YumaCon 2015: Yuma, AZ’s First YumaCon!

Hi there! admin M here and it’s about time I started writing this article. I apologize for delaying this but I’ve been busy this week. On November 14, 2015, I had the pleasure of attending Yuma, Arizona’s first Comic-Con! YumaCon 2015 made history in Yuma with making this event. I had the honor of honing a Press Pass for the Con. I even uploaded a video already which has to do with the cosplayers, interview with some cosplayers, cosplay contest, etc. which you can view here. Here is the video about the main booths, vendors, Smash Bros. tournament, etc. You can view it here. The official numbers rolled in and 1,600 people attended the first YumaCon! Now, on to the main events!

There were plenty of events inside the Yuma Arts Center which is where the Convention took place. The Yuma Sun even posted their own article along with some great pictures in their website. You can see their article here. Many organizations such as the Arizona Ghostbusters showed up along with the Halo Fireteam Phoenix, Mandalorian Mercs among many others such as the United Zombies of America. A photographer was taking photos at the event and There was an art contest, art display, a cosplay contest, a Smash Bros. tournament, various events happening on the second floor such as learning how to do zombie/gore make-up, a MaiCafe, K-Pop Karaoke, too many to list! Here’s a list of the events:

A display of the art:

Here will be a few pictures of some of the booths:

Items for sale!

Fan-Quest booth!

Outside the Yuma Arts Center was the Ghostbusters vehicle! Who you gonna call?

The first floor after more people attended

ART CONTEST:

There was an art contest held in the Con. Various entries but only three winners:

Third place goes to Jocelyn Galvez

Second place goes to Saye Plaza

First place goes to Beau Dean Brooks

COSPLAY CONTEST – YOUTH:
As said before, there was a cosplay contest going on for both children and adults. If you don’t see pictures of the cosplayers who participated in the contest then I wasn’t able to find one. Oh! Right! Before it slips my mind, many of the pictures used were taken from Joshua Luna. You can check out his Facebook page here. Any other photographs such as those used from the Yuma Sun will be credited, of course.

William Wright as Han Solo

Ayden Dilks as Inuyasha. Photograph taken by Rachel Twoguns from The Yuma Sun

Chloe Harris as Ghostbuster Fox

Molly as Edward Elrich (left) Photographer: Unknown

WINNER: The winner of the Youth division was Aiden Dilks! Runner-ups/Best Characterization were Alexander Wright as Anakin Skywalker and William Wright as Han Solo! Congrats, to the winners!

NOT PICTURED:
William who wore a Creeper costume from the Minecraft series.
Damian Ramos wore a cosplay from his own design.
Alexander Wright had an Anakin Skywalker cosplay.
Keenan as The Green Lantern.
Arlett Franco as John Egbert.
Molly Harris as Ghostbuster Molly.

COSPLAY CONTEST – ADULTS:
Here are the cosplays from the adult section of the contest! Again, if pictures are missing, then it means I couldn’t find a photo of said person. If you guys want to see the whole thing then make sure to see the video! I’ll leave links at the end.

Nicole Crawford as Snow White

Cody Beecher as Bunji Kugashira

TJ Mulligan as a D&D character

Casey Boroski as Malon

Cassandra Salazar as Ichigo Kurosaki

Dominique Rodriguez as Spider-Man

Katie Muller as Miss Martian

Jessica Sumaya as The Chesire Cat

Omar Velasquez as Alucard

Jason as The Eleventh Doctor

Steve Figueroa as The Ninth Doctor and Mario Gonzalez as The Fourth Doctor

Naomi Torres as Luca from Vocaloid

Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Suba as Snotlout Jorgenson from ‘How To Train Your Dragon’

HONORABLE MENTION: Dominique Rodriguez
BEST NOVICE: Nacho Suba
WINNERS: TJ Mulligan won runner-up and Naomi Torres won! Congrats to all four winners!

NOT PICTURED:
Genesis Rodriguez as Tardis from Doctor Who
Ricky Jaime as Spider-Man
Ashley as Solid Snake
Raven Walker as The Punisher
Lee Billingsley as Levi Ackerman

SKIT DIVISION:
In this division, two (or more) cosplayers are up on stage and do a skit such as perform a dance of some sort. There were two groups:

Yisel and Raquel Espinoza as Koizumi Hanayo and Yazawa Nico from Love Live! School Idol Project. Check out their Facebook page here.

Akira from Akira’s Cosplay Corner as Raiden from Metal Gear Solid

Atolia from Atolia’s Cosplay Corner who is cosplaying as Umaru from ‘Himotu! Umaru-Chan’ and accompanied Akira in the skit.

WINNER:
The winners were Yisel and Raquel Espinoza and best craftsmanship went to Akira!

A picture of the cosplay contest judges!

BLURBS!
FireLight: A professional cosplayer and prop maker who was a judge in the cosplay contest! She has appeared in several Cons around Arizona such as PhoenixCon and FanFest! Best known for her alien cosplays such as her original twi’lek bounty hunter and Liara from Mass Effect, she specializes in body-painting, complex armor builds, and fangirling over all things nerdy. She cosplayed as Nidale from ‘League of Legends’ in YumaCon. Check out her Facebook page here and her website here.

