UK PonyCon 2024 report, part three: Saturday, second half

Imagine converting "Art of the Dress" for the BBC Micro. Who'd be that silly?

Halfway through Saturday and I still didn’t have the time to go shopping, because I had a date with destiny Hawthorn’s chiptunes panel. This was something I’d only discovered was happening at all shortly before the con, but I could hardly miss it! The panel was great, both amusing and informative, with Hawthorn’s preparation paying off and his enthusiasm for this slightly neglected aspect of music shining through. He hadn’t told me he was going to feature one of my own 8-bit pieces in the end montage, though! Oops. :P

Fortunately Hawthorn’s panel finished on time, since the special guest script reading and Q&A followed immediately over at the Mane Stage. As usual for UK PonyCon, the script reading was short, though as ever it was fun to hear the pro VAs doing live the voices we knew them so well for in the cartoons. There were big queues to ask the stars questions and after a little thought I chose not to join them. Still, nicely the guests were willing to allow the panel to run a little over time, so as to get in as many people as they could. :)

Next up was something I’d been disappointed to have to miss through not being able to stay for more than three-quarters of one day in 2023: The Great Britannia Bake-Off! This has its roots in the UKPonyConline events held during the pandemic, and as such it’s heavily video-based. Members of the con committee record themselves attempting to bake cakes or similar, and this is edited together into an hour-long highlights video with suitably snarky captions and in-jokes. At the end, we in the audience vote on the winners. A really nice way to relax for a bit.

Not a spare seat in the house for the VIP script reading

That brought Saturday’s daytime events to a close. At the same time in another room the kids’ disco was going on, advertised in the con book as a perfect way for children to end their day. While UKPC does not have an age limit on attending in the evening, requiring only that all under-16s are accompanied by adults,¹ very few young families do stay on after dusk falls. Unsurprisingly, the convention does shift into a slightly different atmosphere from this point onward.
¹ In the daytime 14- and 15-year-olds don't need adults with them all the time.

The major event of the evening at UK PonyCon since it moved to Nottingham in 2018 has always been the concert. While this is well handled and enjoyed by a lot of people, I only tend to pay serious attention in fits and starts. It’s excellent that old stagers like like PrinceWhateverer come back every year and support the con, but I prefer more variety.¹ As such, I took most notice of Coltastrophe, making their UKPC debut, and Pagan Pegasus, whose music I find interestingly varied.
¹ Also, the Mane Stage area wasn’t built for live music, and its rather poor acoustics bear that out.

That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to do anything musical, however! Bexi was putting on the convention’s very first #CHEESEFEST (yes, all caps with hashtag) – which sounded exactly my kind of thing. Actually some of the music was a little new for me: I’d have preferred something like “Rasputin” over the overrated “Cha Cha Slide”, sorry Bexi! But it was lots of fun and we still got Steps, the Macarena and so on, with glow sticks for all. Mind you, most of our group sat at the back, not entirely so we could hide when Roku managed to unplug one of the lights while moving tables about...

Cheesefest in full swing. Add your own music!

Saturday evening is the only time when alcohol is available on-site (although this was sometimes different at former UKPC venues) but the queues for the pop-up bar were enormous. Hawthorn extremely kindly offered to get me a Diet Coke despite the wait, and as I was parched I accepted. I’m not the first person to mention that Hawthorn is a really nice guy. The bar also sold pony-themed cocktails and mocktails, but for the most part these featured spirits I wasn’t too fond of and about a kilo of sugar. Not ideal for me as a diabetic!

And then? Archer’s Pub Quiz, of course. A legendary aspect of UK PonyCon Saturday evenings, and the Worcester group’s legendarily oversize team (12? 14? Something like that) was in evidence once again. In fact there seemed slightly fewer impossibly difficult questions than usual, and we only ended up answering “Batman” once. At one point we were worried we might actually do well and ruin our reputation, but equal third was about right. It was really odd not to have Derpy as the answer to any question in an Archer-run event, though.

PiratPeter’s Cartoon Riff rounded off the night, and I’d have liked to have stayed for that as his engaging manner is appealing even when terrible cartoons are on screen. I had to make the commute back to Derby, though, and I wasn't willing to wait until after eleven even to start. So, off I went to the bus station. This time the Red Arrow was a coach – huzzah! – and everything again went smoothly. It had certainly been a busy day for me, probably even more so than in 2022, but I wasn’t exhausted. A quick cuppa in my new UKPC mug, and then bed beckoned.

Coltastrophe rocking out

Next time: Sunday part one, featuring timed standing, extreme bidding and vague shopping.