Weekend at Otakon's

Once more yet another Otakon falls behind me, and the uncertain future lays before me. As the years go by and I continue to attend further conventions, I've found myself wondering how much longer I'll keep going to these things. I just celebrated my thirtieth birthday, and a small part of my brain considered if maybe I'm possibly getting too old for the convention scene. It wasn't anything more than a tiny moment of introspection, but one that did crop up while I was at the con. A quick meeting with an elderly con-goer at Otakon this year though help to reaffirm my stance on attendance.

This women (who I shall only refer to as Janney) told me of how she's been going to gaming, comic, and anime conventions for close to the last thirty five years. Even with the ups and downs that she's seen throughout her time, she told me of how she wouldn't dare trade any of those moments for anything. She regaled me of how the bonds she's formed over those years has led to her having lifelong friendships, and how the convention circuit has helped to keep her active well into her sixties, and her retirement.

I've gotta say that talking to her for that brief period improved my resolve practically tenfold. If anything else I can only hope that when I reach her age that I too am just as passionate and active about my hobbies and interests. Here was a women who's fundamentally seen the gaming, comic, and anime industries rise and fall over a course of decades (longer than I've been alive) and not once has she ever let it stymie her love for any of them. She was still viewing everything at Otakon with a new sense of wonderment and awe, and it made me realize that I should probably strive to do at least a little bit of the same. While Janney may have been old in body, she was clearly young in spirit. Proving to me something that I've always thought, age really is nothing but a number, and that who you are will always be just that; who you are. At the end of the day, the only difference between an adult and a child is an adult knows when it's time to put their toys away.

If anything else I just want to say thank you Janney for the conversation. Your words helped to quell a minuscule doubt that I was having in the very back of my sometimes big stupid head. With a more steeled mind, I feel like I can keep going forward with conventions indefinitely.

The Line Ride Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

Not quite as cramped this year.

Before I could really engage with the yearly otaku festivities, I of course would have to endure the pain of an Otakon line. For any who have attended Otakon with any real regularity, then you're aware of what I mean when I say that you have to endure it. It's hot and miserable on the Baltimore city streets around this time of year, and everyone is crammed together on the sidewalks, simply frustrated that it takes usually about three to four hours just to acquire a tiny piece of plastic to wear around your neck. If you all remember my report from last year, the line was a bit of a disaster. The badge pick up back then suffered from a severe lack of communication between both staff and the con-goers. If anything else it put a bit of a damper on what otherwise turned out to be a great con.

Thankfully there was far more communication going on between staff and attendees this year. Line management was apparently a big deal to the staff this time around, and while this meant that lines were far less chaotic, it sadly also meant that there were quite a few lines that just had to be cut off due to volume. For instance, when I came up to Baltimore on Thursday for the early badge pickup, they had cut off the line by the time I found the end of it. Their computer systems were yet again running slow, and due to the sheer size of the line, they didn't want to risk having the badge pick up carry on well into midnight. I honestly thought that this meant I was yet again going to have to bear the wait of a four hour line in the city heat. In spite of the fact that I was fairly frustrated over the decision to cut off the line (after having to come all the way out to Baltimore, pay for parking, and then leave without my badge) but I did understand the logic behind it. There is but only so many hands available to task that many people in a handful of hours.

Oddly enough, when I came back Friday morning, I don't think I waited in line for no more than five minutes. This has easily been the fastest I've ever gotten through an Otakon line, if not any of the conventions I've ever been to. This year they did mail-out badges for ten thousand attendees, which is unfortunately something I missed out on. I would like to think that the badge mail-out helped immensely in alleviating wait times in the registration lines. Other conventions I've been to such as Gencon do mail-out badges and I've never really had to wait in a registration line because of that very fact. I can only hope that Otakon sees the success of this experiment of theirs and decides to offer more mail-outs next con. Surely I'm not alone in that stance as I heard several people during the convention state the exact same hope.

