#another anime con 2014

[demifiendrsa]

EGOT winning american film, television, and broadway actor James Earl Jones has passed away on September 9, 2024 at the age of 93.

Jones made his film debut in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. He received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Claudine. Jones gained international fame for his voice role as Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise, beginning with the original 1977 film. Jones' other notable roles include in Conan the Barbarian, Matewan, Coming to America, Field of Dreams, The Hunt for Red October, The Sandlot, and the voice of Mufasa in The Lion King. Jones reprised his roles in Star Wars media, The Lion King (2019) remake, and Coming 2 America.

Jones' television work includes playing Woodrow Paris in the series Paris between 1979 and 1980. He voiced various characters on the animated series The Simpsons in three separate seasons. He then was cast as Gabriel Bird, the lead role in the series Gabriel's Fire which aired from 1990 to 1991. For that role, he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and was nominated for his fourth Golden Globe Award, this time for Best Actor in a Television Series Drama. He played Bird again in the series Pros and Cons, which ran from 1991 to 1992; that earned him his fifth and final Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series Drama. He then had small appearances in the series Law & Order, Picket Fences , Mad About You, Touched by an Angel, Frasier. His role in Picket Fences earned him another Primetime Emmy Award nomination, one for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. His later television work includes small roles in Everwood, Two and a Half Men, House, and The Big Bang Theory.

Jones' theater work includes numerous Broadway plays, including Sunrise at Campobello (1958–1959), Danton's Death (1965), The Iceman Cometh (1973–1974), Of Mice and Men (1974–1975), Othello (1982), On Golden Pond (2005), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2008) and You Can't Take It with You (2014–2015). He was also in various off Broadway productions and Shakespeare stage adaptations such as The Merchant of Venice (1962), The Winter's Tale (1963), Othello (1964–1965), Coriolanus (1965), Hamlet (1972), and King Lear (1973). His roles in The Great White Hope (1969) and Fences (1987) earned him two��Tony Awards, both for Best Leading Actor in a Play.

[polkadotjohnson]

☠️ Dastdeaths (spoilers) ⚰️

9. Intruders (2014) - Oz Turner (shotgun to the face)

Think of it, this one's pretty tragic too. The poor guy just wanted to do his broadcasting, his conspiracy theory. Or whatever. I only watched this once and will only do it again to make gifs at some point, don't want to see Eleven drown a cat again.

(John Simm looked as hot as I remembered)

10. CSI (2014) - Lee Crosby (killed offscreen)

Gonna be honest, watched this only once also. I think he was an ex-con in a chess tournament? Wait, when did this become a review post?

He's so skinny he looks like Jude with a beard. I guess it was filmed right after Animals.

11. A Killer of Men (2015) - Denham (shot in the neck)

Eh. Grimy bride.

12. The Balcony (2016) - David the Agent (uhhh curse?? karma?)

Lol he just falls and explodes. I really like this one too, it's pretty creative and fun in a Final Destination way.

13. 12 Monkeys (2016) - Kyle Slade (another shotgun to the face)

Guess I'll refrain from commenting, it was so confusing watching 2 random episodes of a show on its second season. But I don't think Kyle was all bad? I'll rewatch it sometime.

Wait, I'm reviewing again, what's wrong with me today? I don't even like doing reviews.

14. The Belko Experiment (2016) - Alonzo (impaled in the back of the neck)

Poor wet boy was just scared. Then feral. At least he got to die beside his buddy Bud. Who he killed.

[bananamaxpng]

proper oc post except im just infodumping. why not.

quick lore summary this is from an oc world @tamagoatchie and i are building - they have their own set of ocs as well and we still have plenty more. i hope to be able to finish a small book with a more proper lore dump of them before comifuro (local con).

left to right:

giovanni (johnny, he/him) and carlotta (charlie, he/him, transmasc) - fraternal twins, sons of an assassinated leader of the fictional nation of karteria. they have a very strained relationship ever since the death of their father. johnny serves their mother who is still alive. charlie is on the run after the realisation of why their father was murdered in the first place, and from there meets the crew. they know he comes from a rich background (seems obvious), but they don't know he's the assassinated leader's son.

jinyu gao (goldie, she/her) - just a regular orphan. originally in 2014, i and another friend originally made her as a younger child oc inspired by ponyo. the fish influences are still here, but it blends in well with in-world lore of animal symbolism being tied strongly with resistance and power. she grew up together with ohm and his late sister (who is not pictured here).

brian ong (ohm, he/him) - modified child soldier who escaped with the help of his late sister. they were taken in by a local butcher (adoptive father trope, very sweet) who also took goldie in after them. his nickname comes from the added sound system he decided to add into his cyborg parts, taking advantage of what's been done to him.

saru / xn-1 - robot soldier gone rogue. he wears a scarf knit by an old lady with dementia who mistook him for her late husband and he took care of until her death. he has a human-like face under his mask and takes it off only to those he trusts. every robot soldier has the face of a fallen veteran. he joined goldie and ohm some time after the assassination.

theres a lot more lore that's missed out here but if i kept going i wouldn't be able to stop. so this is where I'll end it lol

[shopwitchvamp]

soooo….that juggalo church con? o3o

YES OK SO

One time in.. 2014? my friends were like "Hey! We heard about this new anime con happening nearby and tables are only (idk insert some small figure here. $15 or something)!! Wanna go?" And I was like, "Yeah ok!" So we went. Thankfully it was only 5-10min away from where we lived. We got to the address and it was clearly a church. I was like ??? Hmm idk about this. We go in. It's tiny. We set up. Highlight time: They had a break room set up for artists and staff with tons of free snacks!! Honestly they treated us so much better than most cons. So the con's day officially starts. Like 5 people show up and mill around the way too many artists that are there for 5 attendees. Hours go by with no sales. At some point in the afternoon a mom with 3 kids comes up to my table, hands me her credit card, and says, "Here. They like your plushies. Just give them whichever ones they want." The kids each pick a plushie. I think the total was $45. That $45 is how much I made at the whole con ($30 proft thoooo!! well.. not counting all my time, and labor, and the yarn, and..) because at the end of the day I was like, "WOW! This is the most boring thing I've ever done!! There's a drag queen I want to see perform (2008-2016 I was a hardcord RPDR fan) in Houston tomorrow so I'm gonna pack up and not come back!!!!" My friends were like, "We're gonna give it another chance tomorrow, but have fun!" I don't think they made any money that weekend, but I hope they got a lot of good free snacks. So I packed everything up and left that evening. I then drove from Dallas to Houston and I sure did see that performance that I wanted to. Well anyway, I think some time after that weekend I was really wondering what the deal was with that church con. From some Facebook digging I found the guy that had organized it, and quickly realized he was a Juggalo. Thus the con went on to always be known (by us) as Juggalo Church Con. A gentle lesson we received in never, ever going to first year cons.

