My Little Repeats 135: "Buckball Season"

And then they missed

S6E18: "Buckball Season"

3 Sep 2016

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 7.4

The one with Fluttershy's spinning tail save

Thoughts: Another new writer in Jennifer Skelly and... look, I'm not impartial on this one, lump it. Fluttershy and Pinkie teaming up is great, though hard work on Andrea Libman – so though disappointing there wasn't more of the double act, I guess also understandable. Still, their quiet, short scene in the forest is lovely: touching and sympathetic. Anyway: buckball is a fun sport, I'm sure more interesting than hoofball, and Pinkie's natural brilliance at it is funny. Talking of: Snails gets some character at long last, and even a very brief song – one later polished up by DoTheDaringDew! The overall feel, although more interestingly animated than the early days, is often reminiscent of several seasons ago: this is very much small-town Equestria. This was Skelly's only episode. Not a bad hit rate, then! For many people this is probably more of a high three-star episode, but it has heart and charm and humour and, well, it feels just so Pony. So from me it's keeping its four, and I'm happy about that.

Choice quote: Pinkie: "That's a relief, because I left my unicorn costume at home." [funnier post-G5 film...]

New rating: ★★★★

Next time, I'll be rewatching "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks". Gabby's debut, and as such often remembered more for her being cute than for anything much else.

The reason I won't review incomplete fics

In a word: Austraeoh.

"But Logan," you may object, "that fic is finished! It has a [Complete] marker and everything!"

Well, yes. But the series it begins is not. Apparently planned as a twelve-book epic, for almost two years now it's been stuck 670,000 words into book nine (Olfolrodi). If you started at the beginning in spring of the series in May 2012, you will have spent over a decade and four million words and been rewarded with what looks increasingly like a story that will never be concluded.

Now, some people don't mind having a story come to a halt in the middle of nowhere, so to speak. I am not one of those people.

And that's why with extremely rare exceptions where the incomplete tale doesn't feel like half a story (xjuggernaughtx's Cheerilee's Thousand is one), I will only even read, let alone review, stories tagged [Complete]. Too many people have been burnt by this before, and I'd rather not be another one.

Ponyfic Roundup 426

Read it Later story count: 102 (+10)
Words read this week: 65,569

After my request for story recommendations the other day, it should be no surprise that my RiL list has grown a little since last time. Nothing to worry about, of course. This week, despite catching up with His Dark Materials (I'm past that scene at the river now), I have had a bit more reading time than usual. You can see the result in my "words read" count above! Don't go expecting this to be the norm, but I think my hope of reading a few more mid-length fics than hitherto is realistic. Here are today's four:

Sunshine and Reindeer by Casketbase77
The Light-Bringer by Bad_Seed_72
Pegasus Device by AuroraDawn
Ponies in SPAAAAAACE! by Ninjadeadbeard

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

My Little Repeats 134: "Dungeons & Discords"

This whole scene is packed with fun references

S6E17: "Dungeons & Discords"

27 Aug 2016

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 8.0

The one with Josephine Baker pone

Thoughts: Guys' Night, eh? In a female-dominated society like Equestria, this seems a fair counterpart to Earthly "Girls' Night" events. It's quite a fun watch, and one of Discord's better late-series appearances. The pre-credits scene with Fluttershy is good fun, "Opposite" and otherwise. Actually, the whole episode is good fun, aided by Nick Confalone's really amusing dialogue, the usual excellent voice acting and some really funny visual gags. "Ogres & Oubliettes" both sends up and pays tribute to Dungeons & Dragons – possibly some overly serious D&D players got irritated, but I'd consider that a plus. The segment where Discord brings the game to life is also great (if a little scary) viewing. All in all, a massive improvement on Discord's last big episode ("What About Discord?") and a really entertaining ep all round. It's not perfect – the "electric shock" scene is a little too Looney Tunes and feels mean-spirited for this show even from Discord. But we have a good Discord episode and a good Spike episode and a fun Fluttershy support act and parsnips. This time I'm pushing an episode's rating up a star. It gets a four now.

Choice quote: Discord: "Fun with sidekicks?"

New rating: ★★★★

Next time, I'll be rewatching "Buckball Season". I had a lot of affection for it last time round, and I'm really hoping that's still the case now.

Quite a response; thanks!

 A week ago I asked you if you could recommend me any Mature-rated stories. Suffice to say I wasn't expecting quite the volume of recommendations that I got! Okay, a large slice of them were from Present Perfect's epic two-part comment, but by no means all. I won't thank everyone by name, since apart from anything else some people contacted me in private. I had overlooked one thing (since added to the original post) which is that I'm really no great fan of futa. But other than that I think the piques my interest:not a chance ratio was pleasingly high.

As I said last week, I don't intend to post any Mature-only Roundups (barring single-story Spotlights, I suppose) and reviewing M-rated fics will still be the exception rather than the rule. Regardless of Fimfiction's steady pornification over the last few years, at least when it comes to new stories, that's never going to be the part of the ponyfic world that most appeals to me. However, now I have a reasonable shortlist to choose from, you can expect to see M-rated stories being reviewed occasionally rather than vanishingly rarely.

Ponyfic Roundup 425

Read it Later story count: 92 (-4)
Words read this week: 23,448

I have an embarrassing confession to make first up: I will not be reviewing Blueshift's random comedy It Ain’t Easy Being Pinkie this week. The reason is that I have already done so: I awarded it three stars back in PR 296. Whoops! Fortunately, I realised this in time to pick out another fic to appear in its place, so you're still getting the usual four reviews. Here we go:

Within a Dream of Sunset, Love by Shilic
Discourse on Fillies by Daedalus Aegle
Sunset's Stash by ShiveredTimbers
ChatGPT in Equestria: A Digital Adventure by Greenhorne

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

My Little Repeats 133: "The Times They Are a Changeling"

"What do you mean? Let what go?"

S6E16: "The Times They Are a Changeling"

20 Aug 2016

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 8.2

The one with the changeling nursery

Thoughts: Thorax's debut was the first episode credited to Chris Wyatt and Kevin Burke. While the whole "changeling reformation" mini-arc is not exactly considered one of the show's greats, this first instalment is pretty nice and was fairly widely praised at the time. I was a bit surprised to discover I'd given it four stars, not three, back in 2016. Setup is fine, though Spike showing off is really wearing thin by now, and we only even meet Thorax at the end of act one. Once he saves Spike, things get interesting. It helps that Thorax is relatable, and in a way I wish this had been the end point: reformation, but without the Technicolor makeover. Pleasant characterisation of most of the others, and I appreciated Shiny being so harsh initially for understandable personal reasons. Spike's song is lovely musically, even if the lyrics are not the most interesting. I think four stars may have been a slight overreaction to the underwhelming last two episodes: Starlight is fairly pointless here and the inconsistent pacing (slow act one, hurried act three) doesn't much help, so I'll nudge it down to three – but it's still a high three. S6 seemed to be getting back on track at this point, and good Spike eps are never unwelcome.

Choice quote: Spike: "Okay... rock, how do I know you're really a rock?"

New rating: ★★★

Next time, I'll be rewatching "Dungeons & Discords", an episode of which I have reasonably fond memories. I really hope I still feel that way after my rewatch.