Reading for fun

A small but welcome bonus of my finally getting into a groove where I have more time to read: I now have the odd space to read stories I'm not reviewing. It's been a long time – some years, frankly – since I could fit in a re-read of a fondly remembered old fic. I may post the odd comment on how those have gone from time to time, but I won't be doing formal re-reviews of them. After all, not doing that is the point!

I probably still won't have time to re-read long fics, but the prospect of relaxing with something short and fun, not having to think too deeply or keep notes but just wallowing in it like a hot bath, is highly appealing. Think stuff like Naked Singularity (PR 2) or The Doom that Came to Tambelon (PR 211).

My Little Repeats 138: "Every Little Thing She Does"

Some fans' worst nightmare comes true

 S6E21: "Every Little Thing She Does"

24 Sep 2016

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 7.6

The one with Fluttershy covered in bugs

Thoughts: A fairly controversial episode, albeit one more liked than not at the time and an entertaining one until you start to question it. Starlight's in a starring post-reformation role, though "reformation" is slightly questionable given that she spends chunks of this ep mind-controlling her friends. Right at the start it's established that Glimmy is ridiculously powerful – that never did get explained. But let's face it, enslaving your friends and forcing them to do stuff is not okay however you slice it. The "magic hangover" scene near the end is amusing, though I'm slightly surprised Hasbro okayed it, but Spike's "I had no idea we had spiders in the castle" is too stupid for words. Fortunately he has some nice "Told you!" moments to make up for that. But still, mind control. What matters in this episode for me is that Starlight does face consequences. Twilight is (for her) quite angry, Dash correctly points out that you "don't cast spells on your friends!" and GlimGlam herself has to work to help make things right. That said, I no longer feel I can support my four-star rating from 2016. It's too patchy for that and the mind control is too iffy. Three is what it gets now.

Choice quote: Twilight: "Maybe there is such a thing as too much studying."

New rating: ★★★

Next time, it's Equestria Girls' final feature film, Legend of Everfree. If you're interested in joining me for that ride, you'll be very welcome!

Ponyfic Roundup 431

Read it Later story count: 102 (-4)

Words read this week: 25,758

A quick word on the BBC/HBO His Dark Materials, which has finally ended after a Covid-delayed three and a half years. S3 was pretty good, a moderate four-star effort on my scale. The characters being too old did get in the way a couple of times, and a certain kiss is much more highly charged on the page. But the very end was nicely done and affecting. I still prefer the novel trilogy (which I want to re-read) but for a very hard story to adapt I think the producers did pretty well. Okay, back to the world of Pony, and here are today's five fics:

Âme Câline by The Cloptimist
Gone Fishin' by Present Perfect
Velvet Missteps by PhycoKrusk
Dark and Deep by arcum42
Supersedure by Zontan

★: 0 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 2 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Sounds of 2014 may, at last, happen

Those of you with long memories may recall that a few years ago I went through the Everfree Radio Top 100 for 2011, 2012 and 2013 and featured all the songs on them that were still publicly available. I stopped at that point, because the Everfree Radio chart stopped then too. I was also not very well up in Pony music at the time, so I wasn't sure where to turn next.

Since then, a small friends group I'm part of have listened to quite a bit of fandom music together, so my knowledge (although still patchy) is better than it was. And also? Also, I think I may have found a replacement chart to use: the Equestrian Trot 100. I've just flicked quickly through a compilation video, and I was pleased to recognise so many of the tracks.

Don't expect this to happen imminently. It may not happen at all. But there is now a realistic chance that "Sounds of 2014" will appear right here on Louder Yay at some point this year. :)

Thoughts of a Ponyfic Reviewer 6: See Ponies

It's been a while since I did a post in this series. This one won't be very long, but at least it's something! I've been musing on the fact that, of us few remaining regular reviewers, we're not always reviewing exactly the same thing.

What am I talking about here? I'm talking about the difference between reading and readings. For example, Present Perfect has a substantial number of readings in her reviews. Mike has at least an occasional one in his. But me? As far as I can think, in over 400 Ponyfic Roundups, I have never reviewed a fic without reading it on a screen or on paper.

It's interesting to think about how much of a difference this makes. Of course, there's a distinction between a straightforward "talking book narrator" reading and a Scribbler special with guest VAs, sound effects and the like. Listening to the latter type especially has some significant points of difference from reading the story in text.

