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| "Say Big Mac, how 'bout you put us down and have some cider on the house?" "Nnnope." |
Alright Ladies and Gentlemen, if you'll all take your seats we can get this started.... I know that a lot of you have been hearing and seeing some interesting things that you want to look over, and it just so happens that I've covered just about all of it in bullet format so you can disseminate it to your enlisted underlings via PowerPoint.
My name is Saunter Hoof and I will be giving you this brief on the status of the Everfree NW Brony Convention. The Terminal Objective of this brief is to provide you all with a generalized experience of what happened at the con, as if you were there. It's secondary objective is to provide you with credible information to answer any questions you had about it. I will be provide you with quotes and analysis of the issues at hand. Let us begin:
Lt. Heartstrings, stop slouching!
First, the summary:
Lets hit this with bullet points to answer some questions your asking:
- Yes, I heard about the blog post, I'll get to it at the end.
- Yes there were some schedueling issues
- Yes there were complaints, again, I'll get to thoes in a minute.
- Yes, that panel you wanted to see was infact awesome.
- John Joseco was there, and did run out of Gamer Luna pics within 15 minutes
- No, it was not a total disaster.
First the good news!
- I have yet to hear of someone attending a panel that went badly or not to their liking..
- The VA's and musicians all had a great time, and had some heart warming experiences.
- The vendors made some good cash all in all.
- I've heard nothing but positive reactions from attendee to attendee interactions.
- You probably met Peter New if you were wandering the halls at some point. Apparently he was really trying to put himself out there, and plenty of bronies got pics and autographs with him.
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| Fact: Peter New is Fabulous |
I can see the look in your face...That look means you want the bad news, so "what went wrong?" Well, that's a very question. It's hard for me to say, "a lot" without giving you the wrong impression. There were many things that made this event very "rocky" for some people. It seems to me that a couple of systemic failures created an effect of establishing negative interactions that seemed to lead to some hurtful individual results. Specifically:
- There was some apparent overpopulation.
- MyLittlePonyTales: "Most of you may not know, but when this convention started, they hoped to MAYBE sell 300 badges, even though there was a 500 cap. In the last few months, the cap TRIPLED. It is no secret that we were not prepared, on behalf of the staff I sincerely apologize. I hope this will not ruin people's view of the con as a whole, and that maybe they'll give it a shot next year even if the experience this year was not so pleasant."
- There was some issue with the registration:
- Rainbowshy: "Got there a little after 10, so went to registration. I'm not sure - I keep hearing about a fiasco - not sure what others experienced. Got in line but then was told with others to wait in the gaming room. Waited about half an hour in which I got to talk to the brony who I gave a ride to the con ... After which a staffer with a security shirt told us we could go to registration. This is where I had my only real issue with registration - when we got to the line, a guy who said he was staff (but had no badge or shirt identifying him as such) told us the line was not open and we had to go back. Thankfully the security guy came up and said that if this other guy was staff he had to go get his shirt and stuff before he could work. Then we got in line and they told us we didn't need badges, but we got them anyway so we didn't have to wait Saturday... As Pinkie, I started singing 'Gotta Share, Gotta Care'. And then I got my badge and went on my way."
- Calessa: "Upon arrival at the Mariott, it was a nightmare. There were people lined up in hallways all over the hotel's main walkthroughs and no one, staff or attendee, was able to give us directions to actual registration. After several minutes of this, it became very apparent that absolutely no one had any idea what was going on. My party was directed into the gaming room because the entire livestream room was already occupied with the overflow for registration. None of the staff actually seemed to know what was going on."
- Fobhopper: "First day was a HUGE flustercluck, it was just one problem after another, after yet another. I wont get too much into the details, but pretty much all the events were pushed back by an hour or two, and things were very disorganized. Me and my wife ended up leaving around 1330 because the lines were so bad and it was pretty warm out for the NW (it was a high of 94 that day with decent humidity) and everyone was miserable and a little disgruntled."
