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| Bronycon 2019 will be the last Bronycon |
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My Little Pony Animator in Prison for Child Porn - Over 60,000 Images Found
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| Wysom is listed as a "Character Builder" and "Animator" for the Episode "Appleoosa's Most Wanted", seen above. |
According to local news outlet The Ottawa Citizen, an Animator for My Little Pony and Littlest Pet Shop has been sentenced to 28 months in prison for possessing and sharing child pornography. Tom Wysom, 55, was arrested and found to be in possession of over 60,000 images of child porn, as well as 1625 videos. Ottawa police tracked his IP address when investigating a peer-to-peer network.
According to IMDB, Wysom was an animator and character builder for 26 episodes of My Little Pony and 23 episodes of Littlest Pet Shop between 2012 an 2015.
We've copy-pasted the original article below.
An Ottawa artist who helped animate children’s TV shows has been sentenced to 28 months in prison for possessing more than 60,000 images of child pornography and sharing them online.
Tom Wysom, 55, has worked on TV productions such as My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Littlest Pet Shop, according to the Internet Movie Database.Wysom was sentenced earlier this month after pleading guilty to the charges in December, two months after police executed a search warrant at his home in Old Ottawa South.Police found 60,165 pictures — many of them duplicates — along with 1,626 videos, some of which depicted adults engaging in sexual behaviours with children. In some of the images, young girls had their hands and feet bound.In a pre-sentence report, presented to court, Wysom told a probation officer that he developed an addiction to adult pornography about a decade ago, but slowly became desensitized to it and “needed something more.” He turned to child pornography, Wysom said, which became a way to deal with his clinical depression and other medical issues.A forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Jonathan Gray, conducted a sexual behaviours assessment of Wysom and concluded he had a “pedophilic disorder.” Wysom told Gray he turned to child porn in response to the untreated stress he was experiencing.Justice David Berg took exception to Wysom’s attempt to blame outside forces for his behaviour.“I think that you are still quite far from comprehending that the problem is you and only you,” the judge told Wysom in his decision. “I think that you are still trying to rationalize your behaviour to yourself and to others in the face of society’s reaction to what you have done.”The judge told Wysom he could have erased the images on his computer and sought professional help, but chose instead to continue on his destructive path because “he didn’t think he would get caught.”“The stressors in his life may have led him to throw caution to the wind, but the stressors did not create in Mr. Wysom an ability to take pleasure from those images. That ability pre-existed the stressors,” Berg said.Court heard that Wysom was born and raised in Wales, where he worked as a postal clerk. He came to Canada in 1992, and hitch-hiked and camped his way across the country before becoming a permanent resident in 1996. He has studied fine art and commercial animation, and once had his work featured at Ottawa’s Cube Gallery.Dr. Gray told the court that Wysom was a low risk to re-offend or have sexual contact with children.The judge said he had to sentence Wysom to a prison term — a sentence of two years or more — in order to sufficiently denounce his conduct and deter others from the same path.Earlier this year, the Court of Appeal for Ontario noted there were now so many reports of child porn-related crime in Ottawa that investigators had to triage their work by “how bad the child pornography is.” Offenders regularly access child porn through peer-to-peer and encrypted internet networks.Wysom was arrested after a member of the Ottawa Police Service’s Internet Child Exploitation Unit conducted an investigation of a file sharing network with an IP address in Ottawa."
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BronyCon's Final Event - A Letter from Convention Chairs Sheva Goldberg and Eliana Summers
BronyCon will forever hold a special place in my heart, and my liver, as the place where some of the most absurd, yet somehow magical moments the fandom has ever witnessed, took place. They're part of the reason that Horse News exists in the first place. Many great friendships, and great stories were created there, and it saddens me (and the members of SSF6) to hear of its ending drawing near.
The con-chairs have distributed a message, or perhaps more aptly a eulogy for the huge annual event, that we have pasted below.
BronyCon’s Final Event
For the past seven years, BronyCon has been a constant within the “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” fandom. Tens of thousands of people have walked through our doors to be a part of our community, with many more working behind the scenes to make it all happen.
It’s been a wild ride, but all rides end eventually—and BronyCon 2019 will be our 11th and final event.
As a group, we did not come to this decision lightly. Thousands of hours, hundreds of people’s efforts, and gallons of unicorn magic are put into every BronyCon. It’s a hard job, and one we do with love for the community. Love for the community that helped us make a major shift in cities in 2013 when we moved from our original New York home to Baltimore; the community that came out over ten thousand strong to set the record for the largest My Little Pony convention the world has seen; and the community that has raised over $155,000 for incredible charities like CureSearch.
However, as the fandom ages and changes, so too does the convention scene. Activity in the community has slowly been declining for the last several years, and while many of us wish things could stay the same forever, the one constant in life is change. At BronyCon, we could try to change, but we feel that to do so would cause us to become something that is not BronyCon. It would not be the event we know and love, and that we look forward to attending all year.
Rather than let our fire dwindle into embers that eventually fade away, we wish everyone to remember BronyCon at its best. Next year, we’re turning BronyCon into the best celebration of the fandom we possibly can, and we’re making the event bigger than ever before.
BronyCon 2019 will take place Thursday, August 1st, through Sunday, August 4th, 2019, at the Baltimore Convention Center. We're becoming a 4-day celebration for the first time, and we’re inviting anyone and everyone who wants to party with us to come to Baltimore and join us in one last incredible celebration of community, love, friendship, and magic.
We invite each and every one of you to join our celebration and become a part of the story we’ve written together. It’s a story of countless strangers who each found something special in a little thing called My Little Pony. A story of how those strangers came together in scattered locations, online and in real life, and who formed bonds of joy, friendship, and love. A story of those bonds touching life after life, spreading positive change and inspiring all of us to chase our happiness, whatever it may be. The story of BronyCon has been written with many authors. It is a beautiful tapestry we have all had a part in weaving together, and now the time has come to inscribe the final pages in our massive, shared tale.
