The Downfall of Youmacon - DetroitOtaku Rants

I was hoping that I would never have to write this article, but things have gotten so bad that I have to.

Youmacon is the primary anime convention of the Detroit Metro area. It is held in Downtown Detroit at both the GM Renaissance Center - the main headquarters of General Motors, as well as the Cobo Convention Center (I refuse to call it Huntington Place, piss off with that PC crap). around Halloween every year from Thursday night to Sunday afternoon.

Youmacon was conceived on November 11, 2005 by Morgan Kollin, and it took four years of planning. It was held at the Hilton Detroit hotel in Troy, Michigan, and there were just slightly over 1,000 attendees. Some of the notable guests included Vic Mignogna (Yes, THAT Vic Mignogna), Johnny Yong Bosch, Yuri Lowenthal, Caitlin Glass, and David Anez among others. It was the first anime convention this state has ever had, and little did Metro Detroit anime fans know that it would grow into something big.

Youmacon remained in Troy for 2006 and 2007, and attendance figures continued to improve. And so, a bigger venue was required. For Youmacon 2008, the staff held the convention at the Edward Hotel & Convention Center (formerly Hyatt Regency) in Dearborn, Michigan, located across the Southfield Freeway from Ford Motor Company's world headquarters.

Youmacon was held in Dearborn for just two years - 2008 and 2009. Attendance continued to improve and more famous guests appeared as a result. Though I have heard rumors from people who have attended Youmacon longer than I have that the hotel staff in Dearborn were rather nasty towards guests.

But anyway, Youmacon continued to grow, and in 2010, the convention moved to where it has been since - Downtown Detroit. 

It would be a couple more years until the convention expanded to Cobo Center, but attendance continued to rise, and so did the number of special guests. Total attendance crossed the 10,000 mark for Youmacon 2011, and reviews of the convention were generally positive.

Youmacon 2012 was the first to be held at Cobo Center alongside the Renaissance Center, and it's been held at both buildings ever since. 2012 was the year when the convention started to attract more high-profile guests, and it was the first to secure a Japanese guest - director and voice actor Shinichi Watanabe. 

Here's another interesting fact that you may not know either - Detroit has a Japanese consulate which is located inside the Renaissance Center, and the Consulate-General of Japan in Detroit has held panels at Youmacon as well. These panels, from what I've heard, are open to the general public and don't require a badge to attend.

I first attended Youmacon in 2013, and at first I wasn't sure what to think of it. I remember parking my car on the lot on the roof of Cobo Center, and when I took the elevator down to the main lobby on the second floor, I remember seeing one hell of a long line. It was quite the experience. I was stuck in line for at least 2 hours until I purchased my 3-day badge.

Before I continue, Youmacon has a tier system for badges. Let me explain how it works, to the best of my ability:

• Single day badges for Friday, Saturday, or Sunday are the cheapest option
• The 3-Day badges are slightly more expensive, but are the most popular badges. The 3-day badge covers the entire length of the convention, from Thursday night to Sunday afternoon.
• The highest tier badge is the Platinum Badge. It covers the entire length of the convention, and grants you benefits the 3-day badge doesn't have: you get a priority spot at the front of the line for autographs, panels, and access to the arcade and dealer's room. It also gets you priority seating for panels, as well as a free Youmacon T-shirt, a Maid Cafe pass, and free access to one game tournament of your choice.

Now continuing on with Youmacon 2013. I mainly attended it because I was interested in building up my retro game collection at first. I primarily spent the most of my time in the arcade playing lots of old school arcade games as well as NES and Super NES games. Also, whenever I rode the People Mover train to and from Ren Cen and Cobo, it was filled to the brim with cosplayers. No joke. It really felt like riding a subway in Tokyo.

But yeah. I really didn't purchase all that much when I was at Youmacon in 2013. I bought a brand new copy of Persona 3 FES and also a couple of the ADV Neon Genesis Evangelion DVDs, but other than that, not much. 

Though when it all ended, and when I was driving back home, I began to develop a bad case of convention fever. I wanted more. I have no idea why, but even though I didn't do all that much at Youmacon, I wanted to go back again. During the period between 2013 and 2014, I decided to build up an anime collection for the first time ever.