Mentor: Mentor has been part of the charity costuming community for several years. He is the current Commanding Officer of Justice League Arizona and is also a member of both the Arizona Avengers and the 501st Legion. He has a number of costumes but is best known for: Green Lantern, Hawkman, Deathstroke, and Nick Fury. Joseph believes charity costuming should be inclusive of family. He can be seen pictured above as a Stormtrooper.

Smoldering Flame: Has been cosplaying since 2004. She has a background in theatre working on props and sets. She has teamed up with the talented Serenity Costumes to create gorgeous costumes for video games, comics, and anime. She loves playing video games and collecting figures. She cosplayed as Rictus Erectus from the movie ‘Mad max: Fury Road’ Check out her Facebook page here.

Serenity Costumes: Started her costuming career in 2006. In 2010, she created Serenity Costumes; a portfolio for her costume work and to share skills and tips with other costumers. In 2013 she started Serenity Costumes as a commission business and now makes costumes for others as well as herself. She has won several awards in costuming competitions such as best in show at Amazing Las Vegas 2014, first place in experienced at Amazing Arizona 2015, and was picked as a top winner for The AZ Republic Kings and Queens of Cosplay. She has also judged several costume contests including Phoenix Comicon and Salt Lake Comic Con. She can be seen as Immortan Joe from ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Check out her Facebook page here and her website here.

Neon Lights: I don’t have much information about the final judge who is pictured above on the right side. He’s been cosplaying since 2009 and maily attends Cons in Mexico.

SMASH BROS. TOURNAMENT:
Unfortunately, I wasn’t attending this one for  a long time. I saw a person who went by the user of Bcast who won the tournament. Stay tuned for the second video to be done to see footage from the tournament!

Finale of the Smash Bros. tournament. Photographer: Unknown

KIBA THE COSPLAY CORGI:
Okay, this is probably the most sweetest thing in YumaCon! Kiba is a Corgi dog who cosplays as various characters! I saw him in three different costumes. At the end of the day, Kiba had a ruff day but won the hearts of many.

SPECIAL GUESTS:
Let’s talk about the special guests. The following words are form the official YumaCon Facebook page:

Arizona Ghostbusters: The Arizona Ghostbusters are a costuming fan club bound together by their mutual love for the Ghostbusters license in all its forms and the personal pride and accomplishment that comes with volunteering. The Ghostbuster costumes allow them to draw extra attention to many well deserving Charities. Since forming in 2007, the smiles and joy that costumes have generated help them give to the community and put great meaning into their group. Check out their website here and their Facebook page here.

Kiba The Corgi Cosplayer: Kiba is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi that enjoys his job as a service dog for his mom, Nicole Spickerman. Kiba started cosplaying in 2013 when Nicole decided to go to a con last minute and only had time to throw 2 costumes together for him, Link from Legend of Zelda and a Moogle from the Final Fantasy series. It wasn’t till 2014 though when they started enjoying cosplaying together! Kiba now has quite a few costumes and Nicole is always thinking of more to make, but there is only so much you can do when you’re a dog with short legs and no tail and have to rely on a busy Mom to make your costumes! Check out their website here and their Facebook page here. Follow them on Instagram @NicoleAndKiba

Fan-Quest: Yuma’s only comic book and game store. They have served our community for over 25 years. They feature an in store gaming section where players can learn, teach, and play different games. For comic lovers, they feature a pull and hold system so that comic lovers don’t miss their favorite books. Check out their Facebook page here.

Arizona Avengers: an all-volunteer group throughout all of Arizona. They enjoy enriching the lives of others through their Marvel costumes. They participate in many charity and community events such as book, toy, and food drives, appearances in hospitals, fundraisers, and helping out at library and after school programs that promote safety, literacy, and anti-bullying. They want to show that everyone can be a hero. Check out their Facebook page here.

United Zombies of America: A professional family friendly group that performs in haunted houses, festivals, conventions, and many other events. They act, teach, do make up, and create games like “Zombie Attack”! They specialize in having fun, training young zombies-to-be, costuming, video, and photography. Check out their website here and their Facebook page here.

Halo Fireteam Phoenix: A local cosplay group from the video game Halo. They strive to help raise money for charity and children’s hospitals. The team works together to build the highest quality costumes for each member and is entirely non-profit. Check out their Facebook page here.

Mandalorian Mercs: One of the largest Mandalorian Mercs costume clubs in the United States. The name means “Dune Sea”, named for the Imperial Sand Dunes where Return of the Jedi was filmed. They promote the Star Wars experience and teach people about the Mandalorians. Check out their website here and their Facebook page here.

There were various other things happening such as the board game contest hosted by Fan-Quest which we didn’t cover 100% and we couldn’t get into Classroom Two so we couldn’t cover anything in there. I believe that’s pretty much it for this article! There were various booths and nice people attending the Con that I had the chance too meet and talk to. I would like to thank everyone who attended YumaCon and those who helped put everything together.  If you guys want to see more images, then click here or here. There are also a few pictures I uploaded on the Up Your Geek Facebook page which you can view them here.