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BronyCAN - 2016 Discussion


FullMetalParagon

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Returned home from the BronyCAN.

 

Glad to hear you made it back safe. Sorry I didn't end up running into you before you left today. Thanks for being there yesterday because I'm sure I wouldn't have had nearly as good a time if it was literally just me on my own for the entire con. I probably wouldn't have tried the draft tournament for the CCG either. Truth be told I found most of the panels yesterday to be kind of meh, and wasn't having nearly as good a time as last year at first, so thanks for keeping me company as it made the day so much better. I do wish Cork Top and his brother could have made it this year but I do think I remember them saying last year they probably wouldn't be able to make it this time. The Rarity plushie I clipped to my shorts is kind of a what up to our friends who aren't here.

 

Today I brought my gf who was only here for one day, and I also met up with Feld and Lavo and had lunch with them, so I had plenty of company today. I thought I scored big with the draft tournament until I went to the Cardapalooza panel this morning for the second year in a row. Well, ok I got creamed in the CCG tournament as I won only one of the three rounds I played and even then just barely, but I scored a Twilight/RD custom draft deck, which contains the two colours I was short on before with a some super rares and some con exclusive foils.

 

But this morning at the Cardapalooza panel I scored both a really awesome Rarity dog tag and an ultra rare card along with plenty of other cards to augment my new deck. I once again lost after being called up, but that seems to be a common theme with that panel and the reason why I keep coming to it: I lose but I win where it counts. Last year was probably better as I literally got a $70 set for free, but that Starlight Glimmer Chrono Trigger card is awesome. I did see a royal rare last night as someone in the draft at my table scored one, but I'm content in having scored an ultra rare, especially since it references one of my favourite JRPGs of all time. Suffice to say the CCG has been a big part of my con experience this year. Too bad I haven't been able to play more than one round outside of tournaments for the stamps. I'd only get two more free card packs on top of all the other free card packs I've been hoarding, but hey, I'm going to take as much as I can especially since I can score some useful or rare cards.:D

 

The other highlights today were meeting up with Feldo and Lavo, and their awesome panel on building a fan site, as well as meeting Andrea Libman. Fun fact, my gf and I each bought a blind bag today from the vendor hall and I got Fluttershy while she got Pinkie Pie. I was a tad disappointed at first as it's a Fluttershy I already have, like literally the exact same one, but I was happy for my gf who is a huge Pinkie fan and got what she wanted. But after thinking about it I realized what a crazy fluke that was. Of course we made a point of showing our blind bags to Andrea which she thought was just wild. Also we each have an awesome print signed by her. Our lunch with Feld0 and Lavo was quite entertaining as we talked about everything from the UK to how terrible our transit system is in BC, to just talking about ponies with the only difference being that we talked about it in person. So, that pretty much sums up the first two days for me. Bring on day 3.

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Yeah, it was awesome to see you and hang out with you.  I would have loved to stay longer as it is I did not get home until after 6pm and I left Richmond at noon. :/


So sad that another con is over....

 

I hope everyone had a great time at it.

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So day 3 went ok. I entered the sealed CCG tournament. I didn't win any rounds but that's ok. I got some free packs out of the deal and one of the guys there even gave me a stack of his duplicates so suffice to say I have more than enough cards and think I'll need to figure out how to store them. I might just invest in those deck boxes and binder card holders. Unfortunately, I had to leave before the closing ceremonies because I ended up having to park in the lot over and for some stupid reason I could only use my credit card twice there after having to renew every three hours. I'm a little unhappy about that. I thought I could park in the parkade, but this year I guess a parking pass is required to get in there. Perhaps I'll see about getting a parking pass next year. I hope the closing ceremonies will be posted online soon along with the panels I missed.

 

Oh well, I had a fun full experience and I can't really complain about that. I also bought a fun Octavia art print and a new set of cards for Twilight Sparkle's Secret Shipfic Folder to modernize my set a little. I'll probably spend some time building custom decks now for the CCG. I should show my gf a picture of the Octavia art I bought. For some reason she kept cowering behind me yesterday every time the person in the Octavia costume walked by, and it was only around Octavia. Too bad I didn't snap a pic of her. I probably should have.:P I didn't run into her today because I was up in the Skyview Lounge for the CCG stuff. Anyways, the point is I had fun and I'm now looking forward to next year's BronyCAN.

