Lots of G5 on the way next year!

 (Via EQD.) It seems that an Italian website has provided what looks like a reasonably convincing bare-bones schedule for next year's G5 offerings. We'll be getting a "mini-movie" (ie special) in May, then the series proper will begin in September. Another special looks set for Christmas. So, a bit of a gap now, but we managed with long hiatuses (hiati?) in the G4 era, so I'm sure we can deal with this. It's just good to know more G5 is not too far away now. :)

On another, more meta, note: I am at last getting ready to post the Text Review Roundup for the movie. My late decision to go to UK PonyCon meant I didn't have the time to do that when I expected to, but I'm now pretty sure I'll be doing it next week. The first part will be for reviews from outside the MLP fandom, including any professional reviews that aren't paywalled to Tartarus. The second part will cover reviews by fans. It is coming!

Ponyfic Roundup 365

Read it Later story count: 99 (nc) 

We're back to the usual small hoof-ful of short stories this week. In truth I'm quite glad I've actually managed to get three done. Lots going on at this end, although almost none of it very interesting. What I will note is that M&S muffins are very nice and remarkably good value at a quid each, especially since you don't have to buy a multipack as you do in most supermarkets. Anyway, here are this week's three:

Friendship is Optimal: Terra Online by Raugos
Fluttershy Gets a Shot by Lucky Seven
Gallus Makes A Turkey Sandwich by BootyPopperzZz

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.

UK PonyCon report, part 6: Brave and strong and weird and clever

Well, what did you expect?

UK PonyCon 2021 was a resounding success, and the people who made it happen deserve enormous thanks. Once it became clear how many people I knew were planning on attending (even before I discovered I would be too!) I was reasonably confident it would work out, even if I forbore to say so too loudly for risk of tempting fate. I thought there might be a bit of nervousness and awkwardness, but no. Well, not beyond the usual standing about awkwardly – but then that's what bronies are supposed to do. (Not that everyone at UKPC is a brony, of course!)

The venue

Nottingham as a city remains what it has been the last few years to me: a nice enough place in the daytime, but not one of my favourite places after dark. Walking back through the city to the railway station on Saturday night didn't feel threatening as such, but it wasn't all that pleasant. More specific to the con, Nottingham Trent University's building has never been the most thrilling of venues, but it did a good job this time. In particular, the space it offered was welcome in this year's unusual circumstances.

The atmosphere

Wonderful and, in its own way, quietly jubilant. I'd mentioned a few times since the convention was announced that I was concerned whether singing would be restricted. Thankfully that was not the case, and for me at least that really helped. That pre-closing ceremony not-very-angry mob will stick in the memory for a long time. Using LT2 (the cinema room) for big events was very successful, although it was only really possible because of the rejigging caused by the lack of a music stage. Oh, and the heating was set to just right. Walking around in a T-shirt I felt comfortably warm but not too hot.

The problems

Happily, there seemed to be very few of these. There was the odd technical hitch, but these seemed to be less common than sometimes in the past. The con schedule being separate from the con book was a minor irritation, I guess caused by late confirmation of the timetable. I did hear second-hand that one of the Sunday cosplay prizes was won by a fart-themed entry, and it's fair to say that makes me roll my eyes a bit. Sure, maybe that's partly my personal boredom with that theme talking,* but then this is my personal blog. :P Still, if that's the worst thing that happened over the weekend, it's a pretty good result overall.
* I am thrilled that the G5 movie had zero fart jokes, incidentally

The 'rona

Okay, time to deal with this aspect. I thought UKPC handled it very well, without being overbearing, and I never felt at all unsafe. The Covid status check was done quickly and efficiently before the con opened, and hand sanitiser dispensers were plentiful. Masks were optional inside the convention venue (PonyCon Holland the following week had the same policy) and after the Saturday morning queue I'd estimate that about 80% of people dropped them, including me. We can't predict the future, but hopefully this will be a one-off section for this year, and by UKPC 2022 we'll have left it gratefully behind.

The food

As I touched on in the main report, the café pod worked much better than it had in 2019. Queues were far shorter, and not shutting down in late afternoon on Saturday made a difference too. It didn't match the space or fun range of food at the Bristol 2017 café, and the lack of any muffins was disappointing, but it did the job. Unlike in 2019 there was no hot lunchtime food available, which was a mild shame. Also unlike 2019, the venue was entirely alcohol-free. The lack of a bar didn't bother me at all, and I'd be quite content if it remained the case in future years.

