Starlight turns ten

Season 5 of Friendship is Magic began exactly a decade ago, on 4th April 2015, with "The Cutie Map". Widely seen (including by me) as one of the best episodes the series ever produced, this also marked the debut of Starlight Glimmer. Opinions on that vary rather more, although personally I like her even as a reformed character. Whatever your feelings, the double episode itself remains, I think, a classic. Since Hasbro has been nice enough to upload it in full to the official YouTube channel, I can legitimately embed it on Louder Yay, so here it is!

Some very early G4 merch!

YouTube: Toy Fair 2010 and MLP/SSC/RB updates

One or two of you will have already seen this, but I thought it might interest a few others. I found this by accident while looking for very old fandom stuff. It's a video of some of Hasbro's exhibits at the 2010 Toy Fair, an important annual trade-only showcase. Lots of Strawberry Shortcake in there and a little G3.5 MLP, but at 3:45 (and in the video thumbnail!) we get a little time with a few very familiar characters!

This video was uploaded on 17th February 2010, so as of this moment it stands as the oldest G4 video I've ever seen. If you know of anything older, please do let me know in the comments!

Feeling old again

I tend to at least skim through the "This Day in Pony History" series that Equestria Daily does to cover up the lack of new content remind us all of interesting happenings in the past. At the moment we're seeing some of the pre-release trailers and discussions regarding the first Equestria Girls film. It really is interesting to see just how vehement some people were that this was not only a bad idea but would utterly destroy the MLP fandom.

That was a decade ago, egad. But I wonder what those people think now, when Rainbow Rocks in particular is more fondly remembered than a fair chunk of Friendship is Magic episodes...

A blast from the past

Who remembers the days when Fimfiction was constantly just on the verge of expanding beyond MLP to become a general fic archive? My memory may be a bit hazy, but I'm not sure this intention/ambition was ever formally, publicly dropped. The change just... didn't happen. In all honesty, that was maybe for the best. The wider market is generally catered for now by AO3, for all that site is hideous to look at and likely to be in beta until long after the Sun has swallowed up the Earth.

As it happens, Xaquseg's comment at the top of this post was buried away in a long thread. That was actually brought about by this post by knighty, which almost as an afterthought mentions something that very much did happen: the introduction of auto-approval for second and subsequent fics. I remember being iffy about that at the time, but with a few embarrassing exceptions it turns out to have worked okay.

Happy 10th to... me!

It was on 15th March 2012 that I first posted my thoughts on an episode of My Little Pony to my LiveJournal. (Remember LiveJournal?) It was the opening two-parter, unsurprisingly. I wasn't quite yet hooked – that came a few days later when I reached "Dragonshy". I'd posted a "Which pony are you?" meme on the 13th (Fluttershy. Did you really have to ask?) but it was the 15th that really started my now decade-long involvement with this utterly absurd fandom. So happy tenth birthday, brony Logan!

Happy (slightly belated) 10th, "Join the Herd"!

Forest Rain – Join the Herd

 

That's right, I'm late again! But I really couldn't ignore Forest Rain's "Join the Herd", one of the most famous song parodies either she or the fandom in general has ever put out. This first went up on 12th March 2012, with a "Rock Vocals" version following a few days later. A little fandom history for those who don't know. Back in the dim and distant days of April 2011, The SlutFox (now known as Zab) made this Rainbow Dash PMV [explicit lyrics] to a nightcore version of The Offspring song "You're Gonna Go Far Kid". The PMV was hugely popular: as of today, it has over 27 million views. Forest Rain, with lyrical help from Decibel, put together a purely Pony-lyriced (and SFW) song using basically the same tune. The pop and rock versions together now have over 2.5 million views of their own. Yes, it shows its age a bit these days. Who cares?

And as I said back in 2016, perhaps the "we will never fade" lyric here is unduly optimistic – but what we won't do is fade to black. There'll always be a Pony fandom, and "Join the Herd" has been a significant part of the reason why.

Happy kind of 10th birthday to FiM's extended theme!

Friendship is Magic extended theme

Fancy leaving the real world for a bit? Thought so; me too. Off we go to Equestria again, then. Now of course this full, two-minute version of the FiM theme song existed before February 2012. Perhaps a long time before, I don't know. But as far as I'm aware it was only then that it was heard by the public. It seems that the Friendship Express DVD (yes, the one that famously contains the "uncensored" version of "The Last Roundup") was accidentally distributed early by some branches of Kmart. This singalong extended theme is also present on my UK-spec Season 1 DVD. It's a nice extension, sung well as you'd expect from Rebecca Shoichet and allowing each of the Mane Six at least a short moment in the sun. There are some nice lines in here, such as "what a wonderful wonder friendship brings" – this fits more naturally into the rhythm of its music than some of the less successful Pony songs do. We'll make it special every time, indeed.

