Your Mechs are idling and your cosplay's ready, it's time for OTAKON!

A couple quick updates:

• Need to view/print your registration confirmation? The billing contact for your order can go to My Tickets.
• We've posted some Travel Advisories for this weekend on our website.
• Thursday Pre-registration pickup is for full-weekend (3-day) badge holders only. Trial memberships can be picked up on the day they begin. (Full-weekend badges can be picked up anytime the registration desk is open all weekend).
• Sat/Sun and Sun-only trial memberships can be upgraded on site, starting Friday.
• Got cosplay props? Weapons check will only be available at the Main Entrance to the WEWCC. If you have a prop to be checked, you must come in through that entrance first. Once your prop is approved, you may use either the Main Entrance or the Marquis Tunnel.

1. Sunrise and Funimation have a ton of amazing panels including a Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans Live Reading with the cast!
2. Meet Kanetake Ebikawa, the mecha designer behind titles such as Gundam Build Fighters (including Try, Divers, Try Island Wars, and Battlogue), Eureka Seven, Full Metal Panic!, Gundam 00, Gundam Age, and Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans, and Vandread.
3. Aniplex and Otakon are bringing you a Persona 5 panel at noon in featured programming on Saturday featuring select cast members. Also, there may or may not be a giant feline friend at the Aniplex booth ready for photos and selfies!
4. Come see the amazing team behind Mystic Messenger team! Sujin Ri the amazing and talented creator of Mystic Messenger is joining us from Seoul along with several other veteran and talented voice actors. They will have 2-hour event on Saturday at 2-4PM in panel 6 (room 152). They also have an awesome booth where they’ll be happy to meet you in the dealer’s room!
5. If you come in early on Thursday, make sure to come and see our “Anime for All” event at the Library of Congress! There will be a screening of Princess Kagura, a Ghibli concert, a panel with Kihara Hirokatsu who worked at Studio Ghibli on many of your favorite movies including Kiki’s Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, and Laputa: Castle in the Sky! Also, they will have displays of some incredible anime pieces in the library’s collection. Finally, there will be a movie screening on the North Lawn! All of these events are free and open to the public. They will also be at Otakon and have a panel on Saturday at 2PM as well as a booth in Dealers Room in the Industry section.
6. Studio Trigger, the studio behind Little Witch Academia is also joining us this year with a bunch of amazing guests! They have a quiz and trivia event with the team at 2PM in panel 5 (room 151) and a group Q&A and live drawing in panel 1 (room 202) on Saturday at 12:15PM.
7. Don’t miss the incredibly talented Ray Chase, Max Mittelman, and Robbie Daymond as they have their energetic LAVA troupe events! They have Lava After Dark on Friday in Featured Programming (ballroom C) from 10:15PM-12:15AM. They also have LAVA's Super Kawaii Happy Party Game Go Go Hyper Hangout Funtime which is a more family friendly event at 8PM on Saturday in Featured Programming again (ballroom C.)
8. If the forge or prop making is more your style check out Man at Arms! Matt, Ilya, and Bill will all be there doing different things throughout the weekend. Ilya will be demonstrating etching and engraving on Friday at 5:45PM in Featured Programming (ballroom C.) On Saturday the guys will take you into an inside look at what goes on from 3:30-4:30PM in Featured Programming (ballroom C.) Last, on Sunday you can see the guys and the gentlemen from Capital City Budokai demonstrate some of the weapons live in panel 6 (room 152) at 2-3PM. You can also say hi at their booth in Artist Alley all weekend where they will be happy to chat and sign autographs!
9. If you’ve ever wanted to turn your passion into a career, make sure to see Ollie Barder’s amazing panels on mecha anime! Ollie writes for Forbes and has interviewed all the mecha giants and reviewed more models and toys than you can shake a stick at! He’ll have a panel called “Bushido and Beamsabers: A Discussion On Japan’s Unique Mecha Pop-Culture” on Friday at 3:15PM in panel 4 and The Legacy Of Ryosuke Takahashi: From BattleTech To Blue Comets at 3:15PM in panel 4!
