Everfree Northwest: A Journal (part one!) · 1:54am May 20th, 2018
Oh hey. I'm at a con. Wanna read about it?
THURSDAY!
Caught a late flight-- and gained two hours due to TIME ZONE SCHENANIGANS.
Watched Batman & Harley Quinn (which wasn't as good as the old cartoon), and Kenneth Brannaugh's Murder on the Orient Express (which wasn't as good as the old David Suchet show).
I also left a random sci-fi paperback on the plane by accident-- I'd be more torn up about it if it weren't for the fact that A) I'd only paid like a dollar for it, and B) It was kind of boring.
After getting off the plane, I found myself playing the “who's going to EFNW game?” So, y'know, noting stuff like gamer t-shirts or general social awkwardness while trying not to look too socially awkward myself.
Checking into the hotel where they've got a little pony decor & the staff are wearing ears is ... slightly surreal. I begin to have second thoughts, but this is probably because it's stupid late and I haven't eaten a proper meal for several hours, so that probably made a difference.
Drank an 11 dollar beer, listened to some (presumably not-bronies) talk about guns at the table behind me, and then ambled off to bed.
FRIDAY!
So, one thing I hadn't considered is that Seattle runs on a schedule several hours later than what I'm used to, because of TIME ZONE SCHENANIGANS. Which means I have ample time to wake up, shower, go get food at a diner, aquire provisions (read: beers) from a 7-11. Seeing as of how my room doesn't have a fridge, I opted to ... improvise.
And even then I had plenty of time to just chill before events started. Silver lining: I at least got some writing done (on a non-pony project, alas).
9AM: got a badge, did a little people watching. Overheard a dude talking about how he's buys custom pony plushies at like 400 bucks a pop. Which ... well, erryberdy's got a hobby, I guess. (Personally I just stick to toy robots).
Speaking of which, plush ponies seem to be a fairly common accessory-- either poking out of a backpack, or just being carried. Hm. Also saw a dude with a Tempest Shadow tooling around on an RC car, which makes sense-- she's too dignified to be carried around like a child. Tempest Shadow will mess you up. (Also bonus points for the dude dressed up like a butler carrying a Diamond Tiara around on a platter).
Cosplays spotted:
The various expected ponies (The Mane 6, Sunset Shimmer, Luna, Celestia, Derpy, et. al)
Starswirl The Bearded (more than one)
Cadance (I think?)
Flim & Flam
Tank (the turtle, not an actual tank)
Ken from Street Fighter
A pony jedi(?)
Dante from Devil May Cry (?!)
Frodo Baggins (I give up).
And these guys.
Silver lining with the various cosplayers, I in turn feel a lot less noticeable. I'm trying to keep a low profile-- mostly 'cause I've kept my pony fandom on the down low for ... well, pretty much ever since I started watching the damn show. I guess I just don't want to get picked out as one of the “pony people,” as I heard a random businesswoman describe it in passing. Then again 'nerdy guy with a beard' is pretty much the default around here, so yeah.
Maybe those dudes in the power armor have the right idea.
The vendor's room is small-- and focused. All ponies, all the time. Which, well, pony con. Still, I was kind of expecting more in the way of 'other' geekery-- comics, non-pony t-shirts, other collectibles, whatever. On top of that, most of the stuff seems to be fan-crafted, as opposed to official Hasbro merch, which makes sense for smaller-scale operations. Walking through the dealer room is basically like browsing a real-life Derpibooru (just with the filters on. THANK GOD).
Oh, and I met Whitediamonds! And she actually knew who I was! GASP. Turns out that she's also a huge Rarijack fan (I mean, she had a Rarijack Daily blog going for a while), so naturally she read a bunch of my fic, and now I've gotta write s'more Rarijack so I can use her art for the cover.
As for other merch, I went in looking for a blind bag Flash Sentry & Carrot Top ... only to find SUPER MODE GOLDEN HARVEST.
“THIS HOOF OF MINE IS BURNING RED!”
So 11:30 finally rolls around, and I went to my first panel of the con! G.M. Barron and Josh Graber, writers on the show, talking about some of the nuts and bolts of production. Pretty fun stuff-- though again there's a somewhat interesting disconnect between the 'official' part and the fan part, as the show writers are legally obligated to avoid fanfic like the plague.
