Inside and Outside of the Pasture

Pony Fair 2018 (and Other Places)

By Wolfen Moondaughter
July 16, 2018

My vacation began Thurdsay morning. Since I can't drive, I rode in with my mother to Disney World, where she works; she dropped me off at the Caribbean Beach resort's Custom House, where I hopped an internal shuttle to the Martnique stop, then transferred to a bus going to Disney Springs. There, I picked up some pastries from Erin McKenna's, an allergy-friendly bakery, for over the weekend, and a gluten-free cookie from the cupcake place, Sprinkles, for a snack. I also finally got to see the inside of Enzo's, an underground "Speakeasy", and The Edison, a restaurant with a 20s / 30s atmosphere, but with a dash of steampunk as well. At the latter, I imbibed a delicious passionfruit hard cider!

I looked into The Void, a virtual-reality Star Wars game in which you actually walk around and touch things while wearing the VR headset. No, I didn't actually try it; $30 per person for a video game was a bit steep for me. Besides, being prone to sensory issues, vertigo, and clumsiness, I didn't like the idea of tactical vests that rumble on one's body, nor the idea of essentially walking around blind with something wrapped around my face. I do like the fact that it's a game that involves puzzle-solving, though, not just shooting!

Other than that, I basically just wandered around the Springs, checking out a few new stores along the way but not encountering much of anything of interest to myself that I hadn't seen before, being a local. I headed over to Crossroads, a near(ish)-by strip mall with many eateries, to have a late lunch and meet up with my mother. She dropped me back at Caribbean Beach (with my luggage this time) to wait for Sheena, Tart's EIC, and her husband David to pick me up. (Note to self: wear bug repellent next time -- I got eaten alive by a relentless deer fly while waiting!)

We went to dinner at Crossroads, settling on Uno's (which has gluten-free pizza, but there is a risk of cross-contamination, and I paid the price later for taking that risk eating there), then went to the hotel and got situated before calling it a night.

The next day, we got up pretty early and headed out to the Salvador Dali Museum, in St. Petersburg. We got there before the interior opened, but thankfully there was a garden open half an hour before it included some fun sculptures and even a hedgemaze! I was very excited by the latter in particular! The garden also had a tree where one could tie one's wristband from the museum on a "vine" and make a wish.

When it was finally time to go in, we browed the gift shop (which you have to walk through to get to the rest) for a few minute. On our way to the elevator, we were stopped -- water bottles, like the one I had hanging from my shoulder, were not allowed in the gallery. I hadn't even thought about that -- I dehydrate easily, so my water bottle is something I always have, like my wallet and phone. Thankfully they had a water fountain by the bathroom, but it was on the lower floor. Still, it's not a huge museum, so it wasn't toooo inconvenient. And at least their lockers were free -- but outside; it would have been nice if they were actually in the building. (Note that food, drones, flash and /or commercial photography, and bags over 13 inches also are not allowed.)

I'd always though the few Dali paintings I'd seen were interesting, so it was great to get a broader view of his work, and learn more about the hows and whys of it. They have some very early, less surreal -- and arguably less technically capable -- paintings; the works are arranged in chronological order as you move through the building. It's always cool to see how an artist's style evolves over time! It wasn't long at all before his renderings improved from what I would call "high school"-level to stunningly photorealistic! Further, he became a master of optical illusions and hidden details. He even managed to achieve something of a holographic effect. Other than the first section of early stuff, every piece after begged the viewer to spend time looking closely and examining every millimeter of the canvas thoroughly! I wouldn't call most of it aesthetically pleasing per se (although there were images that were quite visually appealing, my favourite being "The Hallucinogenic Toreador"), but they were still amazing in layout and technique!

Besides docent-led tours and the usual headsets available, the museum has an app that allows you to punch in the codes of various paintings to learn more about the specific work. They also have classes (including one teaching kids to be docents -- I heard one kid give a presentation and was very impressed!), a library, a theatre with short documentary (which we missed), and an interesting -- and free! -- virtual experience as well! I didn't do the VR thing myself, but rather watched others playing with it, as there were monitors showing what they see. Essentially, the museum had built a world, based on Dali's work "Archaeological Reminiscence of Millet's 'Angelus'", that you could explore!

