KyoKyo
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Posts posted by KyoKyo
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10 hours ago, Attendee7000 said:
*shrugs* Lesson learned I guess. Otakon insists on having the hotel block go live in the middle of a work day every year. Next year I'll just book outside the block before it goes up. Their rates aren't even that competitive anymore, I can get pretty much the same rate from other sources.
Agreed. I don't use social media but I usually get an email from Otakon saying when the hotel block goes up. Never got one this year and missed everything. Guess I'll have to wait until the middle of January to find a room like I did 2 years ago.
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I forgot to add a big thanks to the "Fanservice" couple in the WEWCC line on Saturday morning. They were generously handing out small japanese-themed hand fans to people they passed in line, including the WEWCC and Otakon staffers. It was a nice gesture and helped keep things a bit cooler in the morning heat.
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Most of the replies here have covered all the pros and cons but there were a few things that caught my attention: the high prices of scale figures in the dealer's room, the near lack of an industry presence and some panel issues.
Figures- I collect scale figures and understand that the dealer's need to make a profit especially considering how costly it is to bring their inventory to the con. However, the figure aftermarket is oversaturated and has really tanked over the past year. Combined with a weak yen, I was still surprised to see markups approaching $200 over what I paid for a figure that came out only a few months ago. Shipping costs have gone up but seeing the markups keeps me from buying from most dealers at Otakon. There were some dealers that were reasonably priced and competitive with each other but seeing some of the rarer 1/4 scales going for over $1k was amazing.
Industry- Also what's happened to the industry presence, or lack thereof, at Otakon? I remember the good old days in the BCC from the mid to late 00's where there were big industry booths in the Dealer's Room. Back when Geneon still existed they had that huge Hellsing Ultimate Alucard throne and Bandai used to have an elaborate Gundam display. It's disappointing to see how the industry presence has declined into almost nothing over the past decade.
Panels- On a side note, several panels we went to started late due to some AV issues, specifically HDMI cables not working and no sound. I heard one panelist complain that Otakon needed a dedicated 10 minute breakdown and setup time for staff between panels and I tend to agree.
COVID- Also, thank you Otakon for dropping the vaccine mandates for this year's con.
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Renaissance (soon to be Westin) which is Otakon's official co-headquarters hotel.
Good
- The entire hotel is finishing a big renovation. All the rooms are brand new with new bedding, showers, furniture, ambient lighting, plenty of power adapters etc. Rooms came with a coffee maker, mini fridge and a very big 55 inch flatscreen.
- Second-closest hotel to the con if you couldn't get the Marquis
- Quiet- The main lobby is busy but the halls are quiet and free of late-night parties and cosplay photoshoots that make the Marquis noisy.
- Starbucks in the lobby
- The lower level ballroom area down the escalators is filled with business rooms and little mini-work rooms which are great for photo ops or a quiet place to rest provided there are no other events. Hardly anyone was down there and it was a nice place to read manga or just relax.
- Parking. The massive underground parking complex has always been the selling point for me over the Marquis since the latter fills up so fast. I like being able to unload my car and take the elevator right up to the lobby. Hotel guests also have in and out privileges from the moment you check-in until 5pm the day you leave. They will also include your parking fare into your final room bill. Guests pay $36/day, valet is $50-something
- Friendly and cooperative staff
Negative
- No more free wi-fi
- Currently no sit-down restaurant during the renovations although the bar was open
I've always enjoyed this hotel and it's a good choice over the Marquis if you want a hotel that's close but is a little more quiet and has convenient parking.
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On 7/19/2023 at 11:28 AM, Clutch said:
I don't know if it is traffic related due to the impending convention, but the board has been slow for several days now.
Slow as in speed or slow as in volume? As for the latter, as social media has taken off over the years this board has become a ghost town. I can still remember the good ol days in the mid to late 00s when this place was hopping.
Could be worse. Nekocon's forums were constantly hacked by Brazilian porn sites until they eventually got rid of the boards entirely.
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I like the lenticular badges but I miss the old mascots and the good 'ol days where you could pick your badge design from a variety of anime and game titles.
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On 3/15/2023 at 6:36 PM, windseeker said:
That is a load of BS.
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On 3/4/2023 at 9:41 AM, Attendee7000 said:
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 still much more helpful for keeping the symptoms in-check afterwards). So Otakon would have to devote a lot of manpower and resources to something that really isn't doing much in regards to transmission.
On 3/4/2023 at 3:20 AM, WorldisYours said:but I think requiring the vaccine at least would have been prudent given how long we’ll all be around each other.
The vaccines do not stop transmission, infection or sickness or provide long term protection. Like Attendee7000 said, if someone was vaccinated 2 1/2 years ago and that was it, they would still *technically* be allowed to go to a vaccine mandated event even though any vaccine-induced protection has long since worn off. What sort of protection is that even offering?
