HAHCon 2020 cancelled

This one came out of the blue, at least to me: the Horses at Home online convention, or HAHCon for short, will not be held this year. At the time of writing, no reason had been given. It's a bit of a surprise, given that panel applications were due to open on Saturday and HAHCon's Twitter account was still advertising the convention's previously announced date (29th February) at the time the announcement was made.

Whatever the reasons for the cancellation may be, it's very disappointing news. HAHCon was a brilliant idea for those unable to make it to physical conventions, and I'm sorry that it won't be around in 2020. The terse announcement doesn't say whether or not there are plans to return in future years – but I do hope that something like HAHCon will return, even if run by someone else. It's surely too good a concept to disappear entirely.

Ponyfic Roundup 281

Read it Later story count: 232 (+4)

You can blame Present Perfect for the slight bump in RiL count. I wonder whether I ever will get the number down to 100, my long term goal? Anyway, three more fics for your (and, I hope, my) delight and delectation this week. Here's what I have in store for you:

The Place I Feel Safest by Lucky Seven
Extras by Casketbase77
Semantics by Claw in Cursive

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

My Little Repeats 26: "The Best Night Ever"

Look, I don't need a reason to post a happy Fluttershy picture, all right?

S1E26: "The Best Night Ever"
Written by Amy Keating Rogers
7 May 2011

My original rating: N/A
IMDB score: 8.7

The one with Soarin's apple pie.

Thoughts: This is a hugely enjoyable way to end the first season of FiM. It's an ensemble piece that gives all the Mane Six something to do, and though Spike gets a bit left out at least that's acknowledged. Twilight does a bit of show-off magic early on – no travelling to Canterlot by rail for these ponies. (I hope Fluttershy's mice did come back, though!) Ponyville tech levels are still basic – the hairdryers are clearly shown to be clockwork. Once at the castle, there is a glorious song inspired by Sondheim's "Into the Woods", with Rainbow's rock section a particular highlight. Then we see both comedy and sadness in each pony's descent from excitement to unhappiness, with AKR's characterisation abilities coming through well. Prince Blueblood makes his full debut – and don't you wish he hadn't? At least it lets Rarity let rip at him in the end. Fluttershy gets to be a Disney Princess for a bit and gets one of her most famous "losing it" scenes. Celestia's mischievous streak returns. "Pony Joe" as he's called here makes his debut. I knew I liked this, and I was fully expecting to give it a four-star rating. But you know what? I loved it. Very different from any other season finale, of course, but that doesn't matter. I can't really fault it – so five it is!

Choice quote: Applejack: "Beg pardon, Rarity, but we don't normally wear clothes."

New rating: ★★★★★

Next up is... a short hiatus! In which I will reflect on S1 and look ahead to S2.

Rewatch hiatus plans, plus a music question for you all

In keeping with the show itself, "My Little Repeats" will be going on hiatus once I've rewatched the S1 finale, something I hope to do tomorrow. Don't worry, though, I'm not going to have several months off! It'll be a much briefer break than that – probably just a week or two. What I want to do in that gap, apart from simply taking a breather, is to reflect on how the S1 rewatch felt, and to give some thoughts on how I think S2 will feel. I wish I'd done the latter for S1 actually, but too late now.

As for the music question, it's one that someone asked in a YouTube comment of all places: what MLP fandom music produced in, say, the last four years do you really like? Clearly there aren't many cast-iron smash hits any more – PrinceWhateverer's "Solidarity" is the one really major exception I can think of – but what (if anything) from 2016 onwards do you think could have been such a hit if it had come out seven years ago? I almost asked this on a Fimfiction blog, but it's potentially memey and knighty doesn't like that. So it goes here!

My Little Repeats 25: "Party of One"

"Bubble baths? Now hear this, mister: I do the bubbles around here!"

S1E25: "Party of One"
Written by Meghan McCarthy
29 Apr 2011

My original rating: N/A
IMDB score: 9.1

The one with Gummy's hay fever.

Thoughts: This episode has the highest IMDb rating in S1, and for years it was considered one of Friendship is Magic's shining lights. Now? Well, it's still good, certainly. All the Mane Six get things to do, and there are some brilliant set pieces. The barn scene is probably my favourite: Applejack (of course) having real trouble lying convincingly, and in the fake "construction" noises, you can clearly hear Twilight (again, of course) saying, "Safety gear!" The episode is never boring, and it's nice to see Pinkie's sensitive side shown – though I do have slightly mixed feelings about the "Pinkamena" section, which has perhaps lost a little of its impact with repeated showings. I also find it a tad odd that Pinkie would have forgotten her own birthday entirely. Still, there's all the other good stuff, like the scariest "Okie dokie lokie" in history, Pinkie's turn in the school bell, a short but fun song, Spike's secret confessions, and nice background touches like Applejack's three-trailer cart. Gummy's support act is also great, with his yarn-pushing being my favourite scene. A tiny bit short these days of being an outright classic in my book, but the ep remains a very entertaining way of spending 22 minutes.

Choice quote: Rainbow Dash: "I'm just glad I haven't been replaced by a bucket of turnips!"

New rating: ★★★★

Next up is "The Best Night Ever", which I'm optimistic will bring Season 1 to a close in fine style.

Applejack's Logan's Day Off

Applejack iPad Portrait by Tsitra360
(CC by-nc-nd 3.0)

I've strained my arm – not sure how – so I want to keep typing to a minimum for a day or so. I hope to be back posting about "Party of One" tomorrow, or at least on Saturday. In the meantime, please enjoy this nice picture of Applejack by Tsitra360.

Ponyfic Roundup 280

Read it Later story count: 228 (+1)

A quick plug, for which I am (sadly) receiving no remuneration whatsoever: MoonReader+ Pro is a fantastic ebook reader for Android. I've used it for five years now and I have no real thoughts of going anywhere else. I very, very rarely shell out for the pro versions of apps, but I've never regretted doing so for this one. Anyway, there are three stories reviewed this time around, and there's not a dud amongst them! Here they are:

That Distant Shore by Alaborn
Sometimes Maps Are Dumb by HoofBitingActionOverload
A Winter Walk by Scribblestick

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