Momocon 2026 Con Review

I know I probably should have had this done a week ago, but between moving and then immediately having to go to Colossalcon Prime, I had no time. I am very happy that I got to go back to Momocon for the first time in 7 years, even with being waitlisted at first.

Momocon is a gigantic convention held in Atlanta, Georgia, during the month of May, and for 2026, it was the weekend before Memorial Day. Honestly, driving through Atlanta to get to our Airbnb was not as crazy as it usually has been, and I'm forever grateful for that. I found a decently priced Airbnb to stay at (that ended up being way more of an issue than it should have been.) We were within a half mile of the convention center, and after all the trekking to the booth, it ended up being about a mile. I had brought my Scully cosplay to wear with my partner, Tolia as Mulder, but it ended up being a wash due to having to walk so far.

Due to all the construction on the way to Atlanta (it's like they were all planning on delaying us XD) we arrived at the convention at 9p.m., a little under an hour before the vendor's hall was to close for the evening. Nowhere in the load-in email were we told that they actually weren't letting people in after 8:30. The staff members rolled their eyes when I asked if I could just unload my stuff so that I could set up in the morning, and eventually lead me to our spot. I thought it was a bit silly, seeing as there was no message or email stating that we couldn't come up until 10p.m. to set up. Tolia also didn't allow me to set up, even though it only took us 30-ish minutes to do so the next morning.

I was located in AA3138, which faced the food courts. This should have been beneficial, but unfortunately, due to lines going straight back, leading up to our tables (multiple artists got screwed over on this), large crowds were forced to squish past and not even have the opportunity to look at my or other artists' wares. I know that had even a fraction of those folks been able to stop, I would have easily hit my sales goal. My neighbor complained to staff twice about this crowding issue and while it was eventually fixed, it still took too long. I'm not entirely sure why there wasn't someone in charge of line management, especially when there were so many security/police officers keeping traffic flowing outside of the vendors hall. I also felt like the hall didn't need to be open on Thursday at all, as hardly anyone made it to our corner of the room.

I am also a bit biased, but feel strongly about conventions putting their artists first before their Dealers. Dealers will always make money from folks wanting to purchase figures, but there's only one of that artist. Their style is unique and deserves to be seen, not just shoved into the back corner. I was also in my very first Stamp Rally, and it felt no matter what I did, I could not get folks to take the stamp card. It was Cozy Video Game themed and I made 30 different Junimos as my prize, and we had a Stitches (Animal Crossing) magnet, a Tomodachi Life sticker, and a set of Kirby and Gameboy stickers. While we were there, the other three artists also communicated that they weren't doing well sales-wise either. The problem may be that Momocon just has too many artists and vendors in their Dealer's Hall. This was very disappointing, as this show should have been an easy sweep for me. I expected a few thousand in sales, in order to make sure my rent at the new place was secured, and I felt like I had to beg and plead for people to even look at my work.

The attendees that did stop and check out my wares were so awesome. I am so thankful that I have such wonderful followers and people that are interested in my work! To everyone who shared a kind word, helped me cross off a new Pokemon, or even commissioned me for something I got done during the con, you really help me feel like this is still worth it. Speaking of commissions: we were able to cross off 9 new Pokemon, including Mega Feraligatr, Conkeldurr, Azelf, and Flapple (Obvi there were more, I just can't think of them off the top of my head.) I even got to make a few amigurumi while I was there and say goodbye to some that had been traveling with us for a while, which gives me an excuse to make more wonderful lil guys to go to their forever homes. The commission I'm most proud of over the weekend was the Doctor amigurumi from one of my very favorite webseries; Big Top Burger. If you haven't seen it, you definitely should. It's less than an hour for all three seasons and it's so much worth the watch.

All in all, even after running down 18 flights of stairs twice with all my things, walking 80000000 miles, and lackluster sales, I would still consider coming back. I would definitely ask for better placement, or a staff member or two to keep the lines under control, and maybe shorter hours (10am-7pm two days in a row with no breaks is a bit killer). I really do love the Atlanta area, as well as the people of Atlanta, and I love any excuse to go down there. One day I'll see their aquarium and World of Coke.