Otakon: More Hyped than Bill Goldberg!!!

In 2007 I went to my first anime convention and it was a blast. The trip was so worth it even though we only went for one day. After that i decided that whatever anime convention I went to it would be a weekend event. Its been a good run of fun and good conventions but that streak ended finally with my recent trip to Otakon. The most hyped up convention if there has ever been one. I've been planning for since 2007 to go check it out because everyone told me that is the convention to go to. You like Katsucon eh? Well you need to go to Otakon then because its bigger and better. Well finally the time had come and the group I went with were all Otakon virgins as well so we were all hyped.

Our trip down was horrid starting off with our friend stepping in dog crap which we all believe now was an omen. Rest stops with some kind of winged insects. Getting super lost in New York City, and getting poured on at the good ol' Vince Lombardi. I believe the gods were trying to warn us to turn back and that rain was their tears of sadness that we didn't heed the warnings. Upon a 8 am arrival and a night of no sleep we were told our room would not be ready till 3 or 4. Fine i get that, then we have to walk 15 minutes in 100 degree weather to get to the con even though we reserved the con hotel. When we finally check in we find out the hotel charges an insurance fee of 25 dollars a night and you will be reimbursed upon departure.

The lines at the convention were probably the main speciality of the con itself because everything had a ridiculous line. The dealers room the first time we went had a 30 minute wait at least. This was by far the biggest dealers room I've encountered yet but every table was just about exactly the same with all the same overpriced items and figures. The entrance to artist alley was an absolute death trap with one stairwell to enter and exit, not a set, not a pair, just ONE stairwell with a man telling you "stay on the left if you fall i'm not responsible and I will tell you that if you get hurt". Another thing was the lack of really no interesting panels at all. Yeah there were voice actors and what not but most of those panels get boring fast with the excess of fanboys and fangirls looking to not ask a real question ever. Maybe if they had some Nerdfit or something there i would've been able to enjoy it more but we will never know.

The straw that broke the camels back this weekend though was leaving the convention. Upon checking out of my hotel I was told that my change back from my deposit would 33 dollars...out of the 50 I was told I would receive back. The excuse given to me was that the extra 17 payed off the rest of my bill. A remaining balance would have been something to tell me before doing it. So out of that 33 i got to keep 13 for food budget for the rest of the day. On top of that we were told we would pay 52 dollars for two days parking friday to saturday and saturday to sunday. Upon checking out from that we are told we have to pay for the rest of sunday as well because we were there longer than three hrs I guess so bye bye aforementioned 52 dollars hello 78. Then it was all traffic and gas and long lines at rest stops and another lost adventure in NYC. Finally the Otakon horror ended around 10:50 when i got home about 3 hrs later than anticipated due to traffic.

The main thing that really just upset me was that I went to Otakon expecting the very best I could get out of a con. I had more fun at anime boston than i did Otakon. At first I thought maybe I didn't enjoy it because it overwhelmed me with its massiveness. But then I realized what really annoyed me was that for a super con it was just like all the rest.