TROTCON 2012
Just got back. My foresight of chronicling the con while it was happening means that I can post this now and not have to worry about forgetting things. Although I still forgot stuff. I was considering embedding relevant videos and images, but I think I'll just leave that for another post once I've saved them up.
Friday
My plans to get out of work on time and head straight home with Max's help went off surprisingly well, given that I've been staying late almost all week, even as much as 20 minutes on Thursday. But it happened: we hit my place, I changed and got my stuff together, we ate Jimmy John's and then we were on the road to Columbus!
The 2-3 hour trip ended up taking closer to two hours, which was a pleasant surprise, and we got in to the Hyatt around 8:30. After a bobble of me not knowing what the address was for the GPS, finding it out, and then being dyslexic and getting it wrong again.
The hotel is... surprisingly disappointing for how much we're paying for it. :/ The room is far smaller than I expected (not that that actually matters, but I've seen far more for far less), the wireless is only free in the common areas downstairs, and breakfast is pay as you go, not to mention rather pricey. I've neglected to bring a spoon for my morning yogurt, so I will have to see about stealing one from their second-floor eatery. Also, the water here tastes like moldy ASS. I'm talking Summit County-levels of horribility. So I'm pondering leaving my large mug behind and going the bottled route, for what that's worth. :/
There was a large gathering when we got into the hotel lobby proper, heralded by a group of four led by Vos de Suenos, who I met at the last meetup. With about 30 or so bronies, only about 3 of whom I recognized, spread out over the chairs, I dubbed it "NotCon". We checked in, found our aforementioned small room (and the fridge, hidden cleverly beneath the TV), and headed back down to socialize, such as it was. I just wanted to internet, though I quickly gave up on the notion. Not only is the free type slow, I realized it was going to be impossible to keep up with my internets over the weekend, and next week is going to suck for it. D: Ah well, such is the price of having fun!
I didn't end up making any friends, for lack of trying due to what I will term shell shock, though I met ChaoticPie for the first time (I helped her figure out the wireless and she squealed upon my introduction, for reasons I have yet to determine c.c) and saw Starshine and Darkly Cute, who apologized for not having con books on time, and Trippy Glitters, whom I spoke with at some length and who informed me that Argembarger lives close by, so he wouldn't be at the hotel of course. There was an adorable Fluttershy cosplayer who squeaked when she saw all the brones and disappeared up an elevator. That was magical. I also got to talk with Cupcakes on the phone for the first time, but he said he was coming in around 11, the butt, so I won't get to meet him until the con proper. I was dismayed to learn i nmy internetting that two Rainbow Dash tumblrs, including Epic RD, reacted to the question, "Have you read MLD?" with "I really miss him." D:
There was lots of pizza, for some reason.
Soon, it was time to retire for the evening, and wrestle with the alarm clock. NotCon was pretty sweet, so Trotcon promises to be even better, con books be damned. I hope we wake up in time for the opening ceremonies, because I have NO IDEA when those are.
Saturday
So, I depend on Activia for keeping my stomach from destroying me. It helps me eat. >mfw I forgot to bring any sort of eating utensil. And that's how I ended up eating yogurt through a coffee stirrer. Luckily, we headed downstairs for breakfast, found an Asian family-run "eggs and stuff" breakfast place (with good eggs!) and they had plastic spoons. I WILL HAVE A SPOON TOMORROW! >:V
At the same time, we also determined that there's some kind of gaming con going on at the same time in this area. Someone I'm friends with on Facebook said she'd be down here, but I can't remember what she looks like and I don't know where it is so TROTCON. :B
After slaying the minotaur and freeing ourselves from the parking garage maze, our plan became, "Turn right and hope there are signs." Luckily, there was a car full of bronies with a big "TROTCON 2012" soaped on their back windshield, so we followed them. They got cut off by a bus. :V
We indeed found the Ohio Union with no problems (there were signs!) and parked in another, slightly less labyrinthine garage. It turns out the car featured ChaoticPie (zounds!), as well as another Fluttershy and a Pipsqueak. We headed out and found Voz de Suenos, who had a print of a fantastic space-themed crossover pic, and no idea how to get inside. Max and I decided to reconnoiter the perimeter and eventually landed at Point Alpha, where Team Delta was watching ponies and informed us that not even the front door was open yet. More reconnaissance revealed sweet-ass architecture that was promptly climbed upon, but another ten minutes or so of circling the block led us to nothing. And then our first group had disappeared, so we hurried back to Point Alpha, where Delta Team was seen abandoning their post with Voz and crew in tow. Somepony's going to be getting a reduction in pay grade. :|
We all filed in, climbed the stairs past THE FRIENDSHIP STEP and made our way to oh my god there's actually a map that says Trotcon and it's a giant touchscreen and that's amazing. Sadly, Trotcon will not be held in the Barbie Tootle Room. How will I tootle my Barbies now? D:
Just sitting here by registration, I have seen one Peanut Bucker (Trippy Glitters), two Vinyl Scratches (one with accompanying Octavia) at least one Discord, and our other Fluttershy, Lauren. That Vinyl with Octavia combo though... Man, I love them. Seeing them, I turned to Max and said, "This is really happening. Shit's real, bro." That's a great feeling.
