Youmacon 2012

Renaissance Center

Where do I even start? This con gave me mixed feelings, especially considering the great time I had last year. There was a lot of good and bad. So I'm  switching up my journal format to talk about the pros and con of this year's Youmacon. So let's jump right in...

Highlights: Poorly organized, friends everywhere, meeting new people, gaming, hot tub, confusion, & delicious food.

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Pros

Xena cosplay

I was always surrounded by friends throughout the weekend and we can have fun anywhere. I made new friends with my roommates, and became better acquaintances with people I have met before.

The games room was a blast. I played a Japanese drumming game, Dance Central, Donkey Kong with the bongos, Avengers & X-men arcade games, and a bunch of other things.

My group stayed in the courtyard, and we had a hot tub in our hotel. We made an effort to use it whenever we had a chance.

I got to premiere a modified version of Ame-Comi Cheetah and got to shoot with Alucard Leashed. As always I'm excited to see the photos.
Getting into the costume was a pain. It required a lot of fashion tape. I had to double up on bras to make up for forgetting my push-up at home. I was happy with the result but I need to tweak the wig and a few other things before debuting Version 2.0

Every night I had a wonderful dinner with friends at Volt, the Marriott restaurant. The wait staff always amaze me with how nice they are. I went to dinner with different friends everynight and it was great catching up with everyone.

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Cons

Artist Alley table

Pre-reg was 3-4 hours long. Luckily I had a press badge but that is unacceptable. They knew how many people registered so they should have planned accordingly.

Staff: All the staff I encountered didn't have any useful information. One guy monitoring the reg line was hired on the spot. I asked a staff member in AA about the alley hours and he said it's his first time at the con and had no idea. Many people were sent from one dept. to another trying to get information, such as locating the lost and found.

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Even statues cosplay

Location: The con was split into two venues about 5-7mins apart. It was cold outside and many people did not want to bother going to the Cobo center where dealer's and Artist alley was.

Artist Alley: I was selling and it was quite a disaster. Artists were stuck in the back of the dealer's room and the section wasn't clearly labelled until mid Saturday. Artist who attended the previous year noticed a great drop in their sales.

Printing: The program books didn't arrive until late Friday. I didn't see one until mid Saturday. The Cosplay calendars never arrived and the winner were left running around trying to find out information.

Inconsistencies:  I went into the dance with a small purse with no issues. Later on I go to the washroom and while waiting in line to get back in, staff asks to check my bag and says to tell people at the door my purse was checked. Staff at the door won't let me in because I had a purse and said I should leave it in the unguarded bag pile next to the door. No thanks, my wallet and camera are too valuable for that.

Some staff member(s) were telling photographers they weren't allowed to shoot on a lit walkway in the Renaissance centre because GM staff may not like it. Another staff member overhears this story and told myself and the photographer that staff should not have said that and apologized.

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Overall

Friends = YAY!
Convention = meh

I don't know if I will attend next year. It will take a lot of assurances from the con staff to convince me to return.
On a happy note, check out these cosplay photos.