Huge Roundup of News! Guests! Merchants! Musicians! A Freakin' War! Wait, what?!

Finally managed to punch a hole through those scramblers. Nice try mates, but you can’t stop the signal! So let’s get a run down of what’s going on with those crazy pones setting up that TrotCon thing next month!

Announcing G.M. Berrow and *many* Community Guests

More news out of the wastes:

Guest announcement time! Try to imagine, like, six siren emojis accompanying this sentence.

At last check, we had announced three VIP guests and one community guest for TrotCon 2017, right? Well, get ready to bump up the numbers in both of those columns.

Like, quite a bit. Today’s a doozy, particularly on the community guest side. Let’s waste no more time.

First and foremost: once again, we’re pumped to have G.M. Berrow coming out to TrotCon!

This marks the third straight year we’ve brought Berrow to TrotCon, which is a testament to the amount of high praise we receive about her from you guys at the end of each year. Might as well keep this party going, right?

Berrow, for the uninitiated, first became involved in the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic universe as the author of the chapter books published by Little, Brown and Co., including “Princess Luna and the Festival of the Winter Moon,” Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell” and more. That’s a role she continues to hold today, but in addition, she’s also worked as part of the TV series’ writing staff. Berrow has also worked as part of the crew on TV shows such as Law & Order: SVU and The Good Wife.

Cool stuff, eh?

So, she joins a group of folks we’re already enormously excited about: M.A. Larson, Peter New and Lee Tockar. We’re digging this list, y’all. Hope you are too.

OK, community guests. Deep breath, because there’s a lot of ’em.

That said, like G.M. Berrow, many of these are return guests. Again: we like them, they don’t seem to hate us, you’ve had nothing but great things to say about them AS guest. Git some.

Actually, funny story: we announced TheBronyCritic last year within the same announcement as G.M. Berrow. How about that? Anyway, yes, TheBronyCritic will be returning to TrotCon 2017 after first attaining community guest status with us last year. He’s one of our local boys, a critic and analyst who creates videos reviewing the MLP TV series as well as audioplays, fanfiction readings and more.

We’re also proud to welcome back ChocolatePony, known also as SouthParkTaoist, who’s best known in the fandom for some fantastic artwork, tarot cards and pony card games who also offers some of the coolest MLP-related panels you’ll see on this or any continent. He’s also recently published a book entitled The West Point of the West and hosts a Zootopia-related podcast called Zootopia Minute. You know how we feel about Zootopia here at TrotCon HQ, so we’re sold. Soooold.

In the same returning-guest vein, welcome back TJ Carson to TrotCon 2017! He’s been with us for the last few years as well, as the moderator of multiple ask blogs on Tumblr including Ask Pirate Dash, Ask Mic Boom and more. This is his fourth year as a guest here. FOURTH. That’s crazy, yeah?

We’ve got some new folks to announce, too. Welcome the podcast Pony 411 to TrotCon 2017!

Pony 411 has been helmed by hosts Nemesis Prime and Alca7raz for multiple years now, presenting frequent episodes that tackle the MLP fandom from all sides, from the TV show to its comics and everything in between. They’ve been featured as part of Ponyville Live for a few years as well. Come hear them talk about podcasting — the dos and don’ts, how they got started, the history of a podcast that’s been around for almost five years now.

They join Harmony Studios as our community guests announced so far for 2017, and we’re far from done announcing folks, no worries.

Sound like fun? Cool! Come on out to TrotCon 2017, which will be held July 14-16, 2017, at the Crowne Plaza Columbus North in Columbus, Ohio!

Registration is open until June 25th!

That wraps this one up. Stay safe, wasteland!

Working vehicles? In this wasteland? Looks like PB found herself a mechanic! Like I always say, never give up hope! Stay safe, wasteland!

Thanks, M.A. Larson!

Hey there, Wasteland. We’ve got more news to dispense to your eager minds.

Peter New? Check. Lee Tockar? Check.

Hm. How about a third?

Yep, that sounds good, and we won’t delay the suspense any further than three paragraphs in: we’re happy to announce that M.A. Larson will be attending TrotCon 2017!

Look, if you’ve been to TrotCon in the past, chances are you know the guy. After all, he attended our 2014 and 2015 conventions, and when he didn’t show up for 2016, we heard ya loud and clear via email and on social media: you needed more M.A. Larson in your lives in July in Columbus, Ohio.

