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Otakon 2007
Nick - writer - posted on Wednesday, 07/25/07 22:08:32 EDT
Well another Otakon is done with. So here I am with a recount of what I thought of this year’s convention.
I’ve been going to Otakon since 2002, my friend Dave was going with one of his other friends when I mentioned I wanted to see what it was like, he invited me to come along with him.
Every year the convention gets bigger. More and more people come every year. This year I heard it was over or close to 20,000 people. So needless to say it can get very crowded walking the hallways and trying to get pictures of people.
This was the first (and hopefully not last) year I came to Otakon as a guest and panelist. Only at I-Con have I ever been on a panel, or helped on a panel so this was very new to me.
The thing to know about Otakon is that the convention isn’t just Japanese Anime. Everybody thinks that when you first hear about the convention. Of course there’s Anime and Cosplayers, but there’s also tons of Asian Movies, Music and of course, sweet, sweet video games! Here’s how we did for the weekend.
The trip started Thursday afternoon. Gerard and I decided back in April to fly down after our travel problems last year. While you pay more money to fly down rather then driving with a car load of people, that 45 MINUTE flight can’t be beat. It’s like your there almost instantly compared to the almost six hour drive with gas and tolls.
Our flight was delayed due to the weather, so we had to get up at seven Friday morning to get on line for our badges. We made it to the convention center around 7:30AM and the line was already wrapped around the building with tons of people ready to get in. We waited till 8:30 and we were let in on the side of the line because we pre-registered. What was funny is that this felt quicker then days when we go to the “Day Zero” Thursday night pre-reg.
We got our passes then had breakfast at Johnny Rockets. It was a pretty good meal for a low price. Gerard got a plate of loaded hash browns and I got a two egg, toast, bacon and hash brown plate that kept me filled till around dinner time.
We made it back to the convention center were I took pictures of some of the costumers to pass the time. I got, Freakazoid, Mindna and Zelda from Twilight Princess and a couple of other people.
We tried to get into the “20 Years of Mega Man” panel, and there we encountered our first problem. A line had formed outside the panel room. I had thought they were waiting to get in so the other panel could finish, but I looked at my watch and saw the time was about five minutes into the panel. Turns out only a handful of people left the last panel and stayed in the room and only a few people waiting were allowed inside. Ugg.
The one thing confusing as hell with Otakon this year is that all of the major rooms were changed. We went to wait on line for the dealers room and found out it was a movie room this year, we finally found the dealers room and it was WAY too long to get in, same with the artist ally.
Around noon the game room finally opened. We went inside and it felt as big as ever. You can see from the video I took the sheer size of this place. If I had to compare it from I-Con I’d say it’s a bit bigger then their Dealer’s Room when they get the entire Sports Complex.
The key word for the game room this year was variety. Just about every game you could think of was there to play. The only thing missing from the game room this year were the arcade games. Every year people would bring their games and set them on free play, but they said it was too much of a pain to lug them in and out so instead of having arcade games they just added a few more tables of games to play.
When it got later we visited the dealer’s room, and it was MUCH bigger then previous years. This time it took up were the game room and the artist ally was from the first year I visited Otakon. When you first walk in your greeted with the HUGE set ups from the big companies. Hellsing was there in the front and they had a big chair you could take pictures in.
Along the back were the stores and private dealers and Gaia Online. Yes, an online chat site had a giant booth PACKED with people. The line to buy shirts and get tickets for the giveaways was crazy!
I went and found my friend that runs Mad-Gear, a store that sells used import video games. He always has a crazy selection of games from just about every system. I just saw another website in awe of the games he had. Two that stood out to me were Wrecking Crew ’98 and a Super Fami-Turbo with Sailor Moon: Sailor Stars. As much as I wanted to get both of them, I had to hold back and ended up getting two used Super Famicom games. One of the Sailor Moon S puzzle games and “Panic in Nakayoshi World” which isn’t a Sailor Moon game, but Sailor Moon is in it as a playable character.
After I was done in the dealer’s room I visited my friend Meg in the artists ally. I got a pin from her and went and got ready for our panel.
After Gerard and I got our Venture Brothers Season 2 boxes signed by the actor that does Dean we rushed to the Panel Ops, only to find out we didn’t have to do it since we checked in earlier in the day. Good thing to know for next time, because when we made it to the Panel room there was already a line formed outside. I had to ask and make sure they were there for OUR panel!
I snuck a peek inside to see the room was empty but one staffer who told us the panel before us was canceled. I ran inside and asked about the VCR because we didn’t bring any of our games with us to the panel. I didn’t know the sound system was also an entertainment system with a DVD player and a VCR included so I shoved the tape in and hit rewind and it went SLOW.
While the tape was rewinding I asked the person if they could let the people in while we got set up. She opened the door and the people came in like a flood. The place filled up and they had to ask nicely for people to leave because of the fire code! I saw a lot of people sitting on the floor and in the isles and standing along the back of the room to get a good view of the screen.
I still can not believe it. Our first panel at Otakon and they had to turn people back! I thought we’d be sitting in the room alone!
Gerard and I introduced ourselves, and I BADLY pushed the website. But hey, with a room full of people like that, I just had too! Sorry!
I started the video off with Tech Romancer from the Dreamcast because it was the most Anime game of them all. The people really liked the opening animated video. Instead of watching the video, I looked at saw the smiles from the crowd. I had a good feeling that the panel would run well.
