Has anyone been to Otakon before?

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Has anyone been to Otakon before?

Postby this_is_the_real_me17 » Mon May 01, 2006 8:08 pm

Hey all! Now that I've gotten a taste of what an anime convention is like, since I went to Sakura-con, I was starting to build up an extreme interest in them! From what I heard, Otakon is currently the biggest and most popular convention here in the states right now. But, the fact that I'm all the way here in the Northwest where Sakura-con is, I don't exactly know if I'll be able to make it to Otakon this year or any years from now until I graduate... :cry: Anyways, for those who have been to Otakon before, could you please give me some background info? I just want to know about it just in case since I'm on break at the time it's going on this year. I've been to the site but I want the people's input too! :D Do they sell doujinshi there, by the way?

Thank you much!
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Postby SarahtheBoring » Mon May 01, 2006 9:07 pm

Has anyone been to Otakon before?


No.

Nobody.

*headdesk*
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Postby MousePotato » Wed May 10, 2006 10:31 pm

what's an "Otakon"?
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Postby BasharOfTheAges » Wed May 10, 2006 11:01 pm

From what i've heard 20,000+ people (they might have a backlash from the whole AA issue but they increased their cap to 25,000) so it's crowded as all hell. I'd personally never go to a con that size (unless Anime Boston happened to get that big).
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Postby Hinano » Mon May 29, 2006 9:00 pm

well considering most people are in the video rooms its not THAT bad but yea there are times where I take the long way just to avoid the mobs :lol:
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Postby Kuroi Ookami » Wed Jun 07, 2006 2:57 pm

This will be my third year working in the Artists Alley. Yeah, Otakon is pretty big but there's a lot of fun stuff to do there. Also, they will have Writers Way this year so I'm sure there will be plenty of doujinshi there. Just try to bring yourself some food because the food inside the convention center is overly priced & the lines get crazy long at the nearby fast food places.

If you get to come, stop by the Tekcomics table in the Artist Alley & say "HI!"
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Postby Hinano » Sat Jul 01, 2006 10:50 pm

ill definitely be stopping by the Alley on Friday so Ill look for ya!
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Postby BasharOfTheAges » Sat Jul 01, 2006 10:57 pm

Kuroi Ookami wrote:This will be my third year working in the Artists Alley.


I take it that title is only going to loosely apply this year...
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Postby Mroni » Sun Jul 16, 2006 2:15 pm

some fun things to do. If you are completly bored or out of breath.

1.Bring your laptop and show videos people just naturally gather around.

2.Go to the otacafe and do karaoke or watch people do it.

3.Go in a random panel on a subject you don't really know or care about. Sometimes they get interesting.

4.Be sure to make the Iron chef contest it was uber fun last year.

5.The cosplay will be simulcast if you want to see that go to the simulcast let the other fools wait in line.

Otakon was getting lame the last few years 2003 and 2004 sucked pretty bad but 2005 was awesome.


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Postby Kusoyaro » Mon Jul 17, 2006 3:42 pm

Mroni wrote:some fun things to do. If you are completly bored or out of breath.


And if you're absolutely bored at the con, just remember one thing: you are in the middle of a frigging tourist trap! So go outside the con center and do touristy things in the stupid harbor. Go peddle on one of those dragon-boats!
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Postby ReligionX » Wed Jul 19, 2006 10:06 am

Mroni wrote:Otakon was getting lame the last few years 2003 and 2004 sucked pretty bad but 2005 was awesome.

Mr Oni

I'm going to have to second that. The only thing that stuck out for me in 2004 was Piano Squall.

Important Events:

1. Concerts are generally guests from other countries that you will not be able to see under normal circumstances. They cost money to see, and it's generally worth the price of admission just to be able to see these concerts.

2. The most important thing that you can see at Otakon is the Fan Parodies. They are Convention Exclusive productions, and you CANNOT see them outside of conventions. If you go to multiple conventions, even successive years of the same convention, you'll probably see some repeat fan parodies though.

3. Panels are guests that come from anywhere and for just about anything. You can learn a lot, and you should be fired if you don't see at least one panel.

4. Workshops offer information for the "how to" of what a lot of Otaku like to do. I've been to Cel Painting, and Learn to Play Go. It's actual stuff that you can take home with you and do.

5. The AMV contest is going to be awesome this year. It wasn't the past 2 years, but let me tell you, everyone who can squeeze into those tiny little rooms will be glad they stood in line. But! You can download most of the videos showing, so it's kind of silly. Yet it's always amazing to see these videos on ginormous screens with nice sound systems.

6. The Cosplay. Only about 4 or 5 skits are actually worthwhile. I always go to them though because I like to see people up in costumes do silly things. That, and it's so late at night usually that I can just fall asleep by the time they do the costume walkouts.

7. Anything else that sparks your interest. There's TONS to do.

Filler Events

1. The dealer's room should have doujinshi, but you have to look around for it. Depending on what type you're looking for, you may have to ask the dealer to show you their stash. The dealers room has EVERYTHING that you are looking for, that exists.

2. The artist alley is great fun. I tend to stay away from the actual artists though, since I could probably spend the entire convention looking at all of the hundreds of people with stations. The art gallery (where you can bid on some art) is about 25% okay, 50% good, and 25% fantastic.

3. The game room is a lot of fun to kill some time between events. They've got a lot of games that you can get around here, but there's about a dozen games that you won't really see anywhere unless you import games.

4. Most of the video rooms have anime showing that you can already see (by nameless other means), but sometimes it's fun to sit in on a few episodes.

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Postby dwchang » Wed Jul 19, 2006 12:15 pm

ReligionX wrote:5. The AMV contest is going to be awesome this year. It wasn't the past 2 years, but let me tell you, everyone who can squeeze into those tiny little rooms will be glad they stood in line. But! You can download most of the videos showing, so it's kind of silly. Yet it's always amazing to see these videos on ginormous screens with nice sound systems.


HEY NOW! :(

...I will keep my mouth shut about the quality of the contest this year for it is my opinion >_>
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Postby NS » Wed Jul 19, 2006 1:14 pm

i wanna go to an amv contest or anime convention some ime i know i will eventually because you just can't stop a nerd when he has sumthing on his mind
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Postby mj31588 » Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:41 am

I'm going to Otakon with 3 friends. 2 of them went last year, but this is my first time.
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Postby genestarwind21122 » Thu Jul 20, 2006 3:19 am

Just curious but by the way the site is looking there are 9,455 memberships left for Otakon. Is it me or last year were they nearly sold out by now. Is Otakon beginning to shrink. :? Last year they sold out at 22,000 and this year it is at 15,500 or so. What do you guys think?
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