Thank you for the cons...

...those endless cons, those sacred cons you gave me. Ahem, that's enough Kinks. (There can never be enough Kinks! —Ed.) Just for fun, I thought I might do a little three-and-one paragraph for each of the MLP conventions I've attended. Those numbers refer to the fact that I'll be giving you three good and one bad things about each one. (Hey, I liked them all!) Here goes...

BUCK 2013, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
+ My first convention in any fandom, and that will always mean so much
+ Michelle Creber and EileMonty on stage together in that incredible auditorium
+ "Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows"
- Coming close to melting in the upstairs karaoke room

BUCK 2014, Manchester Central, Manchester (you astound me, Holmes)
+ The Summer Sun Celebration, notably (non-)Acoustic Brony
+ Dave Polsky's barnstorming presentation panel
+ Meeting G. M. Berrow and Blueshift (not together)
- Missing out on the Sunday morning Flash Fanfic contest

UK PonyCon 2014, Mercure "The Grand", Leicester
+ Discovering UKPC's fantastic family-friendly, multi-gen atmosphere
+ Actually knowing the G1 song played by the live band
+ The only con I've attended where people could pay on the door
- It was very, very crowded in there

UK PonyCon 2015, Mercure "The Grand", Leicester (again)
+ Informal singalong sessions around the piano
+ The plushie army on our table at Wetherspoons
+ First time seeing Idris's Battle Pony outfit in person
- Dreadful hall acoustics making some panels entirely inaudible

UK PonyCon 2016, Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds
+ My first Pub Quiz – and making the last bus afterwards
+ The season finale viewing – a tremendous experience
+ Custardcon. Come on, I had to mention this somewhere!
- A few too many people chatting noisily through panels

UK PonyCon 2017, UWE Exhibition Centre, Bristol
+ Dueting with Dodj on "Stop the Bats" at the karaoke
+ The wonderfully spacious and relaxed venue
+ Fulfilling an ambition and walking round hugging a plush most of Sunday
- Um... it finished?

Pony Music Library: What's coming... and what isn't

Those of you who follow my occasional "Pony Music Library" posts will know that the next one will be number 50 in the series. As such, I'm planning to feature a song that means something to me beyond "this is a nice piece of music". I expect the feature to arrive during January, but right now I can't be more precise than that.

Movie songs will become eligible for induction in January, too, since that's when my self-imposed film spoiler ban will expire. I'm not sure whether I really want to feature such recent tracks just yet, but I expect one or two of them will be inducted in time. And yes, album-only songs are eligible too. So, for the avoidance of doubt, are EqG shorts songs.

As for the second part of my title: I have decided not to feature songs which have been entirely removed from the musician's YouTube account, unless: a) they are freely available on an official account elsewhere, or b) there are very special circumstances. I am still considering unlisted songs (eg "Never Alone") as that's rather different.

One notable track which this affects is EileMonty's "I Am Octavia", which as far as I can tell she has deleted from her YouTube account – even direct links bring up "unavailable", which wouldn't be the case if the track had simply been unlisted. I don't know why EileMonty made this decision, but I want to respect it, even though the song is still everywhere online.

Any songs which get deleted after they have been featured in the PML will not be restrospectively un-inducted, as that would simply cause confusion. There are in any case limits to how much editing I can find the time for!

Ponyfic Roundup 185: Cold Mince Pies

Read it Later story count: 374 (-6)

Off we go with the final Ponyfic Roundup of 2017. It's been a bit of an up-and-down year, with rather more downs than ups in the last few months, but I'm optimistic that 2018 might see me get back to reading (and writing about) a little more ponyfic than I have done lately. Three stories in the mix this time, and they are:

Forest Trees and Morning Tea by PonyThunder
Hyperion by Meridian Prime
Fifty Shades of Brad by D G D Davidson

★: 0 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0

Happy Hearth's Warming Eve!

I'll be away over most of the post-Christmas and New Year period, but I may have a couple of pre-scheduled posts ready. I say "may" because... well, you know why. That cold again. Still, I'll try to have something new before the end of the year.

In the meantime, I wish all of you a very happy Hearth's Warming, and I'll see you back here in January as we wait to see what 2018 will bring.

Movie out digitally for US... but not for us

This is going to suck. Right over the Christmas and New Year period, we're going to be told again and again all over the ponynet that My Little Pony: The Movie is out on digital platforms and that we should rush to buy it. Guess what, guys? It isn't and we can't.

Because, as ever, too many people online think the world consists of the US, or of North America at best.

Here's Amazon UK's page for the film. You'll note two things. One, that the UK price is ridiculous – £13.99 for HD, which is more than the physical Blu-ray. Two, that not only is it not available, but there isn't even a release date listed.

I'm trying to be supportive of Hasbro right now over the hacks stuff, but Celestia it's hard when they treat by far the film's most successful non-NA market like dirt. Going back to add the "rants" tag to this post now. :P

Ponyfic Roundup 184: Sick Beats

Interesting changes on Fimfiction... also, another free game on GOG today. This time it's Oxenfree, which normally sells for £14.99, so quite a deal! Usual setup: log into your account and click the banner on the front page.

Read it Later story count: 380 (+1)

I have had colds on and off this winter, but this latest one absolutely knocked me for six and I barely knew where I was until yesterday. I'm still not great, but at least I can string a few words together now. You're getting a second successive two-review PR, which I don't feel too happy about, but at one point it was looking like this wouldn't get published at all.

When You Fall by theworstwriter
Dear Idiot by The Descendant

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0

Right, here's the deal with those hacks

> THERE ARE NO SPOILERS IN THIS POST <

As many of you will already know, someone has once again hacked into the MLP computers (speaking very generally) and got hold of a large amount of confidential information. If you remember what happened last season... this is bigger. This stuff has, of course, found its way to the public internet, because that's what always happens. I'm not really concerned with that here, though. I'm concerned with Louder Yay.

1) I will not post any of the content – files, images, videos – obtained in this way.
2) I will not post any links or discussion as to where to find this content.
3) I will delete on sight any comment that includes the above things.
4) If you want to see this stuff, you're on your own finding it. Do it elsewhere.

As usual, I am willing to discuss general points like "Do you think the fandom will die when G4 ends?" (Answer: no.) But Celestia help you if you spoil me for S8 in the process. :P

UK PonyCon announces record charity fundraising total!

It's been worth the wait... UK PonyCon communications supremo daisyd has announced that this year's convention has broken UKPC fundraising records. For a start, the Charity Auction itself raised £4,045 – itself a record. After income from VIP and Supporter tickets, plus raffle and contest entries, were taken into account, that figure rose to £4,983.85.

But it doesn't stop there. The UKPC folks have announced that they'll be rounding up the total. And no, not merely to £5,000, nor even to £5,500. The final fundraising total will be an all-time record for UK PonyCon of...

£6,000!

This news is a fantastic early gift, and I'm delighted such a good amount is going to such a worthy charity as the RDA. This just underlines how well the convention was run and makes me even happier to have played my own small part in contributing to the final total. Huge thanks, once again, to everyone who worked so hard.

And now we have a target for 2018! It's going to be a very tough one to beat, but can we do it? We shall see...

Ponyfic Roundup 183: Snow Day!

Grim Fandango Remastered is free on GOG today. Log into your account, find the banner near the top of the site's front page and click on it. Ta-da! A game that normally costs £9.99 – and a cross-platform game, too – shall be yours for £0.00!

Read it Later story count: 379 (-1)

As mentioned in my last post, my usual schedule has been thrown off by what is, for here, a massive amount of snow. As such, this is a very short edition of Ponyfic Roundup – and one which doesn't actually include either of the fic reviews I trailed last week. This also means that my review of iisaw's The Skyla Pseudonym will have to wait until January. For all of this, my apologies. Oh well, here we go with the whole two reviews that I have got for you:

You Forgot Your Toothbrush! by FamousLastWords
Corn on the Cob by mushrumluver

★: 1 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 0 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible

Apologies for the lack of proper posts. My part of the world has been hit by its deepest snowfall in over a quarter of a century (28 cm/11") and this has been accompanied by fairly lengthy power cuts. As such, everyday life has been somewhat disrupted. The weather forecast is better from now onwards, so I should be able to get things back on a more even keel. Not sure yet about the size of Ponyfic Roundup, but there should be something at least.

