Highlights from BronyCon 2019: Opening Ceremonies and the Close of the Day · 1:31am Nov 11th, 2019
Previous blog post: A Salute to Joshua Burner
Previous Highlight: Gensokyo, Alatastica, and Coal Town
Highlights from BronyCon 2019: Opening Ceremonies and the Close of the Day
In which son_of_heaven176 watches the BronyCon 2019 Opening Ceremonies and collects yet another signature.
Thursday, August 1, 2019: The First Day of the Final BronyCon
Around 6:00 PM, I arrived at the Mane Events Hall for Opening Ceremonies. Unfortunately for me, we had all split up, so I wasn’t near any of my fellow Danmaku players for Opening Ceremonies. Nonetheless, Opening Ceremonies were eventful.
As always, when you put a whole herd of bronies in one space for a long time without anything happening, we will eventually come up with our own ways to fill up the dead time. Random cheers popped up here and there, from the Pinkie-Pie “Fun! Fun! Fun!” to a more celebratory “BronyCon! BronyCon!”
Eventually, however, the Opening Ceremonies began. During Opening Ceremonies, the mascots Blank Canvas, Mane Event, and Hoof Beatz showed up, and during their skit, they once again introduced a scavenger hunt for the attendees. Apparently the mascots’ things were taken, and we needed to get the clues to find them!
BlackGryph0n and Michele Creber came onstage and hyped up the crowd, as usual.
And on top of that, we were treated to one of the most hilarious things to grace the ear of man: Gilbert Gottfried (yes, the voice of Iago from Disney’s Alladin and Digit from Cyberchase) singing (more like reciting) the This Day Aria. Here is a recording by MisAnthroPony, who was in the overflow room. (I showed up early enough to be in the Mane Events Hall proper, though.) And if you want to hear the recitation in all its glory (i.e., without the background chatter of amused congoers), you can find that here.
Though really, words (and my scarce notes) cannot do the Opening Ceremonies justice. You have to see them for yourself.
After Opening Ceremonies, I had intended to go see Critical Foal. However, there was still some time to kill between the end of Opening Ceremonies and the start of Critical Foal. Consequently, I decided to stop by the Vendor Hall. Due to a confluence of the timing (right after Opening Ceremonies) and the fact that I had a Sponsor badge, I was able to get in without having to deal with an epic LineCon. One of my goals for this BronyCon was to get another set of YouTuber Prance cards and getting each of them signed by the respective brony. I got the cards, but couldn’t spot hide nor hair of any brony whose autograph or signature I wanted.
After killing a sufficient amount of time, I headed to Critical Foal. Now I thought that it would be akin to Critical Role—in other words, I thought that it would be bronies playing a D&D campaign.
Nope! It was a play.
The scenario was that Shining Armor and two other stallions were playing Ogres and Oubliettes. Not too long afterwards, though, Twilight Sparkle, Cadence, and Cheerilee show up and want to join in on the fun. Of course, you could tell where this was headed: the general “girls crashing guys’ night” tropes were going to ensue. Twily, for her part, was a source for the usual “younger sibling / newbie player” tropes. That wasn’t my cup of tea, so I decided to head back to the Vendor Hall…
…and I was met with success for the trouble! Silver Quill, one of the five Prance YouTubers, was finally at his desk. I asked him to autograph my Prance card, which he did. (I completed the collection on Saturday, and tweeted the picture of the complete collection. You can find the tweet here.)
I also asked him to sign the gift I made for Firebrand. For that, however, Silver Quill elected to use his silver marker, not the black one that he signed my Prance card with.
After getting the autograph and signature (and not getting Lightning Bliss’s; she wasn’t at her table), I returned to StableTop Games. I tried to get another game of Danmaku going, but I couldn’t muster up the needed four players. So I decided to call it a night.
And thus ends the tales of Day One of the Final BronyCon. But there were still three days to go, and more fun to be had.
Previous Highlight: Gensokyo, Alatastica, and Coal Town
Next Highlight: Back to the Vendor Hall
