UK PonyCon report, part 5: The Obligatory Merch Haul Pic

Almost at the end of this marathon now! After this, I have only one more post to come on the subject – a "general thoughts" one which will probably appear sometime around Monday. Apologies for the iffy quality of the photo here; it was taken in my Nottingham hotel room on a very gloomy day. I think I've got the details of each item right, but I'm happy to be corrected if anyone knows better.

Apologies for the small numbers; click the pic to enlarge it a bit

Key to items

1. Fluttershy "mystery bag"; art by Ponebooth. This contained:

2. Mane Six lanyard
10. Fluttershy badge
11. "Brony forever" badge

3. 2019 con T-shirt; art by Sparkler. Not black! :D
4. "Crystal Pony" – from the 2018 pony customising contest. My auction win!
5. Con badge; art by Anna Pommes
6. Apple Family print; art by Greenfly
7. Programme for the "Beach Party" evening concert.
8. Conbook; art by Anna Pommes
9. Sleepy Fluttershy; by Magical Cuties
12. Seapony Britannia; by the HQG1C project
13. Little UK PonyCon flyer
14. Bambi-style Fluttershy badge; by Jowybean

A smaller haul than at some cons – no original art, for example – but then my budget was tighter so that was no surprise. I was pretty pleased, all in all. A shame UKPC stopped doing posters after 2017, as I really liked them. That flyer was the closest we non-VIPs could get (they got an exclusive print). But if the posters didn't sell well enough any more, I can't really knock them for discontinuing the things. Hard to pick a favourite item from this lot, but Sleepyshy must be pretty high on the list. She's so adorable! :D

Ponyfic Roundup 270

Read it Later story count: 235 (+2)

I haven't got anything of interest to report this week, so let's get straight on with the stories. There are four of them on the list today, and they are:

The Only Day by naturalbornderpy
Flood by CalebH
The Sauce Must Flow by Majin Syeekoh
A dangerous bet? by Gadgetphile

★: 1 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0

UK PonyCon report, part 4: Monday – CornerCon, RainCon, MikeCon

Taken on Sunday night, but it seemed appropriate for this post

What? No, these post titles aren't getting desperate at all. I don't know what you mean. (I can see that Liarjack face —Ed.) There are a couple more UK PonyCon posts to come after this – one the inevitable Merch Haul and one summing up my thoughts about this year's convention – but today's is the last of the chronological reports, covering the Monday. Let's go!

The morning after the convention before is always a less than cheery time, assuming the con itself has gone well – which this one certainly did. Happily, on Sunday evening Hawthorn had (more or less accidentally) become the organiser of an informal farewell breakfast at the Company Inn, quite close to Nottingham station. He and I were the only certain attendees for a while, but even so we arranged to check out and be ready for 9.00 am. I did meet one other attendee as I was waiting for him, who saw my con T-shirt and MLP bag and said with a grin, "I know where you've been all weekend!" He'd had a good time too.

Unlike last year, it wasn't raining as we trekked across town to the pub we'd chosen. As we'd hoped, the place was fairly empty at this time on a Monday morning, so we settled into what looked like a nice corner section where we could leave big bags without getting in people's way. Well, except for the couple of pensioners who turned up later. It appeared they sat in this area every day or something, so despite the vast acreages of space elsewhere, they squeezed in past us. It was... strange.

I took no photos over breakfast, so have Train Pirateshy instead

I know I've used the word "convivial" a lot in these reports, but this breakfast was exactly that. I can't remember everyone who joined us for varying lengths of time, but Hawker Hurricane was around from quite early on, which was nice. Later we were joined by Jowy and StewArt, which resulted in some very interesting discussion of the ins and outs of con vendor-ing, artistic direction and even – yay! – some ponyfic talk. Hawthorn attempted unsuccessfully to get me reading GMBlackjack's unfinished behemoth The League of Sweetie Belles.

