EQLA and a short review! · 4:13am Sep 10th, 2015
I had a great time at EQLA. With one or two exceptions, it was a terrific experience.
Can you say "Lauren Faust and Bonnie Zacherle meet for the very first time?"
I'm sorry; nothing but Butter Pony can convey how adorable and sweet and touching this was. I'll probably cover this later, but I'd been afraid that Lauren Faust would overshadow Bonnie Zacherle. That didn't happen. Bonnie was greeted with a rousing standing ovation. Lauren Faust teared up and thanked Bonnie Zacherle for everything. Bonnie Zacherle said "thank you." There were hugs. Then Lauren Faust got out the very first Pony--My Pretty Pony--and asked Bonnie Zacherle to sign it.
Here's a link to the video of the panel. There's another, shorter video shot by A.C. Racebest, but it's got too much A.C. Racebest in it (and I like A.C. Racebest--I'd just rather hear Lauren Faust and Bonnie Zacherle.)
This may have been me:
There's a bunch more interesting stuff that happened, too, and I want to make sure it gets out there ( like "Lauren Faust always intended for there to be sea ponies, bitches. Seriously, what's with the whining about sea ponies? There is nothing wrong with sea ponies, and she even had a plot idea in mind, with the Kraken, no less, so you can't say 'oh, woe, Fausticorn would never ever ever have allowed sea ponies,' because she planned to."), but that will have to wait.
Meanwhile, I bought a few boxes of Twilight's Secret Shipfic Folder and had a chance to play an incomplete round! From the little I played, I can say that it was enormous fun, and I recommend it highly.
I'm still figuring out the details of the game, but basically you start with Twilight in the center. You turn over three Goal cards, like "I Swear I'm Not Gay: Ship One Male Pony With Three Other Male Ponies." Then you add ponies and ships in long chains. "Moe Fluttershy" might be connected to "General Commander Dash" via "You Had Me At Neigh," for example. All of the pony cards have race, gender, and names attached. Some of the ship or pony cards have special powers that get activated, like the abilities to swap race, gender, and names, or swap two ponies on the grid.
Yes, there is a Donut Steel Mary Sue pony card. Yes, there are cards for Bloomsburg and Tom. Many cards also contain quotes from supposed shipfics, like a Fluttershy/Blueblood fic called Love Is An Open Door. The sheer wackiness and impossibility is part of the charm. Here's a quick explanation.
I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to play more than once, but it turns out that you can download the cards, and also that you can play online! So at some point, I'll probably be figuring out how to play this on Steam or Vassal. It's too much fun not to.
Hey, apparently I'm a ship/romance writer, so I might as well live up or down to my reputation, right?
Don't forget Lauren's interview with MA Larson! I watched both on youtube. As an unrepentant Twist fan, this part struck me as interesting:
--arcum42
(Transcription by me ,and may be inaccurate.)
3381933 I know! I'm sure you can imagine Elric's reaction to this, as a total Twist fanboy. We were discussing this because we were at the same panel, and we were contemplating things like "what if they'd used Twist instead of inventing Pip for Luna Eclipsed?"
Yep. I'm planning to mention the M. A. Larson interview, too, and I'd better do it soon because it's starting to fade. Still, I was really interested in what Amy Keating Rogers told me about The Journal Of The Two Sisters . . .
3381937
I certainly can! You see, the way I and Elric actually became friends is that on the old Twist group, the two of us were unmercifully spamming Twist pictures in the chat thread. The discussion turned to music, and we had similar tastes there as well, and we took things to pm.
Then, later, when there no longer were any active admins in the Twist group, we discussed it, and hashed out the details of the new 'Twist!' group before Elric created it. So, I'm one of the other major Twist fanboy's around here...
If the interview starts to fade too much, there's a video of it here. Not the best quality, mind.
--arcum42
3381964 Too bad you couldn't be there, but I'm sure you feel vindicated. Hey, maybe now that it's been mentioned, Twist will get a short spot in the sun. Then again, Babs Seed hasn't gotten more than a passing mention.
3381973
The trouble is that Twist's voice actor moved to America, and isn't available to voice her any more, Unless they switch voice actors or have her phone the lines in, I suspect we won't hear much more of her...
Babs was Cindy Morrow's character, and she's back on the writing staff, so I'm still hoping to see another appearance from her. Don't know if we will, though.
--arcum42
Ooooh. TSSSFF... I've been wanting to have a shot at that through vassal, but alas I have no local friends to play the game with.
If you can stand working around time zones, hit me up, I'll be happy to play.
Though I'm a fan of Pixel Prism's art and know of TSSSF, I've never learnt how to play. I don't think it interested me that much, but I guess that's just me. I've never seen it in action. Might look it up and see what it's like. Though, I really love the art. For instance:
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/1/21/811379.png
A personal favourite of mine. I don't understand the context, but I don't need that.
OMG I've always wanted to meet Bonnie Zacherle! Back when I lived with my cousin, she had all the original toys that her mother had given her from Gen 1 and forward and we played with them all the time. I've been obsessed with ponies since birth, and I am so glad to see the original creator and the show creator meet. I just wanted to meet Bonnie and thank her for all the memories those toys gave me and the memories that the show that came of it gave me, too.
static2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131002064258/degrassi/images/2/25/Rainbow_Pie.gif
Like seriously, I would probably break down and cry if I ever met just one of them.
3382969 I actually got a picture with her!
i157.photobucket.com/albums/t50/professorbutters/EQLA/IMG_0449.jpg
3382996
You lucky duck.