*Otakon 2005*

[Token Asian]

I'll be at Otakon. I'm the early-bird type that reserves hotel rooms early in the dead of winter... Bye-bye hard-earned money...

[ashfire]

I did that myself in Nov right after Neko Con.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

hey sweet! Token Asian hope to see you there!

[Token Asian]

I'm in the guy in the SDF Macross hat (US Navy-style).

[meboeck]

I can't wait for Otakon! I will make an awesome CAA sign this week so we can meet up.

[Token Asian]

Well, that'll be interesting to see.

[ashfire]

Well it looks like prays were answered. Irene is heading out to sea and going north away from the coast. The chances for showers for Wash DC are out for Friday so I am not sure about Baltimore. I got caught in a down pour a couple of years ago and my shoes and socks were soaked for a few hours while trying to get to the reg line. I had to wait to get into the hotel to change them. Nothing worse than smelling wet fanboys.

[Token Asian]

... which is why making it to Thursday prereg is so important. ^_^

[Arbre]

[Nate]

Hey guys, my hotel accomodations were completely goofed at the last minute, and I am stuck without a place to stay for Otakon currently. I'm still going to go, I mean, but it would be nice if I had a definite place lined up instead of blindly driving around Maryland trying to find a hotel for three nights.

So, if you have a hotel room, I don't mind sleeping on the floor, and I'll totally help pay for it...please PM me so I can get details, okay?

I'd really appreciate this.

[Shao Feng-Li]

If only you could know how I pine for Otakon!

[Sephiroth]

heh heh, tell me about it, we should start a "people who wanna go to anime cons, but cant" thread or something...

[ClosetOtaku]

Just over the horizon... weather forecast calls for a rainy weekend, bring your umbrellas....

[Mr. SmartyPants]

woohoo! umbrellas yay! Nathan you carry it

[meboeck]

I can't. I'll have the CAA sign.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I'LL Hold the CAA sign!

[Token Asian]

Um... I'll hold your wallets for you!

Meh, a few showers never hurt anyone. I'd just worry if you were carrying expensive merchandise that wasn't properly wrapped.

[Locke]

I'LL Hold the CAA sign!

Copycat!

[meboeck]

The sign is finished! Those of you who are going to Otakon look for a green sign that simply says "CAA" in bold red/orange. Yay! It's almost here! It will be quite awesome!

[ashfire]

Hey guys, my hotel accomodations were completely goofed at the last minute, and I am stuck without a place to stay for Otakon currently. I'm still going to go, I mean, but it would be nice if I had a definite place lined up instead of blindly driving around Maryland trying to find a hotel for three nights.

So, if you have a hotel room, I don't mind sleeping on the floor, and I'll totally help pay for it...please PM me so I can get details, okay?

I'd really appreciate this.

I just told my buddy who is staying with me that I am going and he plans to drop the reservation he had made at a hotel near by incase In didn't make it because of different things that were happening like if Irene had turn in at the East Coast and I had to report to work because of it.
If you need to know where he was staying I'll check to see where he had plan to be.

[ashfire]

Ok I found out he had reserved a room at the Marriott at BWI Airport. My guess he would have rode in on the tolley system from there to down town Baltimore next to the convention center. I would guess with the limiting of people at the door reg this year there might be cancellations of rooms.
Unless there are hotels along the tolley system outside Baltimore.

[ClosetOtaku]

Arrived Friday evening in Baltimore, taxi from Penn Station to the hotel. Registration was quick and easy (as opposed to last year, when I stood in line for a couple hours); otherwise, the convention has been a mixed bag.

Good stuff included getting Fred Gallagher (Megatokyo) to sign and do some artwork in his Volume 3 book; a pretty good artist's corner this year; dealer's room is looking a little shabby but still has some bargains; and of course the cosplayers and costumed people all about, hope to have some pics before too long.

Bad stuff was: the highly-touted Hellsing "sequel" (for lack of a better term) did not materialize as promised; numerous schedule changes and cancellations; technical difficulties (e.g. people who didn't know what they were doing) delayed the start of the AMV Contest for about an hour (I'm wondering if it is the same group who messed up Katsucon's contest as well); and just a general feeling that this con is not quite as well-organized as last year's, despite the fact that the attendance cap has helped keep crowd size under control.