[enfyswanders]

London, Part 1: June 17-22, 2024

It's been a long time since I traveled alone without having work or family or a con or something to guide my agenda. I landed in London with tickets to a couple of shows, but otherwise just open-ended days I could spend as I like. This is my favorite way to travel, whether alone, with my partner, or with a friend. I love being able to sleep as late as I like and do whatever the mood strikes each day.

The day I arrived, I took it easy. I took a shower and a nap, then found a place with fantastic steak & ale pie for dinner and wandered to a local park that had a beautiful Japanese garden. I was surprised to find the sun rose at 5 a.m. and set around 10 p.m. each day - earlier and later than I'm accustomed to, even in the height of summer in Maryland.

Another happy surprise were the intersex-inclusive pride flags prominently displayed when I entered my hotel, the Premier Inn (London Kensington - Olympia).

Side note on Premier Inn: I stayed at several of them during my travels. They're a budget hotel chain in the UK that's very queer-friendly, clean, secure, comfortable, quiet, and I had very good experiences at every location.

Once I had a good night's rest, I asked myself: "What do I want to do today?" And the answer to that question was "Go shopping." I was keen to check out Camden Market, a sprawling collection of small, quirky shops and restaurants in London. One of my favorite clothing stores, Psylo, is there, and I wanted to buy myself a cool outfit. Which I did!

I also got an artsy photo taken of my eyeball to gift to my partner.

I had lunch at The Cheese Bar. It was fantastic.

There were some truly wild shops in Camden Market that were visually impressive:

I had a ball exploring the shops and little eateries (I even got a Pasteis de Nata, a kind of custard tart I fell in love with in Portugal a few years back), and I could've spent an entire day there, but I was restless and eager to see more stuff, so I ended up wandering to the nearby London Zoo. It was a pretty sweet zoo with lots of different animals and habitats represented. There was a free-roaming tamarind inside the rainforest building, which was cool to see up close. (I have a video, but Tumblr limits you to uploading only one video per post, boo.)

I wandered through Queen Mary's Rose Garden after that, and stopped by the gorgeous Daunt Books, which specializes in travel books.

London definitely has an amazing bookshop scene. The next day, I visited 10 more of them, focusing on occult bookshops. I found my books in stock at a few of them (squee!) and chatted with the owners as I signed them.

I was also delighted to see Pamela Colman Smith's fireplace at Treadwell's:

And Gerald Gardner's original meeting place at the Atlantis Bookshop:

I loved visiting these bookshops, especially if they carried my friends' books. It warmed my heart to see their books in another country.

I also teared up a bit visiting Gay's The Word, the UK's oldest LGBTQ+ bookshop, which was featured in the movie Pride (2014). I was thrilled to see they carried my friend Tamsin's book.

I also checked out the Vagina Museum. I'd followed them on social media for years, so it was really nice to visit and support them in person. It's small, and in kind of a rough location, but it's worth a visit.

That day, I had the best fish and chips of my entire life at The Crown & Anchor, which I mistakenly thought was the pub in Ted Lasso when I found it on Google Maps (turns out they renamed a different pub with that name for the show). Holy crap, I want to eat that specific fish and chips the rest of my life. Every other time I had fish and chips on the trip, it failed to live up to this one. I got spoiled early. It was so buttery and crisp and utterly perfect.

The next big trip highlight was seeing a production of Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. It's a reconstruction of the Globe from the Elizabethan era. I sprung for a seat with a cushion(!) on the second level, and I had a great view of the fantastic production. I'm so glad I got to see this specific play, because it's my favorite. The cast was amazing, and seeing it in that theatre was a deeply moving experience, like stepping back in time.

They also had one of the rare original folios of Shakespeare's plays on display:

As if that experience didn't give my brain enough happy chemicals, afterwards I went to Dopamine Land. Dopamine Land is a temporary exhibit/experience available all over the world, where you wander through about 10 different rooms that stimulate and soothe your senses in different ways, including a giant, adult-sized ball pit. I really liked the first room, which was all mirrors and color-changing dangling lights.

The next day, I visited Tate Britain with my friend Beckett, who has been an online friend for the past decade, and is both a fantastic musician in her own right and also a big supporter of my band, the Misbehavin' Maidens. She and her wife met me at the museum and we got to do one of the LGBTQIA+ tours. It was a super interesting tour focusing on a handful of pieces by queer artists, with queer themes expressed in the pieces. Apparently, each of the LGBTQIA+ tours is different, so I'd definitely go back and do it again.

Another highlight of Tate Britain was seeing The Lady of Shallott painting by John William Waterhouse, which I think was on the cover of one of my English Lit textbooks in college.

After the museum, we went to a pub and I had my first Sticky Toffee Pudding! It was delicious - served with salted caramel ice cream. (I developed a preference over the course of the trip, though, to have it served with custard.)

My first Tube ride made me giggle, incidentally:

[sanctuarygarden]

ABOUT US:

We started as a system of four, and called ourselves the ON.SEE System in 2014/2016, but as our system grew and alters split/fractured due to repeated prolonged trauma we decided to change our system name again to The Garden System in 2018. We like many other systems decided to name our system to help try to unite us, as individuals and a group. Although we started as a system of 4, we had quickly grew to 15+, and then have slowly come back down to 10-11 alters through fusions. Although our headspace is still quite crowded, we are comfortable.

Some things to know:

Our body is a legal adult, we are well past our 20s. Having DID was not fun for us as children, it was actually very terrifying as we grew up incredibly religious. In fact we were led to believe that we were 'demon' possessed, and needed god and to let go of our 'sins'. Everything was frightening, from not knowing what happened during our days, to finding frightening notes from alters, and journal entries of events our host could not remember. To feeling the presence of another person, and hearing them, who was not physically there, it was all so frightening. It wasn't until our late teens when we were diagnosed with DID, and our therapist of many years confronted us and explained to us that we became aware. But even after that it took many more years and many more therapy sessions for us to become fully aware. And even with a proper diagnosis we felt like it wasn't true and wasn't real. Even now many many years later we still feel this way sometimes, or as if we are faking. "Welcome to having imposter syndrome on top of DID".

We also have struggled severely with our health from a small child, and had often been hospitalized due to a poor immune system, and still do struggle with our health to this day. No we wont go into detail. Not all of our headmates/alters are adults. Not all of our systems headmates are humans. We have headmates who are demons, fae/fairy, creatures, animals, children, teens, elderly, and other entities, amongst humans. No we will not tolerate any sexualization of child or teen headmates, or even our animal headmates. When we say "our main system, and sub system" we do not mean that we have two systems, we very much have one system, we just separate those alters who predominantly front, and those who do not into two categories to make it easier for us. Not every headmate/alter needs to front regularly, and the 'main' group of alters who front regularly will change based off of our circumstances. Like in a team, we will trade out alters to work together properly. Everyone will get their chance to regularly front based on the bodies or hosts needs etc.