To potential attendees, old and new—join us. To anyone who values and strives to live by the positive lessons MLP:FiM seeks to impart, you are welcome and wanted here. If you are a newcomer, we can tell you with certainty that BronyCon is a place to make lifelong friendships. We know, because it has happened to us time and time again.
If you’ve never attended, now is the time.
If you’ve attended once before, we would be delighted to have you come celebrate with us once again.
If you’ve joined us for years, through thick and thin, and already know you will be coming to our last party: welcome back. We can’t wait to see you.
And finally, to all of you, everyone who had a part in this tale: we never could have done it without you.
We are sure many of you have questions, and we’ll do our best to share more details in the coming months. For now, we have a request for all of you: start thinking about what you want to do to make your BronyCon 2019 special. Think about what will make that final weekend the best one ever—and then do it.
If you have crazy awesome ideas that you think the con should officially be hosting, tell us! We want to know. If we can do it, we will. And who knows? You may find yourself being invited to join our staff and see your dream become reality for everyone.
We hope you can join us next August. Together, we’re going to build something beautiful.
Your chairs,
Sheva Goldberg and Eliana Summers
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MLP VA's offer voice over camp for kids - for less than the price of a skype call!
A Canadian group called "On The Mic Training" recently announced a voice acting summer camp aimed at children and teens (aka the target demographic) taught by none other than Lee Tockar, Kazumi Evans, and Rhona Rees. Tockar is the voice of Snips, Steven Magnet, and Gummy's inner monologue. Evans is both Rarity and Luna's singing voice (and Octavia and Rose's voice). Rhona has many credits to her name including Vapor Trail from Top Bolt, and Bev from Littlest Pet Shop.
Now I'm sure you're wondering why Horse News is shilling for such an endeavor?
That's because, it's actually a hell of a deal. The camp says it runs for 4 days from 9am to 4pm for under $700 CAD (that's $540 usd)
That works out to be around $20 USD per hour for lessons from 3 professionals.
So if you've got kids or younger siblings or are here without your parent's permission, here's the details:
"Kids & Teens Spring and Summer Camps
from 349.50
COST: $699 + GST (2 payments of $349.50 + GST)
Week long Class
Instructors: Lee Tockar, Rhona Rees, Kazumi Evans
On The Mic Training’s Kids & Teens SUMMER CAMP is a week-long program, each day from 9-4pm with a 1-hour lunch, that is designed for young performers aged 10-17 and covers the fundamentals of commercial and animation voice-over from kids and teens perspective. In an extremely informative, but most importantly, fun and entertaining exploration, students learn industry expectations and are guided through many scripts and exercises to give them the tools they need to book the role.
DATES:
Monday to Friday August 20 - 24. 9 AM - 4 PM (OPEN SEATS)
Please Contact info@onthemictraining.com for more information."
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Where Are They Now: The My Little Resume Creator
In the near-decade that the My Little Pony fandom has been around, we've seen many people come and go, some without a trace or even a clue as to where they ended up. We can often feel genuine loss when someone we've come to know can just go dark or silent with little more than a screen name to show they were ever there in the first place. Starting today, Horse News will be attempting a "Where are they now?" series, where we attempt to track down the names and the faces that have disappeared from the fandom at-large, and see how their lives have turned out.
We're kicking off this endeavor with a surprise visitor to /mlp/: the creator of the infamous "My Little Resume" from 2013.
Way back at the peak of the fandom, in the midst of the Twilicorn fallout and the Equestria Girls shitstorm, there was an image that leaked out to the world; a resume for a computer scientist, adorned with OC ponies and mane-6 recolors. The semi-unknown creator was of course mocked endlessly by pony fan detractors, and featured in countless cringe threads. It was picked up by big websites who proclaimed it was "an awesome way to never get a job".
They were dead wrong.
Many assumed it was a joke, but few suspected it was a joke created by an actually brilliant computer scientist.
His name is Joseph Chet Redmon, and he's now a successful computer scientist, and featured speaker on TED Talks.
According to his bio, "Joseph Redmon works on the YOLO algorithm, which combines the simple face detection of your phone camera with a cloud-based AI in real time".
That means he is basically programming all the surveillance cameras from sci-fi action movies and creating skynet in the process.
Joe happened to drop into an /mlp/ thread discussing the outcome of his famous resume earlier today. He confirmed his identity by amending the resume on his personal website to include this:
In it he gave us a little backstory on how the resume came to be in the first place.
He apparently has attended conventions (at least one) and has become interested in Fanfics. So he has continued to stay somewhat involved in the fandom. His personal website is still adorned with ponies.
"Redmon, who is one of only 39 students across North America, Europe, and the Middle East to be selected for a fellowship, was recognized in the “Machine Perception, Speech Technology and Computer Vision” category for his efforts to develop faster, better, and more useful computer vision tools for real-world applications."
So there you have it! The man behind the resume that was deemed "doomed to fail" was more successful than anyone could have hoped.
We wish him luck in his career and continued endeavors.
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Where Are The Now? The Master List, and How YOU can help
Since the fandom began, there have been many names and faces that have come and gone. Some with dramatic exits, others who have vanished without a trace, and some who just changed their name and were generally lost track of by the fandom at large.
With the announcement that 2019 marks the final year of BronyCon and the knowlege that 2020 may very well mark the end of Friendship is Magic as we know it, Horse News is attempting an investigation, into the fates and futures of the fans that have fallen off the radar, before it's too late.
We asked you, our readers, to make suggestions of who you would like to be updated on from wayback, and you delivered, big time.
We have compiled a list, in no particular order, of the screen-names that people want to know about, and have attached it below.
