After the halls of MomoCon were abruptly closed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the community of self-proclaimed geeks is finally back together again.
With the recent spikes in COVID-19 cases, organizers did enforce strict protocols, but that didn't prevent thousands of gaming, anime and comic book fans from pouring into the halls.
This year's convention in Atlanta, Georgia crushed attendance records with more than 42,000 attendees.
Renee Cooper is the senior director of media for the event and said it's about creating a space for fans to really showcase some of their creative work.
"A lot of people come to the convention so they can get really good photos of the things that they've worked on for months and months, sometimes years," she said. "They get to come to this space where they have a great backdrop and where they have the entire cast of a game, or the entire cast of a show, to get the pictures they want. It creates an experience for them to be a part of that fandom and that particular media."
But you don't have to be in character to enjoy the event. There's a little bit of something for everyone.
The convention featured an exhibition floor full of vendors with hundreds of one-of-a-kind items, as well as the largest game room in the southeast — open to attendees 24 hours a day.
It's a kind of utopia for the comic lover and the video game connoisseur.
Organizers like Renee Cooper hope that MomoCon is here to stay as a safe place for the like-minded.
"The community is really built around supporting each other," she said. "It's about being able to have somebody to talk to about those things that you also enjoy. And knowing that historically, maybe the word geek or nerd was looked at as derogatory, but now people really embrace it and are able to find other people who really do enjoy those things."
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