Bronycon 2018 or, 'Why I haven't written the next chapter of Fellowship yet'. · 7:24pm Jul 30th, 2018
Addressing the next chapter first, for those that don't worry about 'con stuff... probably tomorrow or Wednesday it will be up. I always tell myself 'oh, vacation, I'm gonna write so goddamn much!' ...And then I end up doing things like visiting breweries with my stepfather and going out to dinner and talking to family. So yeah... writing did not happen this last week, because all that was before Bronycon.
Now then, the real meat of this blog: Bronycon 2018. This was my second BC, and I had somewhat tempered my expectations because a lot of the friends I'd made at previous cons weren't going to be there this year. A notable exception was Hap and Rainbow Sherbet, his wife. Thanks to them I had curry for the first time in years and realized I'd missed it. ...Now to find a decent place in Central Indiana.
The largest presence from any of my circles was from a Discord server where I've mostly just lurked, because they're a tight knit group from what I can see and I didn't presume to just jump in and start interacting with them. Since I've decided it's a con rule for me, I broke that restriction and reached out to them a bit more. It was a good thing, since I met a lot of great people as a result. In case you're wondering, these good folks are from the Quill and Blade universe, both the two authors there and several of their friends/followers/herd/happynouns. In addition to a great panel on AU world building, they also organized a couple group meals, which was nice. I even got to meet Aragon; very glad he could make it to BC. Yes, his accent is sexy, and I say that objectively since he's not my preference. I also met Majin, who holds a special place in my heart as the one who approved my first story here. Good person there, no matter what you might see, or hear, or justifiably assume. I doubt he remembers talking to me.
Now then, the actual con events! Okay so tempered expectations I had mentioned. This had nothing to do with the guests (although last year's were great too and I'm really looking forward to seeing Kelly Sheridan again, at EFNW this time), because I really wanted to see Tabitha St. Germain and Lena Hall, and was not disappointed in the least. But let's do this in order so I can remember everything I saw properly. Sorry I don't have pictures... I'm just not a picture taker. Good visual memory... I take it in rather than take snapshots. If anything that's where my memory fails: 'you should remember to take some pictures, even if you remember it fine pictures are nice'. ...And eeenope, never think to do it. Anyway, on to the panels, or at least my highlights from a few of them:
Apple a day:
We'll skip Opening Ceremony because I wasn't quite awake and don't really remember much. Honestly, it didn't stand out for me. But this one was shortly after, and basically had many of the Apples chatting about family (Tabitha/Granny Smith, Michelle/Apple Bloom, Ingrid/Maud, Peter/Big Mac & Goldie, Bill/Bright Mac, and Gabriel/AJ stand in). Okay so the main thing that made this panel great was Bright Mac. You might not think 'dead parent' jokes are funny, and that's fair, but damn did they make it work. Apple Bloom basically going off on 'gee, thanks for telling me my dad's alive or whatever' versus Granny Smith 'well... I lose track of ponies all the time... who are you?' and Bright Mac basically talking about how easy raising kids is (you know, because he just kinda disappeared and didn't need to)... it was wonderfully, hilariously dark despite the very light tones. Granny Smith and Goldie Delicious being humorously senile helped it along, as did 'cousin' Maud's deadpan commentary... but Bright Mac was the bright spot there. Oh, apparently he's not dead, he's just flying a rocket ship around Equestria with Pear Butter, and they're that shooting star AJ sees sometimes. ...Eeyup. If you believe that I have a bridge to sell you in the Badlands, but it was a damn funny line to hear.
Quillin' It:
There were also writers there... and not just the fimfic kind. Nothing against Quills and Sofas and the good folks hanging out there for BC, but I just don't feel a part of that crowd. Got to the fandom too late, not well known enough to really get much more than the old outsider feeling. That's okay though; I go to BC for the panels and guests. This one also didn't disappoint. What we had here was Amy Keating Rogers, Nick Confalone, and M.A. Larson discussing the joys of writing for a professional setting (specifically the show, of course). This was basically a venting session about how much fun network notes are (justified or otherwise) and it was hilarious. They each gave good presentations but... M.A. Larson apparently had a lot of great stuff I wish we'd seen in Slice Of Life. Already a fun episode and a love letter to the fandom, one of his original drafts included some great stuff we didn't get to see. Among that stuff: Flash not getting invited because Cranky 'didn't like him for some reason he couldn't quite pin down' and a 'Devil Went Down to Georgia' tribute featuring Octavia...... vs. Sombra. Yep, there's a scene I'd have loved to have seen, but apparently it was too insane even for that episode. Ah well. On a related note... Vincent Tong was M.A. Larson's desktop background. Ship away, folks.
