Videos about technology, anime conventions, collectables/hobby, store reviews, and random stuff including a few rants and raves mixed in. Never know what your going to run into!
as always, thanks for making these reviews! i went to the dance and agree that they really need to rework their plan for the future. the Baltimore location’s rave was always excellent. but this one was over crowded, the lights were still on in half of the room which made everyone gang up into the dark half (making the crowding even worse) and the DJ was awful. it felt more like a wedding reception than a “neon crab rave”
Thank you for watching! Oh not another wedding, I'm not being best man again! *Jumps out nearest window* I don't know if they need to either go back to two days for the dance, move the lockers to get more space, or what, but it's almost a ground up rebuild that's needed. Hope they have the time/budget to pull it off.
I was watching some Otakon videos and someone complained about the music at the rave. Part of her argument was invalid because she spent most of the stream complaining about "normies" (we get it. You were bullied in school), but I heard that most of the music was what you'd hear at high school dances with barely any EDM and the only anime song lasted 30 seconds.
It's hard to get the right mix, I've done the walk in and out at more then a few convention dances, but also stayed for an hour because they got that one person that had the right mix.
Otakon was 4 days long many many years ago. Otakorp tried it once, but with most volunteers already taking at least a week off work to volunteer, 4 days meant volunteers might not have enough work leave to participate.
Didn't panel Otakon. I'm part of a panel group (Children Driving Robots) from PA, we do Setsucon, Zenkaikon, and DerpyCon, with random appearances at other cons throughout the years.
the fact that the people were at Otakon solely for Discotek's panels only to find out they got screwed over by the Pre-Recorded video version of which had more announcements make me think do the Otakon staff really care?
It's an odd situation, a lot of the titles they did online only were live action and I'm not sure they were as in demand as what they announced in person. Still would have loved to get the crowds reaction in a two hour super large panel room Discotek day.
@@esw01407 yeah it was a shame, the booths that had action figures had amazing selections but I saw like no figmas or anything. I know the mass of con goers prefer statues. But I’m a big action figure guy so I was like where is everything at!
This was my 3rd year at Otakon (I started going in 2022) and it went very well for me -- it was the first con in which I attended all three days. I got to meet a lot people in and out of the industry, and the barrier between the Dealers Room and Artist Alley really helped in terms of getting around. I was lucky enough to get autographs from Studio Orange and Trigger this year, especially since many people were flocking over to the latter. One thing you forgot to mention was the return of the Matsuri since it was last held in Baltimore a few years ago. Despite the relatively hot weather (I heard at least one person had passed out from the heat), I thought it was a great event leading up to the weekend festivities and I'm already glad to see it return in D.C. for next year. There was also a pretty infamous situation regarding someone having a famous Japanese VA sign their Funko Pop, and the guy kept arguing until the VA just signed it anyway just so that he wouldn't have to put up with their BS. I'm hoping Otakon takes things like this more seriously when it comes to Japanese talent autographs next year.
I wouldn't have minded checking out the Matsuri, but the heat kept me within the buildings much of the weekend. Even as someone who likes Pops, I would not blame most events if they restrict/ban them from being signed by guests.
@@funguslord8202 Scalpers getting them signed to put on eBay immediately. Or finding creative ways to get the person to sign the plastic part of the box.
I was just at Otakon as well. And I am so thankful that they connected the Dealers Room and the Artist Alley. I hope that continues for the majority of the Con.
@@AnimeGirl4891 Otakon has a specific merch booth for just the convention, that sells various convention branded items. It was towards the back, and the lines this year were a mess.
Do you know the why Otakon dealers room is lacking year after year? The big name industry booths go to big name convention like San Diego Comic Con and Anime NYC. They do not go to Otakon any more.
Unfortunately aware after talking to several parties this weekend. I'm actually closer to NYC then Washington, but after one NYCC, I'm good not going into the city unless necessary. At least Otakon has Discotek.
Great video! Didn’t know about it being cashless & no outside food/water. I was planning to bring cash, just to help out with my budget, looks like I’m out of luck😂. And I think I’ll risk bringing a water bottle or two. Thanks!