What then would be the next step? Have Otakon mandate boosters? Then what timeframe do you use? Nekocon 2022 did this and mandated that people be vaccinated no longer than a week or so before the con. You would have some recently vaccinated people while others were vaccinated years ago possibly with no boosters. It gets to be a logistical headache and if a place as restrictive as Washington DC has eased up on virtually all covid-related policies, I trust Otakon is making the correct decision.The COVID health emergency is being lifted May 11th. I don't see the sense in pushing for any more vaccine mandates.
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On 2/20/2023 at 2:20 PM, F00LY said:
Putting my vote in for no masks, yes vaccines.
Just got back from Katsu and despite their mask policy, like 20% or more of the con didn't wear it, no one seemed to care, and this was particularly true for Katsu staff, booths and tables in the dealers room and artists alley (and included the people at and around the Otakon table).With the COVID public health emergency ending in May, it seems like a moot point to mandate vaccines. The few places "mandating" masks aren't enforcing it and by this point if the 5th booster hasn't given any sort of meaningful immunity you have to wonder what the point is anymore. Hopefully Otakon drops the vaccine mandate but only time will tell.
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Great thanks. I'll be sure to pass the word along.
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Does Otakon have any information yet on their covid policies for 2023? According to the WEWCC website, they dropped vaccine mandates for indoor events in DC as of February 2022. I wanted to clarify the policies before I pre-registered.
Additionally, I have a few friends that have pre-registered and were wondering if the convention will provide refunds for registration if their vaccination status (rather lack thereof) prevents them from attending.
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On 5/20/2022 at 6:42 PM, Revan said:
Currently, verification of vaccination or proof of negative test are not required for admission to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center or Anime Central...
At this point I would be surprised if Otakon suddenly dropped their vaccine requirement for 2023. Katsucon has already stated they are mandating vaccines for 2023and that con is 6 months away. I wonder how realistic such mandates are with the vaccines seemingly becoming less and less effective.
Right now a friend of mine and my dad, both vaccinated, are sitting at home with covid and a high fever.
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I'm more curious if these vaccine policies are going to exist for years to come or in perpetuity. At this point, covid is endemic and will be with us for a long time. With most places having returned to "normal" months ago, I wonder if Otakorp is going to require vaccines for Otakon 2035? Look at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. They were mandating vaccines and then suddenly did an about face after a few weeks after the decision and no longer require them.
Anime conventions seem to be the outliers.
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On 12/12/2021 at 4:42 PM, Daniel Perales said:
Otakon relied on the "honor system" that every attendee had to be vaccinated, since they were not asking for anyone to present proof of vaccination.
Not entirely. They recommended that people be vaccinated but didn't require proof nor state that you had to be.
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4 hours ago, kimmibeans said:
We did continuously remind people to put on their mask if we saw them, even if they were seated in a panel room. There were also signs when you entered the room that you must keep your mask on. We actually kicked somebody out for refusing to put on their mask during the masquerade. However, we don't have eyes everywhere and may have missed some folks.
Thanks for trying to keep everyone safe. The staffers I encountered were professional and reasonable and from what I saw, the mask enforcement was applied consistently
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11 hours ago, MattTheMinion said:
For example, social distancing. If you spaced out seats in the programming rooms to distance folks, the seating capacity of each room would be roughly 15% of what it was this year. It's not worth having a video room with a max capacity of 23 people, or limiting main events to a couple hundred attendees. Once you do that you have thousands of people congregating in the hallways, which leads to the questions behind a cap. What is the appropriate attendance cap for a building that has 2.3 million sq. ft. of event space? Even under non-pandemic conditions this is not an easy question to answer as the safety capacity of the building changes depending on how various spaces are used. Still where do you assume everyone will be at any given time? Do you count the people who work there as part of the cap? How do you know how many people are in the building at once?
Thank you for addressing this specific issue.
It appears that Nekocon is going to try this very approach this year, going so far as to issue a no sleeping/lounging in common areas in the convention center order as well as reduced capacity/social distancing in all events according to their FB page. Conventions and convention centers by their very nature are not designed to be socially distanced and spread out and if you decide to do that it can create additional logistical headaches as you mentioned. The HRCC isn't very big and I'm curious to see if they will have line problems with people spilling out into the hallways and being on top of one another. (And this is a con that is a fraction of the size of Otakon.)
All in all, Otakon did what they said they would do in regards to their health and safety policies and the staffers were polite and professional, especially given the constantly changing nature of what's going on.
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The History of Metroid (I forgot the actual name)
This was a great panel and the host was really knowledgeable. I had no idea there was so much additional manga and media related to the Metroid series until I attended. Hope he comes back next year.
The Kabuki panel and demonstration
I've always been curious about the history and purpose of kabuki and the Professor did an awesome job both explaining the history and performing some basic kabuki for us. The schedule said it was supposed to go for 2 hours but ended earlier than expected which was a shame. I would've loved to see more.
New Anime for Older fans
Always a good panel
Con Horror Stories
I'm still bitter about this one.... 😠
Additionally, someone at the feedback panel suggested a history of Otakon panel in the future.