Your Own Hooves:
This was Anzel and Crystal's panel on building your own AU. With one exception, it was the most interactive panel I attended, and that takes guts. You're really putting yourself on the spot when you basically invite an hour of Q and A alongside your presentation. They handled a ton of questions with aplomb and really put a good spin on the idea of building a universe around the story you want to tell, as opposed to getting too bogged down in the world-building. Anzel has a similar background to myself for that: DMing DnD campaigns. The world has to tell your story, and yes it's great if there's other stuff going on, but don't let that distract you from the characters and the plot that your story should be centered on. My main complaints with my own first story here are in the first couple chapters. I tried to spread out the info dump into character explanations over time, but I could have done it better. Meh, experience.
Cadance's Crack Ships:
Okay... this panel was fun for two reasons: the randomized program shipping madness, and sitting with Hap and laughing at this nonsense. I honestly don't remember much of what the panel folks said. I didn't pay much attention to their stories since I was too busy crafting my own. 'Flash Sentry and Sweetie Belle?! Wat? How could that possibly...' So yeah. Between that and sharing laughs (and bourbon) with Hap, it was a good time even if I wasn't listening to most of it. Hap, if you ever read this... I have a bottle of Jim Beam to split with you some time.
Studio vs Broadway/Lena's Trip to Ponyville:
Okay, I love Michelle Creber. She and Gabriel Brown bring great energy and fun to every panel they're on. But Lena Hall stole the spotlight here. I may have a minor platonic crush... these things happen. Okay but a Tony Award-winning Broadway actress/singer gets on the show by giving it a shout out during her Award acceptance speech? That's just plain amazing. And the her you see in that video? That was the her we got at BC. She was just so warm, happy, enthusiastic... just a joy to be in the room with. Small wonder her favorite pony is Pinkie... though she'd love to hang out with Rarity (who gets the best Broadway-ish songs). I highly recommend looking into her work.
Tabitha's Super Sophisticated Script Reading:
Alright... setting aside that the plotline involved yet another villain with a magic canceling power (yawn, plot devices because magic is complicated and this isn't a fighting show), this was basically a script reading of an episode I'd love to see. We had a lot of characters, including a Twilight ably portrayed by Amy Keating Rogers, and a surprisingly good Pinkie Pie by a community guest I didn't know. Rainbow was voiced by Nowacking, whom I'll return to in the next panel. Michelle voiced the lead, while Tabitha handled Rarity (of course) and Gabriel was our villain. Oh man, our villain... The duet of scenery chewing awesome between Michelle and Gabriel was ineffable. Find it on Youtube if you can; I'm sure it'll be posted before long, if not already. I'd look for it, but I'm getting hungry and want to wrap this up. In any case, what we got here was crazy, had some great references and humor, and would frankly make a good episode in my opinion. I'd watch it.
Absolutely Everything on the FOE audiobook:
I regret not knowing about and thus backing this project, but luckily for me (and others out there) it got funded and is in progress. It's exactly what it says on the tin: a fully, professionally voiced rendition of Fallout: Equestria, featuring Jesse Nowack (Nowacking), whom you probably know already from voicework on Youtube as Vinyl. She does some great work, and we got a few samples of what to look forward to when the book is finished. Obviously backers get first crack, but after that it will be publicly available, and free. Here's hoping I have something to listen to on my next long drive to a con!
While that's only into most of Saturday... by then my introversion was kicking in. I don't have any major issues with it that some do... but crowds are tiring even if I'm wallflowering for the most part. So no late night panels Saturday. Some of them looked good... but at that point my hotel room and a bit of fimfiction looked better.