So then I ran into Cupcakes finally. He is cool and took us over to the artist's alley, before everything was even set up. Moss Green had a vending machine that gave out buttons and other amazing things. I got a Zecora button and a Luna, which I traded for a Trixie. :3 Any time I get two quarters, I am heading back there and buying stuff. It's amazing. I also talked with Voz for a litle while and thanked that VS cosplayer for making my day. Holy crap, there's so much amazing shit in there. I found an artist who did 50's human ponies and bought three keychains of them, plus a G3 'blind bag' painted as Surprise from someone else. I might have to go back on Sunday and get more stuff. I should have said hi to John Joseco before all the other people showed up. D: Oh well.
On the way back from the bathroom, I got waylayed by finding Argembarger finally, and followed him around until I realized I needed to go get my backpack, at which point I lost him but found the Shim Sham Sisters instead. I'm all about that. Strangely, I found him again by sitting the hell back down, whereupon I found out what I'll be doing all day, which is panels.
Argembarger declares cranberry juice to be the best tribute. He also laid down a challenge for the speedfic competition.
There's a fantastic Shining Armor cosplayer (sadly not with a Cadence, though I saw another who was), and a guy dressed as Disco Pony (I think) Rickrolling everyone in the reg line. I think I see an Elusive. There was an r63 Vinyl Scratch too, who hugged the other Scratch in the panel. That was hot. :B There's a gypsy Pinkie, a couple Fluttershies, a bunch of Discords... Man. I just saw a Derpy and an airline pilot Soarin. There was another guy dressed in Wonderbolts pajamas, and one as Nightmare Night Derpy. I'm going nuts here! :D This is fucking amazing! And there's dueling pony music in the regline. This dude standing here has a TREMENDOUS Rainbow Dash bag. It's like, half his size. There's even a little kid dressed as Scootaloo! Fuckin' amazing!
The funny thing too is that there are so many goddamn awesome shirts here that I've never seen before. I won't even go into it, but I'm also pleased to be the only one wearing my shirt. Somewhat. I feel special. :B
The opening ceremonies were erudite and involved lots of noise and I couldn't figure out what was happening, so we went downstairs to find the food court. After much confusion over the signage -- and misleading info from the touchscreens -- we realized that it wasn't going to be opening on this day and went to Waffle House instead. There, I introduced the workers to the concept of MLPFiM and bronies, and actually got someone interested in coming to the con, giving him my schedule. I then came back to get a new one and go to the Writer's Panel, which Arg and Cupcakes were nice enough to let be me on. Also featured were ROBcakeran of My Little Dashie fame (he's a nice guy!) and Pen Stroke, of Past Sins fame (he came in through Skype). Highlights included Skype troubles, epic rapping, my proclamation of Crackle as best pony, Argembarger launching into song about tiny horses, and Pen Stroke pimping out Legend of Korra. In all, fun was had, there were about 30 people there (more at the end, most likely for Whose Pony Is It Anyway, which was the next panel), and I even got to answer some questions. :B Cups...
Another trip to the dealer room (after an unsuccessful attempt to recharge my laptop; wtf, plug socket?) netted three more pins (Granny Smith, Celestia and a purchased Wonderbolts to balance everything) and a Golden Grape blindbag because Mkanke has the BIGGEST RICE KRISPIE TREAT EVER! @_@ Then Max and I made an early dinner at Subway, so I would be fortified for three hours of panels, and I ended up in the gaming room for a while to pass the time, recharge my laptop, and write. My fic has finally moved ahead out of the current chapter!
