Posted in: Conventions, Events, Games, Mobile Games, Tabletop, Video Games | Tagged: convention, MomoCon

MomoCon 2022 – Day 2: Wrestling, Art, Esports, & Cosplay Galore

As we talked about yesterday, we were brought out to Atlanta to experience the return of MomoCon for the first time since the pandemic. The second day for us was going around and checking out more of the stuff we didn't really get to explore the day before, as there was still half a convention floor to walk around. So we threw on our best shoes, put on our face mask, and some bottled water for the humidity as we explored throughout Saturday.

Yesterday we talked about how one of the weirder additions to MomoCon was a car show that was mostly anime designs compared to standard geekery vehicles. Nearby the car show was another somewhat oddity we don't get to see at conventions too often as they had professional wrestling happening in one of the halls. This wasn't anything set up by a major promoter, nor was it a whose who of retired or part-time wrestlers from the past. This was basically a local wrestling group putting on some matches for people to come check out. Specifically, Stranglehold Championship Wrestling, which operates out of Atlanta. The matches we popped by and saw on occasion were pretty good, but you can tell this is also where some of them have come to learn their craft, so it wasn't always perfect. Made for good entertainment!

We also explored MomoCon's Artist Alley, which in our experience is one of the lesser-traveled areas of most conventions. Unless you smack it in the middle of everything, it usually gets shoved off to one side with all of the vendors. You've seen thousands of vendor booths, so there was no need to go exploring since we're not collecting anything this time around or even looking for a new t-shirt for $40. So I hopped down and gave a look to see what the artists had in store. There were a plethora of hidden gems throughout the area, including map makers, liquid metal artists, and many illustrators who deserved a bigger spotlight than being put here. You can see a selection below and we have more in our gallery here.

Two of the craftier booths that caught our attention was this one that dealt with wood and metal works that primarily made wands, but also managed to make this amazing Captain America shield that was super lightweight but still had that shiny metal feeling. The other dealt with dice making, but they weren't the usual suspects who came around from major companies, they were hand-crafted dice that stood out because they had a unique look to the way they were put together.

The esports area of MomoCon was popping off all day. There were a number of tournaments going on, especially for Smash Bros. Melee and Smash Bros. Ultimate. Every few minutes it seemed people were moving around from table to table to watch qualifier matches and rooting everyone on. This felt like it had much better energy and vibe going for it than a lot of previous tournaments we've been to in the past, and I'm totally chalking that up to MomoCon's return and people just being excited to get out of the house. There was also a fun mic of GoldenEye, Mario Kart, Tekken 7, and more. This was, aside from the obvious celebrity autograph lines, the most populated area of the entire convention with people celebrating every casual and prize pool tournament around.

Of course, we'd be remiss not to point out all of the cosplay that was happening this time around. Some wonderful additions like the fancy Princess Peach, Radical Ed, an Among Us astronaut, and more. We have had a number of furries running around the flood having fun. Only one group, however, was down to let us snap a photo as the rest would hear the question and dart off running. Which is totally cool. not everyone is down to be photographed (which is why we always ask everyone for permission before doing so). But trust me, there was a much BIGGER furry presence here than this one photo lets on.

Overall, MomoCon felt like a massive gathering of relief. Relief that people can hang out again safely, that they can come back to an event like this and find like-minded people, that they can just sit down and play a game for fun. It was a blast to attend and, while we couldn't stay the entire four days, we had a great experience seeing this come back and watching everyone have a blast.

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