Story after the break!
I decided to treat this one covert-ops style, and capture the brony in it's natural habitat, much like a wild-life documentary. My hair has grown a lot since I last took that picture for Wired, so I figured I could pull it off. Aside from a few people recognizing me, things went pretty smooth!
I'm not the best at large social gatherings with complete strangers, especially when walking into one an hour and a half late. I also have that "Micheal Cera" voice that everyone here has labeled me with, which doesn't travel AT ALL in loud environments. My best tip to anyone considering joining one of these; find someone who looks bored and ask them who their favorite pony is. That is a guaranteed conversation starter, and this tried and true formula worked for me throughout the night.
Smash bros group! |
Boast Busters |
There was also a marathon of sorts going on. I couldn't resist watching Boast Busters. A few of the people from that remix war I posted a few hours ago were there, including Pinkie Pie Swear and Agiledash. Having listened to Trixie's Good Side way too much, it was pretty easy to get a conversation going about that.
Eventually a small group of us went across the street to a burger place. "Small group" meaning a line out the door, but I'm sure the employees didn't mind making 20 root beer floats.
I learned a bit more about the bronies from /b/. I didn't realize how many there actually were. It's not the first board I usually visit for specific reasons. We debated about different topics on the show, and tried to figure out why people enjoyed dubstep (sorry guys), then returned to the meetup.
By this time, my phone was hangin at around 10% battery life. The idea of an hour long drive without GPS sounded like a terrible idea, so I watched Twilight lose her mind in Swarm of the Century, and left for the night.
Overall, Puzzle Plate definitely did an awesome job of organizing everything. If Gamer's Inn wasn't across the state for me, I'd probably hit that place up more often.
If you are still on the fence about meetups, I'd suggest giving it a shot. I kind of wish I brought some of my old Magic the Gathering decks though...
82 comments:
Looks nice
ReplyDelete>Guy Fawkes Mask
ReplyDeleteಠ_à²
I liked the Midwest brony meet.
ReplyDeleteAw man, I live in AZ. Ah well, maybe next time when I'm not doing something in college.
ReplyDeleteI'm so jelly of you Seth, going to meetups and such.
ReplyDeleteAnd then the Iowa City brony meet up had like 15 people and it sucked :(
ReplyDeleteLucky...I wonder if there are any brony meet ups over here in VA...
ReplyDeleteThat looks almost exactly like my local game store. Weird.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I am jelly for your awesome venue :c
where would a bronie go to find out about meet ups in his own state?
ReplyDeletei'm jelly guys :(
ReplyDeleteWould anyone be interested in a Middle TN Meet up?
ReplyDelete@ZeldaFan777http://www.bronies.com/
ReplyDeleteDam! And I knew that place too. Only a 5 min drive from where I am. Completely forgot there was going to be a brony meet-up there.... I blame life. Kept me busy this past 2 weeks.
ReplyDeleteOh well, some other time I guess....
NICE!!!! Maybe some group will catch up with us in New York!
ReplyDeleteOh god I feel bad for that guy on the leftmost side of the header pic sitting down. He missed out on the group photo QQ. Forever Arizone.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the writeup Seth, I'm glad you had a good time at the meetup.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a lot of fun. Makes me wonder why no one from our large Dallas meet a week ago hasn't sent pics or anything about that meet to be posted here like so many others. :/
ReplyDeleteAttending a brony meetup: ideal.
ReplyDeleteBeing 300 miles away from the closest one: not so ideal.
Where can I get that MOTHER FUCKER I'M AWESOME shirt?
ReplyDeleteTAKE MY MONEY NOW!
I want a meetup in Raleigh, NC. Anypony else live out here? It's smack in the middle of the state...
ReplyDelete@Punchline haha funny you should mention that, in members right now we are currently rivaling that of Apple cider and Chef Sandy's meetup groups (North Cal and North Texas)
ReplyDeleteany chance on a Bay Area Brony meetup?
ReplyDeleteSeth has to use a gps hah! Thank god for internal compasses.
ReplyDeleteBritish Colombia Canada anyone?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous eeeyup http://www.meetup.com/bronies-of-northern-california/ AppleCider runs it, he's the guy from Bronyville podcast
ReplyDelete>background of first image
ReplyDeleteAnonymous is a brony, I knew it!
wait
You definitely pulled off the covert part well. If I've read the tags on the picture correctly, it looks like I was just behind you in the group photo, and I didn't have a clue.
