MeaganWondering if you should attend New York Comic Con (NYCC) or DragonCon? I had the great opportunity to attend both events this year and yes, while they both fall under the comic con category, both are very different in many ways. Below, I will highlight the main differences and similarities I noticed between both cons, and reveal which one I would prefer to attend.
Also, you can check out both of my reviews on each comic con:
Signing Up To Attend
New York Comic Con:
- Getting a badge for NYCC is definitely an experience. You have to have a lot of luck in your hands to get a ticket for New York Comic Con. Technically, there’s only one day in the year when you can purchase your tickets. The date depends on whether you are returning to NYCC or are a first time guest (which is great because if you’re a first time guest you won’t have to compete against those who have previously attended). BUT, badges sell out fast and take about an hour to get. You can buy one day passes or a pass for the whole weekend. Then a couple months later, you’ll get your badge(s) in the mail. A few weeks before the con, you can enter in a lottery system to win special prizes or attend a popular panel. If you lose your badge, you can still retrieve another one but it’s more risky.
DragonCon:
- Tickets (or what they call a membership) go on sale one week after the current year’s con has ended, and they’re on sale until the day of the next year’s con. Also, ticket prices increase over time, but they are still cheaper than NYCC tickets. You are only allowed to purchase a 5 day badge in advance and can purchase one day passes at the door (though I believe this changed this year??). Once you make your purchase, DragonCon will ship out a blue card to you. Keep this – you need this to get your badge in person at the con, which would give you access to all of the host hotels and panels. If you lose the blue card, welp… they do not care if you have an email confirmation, a PayPal invoice, a witness who saw that you received the ticket – you’ll need to purchase another ticket. You also cannot exchange or sell your badge(s).
Finding An Accommodation
New York Comic Con:
- I did not book a hotel for NYCC since I live very close by. However I did hear it’s not a hassle to find accommodations. There are hotels and AirBnbs everywhere in Manhattan, and as long as you have Google Maps on your phone the subway system is easy to navigate. One thing to keep in mind is that hotels in Times Square/Hell’s Kitchen – the neighborhoods near NYCC – are not cheap. Uber rides are also very expensive in NYC. Be prepared to spend a ton of money. You can also get a hotel in Downtown Jersey City or Secaucus, NJ since it’s very close to Times Square (one stop away, to be exact) and more likely to be cheaper. Queens is also an option, and you can rely on one mode of transportation (the 7 train) to go straight to the Javitz Center.
DragonCon:
- It’s very hard to find accommodations for DragonCon. Not only do the rooms in the host hotels sell out fast, but they also hike up the price (think ~$400-$500 a night!). You can get a hotel near the host hotels but they also get booked very fast. Plus to add to the struggle, DragonCon is held during Labor Day weekend and there are multiple events taking place in Downtown Atlanta at the same time. And there’s nothing wrong with getting a hotel outside of the center of the action, but then you’ll have to spend money on Ubers/the MARTA to get to the con. The MARTA is easy to navigate, but not as available as NYC subways. Thinking about getting an AirBnb? Well that’s tough too, since many AirBnb hosts cancel on you last minute for some reason (this happened to me the second time I went to DragonCon, and we had to scramble to get another hotel room far out).
Atmosphere in the city of the con (NYC vs Atlanta)
New York Comic Con:
- New York Comic Con is held in Manhattan, NY. However, the “New York Comic Con hype” is only limited to the Javitz Center area. Once you walk 3 blocks away from the Javitz center, you’re back in regular NYC again. This is because Manhattan is so huge and there’s always stuff going on here; if you put 250,000 attendees in a city that holds 8 million people, you won’t notice the impact. For example, after NYCC ended I didn’t get the chance to change out of my cosplay and felt really out of place taking the subways. People were just staring at me and I felt weird.