Not every headmates gender, sex, or sexuality align with the hosts, we all very, as we are very different people, sharing a home/a body, who have different styles, tastes, preferences, thoughts/ideals, sexual preferences etc.

Terminology we use:

Headmates- this is a word we use for each-other/ other alters within our system when we do not refer to each other by name, because we are not a "family", but more like housemates/roommates to one another. Headspace/inner-world- inner-system space, in which we all reside. Main system- is made up of the main headmates that front often or are needed more often. Sub system- a secondary part of our system just as integral and important as those in the main system. Fronting/out/driving- when an alter has switched out and another is in the front and in "control". Co-con- Co conscious, when two or more alters/headmates are in control/sharing control and experiencing the outer world. Also called Co-fronting crowded/audience- when multiple headmates/alters are near the front viewing what is going on in the "control room" or the external world, headmates presence can influence the alter who is fronting. Switchy- when we are easily switching, and or when we are more susceptible to switching, feeling like we are going to switch out. Switch- when an alter has switched. Blendy/blurry/blended- when multiple alters or headmates are crowded in the "control room" to try to take hold/control or are in control and no one knows who all is in control. Control room/ driving seat- amongst some other terms we will use to explain the space we congregate to front/drive/control the body etc. Split/ fracturing- when an alter separates/ into two parts or alters due to repeated trauma. Fracture/fracturing when an alter quite literally fractures/breaks into multiple parts or alters due to new repeated trauma etc. Dormant- when an alter has been 'sleeping' or dormant for a prolonged period of time. Absent alter- an alter who rarely fronts etc. Ext TRA- Extreme repeated trauma. Ex traum- sometimes used to describe extended trauma.

This will be updated at a later date.

[haahka]

8 shows to get to know me

tagged by the magnificent @awwfuckno​, thank u love! 💕🦔💕

in no specific order beyond #1;

1. Hustle

oceans eleven who? no words i just loved this con galore so much back then and still love it so so much and yeah i sure had a teenage crush on jaime murray now that i think about it

2. 3rd Rock from the Sun

this was just silly when i was younger and when i rewatched it later again it was also so clever? cmon its aliens dropped on earth in human disguise on a research mission. forever on my comfort rewatch list. also had a teenage crush on kristen johnston now that i think about it

3. Keeping up Apparances

Legends only. i mean how else would i ever have learned about solid silver self-cleaning sauce separators, or the meaning of “limpid”? can probably quote most episodes word by word by now. #oggirlboss

4. Pasila

idk what to say about this tbh. a finnish animation series about police station life and how all the characters should have some other job instead (or retire). jännä. i guess. tietäjät tietää. #mopedillaseinään

5. Kinnporsche

the current obsession like you havent noticed. this show hit me on the head like a silver tray. just be gay do crimes find love and lose your morals in the process but its all fine its all fine its really not. but hey at least theres funny scenes! and then your heart is wrenched out of your chest. #tw:animal death

6. 5 Minutes Before Chaos

srsly didnt even realise to consider a reality show as an option for this but im glad it came up bc these idiots, weekly on tv in the summer of 2014 were the driving force behind the part of my identity that calls itself a meme maker. block b were the chaos children of the kpop scene back then and we basked in all their betraying of each other. #sparrowjaehyo

7. Sex and the City

listen let me have this. im old enough to have been young enough to not have clocked most of the things askew with the writing, i just loved the dramatics and the fashion and the big city dreams

8. Midsomer Murders

bc when one dc barnaby ages out we bring in another dc barnaby and his ever-changing sidekicks. slowcooked oldschool countryside murder mysteries, just to my taste. 

further tagging @jeffersonhairpie��� @mint-hint​ @bloomette​ @morayofsunshine​ if you feel like collating a list of your own!

[someawesomeamvs]

Warning: Spoilers, flashing lights, sexual imagery

Title: tan(x)

Editor: lolligerjoj

Song: Touch (feat. Paul Williams)

Artist: Daft Punk

Anime: 5 Centimeters per Second (film), Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below (film), Chuunibyou demo koi ga Shitai!, Colorful (2010) (film), The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (film), From Up on Poppy Hill (film), Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, The Garden of Words (film), Genius Party Beyond (film), The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (film), Hotarubi no Mori e (film), Hyouka, Nekomonogatari Black, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nisemonogatari, The Sky Crawlers (film), Whisper of the Heart (film), Wolf Children (film)

Category: Drama

Awards: Akross 2013 - Best Psychedelic Nan Desu Kan 2014 - Winner of Category X Kita-Con 2014 - Best Drama/Romance Video Anime Weekend Atlanta 2014 - Best Artistic Endeavor Another Anime Con 2014 - Best "Other"

[dannychoo]

As some of you already know, Future is the semi-real version of Mirai - so they both get to celebrate their birthday today in Japan (March 3rd). "With Smart Doll, the future is in your hands" is a slogan in Smart Doll Land that is also printed on the default sports bra set. Mirai (pronounced mee-rai) means "Future" in Japanese. When I launched Smart Doll in 2014, there was only Mirai, so folks who picked up a Smart Doll were literally holding the future (Mirai) in their hands. But there is another meaning to this slogan. From the beginning, Smart Doll has been a platform for us to experiment with new ideas that would eventually benefit our product line in the future. The latest advancement is the new Smart Doll skeletal frame, which features an auditory and haptic sensory experience. That frame is known as Evolve and launches today. Future is also released today in all 3 human skin tones. Folks who decide to buy the new Smart Doll can experience the evolution and a glimpse into the future of articulated fashion doll design that we will continue to build upon. However! Smart Dolls are not designed to be everything to everybody. To avoid the risk of ending up with buyer's remorse and a pricey paperweight, I strongly recommend reading the "What is Evolve" article or perhaps wait to hear the yays and nays from early adopters ;-) If you plan to make a “Smart Doll Evolve vs another-brand” video or post (they usually get the most views if you do it early), even if you think Evolve is the bees knees (like I do), ensure to let folks know the cons of choosing Smart Doll. See you in the future ;-) #tokyo #smartdoll #anime #manga #3dprinting #japan And before I forget - this morning’s release will be delayed by a wee bit. Shipping may take longer than usual but still within the promised 15 days to ship out. (at Mirai Store Tokyo) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpTgz4BSpY_/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[ministar100]

⭐Kirby: Attack of La Rose - Fan Characters and Fan Concepts Cast⭐

These are the Fan Characters which appears in my first still incompleted Kirby fanfic (I'm still studying and now I'm planning a lot of things :'v).

