WasabiCon NOLA 2025! Review!

On May 10th & 11th, WasabiCon NOLA was held at the Hyatt Regrncy in New Orleans, Louisiana. This particular venue is valued tremendously by the Louisiana Anime community since this is where the first, and most popular Louisiana anime cons, MechaCon, before it hung up it’s helmet and closed the bay doors for the last time (Rest in Peace MechaCon! You are fondly remembered).

Unfortunately, because of this choice in venue, it was obvious that WasabiCon doesn’t pull the same numbers that MechaCon used to, and where it is unfair to compare the two, because of this choice in venue, it makes it hard not to.

Where MechaCon uses to be held throughout, almost the entire, Hyatt, because this was only Wasabi’s second year, and still much smaller, nearly the entire conviction, with the exception of some of the panels, was held in the same conference room, which, considering how new the convention is to the New Orleans area, isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

However, it also suffered by one of the complaints that I had with CyPhaCon: too many vendors. They had roughly 80+ vendors/fan tables/artists, and not enough attendees, that there were times that the aisles would be bare. Now, sometimes, during Cons, if a popular event is taking place, such as the Cosplay Contest, or a Q&A with some notable voice actors, this can happen at most all cons, however, when it happens more than twice during an event, this can be a bit of a problem.

Because of the lack of attendee compared to vendors, many of my artist neighbors talked about how they were just trying to make break even (about $275 + expenses). Reminder, this is a job for these vendors and not a vacation, so trying to make profit is always Plan A. Trying to break even is a Plan B for only when a Con isn’t going well.

Recommendation to artists wanting to do this event: only do it if you live close to New Orleans, and within driving distance. Hotels are expensive in this part of town since the Hyatt is connected to the Superdome, and usually the cheapest you can stay within close proximity is $600 minimum for the weekend.

Recommendations to Event Organizers: do more marketing in the area. The audience is there. MechaCon 2021 brought in an attendance of 18,645, so the audience is there, and I know that the absence of MechaCon has really put a gap in the Louisiana and New Orleans anime community. Use that to your advantage. More people can come, they just need to know about it.