DragonCon:
- DragonCon is held in Downtown Atlanta. People out on the streets get immersed into the con as well – even if they’re not attending DragonCon. There’s also a DragonCon parade that occurs in the middle of downtown Atlanta on Saturday morning. But of course, once you go about an 8 minute drive outside the downtown area, you won’t see many DragonCon attendees (identified by the badges). However, the locals were aware of DragonCon and would even ask to take pictures of us in cosplay. For example, my friends and I went to a restaurant that was far away from the con. The waiters saw me in cosplay, got excited and took a picture of me. On the Uber ride back, the driver told me he knew about DragonCon and wished he was there. In summary, Atlanta had a more “welcoming environment”.
Vibe Inside of the Con
New York Comic Con:
- NYCC’s main location is in the Javitz Center, but there were other events and panels held in the Hulu Theater, Hudson Mercantile, and Hammerstein Ballroom. And no matter where you go, it is CROWDED. When you walk into the Javitz Center, you’re greeted by music, and a huge crowd filled with a mixture of cosplayers and attendees. I would say a majority of the con was centered around buying things – no matter where you go, you’ll see a booth and somebody selling something. All in all, NYCC felt like a huge celebration and you can never run out of things to do. One should attend NYCC if they’ll like to see huge celebrities, meet industry professionals, or just be a part of a huge comic con. NYCC is also more kid-friendly than DragonCon (lol).
DragonCon:
- DragonCon is held in 5 hotels that are very close to each other, and in a convention center called AmericasMart in Downtown Atlanta. Just like NYCC, there are TONS of people. However DragonCon is a bit smaller – over 80,000 people attended in 2019. Many people call DragonCon “Nerdi Gras” for a reason – the convention consists of 4 days of non-stop partying. Basically, DragonCon never ends – the only thing that shuts down is the convention center, but the hotel festivities pretty much run throughout the night. You can also shop for goodies, but it’s not thrown in your face like it is at NYCC. One should attend DragonCon if they would like to meet new people, love cosplay (they’re more cosplayers at DragonCon than at NYCC – I’ll talk about this later), love to play games and possibly compete (there’s a gaming arcade), and wants to have a better chance at randomly meeting a celebrity in person.
Panels
New York Comic Con:
- NYCC has a combination of both big panels and small panels. Many of the bigger panels had guests from huge movies or TV shows. The smaller panels had discussions about a specific topic. Then you had the Live Stage panels that hosted quick interviews with a celebrity guest, director, artist, etc. And there are a few panels that you have to pay to get into – mainly the ones that include a meet and greet or limited edition giveaways. In my and my friends’ opinion, the panels were nothing special. They did not give audience members enough time to ask questions or the chance to participate in anything. As a result, the bigger panels felt like a talk to sell the company’s merchandise. But I did attend a couple of smaller panels which were pretty interesting.
DragonCon:
- DragonCon also has a mixture of big and small panels. Almost all panels are free – you only have to pay for workshops and classes. I find that the panels at DragonCon are more fan-driven. They are also more engaging – even the ones that host celebrities. For example, in 2018 my friends and I attended a Ric Flair panel. In the last 20 or so minutes of the panel, we were able to walk up to a mic and directly ask Ric Flair any question that comes to mind. This past year, we attended a Persona (the game) Fans panel and my friend was able to participate in a contest. I find engaging panels like this fun and they leave you with much more memories. However it depends on your preferences as well.
Guests
New York Comic Con:
- If you’re looking to see A-list celebrities, then this is your con. Examples of guests in 2019: Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, Paul Rudd, Tom Hiddleston, cast from Impractical Jokers, Brandi Rhodes, and more. This year (2019), I found that there weren’t many celebrities that I wanted to see except for 3 (and I didn’t get a chance to see any of them ><). It’s harder to meet or see celebrities at NYCC since panels get booked up way in advance, and meet and greets are expensive. Also at NYCC you may run into a few celebrities on the floor, which is cool, however some of them like to be discreet.
DragonCon:
- DragonCon is fan run, and you won’t get a ton of huge celebrities at this con. However, that is all subjective and based on what you like. For instance, this past year my friend got a chance to see the cast of one of her favorite TV shows. Another one of my friends got the chance to meet the voice actors of Overwatch, his favorite game. Also last year, my two friends met Luke Cage in an elevator. I’ve also realized that celebrities like to blend in with the crowd at DragonCon. For instance, I found this reddit post where someone said they attended DragonCon and ran into Stan Lee while on the escalator. And this past year, T-Pain (I know, very random) showed up as Leroy from Tekken 7 and partied with the crowd in the Marriott.
Cosplay
New York Comic Con:
- It seems like less than half of the people at NYCC were in cosplay. Most people had on a graphic t-shirt or were wearing regular clothes. I even remember hearing from a passerby, “wow almost nobody cosplayed this year. Why did I even get dressed up?” As for the people who did cosplay, the costumes were very good. You can tell people put in a lot of work into their costumes. Also, you’ll meet more famous cosplayers at NYCC and big publishers taking pictures of cosplayers (most likely for their YouTube channels).
DragonCon:
- At DragonCon, it seems like at least 75% of people there were in cosplay, or at least the majority. You WILL feel left out if you’re not in a costume. I’d also say I like the cosplay at DragonCon better because they were very unique – you won’t see the same cosplay multiple times. There are also a lot of photoshoots for different groups (such as Marvel Cosplay meetup; Deadpool Cosplays meetup; Gaming cosplay photoshoot; etc)
Exhibits and Booths
New York Comic Con:
- So for this section alone, I would say that the booths at both NYCC and DragonCon are very similar. Except, NYCC had much more extravagant choices. For instance, this past year Arcade1Up set up a giant gaming arcade booth that you can actually play with your friends. PlayStation also had a booth and you can play unreleased, upcoming games there. I would say there were more corporate exhibits at NYCC.
DragonCon:
- Just like NYCC, Dragoncon has both a general vendor area (held in the AmericasMart) and an area for artists to sell their work. It is very hard to get into the AmericasMart at Dragoncon – I find that every time my friends and I would try to go, the line wraps around the block or the place would fill to capacity. The best time to enter is during or straight after the DragonCon parade. From my observation, I would say there were more fan-made/local business exhibits at DragonCon.
Nightlife/After-Con Events
New York Comic Con:
- New York Comic Con ends at 7 PM, and there’s a LOT of stuff happening after the con all around the city. You are in New York City, after all! But the thing is, if you want to party with other NYCC attendees you have to find NYCC-themed after party events – you cannot just go to a nearby club and expect everyone there to come from NYCC. Some examples of after party events are a One Piece Orchestral Concert, Watchmen party, networking events, and a “Rave of Thrones”. And there’s also an annual Cosplay Contest that takes place Saturday evening (though you have to sign up to attend in advance).
DragonCon:
- DragonCon essentially never ends. All of the night events are held within each host hotel, which makes sense. Nightlife at DragonCon is something else, and things could get pretty interesting. A good thing is that I’ve never seen any altercations and they’re guards everywhere – it’s still very safe. Some of the parties are organized and planned in advance. Others just… happen. There are a couple of people who bring their jukebox and walk around the floor while blasting a mix of their own. There are a lot of popular themed parties such as Bunny Hutch party and Costume Contest and Yule Ball. AND if you’re not into partying, there are still fun things to do at night, such as adult-themed panels or movie watch parties (think Avengers or Spirited Away).
New York Comic Con vs DragonCon – Which Do I Prefer?
Overall, I enjoyed both cons a lot. As you can tell from this article, they’re both very different and serve different purposes.
BUT, if I had to choose between NYCC and DragonCon, I would choose DragonCon hands down.
NYCC is a lot of fun and you do get a chance to see a lot of big celebrities. However DragonCon is much more personable and intimate – and it’s easier to meet a lot of people and form memories. DragonCon is more like a 24 hour festival, whereas NYCC felt like a 9 hour trade show. NYCC is also held in October, right when it gets pretty chilly in Manhattan. DragonCon is during Labor Day weekend in August – so the weather is better. Once again, I really enjoyed NYCC this year, but I actually plan on trying out other cons in the future (such as San Diego Comic Con, which I heard is similar). Meanwhile, I think DragonCon will be my annual must-go-to event.
