Youmacon 2010 Review

Youmacon is an anime convention held in the Detroit Metro area yearly for six years now.  I’ve been lucky enough to make all six of these years, watching as we went from the small Hilton Hotel in Troy Michigan to what is the tallest building in Detroit, the Renaissance Center.

This year at Youmacon, they had a great guest list ranging from voice over actors to musical guests.  There were panels, contests, dealers, and free give-aways.  Youmacon went above and beyond to go out of the way for the attendees to have a good time.  I was able to get a look at the different areas of the convention through the weekend and found people enjoying themsevles.

Opening cermonies of Youmacon is always a fun event, with video, music and letting us know what’s in store for the weekend.  This year was no different in bringing the guests up to say hello to everyone and getting to meet some of the staffers as they told us about things to look forward to for the convention weekend. One of the things they mentioned was how they were doing what ever they can to help people get free stuff this year, including going around with a Nerf dart gun and if you got hit with a dart you got a free prize!  Other stuff was free things being given away in panels, and of course they had their game show type panels for people get swag as well.  If you want free stuff, this convention is worth the trip.  They brought up their Card hunt game, a Youmacon card game that each year has new cards added to the deck.  Best way to get them is to take the clues going around the convention and gather the cards, this is not an easy task and the rewards are great for the first person to turn in a complete deck.

I did attend a few panels this year, not as many as I normally do.  The panels I went to were mainly voice actor panels, as I enjoy learning as much as I can about voice acting.  I also enjoy the company of the voice actors who attend this convention.  One of which has been here all six years of Youmacon, that is Caitlin Glass.  Caitlin is a well known voice actress from Texas.  She’s been in a lot of anime, the one I best know her for is Fullmetal Alchemist, playing the role of Winry Rockbell.  She’s also a star in Ouran High School Host Club.  It is always a pleasure to go to her panels and learn what’s new, it’s like catching up with a good friend.  This years news of Caitlin is how she’s living in Spain right now, it was really great how Youmacon was able to bring her back to the United States for a weekend with the fans.

Other events that Youmacon offers the attendees is the dealer room, a room filled with different booths each selling different items from toys and shirts to food and drinks.  This is a room where fans can find stuff from their favorite animes and video games that is usually hard to find.  This year the dealer room was bigger than the previous years with tons of stuff for people to see and buy.  It was also where the dart guns were being shot off at, for those who wanted the free prizes.  The room was also filled to where they had to keep a head count of how many were in the room to make sure it did not get over stuffed.  The dealers who I got to talk to were friendly and willing to answer any question I had.

Just next to the Dealer room was the gaming room, a room filled with video games from PC, Wii, XBox 360 to old Aracde machines.  And if these are not the type of games did not fit what the attendee wanted they could always go up stairs to play some table top gaming in two rooms set aside just for that.  A nice set up for everyone to enjoy and take part in.

Walking around the halls, stair wells, and even court yard, one thing was clear for everyone to see, the fans were cosplaying their favorite characters from cartoons, games and anime.  One of the first cosplayers I saw at the convention this year was dressed as Casey Jones from TMNT.  There was so many there this year that a lot of them I missed out on, including a really well done Splinter costume that was working it’s way around the convention.  Every where you looked there was someone in costume, be it small costumes that they bought, costumes that someone made for them and even some people who came with costumes they made themselves.  This is one of the things that anime conventions are known for, the crowd of cosplayers that work their way through the convention halls.  There’s also two different contests that cosplayers are allowed to enter.  A treat for all to enjoy and take part in.

This year Youmacon was a success and I for one look forward to returning next year.  A big thank you from me to the staff for putting all of your hard work and effort into an event that so many people can enjoy.  Please keep up the good work!

Only hope for next year, bring in a guest or two who worked on something Ninja Turtles, like you’ve done in the past! Photos by:  Miki & Xasch