The cosplay at Dragon*Con 2012 is legit! It seems as though every year more con-goers are cosplaying and making higher quality costumes. This year, the costumes are everywhere, which makes for an awesome Dragon*Con experience where people-watching at the Marriot bar is like chilling at a dive bar on Tatooine.

I attend a fair number of conventions in Florida; however, I only cosplay during my annual pilgrimage to Atlanta’s Dragon*Con. Here, you’re the weird one if you’re one of the few not decked out as your favorite pop culture character. Dragon*Con simply creates an environment where even the most normal among us want to spend an absurd amount of time and money stitching together a costume of sheer awesomeness. I speak from experience. I used to be a salty old coot about cosplaying at convention and swore that I’d never do it. This weekend, my wife and I packed three costumes a piece and brought along a group of friends to cosplay with us. We’re hooked.

The effort and craftsmanship exhibited in the armor and fabric costume this year is, in a word, amazing. My only disappointment is that more con-goers aren’t cosplaying Hunger Games, but I’m guessing that everyone else was also afraid that Hunger Games would be everywhere. Nobody wants to be one of a thousand Katniss’s.

Below is a small sample of the awesomeness. My favorite overall cosplayer in the gallery below was Kenny Powers. The guy totally had the part nailed and was hysterical. Well played, Mr. Powers.

Friday was the first day of Dragon*Con and it’s when everyone shows up bright eyed and excited, ready for four days of fandom at its best. There are some smaller track (specialized programming dedicated to one particular fandom or aspect of fandom) specific costume contests but most people in costume are just there to Cosplay and get pictures taken.

A vast majority of costumes bring multiple costumes with some even making a few changes throughout each day. But since Sunday is the day of the big main track costume contest, it’s easy to consider Friday as a teaser with the best stuff yet to come. Here’s our costume round up for the first day of the Con.

As I write this it’s, 4 AM Friday so it technically is Dragon*Con Day 1. This first group of images though where taken Thursday on into the wee hours of Friday and already the costumes were in full force. As I begin covering Day 1 of Dragon*Con 2012 I can only excitedly imagine what’s to come.

Check out the cosplay image gallery here below.

Dragon*Con is quite a special event. It’s known as the largest fan run multigenerational event held in the southeast. Dragon*Con is different than SDCC in that it’s not about breaking news about the next genre event. It is however the same because many celebrity guests appear at both shows. The difference is that at Dragon*Con the celebrities are here to truly interact with fans. At SDCC they are out to announce their next big thing then run for the secret exit. At D*C generally there are no big announcements, just stars here answering the fans’ questions and interacting with the people that made them who they are.

Every year at Dragon*Con, The Guild panel always ends up being my favorite of the convention. This panel always bring tons of laughs and is suprisingly informative. This year’s panel featured the entire Knights of Good cast: Felicia Day, Sandeep Parikh, Jeff Lewis, Amy Okuda, Robin Thorsen, and Vincent Caso and it was hilarious. The cast has great chemistry and good-naturedly ribbed each other and the audience through the entire event. Felicia Day moderated and immediately opened it up to a fan Q&A.

Felicia Day noted that The Guild: Season 6 just wrapped up shooting a day and a half ago and its release will come SOON. No specific release date or time-frame was specified. Also noteworthy was that Jeff Lewis’ baby makes a cameo appearance in the new season and he’s got another baby on the way. Congratulations from Geeks of Doom, Jeff!

Series Six of Doctor Who continues, and begins with the Doctor receiving a mysterious message via the Psychic Paper asking to be “saved from the monsters.” Along with companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill), the trio trace the message to a multi-story set of flats in a council estate area of England, where they find the young boy who sent the plea of his fears across the cosmos: George (Jamie Oram).

But as the Doctor begins investigating the strange case of George, Amy, and Rory disappear and find themselves in a mysterious wooden Victorian home being chased by creepy “life-size” wooden dolls with malicious intents. The deeper the trio delve into the confusion, the more they discover the horrible truth: George’s monsters are real. But where are they coming from?

During TARDISblend 36, we review the events of Night Terrors, a return to form for writer Mark Gatiss. Within the episode itself, we look especially closely at Smith’s flawless performance as The Doctor, evoking elements of previous Doctors, in a manner that made it his own, looking upon the galaxy with the old eyes of a Time Lord.