YumaCon 2016

Photo from the YumaCon Facebook page

On November 12, 2016, Yuma, AZ had its second YumaCon. Once again, I had the honor of being press and covering the event like last year. The event was held in a different place than last year due to the first one having 1,600 attendants so this year’s Con was help in a bigger area. Unlike last year where I uploaded two videos of the event, this time I decided to just post one. It’s almost three hours long and has everything from the last two videos I posted on YouTube. You can view the video here. There were tons of people this time around, new guests, cosplay contest, etc.

Photo from the YumaCon Facebook page. Pictured is ‘Moonlight Sprites’

There were plenty of new events and guests this year. Gaming tournaments, Love Live Cosplay Cafe, How to survive your first big Con, Becoming an indie filmmaker, and a Geek Rave by the end of the Con. Guests such as the Four Lords, writers of The Curseborn Saga, artist Kip Mussatt of Kipsworld, and many others. Unfortunately, I only took videos of the event and not pictures. There is another article by The Yuma Sun which you can view here. The Geek Lyfe also did an article which you can view here. Let’s talk about some of the events.

The Curseborn Saga

Image from the YumaCon Facebook page

The Curseborn Saga by Four Lords is a series of books and is now going into manga form. There are currently five parts to the main novella and one of the newest releases is ‘The Curseborn Saga: Fade to Black (Shard I)‘ which was released June 2016. What Curseborn saga is about is trying to bring the best fantasy stories into reality. The work of two brothers and two best friends creating a fantasy epic about Gods, legends, adventure, etc.

“What happens when the gods themselves lose hope? Fear. Greed. Envy. Lust. Hatred. These are his gifts. And his desire will bring the end of all things. There is a place older than Night and Day. From it came understanding, emotion, and the first of words. Upon this world the gods once stood tall. But no more. This is the legend of two brothers who unknowingly stood for those gods, and how they changed their world. Some say they saved everything. Others condemn them for the destruction of all. It is for you to decide.”
-Four Lords

Kipsworld

Image from the YumaCon Facebook page

Kip Mussatt is a self-taught artist based in Arizona. He sold artwork in the Con which he hand drew himself. He’s done art for some famous people as well. You tell him what to do and he’ll make it come to life. You can check out some of his artwork on his website which you can view here.

Devil’s Due-1First Comics

Image from the YumaCon Facebook page

Devil’s Due Entertainment/1First Comics panel! Brothers John & Matt Yuan are both comic book writers and artists! They both do ‘Inspector Oh‘ and ‘Serving Supes‘ and help with other comics. They discussed their process of doing their comics and I also spoke with Orlando Harding, an independent comic book publisher and writer of Night Stalker and released R.R.H. You can check out Devil’s Due-1First Comics’ website here.

United Zombies of America

Image from the YumaCon facebook page

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. This year, they hosted a panel on Zombie make-up. Check out their website here.

Fan-Quest

Image from the YumaCnon Facebook page

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. They were selling various merchandise and comics in their booth. Check out their Facebook page here.

Mandalorian Mercs

Image from the YumaCon Facebook page

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.

Local Artists

Image taken by Maria B.

Local artists Gisela C. and W. Ryan displayed their art in their very own booth. Both artists are from Yuma and are also good friends. Gisela and W. Ryan are a team and call themselves ‘Artist Level: Over 9,000!‘ You can check out Gisela’s Facebook page here and W. Ryan’s Facebook page here. Among other local artists were Leslie L. and music artist Caine L. You can check out Leslie’s Facebook page here and check out Caine’s Soundcloud here. Also, make sure to check out his first music video here.

Vendors and merch, etc.

Image taken from the YumaCon Facebook page

Pictured above is AlienKitty Designs, a creative… creator! She specializes in digital art, fabric creations, plush, stickers, and more! The art and merchandise sold there was made by her. You can check out her Facebook page here. Among other vendors, there was also Monlight Sprites. What they do is create a figure and make it have an 8-bit look. You can check out their Facebook page here.

Image taken from Moonlight Sprite’s Facebook page

Image from the YumaCon Facebook page

Kiba the Cosplay Corgi in his Halo cosplay. Image taken from YumaCon’s Facebook page.

Cosplay & dance ‘Love Live!’ group MU☆SE. Image taken from YumaCon’s Facebook page.

Is it time to show some cosplay? Yep. Check out some of the cosplays by the people! Images from YumaCon’s Facebook page unless otherwise stated.

Garrett E. won Best Youth category.

On the left is Cody B. who was an honorable mention in the contest. Image by Maria B.

Best Craftsman went to Alex J.

Best Costume in the Skit category went to Jerry A. Image from Rachel Twoguns from the Yuma Sun.

Best performance in the Skit category went to the Rise of the Guardians group. Image from Rachel Twoguns from the Yuma Sun.

Best in Master’s went to Adriana who is on the right side of the picture

An image of the winners of the contest! Image by Deegan Marie from The Geek Lyfe

The cosplay judges! Image from Rachel Twoguns of the Yuma Sun

Judges from left to right

Nasho: A cosplayer with four years of cosplaying experience! A cosplayer from Baja California, he specializes in doing masks, accessories, and more crazy cosplay stuff from scratch! Check him out on his Facebook page here

Namitsuki: Another international cosplayer from Baja California! She’s been cosplaying since 2007 at the age of 13! She believes in “practice makes the master” as she only made around 10% of her suits when she started to making them 100% on her own as time passed by. Check out her Facebook page here.

Q-ki: Beginning her cosplay adventure in 2009. She’s a self-taught crafter and has won numerous awards, and being noted for attention to detail. Besides making costumes for herself, she’s made several for groups and performing artists. Check out her Facebook page here.

Khainsaw: A cosplayer based in Tucson who has been in the game for nearly three years. She cosplays from a variety of media but is most known for her Kill La Kill cosplay, wig styling, and vinyl bodysuit work. Check out her Facebook page here.

KayPickle: KayPickle has been cosplaying since 2013. Her main focus is prop making and recently started fabricating costumes. Born and raised in Arizona, she’s an avid gamer and frequently streams on Twitch. Check out her Facebook page here.

Have some extra cosplays from YumaCon!

Image from the YumaCon Facebook page

Image from the YumaCon Facebook page

Image from the YumaCon Facebook page

Image from the YumaCon Facebook page

Image from the YumaCon Facebook page

Image from the YumaCon Facebook page

Image from the YumaCon Facebook page

Well, that’s it for now. YumaCon 2016 was a grandiose experience and the sequel was better than the original. There was plenty of new things this time around to see. I tried to film everything I could and talked to people as well as film the entire cosplay and skit contest. I’ll leave the video down below for you to see. It’s nearly three hours long and the contest starts at the hour and 23 minute mark. One thing I was interested to see was the Geek Rave but due to unfortunate circumstances, I couldn’t attend. There was food for sale and drinks too. Overall, this makes me anxious to attend YumaCon 2017.