Babscon Wrap-Up · 9:31am Apr 7th, 2015
Was it just me, or did the convention fly by at Rainbow Dash speeds this year?
Don't get me wrong, I had a good time, but by the time I blinked it felt like the thing was over. Part of that was the distractions from ordinary con-going — not just the new season, or the outside drama over in SFF fandom, but also in prepping and bartending the (previously mentioned) fanfic author gather. Not to mention that it was a three-day con; I've been spoiled by the five-day Further Confusion as my central convention, and its relaxed pacing is downright luxurious.
As to that room party, given that none of us organizers were certain what to expect going in, I think it counts as a remarkable success. xjuggernaughtx's suite was spacious and comfortable, Xepher's coordination brought it together, Jesse T's premixed princess and/or changeling drinks were a hit, and I pitched in around the sides. Mostly I played bartender and snack maven, but I did bring copies of Once Upon A Time and the recently kickstartered Bring Your Own Book, both of which saw play to general acclaim.
Thornwing also pushed us to line up for a photo. Lighting conditions in the room were pretty terrible and my phone's flash wasn't up to the task, so this resolution is about the best we're going to get, but it does provide the only known documentary evidence of my latest meal fellow authors:
(Pictured from left: BronyWriter, horizon, Alcatraz, Daemon of Decay, Super Trampoline, Thornwing, xjuggernaughtx, Xepher, InsertAuthorHere, Quill Scratch, and SR Foxley. Among the attending authors not pictured: Pen Stroke, Regidar, Skywriter, the fellow who took this picture whose name I didn't get, etc., etc.)
One surprising lesson from the experience: an all-new respect for the organization, dedication and sacrifice of folks who put together recurring parties like the Klingon Bar. That link goes to their Yelp reviews, by the way. Yes, a convention room party has Yelp reviews, which is the best thing.
Between the suite, alcohol, and snacks, the fanfiction gather cost a collective total of about $650. I mention this only because I can't imagine the dedication that goes into keeping a room party going across multiple conventions and multiple years — even if the Klingons' tip jar worked significantly better than the crude one we jerry-rigged. (It had better. They serve enough alcohol to lubricate a small third-world country.)
Speaking of which, I need to make this clear: There's absolutely no call to feel guilty about the cost if you attended and enjoyed yourself. We knew going in we were gonna lay out cash for this, and we were all fine with that. I do feel bad for XJX, who ate the higher-than-expected room cost singlehoofedly (and who became the recipient of our $40 in tips); Jesse and Xepher and I spent about what we were hoping to spend, and seeing the fun everyone had, it was definitely worthwhile.
It helped that we were on the nose with our estimates. About 20 authors swung by at some point in the night, plus about that many people again randomly wandering through from party-floor traffic, and for most of the time the suite was open we had a core crowd of about a dozen cool folk. About 75% of the mixed drinks, 50% of the other alcohol, and 75% of the snacks got consumed, which was right on the nose: enough left over that we weren't running out at the end of the night, but not too much to take home as leftovers.
Anyway!
The other thing that made me happiest about the convention was commissioning Onnanoko for my very first pony badge. I wrangled it together with a cool twilight-sky background from MysteryMelt, then did my best to smooth out the white bits (the physical badge's lines are accented by sparkles, which don't photograph well). Et voila:
My days of a Pony Creator usericon are over at last!
(Hopefully, this can be the crack in the dam that gets further art/commissions of horizon going; the hardest part is always building up those first few reference pics you're happy with.)
I've got a bunch of other non-convention things to catch up on as well, so I'll try to do a news roundup for a post tomorrow.
Mwahahahaha! I know what you look like!
Ah, it's a shame I missed it, sounds like fun. I haven't quite given up on Bronycon though.
Awesome! I noticed your new icon right off the bat.
Feels good to have art of your avatar, doesn't it?
Yes it does.
Glad you made it home alright and that you had fun.
That's a very sexy avatar you have there.
Glad to hear you had fun at the con!
AAAAAAaaaa your avatar is different.
Look at all you adults having a good time with your room parties and your alcohol.
(Sounds like fun.)
THIS MEANS YOU'LL ADD ME ON SKYPE NOW RIGHT >:V
No need to feel bad about my room costs. Money is meant to be spent, and I wouldn't offer if I couldn't afford it. It certainly wasn't cheap, but life is about memories and that will be a good one. That's worth way more to me than the price of that room.
Great times! I hope it can happen again soon, though I have little idea when it actually will be possible. And yes, I woulda liked it to last like one more day. It was a real blink-and -miss-it sorta con, even for those of us who were not busy with Responsibilities.
That was me, and I like this name.
The con really did seem to fly by! I was busy pretty much constantly, but I do wish I'd had more time to spend in the fanfic party room, because it was full of awesome people. Always good seeing you around, though this makes con #2 where I meant to gush at you about how much I liked the themes in Hard Reset 2 and then completely forgot to bring it up. Oh well, there's always next con!
I tried to find art for my avatar at the con, but NO ONE HAD ANYTHING TO BUY.
Poor Thornwing, he needs more love.
Somehow you're taller than I imagined you being.
And holy cow yeah pony cons fly by in a blur--at least Bronycon always does. It's three days of madness and it all ends up in a swirl in your head and you think the morning after it all, "that really happened?"
Also, meeting fellow pony authors in real life is at once both surreal and super awesome, at least for me. Glad you had a great time :D
Was fun to stop by and hang out for a bit!
What is the SFF fandom and what's the drama about?
Thanks again for hosting, the party room was a blast!