Bronycon goes to where it all began with Bonnie Zacherle
(BALTIMORE) - It’s a bittersweet day here at BronyCon HQ as we celebrate the eighth anniversary of our first event and are announcing our final special agent for our final mission this August. Knowing the weight this announcement carries we wanted to bring in someone important to My Little Pony fans from all over the world. In fact, without this special agent’s creativity and vision, none of the missions in our long history would have ever been possible. On this special day, BronyCon is honored to announce Bonnie Zacherle as our final Guest of Honor for 2019!
This will be Zacherle’s first ever visit to BronyCon. She is best known as the original creator of My Little Pony, and its precursor, My Pretty Pony, while working at Hasbro in the early 1980s. The properties were inspired by Zacherle’s childhood memories of horses and horse riding. Her career also includes working on a redesign of Mr. Potato Head, as well as working on the Nerfuls toy line for Parker Brothers. After that, she opened a studio with her Hasbro colleague Liz Knight in a converted barn in Massachusetts which focused on freelance work, design, and consultation services.
Zacherle was honored in 2013 at the first annual My Little Pony Fair by being the first inductee into the My Little Pony Hall of Fame. Currently, Zacherle lives in Virginia where she teaches art to children.
These bronies better treat her with respect.
These bronies better treat her with respect.
I'm out of the loop and curious, why is it the last one? Because G4 is coming to an end?
Oh that's sad. But who knows, maybe G5 can breathe new life into it!
I don't really understand stopping a convention because the series is ending. If that happened in other pony areas there'd never have been a ponycon or a pony fair, as they all BEGAN after MLP ended.
I really want to see things integrate more but in my view it has to begin with accepting that other generations exist besides G4. In a way, bronycon could probably continue to exist if it did that - but if it isn't interested in that kind of angle, it's unlikely G5 will make a difference.
I am rather expecting the hardcore bronies to react violently against G5. Even more so if it turns out it's not a new concept but a rehash of their G4 characters.
I'm sure G4 will still be appreciated at Pony Fair. It's hard for me to feel sad knowing that it really isn't going anywhere. No more than Star Trek went anywhere. We definitely aren't going to run out of mane six toys anytime soon. :P We'll probably have 10 year, 25 year, and 50 year anniversaries for them too. The community may be smaller, but thousands of people distilled to a few hundreds is still a lot of people.
These bronies better treat her with respect.Agreed. I’m not holding out much hope though.
I don't really understand stopping a convention because the series is ending. If that happened in other pony areas there'd never have been a ponycon or a pony fair, as they all BEGAN after MLP ended.
The reason is attendance numbers and venue. The Baltimore Convention Center is just huge, and attendance peaked at 10,011 in 2015, their third year in Baltimore (first year we went) and has been steadily declining since. Last year's attendance was down to 5,465, and on Saturday night by around 10㏘ I felt like I was rattling around in the place in comparison to previous years. Sunday morning was the same.
At one point, someone suggested to me that BronyCon would be dissolved to break any contracts they have with the Baltimore Convention Center, because they knew they couldn't make the numbers to cover the cost. This person suggested they might reform elsewhere under a different name.
On the other hand, size doesn't make a community or a convention.
That said, it's not uncommon in the current day and age for fandoms to be like that. It happens with anime series, it happens with other shows and things. It's more of a 'now' generation than a 'past stuff' generation and I suppose if fans move on to a new medium there's not really a place for that.
I really hope you are right about the hardcore people, but I remain healthily sceptical.
PS - I am not a Pollyanna, honest.
PS - I am not a Pollyanna, honest.
Depending on your definition of “Pollyanna” in slang (there are a few ways to take it), I’d rather be a Pollyanna any day than one of the sad legions of whiners and pessimists that plague the internet. XD Society could use a good dose of Pollyanna-ism, as far as I’m concerned. For example... the current climate of the Star Wars community. :P I’d waaay rather be irrepressibly positive and cheerful about my fandom than spend my every waking moment stressed out about it and tearing down every little aspect I don’t like!
But I do genuinely hope for a time when there's no separation - at least, people can collect or like what they want, but the whole hostility is gone. That's my hope as a PONY fan.
Society could use a good dose of Pollyanna-ism, as far as I’m concerned. For example... the current climate of the Star Wars community. :P I’d waaay rather be irrepressibly positive and cheerful about my fandom than spend my every waking moment stressed out about it and tearing down every little aspect I don’t like!
Society could use a good dose of Pollyanna-ism, as far as I’m concerned. For example... the current climate of the Star Wars community. :P I’d waaay rather be irrepressibly positive and cheerful about my fandom than spend my every waking moment stressed out about it and tearing down every little aspect I don’t like!
SW is the go-to antifandom right now. It's sad. I say as a pessimist and SW fan who isn't touching its fandom with a ten foot pole right now :lol:
Society could use a good dose of Pollyanna-ism, as far as I’m concerned. For example... the current climate of the Star Wars community. :P I’d waaay rather be irrepressibly positive and cheerful about my fandom than spend my every waking moment stressed out about it and tearing down every little aspect I don’t like!
SW is the go-to antifandom right now. It's sad. I say as a pessimist and SW fan who isn't touching its fandom with a ten foot pole right now :lol:
It makes me long for the simpler, more innocent time when there was just the prequels vs. originals divide. :P
Long story short, each fan can have their clique but integrate the MLP generations, please.
Quibble Pants