Yeah, so, I haven’t posted anything in a week. I bet you’re wondering why? Well, I’ll tell you – Otakon is a thing.
This is my 6th year at Otakon, once again in Baltimore. I enjoyed it immensely, mostly for hanging out with IRL and anitwitter friends but also for the con itself and Blazblue couchplay, which was completely and totally awesome. Is there any other reason I still play it if not to compete? Yes, Otakon does hold Blazblue tournaments but I find myself seldom going because it takes away time I could be using to hang out.
Otakon’s registration was handled uncharacteristically poorly this year (unlike every other year) because they enforced a registration cap which, in turn, caused many to preregister who usually don’t bother and just show up at the door. This caused about an extra 15,000 people to show up on Thursday to pick up their badge. Furthermore, Otakon also was using wi-fi (which is hilariously unreliable) and did not have a database on site. You can guess what happens next – internet goes down, and we’re stuck in the same spot for 3 and a half hours. I’d expect this from any other con but Otakon is usually run so exceptionally I was a bit disappointed – especially considering most of the volunteers twiddled their thumbs as nothing happened. All things considered, I’m certain this will not happen again.
The con was still an excellent experience. I attended a panel regarding OP’s around the world (I must confess, japanese X-men opening was badass). I bought considerably less stuff than I usually do (A shana III artbook, kancolle artbook featuring some lewd stuff, D-arts black zero, D-arts ultimate armor X, Blood C manga, flowers of evil manga, a few posters (including a shana III window cling), a sonico figure, and a megaman figure). All in all, a good haul and a good time.
Anybody wanna play Blazblue? Love that game so much. PSN is Daramue!
And uh, that’s it! Until next year, Otakon!