The trollfic panel was pretty amazing. We did a couple readings, of my Zebra Manuscript and also of kits's "A Typical Day in Pwnyville". There was a lot of poop and Shrek and Crackle. This was followed directly by the good fanfic panel (as in, how to write), in the same room. I had the idea to set it up as a pure Q&A, and I think that went okay. There was more poop. :V This was followed one more time by the speedfic competition, which... Well, first of all, we had no idea who was running it. Or what the prizes were. Or the prompt. And we didn't have any paper or writing utensils. So we took over. Arg ran it, we came up with the prompt, "Crackle comes to Ponyville", and then it was 20 minutes of absolute silence. Halfway down the first page, I realized my dialogue was repeating, and then my fic was doomed to troll status. (I wrote about Crackle popping up from underground and everything being on fire and Dr. Whooves. I tried to shoehorn in every bad idea I could remember from the panel discussions, I'm not even kidding.) We Winter-wrapped up and then I went to artist alley and bought some swag for prizes. :B Also had a nice conversation about fanfic with Midnight Quill; first time ever for that! Fic reading is 10 AM tomorrow, in that same fucking room, and promises to be loads of lulz.
Somewhere in there, I got a cup of water for a thirsty DragonsBlood, after exploring the basement and finding out that OSU is the only university ever that does not have vending machines in its student union. I found a friend who I haven't seen for like 7 years and gave her a hug. I also gave Darkly Cute a hug because it looked like she needed one.
Sometime earlier in the day, a guy named Drax came and begged a favor of Max. At the end of the day, he comes by hot on the trail of two ponysuiters (Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch), whom he's been both driving and tagging along with as a handler all day. We all pile in the car (a difficult feat for them in particular), and made the 15 minute drive back to the hotel in about half an hour. Thank god I came along, or I'd have been looking for another way to get back. D:
There were like 500 bicyclists during that drive, weaving in and out of traffic and making things difficult for the cars. But at some point, we were stopped at a light next to some, who were quite taken aback by our passengers. I asked one what was going on, and it turned out to be a hugeass bike race they were all going to. But I'm not kidding, there were hundreds. Bicyclists or not, I had a good time observing the reactions of people -- from "WTF am I drinking?" to "OMG that's amazing", and even a couple little kids who knew what unicorns and pegasi were -- and apparently Max did too. We're gonna meet them for foods soon. All in all, a fun fun fun fun day, except for the part where Waffle House was a really, really bad idea and I'm still paying for it. D:
Sunday
I slept way awesome last night, most likely on account of staying up till 11. There's not much to be done today, just the speedfic reading, so Max and I are starting off slow by going to find that 2nd floor eatery that we TOTALLY MISSED yesterday. It was however far too expensive (moreso that room service!), and thus began a great quest of trying to find something that wasn't Chicken 'n Eggs. We did go back over that way and queried an MTG player about just what was going on in the moer straight-up nerdy side of Columbus-based events. He told us it was a massive MTG tournament, down from over a thousand players yesterday to the top 128 today. We wished him luck and moved on.
After some twists and turns in the master plan, we took an elevated walkway from the hotel out to a giant fuckass building with a sweet goddamn waterfall, then backtracked a tad and found a Max & Erma's, where I got toast for my poor stomach, and we listened to a song whose chorus was, I swear, "Get on Pinkie Pie."
We headed back to the Hyatt, gathered our junk, and checked out. We happened to run into a pair of bronies on the severely cramped elevator ride down, whose names I sadly forget, and then saw them again later as we were leaving. And Max and I go, "We should've picked them up," as they were waiting at the bus stop, so we turned three lefts into a 180 and went back for them. As it required a further u-turn (legal, I might add!) by the hotel, we got there right after a bus, but strangely, they were getting off of it. So we pulled up and gave them the, "Going our way?" spiel.
They got in and told us that they were supposed to have been at a panel at 9, it being about quarter after at that point, but everyone in their room had slept through their alarms, so we were a lifesaver.
First thing I did was go to the dealer den for the G1 Luna I saw the previous day. Well, I dropped the ball on that, but I picked up a "tiger dragon" pony, one of a kind! Also got myself effin' six more buttons for like two bucks. The first ball out of the machine gave me a Pinkie and the CMCs (which are all just solid colors; hilarious!), then a Rainbow Dash, and then I bought a Twilight to balance everything out. I also made sure to thank PixelKitties for having the prescience to know that we needed Crackle-based artwork for speedfic contest prizes. I mean, she hadn't even been there last night! I took my swag back to the car, and saw a Vermont car with a "KTHXBYE" license plate. Not sure if bronies, but it was awesome.
My only scheduled thingy for the was the speedfic reading panel, so I headed over and waited at the Ailabouni (read: "I love pony") room once a-freaking-gain. At about 10 till the panel's start time, I got a text from Argembarger saying that he wouldn't be making it and I should get the prizes from con ops. @_@ My text back to him was "Time 4 panic now D:". So I ran down, grabbed the swag, ran back up, set up my laptop... realized I had forgotten the fics, ran back down while calling Arg to make sure they were still somewhere, found them in the same place, ran back up and ran a panel all by myself. @_@ For having had no preparation time, it went really well. there were 12 stories in all, everybody got to read one (we even got a few extra people in by the end!) Argembarger ended up winning, so I think our grudge is settled. There were three really hilarious trollfics (mine not among them D:), and one that got honorable mention for being an actual decent goddamn fanfic. Arg will be able to pick up his stuff once he actually gets here, which will be after he fixes his car problems. D:
The atmosphere today was a little more relaxed than last evening. I actually talked with Starshine at length; he was smiling! It's a good day.