If you’ve been following along on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic from the start, you know his name. Larson was one of the chief writers on the show for a few years, working his way up to the role of story editor for season five. He’s since left the show, but nonetheless maintains a strong presence at pony conventions all over the world (ours included!).

My Little Pony is far from his only entertainment credit. He’s written for Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Gravity Falls, Littlest Pet Shop, and more, and even has his own novel, Pennyroyal Academy, that you should definitely check out if you haven’t already, because it totally rules. 100 percent. We aren’t messing around with this recommendation, y’all. As it happens the second book in the series, The Shadow Cadets of Pennyroyal Academy, just came out earlier this month. Timing!

Larson will join Peter New and Lee Tockar as special guests at TrotCon 2017, and you’ll get to hear his thoughts on his book series, ponies, and much more at multiple panels throughout the weekend, as well as get a chance to meet him and get an autograph or five. We know you want ’em, and we hear he’ll sign just about anything. Anything.

But hey, guess what? We’ve got more than just one guest announcement to do today.

Just some housekeeping stuff, but we think you’ll wanna hear: for the first time, we’re offering something we’re calling a Spirit Badge for TrotCon 2017. What’s it entail? Well, check it: you’re a fan of TrotCon, but you can’t make it out for this reason or that. Yeah, sad face. We’re bummed, too. But wait! What if we told you that you could still support your good ol’ Ohio pony con friends? Get a Spirit Badge, then, dummy!

For $40, you’ll be supporting TrotCon, helping us to put on some great programming and to snag even more guests of honor (because they ain’t cheap!), while also getting a few spoils for your troubles, including:

We’ll shoot those goodies over to you via mail, you’ll open ’em up, it’ll be like Christmas in July or August or whenever it actually arrives. Donate more? We’ll throw in more goodies. They’ll be so good, you’ll wanna call them greaties. No? Terrible? Yeah, true, sorry, that was bad.

One last thing: if you want to pre-order merchandise for the convention in 2017 — shirts, pins, that sort of thing — then you can ALSO now do that on our Eventzilla page! Scroll down to Merchandise Pre-Order and do your thing.

That does it, then. Time to roll the hype train on out of the station. In the meantime, weekend badges (Friday-Sunday) for TrotCon 2017 are $50 through June 20, and kids 12 and under get in free with a regular badge purchase! We’ve also got sponsor badges available, in case you’re attending but want to toss some extra money our way to help us give you an even better time (and so you’ll get more stuff, which is the real prize). Applications for EVERYTHING — staff, musicians, artists, panels, you name it! — are now on the site as well!

That’s all for now. Stay safe, Wasteland!

Mysterious strangers and a mysterious box. What’s in the box? We just don’t know. At least PB’s got some protection now. If you run across her out in the wastes, give her a hoof, ye? Stay safe, wasteland.

Lee Tockar & Harmony Studios

Hello Wasteland! It’s a new year and the clock is ticking ever closer to that important 17.7.14 date. July. This year. TrotCon. A time for everypony, neigh, everyone out there to meet up and, well, do better. Better than whatever led to this wasteland. Better than petty disputes and bitter rivalries. A time to rediscover harmony.

For those who might have been worried about our lack of updates as of late, don’t. We’re still around — just a lot of behind-the-scenes work since our last announcement. We’ll be bothering you much, much more from here on out; you’ll be sick of us again before you know it!

One VIP and one community guest to reveal today. Y’all ready?

Let’s start with the former. Our guy has actually never been with us before, but he was… supposed to be. It’s complicated. TrotCon veterans (aka, anyone who’s been around since 2013) will remember that we announced him as a special guest, only to have an unfortunate semi-last-minute cancellation keep him from visiting Columbus — even though he ended up phoning in for a panel. So, you know, little victories.

Second time’s the charm, we hope: we’re happy to announce Lee Tockar for TrotCon 2017!

*ravenous applause*

Tockar’s a veteran of the scene, of course. He appeared in the first episode of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic as fan favorite Steven Magnet. You’ve since heard him in a number of smaller roles on the show, including Snips, Spot (one of the Diamond Dogs), and in a truly magnificent turn as Gummy in the 100th episode. We’re still reeling from the existential crises brought about by his monologue in that last one. Keeps us up at night.

As with pretty much any actor out there, Tockar has much more on his resume than My Little Pony. You might recognize him as the titular character in season one of George of the Jungle, as Roach in the current DHX production Supernoobs, Urp in YTV’s Nerds and Monsters, Yakkity Yak in Nickelodeon’s Yakkity Yak, plus much, much more. You could spend a day in his IMDB page.

Additionally, Tockar is the founder/CEO of FanBuilt Productions (which, if you attended in 2013, you’ll recall as the topic of his panel).

He’ll be in attendance at TrotCon 2017 to answer your burning questions about voice acting, working in television and film — the whole nine yards, y’all. Panels, meet-and-greets, autographs, you’re gonna be s-e-t.

Now… how about a community guest?

You might already know a little bit about them from some of our teasers of their work. Well, let’s make it official: we’re excited to have Harmony Studios at TrotCon 2017!

Harmony Studios, founded by Victor Vortex in 2014, is an animation collective creating videos for the MLP community, from shorts to PMVs and everything in between. In fact, they’re actually creating a bit of a special video for TrotCon, which you’ll see at the convention this year. You like our comic, drawn by convention artist AylaStarDragon, we’ve been putting up? Then you’re gonna love this, too. Trust us.

They’ll be on hand (on… hoof? After six years, you’d think we would’ve figured this out by now) for panels as well! If you want to learn a little bit about how to do your own animation, they’re gonna be a great resource.

Lee Tockar and Harmony Studios join Peter New as the guests announced so far for TrotCon 2017. And since we’re just a few days from being six months out from our 2017 date, you can bet we’re going to be ramping up our announcements going forward.

In the meantime: we’ve got applications for staff, musicians, vendors and panelists live on the site. There’s also badges to buy — and prices are gonna go up on Jan. 31, so if you want a weekend pass for $40, you should probably get to it soon.

Stay tuned for more, and, as always - stay safe, wasteland!

Happy Hearth’s Warming, wasteland.

Halloween Sale

Looks like we’ve got another transmission beaming across the wastes:

If we told you we were doing a Halloween sale, would that be OK? Or might it be a little... 2spooky? Well, we're doing one anyway. From now until Nov. 1, entering the code 'Spooky2016' (case-sensitive, y'all!) on our Eventzilla page will get you 15% off TrotCon badges. Good deal, no? Now you can snag badges that would normally be $40 for the whole weekend for just $35. It's scary good how great a deal that is right am I right do you get it do you get my joke? Come hang out with Peter New, the voice of Big Macintosh on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, plus other guests to be announced soon! Also, a friendly reminder that we have applications for panelists, musicians and vendors now available on our website! Here's the place, y'all. Get to it. Remember, this only goes until Halloween ends. Don't miss out. Don't go to the grave regretting this. Hah, grave! Right? RIGHT?

TrotCon ‘17. It’s a rare thing to hear so much hope and excitement towards anything these days. Might as well grab your tickets now. They only get more expensive.

That’s all for now. Stay safe, wasteland!

Art by NastyLady

Applications are live!

Just received a transmission. Looks like the applications for TrotCon 2017 are live! They look to be searching the wastes for anypony and everypony who wants to impart some invaluable knowledge, sell their wares, or play the song of their people. A bright spot on an otherwise bleak landscape.

Of course, they can’t let just *anypony* in. Space is limited, and there’s rules ya’ gotta follow. One can’t be too cautious these days. If’n yer wanting to get a shot at getting in, the first step is to apply via these forms:

For prospective panelists, http://trotcon.net/programming/panel-application/

For artists and others seeking a booth in the market, http://trotcon.net/registration/artist-app/

For those about to rock, http://trotcon.net/registration/music-app/

As always, stay tuned for further news, and shoot us a message on the forums if ya have any burning questions. Keep safe, wasteland!

Art by FuzzyFox11

Hello followers of the TrotCon Wasteland!

Looks like we’ve got some news to dispense with from here. Seems like one of our old friends will be joining us again.

Please welcome Peter New to TrotCon 2017!

Y’all might know him as the voice of Big Macintosh, Applejack’s brother of few words but, let’s face it, quite a bit of love from fans of the show. And why not? He’s supplied some of the funniest lines and moments on the show that we’ve seen, and it’s always a blast when he pops up on screen, in print, or elsewhere.

He also voiced Doctor Whooves in the 100th episode, which was, in a word, glorious.

Of course, voicing Big Mac every so often isn’t New’s only claim to fame. He’s also been Sunil from Littlest Pet Shop, as well as had roles in films such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Agent Cody Banks, and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, plus roles on TV shows like Psych, Smallville, Stargate SG-1, and more.