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21 hours ago, TnAdct1 said:
THE UGLY:
Just walking in Chinatown on Thursday gave me a bleak idea of how bad things are due to the pandemic. Seeing the U.S. Mint shop and the Lucky Strike bowling alley/bar closed while the pandemic is going on is one thing. However, to see the candy store that a lot of people go getting closed down permanently shows just how hard COVID is affecting businesses.
It was strange to see homeless camps and boarded up restaurants amongst $500,000 mini condos and people driving around in Porsches. We walked to the Irish pub we've frequented in the past only to find it boarded up. On the way to the Irish Channel pub we were probably asked about 6 or 7 times for money or food from the local homeless. Between that and the rising homicide rate, it's sad to see the nation's capital in such a strange state.
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23 minutes ago, windseeker said:
Hun, I did. I doubt so many expected an almost normal numbers of attendees. Why you're not concerned with this convention getting labeled a super spreader event is beyond me.
Ok, you knew the risks of attending a non-vaccine mandated event but assumed below-normal attendance because of covid hesitancy and decided to go banking on lower numbers. That's all on you.
Of course I'm concerned for Otakon's reputation but there's a ton of other things that could also be labelled as "super spreaders." Sturgis, Lollapalooza, Awesome-Con (as of right now.) Even AnimeNYC and Station Unity with their recently updated vaccine mandate. It's going to happen with large indoor venues and people need to understand the risks.
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13 minutes ago, windseeker said:
I second an attendance cap should have happened. I got extremely anxious when they announced how many people had been at the con at closing ceremonies. If Otakon ends up being a super spreader event that's not good for the con's image or for the attendees.
Otakon should have required proof of vaccination, if anything.
If you were that anxious then you should have known the risks before you arrived.
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Good:
- The Otakon staff for putting all of this together in just a few months
- The attendees and masks- I didn't see any instances of attendees abusing the mask policy. People self-regulated, were considerate and respected the mask policy.
- The Japanese Cultural Embassy. I'm THRILLED Otakon brought them in especially since Katsucon gutted them from their con budget in 2020. The kabuki panel and demonstration was especially interesting and Capitol Area Budokai is always a welcomed guest.
- The staffer in access control who works the line up in Main Events. He has long hair and a beard. He's a great communicator, very professional and keeps the lines organized. He has great con stories.
- The concerts: Both Distant Worlds and the Sunday jazz concert were excellent. The performers really seemed to enjoy being back on stage.
Bad:
- The Saturday morning line through the Marriott tunnel. That line was horrible. It looked as if the escalator was bringing people up faster than security could check them in so they switched to the stairwell. The backup ran from the Marriott convention center entrance down the stairs, past the hotel ballrooms, up the escalators into the main lobby and out the door into the streets. It seemed as if they were re-routing attendees from the convention center entrances into the hotel.
Ugly:
- The Con Horror Stories panel not showing. This rarely happens at Otakon and I'm glad to hear they will not be allowed to present again.
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4 hours ago, Aresef said:
Attendance should have been capped. Seats should have been in pods
Capped at what? Otakon has to make a certain amount for the convention to continue to operate even with the donations they received. Capping the attendance is going to put a dent in their operating costs. Seating in pods would have been a logistical hurdle and cost even more money.
4 hours ago, Aresef said:This is not going away anytime soon and Otakon should follow Blerdcon and ANYC in imposing a mask mandate.
Otakon did have a mask mandate. I heard your feedback at the feedback panel and I think that the mask enforcement was equally enforced. I can't think of a single instance within the convention center where a con goer had their mask off when they weren't eating or sitting and eating.
The only area where that was a problem was at the Marquis Marriott bar/lounge on Saturday night where everyone was packed in tightly trying to get drinks and some were maskless. At that point, a cloth My Hero Academia mask is going to do little to stop anything.
The Otakon staff handled the mask issue in a professional and reasonable way in every instance that I saw and I believe the attendees did a very good job regulating themselves given the circumstances.
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2 hours ago, Daniel Perales said:
I just found out that the show has been cancelled because of the Covid policy that New York City has just put in effect. The show was only 16 days away.
Just goes to show you that things could change pretty quickly here.
I sure hope Otakon doesn't cancel with less than 24 hours lol.
Also I'm hoping that the local DC government isn't as drastic as DeBlasio but who knows...
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Otakon said during their Twitch Q&A that there will be both this year. In fact there were a lot of vendors rolling over their applications from last year.
It was 30 years ago today...*
in Otakon 2024
Posted
It's funny, back in 1994 Otakon was probably viewed by the locals as some fringe gathering of geeks and weirdos. Now, when I walk into my local Five Below they have Miku posters and my local Target has Spy x Family manga right on the "featured" front shelf. By 2007, Best Buy had an entire aisle devoted to anime DVDs. It's crazy to think how quickly anime has become popular.