MLP-MSP3 Convention Report! · 3:35am Jun 21st, 2016
MLP-MSP is Best Convention! I attended again this year at the Hyatt downtown from June 9-13, and holy cow did I have a good time. Here are some quick stats:
--5 days of pony
--3 cosplays
--3 panels
--Triple Diamond Sponsor
--Huge number of friends
--Even bigger number of memories
Check out the full report below, and I hope you'll join me next year!
Pre-Con: Vivid Plays Host
I was hosting two people before the convention: InGlobWeTrust (all the way from exotic France!) and AkatsukiBritt (all the way from exotic Michigan!). IGWT got in on Wednesday in the early afternoon, and we had some fun visiting his favorite comic shop here in MN before watching some pony episodes and generally getting hyped for the convention. I had to spend some of the night getting ready with my panels and last-minute volunteering preparations, but we still had a great time. Britt showed up on Thursday morning, and after breakfast, we checked out the Mall of America for a few hours. After that, we went to the hotel, I almost missed the staff meeting due to hunger (aside: Cowboy Dave is incredibly entertaining to talk to when he hasn't slept for 36 hours. Nice guy in general, too!), and we hung out at Lobby Con until our first big event: the Pub Trot!
Thursday Night: One Car Bomb Too Many
30 Bronies, 6 bars, 45 minutes each. That was the name of the game. Aaaaand a little extra booze when the moment was right.
The face of a Brony about to make some terrible wonderful decisions
The Pub Trot started out with a walk through the hot-but-not-sweltering evening. The first bar, 8th St. Bar, was our warmup, and I invited IGWT and Britt to try the Honeyweiss after they asked for a recommendation. People were a little cliquey at this place, but being aggressively friendly, I finally started talking to some of the other Bronies, and that opened the floodgates.
The first of many
By the time we made it to the Newsroom with my new buddy Amber, we'd decided to make a meal out of our drinks. Honeyweiss was our cracker/bread course, so we grabbed a Blue Crush (with real blueberries) as ours salad. At our third stop, Devil's Advocate, Amber introduced us to Breakfast Shots, which taste likes pancakes. Seriously. I was weird. Try it yourself!
1) Get two shots: one of Jameson and one of orange juice
2) Breathe out
3) Drink the Jameson, followed by the OJ
4) Breathe in
5) PANCAKES!!!! Tasty, tasty pancakes!
SCIENCE!!!
At The Local, we had ciders, and I doubled down with a round of Irish Car Bombs for myself and the convention chair, Final Draft. He's super enthusiastic about MLP, conventions, and giving everyone a great time, and you should totally be following him on all the socialize medias.
Stop #5 was… uh… a place with a pirate ship? It was getting pretty unclear by that point. I had a Samuel Smith's Chocolate Stout with Pamplifier and WillfulAmbition, who ended up being SUPER fun people that have great taste in sushi (foreshadowing!!!).
Trying to get the con chair drunk the eve of the convention: what could possibly go wrong?
By our last stop, Brit's Pub, my Chocolate Martini just kinda… disappeared before I realized I'd probably had enough. But! I met Golden_NoteMN, and we presumably talked about fun things. Again, liiiiittle fuzzy.
Our group was all pretty much lights-out after that, and I proudly attached my ribbon to my badge. "Survived" is definitely the right word.
Friday: Earth Ponies are Workhorses
Friday started out awesomely when Rillegas08 and his brother, EpicMuttonChops arrived. Ril and I had hung out once previously to chat about everything from ponies to psychology, and he agreed to be on my "Epic Feel Time" panel. He also drew me this picture and LOOK HOW CUTE IT IS!!!!
It's like he knew somehow!
After much squeeing, I… was not a good friend. See, I'm not great at telling people 'no,' and the thing is, conventions need a lot of people doing a lot of things. Being a volunteer, I wanted to help get a few last-minutes tasks completed when the staff discovered more work was needed. However, I didn't speak up right away when it started bothering me, and when I ended up skipping dinner with friends for the second night in a row, I found myself getting pretty peeved about it. I want to be clear: I'm not blaming the staff. They do wonderful work with not nearly enough resources, but on Friday, I definitely felt the friction between being a sponsor and being a staff member. To the staff's credit, they let me go when I finally told them I was getting frustrated and needed to enjoy the con, and I truly, truly appreciate them for that. 
