Another Con Haul

[zombienixon]

After having such a great time at last month's trip to Bronycon, I decided to go to another convention last weekend in Tampa, the Grand Brony Gala.  It was nowhere near as big, but still a lot of fun. I wanted to go to this one in particular for a few reasons.  First off, Nicole Oliver (Celestia's VA) would be there, and I've been wanting to meet her for a very long time. There was also a vendor going there who I wanted to buy from at Bronycon, but already sold what I wanted by the time I made up my mind to buy it.  It also fit in with a friend's plan to move back temporarily to his Mom's place in Tampa, so we'd have a place to stay for free.

The trip down to Tampa was absolutely nuts. We were hit with heavy rainstorms from the SC-GA border until we were outside of Tampa. I think there were about eight storms in total.

As soon as we got to the con hotel, I went to the vendor's hall and bought this as soon as I saw it.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


I saw a bunch of these around Bronycon, and made my mind up to get one, one of the Princesses in particular.  I was unsure whether to get Cadance or Celestia, because while Celestia is my favorite Princess and one of my favorite characters, Cadance is pink. As some of you may have noticed, I like the pink ones.

This is by far the most expensive pony I have ever bought. It was worth it because I absolutely love this thing. I had it perched on my shoulder for about half of the con.

Later that afternoon, my friend and I went to get Nicole Oliver's autograph. Since I got a print from Ponyqueen last year for Bonnie and Suzanne to sign, I thought I'd do the same for Nicole Oliver. 

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


And finally, one of the vendors was selling Funkos at good prices, so I picked up AJ.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


The rest of the con I treated more like a giant meet up, I was more interested in talking to people than going to the panels, with one or two exceptions. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend many of the panels I wanted to due to having to drive the other guys around, and a round trip from where I was staying to the hotel was around an hour. I also missed a couple just talking to people.

That said, the main panel I wanted to attend I didn't miss.  Early on Friday, I had heard that they'd be having a panel about mixing drinks that night.  I went to drop the others off and made plans to sleep in the car in the hotel parking lot that night. Not only did it have some really good drinks, I also got a good bit to drink for my money considering the panel was only $15 to get in.  Of course, when I was there, I probably missed Nicole Oliver at the hotel bar, and my opportunity to get drunk with Princess Celestia. Maybe someday...

[Spinky69er]

Sounds like you still had a blast despite the horrid weather you had to travel through.  I do love Nicole's message to you on the print (which is amazing art BTW!!).  Thanks for sharing