Toasty's Bronycon Debrief/AMA

[ToastGhost]

Hey y'all. Thanks for coming, good to see you. I'm making this thread so I can talk out some of what happened, as it was a long, confusing, fun, and bittersweet weekend.

As some may know, this was my second year working Bronycon Volunteer Security Dispatch. What that entails is monitoring a lot of radio traffic and making sure people are covering problem areas.

I really thought I'd have more to say but I don't know where to start. I'm also tired and don't want to get into a long story just now.

So I'll list some memorable events in no particular order!

The Good:

• Watching Season 8 ponies with the gang. The phrase "Poor Crippled Scootaloo" brought a joyful tear to my eye in the way Aramek said it.
• Shooting the shit and chilling with Wooten
• Running floor ops with the dankest memester I have ever met, and just feeling a wealth of friendship from one security commander who is friendly as heck and knows his stuff.
• Catching up with friends I haven't seen in a year. Seriously, this can't be understated, it was great seeing or meeting y'all, and my security family gives me great joy.

The Bad:

• Weird stuff with one ponygoon. If you're reading this... talk to me some more.
• Hearing that it was the second to last Bronycon. I'm still pretty broken up about that since I feel like I came to the party so late.
• FLOODS
• Didn't obtain any decent art or swag and spent way too much on parking instead.

The Weird:

• Chris-Chan showed up.
• Drinking to oblivion on Sunday night.
• My general behavior.
• Anything in the telegram chat

[ToastGhost]

So yeah ask me stuff, I'm pretty sure I got a least a couple of cool stories.

[Fizzbuzz]

You had the day shift this year, right? Did that differ noticeably (in terms of what went down at-con) from the night shift last year?

[ToastGhost]

Last year was definitely busier, but part of that is due to attendance and the fact that the people who are coming back know the rules and how to behave. I'm not imagining any significant problems next year, but you never know.

In any case, it was the same sort of problems. Missing bag reports, the occasional harassment report, lost attendee, or person of interest. There was no problem we came across we couldn't handle though, and that's in part to an awesome and experienced leadership of people who've been doing this for five years or more.

I can only compare it to last year nights, but since we had twice as many dispatch ops and fewer attendees, we were in a much better position. The drawback of that is the less problems you have, the less fun stories you have. It was less eventful and more relaxed, I'd say.

And I came in some nights to security and wandered the floor which was a fun experience. Because forum folk go to bed too early.

[ToastGhost]

THE WIZARD STORY

So it's near 2 AM on Saturday, and Wild Card and I wander into the dispatch office after having walked the floor for a bit talking about ponies then x-files. We open the door and our first response is a "What the fuck?" because the lights are off. The only light in the room is coming from the laptop screen and illuminating my sub-commander Bova, who is wearing a green hoodie and blanket all over his head, completely motionless, looking like a bearded wizard in meditation.

The lights pop on due to us moving around in the room, I call out his callsign. "Bova!"

No response.

My emt adrenaline starts to kick in and I approach him quickly, snapping my fingers a couple of times in front of him. "BOVA?? BOVA? BOVA!!"

He finally wakes up looking rightfully confused.

We all laugh it off. One of the MOD's comes in and says "That was great. What the fuck?!" imitating us.

Wild Card comments, "We had no fucking idea what was going on, the wizard cast a spell of darkness on us."

I guess you had to be there, but to me, that was the funniest moment of the con.

[Fizzbuzz]

In any case, it was the same sort of problems. Missing bag reports, the occasional harassment report, lost attendee, or person of interest.

If that last one is something that gets calls then I should've hopped on the radio to report that you and Dexanth are interesting people!

[ToastGhost]

If that last one is something that gets calls then I should've hopped on the radio to report that you and Dexanth are interesting people!

[Madeline]

What’s the flood story

[ToastGhost]

There was a LOT of flooding one night. I think 7 separate incidents at once including two bathrooms and the vendor hall.

Some years it's fires, some years it's floods.

Also allegedly someone was trying to sell LSD.

[Perrydotto]

You'd think at a pony convention they'd be selling horse

[Cthulhu Inc]

Chris chan showed up last year too, I saw her and she told her story about being trans at the LGBT panel

[Fizzbuzz]

Chris chan showed up last year too, I saw her and she told her story about being trans at the LGBT panel

Yo, you should've said hi, I was running that panel room.

[Mr. Big]

There was a huge hailstorm after the first day, which made me glad I went back to our hotel room early.

Did anything get damaged in the vendor hall due to flooding? Only thing I heard was that one table did get dripped on due to leaky ceiling, but that's it.

[Octavia]

"Flooding" is a bit of an overstatement. It was mostly "water dripping from the ceiling in various places."

[Cthulhu Inc]

Yo, you should've said hi, I was running that panel room.

I am notoriously unable to see people not in front of me