ReplyDeleteYou americans are pretty lucky for having, well, everything.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree, Super Smash Bros is a MUST for any meetup. It's the best fighting game ever.
(Until MLP fighting game comes out)
I really need to get to one of these things...
ReplyDeleteAlso, wasn't hard to find our blogpony king in the dead center of that pic.
Baldy in front!
ReplyDeletebet you guys cant find me in that group picture
ReplyDelete@NinesTempest
ReplyDeleteThere was an IA City brony meetup?
@ZeldaFan777 where do u live?? u know what look at this http://bronies.com/map/ come to the new york one sometime
ReplyDeleteWell, the term brony came from /b/ (or was it /co/? eh, it's all 4chan), so I'd imagine a large chunk of bronies are /b/ro's. Hell, I am.
ReplyDelete@Puzzle Plate
ReplyDeleteThe hat gives you away (and an awesome hat it is).
I'm in AZ, but I missed this. D: If there's another one in the future, I'll bring my MtG decks if you do. ;D
ReplyDelete@abyssalpink Already planed bro next one is August 13. just hop on over to bronies.com and check us out if you haven't already
ReplyDeleteIt was excellent =D
ReplyDeleteI didn't see seth(or might have and not recognized him o.o), but it was so much fun! So glad I brought my magic cards with me, first time in over 2 years I got to play =D
Just going to say, the fact that there are so many girls at this meetup completely counters what haters say about us being undateable.
ReplyDeleteHad an awesome time at this meetup, and I have to say, I used the same technique as Seth: find someone not engaged in a game/conversation and ask who their favorite pony is. It worked well!
ReplyDeleteI saw you, Seth, but got nervous and didn't want to be all "HAY I KNOW YOU FROM TEH INTERNET" at you. But it was fun seeing you there! XD
Also, Pony Mafia is the best game.
(P.S. I'm the girl in the Rainbow Dash shirt on the bottom [front] right of the photo. :D)
@Arcel, I was the fedora-wearing blue-and-red guy you played against! Hi again!
ReplyDeleteAnyways, the entire thing was absolutely amazing. I will definitely be showing up to the next one. There were so many people there who were all so different; it's kind of funny that we all have something so silly in common. And curse you for being incognito Seth! You win this time!
Howdy! I'm the husband of Emmalyn K (a few comments up) and pretty much all of her comments apply to me as well. I had a great time!
ReplyDeleteI'm the guy in the Twilight shirt (not that you can see the cutie mark, or indeed anything other than my face) right in front of Puzzle Plate (the guy in the fantastic Dr. Seuss hat).
@Puzzle Plate
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was at Chef Sandy's in Dallas a week or so ago. I was wondering who had more people. We had 50+, but it looks like you did too. So it's a tough call.
@Tigerflame
ReplyDeleteGood bronie, being in Nebraska your comment interests me, where was said midwest meetup?
The DC Brony meetup a few weeks ago was awesome!
ReplyDeleteWhy must my schedule prevent me from attending the next one? Why?
Bronies are the most chill and friendly fanbase I've ever had the pleasure of being part of. Brohooves all around.
Unfortunately, if all the bronies in my city went to a meetup, it would just be my friends and I hangin' out with two other people. XD
ReplyDelete@Sedaheht And what city would that be?
ReplyDelete@Skylark Torch
ReplyDeleteThe Raleigh, NC meetup group is trying to get something together as I'm throwing this comment up. Go to the bronie map http://bronies.com/map/ and join the group. We've had a couple of last-minute, unofficial meetups, but we're trying to get something official organized soon.
see picture of all the bronies
ReplyDeleteoh hey i know that guy
...
...
realize i could have gone to this and rage
Damn, that makes the meet up I went to seem so small. Oh well a party is still a party even if there are only 12 guests.
ReplyDeleteSethisto are you serious? you didn't tell them you went? what the hell dude. you would have been the guest of honor. You need to man up dude
ReplyDelete@Tsitra360Same Here, hopfully next time won't be during my anime club D=<
ReplyDelete@Chicogo
ReplyDeleteAwesome, I ratheer enjoyed our games =D And already RSVP'd for the next Meet up!
Also, Green Shirt and Fedora is me, bottem in the front =)
Cant believe i met you both there hah dream come true! your awesome man Glad to have the chance to meet you in person~
ReplyDeleteAgileDash
When the hell did this happen? I totally would've gone. Gamer's Inn is only like seven damn miles from my house. URGH.