A small landmark

This is the 254th post I've made this year. That makes 2017 the most active year I've had on Louder Yay since it began in December 2012. Never let it be said that the MLP fandom is dying – it's doing no such thing! It may be a bit smaller and less visible to the outside world than it was a few years ago, but that's another matter. I don't expect to stop doing LY any time soon.

Also, it's nicely meta that my 254th post of 2017 is written to mark my 254th post of 2017.

Ponyfic Roundup 182: Chocolate Digestive

Read it Later story count: 380 (-6)

Another four-fic week. I was hoping I might make it up to five this time, but as usual the world conspired against me. Also, cricket. Just as I'd resigned myself to England being utterly useless in every department, they suddenly put in a really good performance. It's probably too late for it to save the match, and we're probably going to lose the Ashes as a result, but at least it's something. When you've been an England cricket fan for as long as I have, you take what you can get! Anyway, today's fics are:

App. Jack by shortskirtsandexplosions
Critical Condition by KR Chrome
Blink by ocalhoun
Burn by rogueunicorn

★: 2 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0

Frustrating news on the movie's Blu-ray release

I discovered yesterday that the Blu-ray of My Little Pony: The Movie will be released in the UK on... 12th February 2018. That's more than a month after it comes out in the US (9th January). For some utterly bizarre reason, the UK DVD release is two weeks later still, on 26th February. I can't even remember split Blu-ray/DVD release dates before, and I have no idea why they're doing it.

I haven't been able to find out what's happening in the UK regarding download releases, but my guess is that the late release of the discs is because a couple of countries (eg Spain) are only getting the movie in the cinema this month. Whatever the case, I am not happy. It was bad enough waiting two weeks after the US for the big-screen release. Waiting five weeks for this is, frankly, a bit much.

Also on subject of the Blu-ray, it's still not clear what our "Triple Play" will be. I'd like it to be Blu-ray+DVD+download, but I have a feeling that we'll get Ultraviolet instead of the DVD. Much less attractive a package, but it's the way things have been going recently.

Pony Music Library 49: "My Little Pony Friends"

( Text link )

Well, would you look at that? Logan's put up a PML post without waiting a month and a half since the last one! This is an interesting song, too, and one some of you may find a surprising choice as a favourite of mine, so let's get going.

What? "My Little Pony Friends"

Who? Daniel Ingram and Lauren Faust (show theme segments)

Which? Unused EqG song

When? August 2014 (public debut)

Why? The closing credits of the first Equestria Girls film featured the song "A Friend for Life", which in all honesty is not one I find very memorable. That wasn't the initial plan, though. The movie was originally going to close with this song. Why the change was made I don't know, but I like "My Little Pony Friends" more. It tugs at my heart in a way that "AFfL" doesn't quite manage. This was Kaylee Johnston's first singing role for MLP, and I think her only lead singing role, another reason I'm sad it was cut. Oh, and yes, it does indeed include the phrase "We love and tolerate". So let's have no more about that not being canon! :P

Here Comes the Sun... Stone

I finished watching "The End of Flutter Valley" yesterday evening. Quite interesting to see how G1 dealt with an extended storyline – it's ten 10-minute episodes – and there's a G4 link of sorts, given that parts of the plot are mentioned in the background by the Mane Six during the Big Mac IDW comic arc. I may do a little review of "Flutter Valley" here at some point.

Next up when I feel like returning to the world of G1 will be "The Ghost of Paradise Estate", which I'm pretty sure I've never seen at all. I know almost nothing about that four-parter, actually, nor indeed about quite a few of the other G1 stories. Other than "Rescue at Midnight Castle", the only other one that has much recognition is "The Return of Tambelon", because it's the one featuring Grogar.

And no, this isn't going to turn into a G1 blog! But four years of UK PonyCon have made me sufficiently interested in the older generations that I want to see a bit more of what was produced in those years.

More on the Soundtrack CD flaw

Maybe RCA's quality control unit is a guy with a phone

I was curious as to why some people could hear the flaw in "Off to See the World" in the movie's official soundtrack CD and some couldn't. I ran a quick poll on Twitter and found that my respondents split almost down the middle. However, the skip annoyed me so much that I actually went and bought the MP3 from Google with a little spare credit I had. This version does not have the flaw, which allowed me to compare directly. As soon as I did, the answer became obvious.

What you see above is a screenshot from Audacity (an excellent free program, by the way). The top two lines are the stereo track as ripped from my own CD, and the lower two lines are from the MP3. The skip is very obvious here, but crucially it's only on the left channel. This explains a lot, as anyone listening on a mono device (probably a phone speaker) would most likely not hear the problem. Those listening on even fairly cheap headphones, like me, tended to spot it instantly.

Ponyfic Roundup 181: Most Efficacious in Every Case

Read it Later story count: 386 (-4)

I managed to get a little bit more time for reading ponyfic this week than I did last week, so here's a slightly longer list of stories than last time. Look, four is more than three, 'kay? These fics include one of those fics that created controversy in its Fimfiction comments, a story with a title that isn't even in the Latin alphabet, and... other stuff. I have a couple of rather wordy reviews to start off with.

The Point of No Return by ObabScribbler
Ἐλπίς by Bad Horse
Ocean by Church
Pinkie Pi by Blu_Ray

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 0  | ★★★★: 2 | ★★★★★: 0

And the movie's UK run comes close to its end

I managed to see My Little Pony: The Movie in cinemas four times in the end. And yes, I paid my own money each time. That should tell you which side of the debate I'm on as to whether it's an enjoyable watch. (If you don't mind spoilers, my film review will do that anyway.) I've now seen all the G4 movies in the cinema, except of course Legend of Everfree which never got a big-screen release in the first place. (Someone out there hire a cinema room and give a private screening to fix this!)

Last week was the final one during which the film could really be considered to be on wide release. This coming week is rather different: here in the west Midlands, only one major cinema (Vue at Star City in south Birmingham) is showing it at all. A few small venues are still putting it on for one-night-only showings, such as Gloucester's Sherborne Cinema, but even those are becoming rarer. Paddington 2 and the re-release of Frozen are taking over the screens. (We don't get Coco in the UK until late January.)

It's been fun. Despite almost non-existent promotion (if you don't count branded merch) and often rather empty auditoriums, the movie has made $4.6 million over here, easily its best box office outside North America. I'm hoping that if we do get a sequel down the line, that will encourage the big UK cinema chains to show it widely again. It's been a great experience watching ponies on the big screen, and I'd love to do it again sometime. But now it's time for me to say goodbye to this flawed but greatly entertaining production.

Well, until the Blu-ray comes out.

And, yes, the third PMV ever made!

( Text link )

It's not the first G4 PMV. It's not the second, either. But while those two currently have about 160,000 views between them, "Trouble Is a Friend - My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic AMV" has over 2.5 million on its own. As such, it often gets discussed as though it was the first. While that's not the case, it nevertheless has a good claim to be the earliest G4 PMV to truly make it big – and perhaps the first truly modern example of this particular art form.

At 3'35", it's considerably longer than either of its predecessors. It's also noticeably more carefully edited, with the lyrics generally quite well fitted to the clips we see on screen. Again, all of them are from the S1 premiere – as it debuted on 30th October 2010, this PMV appeared only a day after "The Ticket Master" aired, too late for that episode's content to be used. I think it holds up fairly well and, unlike the two PMVs that came before it, is worth watching for more than just its historical value.

But it still isn't the first.

The second G4 PMV ever made!

( Text link )

And no, this one isn't "Trouble is a Friend" either. Back in September, I posted about what is to the best of my knowledge the first G4 PMV, "Your Love Is My Drug". That was made from trailer footage before Friendship is Magic even started its run, but "Good Company" was not. It came out on 28th October 2010 and used the less fandom-specific term "AMV" in its title. (Though I suppose as it's Fluttershy-themed, that could be said to stand for "Adorable Music Video"!)

"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | Fluttershy - Good Company G4 AMV", to give the video its rather wordy full title, is set to the tune of the song from the 1988 Disney animated feature Oliver & Company. At 2'28" it's more than twice as long as "Your Love Is My Drug", but it's still very simple compared to what we see today, using exclusively footage from the S1 premiere as that was all there was at the time.