With that: apologies to anyone I gave the cold shoulder to this weekend, especially on Friday. I'm super sorry I got wrapped up in minutia and didn't set expectations properly. I'll try harder next year if you'll give me another chance.
That's not to say that Friday was completely spent working, however! I got to spend some time at two of the sponsor events: Ping Pong with Vincent Tong and Dessert with Anneli Heed! Ping Pong was a ridiculous amount of fun, in no small part because Vincent is so enthusiastic, cheery, encouraging, energetic, and tons of fun to just sit and talk to.
He's also a gracious loser. 
Go 'Bolts!
There were snacks provided, and each of the fans got to play a best-of-five match against the Prince/Dragon/Donut-Slinger/Royal Guard/Waifu Stealer himself. Our game was goofy, down to the wire, and tense. The best part may have been when the game was all tied up and this happened:
Vincent: Game point, you ready?
Vivid: Ready when you are, Brax.
Vincent: *flips out and slams hands on the table, giant smile on his face* DID YOU SEE IT???
Seriously, Vincent is a super cool guy. If you ever get the chance, sit down and talk with him.
I ended up taking the game 5-4, and Vincent reminded me how awesome the VAs can be, even if they aren't really the ponies we know them as.
Later that night was Dessert with Anneli Heed. I was in my "Homage to Best Pony" cosplay: a Soarin' jersey with blue hair, homemade goggles (thanks for the tips, Wireframe!), and of course, a real apple pie. We were chatting with Anneli when who should show up but the Wing Bestower himself, M.A. Larson! And then, of course, this happened:
Shocking!
Yes, that is a pie, and yes, Larson and Anneli both signed it. Anneli especially was super enthusiastic about signing and taking pictures (even if she maaaaybe wasn't supposed to), and we had tons of fun chowing down on all the desserts. The pie, though, was destined for greater things...
The night finished after I spent some time with my buddy Aquatic Neon, who I'd met at MLP MSP 1 back in 2014. He's wonderful human on one of my first ever convention friends. I just wish we got to see each other for more than a single evening! Go all three days next year, Neon! 
Aquatic Neon: More Elusive than Bigfoot
I also sat in on the Sh*t Fic panel and helped by reading Aldo Raine's part in "Hitler Steals Scootaloo's Scooter." I'll… leave you to imagine what that was like.
Saturday: Who Needs Teleportation?
Saturday was a hoot! We woke up and got a big crew together for breakfast at the Nicolet Diner. Our server was awesome and looked like P!nk, and the food was great, too! I'm a sucker for mimosas, and I got a big enough meal that I didn't have to eat much until dinner. Highly recommend!
I will forever claim to have had an entourage.
I spent a lot of the morning in the vendor hall and attending some of the morning panels. You can find the full schedule here. I was at Tokens' Jeopardy panel (dude runs a GREAT game show!) and spent a little time with Maryke Hendrikse eating taco-ish food. Yay!
I think it was also around this time that I got to hang out with my new buddy Sky, who I bought a sweet Wonderbolts belt buckle from. We didn't get to chill together as much as I wanted, but hopefully I'll get to see him at Ciderfest.
At 1, almost the entire convention piled into the Mane Hall for the episode screening of Spice Up Your Life. Rarity is my favorite of the Mane 6, and of course the crowd went NUTS when the tourist ponies mentioned Whinneyapolis. Fun episode, and I'm glad I got to see it with the crowd.
After that, I went and got autographs. Lots and lots of autographs! My sponsor badge came with a bunch, and I managed to get the poster signed by all the guests of honor. Kelly Sheridan was even nice enough to draw Syn's cutie mark caught in Starlight Glimmer's magic, as if she'd just stolen it! Big flavor win right there!
Let me tell you, MLP-MSP invited some GREAT people to be guests this year. Every single one of them was tons of fun to talk to, they were super nice, and I hope to meet them all again at future cons. I know I'll definitely be on the lookout for which cons they'll be appearing at.