The people

I was delighted to learn about the presence of people who'd come to UK PonyCon after enjoying G5 but with no other MLP experience. The multi-generational nature of UKPC is one of its core strengths, and the advent of a new gen was absorbed very smoothly. Slightly less positively, it's a bit of a shame that relatively few families seem to attend these days, compared with a few years ago. I've mused in the past that the ending of on-the-day ticket sales from 2015 could be a factor there. I suppose there's not much that can be done about that, especially given the lack of American-style enormous con venues.

The charity

I was absolutely thrilled that UKPC 2021 managed to raise over £10,000 for the RDA, which I have always been delighted is the con's chosen beneficiary. I wasn't at all sure how much it would be possible to raise in this year's odd circumstances, but to get that much with a significantly reduced attendance was brilliant. Not that much reduced, though: although it was clearly quieter than in 2019, we apparently had more than 500 attendees. That would have been a very respectable attendance for a UKPC anyway before the last few years. 

The future

We've already been told that there will be a UKPC 2022 – it will be online if absolutely unavoidable, but if at all possible it will be like this, in person. This is excellent news! We won't find out for a while yet whether Nottingham will be its home again, or whether there'll be a return to the traditional touring status. My personal preference would still be for the latter, but then I'm not the person who has to do all the work investigating new cities and venues. Apart from the US My Little Pony Fair, UKPC is the longest-running Pony convention in the world: this was its 17th iteration. It deserves its honour.

The mayonnaise

Bing-bong!

UK PonyCon report, part 5: Sunday (second half)

The lot's official name was MAYONNAISE, BING BONG BING BONG

Mid-afternoon rolled around on the Sunday of UK PonyCon 2021, and that meant one thing: Charity Auction time! Although there had been auctions in a few formats tried online, nothing really matches up to being there in person, so there was a real frisson of excitement as we piled into the mane stage room, remembering to pick up a numbered card to hold up. I happened to get number 100, which was indicative of... absolutely nothing. We had to give the cards back later in any case, which was a shame.

And then, after a quick intro talk from an RDA representative, it was on! As always, predicting what any one lot might go for was a bit of a fool's errand. I had very little spare money left by this time, so I wasn't expecting to pick up anything, but it was fun to participate even so. Some of the highlights included a "mark one" Flufflepuff for £250 and UKPC Britannia seapony plush number 000 for... well, I can't remember, but it wasn't exactly low. People had been saving for two years!

I'd rather... siiiiiiing!

However, the really eye-opening bids came elsewhere. A lovely big Derpy plushie went for a staggering £1,400 – but that wasn't even the highest! Three people in the audience seemed to have set their hearts on the roller banners that promoted UKPC inside the venue. (You can see them in the second photo in part 2.) No fewer than three of these went for four-figure sums, with the most expensive being £1,600. I think that is the highest price for a single lot in UK PonyCon's history!

Mind you, the real star of the show was of course the keenly awaited battle for the jar of mayonnaise. Yes, really. I actually stuck my hand up for the opening bid or two here – Celestia knows what I'd have done if I'd won! – but things escalated quite a bit, and in the end the mayo went to con chair Maz for the little matter of £100. I don't know who else bid or what will happen to it, but a tiny little part of me hopes that it'll be being used to scare unicorn foals come Nightmare Night. :P 

Amlaur (centre) considers the pros and cons of unlimited imperial power

We were given a quick estimate of the total raised at the end of the auction, but later on it emerged that the total raised for the RDA during UKPC 2021, including from other sources, had topped £10,000. Given attendance was announced as only around 60% of that in 2019,* when the all-time record of £11,000 was set, this was a truly wonderful result. None of us who were there that afternoon will ever forget that auction. It was one of those things people will be talking about for a long time to come.
* That implies a 2021 attendance of a bit over 500. Very good indeed in the circumstances!

Sadly, we were getting towards the end of the convention by now. Most unusually for me, I hadn't so much as visited a karaoke room this con, so I followed a few of the others over for the last singing session of the weekend. Although I didn't sing solo, partly to allow kids to do so, I very much enjoyed being able to join in a variety of G4 and G5 numbers. The room wasn't too crowded and the tech wasn't misbehaving, so it made quite a relaxing way to spend half an hour or so.

The sunny venue. Also the Sunny venue

And then it was time for the closing ceremony. Boooo! Before we began, though, we had a little mass singalong. The only G4 track I can remember was the classic "Cafeteria Song", but for once even that was overshadowed. G5's thoroughgoing success was underlined with a wonderful, raucous group rendition of "Danger, Danger" – we weren't a very angry mob in reality, but it was enormous fun. The usual thank yous and prizegivings followed... and then we really did have to leave.

