I'm back from BronyCon Summer 2012, and I must say that it was by far two of the BEST days of my entire life! There is a great reason why the Brony fandom is so passionate about the show and why they're so great. The characters are great. The stories are great. The writing is great. And the worldbuilding is great.
All of us did plenty of activities. Some bought stuff from the vendors. Others attended conferences. Others attended autograph sessions. I got two autographs on a "Brony-Thank-You-Fund" tabloid poster, one from Cathy Weseluck (Mayor Mare's and Spike's VA) and the other from Tara Strong (Twilight Sparkle's VA). I'd love to get an autograph from John De Lancie (who played Q from Star Trek and Discord from MLP) and Lauren Faust (the creator of this generation's show), but a couple of problems stood in my way:
1. There was an electrical fire in one of the lights in the Mane Hall, which stopped production.
2. The lines got hideously long, and I wanted to see the other events.
However, two is more than enough for me to frame on my wall, especially with the Brony Queen and Brony Assistant. And I was able to refund my two unused vouchers, so I'm all good.
During the expo, De Lancie's documentary, BronyCon: The Documentary, was being produced, and I got featured at one point. I was on the front of the line for Lauren Faust's conference, and the film crew asked if I could be in the film, which I did. They showed me a waiver, which I declined, but after a little bit of fun egging, agreed to sign it. After thinking about it now, I'm glad I did it. Although I wasn't featured again, I was on line for vouchers, and the documentary crew filmed the line as the bronies sung "The Smile Song." I have some of this on video, which I'll present here and the MLP Forums.
Needless to say, it was such a great event! It was my very first fandom convention of any kind, and it really impressed me. From the artistic talent from the fandom to the voice actors' courtesy and appreciation for the fandom to De Lancie's dedication to promote the brony fandom. The variety of talent's massive and great, and I love how they were able to showcase it today to not only promote themselves, but gain revenue as a reward, too. "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY" became literal.
My four most favorite events during Bronycon are as follows:
1. Lauren Faust obtaining her "CREATE" motivational poster. The crowd buzzed loudly with loud cheers and a collective "LAUREN" chant, and Faust literally choked up from the universal love the fandom has for her.
2. The closing ceremony. The people in the stands were so passionate and loud. At one point, we all chanted "Bronies! Bronies! Bronies!" after some motivation. The videos from Everfree Radio don't give it justice. The audience was just absolutely loud and happy there, and I couldn't help but join.
3. Getting two autographs, more specifically one from Cathy Weseluck. I talked with her at one point the day before because she wasn't getting any autographs, and I felt bad. So, I decided to buy an autograph voucher for her. I had a brief chat with her the following day and got a picture taken of both me and her thanks to someone next to her (presumably her daughter, I'm unsure).
4. Not many people got to see it, and I didn't take a shot of it, but it was a HNNNNNG moment. On Saturday, while we all took pictures of Doctor Whooves/Time Turner and Derpy Hooves (each in fursuits), a little girl — three or four years old — passed by and wanted to say "hi" to them both. Both came over, and Doctor Whooves embraced the little kid. It was so sweet, and we all "Awwwww"'d from this. There weren't many pre-adolescents at the event (I counted only to six; most are anywhere from their teens to early-thirties; one person there was in his sixties and proudly dubs himself "The World's Oldest Brony"), but one is enough when you want your heart tugged from the sweetness of the moment. I really hope her mom puts it somewhere on the Internet and/or her album.
Honorable mentions:
1. Talking with Nicole Oliver, who voiced Princess Celestia and Cheerilee. She was interviewed by the press, and at one point, I got the courage to shake her hand and say "Hi!" to her. I also showed her my BronyCon logo concept and ponified Carmen Sandiego, which she loved.
2. The hilarious "Behind the Voices" panel from Saturday. The VAs got off-track at times and said some funny lines while being their characters, yet using the Canadian accent. Tara Strong, who's a Canadian transplant, commented about Canada being "20% cooler." Punny, punny, punny, Tara! Peter New's (Big Macintosh's) "Eeeeyup!" was also hilarious. XD
Needless to say, it was a fantastic event, and I can't wait to return to the next one.