Ponyfic Roundup 180: On the Oche

Read it Later story count: 390 (-5)

I'll be glad when (if?) I return to the point when I'm able to return to reading five or more stories just about every week. I'm not there yet, as another three-fic week demonstrates. Here's the little collection I've been able to consider:

Loss by Kaylee
Head-first to Equestria! by Simon_oSullivan
It's Just a Game by HashMark111

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0

The importance of having fun

    "Uh, one teensy thing to remember – have fun!"—Cherry Jubilee, "The Last Roundup"

From time to time, I get (usually at least semi-unwillingly) caught up in a discussion/argument about whether the standards of writing for Friendship is Magic have fallen since the early days. The more I think about this, the more I think that my answer would be that they probably have – but that this isn't actually the be-all and end-all, and that it hasn't made me like the show less.

There's certainly less attention paid now to keeping continuity perfect, and sometimes we get stuff that just doesn't seem to have been thought out at all and bears no real connection with the rest of Equestria: the Bunyip in "P. P. O. V." is a particularly egregious example. In that episode's case, I felt that part was actively harmful to the entertainment factor, but it certainly isn't always so.

Compare the works of Tolkien with Doctor Who. There's no doubt at all that Tolkien's writing is better – but for the most part, I would rather sit down with Doctor Who. It may play fast and loose with its continuity to an almost ridiculous degree, but to me it's generally a good deal more entertaining. The only Tolkien book I've truly loved is The Hobbit, and I don't think that's entirely an accident.

I watch My Little Pony for 22 minutes of entertainment, and I am more interested in the question "Did I have fun?" than in the question "Was it beautifully constructed?" My guess would be that there's a significant negative correlation between those who share my feelings and those who feel the show is a shadow of its former self. (I think S7 has been great, on the whole.)

Now, I am, to a very minor extent, a writer. And there have been times when I've felt that even I could do better than the show staff. (This isn't new, though: "Somepony to Watch Over Me", anyone?) The thing is, this doesn't ruin my enthusiasm for the show as a whole. As long as they keep churning out stuff that makes me happy to watch, that is good enough for me.

Maybe I should be more demanding. I would be with fanfic. But you know what? I don't care. I like Starlight, in spite of the obvious problems with her characterisation, notably the non-explanation of her extraordinary power level. I like the movie, in spite of its undoubted flaws. And why? Because in both cases, they contribute to my being entertained. And to me, that matters most of all.

UK of Equestria's overall S7 ranking list

As we've done for the last couple of years (for S5 and for S6), we've been asking people to rank all this season's Friendship is Magic episodes. Because of having no double-episode premiere this year, members were asked to rank the episodes from 1 to 25, with the finale counting as one. We had 15 respondents, a little down on S6's 18 but still enough to get a good idea. S7 has been pretty well received overall, but what you see here is based on the overall means.

The tier boundaries were decided very simply: any episode with a mean position of five or below got a five star rating. Then any ep with an average of worse than 5th but equal to or better than 10th got four. And so on down the line, with episodes with a mean score below 20 getting a one-star rating. This year, we have eps in all five tiers, which makes my job a bit easier! It's also the first time we've had more than six episodes in the top two categories. Here's the list:

★★★★★
1. A Royal Problem
2. Shadow Play

★★★★
3. The Perfect Pear
4. Once Upon a Zeppelin
5. Parental Glideance
6. Rock Solid Friendship
7. It Isn't the Mane Thing About You
8. All Bottled Up

★★★
9. Fame and Misfortune
10. Discordant Harmony
11. A Health of Information
12. Celestial Harmony
13. Campfire Tales
14. Uncommon Bond
15. Secrets and Pies

★★
16. Hard to Say Anything
17. To Change a Changeling
18. A Flurry of Emotions
19. Marks and Recreation
20. Daring Done?
21. Triple Threat
22. Honest Apple
23. Forever Filly

★
24. Not Asking for Trouble
25. Fluttershy Leans In

Number of times each episode placed first
5: A Royal Problem
3: The Perfect Pear
3: Shadow Play
1: All Bottled Up
1: Fame and Misfortune
1: Once Upon a Zeppelin
1: Parental Glideance

Number of times each episode placed last
6: Fluttershy Leans In
4: Not Asking for Trouble
1: Fame and Misfortune
1: A Flurry of Emotions
1: Forever Filly
1: Honest Apple
1: Secrets and Pies

Most controversial (highest standard deviation)
1. Fame and Misfortune
2. Secrets and Pies
3. Hard to Say Anything

Least controversial
1. A Royal Problem
2. Fluttershy Leans In
3. To Change a Changeling

"A Royal Problem" was universally liked and widely adored: everyone placed the episode in their top nine, and 12 voters had it in the top four. In fact, it (just) displaces "Amending Fences" as the most popular episode of the past three seasons. At the other end of the table, the bottom two were widely unpopular, being more than three points adrift of the rest, and "Fluttershy Leans In" had a highest position from anyone of 17th. That wasn't even from me!

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the most controversial episode was "Fame and Misfortune", and I suspect that argument will run and run. We all know that M. A. Larson doesn't like the fact that his name is attached to it, but that doesn't stop many people (including me) from enjoying what we ended up with. "To Change a Changeling" was an unusual episode where there was near-unanimity on its middling status: out of 15 people, 13 placed it between 10th and 17th in their lists.

The general feeling among those people discussing the most recent season has been that S7 was for the most part a very good run, and certainly a step up from S6. This means that a three-star ep this time around might in fact be more popular in absolute terms than a three-star ep last year. But the rules of the poll don't allow you to make your rankings on that basis, instead requiring only relative positions to be taken into account, so bear that factor in mind.

The movie's performance in the UK

Yesterday, I went to the Showcase cinema in Dudley to see My Little Pony: The Movie for the third time. I'm not a big film-goer, and in fact this is the first one I have ever seen three times on the big screen. It's almost at the end of its run now, and on a midweek afternoon there were only five people in the auditorium – including someone with a UK PonyCon T-shirt! (Actually, two, as I was wearing mine as well.) But I still enjoyed it a lot and even noticed some things I hadn't picked up on before. (No spoilers here!)

Back at the start of October, I wondered whether the film might actually do better (relatively speaking) over here than in North America. At that point, we weren't even sure how widely it would be carried in UK cinemas. The answer: very. While it didn't generally sprawl across multiple screens per cinema in the way Blade Runner 2049 was, the movie was shown in the vast majority of cinemas. According to Box Office Mojo, the total for the UK, Ireland and Malta (which are lumped together) peaked at 555 cinemas in its third week.

BOM tells me that its UK (etc) weekend rankings for the first four weeks of general release were 6th, 7th, 7th and 11th. Compare that with North America, where it started higher (4th) but then fell more quickly (9th, 15th, 19th). The NA box office after four weeks was a smidgen over $20 million. Over here, the same figure is roughly $4.5m, so 22.5% of the NA total. That seems to me to be a respectable performance: The Lego Ninjago Movie made 20.9% as much here as in NA, for example.

What I don't know is how well (comparably) movie-branded toys have done on each side of the Atlantic, or whether the availability of Pony on free-to-air TV in the UK has helped. I do know that few cinemas here are now showing the film in midweek, and that Paddington 2, which went straight in at no. 1 last week, will eat up a great deal of the family-film market from now until Christmas. So... I might have been overly optimistic to hope MLP:TM would do better over here, but it does seem at least to have held its own.

Ponyfic Roundup 179: Starlight Glimmer Edition

Read it Later story count: 395 (-1)

For the first time in I don't know how long (because I'm too lazy to look it up), I'm doing a character-focused PR today, and it's the turn of a certain overpowered unicorn. Five stories, and there's certainly some interesting stuff within them. Here's the list:

I Have Many Forms, but This One is Mine by Raugos
Waiting by Silver Moon
Solving for Death by Majin Syeekoh
Same Apples, New Tricks by Bookish Delight
The Alicorn Curse by chillbook1

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0

CD review: My Little Pony: The Movie Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

"The Mane 6", apparently...