I had saved up a bit more money coming into Youmacon 2014, the tenth edition of the convention held. Though I didn't really attend any panels, I still spent lots of time enjoying the retro games in the arcade over at the Ren Cen, and I began to spend more money at the Dealers Room to build up my collection.

(Forgive me for some of the bad quality pictures)

Some of the notable purchases that came from 2014 included the Sega Saturn version of Mega Man X3, Golgo 13: The Professional, VIZ's Sailor Moon remaster, and a few volumes of the Rosario + Vampire manga.

2015 was another solid year for Youmacon. Attendance continued to explode, and more high-profile guests came along for the ride. The most notable ones being Crush 40 (pictured above), the group responsible for the soundtracks of many great Sonic games, most notably Sonic Adventure 2. As far as I know, this was the first live concert that Youmacon had. That was a sign that you knew this convention was going to turn into something special, especially for a city and a metropolitan area that had struggled in recent years. This was a good thing not just for Detroit, but Michigan as a whole.

I still didn't attend any panels for 2015, but I continued to spend more time in the arcade, which I feel was the best the convention ever had. It got some good arcade cabinets in - Time Crisis II, Virtual-On, Metal Slug, you name it, it had it all. The arcade for 2015 was phenomenally good. I also continued to build up my anime DVD collection as well, purchasing titles like the Bubblegum Crisis DVD set among many others.

2016 was also another good year for Youmacon. It was also the first time that I spent all three days at the convention since 2013. Me and a friend decided to get a hotel room for this go-around, so that I could save on gas money.

The amount of money I spent on anime DVDs went way up, and it was the first where I didn't buy any new video games to add to my collection.

The arcade was also strong for 2016 as well:

Granted, the arcade wasn't as good as 2015, but it was still very good in it's own right. I still spent lots of time playing old school games, and it was also when I first played Capcom's Armored Warriors.

As it was on Free Play mode like all the arcade titles, I was able to play it all the way through, and it was a solid mecha arcade title. One of the best I've played. I also had a couple people come and play co-op with me to help me get through and beat it.

2016 also marked the first time Youmacon cracked over 20,000 attendees, and it was now one of the Top 10 largest anime conventions in America, and the second largest in the Midwest behind only Anime Central in Chicago. Things were going great for Youmacon, and all the higher-ups had to do was nothing.

This is when things started to go downhill.

Ah, yes. Youmacon 2017. This edition of Youmacon was a bit of a mixed bag. Sure, it was another strong year in terms of attendance and guests, but it felt...lacking compared to 2015 and 2016. 2017 was also the first year where I tried out the Platinum badge, and that was a good call to make.

• This is Discotek Media's main booth at the Dealer's Room. They've been a regular at Youmacon for as long as I've attended it.

• This is the booth for the Toledo, Ohio-based anime store OtakuJoes. They have been regulars at Youmacon for as long as I've attended it, and they are by far the best of the best when it comes to anime merchandise. Of all the stuff I've purchased at Youmacon, more than half of my collection has come from OtakuJoes.
• OtakuJoes has rare anime figures, anime soundtrack CDs and cassettes, DVDs, Blu-Ray sets, wall scrolls, posters, and even LaserDiscs! Yes, LaserDiscs! These guys often travel to Japan to purchase surplus anime goods to sell in the states. And they never disappoint. If you're looking for something, they will most often have it in stock.
• These guys are primarily on Facebook, and you can message them if you want to buy something off them. Be sure to give these guys a follow!

• I took this photo from the People Mover. This was right after Joe Louis Arena closed down for good. Man, do I miss the Joe. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't a bad place to see a hockey game.

Onto the arcade now. Sure, there was still a fairly good selection of arcade titles to choose from, but that wasn't the disappointment. What was the most disappointing was the utter lack of retro console games. The only retro console setup I saw was a Sega Saturn that was running Saturn Bomberman. 

Aside from the arcades, I went and attended a panel for the first time. It was alright, nothing too special. I spent all three days at Youmacon, and I had an alright time. Though I could tell that something was off about Youmacon 2017. It appears that it wasn't as well funded as 2016, and that the staff was becoming a bit cheap.

