Bronies The Extremely Unexpected Review: Part 1

For some reason I had never previously seen the documentary, aptly named Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony. I remember back before the first BUCK in 2012 hearing about John De Lancie's fondness of our community. It was pretty uplifting that such a notable actor had really expressed his interest in something as seemly obscure as male fans of My Little Pony. This was when he went on to quickly announce that he was working with a brony owned film company to create a Documentary all about our 'little' subculture. The response was ecstatic in the US,  but interest didn't really come to the UK until De Lancie announced he was intending to come to our first ever Brony Convention, BUCK. The Kickstarter donation drive shot through the roof with UK bronies eager to get the Draconequus' VA to make an appearance. Sadly he couldn't make it but he did nicely leave us a lovely video message and of course, the film crew still managed to come and get some cracking footage of BUCK.

Jan Animations Receives C&D

It is a massive shame to hear about Jan Animations receiving a C&D from Hasbro's underground and shady law makers. But as we all expected, it was bound to happen. Let's hope the team has had a plan for this up their sleeve for because it'd be a complete waste of talent to see them stop. Maybe it means a different art style? Change Button into a Ferret? Yeah I think that's the best idea there is. My Little Ferret sounds like the best dodge of IP infringement.

Obviously Hasbro was well in their right to do this, but lets hope something can be worked out among them. I remember seeing Jan over at Galacon last year where their premiered Button's Adventure. Was a great experience, very glad I got the chance to have it before it was too late.

Maud Pie Does Not Like Gummy's Shenanigans!

You guys remember a few weeks back when Weird Al visited Ponyville?  Well not only did he have all the bronies singing along to his Polkas (and a few tumblr artist's buying new fangled musical instruments!) the episode in question brought up quite the interesting headcanon crashing topic of, who's Pinkie's new sister than was photoshopped into that photo from back when she got her cutiemark, never mind who took the photo in the first place!

Well, turns out she was indeed added for a reason. Pinkie's new sister, Maud, is appearing in this Saturday's episode and damn she's looking great. Sort of has an expression like she's just so completely done with everyone and everything. Also that blue coat thing, what's there not to like! I'm gonna assume her special talent is putting up with Pinkie's shit. According to the synopsis of this episode the rest of the mane 6 aren't going to get on with her! Maybe she eats ponies? We'll have to wait till Saturday to find out.

The World Wide Web turns 25

So this means Ponies pre-date the WWW, that's pretty funky to know. But then without the web our fandom would never have reached such levels. Sure they'd be fans but without this fantastic meeting place in cyberspace people's creativity would never have been free to be seen, for many they would have never been able to get the inspiration to start. Not only that but thanks to the web we've been able to meet so many other nutters who love the stuff we do, which is probably one of the greatest things ever. Heck, when I was in primary school I was in a class of about five guys and 26 girls, which might be cool in College but back when you're a kid it's a bit crappy for finding people who have the more geekier interests.

So, well done to the web for living this long, lets hope you keep on going for another 25 years yet!

Crystal Fair Annouces Daniel Ingram

So the Finnish Brony Con, that's been several years in the making and is happening just short of a couple of months have announced MLP's music wizz, Daniel Ingram. This is the first convention he's ever been to outside of the US, and as far as I aware he's quite the elusive one with Hasbro denying him from attending cons last year.

If you aren't already going to Crystal Fair, this surely this has to sway you to swim across the pond, battle the Frenchies and walk across Europe, because missing Daniel Ingram is simply not an option.

Check out their official press release after the break!

Rainbow Dash Joining the Wonderbolt Reserves, Finally!

A synopsis for an upcoming episode has revealed that Rainbow Dash will be taking a test. I wonder if she'll forget her pants? Well, this isn't a written test, or at least I wouldn't expect it is since if Dash passes she'll become a member of the Wonderbolts Reserves.

Honestly, I'm so pleased with this small announcement, even if the episode doesn't turn out all that well it's just the character development there in just one line of text, it's brilliant. I don't know why it has never occured to me before, the only way Rainbow Dash could be a Wonderbolt is by being on the reserve list! Since, she's damn good, we all know that, she's saved the Wonderbolts on many occasions and has time and time again showed them how capable of a flyer she is. Heck she's proved to be probably better than most of the current members. But she could never really become a Wonderbolt as it would take her away from Ponyville, ultimately taking her away from the show for the most part. So her being on the Reserves makes a ton of sense, she'll technically be a Wonderbolt (finally!) and she'll still be able to continue being the weather pony for Ponyville and going on all those crazy adventures with her friends.

