Bronycon: Bronies and Q Hit the Meadowlands This Summer
Bronycon is a convention for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fans in New York. It's a semiseasonal convention and the next one, Bronycon Summer, is June 31-July 1. It was going to be held at the Hotel Pennsylvania, which is a nice venue for small conventions. It won't be held there anymore. Instead, Bronycon is going to be held at the freaking Meadowlands. No, it's not a pony-themed play on words. The convention will be held at the Meadowlands Expo Center.
Okay, it's not the Meadowlands Sports Complex/Racetrack/IZOD Center, but it's still a pretty big venue. The good news is this means the show's attendance cap has been increased from 1,500 people to 4,000. The bad news is New York bronies will have to go into New Jersey to attend. It's just a 20 minute bus ride from Port Authority, but still. That's not the only news. Besides show creator Lauren Faust, Bronycon Summer will get another guest: John de Lancie. Even if you're not a brony, you know him as Q from Star Trek. And if you are a brony, you know as Discord he basically played... Q from Star Trek. Either way, he's pretty awesome.
The convention organizer, Purple Tinker (that's her brony name), notes that the convention is five months away, and that there will be other announcements. Possibly more voice actors will come to the convention. Even if you're not a brony, it promises to be great for any sci-fi, cartoon, or animation nerd if any other voice actors attend; Twilight Sparkle was Truffles from Chowder, Applejack was Maki from Black Lagoon, Pinkie Pie was AndrAIa from Reboot, Spike was Chiaotzu from Dragonball Z and Near from Death Note, and Princess Celestia was detective Kelly Blaine from Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. And I know way too much about voice actors. Fun fact: Alison on Eureka was Elisa Maza from Gargoyles. And Kevin Bacon has had no notable roles in animation.
Admission for both days of Bronycon Summer will be $65, and over 600 people have already pre-registered. One more bit of brony news, since I'm laying it all out as the bizarre nerd I am: My Little Pony toys are coming to Happy Meals in March. Keep an eye out, because they and the blind bag figures usually have much better sculpts than the larger ponies you can get at toy stores, which stick more to the older My Little Pony molds and please stop me what am I doing with my life.
First QuakeCon, then BlizzCon, now MineCon, a Minecraft Convention
Minecraft is now more than a gaming sensation. It's a Las Vegas sensation. November 18 will see hundreds of Minecraft fans in the City That Never Sobers for the first MineCon. The event will see the official launch of Minecraft (which isn't technically out yet, despite millions of gamers buying it and building insane things in the game), plus panels, classes, and costume contests. Tickets are $99 online, and if you wait until the show itself you'll have to pay $139 to get in. Should be quite the Creeper-shaped blast.
PAX East 2011 Cosplay Gallery
Another fan convention means another swarm of cosplayers, and this time we have twice as many photos of costumed fans as last year. That's 40 photos of everyone from the greatest Ghostbusters ever (with their own ECTO-1A car), a strangely hot Left 4 Dead Witch, lady versions of Professor Layton and Spy, a quartet of great Arkham Asylum cosplayers, and Minecraft's Steve. It's pretty awesome. Check out the full gallery below.
Greetings from Boston! Dispatches from PAX East
I'm in a hotel room right now, after spending a day on the floor of the Boston Convention Center. PAX East is in full swing, and as soon as I get home you can expect some major coverage of what I saw. Galleries, cosplaying stuff, swag round-up, the works. Until then, here are the highlights of what I checked out today:




