Trotcon Experience 2015 · 4:09am Jul 23rd, 2015
Alright, I've spent the past few days thinking it over and I believe I'm ready for my account of this year's Trotcon.
Warning! The first part of this review will mostly complaints on what happened.
I like to begin by saying this convention was nothing less of a disaster for me. The first night I was there was pretty good, though. Dropped off luggage in our room, got our tickets early, and went out to eat at the Old Bag of Nails pub. Got to catch up with Drew Flashy [con PR], Chris [Out of Work Derpy tumblr blog Mod], Astral Spectrum, Crackle, and a lot of other friends I haven't seen all year. It was a great night filled with laughter and games. We arrived back at the hotel to see a bunch of tumblrpon mods sitting in the bar lobby and playing a new game Horse Fandom. I got drunk and crashed for the night shortly after.
We begin our disaster stories Friday Morning. Everything started off pretty well, I was able to wake up early and got down to the vending hall to get everything set up. Since I didn't have that much merchandise I was able to get this done pretty early and left to get some breakfast.
Now is when the problems began. By the time the vending hall opened I learned that my partner wasn't showing up until later that day. So by the time my first panel came around I had to ask The Brony Thank You Fund to watch my table for me as I did my panels. We both made the deal that if we sold anything of each others we would keep half. Not a bad deal but it really hurt in the long run, as I'll get into detail later.
Now, I wished we spent more time planning out the panel before going into it, but unfortunately we got distracted and didn't. As most of you probably already read from Present Perfect's blog the panel was the first Fimfiction panel of the convention. It was hosted by myself, Present Perfect, BaryonBrony, and RobCakeran53. The thing was super disorganized and it would have been horrendously bad if it wasn't for Baryon taking over and keeping it alive. Seriously, that guy gets passionate about writing and I was super inspired to write by just listening to him. I had to play devil's advocate at points to keep the panel interesting and avoid it turning into a lecture hall, but overall I'd say it was good.
I was basically done with panels for the day, except for one later that night. Now, as I got back to the vendors hall the Thank You Fund told me that I gave away all the cards I had up. I was pumped by this because that means I got my name out! More advertisment, more commissions, more money! All around big win... or so you'd think. I pulled out the next pile of business cards to discover a big problem. The back of two thirds of my cards were blank. That is where I printed the web addresses to all my sites. This means at least two thirds if not all of the cards that was given away were useless! Gah! I quickly switch out to the good cards but the damage was done... this was the end of the drama for the first day.
Later that night, though, when the vendors hall was closed I joined Teej and a bunch of other Tumblrpon people and we discussed the tumblr side of the fandom. It was a ton of fun, I got to see good friends again, and we all went drinking later that night and played some fun games. To be honest, I don't really recall much of what happened but we had a good time. I think I went out and got some food/booze with people, played some Cards Against Ponies [cards against humanity, but pony fandom themed], many keks were had.
Now, I probably had too much to drink, because I overslept by a lot and arrived in the vending hall fifteen minutes after they opened. Not like there was many people in there but it did hurt my pride. I like being early to things.
It was slow, and I learn of something which is bugging me today. No vendors were getting many sales except one, who was right across from me. He was a guy with $25-30 plushies. Like, a few hundred of them. Flocks of people ran to him when the hall opened the day before and traffic didn't slow down too much the second day. And when people came by my booth all the next few days they all held a plushie, saying how much they enjoyed my prints and wanted to buy one if they still had the money. I'm getting a twitch by how much I heard that phrase... it is so frustrating! Like, if you like the art, fine. But don't taunt me by saying You'd buy it if you had money! That is just like throwing me a line with not bait expecting me to bite.
Sorry, new pet peeve I've learned I had.
It was by the time I got back to my booth that the Thank You Fund people told me my partner showed up. I started to look around for him, but they told me dropped off his art and left. I learn later he left to enjoy the con, and was taking a nap by the time I finished my panels... Needless to say I was rather pissed, especially since he told me he'd rather be behind a booth selling his art than walking around the convention.
So I lost my partner, sold minimal prints because people didn't have any money, and half my panels felt like they were disasters... I was not felling very hot that night and those who know me could tell by how much alcohol I drank. My spirits did grow a bit when I got to hang out in the Adult Vending Room and hobnobbed with those artists. But with the events of the night before and the extra booze I drank, it made the next morning all that much worse.
Saturday morning we woke up to find bedbugs in our room. Needless to say we instantly packed up and evacuated the room. Due to how busy the hotel staff was and how many rooms were filled up we had to wait until later to get a new room, forcing us to leave our luggage at the front office. I arrived back into the vending hall again feeling worse than the night before. I sit down and forced a smile on and got to talk to people as they stopped by the booth. I already knew nobody was wanting to buy, so I decided on just chatting with whoever wanted to stop by instead. It was pretty enjoyable until my partner wandered by. He was oblivious to my anger to him, and I didn't call him out on it because I didn't want to make a scene in the middle of the vending hall. Other artists do that, but I have too much dignity to stoop that low.