Max and I went right across the street to the United Dairy Farmers, where he got coffee and I got donuts. I noticed a wrap place nearby and decided to try it out later.
I saw a great Chrysalis cosplayer and got her to take pictures holding Edinpony's Chrysalis plush. Then that guy playing Shining Armor came over and there were more picture opportunities, with him on his knees, looking dazed, and her standing over him threateningly. I really need a camera. ;_;
After that, I was sitting around, typing up this very document, when the second-place winner of the speedfic contest, Jacob "Rubz" Runnels, came over and gave me a pack of collector's cards. :D I now have a twilight cutie mark rub-on tattoo on my hand. Also, it turns out that he's from my town, so rock on!
Having absolutely nothing else to do, I headed over to the "Live Dramatic Reading" panel, having no ideas as to what it would be. It ended up being a bunch of wacky guys -- Deimos Foxx, Razor Cloud, Vos and one Raelkun -- reading whatever the audience requested. I won by suggesting Last Roundup after they decided on episode script readings, and we were treated to the adventures of Gollum Pie, Vegetity, Napa Jubilee, Twilight Lynde and Cosbyshy. Oh man, Cosbyshy. Also Vos actually got tackled by Raelkun for "Rarity catch me!" I laughed until water came out of my eyes. Super Speedy Cider Squeezy has never been sexier (just imagine a sultry voice talking about Granny Smith's "south fields").
Feeling hungry, I went to that wrap place, Phat Wraps. Turns out, they take and quick-grill your meat choice in a pita, then you put on whatever vegetables and sauces you want. I got lettuce, carrots, cucumbers and cilantro on shrimp, with Peruvian spicy mayo. No idea what made it Peruvian, but boy was it spicy! Taking it back to the union, I ate, and then got up to look for other things to do! I apparently missed the imageboards meetup, but I didn't know what it really was (I mean, I use Ponychan, I guess I might have had a reason to go there), nor can we figure out where the room it was being held actually is.
Meeting up with Cupcakes again, we went and found him some buckeyes so he could stop being an uneducated yokel, packed an elevator full, and then headed for the game room. I hadn't mentioned it before, but I love this room setup. It's obviously some kind of governance chamber, with an unbroken ring of wooden desks and a bunch of microphones in the midst thereof. All the wood accents and leather make it dark, cozy, and nice-smelling. It's a great place for a gaming room. I DDR'd a little bit and did some internetting. Oh god, I have so many internets. D: But Argembarger showed back up around 3:30 and Max and I got to getting out.
We found Arg rapping up a storm to an audience of two, then sat around and calculated routes between nearby toy stores on the way back home. Having opted to skip closing ceremonies initially, we ended up sliding in after everyone else had filed inside the room. The line was kind of amazing, with cries of "Crush, kill, destroy, swag!" echoing through the hallways of the con.
I'm actually glad we went, for a couple of reasons. There was a raffle held (???) at some point that I had never had any idea about, and they handed out prizes for it, including some nice, nice stuff. Then there were a bunch of packs of trading cards thrown out into the audience, which was amazing chaos. Kilt winged me in the side with one, so I claimed it. :V There was a long story about Trotcon's inception and how it almost didn't get off the ground because of a ton of money issues that dropped on Starshine and Darkly all at once. It's really amazing that this did spawn out of Ohio Brony meetups getting so big; they estimated over 600 people for a first con, which is just ridiculous. And Darkly got all emotional and started crying tears of joy, which I thought was adorable. :3
We took off as they opened up the floor for questions. Our covert toy-searching activities were in vain. Serves us right for trying to cut and run, I guess!
In all, this was a great con. I haven't been to any kind of real convention since Anthrocon '05, and it was nice to get out somewhere I could hang with like-minded people, buy, do and SEE awesome stuff, and more than that, share a kind of human experience of friendship, laughter and giving that I've never really encountered anywhere else. When I wasn't in a panel or browsing the artist alley, the best place to be was on the third floor, right outside the reg booth. There was always someone up there, and if there wasn't, there would be. My favorite moments were the serendipitous ones, like the dramatic reading panel or hanging around with the ponysuiters, not to mention the two speedfic panels that went off hitchless despite all efforts to the contrary. This was a very, very excellent convention, and I'm glad to have been a part of it.
