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Bay Area Brony Spectacular

A My Little Pony Fan-run Convention
April 10 - April 12, 2020

BABSCon 2020 is Canceled Due to COVID-19. Let’s Get Started on BABSCon 2021! https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/babscon-2020-canceled https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/babscon-2020-canceled Mon, 16 Mar 2020 21:18:00 +0000 As a community organization, we have an obligation to promote safety in all our activities. Given the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), it is with a heavy heart that we’re canceling our BABSCon 2020 event in accordance with State and local government requirements.

We are, however, returning for BABSCon 2021 on Easter weekend, April 2–4, 2021, at our traditional venue, the Hyatt Regency SFO. But we need your help to do that, so we’re asking all of you to take just a small leap of faith to support us.

We're automatically transferring all 2020 memberships to 2021 to make it as easy as possible for you to join us then. You won’t need to do a thing! But, if you can't make it next year, then you can make other arrangements such as transferring your registration to someone else, opting for a Spirit Badge, or requesting a refund. Please email us at registration@babscon.com by June 1 with any refund requests.

All of our 2020 vendors, community guests, musicians, and panelists are also guaranteed their spots for BABSCon 2021 if they want to stick with us.

Additionally, all of our 2020 Guests of Honor—Nicole Oliver, Daniel Ingram, Grey DeLisle, Vincent Tong, Peter New, Josh Haber, Gail Simone, Andy Price, Jeremy Whitley, plus a couple we didn’t have the chance to announce yet!—have already committed to attend BABSCon 2021.

If you can, please consider donating to our two amazing charities who put in a lot of work to help us plan fun events for BABSCon 2020. With the loss of the donations we would have been able to make this Easter, they could really use your help!

Our vendors are an important part of the BABSCon experience, and we understand they are hit hard by this situation. Please support our vendors by browsing and purchasing their wares here.

We would like to thank the Hyatt Regency SFO for working with us to avoid all cancellation fees. We know that this has been a stressful time for them as they have had to deal with many cancellations, not just ours. They have been nothing but supportive to us and have been a wonderful home for our con since our conception. We are so pleased to be returning to them in 2021.

It is our hope that you, our family of fans for the last seven years, will support us in returning next year to bring you all the fun and friendship of our six previous events, and then some.

We dearly want to continue serving this fandom, and with your help, we know that we can. Please follow us on social media—Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube, and now Twitch—for further updates. We also encourage you to join our Discord server, and consider supporting us by buying great BABSCon swag on our online merch store.

If you have any general questions for us, please email info@babscon.com. Any registration-specific questions can be sent to registration@babscon.com.

Yours in friendship,
—The BABSCon Staff

PS: We have some great ideas brewing for things we can do to make the intervening year more fun for everyone, so stay tuned! 

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Vincent Tong Joins BABSCon 2020 in a Flash https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/vincent-tong https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/vincent-tong Sat, 29 Feb 2020 02:00:00 +0000 The lights darken, a dramatic bass guitar thump repeats. You feel the intro deep in your bones and you know that we at BABSCon 2020 can only be announcing one man at long, long last: FLASH! (ahh-AHHHH!) Or, as we know this savior of the universe, Vincent Tong!

(Check out Vincent’s Flashy announcement video here!)

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Equestria Girls fans know Vincent as several ponies and assorted creatures. He’s chill Student 6 member Sandbar, the charmless Prince Blueblood, mean old Garble the dragon, purveyor of pastry Donut Joe, the oh-so-fey Feather Bangs, and of course, FLASH…Sentry, waifu-stealer extraordinaire.

But you may also know Vincent as Prince Kasef in The Dragon Prince, Kai in Ninjago and Lego Ninjago, The Mandarin in Iron Man: Armored Adventures, Mega Man in Mega Man: Fully Charged, Ant Nekton in The Deep, Daniel in Voltron Force, Detective Matsuda in Death Note, and so many more.

Vincent joins Guests of Honor Nicole Oliver, Daniel Ingram, Grey DeLisle-Griffin, Peter New, Josh Haber, Gail Simone, Andy Price, and Jeremy Whitley. And don’t worry, we still have more to come!

So just how flash is Vincent? He’s so flash, we’re having a Flash Sale for 15% off any tier BABSCon membership with promo code FLASH, ending this Sunday, March 1!

Register now (using promo code FLASH) so you don’t miss Vincent and friends, book that hotel room, maybe volunteer if you want to help make the con possible, and come have fun with us as BABSCon just keeps going BEYOND!