Many of these names are not "gone" by any means, but have simply stopped producing much in the way of pony-related content in recent months and years.
We make no guarantee that we will be able to provide conclusive, or satisfying answers to all of these names, but we will put all of our collective investigation skills to work to do our best.
How YOU can help:
If you have any personal leads, information, or contact details for any of these names, please leave either a comment, Twitter DM, or email us at horsenewsmlp@gmail.comYou can also ask to be added to the Horse News Discord chat if you wish.
Together, we can bring closure to some of the mysteries of the old fandom, for better or worse.
Here's the list that you wanted to see, and some of the statuses of our investigations. If you would like to add to this list, please leave information in comments.
The My Little Resume Creator - Article Completed
CSIMadMax - 4chan attempted search recently, will provide findings
PinkiePieSwear
SweetieBot - Information acquired, attempting verification
TheLivingTombstone - Active online, In-contact
Swagberg
Little girl named "Rainbow Dash".
Child named Pinkamena Zecora
The Burdened
NotACleverPony
Jackleapp
LaserPony - Active online, In-contact
Petirep - Active online, In-contact
DawnSomewhere
Shroo
Filly Funtasia
LPU scammers - Sandi and Eddie - Active Lead, active on Facebook, still somewhere in Vegas.
My Little Porny actresses
ChuckyBB
YellingAtCats
Cast of Bronies Musical
Tirarawhy
Archie / Desso - Active online, Seeking contact
MicTheMicrophone - Active online, turned Furry, In-contact
Aviators - Active online, In-contact
Jin
Final Draft - Active online, currently working in Japan as ESL Teacher.
SimGretina
KyroSpawn
SoGreatAndPowerful
SixOfLasers
The Brony Network - Ended the Brony Network after 7 years, currently taking a break on social media.
GeneralZoi
PensivePony
The Happiest Brony
Deaf Pony Jesus
Sherclop Pones
Boxxy - Active online, In-contact
Jenny Nicholson - Active online, Star Wars Vlogger
Yaplap / Solrac
MrPoniator
DawnSomewhere
RobCakeran
Canapplejack
DigiBro
JHaller - Active online, In-contact
MysteryBen27
CrookedTrees
omnipony (OmniEDM) - Active Online
AlexS (@Andromulus) - Active Online
WoodenToaster
Le Soldat Pony
WoodLore
SillyFillyStudios
Peak Freak
Alligator Tub Productions
AcousticBrony (@Official_Remake) - Active Online
MisterDavie
Glaze
Bronyfied
Poni1Kenobi - Active Online.
Veggie55
EquestriasReflection
Kreühn Pöny
Pokehidden
Drawponies
Feather
Purple tinker - Active online, In-contact
General Mumble - Active online, In-contact
Sergeant Sprinkles (Creator of Cupcakes)
All Levels At Once
Wind Harmonic (inactive Twitter since 2016)
Assertive Fluttershy - active, in the J-Core and UK Hardcore communities.
D.notive - active, online
Exiark - active, online
What we will be seeking from each of these that we can, is information regarding their current projects, career progression, wellbeing/health, future plans, major life events, and potential reason for becoming uninvolved (or less involved) in the fandom.
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Where Are They Now? The CSImadmax Cold Case
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| One of CSImadmax's earliest pieces. |
CSImadmax was a cornerstone of the early fandom. Her artwork dates back to 2010 and are some of the most memorable and recognizable pieces of fanart in the community. She was frequently featured on EQD and was beloved by many. And one day in August 2014...she vanished from the Internet...or so it seems.
For 4 years, fans have held out hope that she would return, and some have even launched investigations in hopes of getting some closure, to no avail. Rumors and speculation swirl.
Horse News has followed the trails as far as they could go, and will provide what information we have, on this Cold Case.
To tell this tale, we will start at the end.
On August 19th, 2014, at 7:38:42 AM, CSImadmax made her last known public communication on her DeviantArt account. It read as follows:
"absolutely saddening'"
"so I've been away from the comic making and cool stuff due to no longer havin' access to a computer to draw stuff and my involuntary newly found nomad-like style of life. things are going certainly bad and I dunno if I could be able to draw for some time. so yeah, Im really sorry for the people asking me for commission things but I'm certainly out of the game from now on, sorry!.
I'll make another journal if I find a way to...well you know, to do stuff."
And that was it.
The cryptic detail of "involuntary...nomad-like style of life" has many to conclude that she had become homeless.
Her previous journal post was nearly a year prior, though her last piece of posted art was just 1 month before.
The other entries hold few clues, just general comings and goings, and openings of commissions. From them we learn her last known email address which was used for paypal; and her location. We also know she has a brother who apparently also designs ponies sometimes.
A quick search of the list of Earthquakes strong enough to damage an apartment building, coupled with the fact she was known to live in a Spanish speaking country, yields this:
So the conclusion is that she lived in Costa Rica as of 2012 and was affected by the 7.6 Magnitude Earthquake that struck on September 5th.
The other part of this post is her email address, which uses a very distinctive handle, one that matches a STEAM account that has since become inactive and is set to private. None of the usernames that were attributed to the account gave us any leads. The email address is not associated with any other known accounts, and has not returned any messages we've sent.
Though, this is where things get somewhat hopeful. According to the Internet Archive, her Tumblr Account was still available until at least September 2015.
In November 2015, it was suddenly scrubbed, bearing an "Untitled" screen.
By 2016, it was actually deleted.
The same is true for her other known tumblr account.
Available in September 2015...
Scrubbed in November 2015, left with only the initials for MadMaxComics.
Stranger still, is that at this point, the archive shows that the tumblrs changed their URL names to "http://madmaxcomics-blog.tumblr.com/", and "http://madmaxdoodles-blog.tumblr.com/" respectively, where they still exist to this day.
