Otakon 2023 Convention Report

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Macross Exhibit at Otakon 2023

Going to be a fairly short write-up. The Otakon anime convention was back during the July 28-30, 2023 weekend in its now familiar location in Washington, DC. Despite it feeling as though there were less attendees this year due to less congested hallways, Otakon actually surpassed last year’s record 40K attendance numbers with an estimated 42K this year. This speaks volumes to their improvement in managing the crowd and lines versus the near-catastrophe that was 2022.

While I still would prefer that Otakon would have more entrance points into the convention center, the multi-entrance points that they did have were clearly defined and announced well ahead of time and wait times while standing in those lines were fairly quick in comparison. For whatever reason there also seemed to be more walking room in the Dealers Room and Artist Alley as well. I’m not sure if this is due to there being less vendors or if Otakon actually managed to squeeze more walk area into those rooms but I never once felt like it was impossible to travel through the aisles.

Probably the most exciting thing for me personally was the Macross franchise’s big presence at this year’s event. As a long-time Macross fan it really is exciting times now that Macross is finally becoming more globally available (due to resolution of its decades-long legal entanglement with the despicable Harmony Gold). And do you know what else was cool at this year’s Otakon? A T-shirt cannon. Yes, Otakon now has a literal cannon machine that shoots T-shirts into the crowd as opposed to mere humans trying to weakly throw free swag into the crowd. And finally, I really liked that they finally moved the organized cosplay photoshoot gatherings to a new location inside the Gaming Hall. The previous location inside the connecting hotel was notorious for its ugly yellow mood lighting that absolutely nobody liked. The new location inside the Gaming Hall is generally better lit and more spacious.

You see, I told you this would be short. Overall Otakon was great this year as they resolved a lot of the crowding issues although they still have to work on a better plan to manage the flow at the bottom of the main staircase near the Gaming Room as that is still a major bottleneck and potential health and crush hazard.

Check out my Facebook photography page where I uploaded my photos for the Legend of Zelda, Fate/stay night, Persona, Genshin Impact, and Honkaiverse cosplay photoshoots.

Check out my YouTube channel where I uploaded my recording of the full cosplay Masquerade contest.

See you next year for Otakon’s 30th Anniversary!