I did hear though that attendance was also simply down this year, which I'm sure is why my wait time was so short. It may have had something to do with the increased prices on registration (it was up to literally $100 this con if you didn't pre-register) but the one reason on everybody's lips was that the Baltimore riots from earlier in the year deterred prospective attendees from ever showing up. While I won't claim to be an expert on the topic in any real regard, I do think the riots definitely had an affect on Otakon. When you take a moment to consider it, do you really want to go to a convention where they were just having riots in that city only a few months prior? For anyone coming from out of state, I could easily see that sort of thing being a major turn off. Also being in the area myself, I can tell that the riots was sort of like an elephant in the room people only addressed in quiet whispers. It's a bit of a shame too, because downtown Baltimore was starting to clean itself up in recent years, and now the riots might have put the city's image as a whole back by half a decade.

No Table, No Problem

Jocelyn is one badass babe!

Last year's Otakon gave me the fantastic moment where I was able to acquire a table in the artist alley all for myself for the first time ever, but tragically this year was not the same case. When it came high-time to purchase a table Saturday noon, I simply missed the window to pick one up. As much as would have loved to have had one, it's probably for the best, because those little buggers were over two hundred dollars in cost this year!

While I understand that prices on things will have to go up due to the nature of basic economics (such as financing the costs of moving the convention to D.C. in 2017) I couldn't honestly in any form of good conscience see myself paying that much for a table that I would only have for a day and a half. All the same though I did have other tables around the alley that anyone could sit at and I did some art there. In fact I managed to finish up a long since promised pin-up piece to Krazy Krow of Spinnerette fame, as well as do a colored sketch in the incredibly lovely Ashley Riot's sketchbook. Poor Ashley had been begging for some art from me for easily the last three years, so I felt I owed her at least one nice work.

My good friend Andre joined me for this year's convention, and while he didn't seem too interested in the con itself, we did have a good time nonetheless just sitting down, drawing stuff, and swapping stories. I always enjoy a good conversation, and Andre provided that to me in spades. I will say though that I agree with him on a particular topic in regards to Otakon's artist alley. These days it really does seem like all everyone does is sell prints. While I understand the appeal of prints, I'm the sort of guy who more so loves commission/custom art. Artists offering any sort of commission work seemed to be noticeably lacking this year as opposed to last year, but all the same I still managed to acquire two awesome pieces from my buddies (Landon & Brandon) the Franklin twins of Wayward Cross.

Cosplay Complex

Beyond going to the artist alley and hanging out with the folks there, Andre and I found ourselves exploring the Dealer's Row and the convention halls most of the time. There wasn't much going on in the way of new shows premiering, or any exclusive bits that got our attention. While I could chalk that up as a negative, I frankly don't pay much mind to those sort of things to begin with. The internet has made enjoying the latest anime releases so much simpler these days, and even before then I didn't care much. Instead, I took a bunch of pictures of the cosplay going on this year, and I've gotta say that people didn't disappoint. A huge slew of diverse cosplays were had all around, and I only wish that I had a much better camera to capture its majestic glory. Everything from Avatar: The Last Airbender to Star Wars was in attendance. If you consider yourself a cosplay fan by any remote stretch, this was definitely where you wanted to be.

Yoko Littner

The Joker

Batgirl

Tharja

Poison Ivy

Espada #3 Halibel

Wendy

Revy

Star Fire

Jushin Liger

Ada Wong & Leon Kennedy

Bacon Baron & Luigi

Majin Buu

Rebel Pilot

Aang

Zero Suit Samus

Powdered Toast Man

Diablo Witch Doctor

Kamakrazee War Boy all shiny and chrome! We witnessed him!

The Last in Line

To be completely upfront, this wasn't even marginally close to being the best Otakon I've been to. I'd say on a scale of one to ten this con was probably about a six. Slightly above average, and most certainly not bad, but overall I'm glad I went. It was nice to hang out with Andre, as well as touch base with some of my other artist alley buddies. While it would have been nice to do the whole table thing again, it really just wasn't in the cards this time. At least I got to take in some excellent cosplay if anything else. I even managed to snag some cool swag like an awesome Minerva statue from the Spinnyverse folks, along with a very nice Super Sonico/Super Pochaco tapestry. Not my greatest haul by any stretch, but still worthwhile. With one more year left in the Baltimore Convention Center, I can only hope that Otakon gives a huge send-off come 2017. Til then though, Baltimore once again has played host to one of the biggest anime conventions on the east coast.