Bowser, Wario, and Peach
I had an amazing weekend at the bigger and better IndyPop Con 2018. That’s not to say that the first wasn’t great but you know what I mean.
For those unaware, IndyPopCon is a convention for the fans and fanatics of all realms of nerdom.
You want gaming? Done.
Dr. Who fan? No prob.
Anime fan? Say no more, fam.
Comic book fanatic? Sleeves are included.
I didn’t think that Indy Pop could fit all those things together in the same space coherently, but I have been wrong before. There was some sort of contractor convention happening at the same time and I can only imagine the bit of confusion when they saw people dressed like this…
The Sims 4
And don’t think the convention’s size is the only thing that got bigger. The celebrities got kicked up a notch with Lucie Pohl and Carolina Ravassa, the voices of Mercy and Sombra from the popular FPS, Overwatch.
Wil Wheaton from Star Trek, The Big Bang Theory, and my favorite show from his repertoire, Eureka.
And who could forget the most loveable piece of our childhood himself; whether he was reading a book or reading blinking lights on a totally-not-fake blinking monitor, the talented LeVar Burton.
Those were just a few of the celebrities that attended IndyPop this year. I got to interview a few others as well, Sara Richard and Andy Price, artists for the My Little Pony Comic Book. I haven’t been collecting comics, but I might now!
I also interviewed RedRiot, a YouTuber boasting over 100K subscribers with the memes to match.
True Likeness
He was probably the most chill Youtuber I had ever met. He was a laid-back gentleman, very nice. Link to interview
Finally, I interviewed someone who quickly earned the nickname “Con Grandpa”, Peter Spellos.
Peter is an actor with almost 50 years of experience in the business, and that ranges from real life roles such as Captain Larry Bridgewater from Men and Black II to animation with voices lent to characters as Hitode from Naruto or Omnimon from Digimon: Digital Data Squad, or even Dred from s-CRY-ed! It was an honor to meet him and I still must hold up on my end of our bargain…
Now we all know what I am all about when it comes to cons. And no, it isn’t toast. It’s the games! It’s kinda in my name. There were more new indie developers there to debut and even a few coming for a second bout.
INDIE GAMES
I met up with the developer of Text Quest, Chris Engleson, again this year. The game is still in it’s alpha stages but I would highly suggest giving the demo (link to http://textquestgame.com/) a try. Why not, it’s free!
I had a chance to play an amazing game called The Crystal Core.
Developed by Bitloft, it is a game that when fully completed should have enough educational material packed into it for the player to earn a an A in the toughest high-school biology classes. When I played it, the game was still in the early development stages with only one stage to show. I asked the Bitloft team about how they chose the questions for the game and they told me that they had a team of teachers design questions, multiple choice, that would best help the player retain the information covered. I know that sounds like a tall order and it is, but I want this game to succeed. We all know that I will defend games to my last button press. Who says games can’t teach you anything?
The biggest new game that caught my eye and won the IndyPop award for best party game was a game called Mage Quit. Available now on Steam, developed by Bowlcut Studios, it is a top down wizard brawler with imaginative spells and very strong beard game. Think of it as only one Mario Party game mixed with Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. I highly recommend it.
The highlight of my con was this….. this costume
Made by Purrito Productions, this is the best couple cosplay we have done to date and I am so proud of it. I look real good as a Bowser. Check out the whole Facebook gallery.
Can’t wait for next year!