A bit of a background about me and Youma. I went to my first Youmacon last year in 2016. I went on Saturday last year and I absolutely loved it. So I decided to go again this year and to actually stay in the Marriott hotel located in the Renaissance Center which is where a decent amount of Youmacon was located. Youmacon is located in Detroit, Michigan. This was my first year attending the entire Youmacon event from Thursday to Sunday. I was even more excited about it since my birthday was on Thursday. I am getting old... I was also excited because I cosplayed Friday and Saturday. So I wanted to share with you guys my thoughts on the panels, cosplaying at Youmacon, the game room, and some of my other thoughts about Youmacon 2017.
So let's jump into this review of Youmacon 2017.
Panels I went to at Youmacon 2017
Disney Karaoke
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| via WiffleGif This was my face whenever someone new came up to sing and I heard the instrumentals... |
This panel was pretty fun, but there were a lot of Dreamworks songs that were sang in this panel which I enjoyed. Someone sang "Once Upon A December" from the Anastasia movie and I was ever so happy. This is probably one of the funnest panels. Everyone just has a good time and dives into Disney nostalgia. I will say that if you plan on attending next year that the panel is pretty packed when it first starts, but overtime it dies down and becomes less crowded.
Gaining Your Foothold in Youtube - Cornshaq
This was a great panel to attend if you were someone who was trying to break out into the world of Youtube. I enjoyed it and learned some pretty decent information I can apply to my Youtube.
Take Your Heart: A Persona Panel
The Persona panel was pretty lively. I have a lot of friends that played Persona and are obsessed with that game. They enjoyed it and I enjoyed it even though I didn't know what was going on. 😂😂
Thoughts on the Choices of Panels
There were a lot of panels I would have loved to see or I thought I would have seen.
Cardcaptor Sakura - I mentioned this to a few people, but they said since the anime is pretty old that no one would have been too interested in it. I saw at least 7 Sakura Avalon's during the con. All I thought was, the new Clear Card arc for the anime is coming out in January. Someone could have created a panel for this.
Sailor Moon - I saw one Sailor Moon panel on the schedule and it was for hentai. I didn't even know Sailor Moon had more than two hentai is all I am saying. 😂😂 I was hoping it would be a regular Sailor Moon panel, but there wasn't one.
The Dragon Ball Z panel was at 2 AM... I was already in the bed. 😂😂 I wish it hadn't had been such a late panel.
I also really thought I'd see a panel dedicated to newer anime series that came out recently like Black Clover or The Ancient Magus' Bride. I felt like it would encourage people to watch newer anime that people didn't know about.
The panels I missed that I wanted to go to..
I'll try to check them out next year if they're still on the list.
If any of you attended any of these panels, let me know what you thought about them in the comment section down below.
Convention Horror Stories
Cosplay Leveling Up
Costume Construction: Cosplay and More - Rebecca Sharpe
Crossplay: Female to Male
Crowdfunding 101
Death Note Mafia
DJ'ing 101
Funimation Favorites
Happy Fun Time
Harry Potter House Cup trivia
How to Read Marvel
Influential Women in Japanese History
Lolita 101
Saturday Morning Cartoons
The Myth and Legends of Fate/Stay Night
Throwback to 4Kids
Toonami & Adult Swim Nostalgia
Top Ten: Womanliest Women
Underrated Anime
Cosplaying at Youmacon 2017
I started working on all of my cosplays about 2-3 weeks before Youmacon which I should not have did. I would definitely suggest working on them ahead of time. Anyway, I cosplayed my own version of The Little Mermaid on Friday and Saturday I cosplayed Android 21 from the upcoming Dragon Ball Fighterz game.
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| The Little Mermaid Ariel cosplay |
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| Dragon Ball FighterZ Android 21 cosplay |
It was pretty cool. A few people knew who I was and some even asked for pictures. I need to get over being an awkward cosplayer. 😖😖
I loved seeing the other cosplayers though. My favorites were the Snorlax, Kuzco from The Emperor's New Groove, and that one day I saw Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl getting off of the People Mover.
Video Game Room
The game room was pretty cool. There was a lot going on. I played a lot of arcade games I've never played before, but I did have two issues. Some of the games on the game systems were not available to be played annnnd some people would play on the same games hours at a time without giving other people a turn. I saw individuals hogging games and other people getting upset about it as I walked through the gaming room Saturday.
Youmacon 2017 Dealers Room & Artist Alley
I should have saved up more money... I bought a few things, but I wanted so much more. I saw the Cardcaptor Sakura staff, but I didn't buy it. It was a lot of amazing art on showcase too.
One thing I would suggest on buying if you feel like being adventurous are the mystery bags. I always have great luck with buying them. Check out what I received in the mystery bags I bought this year.
Youmacon 2017 Rave
The Rave was definitely not that great which was extremely disappointing since it was the main thing I was looking forward to. One of the djs did sound like he should have been a motivational speaker or like he should have been a rapper at some point of time instead of a rave dj. I honestly didn't think the content was rave suitable even though it was inspirational. His story of being in a diabetic coma, losing weight, and becoming healthy again was a beautiful blessing. However, I just didn't think it was relevant to the rave. I also did not like that the djs would play certain beats for 30+ minutes long, but I did enjoy seeing other people dance because a lot of them looked like they were having fun which did make me feel happier.
I feel like they could have played songs like this where the same beat didn't last an extended period of time...
Things that I think could be better for Youmacon 2018
1. There should definitely be signs ahead of time when an elevator is not in use on certain floors because a many of con goers had to deal with walking around to their destination only to be told that they had to walk somewhere else. I saw a lot of people confused.
2. There should also be signs when the escalators are down as well.
3. Better panel options... Maybe even discussions of newer anime that just came out.
4. The text was so small in the booklet for Youmacon. I could barely tell when certain panels were starting.
5. Anime beat mixes would be suitable for the Rave as well as switching the beat up every 5 minutes.
Example:
6. Time frame limits or monitoring for games are needed. This is something I heard quite a few people mention. This way everyone can get a chance to play the video games that they are interested in playing.
7. Elevator privileges for individuals who are handicapped. I saw a few people in wheelchairs having trouble with getting on elevators and with getting around in general because their weren't too many signs that helped them out for where they needed to go if they had to get around on wheelchairs.
Will I attend Youmacon 2018??
I most likely will. I did enjoy the overall atmosphere of Youmacon and talking with random people. I also enjoyed the panels I went to. I may try to go to more next year though. I am already thinking about what I want my cosplays to be for next year's Youmacon.
Now it's time for you guys to tell me what you enjoyed or disliked about Youmacon 2017...
Did you cosplay? Share with me your pictures!!
