August 12 - August 14, 2016

This year was bittersweet because although we had a good time, it was sad knowing it would be the last time we'd be walking through the halls of the BCC since Otakon is relocating to DC in 2017. Since we've been attending for so many years, we had gotten really comfortable with this con and where everything was located. We liked knowing the best ways to get around, how to best navigate the Dealer's Room and Artist's Alley, and we also enjoyed the proximity of the hotels and the Inner Harbor. This year we made sure to do a lot of our favorite things, such as bringing BJD Sebby, making origami in Ota-chan, eating at Pizza Uno, and just enjoying the Dealer's Room, Artist's Alley, and the con as much as possible.

This year we were able to see Q&A panels with Mike Sinterniklaas and Stephanie Sheh once again. We had good memories of their panels in the past, so it was nice to close out Otakon with guests we had seen before. We also attended a workshop for Japanese stab book binding, which was fun once we got the hang of the technique. Our favorite panels this year were run by Aaron Clark - the Requiem for Konami and Sega Does What Nintendon't panels. The Konami one was really interesting as we're fans of the Metal Gear and Silent Hill series but have been a little out of the loop over the past years with the direction of the company. And the Sega panel was really great - the old commercials and slogans were hilarious, and we really enjoyed learning more about that part of video game history. It has been a great 10 years of Otakon!

Memorable Moments

• Requiem for Konami panel
• Mike Sinterniklaas Q&A
• Meeting a Xena cosplayer in the Artist's Alley
• Artist's Alley merchandise - Hamilton character goods
• Dealer's Room merchandise - Free! Rei and Nagisa raft figures, Rin and Haru sailor figures, Makoto trading figure, Trigun trading figure, Rihito Takarai artbook, sports anime grab bag
• Japanese Stab Book Binding workshop
• Sega Does What Nintendon't evening panel
• Stephanie Sheh Q&A
• wrestling panel

Photos