The Custardverse Awakes!

Back in October, I published Starlight Repeatedly Teleports into Custard. For a joke (as if the fic itself wasn't enough of one already) I declared that it was the first story in the Custardverse. I confidently expected it also to be the last story in the Custardverse, at least until such time as I was silly enough to write a sequel myself.

But no! Guiding Breeze has now produced a Custardverse fic of his own. That's right, folks: my universe has its first side story. A pretty weird feeling, I can tell you. It's not canon to the 'verse, as such, but does that matter? Nope. If you're interested in seeing someone else's take on the custard thing, you can check it out here:

Starlight repeatedly fills Twilight's castle with custard 

by Guiding Breeze

The Custardverse itself is an open universe, with the exception that I ain't accepting M-rated fics to the group. Don't think I don't know who you are. :P

Ponyfic Roundup 144: Return to the Royal Canterlot Library

Season Seven will premiere in April. I'd guess at 15 April, since that's Easter Saturday, which is when both S5 and S6 premiered. Time to get those hiatus fanfics finished!

Read it Later story count: 484 (nc)

It shouldn't be any real surprise that I've decided to have another look at the RCL's collection, since it's served me quite well in the past. I've occasionally said that, in general, a fic needs to get four stars for me to recommend it here. I've also said that there are rare exceptions – and one of those exceptions is in this week's batch of stories. Here are the six stories I'm reviewing:

How Equestria Was Made by Feo Takahari
Lapidify: To See And Die by Impossible Numbers
That's All by Archmage Ludicrous
The Old Country by Astrarian
Appletheosis by DuncanR
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger by A Hoof-ful of Dust

★: 0 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 4 | ★★★★: 2 | ★★★★★: 0

More boring reviewing stats

Present Perfect has reviewed Through the Well of Pirene. This is bad news, since I'd decided in my head that the story was so bloody long that I was only going to tackle it if it got 5/5. And you can guess what happened. So, at some point this year (I'm not being more specific than that!) it will become the second-longest ponyfic I've reviewed. One for the e-reader in the garden this summer, I think.

Anyway, on to the promised stats. Let's look at the star ratings I've awarded over the years, with the old out-of-ten scores converted in the usual way (grade boundaries at 4, 6, 8 and 9). Out of the 734 stories I've reviewed up to PR 143 (inclusive), this is the breakdown:

★★★★★: 34 (4.63%)
★★★★: 153 (20.84%)
★★★: 282 (38.42%)
★★: 199 (27.11%)
★: 66 (8.99%)

Some thoughts on this, plus more rambling, past the break.

Comic not-as-mini-as-usual review: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #50

Some excellent oval-ball sport last night. I mean rugby union, obviously. Italy 7 Wales 33 was a decent enough result, though until the last 20 minutes it was a bit of a nail-biter. Sadly I can't see Wales winning the championship, but I'd love them to beat England. (For those unaware: I am in fact English, but for various reasons I support Wales at rugby.)

Andy Price's main cover hits just the right note

The "Accord" arc comes to a close with the landmark 50th issue of the MLP comic. And I'm pleased to say that it does so in some style. While Ted Anderson's story doesn't totally blow me away, nor does it seem like the horrible let-down I'd slightly feared. Accord's own story concludes reasonably, Starlight is used in a sensible way, there's a nice visit from some old friends (not ponies) and the final page – though a bit cheesy – is fine for a celebratory issue like this. I'd have preferred a tad less fourth-wall breaking before that, but still. Andy Price's art is bright, colourful (thanks to Heather Breckel) and varied, which is expected but appreciated.

This being a special (and more expensive!) issue, there's also a ten-page backup story. The writing, by Jeremy Whitley, is pleasant fluff: lightweight fun in the style of a short Friends Forever comic. There are even (doubtless unintentional) echoes of Sunny Skies All Day Long. The art is by Jay Fosgitt; I don't hate his stuff in the way some fans do, and for the ponies it's fine. The way he does Discord, though, just looks weird, and I simply can't accept a draconequus drawn the same size as a regular pony. A shame, as this lets down an otherwise entertaining story.