TY! Just to shout-out, cashless is just if your buying food/drinks in the convention center. Dealers/Artists Alley varies per booth, most will still take cash. The water bottle thing is super inconsistent so...you know...look innocent ;)
Thanks for sharing. I got a lot out of watching this. I was getting lots of third hand accounts this weekend. We were supposed to go and enjoy the con as regular guests but we were also up for providing a bit of coverage if things were interesting. That said, super glad we didn't go. I would have been a cranky miserable mess dealing with the heat and seemingly horrific air quality. I also never let my girlfriend suffer in situations that I can't stand so we probably would have left quickly. I would have been livid if I paid for a hotel and would have fought tooth and nail for a full refund. As far as the 21+ stuff, I was hoping for some interesting content aimed at adults but also glad it didn't turn into hentaifest. Sure, we are very sex positive, but adult panels can end up just feeling dumb. We were very disappointed that the panels seemed lackluster and shallow when they were announced. Even worse, the panels that we were interested in seem like they were cancelled before the convention weekend so that was a big loss. That said, I wasn't excited about Shenanicon for the 21+ content, I was excited for a con that was 21+. Not having to deal with a lot of the kids and the bucket loads of drama and noise they can and often times do bring to the cons was a huge draw. Sadly from what I've heard no one was checking IDs and some kids did make it in. I hope they are able to make a true 21+ event to keep the kiddies out and try their best to get in better programing. It would also be nice if they looked for some nerdnite thinking man panels to cater to the adults. My biggest issue with the convention was and still is the allowing of vendors to deal out of the hotel rooms. It just screams disaster in the making and I would NEVER stay at a hotel that allows that. It's my understanding that the con just didn't have enough room to fit all the dealers and cons that were needing table space. That's just bad event planning. Even worse, having all the vendors operate on all the floors scattered about is just insane. At the very least keep it to a floor but instead, like you said, you would had congoers going to every floor looking in peoples windows in the hopes of finding vendors. That's just stupid. From what was said at closing ceremonies this seems like something the con is going to continue to do in the future and I cannot at all be ok with it nor promote it at all. I took down my videos & shorts where I was pushing the con because it's just not OK with me. Hopefully they don't do the same thing with DerpyCon this year. If so I'm just going to stop going and speaking so highly of them. I hope they come back even better next year and either the hotel bs gets fixed or even better, they change locations. As is, I'm not excited about having to go to that location for a con. The many, many issues that I've seen and heard about the space makes it seem like it's just not worth visiting at all. That your room was as bad as it was is beyond inexcusable. Anywho, thanks for sharing. I'm glad you had a decent time in the end. Happy Friday.
Hey dude. I re-watched your video about last year’s Otakon and I have a question. When you said they were going cashless, does that mean I can’t bring cash at all? Because I have used a card in the past, but it didn’t work half the time.
Good question about Otakon - Anything sold by the convention center themselves is cashless IE the food and drinks. Dealers Room/AA almost all vendors (minus the food booths) still take cash but its up to the individual vendor. if you're registering on site at the con you'd have to check with them, that's the one item I don't know.
I normally go to awesome con (Same convention center location) However i missed out this year do to college so I wanna try this con this year in August.
Great review. Great Con. Hotel - Staff is great and always helpful. Room our outlets were so loose to the point of being not useable. The TV had an issue with lines running down the screen ....on all channels...assume it was the TV not the connection ...
I feel I've given fair criticism to several parts of it. Also fair praise. Some of the concerts I saw were vastly underappreciated, like Glorified Magnified.
Hello Hello Hello. So i help run panels for magfest and i am looking for all the feedback i can for the Con. I can tell you right now i Can't do anything about Nando's. What i can do is what to select for panels. However saying they are bad is not good enough to really improve. i need more specifics. what you did not like and what you would like to see.
Hi, Where I'd start is Saturday were the panel choices, try to add some more general content, and less deep cut panels. Almost everyone in my room felt the content on Saturday perhaps went too hardcore. The Otaku TV panel that was on Friday at 8PM might have done better on Saturday. Did attempt to attend the Saturday 4:30PM Military-Gaming panel, but they were basically full and it was too crowded in there for my taste (I'm a panelist at other cons, so I understand the struggle of trying to guess whats popular.) Throwing some compliments around, the Thursday 2:30PM State's Attorney Investigations panel was rock solid and the panelist knew what they were doing. Friday Swadge panel is usually interesting. I would have liked to see the game preservation/copyright panels more spread out as seems like they were concentrated on Friday. This is also the toughest ones, there was one specific content area that had two panels in the whole con that were repeats. Both I had seen before and I knew to avoid them, as the content wouldn't be interesting or good. Last year I hard to report the one for not being what was in the panel description, but this year they fixed that.
I did also attend a "how to get started in VA/equipment" panel that for the life of me can't find the title of by a single presenter. That panel was one of the best beginner in VA panels you could hope to have because he gave realistic information.
I found that Thursday was lacking in panels, but Saturday was back to back panels/shows/games ... wound up being the best day for us. The Shredventure was one of my most favorite moments in Mag in the 8 years I've attended.
Regarding instrumental bands: Get the fuck outta here with that. Instrumental bands are one of the pillars this fest was built on, and VGM music is mostly instrumental as well. With the exception of Protomen, bands that add vocals are usually trash
Agreed, and I'd rather see Dom Palombi banging away on his drums or Rob Kovacs at the piano than some of the vocalists. These two acts were extremely well done and drew a huge crowd.
@@esw01407 The lasers tech, a professional who was doing it for free, was planning a HUGE extravaganza with the Metroid Metal team, then was told by upper brass somewhere down the line after a good majority of their set plans was finished that they were wanting to go with a new technician (I think in a move to use union-backed employees?). The lasers tech were told to wait, waiting got far too long, they brought it up on social media, then they were told outright that they weren't to do lasers anymore for MAG. That's the best I can regurgitate from memory.
