Ponyfic Roundup 539

Read it Later story count: 92 (+2)

Words read this week: 31,117

Two days late this week, but I think I can be excused that given my need to accompany a relative to a hospital as mentioned in my brief post on Tuesday! Things have calmed down a great deal since, and I'm pleased to be able to bring you the usual selection of five stories. I haven't really got anything else to say, so I'll move on to the story list now:

The Scars of the Past by Lil Penpusher
Hobby Horse by a kobold
The Tower of the Fallen Star by Raleigh
All Our Villains are Horny by billymorph
Night of the Living Plushies by Moonlight Bloom

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

Another PR delay, I'm afraid

Spending the night in a hospital waiting room with a relative will do that to you! Don't worry, it didn't turn out to be anything too terrifying, but there's no chance I'll be ready for Wednesday now. (It's also the reason for no G4 rewatch post this week.) So again, Ponyfic Roundup will be on a Friday this week.

Ponyfic Roundup 538

Read it Later story count: 92 (+2)

Words read this week: 18,252

The hot weather has gone now, although it's still pleasant enough. Not a lot going on in terms of small-scale domestic stuff. People are preparing for tomorrow's VE Day 80 celebrations, but those are mostly of the fairly low-key "put a few Union Flags¹ up" kind. As far as ponyfic goes: as trailed last time, only having five days instead of seven to read this week's stories (and write up their reviews) has meant I couldn't risk having a high word count. I hope that the lack of words will not mean a lack of interest!

¹ The common modern insistence that "Union Jack" is only correct when it's flown from a ship's jackstaff is pretty footling. The term "jack" as applied to flags predates the use of jackstaffs by over a century, as the Flag Institute points out.

Wrong Turn by saarni
Reflection by Moproblems Moharmoney
Fixer-Upper by hoofbeatsoftime
Spike Destroys (Creates) Everything by Surry
The Wealth of the World by very trustworthy rodent

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

My Little Repeats 187: "The Hearth's Warming Club"

Only tangential to this, but relevant to many of us who remember its use at past conventions: Skype has finally shut up shop. I'm sure all of us who went to cons years ago remember what a pain Skype could sometimes be, but it certainly played a significant part in that part of the fandom in the pre-Covid era. Consider this brief comment an acknowledgement of that.

"That means character, students, not random hoof raise! Have you even played charades?"

S8E15: "The Hearth's Warming Club"

4 Aug 2018

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 7.7

The one with the Mt Eris Board of Tourism

Thoughts: This episode aired on the same day as "A Matter of Principals", and unless you find the Young Six boring or outright off-putting, it's more enjoyable. After the fine "Surf and/or Turf" I expected good things from a Brian Hohlfeld story, and so it proved. A friend noted recently that a good chunk of 2010s TV writers adore referencing The Breakfast Club, so probably this setup wasn't that surprising, but good execution can make almost anything work. Twilight's threat of collective punishment (no holidays for anycreature) really rubs me up the wrong way, but the rest is highly watchable, even if Gallus's guilt is fairly obvious from the start if you think about it at all. I didn't see his sad home life story coming, though. Changeling Hearth's Warming ("Carols carols carols carols carols!") is genius, and the Yak Song is great too. Sandbar's stories are dull, but I just suspect he's doing that deliberately as a deadpan satire on his boring old pony image. This is an episode where my initial four-star rating might be just a tad generous, but "THWC" really doesn't do much wrong, and by mid-S8 that's notable and refreshing. In the spirit of August Hearth's Warming, I'm going to let it stand!

Choice quote: Gallus: "Two whole weeks without classes, how will Ocellus survive?"

New rating: ★★★★

That was an entertaining experience. Unfortunately I now enter a short run of episodes which I don't expect to do so well: "Friendship University", "The End in Friend" and "Yakity-Sax". If any of those get more than two stars from me I shall be pleasantly surprised, but I will as always give them a fair go! First up will be Flim and Flam's time in academia.

Ponyfic Roundup 537

Read it Later story count: 90 (+1)

Words read this week: 30,956

I was in Cheltenham yesterday and it was ridiculously warm. 27 °C wouldn't be at all exceptional for England in the middle of July, but on 1st May it was pretty close to an all-time date record. So, there's the intro. Not very interesting, but then I haven't got a lot to say this week, other than that two days later than usual here's Ponyfic Roundup once again!

All But Two by Caisius
Rivers of Babylon by A Hoof-ful of Dust
Silver String of Love by foxmaster
The Monster We Made by Corah Il Cappo
Twilight Sparkle and the Elements of Bootlegs by TheDriderPony

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