Cityscape

Video: A Brief Chat with 2 Visitors at Detroit's Colorful, Amusing Youmacon

November 05, 2016, 4:57 AM by  Allan Lengel

If you walk around downtown Detroit this weekend, you may wonder why people are in costumes even though Halloween is over. 

They're here for the 12th annual 2016 Youmacon anime and gaming event at Cobo Center and the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center.

Activities include videogame tournaments, team events, discussions, parties, vendor booths and displays of animation, comics, posters and other art. And oh yes, attendees of all ages wear dramatic makeup and extreme outfits for "cosplay" (costume play).

What's Youmacon you ask? The website describes it :

Youmacon is a popular culture event similar to most “Comic Cons.” However, instead of focusing on comic books, Youmacon is a celebration of Japanese popular culture and its influence on our own culture over the past few decades. Common themes throughout the event are Anime (Japanese animation), Video Games, Japanese style artwork and comics, and the rising internet culture influenced by all of the above.

Youmacon brings a unique all-ages mix of interactive events, celebrity guest panels, and live musical performances to Downtown Detroit. One of its most popular events, “Live Action Mario Party”, emulates the video game experience – often filling the room to fire code capacity. Players participate in gameshow-like mini-games to help their teams advance and win.

Wearing costumes, or “Cosplay” as it's known at conventions, is very popular with attendees of Youmacon. It is not uncommon to walk into a pair of Italian plumbers in overalls on the escalator, only to meet someone dressed as Edward Elric or Master Chief from Halo minutes later.

Deadline Detroit stopped by Cobo Center to talk to two attendees from Toronto.

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Cobo banner by Fred Gallager, creator of a web comic called MegaTokyo. (Twitter photo)



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