I had the immense honor of attending the very first IndyPopCon this year. The convention took place May 30th through June 1st and was held in Indianapolis. There were so many awesome guests, cool vendors, and unique experiences that my brain almost exploded.

Guests

IndyPopCon had some incredibly amazing guests. Some of the celebrities who attended were Ron Glass (Firefly/Serenity), Esme Bianco and Kristian Nairn (Game of Thrones), Sylvester McCoy (Doctor Who), John Dimaggio (Adventure Time, Futurama, Gears of War), and Nicholas Brendon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Some industry veterans who attended were Raychul Moore, Patrick Scott Patterson, Bad Luck Brian, Jessica LG, and Tom Hall. The lineup was seriously impressive, especially since this was the first year of the con.

Raychul Moore and myself:

Posing with Esme Bianco and Kristian Nairn:

Vendors

There were so many amazing shops and artists who had booths at the con that it was nearly impossible to visit them all. Some vendors were Half Price Books, Otaku Hobbies, Geeky Endeavors, and Blue Moon Comics. Also, many talented artists attended the con, bringing beautiful geeky art for con-goers to ogle over and maybe even buy. Some of the artists were Paul Horn, Damon Bowie, Jackie Crofts, and DanD Designs. If you would like to see what I purchased at the con, I created a video especially for this topic:

Panels

Guests were not starved for entertaining panels to attend. I personally attended the Game of Thrones Q&A and the Ron Glass Q&A, but other panels included a Sylvester McCoy Q&A, The Art of Let’s Plays, The Walking Dead Fan panel, Video Games in Today’s Pop Culture, and a cosplay contest.

Games

IndyPopCon had a 24-hour gaming hall where convention attendees could play Mario Kart 8, experience the unique Oculus Rift, and play classic arcade games such as Tron, Galaxian, and Pac-Man. There were also several indie developers with playable demos of their games, including Young Horses (Octodad), Drinking Quest (The Drunken Misadventures RPG) Loreful (Flurf), and Gyrocopter Games (Weirspace).

Verdict

Even though there were some hiccups, this was an amazing con, especially for my first con. I loved meeting all of the awesome guests, seeing some awesome cosplay, and exploring all of the vendors’ booths. It was definitely worth the price of admission ($100 for a VIP pass, $25 per day), and I’m definitely interested in going to next year’s con. I will now leave you with a picture of myself posing with Bumblebee: