Everfree After · 4:23pm Aug 15th, 2023
Another year, another Everfree Northwest, and this one was especially fun.
Thursday
Getting there was largely painless, aside from having to get up at 3:30 AM to catch the train to the airport. Special mention also goes to the woman next to me who refused to take out her headphones when asking about ordering meals onboard the plane, and thus was convinced they wouldn’t feed her until they did. (Likewise the pug who was very well behaved in his carry-on… as long as he could see his emotional support human.)
My room was already ready upon my arrival, which was a welcome deviation from my usual experience at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue—in their defense, I usually arrive around 10 AM—so I could settle in before registering. The registration desk was opposite the front desk instead of its usual location, since that was the last day of some manner of insurance conference that was using those portions of the hotel EFNW usually occupied. (Appropriately enough for the subject matter, said conference ran longer than anticipated.)
Wanderer D reached out to me on Discord, inviting me to get ramen with him, Flashgen, and Petrichord. I had gotten lunch, but thanks to the placebo effect of not yet adjusting the time zone on my laptop, I figured I had room and gladly accepted. I could have just worn my badge, but it was more fun to read the final proof copy of Oversaturation I had brought with me. (Hey, a little advertising never hurt anyone. 
)
D gave me a sadly nonfunctional Sunset’s Isekai business card with the URL of his Fimfic profile on the other side, and we had a lovely time at the ramen place… even if they forgot everyone else’s drink orders. (I just got water.) I spotted Admiral Biscuit, Olden Bronie, and Winston in the lobby afterwards and went down to say hi. D and company came by shortly after and the two of us made a suitably big deal out of not having seen each other in minutes.
Beyond that, Thursday consisted largely of unpacking, finalizing my personal schedule for the con, and practicing my crossover presentation.
Friday
Adjusting to a three-hour time difference is not fun, though a twenty-hour day is certainly one way to force one’s circadian rhythm to shift. Can’t say I recommend it, though.
A few hours after waking up, I went down for the opening ceremonies, running into several familiar names. When I showed Shakespearicles Oversaturation, he told me there was a typo on the back cover (which there wasn’t) and laughed as I apparently went deathly pale as I double-checked. Scampy and Gay For Gadot were for more welcoming, offering warm greetings and cookies. I caught Scampy totally off-guard with my mustache. They couldn’t stay for long, though, as they needed to touch base with Wanderer D and finally compare notes about the panel on collaborative writing they were all presenting that morning.
None of us missed the irony.
In the line itself, there were still plenty of memorable folks, even if none of them were on Fimfic (to my knowledge.) Twilight and Applejack cosplayers were in front of me, telling me about their friend who was a perfect match for Rarity and how they were still looking for a Pinkie Pie. Two guys were handing out origami unicorns to the whole line; I got a particularly Great and Powerful one. (Read: It was blue.) Those unicorns would proceed to occupy every flat surface in the convention that held still long enough. I’m still positive that they multiplied while no one was looking.
Oh, and Princess Deadpool naturally graced the line with his presence. I ended up sitting next to him once the doors opened and we all filtered in. It always feels weird to not see a mass of tumors that used to be a face under there. Not that I wish that on him. It the same vibe as seeing Din Djarin without his helmet.
When everyone was seated and we were waiting for the festivities to begin, Dustykatt, the world’s manliest brony, went through the audience, tossing buttons based on an impromptu shouting contest. When the festivities began in earnest, one of the con chairs provided us with a musical retrospective of his last ten years of convention-going memories… with the music abruptly cutting out when the slideshow went from photos with friends to the image of a certain coronavirus.
That was the one sour note of the whole opening, though. The highlight had to be the promised surprise guests wandering up the aisle towards the stage: Nicole Oliver and Tabitha St. Germain bickering with each other as the royal sisters over where to find the Everfree zipline. (Granny Smith chimed in at one point. I can only imagine what it’s like to have that many characters sharing headspace with you. I usually just have Pinkie Pie taking up long-term residence.) Upon getting the directions, Ms. Oliver asked if there would also be wine when they got there. As she noted, “Celly needs her wine.”