ReplyDelete/rage
Yes! ^^ The Phoenix meetup! The whole thing was indeed magical, and I loved it for so many reasons. I hope we get to do this again in half a month, as planned. ^_^ I NEVER get to experience such awesome things.
ReplyDeleteAnd the pizzas that were mentioned in the previous post about this meetup? ^^ That was me! Although, a friend of mine keeps trying to take responsibility for them because he had to leave twice to get the pizzas (after seeing how fast the first 3 ran out), but that $40 was paid for by me... ;_;
Seeing comments here complaining about missing the meetup leave me hoping we'll get even MORE people next time!
OH! Something about the meetup I wanted to mention that I completely forgot... Something that's straight out of a sad fanfic...
ReplyDeleteMe and my friends were pretty much the very last people to leave, what with the huge amounts of gaming stuff I brought. We finally got everything out, and I was waiting by his car, but he went back inside just to check and make sure we weren't leaving anything behind.
As he went back inside, checking our tables, he saw two guys sit down at a table. One older, one younger, and perhaps brothers. The older brother was maybe 17 or so, and the younger was about 12. As he passed by, he overheard this:
Younger brother: "The brony meetup was supposed to be today."
Older brother: "Yeah..."
Younger brother: "I wish we could've made it..."
Gah!
ReplyDeleteI wanted to attend so bad, but couldn't because of work.
May a thousand evil ponies led by Nightmare Moon haunt the sleep of my bosses for eternity!
Hope you all had fun, and next time there's a meetup, I can attend...
Wait a minute What the hell?!?!
ReplyDeleteNO ONE TOLD ME! Ahhh Damn it.
Woah, I had no idea there'd be a brony meetup so damned close to me. I mean, literally, google maps says it's only twenty minutes away. I might have to attend the August one, if I can get a ride down there.
ReplyDeleteI hope a meetup pops up in kansas sometime
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry...but those are some ugly-ass dudes.
ReplyDelete@Hio590 Hmm, they look fine to me
ReplyDeleteWhat one is him? :P
ReplyDeleteWow, maybe in 10 years the UK might get one. If there hasn't been something substantial by the time season 2 is over.... I'll try organising something ;).
ReplyDeleteI really want to attend one of these. I just need to find one going on near the Washington DC area.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to broNYcon in September, if that counts. I really wish there was a good sized meetup in the Boston area though.
ReplyDeleteThe NorCal meetups so far have been really good, sans the one yesterday that didn't happen.
ReplyDeleteWe just started so we're still growing in size and organization.
Sounds like you had an awesome time regardless!
Next one's August 13th, same place? I don't know, maybe I should just finally take advantage of my extreme fortune in having it so close to me.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you got to learn more about the /b/ronies. I really think we are a pretty cool group!
ReplyDelete@emdefmek
ReplyDeleteFor you, Sir Poni. A link.
http://www.redbubble.com/people/northerndash/t-shirts/7424363-awesomeness-etc?always_show=true
I would've gone, but Mesa is a pretty far drive from where I live. if anyone wants to organize a Brony Meetup down near Tucson, I'd be delighted to go!
ReplyDeleteI really hope you do decide to join us again... not incognito.
ReplyDeleteFor those of you that are farther away, It might take some planning to get there for you but it would be worth it to try at least once.
@ElectricZoNe There's already been a DC meetup, and it was pretty fun. There's also another one on August 20th.
ReplyDeletehere's a link: http://www.meetup.com/Bronies-DC/#upcoming
ReplyDeleteI was just in AZ too! >.< And the guy on the right in the first pic with RD has the best shirt
ReplyDeleteSo Seth, you look bored, what's your favourite MTG decks to run?
ReplyDeleteAnd SSB Melee is the best of the three.
And that meet up looked like quite a bit of fun. I'm hoping I'll find something eventually.
@Kisai Sakurai
That's so sad! Too bad you didn't have the time to hang out with them a little bit or something, to give a little joy.
@Hio590
ReplyDeleteIt's a meetup of an internet fandom. Suggest revising expectations accordingly.
@Bosstone
ReplyDeleteI'm not one to go into things with any...preconceived notions.
@Least The Expected im working with someone down there to have a meetups in Tucson as well
ReplyDeleteAs per usual, this picture proves why meetups (or at least photographical evidence of such) are a bad idea.
ReplyDeleteThis meetup was super fun! Screw what rude people are saying. >-> I'm the chubby black haired girl in the front. :D
ReplyDelete