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vivaciouswordsmith · 7 years

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RTX 2017 Retrospective

Despite all the hiccups and shortcomings, I did still have fun this year at RTX. I might post about all the faults later, but for now, I’m just gonna focus on the positives.

Friday, July 7th

Since there are so many Mad Kings who have Edgars at RTX, I decided to be an Edgar with a Mad King. Unfortunately, since it was so hot in Austin this year, I never wore my cosplay more than a few hours.

I get to the convention center around 8 am. By some stroke of luck, I managed to get almost to the front of the line for the expo hall, and my wait was considerably shorter than most everyone else’s. (At least, when the line started moving, anyway.) There were security checkpoints to get into the expo hall this year, and by some stroke of genius, there were only two checkpoints set up on Friday. However, I did end up getting hugs and pictures with Shaun Bolen from Game Attack.

The expo hall was the quietest and least crowded I had ever seen it. I took the opportunity and signed up to get a tattoo from the Black Dagger booth, and in the meantime nabbed some RT sweg. The moment I got to the registers, my appointment was up, so I hurriedly pay and get out of there. After about twenty minutes, I was 1) the proud new owner of an AH logo tattoo and 2) starting to overheat. So I went and changed.

After seeing the line to get back into the expo hall, I decided to hang around for a while until the line for the AH panel started. The wait was long, but the panel was absolutely worth it. Michael had a hot dog t-shirt cannon, which Gavin used to shoot him in the dick, Ryan is now a lord with tithes over a 1x1″ piece of Scotland, there were a few games of keepy-uppy, and Geoff has apparently picked the worst year to be sober.

After the panel, I met up with some of the people from Ryan’s Twitch chat, and ended up having a lovely dinner at P.F. Chang’s with them. That was the end of my first day of RTX 2017. Few bumps along the way, but overall incredibly enjoyable.

Saturday, July 8th

I did not cosplay today, as I felt I wouldn’t be comfortable. I’d heard on the Discord that the line to the expo hall was being better managed, so I ended up back in the expo hall at 8:30 in the morning, wandered around for a bit, and finally sat down to wait for the AH guys to get on stage. They played several rounds of GMod: Murder, and I was happy to witness a quintessential Ryan moment. Also Geoff randomly showed up to talk shit.

Afterwards, I had lunch, and waited for 3:00 to roll around so I could head over to my signing. Right when my signing started at 3:30, the line for Theater Mode Live opened. I was antsy right up until I met the Game Attack guys. They were incredibly nice, and when I asked them to “vandalize” my AH hat, they joked about pissing all over it, and ended up writing “Sorry Geoff is a drunk” and “Sorry Michael is a bad dad” on the bill.

Then I proceeded to wait in a line for an hour to get a guaranteed seat at Theater Mode Live. It would stop for several minutes at a time while the Guardians let VIPs in. By the time I got my seat, it was fifteen minutes until the event started seating, so I grabbed a snack from 7-11, wolfed it down, met up with the rest of the Vagabonds, and went to sit in the smallest nosebleed section I’d ever seen. Despite my right foot going to sleep, I had a great time. The AH guys were in top form, and I don’t think there was a single minute without laughter or shouting.

We hung out for a bit after the movie ended, and eventually ended up splitting up. I went home, had dinner, watched the new My Hero episode, and passed out.

Sunday, July 9th

I managed to hustle today, and met up with some fellow Vagabonds to do the Escape Room. Somehow we ended up getting in there by 9:30 or so. I didn’t end up doing much (there were 10 people, and not than many tasks to divvy up between them), but still, I couldn’t help but be proud when we managed to make it out with seven minutes to spare.

Our team name was “It’s Ryan’s Fault.” Because it was. :)

Our meetup wasn’t until 3:30, so I wandered around the expo hall for a while, and eventually got in line for the Million Dollars, But panel. I ended up in the back, and had to listen to two dudes bash Lindsay and Frank for far too long, but eventually the panel started, and it was wonderful. We were shown the new episode (three words: Frat Boi Ryan) and watched them talk about different scenarios. My personal favorite was having to treat weddings like funerals and funerals like weddings. Blaine talked about throwing rice in the aisle while the coffin bearers were walking to the podium, and Burnie talked about tying tin cans to the hearse and painting “Just Died” on the back.

Good times.

After some more time wasting, I headed to the meetup. There were a lot more people there than I thought there would be, and it was nice to finally put names to faces. We waited in the room for fifteen minutes or so before Ryan finally showed up. We’d previously thought that we’d mill about and maybe get to see Ryan, but instead, we lined up, and each and every one of us got some one-on-one time with Ryan. When I got up there, I told him my username - he said he remembered me, and I almost died - gave him my backpack, and leaned back to take a picture of them.

Ryan: Wait, don’t you want to be in the picture? Viva: I’ll be in the next one. Now hold still.

We took some pictures, and he told me how much he appreciated my support and all of the people who made up his community. I nearly died again. I thanked him for the same, and hung out with my new friends for another hour or so.

He ended up being late for Off Topic. Several people watched the stream, and I watched Ryan answer his phone, and hang up with a trailing “Byyyyyyeeeeee”. (When I watched the stream later, I couldn’t help but smile when the others were wondering where he was. It was like being in on some huge prank). We hung out after he had to go, I got some stickers from fellow Vagabonds, and eventually left when the Guardians kicked us out.

I went into the RT Store one last time and picked up a few bits and bobs, wandered around one last time, and eventually left.

This RTX managed to be my favorite, even with all the shenanigans. I met so many wonderful people, and I really felt like I was among friends. Despite my reservations, I already can’t wait for next year.

That’s about it for now. :)

#rtx austin #rtx 2017 #rtx retrospective #rooster teeth #achievement hunter #game attack #ryan haywood #sortamaliciousgaming #how the hell do i tag the vagabonds #vaga-misfits #look at all the real tags #are you proud of me mom

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