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Disinfectant if you;re staying at the Marriot Marquis, turns out Trump will be giving a speech there today and the America First Agenda Summit is being held there 🤢

Yearly reminder on things to bring with you. An umbrella Cell phone charger Your medications Your vaccine card (if not using the applet) Masks 2 pairs of shoes (let one pair air out between days 🤣) small water bottle ear plugs (personal preference based on volume levels these days) hoodie and/or pants (if you are prone to getting cold in air conditioning) [can't tell you how many ladies in their light Summer dresses folding their arms over tightly to try and keep warm in the grocery store] No spelling or grammar errors this time, I hope

2023's theme for Otakon is trains, since I haven't seen a discussion thread set up for trains, let me start one if that's OK with everyone! A pretty recent development regarding trains in the US is there is a group known as the Northeast Maglev that is working with the Central Japan Railroad Company on an attempt to bring Central Japan Railroad's SCMAGLEV (SuperConducting MAgnetic LEVitation) train technology to the NEC (the NorthEastern Corridor). This high-speed passenger rail train line is proposed to go between Washington D.C. and New York City with an approximate one-way

That is a load of BS.

Again, the idea that the unvaccinated and the vaccinated spread COVID-19 at the same rate is simply untrue. Here is a link to a study done during Omicron: https://www.news-medical.net/amp/news/20230103/COVID-booster-shots-cut-Omicron-transmission-in-closed-environments.aspx The relevant passage: “In adjustment analyses, the Poisson regression model estimated that index cases vaccinated with ≥1 COVID-19 vaccine dose had, on average, a 22% lower risk of transmitting infection than unvaccinated index cases. Each additional dose further reduced the risk of transmission to close contact by an

If you require vaccination then by definition you’re getting people who are more responsible and likely to keep up with their boosters. Yes, someone can technically show up with just their primary series from two years ago, but that doesn’t mean everyone would. By the way, “the vaccine doesn’t prevent transmission” is a completely false anti-vax talking point. It literally does prevent transmission, it’s just not foolproof. But it’s certainly better than walking around unvaccinated (again, assuming people are keeping up with their boosters). Ultimately I don’t feel super strongly abo

Put back the vaccine requirement at least. Last year was overcrowded as hell, and the vaccines were the main thing preventing any outbreak. On top of that offer refunds and transfers. Do you want your reputation to go to crap after years of acclaim?

List was originally compiled/formatted by l33tmeatwad over at animemusicvideos.org. Here are all of the entrants and winners of the Otakon 2022 AMV contest! Please note that Otakon does NOT publish any of these videos! The links to streams/downloads are all to files uploaded and maintained by the original creators. TRAILER/PARODY [Winner] BecauselmBored1 - Sonic Ball Z - "Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (theatrical trailer)" by Paramount Pictures - Dragon Ball Super Lightning Bear Studios (Speedy180) - Kill Gill - "Kill Bill (theatrical trailer)" by Miramax - Fate/(various), Garde

Hey there! It's that time again! For those of you who don't know me, I post links to my channel for videos relating to that year's Otakon! Over the next few weeks, I''ll be showing video about safety (this week's video), how to get around and of course...cheap eats around Otakon!! If you have any questions, please let me know here or in the comments section for the video. Thanks for watching!!! https://youtu.be/2qmSFEWEUtY

Adding to the list: Food Change of clothes Soap Wild Bill mug

Every policy we have if we change it gets changed on the website pretty sure it's not going to change anymore before con. We take all the precautions for the memberships safety. We want everyone to be safe and have fun.

