I’ve made a habit over the past several years of attending DinoCon (and its predecessor, TetZooCon), and so of course I decided to attend this year again. This time was a little different, as I decided to bring my kids with me to see how they would enjoy the experience!
This year’s event was, according to show runner Darren Naish, around twice the size of DinoCon 2025, and it certainly showed! Taking place at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole, there was a lot more space than in previous events, but none of it went to waste. The event ran over the weekend of July 25th & 26th, and was packed with lectures, paleoart workshops, a costume contest, roaming dinosaurs by Dinomania, and a vendor hall.
Some events ran concurrently with each other, and so I did not get to see everything I might have liked to, but I thoroughly enjoyed everything I did get to see. I found the talks enlightening, and while I wasn’t able to fit as much swag into my luggage as in previous years, I’m still happy with what I got. (On that note, look for my review of Speed Thief: Volume 2!)
David James Armsby returned this year as guest of honor, and the exclusive premier “Great Maia”, the latest entry in his animated Dinosauria series, was one of the highlights of the weekend. One lecture I particularly regret missing was Chelsey Kynff’s “A Bone to Pick” about important women in the history of paleontology. I caught a snippet towards the end of her talk, and it sounded like it was a good one.
I’ll blame my kids partially for that last one. While they enjoyed themselves well enough, they aren’t nearly as dinosaur-brained as I am, and so they wanted a break from the talks partway through the day. They loved the robotic dinosaurs by Dinomania, however, and had fun wandering around the vendor hall to see what all was on offer. They probably would have enjoyed the Beginner Paleoart Workshop, though unfortunately the space filled up too quickly and we were unable to get in during the first time slot, and it never quite worked out for us to get in to the others. Would I bring them again? My boys, specifically, maybe not; but I noticed several other kids about their age who were presumably bigger dino fans that seemed to be pretty engaged, so make of that what you will if you’re trying to decide whether to attend with your own kids.
To address the elephant in the room, Tim Haines gave one of the final talks of the weekend on the show “Surviving Earth”, which overall I thought was fairly interesting. Unfortunately, towards the end, he made some remarks essentially endorsing the supposed inevitability of Generative A.I. in the future production of programs like this, and showed a clip by Paleorex to emphasize that point. This clip earned some boos from the audience, though I don’t think they were directed at Haines himself. It was a bit of sour note to end an otherwise interesting presentation, and one that I hope doesn’t represent a changing tide in the future of paleo documentaries.
As always, I had a great time, and I hope to attend again next year. If you’re looking for a great time with a bunch of fellow dinosaur nerds, then plan on attending DinoCon yourself!
Dino Dad Reviews 