Whew, that title is a bit of a mouthful, isn't it? Luckily, that subject line will be the only place I write it out in full. In line with my policy of avoiding movie spoilers until the New Year, I will be placing most of the review of this CD (for which I paid £10 in Tesco) under a cut. Spoilers ahoy! However, I will say up here that there is a manufacturing flaw in one track of the disc that should not have got to retail copies. Anyway...

Pony Music Library 48: "Loyalty"

As it's well over a month since the last PML post, I think it's time to do change that. For what it's worth, no movie song will be eligible until next year, partly to avoid any spoilers and partly to give the songs time to settle in my head. Today's inductee is one you've probably all been waiting for almost since the start. Well, wait no longer!

( Text link )

What? "Loyalty"

Who? Acoustic Brony & Mandobrony

Which? Original song

When? January 2012

Why? Well, here it is. I don't think this ode to Rainbow Dash's general awesomeness is the best song these musicians have come up with, and they're no longer even really involved with our fandom at all – but "Loyalty" is just too significant to leave out. It's also, undeniably, damn catchy, and it has one of my favourite guitar solos in all of pony music. I heard Acoustic Brony play this (not acoustically :P ) at BUCK 2014, and it had as much energy then as it does in this recording. It may be more nostalgic than ground-breaking now, and Dash herself may have progressed a lot since 2012 – but whether you love it or loathe it, "Loyalty" is one of those songs that everyone in the fandom recognises. As such, it's something that binds us together, and it demands its place in the PML.

Text Review Roundup: "Shadow Play"

I may be late, but I have at least finished with S7 now as far as TRR is concerned! This finale brought a generally positive reaction, but as usual that reception wasn't quite universal. Pony Press News Journal has been removed: it seems to have ceased publication as there's still no review past the near-month-old "Secrets and Pies". A shame, that.

ArthurCrane – extremely positive ("Lots of fun, lots of story, lots of character. It’s a near-perfect.")

Batbrony Reviews – "My full review of this finale ... won't be out for some time"

Cuddlepug – mixed (graded B-; "a little contrived [though] ending on an epic note is appreciated")

Derpy News – extremely positive (graded A; "Every single character was in top form ... a top class finale")

Louder Yay – extremely positive (5/5; "sheer epicness is what pushes this episode into the highest star bracket")

MLEEP Reviews – extremely positive (10/10; "brought the Legends Of Magic series to a close in the best way possible")

Rainbine – mixed (7/10; " I did like the finale. I thought it was pretty good [but] Stygian/Pony of Shadows is the worst villain in the entire series")

The Super Mario Brony Blog – very positive (5/5; "undoubtedly one of the best two-parters since [The Return of] Harmony and [Twilight's] Kingdom")

TheDragonWarlock – generally positive (graded B+; "The characters are written well for the most parts, sans Twilight being way too reckless ... It's a very solid finale")

Thrond Media Pony Corner – negative (48%; "When world is emphasized over character, you must have a good enough world to hold it up, and this show simply does not anymore.")

Ponyfic Roundup 178: Fisherman's Friend

Read it Later story count: 396 (nc)

I'm up to five fics today! It's been some time since that happened, and I wouldn't go assuming it's going to be the norm, but I'll take the chance while I can. As with last week's PR, all the stories under review are very short; I hope to get a little more time to read slightly longer fics in the near future. We have:

Grind by Cola_Bubble_Gum
I'm Not Small, I'm Aerodynamic! by PonyThunder
Somno Captis by Flint-Lock
Another Chance by Jay David
Chrysalis Visits Minion Mart by Dunsparce

★: 1 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0

Film review: My Little Pony: The Movie

I like the way each character's expression is fitted to them

You'll already know from my spoiler-free review of My Little Pony: The Movie that I enjoyed the film. At that time, I'd only seen it once, but I've since been to the cinema again (this time with the Worcester meet mob). And on that occasion, since I knew more or less what was coming, I could relax a bit and watch out for certain things. So, under the cut is a spoiler-filled review of the movie.

Note: all screenshots are from official trailers

UK PonyCon 2017 report, part 6: Final reflections

I don't need any extra encouragement to ramble, but here goes anyway. This sixth and last part of my UK PonyCon thoughts is a general look back at a few aspects of the con that I perhaps didn't give much space to in my previous report posts. Some of this is stuff that I included in my official feedback form – I hope you returned that if you were at the convention – but some is new. Page break time!

Episode review: S7E25&26: "Shadow Play"

Okay, I can stop the review here, really. Five stars!

Well, here we are at the end of S7, and what an interesting season it's been. A satisfyingly good one too, if you ask me. I'll probably do some sort of overall retrospective of the season on LY eventually, but for now let's concentrate on the season finale. The end of "Uncommon Bond" looked very much like a set-up for this finale, and so it proved. But did I actually like it? After the break, you'll get your answer.

Text Review Roundup: My Little Pony: The Movie (part 2: Britain and Ireland edition)

I hope to get the S7 finale review up very soon (sneak peek: I loved it) and then my film review a little after that. Speaking of the movie, though...

Here we go with the second part of the My Little Pony: The Movie megaTRR, or whatever you'd like to call it. As with the much longer first instalment, I'll put the actual review extracts under a cut in case anyone finds them a little too spoilery – one review blatantly gives away something we only discover close to the end of the movie. I've included The Times review even though it's paywalled, since what you can see free is actually everything but the BBFC rating and the running time!

UK PonyCon 2017 report, part 5: Merch haul (ish)

Relatively restrained on the Fluttershy front, I feel :P

Above is the more-or-less compulsory photo of the things I brought home from UK PonyCon 2017. That "ish" in the subject line is because two were actually presents before the event began, but I'm including those specific items here as I took them both to the convention. As usual, click it to enlarge. Going roughly across rows from the top left, you can see:

• G1 Posey from Chrissytree – my very first G1 pony
• Legend of Everfree DVD – a con exclusive for a full two days :P
• The con book. Duh
• 4DE Fluttershy plushie – a gift from Rorschfox
• The con poster, designed by Sparkler
• Applejack Hearth's Warming card from Limelight Press
• Two original Fluttershy A6 pieces by StormBlaze
• Derpy print by Dori-to
• Mailmare Derpy postcard by PoneBooth
• Fluttershy "Best Pony" badge, also by PoneBooth
• The all-important con badge (with themed lanyard)
• Supporter-tier enamel badge
• Celestia "Best Princess" badge – PoneBooth again
• Mystery Mini Scootaloo – a gift from Snowkitten
• Fluttershy print – another one from Dori-to
• Con T-shirt, designed by Sparkler

I'm not sure exactly how much this little lot cost me, but it wasn't especially out of line with what I've spent on merch at previous conventions. The only time I splashed out was for the pair of StormBlaze originals, but I didn't really have a choice with those. Not pictured: cider and muffins. :P

Next time: some final thoughts on my UK PonyCon 2017 experience

Ponyfic Roundup 177: Puck will make amends!

Yes, PR is back! Whether or not this is a good thing is for you to decide, but I'm hopeful that there won't be another gap in the series this side of Hearth's Warming. I may even get a review of The Skyla Pseudonym out by year's end, though don't put your last penny (or indeed any penny) on that one.

Read it Later story count: 396 (-3)

Four stories this time. All very short, but that's partly because my time is also very short at the moment. They were chosen by skimming a list of highly-rated fics of less than 2,000 words. They all feature Rainbow Dash in one way or another, but that wasn't a deliberate thing. For newcomers, please remember that a story I consider average gets two stars, not three. This week's fics are:

Buckball Abstract by Pineta
Em Dash by Cloud Hop
Dragon Bucking by deleteme29358
Rainbow Unicorns by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

★: 0 | ★★: 3 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0

UK PonyCon 2017 report, part 4: Monday

All good things must come to an end, and UK PonyCon 2017 had been a very good thing indeed. Hawthorn and Rorschfox had gone home after the con on Sunday, but Snowkitten, Bridle Timeout and I were still present to have breakfast together on Monday morning at the slightly more civilised hour of eight o'clock. The breakfast was table service this time, but the stuff I ate was still a mix of fry-up and Continental.

After retrieving our bags and checking out of the Premier Inn, the three of us lugged our stuff to the bus stop, and amazingly (this being First) one turned up almost at once. We needed two buses to get us to Bristol Parkway station, and Bridle did a little spam-zapping on UK of Equestria during the trip. The first bus deposited us at Cribbs Causeway shopping centre, where we made the brief detour to Pegasus Road, just because.

