Cosplayers, comic book lovers and pop culture fanatics flooded the Hot Springs Convention Center floor for the fifth annual Spa-Con Saturday.
Featured guests included Rodger Bumpass, the voice of Squidward Tentacles from the television show "SpongeBob SquarePants" and a plethora of comic book artists including Michael Golden and Rags Morales.
Convention attendees really soaked in the cosplay as fans of different franchises mingled, conversed and took plenty of pictures together. Locals as well as visitors from around the state sported costumes from the realms of Star Wars, Marvel, DC, video game franchises and more.
"I love the cosplay," David Franklin, dressed as Darth Vader, said. "For me, it's just fun. I like dressing up as different characters."
A Russellville native, Franklin has come to every Spa-Con since 2017 and said the convention is just a good place for people to enjoy themselves and show support for their favorite franchises.
Franklin was a popular target for photographs on the floor Saturday as his version of Darth Vader came with a twist. Instead of wearing the traditional Vader helmet, Franklin sported a homemade look from the moment Vader took off his helmet in "Return of the Jedi."
Franklin went with the helmet off look partially because wearing the traditional Vader helmet gets extremely hot.
"I just wanted to try it," Franklin said. "I've seen a few people do it at other conventions in pictures but I've never seen it here in Arkansas. So I figured why not, let's give it a try."
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Spa-Con
Cosplayers, comic book lovers and pop culture fanatics flooded the Hot Springs Convention Center floor for the fifth annual Spa-Con Saturday.
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While comic book fans obviously enjoyed Saturday's festivities, the featured guests themselves also had fun getting out of the studio for a bit.
"We go out and it's invigorating mostly for us," Morales said. "I mean the fans, they get to see us and we get to see them. But we work at home so when we finally get out and meet the people we realize how big this really is. For us, we're in small studios. We come out and we realize the energy. We can't wait."
Spa-Con marked Morales' first convention in Arkansas and the DC artist enjoyed interacting with fans.
"It's kind of like, 'Yo, we're talking the same language,'" Morales said. "I'll tell you all the things about comics that maybe you don't know about and you'll tell me things about the fan base I don't know about. We're family. It's cool."
Morales even took time to enjoy the local spots Hot Springs has to offer.
"I took a dip, I enjoyed myself," Morales said. "The funny thing is I was taking some stuff out and I tweaked my back. I kind of had back spasms. I was in some pain and I went to the Hot Springs and it felt great in there."
If the cosplay and rows of booths in the expo hall weren't enough, the Garland County Library sponsored a Smash Bros. tournament in the Bank OZK Arena and Adult Services Programmer Paul Kagebein helped run the competition.
Over 10 screens were set up on the floor of the arena where players showed off their gaming skills. There was even a main stage with a giant screen for spectators to watch featured matches.
Brandon Lercher, a Jonesboro native, traveled down to Hot Springs to compete in the tournament after originally becoming a part of the Smash Bros. community around 2016.
"I love supporting this event," Lercher said. "Paul's an awesome TO. I'm here to hang out with the guys and just enjoy this awesome game. Honestly, the best thing about the Smash community is it's so open and accepting of so many different people. I've made some of my best friends through Smash. Events like this are a really awesome opportunity to see that."
Lercher was one of the first to compete on the main stage Saturday.
"I love this atmosphere," Lercher said. "So far it's been set up wonderfully. I love this venue and Paul was telling me about how we could maybe someday have major tournaments here. This venue looks like it could be phenomenal to have a grand stage for a Smash tournament."
Back on the expo floor, booths of all kinds were set up selling action figures, comic books, posters and every piece of merchandise in between that would appeal to the pop culture lover.
A local from Hot Springs, Lori Erickson walked the rows of the expo hall in the intimidating costume of Hela from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
"It's completely all-inclusive," Erickson said. "You can be anybody, from anywhere, at any time and it all just melds together."
With Hela's crown of black horns jutting out from Erickson's head, she added her favorite part of Spa-Con were the costumes.
"Loving the costumes," Erickson said. "Something I'm really liking is how many vendors we have in here this year. It's artistic. This is an artisan community. Hot Springs is very artistically oriented. This is one of those venues you can really bring out that creative nature."
