Rating Graph

I recently discovered the Rating Graph website, which pulls TV and movie ratings from... somewhere (more on that in a minute) and turns them into an easy-to-read graph, including lines of best fit for each season where applicable. This lets you see which episodes of a series are the most and least popular, whether individual seasons gained or lost in popularity as they went on, and so on. It's interesting stuff.

Now, I'm going to put a page break here. While I won't be saying anything directly about the S8 episodes I have still to review, I will be touching on how they were received. If that's too spoilery for you, then you might not want to read any further until you've seen the whole season. For the rest of you, keep reading!

UK PonyCon tips: Travelodge Nottingham Central

I've previously put up a few tips for people who (like me!) are staying at this hotel, but they were on the Travel & Accommodation section of the UK PonyCon forums, which is only visible to logged-in members. What follows after the page break is a slightly edited public version.

Text Review Roundup: "What Lies Beneath"

Yes folks, it's a fandom post that isn't about the EFNW statement! (Well, except for this bit. I feel that someone ill enough to be in hospital with "critical health complications" of diabetes is unlikely to be able to effectively discharge their duties in a senior role on the board overseeing a major convention. And if the con can't do without said someone, well, that's a problem in itself.)

Right, back to fun stuff! Cuddlepug seems still to be behind the curve, and unfortunately, since I'm on a schedule with these posts, I can't wait any longer for him to publish. A new (to TRR) person in the form of DrakeyC, though! I didn't notice them earlier as they reviewed on the faster schedule. As always, please let me know if you find a text-based reviewer out there, though they will need to have their stuff published by the Thursday after an episode goes out on DF.

This episode was universally enjoyed and widely loved by the reviewers. Nobody at all had a seriously bad word to say about it, and several considered it an all-time classic ep.

Derpy News – very positive (graded A; "a good episode to test the mettle of the Young Six adds some intrigue to the Tree of Harmony")

The Dragon Warlock – very positive (graded A-; "The writing and character development is superb. The few bits of comedy are entertaining. The story as a whole is executed well.")

DrakeyC – very positive ("Say hello to one of the best episodes of the season! [...] THIS IS THE EPISODE THE STUDENT SIX HAVE NEEDED ALL SEASON LONG! Character depth, development, bonding moments!")

JDPrime22 – extremely positive (rated 10/10; "I loved this episode! So much fun, so many great jokes, and great character interactions")

Lightening McQueen – positive ("[the students'] quest of finding each other and getting out of the secret cavern underneath the School of Friendship was awesome")

Louder Yay – very positive (rated 5/5 ("just"); "some of the tests seemed remarkably harsh. Gallus in particular [but] supremely watchable character stuff [and a s]trong message")

Mega Sean 45 – extremely positive ("amazing episode! Season 8 is just getting better and better!")

MLEEP Reviews – extremely positive (rated 10/10; "truly was everything that I hoped it would be")

The Railfan Brony – very positive (rated Excellent; "a great Young Six focused episode")

ShutterflyEQD – extremely positive ("It was so, SO exciting to get ourselves another full fledged student 6 episode, and we got to see a lot more epic feats between them!")

Ponyfic Roundup 220: Now, Voyager

Title explanation: the Class 220 Voyager train

Read it Later story count: 298 (-8)

My RiL count is finally down below 300. It feels so good! Given that I haven't been reviewing as many stories as I'd like lately, you may correctly surmise that this means I've been weeding out some that no longer interest me as much as they did when I added them. Nothing much else to say in this section today, so let's get straight on to the reviewed fics. Four of them for your perusal this week, and they are:

Permission to Land by Flutterpriest
Comma Comma by Soufriere
Changeling by CCC
The Will of the Cosmos by Felixfloetryfox88

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

UK PonyCon 2018: some places to get food

UK PonyCon has now published the venue's catering arrangements for 2018. There aren't a lot of surprises in there, though "catering pod" sounds a little weird. Given this year's city centre location, it was always likely that the con venue itself would concentrate on quick bites, snacks and drinks, and indeed that is what has happened. Whether Nottingham Conference Centre has matched UWE's imagination last year in the cakes department remains to be seen!

