{"id":120852,"date":"2025-08-28T20:03:49","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T01:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=120852"},"modified":"2025-08-28T20:03:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T01:03:51","slug":"dragoncon-has-begun-were-excited-to-see-whos-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2025\/08\/28\/120852-dragoncon-has-begun-were-excited-to-see-whos-here\/","title":{"rendered":"DragonCon has begun &#8211; we&#8217;re excited to see who&#8217;s here!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"intro\">It&#8217;s Thursday, and already the Marriott hotel in downtown Atlanta is pulsing with music, crowds and excitement. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dragoncon.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"DragonCon\">DragonCon<\/a> is upon us! And staffers from TORn are looking forward to connecting with our fellow fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ll be at our &#8216;fan table&#8217; in our usual spot (Hyatt Exhibition Level, opposite the entrance to the Art Show). We have some awesome new buttons for sale, as well as this year&#8217;s shirt designs &#8211; the Prancing Pony Club:<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"885\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SDCC-2025-PONY-885x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-120574 no-lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SDCC-2025-PONY-885x1024.png 885w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SDCC-2025-PONY-259x300.png 259w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SDCC-2025-PONY-768x889.png 768w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SDCC-2025-PONY-138x160.png 138w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SDCC-2025-PONY.png 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 885px) 100vw, 885px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>And Bilbo from the Rankin\/Bass <em>The Hobbit<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"673\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SDCC-2025-bilbo-1024x673.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-120565 no-lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SDCC-2025-bilbo-1024x673.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SDCC-2025-bilbo-300x197.png 300w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SDCC-2025-bilbo-768x505.png 768w, https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SDCC-2025-bilbo.png 1902w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Please come by the table and say hi. As an added bonus &#8211; if you come and tell us something Boromir would have done (in the style of Denethor, a la &#8216;Boromir would have remembered his father&#8217;s need&#8230;&#8217;), we have a special secret prize for you! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Join us in Bree!<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>Friday night is of course the annual &#8216;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2024\/09\/10\/119352-check-out-some-amazing-cosplay-from-dragoncon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Evening at Bree\">Evening at Bree<\/a>&#8216;, starting at 8.30pm. We&#8217;re in the Grand Ballroom in the Courtland Grand (same venue as last year), and we&#8217;ll have the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebards.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Brobdingnagian Bards\">Brobdingnagian Bards<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/bethpattersonmusic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Beth Patterson\">Beth Patterson<\/a> playing again, as well as a new (to Bree) band this year, the duo <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kinnfolkmusic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Kinnfolk\">Kinnfolk<\/a>. The Elf Choir will sing for us, and of course we&#8217;ll have the costume contest. (If you&#8217;d like to enter, please sign up before the event, either at the High Fantasy Track room: Marriott L401, or at our table.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Panels<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>There is lots to enjoy for Tolkien fans this year. TORn&#8217;s own panel, &#8216;An Hour with TheOneRing.net&#8217;, when staffers deej, Madeye Gamgee and greendragon will be joined by TORn&#8217;s good friend <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@knewbettadobetta\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Knewbettadobetta\">Knewbettadobetta<\/a>, is Saturday 5.30pm in the Hyatt International South. You can also find greendragon on The Rings of Power Season 2 panel (Friday 1pm, Marriott A601), and join many excellent Tolkien scholars and friends of TORn for &#8216;Harmony and Dissonance: Creation in Tolkien&#8217;s Mythos&#8217; (Sunday 1pm, Marriott L401). For those who stay right through the end of the con, come and Scour the Shire with us at 11.30am on Monday, Marriott L401.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dance Party<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>The High Fantasy Track&#8217;s &#8216;Goblin Ball&#8217; goes 90s this year &#8211; and our own deej will be DJing once again! Put on your plaid shirt and DMs, apply some frosty lipstick, and come and party 1990s style. We&#8217;ll be dancing in the Marriott A601 from 10pm on Sunday night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">As if that weren&#8217;t enough&#8230;<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>Tolkien lovers abound at DragonCon this year! Artist <a href=\"https:\/\/donatoarts.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Donato Giancola\">Donato Giancola<\/a> is well-known to fans of Middle-earth, and he&#8217;s this year&#8217;s Guest of Honour in the Art Show &#8211; so be sure to stop by and visit him there. Another featured guest is singer, songwriter, actor and well-known Tolkien fan <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jasoncmiller\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Jason Charles Miller\">Jason Charles Miller<\/a>, who will be performing and appearing in a couple of panels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So much to do and to enjoy &#8211; let the games begin! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s Thursday, and already the Marriott hotel in downtown Atlanta is pulsing with music, crowds and excitement. DragonCon&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":120574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,88,1374,16,122,14,197,18,4092,148,149,156,159],"tags":[4384,3590,4383,1767,1167,3673,2154,1525,221,2014],"class_list":["post-120852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-calendar","category-merchandise-clothing","category-clothing-shop","category-events-conventions","category-events-dragoncon","category-events","category-fans","category-merchandise","category-middle-earth-enterprises","category-hobbit","category-lotr","category-torn-announcements","category-torn-community","tag-an-evening-in-bree","tag-donato-giancola","tag-jason-charles-miller","tag-merchandise-2","tag-middle-earth-enterprises","tag-prancing-pony","tag-rankin-bass","tag-san-diego-comic-con","tag-the-hobbit","tag-the-lord-of-the-rings"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SDCC-2025-PONY.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1tLoH-vre","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120852"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120854,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120852\/revisions\/120854"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}