Highlights from BronyCon 2018: Say it Ain’t So! · 11:49pm Nov 25th, 2018
Previous Highlight: The Ponies’ Court
Previous Blog Post: Giving Thanks
In which Pink Flash’s deck finally works as intended, son_of_heaven176 doesn’t let Firebrand slip past DarkWind for long, and the end of an era is announced.
Sunday, July 29, 2018: Last Day of BronyCon 2018
After deciding that the Charity Auction was not for me, I headed to StableTop Games. I sent text messages to DarkWind and NR asking if they wanted to play Pandemic (during the previous night, NR mentioned that he also played Pandemic). Neither of them answered quickly, and when I arrived at StableTop Games, whom did I see but Pink Flash, going through his deck?
Flash was basically wargaming: he was pretending to have another game with me; he wanted to see if he could get his deck to work as he wanted it to. (I later learned that there is a term for what he was doing. Taking turns against an opponent who does nothing is called “goldfishing”.)
“Well, I’m here now,” I said. “Why not have another game?”
We did, and he eventually got those three key lands out. And thanks to the ridiculous amounts of mana that they generated, he won.
“This is how my deck is supposed to work,” he said.
Not too long afterwards, DarkWind showed up. He wanted to get something to eat before Closing Ceremonies, and we decided to stop by a Subway that I saw during our walk to their hotel on Friday. At the Subway, DarkWind raised the question of whether we should stop by his hotel room so that he could drop off some stuff. I opposed that idea; it was getting very close to Closing Ceremonies, and remembering the long lines that formed at Opening Ceremonies, we couldn’t afford to be late for Closing Ceremonies. So after DarkWind and Pink Flash got themselves something to eat, we headed back to the Convention Center.
At the Convention Center, we headed towards the line for Closing Ceremonies, and Firebrand passed us by, going the other way. After he passed us by, DarkWind said that he had something for Firebrand to sign. I looked back and saw that Firebrand hadn’t gotten very far, so I told DarkWind that I would intercept Firebrand so that he could ask him for the autograph.
Firebrand was taking the escalator, so I took the stairs that were right next to it. I caught up to Firebrand and stopped him, telling him that my friend was right behind me and wanted to get his autograph.
To DarkWind’s credit, he wasn’t far behind me. After DarkWind got his autograph, Firebrand took some pictures with the both of us. Here is the first picture:
Firebrand clearly was trying to go for a “gangsta” look. Sorry, Josh: you’ll have to try a bit harder next time!
The person who took the picture said that there was too much glare coming from our glasses, so he had the three of us stand at another spot. Take two!
Eh…at least it was a good effort?
Memory serving, it was either when I intercepted him or some time after the second picture that I asked Firebrand if he was going to the Closing Ceremonies. He said that he wasn’t; he was going with Lightning Bliss and some other people to Washington, D.C. and to take a tour of the White House. I wanted to give some kind of witty remark — come on, we have a Marine going to see the Commander-in-Chief, for crying out loud! — but nothing good enough came to mind.
After the thank-yous and some other small talk, DarkWind and I rejoined Pink Flash and joined the line to the Closing Ceremonies.
The space where everyone was queued up was in a festive mood. There were balloons being bounced around all over the place (and occasionally popping at seemingly the slightest provocation), and the general murmur was positive. The line itself, however, went RIDICULOUSLY slow.
After a few minutes, they decided to just let everyone in without requiring them to snake back and forth, and the three of us found our seats in time to hear the announcement that BronyCon 2019 would be a four-day event!
After the cheering, the other shoe dropped.
BronyCon 2019 would be the last BronyCon.
As the announcer gave her justification for why BronyCon would end with 2019, I was speechless.
And after the announcement was over, Closing Ceremonies were done. At first, I didn’t believe it. That was it? We got our seats only to hear a few announcements—namely, that BronyCon was ending?! I asked nearby con staff: are the Closing Ceremonies over? Yes, they confirmed.
The mood was mixed, to say the least, as the bronies filed out of the event hall. One person surmised that this was happening because Gen 4 is about to end. Another person suggested that we all sing the Smile song for BronyCon 2019’s Closing Ceremonies. Myself, all I knew was that come hell or high water, I would not miss BronyCon 2019.
After Dark, Flash, and I left the event hall, we decided to stop by my hotel room first (I forget exactly why), and I introduced NR and Pinkie Guy to Dark and Flash. NR and Pinkie said that they would be headed for dinner later that night, and I said that I would keep in touch. Dark and Flash were going to head back to their home state later that night, and I wanted to stop by their room first before they left.
So BronyCon proper was over, but there were still more memories to be made.
We’re coming into the home stretch!
Next Highlight: Magic and Nightmares
And after that, this series will end with “Bronies Forever!”
A/N: As you might remember from certain blog posts, I have been doing my bit to raise awareness of the plight of Estee of the Triptych Continuum. Thanks to the efforts of everyone who has heard Estee’s story, whether through me or elsewise, the Ko-Fi page has raised 600% of the goal of having an aide take care of Estee’s mom for one day. While Estee hasn’t taken a day off from caring for the mother yet, Estee reports that the Ko-Fi money is going towards the mother’s care.
However, a similar problem has reared its ugly head, and Estee does not want to spend the Ko-Fi money on this: Estee’s Kindle, which is Estee’s only means of accessing the Internet when not at home, is dead (Estee has no smartphone). So now Estee has a new goal on Ko-Fi: an iPad Pro. More on the tablet situation here. The Ko-Fi page is currently at 50% of the goal. If you can, let’s bring it the rest of the way.
Love the truth; tolerate no darkness.
--SOH176
Previous Highlight: The Ponies’ Court
Previous Blog Post: Giving Thanks
Next Highlight: Magic and Nightmares
