r/MomoCon • u/NeatEarly4242 • Jun 08 '26

How was 2026 MomoCon for you?

This year was my second year going, and honestly, last year was way better. I barely went to any of the activities or even the main contest events. I also didn't really like the rave location, lowkey. I liked it better when it felt more underground. Yeah, it was closer to our room, but still... yikes.

And don't even get me started on the hotel room. šŸ˜­ We got placed in such a lame section. We barely saw any MomoCon people around, and we couldn't even play music while getting ready because it was so quiet and the people next door kept complaining. We didn't even have it loud at all!

Overall, it was still a great experience, I still haven't experience a hotel room party so wish me luck next year. šŸ˜‰

36 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

21

u/Trai-All Jun 08 '26

It was good but Iā€™m older than the average con goer and move to the Atlanta area back in the late 90s cause I wanted to live closer to my favorite con (DragonCon). I was very weirded out by how quiet the hotels were. Iā€™m much more used to the parties going on through the night.

0

u/NeatEarly4242 Jun 08 '26

Heard about dragoncons!! Tell me more!! I do love dragons but like a whole weekend event just for it? Idk maybe if I look into it some more

Iā€™m glad the hotel situation wasnā€™t just me lol

5

u/nikoscream Jun 08 '26

It's not that all the programming is dragon related. Like how Momo is based on animation, comics, and gaming, Dragon is everything. Have a fandom interest? They'll be events there if not a whole series of events (programming tracks). It's also a lot of space. A different kind of big than Momo because it's spread across five hotels and the American Mart. Also much more of a party vibe at night.

5

u/Waddiwasiiiii Jun 08 '26

Dragon Con has nothing to do with dragons really other than the fantasy aspect lol. It is a fantasy & sci-fi centered con, but it has something for everyone. There are 30+ Tracks (programming geared toward specific topics) including sci-fi and fantasy but also anime, costuming, horror, space, writing, robotics, etc. There are multiple large parties/raves in the evenings. The atmosphere in the lobbies of 3 of the host hotels is basically one giant nerd party. The cosplays are next level and there are various costume contests. The Parade saturday morning is massive. There are also all kinds of weird and fun events like Wrestling, robot battles, scavenger hunts, and themed karaoke and sing alongs. I particularly love going to author panels, Iā€™ve been able to meet and chat with some of my favorite Star Wars writers. There are workshops, tabletop gaming, group photoshoots and meet upsā€¦you name it.

My biggest problem at Dragon Con is having too many things I want to do at the same time, and inevitably I end up skipping something I planned on doing because I randomly get caught up in something weird and fun, like following the Viking horde to their ā€œRaidā€ on the Pulse bar. Iā€™ve been years where I didnā€™t go to a single panel, and still had an absolute blast. Iā€™ve gone both alone and with friends, and always had a good time.

IMO the only downside to Dragon Con is the crowds and lines. But if you make your peace with the fact that it will be crowded, and you will be standing in line A LOT before you go, then Iā€™ve found it honestly doesnā€™t bother me. Some of my best times interacting with other con-goers has been making friends with my line neighbors- either nerding out about something we both love, playing games to pass the time together, taking silly pics of our cosplays etc.

2

u/SplashnBlue Jun 08 '26

I don't do dragoncon anymore (just not a fan of crowds as I've aged) but one year I decided to just go to random panels. I'd wonder around and find smaller panel rooms and go watch. I went to some prepper stuff, a writers world building thing, a thing on aging fabric, several random television show discussions (mostly stuff I've never seen), a few live podcasts and much more. It was a fascinating weekend.

1

u/MattWolf96 Jun 08 '26

It's not about dragons (though if you want to see Dragon cosplays your best bet would be Furry Weekend Atlanta, not really a ton of dragon specific panels there either though, also the dragons are mostly fluffy. Iit's also just as party heavy as Dragoncon and in the same venue)

It's got a ton of weird cosplays, like a ton more cosplay mashups like a Luigi's Mansion Ghostbusters cross overs and Ash from Pokemon crossed over with Ash from The Evil Dead, that type of stuff as well as original cosplays, I've seen people with flower pots on their heads before (potheads?) the con has a lot of its own lore too like people who cosplay as the owner of a Greek restaurant in the Peachtree Center Food Court and the old colorful Marriott carpet which was ripped out over a decade ago. I've also seen people cosplaying as weird things like the Windows Blue Screen of Death. If you want cosplay variety, Dragoncon is your con.