Its provision does leave some gaps, especially as you can't take your own food or drink inside (plain water excepted). Most notably, it looks as though you'll need to leave the venue if you want a full-on hot meal, or food in the evening. Unsurprisingly, there are heaps of places to eat in a large city like Nottingham, so I won't even try to list all of them. Those who know Nottingham will doubtless know many other places, but I've generally stuck to chains as it's simpler if you're not familiar with the city.

I haven't made any attempt to include hotel restaurants, since some are only open to residents or have time restrictions. However, I do expect that quite a few people will eat breakfast at their hotels as the con venue won't be open until a bit late for that. Whether you choose to have it at your hotel or in town, I do strongly recommend that you eat a substantial breakfast if you can. Given the con's packed schedule, it may be tricky to find the time later, so getting a good meal under your belt early on makes sense.

Everywhere listed is under eight minutes' walk from the convention venue. I have generally listed only one outlet for each company. I've made exceptions for Wetherspoon, because it's inescapable; McDonald's, because it's a 24/7 option; and for Costa, because the first one listed is very close to the con venue but is small and has slightly restricted hours. Also, I know 25 Goldsmith St isn't actually the venue location, but just entering "Nottingham Conference Centre" returns the wrong side of the building. Click on an outlet name for a Google Map.

1. Coffee shops and quick bites

200 Degrees, Flying Horse Walk, NG1 2HN
Open 7:30am-8pm Fri, 8am-7pm Sat, 9:30am-6pm Sun, 7:30am-8pm Mon

Caffe Nero, Trinity Sq, NG1 2AS
Open 6:30am-7:30pm Fri/Sat, 7am-7:30pm Sun, 6:30am-7:30pm Mon

Costa (1), Goldsmith St, NG1 5JJ
Open 7am-6:30pm Fri, 8:30am-6pm Sat, 9am-5pm Sun, 7am-6:30pm Mon

Costa (2), Friar Lane, NG1 6BS
Open 6:30am-7:30pm Fri/Sat, 8am-6pm Sun, 6:30am-7:30pm Mon

Starbucks, Upper Parliament St, NG1 6LF
Open 6:30am-7:30pm Fri, 7:30am-7:30pm Sat, 9am-6pm Sun, 6:30am-7:30pm Mon

Subway, The Corner House, Forman St, NG1 4DB
Open 7am-4am Fri/Sat, 10am-midnight Sun, 7am-midnight Mon

2. Fast (and fastish) hot food

Bella Italia, Forman St, NG1 4DB
Open 9am-11pm Fri, 10am-11pm Sat, 10am-10:30pm Sun, 9am-11pm Mon

Burger King, Upper Parliament St, NG1 2AD
Open 11am-11pm daily

KFC, Milton St, NG1 3EN
Open 10am-midnight Fri/Sat, 10am-11pm Sun/Mon

McDonald's (1), Angel Row, NG1 6HL
Open 24/7

McDonald's (2), Clumber St, NG1 3ED
Open 24/7

Nando's, The Cornerhouse, Forman St, NG1 4DB
Open 11:30am-11pm Fri/Sat, 11:30am-10pm Sun/Mon

Pizza Express, King St, NG1 2AS
Open 11:30am-11pm daily

Pizza Hut, The Cornerhouse, Forman St, NG1 4DB
Open 11am-11pm Fri/Sat, midday-10pm Sun, 11am-10pm Mon

TGI Fridays, The Cornerhouse, Burton St [sic], NG1 4DB
Open 11:30am-11pm Fri/Sat, 10:30am-10:30pm Sun, 11:30am-10:30pm Mon

3. Pubs

The Gooseberry Bush, Peel St, NG1 4GL (Wetherspoon; website)
Open 8am-11pm daily

The Horn in Hand, Goldsmith St, NG1 5JT (website)
Open 11am-2am Fri/Sat, 11am-midnight Sun/Mon

The Joseph Else, South Parade, NG1 2JS (Wetherspoon; website)
Open 7am-midnight daily 

The Roebuck Inn, St James's St, NG1 6FH (Wetherspoon; website)
Open 8am-midnight daily

4. Convenience stores

Sainsbury's Local, Wheeler Gate, NG1 2NA
Open 7am-11pm daily

Tesco Express, Shakespeare St, NG1 4FQ
Open 7am-11pm daily

Little Waitrose, Milton St, NG1 4AR
Open 7am-10pm Fri/Sat, 11am-5pm Sun, 7am-10pm Mon

Episode review: S8E22: "What Lies Beneath"

That tiara... hmm. Smolder already has both horns and wings...