The crowed loved the jokes in Tech Romancer, but I wasn’t ready for the biggest shock of the night.
Gerard had told me when he came up with this idea he wanted to put Darkwing Duck from the NES on the list. I enjoyed the game and agreed with it. When the video started up of the game’s intro, people saw the “I AM THE TERROR THAT FLAPS IN THE NIGHT!” then the little pixel of Darkwing came on and did the pose with “I AM DARKWING DUCK!” and a ROAR of cheers erupted from the crowd!
The game that I thought people would have known the best got the biggest ovation. I even saw people stand up and pump their fists in the air! Holy crap!
The other videos went well, all the girls in the audience LOVED the cat sub from Parodius Da and they all went “Awww!” when it got blown up.
The only problem with the whole panel is I thought that the video of Sin and Punishment went too long, but I still think it was worth showing off due to the fact that the game is great and not too many people have played it. I hope people weren’t board by it.
I was waiting to see what was going to happen with Mother 3, and it didn’t take long. When the production company, Brownie Brown’s logo popped up on screen some of the people knew right away what game it was and responded with cheers. Somebody in the audience kept murmuring “Spoiler! Spoiler” while Gerard was talking, while he didn’t give anything away, he stopped and let the video finish.
We ended it with Twinkle Star Sprites and that got a good reaction. The audience clapped and we were greeted with some folks who thanked us for a great panel and of course wanted to know why some games weren’t on the panel, but everything went alright.
At the end of the panel we met up with Jessi and Matt from Geeks Next Door and did a nice long ten minute interview which we will share with you soon. I’m really glad I did it with them then, because I didn’t see them on Saturday or Sunday! Jess and Matt, if you’re reading this now, thank you for your time! It was great talking to you!
Saturday came, the big day. The electricity was in the air! You could cut it with a knife! There was so much stuff to do and not enough time to do it! It was like every panel I wanted to go to was already started because I was doing something else or eating delicious Baltimore crab cakes.
Saturday was the day we were going to plug the comic. Gerard got screwed at the print place and we only had ten color comics to hand out. We met Brian from Hookie Dookie Panic, Pontus and Christian from Little Gamers, Tim from CTRL+ALT+DEL and Shawn from Staccato. Hopefully they liked the comic we made and just didn’t put them aside! I would love to hear what they thought of it because it was great getting to meet them all.
The biggest problem with Saturday was there were so much stuff I wanted to do and not enough time. I had wanted to go to a panel called “The Dragon Ball Z You’ve Never Seen” (Which was the commercials and other stuff only in Japan) and I ended up being outside of the convention center having lunch. It’s the same every year. Just make sure you plan ahead so you don’t miss anything!
Sunday was an early day for me because I was helping on the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Panel. (AKA the live action Sailor Moon) There was a snafu with the panels at Otakon this year. My friend Meg had two panels good to go, but they got lost and she just managed to get one.
We had to get up Sunday morning for the panel at 9AM and it was all the way upstairs in panel room 4, AKA the ballroom! Thankfully we plugged the panel throughout the weekend and we had a pretty good crowd considering it was Sunday morning and it wasn’t advertised in the book.
I felt bad for Meg’s friend Topaz. She spent so much time getting all the clips of the show to play on the big monitors and her laptop couldn’t handle the stress of two screens, so the videos ran in slow motion. I tried my best to move the panel along because they got nervous when it didn’t work. I helped at the end of the panel by giving away some prizes and I also helped with the video of the panel. I hope to God it came out alright, it was my first time using my dad’s tripod and the tape ran out at the end of the panel!
I finished up the day by getting the 2007 shirt, the newest volumes of Bleach and Naruto then I got ripped off on a Sailor Moon bottle cap. They used to sell these really cheep, but now due to supply and demand they now go for five dollars a pop! I really wish I would have stocked up on them a few years ago before they drove the price up. It sucks for me being a fan of Sailor Moon because they don’t make ANYTHING for it anymore. The only thing I can do is hope that I can find something old and used for a good price from another dealer. Even on EBay the toys are starting to vanish.
Our flight left Baltimore at 7:30. We got picked up at the hotel at 5:15 and got to the airport and checked in. It was then I saw how crazy all the stuff for Harry Potter went. There was a guy walking around the airport with a cart that had the books and Harry Potter candy on it and I saw a TON of people with the book. It was also till yesterday that I found out that Harry Potter WAS on sale in the dealers room at Otakon but it quickly sold out! Sure am glad I waited till I got home and got it at Price Club for 18 bucks.
Well that’s about it with Otakon. Gerard and I had a great time as always. The convention is always chock full of stuff to do and people to meet. I just wish I got more interviews with them on my new digital recorder, but I felt funny trying to ask the big named comics for an interview being that I feel like a nobody.
I defiantly want to go back again next year because you never know who they’ll get as guests and what all of the companies will be showing off. I also want to spend a little more time in the game room, it’s great getting to play Virtua Fighter against REAL PEOPLE!
I wanted to thank all the staff over at Otakon. While they had their problems I think they pulled everything together fine. I’m glad they let us put on a panel and I’m glad everybody enjoyed it. I really hope you guys will have us back again next year!
Till then, check out all the pictures I took on Photobucket and the video I took of the game room on YouTube! Till next year!