As a simple example: something that tends to infuriate me in a fic is when authors consistently mis-spell character names. "Pinky Pie" is a classic example (and "pinky pie" is worse). This problem doesn't exist if you listen to a reading of the same fic – or at least it does, but you don't know it's there. The same goes for iffy speech punctuation.

I don't think any of this is a problem, as long as a reviewer mentions when they've been listening to a reading instead of reading the text – and certainly the two I named above do that. But since I prefer to read fics, I shall continue to plough my own furrow. Anything you come across in Ponyfic Roundup will have been looked at, not listened to.

Ponyfic Roundup 430: Spotlight on Three Wishes: The Cutie Mark Crusaders Before They Changed The World

Read it Later story count: 106 (+7)

Words read this week: 69,046

As I said the last time my RiL count jumped like that: don't panic. I've only read one fic this week, after all. That number will fall again soon – and in any case, my aim for years has been to have it bouncing around 100, not to have it dive much further downwards. With that out of the way, it's time to look at a classic CMC story that's not a million miles away from celebrating a decade of publication. I'd thought about reading this on and off for years, but had never quite got round to it. Now I have!

Three Wishes: The Cutie Mark Crusaders Before They Changed The World by Xepher
Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, CMCs [tagged as well] and Mane Six
G4 AU; Adventure; 69k words; Oct–Nov 2013; Teen

The Crusaders learn that they aren't like other ponies. As they uncover the secrets of their origins, the trio grow closer than ever, discovering not only their unique nature, but the incredible power that comes with it as well.

The fillies are in fact not ponies at all, but golems. Interesting! This is not the big spoiler it may appear, as it's revealed pretty early on and it's how the Crusaders come to terms with their true identities that matters. This is done pretty decently overall but covered in a rather uneven way, with some passages almost shouting how much pacier they'd have been if more toughly edited. Other scenes, especially later in the fic, are faster-paced, exciting, moving and satisfying. A few also contain some interesting and quite original world-building. It is worth the occasional slog to get to these – and also worth enduring Pinkie's crucial part in events, which feels much older than late 2013 in tone and is by far my least favourite aspect but which happily doesn't take up much of the overall word count. So, a slightly rough ride in places, but the boat never actually capsizes. If you're struggling with some of the overlong descriptive passages, I think it's worth pushing through. ★★★

Only continue past the page break if you're okay with significant spoilers.

My Little Repeats 137: "Viva Las Pegasus"

It's time to meet the ponies on the pony show tonight

S6E20: "Viva Las Pegasus"

17 Sep 2016

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 7.3

The one with pink prairie dogs

Thoughts: Otherwise known as "Fluttershy and Applejack team up and don't encounter kirin". Anyway, this is a pretty fun ride, though definitely not one to take too seriously and also an ep we certainly wouldn't have had in the early days. On the plus side, it looks wonderful, one of the most visually appealing eps so far. Also very nice is how Applejack and Fluttershy interact; I wish they'd spent more time together in "Sounds of Silence" a couple of seasons later. Mind you, AJ doesn't really do as much as 'Shy in solving the Map's mystery. Plenty of fun references here, such as the Siegfried & Roy ponies. Flim and Flam are amusing, more so than in "Leap of Faith" but not quite up to their S2 heights. As for Elvis Gladmane, he's entertaining but a bit one-dimensional as the villain. And, let's be honest, this isn't a desperately Equestrian episode in tone, and nor is it one that is perfectly paced throughout. So, still a very enjoyable episode in a "don't think too hard" kind of way, but not quite the great one I thought it might be in 2016. As such, bumped down from a four-starrer to a highish three.

Choice quote: Applejack: "Gladmane has left the building!"

New rating: ★★★

Next time, I'll be rewatching "Every Little Thing She Does", an episode some fans hate for how Starlight acts yet others have a great time with. In 2016 I was largely in camp two. In 2023? We'll see.

Ponyfic Roundup 429: There is no Ponyfic Roundup 429

This is more than a little on the embarrassing side, but honesty compels: while going through my old Ponyfic Roundups yesterday, I discovered that I had accidentally numbered two editions 264 – this one and this one. To avoid a huge amount of renumbering that would probably end up with me introducing further mistakes, I have now renumbered those 264a and 264b. Only three and a bit years late!

All this does of course mean that my celebratory posts for PRs 300 and 400 were one edition out, since they should have been numbered 301 and 401 respectively. Not a lot I can do about that now. However, to ensure that I have my total Roundup count correct from here on in, I have decided to skip 429 in the numbering. As such, Wednesday's Spotlight on Xepher's Three Wishes... will be Ponyfic Roundup 430.