► It was an attempt to write my own Kirby story. However, it seemed the final boss has some things in common with Sectonia in her flower form. I don't know if it was a coincidence because I created the villain in 2014-2015, I was new in the Kirby fandom and I didn't know about the game Kirby Triple Deluxe because it was a very new game for those years.

► Most of the characters were created in 2014-2015, except Lucia. The last one had a little redesign on these years.

► Here, Kirby has a new power-up. That power-up is a fusion of Priscilla's Diamond Sword and Meta Knight's Sword. It seems like Priscilla's sword is made of a rare diamond and a gold hilt. It has a strange propertie of fuse with anything, swords included. It enhances its power with the fused thing/sword.

► The sword generated between the Diamond Sword and Meta Knight's sword (AKA: Galaxia in the anime) is called "Combined Sword". As the Diamond Sword fused with a powerful sword, the result was another more powerful sword which Priscilla couldn't handle herself with its power. At the moment, Kirby is the only one who can handle its power.

► FANFIC (I translated only 2 chapters. The original is in Spanish :'v): https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13658627/1/Kirby-Attack-of-La-Rose-ENG

──── ∗ ⋅✧⋅ ∗ ────

⭐Kirby: El Ataque de la Rosa - Elenco de Fan Characters y Fan Concepts⭐

Esos son los Fan Characters que aparecen e mi primer aún incompleto fanfic de Kirby (Sigo estudiando y ahora estoy planeando un montón de cosas :'v).

► Era un intento de escribir mi propia historia de Kirby. Sin embargo, parece que el jefe final tiene algunas cosas en común con Sectonia en su forma de flor. No sé si fue coincidencia porque creé a la villana en 2014-2015, era nueva en el fandom de Kirby y no sabía sobre el juego Kirby Triple Deluxe porque era un juego bastante nuevo para esos años.

► La mayoría de los personajes fueron creados en 2014-2015, excepto Lucía. Esta última tuvo un pequeño rediseño en esos años.

► Aquí Kirby tiene un nuevo power-up. Ese power-up es una fusión de la Espada de Diamante de Priscilla y la Espada de Meta Knight. Parece que la espada de Priscilla está hecho de un raro diamante y una empuñadura de oro. Tiene la extraña propiedad de fusionarse con cualquier cosa, incluidas espadas. Mejora su poder con la cosa/espada fusionada.

► La espada generada entre la Espada de Diamante y la Espada de Meta Knight (Conocido como Galaxia en el ánime) se llama "Espada Combinada". Como la Espada de Diamante se fusionó con una espada poderosa, el resultado fue otra espada aún más poderosa que Priscilla no pudo lidiar con su poder. Hasta el momento, Kirby es el único quien puede lidiar con su poder.

► FANFIC: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11436647/1/Kirby-El-Ataque-de-La-Rosa-ESP

[apteryxdrake]

Chapbook: Run, Arlan

This chapbook was originally written for a con promotional event approx. 2014. I'll post a scene on this thread every day until it's done.

I primarily write urban fantasy/sci fi, with action and dystopian themes. My books are also queer friendly, though not the focus of the stories. But because the stories are quite violent, I should put a:

Content warning: violence and inferred gore

Run, Arlan * 1 *

Agent Arlan Edaan ran sideways and collected his Team Leader, pulling the older man to the ground as he fell. Arlan landed on his side as a car flew over them. It was so close, had he wanted to, he could have reached out and touched it. Mouth open wide, he stared at it as it rolled over them in slow motion.

The girl was a kinetic, obviously, he thought.

Time sped up again and the flying car hit concrete, shredding metal and glass over the road and plowing into the oncoming traffic with a terrible smash.

“They’re getting away,” his Team Leader yelled as he scrambled to his feet.

Arlan gathered his thoughts from their muddled shock and stood up as well.

“Quit blinking at me!” The Team Leader barked at the other two TFOs, who stood on the side-walk their eyes wide like animals caught in car headlights. “Get after them!”

He didn’t even say thank you, thought Arlan.

The man glanced sideways at him. “No need to thank a person for doing their job, son. Now come on!”

Their targets ran on up the narrow residential street. Two parents and the little girl. They wore layers of gray drab rags, and the adults had no shoes.

Arlan couldn’t understand why they refused to surrender. As he ran with his Team, he frowned at the family. If they surrendered to Agency custody the girl would live. She wouldn’t have much choice in her life but she’d be alive. Why would her parents not surrender to save her?

The family skittered up the side-walk and into a tall but crumbling apartment block. His Team went into the building after them and he followed.

“Weapons ready!” called the Team Leader.

Arlan shrugged the auto assault rifle off its clip and, bracing it against his shoulder, lifted the barrel to aim.

They burst through into an apartment and his three teammates started firing without warning. Arlan paused, unable yet to see his target and unwilling to shoot randomly into a room, but the gunfire stopped before he zeroed in.

The others shifted sideways out of his line of sight. There was a mess of bodies in front of him and he gasped, turning away from it. With his back to the horror, he stared at a rotting wall. Stuck to wallpaper at his eye level was a yellow sticky note. He blinked at it.

“Arlan, run,” it said.

A shot of fear blew through him and he ripped it off the wall, stuffing the sticky note into the front pocket of his bullet-proof vest. He hoped none of the others had seen it.

Turning around again, he tried not to see what they’d done. Bodies lay in front of him in a line of gore and horror. The walls were splattered with blood and, not a meter from his boots, were the remains of the little girl. A child, who in her attempt to escape the Agency pursuit had been able to throw a car at them with her mind. She would have been a very high-rated kinetic, if she’d lived.

Poor kid. Arlan swallowed.

His Team Leader, and the only telepath in the group, moved out of the room into another area of the apartment and Arlan’s thoughts flickered back to the note in his pocket.

Hawk left yellow stickies for people when he wanted them to escape the Agency. Maybe today was the day he should run. But then his new Task Force team would hunt him down just as they had the girl and her parents.

Everyone knew the laws. If you were Psi or Talent, you had to work for the Agency. If you refused, you were a Traitor and Aranan law stated Traitors were to be immediately executed.

But I don’t want to do this. He swallowed again, trying to suppress his grief and fear. I don’t want to kill people.

His stomach tightened and he turned around, striding out of the room and back down to the street entrance. The nausea rose up into his throat and he only just made it outside before the grief and disgust resurrected his breakfast.

When his body finally gave up its spasms, he was leaning over his knees and breathing in pained gulps of acrid air.

Someone patted him on the back. “You alright, kid?” said his Team Leader.

Arlan shook his head but couldn’t otherwise reply.

“It’s always bad the first time. You stay here, we’ll clear the building. Clean yourself up.”

The man talked like it was ordinary. Like killing a child and her family was just fine.

Arlan waited until he could hear the sounds of his Leader trumping back upstairs, and pulled the yellow sticky out of his pocket.

