Hey look, Logan's announcing another PR delay

Afraid so! Ponyfic Roundup will be here on Friday this week. Things have kept on coming up, and I don't like reading stories for review unless I can give them a reasonable amount of time. Rushing through a fic is okay if I'm the only person it concerns, but when I'm putting up reviews in public I have a responsibility to be fair to each story's author.

This piece of Pony history's been gone a while now, but it's still rather sad

Rainbow Rocks trailer, 13 Feb 2014

No, not the Rainbow Rocks trailer embedded above, which as you see is still there, but the YouTube comments that once went along with it. It's something that saddens me about the whole "YouTube Kids" change that took effect quite some while ago now: any video that's been deemed as such loses all its comments. I know there are other places you can see RR hot takes, but for all their drawbacks YouTube comments do have an immediacy that few other places do.

While I'm here, I'll use the opportunity to say that I'm having a brief break from the rewatch series, so there won't be anything up this weekend. However, I may try to get the pre-Rainbow Rocks shorts watched over the coming week so that I can do a summary post next weekend. Then it'll be on to the film itself – which will of course get a full write-up – and after that, I will do another summary post for the musical shorts from April 2015. And then it'll be S5 of FiM.

Ponyfic Roundup 357

Read it Later story count: 113 (-5) 

That RiL count is heading in the right direction! For those of you who may be new to Ponyfic Roundup, I've said for some years now that my ideal RiL list size was 100. I feel that gives me enough choice without overwhelming me, and allows fics I add to replace reviewed ones to themselves get reviewed without waiting years and years. Considering that my highest RiL count ever was 499, I think I've got it down quite well! Right, onwards. Today's three stories:

Fluttershy's Extremely Odd Jobs by MythrilMoth
Scootaloo's Bedtime Story by The Abyss
Saddled by kudzuhaiku

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.

Oh yeah, one other point on the S4 rewatches

This is something I really should have included in my "Reflections" post yesterday, but oh well. Season 4 was the season in which Derpy made her triumphant return. It's not always easy to remember now, but for many fans (not all, but a lot) Derpy's almost complete sidelining during S3 was a really big deal. And, therefore, so was her reappearance in "Rainbow Falls" and her role in several subsequent episodes. We may have had to wait until S5 for her to speak again, but if you weren't around in 2014 then believe me, Derpy coming back was very happily received.

My Little Repeats: Reflections on Season 4

The Hub's "Twilight's Kingdom" teaser, 3 May 2014

It took me four months to get through S3. To get through the twice-as-long S4 took me seven months, a little less than twice the time. Progress! First of all, let's see where this season ranks in terms of its mean star rating. (You can see how I rated each individual episode after the page break.) Four seasons of Friendship is Magic so far, and guess what? S4 comes out on top! Not by all that much, but it does. The scores on the doors are:

1. Season 4: 3.42
2= Season 1: 3.38
2= Season 2: 3.38
4. Season 3: 2.92

Past the cut, I'll provide the aforementioned full list of my star ratings. I'll also ramble on for a while about my thoughts on one of FiM's most popular seasons.

2011 EqD interview with William Anderson

I am hoping (note the stress!) to have my look-back at S4 of FiM up tomorrow. While we wait for that, I recently discovered this interview with William Anderson, lurking in the depths of Equestria Daily. Published on 29 June 2011 – in the S1/S2 hiatus – it gives some interesting insight into the state of things way back when. There's little that's particularly astounding, but there's a great quote: "I mean really, what else would one do for Photo Finish but German Progressive House?" Anderson also mentions that the score for Rarity's second fashion show in "Suited for Success" took him a very long time to get right.

Incidentally, the Marvel interview mentioned early on in the EqD piece is no longer online, but you can read it thanks to the Wayback Machine: go right here to do that.

Ponyfic Roundup 356

Read it Later story count: 118 (-5) 

I've cut a few really long stories out of my RiL list that, realistically, I don't think I'm ever going to have time to read. The 400,000-word Lyrafic Equestrian Fanfiction, for example. I haven't forgotten the list of longer fics I posted quite some time back, and I think I know which one I'd like to go for next time I do have time. (No, not saying yet!) But 400k words is just too much for me. Anyway, here are today's three considerably shorter stories:

The Flower Mare by Flammenwerfer
The Endless Song by psychicscubadiver
Spike Talks To Applejack's Hooves by CAPTAIN YOSHI HD

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 0 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.

