The 2010s: A Journey · 6:46pm Jan 10th, 2020
The 2010s: A Journey
In which son_of_heaven176 recalls his own experiences throughout the past decade.
A/N: I had been intending on writing a retrospective post for quite a while now, but the holidays, work issues, and my little brother’s visit all took my attention away, and frankly, I might have given up on the prospect altogether. It was thanks to Mad Munchkin’s own video on her experiences throughout the 2010s—which culminated in her engagement to Kickit (a proposal that I was able to see in person)—that inspired me to head to MS Word at once and that made this post take the form that it has. So thank you, Mad Munchkin, and I hope that everyone who reads this enjoys.
Ten years. It only makes sense that a lot of things would happen in a span of ten years. Think about it. Birth and fifth grade are ten years apart: in that time, you learned to walk and talk, use the facilities on your own, read, write, and eventually do mathematics up to basic geometry and algebra. And for most people, any ten-year span will encompass a lot of changes.
But the specific ten years from 2010 to 2019 have, in retrospect, included quite a few game-changers in my life.
As most of you already know, I am a lawyer by profession. The start of 2010 was the second half of my first year of law school.
Law school was as one would expect: challenging. Yet it was fulfilling as well. The summer of 2010 found me doing a study-abroad in Strasbourg, France, where I learned about international law.
In the fall of 2010, my second year of law school, I was re-introduced to fandom. As a child, one of the series that I had read was the Animorphs series, by K.A. Applegate. And when I had gotten to the end of the series (which ended on a cliffhanger!), KAA mentioned that there were fan stories already in the works. So in 2010, I decided to see if I could find any of those fan stories that would pick up where the series left off. The first story I found, The Kelbrid War: How to shatter trust, by Blue Dragon, was promising, but the author sadly dropped the story and never picked it up again.
Years later, I would find The New Dawn and The Kelbrid Wars by Shane C. Even though he resolved the cliffhanger differently than Blue Dragon did, at least his stories were complete. Moreover, they are very well-written and are written in classic Animorphs style. Shane C also has shorter, canon-compliant stories in his portfolio as well. If you’ve ever wanted to revisit the Animorphs universe, I would definitely recommend Shane C’s stories.
But going back to 2010: 2010 also introduced me to the Protectors of the Plot Continuum, or PPC, a group of people that make fun of bad fanfiction. It’s quite the quirky group, full of very creative individuals. And indeed, I have been part of their forum for quite a few years, even helping to edit a story or two.
In 2011, I spent a semester in Washington, D.C., studying under lawyers for a law firm that I had greatly admired (yet that I currently do not work for, unfortunately).
In 2012, I graduated from law school in May, took BarBri courses for the New York State bar exam, and took the bar exam in July. I passed on my first try. I would get admitted to the bar in February of 2013.
The time after graduating from law school is where things start to get real interesting in terms of fandom. During the summer of 2012, I ran across the show that would eventually bring me to the brony fandom: the YouTube series Turnabout Storm. You see, during my law-school years, I had been watching Phoenix Wright playthroughs by the YouTuber Visual Novelty, who at the time went by the screenname “fuandon”. But not only did he play canon Phoenix Wright games, he also played through fan cases, some of which were very well-orchestrated indeed. One day, I was looking for new Phoneix Wright fan cases to watch (I believe that fuandon didn’t have any new content at the time), and I eventually saw Turnabout Storm. After going through the hours of the four videos that had been published at the time (Part I, Part II, Part III-Twilight, and Part III-Phoenix), I, too, ended up waiting with bated breath for what was supposed to be the end of the series.
But as I was watching the series, I went to the MLP Wikia to look up characters and concepts that I wasn’t familiar with. In time, I ended up watching episode reviews by BronyCurious, now known simply as Tommy Oliver. From there, I decided to take the plunge and watch MLP episodes for myself—and I was hooked.
Now let me tell you a bit about myself. I am somewhat introverted, and have not had many close friends growing up. So hearing about the brony community, and how welcoming and friendly it is … it was definitely something that I wanted to be part of. Moreover, looking over the myriad fanworks that this community has produced, there was rarely a dearth of content for me to discover.
Anyway, back to the retrospective.
2013 saw me trying my hand at fanfiction of my own, that being the Pokémon/Bakugan crossover The Vexos Chronicles, which is still in progress.