The other reason for the "kind of" in my title? The news about this version was actually posted to EqD on 25th February 2012 – but late at night, so here in good old Blighty it was already the 26th. And since this is a British blog, dammit, the 26th is when this is going up!

Happy 10th, "The Moon Rises"!

ponyphonic – The Moon Rises

 

It's probably fair to say that ponyphonic is one of the most consistently reliable MLP songsmiths. "The Moon Rises" is one of his best and most enduring classics, and it went up on YouTube ten years ago this very day! Sung from Luna's perspective as she approaches the fateful moment when she becomes Nightmare Moon, this is a dramatic and gripping portrait of a pony becoming increasingly bitter and angry at not receiving what she perceives as her due in terms of attention. It has a lovely piano underpinning, and though the intro using the show theme may shout, "Early-fandom song," in this case it doesn't matter. I don't find the use of male vocals for Luna too distracting either, though two extended cover versions by female singers – one sung by EileMonty and one by Kristen Calvin – have strong support as well, and unsurprisingly so. Myself, I slightly prefer ponyphonic's original, but I'll happily listen to all three versions!

Happy 10th, "Friendship"!

Aviators – Friendship

Today marks exactly ten years since one of the fandom's most enduring songs was uploaded to YouTube. Aviators may have long since moved on from his days of making MLP tracks, but "Friendship" remains a classic and probably always will. The song tells the story of a future where there are stresses between friends like the members of the Mane Six, though as Aviators notes it's not about anypony specific. In essence, it's saying that friendship can be tough, but that it's also worth fighting for. The song itself has the classic Aviators synths, as well as his own perfectly poppy voice. I've embedded the YouTube version for convenience, but I do feel it sounds just slightly muddy, so you may prefer to listen to the remastered Bandcamp version.

One final note: four years later, Aviators referred back to this track in his song "Meet You at the End". See if you can spot the reference when it arrives. It's not hard!

Happy 10th birthday, "Loyalty"!

AcoustiMandoBrony – Loyalty

Feeling old yet? It's ten years today since the best known part of the "Elements" collection was first uploaded to YouTube. This has never actually been finished, and although in the last year or so we've had a couple of updates from Re:Make (as Acoustic Brony are now known) we still await any actual new music to complete the set with "Honesty"¹ and "Magic". Back in 2012 they were collaborating with MandoPony, but that perhaps unsurprisingly won't carry over to the new versions of the songs. Anyway, as you'd expect from a song with this title, "Loyalty" is a song about Rainbow Dash. As befits her character, it's very much a rock number, a paean to the pony for whom backing up her friends means everything. (Well, usually.) It contains what is probably Acoustic Brony's most famous solo, too, a great guitar-then-drums section that kicks in around 3:25 and lasts for just over a minute. I was privileged to see AB play "Loyalty" live at BUCK 2014's Summer Sun Celebration: the solo was changed a bit, but it was still a fantastic experience. They also played it at UK PonyCon 2019, but I had to dash off after the first verse to do the famous UKPC pub quiz! No regrets, but "Loyalty" is and will forever be a great fandom classic.
¹An early version of "Honesty" was played at UK PonyCon 2019, but no public studio version exists

A belated happy 10th birthday to that remix of "Discord"!

The Living Tombstone – Discord (remix)

Annoyingly, I missed this anniversary yesterday! Indeed, I was only reminded of it by a friend today. Although it's not Eurobeat Brony's original, say "Discord" to most people and they'll think of The Living Tombstone's stupendously popular remix. With well over 54 million views on YouTube since its initial upload on 21st January 2012, it is I think the most-viewed MLP fan song of all time. In March 2012 we saw this music video, made by Umby and filmed somewhere in England (Newcastle?) while much more recently "Discord" has become a hit on TikTok, with at least some of its users entirely unaware of its Pony origins. While quite a few people do prefer the original, and even more feel at least mildly irritated that TLT sometimes gets the credit for the whole song, there's no doubt that his "Discord" is a song that almost everybody with the slightest interest in brony music knows the second they hear those opening notes. Not many MLP fan songs can say that, and its place in fandom history is more than secure.

Happy 10th, "Cerulean Blue"!

Replacer – Cerulean Blue

 
This great song wasn't Replacer's first Pony fandom track, but it's most definitely the first of his that's remained a classic to the present day. The instantly recognisable piano intro adds drums and then we're straight into the vocals. Replacer's voice, even if it might perhaps be considered slightly on the light side for pop-rock, has a driving energy combined with an ethereal quality that reflect its subject very well indeed. This is of course early-series Rainbow Dash, and there's clear influence in the lyrics from the likes of "The Mysterious Mare Do Well". Although a moderately long song at 4:26, it's well broken up thanks to its inventive harmonies and instrumental breaks, with a wonderfully bombastic final section to round things off. Oh, and if you're looking at that YouTube upload date and thinking, "Er..." then wonder no more: the Soundcloud upload is dated 4th December 2011. Ten years ago today!

Happy 10th, "20 Percent Cooler"!

Ken Ashcorp – 20 Percent Cooler

I almost missed this one! 16th November 2011 saw the initial upload to YouTube of this absolute certified dancefloor banger. [Don't try to talk like that, Logan. It's embarrassing. —Ed] "20 Percent Cooler" is a song that is a legitimately good club track even if you know nothing whatsoever about Rainbow Dash or MLP in general, as indeed several of its Bandcamp reviews make clear. Indeed, most of the references are pretty subtle It has a wonderful, driving beat, the lyrics are cleverly done (and only a tiny bit on the risqué side by club standards), and at only 3:12 in length it doesn't fall into the common fandom trap of outstaying its welcome. This kind of music isn't to everyone's taste – indeed, it's often not to mine. But Ken Ashcorp does it so well in "20 Percent Cooler" that I find it completely irresistible. It deserves to have kept its fame for a decade.

Happy 10th (and one day...) "Nightmare Night"!

WoodenToaster & Mic the Microphone – Nightmare Night

Yeah, mea culpa: I should have posted this yesterday. But better late than never, right? It's such an iconic track in this fandom that I don't think I can leave it out. "Nightmare Night" is inspired by the S2 episode "Luna Eclipsed", but it takes that inspiration and canters away with it. Yes, it's full of the electronica and voice distortions that were everywhere in the early fandom. But in this case, who cares? Someone might well: I don't. The Living Tombstone's 2013 remix is perhaps slightly more often played these days, but I prefer the original, with that piano riff to set us going. There are a heap of remixes and PMVs of this, but for me the finest will always be Ferexes' SFM video. It says something that I like that so much even though I'm not much of an SFM fan and I don't care at all about TF2. But this post is mainly about the song. Mic performed it at BUCK 2014, so I've seen it live, but its heart is being the Halloween song for us bronies. It's a rare late October when I don't hear it quite a few times!

Happy 10th, "Sunshine and Celery Stalks"!

PinkiePieSwear – Sunshine and Celery Stalks

While PinkiePieSwear's "Flutterwonder" will always have a special place in my heart, this musician also came out with another classic remix a little later in 2011. "Sunshine and Celery Stalks" is a reworking of part of "Winter Wrap Up", in particular Applejack's verse in that song. Ironically given its source, PPS's track has generally struck me as having a rather summery sound, with its laid-back yet upbeat, er, beat and the shimmering synths that go with AJ's vocals. A song that is deservedly still widely played a decade on from its release.

Happy 10th, "Beyond Her Garden"!

WoodenToaster – Beyond Her Garden

The anniversaries are coming thick and fast now. I didn't feature Eurobeat Brony's original version of "Discord" on 7th October (10 years from its YouTube upload date) because it had appeared on the Super Ponybeat 2 album back in August 2011.* But WoodenToaster's "Beyond Her Garden" went up on YT on 10th October 2011, a year to the day after Friendship is Magic debuted. Easily Carrot Top/Golden Harvest's most prominent musical appearance, this is a fairly high-tempo piece that tells a tale of... well, what? I don't know. The lyrics don't make much more sense to me now than they did when I first heard this. But still, you have to admit it is seriously catchy!

* Well, maybe not. Odyssey herself reckons 6th October is the anniversary, so maybe the tracks on the album weren't all released at once? I'll defer to the actual writer!

A belated Happy 10th to "Rainbow Factory"

I've now rewatched Rainbow Rocks. Since I'll be busy today, my plan is to write up the blog post tomorrow and schedule it to go up on Monday morning. Meanwhile, here is some music...

WoodenToaster – Rainbow Factory

I'm actually almost a month overdue with this one, but I felt it was significant enough that I had to give it some notice. WoodenToaster's dark-tinged classic was first uploaded to YouTube on 14th August 2011. To this day, a surprisingly large number of people think this was inspired by the fanfic of the same name. In fact, it's the other way round: the earliest version of the fic was published five days after the song, on 19th August. It's not as polished as the slightly later Fimfiction version linked above, which though not exactly stunning in quality is surprisingly non-terrible for a self-consciously grimdark fic, but it's historically interesting I guess. And yes, it's on GDocs. Anyone who remembers the days before Fimfiction publication became near-universal may feel a pang of nostalgia!

But I'm not here to talk about the story, really. It's short enough that you can read it for yourself if you want. WoodenToaster's song, which I am here to talk about, is one of the best from 2011. That bass piano at the beginning really sets the scheme, and though I'm not always a huge fan of vocal distortion I do think it works here. Then there's that driving beat, which indeed brings to mind the sounds of some heavy industrial factory. The lyrics are not quite perfect, with eg "To which the answer is in a simple facility" having too many syllables, but you can't have everything. This one is always going to be a brony classic.

Pre-2017 Unlisted YouTube videos will become inaccessible next month

(Via EqD.) YouTube has announced that, as of 23rd July, all Unlisted videos that were uploaded before 1st January 2017 will be set to Private. In other words, they will become completely inaccessible to anyone but the uploader, regardless of whether or not you have the direct link. As far as I can see, the only exceptions will be where the channel owner personally opts out between now and then. If they don't do that, then kaboom: no more public access.

It's hardly news that, when MLP creators moved away from the fandom over the years, some of them preferred not to leave their Pony videos public for a variety of reasons. However, quite a few did set said videos to Unlisted instead of Private, thereby allowing access if you had the direct link. This often happened if the artist was okay with access from within the fandom but not with people stumbling on their old MLP videos accidentally.

Needless to say, this news has caused a bit of a stir. There are a heck of a lot of Unlisted videos in the fandom, some of them pretty big. "Flutterwonder" was Unlisted for quite a while, for example, although it's been Public again for a long time now. And a number of channels are now unattended and inactive, so the chances of their creators logging back in to opt out are very low. In under a month, those videos will be no more as far as the fandom is concerned.

Sure, archive channels exist, but those are morally ambiguous in that you don't have the same confidence that the creator is okay with fandom access that you do when they've kept a video Unlisted on their own channel. A link from an old EqD post that points to the creator's own now-Unlisted upload will also not tell you where to find the same video in an archive. Plus archives quite often overlook more obscure and/or specialised works.

Some things will be saved. Perhaps quite a lot, given this fandom's continuing size and activity levels. But quite a bit of fandom history will disappear forever on 23rd July. Regardless of YouTube's reasons for making this change (which seem to be to do with the security of Unlisted links) it's certainly going to be a rather sad day.

Happy belated 10th birthday, "Pinkie's Lie"!

WoodenToaster – Pinkie's Lie

 

One of these days I'll actually remember to put these posts out on time! But another big milestone happened on 28th May: the 10th anniversary of WoodenToaster's first MLP track being uploaded to YouTube. It maybe hasn't maintained its fame quite as well as some of his slightly later works, but "Pinkie's Lie" is still at least moderately well known. Not that many spring 2011 tracks can claim that.

Happy (belated) 10th birthday, brony music!

Eurobeat Brony – Evil Enchantress (Euro Spell Mix)

The other day, I was with some friends online and we were enjoying some fandom music together, a lot of it from back in 2011. At that point, I idly wondered what the oldest extant Pony track was, barring actual show tunes of course. Having poked around a bit, the best I can come up with is this. Quite impressively, it's not by a long-forgotten obscure artist but by someone who remains a very well known musician a decade on: none other than Eurobeat Brony (Odyssey).

Now, I don't think many people would say this was his best fandom track, But it holds up surprisingly well for such an early track; certainly the production values are well in advance of many 2011 pieces. Of course it's more than likely that people were making fan songs before this, but the odds are that they were on 4chan and so are long inaccessible. (If you know otherwise, please do let me know!) As things stand, Eurobeat Brony's song is the oldest one that I know of.

This was uploaded to the "Bandpuffs" account (which may have been called something different then; I don't know) on 28th January 2011. That makes it ten years and two days old as this post goes up. On 29th January, Eurobeat Brony's version of "Winter Wrap Up" appeared on the same account – and 26th March saw the release of Super Ponybeat Vol. 1 on Bandcamp. Was that the first Bandcamp brony release? No idea. But what a decade of music it has been.