Two thousand up!

generation of MLP (code lyoko of aelita) by guruyunus17
(CC by 3.0)

This is my 2,000th post on Louder Yay, and by Celestia I never thought back in 2012 that I would get anywhere near this mark. Okay, so a few of those posts have been me waffling on about why such-and-such an update is going to be delayed, but hay: most of them are still real posts! It's fair to say that I'd be much less likely to have continued for this long had it not been for you, my wonderful readers and commenters. Even if I don't get the quantity of interactivity that I might on Fimfiction, the quality is right up there. That's on you fine people. Thank you for coming along with me on this ride!

And, of course, thank you to everyone from the top of Hasbro right through to us ordinary fans, everyone who's made My Little Pony and its fandom what it is, has been for the past four decades, and will hopefully continue to be long into the future. Yes, the bad as well as the good, the rough as well as the smooth. A road with no bumps or bends in it gets boring after a while. As a very wise group of ponies once put it: we're not flawless. So, Logan: another 2,000 posts coming up? Well... we'll see. ;)

My Little Repeats 112: "Scare Master"

The animators clearly had a lot of fun with this episode

S5E21: "Scare Master"

31 Oct 2015

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 8.0

The one with Fluttershy's anime drawings

Thoughts: S5's Nightmare Night-themed episode went out on Halloween itself, which was nice. It's not a bad episode in its own right, either. I particularly like the ending, in which Fluttershy is open that much as she likes her friends, this isn't something she wants to do with them. The message of "you don't have to share all your friends' interests" is an excellent one. Although her scaredy-pony stuff can feel just a bit overblown for S5 'Shy, she still has a fairly good episode all round, and I quite like her spooky tea party. More than the genuinely scary stuff she does in the maze, really, even if we do see one of Derpy's finest moments in there! There's the odd scene here that's really quite scary for a TV-Y show, though I imagine the Halloween setting allowed a little bit of leeway. The Mane Six's costumes are cute (especially Applejack's) and Spike's double-headed dragon suit is hilarious, but Rainbow Dash really isn't at her best in this episode. At times she's really rather a jerk, and if anything more reminiscent of her S1/S2 self. You'd never mistake "Scare Master" for one of FiM's most important episodes, but it's better than mere filler and it easily kept my attention for 22 minutes. I scored this three in 2015, and I see no reason to change that rating now.

Choice quote: Rarity: "That's so plain it's frightening."

New rating: ★★★

Next up is "What About Discord?" Oh what utter, utter joy this thought brings me. I shall, of course, try to approach my rewatch without prejudging the episode. Which might not be easy...

Ponyfic Roundup 389

Read it Later story count: 90 (+1)

It's looking as though my RiL list size is going to settle at around 90 stories. I'm quite comfortable with that, since I've never wanted it to practically disappear, but I'd also prefer it didn't bloat its way back to the 400+ fics I had on it a few years ago. Four under review as usual today, and they are these:

Two and A Half Dragons by RayneTheSkunk
Twilight Time by Alchemystudent
Murderer by Seer
Two Cracked Eggs by FanficReader920

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

UK PonyCon 2022 announces Kelly Sheridan

Exciting news from UK PonyCon yesterday: this October, the convention will welcome Kelly Sheridan as a special in-person guest! As many readers will recall, she was hoping to visit for UKPC 2020, but of course we all know what happened then, and circumstances including Canada's remaining Covid-related travel requirements did not allow her to come over for UKPC 2021. It's therefore really good to find out that that Ms Sheridan will be able to make it over this autumn.

This will be the first time ever that UKPC will have had an official MLP voice actor as an in-person guest. They've had other guests, such as musicians, authors and artists, but Kelly Sheridan is a first. Personally, I think she's an excellent choice, even apart from her thwarted intention to attend two years ago. By all accounts she's a very nice person, and – ideally for this multi-gen con – she has voiced characters in G1 (Melody in Tales), G3 (Cheerilee) and of course G4 (Starlight). I hope she finds UK PonyCon a really welcoming place to be.

I'd very much like to make it to Nottingham myself this year, especially as UKPC last October was a roaring success in ways that went beyond the understandable exultation at finally being able to go to a convention in person again. For various reasons attending UKPC isn't something I'm going to be able to commit to just yet, but the news about Kelly Sheridan's attendance is a real plus. It may be nearly six months off, but UK PonyCon is on its way – and at a rate of knots!

Ponyfic Roundup 388

Read it Later story count: 89 (nc)

And we're back! After a break last week, Ponyfic Roundup returns today. With the requisite four stories under review, at that. Rather than rambling on here as I usually do, I'll get straight on to the meat of the post. This week on PR, we have:

A New Age by SaddleSoapOpera
Twilight finds a book of puns by Troll
The Shippers Cometh by J-D
Arrival by Bicyclette

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

My Little Repeats 111: "Hearthbreakers"

On the day of rockening, it's who dares wins

S5E20: "Hearthbreakers"

24 Oct 2015

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 7.9

The one with Chancellor Puddinghead puddings

Thoughts: The debuts of Limestone and Marble Pie, not to mention the untouchable (kind of) Holder's Boulder. It's very much a Christmas episode, despite going out in October. The story is quite simple, and in some ways Applejack's faux pas in trying to push her traditions on the Pies might sit better earlier in her FiM career. Still, there's a good deal of warmth here, and even if MarbleMac was brought to quite a harsh end down the line, it's a cute quiet pairing here. (Why a few fans found it uncomfortable beats me. They're about fourth cousins at closest.) It's a really pretty decent episode for Pinkie Pie, which rarely hurts an ep, and Maud's friendship with Apple Bloom is nice. Actually that's something I wish we'd seen a but more of over the series. One or two nice bits of round-the-edges world-building, and this is another episode with custom end credits music. I wish that aspect hadn't been dropped later in the show's run. "Hearthbreakers" isn't a spectacular episode by any means, but the characters are appealing (yes, even you, Limestone) and I think it does what a festive ep needs to. I'm comfortable letting it keep its three-star rating.

Choice quote: Maud: "We have rock soup."

New rating: ★★★

Next up is "Scare Master", which I think has aged reasonably well. Of course, I reserve the right to change my opinion entirely once the rewatch article goes up!

assy's "Everypony loves royalty!"

S5E14: "Canterlot Boutique"

12 Sep 2015

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 7.9

The one with strawberry cinnamon cilantro cupcakes

Thoughts: After the first of FiM's irritating mid-season hiatuses, we did at least have the stalwart Amy Keating Rogers in the writing saddle for the show's return. It's a good episode, too, albeit perhaps the least of the run from "Amending Fences" to "Rarity Investigates!" We see Rarity in her fashion designing mode more centrally than since "Suited for Success", and personally I prefer Canterlot as the big target for her than Manehattan as happened later in the series. Sassy Saddles (voiced by Kelly Sheridan, incidentally) is a decent sidekick, albeit not one with enough sass to be truly memorable. A hint of a troubled past career ("another failed boutique"?) but she was neither unpleasant enough to be a "love to hate" pony or sympathetic enough for the redemption to really click. I still don't like the very last joke, which is a bit too close to "let's make fun of the weird-looking pony" for comfort, though it wasn't AKR's fault. A couple of the other shop customers were fun, though, especially the gothy Moonlight Raven. One small criticism of Rarity: the customer who complained her Princess Dress wasn't what she ordered was correct, yet she was portrayed almost as the bad guy for saying so. Still, overall the episode's core plot of "creative job made into a chore" was fine and appropriate. It was executed pretty well, there's a nice song by Jona Lewie and even though it's not an outstandingly memorable episode it is good. I think it's perfectly worthy of a very solid three. No change to this ep's star rating!

Choice quote: Rarity to Twilight: "In every poll Sassy Saddles took, you were the most popular princess!"

New rating: ★★★★★

Next up is another Rarity-centric episode, "Rarity Investigates!" – it's widely seen as an excellent ep. Certainly in 2015 I agreed with that consensus. I hope I shall have at least as much fun with it this time around!

Normal service will be resumed shortly

A little update for everyone. Thank you for the kind wishes on the last post: they were seen and appreciated. I'm now in a position to think about returning to Louder Yay, and my current intention is for the next FiM rewatch post to go up over the weekend. I also do now think there should be a Ponyfic Roundup next week. It will certainly be nice to be back. :)

Short hiatus

Quick heads-up. Outside events have intruded, and I'm really not likely to be in the right frame of mind for doing this for a little while. As such, it'll now be a few days until I resume the FiM rewatches ("Hearthbreakers" is next up) and there will not be a Ponyfic Roundup this week. My apologies for any disappointment.

Tell Your Tale – first impressions

This is a non-spoilery post! I've now watched the four episodes of the G5 Tell Your Tale series that Hasbro included in the first batch of releases. Tell Your Tale is the 2D series which you can watch for free on YouTube. Apparently no fewer than 70 (seventy) episodes are in the offing, so is it any good? Actually... I quite liked it. The designs were simplified compared with the 3D CGI in the movie, obviously, but I thought they worked quite well. They were certainly less... frantic than the Pony Life designs. The characters stayed (mostly) reasonably likeable, and the stories while inevitably very simple were pleasant enough. I'm not sure whether I'll have the stamina for another 66 episodes of Tell Your Tale, but for now at least I'm sticking with it.