Maybe next year, I'll let them know I'm coming ahead of time. :V
Friday
My plans to get out of work on time and head straight home with Max's help went off surprisingly well, given that I've been staying late almost all week, even as much as 20 minutes on Thursday. But it happened: we hit my place, I changed and got my stuff together, we ate Jimmy John's and then we were on the road to Columbus!
The 2-3 hour trip ended up taking closer to two hours, which was a pleasant surprise, and we got in to the Hyatt around 8:30. After a bobble of me not knowing what the address was for the GPS, finding it out, and then being dyslexic and getting it wrong again.
The hotel is... surprisingly disappointing for how much we're paying for it. :/ The room is far smaller than I expected (not that that actually matters, but I've seen far more for far less), the wireless is only free in the common areas downstairs, and breakfast is pay as you go, not to mention rather pricey. I've neglected to bring a spoon for my morning yogurt, so I will have to see about stealing one from their second-floor eatery. Also, the water here tastes like moldy ASS. I'm talking Summit County-levels of horribility. So I'm pondering leaving my large mug behind and going the bottled route, for what that's worth. :/
There was a large gathering when we got into the hotel lobby proper, heralded by a group of four led by Vos de Suenos, who I met at the last meetup. With about 30 or so bronies, only about 3 of whom I recognized, spread out over the chairs, I dubbed it "NotCon". We checked in, found our aforementioned small room (and the fridge, hidden cleverly beneath the TV), and headed back down to socialize, such as it was. I just wanted to internet, though I quickly gave up on the notion. Not only is the free type slow, I realized it was going to be impossible to keep up with my internets over the weekend, and next week is going to suck for it. D: Ah well, such is the price of having fun!
I didn't end up making any friends, for lack of trying due to what I will term shell shock, though I met ChaoticPie for the first time (I helped her figure out the wireless and she squealed upon my introduction, for reasons I have yet to determine c.c) and saw Starshine and Darkly Cute, who apologized for not having con books on time, and Trippy Glitters, whom I spoke with at some length and who informed me that Argembarger lives close by, so he wouldn't be at the hotel of course. There was an adorable Fluttershy cosplayer who squeaked when she saw all the brones and disappeared up an elevator. That was magical. I also got to talk with Cupcakes on the phone for the first time, but he said he was coming in around 11, the butt, so I won't get to meet him until the con proper. I was dismayed to learn i nmy internetting that two Rainbow Dash tumblrs, including Epic RD, reacted to the question, "Have you read MLD?" with "I really miss him." D:
There was lots of pizza, for some reason.
Soon, it was time to retire for the evening, and wrestle with the alarm clock. NotCon was pretty sweet, so Trotcon promises to be even better, con books be damned. I hope we wake up in time for the opening ceremonies, because I have NO IDEA when those are.
Saturday
So, I depend on Activia for keeping my stomach from destroying me. It helps me eat. >mfw I forgot to bring any sort of eating utensil. And that's how I ended up eating yogurt through a coffee stirrer. Luckily, we headed downstairs for breakfast, found an Asian family-run "eggs and stuff" breakfast place (with good eggs!) and they had plastic spoons. I WILL HAVE A SPOON TOMORROW! >:V
At the same time, we also determined that there's some kind of gaming con going on at the same time in this area. Someone I'm friends with on Facebook said she'd be down here, but I can't remember what she looks like and I don't know where it is so TROTCON. :B
After slaying the minotaur and freeing ourselves from the parking garage maze, our plan became, "Turn right and hope there are signs." Luckily, there was a car full of bronies with a big "TROTCON 2012" soaped on their back windshield, so we followed them. They got cut off by a bus. :V
We indeed found the Ohio Union with no problems (there were signs!) and parked in another, slightly less labyrinthine garage. It turns out the car featured ChaoticPie (zounds!), as well as another Fluttershy and a Pipsqueak. We headed out and found Voz de Suenos, who had a print of a fantastic space-themed crossover pic, and no idea how to get inside. Max and I decided to reconnoiter the perimeter and eventually landed at Point Alpha, where Team Delta was watching ponies and informed us that not even the front door was open yet. More reconnaissance revealed sweet-ass architecture that was promptly climbed upon, but another ten minutes or so of circling the block led us to nothing. And then our first group had disappeared, so we hurried back to Point Alpha, where Delta Team was seen abandoning their post with Voz and crew in tow. Somepony's going to be getting a reduction in pay grade. :|
We all filed in, climbed the stairs past THE FRIENDSHIP STEP and made our way to oh my god there's actually a map that says Trotcon and it's a giant touchscreen and that's amazing. Sadly, Trotcon will not be held in the Barbie Tootle Room. How will I tootle my Barbies now? D:
Just sitting here by registration, I have seen one Peanut Bucker (Trippy Glitters), two Vinyl Scratches (one with accompanying Octavia) at least one Discord, and our other Fluttershy, Lauren. That Vinyl with Octavia combo though... Man, I love them. Seeing them, I turned to Max and said, "This is really happening. Shit's real, bro." That's a great feeling.