“Arlan, run.”

Surely this was meant for him? How many people called Arlan would find themselves in that abandoned apartment before the paper glue lost its stickiness? Not many. They said that Hawk’s stickies were always put in the most impossible places with the best timing. If this really was a sticky from Hawk, it could mean Arlan might actually escape the Agency and not be killed.

The Team Leader’s voice barked orders from inside. If Arlan chose to run, now was the best time. He had two choices. Stay in the Agency and kill more innocent people because they chose not to be conscripted, or run and have a chance at freedom, even if it was short-lived.

He stuffed the sticky in his pocket, dropped the auto assault rifle from his vest-clip, and started running.

[emmadcm315]

I Never Thought I Would Be Writing a Tumblr Post for College Credit

Shout out to Professor Angell and WSU for giving me the privilege to pursue an education and learn about American media and culture in a way like no other. 

“What's your major?"

"Oh, Communications!"

"Oh, and what does that do?”

Communications is such an umbrella term for an incredible area of subjects that I cannot explain to someone in a normal conversation. I could explain that it’s the study of how humans communicate with one another, which is very true, but it often gives people the wrong idea and feeds into assumptions about it (which we will get into later). Here’s the thing: Communication is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated fields of study, and it took me a hot minute to realize that.

After high school and having already been accepted to WSU, I was unsure if I wanted to go to university at all. I initially wanted to study criminal justice because teachers I was inspired by my CJ teacher my senior year (shoutout to Mr. Russell) who pushed me to do great things with a CJ degree, even if I didn’t know what I wanted to do with it.

Turns out, I hated it, had an identity crisis, and my parents said, “Just get a degree”. 

I took an Intro to Mass Communications class my sophomore year of WSU (also with Prof. Angell) and thought, wow this is so easy and not boring I might just declare a communications major and call it a day!

And I did. And it was probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Like any major, Communications is filled with assumptions; it's “easy” but doesn't have a lot of employment opportunities or a lot of income, and most people who study communications end up in a journalism career, but I didn't let any of that discourage me. I was taking a sociology class at the same time as my Communications class, and this professor encouraged us to go to school for something that interests us and something that we can find passion in regardless of how much money it makes because: 

 Most students who graduate do not pursue a career that requires their degree. 

Life is too short to not learn about the things that you love or are interested in.

This is what inspired me to continue a communications degree, and I am so happy I did. This field applies to real life more than people know. As a member of Gen Z, a generation of people who have only known the internet, I would consider Communications to be the backbone of current American media and culture.

I blame my father for my love for my early love of mainstream media, the internet, video games, movies, music, and TV shows. He was (un)fortunately the gateway to my nerdy side which was a little bit of a struggle growing up. I wasn’t like other girls ˚୨୧⋆｡˚ My hair was pink and purple, I would wear Legend of Zelda hoodies and anime t-shirts to middle school, begged my mom for cosplay wigs from Amazon and to take me to conventions like Comic Con. I still haven't been- BUT I HAVE ADULT MONEY NOW! I continue to love social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Musically (now TikTok), Pinterest, and Tumblr. And I would like to believe it was a universal experience when everyone wanted to be a YouTuber in 2014. 

When I learned I could pursue a whole college degree in how people interacted with each other on these platforms. the bond that is created between strangers who share similar interests in subjects or people (celebrities, pop stars, content creators, etc.), and how money can be made by content creation via sponsorships or monetization- it shifted my world, and I realized I had found what I am passionate in learning about.

Billions of people consume so many forms of content for hours on end every day (social media, news, books, radio, etc.), but the beauty of media is that it can be consumed mindlessly or mindfully- when it is analyzed in behaviors, patterns, and numbers.

Communications is more than just journalism and reporting. It's something I'm passionate about and have gained so many new skills from; analysis of any piece of media, writing, critical thinking, video editing, working with digital cameras, adobe programs, graphic design and art, public speaking, managing social media and analytics, AND journalism.

Here's what I have learned:

Nothing is as easy as it seems -> So. Much. Writing. So. Many. Papers. BUT it's so worth seeing your progress as a writer.

Find something that you can be passionate about. Find something that fuels your fire despite its ups and downs -> I have written an 8-page paper on the One Piece anime (1999-) and how it has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on the LGBTQ+ community.

Put yourself first, don't let stereotypes or assumptions define who you are, what you do, and what you pursue as an education or a career. Life is too short to not experience everything.

[olivieraa]

I've a busy few days ahead but can't start anything for another 3 so I'm wasting time by doing this for my own curiosity cause why not

so my abridged run-through with my niece continues, and I have a few opinions on the abridged series this time around

but before the opinions, I wanna figure out the timeline (not highly in depth, but partially, bc it'll still be a long post even without me going into depth).

2007-2008 - is when I believe the show started.

the channel itself was made in 2007, but ep 1 doesn't have its original date under it as it is a reupload. the reason I know is bc ep 31 says 2008, but eps 1-30 say 2009 which is obviously wrong. I do remember Konami or something kept getting LK's videos flagged.

oh and these eps during this time were uploaded weekly.

I think, and its not definite, that I may have started watching the show around the time when these eps came out:

2010 - is when I personally got into the show. there's a CHANCE it was 2009, but I'm going with 2010 for simplicity's sake.

my life during 2010. I was just finishing up school and was about to move to our 6th house. I'd just turned 18 as well. I remember joking about the abridged in school with some friends. in fact, I skipped school a lot and chilled in a friend or two's house while we watched it, and then referenced it a lot. when I turned 18, I went to my first nightclub that night and on the dance floor, Bad Romance by Gaga came on and instead of singing "love love love I want your love" I sang "tush tush tush right on my tush" bc I'd honestly forgotten what the real lyrics were. I was even poking my friends ass. she liked my lyrics better (she had no idea what it was from tho lol). but yes 2 days later I moved away and began my first of my four years of isolation. the abridged itself, anime in general, online friends and tumblr became the winning combo for the following 3-4 years of my life, from 2010 (when I moved away) to 2014.

so I was online a lot for those years. I lived in nowhere land. imagine your house smack dab in this with one neighbour, as an 18 year old

so yes, I was online a lot. I had time to be. I had time for anime.

still 2010 - the first time I can see a big gap are these eps from 2010 during the Noah arc (aka season 3 of both ygo and ygo abridged). 48 being ep 1 of the Noah arc

48 - Aug 2010

49 - Sep 2010

50 - Nov 2010

51 - Apr 2011

so the first couple of Noah's arc eps were monthly, like usual. like how I always knew then. and then there was a bit of a jump 4 eps into Noah's arc at ep 51. but here's the thing... LK filled up a lot of space around this time with side videos. from song parodies, to the evil council of doom, to con promo vids, to just fun extras. majority of which I forgot about until right now

I esp forgot about these, they defo need a rewatch

but I'll wait till my niece is back over cause she'll definitely love that first one.