Stranger still, is that at this point, the archive shows that the tumblrs changed their URL names to "http://madmaxcomics-blog.tumblr.com/", and "http://madmaxdoodles-blog.tumblr.com/" respectively, where they still exist to this day.
This is important, as it implies that they were scrubbed by the owner (CSImadmax herself?) - more than a year after her last post on DeviantArt.
Does this mean that she doesn't want to come back? Is she running from something? Someone? Was she hacked? Did someone else have control of the tumblr account? Why scrub the tumblrs but not the DeviantArt? All of the questions are unfortunately unanswerable by us, so we tried to track down someone who may know - a friend she trusted to handle her money and art at conventions for years.
If anyone would know what happened to her, it would be this friend.
Unfortunately, this is where the trail ends, because according to that friend (who is very much still active online and in the community), CSImadmax "vanished from the Internet".
If her friends know, they're not telling. And maybe there are good personal reasons for that, which we can respect. Unfortunately, this entry will remain a cold case. As her friend said we hope she's safe and happy somewhere.
CSImadmax, if you're reading this; thanks for all the art. You will be missed. We hope you can come back to us someday.
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Is Crystal Mountain Pony Con in a Mountain of Trouble?
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| "...its worse than I thought" |
Let's take a look at what's buzzing in the beehive state.
The following is a Discord chatlog between some of the vendors and Thornwing, board member of CMPC.
But what caused all this?
Apparently, according to a pile of screencaps, it has something to do with the handling of the vending space, accommodations, transportation, communication, approval of tables, and expansion into science fiction and "mommy" communities for cross promotion.
But beyond all that is evidence of plans for cramming the vendor space beyond reasonability, as indicated by this chatlog exchange between the former liaison Wintre, and another administrative staff member, David Halliday.
This message, when cross-referenced with the first exchange, indicates that Wintre was "fired" on Sunday evening.
Which led to the following statement from Wintre about the whole situation:
Note: This information has yet to be independently verified and is coming to us second-hand.
The vendor's concerns were addressed in the following manner, although whether this has been to their satisfaction remains currently unknown.
Time for some good old fashioned:
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Hasbro Releases Rainbow Dash """"""FINGER PUPPET""""""" Book.
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Where Are They Now: My Little Dashie author ROBCakeran53
Moving ahead with our "Where are they now?" series, we've tracked down a number of the harder-to-find characters that had been requested for updates, and are awaiting interviews and confirmations from them. Fortunately, this edition is for a man who isn't actually that hard to find, as he is still in-fact an active member of the community.
In September of 2011, one of the most well-known and widely-known fanfics ever created by the fandom was released, called "My Little Dashie". It was then reworked into countless animations, live action videos, parodies, and even a Visual Novel. Its author is a man who goes by the name ROBCakeran53.
Here's what Rob has been up to in the 7 years since MLD premiered.
Let's do this Q & A style, because we're pretty lazy.
HN: Sir, thank you for agreeing to give everyone an update on how life's been going for you since the fanfic dropped almost 7 years ago.
What's your career progress/status?
RC: Okay, so career progress, I've been going on four years with my current employer at the Oakland County International Airport. I'm basically a line tech, which my "job description" is I move airplanes, fuel airplanes, and brown nose to multi-millionaires. The joy of my airport is that it's non-commercial, so it's all private jets, charter jets, freight, and general aviation. I've been working with my father for over seven years on getting my AnP license, that's basically a mechanics license to work on airplanes.
That pic is of me riding the nose of a engine-less Cessna 172, that we had to move from on end of the airfield to the other. We only had 100lbs of weights with us, which wasn't enough, so I had to sit on it as well to keep the plane from flipping backwards and dragging its tail.
RC: There's not been any real life changes since MLD. Been working on all my vehicles that are junk and trying to keep them on the road.
HN: Do you have any current projects (pony or non, just whatever youre working on)?
RC: Current projects, I'm still writing pony stories! Currently my latest fic that has been well received is The Whittler. https://www.fimfiction.net/story/247087/the-whittler
I have several other more recent one shots, and I've also begun doing commissions! Sadly, it's been very slow, but that's also a blessing I guess.
HN: What is your current involvement in the fandom like?
RC: Con-wise, I am still going, I missed Bronycon this year but I'm going next year for sure, since it's the last year. I do Trotcon every year, and will until they give it up (although they're starting a new con, called Buckeye Con).
I participate in a few panels, mainly about writing, and I bring along typewriters with me! Quills and Sofa's the last two years have had the pleasure to have most of my machines set up for people to use. I'm currently up to now 14 manual units and a few electric ones.
I also work a lot with the Bar Cast.
Another thing I do is weekly meet ups with some of the other local fimfic writers in my area. I live in the lower peninsula of Michigan, and it's surprising how many other authors live near me. So we usually grill out at my barn in the nice weather, and come winter we go to some local bars. We've started to have other non-writers join us, which is fine.
Oh, here's a shot of last year's Trotcon panel where I had my typewriters out.
I don't have any real pics of us hanging out, but just picture a half dozen people sitting around on old folding chairs around a twenty year old propane grill that's been patched together in manners that would be illegal in some states.
HN: How many people (if any) still bring it up to you?
RC: I still get shit for MLD, and I welcome it, but people best expect I give them shit in return. I don't go around saying who I am, enough of my friends at conventions do that for me. It's great to meet people that appreciated what I did, and helped them get into writing. It's a special kind of feeling, one that I'll always be glad to experience.
Oh, and people get confused by my age, because when you see me walking (or waddling/stumbling depending on the situation), wearing work slacks, suspenders, and a old red and black plad hat, they think I"m in my 40's, but I'm actually in my late 20's.
27, if you wanna get down to it.
Also single, so any ladies out there, wink.