- FlumpPod: "The day 1 registration was a mess, people who got there as registration opened at 0800 were told to wait in a nearby room until further notice. The staff didn't have any contact with us except to tell us to crowd into the room and that registration would open 'soon' over the course of just under 3 hours"
- Apparently, those issues may have been resolved by as early as the morning of day 2
- Fobhopper: "Upon the return of the second day (around 0800) we were able to get our badges with little hassle (it seemed like they decided to print out all the badges during the night so people could just pick them up easy) and things were MUCH more organized, things ran smoother, and it was MUCH cooler (about 74 that day, so it literally was 20% cooler)."
- FlumpPod: "Day 2 did see an improvement in organization, though everything was still starting late and had out of control lines with little to no staff supervision. I can see where some people might have found the staff rude or disorganized as they had no effective means of communication; the radios that only about half of them had flat out did not work ."
- Saunter: Ladies and Gentlemen, once again, I'd like to point out the importance of having proper comm.
- There was an issue of rude staff, which seems to be a bit more complicated than at first glance.
- BitBrony: "...I was surprised to find registration had closed
at 9 when the website said open until 10. The real issue was the first
staff member I asked about this basically told me to go away until
tomorrow and miss out on all the late night events. It wasn't until I
asked a second staff member what could be done that I found out nobody
needed badges on Friday.
This should have been made clear to all the staff and signs put up at the registration point. When I asked the first staff member why he didn't tell me this, he just shrugged and ignored me. Registration staff the next morning were fine, and I'll bring up staff again later...It hurt that I waited so long and watched as the people close in front of me got to go inside, but I accepted it. When it happened again for Ponies Anthology and I got to be right at the front of the "110% chance you're not getting in, go away" section, it dragged up some real ill will. Then lines for Ponystock even late at night, the radio play, it seemed like everything needed a line and the staff just didn't seem to care or sympathize at all, just order us around or out." - BluesBrony: "I found it absolutley galling that the volunteers (greenshirts) showed absolutley no concern for the people in line for HOURS. How about a "We're sorry for the delay". NO. It's always "Clear the sidewalks!" ZERO updates from the greenshirts. How hard is it for one person to gives us "Hey guys it'll be about 30 minutes" or even "I don't know how long it will be but I'll give you a update as soon as possible so hang in there"[.] Is that not reasonable? When I've been waiting TWO AND A HALF HOURS in a line what I don't want to hear is "HEY GUYS CLEAR A PATH" "HEY GUYS KEEP YOUR BACKS TO THE WALL"[original emphasis]... I get that you're volunteers and you guys put a lot of time and effort into it but some of the stuff was completley preventable. Most of my gripes could've been solved with paper a marker and some courtesey and caring from the greenshirts."
- Saunter: I'd just like to add that this was one of the first posts on a specific complaint thread from this user on the Everfree forums. He did point out in his later posts that this first post was rather emotional and he took a different approach after some sleep and time. I decided to include it because the emotional state conveys the attitudes that would have been present at that time.
- Lynnie: "If I were to give constructive criticism, there were times that I wished there was a member of staff who wandered up and down the long lines just answering questions. And if they didn't know the answer to something, they'd find out. Like, that's all they were expected to do- become experts in everything they could and answer questions. It would have helped a lot of us out a LOT at times when we weren't sure if we were in the right line, or what's going on at the front of the line, or if the event was being delayed and we still had a chance to get in, or whatever. "
- FlumpPod: "The staff didn't have any contact with us except to tell us to crowd into the room and that registration would open 'soon' over the course of just under 3 hours.... I can see where some people might have found the staff rude or disorganized as they had no effective means of communication; the radios that only about half of them had flat out did not work . Some of the rude ones might have also just been tired, one of the staffers I chatted with at breakfast had been overseeing Ponystock until it ended at 0200 and had to be up to help with registration at 0800 the next day and I would guess he wasn't the only one. More than a few of the attendees were also being rude and disrespectful to both the hotel staff and the EFNW volunteers as well. They were usually corrected by anyone nearby, but still.".
