facebook group who work hard all year to keep the malcontents out.

I especially appreciate Pixie from Tech Ops who helped wrangle our tech needs for a marathon five-hour stretch on Thursday.

My panel schedule was a good change of pace as it included some broader topics with the more detailed discussions. I got to talk about memory, identity, and humanity in terms of Murderbot, Severance, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Alli Martin, Brandy Blanton, Chelsey Bogan, and Leigh Ann Dooley. I also got to think deeply about the state of the box office with Jon-Paul Estes, Alyssa Askani, Joshua Lapin-Bertome, and Matthew Brewer. Both of those loosely-focused panels ranked highly in my experience this year.

I also enjoyed talking about Farscape again this year (with James Henson, Lacee Aderhold, and Laura Jae), Fantastic Four: First Steps (with Kevin Cafferty, Marx Pyle, Abigail Hart, and Yvonne McDowell), and Doctor Who (with Caro McCully, Moe Hemmi, Ralph Lawson, and Ryan Carey).

Sue Kisenwether put something together that I have wanted to do for years. I’m a big fan of Family Feud, and she assembled a version called Fandom Feud in the American Sci-Fi Classics Track. The questions were posed to a 100 Dragon Con attendees (per the game show), and the teams were five panelists versus the audience. Fun was had by all! There is some fine-tuning to do with the format, but overall it was a success.

One of the more fun panels with controversial events was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Anniversary Pizza Par-taaaay. The controversy came from track director Joe Crowe’s promise to serve pizza during the celebration of the first live-action TMNT movie, a promise that filled the room and was broken when the pizzeria only delivered four pizzas instead of twenty-five. The shop literally ran out of pizza before getting to Joe’s order. (Note to Joe: Do not describe future panels as parties and do not offer free food.) Otherwise, it was a fun panel with Keith DeCandido, ToniAnn Marini, Michael Collins, and Nick Frutiger.

Directly after the TMNT panel, I scurried over to the Hyatt to see one of my Dragon Con bucket list items. Every year, the Georgia Philharmonic Orchestra plays a selection of geeky music live. This year, conductor Chaowen Ting led a program focused on anniversaries in television, film, and gaming.

The event and presentation were beautiful. The energy in the room was also wonderful and very different than other Dragon Con events I’ve seen in the past. It was certainly worth doing, and I’m going to make a point of adding it to my schedule every year.

The last part of con this year consisted of going to panels that weren’t mine. Because all of my events were front-loaded, my panel schedule ended on Saturday night. That left Sunday and Monday wide open to wander.

An interesting addition this year was the cast of Bones, which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year. My wife and I attended the Friday morning panel where Emily Deschanel, Tamara Taylor, and TJ Thyne reminisced about their time on the show. Those actors didn’t miss a beat, and honestly could have walked off the set yesterday given how much they remembered about the show. The fans were welcoming and excited to see them.

On Sunday evening, we attended the Science of Lower Decks panel on the Trek Track. The room is a bit wonky, but we still had fun listening to Dr. Erin Macdonald talk about various science memories from her time as scientific consultant on the show. We also tried to attend the Murder at Starbase Sentinel panel on Friday night, but it wasn’t quite what we thought it was going to be. We did get a chance to meet Jessie Earl, whose work on YouTube talking about the nerdy with emphasis on the LGTBQ+ community is one of my favorites. As I told her upon meeting her, I adore her analyses and views, even if I don’t completely agree with them. That’s a feature of her work since she wants to open the door for discussion rather than preach from on high.

Finally, we closed out our convention with the stars of the Arrowverse. We were excited to be near the front of the audience – Mondays are always a little light – especially since 2025 marked John Barrowman’s return to Dragon Con. He’s a delight on stage and his energy is amazing. The panel was a ton of fun as Barrowman, Paul Blackthorne, and Colin Donnell played off each hour for what felt like an hour-long variety show.

I had a good time with a couple of other diversity-based panels: Asexuality on Screen and Exploring Strange Old Fics. It’s always good to learn more about the world around you, and the presenters in both events were happy to explore history and representation of topics the mainstream doesn’t often embrace.

