Otakon 2024: how we beat the autograph line

(When I wrote this I realized I had written thousands of words more than I expected; if you're wondering where I've been for a couple weeks it's been this. Breaking this up into pieces was the only way to make this not just a wall of text. Part of this was always going to be paywalled, but I chose this bit specifically.)

This is a story about the autograph line for Final Fantasy producer Yoshinori Kitase. My buddy and I were quite successful in the line, actually; I believe I was 12th or so in line, with quite a lot of people behind us as autographs started. We did not camp out for hours straight in front of the autograph area, like many of the people who wound up behind us did. We had a strategy.

So this is the part of the con report that I'm going to paywall.