Oct 112011
 
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In this week’s episode, Ed has been consumed by a horrifying transformation that split him into two women, our guests, Allyson and Alicia! They join the rest of the Rag-NERD-rok Crew for a walk down memory lane to revisit all those fondly remembered franchises from our childhoods that are now making a comeback. Why is this happening? Who is responsible? And what, exactly, makes a franchise reboot successful? We tackle these questions and more in our discussion about nostalgia. Later, Alex and Meyer pay tribute to the “Gears of War” video game series, and we read some very special comments that are just too “good” to be posted on the site. Enjoy!

(Show notes after the break.)

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Oct 052011
 

For those of you who were expecting this update to my earlier post over the weekend: I apologize for the delay. I promise, dear readers, that I shan’t ever mislead you like that again. Now, without further ado, let’s get back to my discussion about pretty pastel ponies, shall we?

On a humid, overcast morning in late September, Erik and I joined almost 300 fellow Bronies for BroNY Con, an event organized by Purple Tinker and her New York City Meetup.com group to celebrate all things pony. What follows are my impressions of the panels and feature events that Erik and I attended. It was a magical day of rainbows, friendship and Brony love, not to mention gobs of My Little Pony merchandise (both fan-made and official), artwork, costumes, videos and fan fiction. Abandon all hope, ye haters who enter here — there be ponies.

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Sep 282011
 

For the vast majority of New York City’s inhabitants, Sept. 24, 2011 was a typical Saturday in early autumn. The morning air was muggy, and although the overcast sky seemed pregnant with the possibility of rain, people thronged the streets north of Chinatown on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, browsing at the local fishmongers’ displays, watching their children play soccer in the park, or simply out enjoying a stroll while the weather was tolerable. However, for nearly 300 fans of the cartoon series “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,” this congested but charming urban neighborhood was the place to be, a gleaming Jerusalem at the end of a pilgrimage that had drawn some of them from as far away as California. This was the location of BroNY Con, a much-anticipated gathering of Bronies hosted by Purple Tinker and her New York City area Meetup group. For the pony fans streaming out of the subway station at Grand Street, that Saturday promised an experience like no other: a chance to geek out with fellow Bronies, shop for custom-made fan art, and meet the show’s supervising director, Jayson Thiessen, who had flown in from Vancouver to host a screening and a Q&A. In the words of Rainbow Dash, it was going to be SO AWESOME!

(More gushing about ponies after the break)

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