With three days of Equestria on Earth officially begun, I made a beeline for the third floor conference room that hosted the writing panels, or as I like to call it, the Twilitorium. First on the docket was the aforementioned co-writing panel, where I got to meet EileenSaysHi in person for the first time. Given our shared Sciset preference and Scampy’s nature as the queen of Sunflower, I noted that we were in enemy territory. They responded with there being a joke about the Dark Side in getting cookies from Her Highness. (To underscore the point, Scampy’s introductory slide in the presentation was mostly Wallflower art she’d either drawn or commissioned.)
The panel itself was incredibly insightful, highlighting the shared responsibilities, potential pitfalls, and various approaches of working together to make a story happen. Honestly, I could have used some of those lessons years ago. Especially those about the dangers of scope creep. 
After a quick lunch, I went to the vendor hall for my first autograph time slot at Twilight’s Book Nook, the bookstore I and several others have been planning for months. Naturally, I checked out the rest of the vendor hall as well. As ever, a massive panoply of incredibly talented artists offering stuff that I could rarely convince myself to get. I can never stop asking myself whether I truly need the stuff, to say nothing of how I’ll get it home, though I did obtain some stickers and postcard-sized prints. Most notably Brianna “Cherry” Garcia’s Sunsetraptor and Derpyraptor. I’m not sure whether Brianna was the Twilight or the Sunset cosplayer at her table, but both had done a great job. (I also got more books than I strictly needed, but having physical horsewords is cool even when they aren’t mine. 
)
The Book Nook itself was an incredible sight, a very professional setup at one of the double-wide end-of-aisle booths with five sets of shelves stuffed with horsewords. My choice to sit in for half an hour was validated by Dubs Rewatcher and Flashgen… though I’d end up signing a lot of books outside of the Nook as well. Fortunately, I kept Sharpies in my backpack at all times, for autograph emergencies. 
After some confusion on which floor I needed to go to, I was bit late for the Triviatastic panel… but one of the panelists, The Illustrious Q, was even later, so it didn’t matter. This year was a lot more challenging on average; the addition of G5 questions tripped up a lot of contestants. I personally never got to answer any questions, but I still won a prize (and a felt taco from a Sonata cosplayer) by answering a trick question posed by Silver Quill. When he assured the contestant that nopony had ever said a ponified The Room quote, I offered “Cloppy Wiseauts,” which was good/terrible enough to get one of the consolation prizes (An OC card for Prance, the card game.)
After that, I stayed in the Celestia Room (one of three smaller rooms, alongside the Luna and Cadence Rooms, near the Mane Stage, unlike the grander hall named for Her Bibilophilic Highness) for Pony Life is Magic, a riffing panel where I mostly tuned out the riffing. Some of that may have been my positioning, sitting closer to the screen than the nine-person panel poking fun at the footage. (And in hindsight, it’s amazing I got as much out of Pony Life as I did given how little there is when one doesn’t pause it five times a minute to get thoughts down.)
Mind you, when the head of the panel was a Starlight fan literally covered head to toe in Glimmerwear, I couldn’t completely block them out. There was a running gag of applauding every time Potion Nova appeared on screen. When the title card for “Flutterdash” came up, cheers filled the room… though reactions were more mixed with revelations like recolored Fluttershy and normally sized Bulk Biceps. (“There is no God!”) Also, when Spike said his next cinematic project would be “a sci-fi Western romance with a musical component,” the panel determined that he’d be making pony Cowboy Bebop. In all, it was a nice way to unwind for a bit… though I kind of regret not attending one of the open read and critique sessions. I do enjoy. good ORC.
I did attend the next Twilight Room panel, Somber on writing ensemble casts. That provided a lot of food for thought along lines I had never put into words myself, looking both at the distinctions between an ensemble cast and recurring secondary characters and the various interpersonal dynamics that arise from ensembles ranging from one (the singular omnicapable hero) to ten and up (good luck.) Also topics like the dynamics of betrayal and heel-face turns, conservation of plot armor, and the inevitability of someone shipping the characters. Good stuff all around.