As stated on the Otakon website: With that said @BortBorterson I'm not a staff member either, but I totally get your concern... I didn't go to ACen this year partially due to their flip floppy policies regarding COVID safety... and partially due to money... I've been unemployed basically since the pandemic started... Otakon won't be relaxing the rules until I'd assume next year at earliest as the pandemic goes more and more into its endemic stage... (Don't quote me though as that is pure speculation on my part, and as we all know this pandemic is an unpredictable beast, even if it's

Hello everyone!!! For those who don't know me, I do the "Where to Eat for Otakon" videos every year on my YouTube channel, "The Unagi Observer". And as we get closer to Otakon, I would like to invite you all to On-Con 8 in the meantime! It's an online convention I've been a part of for the past year or so and it's a lot of fun! If you would like to know more about it, I have a video for you at my channel where I kind of explain it and talk a smidge about what is being presented! Here's the link: https://youtu.be/9C6V1r0woLE AND THE BEST PART IS THAT IT IS FREE!!!! Or,

Hi All! I know that Otakon (and other cons, too), tries to negotiate to get the best rates for their attendees, but I'm beginning to see prices that are really way up there. High hotel prices were the absolute reason I stopped attending Katsucon.

I'm going to wear my mask if I have to.

Let’s think about this rationally for a second. If I walk by a staff member entering a panel room or autograph session wearing my badge and the staff member checks it, I can’t suddenly not have a badge once I pass them. I either have a badge or I do not. On the other hand, I can be properly wearing a mask when a staff member looks at me walking into something and then not wearing one properly five seconds after I have been “inspected”. It’s just not the same thing. Truly vigilant enforcement of masking that would actually make a difference would require people to be constantly monitoring

It's a tough decision, and one that was going to have to be made eventually. I'm glad it wasn't me that had to decide one way or the other because there wasn't any answer that wouldn't result in a lot of complaints. I gave some thought about the vaccine requirement before replying, and came to the conclusion that it was probably the right call. I've had covid twice, and both times were about 3 months after getting a booster. So there will be thousands of members who can prove a vaccination, even if it was nearly two years ago. Not terribly useful in terms of transmission (although

Prices don't go down for the most part. Hotels set the price on the cost of doing business plus a profit. If you try to make the profit too high, you kill your business by scaring off the guests. They have to maintain the rooms, utilities, upgrades every few years, pay staff, etc. The new hotel up the road which was built a few years ago is $140 a night and that is in the suburbs of Philadelphia. In the city itself I bet the prices are much higher. We all want more pay to make our lives easier and that includes hotel staff. It is a never ending cycle unfortunately.

I am not from that area and only do shopping during the day. Never had any problems walking down from the convention center towards Chinatown. Highly recommend getting one of the folding maps they sell in one of the drug stores (maybe Wallgreens?). They have indicators for the train stops on those maps too. A decent compass is not a bad idea, either. Have been going to DC since Otakon moved there and only found the 2nd Dunkin Donuts this year. When waiting to check out from Otakon 2022, I noticed some courtesy printouts of the local restaurant locations at the Concierge desk. Will have to

Speaking of trains, I just made my Amtrak train reservations for next years Otakon. Only cost me $62 round trip (New York to Washington D.C. and back).

I don't know if this technically belongs here, as the forum header says 'Serious discussion'. Close enough for government work, I suppose. What for years had only existed as a promo video with bad sound has been found, apparently in the Library of Congress of all places. It definitely was a thing. What that thing is, I'm not quite sure. Pilot episode (Watch at your own risk. Though it can't be as bad as Spaceballs the Animated Series. I had a friend yell at me when he watched that, despite my warnings.) Immediate takeaways (don't know if I want to watch a 2nd time: - I'm wo

Seven days is near the upper bound of the incubation period for wild type COVID-19. Omicron BA.2 has a mean incubation period closer to 2~3 days, just like all its Omicon subvariant friends. This makes the task a bit easier, but of course you're right and pinning down the specific source of an outbreak requires strong methods and can't just be eyeballed. That said, "did a lot of people catch the coof during the weekend of Otakon" is a much simpler question, and the answer is "no." You don't have to worry about back-tracing an outbreak if there's no outbreak to back-trace. I sorta agree th

I say this having been through the entire saga with friends - The End Result Could not have happened to a more deserving Klown. While we will never know how much is true that he is alleged to have done, if just 10% of what has come out is true, the dude needs to be forever forbidden to interact with anyone under the age of 30 to avoid grooming in society let alone the worse things & banned from public gathering places or forms of transportation without monitoring.

To add context, an appellate judge denied his appeals and remanded the case to trial court to figure out exactly how much more he owes Monica Rial and Ron Toye in legal fees, since the cost of their representation exceeded the amount they were awarded in the case. Yeah, for those who forget, he and his lawyers bungled this lawsuit so hard that he ended up owing them, Jamie Marchi and Funimation. https://kotaku.com/vic-mignogna-lawsuit-dragon-ball-z-funimation-court-1849435479 I hope we never have to hear from him again but I know we're not going to be that lucky.

I was at the Marriott Marquis, and it was fairly painless. I went down the 2 escalators, showed them my vaccination card, my driver's license, and my badge (I get it mailed.) and got the band. Took only a few minutes including the escalators. The only downside was they didn't have the 18+ bands there, and when I asked the person about it they said they should have thought to bring some to this station. Edited to add: This was at about 4 on Thursday.

It looks like it's finally fixed (since I don't get a safety alert anymore when I log in the forum).

I received a notice that the Let's Encrypt certificate on this site expired on 8/4. Someone please verify it. Thank you.

Long post, as I tend to go to panels almost exclusively at Otakon anymore. I think I've got all the ones I hit. (I lost the paper I was using for my schedule and notes, and I've been really busy at work lately.) Dubs vs Subs -The presenter was good, and the presentation about how Japanese and Western theater influenced their acting styles. (Like Japanese Noh encourages broad, exaggerated performance and Western acting tends toward a smaller, closer style because the camera focuses in on the actor.) However, it seems to me that a fundamental point was missed. Per the description: "How

Waaaaaay back in 1995 or 96, I was AnimEast in New Brunswick. The hotel was hosting the con as well as a wedding on that Saturday of that weekend. The reactions of people looking at the cosplayers was... unique, especially (if I'm remembering this correctly, it's been 25+ years) someone who was playing as Little Red Riding Hood's Wolf dressed as Grandma, but with something bursting out of the chest or stomach. I think it was one of those moments where everyone in the wedding party pulled the 'We'll wait for the other car.' Then there were the early years at the BCC when Otakon only used h

The song is called “White Surf Style 5” by late 90s/early 00s Japanese indie rock band Supercar. Highly recommend checking out more of their discography if you enjoyed that song- they combined rock music and elements of electronic music in a really interesting and unique way.

I always consider shocked passerby to be part of the fun.

I thought this was a pretty weak year for fan panels, honestly. As theorized in the Good, Bad and Ugly thread this may have had something to do with the very unusual (and poor) way that the panel application deadline was handled this year. I will not single any particular panels out for this criticism because frankly I saw it over and over and over again this past weekend (including in some panels that I left so fast I didn't bother putting in my specific feedback below), but here goes: I always was taught that the proper way to use Powerpoint was to create slides that feature perhaps an

Yeah, it's a difficult one to find a way to mitigate. Even as I request it, I genuinely don't expect the Otakon content team to be giving content that intense of a review with their limited time. I like your idea of some kind of post-content feedback feature. "Did the summary match the content, Y/N" would be easy enough to include with a handful of other questions.

My post/thoughts earlier was aimed more towards BBS usage the rest of the year and not during Otakon weekend itself.... But thanks for your feedback. All I can say in regards to it (because my personal role is not related to Help Desk/Online Help Desk/communications/etc) is that it will be analyzed/looked into.