From Tommy Oliver, I eventually ended up running across other brony reviewers. If memory serves me correctly, Dr. Wolf was the next reviewer that I followed, as he also reviewed episodes as soon as they came out. And if memory still serves, joshscorcher was next. Silver Quill would follow afterwards. Years later, I would add MisAnthroPony, Officer Trigger Happy, and finnthepony to my roster of reviewers that I follow.
Now let’s fast-forward to 2017. In 2017, I had my first serious relationship. The girl was someone who had known me from church, but we ran across each other once more via eHarmony. However, it turned out that we just weren’t compatible. She had some exposure to video games, but she was no gamer. Moreover, I had no idea if she was a brony, either. Long story short, there was somewhat of a mask on my end, though I had hoped that she would earn enough trust from me for me to take off that mask. However, the relationship fizzled after only a few months; apparently she also felt that we just wouldn’t click. Nonetheless, the relationship wasn’t without its good parts. She introduced me to a youth group and to the church that I currently go to, both of which were massive benefits to my spiritual life. So my time with her wasn’t a complete waste.
It was also in 2017 that I decided to start watching Brony D&D. That would be a fateful decision, as I would end up hooked by the wonderful storytelling and the character dynamics in the world of Alatastica.
And thus we enter 2018. Everyone knows by now that the ToonKriticY2K scandal broke in February 2018. But 2018 wasn’t all bad news. 2018 would also be my first ever BronyCon. And as I was making preparations for my first ever BronyCon, I ran across the person who would become the closest friend I ever had.
In March or April of 2018, I was in the BronyCon forums to look for roommates. There, I ran across “rojaniel.” We decided to speak over Skype, where he goes by “DarkWind”. And even though the whole roommate thing fell through, I wanted to try to see if we could nonetheless be friends. That proved to be a good decision. Over the days, I found out that not only was he a fellow brony, but also a gamer, a conservative, and a Christian. In other words, we were the same type of weird. We would eventually end up speaking with each other on a daily basis, and we still talk with each other on a pretty much daily basis even now. We have confided much in each other, and without a doubt, my life would be all the poorer if God didn’t bring this friend into my life. Again, it isn’t for nothing that I gladly think of him as a brother.
In early July 2018, my grandmother died. I wasn’t very close to her, but still, her death wasn’t something that we saw coming. Granted, she struggled, as she was an old Haitian who cannot hold her own in this country without someone to translate for her. I hope that she is now at peace in a land where age and language barriers are no more.
Late July 2018 was BronyCon, which I have gone into in quite a bit of detail.
The law firm that I was working for went bankrupt in late August 2018, and it wasn’t until November 2018 that I found a new job.
2019 held so much promise. Sure, I may have had some difficulties with my new job, but I was hopeful that things would work out. I had everything planned out: I would save up some money, go to the final BronyCon on saved-up money, perhaps finally move out of my parents’ house, and network my way to a job in the area of law that I want to go into.
In March of 2019, William Beasley, known for his Brony D&D Funniest Moments videos, created a Discord group for fans of Brony D&D. Needless to say, I joined, and it is quite a good community to be part of.
Then came April of 2019. Out of the blue, I was let go from my job. Sure, there were places where my work needed improvement, but I wasn’t incompetent, and my fellow associates all liked me. The firing took everyone by surprise, and I wasn’t happy about it in the slightest.
I was able to find a new job in July of 2019, and they understood that I had a “trip” already scheduled (BronyCon). The final BronyCon was an enjoyable experience, and overall, I went through 2019 with the feeling that I could at least get myself on somewhat stable footing.
That is, until December. You see, the latest job was a temporary position. I was told that it would be until January 2020. However, that was a miscommunication. The actual end date was New Year’s Eve 2019. Wonderful. 
Which leads to today. Yes, 2020 finds me in my early thirties, needing to find a job (again) and still single. But there are still reasons for hope. I still have my friendship with Dark Wind. I still am part of a community of people to talk with and hang out with. And even though Friendship is Magic has ended, the magic of friendship has not. 2020 has only begun; who knows what opportunities lie over the horizon? I dare not lose hope.
I hope that all of you enjoy your 2020, and may 2020, and the 2020s, provide more ups than downs for us all.
Until then,
Love the truth, tolerate no darkness.
--son_of_heaven176
A very good blog, indeed. I'm flattered that I was mentioned here. But yeah, the feeling is mutual.