10. If your jam has always been Macross over Gundam then you’ll be excited to know that Shoji Kawamori the series creator and mecha designer will be joining us this year! He’ll have a set of panels at 3:15PM in Panel 2 on Friday and 12:45PM in Panel 2 on Saturday! He also has some lovely artwork he’s drawn up that he’ll be signing and giving away at his autograph sessions and panels! You may also know him from his work on Aquarion, Escaflowne, Eureka Seven, Ghost in the Shell, Mobile Suit Gundam 0083, Transformers, and Outlaw Star!
11. We are excited to have SungWon Cho/ProZD and Mr. Creepy Pasta joining us this year! Both have made their home online as personalities and expanded to do voice work as well as broader comedy, entertainment, and production. You can see ProZD at 12:45PM in Panel 3 on Friday and 11:30AM in Panel 3 on Saturday! See how he’ll rate your waifus and husbandos live and ask questions (just not how to pronounce his name!) You can also catch him at Voice Actors After Dark alongside Kyle McCarley, Cherami Leigh, Lucien Dodge, and Erica Mendez! Mr. Creepy Pasta will have story times and other events at 3:15PM in Panel 1 on Friday, 8:30PM in Panel 1 on Friday, 7:15PM in Panel 2 on Saturday, and 2PM in Panel 1 on Sunday! They are excited to meet you all and have a great weekend!
12. We are happy to have Serena DeJesus and Roxanne Modafferi showing us martial arts! They will be doing demonstrations at 2PM on Friday in Panel 7 (room 146C) and 12:45PM in panel 2 (room 207) as well as a panel at 11:30AM on Sunday. Roxanne and Serena are excited to meet everyone and would be happy to sign autographs and take pictures!
13. Check out the Premiere of Hi Score Girl! A "90's arcade romantic comedy" Sixth-grader Haruo is a gamer in the true sense, hardly ever seeing the light of day from his local arcade. He runs into Akira, his female classmate with good grades, and money, at his favorite hangout. Akira completely "schools" Haruo game after game, and things go from there. What will come of this unlikely duo? You can see the first episode in featured programming (ballroom C) at 2:30PM with a small talk from Yuji Matsukura the head producer at J.C. Staff.
14. Don’t forget to check out of the amazing voice talent from near and far such as Todd Haberkorn and Nobutoshi Canna! You know Todd from Fairy Tail where he plays Natsu. Canna-san you may know best for his Japanese dub of Guts from Berserk. You can see Canna-san and ask him about his time in the Japanese voice industry and his experience at 4:45PM in Panel 5(room 151B) on Friday and 11:30AM in Panel 4(room 151A) on Saturday. Todd will be chatting with all of you at 12:45PM on Friday in panel 1 (room 202), 6PM in panel 2 (room 207) on Saturday, and 11:30AM in panel 1 (room 202) on Sunday.
15. We have a ton of amazing cosplayers joining us this year as well! PixelPantz and Phil Mizuno will be doing workshops during the weekend and meeting fans! Also check out the awesomely talented Jacqui Collins, DizzyLizzy, and Shushuwafflez Creative Cosplay as they judge our amazing Masquerade at 7PM in Main Events! Or come see Utopian Pigeon, Laura Cristina Ortiz, and WindoftheStars at the Hall Costume Contest!
16. Speaking of cosplayers, don’t forget to check out Jez Roth and the Lip Synch for your Cosplay event in featured programming (ballroom C) at 4PM Friday!
17. Make sure to swing by the Dragon Ball Tour booth in the Dealer’s Room! It’ll be hard to miss with the giant Shenron overhead! Make sure to pick up your free goodies including, cards, lanyards, bags, and limited time exclusives that are only going to be at DB Tour stops!
18. Check out the NPC Collective concert at 11PM in Main Events Friday! Kadesh Flow, EyeQ, 1-UP, and Ohm-I will all be performing.
19. If you’re more into K-pop then make sure to check out ECKO or East Coast K-pop Outlet with Samantha, Katrina, and Ting Ting. They’ll be doing workshops and competitions all weekend! They’ll be bringing a ton of talent and drive to the event and are going to make you get up and dance!
20. Otakon 2018 has teamed up with Make-a-Wish Mid-Atlantic to fulfill one wish for a fan in Washington DC this year, and we need your help! This girl’s wish is to have a real life Pokemon Go experience, and we’re going to do what we can to give it to her! Visit our site for more information and to sign up!
21. Last but certainly not least come and check out the Distant World and A New World Concerts at 7PM Friday and 2PM Sunday respectively! See Nobuo Uematsu, Eric Roth, and Arnie Roth as they bring the amazing music from Final Fantasy to you in an amazing symphonic orchestra!