(Art by Grems, video by Alex Inman)

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BABSCon Gets On the (Space)Ball with Josh Haber! https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/josh-haber https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/josh-haber Mon, 17 Feb 2020 02:00:00 +0000 It takes a man of quality…a man of fortitude…a man of ACTION to land the good ship My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic at the end of its nine-year odyssey. Thankfully, our next Guest of Honor is a man imbued with just such qualities of greatness. He is: Josh Haber.

(Check out Josh’s cool announcement video here!)

Josh joined MLP:FiM in Season 4 and came out swinging with his first episode, “Castle Mane-ia.” Before long, he was practically running the place, either co- or lead story editing most of Seasons 6-9 and being a producer for the show. His episodes are some of the best in the series, including “The Cutie Re-Mark,” “Stranger Than Fan Fiction” (with Mike Vogel), “To Where and Back Again” (also with Vogel), “It Isn't the Mane Thing About You,” “Road to Friendship,” “Shadow Play” (with Nicole Dubuc), and of course, the liquid-pride-inducing series epilogue, “The Last Problem.”

Over on Equestria Girls, Josh wrote the third movie, Friendship Games, and the Rainbow Rocks shorts “Hamstocalypse Now!” and “Pinkie on the One.” He’s also responsible for MLP’s answer to quidditch, buckball, courtesy of “Buckball Season” and “Common Ground,” and—true story—made his pony con debut at the inaugural BABSCon back in 2014. 

Josh joins Guests of Honor Nicole Oliver, Daniel Ingram, Grey DeLisle-Griffin, Peter New, Gail Simone, Andy Price, and Jeremy Whitley. And don’t worry. We still have more to come!

Register now so you don’t miss Josh and the rest, book that hotel room, maybe volunteer if you want to help make the magic, and come play with us at our little soirée by the Bay as BABSCon continues to go BEYOND!

(Art by CuttleDreams, video by Alex Inman)

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BABSCon 2020 Aims to Misbehave with Jeremy Whitley https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/jeremy-whitley https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/jeremy-whitley Tue, 04 Feb 2020 02:00:00 +0000 As we continue our little trek through the ‘verse, the good ship BABSCon has picked up one shiny new passenger and we can’t wait to tell you all about him. It’s IDW, Marvel, and indie comics writing phenom, Jeremy Whitley!

(Check out his awesome announcement video here!)

Jeremy’s written some of our favorite My Little Pony comics from IDW, including the “Siege of the Crystal Empire” and “Tempest’s Tale” stories in Friendship is Magic, the King Sombra origin issue in FIENDship is Magic, the Nightmare Knights miniseries, the Legends of Magic maxi-series, and—SQUEE!—the upcoming “Season 10” story.

In addition, he wrote Vol. 1 of The Unstoppable Wasp and Fantastic Four: Future Foundation for Marvel, his own award-winning Princeless and Raven: The Pirate Princess, Rainbow Brite and Vampirella for Dynamite Comics, and more.

Jeremy joins Guests of Honor Nicole Oliver, Daniel Ingram, Grey DeLisle-Griffin, Peter New, Gail Simone, and Andy Price, with more still to come!

So register now and don’t miss your chance. While you’re there, book your hotel room for April 10–12, when we’re going BEYOND!

(Art by TheAwkwardDork, video by Alex Inman)

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BABSCon Gets Galactic with Andy Price https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/andy-price https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/andy-price Sun, 22 Dec 2019 21:44:00 +0000 Do we ever have a Hearth’s Warming gift for you. And if anyone embodies our theme of “…and BEYOND! in the world of My Little Pony this year, it would have to be our next Guest of Honor. “By your command,” it’s Andy Price!

(Click here for Andy’s awesome intro video!)

And what makes this veteran of the various IDW MLP titles so “plus ultra” right now, you ask? Simple! He’s actually going beyond the end of Friendship is Magic’s TV run to bring us the upcoming Season 10. Yes, you read that correctly…and it’s releasing its first issue right around BABSCon 2020, go figure!

To list Andy Price’s credits individually would be a fool’s errand. His work on the MLP comics started with Friendship is Magic #1, and has continued through today across Micro-Series, Friends Forever, FIENDship is Magic, Equestria Girls, the Holiday Special, and the Movie Prequel. Outside of MLP, he’s also contributed art to such wildly varying titles as Star Trek: Waypoint and John Carpenter’s Tales for a HalloweeNight, among others.