Guiding Breeze popped in for a while, too, which was an unexpected pleasure and gave us a few more insights into UK PonyCon from the inside. A few more convention people came and went, and outside the sky grew steadily gloomier until the rain came. I had intended to depart after a couple of hours, but I was loath to leave this nice warm pub corner containing people talking about ponies – though we never did get the pensioners to join that discussion! – so by the time I finally dragged myself to my feet it was 1.00 and I'd been there for four hours.

I thought my convention was over and done with, but fate dealt me one last good card: because I did get a later train than I'd originally intended, I was joined as far as Birmingham by Mike. This was an unexpected pleasure, mostly because he was good company but partly because it let us talk about the finale'n'epilogue without any risk of spoiling others! We also chatted about the show in general and some much earlier episodes. We parted at New Street and I crossed Birmingham in the rain to get my train home. And that was it: my UKPC was over. Awww.

About to board my train away from PonyCon Central

UK PonyCon smashes charity fund-raising record!

This is my 1,500th post here on Louder Yay. I therefore wanted to post something reasonably significant to mark the occasion. As it so happens, UK PonyCon has presented me with a very obvious choice. As announced yesterday, the convention has smashed its all-time record for charity fund-raising. The long-time and excellent beneficiary, the RDA, will receive...

£11,000!

Last year's total – itself a record at the time – was £6,750, so this is a very substantial increase. The largest single component, the Grand Charity Auction, apparently raised £5,834. On top of that were things including the tombola (apparently a smash hit in itself), contest entry fees, HQG1C sales and the donations included in VIP- and Supporter-tier tickets.

I am absolutely delighted about this! The RDA is a wonderful charity which has been really good to UKPC over the years, and I'm so happy that those of us who played any part in this year's convention have contributed to such a wonderful total for such a fine cause.

Sounds of 2012: Nos. 55 to 49

"Two of these posts in the space of three days?" you may be thinking. "Who are you and what have you done with Logan?" But yes, we are indeed returning to "Sounds of 2012" today: the top 100 fandom tracks of that year, as voted for by listeners to Everfree Radio. Boilerplate coming up to remind you how I decide if a track should be included, and then we'll be off towards the fringes of the top 50. Unfortunately, one song this time didn't qualify for inclusion.

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the artist
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion

55: Aviators – Love is in Bloom remix (feat. Yelling At Cats and HMage)
54: Silva Hound ft. Rina-Chan – Hooves Up High
53: Forest Rain – Raise the Sun
52: JakeLion – Fluttershy Inc. (Gorillas Pony Parody)
51: The Living Tombstone – Smile Song (remix)
50: skipped
49: Random Encounters – The Brony Song

If you'd like to read my rambling about these tracks, then past the cut with you!

UK PonyCon report, part 3: Sunday – DeadFandomCon, AuctionCon, CustardCon

Stormy's Art Panel. With art

Right, I think it's about time I tore myself away from crashing into rocks in Rainbow Dash Attack (current PB: not enough) and returned to writing about UK PonyCon 2019. Having actually had some sleep on Saturday night, and being able to go to breakfast slightly later on account of con registration being unnecessary this time, I was feeling a lot more awake. At the Joseph Else this time I was joined by Hawthorn, Oilyvalves and Griffin, which was a pleasant start to the day.

The weather was a bit on the damp side this time, but it wasn't too bad and of course there was less time to wait outside in the queue than there had been on Saturday. Once indoors, there were naturally a few quips about how we G4 fans had now joined the G1–G3 aficionados in a dead fandom. Because clearly nobody will ever be interested in personal small horses again. The S9 finale and epilogue had officially aired on DF the previous night, but we avoided discussing those as not everyone had seen them.

At 10.00 I broke with my usual habit and went to an art panel, this one run by StormBlaze and her sister Featherpaw. The room was fairly full, which was pleasing to see. Despite a technical issue that meant the planned live demonstration wasn't possible, I was impressed by this panel. The two presenters were interesting speakers and explained subjects like light and shadow (eg why you'd use very dark colours instead of black) in a way that even art ignorami like me could understand.