We ate lunch at the café there, Café Gala. They were generous with the order of chips (filling a big bowl with them), but they only had two gluten-free entrees, and the one I had -- tortilla Española, described as Spanish omelet with potatoes and onions -- was truly dreadful. It was like a slice of cold, hours-old quiche, but more potato than egg, and I didn't see or taste any onions at all. The bottled water was something of a cheapy souvenir, with a label specific to the museum, but I found out after that one could just get ice water from the tap instead. The food experience was the only downside of the day, though!

After the museum, we stopped at a very charming, bohemian coffee shop in St. Petersburg known as Black Crow Coffee Co. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I was delighted to fine they had gluten-free doughnuts! The cups they used were eco-friendly, and they offered a discount to those who brought in their own cups. Eclectically decorated with furniture and fixtures made from recycled objects, displaying local art, and having a piano there, the place encourages creativity, even having a table with a sketch pad and art supplies. And the other customers were welcoming and friendly, one gal even offering us space at her table! Finishing it off is a cobblestone street outside. The whole place made me want to move there ASAP!

We had a little time at the hotel to work on cosplay and other things before it was time to start bringing things down and get checked in as vendors to the event. It was nice chatting with people in line! And I was surprised and delighted to discover they were giving everyone the pretty pony made especially for the con -- I thought it was for VIP packages only! I had fun setting up my table, scouting the room to see what was available, and talking to other vendors -- most notably our friends Elfpony and Marie, whose table was behind the one I was sharing with Roogna, and the gal with the table next to mine, Moonshine (we thought it was funny how things worked out, since my ponysona is "Moonsget").

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I decorated my table like it was a fairground. I had: a little booth selling little toy cupcakes, fizzy drinks, pies (magnets), and pony-sized pizzas; a little booth selling crowns and scarves; a carousel displaying some of my best customs (my Groot and Rocket, my Kid Loki, and my Spider-Man, in particular got a lot of fawning); and a Ferris wheel I built out of Tinker Toys and spray-painted cream-cheese containers, which held little five-cent accessories I figured little kids could afford and feel like they were shopping like their parents (I loved little things like that when I was a kid). I also was offering: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic-inspired jewellery; some custom ponies; buttons and stickers with ponysona "cutie marks"; ponysona sketches; free colouring pages; and bins filled with "baits" (ponies in poor condition as-is, to make customs with), fakies (knock-offs), and random official pony stuff. And I had Nightstalker (a plush wolf), at the table, cosplaying as Spike the Dragon.

When we finished for the evening, Sheena, David, and I grabbed some dinner from a fast-food stand downstairs and ate in the room, then called it a night.

I woke up early the next morning and decided to make the vambraces I'd tentatively planned but ran out of time to make before the Fair. I also tried making a horn (my first attempt had broken), but ran out of time for ears or wings. Still, I think my cosplay of Luna (a character from Friendship is Magic) turned out pretty well (even if the horn / crown-and-veil / LED strands kept shifting annoyingly all day). We had some time before opening to work on set-up more -- and I needed all of it! I was still pricing things even after opening! Afterwards, I was too tired to do much of anything but rest until it was time for us to bring our contest entries upstairs, to the gallery / panel room.

I must say, I was really disappointed that the gallery was on another floor -- I felt it was too out-of-sight (and therefore mind) for casual fairgoers, and it meant having to leave my table for a longer period to get registered for the contest. The same went for the costume contest later. I liked it much better when everything -- contests and panels -- were in one room. Then I could listen to the panels while still working at my table. Also, I missed there being fun stuff, like the raffles and other contests, in the room. While I understand why they didn't have the "sleepover" event (a late-evening event watching My Little Pony episodes, with door prizes handed out; previously it had been sponsored by Shout Factory, who were not there this year), that was a big loss in terms of fun. They also, despite what the website said, didn't have the general public vote on the contests (I get wanting to have big-name judges, but I think it would have been cool to have winners selected by popular vote in addition to the winners selected by the judges). There was supposed to be a "parade of booths" contest, but if they actually had it, I missed the sign-up sheet amongst the many sheets on the table (I filled out five out of six I knew of), and missed who won. The Fair was much livelier the other year I attended, back in 2012.