Andy joins Nicole Oliver, Daniel Ingram, Grey DeLisle-Griffin, Peter New, and his occasional comic con booth neighbor, Gail Simone, among our Guests of Honor, with plenty more yet to come.

So register now and take advantage of our holiday sale—15% off all membership levels with promo code HOLIDAY at check-out until the end of Boxing Day, 12/26—and book your hotel room to party with Andy and our other guests the April!

https://www.babscon.com/2020/registration 

(Art by Andy Price, video by Alex Inman)

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BABSCon Goes Over The Moon With Daniel Ingram & Black Friday Weekend Sale https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/daniel-ingram https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/daniel-ingram Fri, 29 Nov 2019 17:45:00 +0000 He writes the songs that make the pony world sing and composes the very Music of the Spheres™.  His cosmic talent know no bounds, and he’s going to be joining us at BABSCon 2020 this April 10–12. He’s the one and only Daniel Ingram, and you can see him for 15% off if you register this weekend with promo code BLACKFRIDAY!

(Watch Daniel’s awesome intro video here!)

It is impossible to overstate Daniel’s impact on the My Little Pony franchise. He wrote every single song in Friendship is Magic, Equestria Girls, and My Little Pony: The Movie. All of Them. From “Apples to the Core” to “Winter Wrap-Up,” from “Awesome as I Want to Be” to “Welcome to the Show,” it’s all him. Every time you’ve belted out “The Smile Song” or “Hearts as Strong as Horses,” you should be thanking him if you aren’t already. Oh, and he also worked on a few other little shows like Littlest Pet Shop, Martha Speaks, and others. No big thing.

Oh yeah…he did say something about bringing a brand new, never-before-heard track to BABSCon, too.

Daniel joins our other Guests of Honor: Nicole Oliver, Grey DeLisle-Griffin, Peter New, and Gail Simone, with many more yet to come!

So, if you’ve been waiting to register for BABSCon, now’s the time since you get 15% off any level of membership—even our swanky sponsor tiers—with promo code BLACKFRIDAY until the end of Cyber Monday. Then book your room and be ready for fun April 10–12 at BABSCon…and BEYOND!

(Art by ChaoticChimera, EifieChan, and CuttleDreams; video by Alex Inman)

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BABSCon 2020 Finds A New Hope in Grey DeLisle-Griffin https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/grey-delisle-griffin https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/grey-delisle-griffin Mon, 18 Nov 2019 00:43:00 +0000 BABSCon is truly embracing the spirit of “…and BEYOND!” this year by bringing its My Little Pony fans an unusual, but nonetheless stellar, new guest. We present to you a true Rebel Princess of voice acting: Grey DeLisle-Griffin!

(Check out her awesome announcement video here!)

To call Grey a star of animation doesn’t do her justice. Roles such as Azula in Avatar: the Last Airbender; Asajj Ventress and Padmé Amidala in Star Wars: Clone Wars; the titular Mandy on The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy; Lana, Lola, and Lily Loud in The Loud House; and the iconic Daphne Blake in Scooby-Doo (since 2000), plus her over 1,500 other roles, should be enough to cement her bona fides. “But why invite her to a con focused on Friendship is Magic?” we hear you ask.

In part, because a VA of her stature loved MLP so much, she freely donated her voice to the fan animation, “Epic Rage Time,” as Derpy. In part, because she’s BFFs with Tara Strong and has worked so often with folks like Tara, Lauren Faust, and others that she’s practically family: Wonder Woman in DC Super Hero Girls to Tara’s Batgirl & Harley Quinn (creator: Lauren Faust, story editor: M.A. Larson, with episodes by G.M. Berrow & Cindy Morrow), Frankie Foster in Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends (produced & story-edited by, and character based on Lauren Faust), evil babysitter Vickie to Tara’s Timmy Turner in Fairly Oddparents, Puppycorn to Tara’s Unikitty in Unikitty, twins Todd & Ty McNulty to Tara’s Dil Pickles in Rugrats…you get the idea.

So let’s give a warm brony welcome to Grey as she joins Nicole Oliver, Peter New, and Gail Simone among our Guests of Honor, with many more yet to come. You’re not going to want to miss this rare chance to see another star of this magnitude at our little soirée by the Bay.

