Interest

No Vuvuzelas at Otakon

A little background info: at Anime Expo this year, a small number of exhibit floor vendors decided to sell vuvuzelas, the plastic horn instrument made famous during the 2010 World Cup, to AX attendees. Naturally, fans snapped them up and the blare of the vuvuzela could be heard all over the Los Angeles convention center throughout Anime Expo weekend, much to the chagrin of many con attendees.

As it happens, a handful of representatives from Baltimore-area anime convention Otakon were in attendance at Anime Expo 2010, and clearly saw the potential danger to the comfort of its attendees (not to mention their staffers and guests). As a result, the convention - which already has a ban on yaoi paddles among many other potentially disruptive props and behaviors - has officially announced a ban on vuvuzelas. The plastic horns are now officially included in the con's ban on "disruptive behavior". If you're caught with a vuvuzela in hand, it may be confiscated; if you're caught actually using one, or a similar noisemaker, you may wind up ejected from the con entirely.

Editor's Note: This article originally mistakenly identified vendor Hen Da Ne as the original seller of the vuvuzelas at AX. ANN apologizes for the error.