I have to give a special shout-out to Brenda Crichlow, though. She was super involved with every event she was a part of, especially the charity auction, and she was always warm, friendly, and willing to give us a Zecora "Aaaah~~~."
And look how pretty we are!
Pro tip: don't buy her 90% cocao chocolate.
I got a little bit of bad news about the cosplay contest, though: as a staff member, I was not allowed to sign up. That didn't deter me, though from putting on my Good King Sombra cosplay just in time for the Sponsor Dinner. Would the GoHs think I was some kind of freak? Who cares! Creativity is fun! (And the GoHs were all super encouraging, especially Ali Milner. I'm so glad she had a good time at her first-ever convention.)
At the dinner (The Local), I got to sit near Ali and Kelly, who were both wonderful to converse with. We talked about hard ciders, life outside of the pony world, and music. Great times. Vincent also sat at our table, and in a really cool reversal of roles, he asked me for a photo in my Sombra cosplay! His buddy Screw Loose is a huge Sombra fan, and Vincent recognized the character immediately. Cosplay goals accomplished!
Gotta work on my "Regal Facial Expression" though. XD
Unfortunately, Ril and I had to duck out of the dinner early, since we had a panel to give: "Epic Feel Time: Writing Emotionally Resonant Fiction." I've given it at NMND, but Ril brought a ton of experience and perspective to the table, and I was so happy to have him on the panel with me. Thanks again for being awesome, buddy! The panel itself was a big success (around 30, which is way more than I would have expected for being against the Anthology and on the dinner hour), and we had a good discussion with the audience about improving their writing.
After that, we jumped back to the Cocktail Hour, which also had the GoHs. I got to speak to Vincent some more about voice acting, and he told me the story of providing the scratch-track-but-not-really-scratch-track for the Ratchet and Clank movie (go see it! It's great!). I also got Larson's take on episode writing and the 100th episode, which was super fun to hear. I had hoped to get to talk to Brenda a little more, but there's always the next convention.
The next couple hours were a smattering of different events. My friends and I spent a little time at the 18+ artists' room, where I got to meet Tokens for the first time. Tokens is great! And he even offered to be on my late-night panel, which I was happy to stick him on. We also went to the Karaoke panel, which even got crashed by some of the guests!
At 11pm, Note Worthy and I settled in for my second panel: "My Adult Pony – Mature Fanfiction." And if you just rolled your eyes at that concept, please read the following aside (feel free to skip if you're already cool with it):
Adult content in fandom is a good thing. We fans identify with these characters, and as much as the show provides some escapism for us, it's completely natural to want to bring those same feelings of togetherness, safety, and acceptance into other aspects of our lives that maybe aren't always so idyllic. Case in point, the following topics were discussed during the panel:
--How to write trans characters in a way that is sensitive to the reality of our world
--Researching things like mental illness and addiction so a story won't misrepresent what it's like
--Clop as a safe space for people to explore sexuality in a way that is removed from the usual stigmas associated with talking about sex (especially for people like me, a bisexual who grew up in a town where being LGBT was not okay).
I've run into a lot of people that immediately dismiss adult content as perverse or going against the spirit of the show. I can completely understand how they arrived at their conclusions–they don't want their daughter stumbling upon the content, or they're scared of something that seems foreign to them–but that viewpoint does so, so much more harm than good, and I hope we can move past it someday. In the meantime, I'm going to do everything I can to make people feel safe, accepted, and like they can use the fandom as a stepping stone for personal growth.
/soapbox
Now, that's not to say the adult panel was stodgy! Hell no. We started off by playing the song Horse Cock by Pepper Coyote and singing along with it. We talked a lot about writing clop, being more effective with dark themes, and I had to explain how a horse penis works (makin' mamma proud). We also did a script reading of a fairly mild clop story, starring Tokens as Peter Griffin as Shining Armor (yes really, and OH GOD YES it was hilarious), Note Worthy as the ultra-serious narrator, and me as bimbo Cadence. There were a lot of people talking to us afterwards, and everyone shared in the laughs from beginning to end. It was a TON of fun, and we'll absolutely be doing it again next year. We might even try to do it for Ciderfest!