I'm now back from some quite stressful personal stuff (a family funeral) and I also spent a large chunk of yesterday out watching steam trains. As such, this review is being typed in late evening, so please excuse me if it's less coherent than usual. (How could anyone tell? —Ed.) "What Lies Beneath" was written by Michael Vogel, who rarely produces a poor episode and most recently gave us the interesting "The Mean 6". As for this instalment of the season...

Pony Music Library 56: "Raise This Barn"

( Text link )

If real life hadn't overtaken me for a while, I'd been planning to make these PML posts a little bit more frequent. I didn't manage that, but I can at least put one up now. The Library isn't only for fan-made songs, and this week there's one of the best known of all tunes from the show.

What? "Raise This Barn"

Who? Daniel Ingram and Cindy Morrow

Which? Show song

When? December 2012

Why? Sometimes, like any other reviewer, I get things wrong. When I reviewed "Apple Family Reunion", an episode which I really didn't find very impressive, I said that "the song rather left me cold". Whoops! It certainly doesn't these days, as I now find it one of the catchiest and most all-round fun songs in the series' history. I did at least say that I thought it would be wonderful as an audience-participation convention number, and I can report that this is so. "Raise This Barn" is infectiously upbeat, its whirling Western rhythms almost forcing you to get up and dance. (I said almost!) Yes, we all know it sounds like "racist barn", but these days I don't think anyone really bothers too much about that old meme. The song itself, however, endures. This PML entry is my mea culpa for that review comment!

Text Review Roundup: "A Rockhoof and a Hard Place"

Note: due to the "Parental Glideance" continuity issue with "The Washouts", Derpy News has decided to downgrade that episode's rating from A- to B.

Right, back to this week's ep. For whatever reason, there's no review from Cuddlepug this week, something which is a rare event. Rainbine's DA account also seems to have disappeared, so I'm afraid the slate isn't very long this time. From those who did write reviews, the general reception was very positive, and I find myself one of the few text-based reviewers not blown away by the episode.

Derpy News – very positive (graded A; "as close as this show will get to hinting at suicide [...] in the top tier for this season")

The Dragon Warlock – extremely positive (graded A; "I can easily say this is the best episode of the season so far [...] a superb episode with a great moral [and] solid character development")

JDPrime22 – very positive (rated 9/10; "I really did enjoy [it and] Rockhoof became more of a character this time around")

Lightening McQueen – positive ("awesome to see an episode focused on one of the Pillars [...] the humour was also amusing")

Louder Yay – fairly positive (rated 3/5; "one of those episodes that flickers and sparks quite a bit, but never quite catches fire to burn with a steady flame")

Mega Sean 45 – very positive ("this gave [Rockhoof's] character so much development [and] Yona provided such compelling influence")

MLEEP Reviews – fairly positive (rated 7.5/10; "The friendship between Yona and Rockhoof [was great, but] the first half of the episode mostly relied on repetitive humor")

The Railfan Brony – very positive (rated Excellent; "It was great to expand more on Rockhoof's character, as well as Yona's, and the theme and story are brilliant.")

ShutterflyEQD – very positive ("a very relatable episode [...] really does teach important values")

Ponyfic Roundup 219: Ludlow Sausage

Title explanation: much-missed discontinued flavour of Tyrrells Crisps

I discovered quite by chance today that Vimbert the Unimpressive has changed his username to "An Unimpressive". I've no idea why and it isn't any of my business anyway, but it did throw me briefly when I noticed the name while skimming the BMRL and wondered why someone I'd never heard of had been reviewed so often! Note that I don't usually go back and edit my reviews to use new usernames, as it's just too fiddly. I will do so if it's specifically requested by the author, however.

