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The problem here is that some companies attended SDCC the previous week, and it would be a big hassle trying to transport everything from San Diego to Washington D.C. in less than a week.

If you are talking about the Best Non-Finalist winner at the AMV Contest results, Vic gave a legit reason for this: as great as the video is, this isn't one that can't be shown in general hours due to the gory violence (which was the only reason it didn't make the finals in the first place).

Do you mean morning or evening? If you mean morning, it's probably like that to avoid direct competition against the opening of the Dealers' Room and Opening Ceremonies. I believe among the main reasons for it are as followed: Whenever there's an Olympics year, Otakon does tend to host it while it's taking place. Quite honestly, this period is likely a better time to book Japanese guests (and with a lot of the big Japanese events that Otakon usually competes against being rescheduled due to the Olympics, it could allow some better Japanese presence next year).

With the theme of next year being the 2020 Olympics, I think Otakon should stay true to that theme and bring in some of the people involved in Akira (in which said event serves as a plot point).

Oh yeah. As I follow one of the hosts on Twitter, I was aware ahead of time that they couldn't make it to the convention this year, with the AMV Theater staff handling things this year instead. Personally, they did a great job, as the lack of commentary allowed for more videos, with many of the classics being shown (and me joining along with the usual fun).

THE GOOD: Great variety of guests this year, especially on the Japanese side, with a couple of old school seiyuu and the crew of a number of popular titles. Vic not only bringing back the fan-parodies that have been sorely been missed since the move to Washington, but also doing a great job handling the Awesomely Bad Japanese Music Videos panel when the two hosts were unable to attend (showing most of the videos that makes this event one of my regular panels each year). Discotek once again giving Otakon a bang of an ending with its panel. THE BAD: Convention Center staff basically blocking the escalators for a few minutes when it opened up on Friday. There needs to be better communication there. The complete lack of water stations in key areas (i.e. Dealers' Room, Artist Alley, Video Game Hall). The handling of the line for Promare. While I did plan ahead in case I was unable to attend the screening, the fact that people were lining up for this three hours before the scheduled start time seems unfair to those who waited until said time to line-up, only to learn that its already full.

In terms of pricing: Basically, the ones that are listed on Otakon's schedule are free.

Before you do that, I suggest rechecking the mailbox again to make sure you didn't leave the badge there. I remember a couple of years when I assumed that my USPS delivered the badge to the wrong house when I got a message saying that it arrived, when in reality, I failed to pull it out of my mailbox when getting the rest of the mail that day.

Got mine in the mail as well.

Need to get something ready in case I attend one of the Toru Furuya sessions.

Actually, the preliminary schedule has been out for at least a few weeks, although I have noticed some changes to it already,

Time for this annual reminder: Between the hot weather of the summer months and the amount of heat that can be produced in cities due to urban heat islands, the weather forecasts for Otakon weekend do call for possible rain most of the time. While there's a chance that the rain forecast may not happen (or if it does, it happens during a period where you're indoors), I advise you to bring along an umbrella to and from the convention center just in case.

While it's true that the convention doesn't start until the 26th, the Washington Convention Center is still open for pre-regged attendees on Thursday for the pick-up of badges (those who aren't getting them in the mail), convention bag and 18+ wristband.

Honestly, this is not a bad idea. Given what Otakon has gotten the last two years (the concert event that usually happens at AX in 2017; the DBZ Tour last year), it would be cool to have a different "big" booth each year that would sell something cool like the Godzilla Store and the Gundam Store/Cafe.

Heck, Kazuchika Okada just recently married one of the girls from the original Love Live.