Anyone who hasn't been asleep for the past few months will have noticed that all is not well economically in the UK. I don't want to get into partisan political stuff here, so I'll simply note that energy bills are generally expected to go through the roof this winter, with inflation now heading strongly upwards as well. What does this mean? Well, for one thing, a lot of people are going to have a lot less money to spare on fun things than they'd like. If you're reading this, it's an easy guess what "fun things" might include for you.
Since I'm about My Little Pony on this blog, let's consider what that means for British Pony fans. First, it probably means buying less merch. Okay, the range of G5 official merch in our shops is really pretty poor anyway, borderline pathetic in the case of what's getting into supermarkets – but there is some around. And though it's not physical merch, there's also the question of Netflix. A standard subscription is now £10.99 a month. If you only use the service to watch MLP, that's absolutely not a nothing sum.
I expect there to be a knock-on effect on fan-made merch as well. I already know of people who used to be willing to spend say £50-100 on a piece of art from time to time who are now wondering whether they can really justify continuing doing that once their new gas bills hit the mat. The really expensive stuff like big plushies or ponysuits even more so.¹ Since we now have to pay chunky VAT and/or import duties from EU sellers, not the case in the first few years of the G4 fandom, I think these sales may be especially vulnerable.
¹ Okay, ponysuits are usually one-off purchases, but plushies a bit less so
Right, past the break I will get to the subject of conventions.