Read it Later story count: 306 (-9)

On a vaguely related note, you may occasionally notice that although I usually stick with canon names in my headers (so it's Minuette, not Colgate) I don't always follow either that or Fimfiction style. There's an example today: I'm sticking with "Vinyl Scratch" even though Fimfiction goes with Hasbro and uses "DJ P0N-3". Why? Because I think the official version looks dreadful. What more do you need?

Destination Unknown by Pale Horse
Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo by A Hoof-ful of Dust
Twilight Sparkle Was Shot by Coyote de la Mancha

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

New(ish) to writing ponyfic and would like a review? Read on!

Note: this post is copied from the matching one on Fimfiction.

I was wondering recently what do to for a themed edition of Ponyfic Roundup, my weekly review blog. Having seen Pascoite's recent blog post about underappreciated newcomers, that gave me an idea. So, I'd like to do a blog featuring new(ish) writers, or at least those who first published fairly recently. Read on for what it's all about!

Which authors are eligible?
You simply need to fit at least one of these criteria:

• Joined Fimfiction on or after 1 January 2017
  
• Published your first fic on or after 1 January 2017
  

Which fics are eligible?
Your story must fit all of these criteria:

• Maximum 20,000 words using the Fimfiction counter
  
• Marked Complete
  
• Not a crossover or sequel
  
• No more than 999 views at time of submission
  
• Published at least one week before time of submission
  

What about Mature fics?
Although I would prefer Everyone or Teen stories, M-rated fics are eligible, but I don't read many so probably won't pick more than one or two. Also:

• No foalcon -- this is a hard red line
  
• No extreme gore or squick -- this can be subjective, so feel free to ask if you're unsure!
  
• I'm not interested in pure clop -- there needs to be some sort of story there too
  

What will the reviews be like?
One-para potted reviews with a star rating (one to five) at the end. See the non-Spotlight reviews under this tag on my blog to get the idea. Please bear in mind that I give out more ones than fives! I will always explain why I like or dislike a fic, and you are very welcome to engage with me about it in comments or by PM. Note that I will not do "Accepted" or "Rejected" stuff. I really don't like that, and it's not what these reviews are about. The reviews will probably appear towards the end of 2018 or early in 2019.

Sounds fun! How do I submit?
Either leave a comment or PM me [on Fimfiction] with the story you'd like reviewed! If you're submitting an M-rated fic, Fimfiction rules mean you can't link to it directly there, but you can embed.

Small print
Only one story per author, please. If I get a large number of fics submitted, I may not be able to review them all. I will choose all but a couple of the stories myself, but the last two will be chosen randomly, to give people who write genres/characters I don't normally go for a chance. Pegasi can go down as well as up. Your village is at risk if you do not keep up repayments on your Elements. Subject to status.

Episode review: S8E21: "A Rockhoof and a Hard Place"

"And polish up the handle of the big front door!"

There are just a few episodes left now until we reach the end of Season 8, at least for those sticking to the weekly schedule. It's certainly been an interesting ride, and I'll try to make the time to do an end-of-season roundup (possibly in audio as well) sometime this autumn. This episode was written by Kaita Mpambara, who acquitted himself quite well on his debut with "Horse Play". How would this tale of a Pillar fare?

Text Review Roundup: "The Washouts"

I'd better squeeze in this TRR before episode 21 goes out on DF. No Dark Qiviut this week, but that's balanced bv the return of ShutterflyEQD. I've also found a new (to me) reviewer: Lightening McQueen. Be careful if you read their review, as their thoughts on all S8 episodes, right up to the finale, are on the same page. This episode's reception was generally positive, though this week I'm one of the more impressed by the ep!

Cuddlepug – mixed (graded C+; "a competent episode")

Derpy News – positive (graded A-; "Scootaloo’s following of a pony other than Dash also calls attention to Dash’s own insecurities [...] a good episode with a good lesson") Subsequently downgraded to B due to the "Parental Glideance" continuity fumble.

The Dragon Warlock – positive (graded B+; "another great entry to this season, and another superb Rainbow and Scootaloo episode [though it] does suffer some characterization issues")

JDPrime22 – very positive (rated 9/10; "The comedy was fantastic, the moral just as good, and I appreciate the fact that Scootaloo admitted that she couldn’t fly.")