So then I ran into Cupcakes finally. He is cool and took us over to the artist's alley, before everything was even set up. Moss Green had a vending machine that gave out buttons and other amazing things. I got a Zecora button and a Luna, which I traded for a Trixie. :3 Any time I get two quarters, I am heading back there and buying stuff. It's amazing. I also talked with Voz for a litle while and thanked that VS cosplayer for making my day. Holy crap, there's so much amazing shit in there. I found an artist who did 50's human ponies and bought three keychains of them, plus a G3 'blind bag' painted as Surprise from someone else. I might have to go back on Sunday and get more stuff. I should have said hi to John Joseco before all the other people showed up. D: Oh well.
On the way back from the bathroom, I got waylayed by finding Argembarger finally, and followed him around until I realized I needed to go get my backpack, at which point I lost him but found the Shim Sham Sisters instead. I'm all about that. Strangely, I found him again by sitting the hell back down, whereupon I found out what I'll be doing all day, which is panels.
Argembarger declares cranberry juice to be the best tribute. He also laid down a challenge for the speedfic competition.
There's a fantastic Shining Armor cosplayer (sadly not with a Cadence, though I saw another who was), and a guy dressed as Disco Pony (I think) Rickrolling everyone in the reg line. I think I see an Elusive. There was an r63 Vinyl Scratch too, who hugged the other Scratch in the panel. That was hot. :B There's a gypsy Pinkie, a couple Fluttershies, a bunch of Discords... Man. I just saw a Derpy and an airline pilot Soarin. There was another guy dressed in Wonderbolts pajamas, and one as Nightmare Night Derpy. I'm going nuts here! :D This is fucking amazing! And there's dueling pony music in the regline. This dude standing here has a TREMENDOUS Rainbow Dash bag. It's like, half his size. There's even a little kid dressed as Scootaloo! Fuckin' amazing!
The funny thing too is that there are so many goddamn awesome shirts here that I've never seen before. I won't even go into it, but I'm also pleased to be the only one wearing my shirt. Somewhat. I feel special. :B
The opening ceremonies were erudite and involved lots of noise and I couldn't figure out what was happening, so we went downstairs to find the food court. After much confusion over the signage -- and misleading info from the touchscreens -- we realized that it wasn't going to be opening on this day and went to Waffle House instead. There, I introduced the workers to the concept of MLPFiM and bronies, and actually got someone interested in coming to the con, giving him my schedule. I then came back to get a new one and go to the Writer's Panel, which Arg and Cupcakes were nice enough to let be me on. Also featured were ROBcakeran of My Little Dashie fame (he's a nice guy!) and Pen Stroke, of Past Sins fame (he came in through Skype). Highlights included Skype troubles, epic rapping, my proclamation of Crackle as best pony, Argembarger launching into song about tiny horses, and Pen Stroke pimping out Legend of Korra. In all, fun was had, there were about 30 people there (more at the end, most likely for Whose Pony Is It Anyway, which was the next panel), and I even got to answer some questions. :B Cups...
Another trip to the dealer room (after an unsuccessful attempt to recharge my laptop; wtf, plug socket?) netted three more pins (Granny Smith, Celestia and a purchased Wonderbolts to balance everything) and a Golden Grape blindbag because Mkanke has the BIGGEST RICE KRISPIE TREAT EVER! @_@ Then Max and I made an early dinner at Subway, so I would be fortified for three hours of panels, and I ended up in the gaming room for a while to pass the time, recharge my laptop, and write. My fic has finally moved ahead out of the current chapter!
The trollfic panel was pretty amazing. We did a couple readings, of my Zebra Manuscript and also of kits's "A Typical Day in Pwnyville". There was a lot of poop and Shrek and Crackle. This was followed directly by the good fanfic panel (as in, how to write), in the same room. I had the idea to set it up as a pure Q&A, and I think that went okay. There was more poop. :V This was followed one more time by the speedfic competition, which... Well, first of all, we had no idea who was running it. Or what the prizes were. Or the prompt. And we didn't have any paper or writing utensils. So we took over. Arg ran it, we came up with the prompt, "Crackle comes to Ponyville", and then it was 20 minutes of absolute silence. Halfway down the first page, I realized my dialogue was repeating, and then my fic was doomed to troll status. (I wrote about Crackle popping up from underground and everything being on fire and Dr. Whooves. I tried to shoehorn in every bad idea I could remember from the panel discussions, I'm not even kidding.) We Winter-wrapped up and then I went to artist alley and bought some swag for prizes. :B Also had a nice conversation about fanfic with Midnight Quill; first time ever for that! Fic reading is 10 AM tomorrow, in that same fucking room, and promises to be loads of lulz.