Our second bus brought us to Parkway, where we ran into a couple of fellow UKPC-goers. One, a first-timer, opined that "Everyone was so friendly!" which was great to hear. On the platform, we saw one of the first in-service Class 800 trains, though naturally it was going to London and we poor Midlands-bound folk had to put up with ye olde CrossCountry Voyager. Still, we all managed to get seats, so no complaints there!

Unbeknownst to us until a quick tweet exchange, Oilyvalves was on the same train, a couple of coaches back. We arranged to meet at New Street, though Bridle stayed on the train as it was continuing to his northern England home town. The other three of us headed for Muffin Break, appropriately enough, where we had a nice relaxed chat. I chose an apple and cinnamon muffin, my favourite flavour and suitable for the con theme.

Eventually, the time came to go home. Oilyvalves went to get his train to the East Midlands while Snowkitten and I headed for Moor Street station and our own transport home. The reasonably quiet service allowed us one last chat about how we really didn't want the con weekend to end, and then after a final hug we both headed for our own homes. An awful lot had happened since Friday, but nearly all of it was fantastic. Roll on 2018!

Additional: as OilyValves' comment reminds me, on the approach to New Street the guard/conductor/whatever on the train made some mildly humorous remarks about the attractions of Birmingham... and mentioned that it was a place where "the wheels of friendship" turned. We did wonder whether he knew! :P

Next time: the infamous merch haul photo!

Text Review Roundup: "Uncommon Bond"

Whew, I did get behind whilst I was at UKPC, didn't I? I will try to catch up! Anyway, you know the form. Off we go.

ArthurCrane – no review at time of writing

Batbrony Reviews – positive ("[a few] issues aside, this was a very quietly mature episode with a just as subdued lesson, but one which was very smart and mature")

Cuddlepug – positive (graded B+; "As a critic of Starlight Glimmer, seeing her in this episode made me like the character more than I had previously.")

Derpy News – fairly positive (graded B+; "a decent episode")

Louder Yay – fairly positive (3/5; "For an E24 it's perfectly decent fare, but it's clearly there as a lead-in to the finale")

MLEEP Reviews – mixed (6.5/10; "when you combine the writing of a good writer with that of a bad writer, the result will be an episode that was very average")

Pony Press News Journal – no review at time of writing

Rainbine – very positive (9/10; "It was funny. It was enjoyable. And it used Starlight and Sunburst very well.")

The Super Mario Brony Blog – mixed (2.5/5; "Uncommon Bond at best is an acceptable installment")

TheDragonWarlock – fairly positive (graded B; "I don't find this episode bad at all [though it's] certainly not as good as Starlight's other episode, A Royal Problem.")

Thrond Media Pony Corner – rather negative (50%; "the episode is hardly offensive or anything, but it's also dry and flat ... soulless")

UK PonyCon 2017 report, part 3: Sunday

Onward! Since there were no official evening events on the Sunday of UK PonyCon, this will be a rather shorter report than that for Saturday, but I think it's still long enough to warrant a page break. And since someone asked: yes, there will be a merch haul photo at some point after the write-ups themselves are done. I didn't get a huge amount, but you'll get the photo anyway, because it's my blog and I want to. :P

Episode review: S7E24: "Uncommon Bond"

I can well believe that Trixie's skull is full of those

It's been a bit of a while, I know, but that's what going to conventions does to you. Anyway, "Uncommon Bond", the final regular-style episode in S7, was co-written by Josh Haber and Kevin Lappin. I actually saw this some time ago, but I watched it again last night to refresh my memory. Past the cut, you'll find a fairly short waffle about what I thought of it.

UK PonyCon 2017 report, part 2: Saturday

I got up at six o'clock, which was a fine way to start a holiday weekend, I can tell you. :P At least that allowed me to get up slowly before I met up with Snowkitten and Rorschfox at seven for breakfast. The restaurant was dark and almost deserted, but it was open and since it was included in the room rate, I made the most of it: bacon, sausages, fried egg, tomato, baked beans and hash brown on one plate, then two mini muffins, a bagel, a pancake and a yoghurt on the other. Plus orange juice.

Rorschfox's tiny yet TARDIS-like car took us to the con venue at UWE and we arrived a little before nine, so were able to witness the VIP-tier Raritys sauntering in while we Applejack-style salt-of-the-earth peasants shivered in the near-gale (though there was a rainbow!) and bought our optional-but-everyone-buys-them upgraded lanyards. Come 9:30, though, we plebs were also allowed in. Well, as far as the registration desk, though reg was very quick and smooth. I picked up my con book, weekend pass and Supporter-tier badge and I was in!

Today's report is long, so I've added a page break.

UK PonyCon 2017 report, part 1: Friday

UK PonyCon 2017 was fantastic. Let's get that out of the way straight off. My favourite of the six Pony conventions I've been to, so huge thanks to everyone who worked so hard in making it so good.

This year's iteration of the convention was held in Bristol, at the University of the West of England (universally known as UWE, pronounced "Yoo-ee") Exhibition and Conference Centre. The theme for this year was "Wild West and Rodeo", so as you can imagine there was a very strong Apple Family presence. A more unwelcome presence was my cough, the entire weekend, though it was mostly kept under control by the consumption of vast quantities of mints.

This was my fourth UK PonyCon and sixth MLP convention overall, but it was the first time I'd had a travelling companion on the train – Snowkitten. (I know him better under another name, but Snowkitten is the one he used for the con book, so that's what he gets here!) After a quick yet important stop at Muffin Break at Birmingham New Street to get into the mood, we made it to Bristol Parkway on time at just before 2pm. There, we met up with Rorschfox, who I only knew through Twitter but Snowkitten had met before; he'd kindly offered to give us a lift to the hotel where all three of us were staying.

Once we'd negotiated Parkway's bizarre layout – seriously, for a relatively small station the place is a maze – it was a fairly brief journey to the Premier Inn on the Filton roundabout. We checked in and spent a little while chatting about this and that, and (among other things, not all pony-related) Rorschfox gave me a beautiful 4DE Flutterplush, which has always been quite hard to get in the UK, and a really nice card he'd asked Kelly Sheridan to sign with a little message to me while at BronyCon

After dumping our bags, we had a quick scoot(aloo) around Home Bargains to see what they had in the way of Pony. Reshelving meant there wasn't much, but GoH Big Spike was there for a tenner. We then had a decent enough meal (gammon steak in my case) at the Brewers Fayre adjacent to the hotel, and there was of course more chatting. We were slightly disappointed not to meet any other con attendees, but we knew some were getting in much later, and in any case that state of affairs would change.

We all felt we'd like a fairly early night, given that our plans required us to be up before dawn on Saturday morning. As happens irritatingly often, I couldn't get to sleep for ages, and let's just say that I failed the first part of the 6-2-1 Rule with a vengeance. At least I got some shut-eye. I can't imagine how people manage who share rooms with friends; I've always shelled out for a single room at cons, because I absolutely need peace and quiet overnight at my age!

Next time: rainbows, karaoke and Awesome Applejacks

Text Review Roundup: My Little Pony: The Movie (part 1)

Come on, I could hardly not do a TRR for this, could I? Unsurprisingly, there are a lot more review sources than for show episodes, so I have had to pick and choose a little bit. I'm prioritising freely accessible, non-paywalled sites, but I am not giving priority to those reviewers who happen to agree with me. This is intended to be a reasonable cross-section. Also, the amount of syndication in US movie reviewing is ridiculous.
 
As a large number of these are professional reviews, there have been many more text-based reviews than we get for an episode – a YouTube video just won't cut it if you're writing for a national publication. So it's a long list – seriously, a long list! Off we go, then. As it's inevitably very spoilery, I'm using a page break – come past the cut for the reviews!

Note: I will probably do a separate TRR at some point for reviews from British sources, and maybe even another for text-based reviews of the movie from within the fandom.

Text Review Roundup: "Secrets and Pies"

As this gets published, I should be in the final stages of getting ready to depart for UK PonyCon in Bristol. The weather forecast for Saturday is what with British understatement I'll call "not ideal", but thankfully today is okay so travelling shouldn't be too hard. Other than pre-scheduled posts, I won't be saying anything here for a little while – if you do Twitter, I'm at @louderyay. (Actually, I still am even if you don't!)

