BronyCon Summer 2012: The Aftermath

Well, since I’m bored and taking a break in between packing, I guess now is as good a time as ever to express my thoughts on BronyCon 2012: The Summer Edition. To avoid reading the whole thing, if you’re a lazy bum, I’ll say this now; it was fun. But of course, not perfect.

If you’re one of my friends I chat with regularly or know me on Facebook then you know for past week (nearly two) I’ve been showing my Australian friend Koivo the wonders of New York City. Tons of sight seeing, yummy food, kooky pictures and mayhem! If you want to know more about it you can check out his Tumblr, he’ll being doing detailed blogs about his trip. I’m a bit too lazy for that…lol

Point is! We’ve been having tons of fun and his vacation hit right around the time of BronyCon so since he’s also a brony we wanted to attend the con. Now, of course if you know me then you know I went to BronyCon in January and…well I hated it. I only enjoyed a few things about it and they were not enough to warrant going (I got in for free, only upside since I didn’t have to pay). So I had no intention of going to this one…but with Koivo there I thought it might be a better experience, ya know?

Once again, it was free. I managed to get Koivo and I on the volunteer staff which meant free entry. We worked the registration desk. Boy was it wild! So many people flew by, I even noticed one of Tumblr famous pony artists which was amusing. It boiled down to “Okay, you’re all signed in…*looks at badge* You’re such and such? The artist such and such? Cool.” And that’s it. I’m not the fangirl type so that’s another thing that might count against me with this con business…but anyway! Being apart of the staff was fun, it was fun working; imagine that! It meant not being lonely, being kept busy and even the opportunity to be nosy and see faults in the con.

I’ll say this now, the change of venue was great. Four thousand people, of course they needed more space! Also, the staff was insanely organized, not perfect of course and there were quite a few issues but over all everything was handled well. I think the improvement in the staff and their organization was the biggest and best change for the con. It actually felt professional and even with the issues nothing blew up. I know the star struck bronies that were there only saw the fancy stuff of the con but seeing the behind the scenes workings was the real treat for me. I only wish I could have done more.

I guess I should talk about the shiny stuff huh? Well voice actors were there, I think a writer or two and of course Lauren Faust herself. There were panels and such, blah blah blah. I honestly didn’t pay attention. It was interesting to see Lauren’s panel but the other ones I wasn’t interested in. Fault of the venue but it was very hard to hear the panels. The sound traveled poorly and because it was so big, if people made a lot of noise in the main area people in the back area couldn’t hear anything around them. A bit of an issue when you have two areas holding panels at the same time. They also had a “voice actors in the community” panel which made me laugh. I’m sure some of my more VA obsessed friends would have jizzed all over that but I honestly didn’t care. No, I don’t want to hear you talk at a panel because you did a flash video. But yeah, I wasn’t too into the panels but Koivo enjoyed himself so I was glad.

My favorite part was the vendors. Good god, I spent a hundred bucks in almost one go. I got a Twilight Sparkle hat, a Fluttershy hat and Fluttershy gloves. I also got a Derpy pin for myself and one for Koivo and he got me some artwork. I wish I had more money because I would have bought so much more. I regret I didn’t get to get more on the spot commissions from artists, I really wanted one from Rai but I was broke. ><

Speaking of money, they had food at the expo center but it was SO expensive. I avoided buying anything there but I had to give in a little bit. Thankfully, being on staff also meant a bit of free food and drinks. Not enough to last a whole day but water and doughnuts works fine for me for breakfast, just ended up eating french fries for lunch since they were cheap.

There were also areas to relax, thankfully. The January con really lacked these things so if you were bored or taking a break there was no where to go. This expo center had it though. They had a lounge, a LARP room and my favorite the gaming room. I played a bit of Super Street Fighter 4 on Sunday. I lost about two hours in there.

But overall I am not a con person. Yes, it was nice that there were celebs there and while it would have been nice to get an autograph or (what I would have preferred) a picture with em I wasn’t going to pay for it. If I wanted to pay someone for their time I’d find a hooker. Now to chit chat or hang out with them like they’re normal people would be nifty but ah well. I didn’t go to the con for them nor did I go for the panels. I mainly went to make sure Koivo had fun and also to get some swag. Both were accomplished.

To sum it up? If you enjoy MLP and you like cons then hey, you should try to got to BronyCon. If the staff can keep up the momentum then the next one should be good too. It was a huge improvement from the last one which was nice to see. It would look pretty bad to invite Lauren Faust to an unprofessional mesh. Will I go again? Who knows. If I manage to get on the volunteer staff again then there is a high chance. I’m sort of anti-social and dislike large groups of people. Koivo being at the con with me is what really made the experience a good one.

P.S.: Sorry, no pics. I did take a few but I added them to personal Facebook. And I’m too lazy to add em here. Plus, I didn’t take anything really interesting. Just a huge boobed Twilight cosplayer, a couple of furries, a few of the con itself and Koivo and I. lol