I don't own a fedora, so I can't tip one.
Oh also, I'm not fucking dead.
HN: Thanks for talking with us and updating the fans at large. Glad to hear you're not fucking dead. Hope to see you at the next con!
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"Women tend to be the most ungrateful creatures" - Crystal Mountain Pony Con's Newest Community Guest UPDATED
Update: He's been removed from the guest list.
Update 2: He scrubbed his entire Twitter feed.
In the latest in a long line of head-scratching decisions, Crystal Mountain Pony Con announced their most recent "community guest" for their upcoming convention. A "cartoonist with a silly sense of humor and imagination" named CartoonEric (not sure how imaginative that name was to begin with but let's not get sidetracked). If you've never heard of CartoonEric before, you're not alone, as he only has 50 followers on Twitter at the time of writing, but that's only the first questionable aspect of this announcement. A quick scroll through his twitter timeline reveals a lot of very strong political opinions, but very little to do with ponies.
Let's take a look at Cartoon "Time to let the lead fly." Eric.
Beyond his barrage of tweets about Democrats, Muslims, Liberals, Obama, and Donald Trump (and calling a Vietnam Veteran a traitor) are some real gems that really drive home what a winner Eric really is. Such as his charming tweet calling women "ungrateful creatures towards us men." and claiming "They're never pleased."
In response to an article regarding the number of migrants arriving in Europe this year, Eric declared it's "Time to let the lead fly." which we can only interpret as being a call to violence in the form of gunfire.
CMPC has since deleted their tweet announcing him, but we have it saved here, where they call him "amazing".
Just so you know what to look forward to.
Wonder why.
You can enjoy this family-friendly convention's last year from August 31 to September 1, 2018 at the Utah Valley Convention Center in Provo, Utah.
How did he get approved in the first place?
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GM Berrow Gets Hitched (With Horses)
The last time we posted about a staff wedding we got in a bunch of trouble. But hey, for what it's worth; from everyone here at HN, Congrats GM. Cheers to many years of happiness!
We'd send our traditional wedding gift, but we're pretty sure the pillow cases wouldn't match your bedspread.
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Alicon: Adelaide Australia and an Artist Argue All Around and Anarchy Arises About Actors and Attribution
Always Add Alliteration. Always.
So, if you've never heard of Alicon, you're not alone. It's a first-year convention running in Adelaide Australia at the end of next month, and is being billed as "The Best of the Australian Brony Fandom" (which, they're probably right by default). But as can be expected, the maiden voyage of this first year gathering is experiencing some...turbulence. HN was tipped off to the turmoil from a source within a Facebook group for Australian bronies, which started with a screencap of a post from Sherry Fowler, the personal agent for a number of My Little Pony VA's, including Claire Corlett and John De Lancie. The post, which you can read above, indicates that Alicon backed out of a booking and booked another actor afterward.This had a cascading effect, including responses from the convention, and Sherry announcing a pay-in-full policy on all first-year events from here on out, as well as a dispute between an Artist and the convention itself, regarding posting rights to artwork used for tshirts.
We'll include the screencaps below...because really none of this makes sense without them.
Here are the screencaps that were posted of the DMs had with the artist.
That's...that's a lot.
tl/dr the Aussies ruin everything AGAIN.
Oh, and if you were wondering who was announced by the convention as being booked, after Sherry's post:
ah.
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Japan Ponycon's Twitter Account Mysteriously Suspended
Their website has not been updated since 2017's event and their tumblr hasn't been updated since 2015.
Is this the end of Poniko?
Thankfully not
We managed to get in contact with someone in the know, and it appears they were struck with numerous false DMCA takedown requests last week, and are working to get the account restored soon.
Which is good news.
Which is good news.
With all we've lost this week, it would be heartbreaking to lose one of the cutest OCs in convention history too.
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Canada Announces New Convention for 2019 - Vanhoover Pony Expo
Given the number of bad-convention-news posts that we've had this last month, it's refreshing to get some potentially positive news in (before our NEXT negative post coming soon). From the ashes of BrongCAN comes a new event slated for January of 2019 in British Columbia, Canada "Vanhoover Pony Expo".
Check out the press release below because I've got much more pressing things to deal with than rewording something like this.
Check out the press release below because I've got much more pressing things to deal with than rewording something like this.
VANCOUVER – Vanhoover Pony Expo is proud to announce the dates and venue for its inaugural year. Vanhoover Pony Expo 2019 will take place January 11-13, 2019 at the Executive Airport Hotel in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.
Vanhoover Pony Expo 2019 will mark the return of a My Little Pony fan convention to Canada after BronyCAN ceased operations in 2017.
“It’s exciting to have the chance to once again bring the magic of friendship to life right here in Vanhoover,” said Convention Chair Rob “Aphinity” Harrison. “We hope that My Little Pony fans of all ages will join us in January for three days of friendship, fun, games, panels, and community.”
“I would also like to acknowledge the amazing support of the BC Anthropomorphic Events Association in making Vanhoover Pony Expo happen,” Aphinity added.
Vanhoover Pony Expo is also proud to announce the launch of its website, www.vanhoover.ca, and to introduce its convention mascots Trail Blazer and Sunny Showers! Together, these two ponies embody what Vanhoover is all about.
We encourage everyone interested in more information about the convention, registration, vending, hotels, transportation, volunteering, and events to check out our website and to like and follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/
Staff can be reached on Twitter or via email at contactus@vanhoover.ca to answer any of your questions, or hear any suggestions you may have to make Vanhoover Pony Expo the best weekend ever! The entire staff of Vanhoover Pony Expo looks forward to seeing everyone this January in Vancouver!
