For the fourth year in succession, UK PonyCon sold out yesterday. Despite its largest ever attendance (1,000) the convention has once again reached its limit in August (just) – not bad for a con that doesn't actually take place until the middle of October! Thanks to my various personal situations, I'm still not sure of being able to make it, but I have my ticket and hotel sorted out so if things go as I hope then I will be there for the whole weekend.
I was reminded last night that this way of doing things, with attendance limits and no walk-up sales, is strange and unfamiliar to American fans. I assure you that it's completely standard practice over here – we just don't have the locations or finances to allow the hiring of venues much larger than this one. Yes, BUCK managed it, but BUCK had a huge budget by comparison – well into six figures (pounds), which is absolutely not the norm for British MLP conventions.
What's particularly pleasing for me is that every year since I first attended UKPC (2014) the con has grown larger. It's now nearly three times the size it was at that point, and there seems little sign as yet of the British fandom rolling over and dying. True, UK PonyCon has the slight cushion of having been a multi-generation event from the very start,* but G4 fans are by far the largest segment. We're most definitely not finished yet!
* Late 2004. It's the oldest MLP con in Europe, and second globally only to the My Little Pony Fair.
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