We went Wednesday night, and the service was all over the place. Our friend got his food an hour after everyone else got theirs, and he just got a simple burger and fries
@@TrashQueenAndKingMust’ve lucked out myself, as I ordered take out after meeting with a student on Thursday around 7pm, and the hour prep time was spot on. Planned for that time (after cautioning some attendees to be aware in the elevator) and it was waiting for me upon arrival?
Glad I could help! This year is going to be a another big year of change, they are getting a 2nd venue a few blocks away for Video Gaming and a few other events. There will be a shuttle bus going back and forth, but it's also within a reasonable walking distance.
Oh, so the hotel block is the reduced prices for the hotel I assume? For 2024 they said it’ll open on the 7th which is 3 days after the final day of the con?! That’s on purpose?
Great video as always, while I kind of agree they could diversify the dealers room and have more voice actors for fans around your age group might recognize more. At the end of the day a good majority of the attendees are going to be younger. Even me being 28 I kind of felt like the old one there, so I can't really blame them for that. My registration experience was a little bit of a headache compared to yours. Some of my Newgrounds friends were trying to register at 9 pm Friday to come to my Newgrounds Panel at 11:45 pm and this lady whos probably in her 40s who was staff came up to them telling them they couldn't because it was closed even though they already pre-registered and payed and the woman didn't really seem to care too much. It wasn't until the young lady with the curly brown-blueish hair helped them out. I brought that up at the closing ceremony and they actually told me it didn't close until 11pm. I also wasn't a big fan of the room they used for Karaoke. The one they used last year was way better. The music seemed kind of quiet and the room was too small. Other than that and the internet issues, this was a pretty good con, maybe even better than last year overall. Also for me personally parking seemed to be better. Both Friday and Saturday I was able to find a spot on the 1st floor very close, although I could've been lucky, and went at 6pm on Friday and 4:30 on Saturday, although Sunday I had to park on the 2nd floor but it still wasnt too bad. Last year I had to park in the garage down the street. Hope you had a great time at Derpy Con, and maybe I'll see you at Magfest lol.
Interesting about that reg experience and I'm glad you brought it up to them, they would want to know about that. Our group survived the MAGFest hotel lottery and we will be there! Do we live though the whole con? Only time will tell...
I think a B is fair. Totally agree about the guest line up, wasn't the least bit interested. I do think if they had a little more space it would help - we kindof always felt like we were in peoples ways. Personally, as first-time attendees we found it to be disappointing and left early on Saturday because we weren't having enough fun to justify hanging around for the masquerade knowing someone would probably end up posting it online later. Not planning to go back anytime soon, but hope the con grows and does better in the future - maybe once it gets an 'A' we'll try it again ;)
First and only previous Otakon was 2012 in Baltimore. Liked it overall but had so many complaints about it that I was very ambivalent about ever returning. Glad I did this year, just to give it another try. I was surprised to see they still had some of the same communication issues as they had over a decade ago. But line management has certainly improved over the years. Honestly think the photoshoot area would have been better done if the shoot spaces had been spread out - there was a LOT of empty space toward the far end of the gaming hall, near the stairs up to the food - that's where the dining tables should have been placed. Would have allowed more spacing for the photoshoot backings, which would have helped with the crowding.
You picked a good year to come back. Last year you would have been very unhappy with the line mess. Moving the shoots towards the back would be a idea.
You picked a large but good con to start with, this was one of Otakon's smoother years. Last year would have been a different story with the line problems.
I didn't go to Otakon this year since I already went to another Con in early June. But do you know when they'll start doing the countdown on their website for next year? The days for next year are August 2-4.
That paper schedule was useless. Alot of people who used them complained. Even I notices alot of the times that got messed up. They also didn't have many things labeled for the photo ops. No one knew where the lobby stairs meet up were supposed to be. I went to my photoshoot and and everyone went to different stairs in the lobby. There was honestly alot more wrong with the con this year but I dont want to post a bunch of paragraphs. I've been going to this con for 8 years now and this one was the worst year yet tbh. Although I do 100% agree with you on the game room.
I respect your opinion. Suggestion - If you don't usually, write that up, and when the feedback form is released, fill it out. The con 100% reads those, and will find what you saw valuable.
It's a festival... It's in the name I was having serious trouble with cell coverage, on TMobile. Otherwise great video, glad you had an overall good time. I look forward to next year. I'd like to share some information i learned as a contributor to the PC museum this year since that may interest you on the arcade side as well. Apparently they had a few key contributors that were either usually staff or vendors drop this year. The PC museum suffered the most this year because of it, but the arcade was affected too. MAGfest is actively working to own more of their own equipment now because of this and is hoping to make a bunch of acquisitions over the year between then and next Mag
I love the stories you hear from the actors of the show, even after all these years you can tell that ds9 was a really special time in their lives, in a way im jealous. These guys and ladies made something great together.
@@esw01407 idk, we just did bar food. Getting a spot somewhere on Saturday night was a blessing on its own. We were at the bar amd the bartender was good. The kitchen was fn slow tho
Honestly I don’t see the restaurant prices around the Harbor ever going down so if you going to pay then may as well go for quality. I would recommend Succotash if you are in the area as both times I went there wasn’t a line, you have the option to make a reservation and the food and drinks although a bit pricey are certainly worth it.
