My Little Repeats 135: "Buckball Season"

And then they missed

S6E18: "Buckball Season"

3 Sep 2016

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 7.4

The one with Fluttershy's spinning tail save

Thoughts: Another new writer in Jennifer Skelly and... look, I'm not impartial on this one, lump it. Fluttershy and Pinkie teaming up is great, though hard work on Andrea Libman – so though disappointing there wasn't more of the double act, I guess also understandable. Still, their quiet, short scene in the forest is lovely: touching and sympathetic. Anyway: buckball is a fun sport, I'm sure more interesting than hoofball, and Pinkie's natural brilliance at it is funny. Talking of: Snails gets some character at long last, and even a very brief song – one later polished up by DoTheDaringDew! The overall feel, although more interestingly animated than the early days, is often reminiscent of several seasons ago: this is very much small-town Equestria. This was Skelly's only episode. Not a bad hit rate, then! For many people this is probably more of a high three-star episode, but it has heart and charm and humour and, well, it feels just so Pony. So from me it's keeping its four, and I'm happy about that.

Choice quote: Pinkie: "That's a relief, because I left my unicorn costume at home." [funnier post-G5 film...]

New rating: ★★★★

Next time, I'll be rewatching "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks". Gabby's debut, and as such often remembered more for her being cute than for anything much else.

The reason I won't review incomplete fics

In a word: Austraeoh.

"But Logan," you may object, "that fic is finished! It has a [Complete] marker and everything!"

Well, yes. But the series it begins is not. Apparently planned as a twelve-book epic, for almost two years now it's been stuck 670,000 words into book nine (Olfolrodi). If you started at the beginning in spring of the series in May 2012, you will have spent over a decade and four million words and been rewarded with what looks increasingly like a story that will never be concluded.

Now, some people don't mind having a story come to a halt in the middle of nowhere, so to speak. I am not one of those people.

And that's why with extremely rare exceptions where the incomplete tale doesn't feel like half a story (xjuggernaughtx's Cheerilee's Thousand is one), I will only even read, let alone review, stories tagged [Complete]. Too many people have been burnt by this before, and I'd rather not be another one.

Ponyfic Roundup 426

Read it Later story count: 102 (+10)
Words read this week: 65,569

After my request for story recommendations the other day, it should be no surprise that my RiL list has grown a little since last time. Nothing to worry about, of course. This week, despite catching up with His Dark Materials (I'm past that scene at the river now), I have had a bit more reading time than usual. You can see the result in my "words read" count above! Don't go expecting this to be the norm, but I think my hope of reading a few more mid-length fics than hitherto is realistic. Here are today's four:

Sunshine and Reindeer by Casketbase77
The Light-Bringer by Bad_Seed_72
Pegasus Device by AuroraDawn
Ponies in SPAAAAAACE! by Ninjadeadbeard

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

My Little Repeats 134: "Dungeons & Discords"

This whole scene is packed with fun references

S6E17: "Dungeons & Discords"

27 Aug 2016

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 8.0

The one with Josephine Baker pone

Thoughts: Guys' Night, eh? In a female-dominated society like Equestria, this seems a fair counterpart to Earthly "Girls' Night" events. It's quite a fun watch, and one of Discord's better late-series appearances. The pre-credits scene with Fluttershy is good fun, "Opposite" and otherwise. Actually, the whole episode is good fun, aided by Nick Confalone's really amusing dialogue, the usual excellent voice acting and some really funny visual gags. "Ogres & Oubliettes" both sends up and pays tribute to Dungeons & Dragons – possibly some overly serious D&D players got irritated, but I'd consider that a plus. The segment where Discord brings the game to life is also great (if a little scary) viewing. All in all, a massive improvement on Discord's last big episode ("What About Discord?") and a really entertaining ep all round. It's not perfect – the "electric shock" scene is a little too Looney Tunes and feels mean-spirited for this show even from Discord. But we have a good Discord episode and a good Spike episode and a fun Fluttershy support act and parsnips. This time I'm pushing an episode's rating up a star. It gets a four now.

Choice quote: Discord: "Fun with sidekicks?"

New rating: ★★★★

Next time, I'll be rewatching "Buckball Season". I had a lot of affection for it last time round, and I'm really hoping that's still the case now.

Quite a response; thanks!

 A week ago I asked you if you could recommend me any Mature-rated stories. Suffice to say I wasn't expecting quite the volume of recommendations that I got! Okay, a large slice of them were from Present Perfect's epic two-part comment, but by no means all. I won't thank everyone by name, since apart from anything else some people contacted me in private. I had overlooked one thing (since added to the original post) which is that I'm really no great fan of futa. But other than that I think the piques my interest:not a chance ratio was pleasingly high.