 

Edit: I guess I'll share my overall thoughts of the con this year. I do kind of wish there were more VA/Showstaff panels this year. There was a pretty decent guest list attending this year which I think trumps last year in terms of prominence. I'm careful not to say quality wise as I think everyone who attends is great, and I loved the attendees last year, but this is the first year I've been where a mane six VA was attending. I heard Ashleigh Ball attended the first year which is amazing since she never goes to cons, but I wasn't there that year since I didn't become a Brony till 2014.

 

I suppose having Rebecca Shoichet who does Twilight's singing voice and Sunset Shimmer's voice counts as prominent, but I was super stoked about Andrea Libman and Shannon Chan Kent this year. Last year definitely won in terms of quantity though so it's hard to say which year's guest list was better. I guess I'll call it a tie since they were both great. I just wanted to see more of the guests this year. Maybe it didn't help that I missed the Q & A panel today. I hope that will be posted online soon.

 

I'm obviously super glad that playing the CCG outside of tournaments was actually encouraged this year. There were tournaments happening around the clock but I didn't enter the ones where people could bring their own decks since I knew I would have even less chance of winning than I did in the draft and sealed. However, that was where the problem lied as most people who wanted to play the CCG were in the tournaments, not to mention having to choose between them and other panels if I had wanted to participate. But it's an improvement over last year where tournaments were literally the only way to play.

 

All in all, solid year. I hope next year's con will be just as fun if not even better.:D

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It was awesome to see you again!  I am glad that you had fun playing the card games.  Honestly, I will stick with Pokemon, as MLP looked more confusing to me.

 

I want to do another talk about bullying at the next conference, but this time I will be even better prepared.

I thought of another panel geared towards the younger crowd, which I think they would really enjoy.

 

Considering the fact that Pinkie Pie is my favorite ;) You think I should have gotten her autograph or even met up with her.   Sadly, I did not.  Although I would love to see more guests at the convention, I can understand as to why they do not.  It can get expensive, which would only increase the cost of convention. 

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It was awesome to see you again!  I am glad that you had fun playing the card games.  Honestly, I will stick with Pokemon, as MLP looked more confusing to me.

 

I want to do another talk about bullying at the next conference, but this time I will be even better prepared.

I thought of another panel geared towards the younger crowd, which I think they would really enjoy.

 

Considering the fact that Pinkie Pie is my favorite ;) You think I should have gotten her autograph or even met up with her.   Sadly, I did not.  Although I would love to see more guests at the convention, I can understand as to why they do not.  It can get expensive, which would only increase the cost of convention.

 

The MLP card game has more elements to it than Pokemon, and it is a tad tricky to get the hang of at first. Like with anything, the more you play the easier it gets but there is that initial hurdle of trying to understand all the different steps, card types and other such aspects. Note that I only actually won one game my entire time there, which amounts to only a 1/8 win/loss ratio, so I'm clearly no expert yet.

 

A children's panel might be a great idea since children experience bullying on a regular basis. Adults tend to experience more corporate bullying, but kids tend to experience more physical bullying as well as verbal abuse (not that some higher ranking people don't do the latter to their employees in work places).

 

Yeah, the con people at the feedback panel that I caught the tail end of said something similar. The more prominent a VA, the more he or she costs to bring in. Being in the Metro Vancouver area does help, mind you. Apparently Tara Strong would be way more expensive as the con would have to pay to fly her out. But they also don't have the budget of the huge Brony Cons in the States. That and not all VAs, show staff, etc. are into going to cons, and on top of that they're brought in on their time off to meet and greet fans. It might be easier to get a larger quantity of VAs for say, side characters, than it would be to try to get mane six VAs, hence why we don't get a full panel of all the mane six. It's probably better that way though as we can focus on meeting one or two prominent faces among others at a time, which gives them all their time in the spotlight which is another reason why I like coming every year as somepony different will be featured.

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I will stick with Pokemon. My brain does not computer as quickly as it does for others.

 

I saw a lot of socialization happening....from the game rooms to the hotel lobby. 

