by Naosa

Your source of brutally honest convention reviews!

Attending Staff: DeathCom, Naosa, Willis, Wisp, Aer

Con staff

(Our experiences with the convention staff overall, including event coordinators, press heads, and of course security.)
We were once again impressed with Youmacon staff. They knew what they were doing and were very prepared for all aspects of the convention. We were especially impressed by the custom signs in the halways and elevators, and especially the custom hotel room keys!! Never before have I seen that, and everyone was talking about them! The only thing we didn't like was the HUGE press badges.
Average Score: 95%

Hotel & Hotel staff

(The quality of the hotel, ease of check-in, and the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff.)
Youmacon has definitely outgrown the Dearborn Hyatt. Shame, since it has a beautiful layout indoors, though the outside is a bit lacking when looking for photoshoot locations. Free parking is always a plus though!
Average Score: 90%

Gameroom

(The size of the room, number of machines/consoles, location, and overall presentation of the gameroom.)
The gameroom was very impressive this year, but had two critical flaws. Positives include brand new, clean controllers, Battle Tech pods (though the cost per game was a bit high), powered audio for music games, arcade machines on free play, and huge HD TVs for every console. Organization was also well done. First person shooters on one side, music games in the middle, and fighters on the other side. There was even a DJ playing a host of music throughout the night.

Negatives mostly revolve around personal belongings not being allowed in. This is understandable but it could have been handled better. Gamers were forced to leave their bags outside, and the only place to put them was in a giant pile on the floor. We heard there were more than a few wallets stolen, and I'm sure many other items went missing. A simple bag check station would have solved all these problems. And of course not letting in arcade sticks was unacceptable. The DJ was also likely a pain for music game fans. Having music games being the closest to the DJ, there were probably some issues with players trying to concentrate. That could all be fixed if there were a second room just for music games. FPS and fighters alike benifited from the ambience provided by the DJ.

Overall though this is the best game room we've seen outside of Otakon.
Average Score: 90%

Dealer's Room

(The size of the room, number of merchants, variety of merchandise, hours of operation, location, lighting, etc.)
An average at best dealer's room for a con of this size. Besides being cramped, there weren't a lot of dealers with anime merchandise. It seemed to be more Renn Faire and Japanese type items--when it didn't feel like an extension of Artist Alley. However, almost everyone I know went in multiple times throughout the weekend and came out with something.
Average Score: 75%

Artist Alley

(The location and size of the alley, placement of the artists, variety of art, etc.)
Not bad. There were quite a few very talented artists and nice variety. It was a bit cramped for the con's size though.
Average Score: 85%

Masquerade Technical

(Just about every aspect of the masquerade except the actual skits. The MC, technical, judging, timing, etc. Basically everything the convention staff had control over.)
Tim filmed the masquerade this year, and reported both good and bad. The good: Convention staff were able to enter their costumes under a category designated for them. Cosplayers that were in a skit were also able to be in the walkons. The bad: The awards seemed very unorganized. Chair isn't funny anymore.

Overall

(This is our entire con experience including all of the above and everything else that goes into a con weekend combined.)
Overall it was another great Youmacon. We're excited to see next year's location!