TrotCon Write-Up II: Electric Boogaloo

Since I was also at TrotCon and had the ability to go to panels and not be stuck in a vendor's hall with a broken air conditioning system, I figured I'd add in a bit about my own experiences at the convention.
Pic unrelated besides the fact that I made it for TrotCon hype



But first a bit about what I did before the convention. I actually left for Ohio a few days before the convention started and stayed with a few friends outside of Dayton.  We went to a shooting range and shot guns one day; despite the number of rumors I have heard, none of the guns actually killed people.

Apart from that, we drank, we went to Kings Island (until it rained), and we went to Cedar Point, where I learned that the "CP Shop" did not sell what I thought it did.
What was I supposed to think they sold here?
Anyways, I was picked up early Friday morning in a van and forcibly raped by a man who told me he had candy shortly after arrived at TrotCon. Unfortunately, con staff would not accept "being horse famous" as an excuse to skip the registration line, but it wasn't that big of a deal because I really didn't miss anything.

The opening ceremonies were pretty much what you would expect. I stayed after the ceremonies for the Pegasisters Live panel, mostly because I had nothing better to do. I did win a game of Ninja during that panel, however. Turns out being 6'7" and just holding your hands straight up in the air makes it incredibly hard for other people to tag you out.
Ha ha, manlets. Will they ever learn? (http://youtu.be/NcL2sOtWHqI?t=52m10s) 
After that I perused the vendor's hall, where Ren-sempai didn't recognize me. After running into the bathroom and crying for twenty minutes, I went to the Andrea Libman/Peter New/M.A. Larson panel (they were all there for each others' panels, so I didn't really know whose was whose), where my friends and I were shocked to find that the questions weren't nearly as autistic as they are at most cons. There was still a good number of those types of questions (including way too many about grimdark fanfics), but not nearly as many as I expected.
No, they don't read your shitty fanfiction. Stop asking.
After that, we visited the game room where I killed some time by playing through Sanic 3.  We tried to check out one of the shipping panels but the door was blocked from the inside by massive amounts of fully cooked angel hair pasta noodles.  Like Ren, we went to the concert for a few minutes before deciding we didn't want to end up in someone's cringe video and left.
You know exactly what kind of video I'm talking about: http://youtu.be/FrcMDNMnRRY
We played Cards Against Humanity in our hotel room. Tim won, but that was okay because I got a picture of Tim with a random collar we found placed forcibly around his neck. It was also okay because he's a pedophile, ain't that right, Tim?
Tim x Michelle Creber: In four years, legally ship-able
The next day, we attended M.A. Larson's panel detailing the process of making an episode from a writer's perspective, which was actually a really cool and informative panel, despite the fact that the show was stolen by Flash Sentry.
You could almost hear the sound of every female attendee's panties simultaneously dropping
After another Peter New/Andrea Libman panel, I killed even more time by playing through Sanic 2 in the game room.  Two friends and I stopped by the improv panel; I was disappointed to find that not only was it scripted, it was so poorly scripted that it was even more autistic-looking than it would have been if it actually was improv.  We then spent a good hour walking around Columbus trying to find something to eat besides Subway, which was a surprisingly difficult task.
This was in the game room. Don't worry, I gave it the praise/worship/preparation of my anus that the Ogrelord deserves.

After that, I went to the fanfiction panel (which really wasn't as bad as you'd think it would be), which was more of a writing tips panel.  Not that that was a bad thing, mind you; most fanfic writers need lots of mental help advice.  I then stayed for the speedfic writing panel, which had (I believe) around 40 submissions. Naturally, the reading of these took a lot longer than the time allotted, so we were forced to move to a deserted hallway outside the vendor's hall.  My speedfic about Towelie, Sweetie Belle, and a professor with some really edgy name placed fifth in the contest, so I got some stuff as prizes for that.

We went to a few of the performances that night.  The concerts were very sparsely attended, especially in the later hours, but they weren't bad. At one point, my friends and I walked into the karaoke room, turned 180 degrees, and walked right back out of there.  I also went to the Pony Thread Simulator panel, which was basically just watching Pony Thread Simulators. Had me a giggle.

Sunday was a typical convention Sunday.  Went to the vendor's hall one last time and actually set up a couple of interviews, since I was jonesing for something new to write about.  I went to the musician's panel, where I mostly watched two of my friends play on their 3DS's.  Lastly, I stuck around for the charity auction.  I was hoping to bid on a replica of Final Draft's revoked BABScon badge, but the item was pulled from the auction. I was intending to give it to Capper as a token of my eternal love (no homo), but my dreams were shattered. I did catch a marshmallow in my mouth that was thrown by PonyToast and people clapped for me, which would have been cool if I wasn't in a country of people that applaud you for literally everything.
Celebration ensues after Toast gets his white, gooey stuff in my mouth (http://youtu.be/VR_zdpZdanM?t=1h3m55s)
The auction concluded with someone buying a copy of M.A. Larson's upcoming book (Pennyroyal Academy) for $1200. Before taking off, I managed to get M.A. Larson's autograph on my beautifully hand-drawn Twilight Sparkle piece.
IT COULD HAVE BEEN PART OF THE CHARITY AUCTION, TOAST! IT'S AN ORIGINAL!
All in all, the con was bretty gud. I had a lot of fun and didn't end up with alcohol poisoning at any point (see: BABScon). Definitely on the list again for next year...

Comments (2)

  1. Oh hey, fifth place guy! :D That story was inspired.

    I'm glad someone mentioned the writing panel in one of these. I'm taking steps so that next year, it won't last three fucking hours.

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  2. Yeah man, no more 3 hour panels.

    7 hours or I'm out!

    ReplyDelete