For as long as I’ve been attending Otakon off an on, it has always taken place in Baltimore Maryland. This year was different. This was the first year Otakon moved to it’s new location in Washington D.C. I was really looking forward to the change when it was first announced at the closing ceremony of 2013, and now myself and two other friends got to experience the new convention center.

I’ll go over the pros and cons of the convention.

The Pros:

Just like last year we decided to take the train to D.C. Only an hour was added to the trip compared to Baltimore and there were no delays thankfully. Once we arrived in D.C. we checked in the hotel and had a quick Nintendo Switch Mario Kart Battle with some fellow Otakon attendees, we started our way to Otakon.

Random Mario Kart match I had at the hotel

 

 

So….Much….Space

I can’t overstate how much bigger the convention center is. Theres so much more room available. During all three days at the con it never felt overcrowded. Even during a popular panel or concert. There was ample space to walk around everywhere. Nothing like the Otakons of past as the videos below show: 

I NEVER want to go back to this………….

 

 

 

………….Or THIS

 

 

 

Panels Video Game & Video Rooms

There were a good amount of interesting panels available. Some of the few that stood out to me were panels on North Korea animation, Steven Universe anime influence, and a late night 18+ panel When Hentai Goes Bad that was pretty hilarious.

The videogame room was great as usual. Really liked the new arcade machine set ups for fighting games like Tekken 7 and Street Fighter V. Nice change from running off tvs, and console controllers. Getting from one location to another was pretty easy for the most part, and all of the escalators

worked. No breakdowns as far as I can tell which was a first for Otakon. The dealers room and artist alley were next to each other separated by a wall divider. I didn’t’ get a chance to check out many video rooms outside of two, but I did enjoy the Eureka 7 movie remake (even though it was basically a recap movie) and a harem mecha anime series that wasn’t too bad. Both were huge in terms of space compared to last year, and there were even sections were you could sit down and relax or eat.

 

Artist Alley

 

Food

Speaking of eating plenty of options were available. Lots of restaurants were just around the corner, and chinatown wasn’t too far off either. If you preferred to stay in the convention center, there was a food court like area located right below the main floor.

Cosplay

As always the cosplay was great. Saw a lot of cross play this year. There were a lot of locations to set up a photoshoot, though there were some issues. I’ll get to that later.I didn’t get a chance to photograph everyone I wanted to or as much, hoping for better luck next time. So far Otakon went off without a hitch. But of course there were some issues.

Some of my cosplay photography more here: gpatrickwhite.com/portfolio/cosplayphotography/

The Cons:

Only One Con Main Entrance

There was only one main entrance for Otakon this year as well as a mandatory bag check. Friday morning was a bit of a mess. Lots of slowdown and not many bag checkers (at one point I counted three) fortunately this was fixed by Saturday afternoon.

Building Access and Locations

There were a few issues with this one. Many of the events, panels, and rooms were located near each other with easy access. But some places had long and complicated distances to reach. This wouldn’t be so bad if there was more that one entrance into the building, but with only one it increases the time to get to panels. It’s even worse if you’re handicapped like one of my friends. Hopefully this can improve in the future.

Maybe Too Much Space?

Like I said in the beginning there is a lot of space which is a good thing. But as I said above with it being so big the time it takes to get to some places is much longer and more complicated. Much more that then the Baltimore Convention Center. Plus with all of this extra space you would think there would be more panels workshops or video rooms. Nope, just the same amount as before. This definitely needs improvement.

Photoshoot/Photography Areas

This was an issue for me. For the first time I set up some photoshoots with a few cosplayers along with my usual snap shot photography. there were great locations in the old BBC in Baltimore like the fountain area or the outside deck on the second floor. Perfect for photos, lots of natural lighting. While there are way more areas to do photoshoots, with a few exceptions getting natural lighting in them becomes an issue (going to have to start bringing my own lighting setup)

For snapshots the second floor right outside the front of the video game room became sort of the new Fountain area in DC. Problem is its a high traffic area in every direction. there was also an area on the ground floor next to a long stairway for official photoshoots, but its very small and the lighting isn’t very good. A new designated area with plenty of natural light besides the second floor and the steps would be ideal.

 

Overall Otakon was really fun. Any con’s first year after a new move would have a few growing pains and for a con starting at a new location, they pulled it off very well.
A few missteps yes, but still as fun as ever. I’m hoping to go to a few bigger cons next year, so depending how it goes I may or may not go to Otakon 2018 (unless there’s a must see guest). Either way I ‘ll be back at Otakon at some point.

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