Atlanta’s best geek culture convention, MomoCon, will fill the Georgia World Congress Center Memorial Day Weekend 2023, May 25 through May 28, 2023 for four days of cosplay, gaming, panels, music, and vendors.

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. Open 24-hours every day through the weekend, attendees will participate in and watch esports competitions, meet celebrity voice talent and designers, engage with the writers behind their favorite shows, games and comics, explore the independent video game section, and browse hundreds of vendors.

This year, the event will be in the 750,000 square foot Hall B at the GWCC. Created by Jessica Merriman and Chris Stuckey, MomoCon has grown from a 700 person on-campus event at Georgia Tech to one of the largest events of its kind in the southeastern U.S.

“We’re excited to be back at the Georgia World Congress Center to show our guests a new and more exciting MomoCon experience,” says Merriman. “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.”

Cosplay - Cosplay, where attendees dress up as their favorite anime, superhero, and gaming characters, has long been a mainstay of MomoCon. Look for two contests this year, judged by experienced costume and prop makers.
Friday, May 27: The Cosplay Showcase will determine who best became their character on stage. The contest is for attendees who have made60 percent or less of their costume by hand.
Saturday, May 28: The Craftsmanship Costume Contest will allow participants the chance to show off their craftsmanship and prop making abilities. Participants must have made 60 percent or more of their costume by hand.

Gaming
MomoCon 2023 will offer the largest gaming floor in the Southeast, with more than 300,000 square feet of classic arcades, esport stages, PC/LAN gaming, console tournaments and freeplay. More than 90,000 square feet of that will be dedicated to tabletop games, board games, card games, role playing games (LARP), and miniatures.

The MomoCon Major competition will host competitive tournaments in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Rivals of Aether, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Mario Party Superstars, Tekken 7, and Guilty Gear Strive.
Toontown Rewritten will host ToonFest, a celebration of all things Toontown. Visitors to the ToonFest booth will be able to play Toontown in-person and complete tasks to earn rewards and more.
Storm x League will present Atlanta’s first multi-rhythm arcade tournament at MomoCon. All Rhythm Bash events are free and contestants can enter to win a $100 prize pool provided for Dance Dance Revolution and Pump It Up!

Additional Highlights:

Board Games - MomoCon 2023 will offer hours of board game competition. Board games are a huge part of MomoCon, with one of the largest tabletop areas at any convention in the country.

MomoCon’s Chris Stuckey says: “You’ll find games such as Settlers of Catan, Cosmic Encounters, 7 Wonders, Splendor, Ticket to Ride, and Love Letter. We’ll even have game teachers on hand to help participants learn how to play the hottest new (and old) board games.”

There will also be a “Play to Win” section where games are available for play and will then be raffled. Everyone who plays the board game has a chance to take home the game. MomoCon 2023 is proud to offer Adventurers League, the D&D 5th edition and Live Action Role Playing (LARP).

Musclenerdz Showdown - Musclenerdz works to bridge the gap of fitness and cosplay. The competition will showcase the best cosplays and physiques in the MomoCon community.

Celebrity Attendees - Celebrity guests will be hosting panels and autograph sessions including:

· Darryl “DMC” McDaniels - The Grammy winner and legendary rap artist from Run-DMC has taken his passion of comic books into the world of graphic novels. The DMC (Darryl Makes Comics) franchise has three graphic novels with the fourth planned to be released in Fall of 2023.
· Adassa - The bilingual Afro-Latin voice actress is best known as playing Dolores in Disney’s “Encanto” but is also a singer and songwriter with performances on songs with Pitbull, Flo Rida, Snoop Dogg, Missy Elliott, and Luis Fonsi.
· Don Bluth - The Oscar nominated producer and director is thought of as one of the most prestigious animators in the industry. Bluth has worked on numerous Walt Disney Productions and for 30 years has had his own production studio creating features like Dragon’s Lair, The Land Before Time, Anastasia, and Titan A.E. His current company has worked on movies and video games including one based onDragon’s Lair.
· Mark Brooks – Award winning comic illustrator, painter, and designer known for his acclaimed cover artwork on titles such as X-Men, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and Avengers as well as interior work on Marvel Comics’ Star Wars Han Solo for which he was nominated for an Eisner Award. He’s currently the cover artist for Immortal X-Men, which won Dragon Con’s Dragon Award for best comic book of 2022.

Details on additional guests can be found here.

Live Music and Entertainment - Every year, MomoCon includes a huge musical component, with anime music videos, singing contests, and other performances.
· AMV’s On Stage will be a showcase of AMV’s edited specifically for MomoCon and will be accompanied with live music performed on the concert stage.
· For the eighth year, MomoCon holds the annual Disney Singing Contest. Finalists sing their hearts out to some of your favorite Disney songs. The Grand Prize winner will receive a ticket to Walt Disney World. The top three winners will win cash prizes. Contest details: https://www.momocon.com/contests/
· The 2023 Lip Sync Competition and YouTube performances will also take place over the weekend.

Registration: 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.comfor more details.