In Defense of BronyCon

Once again we made the annual trek To BronyCon in Baltimore -and it was bigger than ever. For those who don't know, BronyCon is a convention for the My Little Pony fandom know as Bronys. The Urban Dictionary says Brony  is "A name typically given to the male viewers/fans (whether they are straight, gay, bisexual, etc.) of the My Little Pony show or franchise. They typically do not give in to the hype that males aren't allowed to enjoy things that may be intended for females."

As in the above photo, not all Bronies are Bros. 

Joy met up with 4 of her PEERS. Yes there are young girls there. I even met a BronyMom who was so cool( she was going to see a DePeche Mode concert!!!) that we talked for a 1/2 hour as our girls did!

All interested in Pony merch, buttons art,and really big plushies. It's a great fandom. A lot are into art, cartoons , drawing and fan fictions.

It's really a smaller ComicCon. 

There were many more families like us this year- mixed with older and younger kids. At the hotel, they had Brony key cards and restaurant staff wore Brony shirts. They said there were over 10,000 of us this year.

So yeah, guys go there. It's not a collection of perverted people as you might think ( especially if you saw the Bobs Burgers episode "Equestranauts") Actually, that episode nailed it. There are

some odd people there but no more than you see in the cities. But these people are united by their passion and are among others who feel the same way. No body judges them or looks at them (at the convention anyway) like there is something wrong with them. 

Also, as an autism parent, I saw a lot of spectrum kids and handicapped kids who were just part of the herd. 

There were many more families like us this year- mixed with older and younger kids. At the hotel, they had Brony key cards and restaurant staff wore Brony shirts. They said there were over 10,000 of us this year.

The only inappropriate things I saw were at night- with typical kids misbehaving and a Brony told them to tame it down -- and BRONYPALOOZA - a dusk to dawn concert of DJs that was mostly men - of whom I would say most if them were in the spectrum or "life challenged". But even there they were just dancing with people like them- totally accepted. It was just not the place for a teenager- so we left quickly. 

So if you are with a younger Brony , just stick to the panels in the main halls.

My girl Grace is "life challenged" -- it seems every day throws us a new challenge. Once we cross a barrier(chewing!!) a new barricade comes up( epilepsy and medication.) And we have gotten our share of looks. So I try not to judge anymore. And if BronyCon is a place where my daughter feels comfortable and they keep up their morals of Brony Loyalty and Comraderie, then we will attend as long as she wants to.