I have a couple of minor disappointments this year, but the biggest relates to the Courtland Grand. Frankly, the Corgi needs help with their climate control. The registration line was hindered because it was too hot in the hotel’s lower levels to have people standing around for long periods. We tried to attend a yarn swap event and walked away because of the oppressive heat.

The hotel needs to consider some changes or the con needs to reconsider using those spaces.

Another disappointment turned into a win for the community at large. The pop art section of the vendor hall hosted a couple of artists who sell AI art. The most egregious offender was ejected from the convention.

Here’s the thing: I’m not anti-AI. The engines have tremendous power if used in constructive ways. My professional industry has started exploring how AI can help make us more efficient and enable us to offload mundane tasks to focus on true engineering work.

Artificial intelligence also has the power to be used destructively. In reality, an AI engine is an overpowered search engine and is only as good as its inputs. It digs through the data behind the scenes, collates relevant sources, and spits out results tailored to its users. They feed into confirmation bias by telling users what they want to hear, often getting details wrong in order to be the perfect “yes man.” So many of the engines are being advertised as easy ways to create art and tell stories, and what they fail to mention is how they source the inputs.

Long story short, many of the AI developers dumped novels, writings, and artwork from real-life creators into their engines without asking for consent or paying attention to copyright or licensing. Generative AI engines pick and choose from effectively stolen data sets in order to mock an amalgam of styles.

Some artists and creators understand this and use generative AI as a starting block to exercise their own talents. That has some constructive potential. Other people who are hungry for capitalist excess generate images from prompts, throw a filter over them, and sell it to unwitting audiences who want to celebrate the properties they love. That’s not art but rather uninspired programming code. It lacks artistic skill. It is disingenuous to market in an art show.

It differs from artists who use licensed characters in unique interpretations and scenarios. Those at least utilize artistic skills and knowledge to produce appealing imagery.

I think Dragon Con made the right call here.

First on the list: Hi, Sherman! Sherman is a friend of the Sci-Fi Classics Track and our group. Unfortunately, he fell ill and was unable to attend this year. Over the years, our group has developed an inside joke where we say, “Hi, Sherman!” every time we see him. So, this year, we played off that joke to pay tribute and let him know how much we missed him.

We hope to see you again soon, Sherman!

Second, the Dragon Con exercise program. I routinely rack up 30-35 miles each year, which is an easy way to meet the Dragon Con Hustle 5k. It’s a great donation to charity in exchange for a unique medal, which was Star Wars themed this time around. My wife met that mark on day one by running Newbies tours and trying to get her badge.

I split my mileage up a bit this year since we came in early and stayed late, but the core five days of the con were pretty much on target for me.

Third, the LifeSouth blood drive. It’s a Dragon Con tradition and it saves lives. This year, it broke all sorts of records with 4,014 total donors.

Every year, I spend an hour or so to donate and take my traditional perspective shot.

Fourth, the community. The Dragon Con community is one of favorite elements of the con, and this year was a fun one with swag and homemade gifts. I loved the Clippy existential query and the LGBTQ+ theme in a lot of items. I also adore the sonic spork which will be added to my sonic screwdrivers. Finally, I added a tribute to my dear friend Janis by wearing her classic Fourth Doctor pin on my lanyard.

Finally, my geek family. During our farewells on Monday, our group took this picture together. It is one of my favorite photos of the convention and a reminder of the folks I love. Not all of the Irregulars are shown here since some had to travel home early. Even so, this group is some of the best.

From left to right, we have Benji Richards, Joe Crowe, Gary Mitchel, Sue Kisenwether, Darin Bush, Michael Bailey, Rosalyn, Rachel Bailey, Rachel Goforth (hiding behind my hat), me, Denise Lhamon, Wrenn Simms, Keith DeCandido, and Bethany Kesler.

Phenomenal talents and lovely people, one and all.

If you want to attend next year, the next Dragon Con will be the 40th anniversary. It will be held from September 3 to September 7, 2026. Memberships (badges/tickets) and hotel rooms are on sale now. The first rush on hotel rooms has passed, but keep checking as more always come available before the convention. If you’re new to Dragon Con, I recommend joining Dragon Con Newbies for additional tips and tricks to enhance your experience.

I recommend the experience. There’s nothing quite like Dragon Con, and I’m sure there will be plenty of big surprises coming for the 40th anniversary celebration.

315 days until Dragon Con 2026.