Everfree Northwest 2019 · 1:32pm May 20th, 2019
My second con ever was even better than the first for reasons almost entirely unrelated to the con itself.
When I came to Everfree Northwest in 2018, it was the first con for anything I've ever been to. I went because three friends of mine - Oroboro, Albinocorn, and Novel Idea - were on numerous panels for writing. That aside, with my steady job it was really the first time I could consider going to a pony convention even if I'd wanted to beforehand. So, I did, and it was a big deal, I'd never flown before, and it was much further than any other travels of course, all the way from southern Ontario to Washington. But I survived, had a lot of fun, and decided to come back this year. My bank account hated me and pointed accusingly to the student loans I need to pay off, but after the con was over I slapped it and told it "Shut up, it was worth it".
After meeting Novel in person, I was invited (read: told about, could not find the link to, had to poke until he directly told) to his private Discord server. I've made a lot of great friends there and was able to meet many of them in person - some of them I had to meet several times in person because I forgot I'd met them already or forgot their names. It was almost to the point of a running joke this weekend that I would walk past the group, who may have even called out to me by name, and I was oblivious. I am so sorry to everyone who had to introduce themselves to me more than once.
I am not accustomed to having groups of friends that hang out in real life. I don't say that to be hard-done-by, I've had friends online and in college, but sitting around a table eating and chatting and all that, it's not something I've really had since high school. Just sitting among them as we had dinner the first night, I was struck with how very fortunate to be part of this group and feel accepted and welcomed among them, and I hope I have made them feel the same in whatever ways I can. My one regret of this weekend is I never had a chance to experience Twilight's Secret Shipfic Folder, because it sounds very interesting, but you people stay up way too late!
Day 1 of the con, I enjoyed the opening ceremonies and attending the great VA panel. I bought myself a print of imdrunkontea's Starlight art and got Kelly Sheridan to sign it - when I get home she shall have a new place of honor next to Sunset on my wall. I can't quite explain why but I've been on a real ShimmerGlimmer kick lately - in addition to the keychains of them and Trixie I got last year that still jingle from my laptop bag, I got buttons of the three for the strap and "Best Pony" badges of Sunset and Starlight to hang from the handle (sorry, Trixie, you're Great and Powerful but not quite in running for "Best" yet). I so badly wanted a plush of Starlight to go with my Sunset one, but I see the three-digit prices and my bank account rips its muzzle off to scream at me. No disrespect to the con vendors, of course, but some of the prices here are things that I'm really not comfortable paying.
By the way, during the auction part, I saw pieces of merchandise sell for hundreds of dollars. If you ever wanna feel better about how much money you spend on pony, go to a con. I know it's for charity and a good one, but just saying, these people be cray-cray.
Ponegathon time. While the organization was a bit scattershot (we had to do multiple headcounts that kept changing to see how many people were still in the game), I made it to the top twelve and the team qualified for the finals on Sunday. Unfortunately this conflicted with plans to attend an escape room with friends, another small regret of the trip. I inexplicably cannot account for what took up Friday night after Ponegathon, save for dinner and the evening, when the room became host to the gang as we played Red Flags. After observing casually as I hunkered on my laptop in the corner for a bit, I came over and joined in and had a lot of fun.
Day 2 was a day of tension - Iron Author was today, and after a tie for second last year I dared hope I would place again. SPOILER alert, I didn't, but what I did write I am proud of and hope the judges enjoyed it, and congratulations to the winning fics which do not seem to be on this site for me to link people. It's unfortunate because Aquaman's entry was superb. Who is that? I'm glad you asked, because my Saturday morning was spent listening to his winning entry in SCRIPTFest be read by the VA panel. I regret recordings were not allowed here, if only because his script was fantastic, depicting Starlight taking the Student Six to Tartarus to speak to Cozy Glow. I've said before the Student Six never interested me, this "episode" fixed that entirely by showing each of the six taking a unique approach to trying to get through to Cozy. It was funny, it was emotional, it gave us new insights on the Student Six, Cozy, and even Starlight, and was just top-notch writing. I hope Aquaman goes far in his writing career.
And then it was Iron Author time. If you haven't seen its posting, my entry was "Extinguished". I did not place, oh well, I got a good little story out of it.
I then attended "The Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction", a panel that I was not ready for. It was a panel of authors discussing how they've worked through their struggles with their writing. I say I was not ready for this panel because I was not ready for it to make me think about myself. To try and describe what I mean by that would be a post so long it could hit the word limit for blogs, but suffice to say, I'm at a crossroads in my life where I'm trying to recognize my psychological shortcomings and preparing to begin that journey to being able to face and overcome them. I've never consciously tried to use fanfiction writing to cope with my issues, but this panel really got to me, hard, and I'm still thinking on it and what it means for me and my future. But it's good, because I need to think about these things more, and I think the panelists for spurring that into action - now it's on me to actually ride that train of thought forward.
