Yama Con has quickly become a bit of a comfort event for me. It’s a great way to meet up with friends while getting some anime merch and spending time at local attractions. I went into this thinking I’d write another review similar to the last two; however, with an owner change, we have some changes where we will talk about what improved and what fell backwards.

Starting first with the vendors there was a change you noticed immediately. They filled the room with more vendors than ever before. It was a nice mixture of vendors that I’m used to seeing year after year and surprise appearances from vendors I see at farther and much larger events like Momocon or Anime Weekend Atlanta. Seeing these vendors much closer to home is honestly really nice because it gives me more options with less of a hassle to get to the event. Even with the increase in vendors, walking was a breeze. I was able to look around comfortably and have extended conversations with the vendors themselves as I shopped. So it was an easy massive improvement. I honestly wish I knew this was happening in advance as I would have better prepared my budget for it.

Next, we’ll talk about guests as they were moved to a room adjacent to the vendors this year. This was another improvement as they had more space for their lines. There was a theme and it felt like the guest list was catered to the theme. This year was Cursed and the list featured several members of the cast of Jujutsu Kaisen. Yamacon has featured themes before, but to me, this was the first time the guest list felt a part of that. They even featured international guests, which I think is new for Yama Con and it took me by surprise. We had singers of well-known anime themes from both Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans and Bleach, they even did a concert Saturday night.

The concert was one of many panels featured this year, and we got a wide array of guest and attendee-run events. Outside of the concert, though, the panels didn’t feel a lot different. You had your usual guest Q&As, but also exercise, voice acting, and interactive events. They were very entertaining but the only major change was the change in locations. Which isn’t a massive change by any means and it felt like there may have been more panels this year because of that.

So while up to this point all of the changes were positive we do have a few that I’m not as fond of. One of the VIP perks included 30-minute early access to the vendors. However, what was really the case was that they got to go at the time general admission usually got to go, and everyone else entered 30 minutes later. I am never a fan of taking a perk away from general admission to sell at a higher price. Additionally, this perk is not useful. Outside of getting in early for long autograph lines or convention-exclusive, rare items, I have never found a value in having this perk at events myself.

In this case, the pass had a line skip for autographs, and the convention didn’t have exclusive limited-run items. It’s not a big deal by any means and actually takes more effort to explain than the nuisance it caused, but it’s objectively a bad call. Plus, to my surprise, the autograph lines weren’t all that long. Oftentimes I would see lines close to capping, especially Johnny Young Bosch, a regular at this event. I really don’t know why that was the case, and I can’t confidently take a guess at it.

The big issue is the communication problems. On Friday, the convention posted the wrong registration hours, which affected both attendees and vendors. This caused quite a bit of confusion as so many people were planning for the completely wrong time. Additionally, the aforementioned perk for the 30 minutes wasn’t something I was able to find on the convention website or the convention Facebook page. This was something I found out after I got my badge. This extends to the guest schedules as well as many of them left early on Sunday. The only place I saw where that was noted by the convention was when they shared a guest, noting it on their Instagram page. Communication is a big deal especially with a detail as important as scheduling, but there is a new owner this year. So I’m not as hard on this as I would have been otherwise as this could be a growing pain from the change. I will be looking for this to improve next year though.

The price also felt like it went up this year. It was nearly $100 for my wife and me to go on Saturday alone. I’ve said many times before that Yama-Con doesn’t have to grow to be successful and that’s still the case. It provides a good guest list, great vendors and it’s near a lot of amazing attractions at their busiest time of year. With that being said, if I’m paying that much for one day, I also don’t think it’s too much to ask for actual badges for day passes with stylish lanyards. As opposed to wristbands and ordinary lanyards outside of VIP upgrades. Especially where you have vendors doing convention ribbons to decorate your badges with and one of the panels being a ribbon exchange. Day pass holders can’t participate in them at all.

So, overall, Yama Con’s change in ownership came with incredible improvements to the vendors and guest list. However, communication was an ongoing issue and one that needs to improve by next year. I also think that for the price, more effort could be taken for minor but meaningful quality of life improvements. Though it’s also my way of hanging out with friends before the holidays. So I’m likely going again next year, but I will be looking to see if things improve.