As I said last week, I don't intend to post any Mature-only Roundups (barring single-story Spotlights, I suppose) and reviewing M-rated fics will still be the exception rather than the rule. Regardless of Fimfiction's steady pornification over the last few years, at least when it comes to new stories, that's never going to be the part of the ponyfic world that most appeals to me. However, now I have a reasonable shortlist to choose from, you can expect to see M-rated stories being reviewed occasionally rather than vanishingly rarely.

Ponyfic Roundup 425

Read it Later story count: 92 (-4)
Words read this week: 23,448

I have an embarrassing confession to make first up: I will not be reviewing Blueshift's random comedy It Ain’t Easy Being Pinkie this week. The reason is that I have already done so: I awarded it three stars back in PR 296. Whoops! Fortunately, I realised this in time to pick out another fic to appear in its place, so you're still getting the usual four reviews. Here we go:

Within a Dream of Sunset, Love by Shilic
Discourse on Fillies by Daedalus Aegle
Sunset's Stash by ShiveredTimbers
ChatGPT in Equestria: A Digital Adventure by Greenhorne

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

My Little Repeats 133: "The Times They Are a Changeling"

"What do you mean? Let what go?"

S6E16: "The Times They Are a Changeling"

20 Aug 2016

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 8.2

The one with the changeling nursery

Thoughts: Thorax's debut was the first episode credited to Chris Wyatt and Kevin Burke. While the whole "changeling reformation" mini-arc is not exactly considered one of the show's greats, this first instalment is pretty nice and was fairly widely praised at the time. I was a bit surprised to discover I'd given it four stars, not three, back in 2016. Setup is fine, though Spike showing off is really wearing thin by now, and we only even meet Thorax at the end of act one. Once he saves Spike, things get interesting. It helps that Thorax is relatable, and in a way I wish this had been the end point: reformation, but without the Technicolor makeover. Pleasant characterisation of most of the others, and I appreciated Shiny being so harsh initially for understandable personal reasons. Spike's song is lovely musically, even if the lyrics are not the most interesting. I think four stars may have been a slight overreaction to the underwhelming last two episodes: Starlight is fairly pointless here and the inconsistent pacing (slow act one, hurried act three) doesn't much help, so I'll nudge it down to three – but it's still a high three. S6 seemed to be getting back on track at this point, and good Spike eps are never unwelcome.

Choice quote: Spike: "Okay... rock, how do I know you're really a rock?"

New rating: ★★★

Next time, I'll be rewatching "Dungeons & Discords", an episode of which I have reasonably fond memories. I really hope I still feel that way after my rewatch.

Okay folks, please recommend me some M-rated stories

Yes, this is indeed me asking that. I've read so little Mature-rated fic over the years that I'm sure there's plenty to be going on with. I do know about several of the M-rated longfic classics, such as Romance Reports and Salvation, and of course (one I've actually read!) Fallout: Equestria, so while I won't say no to more recommendations in that vein I think I'd be especially interested in short/mid-length fics. However, me being me, there are a few places I'd rather not go:

• Absolutely no foalcon or bestiality (by Equestrian standards if FiM, by our own standards if EqG)
  
• Incest is a near-red line... yes, I read Cadence in A Minor (PR 93), but I almost DNF'd it
  
• No necrophilia, no edgeplay, no scat/watersports
  
• I have no interest at all in "Twilight's bathroom is covered/spattered/etc with..." fics
  
• BDSM is okay unless it gets so harsh as to become edgeplay
• I dislike serious gore. FO:E is about my absolute limit there
  
• It's fine if a character is a murderer or something, if we don't see gore everywhere
  
• I'm okay with fics that have warning tags, even several.
  
• Fics can feature any combination of (adult) characters
• Added 17 Jan: I'm no great fan of futa
  

Now, this being Blogger rather than Fimfiction, you can link directly to M-rated stories if you want to. I'm also happy with recommendations along the lines of "[Name] writes pretty good [subject/fetish] stories which feature [whoever]". Although I won't necessarily reject a fic just because it has the [Porn] tag, I would certainly prefer actual stories. And finally? No, I'm not planning an M-rated edition of Ponyfic Roundup. Any I add will be few and scattered. Thanks!

Edited to add: If you don't want to comment publicly, PMs via Fimfiction will work too!

