Anime and Video Game Characters Invade Downtown Detroit This Halloween Weekend

Final Fantasy VII's Cloud visits the Ren Cen.

DETROIT, MI October 2nd 2013. Pokémon’s Ash, Street Fighter’s Ryu, Dragon Ball Z’s Gohan, the Assassin Connor Kenway, Borderland 2’s Claptrap, and even Duke Nukem will be invading Downtown Detroit this Halloween weekend as YOUMACON, Metro Detroit's Anime Convention, returns to both the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center and Cobo Hall.

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 American culture over the past few decades. Common themes throughout the event are: Anime (Japanese animation), V ideo Games, Role Playing, 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. In one of its most popular events, “Live Action Mario Party”, players participate in gameshow-styled mini-games to help their teams advance and win, just like in the video game “Mario Party”, but with full audience participation.

Wearing costumes, or “Cosplay” as it's known at conventions, is very popular with Youmacon attendees. 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.

Guests of Honor for Youmacon 2013 include:

·    Actresses Sarah Natochenny and Michelle Knotz who voice Pokemon’s Ash Ketchum and Team

Rocket’s Jesse

·    Actor Todd Haberkorn from D. Gray Man, Fairy Tail, Initial D, and Soul Eater

·    Actress Caitlin Glass from Fullmetal Alchemist

·    Actor Kyle Hebert from Naruto, Street Fighter, and Dragon Ball Z

·    Actors Noah Watts and Adrian Hough who play Connor and Haythem Kenway in

Assassin's Creed 3

·    Actor Jon St. John, best known as the voice of Duke Nukem

·    Actor D.C. Douglas, the voice of Wesker from Resident Evil, and Legion from Mass Effect

·    Actor David Eddings, the voice of Claptrap from Borderlands 2

·    Up-and-coming musical automatons Steam Powered Giraffe

·    Online parody troupe Team Four Star

·    Internet personalities LittleKuriboh and Linkara

·    The band Loverin Tamburin from Tokyo, Japan

·    and many more still to be announced.

The Exhibit Hall for Youmacon 2013 will be in the 100,000 Sq. Ft. Wayne Hall of Cobo Center, featuring over 100 unique vendors and artists, featuring goods and arts from around the world.

Returning this year is the Youmacon Championship Tournament - one of the largest fighting game tournaments in the country. Last year tens of thousands of viewers watched online via Twitch.tv as participants competed for thousands of dollars worth of prizes in games such as Super Street Fighter 4, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Soul Calibur 5, King of Fighters 13, and many others. This year Youmacon is expanding its tournament to include popular console first-person-shooters, League of Legends, and Starcraft II. A tentative list of all video games can be found at  http://youmacon.com/video-gaming.

In addition to its massive video game tournament, Youmacon will also be bringing back its popular 24 hour video gaming rooms. The video game room, located in the Renaissance Center will feature not only the latest Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo titles, but also pick-up PC gaming featuring popular games such as Riot Game’s League of Legends, Blizzard’s StarCraft II, and Diablo III. Also returning to Youmacon 2013 will be the popular Battletech pods. The 24-hour tabletop gaming room will feature dozens of popular card games, board games, and roleplaying games.

Youmacon 2013 will take place Halloween Weekend, October 31st through November 3rd at both The Renaissance Center and Cobo Hall. Thursday's programming is always free from 8pm until 2am. Three-Day badges (tickets) are now available online until October 15th at  youmacon.com, and day passes along with three- day badges will be available during the convention at the Michigan Hall inside Cobo Center.  Use of the Detroit People Mover is encouraged for transportation between the two locations; however The Renaissance Center and Cobo Hall are just a brief 8 minute walk apart along Downtown Detroit's beautiful river walk.

Each registered adult is entitled to a free registration for one child age 12 or under, and $10 registrations for up to three additional children age 12 and under. Child registrations are processed and paid for at-con for both pre- registered attendees and those registering at the con. No children age 12 or under may attend the convention without the supervision of an adult.

Included with each registration is access to all of the previously mentioned events, guest panels, and vendor rooms inside of Cobo. A small number of supplemental events, including the annual Charity Ball, Japanese style Maid Café, and individual video game tournaments are priced at the event for an additional $10 each. A small handful of panels with mature content (such as violence and language), are strictly restricted to those 18 and over, and require a valid Photo ID to enter.

About Youmacon:

Youmacon was started in 2005 by a small group of friends wanting to bring an event similar to Chicago's “Anime Central”, or Baltimore’s “Otakon” to the Detroit region. Its first event, held at the now re-branded Troy Hilton, saw an unexpected attendance of over 1,000 individuals. From there, Youmacon has become one of the fastest growing fan conventions in the country. W ith the need to expand and the desire to not only keep the “hotel feel” of a smaller convention, but with the goal to also bring more

tourism into the city of Detroit, the Convention expanded into the Renaissance Center in 2010. In 2011 Youmacon managed to become the first event to ever “sell out” the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, the tallest hotel in the western hemisphere.  Last year, Youmacon drew an international audience of over 12,000 individuals to downtown Detroit for the weekend, coming as far as Great Britain, Japan, Sweden, and Australia.