The only thing going for game on is the free video games to play. The arcade area is free to play, minus the claw machines those cost $$. The plushies are all bootlegs FYI. But the arcade games are free, so if you ever wanted to play round1 games without paying, you can do so here!
Parking is a goddamn nightmare. Its about $20/day for the con center garages. Not much else to park nearby due to it being downtown. Forget staying at any nearby hotels, they're hella pricy around min $200/night. Again, no free parking either.
Table costs have skyrocketed too. I believe it's $400+ now for most AA tables, and they mix Artists, Markers and Vendors all together. Aisles suck, it's not a good mixture. I barely made table back. People only want to play games and get merch not buy from artists.
Vendor/Artist issues aside, there were once again issues with panels this year AND the cosplay contest had all of the volunteers abandon their den parent posts (most likely due to the lead person being mean from what I've heard). I am also pretty sure I saw someone at the contest win who won in the same costume at another local con which makes me think whoever is running this doesn't perform due diligence. I dunno, it just seems really messy. There was also A LOT of rumors that they didn't bring a favorite cosplay guest in because some friend of a friend wanted to get in good with the new MC.
I'm just over the drama of this con. Its super inconsistent which is sad as the owner seems super nice but his crew just isn't very good.
There was also a lot of confusion during load in and out. Some people were told no wagons or carts while others were allowed them. The space allocation was also rough. It just felt really rushed. Most didn't make their tables back so there's a lot chatter about not going back. I don't know, it was just a bit of a mess and the con itself doesn't seem to want to own up to their mistakes. It's not the only con in AZ having issues right now. Seems there are a bunch of owners making bad decisions that hurt us locals and artists.
