MomoCon, a geek culture convention that features four days of cosplay, gaming, panels, music, and vendors, will take place Memorial Day weekend, May 25-28, at the Georgia World Congress Center.
Attracting more than 40,000 attendees, MomoCon is one of the fastest-growing all-ages conventions in the country with fans of Japanese anime, American animation, and tabletop and video games coming together.
“We’re excited to be back at the Georgia World Congress Center to show our guests a new and more exciting MomoCon experience,” said Jessica Merriman, MomoCon co-founder. “MomoCon 2023 has some incredible guests, including Run-DMC founder Darryl McDaniels, comic book artist Mark Brooks, voice actress Adassa, and animation legend Don Bluth.”
MomoCon was created in 2004 by Merriman and Chris Stuckey on Georgia Tech’s campus, with 700 people attending that first year. It’s now one of the largest events in the southeastern U.S.
“I love the creativity and the experience. I have been going to Atlanta Cons for almost a decade between DragonCon, MomoCon, and Anime Weekend Atlanta (AWA),” said Keenen Orlando Baker, an Atlanta-based cosplayer and featured guest at this year’s MomoCon. “ I just really love that atmosphere. They always feel like a family reunion where we dress up. We all get to showcase a lot of our creative aspects.”
This year, Baker will serve on two panels for MomoCon on Friday, May 26, including “Build or Buy: it’s YOUR Cosplay” and “Here Comes A New Challenger: 3D printing 101”.
“This is my first time being a special guest at a Con and I thought that it was dope that it’s a Con in Atlanta”, he said.
With a decade of cosplay under his belt, Baker is known as a young professional with extensive knowledge of the Cosplay building process, foam smithing and 3D Printing, he has obtained a diverse skill set in visual effects, detailing, prop building and armor designing.
Some of his best cosplay outfits include Marvel’s Kid Flash, X-Men’s Nightcrawler, DC Comic’s Firestorm, Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy 7, and the classic Green Power Ranger.
For those who are unfamiliar, cosplay is where attendees dress up as their favorite anime, superhero, and gaming characters. And while MomoCon offers a lot for the average attendee to enjoy, many people come specifically for cosplay.
The majority of the attendees arrive in cosplay, ready to take pictures and participate in special meetups which either consist of a group of people dressed as a similar character, like Spiderman and all of the different types of Spiderman, or dressed as characters from the same show, comic book, or video game.
There are even competitions and this year MomoCon is hosting two competitions judging cosplay, one for contestants who have made 60 percent or less of their costume and one for those who made 60 percent or more of their costume.
“If you’re what I consider an avid cosplayer, you start to get into the motion of making things and it doesn’t matter if you make it all or just a little of it. When I first started, my first two cosplays were bought. I didn’t make anything for them. But in 2017, I collaborated with a very close friend of mine and he took me through the ropes of how to build armor. So from then to now, I’ve been building, and everything pretty much has come from my creative mindset,” Baker said.
MomoCon attendees can register for four-day or single day memberships. Four-day memberships are $85.00 to $95.00. Single day tickets range from $40.00 – $55.00 (kids 9 and under free). Game tournament registration and separate concert tickets are also available. Visit www.MomoCon.com for more details.