So I had to leave my booth again to the Thank You Fund with the same deal. Now, I will say now that I don't mind sharing with them because I know my money is going to a good cause. But at the same time that doesn't help with expenses.
I started my long day of panels, going from 11am-5pm straight. The first one was a disaster through and through. It was my Art Expressions Workshop, and I didn't have either pencils or paper for it. Then we learned my tablet has an error which won't let us connect it to a projector. So we basically just sat around and... well... did nothing for an hour. It was horrible and embarrassing!
Luckily my Art of the Commission Panel, which was next, was a lot better. In fact, most of the panels that day went pretty well. I have very few complaints about them, actually. Though I don't think my script writing panel, Princess Screen Scribbles, went very well. Not that I didn't have any complaints, but wow, I feel embarrassed by doing it and am debating on not doing it again next year. I'd say out of the entire day my best panel for Saturday was the Gravity Falls one. Why? Because my co-panelists didn't show up? Nope. It was good because I didn't do squat but ask questions and let the audience answer them. It was actually pretty fun.
I did my last few panels that day and moved back to the artists alley to still see I didn't sell all that many prints. My only satisfaction was my good cards were almost gone and my "partner" didn't sell any either. Yes, I'm a grudge-bearing person that way. We closed up shop and I left to start my drinking binge again. Hey! I love alcohol at conventions. It is part of the charm of going. heh
The best part of the night, and in my opinion, the best part of the convention was when I got to go to AnimatedJames' panel. It started off rough with a fire alarm going off literally right before it started. I learned there that I wasn't the only person struggling with stress, but we were let back in pretty quickly and James was able to do it. I have to say it was worth the watch, so please click here and watch it. I'm going to be the one to say it, but AnimatedJames is the King of Deadpan Comedy.
Now, that night was a bit rough because my phone died. I was unable to call my room mates, I don't know the last name of the person holding the room, and I didn't know where the new room was... I was stuck without my clothes, charger, or room for the night. Thank goodness Baryon saw my desperation and let me crash in his room for the night. It was not the best night sleep I've ever had, but I can't complain because it was given in kindness. Seriously, Baryon is a fantastic person.
Now, for the last day of the con I overslept again. This time I wasn't too worried because I probably didn't sell anything that morning. Which was true, btw. So I sat at my booth feeling like something the dog dragged in. Stuck in the nastey clothes I wore the night before. No time to brush teeth or get deodorant... Terrible start. Not to mention I didn't see any of my room mates for the rest of the con. So that creates more drama down the line.
I did my second expressions panel on Sunday. It was okay because I paid someone the night before to go out and buy some pencils, then I "borrowed" some papers from the hotel's work room. And since I couldn't draw with my tablet I used some charcoal and my large sketchbook. It was a bit makeshift, but it worked. I'm personally not happy with how it turned out, but again I didn't get any complaints. Then we did what I think was my best panel for the con. We gathered all the scripts written at my script writing panel and read them out to the audience with some funny voices. Everyone was cracking up and it was fantastic.
To finish up the day, I closed up shop and calculated how much I've earned. In total I lost about $200 for the con... which is worse than just attending one. Then I find out that my room mates were not staying the extra night like I thought they were, so they packed up and left way early, leaving my stuff. Cleaning crew actually found it and brought it down to the front offices, so I didn't lose anything. But now I was stuck without a room again. Now, before I stressed myself out of all my hair Robcakeran gave me some space in his room to crash for the final night. I was super thankful... I can't believe how great of friend's I've made in this fandom.
The last of the night was spent sitting in the lobby with friends and discussing a variety of topics. I helped one person with a screenplay, we talked to Drew Flashy about changes they were doing to Trotcon and how much we didn't like it. Some friends bought me drinks when they learned how rough the con was for me. It was overall a good way to end it all.
So, in conclusion: Despite all the disasters and drama that occurred during the con, I really enjoyed it. I have some fantastic friends who helped out when I needed it. I got to meet some pretty awesome people, got to have dinner with AnimatedJames. M. A. Larson stopped at my booth and signed my Twilight picture.
A lot of good things happened which, in my opinion, out shined the rest. And I am looking forward to next year's Trotcon as well, as well as BronyCon this year.
So if you made it through that huge update of drama, then thanks for reading.
Good lord. D: I thought you were looking increasingly haggard as the con went on. I wish you'd said something. :(
That script reading panel was great, though, no fooling.
3262452 I didn't want to bring down anyone else's con experience, so I wasn't going to complain. All together I did enjoy the convention, but there were quite a few hurdles which kept trying to break my smile.
You never break Pinkie's Smile!
3263678
Nah, never feel like you're gonna ruin someone else's day with your problems, not when they're a friend. If nothing else, I'm there to listen. :)