Wonfest/Momocon 2026 Recap
We did it! We survived Momocon and the inaugural Wonderfest US. I caught a bad case of the convention crud in the aftermath, and I'm just getting back on my feet. This post will be a quick recap of Momocon and a sneak peak at what we have on the horizon. I'll have a lot more to say in the near future, for reasons that will be apparent shortly.
What's a Wonder Festival?
Wonfest is a Japanese toy show that has run since 1984, showcasing hand made toys in general and especially "Garage Kits", or highly detailed resin/vinyl model kits made by amateurs. This year marked the first time Wonder Festival held a US show, held inside Momocon in Atlanta.
Wonder Festival US showcased a huge variety of hand made toys, resin casts, soft vinyl toys, and garage kits from a variety of toymakers from around the US and throughout the world. I took some photos at the show, take look:
An assortment of Wonderfestival Vendors, including us.
There was too much going on at the show for me to get much video footage, but I did manage to shoot a quick booth tour just before things got into full swing.
This show marked the debut of a number of new items from our crew at Mountain Town Industries. I'll be writing about each of them in individual posts at length over the next month or two, but here's a small showcase of some of them:
Kumiai-Ki: The Mighty Union Mech
Kumiai-Ki is our newest character. He's a giant mech in the spirit of the Super Robots or Shogun Warriors of the 1970s. He was assembled by a near-future labor union, to protect workers from the machinations of evil billionaires like Geoff Bozo.
He's currently available as a soft rubber keshi, on a union made t-shirt, and on a few posters. In the near future, he'll be available as a jointed 3.75" action figure, and eventually he'll also be available as a ~25" tall soft plastic toy (more on that soon!)
Tanuki Panic
Tanuki Panic is a trading card game we just debuted that offers pick up and play rules with 1 booster pack per player. Here's a video where I open the first ever Tanuki Panic booster pack.
Tanuki Panic is my attempt to make a trading card game that solves all my gripes about trading card games. Traditional trading card games are 1) Expensive, 2) Complicated, 3) Slot Machines.
We address each of these problems with our new game. Allow me to explain.
- Expense: Tanuki Panic can be played with as little as one booster pack per player. $15 is enough to get started with the game.
- Complicated: The rules fit on half a sheet of paper, and will be highly familiar to anyone with experience in the TCG space. Players summon monsters one per turn to attack one another/defend their energy pool. The first player to lose all their energy loses. There's a little secret sauce about how defending monsters work in the full rules, designed to reward patient gameplay, but it's pretty much pick-up and play.
- Slot Machines: Existing TCGs can feel like slot machines because some especially rare cards can sell for lots of money. We mitigate that by making each card exactly equal rarity (and by being small enough that there is no secondary market for Tanuki Panic cards.)
You can read through the full Tanuki Panic rules and get a starter set on our website.
Spacehawk - A New Metroid-style 2D adventure platformer for the Gameboy Color
After crash landing on an alien world, you make a discovery. A massive illegal mining operation, hidden deep beneath the surface. You must explore the interconnected caverns on this alien planet and find the materials needed to repair your ship.
Watch out, though, the mining operation is well guarded, the local wildlife is rambunctious, and there are secrets waiting to be discovered.
Spacehawk is our love letter to Metroid II, and an homage to Basil Wolverton's 85 year old comic book Spacehawk. (We make an assortment of Spacehawk merchandise.)
Get the ROM or play online: https://ajroach42.itch.io/spacehawk-gbc
Cartridges Available now: https://www.mountaintowntoys.com/product/spacehawk-gbc-cartridge/
Watch some gameplay footage:
We'll have a brand new Spacehawk comic debuting soon too. Have a teaser page!
Other stuff!
There was a lot of other stuff, including USB Videos, Filibus Keshis, new posters, and some early previews of upcoming jointed action figures, but I'll talk more about each of those things in their own post in the future.
Up Next
We should be receiving the metal mold sets we need to manufacture our Jointed Kumiai-ki action figures any day now. They've been held up in customs for a little over a week, but they appear to be in motion again now. As soon as they arrive, I'll do a big announcement post, share some photos of the jointed Kumiai-Ki action figures, and launch a Kumiai-Ki pre-order for subscribers.
We're working on a new fiction magazine, also titled The Joyful Revolution, focusing on original stories from the indie toy universe and adjacent creators.
You can read more in our announcement post and call for submissions.
Next for us is Designer Con in Pasadena. We'll be driving cross country starting next Sunday, and it's going to be fun! (I hope!)
In the meantime, my wife and I are moving a little closer to town, we're working on some secret projects that I'm very excited about, and some less secret projects (like cartoons, podcasts, and new video games) that I'm also very excited about. There's a lot more, but I'll leave you all with these things for now and the promise of more to come.
Thanks for coming with us on this journey.