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Real, Living Human Being Eats Horse Food - "Hayburger" - From Cartoon, Posts Experience on 4chan
Today, an anon on /mlp/ decided to recreate Twilight's fast food menu choice from that episode where the CMC's brag about being friends with celebrities. Yeah, I don't remember the name right now, and it's not that important, compared to the fact that I'm telling you a human being put a bunch of rabbit-feed HAY on a McDonald's Bacon Tomato Deluxe and consumed it, while live-posting his experience.
That's ONE way to get nominated for an /mlp/ end-of-the-year award.
Hopefully not in the "Rest In Peace" category.
Here. Come vomit with us.
Fear of death was not a factor, and potentially a welcome possibility.
Press F to pay for French Fries
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Where Are They Now: THE BURDENED (aka DutchScout)
A few weeks ago, Horse News set out to track down some of the famous faces that have fallen off the fandom's radar since the ride began. Well today, we are very excited to announce, that we've got an update on a living legend, The Burdened himself (also known as DutchScout on DeviantArt). He's graciously given us a moment of his time to give everyone some background information on how one of the most famous cosplays in MLP history came to be, as well as his opinions on his status as an /mlp/ 4chan Cup Goaltender.
Let's see what the man has been up to since he arrived on the scene almost 6 years ago.
HN: How old are you now, and how old were you when you first made the Celestia cosplay?
TB: I'm in my early 30s now and I was about 25 when I built it originally. The in-progress version was first shown at a Halloween MLP meetup. The photo of that meetup was edited by 4Chan to name the costume, along with others. The more finished versions appeared at Emerald City Comic-Con and Everfree Northwest 2012, where it was signed by Nicole Oliver.
HN: What was the inspiration for the suit, and where did you learn to construct something so complex?
TB: My wife wanted to make a full-size Discord costume. She made some progress on the head (visible in the meetup photo), but ultimately never finished it. I wanted to make a life-size costume as well. I'm kind of an all-or-nothing kind of guy, so I wanted a life-sized four-legged pony costume. I figured bringing ponies full-sized into the real world is the best I could do with a costume, so I looked for which ponies matched human proportions the best. Princess Celestia was closest because of longer legs, etc, so I went with that. Plus, it seemed like a reasonable companion for my wife's Discord costume.
This was my first real costume project and turned out to be pretty complex. I learned a lot online and got advice from friends and family about various pieces. Almost all of the seams were hot glue, which is pretty awesome for working with fleece. I'm fairly proud of the horn, which is carved pink insulation foam, a hot glue spiral, with fleece stretched over it.
HN: How long have you been in the fandom, and are you still active in it?
TB: I joined the fandom in Summer 2011, between seasons 1 and 2, when my sister-in-law suggested my wife and I check it out (ironically, I resisted but my wife made me watch at least 1 episode). From then until about season 6, we were both pretty involved - starting a fan club at college, attending Meetups, holding meetups, doing several large-scale pony crafts (including the costume), and even helping start one of the many pony conventions. I still watch the show and follow some fandom things, but I'm a lot less involved now that our kids are growing up.
HN: What major events have happened in your life since the show began? Do you have a career path you're working on / any achievements you're proud of?
TB: Since joining the fandom, I finished college, started work as a software engineer, started a family, and pursued other hobbies - like making chocolate from scratch 🙂
HN: Are you familiar with how much of a meme your suit became? How do you feel about having been referenced in the show itself?
TB: It has been interesting and amusing seeing the various memes and reactions over the years. I tend to have a pretty G/PG-rated preference for internet media, so I haven't been on 4chan, but I have seen screencaps, memes, gifs, a comic, an OTP pairing 😛, and several other things. It's been fun to watch, even though the reaction wasn't what I hoped for initially. I have used the memes and things as a teaching example when I've had occasion to teach about Internet safety - "be careful what you put online because it will never, ever go away"😉
It is pretty cool to be referenced in the show itself - I love in general that MLP has been responsive to things like that.
HN: Have you heard of Pro Evolution Soccer?
TB: I've only really heard of it in context of the Burdened and the 4chan competition, while discussing the costume with some bronies at a convention a few years ago.
HN: What do you think about having a video game character based on your cosplay?
TB: I think that's pretty cool!
HN: Have you ever visited /mlp/ or Ponychan?
TB: I've managed to avoid 4chan so far (I tend to be pretty G/PG), but I have looked at some specific boards on Ponychan for a fan-related project I worked on a while ago. I'm aware that derpibooru has a 'the burdened' image tag, which is pretty funny.
HN: What are your other hobbies or interests besides ponies?
TB: Current hobbies include making chocolate from scratch, learning to grow food from scratch (bread, sugar, peanut butter, etc), collecting and playing old video game systems, and DnD (currently in 5e). I'm also really involved in my church (Latter-day Saints) and, of course, I spend a lot of time with my kids.
HN: What was the general response that you got to your costume?
TB: The response was... not great. First, I made the mistake of bringing out the costume before it was finished (the picture where it got the name 'the Burdened'). Even after reaching its 'final form', I think the uncanny valley effect was really strong. A few have told me they think it's really cool, but most tell me it's going to haunt their nightmares. To be fair, I understand both sides - when we converted the costume to a statue to send to a charity auction, I had a 7-foot Celestia in my living room. Imagine seeing that thing at night in the dark!
It was cool getting to show it to both Nicole Oliver and Tara Strong and sharing it at conventions. It was also fun taking pictures with people and giving short rides, though as a full-body duct tape bodysuit it was difficult. Overall, I consider it a successful engineering project and a good experience, but I understand why it's become a meme for being somewhat cringey.
HN: Anything else you'd like people to know about you?
TB: Applejack is best pony.
PS - I'm interested to know where the costume is now, if someone knows. If I remember correctly, it sold for $250, but I think the brony that got it was surprised he won the bid, so I wonder where he put a 7-foot tall Celestia statue! Someday, I'd love to see it go through a drive-through or something.
