I had the opportunity to work at Brony Fan Fair, an Austin-based My Little Pony convention! I was contacted by my friend Chinako, who was working at Yaya Han's booth and needed an extra helper, and I jumped at the opportunity. I love Yaya's costuming work -- seriously, she is incredible -- and she sells hand-crafted accessories at conventions. She was in Germany during Brony Fan Fair, so it was just myself and Chinako (who was also a cosplay judge!) helping out.
I sadly don't have any My Little Pony costumes, so I wore a few pony-inspired outfits (see Fluttershy here). Chinako wore both a Spike costume and a Princess Cadence costume through the weekend, and both were a huge hit!
It was a little bit different having an Exhibitor badge instead of a regular Attendee badge. I got to know the people in the Dealer's Room and sing My Little Pony songs together while preparing for the day. Since I was out and about for nearly the whole con, I saw so many creative costumes! Sometimes, as an attendee, you are so focused on panels, costumes, relaxing in your room, seeing your friends, and so on that when you see photos from the con, you feel like you missed everything. Not the case when you are on the con floor all day!
My favorite part was definitely seeing all the kids celebrating My Little Pony. For many, this is probably their first convention experience, and I'm sure I would have flipped out if I went to an event like that as a kid! Everyone around you celebrating your favorite show? Yes, please! I got to help a lot of them try on wings and unicorn horns. It's so fun to see a little boy or girl's face light up when they see themselves as their favorite pony.
Working inside the Dealer's Room also means having your face in front of cool stuff all day. By the end of the weekend, I bought a perler bead Rarity, a cool Rarity t-shirt, and Batman hair bows, and my boothmate Chinako got me the Rarity keychain and wallet as a gift! She is too sweet!
Overall, it was a different but totally fun experience to work a convention rather than attend it. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to see BFF, because I may not have attended on my own! Though it's a small con, it is growing like crazy and I will definitely be back next year -- with a costume, hopefully!
Have you heard about the "Brony" phenomenon?