A packed main hall for the Charity Auction

There was a little time to kill after this panel, so naturally I did some more shopping. At midday, quite a few of us headed for the LGBTQ+ Representation on MLPTube panel, not quite knowing what to expect. Host Apple Honey talked about the stop-motion series she produces using MLP toys. She was only 15 and freely admitted to being nervous, but she won us over with her sincerity. I admired the way she decided not to talk about her coming out (as had been trailed in the conbook) as she wasn't comfortable with it; I think that's the sort of thing that can really help people.

Food would have to wait, as it was now time for the Grand Charity Auction, always a highlight of UKPC. For once I hadn't spent all my money by this point, and I ended up bidding on more things than I'd ever done before. Okay, I didn't actually win most of them, on account of them going wildly over my top limit. (Case in point: an IDW comic signed by Tabitha St. Germain and bearing drawings by both Katie Cook and Andy Price, which closed at something like £400.) Still, for the first time ever I did actually win something! You'll see it when I post my Merch Haul photo later in this series.

All this did mean that I'd missed Rainbow Dash Attack (probably for the best!) but since I wasn't going for the Virtual Reality Experience the karaoke room was calling. The Sunday session is often more laid back than the Saturday one, and so it proved this time. I sang "Shine Like Rainbows", which I was extremely pleased to get through with not too many mistakes. I then went on a food/shopping run, but I was back in time to see Alex T Fish give us all a wonderfully hammy rendition of the kirin song, complete with all kinds of actions.

The end is neigh. Awwww!

I hummed and hawed about going to Steely Hooves' Making Music panel, but by the time I'd made my mind up it was already half over. I rather regret this, since reports from people who did go were pretty positive. But now it was time for the closing ceremony. (Booo!) No real mass sing-song this time, which was a bit of a shame, though I joined in many of the songs even if most of the audience didn't! The closing ceremony was as they usually are: thanks, prizes, you get the idea. None of us really wanted the convention to end.

We did at least get a couple of tasty titbits. First, that the auction had broken the all-time UKPC record and raised a tremendous £5,835 for the RDA. Yay! And second, that UK PonyCon 2020 would have the theme "#SpookyCon". Yeah, they said "hashtag" as part of the title. No date fixed yet, and though Hallowe'en is on a Saturday next year it's probably a little too late for UKPC's liking. Mind you, 10th October is also on a Saturday. As ever, though, we shall have to wait and see what the next few months reveal.

A whole bunch of Custardians then headed up the road to the Gooseberry Bush, the same pub we'd had our post-con meal at in 2018. We had to shove some tables around to give us nearly enough space, but we more or less managed. There was food and drink and laughter and friendship and all the other things My Little Pony is for. Pony stacking happened, with varying degrees of skill and silliness. (Not much skill on my part!) Ialyrn teased me with jokes about custard. We all teased Ace with jokes about Best Babysitter (Sunburst).

Pony stacking, Hard Mode

Eventually, it was time to go, after one or two awkward hugs. (Hey, we're bronies – we can't go being socially confident, now, can we?) Hawthorn and I strolled back to the Travelodge, chatting vaguely. The streets seemed quieter than they had on either of the other two nights, and indeed they remained that way later on. Possibly the loud people were being loud in front of someone else's hotel for a change, but whatever the case I had the most peaceful of my three nights' sleep in Nottingham. I wasn't quite done with UKPC yet, though...

Sounds of 2012: Nos. 61 to 56

Friendship is Magic is over and done with (at least as far as the TV show is concerned) but there's a lot more for me to write here yet! And one of the things I need to get on with is "Sounds of 2012". As usual, here's a quick refresher on the rules I use to determine inclusion here. I think I'll put them in a smaller font from now on, so that they don't sprawl over so much space. Besides, Rule 1 covers everything this time around.

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the artist
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion

61: Sim Gretina – Twilightlicious ('Troll it down' remix)
60: Stablefree – Discord (Big Band Jazz Cover ft. Replacer)
59: RainbowCrash88 – Rainbow Dash Stage Theme
58: Aviators and Omnipony – Monster
57: Sim Gretina – Twilight ft. Dusk Shine – Magic
56: Echelon – Sleep

If you'd like to know a bit more about these six tracks, then please keep reading!