Ponyfic Roundup 424

Read it Later story count: 96 (-5)
Words read this week: 17,420

I told you I'd get that RiL figure back below 100 again, didn't I? Anyway, we're back in the usual format this week, with four shortish ponyfics on the slate. Having a larger and better screen on my new phone has made it more enjoyable to read on, which I hope will mean I can slightly increase the word count sometimes. I won't stop reviewing 1k-word specials, but there may be a few more slightly longer stories in the mix from now on. Here are this week's four, all E-rated as it happens:

The Night the Carousel Boutique Burned by Appleloosan Psychiatrist
Dinkin’ Donuts by Pascoite
Sun in an Empty Room by mushroompone
Stony Hearts by Broadway Sweetie Belle

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

Ten (and a bit...) years and counting!

In true Logan style, I completely forgot to mark this anniversary when it arrived. I did post something, but it was an episode rewatch. But better late than never, so: 4th December marked exactly ten years since my very first post on Louder Yay. I certainly don't think that back in 2012 I ever imagined I'd still be writing this blog a full decade later. Here I am, though! Whether I go another decade remains to be seen, but I certainly have no imminent plans to call a halt. :)

UK PonyCon 2023 dates and venue announced

UK PonyCon announced the first details of this year's convention on its website yesterday. One of the answers we now have was no surprise at all, the other perhaps a slight one. The first is that the con will, for the fifth year in succession, be held at Nottingham Trent University. The venue seems to suit everyone reasonably well, so I'd have been quite startled had it been changed. The con weekend, however, will be slightly earlier in the autumn than we've become used to: 30th Sep/1st Oct. That won't make much difference in terms of weather etc, but I suppose it might be slightly warmer!

As to whether I will be going... same answer as every year: I don't know, and I won't know for months yet. Looking up hotel prices just now has not been an especially cheering experience, though: we all know high inflation is a thing, but seeing it so starkly is sobering. Want three nights at the "con hotel", the Premier Inn in Goldsmith Street? Right now on a Flex tariff that'll set you back £319. The word "ouch" comes to mind – it's very nearly as much as I paid for hotel and travel and meals and merch last year Yes, PI will let you can cancel and rebook later, but I do wonder whether that particular price is going to go down much, if at all.

If I go, I'm already almost certain I'll be staying out of town again. The ever-inflating hit to my bank balance is just getting harder and harder for me to justify, and that's the only way I think I still have a fighting chance of coming down on the "yes" side. Everyone here knows how much I like UK PonyCon, but that doesn't change the fact that cons are very expensive long weekends and getting ever more so. If I lived closer, I'm fairly sure I'd be commuting this year and accepting missing out on late nights. Since that's not a realistic option, it's going to need some hard thinking. It's a good job there's plenty of time for me to do that!

So, about that "28 Pranks Later" rewatch

It seems to have been fairly obvious that this rewatch wasn't my finest piece of writing about Friendship is Magic. In truth it was probably a stupid decision for me to write a rewatch at that precise moment. Yesterday was a significant anniversary of the worst day of my life. A few of you reading this may know what I mean, but I'm not going to go into details in public. Suffice it to say that I am just not up to editing the rewatch post or responding to very long comments. They've been read and all those disagreements noted, but I am not in a happy mood at the moment and I think I need to draw a line under that post. I'll get to the next episode when I can. Thank you for reading this boring ramble.

My Little Repeats 132: "28 Pranks Later"

"Didn't I already do this five seasons ago?"

S6E15: "28 Pranks Later"

13 Aug 2016

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 6.1

The one with sewing machine cake

Thoughts: Another episode that was generally rather poorly received by the fandom, and frankly I was surprised to look back and discover that I'd awarded it three stars in its day. This was the only episode ever written by F. M. DeMarco, though they had done some Littlest Pet Shop work before. Maybe it's that inexperience that explains Rarity's repeated and uncharacteristic use of "Dash" for Rainbow. More to the point, it's also much more a S2 or so episode than an S6 one; Rainbow's character feels regressed. (So does Fluttershy's timidity.) A few of her pranks are amusing, such as the one she pulls on Pinkie – and the cookie one isn't the worst, really – but the brick in Mr Cake's burger is plain vicious. That's a prank for Bugs Bunny to pull on his enemies, not for Rainbow Dash to pull on a sympathetic MLP side character. The ep's pacing is rather rough, Dash isn't strong enough to lift a huge rock, and there's one of FiM's thankfully extremely rare fart jokes. On the plus side, the moral itself is fair enough, I liked Harry and the Filly Guides, and the score is atmospheric, with custom closing credits music returning. Best character this time is probably Pinkie Pie, who is significantly more sympathetic than Rainbow. This isn't a dreadful episode, and I think it's better than the last one. But it's being bumped down to an upper two. It just has too many little problems to get more.