So, the issue as a whole? Very enjoyable, with a few irritations that stop it being the truly superb comic that would have made issue #50 something for the ages. I still recommend it, though, and indeed the whole arc. Not great, then, but it is very good. ★★★★

Some reviewing milestones

My cough is just beginning to recede, but I'm still a way from being fully recovered, so you're getting another small and fairly pointless post today. The next significant one, other than the next Ponyfic Roundup, should be the review of main-series comic #50, which I hope to get out within a few days now.

Today, though: thanks to the updated BMRL and my own updated list in Calibre, I have a reasonable idea of how many reviews I've done for Ponyfic Roundup. My numbers still don't quite match Singularity Dream's, partly since we update at a different rate, and partly because unlike me, he counts the occasional posts in which I've looked at my own older fics. Up to and including the most recent PR (no. 143) I reckon I've reviewed 734 ponyfics. And the milestone reviews – first, then every fiftieth – are these:

First: The Best Night Ever by Capn_Chryssalid (PR 1, obviously)
50th: The Price by Vimbert the Unimpressive (PR 11)
100th: Flying Hard by terrycloth (PR 22)
150th: A True, True Friend? by Blazewing (PR 32)
200th: Fluttershy and Celestia Play Chess by BronyWriter (PR 42)

250th: Tea with The Queen by Lapis-Lazuli and Stitch (PR 50)
300th: Temporary Hiatus by TheMessenger (PR 63)
350th: Fluttershy Sits Down With Lyra For a Day by Church (PR 73)
400th: Griffon it Another Try by Winston (PR 82)
450th: The Best Job in Equestria by Mooncalf (PR 90)

500th: The Wrong Side of Tomorrow by Pascoite (PR 99)
550th: Twilight Likes to Read, A Lot by Saakra (PR 108)
600th: Whom the Princesses Would Destroy by GhostOfHeraclitus (PR 120)
650th: The Epic Battle Of Good Versus Slightly Less Good But Still Pretty Good In The Long Run by Akumokagetsu (PR 130)
700th: The Keepers of Discord by Hoopy McGee (PR 138)

There's some good stuff in there, but in every case it's a pure accident that it coincided with a milestone – especially as I didn't even have an accurate number until now. And in case anyone's wondering: no, I don't intend to seek out anything particularly special for my 750th review. I might do so for my 1,000th – but there's a long, long way to go before I reach that milestone! Possible themes for PR 150 are occupying my mind more as far as that sort of thing is concerned.

I may inflict further pointless statistics on you at some point in the not too distant future. This shouldn't come as too much of a surprise.

Quick art post (not mine, I hasten to add!)

Flutter Rock by SambaNeko

( CC by-nc-sa 3.0 )

I'm feeling pretty grotty at the moment, with a cough that refuses to go away, so I hope you'll forgive me if I confine myself to a cute picture of Best Pony today. (I know, I know, "cute" in connection with 'Shy is usually a redundant adjective.) I hope to post something else this week, but no promises unless I feel a bit better by then. I have been keeping up with reading, though, so whatever happens there'll be a Ponyfic Roundup next Wednesday as usual.

Ponyfic Roundup 143: Semi-random Edition

Read it Later story count: 482 (-2)

Something new this week: while I did think about going the whole hog and making this another edition where I was guided by the whims of the random number generator (as with PR 102), I decided to postpone that for now. It'll still happen, but a bit later on. This time, I'm still making use of the RNG, but using it simply to pick stories from a pool consisting of those already on my RiL list. I hope this method will give me a better hit rate than I had in PR 102! Six stories this week:

A Friend of a Friend by 8686
Out in the Cold by EsperDerek
Maud's Cutie Mark Story by My Little Scribbler
A Taste of Meat by InsertAuthorHere
Ghost of a Rose by Noble Thought
Fallout: Equestria - A Mare Worth Fighting For by Pacce

★: 0 | ★★: 3 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0