TnAdct1

I'm confused here. While I can understand wearing it in the hotel lobby (and traveling to and from my room), does this mean I need to wear a mask when I'm in my hotel room as well?

I feel that a number of factors have contributed to this, including many major anime companies leaving the American market (i.e. Bandai and Geneon), most companies announcing their licenses when the new anime season starts, and how Otakon is more focused on the fans than being industry-focused like Anime Expo.

The schedule has been updated. The only major ones are AnimEigo and Discotek (with Discotek usually being one of the highlight panels at Otakon each year, especially for old school anime fans). However, there is an "Industry Roundup Panel" on Sunday morning (I'm guessing it will include at least Crunchyroll and Right Stuf, as they have panels at other events the same weekend as Otakon).

Got mine yesterday. As I already have an unused Funimation lanyard, I simply connected the badge to that for now.

The finalists were announced on Monday. Check the Otakon 2021 AMV Contest thread for the information.

That isn't surprising. As the first major anime convention since the pandemic, there's still a number of factors going into it that could make some people reluctant to go (in particular, what measures will be enforced to prevent COVID from affecting the con, those who have not yet received their vaccination yet, people living outside the DC area that are uncertain to travel out-of-state at the moment). As such, I can understand how hotels still have rooms available even when the con is a little more than two weeks away.

You're not alone here, as one of the big aspects of the next possible quarantine will be the fact that a number of areas will be restarting school, with most kids being too young to get the vaccine.

Another thing to consider: there's the concern that we may be having another round of COVID quarantines in the fall due to the delta variant. While this will not be a problem for Otakon and Awesomecon thanks to the safety measures that are being applied and the DC area being in control of the situation at the moment, there is some concern that it may affect the big fall conventions. As such, Otakon could be their only chance to attend a con this year. However, whether you feel safe to attend Otakon or not should at least be based on the current COVID situation per state. After all, while

As someone that's been entering the contest since 2015 (and made the finals in 2017), I can tell you that the contest is happening. Right now, the information can be found here.

For those who didn't see it on Facebook: Otakon 2021 is a go, although with some obvious changes this year due to the pandemic (i.e. no international guests, possible earlier close times).

I have been fully immunized for about 1.5 months now, so I'll be fine for both Otakon and Awesomecon a couple of weeks later. However, my certainty has been leaning towards Awesomecon than Otakon, with a number of factors contributing to it. Among the two main ones: Awesomecon is going to be a day trip for me (one where I can easily get to the convention center via the Green Line after spending Winter 2020 getting used to the Metro via some classes to get my A+ certification) whereas I'd be staying in the DC area for Otakon (which could mean a bigger risk for me). Awesomecon h

Those may be the two big things that could jeopardize Otakon. While the international guests situation is pretty much a given that attendees are willing to accept, a 500 person capacity may not work for a con as big as Otakon. While I can see smaller cons being able to handle this (Blerdcon and Anime USA, if we do get one this year, as I've heard nothing yet about 2021), Otakon is too big of a con to limit only 500 people attending it (unless that's the limit for one of the panel rooms). However, there is the possibility that Otakon can get a city waiver to allow more people to attend the even

While things may be fine for the New York cons, there's still a lot of things that make Otakon questionable IMO. Among them: Will there be enough of the COVID vaccine distributed that the Convention Center doesn't need to be used as a site by that time; Possible new waves of the outbreak (especially if more people will be active in the summer); Travel and guest situations (as a number of states are still high risk, and I'm not sure about Japanese guests attending this year).

Crunchyroll Expo, which is happening the same weekend as Otakon, just announced that it will be an online con. Thus, the chances of an actual physical Otakon this year have decreased somewhat. 🙁

Same here. I donated $50 a couple hours ago, and I'm willing to buy stuff to help raise additional funds for the convention.