New will, as is usual for our VIPs, be available for multiple panels throughout the weekend, as well as autographs, photos and, we’ll assume, high fives in the halls. Or maybe not. Eh, ask first.

There’s certain to be many more transmissions to come our way before next July. Stay tuned, y’all!

In other news, we’ve officially opened our hotel block for 2017. Snag a room at the Crowne Plaza Columbus North, our hotel and location for the third year in a row, for $99 a night. If you’ve got the cash for it, we highly recommend doing so if you’re coming from out of town (or, heck, if you’re in town and just don’t wanna leave!); it’s the best way to be close to the pony-fueled action 24/7, especially since this convention never sleeps!

Finally: if you’re looking for applications for next year, be it for vendors, panels, musicians, or staff, keep an eye on our social media accounts over the next few weeks; we’ll be rolling them out as early as next week. Yas, queen!

Head on out to TrotCon 2017, our sixth year, happening July 14-16, 2017, at the Crowne Plaza Columbus North in Columbus, Ohio! Badges are currently $40 for the weekend through the end of January, with sponsor badges also available at multiple rates. We’ll see you there.

Stay safe in the wastes. Until next time!

Got some news from the wastes for ya’. Looks like PB is stranded out there, for now. At least she found the lost toaster. I won’t even question how it got there. Stay tuned, as more transmissions are bound to come our way.

17.7.14

17.7.14. That keeps coming up in what logs I’ve been able to access. July 14th, 2017. Something big must’ve happened then. With all this timeywimey noise happening, I don’t even know *when* we are right now. Just that things weren’t looking so hot with that galactic battle. All the sides had forgotten why they existed in the first place, if ya’ ask me. That blue box was found. And enough was enough.

Apparently, something went very, very awry somehow. I think we’ve got visuals back up...

Oh.

Uh, OK, everything’s looking a little… hm. Definitely looks like whatever civilization our ol’ pal Peanut Bucker stumbled upon has seen better days, that’s for dang sure. Looks like someone had a… falling out.

Hehe. Haha. Whoo boy.

We won’t delay it any longer: TrotCon 2017 will be happening July 14-16 at the Crowne Plaza Columbus North in Columbus, Ohio, and our theme for 2017 is “post-apocalyptic.”

Yeah, yeah, all of the Fallout fans out there are probably going nuts right now. And with good reason! Not only is the Fallout video game series one of the most beloved of all time, but the My Little Pony fandom also has its own opus in Fallout: Equestria. It’s a match made in brony heaven, y’all.

But of course, that’s not all we’re going for with this year’s theme, much like how with last year’s space theme, there was some different Star Wars/Star Trek/Aliens vibes going on, but they certainly weren’t limitations on what you could plan for the year. Along with other great post-apocalyptic-flavored media such as Mad Max, The Walking Dead and much more, we of course encourage all of you out there to play with the theme in the best way you see fit. Major points for creativity!

You know we wouldn’t get through another year without factions, though. Last year, we pitted the Solar Empire versus the Lunar Republic. This year, we’re adding a third to the mix. You’ll have a choice, upon pre-registration, of being either a Raider, a Steel Ranger or a Stable Dweller. Yep, we made it even tougher to choose a side this year. Maybe it won’t be a runaway victory for one side this year, eh?

OK, next on the agenda: badges. They’re officially for sale! As with previous years, we’re breaking up pre-registration into multiple tiers. Purchase between now and Sept. 9 and you’ll be able to snag a weekend (Friday-Sunday) pass for $30. After that? They’ll be $40 until Jan. 31, and then $50 through June 20, when pre-reg closes for the year. At-door registration will be $60 — twice as much as it is right now, in case you needed more of a reason to purchase earlier rather than later.

As usual, we’ll also have multiple sponsor badge tiers, running from the $100 earth pony tier to the $2,000, limited-edition draconequus tier. Same idea as last year, really. For more information on what comes with each sponsor tier, our website has all the details.

And of course, single-day passes will be available at the door, as they have been in previous years. Same prices, too: $30 for Friday, $40 for Saturday and $20 for Sunday.

That’s all for now, but don’t think you won’t be hearing from us for a while. We’re already neck deep into planning for 2017, and we’ve been talking to a few potential guests. When we have some official announcements to make — and we think that won’t be too long from now — we’ll be whispering into your ear yet again. You like it, don’t you? Yeah, you do.

In the meantime, you should definitely follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat (username TrotCon), as well as join our Discord server.

Stay tuned for more updates as I uncover them!