HN: Thank you DutchScout on the update, we're glad to hear you're doing well and hope the best for you.
If you have any idea what happened to that statue, we'd love to pass the information along.
Also if you were expecting an update on another story, don't worry it's coming, there's just been some communication issues on our end. Expect more soon.
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No Mountain Too Tall - A Follow-up of CMPC, Opinions and Analysis
Note: the Opinions expressed in the screencaps included below are not necessarily the opinions of Horse News or its affiliates (as no one from HN was in attendance at the event itself)
And now for what you've all been waiting for:
So Crystal Mountain Pony Con is over. Forever. And many have been waiting for us to do our follow-up on the event, so let's jump right into it.
First let's answer the question that naysayers THOUGHT we were asking: Did CMPC turn into Las Pegasus Unicon Part 2? The answer to that question is a hard "No" as people were not stranded in the desert and there was considerably less gambling options available. Many guests, vendors, and attendees alike stated after the fact that they enjoyed themselves and some would willingly return if the convention did also. In that regard, the convention was a success.
Now let's examine the question that we were actually asking with our pre-convention post 4-weeks ago: Were the alarms and concerns raised by staff members and vendors alike justified?
Let's take a look at what has happened, beginning with the beginning and the immediate response to the original post.
After the initial post, we received pushback from some claiming that the screencaps were fabricated in some manner, or somehow taken out of context, or that there was nothing wrong to begin with, and that responding to these claims somehow damaged our credibility.
"A supermarket checkout magazine"
Do they even still make those?
Do they even still make those?
Then the affected parties began to voice their concerns publicly, as well as directly. It is known that at least 3 vendors cancelled their table bookings following the post. (Their posts are shown in this article).
Also following the post, we received numerous screencaps from within the convention chatrooms themselves, the most interesting of which being a conversation regarding how to respond to the concerns being raised, the answer being to "ignore" the "trolls".
Above, is David Halliday, saying that the coverage that CMPC received from HN resulted in a "huge boost in sales". This implies that whatever the number of pre-registered attendees was prior to the posting, some significant number of new registrations came in afterward. The number of registered attendees that prompted the pushback from the former Vendor Relations head was lower.
Then the convention happened.
Shortly after the convention began, a thread appeared on /mlp/ for anons attending and those watching from the sidelines to discuss whether the con was a success in their opinion. Many individuals began attempting to estimate the total number of attendees at the event, using crowd-shots of the main event halls during primary events.
Some of the posters did headcounts of the crowds and determined that the photos of the main events never seemed to have more than approximately 100 people in them at a time.
Other anonymous attendees estimated the total crowd at the convention center to be "around 200" individuals at any given time, though the accuracy of these figures would be nearly impossible to pin down, given that the Vendor Hall was made open to the public for the duration of the event, and the convention itself was opened to the public on Saturday.
Other attendees raised their own personal grievances and did their own estimates.
Horse News attempted to contact as many vendors as Twitter's Direct Message system would allow for (as most vendors do not follow us) and we wished to keep the identities of the vendors themselves secrets so-as to avoid backlashes with future events.
One vendor said they did "okayish" but that the "Con is no where near a airport or hotel which sucked". Another said they did "quite well", another said "But really, vendor hall was always pretty empty."
We received figures throughout the weekend ranging from 4-digits in sales, to others that were in double-digits and not breaking even on their investment. Overall the reviews were mixed from those who chose to stay in the vendor's hall, but generally positive from those who did better than breaking even. Some commended the convention on the opening of the vendor hall to the public to increase the possibility of sales, though one vendor we communicated with said; "I didn't see anybody that didn't have a general badge this is a huge college town and the con was hidden maybe if they advertised more randos would have wondered in".
Another vendor disagreed and said "We take issue with the claim that the vendor hall was always pretty empty. There were times when we, and several other vendors, were SWARMED."
Another vendor disagreed and said "We take issue with the claim that the vendor hall was always pretty empty. There were times when we, and several other vendors, were SWARMED."
We received messages from other vendors who had cancelled and were relieved they did, and one who successfully received a refund from their paypal claim. Thornwing had previously said that he would use the vendors' convention contracts "in the defense of any PayPal action taken."
It's unclear if the other vendors that pulled out received their refunds also.
In the end, the convention had 33 tables in the vendor hall, down from the proposed greater number that was the prompting of Stephen Wintre's original protest.
It was unclear though, if we would ever know, what the ratio of vendor to pre-registered attendees was that prompted this conflict.
Then, this happened.
An anonymous vendor, which posted their vendor-status badge as evidence of their identity, surprised many by revealing that they had, in their possession, a copy of the CMPC pre-registration list, complete with the names and badge status information of everyone who had pre-registered at the convention, including David Halliday (which could mean that the sheet contained staff member information as well).
The post read as follows:
"The other VendAnon and I were content with not leaking this information for the sake of keeping these staff members out of trouble. Because uncovering their identities could mean some big trouble. Then we all read this
>>32888674
The staff members and us VendAnon got onto a Skype call this morning to discuss it. Both staffers agreed to have the data posted and if it revealed their identities then they would be alright with that because people do have a right to know.
The staffer found these sitting on a clipboard in a box right next to the registration table on Fiday. They took the papers and messaged us. We all met in my hotel room and talked about what to do. We took pictures of the papers with our badges in view. Our names being blocked. The staffer ran the papers back to the con and put them back. The other staffer kept watch on chat and in person to see if anything was said about these papers going missing or the folding (oops).
They were just there in the open which was weird and when we got drunk on Saturday after the con we got paranoid. We planned on posting these on Sunday afternoon but decided to wait. I was given the pictures and other copies were deleted.