Somewhere in there, I got a cup of water for a thirsty DragonsBlood, after exploring the basement and finding out that OSU is the only university ever that does not have vending machines in its student union. I found a friend who I haven't seen for like 7 years and gave her a hug. I also gave Darkly Cute a hug because it looked like she needed one.
Sometime earlier in the day, a guy named Drax came and begged a favor of Max. At the end of the day, he comes by hot on the trail of two ponysuiters (Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch), whom he's been both driving and tagging along with as a handler all day. We all pile in the car (a difficult feat for them in particular), and made the 15 minute drive back to the hotel in about half an hour. Thank god I came along, or I'd have been looking for another way to get back. D:
There were like 500 bicyclists during that drive, weaving in and out of traffic and making things difficult for the cars. But at some point, we were stopped at a light next to some, who were quite taken aback by our passengers. I asked one what was going on, and it turned out to be a hugeass bike race they were all going to. But I'm not kidding, there were hundreds. Bicyclists or not, I had a good time observing the reactions of people -- from "WTF am I drinking?" to "OMG that's amazing", and even a couple little kids who knew what unicorns and pegasi were -- and apparently Max did too. We're gonna meet them for foods soon. All in all, a fun fun fun fun day, except for the part where Waffle House was a really, really bad idea and I'm still paying for it. D:
Sunday
I slept way awesome last night, most likely on account of staying up till 11. There's not much to be done today, just the speedfic reading, so Max and I are starting off slow by going to find that 2nd floor eatery that we TOTALLY MISSED yesterday. It was however far too expensive (moreso that room service!), and thus began a great quest of trying to find something that wasn't Chicken 'n Eggs. We did go back over that way and queried an MTG player about just what was going on in the moer straight-up nerdy side of Columbus-based events. He told us it was a massive MTG tournament, down from over a thousand players yesterday to the top 128 today. We wished him luck and moved on.
After some twists and turns in the master plan, we took an elevated walkway from the hotel out to a giant fuckass building with a sweet goddamn waterfall, then backtracked a tad and found a Max & Erma's, where I got toast for my poor stomach, and we listened to a song whose chorus was, I swear, "Get on Pinkie Pie."
We headed back to the Hyatt, gathered our junk, and checked out. We happened to run into a pair of bronies on the severely cramped elevator ride down, whose names I sadly forget, and then saw them again later as we were leaving. And Max and I go, "We should've picked them up," as they were waiting at the bus stop, so we turned three lefts into a 180 and went back for them. As it required a further u-turn (legal, I might add!) by the hotel, we got there right after a bus, but strangely, they were getting off of it. So we pulled up and gave them the, "Going our way?" spiel.
They got in and told us that they were supposed to have been at a panel at 9, it being about quarter after at that point, but everyone in their room had slept through their alarms, so we were a lifesaver.
First thing I did was go to the dealer den for the G1 Luna I saw the previous day. Well, I dropped the ball on that, but I picked up a "tiger dragon" pony, one of a kind! Also got myself effin' six more buttons for like two bucks. The first ball out of the machine gave me a Pinkie and the CMCs (which are all just solid colors; hilarious!), then a Rainbow Dash, and then I bought a Twilight to balance everything out. I also made sure to thank PixelKitties for having the prescience to know that we needed Crackle-based artwork for speedfic contest prizes. I mean, she hadn't even been there last night! I took my swag back to the car, and saw a Vermont car with a "KTHXBYE" license plate. Not sure if bronies, but it was awesome.
My only scheduled thingy for the was the speedfic reading panel, so I headed over and waited at the Ailabouni (read: "I love pony") room once a-freaking-gain. At about 10 till the panel's start time, I got a text from Argembarger saying that he wouldn't be making it and I should get the prizes from con ops. @_@ My text back to him was "Time 4 panic now D:". So I ran down, grabbed the swag, ran back up, set up my laptop... realized I had forgotten the fics, ran back down while calling Arg to make sure they were still somewhere, found them in the same place, ran back up and ran a panel all by myself. @_@ For having had no preparation time, it went really well. there were 12 stories in all, everybody got to read one (we even got a few extra people in by the end!) Argembarger ended up winning, so I think our grudge is settled. There were three really hilarious trollfics (mine not among them D:), and one that got honorable mention for being an actual decent goddamn fanfic. Arg will be able to pick up his stuff once he actually gets here, which will be after he fixes his car problems. D:
The atmosphere today was a little more relaxed than last evening. I actually talked with Starshine at length; he was smiling! It's a good day.
