By: Krow Smith | @coffeewithkrow

As someone who didn’t go to cons, I am certainly making up for it now. With Yama-Con being my third full convention experience in this year alone, I’m gathering quite a familiarity with them. While Yama-Con was well reviewed by Peggy (@pswediting) last year, I feel it’s time for an update on how it was for 2025.

Instead of a full weekend, we only went on the second day and the price for the Saturday pass was $45 (USD). I believe this to be an acceptable price, but if it was $5 to $10 cheaper, I would feel that the price is more accurate to the worth of the experience. Upon entering the Leconte Center, in Pigeon Forge, TN, there were a few tables lining the walls of the spacious hallways that offered little games, raffles, and pictures with cardboard cutouts of some K-pop stars.

There was even a pin trading booth where you could trade pins for the price of $2, with the money going to a local charity. On the pinboard were an array of different pins. I was lucky to come across some Pokémon pins up for trade of Leafeon and Glaceon, a couple of my favorite Eevolutions. Thankfully, my girlfriend and Peggy each offered a pin so I could get them.

Once we snaked our way through the halls to get closer to the Event Hall where the vendors were located, I was relieved to see a good amount of seating available. There were couches by fireplaces, a slew of large tables with eight to nine chairs surrounding them, and a few benches here and there. The restrooms along the outside of the Event Hall were plentiful and clean as well. Then there were a few food stalls sprinkled throughout, including a small Starbucks with limited items towards the back of the convention hall.

While we were exploring the outside of the Event Hall, I was a little nervous because of all of the carpet I was seeing. As someone who at times needs to use a wheelchair, it’s often a thing I look for at these conventions. However, once we got into the Event Hall, it was all smooth, hard flooring. So, if you are using a wheelchair that is not electric, I would recommend assistance for the carpeted parts outside of the Event Hall.

Entering the Event Hall was interesting. On the left, there were all of the vendors, while on the right side there was a large empty space with arcade games, PC and console setups, and tables that could all be seen in the distance. Along the front wall to the right were the voice actors that you could meet. I felt the use of space was very odd. The amount of vendors were less than I imagined and they certainly had the room to fit more booths in the Event Hall.

As we walked the aisles it was relatively easy at first, as they seemed somewhat roomy. However, it became apparent that the aisles weren’t spaced well enough to avoid some congestion from a handful of people crowding in an area. As I often found myself slipping by people in these bottlenecks, I felt this was unnecessary because there was plenty of empty space outside of the vendor area for them to utilize better. The noise from the gaming area was not enough to impact the vendor area, either. So, I feel that they could have expanded the vendor area further with more booths, and increased the space between booths.

The selection of products was nice, but left a little to be desired compared to other cons I went to this year (such as the similarly-sized Anime Town Greenville). There just weren’t as many eye-widening finds I was coming across. While I was shopping around, I found very little that would draw me towards a purchase. No figurines that caught my eye, no manga that piqued my interest, and very few keychains I’d consider buying. I think my favorite purchase was a four-piece set of YuYu Hakusho pins and a postcard with Sanrio’s Big Challenges on it, but that was about all I ended up purchasing over the course of the day.

At roughly 1:30 PM, I finally thought to check out what panels were available, as I forgot to do so earlier in the day. I checked the schedule and noticed it was pretty lackluster. I was too late to check out “Japanese Street Fashion: Then & Now” which piqued my interest when I saw it. However, aside from a Q&A with the voice actors of Jujutsu Kaisen, there weren’t actually any panels. Instead, programming was made up almost entirely of games and meet-ups, which was very disappointing as I enjoy sitting in on panels and learning new things about anime, manga, and Japanese culture.

With the winds knocked out of my sails from lacking panels, lackluster shopping options, and little else to do—I figured it was about time for lunch. The options were nachos, personal pizzas, and hot dogs. The nachos looked more like a snack and didn’t appeal to me at all. So the group of us got a small pizza and a hot dog. The pizza was sufficient, but nothing to write home about. As for the hot dog, it was good, but can you really mess up a hot dog outside of possibly overcooking it? Moreover, it was expensive. It’s your only option inside the convention, as you’re not allowed to bring outside food into the convention center.

After refueling from lunch, we were back to browsing the Event Hall. There were two things I noticed. First, was the amount of times vendors had to explain that they didn’t use AI. This was relieving and saddening to hear as I’m glad these pieces were made by artists, but it’s depressing that this is the landscape we are in now: a landscape where we can’t simply assume a vendor made their own art. Overall, I hadn’t noticed any AI products at the con. This is always a plus for me and I would be hard-pressed to go again if I found out that Yama-Con were facilitating the sales of AI slop.

The other thing I noticed was the limited number of 3D printed products, which I found to be a positive. This is because I’m not interested in 3D printed objects. Most of the time, the quality doesn’t seem all that great to me and I tend to see repeating items from different vendors (such as the octopus or dragon). So it doesn’t feel special or unique. I tend to walk past these tables, and luckily, I didn’t have to avoid more than a few booths.

Despite the convention going on until later in the evening, by 5 PM we were ready to go as we felt like we had seen everything we wanted to see. So, with our wallets slightly lighter, we left Yama-Con 2025.

Now, do I think it would be worth going all three days? If you are there to socialize, vibe, play card games with others, go to all the meet-ups, play on their PCs and consoles, etc., then the answer is sure. I feel you would be getting more out of the con than someone like me. However, if you are like me, and you’re mostly there to check out the scene, peruse the vendors’ booths, enjoy some socializing, and make purchases, then I think one day will suffice.

Ticket Price rating: 4/10. I wish it was $5 to $10 cheaper for what was offered.

Social rating: 10/10. Nothing but positive and kind interactions!

Layout rating: 4/10. A lot of empty, underutilized areas and not enough space for the aisles.

Amenities rating: 10/10. Bathrooms were clean and plentiful.

Food rating: 4/10. Left much to be desired for such a high price.

Overall rating: 6.4/10

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Developmental edits by: Peggy Sue Wood | @pswediting

Copyedited by: Katherine Cañeba | @kcserinlee