I’ll have more to say regarding Frosty Faustings—plus some video, assuming it turns out—a bit later, but I wanted to type out some thanks and virtual fist-bumps while the event was still fresh in my mind, in the hopes that I won’t forget anything or anyone.

Event Organizers

First up: Thanks to ElvenShadow (Mike number one), SuperGreekFyter (Mike number two), and MrsMarvel for continuing to run FF, growing it into what it has become, and bringing me on board for another year. I have so much love for the Chicago/Midwest tournament scene, and the team around this one is no exception.

Setup/AVL

A good bit before any players and before most of the staff arrive to the venue, there’s a handful of people who drop in and start putting things together. Big thanks to Big Sean, Mohawk Mike, Liz, Jeff Vader Jr., Deniz (my roommate for the weekend), J-Rock (thanks for the rides to/from the airport), and Lexx Talon for being there and doing the thing. We built some pretty great stuff for everyone in a pretty short amount of time. (I wouldn’t mind not having a 4 a.m. call for setup again, though.)

Broadcast

Around midday Thursday, I swapped from working setup to my broadcast role for the weekend, where I was assistant director for BGCallisto—making us the first(?) dual-Ryan broadcast team in the FGC. I feel we did really well with our main stage/main stream responsibilities, and it was a pleasure to finally get to work with someone who has been both really supportive of my streaming progress and always willing to talk tech stuff. At least from my point of view, it was a really great time, and that’s because of the people surrounding me for the whole weekend.

So yeah, big ups to Callisto for being a great director to learn from (inventor of the Big Willie Cam), Tswagg for cam op (even though we couldn’t get that shot of the crocs ‘n’ socks), Dink for filling when we needed a cam op backup, and Ham Jams for nailing stage direction (we almost never had to wait for players to get seated on stage, which is rare).

I also can’t let shoutouts go without mentioning the huge amount of work that MeloDe put into coordinating production across every stream and making the event’s broadcast presence a huge success.

It was fantastic to finally be in the same room as Tyler Hack, who was seemingly everywhere at the same time and doing all the jobs that get overlooked. And as always, my thanks to colleagues R.S. Blackrose, FunkyP, and Tong—here’s hoping we get to talk shop in-person more, and soon.

Other Departments

There’s also a whole bunch of other people who worked or showed up who I got to interface or catch up with again, including but not limited to:

• Kai Kennedy, for being the best commentary partner a guy who’s still really shaky on the mic could have. You bring energy, but you also know how to hand things off to let me blather once in a while. Three Frostys in a row now with the opening Mystery Game block? I think that makes this a tradition.
• TuboWare, who killed it in setting up commentary assignments when a good handful of people had to cancel, and then some of those who were there ended up escaping pools. What a job.
• Reina, who wrangled all the brackets with her usual brand of awesome.
• Commentators I was pleased to see again/chat with/be on the other side of the broadcast desk from: Yipes, Dynamite, Ebonic Plague, Romanova, Zero, Ryyudo, UltraDavid.
• Brian over at Paradise Arcade Shop for talking gear a whole bunch over the weekend. Paradise is awesome, and y’all should be shopping with them more than you do. The MPress is a thing of beauty.

Next Time?

The date’s already set for next year, so I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again, assuming the world doesn’t fall apart more than it already has. I will (probably) have more to say about this one in another post at some point, but for now, I’ll leave it here and express to everyone linked above my profuse thanks for a great weekend of fighting games and seeing people I haven’t in a pretty long time.

It was good to be back.