Pony Music Library 62: "Fly My Kite"

Hey look, another feature I haven't used here since 2019! Pony Music Library was a fun little series, so I thought I'd bring it back, at least as an occasional thing. I'm starting off now with a song that wasn't even released when I posted PML 61!

4everfreebrony – Fly My Kite

What? "Fly My Kite"

Who? 4everfreebrony

Which? Original song

When? May 2020

Why? A true modern classic now, one which a friend found when it was still quite new but which I really like. This is a song about Starlight, whose liking for kites appeared in S7E04, "Rock Solid Friendship", though she'd had kites in her room a season earlier. Anyway, the song is one of the wonderfully melodic pieces for which 4everfreebrony has been rightly famed for many years now. The vocals are calm, yet with just enough emotion to hint at the emotional turmoil Glimmy has been through during her life. They give us a few of the highlights (and lowlights) of Starlight's story from Sunburst leaving right through to her acceptance by the Ponyville gang. Through it all, Starlight finds happiness and solace in her kite-flying. Never, ever let it be said that brony music died after 2014!

Happy 10th birthday, "Flutterwonder"!

PinkiePieSwear – Flutterwonder

One of the most beloved of all My Little Pony remixes completes a decade online today. It was 16 August 2011 when PinkiePieSwear's superbly chilled, relaxing version of "So Many Wonders", filly Fluttershy's short solo song from "The Cutie Mark Chronicles". This remix means a very great deal to me, and not only because I'm such a big Fluttershy fan! It's so calming, soothing, refreshing, all those ings. Happy Birthday, and deep wide bell wonder indeed.

Text Review Roundup: the G5 trailer

 *blows the dust off this tag* It's been a while, hasn't it? The last Text Review Roundup I posted was for the FiM finale back in October 2019. I wasn't sure at that point whether I'd ever compile another one, but the trailer for A New Generation has provoked a number of text-based reactions. Not a huge number, but at least enough for a Roundup. I do have to chop them for TRR, and Mike's in particular (being by far the longest and most detailed piece) suffers more than most in that regard, but I'll do my best to summarise them here.

DrakeyC – positive ("A lot of the jokes landed, the characters were engaging and likeable, and the animation is fun. It was a little off in places [...] but then so was G4 at first [...] doing its own separate thing [to G4]")

Jade Dawn – positive ("I'm actually really warming up to the animation, the characters seem pretty charming and the jokes land pretty well...yeah, I'm cautiously optimistic about this. And Izzy is adorable.")

Louder Yay – broadly positive ("The animation looks absolutely fine [...] characters seem okay [...] I'm still on the fence [about the G4 link. The film looks like being] an entertaining diversion with moderately cute characters and a lot of colour.")

Mike Cartoon Pony – mixed ("Izzy seems to be a character that works; everything in the [first part of the film] looks passably entertaining; having a prologue with Sunny as a child is obvious but brilliant [...] aspects of the visuals do work, and are impressive, especially for what I'm sure is not a budget above $20 million [but t]he stench of being hip and relatable to little kids is hard to waft off [and] were it not for the brand name, this film wouldn't hold anyone's attention for long")

My Little Scribbler – mildly positive ("Right away, the characters and animation looks really good [...] movie looks fun [but] I do have some concerns about how this show will fit into MLP:FiM [...] I assume all [my] questions will be answered in the movie, but if it doesn't, I might be disappointed.")

Pop Goes the Darke Raven – mixed ("To be fair this has the potential to be a rather good series. It has potential to be the start of a great thing. As long as we stick an asterisk to it [...] this is simply Modern Human World with ponies [...] The hyper real animation style of the movie is… A bit concerning. Apparently Equestria wasn't the only one that lost its magic.") 

Present Perfect – broadly positive ("there's definitely going to be a lot of the standard Hollywood sass and smarm in place of character traits [but] The trailer made me laugh a number of times, and, well, mostly it just comes down to Izzy. She's clearly best pony. [...] I'm still a little bit put off by the Filly Funtasia character designs, but [I'm now] used to them.")