Ponyfic Roundup 387

Read it Later story count: 89 (-3)

This post is a few hours late this week owing to technical derpiculties. For which read, Logan managed to delete his entire write-up just as it was about to be scheduled and has therefore had to redo the lot from his notes this afternoon. Go Logan. Anyway, four fics as usual this week. One that's quite a bit longer than a non-Spotlight story here tends to be, plus three quickies. Shall we get moving? Might be a good idea...

How to Friendship a Comet by Fylifa
The Cruelties of Friendship by SomeGenericPonyNameHere
A Bit of a Kick and Spice by SirNinji
Scholar's Mate by Undome Tinwe

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

My Little Repeats 110: "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows"

"You mean it was in the Public Announcements column all along?!"

S5E19: "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows"

17 Oct 2015

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 8.3

The one with Shining Armor's ant farm

Thoughts: Given the excitement of "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" the previous week, G. M. Berrow's debut as a show writer (she was already well known for her FiM chapter books) was a little overlooked in places. This is a lower-key episode, although in retrospect it was the genesis of one of the series' less successful innovations, the introduction of Flurry Heart. Here, Pinkie knows that Cadance is expecting but tries desperately not to blab the secret to anypony else. (The fandom had guessed for ages thanks to merch, though at this point thought the foal would be called Skyla...) It's a bit of a one-note story and possibly a little thin for an episode by this point, but it's watchable. Pinkie is decently written, which always helps, although I wish her scavenger hunt hadn't been quite so rushed. Shining Armor's nerd turn was great as it usually is, and I liked Rarity getting to do a version of the "Forever" thing at Pinkie. Oh, Fluttershy's squeeing at the thought of an albino squirrel was cute, but there were irritations here. I didn't much like Pinkie literally "going to pieces" at the end: looking at it from 2022, that seems more of a Pony Life joke than a Friendship is Magic one. I still can't quite work out what they were going for with the Mayor Mare scene, and apparently Mr Cake calls his wife... "Mrs Cake". Well then. In some slightly indefinable way, this felt like an inexperienced show-writer's work. Most of the elements are there, but the gel isn't quite superglue. Still fun though, so it keeps its three-star rating.

Choice quote: Featherweight: "Maybe you'd better just make me a giraffe."

New rating: ★★★

Next up is "Hearthbreakers", one of those late-S5 episodes that a lot of people tend to forget exists. My own memories are vague, though I seem to recall quite liking it in a low-key sort of way. If Limestone Pie can ever be low-key.

assy's "Everypony loves royalty!"

S5E14: "Canterlot Boutique"

12 Sep 2015

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 7.9

The one with strawberry cinnamon cilantro cupcakes

Thoughts: After the first of FiM's irritating mid-season hiatuses, we did at least have the stalwart Amy Keating Rogers in the writing saddle for the show's return. It's a good episode, too, albeit perhaps the least of the run from "Amending Fences" to "Rarity Investigates!" We see Rarity in her fashion designing mode more centrally than since "Suited for Success", and personally I prefer Canterlot as the big target for her than Manehattan as happened later in the series. Sassy Saddles (voiced by Kelly Sheridan, incidentally) is a decent sidekick, albeit not one with enough sass to be truly memorable. A hint of a troubled past career ("another failed boutique"?) but she was neither unpleasant enough to be a "love to hate" pony or sympathetic enough for the redemption to really click. I still don't like the very last joke, which is a bit too close to "let's make fun of the weird-looking pony" for comfort, though it wasn't AKR's fault. A couple of the other shop customers were fun, though, especially the gothy Moonlight Raven. One small criticism of Rarity: the customer who complained her Princess Dress wasn't what she ordered was correct, yet she was portrayed almost as the bad guy for saying so. Still, overall the episode's core plot of "creative job made into a chore" was fine and appropriate. It was executed pretty well, there's a nice song by Jona Lewie and even though it's not an outstandingly memorable episode it is good. I think it's perfectly worthy of a very solid three. No change to this ep's star rating!

Choice quote: Rarity to Twilight: "In every poll Sassy Saddles took, you were the most popular princess!"

New rating: ★★★★★

Next up is another Rarity-centric episode, "Rarity Investigates!" – it's widely seen as an excellent ep. Certainly in 2015 I agreed with that consensus. I hope I shall have at least as much fun with it this time around!