After Anime Mid-Atlantic, I swore to myself that it would be the last Anime Convention for the summer that I went to, given how much I spent. But I had a job interview in D.C., so given that I was close enough to go…I sidetracked my way home and went to Otakon!
I only spent a short time at Otakon at the Baltimore Convention Center, but it was worth the detour back to Virginia. There was a tremendous amount of places to go, people to meet, things to buy, and art to pick up. Below you’ll find some brief notes and a few pictures from the event.
Sidetrack 001 - COSPLAYERS
I’m always amazed at how much time and material people spend on their costumes, but their efforts were well spent at Otakon. There were some really great costumes and really big ones like the one above with that giant wingspan. For some reason I’m always a sucker for costumes with huge wings. I think next year I may go as one of the Gundam’s in Gundam Wing!
I wish I had taken more pictures of these costumes, but as anyone who was there knows, there’s just too many of them! So I concentrated my efforts on mecha’s(as usual) and the dark side.
Click Pics to Mecha Size.
Elven. Cybertonian. Pocky. Iron. Undead.
Good backdrop using the Hellsing’s huge display at the Vendor’s Room.
These guys got some attention from the local tourists in Baltimore. According to the guy looking at the cam, no pain!
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Sidetrack 002 - ART
An awesome print I got from Nainsoo. He says it took him some time to finish it, but well worth the wait!
As usual there were a lot of great art on sale, but I learned from last time that I need to keep a budget. But it’s hard when the art is so spectacular. I’m trying my hand at drawing, but after going through the enormous amount of art at Otakon, I think it’s safe to say that I’ll be buying more than drawing.
One of my favorite pieces of art from Otakon. Done by Endling over at Snafu Comics.
Nainsoo’s artist and table. There was an endless amount of talented artists both mainstream and amateur at Otakon. Why can’t I draw like these people?!
Vilsy Working. .Hack/Sign Fev’s Ships. Dirty Girl.
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Sidetrack 003 - MERCHANDISE
Hobby Link Japan’s truck inside the vendor’s room. I should have learned my lesson at AMA, and came early for the best deals and stock. HLJ says their goodies were cut in half by the time Saturday rolled in, but they still had some treasure left, like a Pearl PG Gundam Wing Zero.
I’m not even through reading and putting together models from my last convention and I’m still buying more! But I can’t help it there’s just so much to get. I picked out a few of my favorite finds from Otakon even though there was a tremendous amount that I bought and still haven’t unpacked from my car.
Who wants some Lucky Star manga? Haruhi merchandise anyone?
One thing that I was surprised about was the amount of free stuff people and companies were giving away. From free DVD’s to free books of your favorite character. One nice packet I received was the DLsite.com fun pack below.
DLsite.com’s fun pack that they were giving out for free includes a calendar, cd-rom, and book. The book has some manga strips and info. The DVD contains 10 free trial games, becareful really explicit stuff! But my favorite has to be the calendar. Some pics below, including the 2 pages full of stickers.
Grahics in the Calendar. Calendar’s pages of stickers. DLsite book.
And you know I couldn’t leave without a Gundam model. So I went ahead and bought the superb Skygrasper and Aile Striker. I’ve been aching for another post for the Strike since the last one. Now I’ve got an excuse.
One of several Gundam displays at Otakon. I should’ve borrowed HLJ’s truck.
The big box for the Skygrasper. I can’t wait to put this thing together.
I got a lot of artbooks but one of my favorites has to be the Robot book overseen by Range Murata who also provides the awesome cover of the series books. I got #6 which includes a figure designed by Murata and a small microrobot book. All of which you could see below.
Robot #6 book cover by Range Murata. Below some figurines I had that are also designed by Murata.
A Range Murata pic. Figure with Book 6. Pic from book.
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Sidetrack 004 - The End
Otakon 2007 was fantastic and I’m really glad that I was close enough at the time to stop by and meet a lot of great people while going broke at the same time. I really enjoyed myself in Baltimore and hopefully next year I’ll stay longer!
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