Rescue Sunstreak – positive ("I had the worst gut feeling it was going to be unwatchable, and I went from that, to excited to see what G5 brings us.")

My Little Repeats 91: "Twilight's Kingdom, part 2"

Might have been easier just to use AJ's death glare to melt the bars...

S4E26: "Twilight's Kingdom, part 2"
10 May 2014

My original rating (for the whole finale): 9/10 (=★★★★★)
IMDb score: 9.2

The one with Twilight not hitting Tirek in the face

Thoughts: Here we are, then. Was it worth the ride? Yes. Oh sweet Celestia (thank you for that, Rarity), yes it was. I must admit I'd wondered from time to time whether this episode would hold up after all these years. It does, you know. It's exciting all the way through, with a real sense of threat and a nagging uncertainty about how Twilight and her friends can possibly win the day. Of course we knew they would, but the tension remained. It looks excellent as well, and the sad image of the burning library has rightly become legendary. Of course the big fight scene is absolutely incredible, and it was never bettered. Probably it never could be, not in a TV-Y show like this. Tirek remains one of the most menacing villains the show has had, though like all the best villains he was the architect of his own downfall thanks to his dishonest gift to Discord: Scorpan betrayed Tirek the first time, Scorpan's medallion provided the means to beat him this time. A nice parallel. Rainbow Power is silly but proved entirely inconsequential, and these days the castle doesn't bother me nearly as much as it once did. As blatantly toyetic introductions go, it wasn't too bad in the end. "Let the Rainbow Remind You" is a very good closing song, too. Only second best in this finale as a whole, but considering the competition that was always likely. We even get some epic closing credits music. Sure, this final episode of S4 is by no means flawless, but this episode is just so exciting and visually thrilling that I can only give it the top rating – and so S4 does indeed end on a high. Five stars it got the first time around, and five stars it keeps!

Choice quote: Fluttershy: "I know." (In context, I adore that line.)

New rating: ★★★★★

Before heading onwards, I'll do my usual brief(ish) look back at this season. After that, there'll be a quick swerve into Humanised World for Rainbow Rocks. Then it'll be time for "The Cutie Map", which is an episode I've been looking forward to for the entirety of this rewatch series!

The G5 A New Generation trailer, with a few thoughts

A New Generation trailer
(Note: the trailer should be slightly over two minutes long.
If you get the wrong video, try one of these alternative links: 1, 2, 3)

Well, here it is, folks. The full trailer for the G5 film. I've decided to stick the video above the break, since frankly there's nothing exactly spoilery in the thumbnail. However, after the break there will be spoilers as I give some (fairly brief) comments as to my thoughts on the trailer and what I now expect from the film itself when it appears on 24th September.

Ponyfic Roundup 355

Read it Later story count: 123 (+1) 

It's a busy week in the world of Pony, isn't it? Hence this week's PR being out a day later than usual. I expect to be back to Wednesday next week. Anyway, not a lot else to say today, so let's get on to the stories under review.

Baby Limestone Rides to War by CoffeeMinion
Killing All the Right Ponies by ObabScribbler
Rain by DeiStar

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.

My Little Repeats 90: "Twilight's Kingdom, part 1"

One day later than planned owing to the G5 trailer being announced for tomorrow, here we go with the penultimate part of one of the most popular Friendship is Magic seasons.