2011 - I met LK twice at two different cons during when those above Noah arc eps would've been coming out at that new slower pace, so I know he was at peak busy that specific year and the episodes were hotly anticipated at the time. so he really was doing his best. uploading not monthly anymore but still releasing fun vids in between, AND going to cons. plus like, his own personal life and issues to deal with. so it was all still steady going.

online wise for me after I'd moved, I was frequenting youtube the most to talk to people (and fanfiction for alone time lol). but mid or late 2011, I joined tumblr the same time as those youtube friends, so we chatted on here the most and youtube got lost in the abyss. and so during 2011, during my new tumblr time, ep 52 and 53 came out. and yeah, ygo was what my online friends and I found the most common ground in and that included the abridged series. the ygo fandom was growing on tumblr because of the abridged.

so ep 53 was in July 2011 but then a big gap happened and episode 54 was FEB 2012

2012 - I met rp!Florence the exact next day, Feb 8th, so I'm thinking the release of this ep (LK's first ep in after a 7 month gap) inspired the decision behind making Flo? idk.

(so I now know, thanks to making this post, that when I was online in 2012 rping and shit, the Noah's arc was near ending. but also, it had completely stopped its monthly drop at this point, which I remember was annoying, y'know, rping with an abridged character who had to take more from canon!ygo than abridged!ygo bc there was so little to go on. the pro side of that tho, is that you'd get really excited when an ep did appear. more so than before. tumblr pm went like this

so that above ep (54, Feb 7th) up to episode 58 were all done in 2012. almost like an ep was dropped per weather season. and I remember this one so well because

I got a tonne of anon messages calling my Joey 'Susan' :')

so it went from weekly, to monthly, and then as of 2012, once every 4 months.

2013 comes along - and... the first episode of that year is in JULY, and the second and only other one in 2013 was September. again, this was during my constantly online rp time. so when they did drop, it really was like

2013 had just two eps. that's it.

aaaaand... it's kind of been that way ever since. so I was right in thinking it was 2013 when the eps slowed down and became the official beginning of the rarely out eps. the past 10 years now LK will release just one or two eps a year. no side videos either, no con promos (idk if he goes to cons but he defo doesn't promo them), he did a bunch of Marik Plays Bloodlines but then stopped that and it hasn't been updated in 7 years. and he officially moved onto talking about wrestling and reviewing YGO GX.

and so here's how I feel.

first of all, the Noah's arc was out way earlier than I thought it was. I know it was still going in 2012, but I thought it started in 2012, when in actuality, it was going for 2 years, since 2010. during the time I was in school! I was shocked learning that. I also consider Noah's arc to be the worst arc, but I didn't think that while watching it back in the day, just upon rewatch

watching the show now in my 30's and passing it onto my niece (she's prob too young for it but she does love the kid friendly jokes, also she thinks I'm like Kaiba and she's Mokuba) it has a heavy nostalgic feel to it ofc. like I said, it was around during very specific times in my life, when it needed to be basically, and during the past 10 years, it became the "oh hey, a new ep just dropped on youtube" show that you don't think about UNTIL an ep drops. you're not waiting for it. it just appears. and when it does you're like :))) and you pick up from where you left off bc its easy enough to do without looking back on past eps bc its... well its a parody. there's no solid "plot"

to "review" it in a sense.... ok. in 2012... I was just happy to have an episode bc like I said, they weren't monthly anymore. and there was always something funny about them. whether it was one joke or four jokes. however, I didn't notice it then, but the quality dropped significantly (but luckily picked up by the end of 2012 and did eventually get better)

so where the bad starts imo... if you watch this episode (the last episode RIGHT before the Noah's arc, an early 2010 ep), its full of classic moments

its highly quotable and its memorable. this could be due to LK's favouritism towards Marik so he puts his best jokes onto Marik like "use the celtic guardian aibouuu" to "a rhetorical WANKER" to "you tell 'em, honey!" and then the Stand By Me singing. its a v good, memorable ep.

ep 47, the first ep of Noah arc, follows it and it... just goes downhill. all of Noah's arc is quite bad, and the main problem I found while rewatching, was that the jokes were draaaaagged out. the penguin thing, the stairs thing, Tristan being a "funny guy", and lots more. it was annoying. and the additional voice actors weren't good either, with the exception of two of them sounding almost exactly like the dub voices, so I'll give them credit for that

now like I said, LK was at his busiest in 2011 (which would have been exclusively Noah's arc eps which are the worst eps), and it was straight after Noah's arc that he uploaded less frequently. and he was diagnosed with depression which probably affected him during this whole arc and so he basically knew, to give out the quality people wanted, he had to resort to taking more time for himself and uploading less. and for his health it was obviously the best decision, but even for his channel it was too.

so to repeat - end of 2012 saw the end of Noah's arc and I remember this ep dropping and everyone quoting it

and also this one like I already said

they still weren't LK's best but they were better. and the abridged was important to me in 2012 eps considering I had an abridged partner, so we were always happy to get new content.

this 2013 ep to me was the return of classic abridged

it was so good that my friend at the time changed her username to one of the quotes from the ep. and why was it so good? bc there was a 7 month gap between this ep and the last, and like I said, uploading less frequently ended up working wonders for LK. he had time to plan it well.

2014 - end of season 3 (noahs arc and battle city combine. just 3 eps that year

2015-2018 - season 4

2019&2020 - nothing

2021-2025 - season 5, ongoing.

so anyone that has seen the original YGO knows season 5 has two parts. the grand champion ship part that nobody likes (14 eps), and the Egyptian arc which finally gives Bakura the spotlight (26 eps).

he is currently still in that first part, and has prob 3 more eps left of it.

so yes, he uploaded nothing in all of 2019 and 2020, which I honestly would've thought during the pandemic it would be the change he'd needed to be able to upload more frequently. but nope, it was all this instead

he only returned then in 2021 and so far has released just 4 eps from 2021 to 2024.

that Joey one being only a couple of months ago.

so its for sure at a super slow once a year pace.

ngl, I am curious about his mindset, but this stems from my own ignorance, and I'm sure with a bit of research (and profile stalking) I could probably figure out why its so rare. but I don't care that much despite this post. like I can say - why doesn't he upload a slight bit faster (nobody is out here waiting for an ep a month, but at least 3 eps a year?). or I can think - does he still think fans from 15 years ago are gonna stick with him to the end? does he think his fans are that die hard?

but again, being ignorant - idk how youtube works. idk how creators get paid. idk if he gets paid for the eps. idk if he gets paid more (or only) for non eps (and so therefore abd eps are the last things he wants to do bc no pay). idk if this is his job or he has a day job. idk what his current health status is. idk if he's still doing the eps just to finish the show or bc he actually likes doing it. idk how he views the fact that majority of old fans are prob not around anymore. idk if he's actually online all the time, just not on youtube.