Hotel check out, and moving my car, prevented me from making the early panels Sunday. Parking in Baltimore is tricky unless you want to pay a fortune. Frankly I already did and I don't know if I could have done better. Probably. Anyone staying not at the Marriott that had a car... how was parking for you? I've never had a hotel charge me for that before... but then again I've never stayed at a hotel in the middle of a major city while having a car with me, so that was new. In fact between dealing with that and facing a nine hour drive home that I'd be starting in the afternoon, I only made it to one panel on Sunday.
Lena on Me:
So you can guess who this panel was... and in fact it was just her... not even a moderator. I got there a bit late and it was nothing but Q & A. Seriously... this is someone who loves talking to fans, and it's awesome. Add to that that she has this adorable dork laugh and amazing social energy... hmm.. ayep... little platonic crush going there. Eh, justified I think.
After that I went and watched a screening of the MLP Movie. I saw it in theaters but that doesn't match the experience of watching it in a room with maybe two hundred fans. I could barely hear half the songs over the clapping. As much as I like a lot of little touches, the songs, and Skystar... I kind of hate the movie. The princesses are useless as usual, but it gets worse. Twilight never teleports once. The only time Rainbow does anything it's bad. And again, magic canceling/stealing plot devices force the Mane cast to seek out help (i.e. an excuse for celebrity guest stars playing non-ponies from races we've never heard of/seen in canon). It felt like a toy showcase. I know that's what the show is... but the reason the show is successful the way it is is because it doesn't feel that way. The movie... forgot that. Even Tempest, whom I accept as pretty cool, had a very predictable arc and was a bit too preachy about 'going it alone' for somepony who had an army and was relying on someone else to fix her horn. Typical hypocritical villain... sigh. *blinks* Oh right, this blog is about BC. Heh... uh... well, I mean the screening was at BC, so here's my review of the panel that was 'The Movie'. Yeah... rant justified. 
After that... remembering the nine hour drive looming over me, I opted to head out before closing ceremony (which was only slated for a half hour anyway, and I would have been sitting around an hour waiting for it to start). I also bought a fair bit of fun stuff from the market, some of the artists that attend these conventions do some amazing work. So yeah, overall a really good time and I'm looking forward to next year (though not as much as EFNW, very hyped for that one). Also, as you may know, next year's BC will be the last BC. Sad to see it go, but dropping attendance and location issues have brought them to the decision. Still, that just means next year's last hurrah will be all the more worth being at! Hope to see you there!
On a little final note though ...I can't say I recommend the Marriott there. They were okay, but not great and ended up being more money than anticipated, what with parking and the deposit (which I should be getting back, but still it was money I had to set aside unexpectedly). By comparison, the Hilton for EFNW was amazing, and easily the best hotel I've stayed at in terms of hospitality. The Marriott was merely acceptable, and for that price I want more than that. I won't be with them next year. That doesn't mean they're a bad choice, just that they weren't good enough for me to not want to try something new.
If anyone has 'con experiences they'd like to share but don't feel like blogging themselves, comment below! Or, if you wrote a blog yourself, feel free to link it. Sharing the experience is what we go to these for.
Enjoy your day, folks!
Sounds like you had fun! I'll have to show up one of these years. Meet any authors from here?
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I mentioned a few of them there, yes, but a quick list: Anzel, Crystal Wishes, Majin Syeekoh, Aragon, Swan Song (who I'd met before, but anyway), Mitch H, Hap, and many others. And that's while barely going near the writer's room (Quills and Sofas, though I walked by it several times), and not attending the writer's dinner because I was at a panel instead. Yeah, was a good time. And again, next year is the last Bronycon (though not the last pony convention, of course), so if you're planning to go... there's your last shot for that one in particular. I'm currently considering Ciderfest, since it's within driving distance, but I'm not sure if I can swing it since I'm out of time off for awhile
It was so much fun hanging out with you! I'm glad you enjoyed the little group meals, they're honestly my favorite part. Casual, no pressure, no obligation, just a good time. I've known you for a little bit online but it's always a delight to cross over into the "real world", and meeting you was no exception to that.