- MyLittlePonyTales: "There were so many staff that pulled extra shifts and sleepless nights, because it was terribly underestimated how many staff would be needed. I myself arrived on Thursday, after working night shift at my real job and sleeping for three hours. Friday night I slept another three, and Saturday I slept four. This is a common story for a lot of the staff, assuming they slept at all. I apologize if any of the staff were short or rude, and I even had to work alongside staff members who could not handle the stress and were rude to fellow staff members."
You should be able to see a trend of sleeplessness and stress 'causing some frayed nerves. Okay, lets keep pushing forward:
FOOD::
- Tiara Azmalan: "Worst case scenario: The hotel is literally across the street from the light rail station, and the light rail will take you straight and easy to various stops along the downtown Seattle core, and runs 24/7. Plenty of places to eat within eaaaasy walking distance from the light rail/bus tunnel!"
- Denny's:
- FlumPod: I did talk to another brony who said the people at the nearby Denny's were super mad at us for swamping them so badly.
- Saunter: Ladies and Gentlemen, I apologize, but I appear to have lost track of the other incidents noting that the local Denny's was rather annoyed by the large influx of people. It appeared to me that there were a couple of stated interpretations of Denny's employees frustration at such an enormous crowd showing up, without warning. To me, this is all logical. Bronies may have turned a slow weekend in to a three day long rush hour with employees getting called back to work on their weekend.
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| It would still appear that these bronies still enjoyed themselves at Denny's anyways. |
THE PANELS:
- Art of the Song Panel:
- Calessa: "Badge in hand, I immediately went for the Art of the Song panel, knowing that there wasn't any chance we would make opening ceremonies. In the chaos of attempting to get into the panel, we somehow ended up as one of the first into the room, and had 3rd row seats. While I feel I was fortunate to have gotten in so early, the panel itself never seemed to fill, and based on later panel experiences, I think it was largely due to the disastrous amount of rescheduling with little to no tangible information line; people didn't know the panel was happening. If there was a place members could go to get updated schedules and information, I never noticed it during the entire convention."
- Saunter: Okay, so I saw a good portion of this on the Livestream. It was very entertaining to me. I found it very interesting how Mr. Ingram explained how he had very little time to create "This Day Aria" from a short snippet he made months in advance. Michelle Creber took a moment to actually do a "Eeyup!" in Applebloom's voice which was so energetic I thought it would break my ear drums. The Choir for "At the Gala was actually one that one of the VA's mother's knew. The Choir was added to the Song to make it more grandiose and would not have been there if they hadn't been offered up. Additionally, Michelle Creber loves the fact that when she is done with a recording session, she is completely exhausted but loves how much fun she had. Finally, Tabitha St. Germain has a ridiculous amount of energy and hands out cookies during the recording sessions.
- The Mane6 Panel
- Rainbowshy: "As Applejack, I got to the hotel early because I wanted to attend the Mane Six panel. Good thing I did because it got full real fast and I found out that while the boots I brought felt comfortable in the store, they were not made for walking or standing long. The wait was worth is as the VA's talked about their jobs and lives and made jokes (Oh, look, a moose!). Now I have to take a moment to recognize Nicole Oliver for her kind heart here. A girl who was developmentally delayed got up to ask a question of the VAs but at the last moment got scared and started crying and ran back to her seat. Nicole walked off the stage and sat next to her to comfort her - kudos to Nicole!"
- Saunter: Sorry to interject ladies and gentlemen, but seriously: Nicole Oliver is best Celestia. CLEARLY
- Calessa: "We attempted to arrive on time for the Mane Six (-2) panel, only to have the line to enter the panel shut down just a few people in front of us. This was somewhat frustrating for me, as we probably would have been further up in the line with more signage indicating where the line actually was (on the flip side, other people would have been in line too, so I don't actually BLAME that for our missing the panel). With my wife having an emotional breakdown, I slogged my way up to the Livestream room where I found the audio itself wasn't loud enough to hear clearly for the majority of the panel."