I don't know.

I quickly checked just there and he's still frequenting twitter

but also

what

there's drama in the abridged world????

I'm.................. so out of touch.

how active is the abridged fandom even. are they all gen z. are they all offended by the old jokes, I assume so tbh

I'm bewildered, don't care enough, but still curious

for another day I think........

BUT ANYWAYS. yeah, I just needed to waste time. this show was special to me at one point. never thought I'd be watching it with my 7 year old niece. she's addicted. she can't wait till bed time. this is her bed time story. Joey is her fave, so she was raised right. ...even if that's a different type of Joey it still applies.

I... think I'll be watching this show up until it ends. I'm not really a social media person. Im not subbed to many on youtube. but I never unsubbed LK so I see the eps drop randomly sometimes a year. and in another 10 years (I mean at this pace, probably) I'll most likely still be watching it. I'm generally smiling the whole time anyways

[heyyoushouldexperiencethese]

GIANT REC LIST

LAST UPDATED 8/26/2024

Columbo

Bomberman Jetters

Id: Invaded

Yu-Gi-Oh (manga)

"My son is he man or beast" from action comics 400

Kagurabachi

Spy x Family

Chainsaw Man

Yotsuba

Frieren

N52 Superboy #26-34

Digimon (Especially Adventure, 02, Tamers, Savers, Appmon, & Ghost Game; for the movies, all of them aside from Tri)

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth

Marx Brothers

Get Smart (1965)

Superman vs Meshi

Detective Comics #500 "To Kill a Legend"

Christmas with the Super-Heroes #2 "Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot"

Captain Atom (1987)

Bronze Age Firestorm

Legion of Superheroes

Amethyst Princess of Gemworld

Hundreds of Beavers

3:10 to Yuma (1957)

The Maltese Falcon

Paper Mario

Paper Mario the thousand year door

famicom detective club (both games)

Ace Attorney 1-4 & Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

Ghost Trick

Marvelous: Another Treasure Island

Pikmin 1-4

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Kirby Planet Robobot

Kirby Triple Deluxe

Kirby Return to Dreamland Deluxe

Kirby's Adventure

Kirby Superstar

Dark Matter trilogy

Celeste

Batman: The Audio Adventures

Powerless (2016)

The Good Place

Arrested Development

Be Cool Scooby Doo

Sakamoto Days

El Chavo del Ocho

Chapulin Colorado

Arnold Drake's Doom Patrol

Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol

Rachel Pollack's Doom Patrol

Neil Gaiman's The Sandman

batman ego

Scooby Doo Team Up

The Batman & Scooby Doo Mysteries

Happy Halloween Scooby Doo

Tsukumojuku (2005)

Dragon Quest

Rocket Slime

Mario & Luigi (all titles)

JoJo's bizarre adventure

Witch Hat Atelier

Pluto

Monster

John Wick 1-4

UHF

Weird Al Biopic

Little Shop of Horrors

Super Friends (1976)

A series of unfortunate events (books)

All the Wrong Questions

Power Bomberman

Custom Battler Bomberman/Bomberman 2

Tatami time machine blues

The Amazing World of Gumball

The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy

Codename Kids Next Door

Villainous

Regular Show

The looney tunes show

Nedroid

Sonic Boom (2014)

Hector con Carne

The Book of Life

films starring cantinflas (preferably in spanish, but if you don't know spanish well)

Hourman

tear along the dotted line

this world can't tear me down

Casa de papel

Airplane

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Wayside School

Fullmetal Alchemist (Manga)

Meanwhile (Comic)

Way of the Househusband

Welcome to demon school iruma kun

Infinity Train

Hilda

"The Twilight Zone" Her Pilgrim Soul/I of Newton

The Twilight Zone (Original Series)

All of Alan Brennert's comics

Villainous

Class of 3000

Rankin Bass Christmas specials (shout-out to Santa Claus is coming to town)

Moral Orel

Dungeon Meshi

Dorohedoro

Superman & the Authority

All-star Superman

Morrison's Action Comics

Morrison's Animal Man

Moore's Swamp Thing

Multiversity

Filmore!

Muppets Most Wanted

Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat (specifically season 1)

Baba is You

Henry Stickmin

The Giver quartet

Bomberman Generation

Bomberman Journey

A Bomberman Journey 2023 Followup

Bomberman Battle Pack: A way too in-depth analysis

The Weird

Sam & Max series (comics games AND show)

Goodbye Eri

Only Murders in the building

Criminal

Please Go Home, Akutsu-San!

Mousou Telepathy

Tomo Chan is a girl

Barda

Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Ip Man

Carole & Tuesday

Catch 22 (book)

Space Dandy

Vigilante

Dandandan

Rush Hour

What's up Doc

The cheap detective

The awful truth

charade

his girl friday

bringing up baby

The great race

Artemis Fowl (main series)

Don't hug me I'm scared

ultimate exorcist kiyoshi

squid games

Dokapon kingdom

lego city undercover

Summer Wars

Culdcept Revolt

Casablanca

hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

batman no man's land novelization

Ultraman Rising

She gets girls everyday

Detentionaire

the dangers in my heart

Heathers (film)

you and i are polar opposites

the guy she was interested in wasn't a guy at all

Kaguya Sama love is war

We want to talk about kaguya

Arakure Ojousama wa Monmon Shiteiru

A Story About a Man and a Woman and When They Sleep Together, Money Appears Out of Nowhere

undead unluck

the night is short walk on girl

fire punch

akane bashi

kaiju no. 08

The Story Between a Dumb Prefect and a High School Girl with an Inappropriate Skirt Length

disastrous life of saiki k

jitsu wa watashi wa/my monster secret

Boarding School Juliet

Happy Kanako's Killer Life

bigtop burger

pseudo harem

gravity falls

Tatami Galaxy

Kindergarten Wars

A story about smoking behind the back of a supermarket

Casino

shikimori is not just cute

Asahina Wakaba to Marumaru na kareshi

mob psycho 100

reigen

sublo & tangy mustard

they might be giants

weird al yankovic

saint motel

cab Calloway

St. Arnaud

[aboutthemponies]

Reflections on Whinny City 2023

Every pony convention has its special moments. Even after going to a dozen or so of these, every con has some unique special moment that jumps out, some wonderful little thing that you didn't expect which made your day. Normally those moments are things like getting to be a panelist on a friend's Pipp panel, adding an octave effect to Silver Quill's voice as he sings during an impromptu light saber duel, running the lighting rig for half of the concert and adding some really cool effects, winning a button during the SFM animation panel, blasting Discord while driving around Chicago, eating snow cones at a room party, etc. All those moments happened during this year and are treasured in my heart. But Whinny City this year was a different kind of special: it was the first time I performed on mane stage as a musician, leading the ukulele bronies to perform at the grand galloping luau. It's kind of a shock to me that this even happened. That I actually performed on Mane stage. That I made it; that I am a real musician.