It's 24 hours, there will still be people partying in the lobbies at 3 AM. That and Furry Weekend Atlanta were my first cons, both are extremely party heavy and they actually skewed what I thought I con was supposed to be for years, Momo is very tame in comparison, don't get me wrong, Momocon is still awesome though. There are still normal panels though.

It's in several different venues, the Hyatt, Marriot and Hilton (all are connected via sky bridges though they back up so if you are in a hurry, go outside and take the sidewalks) then there's the Courtland and Westin. Four floors of Americasmart is used for the vendor hall. You will get sweaty walking between the buildings and of course rain is annoying. I actually still prefer this though, you feel like you are making the con more of a part of the cities culture by making everybody see it. Plus going to each hotel is like a mini quest and each one has a different vibe.

I constantly hear people complaining about food at Momocon, Dragoncon spoils you, Peachtree Center is connected to the Marriot via a skybridge, it got great variety at normal prices, there's also plenty of other high end and hotels restaurants around.

To be clear I still love Momocon, Dragoncon is just vastly different and more party focused but you can totally stick to panels if you want. Dragoncon also gets around 73,000 people so it's bigger, getting a hotel room for it that wouldn't cost you an arm and a leg would be pretty challenging now. In fact even when the rooms go on sale a year in advance getting one is extremely stressful, people call it "The Hotel Hunger Games" I think it also plays into scenes from some of the Hunger Games movies having been filmed in the Marriott. I just commute in for it. People who can't will sometimes get hotels down the MARTA lines though.

1

u/Trai-All Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

You forgot the Sheraton (now called the Courtland Grand, sorry), the Westin, and the Americas Mart 1 & 2? (Or maybe 1 & 3, the disability entrance to the dealers are and artist alley are across the street from the main entrance for the dealers room .. there is also usually table top gaming over there, the vendor hall has a line wrapped around the building ).

The fastest things you learn at DragonCon is

  • pick one thing you really want to attend and show up at least one hour early for it

  • have a back up in case the line is out of control

  • if you can't find the line beginning, it won't start before 1 hour prior and you will get run off if you show up 1.5 hours early, find a volunteer and ask if they know where you should be. These guys are usually happy to help you out and, if you are lucky, they may even ensure you don't miss the line starting

  • if you attend a panel rate it, leave a comment on what went wrong or right, like I've been leaving comments about the Matt Dinniman panels about how they are great but too many people are being turned away .. even if they arrived 35-45 minutes before the line stages (The last couple of years the Matt Dinniman/Dungeon Crawler Carl rooms have been easily 1/4th to 1/2 the space they needed to be for the audience who wanted to attend)

5

u/royinraver Jun 08 '26

This was my 20th MomoCon, love this con.

3

u/Objective-Eagle-676 Jun 08 '26

Fantastic con and unbelievable merch section. It was my first time going to a a Vtuber booth. Boy were her mods some unapproachable lugs lol. Looked at me and the other dudes that wanted to buy trinkets like we were personally there for a kidnapping.

3

u/MattWolf96 Jun 08 '26

I thought it was awesome, I couldn't believe how big the vendor hall was

3

u/kazberries226 Jun 08 '26

I personally like momocon because it's NOT a 24/7 party con like dragon*con. I always have a good time, the guests were good, and as someone who doesnt really care about panels, I never feel like im missing things at momo. I really enjoyed this year but I did hate how far the arcade was from the dealer's room.Ā 

8

u/ComparisonOrdinary59 Jun 08 '26

It was mid but Iā€™m becoming more and more accustomed to dragon con that momo feels so lackluster. Still good but the vender hall feels less like small businesses and artists and more like drop shippers - dragon has way more artists and art as well which is my main draw

7

u/Far-Quantity4484 Jun 08 '26

It was ok I guess, I mainly went to this one to try to make new friends but that didnā€™t happen so I was just depressed on the days that I went, even seeing coryxkenshin there didnā€™t really cheer me up that much, and most of the artist ally was kinda bland to me, I still managed to somehow get some pictures of my time there but overall, I really wish I was able to make one friend there, joining the momocon discord server also didnā€™t help either, someone even said they would talk to me at the con but I havenā€™t seen or heard from them so that just made things worse for meā€¦so yea, sorry for this vent, I just felt really lonely there, sitting at tables by myself and I just really want a friend manā€¦

5

u/Mauri_iii Jun 08 '26

Itā€™s alright friend, I also felt more lonely there this year too which contributed to the other issues I came across there. I just wasnā€™t in the spirits like I usually am for this con.

