Friendship is magic. [photo credit: LJinto]
This weekend the 2012 Winter BroNYCon took place at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City. It was the largest BroNYCon yet with over 700 “bronies” in attendance. Bronies are fans of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and are predominately males (86%) between the ages of 15 and 29 (89%) who have never been married (97%) according a non-scientific poll of about 9,000 Equestria Daily superfans.
The $40 tickets quickly sold out, and hundreds of aspiring attendees waited outside hoping to get a ticket. Once inside, attendees could buy custom and rare merchandise, donate canned foods at the “Charity is Magic” table, watch a performance by NeighSlayer (“Ponyville’s Hottest Metal Band”), and score autographs from and watch a Q&A with three actresses who voice characters in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Attendees also spontaneously broke out into song several times, including a sing-a-long on the way out after the event. Yes, when most convention attendees would be trying to shove their way out faster, the bronies were singing songs about love and friendship from My Little Pony. As much as I’d like to rip the sleeves off my nonexistent letterman jacket and scream, “NERRRRDS,” I can’t help but find their enthusiasm and desire to love and tolerate the sh-t out of each other to be endearing.
The picture above was taken at Comikaze last year, not at this year’s BroNYCon, but we think you’ll agree using it as the banner photo was the right choice. For the pictures and videos from this weekend’s BroNYCon, read on.
[Sources: LJinto, WIRED, NYPost, BroniesUnited, Max Read and Adrian Chen of Gawker, Kase Wickman of TheAwl, Jim Silver of TimeToPlayMag]
Only the bronies are going to know why it’s a big deal for Ashleigh Ball to voice Applejack saying, “Forget you, I can eat all of these apples”, but it is. Internet memage (NSFW) made reality right there.
Derpy Hooves brought a letter. I wonder who it’s from.
This photo was taken the same weekend as BroNYCon, but she was unfortunately on the other side of the country at the time.