There were warning signs, but it was nothing too severe...yet.

Then came Youmacon 2018. Holy hot damn, this was a good one. And it's one that I will never forget. It was the year when Youmacon peaked. 2018 was the best one I have ever attended.

I once again got the Platinum badge, and thank god I did. Because you should have seen the lines:

See what I mean?

Youmacon once again saw attendance north of 21,000. And this year, they brought out all the stops. Literally.

• Here are the GameCube setups for the Super Smash Bros. Melee tournaments.

For 2018, the arcade was moved from Ren Cen over to Cobo. One drawback of this is that the arcade was no longer open for 24 hours straight like in years' past. It was only open until 3AM.

2018 was also the first time Youmacon introduced the Battle Opera, which is where fighting game tournaments are held.

The retro games made a return, though in the form of the NES and SNES minis. We didn't get to see the rare retro titles we saw in 2014, 2015 and even 2016, though it was better than nothing at least. There were also quite a few GameCube setups as well, so that's something.

However, what really made up for that was the selection of arcade titles. They really brought out all the stops for 2018.

• Yes, they got this in. And yes, I played it. It was excellent.

There ain't nothing like playing some arcade titles with the Downtown Detroit skyline in back of you. Downtown Detroit really could use a barcade like this.

As you can see, the arcade had a ton of top-notch arcade titles to play.

But nothing as good as this:

Oh, yes. I got to play Capcom's Alien vs. Predator, and it was excellent. This was the standout title in the entire arcade. It was incredibly fun, and I played it all the way through. A random attendee also joined in later to play co-op with me, and we managed to complete the game together. We both high-fived each other afterward. It was awesome.

The Dealer's room was also filled with a ton of goodies this year, and it was the first time that I spent over $1,000 in there. Yes, I'm alright. I probably shouldn't have blown that much money, but Youmacon is typically the time when I buy more anime DVDs and rare video games. I rarely do so after that. I got a lot of DVDs, posters, and I also bought myself some anime cel art as well. Yes, you heard that correctly.

For 2018, Youmacon also got some damn good panels in. But none were as good as the live concert they had in:

Capcom Live.

Capcom Live is a Boston, Massachusetts-based group, and they are THE official Capcom concert tour. This was their first time coming to Detroit, and their concert was being held at the Renaissance Ballroom inside the Ren Cen. I was able to get front row seats thanks to my Platinum Pass, and it was one of the best live rock shows I've ever been to. They sounded excellent, and they did not disappoint.

It was also a full house at the Renaissance Ballroom in terms of attendance, and it was arguably the most exciting concert I've been to. They played music from all sorts of Capcom franchises, such as Mega Man, Monster Hunter, Resident Evil, and more.

I also got to meet the group after the show, and got their autographs. They're awesome people, and were very happy when I told them that they sounded better than Judas Priest at Masonic Temple! It's one memory I'll never forget. It was that special.

As I had the Platinum badge and the coupons that came with it, I burned one of them on the Maid Cafe at the Crowne Plaza hotel across the street from Cobo.

At the Maid Cafe, you can have conversations with fellow attendees and cosplayers, while munching down on some desserts. The treats were pretty good, though the sizes could have been a bit bigger.

The Maid Cafe is also how I found out about the OTHER stand out panel at Youmacon 2018 - Akibaland Tours. Yes, an actual tour guide group from Japan came to Youmacon. This group focused specifically on Akihabara in Tokyo.

Pictured above is the lead tour guide for Akibaland Tours, Emi-chan, who I got to meet in person not once, but twice. All of us who attended her panel on Sunday got to take pictures with her as well, and she was very happy when I spoke some Japanese to her. She praised how well I was speaking it too!

2018 also had a good number of high-profile guests. One of them being Yu-Gi-Oh! animator Shuji Maruyama. I got to meet him and he gave me an autographed Yu-Gi-Oh! poster like the one you see on the table.

Though he wasn't the only major Japanese guest to attend Youmacon 2018. Emi-chan, Shigefumi Shingaki, Junichi Hayama, Mamoru Yokota, and Hiroshi Shiibashi all attended that year. 

Like I said, the Youmacon staff really pulled out all the stops for 2018.

I also stayed up till 3 in the morning to attend some of the late night panels that were occurring at the Ren Cen. My favorite one was this "Your Waifu Is Shit" panel, which I thought was hilarious. They made fun of all the Love Live! girls during the panel:

This one was the most hilarious to me.

Yeah, this was quite the lit panel.

I also attended an anime OST karaoke panel where I attempted to sing the signature track of Bubblegum Crisis, 'Konya wa Hurricane', but it didn't go so well.

Man...Youmacon 2018. 

This was by far the best Youmacon I have ever been to, and the best anime convention I've been to yet. So much fun, so many memories...nothing will ever top it, and I'll never forget all the fun I had there. It was great to lose myself in such an atmosphere.

And now onto Youmacon 2019, probably the last time Youmacon was good.

2019 was the fifteenth edition of Youmacon, and while not as good as 2018, was still a fairly good edition of Youmacon in it's own right.

There were some dark spots though - my friend misplaced his money and took us a while to find it, and I heard from my sister that some of the vendors in Artist Alley were treated poorly by staff. This is when the decline for Youmacon really began. Again, there were warning signs, but nothing too severe...yet.

There were lots of interesting cosplayers around this time as well.

However, the cosplays that really stood out to me was this Fire Emblem one, where the cosplayers posed for photos outside of Mariners Church:

Say what you will about Detroit, but downtown near the riverfront is not a bad place to have an anime convention. You have landmarks like Mariners Church where Fire Emblem and Fate cosplayers do photoshoots, which are ideal locations for stuff like that.

The arcade was also still good, even if it was mostly the same as 2018's.

Dealer's Room was filled with lots of goodies as usual, and I once again spent more money than I should have.

Media Blasters being Media Blasters as usual, displaying hentai DVDs out in the open for everyone to see.

The panels were also top notch as well. I went to a panel about obscure and underrated anime series, as well as a panel about traveling in Japan:

And that was Youmacon 2019. It may not have been the strongest edition of the convention, but it was definitely not the worst. Still pretty good in my opinion.

After returning home, I eagerly awaited Youmacon 2020. I was fully in anime convention fever, and I was truly addicted to it at this point.

But then...COVID hit. Youmacon was cancelled, and they did an online-only show.

Yes, Morgan Kollin really wanted to get Youmacon up and running for 2020, but he was pressured by the COVID-mask wearing mob to cancel it and delay until next year.

It was at this moment, that Youmacon as I once knew it...was dead.

Once the lockdowns were lifted in full, I used the Platinum badge I purchased in 2020 to attend Youmacon 2021.

And by god...it was a disappointment.

Youmacon 2021 was not very good at all. It was absolutely mediocre. Yes, the panels were alright, and so was the Dealer's Room.

Once again, OtakuJoes was the place where I spent the most of my money.

Over here is the anime poster and cel art vendor Art-Toons, which is based out of Cleveland, Ohio. These guys specialize in cel art, posters, and other anime merchandise, and I highly recommend giving them a look. They travel to multiple anime conventions across the country. I've done business with them since Youmacon 2014, and they are very good people. Their selection is solid, and the prices are reasonable. They're also willing to negotiate prices on certain items as well.

Video Games New York also returned, and they have been a staple at Youmacon for as long as I can remember. I've bought multiple games from them for various platforms.

However, the main standout of Youmacon 2021 was the Hololive panel.

Mori Calliope and Kiara Takanashi were the stars of the show, and they showed off some of the songs they were working on. It was an alright panel, though I wish I had brought my video camera like I did for Capcom Live. I'm sure you can find some of the videos for it on YouTube.

Everything else about Youmacon 2021 was a disappointment. The People Mover was down, and most importantly, the arcade sucked. Good god, it was awful. There were no arcade games, only a few rows of PS4, XSX, XB1, and SNES and Genesis mini setups. Absolutely disappointing.

And that's all I have to say about Youmacon 2021. It was right then and there that I realized that Youmacon as I knew it no longer existed. I chose to not attend Youmacon 2022, as I heard the COVID restrictions were amplified for that year. And I'm glad I didn't.