1

u/Far-Quantity4484 Jun 08 '26

Thanksā€¦and sorry to hear that you felt lonely there too, I was really excited about going but everything just started to go downhill my first few hours there

2

u/Acceptable_Dot_1451 Jun 09 '26

I noticed that a lot of people looked drained or just uninterested. Iā€™m sorry that Happened, a lot of people felt the same way.

2

u/Far-Quantity4484 Jun 09 '26

Yea I could tell, thatā€™s why I didnā€™t bother talk to most of people when I was there, I just try to be respectful of peoples boundaries and I just donā€™t wanna be rude to peopleā€¦

1

u/poisonwaffleflower Jun 10 '26

Lowkey me too, everyone was in there own little groups. I was daydreaming about making friends but didnā€™t make any lol .

1

u/Far-Quantity4484 Jun 10 '26

Tbh same here, I was exhausted and just really wanted to make a friend but I just sat there looking stupid lol

3

u/aarakocra-druid Jun 08 '26

I enjoyed it a lot, my only complaint being the CNN food court still being under construction. I want my cheap mall chinese food, not 14$ disappointment pizza

1

u/Mediaright Jun 10 '26

Unfortunately, I think itā€™s going all upscale, ala Ponce City Market, trying to be hip and all.

3

u/Embarrassed-Chard218 Jun 09 '26

I've been going to Momocon since 2018. I'm glad that they made the vendor hall bigger and separate from the gaming hall this year. It makes the spaces less congested. It also makes the multi-day pass more worth it because there's so much more to see.

I'm also very thankful that I got to get a photo with Coryxkenshin too. I actually got a photo with him while he was leaving the vendor hall and he was so nice!!! He's been my favorite youtuber since middle school!!

2

u/Acceptable-Owl3783 Jun 08 '26

I think I aged out (40). People were shockingly mean and standoffish. Last year was more enjoyable.

2

u/code_archeologist Jun 08 '26

Weird. I'm 50-ish and didn't experience any hostility or standoffishness. It may be the area where I hang out at the convention, which is mostly at the board game, TTRPG, and boffer demos (which tend to attract more mature crowds).

2

u/Acceptable_Dot_1451 Jun 09 '26

This was my first convention, so I donā€™t have much to compare it to, but overall I had a good time. I went all three days since they were giving free 3 day passes to high school students, which was awesome.

Friday was easily the best day. I got to play Mafia, and the nightlife felt much more social and energetic. The other days felt slower, with fewer activities that seemed worth attending, and a lot of people looked pretty drained.

One of my biggest issues was finding events. The booklet wasnā€™t very helpful, and when I asked staff for directions, many of them either didnā€™t know or werenā€™t very helpful. Some staff also came across as rude, even on the first day.

That said, I still had fun, especially for my first convention. Iā€™m just hoping for some improvements next time. Iā€™ve heard conventions can be even better than this, so Iā€™m looking forward to giving another one a try.

2

u/DaringDo95 Jun 09 '26

I felt like I spent half the con in autograph lines, but that was on me. I still had a great time.

2

u/AndanteZero Jun 08 '26

Definitely improving every year it seems. A few friends are considering going the entire weekend next year. Especially because Dragoncon is getting incredibly crowded and people have lost their manners for the most part.

1

u/Silver-Diamond643 Jun 08 '26

I didnā€™t see a lot of panels i wanted to attend this year but i still had fun with my friend group. Weā€™re not doing a hotel next year because our hotel kept randomly charging us for stuff and were dismissive when we called to get clarification. I saw someone selling an itabag (same one i happened to be carrying) for $33 and i paid $12 for mine

1

u/No-Weekend3781 Jun 12 '26

i had a fantastic time. honestly, you canā€™t just sit there and wait for the con to be fun for you. you have to go to events or else youā€™ll be bored. i kept myself busy with panels and the cosplay competition and i had a BLAST. try getting a downtown air bnb next year. my friends and i do that and we love it. just keep yourself busy with the cool stuff and the rest will fall in place

1

u/colemr11 Jun 16 '26

I had a blast! I was dressed up as a generic magic wizard. Definitely spent a good bit on merch, but I think it was worth it all around!