Lightening McQueen – broadly positive ("cool and intense [...] very puzzling [given "Parental Glideance"] that Scootaloo didn't know that Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust know each other [...] much good humour [...] Rolling Thunder and Short Fuse were also nice")

Louder Yay – very positive (rated 4/5; "a generally very satisfying look at a slightly older Scootaloo [but] Twi should have stepped in [at the end]")

Mega Sean 45 – very positive ("This episode was just as cool as I thought it would be! [...] a great way for LD [to] return [but] one retcon to Parental Glideance")

MLEEP Reviews – positive (rated 8/10; "even though the moral is total bull-crap, it didn't wash away everything else of what was great about 'The Washouts' from the beautiful and epic animation to the highly anticipated return of [Lightning Dust]")

The Railfan Brony – mixed (rated Okay (just barely); "on one hand, there's a solid theme about bad influences [...] but on the other, Rainbow Dash's character is inconsistent at points and the message about eavesdropping was really bad")

Rainbine – generally positive (rated 4/5; "highlighted the best qualities of Rainbow Dash [and I was] entertained throughout [but] Lightning Dust is awful [and Spitfire's cameo] felt kind of forced")

ShutterflyEQD – positive ("great to finally see Lightning Dust once again [...] Scootaloo was still great [...] left us entertained the whole way through")

Episode review: S8E20: "The Washouts"

"What do you mean, bacon?"

Apologies for the delay in getting to this episode review. I hope to get the Text Review Roundup posted tomorrow, then I should be more or less back on the normal schedule next week. Anyway, "The Washouts" was an episode I'd been looking forward to, as it promised to be one about the relationship between unofficially-adoptive-sisters Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. Nick Confalone had one okay-I-suppose episode this season ("The Maud Couple") and one very entertaining one ("The Break Up Breakdown") – which category would "The Washouts" fall into?

Ponyfic Roundup 218: Spotlight on Carousel

I don't read very many [Horror]-tagged fics at all, and probably most of those I have read have been by Horse Voice. This time, I'm reading a story with that tag that isn't by him! Carousel was recommended to me by more than one person, so it seemed an interesting choice for one of my occasional longer reads. And it was...

Read it Later story count: 315 (+3)

Carousel by Thornquill
Rarity
Dark/Drama/Horror; 70k words; Mar–May 2016; Teen

There is a part of Ponyville’s past its citizens forgot, a part that was left to rot... until Rarity encounters a dark power in Old Town Hall.

Set several years before the show begins, this fic follows a newly-independent Rarity as she sets up what will eventually become the Carousel Boutique. Unfortunately for her, the building – or something or someone in it – doesn't seem to want her to succeed. This leads to some very tense and sometimes truly scary scenes, as well as one with a more domestic angle that's utterly horrific. The best thing this fic does is to be frightening without the need to resort to blood and guts. As the long description makes plain, this is a slow-burning horror, so you should expect plenty of slice-of-life stuff, including Rarity's relations with several of the future Mane Six. Some interesting ideas about magic, too. The ending is a bit of an anticlimax, and there are one or two slightly forced links with canon. Still, the heart of the fic is so good that it outweighs these concerns. A strong four. ★★★★

A bit more on Carousel, including major spoilers, follows the page break.

Blog schedule for this week

Although I have seen episode 20, I haven't had enough time to watch it again, something I always like to do before writing a review. As such, that will be delayed slightly until later this week, probably Thursday or Friday. Before that, there'll be Ponyfic Roundup as usual on Wednesday (a Spotlight edition this time) and anything else quick that comes to mind.

I have now seen the S8 finale, and I'll have quite a bit to say about that when the time comes. However, in deference to those who are watching on the Discovery Family schedule, I won't be talking about it until mid-October, at least not unless I've placed a clearly-marked spoiler warning and put the spoilery stuff after a page break. Suffice to say now that I'm in the camp that liked it.

UK PonyCon events schedule is out!