Inevitably, my having to write this early means that some TRR regulars hadn't got their reviews posted in time, so there are quite a few gaps. On the plus side, Pony Press News Journal is back with a text-based assessment and there's a newcomer in Rainbine. Reactions to this episode really were all over the place.

ArthurCrane – no review at time of writing

Batbrony Reviews – no review at time of writing

Cuddlepug – no review at time of writing

Derpy News – positive (graded B+; "[Rainbow's] way of trying to make it up to [Pinkie] is ... overly-complicated [but] that was the only sore point")

Louder Yay – mixed (2/5; "does have a few problems [but] for simple character moments, it's pleasant viewing")

MLEEP Reviews – negative (4/10; "the story ... was dull and lazy [though Pinkie] does supply some great laughs")

Pony Press News Journal – positive (9/10; "Although the episode is pretty simple, it's still a really fun and enjoyable episode")

Rainbine – very negative (4/10; "a pointless, boring, and most unnecessary episode")

The Super Mario Brony Blog – extremely negative (0/5; "a huge step in the wrong direction for both Pinkie and Rainbow Dash ... [a] travesty")

TheDragonWarlock – rather negative (graded C; "At best, this episode is okay; at worst it's a complete bore.")

Thrond Media Pony Corner – sort-of positive (63%; "In my brain, I know it's not very good. But it's one of the few episodes this season which I'd watch again in a heartbeat.")

Tips for UK PonyCon-goers 11: Have fun!

As I'm setting off for UK PonyCon in not much more than an hour, this will be the last post I actually see go up until I get back. With that in mind...

Tip 11: Enjoy the convention!

Yes, we've spent months waiting for this. Some of us will have worked hard on art or cosplay or music or plushies or stupid stories about custard, while others will be working during UKPC, whether as staff or volunteers. But the thing that unites all of us is a love of pastel ponies. (If it doesn't, you booked at the wrong con!) So let's make the most of a weekend where nobody will question that aspect of our lives, and where "I love My Little Pony" is a statement that can be taken as read and appreciated, without the need to explain or justify ourselves.

See you in Bristol!

Text Review Roundup: "Once Upon a Zeppelin"

There'll be no Ponyfic Roundup for a week or two owing to the imminence of UK PonyCon, but I'll at least try not to get too far behind with TRR. This time around, the episode was well received, with nobody at all giving it an outright negative rating and several reviewers rating it highly.

ArthurCrane – mildly positive ("a perfectly serviceable episode")

Batbrony Reviews – very positive ("while not a flawless episode, this was still a very exceptional Season 7 episode")

Cuddlepug – no review at time of writing

Derpy News – very positive (graded A; "a very enjoyable episode")

Louder Yay – very positive (4/5; "about as good as filler gets, and it's definitely an episode that I enjoyed greatly")

MLEEP Reviews – wildly positive (10/10; "such a heartwarming episode")

Pony Press News Journal – no text-based review for this episode

The Super Mario Brony Blog – mildly positive (3.5/5; " I just wish [Twi's family] could've been done more interestingly ... impressive visuals ... moral comes off as a good one ... reasonably good")

TheDragonWarlock – positive (graded A-; "it feels like Twilight was forced through the wringer [but] it's still a great episode with a good moral")

Thrond Media Pony Corner – very positive (88%; "a last-minute delight which combines the two things season 7 excels at: new family characters and Twilight Sparkle")

Bristol cinemas showing the movie over UKPC weekend

Some, but not all, cinemas in Bristol are now listing My Little Pony: The Movie for next weekend – so if you're attending UK PonyCon and would like to take in the film, you should be able to do so. (I won't be going to see it again myself until the week after.) Where two prices are listed, they're off-peak / peak, but every cinema differs on when you get an off-peak price.

Most of the big chains are carrying the movie at their Bristol sites. Here's what I've found so far:

Cineworld, Hengrove (south of city)
Showing at 13:10. 15:40 and 18:10
Tickets: £9.00 / £10.50
Online booking fee: included
Book tickets here | Google Maps

Odeon, Broadmead (city centre)
Not wheelchair-accessible
Showing at 13:30 and 16:00, plus 11:00 Sat–Mon (subtitled on Sun only)
Tickets: £5.75 / £10.50
Online booking fee: included
Book tickets here | Google Maps

Scott Orpheus, Westbury Park (north of city)
Not wheelchair-accessible; requires phone number to book online!
Showing at 15:00 (Fri–Sun), 12:30 (Sat–Sun) or 14:00 (Mon)
Tickets: £5.50
Online booking fee: not sure
Book tickets here | Google Maps

Showcase, Avonmeads (just east of city centre)
Showing at 10:00, 12:25, 14:55 and 17:20
Tickets: £7.90 / £9.75
Online booking fee: 60p
Book tickets here | Google Maps

Showcase de Lux, Cabot Circus (city centre)
Showing at 11:15, 13:55 (not Sun) and 16:30
Tickets: £8.30 / £10.50
Online booking fee: 60p
Book tickets here | Google Maps

Vue, Cribbs Causeway (north of city)
Showing at 10:35, 12:20, 13:35 and 16:55 (Fri)
Showing at 10:10, 11:20, 12:40, 13:40, 14:30, 15:40 and 16:20 (Sat)
Showing at 10:05, 10:45, 11:40, 12:35, 13:25, 14:25, 15:25 and 16:25 (Sun)
Showing at 10:05, 11:05, 12:05, 13:15, 14:15, 15:00 and 16:00 (Mon)
Tickets: £9.49 / £10.99
Online booking fee: 75p
Book tickets here | Google Maps

Tips for UK PonyCon-goers 10: You always take the weather with you

Here's a tip for UK PonyCon that I was considering publishing anyway, but given the weather forecast I now think it's an important one:

Tip 10: Remember, it's October. In England

That means you're not going to have a weekend of balmy temperatures and gentle breezes while you sip cocktails by a tropical lagoon. The River Avon's path through Bristol is full of mud most of the time anyway, thanks to the Bristol Channel's 15-metre tidal range – the highest anywhere in the world outside Canada, fact fans.

That's not relevant to the convention, though, What is relevant is that the Met Office outlook is currently predicting a spell of very wet and windy weather over con weekend, and you're likely to regret it if you don't prepare for it. While this area of Bristol isn't on an exposed headland or anything, it can get pretty windy during autumn gales.

So, if you're driving to UKPC, be prepared for stuff like trees blocking roads or speed limits across the Severn Bridge. If you're travelling by train, there may be longer journey times or trees or fallen overhead wires blocking routes for a while. Even once you arrive at your hotel, you may get soaked walking across the car park if the rain's falling hard enough.

On con days themselves, consider what you'll do if it's pouring down at queue time – one of those single-use plastic coats might be handy, as the wind's likely to be too strong for umbrellas to be useful. Also, bring plastic bags of some sort to wrap items susceptible to water damage. You don't want your beautiful new plushie waterlogged on the first day!

I don't want to go overboard here. Even a severe gale storm would be unlikely to be as disastrous as Ophelia was to Ireland in a non-coastal city like Bristol. But it does look increasingly as though the weather will not be as benign as it has been for the last few UKPCs, and it's better to have preparations you don't need than to need preparations you don't have!

Episode review: S7E23: "Secrets and Pies"

At least she didn't get at Spike this time round

As you might expect, with UK PonyCon coming up, my normal schedule here will be considerably disrupted. I might have one or two pre-written posts that will appear during the con, but otherwise: Ponyfic Roundup will not appear this week, and may not appear next week either. Reviews for episode 24 and the finale will get done when I get the time, and ditto for Text Review Roundup. On to today's business, though – thoughts on Josh Hamilton's episode after the break.

UK PonyCon let down by supplier; no exclusive plushie this year

Some unfortunate news from UK PonyCon today. It's been announced that, due to problems with the supplier, it's proved impossible to supply this year's exclusive convention plushie. This is the themed pony which was going to form part of the goodie bag VIP ticket-holders were given as part of their registration deal. (And possibly end up being sold/auctioned as well, I guess.)

