The Long Con: Four Atlanta Conventions Help Celebrate Your Inner Otaku

The last few years have seen an explosion of anime, gaming and comic conventions all over the country, but nowhere more so than Atlanta. The southern capital now has four big cons to choose from: Momo Con, Dragon Con, Anime Weekend Atlanta (AWA), and our newest convention Dreamhack Atlanta. On the surface, they may all seem similar to each other, especially if you’re new to conventions, and it can be tough to decide which ones to attend or if you’ll get a unique enough experience making it worthwhile to attend all four. Let me break down the biggest similarities and differences for Atlanta’s biggest cons.

First up is MomoCon, May 22-25. This gathering has a special place in my heart, and last year was as amazing a time as ever, even if the ever-growing layout seems to lead to a lot of walking. You have to walk through the entire convention to get to both the vendors and artist ally—there’s a lot to see along the way, but my feet exhausted. This year’s guests feature a range of comicbook artists and writers, voice actors, nerdcore musicians and cosplay creators. From gaming to K-pop battles to the Mirai Maid Cafe, MomoCon is a little slice of Southeast Asian pop culture in the heart of the Southeast.

While I skipped this year’s Dragon Con (walking around downtown Atlanta in late August), it’s still our biggest and most well-known convention for a reason, so praise or critique from me is not necessary. It’s also important to note that the other three conventions all take place in the same convention hall. In 2024 for the first time, Momo con, AWA, and Dreamhack all took place in the Georgia World Congress Center. I admit I had my reservations about this as I worried they would struggle to set themselves apart especially with Momo Con and AWA as they are both pretty exclusively anime conventions. This year’s event will take place Aug. 28 through Sept. 1 and tends to attract a host of best-selling sci-fi and fantasy authors from around the globe.

Most Popular

I think the biggest stand-out convention for me this year was Dream Hack. What sets Dreamhack apart is the laser focus on videogames, and even as someone who is pretty unfamiliar with the world of gaming I still had a great time at the event. I enjoyed all of the interactive spaces on the con floor which I think is something the other conventions don’t have. It felt like there was a lot to do and a lot to see with different bigger name companies having spaces on the con floor to advertise their new stuff. Dreamhack does have an artist alley and a couple of vendors but nothing approaching the other conventions. If your favorite thing about a con is getting to meet your favorite artists (and do some serious shopping) I think the other conventions have DreamHack beat in that category. Dreamhack’s biggest event in gaming is its BYOC area on the con floor where people bring their own setups and just game together for four days straight. It’s a staple for the convention and if you are into games especially PC it’s worth checking out. This year’s event will take place Oct. 31 through Nov. 2.

We only caught two of the four days of Anime Weekend Atlanta last year, but normally nothing keeps me from experiencing all four days. This year, the specialized con will run from Dec. 18-21. AWA 2024 grew into its own, as it both moved into a new convention hall and to a new season. One advantage of a winter convention is seeing all of the holiday cosplays. And though I’ll miss its old home at The Renaissance, the bigger space felt a lot less cramped. The layout of the con was both easy to get to from parking and generally easy to move around and navigate. The usually bustling TCG area felt a bit small, but that could be chalked up to having two big changes to the convention, and I’m excited to see how things go in 2025, which will include the formal AWA Ball, a fashion show and tea party, for those who like a little elegance with their convention experience.

All four conventions take place throughout the year at different times so you by no means have to choose but if you must and your biggest focus is anime, then I would recommend either Momo Con or AWA. The biggest difference between the two is that AWA is 24 hours and Momo, while it does go fairly late, shines a little more in their daytime/evening events and tends to be more family-friendly. Personally, I prefer MomoCon’s panels and daytime activities. I’m not sure if it’s just the topics of the panels that tend to appeal to me a little more or if they are actually better but I find myself frequently busy running from panel to panel when attending MomoCon. AWA shines brightly at night with their late-night 18+ panels and many concerts and other performances for adult weebs to party into the night, so if you’re an adult looking to party with your fellow nerds you might want to go with Anime Weekend Atlanta.

Whether you choose to attend all four or just dip your toes into one, the Atlanta convention scene has a lot to offer, and each convention is more than worth checking out.