• Member Since 18th Jun, 2012
  • offline last seen February 16th

Rarity Belle


A Dutch gentleman of leisure, living for pleasure, since mirth is my measure. Writing stories that are (mostly) unique and psychological of nature and visiting conventions whenever I can.

More Blog Posts35

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  • 420 weeks
    Hearth's Warming Con 2016

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Feb
29th
2016

Hearth's Warming Con 2016 · 11:50pm Feb 29th, 2016

With the month of February at an end, it also and sadly means that Hearth's Warming Con 2016 is over. As sad as it was to leave, that much joy we all had. The con was just insanity at it's finest and just the way I like it. Where to start with the madness? Where to start? Well, other than the fact me and my roommate got room 69 in the hotel of course and the loads of in-jokes we managed to make.

Pancake evening

This little thing was held on Friday before the con and took over the role of the dinner we had last year. I'm not the biggest fan of pancakes, but I didn't wanted to miss out on all the fun that could be had. So I joined, took a table with a couple other guys I know and for the rest of the evening we just laughed and laughed and laughed.

The dinner itself was amazing though. I was pleasantly surprised by the menu we could pick from and the moment I saw the 'pancake Dame Blanche' I knew I had to try it. A pancake with ice cream, whipped cream, hot chocolate sauce and either chocolate or coffee beans (can't remember which one it was). It was delicious! Wonderful, just wonderful!

Though to every goofing dinner, an end should come. One which was done in the way of a treasure hunt. So three other guys and me decided to form a group and go for it. After having taken the wrong turn from the start, we found the right way and began at the end to avoid the other groups. At one point we came to this hill and had the option to either take the slow path around and up, or charge the slopes and run up. We just charged almost blindly up to it. Managed to do a bit of the Pandorica speech once we were finally up top, which felt good!

Back at the hotel, we had a drink or two and then it was time to go to bed. Got no sleep that night though but the jokes and stakes were set high.

First day

Low and behold, the first day of the con had finally arrived and everybody was waiting in line. And it was a massive line even for such a small con. Of course, there were some problems with everything again, but in the end, everything turned out well. Got a bit earlier access because I was a guest, though I just didn't wanted to spend all my time inside already. So I just hopped back and forth between in and out. But Saturday was mentally devastating for me. I did so much, spoke with so many people, but it was all worth it in the end.

The opening of the con was exactly what you expected it to be, but that was followed by M.A. Larson's panel. He did the same what he did at Galacon 2014 when he was there, but I still stuck around for a bit. Didn't got his autograph this year though. Mainly because I already have it and that one is more than enough for me. Should have gone for that picture though with my full Nightmare Rarity cosplay.

The vendor area was jam-packed with all sorts of wonderful and crafty people and I wanted to buy so much! Problem is that I don't have the space for it at the moment (most likely will never get it, but that's a different story altogether). No, it was after Larson's panel that the most terrifying thing for me happened...

The dreaded and feared cosplay contest. I've been practicing for almost weeks to get everything right for that. From the lines to the music to the delivery. Yet when the moment was there, a slight mistake was made. The music began to play way after I had intended it to start. Which meant I could just wobble around on stage for 25 to 30 seconds. Still, in the end, I think I managed to make half the audience present deaf and everybody that didn't knew I was there, knew it in an instant. That yeah, kinda, accidentally, happened. I was so glad that it was over, to finally be done with that. It was fun and people liked it, which made it alright in my book. Didn't won anything with it though. Then again, my cosplay wasn't that brilliant. It works, but it ain't brilliant.

So after the cosplay contest, we had the charity auction. Given how the theme was pets, the charity for this year was an animal shelter, which did wonders. So the first item comes up, a Daring Do brushable, Toys'r'us exclusive, lovely thing. Opening bid was €30, I yelled €50 and the rest of the room remained silent. I feared I would end up with it. I heard it going once, nobody made a bid. I heard it going twice, nobody made a bid. Than I heard sold and knew I had it. Gave it to a friend who was looking for a Daring Do Funko, but that was impossible to find. Didn't make even one offer for the rest of the auction since that moment.

Just to stay on the subject of the auction a bit longer, I once said jokingly if it would be a good idea if I dropped in a story-commission because I could. That idea got approved and, it got sold. Which means that now I'm somebody's slave for a story in which anything and everything could happen. Was a bit disappointed with how the bidding went though, given how it meant I could write anything somebody wanted. Oh well, the person that bought is actually somebody that I know and I'll probably be starting to work on that in the near future.

During the rest of the day there wasn't much going on outside of having some good dinner. I love some good foodies! Wandering around a convention like Nightmare Rarity all of the day is wearing you out eventually, especially with the long coat I wore. But with everything done already on Saturday, the worst still had to happen: my panel. The story-editing panel was planned late in the evening (during the party) and still attracted a fair enough amount of people. A panel which also began a bit later due to difficulties. Both me and Shade had to cram 1 hour worth of goofing in 45 minutes. But I was so devastated and drained when we started with it and I just couldn't keep my head with it. I'm still thankful for Shade to have taken perhaps the unintentional initiative for taking over the panel. Also, bonus ducks, for some reason.

And with that as well as some more goofing around, that was pretty much the entirety of Saturday in a nutshell. I'm sure there will be lots of video's coming online in the coming days that will give you a taste of what it was. For me, Saturday was both stressful and rewarding at the same time. I had hoped that all of my obligations would be spread across the con, instead they were all piled on just one day. However, it meant that I wouldn't have any obligations on Sunday and thus could just goof around. Which I did. Oh boy, I dialed the insanity up to 20 on Sunday.