I started out as a brony and a producer with my first DAW and no clue how to use it in 2014. That era was when MLP was at its popularity peak and after the hit musicians of the 2011-2012 era were firmly established. That environment was suffocating for a beginner, and it was hard to get any kind of encouragement with a music scene so large. Frankly, I wasn't cut out for it. After getting rejected from compilation albums so many times, I resigned to being a background musician, occasionally releasing tracks, never really getting better, and never making friends with any other musicians. After 7 depressing years of that, I stumbled into the dustcar Discord community, where I met most of my musician friends and where I finally felt like I had a place in this fandom.

That backstory only takes up a paragraph on your screen, but it was 7 years of my life and 75% of my fandom experience. That's a lot time to have experienced constant rejection, but at least it's made it clear to me how I want to interact with the fandom. Over that time, I've learned I don't like advertising myself, chasing popularity or trying to make it big because one, I'm definitely not at the same level as most of the other musicians, and two, chasing bigger view + like counts just leads to being unsatisfied with the following you do have, so I try to avoid playing the self-promo game as much as possible. That said, I do like making music, I do want to get better at making it, and I want my music to be valued, so despite this Celestia damned business, I put my stuff out there time to time. But what I've found that really motivates me is being apart of a tight-knit creative community, where every one is valued and supported at whatever their current level is. Dustcar (before the schism) was just that kind of community, and that glorious half-year of its existence was definitely my favorite time in the fandom.

A lot of people I know from that Dustcar/Busty's community like SOUND BANDIT, Evershade, rawrity, and even Chuckles started performing at cons post pandemic. It's been incredible to see my friends perform on stage, but it also invites the weird "should you be up there? When are you going to perform?" thought. It never felt like it fit well with my goals: performing is not going to make my production skills better, it's not going to help foster a community, I don't really want the spotlight, and I sure as hell don't want to get told I'm not good enough another freaking time. And yet... the theme was tropical getaway, and I just happen to play the ukulele more than any other instrument these days. I felt like I could pull off a ukulele-based set in a way that would actually be palatable, so I sent Snowy Charm a DM, pitched the idea to him, and he was down. I then sent DM's to literally anyone I could think of who played ukulele and attended MLP cons. The only other person who jumped on board was 4EverfreeBrony of all people! The application was accepted, I freaked out and swore for 5 minutes straight, and ukulele bronies was born!

Performing was stressful. I don't know if I would say I enjoyed it, with the 3 weeks of practicing every day for 1-2 hours, having a frantically fast sound check, and not being able to hear our ukes in the monitors. But I'm glad we did it, and it will likely be the highlight of my whole year. I want to thank every one of the people who performed on stage with me. Snowy helped me out so much, not only by figuring out by bringing the majority of the non-ukulele instruments and playing them, but also by being a second brain to bounce ideas off of. You brought so much experience as a professional A/V guy with you, and the set was sooo much better because of it! It also helped calm my nerves significantly. 4EverfreeBrony is such a legend; it's one thing to know that he's S tier, but to give him a new instrument (the baritone ukulele) and watch him learn it on the fly is astounding. It's such an honor to get to play with you; thanks for taking a chance on us! Thrack, thank you for DM'ing me last minute and jumping right in to the chaos with your bongos. JamesAsJames, I've always loved your record playing. Thanks for jumping on the invite last minute and adding to the synergy of the gang!

It was a really big honor to get to play on that stage. I don't think we blew anypony out of the water, and most people probably went to the luau because they wanted the food or already had a ticket, but the debut was incredibly well received by a lot of people whose opinion I cared about. Immediately after the set, I was floored when Koa congratulated us for the set and told me she liked some of my songs (huge Koa fan here in case you didn't know). Then we ran into the con chair Charlie en route to the elevator, who personally congratulated us. My friend Statoose (who also had his pony debut at this con) was gushing about the performance to me at a room party. Luck Rock congratulated me on a set well done and nailing the assignment of matching the set to the theme. And even some of the A/V team like Winchester gave their congratulations as well. All of those kind words mean the world to me; it's so validating after all these years of feeling terrible at music to have this kind of opportunity and feel like I made a valuable contribution to the fandom I've loved for so long.

There were so many wonderful moments too that came with the territory. My favorite was rehearsing on Thursday night before the con started; it was way more relaxed, everything was coming together perfectly, and the music was sounding fab. The mandatory musician meetups were a blast; spent the Saturday one hanging out w/ Statoose and talking about older fandom musicians, on Sunday's I brought the uke and was jamming w/ 4everfree, Canto, and Thrack. People came up to me to sign their con books, something I didn't even know people did, and I signed around 3-4 as well as Nexgen's shoes and someone's ukulele box. I gave away around 20 CDs of my music. Post con, all the musicians ran in to listen to the sonic rainboom together, and I organized a dinner with Pagan Pegasus, Ebunix, Snowy, Bolt, West, Blanket, + friends which was absolutely lovely. Later that night, I had a great time chatting for two hours about pony music with Luck Rock, BlueBrony, and TheOneGalen.

In all, I'm really glad I took a chance and applied as a musician. Not because it scratched some desire to perform, but because it made me feel apart of this community in a way I never felt before. And we did the thing: we showed the fandom that we can put on a successful set. I don't know if there will ever be a second ukulele bronies performance, but I am so grateful to this fandom for all the kind words, for the chance to shine, and the friends we made along the way. Thanks everypony!

–bramble <3  

[neibolt-werewolf]

When I was a child (11 and 12) back in ye old years of 2013/2014, I would go to anime conventions in my state and have my parents take me. However, I was stupid and didn't give them ANY warning as to what cons and congoers are like and they HATED it so after the first one they just... dropped me off at the convention centers alone LMAO

I didn't have a cell phone or anything back then either so my dad would just leave me at the con entrance with my homemade "FREE HUGS!!!!" sign and tell me he was gonna be back 4-6 hours later.

Anyways, I'm 100% convinced that the only reason I didn't get kidnapped one time is because I was hanging out in the hotel lobby with my FREE HUGS sign and talking to someone dressed like the 2014 DashCon Ballpit when a group of adult Hetalia and Homestuck cosplayers walked up to me and adopted me for the entire day because I told them my dad wasn't going to be able to pick me up for another 4 hours (I was stupid and trusted people very easily).

Literally owe my life to Hetalia and Homestuck cosplayers and I have no way of ever thanking them. Love them for it, though, thank you for saving me i'm still cringe but not as stupid anymore