 

I didn't go into the dance hall, but I did watch it through the TV in the hotel room.  Too loud for me, even with ear plugs.  

 

A lot more people cosplayed on Saturday.  I think you and I should do the same, next time. ;) 

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For everyone who attended the Dramatic Reading and You Panel, I apologize for reading Rarity's lines out in the Jar Jar Binks voice XD

You make it sound like Jar Jar Binks voice is annoying.  Haven't you heard Gilbert Gottfried's voice? That scares me more.

I was walking around in Black Armor for a large point.

I would not know what I would cosplay as. 

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You make it sound like Jar Jar Binks voice is annoying.  Haven't you heard Gilbert Gottfried's voice? That scares me more.

I would not know what I would cosplay as. 

No, I mean, I was walking around the con in black armor with red stripes.

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Hey, does anyone know how long it takes for the panels to get uploaded online? There are a few I'd probably like to see including the aforementioned closing ceremonies that I chose to miss to not risk a parking fine.

I will stick with Pokemon. My brain does not computer as quickly as it does for others.

 

I saw a lot of socialization happening....from the game rooms to the hotel lobby. 

 

I didn't go into the dance hall, but I did watch it through the TV in the hotel room.  Too loud for me, even with ear plugs.  

 

A lot more people cosplayed on Saturday.  I think you and I should do the same, next time. ;)

 

Heh, I'm not sure about cosplaying. It took me three years to even work up the courage to add pony based attire to my con outfit. That and cosplay can be expensive and time consuming to come up with. I do respect those who do it though. That takes dedication. Hats off to those who travel from out of town too, especially Lavo who came all the way from England. Being in the relative vicinity is a big part of why I've been for the last three years. I'm really thankful that we have a con here.

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention that someone actually thanked me for being a forum mod. I kind of let slip that being a mod is my meager contribution to the Brony community but this guy said he likes to duck into the forums from time to time as it's a great place for relaxing discussion. I guess until I work up the courage to do a YouTube series on the MLP spinoff media that's never going to happen I'll be content with helping keep order here.

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It was pretty damn awesome, to be perfectly honest. I met some people who had actually heard of one of my webcomics (Shadows of Abaron, YAHOI!) or one of my three favourite stories to write (Secrets of the Zone: Ghosts of Chernobyl, Future Tactics - The War Games, and The Unlikeliest of Heroes).

 

Though I walked around in my black cardboard combat armor (Which MOSTLY didn't survive the weekend. I only have the helmet and left gauntlet left... sad face), people were more interested in the weapons I made rather than the armor. I wasn't Mass Effect, or Halo, or Command and Conquer, or FALLOUT. I was the Future Soldier, but that's a story for another time.

 

It was incredibly fun, even though I gimped up my leg during the Nerf War. I can't wait to see the video go up for THAT so I can see my amazing slide that took me halfway across the slicked floor.

 

Combat slides were never that fun.

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It was pretty damn awesome, to be perfectly honest. I met some people who had actually heard of one of my webcomics (Shadows of Abaron, YAHOI!) or one of my three favourite stories to write (Secrets of the Zone: Ghosts of Chernobyl, Future Tactics - The War Games, and The Unlikeliest of Heroes).

 

Though I walked around in my black cardboard combat armor (Which MOSTLY didn't survive the weekend. I only have the helmet and left gauntlet left... sad face), people were more interested in the weapons I made rather than the armor. I wasn't Mass Effect, or Halo, or Command and Conquer, or FALLOUT. I was the Future Soldier, but that's a story for another time.

 

It was incredibly fun, even though I gimped up my leg during the Nerf War. I can't wait to see the video go up for THAT so I can see my amazing slide that took me halfway across the slicked floor.

 

Combat slides were never that fun.

Shop I recall seeing you quite a few times! I was trying to put a name to your costume

 

I was the guy in the black cloak. Didn't talk much.

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I'm waiting for the video of my "attempt" at a panel.

 

What is the one word lesson that I learned this year? REHEARSE. REHEARSE, REHEARSE.

Truth....I figured that a simple 1/2 hour lecture with input for the other 1/2 hour would have been easy.

 

Well, the nerves got me and I forgot my train of thought.

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