This actually happened late on Friday night – here's the schedule. By UK PonyCon standards, this is a very busy timetable, and certainly well up on last year's already good selection. I suppose that goes with the con being the largest ever, and with that allowing more capacity to add stuff. The full listings for each event always get added later on, so the lack of detail here isn't just an oversight. As with various other things, it's simply the UKPC Way.

The sharp-eyed will have noticed EileMonty's name on the schedule. She's down as giving a panel on Sunday morning, but given the existence of a four-hour Crystal Ball on Saturday night (crystal is the con's 2018 theme) you can't help but wonder... if she does perform, I wonder what she'll do? I'm sure her set will have changed a bit from what it was five years ago when she appeared at BUCK 2013, but she's so good that I'd imagine she'd draw a crowd whatever she chose.

Whether it will include me is another matter! The snag is that part of the concert clashes with the Pub Quiz, and that quiz is a fantastically enjoyable highlight of the convention for me. If EileMonty were to be on stage during that hour, I would probably have the most difficult scheduling decision I've ever faced at a Pony convention. I'm really hoping we'll get an order of performance before the actual con, so that I can make up my mind as to what I'll do.

Away from that, and from the stalwarts like the Charity Auction and Cosplay Contest, UKPC this year has some fascinating-looking events and panels. A couple that really catch my eye are "MLP on YouTube" on Saturday and "MLP The Movie: Its Place in Literary History" on Sunday. The screening of the 1986 movie is appealing, too. Smoooooze! I might not get to Rainbow Dash Attack this year, but I will sing. Whether karaoke or impromptu, it will happen!

The con is now only five weeks away, and it's starting to feel close in a way it hasn't done up to this point. Even though I have my ticket and hotel safely booked, and train tickets can wait a fair while longer, I'm just beginning to do some real planning as regards what to take, how to get to and from the venue each day, where to eat, etc. Cons being what they are, though, I'm sure some of my plans will change wildly during the weekend itself!

Where should a new ponyfic reader start?

There are still new people coming into the My Little Pony fandom, if in smaller numbers than there once were. Some of these are interested in fanfiction, or at least become so. The tricky bit these days is likely to be deciding what to read first. There are a small number of stories that everyone will have mentioned to them – Fallout: Equestria, Past Sins, My Little Dashie, Cupcakes – but they're not necessarily the best places to start, for reasons of length, quality or whatever.

This is the thing that occurred to me a day or two ago: what would you recommend as a first reading list for someone new to the ponyfic side of the fandom? Let's assume that they are familiar with the show itself, but not with anything else. Let's further assume that they're reasonably genre- and character-agnostic, but that they don't want crossovers and don't want clop. What do you think would make a good sampler for such a reader?

Text Review Roundup: "On the Road to Friendship"

It's nice to see that there are still people coming into this fandom. Not as many as there once were, to be sure, but I still see "Hi, I'm a new brony" around the place from time to time. Occasionally I even find one of them reading something I wrote, which is particularly satisfying. This experience made me think about something, but you'll have to wait a day or two longer to find out what it is!

As far as TRR goes, "On the Road to Friendship" was very well received. It came oh-so-close to having a 100% positive reception from our text-based reviewers, but Rainbine departed from the consensus and was not impressed. On the whole, however, Josh Haber seems to have come up with a winner here.

Cuddlepug – very positive (graded A-; "a sharp episode sandwiched between a cool road trip theme and a high-octane relationship drama – with a hefty slice of a decent song comprising thecreamy filling")

Dark Qiviut – extremely positive ("magnificent chemistry [...] incredibly tight dialogue [...] the season's best song [...] one of the best [episodes] of not just the season, but the show")

Derpy News – very positive (graded A-; "a brilliant ode to the Road Trip movies of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope")

The Dragon Warlock – positive (graded B+; "song is very catchy [...] character development for Trixie [...] some plot holes, some stuff left unexplained, and Starlight's behavior in the end [but] arguably the best episode involving the Starlight and Trixie team up")

JDPrime22 – very positive (rated 9/10; "The song was fantastic, the jokes spot on, and the message was really nice too.")

Louder Yay – very positive (rated 4/5; "in the "superior filler" category, with nothing terribly deep or (probably) important for the upcoming finale, but a whole heap of entertainment")

Mega Sean 45 – very positive ("fun episode! Loved the song! And I learned a friendship lesson about travelling with friends!")

