Pinkie Pie party at Otakon 2012
After MAGfest, Animation On Display, and ROFLcon, Otakon was my fourth convention this year—and the third one I’ve worked through. Between four reporting projects and my first panel ever, I was worried I’d be too burnt out to enjoy it. Instead, my fifth Otakon turned out to be my favorite.
I’m a natural introvert, but the choices I made this year to report nonstop and give a panel propelled me to talk to dozens of new people and, as a result, have an amazing time.
I took 200 photos but I’m not sure which ones I want to publish on the Daily Dot yet and I don’t want to scoop myself, so here’s some Instagrams. Clockwise from left: 1) Patches and I immediately after leaving our panel; you can see the 4 from the “Panel Room 4” sign. His shirt says, “This is what a feminist looks like!” Yes, I’m wearing cat ears. 2) The line to get into our panel! We had a smaller panel room by Otakon standards, but we were still talking to 100+ people. 3) My newest Gundam kit, containing all three of Zeon’s aquatic models—I think the Acguy and Z’gok look like cute aquatic creatures. The Gogg, I’m not bowled over with. 4) Melon flavored sake at the Baltimore Inner Harbor.
My biggest accomplishment this weekend was joining the ranks of Otakon’s experienced panelists. Patches and I were nervous, and we even had a near-crisis with our technology just minutes before the panel, but everything worked out. In hindsight, I’m cracking up over the fact that we rehearsed what to do in case the audience didn’t have any questions—we had more than we could answer! If you missed it, stay tuned for an announcement later this week. Lawrence Brenner was kind enough to film us so we could make the panel available online. You can already view our slides here.
This is just the beginning of my Otakon coverage. I did so much reporting that I’ve got a new article about Otakon on the Daily Dot every day this week. So far just one is up—a photo gallery on Internet culture inspired costumes—but I’ll post the complete list on Friday.