- Fobhopper: "...during the VA panel, a 12 year old kid asked all the voice actors that were there a great question (I cant recall what it was off the top of my head) but he completely stole the show."
- Saunter: Again, just adding some context: I watched this part on the Celestia Radio Livestream: he asked them what they first thought of when they found out about "Bronies." It was very surreal moment...
- My take on it: The VA's were pretty much going off the wall with their antics. I can kind of see how they feed off of each other in a studio. Their constant gaggle of personalities, quirks, and voices creates a constant stream of creativity as their energy feeds off each other to preform, it seemed like it was hard for them to turn it off. That or they all had too much caffeine and were too tired to care. The VA's also promoted their charities: Kiki's Fund from Tara Strong and Ride to Conqure Cancer from Andrea Libman. Additionally, here are some quotes you might enjoy:
- Cathy Weseluck (as Spike): "Tara, would you mind if I could just sit next to Rarity?"
- Tara Strong (as Twilight): "Dear Princess Celestia, Get them a room!"
- Tabitha St. Germain (badly out of context): "I've ripped off every actor I've ever met."
- (As Pinkie Pie, in ponified Star Wars): "Hey guess what luke? I'm your father!"
- From the crowd (referring to above quote): "Use the horse!"
- Friendship is Witchcraft and Hotdiggedydemon
- Bluespony: "I would put the Friendship is Witchcraft panel and Hotdiggedydemon panel as my two highlights of Day One. Seriously those two had me in stiches. Very informative and very funny. I can't even begin to describe what Hotdiggedydemon's panel was like. Look it up on Youtube."
- Oki Doki Loki Panel
- Rainbowshy: "The Oki Doki Loki panel was very popular and I was lucky to get a seat. It was supposed to be about Norse Mythology in MLP (Vinyl Scratch is the new Thor, btw, for those who haven't heard) but it pretty much ended up being a bunch of bronies going up and talking about why they liked the show and what they got out of it, which was fine with everyone. I personally liked hearing the stories of my fellow bronies."
- Dear Princess Celestia Panel
- Rainbowshy: "Smarebear and her friend lead the 'Dear Princess Celestia/Luna panel - they looked amazing dressed as the princesses and obviously put a lot of time and effort into their costumes. Some of the letters were funny, others were touching, some were even a little mean...but it was a lot of fun to hear what others had learned from the show. They read my letter - yay! I hope to see them next year - they were awesome at panels and awesome overall!"
- EQD, Guys of MLP Panels, Bringing Life to Words
- Calessa: "The next event I went to after getting lunch was the "Bringing Life to Words" storyboarding panel, which had no line and I was able to get in and out with no fuss. My wife, not wanting to repeat the morning's fiasco, bailed from the panel early to claim a spot in line for "Guys of MLP".After "Guys of MLP", we headed to the EqD panel, which also went by without any hitches"
THE DANCE:
- Ponystock:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kTWWiJmnMw
- Mandopony rocking out the classical music!
- Rockin' Robin Cover by Michelle Creber
- Also, Wanted Dead or Alive cover by Michelle Creber and Mandopony : 1:04:44
SWAG!
- Signatures & People:
- Fobhopper: "A cool thing was Tara strong was signing things all day long (not just in her scheduled block) and she was having so much fun with all the people. In fact there were several moments during the signings that she was just having so much fun. The crowd sang 'twilightlicious', and tara said 'you can do better than that', and so we all sang it again even louder. There were a couple other silly things that happened with tara, but the best was near the end of the day a father went and brought his little son (I would guess he was around 3-4 years old) to say hi to tara, and the little kid was scared of her and shy and hiding behind the fathers leg. Tara started talking to him in all kinds of different voices and the kid enjoyed it"
- RainbowShy: "The best thing that happened to me first day was I was walking down the hall at the Holiday Inn and saw Michelle Creber and Andrea Libman walking with some staff and I was like "okay, not supposed to bother them, walk on by.". But then Andrea gave me a smile and a wave and said hi and I was so happy I about melted into a little Pinkie puddle!"