As for what was available to buy, most other tables were focused on selling ponies and a few other toys, largely from the 80s. I was thrilled to pick up a pretty perfect Shayna, of the Jem franchise. (Now all I need is Stormer, and I'll have at least one of every character that was available when I was a kid!) I picked a, Eyelash Princess pony, who is a "bride pose" pony -- I had only learned of the 'bride pose" at the last fair, and didn't know there were other ponies that used the pose besides the Pony Bride herself It's my fave mold, as it's long-legged, like the Sweetheart Sisters, but its shape and proportions are otherwise more like the other "G1" ponies. Elfpony and Marie gifted me with another Eyelash Princess! I found a bag of four Breezies for only a buck! And I picked up a G3.5, several "bride pose", and several Sweetheart Sister baits. (If you have similar baits, or Big Brother baits, that you want to unload, please feel free to email me via the lined byline above the article.) Later, Moonshine gifted me with some flutter pony baits and a beddy-bye eye bait. I bought a Nightmare Moon, whom I've wanted for ages. And I bought an awesome G3 I don't remember hearing of before: Lily Lightly, who blinks her eyes, has a turnable head, and has a light-up horn and dress! So cool!

Besides the vendors with collectibles, Retro Dolls US was selling hair shanks for rerooting, Lambi Art was selling lovely prints, Mana Minara's Customs had some very cool custom ponies, and Fire Helix's Customs had some jaw-droppingly beautiful customs that made me wish I were a much richer woman just so I could go broke at that table. Oh, and the Traveling Pony Museum, which Tara Strong (the voice of Twilight Sparkle) had told me about a few years ago, was there!

Attendance this year seemed pretty abysmal. As I understand it, the Fair decided to aim their promotion at collectors, rather than families with children. That was a shame in general -- as a lady in the elevator told me, her daughter loves My Little Ponies, and she would have loved to have brought her daughter to the Fair, if only she'd known about it. The collector focus proved terrible for me, since I was dealing mostly in artistic things more than official merch. In fact, I only sold one pie all weekend, and nothing else I made, nor any sketches / buttons / stickers. At least in 2012, I'd sold several sketches! Between the amount I spent on stuff I made, and on the cost of the booth and the hotel, I took a pretty sizable loss. And considering I bought more from other vendors than I made, one could say I didn't make back any of what I spent to be a vendor, on product and display. It was a lot of effort, planning and carrying stuff and arranging everything, with pretty much no payoff. (And then there's what I spent on cosplay ....)

Then there was the little girl, around five or six, who kept coming to my table three or four times and messing with it, despite me repeatedly telling her not to touch things. She took two of the little toy swords I had and used them to stab at the little clay things I'd made. She kept trying to spin the Ferris wheel all the way around, which made things fall out. She told me I shouldn't charge money for things, should just give them away (clearly hoping I would give some to her). She even came behind the table and leaned into me while I was trying to draw! (At least she said I was the best artist ever?) Now, I am an only child, and childless -- I don't particularly like children, and struggle to be tolerant of them. I also don't like confrontation, as I find people can get quite hostile if you dare suggest their perfect little angels can't do whatever they please. Basically, I don't know how to handle kids; thankfully aside from one instance where this kid dragged another child to my table for a visit, every other child was accompanied by a parent who told them not to touch (except for one grandparent who didn't understand that customs aren't for touching; I realized then that I should have put a sign up, and quickly rectified the situation). I never did find out who my little fan's mother was, other than that the woman was a vendor; the child was irritated that, as she put it, her mommy cared more about selling ponies than her, and for some gods-forsaken reason decided I was interesting. I liken it to the old gag that cats are drawn to people who don't like them ....

At any rate, nuisances and failures aside, if one looks at the experience as a vacation rather than a business venture, it wasn't so bad. Yes, I was disappointed at the lack of certain things in comparison to last time, but it's not like there wasn't any fun at all!

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Case in point, after we dropped off our artworks, we ended up talking to toy sculptor Kirk Hindman, and hearing all kinds of fascinating stuff about how the ponies were made. I ran across him a couple more times over the weekend, always learning more from him. For example, we learned that, since there were only so many times that a mold could be used, there was a hierarchy of molds: four or so at the top that were used only to make master mold, then the master molds, then another branch under them, and still another branch from them, each version being a bit smaller than the previous. When the molds used for actual production wore out (you could only make about 400 ponies per mold), they made a replacement from the next branch up. He talked about how difficult it was to pull the ponies out of the molds, having to pull the entire bodies partially cured out through the neck; it would be all distorted, and later snap into the proper shape. He showed us some strange but cool pony designs that never made it to production; looking for something new, Hasbro had commissioned an outside guy to apply his techniques to their sculpts, but decided not to use what the guy came up with. He said the sculptors ended up using each other as faces for GI Joes -- he's Wild Bill! He said that when a toy turned out to be defective, they would destroy the finished prototypes, for fear that employees would take them home, give them to someone, and a child someone were would be hurt by it and sue the company. He ended up saving sculpts that fell out of use from being destroyed, creating the Sculptors' Archive. He said they had a suitcase with a Charmkin diorama in it, for showing to toy stores. (Keep your eye out for an eventual Tart interview with Hindman!)