I don't like going into the darker places of my head, as I said I'm still preparing for that journey. I needed something to lift my spirits. Aaaah, Justice3442 is hosting a panel! I actually thought that at the time, if he's as wacky and fun in person as in his writing, his panel on art will be just what I need. I had no idea at the time how correct I was. Attended his panel, introduced myself after. And then he asked me a question.
"Would you be up for sitting on the Sunset panel tonight?"
Justice would later tell me on Discord that "There was this look on your face like you couldn't believe it was actually happening, like a kid that go all their Christmas presents hand delivered by Santa in the middle of July."
That is an apt summation.
To be asked to sit on a panel and talk is mind blowing to me, that someone thinks highly enough of me that I deserve to address a room of fans on a topic, to receive and answer questions from them. I am so honored and humbled to have been asked, and I hope my ramblings and self-advertising were... I don't even know, I wanna say "did some good", "enlightened some people"? I don't think I have any great insights to share on Sunset that others much more talented and articulate than me haven't said before, but I do hope our guests enjoyed themselves, and I hope Justice did not go back to his room afterward and cup his face in his hands and weep in regret of asking me that question.
Morning, attended the PMV contest. A worthy winner from this, "Africa", and while it did not place, I also enjoyed "Holding Out For You". Also, I won't single out individual entries for weakness, but I will say, some entrants need to examine what makes a good PMV. It isn't as simple as "select clips that fit the lyrics and put them in the timeline". A lot of entries were just that with no reason or flow to their content, when a good PMV tells a story using the song and the clips together to create a narrative, the two complementing each other. Then we got Luffy's winning entry from last year, which gets funnier every damn time I watch it and you all should go do so if you haven't seen it. The panel also got my wheels spinning on PMVs to try, but I'll need to wait on Season 9 to end so we have more footage of the Legion of Doom - perhaps I'll try my hand at entering next year.
Around this time I happened upon Novel and other friends in the atrium. Many of us congregated there and we took a group photo. While signing his con book, I also happened to mention to Novel how disappointed I was in lack of Starlight plushes that won't make my bank account cry, because I want so badly to just have some physical figure of her, not just an art print. He told me about a booth in the vendor hall that had small (I think clay?) figures molded from the mini figures, and he saw a Starlight there. I went and looked - they did indeed have a Starlight, a Starlight, the one on display was the last one, and she was a price I was comfortable paying for the craftsmanship put into her. I am very very happy to have a Starlight to put on my shelf at home and so very thankful Novel mentioned her to me.
I then went to the Ponegathon finals. I did not make the final two, but I did answer the most important question of the contest - I won a Twilight Equestria Girls Mini figure for a bonus question. I am very pleased and also very sad I do not have a Sunset to go with her. I then went to Iron Author awards and did not place there, but I enjoyed the readings. My congratulations to all the entrants.
At last it was time for closing ceremonies and the big announcement that EFNW is swooping into the void left by Bronycon, shifting its date to August and moving to a bigger venue. I've already purchased my pass to attend.
I love the story of Albinocorn messaging me on Discord about Iron Author last year, because it is something straight out of a corny movie - I have my stuff, I am going to the elevator to leave and catch my plane home, and he tells me to get my flank down to the room, I tied for second and they are reading my entry right now, and I came, collected my prize, and bowed before an applauding crowd. You can't make that sort of thing up, well, of course you can, but it was reality for me. There were no big dramatic moments like that this con. I got something better - time spent with friends. I got to put faces to people I've only known as usernames on a screen, I reaffirmed how much I enjoy being part of this fandom and sharing stories and music and videos, and I even got a bit of introspection on myself.
Everfree Northwest truly does bring the magic of Equestria to Earth.
Really glad you had a great time at it. A lot of people I wanted to meet but didn't get a chance to, there is always next year.
Glad I was able connect with you. And yeah, getting asked to a panel is always a trip. Glad you had such a great time!
I am glad you got to meet Kelly Sheridan (voice of Starlight Glimmer) and I know the Student 6 VA's were there, along with Sunni Westbrook (cozy Glow) and Mark Achenson (Lord Tirek). They had a villains panel with Mark and Sunni.
Good to know you got the Glimmy figurine. I was disappointed because I dodged the vendor hall for the first hour on Friday because it was packed and that was enough time for her to sell out all three of her Scootaloo figurines. There were still Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle figurines there at the end of con too.