Conventions. The bread and butter of the anime and comic world. This year was a hard year for me, as these conventions tend to get a little pricey if you actually want to stay in the general vicinity of one. But I'm not writing this to talk about just any convention. I'm here to talk about Ramencon 2016. If you haven't heard of it, that's okay, it's a relatively small convention that was held at the Radisson and Star Plaza in Merrillville, Indiana. It's a beautiful hotel with friendly employees, but this year was incredibly bittersweet.
I've been attending Ramencon since 2012, and am sad to say that they're tearing down the Radisson that holds it. There will no longer be a con there, as the hotel will no longer be there. So this year, me, along with several other con goers simply walked around a took it all in for the last time. Ramencon isn't over, far from it, but the Radisson will no longer be its home.
The cosplays from this year were amazing, everything from Halo to Steven Universe. Even a few memes were present. 
It makes me sad, though, that Ramencon will no longer be local for me, as that was one of the reasons I attended every year. It was relatively cheap for a convention, and it was close. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that the hotel is going to be rebuilt, but it won't be the same. Those halls that I walked down will have changed. But this won't be the last. Next year it'll be in South Bend, Indiana.
Maybe next year there will be more memes, more Steven Universe, more Marvel, more cosplayers. The man who created the con in the first place said that he plans to expand the con as more and more interested cosplayers come out. Maybe someday, it'll be as big as Anime Central, aka the biggest anime convention in the Midwest.
I know sometimes it's hard to let go of that old friend, but it's for the best, they aren't leaving. They'll be back, better than before. That's what I'm hoping for anyway, because how great would it be if we were all back next year? It'd be amazing.
