It’s been a few years since I’ve been to Momocon and this was the year to finally return. This is an event that I have a history of really enjoying but it often doesn’t have a guest I’m looking for to justify a trip to Atlanta; however, this year it had a few people and a lot of opportunity to hang out with friends I’ve made over the years so it made this the ideal time to try it once again.

Starting first with the guests Momocon features an incredible variety not just from anime actors like Erica Lindbeck and Kirk Thorton but also actors from various other mediums like Super Sentai all the way from Japan, comic book artists, cosplayers, musicians and so many more. Here you have an incredible variety of people to see and there’s plenty of opportunities to meet them, though the lines for some of them were rather long but in the ones I were in they moved fairly quickly.

The vendors/artist alley area was amazing. My wallet took some serious damage from all the spending I did as I bought T-shirts from the Momocon booth, requested a commission from one of the artist guests, pins and glasswear based on the Fire Emblem and Xenoblade Chronicles series, a Dimitri Pillow Plush and so much more. It’s rare I go shopping and splurge this much and I spent right up to my budget. However, it’s not just the vendors that were impressive but how they were spaced out. The event had 20 rows of vendors but there was a lot of space in between that I rarely had any difficulty walking around. There was enough room I even felt comfortable going around taking photos of cosplayers which is something I often won’t do if I feel there’s too much of a crowd and I just don’t want to get in anyone’s way.

As for the panels there was quite a variety here as well with your standard panels featuring the guests but also a myriad of fan ran panels covering all types of topics, a multitude of interactive events, live events such as performances from several bands and singers and so much more. Momocon has no shortage of things to do.

Now I wanted to do more of the late night stuff and this is where I do get to a small negative. I don’t like having to do a whole lot to travel to and from the convention if I do anything late into the evening, that’s just a personal preference. The problem is really only one hotel was within a quick walking distance to the venue and it sells out quickly. Where we had to either uber or use the metro to get back and forth it lessoned our desire to stay long enough to do the late night stuff since a lot of them started hours after the vendors closed. It’s more of a personal preference why I don’t care for this but it did affect how I planned my weekend out. My favorite panel was the Sights and Sounds of Gundam Requiem for Vengeance where we got to hear about the developmental process behind the upcoming Gundam show on Netflix. Though sadly it did suffer audio technical difficulties right up to the end of the panel and because the panel rooms were so close together we heard the room next door loud and clear.

Another thing I like about this event is the venue. The Georgia World Congress Center features some gorgeous areas inside the venue for cosplay photography and I took full advantage of that during the Fire Emblem photoshoot taking a higher than normal number of photos for a convention weekend.

The convention also had an enormous gaming area that you see before you get to the vendors and it’s a very impressive set up that even if you don’t go to play the games it’s amazing enough of a spectacle that it hypes you up on your way to the vendors. That combined with the wrestling ring you pass shortly after that often surrounded by very vocal excited fans. In the same area the convention had the cars covered in all kinds of amazing decals. We even found an Animal Crossing van which was our personal favorite. The only real noticeable thing here that was a negative is the crowd on the way to the vendors got crowded sometimes making it difficult to get to the area. Once you’re there it was very easy to walk around; however, getting there was a little tedious plus it was quite a walk as registration as well as the entrances we used were towards the front of the building and the convention itself was more towards the back making it a bit of a walk to get from place to place. Not a serious problem by any means as the crowd moved at a decent pace almost the entire time but again noticeable. Though as a plus inside the vendors were rest areas placed all over so it wasn’t hard to find a chair to sit back and catch your breath which was a very welcomed site.

As for parking that was a nightmare. Due to weather we got to the venue a little bit later than planned so we didn’t beat the crowd like we hoped. Instead we arrived right at the peak of the crowd and trying to get into the nearby parking lots for the venue felt like playing the Hunger Games as people were cutting each other off left and right. Though by the time we left the convention there were people outside directing traffic which made leaving the venue a far less stressful process.

The final thing I want to bring up is actually the professionalism of the convention itself. One of the guests prior to the convention admitted to some terrible things, if you want to know more I ask that you look into that yourself as explaining stuff like that is not the content I want to make. What I do want to emphasize is how quickly Momocon canceled the appearance of this individual and worded the post in a way that was short, sweet and to the point. It was an impressive way of dealing with the situation without adding to the drama and chatter that is caused by it.

Overall Momocon is an event with so much to offer. A wide variety of guests, vendors that function as slim fast for your wallets and plenty of space to move around freely and easily. The only real issue is just getting to the convention itself as parking took close to an hour for what should have taken maybe 10 minutes, then walking from registration to the vendors/panels and more was a fairly long walk hindered by a bit of a crowd. Though it feels like Momocon understood this and placed plenty of areas to rest which was great after all the walking we did during the day. Plus Momocon has announced the layout will be different in 2025 which will hopefully resolve some of these issues. Momocon showed incredible professionalism in the events leading up to the event and the event itself was so much fun.