This is CMPC pre registration. Pics are shitty on purpose but higher res pics do exist. "
Accompanying this post, were 9 images, with last names blurred to protect the attendees identities from further risk of exposure. We have only included one image that we have determined to be too grainy to read, even under intense magnification, to ensure that their identities are not put at risk.
The authenticity of these documents is difficult to ascertain but they appear to be genuine at this time, which raises further questions about the convention.
From these documents, posters on /mlp/ were able to get an approximate number of pre-registered individuals of around 200 (the official number is impossible to know from these documents as one tier of badges does not have a finite number of dependents). The names were evidently listed alphabetically by first name and the images included names from A to Z.
This number, could reasonably be the final number of pre-registered individuals at the opening of the convention (as it was purportedly being used near the "registration table") including those which made their reservations after the "huge boost" provided by Horse News' coverage of the vendor concerns.
If these numbers are correct, it would mean that even after the improved final ratio of ~200:33, the vendor table to attendee percentage was not within Stephen Wintre's personal goal of 7-10% (33 to 200 is closer to 16%) during pre-registration. The ratio prior to the post could only have been more skewed, having more vendors (assuming that the 3 vendors who publicly dropped out were not replaced) and fewer pre-registered attendees. To hit the percentage that Wintre cited as a "good ratio" in his messages, the convention would have needed anywhere from 330 to 470 attendees in the end.
Did their concerns deserve to be publicized?
Could their concerns have been better handled, publicly or privately?Could things have turned out differently, had their problems not been publicized and addressed?
You tell us.
In the end, the situations for most vendors improved beyond their expectations leading into the weekend, and we are grateful that fans were still able to enjoy themselves. Soon enough, memories are going to be all we have left of this fandom. Conventions are great, but they should never come at the risk of jeopardizing the livelihoods of the parties that make a convention in the first place.
CMPC is dead, but there are still lessons to be learned from it.
Bonus:
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"Boycott EFNW" - MLP Convention Head goes on Twitter Rampage
Twitter users from around the world are calling for a boycott of Everfree Northwest today, after a series of over 100 tweets from the head of the convention, Kyle Elliott. Going by the Twitter handle "TheBigKyle1", the President of the Board that runs Everfree Northwest engaged in a dispute with fandom artist Midnight Premier who was removed from the staff of EFNW, following the situation at Crystal Mountain Pony Con. The resulting "turmoil" as the Vice Chair @ColeDaigneault described it, left the EFNW Executive team "shocked". They were not alone.
Scott Kinnersley, who was on the Crystal Mountain Pony Con board, also serves as the chair of Everfree Northwest according to his own Twitter account. MidPrem sent messages to the board president of EFNW - "Big Kyle" - seeking an explanation for her removal from the staff.
"Scott took the events at CMPC as a reason not to trust me, which is not something I can really change (and there's not much I can do to prove I wasn't leaking information other than give my word)" Premiere wrote.
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| Meme created during the exchange |
Kyle told MidPrem that she was removed because "Scott no longer trusts" her "to be privy to sensative [sic] information", but also claimed that it was not about her being suspected as a source of the leaks from CMPC.
Scott Kinnersley: center
Note: MidPrem has contacted us out of concern that showing Scott's face would result in him being bullied by readers. We will not be removing this image because he is a public figure who broadcasts himself often so his identity is not a private matter, but we believe it is worth noting that MidPrem has expressed this kind of consideration.
Note: MidPrem has contacted us out of concern that showing Scott's face would result in him being bullied by readers. We will not be removing this image because he is a public figure who broadcasts himself often so his identity is not a private matter, but we believe it is worth noting that MidPrem has expressed this kind of consideration.
Kyle proceeded to tweet this text to MidPrem, which was deemed by others to be "threatening", "bullying", and "disgusting".
The accounts first follow is from the embattled con chair himself.
Second would be a few tweets from the vice-chair of the convention acknowledging the issue and asking for calm.
The account is new, which implies that Kyle created a Twitter account for this purpose. In the several hours after the initial tweets, the account sent 135 other messages to MidPrem and other Twitter users. These tweets were deemed by many accounts to be shocking and "unprofessional".
He told some concerned parties that they were "not welcome at EFNW", and told others "Don't come" while repeatedly claiming that those raising concerns about the situation and his handling of it were "abusive" and "bullies".
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| Meme created during the exchange |
Kyle's cries of "abuse" and "bullying" stem from his assertion that MidPrem did not honor a purported agreement made to wait 1 week for an answer from Scott as-to the justification of her removal before going public with her concerns. MidPrem holds that there was no agreement, rather a suggestion.
The public argument drew the attention of many, some of which proceeded to call for a boycott of Everfree Northwest in 2019. The tweets even caused some EFNW staff to respond. One design team member wrote "count me out" and "I don't know if it will make it past 2019".
Horse News attempted to get an official statement from Everfree Northwest and the Vice Chair.
The EFNW Twitter Account said this:
"Our Exec team is honestly shocked by the events of the past several days. There's a great deal of recovery and correction to be done. We'll have an official, professional, response before long."
The Vice President said this:
"For the time being, EFNW is unable to give an official response. I understand that that is not a satisfying answer. Please believe me that it is not at all satisfying for me either. Right now all of our Department Heads are working hard to address things internally, and we're humbly asking for the community's patience while we work things out.
There will definitely be a public official response from us in the near future. I sincerely apologize but it really will need to wait, hopefully no more than a few days. Thanks for your understanding.
Thank you for your patience and thank you for reaching out."
It's unclear at this time what, if anything will happen as a result of Kyle's actions.
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| See how the scrolly bar goes all the way to the top? Yeaaaah there's nothing else up there. |
We've attached a number of the associated screencaps below.
***NOTE: THIS IS STILL AN ONGOING STORY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE AS MORE INFORMATION COMES IN***
How indeed.
We await EFNW PR's official response and action.
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