About a dozen of us headed for the Gooseberry Bush pub for a post-con meal – fish and chips in my case. I'm sorry to say that my newly acquired Fluttershy doll disgraced herself when faced with my pint of cider. Worse, a certain person who really ought to remain nameless (but won't – hi, Culdee) sat her on the vinegar bottle to declare "Fluttershy on acid". Dearie dearie me. After 90 minutes or so I headed for the tram to the station, accompanied by Stu and Oilyvalves, both of whom shared a convivial table with me for part of the train trip home.

Go home, Fluttershy, you're drunk

And that was it for my first convention in two years! What a weekend it had been. The event had been a resounding success, and I was delighted to have been able to be a part of it. The experience of UKPC 2021 has certainly made me very much hope that I will manage to be there for UKPC 2022!

Next time: some bits and bobs and random thoughts I couldn't fit in the standard report

UK PonyCon 2021 report, part 4: Sunday (first half)

Morning in Nottinghamshire shimmers...

After a decent night's sleep (now there's a novelty!) I checked out of my hotel early to head for the bus station, there being no early trains from Mansfield on Sundays. Thanks to some iffy directions, I very nearly ended up getting on a bus to the local Amazon warehouse, which would have been awkward. Happily this was averted and I enjoyed a pleasantly quiet 40-minute ride into Nottingham. It was a bit chilly, but the weather looked like being reasonable.

Breakfast this time had been arranged in advance, and there were five of us at table in the Roebuck – which was also pleasantly quiet. Wetherspoons Large Breakfast certainly lives up to its name, but it's rather handy for cons when you're never quite sure how you're going to fit in lunch. With our UKPC badges already sorted out and around our necks, we strolled in leisurely fashion to the venue and were inside pretty quickly to enjoy another day of small horses.

Five minutes to opening! Featuring Griffin's hat (bottom left)

I'd asked online whether anyone would be interested in playing Chase the Ace, and Ace (fittingly), Zen plus one or two more had said they were up for it. This is a simple card game that we play at nearly all Worcester meets. I'd always wanted to play it at a convention, and I'd nearly managed it in 2019. Of course, you-know-what meant a long delay after that, but at last it actually happened! Unlike two years ago, I had a proper MLP pack which really does make things a lot more fun.

As with Saturday, the Sunday morning was fairly quiet, so we found a spare table on the upper floor and got cracking. This was a non-competitive game, so we didn't bother with the usual "three lives" setup. As time went on, more and more people wandered along and joined in or spectated. By the end, I think we had something like 13 people, making this something not a million miles away from a "renegade" Chase the Ace panel! :P Sounds silly I know, but this was a big highlight of the con for me.

Chase the Ace: I suffer the Curse of the Cakes, averted only by Twist (right)

Around 11 am, some people headed off to Reskell's panel comparing the furry and Pony fandoms – they're a member of both, which gave them a useful insight. I was thinking about going, even though I'd watched Reskell do a similar presentation at one of the online UKPCs... but it was at this point that my second (and last) minor attack of social anxiety hit. As with yesterday's, it wasn't a big deal, but it was just enough to put me off wanting to go to a panel that I suspected would be quite well attended. Ah well.

I reprised my plan from the Saturday of going downstairs to look at the vendor hall, since that gave me plenty of space and allowed walking around, which helped a lot. There were some highly impressive lots on the charity auction table, and I'll certainly be returning to that in the next part of this report. I also had to cast a proprietorial eye over the Newcomer Customs entries, given that I was the sponsor of that contest! Not a judge, thankfully, as I would have found it pretty hard to pick a winner.

Some of the impressive Newcomer Customs entries (eventual winner on the left)

Definitely time for lunch now. As most of us (now including unexpected Sunday arrival Oilyvalves, who'd kept that quiet!) weren't really up for a walk, we stuck with sandwiches and snacks from the café pod. The chocolate cupcakes were very nice! Slightly later in the afternoon (temporary jump ahead because I can't edit properly yay!) I did a bit more shopping. Jowy's Hitch prints had definitively sold out, but at least I managed to get an Izzy. A bit later on, I also spent £1 on a  charity tombola spin and won a Fluttershy EqG doll. Could be worse!

Back to the present! At 12:30 quite a few of us, this time including me, headed for the Tails of Equestria panel. This was about the popular licensed MLP role-playing game sold by River Horse, and was given by game designer Jack Cæsar. He proved to be an excellent presenter, talking interestingly and in quite some detail about the process of working with Hasbro to make the game work to everyone's satisfaction. One little snippet he shared: Hasbro were adamant that players should not be able to have an alicorn character!*
* As Cæsar pointed out, you can hack this by giving a character earth pony, pegasus and unicorn abilities...

