Feb
27th
2013
Site Post » Las Pegasus Unicon Clean up · 11:36am Feb 27th, 2013
I'm sure you folks have heard plenty about the cock up that was Unicon. Some folks are doing an auction to raise money for those affected. If any of you are interested, you can bid on items on the forum or offer anything for auction, including services, such as fanfic writing (you can take up to 25% cut too).
I'm doing a hub site for information which you can find here.
You can find the auction site here: http://bronies.com/lpu/
If you have no idea what's going on, this post over at EQD will fill you in on what's going on exactly.
On it
I'm missing something. What went wrong?
Nope, I haven't a clue what Unicon was / is.
Las Pegasus Unicon, the brony convention in Las Vegas went bust over the weekend, leaving a lot of people out of pocket. For more information, visit your preferred Brony News site.
What-i-con?
What's a Unicon?
870189>>870182>>870176
Poorly planned event, when the people running it found they went over budget, they skipped town, leaving a number of convention goers to foot the bill.
Caused many to get into bad financial situations.
870176
Everything.
870188
That's just the problem, most sites give no informatie. I had to really search for informatio before I understood it.
But this is the gist of it, the whole of UniCon was a scam. The organisation skipped town as soon the con was good underway. Now are all participators left with the debt from the hotel's and the convention centrum.
And people said Tinker was bad...
870197
What was Unicon meant to be, oh Great and Powerful Trixie?
"Don't atribute to malice what can be atributed to stupidity." Still, skipping town after screwing up is just bad form.
870309
Thank you for that. And I agree—or, at least I agree up to the point where these guys are criminally liable. Most conventions require that guest talent and vendors have signed contracts for their appearances/spots, and the organizers are in breach of all of them, not to mention the contracts signed with the hotel for the rental of the space itself.
These guys need to do at least some time for it, since I'm all but certain they wouldn't be able to pay back the damages and court fees.
870328
That will start catching up to them soon, (for a given value of soon, red tape and all) they managed to annoy a lot of people with legal right for compensation. This is the sort of mistake that can haunt them for years or even decades to come.
Of course if they ponied up and were honest to the community about how badly they screwed up, then many of those annoyed people might have forgiven them and not pressed charges. The auction would have happened and the magic of friendship would save the day.
Woah, we can auction fic commissions? Tempting.
I'll volunteer to hunt 'em down.
I had no idea what was going on.
Don't worry knighty, I, the incomparable Launchpad McQuack, will do all I can.
Have all my commisions!
870418>>870197>>870238>>870357>>870328
Woah there, folks. Unicon organizers have made a statement on their page- it looks like it might have just been a really poorly run new con that (metaphorically and literally) wrote some checks their tails couldn't cash. They claim they never skipped town, that the hotel has been giving them trouble right and left, and since they're communicating again it seems like they do want to try to make things right.
By all means, those affected should be reimbursed, but let's not call the hanging judge until we get all the information and see how this plays out.
870418
We might have a lead from this: http://i.imgur.com/V0GTqtO.png
870462
Can you really trust it?
870462
Statement rescinded.
It seems as though miscommunication was to blame.
870487
Not really, but the folks are still around and we need to see how it plays out. If they disappear there's no reason to believe them, or if other people who know something release conflicting statements with actual information (the folks from EFNW, for example, to whom Unicon organizers claim they handed the reins) then they're probably more trustworthy. But so far, all of the information against is tiny pieces of the picture, individual experiences of people attending. Those add up to something unpleasant, but we have no way of knowing what caused the unpleasantness without more info from people at the top, and we haven't heard from anyone with real information about what went down, except for the organizers.
That's terrible that all that happened at Unicon.
Some people, I swear...
We can donate fanfics? Interesting...
870462
"Clusterfuck" seems to just about sum things up. I still think they could have been more forthcoming with the information, it might have saved them a LOT of trouble, but it looks more and more like EVERYONE is to blame.
And if this doesn't give everyone ironclad reasons to KEEP ACCURATE FINANCIAL RECORDS, I don't know what does.
870279 A brony convention in Las Vegas. The name Unicon is a mashup of “Unicorn” and “Con”, short for “Convention"
I still can't believe it crashed so hard.