Sorry for double post but just wanted to say (in case anyone is keeping track) Not planning on bringing that^ cosplay anymore. I was offered a "prize" to fix a different cosplay in less than 2 days out....let's just say, it's not really a small easy fix so good luck to me....*cue panic*

Thanks to EdKitten for additional info and correcting me on the station name (Penn is my station up here, lol!). And yes...watch out for the bird poop! And now...the final part: where to eat for Otakon!!! https://youtu.be/Wy2EaAPEhEk In case you want to know where specific things are in the video... The Homeless Situation - 1:17 Cosplaying & Fanboy Fink - 9:06 Where to Eat for Otakon! -20:08 Also, if you would like to see our review of the most recent anime (new ones) season at the Weekly Dig - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYoCtJasEN8&

Also adding Wallet (with monies) Some sort of picture ID Personally some other things I'm packing: 'bathroom slippers' not afraid to get wet (for use in the hotel room) Game charger(/s) Watch/FitBit I also using a bag (that I 'officially' started using last year) with general bathroom stuff...ie: toothbrush, toothpaste, etc. Includes travel size shampoo/soap cuz one fear I have is I get some weird skin reaction from the hotel provided soap/shampoo. (Hasn't happened to me yet but I've reacted to new stuff at home before)

This is accurate. AMV Theater moved to the old location for Panel 1 (room 202), which is twice the size of our old room, and seats ~700.

And here is Part Two where I talk about getting around DC! https://youtu.be/Tkpni6TO1fc In case you want to jump to the parts you really want to see: Flying in - :41 Buses - 7:58 Don't Drive! - 10:41 The Quadrant System (required viewing for those new to DC) - 21:09 Metro and trains - 27:41 The metro video that shows how to ride it - 38:46 Let me know if you have any questions! THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

Hello! You do not need to purchase a new mug. You bring your old mug and it is $5 for unlimited refills for the weekend! It is right on their website's FAQ's: https://drinkwildbills.com/pages/faq They have always honored it for us and reminded us when we forgot ours last year.

I'm hoping they do a wristband pickup on Thursday. I could swear that I picked up an 18+ band on a Thursday down in DC previously (obviously not 2021). I've been getting badges mailed since Baltimore*, so I know it wasn't just picking one of those up. Then again, if I could get both wristbands on Thursday, that'd be even better. * Less habit and tradition than convenience of not having to wait in the pre-reg line. Though if I have to wait in line for all this on Friday, then I threw my money away.

Here is the web page for the policy: https://www.otakon.com/info/covid/

You will have to have your vaccination status checked and you will be given a wrist band you are required both to gain entrance to the con

I expect the mask policy* to be better enforced than at Too Many Games last weekend. It said on the website that masks were mandatory, but there were a good 30% of the attendees sans masks. * As long as you have the same people who did it last year, I have no doubts that Otakon will do a better job than TMG. I have 2 incidents from 2021: 1 I witnessed, 1 anecdotal. A) One staffer stopped a panel when the panelist went down into the audience after he left his mask on the stage. She gave him the option of putting a mask on or going back onto the stage. He did the rest of the panel while wea

A friend of mine did get a rejection last week, so they've at least started the process, but I haven't heard back yet either.

It does state on the accessibility section on the website to bypass any line and go straight to a staffer to tell them you need to go to accessibility and they will get your badge and ribbon sorted out there. However, after you get your badge, even if you are not staying at the Marquis, it is usually much easier just to enter through the entrance there anyways.

1. Some of the elevators (most notably the one to enter the dealer's room) do require an accessibility flag to use, so yes, your friend will need to see the member accessibility booth by registration to get one. If you go with your friend, and will be helping them at certain points, you can request a companion flag to be with them, which will allow you to join them in the elevator among other things. 2. I do know there are plans to accept at least one app, unfortunately, I do not remember which it was, so I will leave this for someone with that info. 3. As of right now, a mask will b

Not staff, but Otakon usually requires you to have an Accessibility ribbon to use the elevators. I have seen people with strollers use them but I don’t know if that is technically permitted or they just let that slide. Either way, you would not want to bring kids in today’s environment anyways. Check the Member Accessibility section on the Member Services section on the website. If she uses something to walk with that is proof enough but if not, try to get a doctor note close to the con. Finally, don’t plan on removing masks indoors unless it’s at a specific dining area.

Voice Actors Griffin Burns Matthew Mercer J. Michael Tatum Would also be cool to have some Japanese voice actors & bands if able Cosplay Guests LevelOneCosplay

Kellen Goff Zeno Robinson Jason Liebrecht Bryce Papenbrook