Applying the concept of RPG balancing to a world containing an all-powerful chaos lord. And Flurry Heart

Next time: auction stare-outs, angry mobs and Fluttershy really letting herself down

Ponyfic Roundup 364: Lets Do This Edition

Read it Later story count: 99 (+1) 

As trailed a fortnight ago, today PR is concentrating on some of the works of one particular author Lets Do This. Several factors prompted me to choose them, including the fact that they only started in 2018, that they have a sizeable body of stories to choose from, and that they have a reasonable variety of genres under their belt. (Lots of Twilight, but I can live with that!) However, I decided I would not be reading any of the significant number of stories in their various AU series. Maybe another time, but not this – when for once I have five fics to look at. These are:

No More Letters by Lets Do This
It's Just Magic! by Lets Do This
Starlight Breaks Magic by Lets Do This
Style Guide by Lets Do This
Flying While Pegasus by Lets Do This

★: 0 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 4 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.

UK PonyCon 2021 report, part 3: Saturday (second half)

My muffin did break, but I can't say I wasn't warned!

After the cosplay contest, I decided I really, really needed a muffin. Well... actually there was a small ulterior motive. For the first of two times that weekend, I had a minor attack of "I need to be not sitting still in a busy room" type social anxiety. Please note minor. Anyway, Nottingham is happily possessed of a Muffin Break within ten minutes' walk, so I headed off to the (busy!) Victoria Centre and found myself an apple and cinnamon muffin. Happy now, AJ?

I was feeling fine after my few minutes in the open air, so I came straight back into the venue. (A note of appreciation here for the excellent venue security staff, who were reassuring, professional, calm and unobtrusive throughout.) I can't actually remember what happened at this point, but I expect I found a friend or two and rambled on inanely for a while. As usual, I also looked from a distance at the serious collectors' stalls and felt slightly intimidated!

I used to wonder what Neo-Medievalism could be

Four o'clock came, and with it the next panel I was attending: this was given by long-time UKPC and fandom supporter Dr Ewan Kirkland, aka "Dr Pony". A serious academic who realises the immense importance of pastel talking horses. This year's subject was "MLP and the Gothic", and it was a very interesting and thought-provoking hour. The first audience suggestion to "Who is the most Gothic pony?" was Pinkie – and on examination, that wasn't entirely a joke.

Dr Pony's talk ranged widely, from the 18th century origins of Gothic literature to modern computer games like A Night in the Woods. I'd definitely recommend his panels if you haven't had the pleasure before. I think after this I probably wandered off to have a look at some of the lots for Sunday's charity auction. I wish I'd been able to think of something to contribute to it myself, but most of the Pony tat I own would be lucky to raise more than 75p...

Fluttershy cookie, before she lost her head

I think it was at around this time that Stu asked who'd be interested in a quick run down to Burger King. I tagged along with about half a dozen others and we walked briskly through the chilly autumn air (it wasn't that close!) to the aforementioned fine establishment. I like BK burgers, but in Nottingham at least they ain't cheap. Still, "cheap" and "convention" don't really go together. A shame our table was in a howling gale, but still, ventilation, eh? :P

After a good chat we all headed back to the con. The next highlight was the "Great Britannia Bake-Off". Venue restrictions meant cooking actually in the hall wasn't possible, so we watched a very amusing video of several of the staff making Pony-themed treats with... various levels of success. Jez benefited (well, kind of) from his posh "rich man mixer", as pointed out mercilessly by the on-screen captions. I wish there'd been a dire warning about the Fluttershy biscuit beheading, though! ;)

"What did G1 Taffy spill into spaghetti?" Backcard canon. Oh, Hasbro...

Pub Quiz time! UK PonyCon legend and Derpy superfan Archer (who was at the first UKPC at Morecambe in 2004) returned to her equally legendary role asking the questions. Our team, shamelessly called "Derpy Continuously Flies into Custard" put up a worryingly good showing, and we only avoided the disaster of winning the thing thanks to some judicious wrong answers.* That's our story, anyway. It was a fantastic hour, though, and felt just like a UKPC Pub Quiz should.
* One day there will be a question to which the answer really is "Kaiser Wilhelm II". This was not that day

I had ages to wait until my train so hoped to join a few friends in the nearby Roebuck. However, central Nottingham was heaving (not helped by England's men's football team playing the mighty Andorra that night) and so I decided not to join the others in their quest for a pub with room to stand up in. Instead, I headed for the station. Oh, there were all the football fans. A not very pleasant half-hour journey to Mansfield later, I was in the Travelodge reflecting on a pretty darn good day one.

The pride of the Northern fleet. Not pictured: 745 loud football fans

 Next time: avoiding Amazon, big breakfasts and renegade panels