To me, what society in general accepts as “ok attire” is completely hypocritical and judgemental. It’s ok for hot girls to walk around in a bra and a skimpy pair of panties but it’s not okay for a guy to walk around in boxers? Boxers generally cover up more than the bra and panties do! As I said before, I don’t care if you all perform in your birthday suits, but I would think that as long as all the private parts were covered, society wouldn’t really care what was worn. Course that’s, obviously, not the case.

(PS: Should Ota staff read this comment, I am talking directly about society in general–not Otakon policies or rules. Like Angelo (and the rest of DOXIII) I completely respect Ota rules and the rights they have to create and uphold said rules~)

If I were you, I would stop worrying. Actually, if I were both of you I would apologize to the other and call it a day so you can get back to how things were in the old days, as you put it. Either way I don’t think you are going to get booted from the convention or get a bad time slot or something because of this. I’m a panelist at this year’s Otakon too and I have always known them to be professional and not petty. If they started screwing over every panelist they ever had a disagreement with, 1, the panelists would riot and 2, they probably wouldn’t have a panel track to begin with.

So seriously, both of you, just stop it, admit that you both need each other, and go have a drink together or something to call it even. You are professionals. You are both above all of this.

I am not trying to paint you as Hypocritical in the least. One of the first things I said in this essay was.

I understand their original argument, that the BCC had policies against that sort of thing. THAT makes total sense. However, is taking off your pants NEVER allowable in public or polite company?

I acknowledged the BCCs policies against that sort of thing and I understand Otakon’s position. Frankly, I could care less about about my pants. This whole thing started as a joke, a possible thing to do just for the hell of it, and snowballed into an argument that, frankly I don’t get. I’m not fighting to take my pants off, that’s foolish and childish. However, I don’t understand where it shifted from harmless discussion to serious argument. I mean, it feels like no one is listening to the parts of my posts that say “I get it, I’m totally in compliance with your policies, I have respect for Otakon, and I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize the con.” Like, I’m trying to make it absolutely clear that the simple word “No” was enough for me, but it seems like I can’t be apologetic enough. It seems as if even discussing the differences in policies and reasons behind them is viewed as trying to troll or undermine the convention.

I don’t bring up other conventions I have been pantsless at becuase I’m trying to make some sort of “they let me do it, you guys should let me do it too” argument. I bring them up becuase if we were having a discussion ABOUT the notion of rules of propriety and they show how ideas behind these rules can change. They can change becuase some cons treat it as a private event with consent involved, they can change whether the cons are at a convention center or a hotel, they can change for a myriad of reasons pertinent to this discussion. I mean, we are adults right? Can’t adults just talk about this stuff? Can’t we just have a discussion? Isn’t that what forums are for? Having discussions?

I’m not angry about being told “keep your pants on.” That’s totally reasonable. I’m a little pissed off becuase I feel that things are getting overly confrontational. I mean, I and other members of Disorganization XIII have been going to and performing at Otakon for years. We have had a wonderful relationship with Otakon in the past! Now, this year I decide to come out of hiding and post a bit on the forums and suddenly everything goes to shit? It’s like things that Ota staff was perfectly comfortable talking with me about over a beer or a doughnut are now massively taboo. Please correct me if I am wrong or if I am taking responses to my posts in the wrong way but… doesn’t that seem weird to you. I mean you guys were our friends! Disorganization XIII’s allies! Letting us perform there before we even had a name for our group!

My essay was an attempt to show that things aren’t as black and white as they seem, not an attack on Otakon. Frankly, I just want things to go back to the way they were before I started posting on Otakon’s forums, when it was about performing and making fans laugh rather than pants and pants policies. You guys have no idea how important performing at Otakon is to every Disorganization XIII member and every Disorganization XIII fan, and I mean you are OTAKON! You are a monster of a con that could literally flip us off and kick us to the curb if you wanted to. I just don’t know what else I can type to show you guys that we like you and that we aren’t trying to undermine, attack, or troll you guys in any way. We are just trying to talk about shit!

Personally, I don’t really care about your pants. And I tend to agree with you that the rules of propriety can be pretty arbitrary. But your essay seems to pretend those rules about attire don’t exist, and paints us as hypocritical, and I think that is a bit unfair.