MLEEP Reviews – extremely positive (rated 10/10; "these two were made to be best friends [...] best [song] of Season 8 [...] a smooth ride with plenty of entertaining tricks up its sleeves and no bumps")

The Railfan Brony – positive (rated Good; "the phrase "Great and Powerful" got old really quick [but nevertheless] this is Trixie's best episode")

Rainbine – negative (rated 2/5; "The song in the episode was catchy [but] I need to know who thought it was a good idea to make Starlight so unlikable in this episode by trading off Trixie's home [...] a huge disappointment")

Ponyfic Roundup 217: It Might as Well Rain Until September

Title explanation: 1962 Carole King song

Read it Later story count: 312 (-11)

I've actually managed to squeeze in some fic-reading that goes beyond three stories this week. Don't get too used to this, as it's not likely to happen every time, much as I'd like it to. I mean, I'll try, but every time I think I'm back on an even keel something comes along to capsize me once again. Still, for this PR the stories under the (rather blurry) microscope are:

No Tame Forest by PhantomFox
Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon Bon by shortskirtsandexplosions
The Brief Reign of Princess Twily by Forthwith
Zipporwhill's Secret by Alaborn
Fluttershy's Tail by Alexstrazsa

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0

Episode review: S8E19: "On the Road to Friendship"

"No, Trixie, I'm sorry. That jackalope costume just doesn't work."

Here we are again, back with the episode reviews after the "Yakity-Sax" break. To remind you: I reviewed that ep back when DF first showed it. This time we're back with E19, which brought the popular (with most) modern team of Starlight and Trixie back together. The episode was written by show stalwart Josh Haber, whose previous effort this season was the pretty darn good "Molt Down". Could he bring us another 22 minutes of fun?

Flashfic 150's September (not-actually-a-)contest is now live

All things being well, I'll have my review of S8E19 up tomorrow. I've actually now seen up to episode 23 inclusive, but I'm going to stick to my weekly review schedule to stop things getting too hectic for me to cope with.

I keep forgetting to plug these things, so here we go: Flashfic 150 is a monthly contest, run by yours truly, in which you get a prompt and have three weeks (ish) to write a brief story inspired by it. The catch is that you have a maximum of 150 words to do so. There are a few other rules, notably no M-rated fics and no crossovers, but otherwise you get fairly wide discretion as to how you go about things. I judge this, which adds another dimension of unspeakable terror.

There's no actual prize for Flashfic 150, beyond the winner getting to choose the next prompt, largely because I don't want there to be a prize. It's not supposed to be that kind of contest, but rather a bit of fun. You probably will get some feedback, though how much tends to vary quite a bit from month to month. Everyone with a Fimfiction account can enter – you just need to join the Flashfic group and you're good to go.

The prompt for September is "Birthday Magic", and you can find the contest thread right here. If you want to give it a go, you'd be very welcome!

UK PonyCon sells out again

For the fourth year in succession, UK PonyCon sold out yesterday. Despite its largest ever attendance (1,000) the convention has once again reached its limit in August (just) – not bad for a con that doesn't actually take place until the middle of October! Thanks to my various personal situations, I'm still not sure of being able to make it, but I have my ticket and hotel sorted out so if things go as I hope then I will be there for the whole weekend.

I was reminded last night that this way of doing things, with attendance limits and no walk-up sales, is strange and unfamiliar to American fans. I assure you that it's completely standard practice over here – we just don't have the locations or finances to allow the hiring of venues much larger than this one. Yes, BUCK managed it, but BUCK had a huge budget by comparison – well into six figures (pounds), which is absolutely not the norm for British MLP conventions.

What's particularly pleasing for me is that every year since I first attended UKPC (2014) the con has grown larger. It's now nearly three times the size it was at that point, and there seems little sign as yet of the British fandom rolling over and dying. True, UK PonyCon has the slight cushion of having been a multi-generation event from the very start,* but G4 fans are by far the largest segment. We're most definitely not finished yet!

* Late 2004. It's the oldest MLP con in Europe, and second globally only to the My Little Pony Fair.