The Yellow City Comic Convention (YC3) returns for its eighth year with its largest lineup of comics, games, entertainment and more to date. The convention will be held in the Amarillo Civic Center Friday through Sunday, April 19-21.
The event will include cosplay, artists, authors, more than 80 vendors, celebrity guests, panels, and gaming, spanning many well known areas of interest from movies and television series to anime, electronic gaming, literature, and more. This year, the con will present their largest lineup of comics, games and entertainment than ever before, with many of their panelists and celebrity guests coming to YC3 for the first time, as well as more than 40 first-time vendor shops.
"We are also members of this community. We host this event for ourselves as much as the community, and each year, we truly strive to produce and put on an event that we would want to go to and be a part of and get excited about. So each year, when we see the community also getting excited about this event, we know we are doing right and have found our people," said Chris Anderson, co-owner of YC3.
This year, the convention will once again partner with GameQuest, Amarillo College, and Amtgard to host their casual and competitive game play. However, according to Anderson, YC3 is upping the ante, bringing in more partners this year, including Day2 Games and Station Media, presenting more events and bigger and better prizes.
For those who prefer to throw down on a board or in friendly sword combat, YC3 will also offer D&D one shots and LARP sword fighting in the Olivia Austin Memorial Gaming Hall.
"Our gaming room is full of tournaments basically the whole weekend, from board games to video games, classic and new, PC gaming and console. This year we will have Day2 Gaming coming in to host our Pokémon tournament; we will have Larping, D&D just everything for our gamers," Anderson said.
Anderson said he is also excited to view this year's cosplay contest, the con's most involved event each year including both children's and adult cosplay competitions, with winners announced Sunday.
"Our cosplay contests are often the biggest event of the show. It's the last thing that happens on our panel rooms on Saturday nights. Just as our vendor rooms close, we usher everyone over to watch our cosplay contests, and we have watched it grow over the years from a small handful to now having to turn some away, simply because there isn't enough time to include everyone in the competition, but the quality and consistency continues to grow each year," Anderson said.
In addition to all the fun, YC3 is taking its initiative a step further, with this year's event benefitting Smile Big Tx, a Texas founded nonprofit with the mission to provide resources to LGBTQ+ youth and young adults by providing resources concerning therapeutic counseling, mental health resources, shelter, clothing, food, rehabilitation, financial assistance, life skills and college funding. YC3 will donate a portion of the proceeds raised during the event to Smile Big Tx.
In the past, YC3 has annually supported the Children's Miracle Network (CMN) through its donations stemming from the convention, as well as its Extra Life event held each year in November. This year, the YC3 board, with their motto of "for the community, by the community," decided that they wanted to help more area organizations and made the decision to continue to support the CMN annually with its Extra Life event and help raise awareness and support for different area nonprofits and organizations with YC3.
"There are so many branches of this community, so many smaller groups and fandoms that come to this event. We try to appeal to them the best we can, because we are a part of those fandoms as well, and so we try to bring in something that appeals to everyone with the convention. We felt, in the same idea, we should be reaching out to all parts of our community and helping to do more to support different parts of our home as well," Anderson said.
YC3's full slate of guest artists featured on numerous shows, games, more
As a centerpiece for this year's event, YC3 is excited to announce its 2024 guest artists, including Sylvester McCoy, best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series "Doctor Who." Appearing as the title character from 1987 to 1989, McCoy is the final Doctor of the original run. McCoy has returned to the role multiple times, including the 1996 US TV Movie, the 2022 special “The Power of the Doctor” and the series Tales of the TARDIS. His body of work also includes the Hobbit Trilogy.
He will be joined by his companion in Doctor Who - Sophie Aldred. The actress portrayed Ace, the whip-smart and firebrand companion to the Seventh Doctor, from 1987 to 1989. Aldred too reprised the role multiple times over the years. In addition, she has also voiced characters from Bob the Builder to Dennis the Menace and Peter Rabbit, among others.
Fans of Dexter’s Laboratory and Disney’s Tarzan will be excited to see Kat Cressida, known as the voice behind many favorite TV and video game characters. Her video game credits include "Disney Infinity" as Jesse, and Elektra in "Marvel Heroes," among others. Cressida has a sub-specialty of vocal fx, most recently providing vocal fx for James Cameron’s "Avatar" films.
Fans of "Aliens" and "Supernatural" can enjoy meeting Mark Rolston, the face and voice behind many iconic roles including Bogs Diamond in "The Shawshank Redemption" and Clive Davis in the Lifetime Feature "Whitney" directed by Angela Bassett. Rolston also portrayed Walter Pierce in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and has numerous credits as a voice actor including Lex Luthor on the "Young Justice" series and as Commander Kolivan on the hit series "Voltron."
Jenette Goldstein is a versatile actress known for an impressive list of science fiction, horror, and action films. Fans around the world know Goldstein for her work in the films “Aliens,” “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” and “Lethal Weapon 2.” Goldstein has also made numerous television appearances, including guest roles on shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.” She is also an accomplished voice actor, providing the voice for characters in several video games.
Deedee Magno Hall is sure to be a favorite with children, for her work as “Snuggs” the hedgehog in "Doc McStuffins" on the Disney Channel. Magno is also the voice of Pearl on Cartoon Network’s Emmy nominated series, "Steven Universe" and has several Broadway theater credits in "Miss Saigon" and "If/Then." She was also an original member of Disney Channel’s "New Mickey Mouse Club" and "Sister Act 2." Magno was also a member of pop group The Party with four studio albums.
Another member of the "Steven Universe" family attending this year’s convention is Shelby Rabara, known as the voice of the lovable “Peridot.” Rabara is also the voice of Kitsune on Netflix’s "Samurai Rabbit" and plays Heidi on YouTube Red’s “Me and My Grandma” alongside Rhea Perlman and Eva Gutowski. Rabara's television credits include recurring roles on Amazon’s “Goliath” starring Billy Bob Thornton as well as "The Mindy Project," "2 Broke Girls," and "Glee."
"The celebrities we bring in are people we like and people we know the community will enjoy and want to meet, and we are just excited for everyone, whether it is their first time or their eighth, to come out and have a good experience," Anderson said.
The convention opens on Friday from 5 to 9 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Tickets are available online or can be purchased at the front door. Single-day passes for adults are $20; three-day passes are $45 for adults. A one-day pass for children ages 6 to 12 is $15, and three-day passes for children are $35. Guests wanting two-day tickets will need to purchase two tickets. Children ages 5 and younger get in free with the purchase of an adult ticket. Active military and service personnel receive free admission.
For more information, visit YellowCityCon.com or go to YC3’s Facebook page.