After that, we went to the rave for a while, I played some Magic the Gathering in the Hallway, we played Cards against Equestria with some strangers, cruised around the video game room (where I got to talk to Quantum Zari finally), and went to bed.
Sunday: Stats Pony Learns About Incrementing Numbers
First up: cosplay of a sexy, sexy stallion you all know and love: ME!
Nailed iiiiiiit!
Once I was in costume, I headed over to my final panel: Equestria by the Numbers with Stats Pony. This is the panel I spent the most time preparing (over 15 hours), and it involved tons of research, running simulations on my poor laptop, and putting together a fun presentation. And it was actually pretty well-attended! I got some great feedback, engaged with a lot of the audience, and got to show off the joy of statistics. There were even some 12-ish-year-old girls that came up to me afterwards to talk about their ideas and theories and how they would change the analyses. Yay for girls in STEM!
The other big event was the Charity Auction in support of Give Us Wings. This was another fantastic event, and there were plenty of fun moments. Time for a list!
--Buying Vincent Tong's sketch of the GoHs. The final price was $200, which was absolutely worth it to hear Vincent scream, "What are you doing? It's crap! I'm sweating up here! STOP BIDDING!" At which point Draft had to remind him how a charity event works.
--Getting called on stage to auction off the pie that Larson and Anneli had signed. During the bidding, which went up by a few cents at a time, Larson signed everything he could get his hooves on. The pie even went for $45!
--Winning the bidding for the custom Zecora art and kick-ass Zebra mask, signed by Brenda. She even gave me a little kiss for being so generous. Yay! Told you she was nice. 
Great investments for a worthy cause.
The final official thing was the Closing Ceremonies, during which I got to share the stage with some amazing, amazing people. I can't wait to work with them again next year.
That night, after the ceremonies, we went out to Kyoto Sushi with Pamplifier and WillfulAmbition, Britt and IGWT, Ril and Mutton, and Zari and Charlie. It was a great meal. So great, in fact, that I brought my husband back there the next day for our anniversary dinner! We said our goodbyes, and Britt, IGWT, and Zari headed back to the hotel with me.
We eventually ran into SpiritSpiral7 (the guy who had bought the pie in the auction) back at the hotel, and he and his friends were kind enough to let us tag along and hang out in their room for a few hours, just long enough to stave off the post-con depression. We watched pony episodes, acted ridiculous, and I even got to try some of that pie! It was delicious! And you could barely taste the Larson! We headed to bed to dream of ponies one more time.
Keep that pony train going!
Monday: The Road Home
Monday was our day for bittersweet goodbyes. Britt, IGWT, Zari and I went to Perkins one more time, got some free pie, and then split off. I dropped Britt and IGWT off at the airport, and then returned home with all my memories and memorabilia.
And what a haul!
Closing Thoughts
It's always a little melancholy leaving a convention. There's this beautiful world you're a part of, and it's sad to see it go. It's brevity is part of what makes it beautiful, though, and all the wonderfully creative, energetic people that go to these events make it special beyond description. MLP-MSP has definitely earned the title of My Favorite Convention ever once again. I'm glad I sponsored at the highest tier this year, and it was great seeing lots of old friends and meeting plenty of new ones. If you're in the area and on the fence about going, I highly, highly encourage you to give it a try. You won't be disappointed.
It's getting late, and I know a couple of ponies that are ready for bed.
Yes, I even make them kiss at night.
Thanks for reading my con report, and an even bigger thanks to all the people that made my weekend such a fantastic time. I'll see you all again next year.
Vivid
Woohoo! It was great fun joining you for many of the events, Viv, and I look forward to meeting you again and the next convention.
4040147
You, too, buddy, and again, I'm super sorry I wasn't more available to hang out. We'll see you at the next one! Are you going to any others this year?
4040152 I haven't planned on any, although last year my brother and I wanted to go to Ciderfest because Ashleigh Ball and Rebecca Shoichet were there, we were unable to. No, we need to save up for moving out.
4040846
Totally understandable. Real life comes first!