Register now, then book your hotel room, and prepare to blast off with us this coming April 10-12 to BABSCon…and BEYOND!

https://www.babscon.com/2020/registration/

(Art by Turnip Stewdios, video by Alex Inman)

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BABSCon 2020 Goes to the Peter New-niverse! https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/peter-new https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/peter-new Sun, 03 Nov 2019 18:33:10 +0000 Times like these call for a stallion of action. A stallion of few words, sage wisdom, and great strength. A stallion so secure in his masculinity that he would think nothing of going to a picnic in a gorgeous dress with the most fabulous beehive mane and impeccable glamor makeup just to make his sister happy…or at least the talented man who plays him. Eeyup! Peter New is making his triumphant return to BABSCon!

In addition to playing Big Macintosh, Doctor Hooves, Goldie Delicious, and many more on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Peter has voiced musical monkey Sunil—and almost 70 others!— on Littlest Pet Shop, and appeared in Megaman: Fully Charged, Inuyasha, and most recently, Ninjago. His recent projects have included the multi-award-winning short film, WoodMan, and the podcast/radio drama, Voyage of the Oeverwal.

Peter joins Guests of Honor Nicole Oliver and Gail Simone, plus further guests soon to be announced—follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, or our web site to get the news as it happens—as we send BABSCon past the ionosphere…AND BEYOND!

Register now, book your hotel room, and come play with us in outer space April 10-12, 2020.

https://www.babscon.com/2020/registration/

(Art by LostInTheTrees)

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BABSCon 2020 Gets Celestial with Nicole Oliver! https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/nicole-oliver https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/nicole-oliver Sat, 12 Oct 2019 15:30:00 +0000 She raises and sets the Sun. She sends ponies to the moon! She journeys to inner space when not hugging trees, and broadens the mind-space of all Ponyville’s fillies and colts. Actually, she doesn’t do any of these things, but the characters she voices do because she’s the radiant Nicole Oliver! And if anyone embodies the BABSCon 2020 spirit of “…AND BEYOND!” it’s her.

(Watch Nicole’s awesome intro video here!)

To fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Equestria Girls, her sultry voice is instantly recognizable as Princess Celestia, while her talent and skill allow her to become beloved teacher Cheerilee and the nature-loving Tree Hugger, among others. She also starred as purple pooch Zoe Trent and so many more on Littlest Pet Shop, Sally & Miranda on Transformers: Energon, and lent her voice to a variety of characters in the Barbie and Ninjago franchises. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

Nicole joins the writer who sent Celestia and Luna ziplining in “Between Dark and Dawn,” Gail Simone, among our Guests of Honor. Needless to say, we’ve just gotten started, so watch for lots more announcements.

So don’t miss out! Go register now—and don’t forget to book your room—to join Nicole Oliver and all of us at BABSCon as we take you to the stars, AND BEYOND!

https://www.babscon.com/2020/registration/

(Art by NoisyPaperDragon, Befish, and CuttleDreams)

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BABSCon 2020 Blasts Off With Stellar Writer Gail Simone https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/gail-simone https://2020.babscon.com/news/post/gail-simone Sun, 22 Sep 2019 20:44:00 +0000 (Watch this announcement, complete with ‘70s sci-fi TV theme funk, in video form!)

We’re starting off our Guest of Honor announcements for BABSCon 2020 with one supernova of a guest star. Of course, not all big guests on an animated show are voice actors…sometimes they’re writers. Writers like the amazing Gail Simone!

Gail wrote one of Season 9’s most beloved episodes, “Between Dark and Dawn,” which finally gave us the Celestia & Luna-centric story we’d always wanted. And, while she has other animated credits, including episodes of Justice League Unlimited and Batman: The Brave and the Bold, it’s in comics where Gail is known as a goddess.

After rattling enough comics industry cages with her Women in Refrigerators web site in the late '90s, Gail took up the pen herself to show them how it’s done. This resulted in runs ranging from merely “beloved” to downright definitive on little indie titles like Wonder Woman, Deadpool, Batgirl, Birds of Prey, Red Sonja, Secret Six, Plastic Man, Domino, Welcome to Tranquility, and so…many…more.

Additionally, Gail’s Twitter feed has been known to cure boredom, depression, snark-deficiency, and the desire to quit Twitter entirely.

So have a tin of crypto-ham, heat up that tea in the American style—with a kettle, unlike those beastly Brits with their microwaves—don’t let Gambit narc on you, register now, and book your room to come see Gail Simone and all our upcoming Guests of Honor at BABSCon…AND BEYOND!

(Art by Luximus, video by Alex Inman)

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Hurry now and secure your membership for BABSCon 2020!