I got dinner at the nearby Wendy’s at this point—always try to find room in your con schedule for meals—and spotted a family of four where both parents were clear Rarity fans going by what they were wearing (even if the mother was wearing socks with sandals.) It’s incredible to think that a good number of young lives owe their existence to this fandom.
After grabbing my backpack again—no sense in dragging it around town—I encountered Bookish Delight (currently active on AO3) and Shaxbert at the elevators, to our mutual delight. We all ended up going to the Sketches from a Hat panel, which involved the audience wirting prompts, putting them in a hat, and the artists competing to see who could complete the most in an hour, all while running a Q&A session to avoid dead air.
Delightful madness ensued, from my own submission of evil mastermind Derpy to Bubbles of the Powerpuff Girls and Fluttershy staring and awestruck at each other to quite a few eepy ponies. One of my favorites was “The Warrior of Light meets Luna on the moon,” as drawn by someone with zero familiarity with Final Fantasy XIV. Thus Luna was shaking hooves with an equinoid light elemental with a four-pointed star for a head. Perhaps the best part was that at the end, everyone who had their prompt drawn could claim it for themselves from a table strewn with them outside of the panel rooms.
On my way back, I spotted something I’d heard rumors of earlier: Two attendees, each hauling a massive plushie of one of the G5 royal sisters. I mused aloud about how the Pipp must be larger than life size. “She is!” confirmed her carrier.
I rounded out the day with karaoke, hosted by Nicole Oliver and Bill Newton, the voice of Stygian. There was a strict no pony or Disney song policy—there was enough of that at the rest of the con—but aside from that, anything went. To emphasize that, one of the con heads opened with “I Believe” from The Book of Mormon. I personally went with Weird Al’s “Eat It” and stuck around for several more songs until I started to flag at what my body still insisted was quarter to midnight. That happened to be around when Nicole Oliver began performing “Oops, I Did It Again.” I must have avoided her notice, as I do not get banished to the sun for lèse-majesté.
Saturday
At breakfast in the hotel’s appropriately named restaurant Eques (yes, really,) a teen in the iconic green and white-striped hat of Bleach’s Kisuke Urahara seated at the table next to me opted for the breakfast buffet after proving unfamiliar with the concept of ordering off a restaurant menu. His father came to the table shortly afterwards, haggard and insisting that he couldn’t possibly order food until after the caffeine has had a chance to hit his brain. His son had insisted they head downstairs as soon as possible, despite the day’s events not starting for hours, hence why he hadn’t used the coffee machine in his room. I empathize entirely with the father, having been the son at times.
My first panel of the day was one on writing Sunset Shimmer, hosted by Albi, Amber Spark, and Oroboro… who sadly had to present via Zoom since her husband had tested Covid-positive just before the convention. (They filled her seat on the physical panel with a large Sunset plushie generously donated by an audience member.) It was a most enjoyable panel, though I may be biased in that regard. It certainly cemented Sunset as a trans icon, be that -gender or -species. Bookish and Shaxbert found me again, and while Dubs flatteringly called me out as a major Sunset author during the Q&A portion (along with Eileen, who absolutely deserved the spotlight,) I sadly never got to ask my own question. (“Who is the best person to ship with Sunset, and why is it Sci-Twi?”)
Also, I have to appreciate Wanderer D apologizing to me for missing my panel, since it meant I got to reassure him that it hadn’t happened yet.
Immediately after that came the Iron Author competition, one of the main reasons I come to EFNW. This year had an especially intriguing threefold prompt, all of which had to feature in the story to significant degree: Vexing Volcanism/Verdant Vegetable/Vibrant Vestigial. Rest assured that my story will go live shortly; there’s still some cleanup to take care of first. I last saved the entry with about twenty seconds left on the clock and was still only halfway through the first coat of polish. Might have gotten farther if the hotel hadn’t made me reconnect to their Wi-Fi halfway through the writing time, but so it goes.