A fun Easter Egg here: that's Blythe's scooter from Littlest Pet Shop

S4E25: "Twilight's Kingdom, part 1"
10 May 2014

My original rating (for the whole finale): 9/10 (=★★★★★)
IMDb score: 9.2

The one with smiling and waving

Thoughts: Here we are: the grand finale! Well, the first half of it at least. I enjoyed it enormously in 2014, and I still think it's great. I must admit I was wondering whether it would hold up after all these years – but apart from a few niggles, it generally does. This episode held me almost all the way. Tirek may not be quite as brutal as his G1 equivalent, but he's still a truly dangerous villain with the ability to manipulate Discord into joining him. (And in S4, at least, Discord's wavering on how good he really wants to be still feels believable.) The tie-in to the Cerberus scene two seasons earlier in "It's About Time" was quite something, too. Twilight's doubts about what being a princess means are something we don't see explored very much from S5 onwards, but at least we got it here, and it gave us one of the finest songs of the series, too. The visuals continue to be as good as S4 has got us used to, and while the rest of the Mane Six don't do a huge amount there is at least a nice touch of Fluttershy's slightly different view of Discord from the others. Finally, the requirement that the alicorns "rid ourselves of our magic" is perhaps a bit silly if you consider it too hard, given all the threats that must have turned up over the centuries, but it does up the stakes very nicely. Discovering how the box works by Pinkie chucking Boneless at it is even sillier, but it does advance the plot. Overall, I reckon this episode is a very high four for me these days. The song almost gets it a five, but not quite.

Choice quote: Discord: "Woe is me; will I ever learn the intricate nuances of being a good friend?"

New rating: ★★★★

Next up is, of course, part 2 – bringing us to the end of an era in FiM, and in more ways than we appreciated at the time. I'll be considering the episode on its own merits, and trying not to be influenced by what happened next. Trying

G5 trailer coming this week!

The big news yesterday was that a trailer for A New Generation (as the G5 movie will apparently be known) is on the way this week! It looks as though the trailer will appear on Thursday, so around a month and a half before the film itself appears on 24th September. Excitement!

Now, this is going to take priority on here, of course. That means a little bit of shuffling around of my plans for this week, but then that won't be anything new to regular readers! So, my schedule now reads:

Wednesday: S4E25 rewatch review
Thursday: Ponyfic Roundup
Friday: G5 trailer post
Saturday: S4E26 rewatch review

Four posts in four days – five in five if you include this one! It's been a while since I've done that on here. :)

My Little Repeats 89: "Equestria Games"

Before I begin, I'd like to thank everyone who takes the time to comment on these posts. Whether it's just a one-liner or Mike Cartoon Karma's incredibly detailed extravaganzas (and to answer your comment from last time, Mike, I do indeed read them!) they're all very welcome. And now, by dint of some complete accident meticulous planning, I'm watching this episode during the Olympics! Off we go...

Blueblood actually paying attention to something for once

S4E24: "Equestria Games"
Written by Dave Polsky
3 May 2014

My original rating: 7.5/10 (=★★★)
IMDb score: 7.9

The one with ice archery

Thoughts: For a long time in 2014, many of us thought the Games would be S4's grand finale. As such, some fans were slightly disappointed that they turned out not to be. Still, this remains quite a fun episode, with lots of variety and colour as befits its subject matter. I like Twilight's slightly awkward compassion for Spike in this episode, and I believe this was the first ep (though of course not the last!) to feature four alicorns in one scene. As a Spike ep it doesn't quite hit the mark perfectly, although it's one of the best of his focus stories up to this point and the anthem scene is cringily perfect. The "ice cloud" scene is strange, though: a Games which took such precautions over cheating unicorns would surely have ponies standing by to avoid such danger. The Wonderbolts didn't help, either! I enjoyed Ponyville's relay silver winning the medal count* and I was particularly happy Rainbow and co didn't go in for the always-irritating "second is first loser" stuff when they medalled. Overall, it's all a bit Polsky: lots of fun ideas that maybe don't quite stitch together as seamlessly as they might have. A high three is what I gave this in 2014, and it's keeping that rating.
* Though only if you use US-style counting... ;)

Choice quote: Twilight: "Equestria, we have a problem."

New rating: ★★★

Next up is the big finish! Though as per my usual practice, I'll be giving each half of the finale its own post. "Twilight's Kingdom" is one of the most famous and popular episodes in FiM history – but does it stand the test of time? Part 1 coming next.

Ponyfic Roundup 354

Read it Later story count: 122 (-3) 

I've been incredibly tired this week for some reason, but a little bit of ponyfic rarely does any harm in clearing the clouds. No Flutterfics today I'm afraid (though there will be soon!) but there are the usual three stories. While I'm here, I do have a couple of plans for themed editions of PR, but they'll need me to have the time to read at least five fics to be fun, so I won't set a date. Anyway...

Track Switch - Frankfurt Calling by Celefin
Some days... by TheNorthernT
A Fact for Twilight by bookplayer

★: 1 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.