CyPhaCon 2025! Review!

So on April 11th - 13th of this year I made my yearly visit to Lake Charles, La for CyPhaCon! As always, it was a load of fun and it was a blast!

It fills a bit of that empty space that MechaCon left behind, and it always feels warm and cozy to make my way to my normal hotel, and make my way to set up at the Lake Charles Event Center!

This year I participated, with a few of my vendor friends, to do a stamp rally, that was a success! It was Side Quest/Adventure themed, and I added in a new sticker, and mini print as prizes!

But, as much as CyPhaCon feels like a warm hug from your mom when you go home to visit, I need to address a continuing problem I have in that the placement of the vendors to the artists puts the local independent artists at a disadvantage with sales. The vendors hall and artist ally are all in one spot within the stadium floor of the event center. Which, normally, is already a disadvantage for the artists. But as you walk into, the vendors are set up in the front, while the artists are set in the back closest to the guest tables. Because of this, attendees are immediately greeted by higher priced items, and official merchandise, and only finally get to the artist alley portion of the stadium as they make their way to the back…having to pass by nearly all of the official, higher priced, imported vendors before reaching the hand made artists, meaning a lot of times, the attendees have already spent a sizable portion of their allocated splurge money before even reaching the artists. There have been COUNTLESS times I have had attendees come up to my booth, only to tell me the dreaded “I wish I could buy (insert item here), but I already spent all of my money”. It’s one thing year after year I have a continued issue with. TBH, because of the current set up of one in the front, the other in the back, one of the two (vendors or artists) will benefit and the other will be at a disadvantage no matter which one is front or back. It is why I preferred how MechaCon, and many other cons, had their set ups to where they would keep the Vendors Hall, and the Artist Alley in two close, but separate, rooms to easily direct people where they would like to go without the distraction of them other.

Though this is a critique, I still LOVE this Con!

It is still a con I look forward to going to year after year! It’s a smaller con, but it has a lot to offer with its Cosplay Contest, the amazing guest list, and the panels! I cant wait to go back for next year!!!