After that came the Ask a Book Nook Author panel, where so many of us chipped in that they had to roll in chairs from the lower rows of the audience to accomodate everyone. I was between Dubs and MarvelandPonder, forming a “Sunset Belt” of sorts, all while sharing advice and tidbits of our earliest forays into writing stories. (Scampy objecting to the label of “prospective writer” for people who had, in fact, already written stories was very nice. Don’t minimize your accomplishments, folks. And yes, I’m aware of the hypocrisy there.)
As that panel wrapped up, I found out that The Perfect Barnstorm is in the “For the Love of Faust” anthology, which I apparently agreed to years ago and promptly forgot. Thanks to Amber Spark both for giving me something else to sign and for reminding me. Apparently I was far from the only author in that collection to forget my involvement with it.
To my delight, I was able to get lunch with Marvel afterwards, where we discussed our respective future plot ideas, the incredible work Bevin Brand did with both Empathy for the Devil and its accompanying behind-the-scenes art book, the terrifying uncertainty of the future, and more. Everyone I got to talk to is a wonderful person in their own right, but a one-on-one session with one of my favorite authors of recent years was one of my brightest highlights of the weekend.
Then came my own panel, “Crossovers: What to Do When Worlds Collide.” Which went very smoothly… for the first twenty minutes. See, all that practice meant that I could go through my prepared material very smoothly, but it being my first solo panel meant I was nervous enough to go through what had been a forty minute presentation at double time. The good news is that there were enough questions and other discussion topics from the audience to fill the remaining forty, even if I did have to scramble a few times. (I expected to get blindsided, but the problem there is that it didn’t mean I knew how I’d be blindsided.) Xepher assured me that I did quite well and that everyone tends to rush when on stage. I reminded him that I am a writer and thus never satisfied with my own work.
The presentation’s slides will go up shortly; they deserve their own blog. As for whether I’ll do this again… I can’t say quite yet. I did sincerely enjoy it, but I’m not sure if I want to do a deeper dive into the matter of crossovers or if I want to apply this experience to a different topic. I’ll see what I think when panel submissions open for next year.
I did have some other panels I thought about seeing, but I’d gotten an invitation to have dim sum with several other Fimfic luminaries, and I decided that spending time with friends was the better way to enjoy a pony convention. There was a bit of a Floorcon as we waited for our reservation time, but that just meant more time to hang out. When we did get to the restaurant, our party of twelve was split across two tables, so I ended up with Marvel, Bookish, Shaxbert, Dubs, and a sixth person who I sadly do not recall at this time.
Amid dumplings, buns, copious broccoli with garlic, and more, Marvel learned how they did surgery on a grape, Bookish learned to her… well, delight that I’ve been doing deep dives into more obscure pony media, and we jointly determined what kind of terrible jokes the Humane Seven would make. Highlights include:
• Applejack: “Yer tellin’ me a chicken fried this rice?”
• Twilight: “Apartment complex?” (pushes up glasses) “I find it quite simple, actually.”
• Rainbow Dash: “Lightning Dust? More like Lightning Doesn’t Go Very Fast.” (“Oh you wanna go?” “Yeah I wanna go!” “You wanna go?” “Yeah I wanna go!” Repeat until timely intervention from Pinkie Pie has them going out for burgers.)
I had to bow out of the follow-up party, knowing that I wouldn’t be any fun at my current level of fatigue, but it was still a fantastic time.
Sunday
I managed to stumble on Corejo and Sammi getting breakfast at another of the hotel’s in-house restaurants, and they invited me to join them. The group was in flux for a bit as some people came and went, but it settled on we three and Azure Notion, who boasts the lowest user ID among all active Fimfic users. Much credit goes to Misti, the waitress who was effectively working the entire floor by herself that morning. No word on whether her supervisor was named Opaline.
