BroNYCon September Writeup/Images/Sethisto Embarassing Himself

As many of you already know, I was gone for a few days to take part in the massive convention held up in good old New York City known as BroNYCon.  Three hundred of us absorbed ourselves in all things pony for what was essentially a 15+ hour colorful equine filled marathon.  

After the break, you will find the full, sweat covered, fun filled writeup of the events, as well as several images and videos going into detail about it. 

As with all meetup posts, keep the comments tame!  

Now before we begin, I'd like to thank Purple Tinker and all of the Staff/Security working on at the venue for their hard work.  Having arrived early, it was clear how taxing setting up something so massive was on all of them.  Technology has never been more difficult! They pulled through though, and really gave us all a good time. My Great and Powerful hat is off to them!

I don't think I was expecting such a huge turnout.  We did estimate about 250 people would show up, but the number of walk-ins was definitely nothing to scoff at.  Bronies from pretty much every corner of the USA, as well as a few from overseas, all congregated into the convention center.  Luckily there was plenty of room.  The viewing area in particular was surprising.  When setting up early in the morning, I actually had doubts that we would fill so many seats up.  I sure did eat those thoughts early on though, when the entire section was overflowing.

But let's start a tour of the hall.  First off, we had the Artists' Alley / Signing area up in the front.  Various pony artists, including Egophiliac, had tables set up taking requests and selling prints of some of the most enjoyed art in the fandom.  Next to them, Jayson Theissen and I had a booth for autograph signing.  I have to admit, before the con I didn't expect anyone to actually want me to deface their  BroNYCon posters with my crazy Internet name, but I guess I was wrong.  I'm still flattered! After talking with Jayson, I think he was too. 

One thing to note about most of these images for those inexperienced with conventions of this scale: Packing 300 people into a room with 80% Humidity means a lot of us were sweating bullets.  Luckily the AC unit on the far side of the the center constantly blew 50 degree air into the room, and my Dry heat Arizonan ass spent a good amount of time over there.  I used to laugh at people on Skype/Ventrilo when they complained about 80 degree weather in the east, when I could walk outside into the beautiful 110 degree Arizona sunshine... but humidity was definitely a rude awakening!

One of the things most of us were really looking forward to was episode two of season two.  I don't think a better one could have been picked for the situation.  Normally when you watch the show alone, you might chuckle a bit at the jokes, but for most of us, there isn't a whole lot of uproarious laughter. When you take three hundred people and toss them in a room to watch Flutterbitch make everypony else miserable,  be prepared for the most amazing twenty-two minute display of pony comedy yet.  I'm surprised we weren't shattering sound barriers and dropping sonic rainbooms with how loud it was, and the nature of the episode had us exploding every... 10... seconds.... It was awesome.  The Discord arc couldn't have been better.

After the showing, Jayson did a Q&A for the audience.  He really seemed happy about our reaction to the episode, and I'm glad.  Their team does an amazing job, and deserves all the credit given to them.

Cereal actually tossed this up a few days ago for those that missed it.  He gives out some really great responses, its definitely worth the read. I unfortunately chickened out on asking about Trixie's GREAT and POWERFUL return, but I didn't feel like dodging water bottles.

Before I continue on with the rest, I'd like to thank all the bronies that gave me stuff! I love free stuff, and I now have competition with Erika, who runs a Rarity Shrine at Purple Tinker's lab, so the more Trixie the better! Above is a cape and hat from Amanda-Su and Nanashi Tanaka.  She literally sewed it onto me right there at the con. 

I'll list the rest below with some sources! Call this the "Custom (Trixie) Merch Section". Feel free to jump past the horizontal lines if you are tired of Trixie!
 

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First off, is the Great and Powerful Scarf.  Coming in at well over 10 feet long, this fine example of insulating technology will not only keep the person wearing it warm, but also everyone within arms distance.  Seriously this thing is epic in length.  They are also selling them, though the shop still seems to be under contruction.  (Updtate: They set up a tumblr instead!)






















Next up we have not one, but two Great and Powerful posters, straight from Maximillian Veers on Deviant Art.  I figured linking the actual images would be better than my terribad cellphone camera, but these are definitely going up on my wall as soon as I find frames that match their sizes.    

And third, we have a Great and Powerful Dash Drive from the guys over at... Dash Drives! My tiny little 1gb stick has been shelved for life, replaced by this far superior piece of Great and Powerful innovation. 

And last, but certainly not least....

Great and Powerful boxers.   Yes... boxers.  When Sparklepeep busted these out, I honesty sat there in shock for a few seconds.  You guys really do care!

I think there is some sort of hidden message on this site broadcasting that I have a weird obsession with Trixie. 

Anyway back to con stuff!

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BroNYCon was host to an assortment of panels and various events, everything from costume shows to a Q&A with the EQD Pre-readers about writing in general.

I could toss out a whole bunch of stuff about all of that, but I'm pretty sure you all prefer videos, so without further adieu, have a ten minute montage of all things BroNYCon filmed by Erika, where you get to see everyone generally having a good time while you were bored at home waiting until Episode three on October 15. 

There is also a cameo of me dripping in sweat and grinning like an idiot while I try to figure out why people at the con would want to interview me and how I should respond to a question I've answered for pretty much every paper/TV station out there already.








Not my best appearance ever, but my excuse is that I was on the way to the glorious air conditioning unit and pulled to the side unexpectedly!

There was also a brony band going by the name of "Neighslayer", with members such as Dethonator and Hoity Toity himself (Who stayed in character for the entire con).  Their entire performance can be found on their Youtube Page dedicated to the band.

I'm going to fast forward to the end of the con now, where another insane thing happened.  There was an auction for various custom ponies/posters/Egophiliac calendars (Which are awesome btw, and you should totally go print one).  We were pretty surprised when things would break the 100 dollar mark.  The croud would go nuts every single time.  Imagine our amazement when this happened:








Just watch it.  If you guys ever wanted to make money out of ponies, I think The Wonderbolts are the way to go!

As the night came to a close, we celebrated the after party and did a final re-watch of the season two pilot arc.  (Along with Discord dancing)

All in all, I'd say it was a huge success.  There were some lessons learned, but packing 300 people into a room for an entire day, and coming out with nothing but laughter and memories, is something most of these events strive for, and BroNYCon definitely pulled it off.  They are doing it again in December, so for those looking for experience it yourself, keep an eye on the website for updates!

Have some more pictures too!

BroNYCon Photo Album
BroNYCon After Part Photo Album (lol drunk people)

And a quick blurb from Purple Tinker for those that attended.  Apparently Hasbro is giving out a whole bunch of MLP Apps to those of you with iOS at the con.  Info below!
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BRONYCON ATTENDEES: OFFICIAL HASBRO iOS APP AVAILABLE FOR FREE!

For those who don't know, Hasbro has launched an official My Little Pony app for iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch). This is big news and shows just how seriously The Powers That Be take the adult fandom (as, presumably, the official target audience doesn't include too many iPhone owners). The app is entitled 'Twilight Sparkle: Teacher for a Day'.

In cooperation with Hasbro, Purple Tinker is distributing 30 copies of this app (half donated by Hasbro, half by BroNYCon) to the first 30 BroNYCon September attendees who respond (6 slots have already been claimed, so act fast!). So, if you attended the con, email prpltnkr (AT) gmail (DOT) com with the subject 'BRONYCON SEPTEMBER IOS APP' and your name as you registered at the con.