Per Matt
Wrapping up the coverage of our final 2013 convention, Yama-Con did not fail to deliver the heat.
Bundled up in the hills of the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, Yama-Con took place on a chilly, wet weekend of early December. I was really impressed with this second-year convention, offering a little bit of everything to geeks everywhere. There was plenty of anime-related material, horror actors, Zombies from The Walking Dead, concerts, food-eating and costume-building contests, video-game tournaments, panels and much more!
What happens when The Walking Dead meets League of Legends?
After attending Opening Ceremonies and checking out the Vendor’s Room, I spent a considerable amount of time hanging at the Control Freak Video Game Headquarters. There were current and last-gen consoles and video-game cabinets available for free play, but Control Freak featured many video-game tournaments, including Super Smash Bros, Halo 4, and most importantly, a limited-edition reproduction of the 1990 Nintendo World Championships available for everyone to play. I was really impressed with this acquisition, since very few reproductions of this cartridge are known to exist worldwide. Although I was a pro at playing NES games back in the day, after playing this once, I was definitely out of my league.
The Iron Cosplay Contest was definitely a blast to watch, as the contestants received limited supplies to build a costume… with hilarious results.
Getting served by Yami.
Checking out the Maid and Butler Café, I was served by Yami, the official Yama-Con female mascot who loved wearing multiple costumes each day.
Rick Grimes and Yami strike a pose.
Saturday was a very busy day. Not only did I don my Rick Grimes cosplay, but I also conducted several video interviews with the celebrity guests in attendance. However, technical difficulties have plagued me since this convention ended a few weeks ago and I have yet to post them. I intend to post my video interviews with Yami (the female mascot cosplayer of Yama-Con), cosplayer Manda Bear, two of the original Zombies of The Walking Dead (Sonya Thompson and Larry Mainland) and an interview with fellow monster journalist.
Time to call for help: Rick Grimes stepping out of the TARDIS.
After checking out the TARDIS by Cosplay Kasterborous, it was time to witness the Cosplay Craftsmanship Contest, which was a ton of fun. I really enjoyed briefly visiting with the grand-prize winner, who donned a great Link costume, as well as Ahri and many other cosplayers.
Yama-Con Costume Contest
Sunday featured a few panels for me, including the highlight: Greggo’s Pokémon Game Show. Even though I don’t know too much about Pokémon, I recognize great comedy and fun. Greggo provided both with his great panel. Later on, I watched the Anime Music Video Contest and was impressed with each entry’s hard work. Wrapping up the day was Eyeshine’s acoustic concert, complete with a random phone call to anime voice actor Todd Haberkorn, who found talking to the crowd equally amusing.
Enter Eggman. On Rock Band. Singing Enter Sandman. No Joke.
There was plenty of mayhem in the house, most notably involving Dr. Robotnik. His rendition of Enter Eggman (formerly known as Enter Sandman) played on Rock Band was rocking!
You can find more event and cosplay photos on our Twitter and Facebook pages!
A crossover taking aim: Final Fantasy + The Walking Dead.
Overall, the weekend was chilly but the convention was great fun. I look forward to posting the video interviews very soon to our Webpage. We’ll keep you posted here and on our Twitter and Facebook pages for when they are live!