Post Con Report! · 5:11pm Aug 11th, 2014
In the interest of time-saving and scheduling, my writing guide will either go up later this evening or tomorrow. That's because right now, I really want to talk about Crystal Mountain Pony Con! I had a lot of fun (especially participating in the writing panels) so without further ado, here's the follow-up for those of you who didn't make it.
Day 1
Had to get up a little earlier than normal to catch a train ride to the con, but I made it there with plenty of time to spare, which turned out to be a good thing, because the writing panel I was on? It was the first even of the con, before even the opening ceremonies! As a result, we had a small turnout, but the audience was enthused, and after fifteen or so minutes of discussing the basic of starting fanfiction for the first time, we opened things up to a Q&A format and spent the next thirty minutes juggling questions from the audience.
After that came the opening ceremonies, and for me, the vendor hall! Although I managed to reign in a number of my impulse purchase, I was also able to finally finish off my blind bag collection as well as pick up a couple of bookmarks. I figured I'd save the rest of my funds for the second day, just in case.
I ran into a few people I knew from the fandom, some of whom I knew online and some of whom I'd met in person before, so there was usually someone to chat with when I wasn't at a panel. I still went to couple of those, though, including one with Solrac (I must admit, I still don't quite get the appeal of screaming everything, but it was kind of funny to hear him talk about how it caught him off guard too), a streaming panel, and even one on taking older games and ponifying them (from the guy who made the Link to the Past mod where you play as Derpy, who's currently working on a big overhaul of Super Mario All-Stars). He showed us exactly how much work goes into those edits, and believe me, it's slow going. Guy has some dedication to his craft to make those for everyone (even some of the software he uses doesn't play nice together, to the extent that he can't just switch between windows, but must actually close and re-open programs each time).
Between chatting with Cromegas Flare (who I ran into) and the panels I also swung by the gaming room and had time to engage in a few games of Smash Bros Brawl (Game & Watch forever) as well as a single, shameful game of Twilight Sparkle's Secret Shipfic Folder. Which I'm pretty sure I mentally repressed as soon as it was over. The game is a great concept, but disturbing along the lines of Cards Against Humanity. At one point Granny Smith was in a relationship with a younger version of herself, as well as another clone of herself ... and was also in a relationship with Iron Will.
*shudders*
Anyway, I can now say I've played it once. I think I'm good. Forever. Definitely.
In any case, at some point during the day, during a couple of conversations in which a few people lamented not being able to make it to the fanfic panel due to the time and their part elsewhere in the con, I suggested to the organizers that I could run a second panel on Day 2, since there were some openings in the schedule. They agreed, and I left the con that night for my long train ride home knowing I'd be back the next day for more pony fun!
Day 2
Started off a little rocky by misreading the train schedule, but fortunately that made me early, not late. So I was able to get to the con with time to spare and gear up for the second day!
Now the second day's panels were more for artists, animators, and cosplay (of which I am none, although I can see myself dressing up as Steel Song next time I go to a con ... hmmm ...). Speaking of which, there were some awesome cosplays running around. There were at least four or five Celestias, a bunch of Spikes, and one truly amazing Sombra that included full body armor, contact lenses for the eyes, and light up sword and crown. Whoever that guy was, he went all out and it was awesome!
Since the majority of the mornings panels weren't as exciting for me, I made another run through the vendor hall (figuring out what wanted) and then tied myself into a Smash Brothers tournament. I lost, clearly, but I had the satisfaction of at least making it through the opening rounds and catching my opponent completely off-guard. I don't think he expected a Game & Watch to be played with competency. He definitely didn't expect a number-9 hammer to win the game.
Anyway, the big event of the day, for me, was at three. So after heading back to the vendor hall and picking up a few things (Luna mousepad and an awesome Derpy poster), I headed to the panel rooms for what I knew was going to be interesting: a writing panel put on by me.
It was awesome.
No, really. The panel went for two hours. It started with some basic introductions to fanfic, but quickly switched to a Q&A session, as that was what everyone there was really looking for.
And it was two hours. At one point, there were about 40 people in the room in total, although that number fluctuated as nearby panels started and stopped, but there were always about fifteen or twenty people in the room. There were all sorts of good questions asked, along with some good laughs and fun had by all.
Plus, I had fans there! I gave out my first autograph (another milestone)! And even had my picture taken with a fan (which I was going to post, but nobody wants to see my ugly mug)! After the panel was over, I had a lot of fun just chatting with people who'd read my work or people who'd loved the panel.
And then, tired, hungry, and exhaustively happy, I headed home. I've got new loot, had a blast with the panels, and managed to hold my own in a 2-hour Q&A extravaganza! And I even signed my first autograph!
So all in all? An awesome weekend! I'm already looking forward to the next con I can make it too!
Please tell me you took the pictures of the one sombra? It would be nice to see the really good cosplayers, and poor smoky wraith just gets the short end of the carrot.
Still, congrats on so many good memories and fun. Also, Huzzah to a great panel!
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I actually didn't take any pictures myself, but there were a bunch of con personal doing so. If the pic goes up on the con site, I'll definitely link it.
Glad you had fun at the con! Cons are great. I went to BABScon this year, and had a real blast there.
And grats on signing an autograph. What did you sign, specifically?
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Thanks! I'm looking forward to expanding to other cons, brony and non-brony, and getting onto writing panels with those if possible. That was, hands down, my favorite thing to do. Just answering questions as they came as best I could!
As for my signing. it was an autograph book, actually. I signed as both my actual name and my online name.
2364695 (that wasn't an autograph book, that was my idea/emergency/travel writing notebook thingie
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