- Rainbowshy: "I went for autographs. I only got Tara's and Andrea's because I didn't have that much money - part of what changed my mind was they said they would do photographs (they said at the actor's discretion but it seemed they were all okay with it). They were both super nice - I almost cried when I met Tara and Andrea did the Fluttershy voice for me. (yay!)"
- FlumpPod: "...I was a little starstruck to be honest. Mostly just impressed with how funny and sincere the various VAs and big names in the fandom are."
- Miscelaneous Swag:
- FlumpPod: "I got some buttons from this guy https://www.kawaiimo.
deviantart.com/ on 2 separate occasions and he told me that I was one of 2 people that bought a Carrot Top and that I was very lucky to have gotten Lyra as he sold out of her very fast. I got some buttons from this guy http://tsitra360.deviantart. com/ as well, and a discount code for his work on WeLoveFine. I also picked up Michelle Creber's CD and she autographed it. Picked up the Enterplay card binder and some packs along with the con exclusive card. Last but not least were some postcards from this gal http://cosmicunicorn. deviantart.com/ with an autograph and doodle on one."
Vehicles:
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| Someone was apparently like, "Ponies? Better bring my DeLorean..." |
TRAVELING PONY MUSEUM
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| There was plenty more, but you can see most of it in our TrotCon Brief |
CALIFORNIA
COSPLAYERS
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| Awesome RD Cosplay, with awesome AJ swag on your right |
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| That's one vote for red and not violet... |
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| Best pony in this picture... Bane |
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| Celestia is sending Celestia dagger eyes... |
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| From right to left: Spike with Mustache, Rarity with Beret, Hoity Toity, Rarity without Beret, and... um... Elusive. |
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| Snowflake v. Tom |
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| "As if..." |
THE NEED TO SING:
- Kelley Sullivan: It was absolutely awesome. What was really nice is to be with incredible people who can take a 2-hour wait in line for something and turn it into a 2-hour sing along with 500 new friends.
- MyLittleSonicRainboom: Singing My Little Pony karaoke in the gaming room with several other bronies was the highlight of my Friday! FluttershyYay!
- : I enjoyed the singing when we were in the waiting rooms this morning at least. Got some good pictures of various cosplay people as well. :b
- Opsamm (reply): That was the best part of the convention today, not waiting in the room part, the part where the many bronies could at least make it enjoyable enough.
- That was the best part of the convention today, not waiting in the room part, the part where the many bronies could at least make it enjoyable enough.
- Fobhopper: During the wait in the signature room, most of the bronies were singing all kinds of MLP songs all through the day (the only fanbase I can think of that will sing while waiting in line).
THAT BLOG POST:
Yes, that blog post. I've read both the first, and the reprise from the author's website. I am unwilling to post a source to it because it appears that the author of said post would prefer to be no longer bothered with comments about their post. Additionally, the post for most bronies, does strike an emotional chord, and would promote an emotional response, rather than an analytical one, thus repeating or sourcing the post would do nothing more than further emotionalize a situation which is now moot. The first post is rather accusatory and sweeping, and the second one is much more specific. As to the credibility of such events: I have not been able to gain any documented evidence that such things were said. FlumpPod reported a case of inappropriate behavior on a bus, however that is all that I have been able to gather. From the descriptions and statements that I have read, I would say that such alleged behavior would be a statistical outlier at the convention should it have occurred.
Later on, Ms. Creber also denied the allegations, so there is little to support the claim. I would also request that you all do not post a link to the source of the post in the comments as well.
WHAT DID THEY THINK:
- The Attendees: Don't ignore this section, gentlemen. You might be presently surprised:
- Rainbowshy: "Yes, there were some issues, but I pretty much got to do and attend everything I wanted. The only thing I kind of wanted to attend that I missed was The Crusaders panel, but hopefully they'll be back next year. I hope it will be even more amazing next year and I plan to save my money so I can help the con by buying a Sponsorship Badge."
