Another episode leaked

It happened with "Castle Mane-ia" and now it's happened with "Pinkie Pride". I'm really disappointed in whoever was responsible for this latest leak. My Little Pony episodes are events that give a special feel to the Saturdays they're on, and this inevitably dilutes them. Although I know where to find the episode, I won't be giving any clues and I won't be watching it until the proper day. I'd be really happy if you did the same.

Please help Michael Morones

Those of you who follow Equestria Daily or UK of Equestria may have already seen this story, but I wanted to put it up here as well. Michael Morones is an 11-year-old boy from the United States. He is currently in hospital with brain damage after attempting to take his own life. The cause was bullying as a result of his enthusiasm for My Little Pony. As Michael is American, medical expenses for his treatment are likely to be very substantial.

As a result, EileMonty has set up a GoFundMe page right here. Even if you're not able to contribute financially, you can do a lot of good by spreading the word. Not spamming, of course, but if you have a site, blog, Twitter etc then a few words would be great. If you'd like to follow Michael's progress, his mother has a Twitter at @MichaelBrony623. We're a community, and Michael is one of our own. Let's keep him in our thoughts.

Episode review: "Three's a Crowd" (S4E11)

Spoiler alert: the next episode will have ponies in it!

I've been extremely short of time over the last few days, and that's continued into this weekend, so I hope you'll excuse me for writing a somewhat less thoughtful review than usual. Still, it's My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and I surely can't ignore that, can I? The latest episode is another collaboration, this time between Admiral Lady Meghan McCarthy and Ed Valentine, who was responsible for the pretty enjoyable "Flight to the Finish". You know the form by now: past the break!

Backlog

Just a quick post here to say that I haven't forgotten about either the comics sales stats or the top 10 pony tracks of 2013. I just haven't had the time! It's been all I can do to have kept up with the episodes and comics. But fear not, both posts will be along when I'm not so busy.

Comic review: MLP Friends Forever #1: Pinkie Pie & Applejack

Andy Price's sub cover is brilliant. What might have been...

Last month, the My Little Pony Micro-series came to an end with the excellent Luna issue. This month, we see the release of the first in a new series: Friends Forever. From what we saw in the lead-up, this looked like being a team-up comic, an idea which was very favourably received by the fandom. The first issue is a jump into the unknown with writer, artist and colourists (yes, plural) being entirely new to Pony comics. After the break, I'll tell you if it was the smash hit we hoped it would be.

Remember this from December 2012?

This is not a new thing!

I still don't know who was responsible for that post, but I do now know that the final bit was flat-out wrong. "Don't believe everything you see on the internet" has always been true. I suppose it's possible that Derpy was at one point "canned totally", but either the decision was reversed or it was never actually made in the first place. The following tweet is from the VP of development and scripted entertainment for Hasbro Studios. He should know:

And just to be clear.... she is here to stay. She's not goin anywhere. #shesback #MLPseason4
— mktoon (@mktoon) January 18, 2014

Episode review: "Rainbow Falls" (S4E10)

Technically it's a spoiler. But nobody in the entire fandom missed it!

It hardly seems like yesterday that Season 4 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic began, and here we are moving into double figures! Episode 10 was written by Corey Powell, who debuted with the classic "Sleepless in Ponyville" and went on to write the pretty decent "Just for Sidekicks" later in Season 3. This is her first appearance since then, and given the title we had a fair idea who would be at the centre of attention. After the break, I'll give you lucky people some more of my thoughts.