Honestly, if it wasn't for Traxxas and TGN the show would have sucked.
TGN had an awesome display of Bajas and a very cool 1:1 $100K sandrail. It also had a retail section where people could buy the parts they were looking at on the displays.
Traxxas did it up right this year. They had there normal display, but also had their 1:1 CORR trucks and badass big rig. They had a "try me" track as well where you could run the Slash. By design, Hobbytown had a retail area next to the track which was filled with nothing but Traxxas.
Hobbytown also had another retail area where a good selection of RC's was available.
I must say the retail areas was much improved over the last couple of years when Hobby People was doing it.
Losi did end up doing the show after being absent last year.
Giveaways were next to none this year which is clearly a sign of the economy.