- BluesPony: "Again thank you for all your hardwork. I intend on coming back next year."
- Saunter: Does that name look familiar? It should, go back to the "What went wrong section if it doesn't ring a bell."
- Annaleah753: "Overall, I had a great time and can't wait for next year's con. Even when I wasn't in a panel, the community that was created was very welcoming. While I hated the lines (but I hate waiting in line at a grocery store, so not really a complaint there), in every line I was in, regardless of whether I knew the people around me or not, I was always engaged in a friendly conversation, and often ended up running into the same people throughout other events. The panels I did make it to were extremely entertaining and I always had a good time, and the guests were excellent!"
- Bashfluff: "It's only fair that I do give mention to the great work the constaff did, lest I sound displeased. The staff thing as a bit of a letdown, but it was a small detraction. Everything was close to perfect, in my mind, and the fact that I started planning the trip next year should be an indication that this was a BLAST!"
- Leuiffi:"Ultimately I had fun and I'm glad we're moving to the Hilton next year.
- Frisbee: "As mentioned before, I think overall the convention was a great success and I look forward to attending next year."
- My expectations will be a bit higher next year, but I am definitely coming back!"
- Calessa: "Looking forward to next year, despite the issues. I believe Everfree can only go up from here."
- Bitbrony: "I submitted some feedback through the Guidebook app already, but I thought a longer post might be appreciated and I can at least get this off my back. I'll admit I came into the con with some troubles, but I just felt let down over and over again. Not all of that was the con's fault, but I ended up not enjoying the weekend very much, and frankly I kind of wish I hadn't come."
- DrGeoduck: "I left early on day 1 (without ever even picking up my badge), and did/will not return for days 2 or 3. I bear no ill feelings towards Everfree: in the end, I only lost half a day and the cost of my membership. It probably would have been more bearable if I had come with friends, but I attended by myself, and didn't know anybody at the con, so I felt very isolated. I admit, I feel disappointed. I was looking forward to it being "The Best Con EVER", but all of my expectations were frustrated. I hope everypony else had a better time than I did." [original emphasis
- Summation: tl:dr : Some people were displeased but overall appear to be happy to return for next year's convention
- The Staff: They provided some excellent background info on what was going on, and are taking the issues seriously:
- Flips Sautee: "This is Flips, the dealer's hall lead. It is unfortunate to hear about any difficulties with staff or vendors in and around my hall, and I really want to hear any specifics on them personally. Please email me at dealers@everfreenw.com, and I'd be happy to discuss things further, and make possible changes for next year."
- Master Clockwork: "We will have a bit of a fresh start with the next convention, not only because of the new hotel but also a new staff. I certainly hope that we do have many that choose to volunteer once again, but I also hope to see a lot of bright new faces willing and able to play their role. I will be putting my hoof in myself and will do everything in my power to help. As far as this year goes, let me say this now, I saw a lot of people working very hard and I applaud every last one of them. Things did go as well as they did because of the collective effort of the staffers and I do not want anyone to forget the role they placed in making this con a success. Despite the things that did go wrong, this con was a success, but we can do better. We will do better."
- Aloha (Hotel Liason): "I want to thank all of you for your co-operation in dealing with the delays you guys are awesome! In the end the decision to made friday badge-free was made, because very simply there was simply no way we could process even a small number of the attendees before the events needed to start, and rather than have 3/4's of the attendees miss more than half of friday, we sent you off to go have fun. I hope you all had fun, I want to thank each and every one of you for coming, you guys (and the constaff I worked with up at the Marriott) made the event for me; in 10 years of con-running, I have never seen anything like Everfree NW, the level of goodwill from everypony in attendance just blew my mind."