Nevertheless, it's been enjoyable; am meeting a fellow Christian fan-fiction-writing friend I know from Sekai no Hajimari for breakfast shortly. Food, fellowship, and fun, as they say.

Haven't seen the CAA Banner or any such advertising yet, but the convention is still young...

[shooraijin]

Bump to fix last posted flag. Carry on.

[AngelSakura]

<<...technical difficulties (e.g. people who didn't know what they were doing) delayed the start of the AMV Contest for about an hour...>>
Were you in there for the 11PM showing? I looked the entire time for other CAA'ers... It's great to have a sign, but it's a big convention center.
You'd think it'd be harder to miss someone dressed like a save point, y'know?

[Ingemar]

*snicker* well, you wouldn't be so disorganized if you had at least a few people's contact info.

Chances of Otakon outclassing AX as a CAA get-together: Slim.

[shooraijin]

Be nice; personally, I'd love to see a photo of our Otakonites together.

[ClosetOtaku]

AngelSakura: I was indeed in there for the 11 PM showing (that was supposed to start at 10:30 and didn't go until much later...). Very enjoyable, stayed for the whole thing, put in my votes, but haven't heard who won what yet.

(I saw the guy with the beard who was dressed as a Save Point; was he a CAA alum?)

Well, back from Otakon, and I didn't see any CAA-ites.

But now that Ingemar has thrown down the gauntlet, I'll make sure (if I get to Otakon next year) to be more aggressive about setting up a meet.

Overall, enjoyable as usual. I have a few pics that I'll post later on, although the quality of costumes this year was a little less inspired than last time...

Looking forward to watching a couple of the new titles, including Geneon's Fafner...

[Locke]

The guy in the save suit was Kae, so you DID see a CAAer.
The same thing happened at AX ( I saw Kodai but didnt say anything)

Theres always next year guys

[ClosetOtaku]

Just a few images here...

A typical day in the Charles Street Lobby, where cosplayers congregate congenially. Today's highlight included the assembled cast of Hellsing, including several Alucards...

Remember Domo-Kun? He was a spokesmonster from Saturn for a Japanese cable company. A sort of blast from the past...

Back to the present, we have Willy Wonka; quite a few of them this year, but this was one of the better incarnations.

There were plenty of Eds from Fullmetal Alchemist, almost as many to rival the Alucards, but it was hard to find a good Alphonse. In fact, this isn't a cosplayer at all, it's a statue at the Funimation booth. Impressive nonetheless...

Speaking of characters who are about to become head-to-toe armored, the spillover from Star Wars continues, with this trio battling it out for control of the Baltimore Convention Center.

And finally, some real people, Piro and Seraphim (not their real names, of course!) from Megatokyo. The line at their booth was consistently long, but the wait was well worth it.

That's all for now... I would enjoy hearing from other CAA attendees!

[AngelSakura]

ToT This is terrible! The ENTIRE time I looked, but I didn't see anyone! Of course, I probably would have screamed like a lunatic, so maybe I saved everyone some embarrassment. Today, I stood by the exit for a full fifteen minutes before I left, looking for someone, ANYONE, but I didn't see anybody. ;_; Now I have to go to England without seeing you guys...

On the upside, I got to see the Sunday screening of Otaku no Video, which I've been wanting to see for a long while and really enjoyed. X33 What's more fun than making fun of yourself? Also, I bought The Groundwork of FLCL and the Japanese edition of Trigun Maximum 6. And the highlight...I. Saw. A Lt. Hughes cosplayer. UWAA! *dies* I actually did a double-take and yelled "Lt. Hughes!" and the guy turned around. YES. He very kindly let me take his picture whilst I worked on not jumping on him.

There were a lot of other really good cosplayers, and I got a lot of pictures. However, I forgot to charge the camera battery last night, and so missed a shot of a small pile of black feathers on the floor with a sign reading "Howl was here." X33