Scifipony Goes to Equestria LA · 3:50am Sep 7th, 2015
Interesting times, walking around a convention where many of the fans walk around with plushies. I was surprised to find that there were plenty of people, both male and female, in the over 40 crowd that were indeed fans, not just towing tots. Sure, the mane population fit the usual demographic of 15-25, but at least 25% were more mature.
Compared to SF conventions like BayCon, Westercon, LOSCON, and WorldCon, EQLA felt positively small. I'd estimate that there were no more than a thousand attendees, but most everyone was a fan with a similar focus. I was hoping for the same experience I got when I attended screenings of Equestria Girls or Rainbow Rocks in the theatre, where everybody was excited to see something new, where fans can't help chatting about what they expect, or expostulating during the show about what is happening. With all the MLP "stars", it seemed like everyone was more in awe of personages than being half-nuts crazy about the show. This isn't to say fans weren't into "being there." There we plenty of fans into cosplay, into their t-shirts with show aphorisms and tropes (plenty of Derpy+Dr. Whooves). Waiting in line for the Club Luna, people broke spontaneously into singing Winter Wrap-up. As fan of EDM is all its various forms, despite being closer to 60 than 50, the Saturday Night rave was fabulous. It started with William Anderson and Tina Guo, the score-writer and the cellist behind Octavia playing live to their big scene on the big screen from the 100th episode. The DJs that followed were great, though I did bring my earplugs. Not being a dancer, I just enjoyed the vibe and read a book through the night.
Bonnie Zacherie and Lauren Faust attended, meeting for the first time. Lauren Faust had her 1G pony autographed on stage by her hero. Tears everywhere. VAs, producers, writers, comic artists, and musicians associated with she show populated the panels.
And, I certainly learned something, confirming what I blogged about a number of time. What inspired these folks to get the job done? Hands down, deadlines. Nothing like a deadline looming to getting it done. It was said more than once, each would have like more time and felt they let their children into the world not completely prepared, but getting the job done was most important. In this industry, being late means not getting a next job.
I have posted a public gallery of images from the event at my photography website: http://PoetryInLight.Sfwrtr.net/p418126578
I will process more pictures and post more at a later date.