I opted to go to Pony Feud rather than the pun panel. ACRacebest, with whom I shared an elevator that morning, agreed that the latter sounded like suffering made manifest before recording for his Everfree vlog. I promptly got out of shot. Basic courtesy and all.
At one of the “take a pony thing, leave a pony thing” tables scattered throughout the convention—all of which hosted those origami unicorns—I found a Rarity deck box. I pulled out a Magic deck I had on hand for Magic emergencies (not that I ever spent more than five minutes in the tabletop games room this year) confirmed it could hold the card, and claimed it for my own.
During the Feud, Ana Sani, Izzy’s voice actress, insisted on being referred to as Izzy. The Owl House reps, of which there were a surprising number, were offered “ask the audience” lifelines to account for their lack of familiarity with pony, which offered mixed results. (One fellow said “Doctor Whooves’s TARDIS” for a question about modes of transportation seen in MLP. This was met with widespread disapproval.) It was interesting to see G5’s shallow world building come back to haunt the VAs with questions like “What MLP species would you want to be?” Once all the pony tribes were picked, they ended up scrambling for various hybrid critters. And the looks on their faces when their own character wasn’t in the survey’s choices were priceless. (Between Ana Sani and Athena Karkanis, Opaline’s VA, it’s a miracle the stage was intact by the end.)
Also, for those wondering, here’s what the survey said for “Who is best pony?”
12. Trixie (3)
11. Yes/All of Them (5)
10. Misty (5)
9. Applejack (5)
8. Rarity (6)
7. Pinkie Pie (6)
6. Luna (6)
5. Fluttershy (7)
4. Derpy Hooves (7)
3. Starlight Glimmer (10)
2. Rainbow Dash (19)
1. Twilight Sparkle (21)
The Iron Author results were next, where I snagged an honorable mention. Apparently mine was the only entry that got above average scores in all categories… just not enough to squeak out a podium spot against the other contenders, when fractions of a point separated those top entries. Still, the top three, R5h, Undome Tinwe, and winner Shaslan, all knocked it out of the park with their stories, which were read for all to hear.
After that came my second volunteer autograph slot, where I was able to entice Skywriter into buying a copy of Oversaturation just by holding a book he didn’t yet own in front of him. Albi and Amber came by, the latter in a wheelchair since that was the only way she’d be able to last through the day. Entirely fair; cons can be exhausting.
Wonder of wonders, I spotted Minty Root at lunch, explaining the history of the fandom and his own travels to various conventions to an interested onlooker. I made sure to compliment his animation.
I briefly sat in on the authors’ fireside chat, but decided to go pick up my unsold books instead. (Out of the twenty I supplied, only three were left. Having something short, small, and relatively cheap was a winning strategy. ) Since I was there, I helped tear down the booth, packing books for eventual distribution back to their authors, claiming a few souvenirs from the promotional material, and signing the store banner for any future forays.
There’s something surreal about helping pack up in the vendor hall. Peeking behind the curtain tends to be, but even as the wonder of going through Artist Alley fades, one can still appreciate the magic of friendship as many hands make light work.
A bit later, after I made sure to pin down the logistics with Wanderer D unlike last year, it was time for the writers’ dinner at Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse where they serve you meat until you tell them to stop. And “logistics” was the name of the game; D had been hashing it out with them all weekend. Small wonder when almost thirty people came along. I ended up sitting with him, Skywriter, Xepher, Rescue Sunstreak, and someone whose name I never got. I never said anything at the time, but I was still amused by bookending the convention by sharing meals with D. (This was also the only time I actually got to touch base with Aquaman in person; we’d mostly been comparing notes on Aragón’s Discord server.)
After much meat, I said my goodbyes with many handshakes and hugs as appropriate, including giving Scampy several giggle fits.
“There was, emphatically, meat.”
(laughing) “You can’t just say that with that mustache! ‘Oh, indubitably.’”
“Indeed. It cannot be dubited.”
(more laughing)
From there it was just a matter of getting back to my room and arranging an Uber for the next morning, taking into account a 10 AM takeoff.
