Gonna take a break from the jokes this week to post a lil write-up I did about last weekends Otakon. Hopefully it wonÂ’t break anyones heart to go a week without jokes or anything

Some background info real quick about this whole Otakon thing. I'm really not an Otakon expert, but the whole jist of it is a big anime convention held in downtown Baltimore at the Baltimore Convention Center. Go to www.otakon.com for more detailed info.

I also work in downtown Baltimore, and the Convention Center is literally about 4 or 5 blocks away from where my office is. So that just made parking so much easierÂ…I just used my parking garage all weekend long!

So Otakon actually started on Friday August 19, but those who pre-registered could pick up their badges on Thursday August 18 after 5pm. So while I was stuck in traffic, there was a huge line forming all the way around the building. It was definitely a hot ThursdayÂ…so you guys were hardcore for standing in that line!

Day 1 – Friday August 19, 2005

And now Friday on my way home, there were streams of people going to and from the convention center. Still at this point I had no intentions of going just cause a I never pre-registered and didn't think I'd have the time or the chance to attend. But while I was stuck in traffic (again), I was able to talk to some passer-byers and they all said we could register at the door. No sooner did traffic start moving, I received a phone call from one of my friends suggesting that we get a group together and head to Otakon! Sounds like a hell of a plan to me! So I headed home, got out of the work clothes, met up with the group, and headed to Otakon 2005. Registration was also a breeze. No line, and we were registered with our badges in about 10 mins.
Friday night seemed to be more or less people just walking around and hanging out. Cosplay junkies everywhere!! It was definitely good times seeing people show off their anime spirit and meeting a bunch of new friends. We didn't stay till 2am, we needed to bust outta there and grab some late night grub.

Day 2 – Saturday August 20, 2005

All of Saturday afternoon was filled with dealer room action. This place was awesome, and you definitely need to walk around 2 or 3 times to see everything. It sucks that the dealers room was only open till 6pm. A few of us bought some things on Saturday, but we wanted to wait till Sunday to pick up a majority of our stuff. After the dealers room we headed over to the Inner Harbor to grab some dinner. Boy was that place packed. It's a story within itself trying to find a table to sit out. One cool thing is that you didn't have to go down to the street level to hit the Inner Harbor mall/food court. There were a couple skywalks that lead from the Convention Center to the Inner Harbor.

After we finally put substance in our bodies, we headed back to the Convention Center. Next on our list was some Origami. Boy was that a mess. I think I made a few Origami cranes a year or two back, but I've never seen a group of people have so much trouble with folding pieces of paper Plus, the instructions they left on the tables were made in black and white copies, so I blame that lol. Although around the room were big displays of the original instructions in color, but reading those would have been too easy. We also checked out the Art Gallery area or whatever. This place was cool, got to see peoples art work and buy a bunch of pins for $1. Then after that the rest of the night was filled with checking out some of the video rooms and just sitting around meeting a bunch of people. One of the animes we saw was something like "Ghost Talkers Daydream" or whatever. That's a pretty cool one to check outÂ…gotta watch it with a bunch of friends though

Day 3 – Sunday August 21, 2005

As much as I wanted to spend the whole day at Otakon, I had a bunch of stuff to do around the house that needed to get done. So Sundays plan was to just get there early and hit the dealers room for all it was worth. And thatÂ’s what we did. Grab bags, t-shirts, posters, gundam models, and a freakin' sweet limited edition Armitage lunchbox with a limited edition figurine and dvd for only $10 freakin' dollars. I was bouncing off the walls man.

Now to mention some notables:

-Cosplay. This thing is definintely all about cosplay. If you think people at the renaissance festival or Trekie conventions are hardcoreÂ…then you haven't seen Otakon yet.

-Speaking of cosplay there was A TON of Fullmetal Alchemist fans. I think these were the most frequent outfits that I saw. Some looked good, some looked "thrown together". Either way, they were rocking it.

-Not as frequent, but there were a good bit of Trigun outfits too. But the ones I did see were put together really well. I could kick myself cause I didn't get any pictures of ANY OF THEM! I'm kind of tempted to pick up some of the Trigum Maximum figurines too.

-Also saw a good bit of Final Fantasy fans there tooÂ…they looked good. Especially the girls

-One of our times on our way back from the Inner Harbor, we saw a small group dressed up as Vampire Hunter D character. They looked freakin' awesome. I could kick myself again for not getting a picture of them.

-Funny hats. You saw as many of these as you did cosplay junkies. I'm guessing this was a big trendÂ…having a beanie type of hat with funny little ears. Who knows.

-Yaoi/Yurri Paddles. Everywhere. A friend of mine wanted a paddle but I think they were like $30-$40. And they hurt. Some girl down in the Art Gallery area took a picture with me and she was supposed to "pretend to smack my a*s" with that paddle. So we posed, picture was taken, and all I heard was *SMACK* and I don't think I could walk or sit down for 5-10 mins.

-Naruto Headbands. I've never seen the anime, but it seems pretty popular and I think CTN is going to air it come September. But it seems if you weren't wearing a funny hat, you were wearing a Naruto headband. I might eventually buy one for the hell of itÂ…but I was half tempted to buy a few Naruto wristbands.

-Signs. Everyone and their mother was carrying around a sign. A lot of them were really clever, and a lot of them were made up so they could have a sign.

-Saw one person dressed up as a trekkie.

-There were a few people dressed up as Anakin SkywalkerÂ…

-Big props to the one dude dressed up as Darth Vader.

-There was one dude who was not dressed up as anything but was carrying around one of those Darth Maul double ended lightsabersÂ…

-Some dude was dressed up as Snake Eyes.

-Big props to the group of 25-30 people playing duck duck goose and to the guy dressed up as a box who had to run around the circle.

-And finally, Otakon 2005 was definitely about meeting people. A big hello and thanks to everyone I met and was able to get a picture with

So thatÂ’s basically the run down of everything in a nut shell. Please feel free to PM me if anyone needed any extra details for whatever reason.

And so that's it until Otakon 2006. Or at least till the next joke of the day

Peace out guys!

One day i should go to the convention in toronto. Damn bein poor and in school!

Sounds like you had a blast. Those are fun, especially when yer all hammered as well.