Later, we went back upstairs for the costume contest; I had a great time chatting with other fans, like Emily, who showed me an adorable, pro-quality Hogwarts outfit she had made for a pony, and a great Raphael custom she had made. There were many great cosplays; my favourites were a gal who was a stunning Milky Way, a pair dressed in amazing fursuits of original ponysonas, and a mother and daughter who were Glory and Baby Glory (complete with the baby necklace). We lined up and walked into the room like the centre aisle was a runway. I decided to walk with a regal, commanding air, as even Luna after her redemption is a bit scary. I didn't win, but I was gratified that Hindman remarked to me that he loved my "evil look"!

There was a special dinner after the Fair that night, but we didn't get tickets. Instead, we went to a sushi bar, Seito, where I had a really delicious bowl of gluten-free chicken fried rice, as well as a yummy bowl of green tea ice cream! No regrets!

I decided not to spend the last day of the Fair in cosplay, aiming for comfort instead. I worked on sketches of Sheena's, David's, Elfpony's, and Marie's ponysonas, as well as on a surprisingly tough word search, the completion of which earned one their choice of cute little prizes. (There was also a scavenger hunt, but I didn't want to leave my table for that long.) As I sketched, Elfpony went upstairs for a panel, and took pics of the art tables, the ribbons having been awarded. Marie showed me on her phone that Elfpony had won second place for the "Original Custom" contest, with her "Last Unicorn" -- the only thing that surprised me there was that she got second instead of first. Then Elfpony came back and showed me her phone -- they'd wanted to surprise me with the fact that I'd won first in that division, with my custom "Loki: Agent of Asgard" pony! (The funny thing was, his faceguard had come loose, but I didn't bother bringing up the glue gun to fix him because I was sure others' customs would win! I'd also thought my Hasbro-inspired custom, a Pony Bride made into Rarity, would fare better than him -- although admittedly her horn had got cracked in transport. *Sigh*)

We -- Sheena, David, Elfpony, Marie, and I -- decided to have dinner that night at The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium and Savory Feast Kitchen, over at Universal CityWalk. Arriving around 8, we waited 50 minutes to get in (they wouldn't take reservations), but it was worth it! Toothsome is a steampunk-themed restaurant featuring insane shakes -- they're pricey, but come in a (plastic) mason jar that you get to keep! The key lime shake has a slice of key lime pie on top, while the birthday cake shake has a slice of cake on it, and the Red Velvet has a cupcake! Alas, only the peanut butter shake and the chocolate shake were gluten-free. I went with the chocolate, which had chocolate shavings and slices of strawberry in the whipped-cream topping. The shake itself was a lot like a mousse! They serve appetizers and entrees, too (from a separate kitchen). I was also told that they could swap out the bread or pasta of most of the other dishes with GF versions, so for dinner, I had what I would call a gourmet Philly cheesesteak, and it was quite delicious! (The menu was a bit confusing, though, as some items were actually marked gluten-free, and nothing on the menu mentioned being able to alter anything to make it GF.) At $15, it was what I would call typically priced for food of this nature -- that is, sit-down theme-park food. Atmosphere-wise, they had videos depicting a chocolate factory all around the room, the waitstaff in steampunk attire, and characters depicting the "proprietors": an "automaton" and a well-dressed adventuress. At the entrance, there's a soda fountain to one side (for the shakes and other desserts), and a candy counter and souvenir shop to the other. I was mightily tempted by a well-made, $20 bowler hat that was just sliiightly big for Nightstalker (I'm pretty sure I could have made it work by stuffing the hat) .... We had a marvelous, giggly time!

If it hadn't been so late in the evening, we might have capped the evening at cool-looking the sci-fi-themed mini-golf course at CityWalk, but Elfpony, and Marie, and I had packing to do, and we all had an early morning the next day (which Sheena, David, and I spent at Disney World's Magic Kingdom, before my mom picked me up on her way home from work that afternoon). If the Fair should happen to come to Orlando again, I think I will skip having a table and just help my friends with theirs -- that way the post-Fair packing will get done faster, and we'll have more time for play!

Pony Fair — Official site for the event.
Moonsget's Meadow — Wolfen's My Little Pony-centric blog.