Saturday was not only the day of the Great Dragon*Con Parade, it was also the day that I was marching for the first time as part of it, therefore I made sure to get my minimum 5 hours of sleep so that I would not be spending all day yawning. Early in the morning I got up, got dressed and went down to have breakfast with my cosplay of Peter Griffin (from the animated series Family Guy) on. On my way to breakfast I found a group of G.I. Joe cosplayers and took some photos, it’s never too early for cosplay photos if the cosplayers are eager.

After breakfast and about 8:00 AM I went to the starting point of the parade and proceeded to locate the staff members so that they could point me to the waiting area designated for those with cosplays of animation characters. Gradually more cosplayers were arriving not only in my area but other areas reserved for the other groups ; Star Wars ( with whom my friend Angel Martinez paraded ) , Battlestar Galactica ( where members of THE COLONIAL FLEET were ), superheroes , Disney, Steampunk , etc . In addition to groups of cosplayers parading on foot, a series of modified vehicles to look like famous vehicles of certain movies and series were participating too. There was the Mach 5 from the animated series Speed Racer, a Cylon Raider from the 70’s version of Battlestar Galactica, Humungous’ truck (a modified F100) from the film The Road Warrior and even a 2009 Chevrolet Camaro Replica that looked just like the one in the Transformers movies.

Finalmente comenzó el desfile. Para mí fue una experiencia única en su tipo, una cosa es ver un desfile desde la perspectiva del público espectador y otra cosa es desde el punto de vista de una de las personas que desfila. El sentir las miradas y los gritos de júbilo del público a ambos lados de la calle, todo el mundo está pasando un buen rato en ese momento gracias a las personas que están desfilando. Fue un sentimiento bien positivo y exhilarante el que sentí al caminar a través de las calles de la ciudad de Atlanta como parte de esta parada.

Finally the parade started. For me it was a unique experience of its kind, it is one thing to see a parade from the perspective of the viewing public and another thing from the point of view of one actually walking the parade. Feeling the stares and cheers of the crowd on both sides of the street, everyone is having a good time at that moment thanks to the people who are marching. It was a very positive and exhilarating feeling that I felt when walking through the streets of the city of Atlanta as part of this event. The parade ended in front of the Marriot Hotel and once we got there we ended our participation in the stop and everyone went his way to continue to enjoy the other events offered by the convention.

I went to visit for the first time since coming to the convention, the new vendor area located at the Atlanta Convention Center which was located inside the Americas Mart Building. It was here that they relocated all the vendors who came to Dragon*Con this year. The number of people walking into this building was equal or greater to the number of convention goers within the convention hotels. It was here that I met in person the super famous cosplayer Yaya Han. If I had an encounter which could be regarded as fortuitous is in my life this was it. Yaya is a native of the city of Atlanta and always tries to be attending Dragon*Con and put on her store that sells cosplay related merchandise. I found this store because when I was looking for the exit took a wrong turn and end up in the corner where Yaya had her table. I had the opportunity to speak and take a couple of pictures with her. Definitely this was one of several memorable moments during this convention.

Finished my foray into the vendors area I went to get me something to eat and then headed back to the rear steps of the Atlanta Hilton Hotel to witness not one but two sessions “photo-shoot “. A session was on the theme of Star Trek, with cosplays of the different television series including movies. My friend Jessica Paulding participated in this session so I had the privilege for the first time (for me) to see firsthand her fabulous cosplay of Lt. Tasha Yar from the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The other session was of DC Comics characters, probably the busiest session I’ve seen to date with a wide variety of cosplays representing both heroes and villains. It was an epic, fabulous event. And when I thought there was no more cosplaying to be done I found a third photo shoot with the theme of Judge Dredd

The afternoon gave way to a night full of stars in the sky and stars of cosplay in the hotel lobbies. Yaya Han, Constantine In Tokyo, Kristen Hughey, Nicole Marie Jean and Roxana Meta were some of the luminaries of the cosplay I could capture with my camera. The night was lit by candlelight and promised to get better with musical events scheduled for the night , but my body that had been awake since 5:00 AM and had been getting punished non-stop all day said to me “No more, I’ll turn the system off whether you like it or not .” I was suddenly invaded by all kinds of pain from head to toe and was left with no other choice but to retire early to my room to collapse on the bed.

To access the photo album for this day click on the link below.