870521
This. As tempting as it might be to want to vilify someone and have a definite "bad guy" in this scenario, it's been seeming more and more as though it's just a bit more complicated than that. We need to know what really happened before we get our pitchforks ready, yeah?
Whether this was a scam, which I have a hard time believeing, or, more likely, an financial failure, I'd really like to help out, especially to all those people that got their economy ruined by this, or even got stuck in Las Vegas O.o
So, both great work, and thanks knighty for creating an webpage for this cause, I'll definetly look if there´s anything I can do to help.
M
870328 Thrown in jail on account of ponies... Not exactly something you want to tell your bunk-mate
In all seriousness, though, for now I'm reserving my judgment until we get the full picture. The one thing that totally impresses me, however, is just how much the fandom as a whole as stepped up to set things right. I was convinced that bronies were some of the nicest people before, but this is still blowing me away.
Even as tragic as this whole situation has been, I still say the response reflects just how awesome everyone in this fandom is. This, right here, is why I'm proud to be a brony.
On the topic of fanfiction commissions... The subpage on the auction site for commissions can be found here. A number of fic writers have already put up auctions. My PFF GaPJaxie is offering a one-shot WITH commissioned coverart included here. TheSlorg is offering either a one-shot or a cameo in an existing tale here. Someone named Rhyme Scheme is even doing pony poetry! There's one other fic auction up atm, but never heard of that shmuck. He's probably a ginger.
75% to 100% of the money (on a case-by-case basis; check the individual auction) goes directly to attendees in need, like those who paid $1500 to LPU for a comprehensive guest package that included a hotel suite, then were charged again for the cost of the suite by the Riviera. If you like helping those in need, and you like fanfiction (I assume you do? You're on this website...), then please consider giving, as a bidder, seller, or both!
And of course, check out the rest of the site. How about this awesome commish for poni stained glass? How about authentic story breakdown cards from S1? How about the shirt off Megan McCarthy's back?! unfortunately she's washing it first
870273
Interestingly enough, PT was one of the many organizers of that auction site, and she's auctioning off a lot of rare and one-of-a-kind memorabilia for LPU victims.
Unicon seems like it turned out to be a real CON
But seriously, I hope they fix this issue soon. I would hate to be stuck in a crisis like that.
Hey, what do you know! A Knighty post that isn't porn/nsfw! ...I am dissapoint...
Yep, I love this fandom. Just goes to show how compassionate we can be sometimes, helping each other like this so generously. Wish I had a credit card to help. If I can do anything else, lemme know. They have my support.
870176
I just don't know
But honestly new information is only now coming to light in the aftermath so any answer we can give you will be incomplete. A lot of people who expected to get paid for their services weren't.
871199 People in general are like that in times of strife. Bronies really aren't all that different.
870905
That's the funny thing about my comment, I wasn't really complaining about her, since she's the one who did it right. She my be preachy and a hard ass but at least she pays the bills and has the integrity to not cause a scene unlike the ones who don't like her. She has my respect that's for sure.
870895
On the topic of fic writers offering commissions, count me in.
871424 Yeah, I suppose so. It's still really moving.
can someone please explain the situation to me?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gGIv5IQv7fA]
EFR and Final Draft have a Q&A up discussing the situation. Give it a watch before jumping to any conclusions.
871782
Ah, thank you for this link.
Okay, so what I'm understanding is this: Someone, somewhere fucked up with the finances and now the con-goers are stuck with large bills they can't possibly pay, possibly in the thousands. Or am I wrong?
I'm joining in on offering a commission, plus some bonuses like my services as pre-reader.
Here is the auction site post.
872018
Yes, those are the facts.
The controversy is whether the screw ups were the con organizers, the hotel, or someone else; and if it was the organizers, whether it was because of inexperience/stupidity or fraud. No one knows those things for sure, so there's a lot of finger pointing going on.
872097
Thank you. I finally feel like I get what's going on now. I'm curious to see how this will play out and what the real story is.
872018
Are we talking about a con fiasco or standard operating procedure in Washington?