Lauren Faust answers S1 questions

She did so via Twitter, but thankfully the fine people at Equestria Daily have collected them all together, and made this post of all her answers. She was confining herself to S1 questions — unsurprisingly, given her history! — so anything else was ignored, as (quite rightly) were those questioners who did us all a disservice by asking yet again why Faust left the show. Yes, we'd all like to know... but she's said as much as she's going to, at least for now, and we should respect that.

Anyway, back to the S1 questions. Some are more predictable than others, and some (such as the "pony that thinks it's a deer" episode) were already known through other means, but there are still some very interesting revelations in Faust's replies. Here are some of my favourites:

• Trixie was created as a stallion... but Hasbro wanted her to be a mare
• Trixie (again!) went to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, just like Twilight
• Faust's working name for Berry Punch was Pinot Noir(!)
• Celestia and Luna still lived with their parents (in the castle from the premiere) when Nightmare Moon appeared
• Before appearing in Ponyville, Nightmare Moon went to Canterlot to magically banish Celestia to the Sun in revenge
• Twilight's power surge in E23 attracted Celestia's attention: Tia knew then Twi could reignite the elements... and do "other stuff" Faust had planned that never came to be
• In maturity terms, Spike starts out as around eight years old in human chonological equivalents

Two interviews with Mary Jane Begin

We seem to be on a bit of an interview frenzy around here just now! But yes, the author and illustrator of the beautiful new Under the Sparkling Sea book has been chatting away merrily. First, she tells Read Local: The Barrington Books Blog that the whole project took her about 18 months, and that her paintings will be shown at the National Museum of American Illustration at the end of June. Newport, Rhode Island is a little bit far for me, but if you happen to be in the area I'm sure Begin would appreciate it if you dropped in and had a look for yourself.

As if that wasn't enough, there's another interview, this time with GoLocalProv, a Providence, Rhode Island-based lifestyle website. In this one, Begin tells us that her childhood dream was to be a vet (Fluttershy would be proud!), that she's always wanted to illustrate Hansel and Gretel because of its dark undertones and that she loves to walk her dog (Chance) along the beach. Okay, these interviews aren't likely to make any national front pages, but it's always interesting to learn a bit more about the people behind the Pony stuff we buy.

Tara Strong talks to Comics Alliance

Her interview is quite wide-ranging, and it's worth reading all the way through. But let's face it, you want to know about the MLP-related bits, don't you? It's really one big paragraph, and very much about bronies rather than the show itself. But in a nutshell, she says that we're "hilarious and supportive" and "the greatest ever", and it's hard to feel anything but cheerful about that. We love you too, Tara!

Daniel Ingram discusses writing music with comicbook.com

Daniel Ingram has been talking to comicbook.com about what it's like to write music for kids' cartoons. (There's a mistake in the title: he was only nominated for Emmys.) The interview doesn't bring any stunning revelations, but it's certainly worth a look. The highlight for me was Ingram's comment that "catchy doesn't necessarily mean its good", using Disney's infamous "It's A Small World After All" as his example. He also says that he doesn't really consider the brony audience (or even the core demographic's parents) when composing, just whether he likes what he's created.

Review: Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony

No, you haven't bought Peppa Pig by mistake

It's been a long wait — extended at the last minute by a week due to delays in obtaining clearance to use some of the music and artwork — but Bronies finally went public at the weekend. The "Core Edition" of Laurent Malaquais' film (without the Blu-Ray discs and other goodies that certain backers receive) is sold from the official website at US$12.99, which works out at £8.30 or so. For that, you get a DRM-free file in 400p, 720p or 1080p quality; you're allowed four downloads of each, which should cover any potential power-cut disasters.

If you have a reasonably fast connection and are watching on a screen big enough to take it, then you'll probably want to get hold of the 1080p version. Be warned: this takes up 3.5 GB! That does at least mean that it can be burned to a single DVD easily enough without any messing around. It's a standard H.264 file which I had no problems playing using any of the players I tried. For the sake of completeness, I mostly watched the film with the excellent, cross-platform VLC media player. You need have no fear here.

Enough technical geekiness; we have pony geekiness to consider! I shall, of course, be rambling on at some length in a minute, so out of the kindness (of course!) of my heart, I'll put the rest of this review after a jump. Follow me there for lots more waffling!

"I love it. I think it's great."

The Nerd Reactor site has a short but interesting interview with MLP:FiM's head writer, Meghan McCarthy. There isn't a lot of new information in there — though there's a mild spoiler if you haven't seen the most recent episode — but it's nice, if unsurprising, to know that McCarthy is pro-fandom. (That subject line is a direct quote from her answers.) It's a bit strange that John Nguyen, who conducts the interview, has never seen an episode (though he did like The Powerpuff Girls) but never mind. Actually, McCarthy says that if he had, he'd "already be a brony"!