The con organisers are currently in discussions regarding the payments they've made to the supplier, and this means that they're not able to go into details. It's bound to be frustrating for VIPs not to know exactly what's gone wrong, but there's no practical way around it: if one side gives a running commentary in a situation like this, it almost always ends up being worse for everyone in the end.

As I understand it, VIPs should check their email as they will have been contacted by UKPC and offered a number of options about what they want to do. According to comments on the UKPC Facebook post about this, there is a refund option; I don't know what the others are. (I can make some decent guesses, but I have no actual knowledge and don't want to confuse the issue.) So please read that email!

I hope people will be understanding of UK PonyCon's situation here. Without knowing the details, it does very much sound as though they've been left in the lurch by a supplier that hasn't kept up its end of the bargain. And it's not as if they could commission dozens of plushies in the next six days! I'm not a VIP ticket-holder, but I'll now be making sure to buy a little extra something from the UKPC merch stall.

Spoiler-free review: My Little Pony: The Movie

Please note that "spoiler-free" means that the level of information here is roughly what you'd get in a general media review. If you're trying to avoid all information about the film, stop reading now!

I'd been expecting my reaction to My Little Pony: The Movie to be something along the lines of "Well, that was okay, I guess" – something that might have just about scraped a three-star rating. In the event, I liked it a good deal more than that. However, I can see why some people wouldn't, and I don't think this is a movie that's likely to convert huge swathes of general filmgoers to the cause of Pony. But I was thoroughly entertained, so ★★★★. Considerably more – but still spoiler-free by the standard given above – is written below!

UK PonyCon questionnaire thingy!

I often see these things published by people who are about to head off to a convention, so here's one from me. Feel free to use and adapt the format for yourself if you like!

What do I call you? Logan, for preference. Everyone else does and I respond to it pretty much automatically now. The full version (Loganberry) is fine too, especially as that's my actual username in most places! If I've told you my real name, that's okay too if you prefer.

What will you look like? A horse. No, afraid not – cosplay isn't really my thing. I'll be wearing a variety of pony T-shirts and carrying some sort of bag. Other than that, I'm older than most bronies, I wear glasses and I don't wear jeans. (Denim irritates my skin.)

Who will you be with? Anyone who can stand my presence for more than 30 seconds. I can't afford to be fussy. :D Also, whoever wants to join in any impromptu singing sessions! Oh, and the Pub Quiz crowd, naturally!

What will you be doing? Not a clue. The timetable for UKPC has an awful lot on it this year, and I don't generally stick to my planned schedule anyway. But as just mentioned, there'll definitely be singing involved. Lots of singing.

Can I talk to you? Sure, I'm happy to talk to just about anyone. Please don't do a Quibble Pants and keep pestering me when I obviously want to be doing something else, because that will annoy the hay out of me. But a hello and a quick chat? Absolutely. :)

Can I take your photo? Um, why? I don't cosplay, as I said. But if you really want to, then ask me first and I expect I'll be okay with it. If you take video of me doing any sort of performance, I want to see a copy, please. Just for my amusement, not so I can sue you later. ;)

Can I hug you? I guess, though please, please ask me first. I don't want you to accidentally break something fragile and feel awful about it!

Can I buy you a drink? Now we're getting silly. I don't expect anyone to buy my cider for me. I don't even know whether my health will let me drink alcohol during the con.

How long are you staying? I'm coming down on Friday afternoon and going back up on Monday morning, so I'll get to attend the whole con. :)

Where are you staying? The Premier Inn on the Filton Roundabout. I always choose the most glamorous locations.

How are you travelling? To Bristol? By train, probably via Birmingham. I'll wear a pony shirt during the trip, though I don't know which one yet, so feel free to come and say hi!

Favourite ponies? Fluttershy, Scootaloo, Celestia, Derpy.

Anything else I should know? I take the all-ages nature of this convention seriously. Being foul-mouthed or talking about NSFW stuff are really good ways to annoy me fast, so please leave off the f- and c-bombs, unless they're "filly" and "colt". :P I prefer to avoid that sort of thing even outside the venue.

This is very much a specifically pony-themed weekend for me. While that doesn't mean I won't talk about anything else, if you want to have a long conversation about Doctor Who or railways or something, another time might be better. Political discussions are right out for the duration of the con. Not interested.

Also, I'm diabetic. I don't have to avoid sugary foods entirely, so a muffin or two is fine, but I can't go overboard. Partly but not entirely related to this, my state of health can change very fast. Please be considerate if it does.

Text Review Roundup: "Marks and Recreation"

I've let this feature slip a bit recently! I'll do a TRR for "Once Upon a Zeppelin" in the next few days, though that for tomorrow's episode may well have to wait until after I get back from UK PonyCon. On the plus side, being late means I have an ArthurCrane review to include! Also, a new reviewer: Pony Press News Journal. Still no reviews from The Southern Nerd or the Super Mario Brony Blog, so those sources have been removed from the list.

ArthurCrane – generally positive ("Rumble is a very good example of how you can make a non-villain character unlikeable, but nonetheless interesting.")

Batbrony Reviews – very positive ("a fun CMC episode with a very good, well-written lesson at its heart)

Cuddlepug – extremely negative (graded D-; "a spiteful episode ... almost entirely without merit")

Derpy News – broadly positive (graded B+; "not overly spectacular, but ... a good episode nonetheless")

Louder Yay – mildly positive (three stars ("just"); "a pretty average episode of FiM – but that's still better than many shows' average.")

MLEEP Reviews – extremely positive (9.5/10; "a marvelous episode that was full of surprises")

Pony Press News Journal – mixed (6/10; "I found most of this episode boring until the point where the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Rumble have an argument")

The Super Mario Brony Blog – positive (4/5; ""yet another good moral ... a well constructed plot ... and more great moments from the Crusaders ... strong, if imperfect")

TheDragonWarlock – rather negative (graded C; "It wants to be ambitious, but it's held back by how its botched execution.")

Thrond Media Pony Corner – negative (43%; " yet another crushingly dull entry in what's shaping up to be a crushingly dull season")

Tips for UK PonyCon-goers 9: Read the rulebook

I think it's about time we had another UK PonyCon tip. This one is a little more serious than some, but...

Tip 9: Make sure you know the rules

I've already mentioned the need to remember that this is not a brony convention. Tying in with that is that UKPC's rules differ somewhat from those of other pony-centric events; there are good reasons for this, but it will help you a lot if you're clear about them before you set off for Bristol. None of them are unreasonable, at least not in my view, so learn 'em and follow 'em.

Notably, there's the fact that this is a strongly family-friendly con, and that there will therefore be many more young children in attendance than you may be used to. So don't swear. At all. (Well, not beyond what's in the show. "What in tarnation?" is probably okay. :P ) And don't make a lot of noise unless you're in an area where it's expected, such as a singalong. You may scare kids, and that wouldn't be very friendly!

The Prohibited Items section is worth perusing, too. "No weapons" means no weapons at all, including toys. This is not the con for Nerf guns and water pistols. Note that "aerosols" are listed, so don't bring in pressurised deodorants and the like assuming they'll be okay. (A dry-stick deodorant is an alternative that can feel refreshing even if you've had a shower that morning. And you will have a shower, won't you? Good.)

Most of the rest is simple common sense. Ask before you take someone's photo, and do not argue if they say no. That applies however they're dressed – cosplay is not consent. Don't disrupt panels by chatting through them – there's a dedicated chill-out space this year, or you can go to the café or bar. Have your bag ready to be searched when you go in – this will speed things up for everyone. And so on.

Some of that sounded a bit heavy, I know, and I promise there'll be at least one lighter tip before this series comes to an end. But really, all you have to do is remember this: be generous, honest, kind, laughing, loyal, magic and friendly. Do that and you'll have a great UK PonyCon 2017!

Good article about the fandom

(Brief disclaimer: I know Andrew Crome slightly and have met him on a few occasions.)

I'm so glad I'm not employed as a headline writer, because as you can see I'm terrible at it. :P However, it is at least accurate: once you get past its mildly irritating headline, Andrew Crome's piece is a very solid summary of our weird and (usually) wonderful fandom, and one which goes a few steps beyond the cookie-cutter stuff you often get in such articles. You don't often get a piece about My Little Pony that brings in Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer!

