Thank you for the cons...

...those endless cons, those sacred cons you gave me. Ahem, that's enough Kinks. (There can never be enough Kinks! —Ed.) Just for fun, I thought I might do a little three-and-one paragraph for each of the MLP conventions I've attended. Those numbers refer to the fact that I'll be giving you three good and one bad things about each one. (Hey, I liked them all!) Here goes...

BUCK 2013, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
+ My first convention in any fandom, and that will always mean so much
+ Michelle Creber and EileMonty on stage together in that incredible auditorium
+ "Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows"
- Coming close to melting in the upstairs karaoke room

BUCK 2014, Manchester Central, Manchester (you astound me, Holmes)
+ The Summer Sun Celebration, notably (non-)Acoustic Brony
+ Dave Polsky's barnstorming presentation panel
+ Meeting G. M. Berrow and Blueshift (not together)
- Missing out on the Sunday morning Flash Fanfic contest

UK PonyCon 2014, Mercure "The Grand", Leicester
+ Discovering UKPC's fantastic family-friendly, multi-gen atmosphere
+ Actually knowing the G1 song played by the live band
+ The only con I've attended where people could pay on the door
- It was very, very crowded in there

UK PonyCon 2015, Mercure "The Grand", Leicester (again)
+ Informal singalong sessions around the piano
+ The plushie army on our table at Wetherspoons
+ First time seeing Idris's Battle Pony outfit in person
- Dreadful hall acoustics making some panels entirely inaudible

UK PonyCon 2016, Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds
+ My first Pub Quiz – and making the last bus afterwards
+ The season finale viewing – a tremendous experience
+ Custardcon. Come on, I had to mention this somewhere!
- A few too many people chatting noisily through panels

UK PonyCon 2017, UWE Exhibition Centre, Bristol
+ Dueting with Dodj on "Stop the Bats" at the karaoke
+ The wonderfully spacious and relaxed venue
+ Fulfilling an ambition and walking round hugging a plush most of Sunday
- Um... it finished?

Pony Music Library: What's coming... and what isn't

Those of you who follow my occasional "Pony Music Library" posts will know that the next one will be number 50 in the series. As such, I'm planning to feature a song that means something to me beyond "this is a nice piece of music". I expect the feature to arrive during January, but right now I can't be more precise than that.

Movie songs will become eligible for induction in January, too, since that's when my self-imposed film spoiler ban will expire. I'm not sure whether I really want to feature such recent tracks just yet, but I expect one or two of them will be inducted in time. And yes, album-only songs are eligible too. So, for the avoidance of doubt, are EqG shorts songs.

As for the second part of my title: I have decided not to feature songs which have been entirely removed from the musician's YouTube account, unless: a) they are freely available on an official account elsewhere, or b) there are very special circumstances. I am still considering unlisted songs (eg "Never Alone") as that's rather different.

One notable track which this affects is EileMonty's "I Am Octavia", which as far as I can tell she has deleted from her YouTube account – even direct links bring up "unavailable", which wouldn't be the case if the track had simply been unlisted. I don't know why EileMonty made this decision, but I want to respect it, even though the song is still everywhere online.

Any songs which get deleted after they have been featured in the PML will not be restrospectively un-inducted, as that would simply cause confusion. There are in any case limits to how much editing I can find the time for!

Ponyfic Roundup 185: Cold Mince Pies

Read it Later story count: 374 (-6)

Off we go with the final Ponyfic Roundup of 2017. It's been a bit of an up-and-down year, with rather more downs than ups in the last few months, but I'm optimistic that 2018 might see me get back to reading (and writing about) a little more ponyfic than I have done lately. Three stories in the mix this time, and they are:

Forest Trees and Morning Tea by PonyThunder
Hyperion by Meridian Prime
Fifty Shades of Brad by D G D Davidson

★: 0 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0

Happy Hearth's Warming Eve!

I'll be away over most of the post-Christmas and New Year period, but I may have a couple of pre-scheduled posts ready. I say "may" because... well, you know why. That cold again. Still, I'll try to have something new before the end of the year.

In the meantime, I wish all of you a very happy Hearth's Warming, and I'll see you back here in January as we wait to see what 2018 will bring.

Movie out digitally for US... but not for us

This is going to suck. Right over the Christmas and New Year period, we're going to be told again and again all over the ponynet that My Little Pony: The Movie is out on digital platforms and that we should rush to buy it. Guess what, guys? It isn't and we can't.

Because, as ever, too many people online think the world consists of the US, or of North America at best.

Here's Amazon UK's page for the film. You'll note two things. One, that the UK price is ridiculous – £13.99 for HD, which is more than the physical Blu-ray. Two, that not only is it not available, but there isn't even a release date listed.

I'm trying to be supportive of Hasbro right now over the hacks stuff, but Celestia it's hard when they treat by far the film's most successful non-NA market like dirt. Going back to add the "rants" tag to this post now. :P

Ponyfic Roundup 184: Sick Beats

Interesting changes on Fimfiction... also, another free game on GOG today. This time it's Oxenfree, which normally sells for £14.99, so quite a deal! Usual setup: log into your account and click the banner on the front page.

Read it Later story count: 380 (+1)

I have had colds on and off this winter, but this latest one absolutely knocked me for six and I barely knew where I was until yesterday. I'm still not great, but at least I can string a few words together now. You're getting a second successive two-review PR, which I don't feel too happy about, but at one point it was looking like this wouldn't get published at all.

When You Fall by theworstwriter
Dear Idiot by The Descendant

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0

Right, here's the deal with those hacks

> THERE ARE NO SPOILERS IN THIS POST <

As many of you will already know, someone has once again hacked into the MLP computers (speaking very generally) and got hold of a large amount of confidential information. If you remember what happened last season... this is bigger. This stuff has, of course, found its way to the public internet, because that's what always happens. I'm not really concerned with that here, though. I'm concerned with Louder Yay.

1) I will not post any of the content – files, images, videos – obtained in this way.
2) I will not post any links or discussion as to where to find this content.
3) I will delete on sight any comment that includes the above things.
4) If you want to see this stuff, you're on your own finding it. Do it elsewhere.

As usual, I am willing to discuss general points like "Do you think the fandom will die when G4 ends?" (Answer: no.) But Celestia help you if you spoil me for S8 in the process. :P