Ponyfic Roundup 428

Read it Later story count: 99 (nc)

Words read this week: 33,096

Well, would you look at that? Five fics again this week! Admittedly the total word count is a little lower this time around, but never mind. It's not just the new phone, from somewhere I've felt a boost in my levels of enthusiasm for ponyfic reading. I'm not entirely sure why, but I shan't complain! Let's move on to listing today's quintet to ponder over:

This is How a Unicorn Talks by Pineta
The Room of Stars by Word Worthy
Radiowaves by mushroompone
A Tale Told by Foehn
True Ascension by Rainedash

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

My Little Repeats 136: The Fault in Our Cutie Marks

Lyra remembering her roots there...

S6E19: "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks"

10 Sep 2016 [7 Sep in Poland, fact fans]

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 8.1

The one with moderately epic sax pone

Thoughts: Gabby's debut was a very well received episode at the time: just look at that Text Review Roundup! How's it held up? Pretty well, thankfully. It starts off nicely with Petunia (though it still rankles very mildly that they didn't call her a palaeontologist) and never really falls apart. A lot of that is down to Gabby – if you find her attitude grating, you won't like this episode, but I really like her. It's maybe for the best she didn't become a regular, though, as she's probably best in small doses. More to the point, this is the best example of post-S5 CMC living up to their cutie marks. With only minor issues, their interplay and dialogue is satisfying, as is their perseverance. Twilight is the only Mane Sixer, and she has a solid supporting role as adorkable scientist. Unsurprisingly, she nails it! The song although decent isn't one from the very top drawer, but I'm very happy the ending didn't go the easy, lore-destroying route and magic up a real cutie mark for Gabby from nowhere. Writer Ed Valentine previously did a fine CMC ep in "Flight to the Finish" and a poor one in "The Cart Before the Ponies". This one is firmly in the first camp. It's a three/four boundary episode for me, as it was in 2017, but as then the sheer cuteness pushes it over the line.

Choice quote: Scootaloo: "I know what it's like to want something that's out of reach."

New rating: ★★★★

Next time, I'll be rewatching "Viva Las Pegasus", an episode that isn't without its flaws but which I generally found appealing viewing.

Minor meta note

Quite shortly, I will reach the point where I need to interrupt my Friendship is Magic rewatches to fit in Legend of Everfree. That film had its world premiere on Discovery Kids Latin America on 24th September 2016, then its US premiere on Netflix on 1st October. (It did get a US Discovery Kids release, but not until 5th November.) As such, I will rewatch-review the film here after "Every Little Thing She Does" (aired 24th September) but before "P.P.O.V..." (1st October).

Fame, misfortune and the fandom

It's been interesting to me to see how the reputation of "Fame & Misfortune" has evolved over the five and a half years since it debuted. These days, probably partly because of M. A. Larson's explanation of his unhappiness about it, the episode as aired is quite widely felt to have been a poor one. But that wasn't by any means the clear fandom consensus in 2017: in fact reception was pretty mixed, and the balance of opinion on Fimfiction specifically was actually fairly positive.

One exception here was Bad Horse, who absolutely hated the episode. The comments to that post make interesting reading, although some of it is fairly hard going and you should probably skip over the thankfully short blathering from some silly bespectacled orange-maned unicorn. Trick Question, for example, really enjoyed "Fame and Misfortune" while near the end of the thread horizon (while not displaying unbridled love for the ep) takes serious issue with some of Bad Horse's logic.

It's on record here that I had a pretty good time when I watched the episode in 2017. I currently don't know whether that will be the case when I rewatch it in (I hope!) 2023. My point isn't to say, "'Fame and Misfortune' was an almighty episode and I shall defend its honour to the death, egad!" It is just to say that, at the time of broadcast, it was not an especially unusual viewpoint among fans to really enjoy it. That's why it caused controversy in the first place: because we didn't all agree about it.

Ponyfic Roundup 427

Read it Later story count: 99 (-3)

Words read this week: 45,633

I can't even remember the last time I managed to review five stories in a single Roundup, but here we are! Today's quintet includes the first M-rated fic I had recommended to me, in this case by private message. I picked it to read and review semi-randomly from the shortlist, but seeing an author's name I already had good regard for pushed it to the front of the queue. Here's the full list:

Braiding by Admiral Biscuit
Thunderstorm and the Four Winds by Carabas
Lick by HoofBitingActionOverload
Applejack Shy by HareTrinity
Anypony for Doomsday? by PhycoKrusk

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