And the final nail in the coffin came only two months ago:

Jon St. John, a longtime Youmacon guest, disassociated himself with Youmacon entirely, and will not be attending there again:

Even worse, as mentioned in the above video, Youmacon has been blacklisted by many voice actors in the industry due to how poorly it has been managed as of late. Also, no game tournaments will be taking place at Youmacon 2023 because of financial constraints involving it's founder, Morgan Kollin:

Even worse, they did away with Artist Alley and the Dealer's Room, so nobody can buy anime merchandise and media at Youmacon.

Wait...WHAT?!!

That is a literal death blow there.

Even worse, Kollin appears to be in a load of legal and financial trouble, and could possibly get the book thrown at him.

Here it is revealed that he misused charity funds, and didn't allocate them to where they were supposed to go:

And here's another bombshell:

It appears that Kollin used Youmacon as a ploy to funnel money into the 15 years of back taxes he owes. FIFTEEN YEARS. This would indicate that Kollin has been doing this since Youmacon 2008 at least.

And these revelations just broke out about the founder as well. Turns out he's even more of shady person than I realized:

What the hell am I reading here? How was this allowed to go on? Where is the accountability?

Until things change, I am done with Youmacon. I cannot believe that this is happening. I really wanted to give it one more chance to redeem itself after 2021, but it appears that won't be happening anytime soon. Morgan Kollin and his family are running Youmacon into the ground, and nothing is being done about this. This is a death sentence for this convention.

The fall of Youmacon is bad for anime conventions, bad for Detroit, and bad for Michigan. There was a good thing going here. Youmacon had a ton of potential to grow into something even bigger and better. Hell, it could have drawn more tourism to Metro Detroit, and more business investments in the area from Japanese firms if it were managed properly after 2018. Morgan Kollin had a good thing going, and all he had to do to ensure it stayed that way, was NOTHING.

Because the sad part about all this is that this fate could have been avoided.

Michigan is already up shit creek without a paddle in many ways. Big events like Youmacon going to shit is the LAST thing this state needs right now. I supported this convention because I wanted the anime community in this state to grow, and in the hope that it would draw more attention from Japan to this state. Could you imagine if some anime studios decided to set up offices in Metro Detroit? Could you imagine if some major anime distributors decided to expand to the area? Even voice acting studios? Michigan could have had what Texas has regarding anime industry-related business operations. I'm not saying it would have happened, but if Youmacon was a properly managed convention, it could have surpassed even Anime Central in attendance and put this state on the map once again.

You have no idea how much this hurts me. I attended Youmacon for 8 years, and as a longtime supporter, I have no choice but to withdrawl my support for it until new management steps in. Morgan Kollin and everyone else running Youmacon right now need to go. Clean house. The only thing that will save Youmacon now is new ownership. There's no other way. Youmacon needs a new owner that has the influence and the finances to keep it going strong for years, if not decades. I really hope the Japanese consulate in Detroit can step in. Or the person running Anime North. I just want SOMEONE to save it.

Youmacon can be good again. It won't be under the current leadership.

To anyone with the finances and influence: If you happen to stumble across this article, please save Youmacon. It needs you more than ever before. Metro Detroit needs a good anime convention again, and fixing it up will help out not just the city, but Michigan in general. Endless potential awaits if you do.

It was a good run while it lasted though. For the most part, it was a fantastic time. Especially 2018.

Youmacon was a great anime convention. It was the one place where I could forget about everything else and have the time of my life. I enjoyed killing time in the arcades, riding the People Mover with fellow cosplayers, spending money in the Dealer's Room like it was no object, attending panels to meet famous individuals involved in the industry as well as sharing my favorite anime series to more and more people, eating Coney Dogs and Detroit-style deep dish pizza at the food courts in the meantime, and just having a good time in general. This place was very special to me. I won't ever forget the amazing times I spent here. All the people I met. All the new games and anime that I discovered.

It was unlike anything else.

Well, guess I'll have to look for new conventions in the meantime. I hear that San Japan convention in San Antonio is pretty good...A-Cen also looks good too...so does A-Kon.

Well, have you been to Youmacon before? What did you think of it? And what other anime conventions can you recommend to me in the meantime?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below.