Ciderfest, woo!

Whew! I just got back from Milwaukee Ciderfest, my very first pony con! What a blast!

Here are some of my highlights:

Watching the premiere of "The Mane Attraction" in a convention hall with a brony horde. Everyone sang along with the intro song!

During one of the VA panels, A kid asked, "Is voice acting for FiM different from acting for past generations of MLP?" Good question, kid. "Not bad" Obama face for you. Tabitha was the first to respond.
"Oh, it's so different! Past generations were like, 'Hi, how are you? I'm great! Let's go have a tea party! Okay! Lalalala!' I mean, it certainly had depth, but..."
Tabitha paused uncertainly, as if realizing what she had just said. The audience was shocked silent for a deliciously long moment and then burst into laughter . Tabitha tried to correct herself - "A shallow depth! It had a shallow sort of depth to it!" - but what was said could not be unsaid, and it was too funny not to laugh. Sorry Tabitha!

Tabitha St. Germain wrote a freaking fanfic structured as an episode screenplay, starring Rarity, Gilda, Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Dr. Whooves, and Derpy! The second of the three VA panels was devoted entirely to a blind reading of it, read by their actual voice actresses! What a riot! Everyone be sure to give Tabitha a warm welcome into our fic-writing fold! It's a shame no one was allowed to record the spectacle - they warned us anyone caught with his phone up would be kicked out of the room. The fic was pretty good too!

Peter New repeatedly getting asked yes-or-no questions.

During the third VA panel, all the actresses randomly decided to simultaneously call Andrea Libman, who did not attend this convention. They all immediately pulled out their phones and started dialing, but Peter New was the first to get her voicemail. "Hey Andrea, this is Peter. I'm here on the voice actor panel at Ciderfest, and um.. you're late. It's in Milwaukee, so..." By that point, the other five also got her voicemail and started their own messages, so everyone was getting caught in everyone else's messages. The audience was going NUTS with laughter. Ashleigh Ball was the last to hangup, saying something along the lines of, "I miss you, I miss your face, I miss your hair..." A minute later, Andrea called Rebecca Shoichet back. Everyone immediately chanted for Andrea to be put on speakerphone, but Rebecca shushed the audience, finished the conversation quickly, and said goodbye. She told us that Andrea was teaching a class right that moment. Oops. Andrea only called back immediately because she thought there was some sort of emergency - why else would six colleagues all call her simultaneously? Ashleigh was quick to text her an apology.

Kid: What was your favorite line to say?
Peter: Eeyup.
Final Draft: You got a whole episode as a southern belle, and you still default to that answer?!

I won a Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament! I played that game religiously for nine years, but hadn't played for the past five. My wavedash and SHFFL techniques weren't perfect, but they were consistent enough to be utilized effectively in combat. It was great to get back into the game I loved, if only for a day. I also got to play against The Fiery Joker, AKA Commander Firebrand, in a 1v1! Well, maybe play against isn't quite the right phrase. More like play with. Like a dog, playing with a chew toy.

Ashleigh Ball and Rebecca Shoichet doing live karaoke renditions of several pony songs. Ashleigh knocking "I'll Fly" (Rainbow's song about stopping winter) out of the park was especially memorable. Well... actually that was the only one I got to hear. The SSBM and SSB4 tournaments went on much longer than I had anticipated. =/

Those moments are all pretty awesome. But there was one that took the cake - the lone fanfiction panel, shoved off to one of the side rooms for unimportant events. I was looking forward to that one above all others.

I walked in half an hour early, hoping to chat with random fanfic people before the event actually started. No one there. Ten minutes before starting time, one person walked in, and I asked him what the panel would be about - the brochure didn't have any details. He said he didn't have any sort of plan - he only submitted himself as a panelist to make sure some kind of fanfiction event happened this time. Apparently, the fanfiction events at the last two cons he attended were cancelled because the panelists never showed up. Since he didn't have a plan, there weren't any other panelists coming, and there were four chairs and mics, I asked if I could join him on the panel. He said sure.

And so Nekonyancer became a panelist.

I ended up directing a lot of the conversation. A few people came to gush about their own fics or fic ideas, but I steered the event toward broader topics. "Your fic sounds very interesting, but we've ALL written fics, and I'm sure we'd all love to talk about them. We could be here all day. If you guys want to do that, we could break into three groups of four so everyone has a chance. No? Okay then."

I'm aware, and was aware, that it's very bad form to take over someone else's panel, but the guy was very open to it, and I exercised patience and courtesy along with my usual enthusiasm.

We discussed how to keep yourself motivated as a writer, difficulties with fimfiction and contest rules, pros and cons to gardeners and architects (literary ones, not literal ones), how prereaders can help you, and how to get prereaders to help you.

and omg I loved it. I need to do more of these. I need to!

Whinnycon is right on my doorstep. It's in five months. And imma do ALL teh panels. See my other post for details.

Comments

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Awesome! Glad you enjoyed it. I'm a West Coast boy myself but have greatly appreciated the pony cons I've attended!