I found the most interesting parts of the piece those which looked at the challenges the brony fandom presents. The article is timed to coincide with the movie's release, and we get a reminder of the fan backlash at Sia getting a top-line credit but not Tara Strong and co. There's also a brief mention of the very interesting question of whether the young girls who are supposed to be MLP's core audience are being sidelined somewhat by fan-targeted marketing.

Crome's article, published on theconversation.com, can be read for free here:

Meet the ‘Bronies’: adult fans giving My Little Pony a marketing headache

Ponyfic Roundup 176: All Bound for Morningtown

PSA: I am less likely to review your story if you're using a seasonal username at the time, as it's a real pain for a reviewer's record-keeping. (This is one reason I never change my own username.) Feel free to exploit this information as you wish. :P

Read it Later story count: 399 (+2)

Another three-short-fic week, something you probably won't be too surprised to see. What you may be surprised to see is the nature of a couple of the stories under review. Let's just say that in one case, I didn't want to wait any longer, and in the other, I was dared to review something of that nature. Name withheld to protect the guilty. :P My RiL list has expanded slightly, too, as was probably inevitable after several weeks of limited time to read and review. Anyway, today we have:

A White Hearth's Warming by Chris
Skintight Payback by Aspirant
A Tea Party by Maniac92

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 0 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0

Well now, this is an interesting development

Yup – I'm going to see My Little Pony: The Movie early! :D After I said I didn't want to go on my own, OilyValves kindly offered to join me, so we'll be seeing the film at Showcase Cinema de Lux Leicester at lunchtime on Saturday. This showing is actually the only one of the three that day I can easily make, as the 10am one is just too early (given I need to travel for two hours to get to Leicester) and I need to be home later in the evening, so I'd be in too much of a rush if I waited for the 3pm screening.

And yes, I will still be going to the already announced movie meet in Worcester on the 28th. This is an extra. :)

If anyone else reading this will also be at the 12:30 Showcase Leicester showing, leave a comment!

Early movie releases... in England! *UPDATED*

Awooga! Awooga! Pastel alert!

Big news if, like me, you live in the UK outside Scotland and are counting the days until the film's release on the 20th... there now seems to be a limited early release in England too. I don't know how many cinemas will be involved, as the numbers seem to have gradually increased during the Scottish previews, but so far I've found:

Brighton: Cineworld
Showing at 10:30, 13:10 and 15:30
Tickets: £11.30 Sat/Sun, £9.80 weekdays
Online booking fee: 70p
Book tickets here

Brighton: Odeon
Showing at 11:50 and 14:20
Tickets: £11.25 every day
Online booking fee: included
Book tickets here

Leicester: Showcase Cinema de Lux
Showing at 10:00, 12:30 and 15:00
Tickets: £9.90 Sat/Sun, £7.95 weekdays
Online booking fee: 60p
Book tickets here

Leicester: Odeon
Showing at 10:15 (Sat-Thu only), 12:45 and 15:15
Tickets: £11.00 Fri-Tue, £8.75 Wed-Thu
Online booking fee: included
Book tickets here

Loughborough: Odeon
Showing at 10:45, 13:15 and 15:45 (not Sat)
Tickets: £4.75 every day
Online booking fee: included
Book tickets here

Thanks to mlpbronypony on UK of Equestria for the initial heads-up.

Episode review: S7E22: "Once Upon a Zeppelin"

That was about my reaction too to that mask, Shiny

For what it's worth, I will now be sticking to the Discovery Family schedule for episode reviews as much as UK PonyCon allows. This week we had "Once Upon a Zeppelin", by a new writer to the show, Brittany Jo Flores. It really had been quite a while since we'd got a Twilight-focused episode where she didn't share the spotlight with Starlight (so many lights!), and I was interested to see what we'd get out of it.

Tips for UK PonyCon-goers 8: Have a go!

What with all the movie-related news in recent weeks, it's been too long since the last one of these. So...

Tip 8: Take part in the fun

One of the unique things about a convention is that it gives you the chance to be part of the action in a way that you can't do on your own, or even at a regular meet. This does not mean that you need to go up on stage in front of everyone; there are plenty of ways you can take an active part in UK PonyCon even if you find actually "performing" too stressful to manage.

Bidding in the charity auction is participating. Joining in one of the singalongs is participating. Entering for "Destroy a Fakie" is participating. Chatting to a stallholder (when they're not busy!) is participating. Letting someone on their own join your group is participating. Having a bite at the café or a drink at the bar is participating. Directing someone at the station to the venue is participating...

...you get the idea. Of course, if you do have the ability and desire to do so, by all means get in touch with the UKPC staff about volunteering – they're always grateful for more help and will welcome you with open hooves! But for those of us for whom that's impossible for health or other reasons, we can still be more than simply passive consumers. And really, at a con, everyone can be part of the show!

CinemaScore for the movie is out!

As with the Rotten Tomatoes post, I'm marking this as spoilery beyond the cut, even though it really isn't. As with that earlier post, this is just a case of talking briefly about a grade. There are no spoilers for the plot of the movie whatsoever in the post itself.

Logan rates Logan

A little while ago, Chris did a post in which he compared how Fimfiction users ranked his published stories to how he personally would rank them. He took this concept from horizon, who took it from Estee. And now I'm taking it from Chris! I've made very few changes to his format, since it seems to work.

At the time of writing, there were 23 eligible stories – Little Bits and Friendship is Poetry are open-ended and/or incomplete. Just for the hay of it, I'm going to list them in reverse order. Here, then, is how I rank each story, along with a brief explanation of why. It's quite long, so I've used a page break.

What constitutes a movie spoiler?

I've now found a cinema in the English Midlands (my home region) where the movie is open for booking! It's the Broadway in Nottingham, where there are two showings a day from 20/10 to 31/10. The major chains don't tend to open bookings until a week or so out, so it's not surprising an indy would be the first I noticed.

This is a spoiler-free post, in spite of being about spoilers!

Now that we've reached the day when My Little Pony: The Movie goes on general release in North America (and a bunch of other places), the potential for being spoiled on major aspects of the film's plot is about to increase enormously. Most of us in this part of the world are trying to avoid spoilers to some degree – but what actually is a spoiler, especially as far as this blog is concerned?

I think we need to be realistic. If you're expecting to get through to 20th October without even seeing a still picture of any of the new characters, then frankly you're going to fail in that quest pretty hard. You'd literally need to hide in a cave for the next fortnight to achieve that. There's already a ton of merch on the shelves starring the main newcomers, and soon there'll be posters and perhaps even TV ads.

UK PonyCon is coming up just as the film releases, and that convention does indeed have a no-spoilers policy – but again, a total blackout is simply not going to happen. How could a convention like that possibly ban vendors from selling a huge range of merch? Answer: they can't and they won't. You will see images and toys featuring movie-specific characters there, and there is no realistic way of avoiding that.

Since I don't want to spoil people on specifics here, I'll use an analogy to explain Louder Yay's position: that of the first Equestria Girls film from 2013. This was where Sunset Shimmer made her debut – but I would not consider a still picture of Sunset in a neutral setting to be a spoiler. However, I would consider a picture of Demon Sunset to be one, as that's a significant plot twist. See?

And what about trailers? Frankly, neither they or synopses are really spoilers, since they're intended to be viewed before the film itself appears. However, here on LY I've still been reasonably careful to put them beyond a page break if their thumbnails reveal anything of significance. The official "Rainbow" video, for example, has a thumbnail that's simply Maddie Ziegler. Not a spoiler.

Now, how long will my spoiler blackout period last? Another vexed question, as there'll always be somebody who hasn't seen the film, even in ten years' time. I've taken the decision to be careful up until the end of 2017. As far as I can tell from IMDb's not-always-reliable list, nowhere that's going to get the film at all will have to wait until 2018, and that's informed my decision.

I will, of course, be posting a review of My Little Pony: The Movie once I've seen it on the big screen – but that will take a similar format to how I reviewed the Equestria Girls films. The above-the-line picture will be a neutral one, and nothing in the pre-break paragraph will reveal significant plot points. If you click beyond that point, though, I don't want any complaints about spoilers!

If you have any thoughts or comments on what I've just said, please feel free to use the comments section as normal. I'd ask that you avoid movie spoilers in any comments you do make, please.