Dragon Con. Sept. 4-7, downtown Atlanta. Masquerade: Hyatt Regency, Centennial Ballroom, 8:30 p.m. Sept. 6. Four-day, three-day, two-day and single-day memberships can be purchased at 10 a.m. Sept. 3 in the Georgia Ballroom at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel, 165 Courtland St. N.E., Atlanta. Single-day Saturday and Sunday memberships can be purchased in both the Capital and Georgia ballrooms starting at 8 a.m. on those days. store.dragoncon.org.
In her 25 years as the Dragon Con Masquerade director, Marilee Coughlin has had to establish rules after some unexpected near-disasters: no cracking of whips (someone almost got their ear taken off one year), no drawing of weapons (a sword sheath once flew into the audience) and no using flash paper (the fire department doesn’t take too kindly to its use indoors).
Masquerade — the premiere costume event of Dragon Con, the sci-fi and pop culture convention that runs over four days in downtown Atlanta every Labor Day weekend — has always thrived on the unexpected. But one thing has remained constant in the nearly 30 years it’s been around: contestants passionate about showing off their often jaw-dropping handmade costumes.
“You see things that you would not see anywhere else,” said Coughlin, a Canton resident. “So many of the contestants just put their heart and soul into their costumes and their performance. You’re seeing quite a spectacle.”
There are several other costume contests over the course of Dragon Con, but Masquerade — which attracts 7,000 live viewers, making it the largest indoor event of Dragon Con — is unique in that it doesn’t focus solely on the costume. Contestants are judged equally in three areas: concept, costume execution and performance.
“It’s about taking a known character and turning it on its head,” Coughlin said. Successful outings include a group of Klingons turned into members of Kiss, an Iron Man made out of found objects from a garage, and a boy whose wheelchair was made to look like Capt. Pike’s ship on “Star Trek.”
The event, which follows International Costume Guild rules, asks contestants — who can enter individually or in groups — to compete as a novice, journeyman (someone who creates costumes professionally) or master (someone who has won best in show during a previous Masquerade) and provides a set of straightforward guidelines for amount of time allowed onstage and type of audio allowed to accompany performances.
While some Masquerade alumni have competed for more than a decade, part of the appeal is that anyone who signs up is able to compete, including first-timers. In fact, newbies sometimes can be the fiercest competitors.
Scott Millican and his wife, Sherri, won best in show last year with their Tree Warrior and Maleficent costumes, respectively. Scott, who works in information technology, has long loved crafting costumes and decided to go all out for the couple’s first Dragon Con. He started on his wife’s costume in July, using his garage as a workspace and watching YouTube videos to help him create realistic wings crafted out of aluminum, foam and turkey feathers.
“I had no idea what to expect,” Scott said. “But my friends were saying, ‘If you finish those costumes, you’re going to win.’”
The pair decided to enter the Masquerade a few hours before the event. Even though they were getting positive reactions from people as they walked through the crowd over the weekend, they still were shocked when they were announced as the winners.
Alpharetta resident Rebecca Kunimoto, who won best villain in last year’s Masquerade with a Maleficent-as-dragon costume, said good crowd reaction is usually key to doing well in the event.
“If people don’t stop you every 10 feet to ask to take pictures with you, you didn’t do it right,” she said. “It has to have that ‘wow’ effect.”
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