Did the touristy thing after the panel, and took the train up to Pioneer Square, Seattle's oldest (and therefore most touristy) neighborhood. A pleasant little jaunt, and I had a tasty sandwich at Seattle's oldest saloon (which is now an entertainingly scuzzy punk venue), but otherwise not too much to write home about.
I also got rained on slightly during my jaunt, making my Seattle experience authentic.
Thusly baptized (I was already wearing flannel), I made my way back to the con, and started going to panels, 'cause dammit that's what I came for, right?
Titanium Dragon, Novel Idea, Ororoboro, and Monochromatic, and The Albinocorn did a pretty fun Shipping panel, talking about how to write relationships between magical cartoon horses that people will want to write. (Oh, and we all got to judge them for their various favored ships. Also Novel-Idea RL ships his friends which probably makes him the worst). They mentioned a couple of blogs/stories/etc that I'll have to check out.
I also wrote 'I have a better beard than all the panelists' in my notes. 'cause it's true. (Novel Idea comes closest to rivalling mine, I shall admit).
I swung by a fanfiction as transformative art panel next, which ... well, it was nice and academic, which I normally would eat up-- but at the same time it covered a lot of stuff I already knew. Still, the presenter (whose name isn't in the program, nuts) had some really neat ideas, such as noting the parallels between tiajuana bibles and clopfics, and positing the emergence and rise of new genres as something akin to mutation and evolution. I'd love to sit down and chat metafiction with the guy over a beer sometime.
Wrapped things up with a visit to the Artist's & Writer's hangout, where I met some neat people-- and then ducked out after an hour or so 'cause I'd been up since six am. Wheee.
SATURDAY.
Again, woke up early. Again, had plenty of time for breakfast-- though I didn't get any writing done, 'cause I am a slacker. Boo.
Started things off with a cartoon panel, in which the writer & animator guests provided live-action commentary on episodes (Stranger than Fan Fiction & Dance Magic, to be precise) of the pony show we all watch. SUPER fun, because, well, who doesn't like watching cartoons?
Followed that up with the writer feedback panel, which apparently is an EFNW tradition? I didn't have any pony fic to contribute, sadly, and only found out you could read NON pony stuff too late. Ah well! Still was interesting to hear what some other folks were working on, and provide commentary on it nonetheless. I'M HELPING!
(it also gave me an idea for a silly Rarijack story which I'll have to get around to writing at some point, so bonus).
After that, I rushed back to my room to grab my laptop, and made it back in time for EFNW's IRON AUTHOR competition. Given two hours and a three word prompt (Fire, Palpable, Broach), I hammered out a little over 1800 words of not-terrible story. So that's nice. I'll probably post said story sometime tomorrow afternoon.
Had a beer at the bar, and found out there's a themed drink menu. Which the bartenders didn't seem too thrilled about-- I distinctly overhead someone asking “what the hell is in a Fluttershy again?”
Popped into a panel on writing villains (mostly run by Novel Idea & TD & the folks from that Shipping Panel), which was packed. I had planned on giving the Tails of Equestria RPG a go after that, since I'm a RPG dork, but sadly the thing was filled up by the time I got there. Curses!
And so, with a wrench thrown into my plans, I have retreated to my room once more, to drink one of my trashcan beers, generally unwind, and, uh, write this blog post. Part of it, at least, as it's an ongoing project. My plan is to hit up the Artist & Writer hangout in a couple of hours to be social and talk Pony Theory(tm), at least, uh, in theory. Got some stuff vaguely planned out for tomorrow, but we'll just have to see how it works out. So stay tuned!
Can you tell everypony at the writer’s hangout that Super Trampoline says hi?
Sounds like the cool people con is treating you pretty well.
Dude Fire Team Harmony (Halo Cosplayers) are the shit man, they're great guys
Thats a really nice badge ruined by a giant name tag. They should try for clear name tags next year so the badges artwork doesn't get completely covered.
Sounds like you are having a lot of fun! (Though as European, I must ask you if you couldn't find any better beer...?
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Ooh, inspired!
LOL Mocow mule should have been changed to stalliongrad mule.