Second day

After about 4 hours worth of sleep and a good shower in the morning, the time had come again to wander the 20 minute walk to the venue. Long story short, I came a bit later than I had planned because I was a bit sore and tired. Nonetheless, I still had a high spirit and traded the headgear of my cosplay. I had my money ready to be spend and just walked around the vendor halls for a bit. Didn't care (read: wasn't all too interested) for the panel that was early in the morning. Sorry for that one! Got myself some postcards of the mane 6 and Nightmare Moon, as well as something rather unusual. Wooden war-game ponies which a friend of mine made. Awesome little things and he plans to make an entire game around them specifically. Before all of that spending, I decided to pick up my sponsor-ticket perks and all, it took me more than half an hour because people kept talking to me and I kept being distracted!

Even though Sunday was the day on which I had no obligations, there wasn't anything that I wanted to call particularly 'interesting' either. So me and a friend headed to the musician panel and saw where that would be heading to. It was tough though, I wanted to be there and at the artist panel but they were at the same time... Decisions had to be made and one had to suffer. It was an interesting panel nonetheless. Enjoyed myself more than I would have expected, and I walked away from the musicians panel at Galacon 2014 because it didn't interest me.

While the day continued to tuck on, I continued to wander around and about. The cosplay dating show was next and I had wondered what on earth that could have been since I saw the announcement. So I thought to myself to see what it was and see how it went from there. Long story short, I loved it. It was genius to see and even better to partake. ...Did that 3 times... People might have been annoyed by that. >-> Not that I particularly cared, nor did I hear any complaints and was patient with rushing to the stage so...eh? I say it worked out.

That was followed up by Pony Jeopardy and that was a lot of fun as well. Didn't had the chance to do it at Galacon last year because it was in German, but now I had the chance in English and, I didn't came in last! Only because the easier categories of conventions and fan-fictions weren't among the five I could pick. It was fun and sometimes a bit embarrassing as I have a tendency of overreacting in comedic fashion. It was just great to be there though.

Which than brings us to one of the last things: the skype call with both Claire Corlett (Sweetie Belle) and Chantal Stand (Diamond Tiara). I, dare to say that this was one of the more insane panels I've been at. Hilarious yet awesome at the same time. Then again, when Larson starts to ask questions, you know answers of the peculiar kind tend to come out of it. And they were, the answer, so much yes! I don't want to say this was the best thing at the con, but it's definitely in my top.

When the skype-call was over, the time was there to close it all off and kick us out again. The closing ceremony was wonderful and sad as per usual. Long story even shorter, had dinner with a couple friends and than it was just off to bed and sleep until the morning sun. And now I'm sitting here, writing this at midnight with all the memories flowing back to me. The weekend was brilliant. Just absolutely brilliant.

My thanks go out to the visitors, vendors, other guests, technicians, volunteers, staff, everybody that I may have forgotten and the committee of the convention for making it all a reality again. A massive thanks for letting me and Shade do our panel, as well as making it one of the best weekends I've ever had. But also a massive thanks for everyone who just came up to me and said 'hi', had a question about writing or just wanted a picture. There are no words known to humanity that could express my gratitude for it all. There wasn't just one thing that made the weekend brilliant, it was everything together that did. Everybody, a massive thanks and my hat (my actual purple top hat) goes off for each and every one of you. Fan-lon-imo, has a nice ring to it. Falonimo! Falonimo might be the correct word. (Fantastic, allons-y and Geronimo combined)

What a way to kick of the con season of 2016.

Any pictures, video's, notes about the con will probably surface in the days to come. Never been the one for making pictures myself and the merch haul this year isn't even worth showing off. But all in all, a great weekend, spend with even greater people and laughs for days. Next up: Brony Fair, Berlin.

Comments ( 11 )

If I wasn't so cheap/broke/inthecloset I would totally hit a con were I live. But none the less, I'm glad you enjoyed something like that at the least!:pinkiehappy:

3784890 Try it, you won't regret it. Conventions like these are madness itself but they are so much fun! And the first big thing I did when I was a brony, was attending Galacon 2013. Had the mentality of 'go big or go home'. I hope that one day in the future you will experience the same insanity as I did last weekend.

3785629 Thanks, I'll need it for whatever comes next... If the chance was given to me to do it all again (including the mentally drained part), I wouldn't even hesitate. But aaaaw, that's so sad! Then again, I have it too that in the end, all the memories become fuzzy as I don't have any pictures of it. We're Dutch and if the con was indeed held somewhere around Christmas, nobody would show up, which means near the end of winter might be the best time. ...We actually had snow a couple days ago to boot. It's strange, but it works out just fine. :twilightsmile:

3785708 I make sense, from time to time, when the weather is right... Hehehe. :twilightsheepish:

Hope you had lots of fun, which it seems you did :raritywink:

If you want to add pictures you can use mine.

3787492 Wanted to do that before writing this, but wanted to ask permission from you first. But since I wrote it around midnight, asking it never came around. Though now that I have your permission, I'll try and squeeze in a few pics, thanks! ...If I don't forget it that is.

Aah, the room 69 threesome with icecream with mister Larson. Happy memories, happy memories.

3790275 So many happy memories indeed.

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