Max and I went right across the street to the United Dairy Farmers, where he got coffee and I got donuts. I noticed a wrap place nearby and decided to try it out later.
I saw a great Chrysalis cosplayer and got her to take pictures holding Edinpony's Chrysalis plush. Then that guy playing Shining Armor came over and there were more picture opportunities, with him on his knees, looking dazed, and her standing over him threateningly. I really need a camera. ;_;
After that, I was sitting around, typing up this very document, when the second-place winner of the speedfic contest, Jacob "Rubz" Runnels, came over and gave me a pack of collector's cards. :D I now have a twilight cutie mark rub-on tattoo on my hand. Also, it turns out that he's from my town, so rock on!
Having absolutely nothing else to do, I headed over to the "Live Dramatic Reading" panel, having no ideas as to what it would be. It ended up being a bunch of wacky guys -- Deimos Foxx, Razor Cloud, Vos and one Raelkun -- reading whatever the audience requested. I won by suggesting Last Roundup after they decided on episode script readings, and we were treated to the adventures of Gollum Pie, Vegetity, Napa Jubilee, Twilight Lynde and Cosbyshy. Oh man, Cosbyshy. Also Vos actually got tackled by Raelkun for "Rarity catch me!" I laughed until water came out of my eyes. Super Speedy Cider Squeezy has never been sexier (just imagine a sultry voice talking about Granny Smith's "south fields").
Feeling hungry, I went to that wrap place, Phat Wraps. Turns out, they take and quick-grill your meat choice in a pita, then you put on whatever vegetables and sauces you want. I got lettuce, carrots, cucumbers and cilantro on shrimp, with Peruvian spicy mayo. No idea what made it Peruvian, but boy was it spicy! Taking it back to the union, I ate, and then got up to look for other things to do! I apparently missed the imageboards meetup, but I didn't know what it really was (I mean, I use Ponychan, I guess I might have had a reason to go there), nor can we figure out where the room it was being held actually is.
Meeting up with Cupcakes again, we went and found him some buckeyes so he could stop being an uneducated yokel, packed an elevator full, and then headed for the game room. I hadn't mentioned it before, but I love this room setup. It's obviously some kind of governance chamber, with an unbroken ring of wooden desks and a bunch of microphones in the midst thereof. All the wood accents and leather make it dark, cozy, and nice-smelling. It's a great place for a gaming room. I DDR'd a little bit and did some internetting. Oh god, I have so many internets. D: But Argembarger showed back up around 3:30 and Max and I got to getting out.
We found Arg rapping up a storm to an audience of two, then sat around and calculated routes between nearby toy stores on the way back home. Having opted to skip closing ceremonies initially, we ended up sliding in after everyone else had filed inside the room. The line was kind of amazing, with cries of "Crush, kill, destroy, swag!" echoing through the hallways of the con.
I'm actually glad we went, for a couple of reasons. There was a raffle held (???) at some point that I had never had any idea about, and they handed out prizes for it, including some nice, nice stuff. Then there were a bunch of packs of trading cards thrown out into the audience, which was amazing chaos. Kilt winged me in the side with one, so I claimed it. :V There was a long story about Trotcon's inception and how it almost didn't get off the ground because of a ton of money issues that dropped on Starshine and Darkly all at once. It's really amazing that this did spawn out of Ohio Brony meetups getting so big; they estimated over 600 people for a first con, which is just ridiculous. And Darkly got all emotional and started crying tears of joy, which I thought was adorable. :3
We took off as they opened up the floor for questions. Our covert toy-searching activities were in vain. Serves us right for trying to cut and run, I guess!
In all, this was a great con. I haven't been to any kind of real convention since Anthrocon '05, and it was nice to get out somewhere I could hang with like-minded people, buy, do and SEE awesome stuff, and more than that, share a kind of human experience of friendship, laughter and giving that I've never really encountered anywhere else. When I wasn't in a panel or browsing the artist alley, the best place to be was on the third floor, right outside the reg booth. There was always someone up there, and if there wasn't, there would be. My favorite moments were the serendipitous ones, like the dramatic reading panel or hanging around with the ponysuiters, not to mention the two speedfic panels that went off hitchless despite all efforts to the contrary. This was a very, very excellent convention, and I'm glad to have been a part of it.
Maybe next year, I'll let them know I'm coming ahead of time. :V