Seaquestria Fest Exposing Everything, Scapegoats To Hide Ineptitude

Seaquestria Fest is exposing everything!

Seaquestria Fest (or SQF) is a hippogriff fandom convention in the middle of nowhere, Ocean City, Maryland.  Attempting to capitalize on the open wound left in Maryland by BronyCon's departure, this upstart con decided it'd be a good idea to host their event over 100 miles from the nearest major international airport.  That was just the first sign of their ineptitude.  The most recent is their exposure of the details of every staff, vendor, panelist, volunteer, musician, etc. application via open Google Document links.

Massive Orgy planned for BronyCon announced on FimFiction

It wouldn't be the first time, and it probably won't be the last, but a public notice of a planned "orgy" at 2018's BronyCon was announced on FimFiction by user PsyKey. The announcement, which goes into highly-specific detail, including the date, time, and venue of the orgy, as well as what to bring, was deleted some time later after receiving attention from the community at large, so it is unclear if the brony sex party is still going forward as advertised. Below, we have copy-pasted the contents of the announcement, in the event you are planning your own orgy and don't want to have it at the same time.

BronyCon no longer a Pony con? UPDATES

Sound the "Slow Death of the Fandom" alarms, we've received an email suggesting that BronyCon is no longer a Pony Convention, at least not in the conventional sense. This Email, forwarded to us by an ex-staff member on the condition of Anonymity, confirms that the largest pony convention is no longer pony-exclusive. They plan on becoming a "Geek Culture Convention" and this year may be diluted by Pokemon and gaming.

We've included the contents of the Email below.

What does this say for the state of the fandom? What does it mean for the future of conventions?
How will Bronycon be much different from other general pop-culture conventions that have pony events and guests?

UPDATE: Confirmed by Bronycon
[Archive Link]

" Every year brings more gaming cosplays, more Steven Universe EPs, more Undertale art in the marketplace and more totally out there meme-ry."

Pony Meme confirmed for Ded

Bronycon 2016 - G.M. Berrow Press Conference

By Pixelkitties

Better late than never, right? Enjoy the spaghetti >Professional interview below.

Bronycon Production Panel

Despite the popular outlook on pony conventions being that the VA's are the big-money stars, the actual best panels to go to are those that feature the writing and production staff of the show. I'm actually surprised that chief animators, artists, and the like haven't been invited/featured yet. Regardless, Bronycon had a great Production Panel with the adorable G. M. Berrow, the surprisingly-insightful Dave Polsky, and the legendary Mitch Larson himself.

Big Con gets Larson and the BlueFast / Background Horse noise maker

That one horse looks terrified. Maybe she's aware that "Mal" is Spanish for "bad". Anyway, Baltimore Con has 2 announcements - they got Larson and Ashleigh Ball. I mean, you can open the rest of the message, but that's the important thing to take away here.

Art Person at Horse Place at Warm Time

Probably still got more clicks than telling you what the news was in the link. Didn't come from the link? Looking at this from the homepage? Still don't know what the hell is going on? Guess what? I'm going to make you click the MORE link!

TAKE THAT.

"Bronalyst" Bilks CAD $7,432 of Booty by Beguiling Brainwashed Bronies

Is that money in your wallet or are you just happy to see me?

Nowhere is the willingness of bronies to lend a helping hand more apparent than in the vibrant charity community we foster.  Bronies in dire need post their requests for help on Indiegogo, GoFundMe, or similar crowdfunding sites, and we often answer their pleas with generous donations.  However, there are some dishonest people out there who attempt to abuse the system for their own gains.  Meet “Doctor” FallenWish, a brony “analyst” who loves those ill-gotten sweet brony shekels so much that she ran not one but two charity schemes on unsuspecting bronies, netting more than CAD $7,000 to date.

Brony Vendors Pen Anonymous "Open Letter" to BronyCon - a List of Grievances

The following is an open letter to the staff of BronyCon, which took place several weeks ago, supposedly from a group of anonymous vendors, who have a list of concerns that they feel have not been addressed. The contents of the letter have not been vetted or altered by the Horse News staff in any way.

To whom it may concern;

This is a letter from the vendors of Bronycon that are too afraid to tell you this directly. This letter is from the vendors that know this con is too big a part of their livelihood to rock the boat by being honest. This letter is from the artists that are afraid of you.

BronyCon releases "Good Morning Baltimare" animation - Minty Root shows what really happened.

Hot-to-Trot Mares Looking for Horse Fuckers at BronyCon

Twin mares just happen to be in town for BronyCon and are looking for a "lucky stallion to join our rodeo."  They did what any sane pony would do and took their request to craigslist (UPDATE: the post has since been removed, but the screencap above shows the original).

I personally spoke with the two and they assured me they have not yet found the right "gentlesir" to inflame their "spaghetti passions."  I, for one, would gladly have given it a go but for the whole riding crop thing.  Are you man enough, Anon?  More pics after the break.

AnimatedJames chewed out by SJW for no reason #Bronyconmoments

There are very few people in the fandom who are as generally chill and laid back as fandom animator and commentator AnimatedJames. The last time we posted about him, we were remarking how great it is that he was helping adult humor to be more generally accepted in the community via some of his videos like "Winters Fucked Up".

Well it seems even the chillest of us aren't immune from the constant harping of the S-justice crowd.

Earlier this evening we received this video, featuring a flummoxed AnimatedJames, dealing with someone taking him to task over....signing someone, as the person requested.

Thats right folks, ink, is the new boogieman.

Day Zero Photo Dump

On the road to safe haven

More pics below!

Meet Mark

Mark is a simple man. He likes ponies, shakes, and burgers. And he's fucking awesome. In honor of this spectacular human being, we'd like to name him the official Horse News Happy Black Man of the year. Congratulations, Mark.

#BaltimoreRiots Flood Streets Around @BronyCon; Josh Dean Quells Concerns "We take our attendees’ safety very seriously."

View of the Hilton sky bridge connecting the Con (Eduardo A. Encina, Baltimore Sun) 

In an exponential increase of violence in Baltimore today, protesters launched attacks against police, with at least seven officers having received serious injuries and several police vehicles being destroyed. The National Guard has been called and a curfew is in place for the city.

The increased unrest comes only a few days after smaller incidents broke out among the protesters. Over the weekend, a few violent protesters took up arms against the Baltimore Police Department by smashing windows and throwing debris at riot police. 

Bronycon sent us a press release

Holy shit. That's unexpected.
Bronycon actually sent us a press release. This must be a mistake.
Nonetheless, BronyCon is announcing Andy Price as a guest. You can read the words below.

Vendors shocked by Bronycon decisions - Bronycon response email

Yesterday, the official rulings on Bronycon Vending for 2015 took place, and if you didn't notice, there were many shocked artists who didn't make the cut. Perennial standbys, former staff members, and even former artist guests of the convention itself were turned away, leaving many to ask "what's the deal!?".

Horse News has of course acquired the big explanation email that was sent to the Vendors ans Vendor Applicants, to give better insight into the decisions that were made. You can find the entire text below.

Fandom feud escalates to chemical warfare - HAMASS gasses furries

The feud between fandoms escalated yesterday, as a Furry Convention in Illinois was the target of a Chlorine gas attack at a local Hotel. Police are investigating and searching for a culprit in the incident, which left 19 furries in need of medical attention. Horse News intelligence indicates that the furries were not the actual target, and that the true war had only just begun.

Why won't the ride end

Bronycon....bronycon why....

https://twitter.com/BronyCon/status/524211328613769217

Self-proclaimed "Journalist" Gianna DeCarlo unlocks Twitter after 2 months - an overdue followup

What an excellent message that we would like to preserve for the consideration of your future employers.

What feels like almost an eternity ago, an article was written in a rag called City Paper.  Found within it, are a collection of words that disgrace journalistic ethics so terribly, that it makes Horse News seem like we should be eligible for a Pulitzer (for City Paper employees: That's like a Shorty Award for grown ups). It was written in the lead-up to BronyCon by a Baltimore Journalism student named Gianna DeCarlo.

When she was called-out for her laundry-list of well-documented biases and inaccuracies and overall shittiness, she did what every responsible future-journalist does, and locked her twitter, and hoped it would all just go away.

Well guess what, WE don't "go away".