Choice quote: Rarity: "They're probably all in a cookie coma right now."

New rating: ★★

Next time, I'll be rewatching "The Times They Are a Changeling" – which brought us the first appearance of Thorax. Most see this as a step up again, and I'm expecting to do so too, though I didn't love the ep first time round.

Ponyfic Roundup 423: Spotlight on Twice as Bright

Read it Later story count: 101 (+7)

Don't panic when you see that RiL count! Remember, I've only read one story in the last fortnight, but I've added quite a few that caught my eye. Not all of them remotely new to Fimfiction, either. You can be (fairly) sure that the number will be safely back in two figures by the time we get to next week. Anyway, on to the fic I've been reading over Hearth's Warming.

Twice as Bright by Cloudy Skies
Pinkie Pie and Celestia
G4; Romance/Comedy; 52k words; Feb–Apr 2013; Everyone

Celestia likes her routine. Tax reforms, grants, laws and construction projects are all a princess needs to be content. It's just her luck that for Pinkie Pie, "content" is not nearly enough.

Is PinkLestia a crackship? It's certainly an unusual one, which is part of the reason I chose to read it. Anyway, while visiting Celestia in an effort to get her to visit Ponyville, Pinkie starts to realise how much the Princess shines. In other words, she falls for her. Twilight is of course blindsided at first, while the rest of the Mane Six have various reactions – unsurprisingly, Rarity is the most open to a royal romance. The story proceeds quite amiably, barring a little too much LUS even for 2013, and the ship largely does work, better than I imagined it would if I'm honest. This is partly because I liked Pinkie here. (Celestia is fine too. Luna is a useful foil to her at times early on.) However, there's little major action or even serious conflict here. That E rating is perfectly justified. There's the odd fandom nod, as Chris mentions – old-timers may smile at a film called The Return of Krastos – but they don't get in the way. As long as you remember that this is set during mid-S3, with Twilight still a unicorn, this is one of the better undemanding shipfics around. Quite a solid three, even if you're not a massive shipper or don't much care for PinkLestia. ★★★

Past the page break you'll find further, spoilery, comments on this fic.

Nine seasons, nine episodes

Happy New Year, everypony! I hope to be slightly more active from now on than I have been of late. I'll ease myself into 2023 gently, though, with something I've probably posted before. (I can't actually remember...) Imagine you're set this challenge: pick one episode from each of the nine seasons of Friendship is Magic that you have particular affection for or just really like to watch. Rules:

• You have to pick something for every season
• Double episodes and "Best Gift Ever" are not eligible
• There's no restriction on focus characters
  

So, here's my list. Most of these are quite stable, I think.

S1: "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" – A fairly easy choice. Although S1 has some very solid episodes, this one stands out for packing a whole lot of lore and interest into 22 minutes without seeming rushed. And Fluttershy sings, too.

S2: "Hurricane Fluttershy" – Still my favourite episode of all 200-plus in FiM, largely for its wonderful portrayal of the friendship between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. An inspiration for my own headcanon on the subject.

S3: "Sleepless in Ponyville" – Slightly thinner pickings in this half-length season, but "Sleepless in Ponyville" would have graced any collection. Emotionally satisfying and introduces Luna's dreamwalking abilities.

S4: "Pinkie Pride" – Just beats out "Filli Vanilli" in a very close race. There's very little wrong with this episode and a whole lot right. The characters work, the songs work, the story works. One of my most rewatchable episodes.

S5: "Slice of Life" – Yes, it's a Marmite episode for the way it goes all-out to pander to the bronies, but I'm very firmly on the "love it" side of the ledger. I think "Amending Fences" is the best one-part episode of S5, but "Slice of Life" is the one I find the most fun. Once was enough. This was the once.

S6: "A Hearth's Warming Tail" – I have an almost limitless capacity for A Christmas Carol adaptations, and while not in the Muppets' class this is one of my favourites. It's also one of the show's most visually sumptuous episodes.

S7: "The Perfect Pear" – One of the hardest seasons to pick from, and a season where my choice isn't as stable as some others. But while I'm not in the "this is the Best Episode Ever" camp, this is touching and interesting. Good song, too.

S8: "What Lies Beneath" – S8 has a poor reputation, but even so this didn't win by default. However, it was much more coherent and character-driven than many of the season's episodes – even if Gallus was treated pretty unpleasantly by the Tree...

S9: "Frenemies" – A villains episode that's a whole lot of fun? Sign me up! Considering how long in the tooth FiM was by this time, it's notable how fresh and different this feels. Good song, great bickering dialogue, and even what we now know about "Grogar" doesn't really pull it down.