Really can't wait for this episode now and I'm not even the biggest fan of Dash episodes. Also as a side thing, I love every time it is confirmed that the Wonderbolts are in fact a military organisation, rather than show flyers.

Dark Skyes: Yeah, It's Bogus.

As it's my duty as a journalist to a report on whats correct (such as the time aliens landed in Covent Garden) I am obliged to mentioned, though you should have known the get go, that the Pony Dating Sim game posted a few days ago happens to be a huge scam by a "comedy troupe" Million Dollar Entertainment. Good ol' /mlp/ decided to go on a rampage to properly expose the scam, and well they did just that. This has caused the Kickstarter to drop massively from 4200 dollars to around 1500 and is expected to drop further.

One of the guys behind this scam came forward with a damage control video, which though hilarious in many ways I won't link to on here as it contents less than savoury material, though it won't be hard to find it if you want a few laughs.

As it happens, the Game Devs, I mean Scam Artists are being shamed as massive failures in all sense of the word. Now, if someone would make a real dating sim with horses, that'd be pretty nifty right? Remember, they're meant to be like Professor Layton, I am pretty damn sure of it.

Bronies in Bob's Burgers.

If you're not familiar with Bob's Burgers, then I suggest checking it out. There's a ton of strange cartoons aimed at the teenage and young male audience but never quite make it to the same prime time spots as shows like South Park and Family Guy. Probably because these other shows tend to be a little rubbish in many respects, usually their animation isn't something to go crazy for. But they always have something about them that makes them quite enjoyable, I believe. Bob's Burgers is probably one of the better out of these sorts of series.

As it happens there is going to be an episode in the up-coming series that pays homage to our sub-culture. The episode is called  "The Equestranauts" which to me sounds like the name of Equestria's astronauts that landed on Luna's butt that one time. But yeah, I do hope it's a sci-fi in Bob's universe because that'd be a cool twist. Could get the Trekies and Bronies out in one episode.

A Pony Japanese Style Dating Sim? Now we've seen it all!

Well, here we have it, a pony dating game. Shouldn't be too surprised really to see this, but before any of you guys start shaming the game just because of that one here Brony Dating Site (that's ran by scammers btw) this game is actually pretty damn nifty. It's PG13, like many dating sims, they're more about building friendships and falling in love rather than getting nasty behind the bikesheds. Oh and don't forget the puzzle solving and story telling, some of you might not know this but Prof. Layton is secretly a dating sim, this is legit I swear. The Game Developers are holding a Kickstart fund riser, you can check that out here. 

The art work is damn amazing and the voice acting is very nice. The game is heavily referencing Japanese Dating Sims and isn't really all that MLP:FiM beyond the character's base design, which hopefully should be enough to keep Hasbro's ban hammer away. Now the game makers are promising a lot, with over 100+ hours of game play, frankly i'd be happy we just a 2 hour game, but if they are confident they can produce something of such scale, all the luck to them.

To the Big Apple I Go to Collect as Much Pony Merch as I can!

I know this is a somewhat unusual post for this blog. I tend to post news or some type of article, but heck i've had tremendous writers block for a few weeks now so I can't really pass up the opportunity to write something when it's raised my interest.

As it happens I'm going to New York in two weeks, as this year marks my 21st, my brother's 18th and my father's 60th and retirement. Though we're in fact going on my mother's birthday. Family celebrations aside, there's one specific thing I am very excited for. Ok, there's the obvious stuff. Just being in New York for one is going to be incredible, as will trying all the awesome food, riding in a yellow cab and visiting all the cool land marks. But there's one other important thing I don't want to miss out on whilst i'm over in the states and that's The Cheap and Exclusive Pony Merch!

Spyker's Rainbow Dash LED Shirt Now on Sale on Etsy!

You guys might have seen this shirts here and there over the last year or so. The ideal choice of clothing for all brony ravers! This shirt have LED's that flash different colours making up Dash's mane. Spyker has been selling these for quite a while now at meets, his parties and even had some sold over at Mareplay's stalls are various events. Something I didn't know, the lights react to sound, so that's even more club friendly! The sensitivity can be changed, so if you're just wanting to show it off in a quiet place you can, or if you're jumping and diving at whatever party you've managed stumble in on, it'll work like a charm.

If you've not yet picked one up, nows your chance! Spyker's now selling them on Etsy!