Monday
Upon double-checking my flight itinerary, make that a 9 AM takeoff.
Suffice to say, my last moments in the hotel room were a bit frantic, though I was still able to get to the airport with plenty of time to spare, even with a security line that coiled like an intestinal tract. The biggest irony was that, due to the plane’s delayed arrival and some inspection hiccups with an improperly sealing door, we still took off after 10.
Much of this blog was outlined on the plane… but not fully written, as I was in a middle seat and it was uncomfortable enough making that list of bullet points. After that, the train, and a housemate picking me up, I was home around 8 PM Eastern time. Time travel isn’t as fun going west to east.
In all, this was another very fun convention. Here’s looking forward to next year, and my apologies to everyone I met but didn’t mention.
Still cursing my decision not to go this year. Next year hopefully!
It was great to finally touch base and get to know you better. I really enjoyed talking with you.
….you know what, I’d probably forget me from last year too. It’s for the best.
In any case, very glad it was worth another trip out to the PNW, and that you managed to narrowly escape our now-ongoing heatwave.
Year n of wishing I had the time and money to travel all the way out there. Sounds like you had an amazing time.
Wow, thanks for the super in-depth info about your time at EFNW! It was very fun reading your travelogue, and I'm glad you had such a good time!
Sounds like a blast
I do hope the Book Nook was a big success.
As is proper n_n
Glad you had fun. And I'm amused you think the only reason Oversaturation sold well is because it's short and cheap and not say, an incredible piece of writing :P
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So, despite being a SciSet person rather than a Sunflower person, you ended up forgotten?
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH
Glad you had an amazing time! I always seem to have trouble keeping track of time at cons ^^
I'm sad that I missed a few writing panels due to time getting away from me, so I'm really looking forward to your crossover panel slides. Also, I forgot to say it there, but I'm sorry for stealing the Wheeler intro on the Book Nook panel
What an enthralling post-con recap. Even when the events/style of banter wouldn't be my cup of tea, the infectious enthusiasm is clear from this text alone.
Above all, it all sounds so… so dense with material! If anything, rather than convincing me that some year I need to make the journey across the pond and join all you Yanks for one of these, it's having me doubly-nervous that I'll never hit even all the events and people I absolutely triple-A want to, and thus leave me not as stoked on the trip home and looking back on it. Speaking as someghost who only with his third UK PonyCon in a few months will have seen much of everything at least once – and that's not nearly as dense a con at this.
Still… problem for the future, eh?
For now, loved reading this. Delightful to see so many familiar and semi-familiar big names still go to these.
It was good seeing you. Looking forward to next time!
Lovely recap as always. I do hope I'll be able to get to a US con one day.
Huh, I always thought Kisuke's hat was black and white, but then I'm colorblind. It's too dark a green for me to see.
Amazing to think that we were just within a few orbits of one another and still managed to miss each other.
Still, I'm glad you had a great time!
It was great to see you there, however passingly!
After getting over the hump of the show ending and a lot of folks leaving. It feels like the fandom has evolved into a group of good friends. The best way to describe it would be that it's cozy. EFNW honestly feels like the culmination of that feeling.
Aww, FOME, it was the biggest treat to get one-on-one time with you, and what a phenomenal time as a whole! Now I see why people become addicted to Everfree! Also thank you for this; it's so nice to see things from your eyes and to know what experiences were out there! Plus, a record of the memories we made!
So glad you had such an awesome (if jam-packed) weekend and we'll definitely have to do this again. But I'm gonna need to join the karaoke next time. Gotta duet with one of my fav fandom authors
So many Fimfic names... maybe I'll go next year and try to finally meet some other authors (aside from the few I met at Trotcon). It's a bit too long a flight for me to want to just fly out for that, but if I went as part of a larger vacation to nearby Olympic NP...
...maybe.... maybe....
I loved having the chance to see you again, and no regrets on picking up Oversaturation so far!
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If you come out, we can do a whole panel on Harshwhinny. I'm sure that'll go over well.
Here's to hoping I get to go one day. A little difficult to make it, though, given that I currently live halfway across the globe, but there's always hope.
As somebody with a five-second memory, I'm amazed you can remember⁽*⁾ all those names. Wish I could have been there, but after looking at the Iron Author topics, I'm afraid I would have scraped out last place again so it was probably good for my ego (and family obligations) that I was home this year.
(*) Those of you who have met me at various cons should be able to remember me from my red shirt/black pants combo. If you have a picture of people at a ponycon and there's a lost-looking geezer dressed like that, hi there. That's why I try to take pictures of people there which include the nametag.
Great recap. Maybe I'll see you next year if I'm able!
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Hope to see you all some day!
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Likewise! Always fun to compare notes on respective headcanon, even without being served copious quantities of meat.
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)
Apologies for forgetting last year, especially given how much fun our interactions were (based on my recap blog from that year.
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Incredibly so. About two thirds of the inventory got sold , and I made sure to get a copy of The Education of Clover the Clever.
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Fair enough, but that's not readily apparent for any Book Nook shoppers who had never heard of it.
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Touche
I still think you're underestimating your reach n_n
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Planning out a schedule ahead of time helps... as does anxiety about being late keeping one eye on my watch at all times.
And don't worry, Flashgen. It's just nice to have someone else familiar with LRR in the vicinity.
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This is very much a highlight reel. I skipped over the recharging lulls for the most part, to say nothing of all the room parties I didn't attend. (Apparently the third floor is the designated "party floor" once the panels conclude? I think? I never quite pinned that down.) But yes, in my experience, it is nigh-impossible to actually do and meet everything and everyone you might want to at a convention. Best to enjoy what you manage to accomplish.
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Likewise!
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So it goes. The beauty of a convention is that it's possible for two people to go to the same one and have completely different experiences. Hope you had a great time as well!
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1,800 attendees is a bit bigger than cozy, but there were certainly some cozy moments.
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I enjoy making a record of the great time, both to share with others and so I can look back on it and recall all the fun that led to it. (That's what all those notes were for.) Definitely looking forward to the next time we can meet in person.
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Always nice to meet you as well, and I'm glad to hear it!
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As I noted above, copious notes went into this blog, both on my laptop and physically written down as the events happened. There wouldn't be even half as much detail if I tried to do it purely from memory.
Oxymoron alert!
Much like how Misty had to artfully misspell it, I'm pretty sure the closest a human name gets is "Opal". Like the Artemis Fowl fairy (or the cat
)
According to a previous post on the matter, this is an especially author-heavy con and thus the winner is selection bias.
5742525 Yes, it may be selection bias, but the winner is still Twilight Sparkle. Like it should be.
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I actually have a low-burn idea to do just that! Both a pitch to the audience on why I think she made for a very good 'antagonist,' with of course a healthy dose of over-the-top tomfoolery as I tie her name to biblical reference and such. I'm not sure if I'd have the confidence to try it after a plane ride while at a new convention, though.
Either way, she must be appeased!
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/cfbdacf8-d125-4766-8c8e-b7b6fd871f11/dfodi0y-a005e041-bdf9-44ef-9b34-9a40ac130dfe.jpg/v1/fill/w_774,h_1032,q_70,strp/img_20230202_215107664_hdr_by_runesoldierdan_dfodi0y-pre.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTcwNyIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2NmYmRhY2Y4LWQxMjUtNDc2Ni04YzhlLWI3YjZmZDg3MWYxMVwvZGZvZGkweS1hMDA1ZTA0MS1iZGY5LTQ0ZWYtOWIzNC05YTQwYWMxMzBkZmUuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEyODAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.g-pcJjNoJQwsKpWL1In2xxo5GAOc4jnqJLUby8Dt1h0
Great to meet you again!
5742568
Please let me know if this threatens to become a reality. I'd be happy to back you up on the panel.
5742635
No promises (I have way more creative ideas than time to do them), but I hope to at some point!
...I haven't used power point since college XD.