- MyLittlePonyTales: "But I know the con board has learned a lot, and they are already receiving many many suggestions about next year. There are a few extra months of planning available as well, so we hope that next year things will be a whole lot better. There were a lot of contributing factors that made the con terrible and enjoyable, and hopefully the good outweighed the bad for attendees overall. Remember that after the con sold out the first time, people pleaded and pleaded for the staff to up the cap. So they did, and this is what happened. Consider that if you were not in the first 500, you wouldn't have been able to come at all at one time. Luckily the cap for next year is like, a lot, so we're ready in advance!"
- The VA's:
- Tabitha St. Germain: "I just wanted to express my thanks to everyone who set up and welcomed and embraced me (in many cases literally) at Everfree Con. I truly had a wonderful time meeting so many sweet, genuine and wildly variegated leaves of my family tree."
- Michelle Creber: "Claire,
@MaddyPeters & I also thank@EverfreeNW for an awesome time, we ALL had a blast! Great con, great fans, great security & staff :) "
WHAT DO YOU THINK:
Well bronies and pegasisters... I'm impressed. Mainly by the community. I'll say this for Everfree NW. It appears that even though there were a few systemic failures that occurred, I would interpret most of these failures to be preventable, but not unexpected nor unacceptable. The systemic issues (registration, overpopulation, transport logistics, and scheduling) seemed to create a hostile emotional environment.
Let this be a lesson to all you future fire team leaders out there. Even the best trained can be brought low without sleep, food, stress, and positive incentive. It doesn't matter how hard core you are, stress can and will get to you. Once your team loses control against stress, their ability to function properly will be very poor. Having more endurance and better training only serves to drive that breaking point a little further back. Just because your team CAN function, does not make them effective.
What appears to have happened here is that strategic level issues of logistics and planning seemed to have gone haywire. This filtered down to a tactical level failure of sensitivity and an emotionally corrosive environment to all individual parties. Those individuals with a better psychological resistance to stressors preformed better socially than those that did not. However, what impressed me, is the response of Bronies to said stressors. These individual incidents were generally isolated, but still part of a larger discomfort. I feel that in most normal situations people would have acted against the stressors in reactionary ways, inciting further hostility. Which for the most part, did not happen. It appears time, and time again in the statements I reviewed, that the Bronies who attended sought to create a positive mental barrier to a psychological stressor (when people sang in the registration waiting room, when people reminded themselves about "At the Gala" when they couldn't attend panels, ect) By doing these things, the bronies who attended as a whole ensured themselves of a fulfilling time to what would otherwise be not enjoyable.
It reminds me of the Marine and his battle buddy sitting in the rain and mud. One looks at the other and tells him a joke. The Marines laugh and are cheerful, albeit sarcastically, about the world of crap they are now occupy. You see gentlemen, they aren't crazy. They used comradeship to form a mental barrier to the negativity and hostility of the environment in which they will now be better able to survive. The attending bronies, seem to have taken the positivity of the show, and used it as a mental barrier for a detrimental environment in much the same way. Such determined positive mental fortitude is not to be considered irrelevant, and must never be underestimated.
Reviewing the above sources, we can see that although some were jaded by logistical and interpersonal failings, the overall experience was positive. It is my belief that bronies had a successful meetup and further demonstrated their ability to strengthen their resolve the positivity. All of these are admirable successes. For which the creators of this convention should immediately be planning for future operations next year.
OUR INTELLIGENCE SOURCES:
(You don't normally put those on the briefing slides...)
http://s639.photobucket.com/albums/uu118/Tori_Photos_album/Everfree%202012
http//www.komonews.com/news/local/Photos-Seattles-My-Little-Pony-Convention-166638896.html
http://askjoehoofer.tumblr.com/ (language warning)
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3985516190637.160252.1062725770&type=1&l=0a551aab27
http://www.everfreenw.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=720
http://www.everfreenw.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=716
http://www.everfreenw.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=727
http://www.everfreenw.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=713
Frontline intel by Fobhopper and FlumpPod, great work guys! (Give them shout outs)
Breifing adjourned.
SEMPER FILLY!!
