Geek life, parenting, family, pre-teens who like manga or anime and college students who want to cosplay and party. To some extent all of those variables exist at any con; however, at MomoCon they exist on a level so perfectly other cons wish that they could bottle its secret sauce. The tricky part of that equation is the family element. If you have a con that’s too family friendly then it won’t be interesting to the kids. If the con has too high of a demographic then it’s great for adults, but too much for children.
MomoCon manages to assemble the standard elements that make a con fabulous, but has deftly managed to keep it incredibly family friendly. A family that cons together stays together and families that attend MomoCon can usually be divided up into two groups. There are the families that go there to cosplay and those that go for the games.
If you’re family wants to be into games but isn’t then MomoCon is the place for you to test drive almost any pop culture board game available. All that’s needed is a driver’s license and you can check out the game. If you don’t know how to play it there are game helpers that wander around helping people figure them out.
Our 7 year old wanted to play the Pokemon version of Monopoly. I don’t know anything about Pokemon and I forgot how to properly play Monopoly. After sitting down for a minute or two this guy sat down next to me and started talking about how to play the game. “He’s mighty friendly”, I thought. After playing with us for about 10 minutes he gave the kids some verbal reminders about the various Pokemon cards and walked away. It was then that I saw his Momocon Game Helper apron. That was important to notice because at a con, cosplay is relative and the staff or volunteers need to be properly identified.
The cosplay at MomoCon is impressive and welcoming to world class costumers or those who are simply fans that want to dress up. For families this is impressive because the more graphic or horror cosplayers are not present. Even in costume the horror players can be friendly or pose for photos, but their appearance would scare most 5 year olds out of their minds. There are some scary or horror elements to MomoCon, but they’re more difficult to find and less likely to freak out small children.
Classic console video games for the parents? Check
State of the art console video games from Asia? Hai
There’s also more Pokemon, Sailor Moon, K-POP posters and music, comic books, graphic novels and more-most of which are all great for all ages.
The arena floor was divided up into the games in one large room, while the other massive room had all of the vendors. There are also dozens upon dozens of meetings, break outs and photos sessions that are targeted towards those fans who simply want to talk or learn about their favorite anime show, how to make better costumes or anything else devoted to that interest.
MomoCon is approachable and a great gateway con for those families who might think that a con is ‘too much’ or simply something that their kids wouldn’t enjoy. Kids will enjoy MomoCon more than you can imagine and its daytime content is such that you won’t need to worry about it.
At night the kids are asleep aren’t they? It’s here when the college students, big time cosplayers and folks who want to get their geek party on come out. Those parties are for adult only, but they’re clearly marked, happen at night and are such that your children won’t accidentally come across them.
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