Ponyfic Roundup 198: Meeting Mr Miandad

Title explanation: this song

I may not have enjoyed the most recent show episode as much as I'd have liked, but I am still very much on the ride as far as FiM as a whole is concerned. Some good people have decided recently to call it a day (Ceffyl Dwr, to take just one example) and I wish them the very best in their future writing endeavours.  But as for me? I'll still plug away with the ponyfic reviews, so here goes.

Read it Later story count: 338 (-6)

I've done a bit better this week than I did for the last PR a fortnight ago, and have finally got back up to five fics in a week again, so let's get cracking. Today for your delight and delectation, I have reviews of the following stories:

Please, Count to Five by Magello
The Sun is A Star by Night Doughnut
Berry Punch's House Can Talk by Glimglam
"We Never Had a Single Fight" by oh pony
Feeling That Way by Super Trampoline

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

We may be getting Treehoused again

Apparently, Treehouse (the channel that broadcasts FiM in Canada) is running on a two-episodes-per-weekend schedule again. If they keep on doing this, they'll overtake the US by the end of April. This doesn't really bother me – after all, it feels as though half the fandom has already seen every episode from six to 13 anyway thanks to the leaks – but it does mean I'll have to think about how I'm going to play this as far as Louder Yay is concerned.

My intention right now is to stick with the US schedule for episode reviews. Writing two a week would just tire me out. What happens to Text Review Roundup I have no idea – last time we had this situation I had to abandon it as it became unworkable, so be prepared for that to happen again. I quite enjoy doing TRR, though, and as far as I'm aware nobody else in the fandom does such a thing, so I'll keep it going if I can.

Episode review: S8E04: "Fake It 'Til You Make It"

See this picture? This is what I wanted from this episode

Season 8's first two episodes had been reasonably entertaining without blowing me away, so I was anxious for something really great to assuage any worries that we might be in for another S6-style run of mehness. I was also nervouscited that "Fake It 'Til You Make It" would be a Fluttershy/Rarity episode – perhaps only the third the show has had after "Green Isn't Your Color" and "Filli Vanilli". The writer was Josh Hamilton, whose record with me has been mixed. How did he do? Past the break I'll give some brief thoughts.

Potential new blog subtitle!

Annoyingly, this wasn't around on 1st April. (Mind you, neither was I.) So I can't just change my blog subtitle to "Not actually a real fan" and see how long it takes anyone to notice. Considering how few people have ever remarked on the name of the blog or the reason why its title bar is that particular shade of yellow, it might have been a while...

Have some context, therefore – this is, of course, from YouTube. Please note that it is a fact that as well as not being a "true fan", I now hate Fluttershy. And Celestia. And Scootaloo. And the whole darn lot of 'em, apparently. I like post-S5 Pony, so I cannot be a real fan. Not sure what I've been doing for the past six years, but hey ho. Sorry about that. Look out on Wednesday for Ponyfic Roundup 198: I Hate The Show And The Characters And Basically Just Everything Edition.

UK PonyCon venue and ticket prices announced!

This is the one I know a lot of fans in the UK have been waiting for ever since last year's UK PonyCon finished. Yes, we already had the dates (13/14 October) but the make-or-break detail for many people, in terms of whether they'll be able to go at all, is where the convention will be held. Well, wait no longer! As the official site now proclaims, UK PonyCon 2018 will be held at the...

Nottingham Conference Centre

This is associated with Nottingham Trent University, so in that sense it's a similar deal to last year's con at UWE in Bristol. A major difference, however, is that the NCC is in the city centre. Well, on the northern edge of it, anyway — it's about a 15-minute walk from the main railway station, and also within reach of a decent range of hotels.

As for tickets, they will go on sale at midday BST on Saturday 28 April, and full details are on the site. For convenience, though, I'll summarise here, especially as the pricing structure has changed a bit since 2017.

The key point is that a Standard Adult Weekend ticket will cost £35. This price has been held since last year, with the trade-off being that there will not be an Early Bird discount this time. I think that's a sensible and fair approach. As I said last year, UK PonyCon has a good reputation for offering reasonably-priced tickets, and it's pleasing to see that the convention is maintaining this in 2018.

The Supporter tier from last year will again be available, but this year it'll be sold as an upgrade rather than a separate ticket type, with a simple pricing setup: upgrading will cost a flat £10 per person. There is one exception, which I'm very pleased to see: upgrading a family ticket will be £20. Last year this cost £40, which I felt was a bit steep, so applause to UKPC for the change.

There'll also be a VIP tier, with various privileges such as early entry, which will carry a £35pp premium. These tickets sold out in the space of six hours last year, so get in quick if you want one! Perhaps unsurprisingly after last year's supplier problems, the included goodie bag does not include a plushie. Instead, you'll get an art print to go with your tote bag, T-shirt, VIP lanyard and badge.

As you'd expect, there will be reduced-price tickets for children (aged 4 to 12), as well as one-day tickets. New for 2018 is that Saturday-only tickets are slightly more expensive than Sunday-only ones, in view of the longer Saturday programme. For example, an Adult Saturday-only ticket will cost £23, whereas the Sunday equivalent will be £19. (Last year they were both £21.)

I'll write up another post in the near future with some more thoughts, for example on transport. But this will do for now. So, although you can't actually buy tickets for another three weeks, I'll end with a link to the place where you will be able to buy them when the time comes:

UK PonyCon Tickets page

Text Review Roundup: "The Maud Couple"

Almost back on schedule now! Neither ArthurCrane nor Batbrony have resumed episode reviews, unfortunately. If they don't post reviews next week either, I'll assume they've called it a day. Feather Heart hasn't posted a review of episode 3, either. However, there's a detailed review from Analysis is Magic, and we still have a reasonable collection for those, like me, who don't want to sit through rambly videos and would rather read rambly posts in a quarter the time.

This episode was generally seen as being a bit less good than the premiere.

Analysis is Magic – rather negative ("Mud Briar just comes off as irritating to such a degree that Pinkie Pie’s dislike almost feels justified")

Cuddlepug – positive (graded B+; "explores jealousy in a suspenseful way the show hasn't covered before")

Derpy News – mixed (graded B-; "not a terrible episode, technically, but I don’t believe it will be in the top half of Season Eight")

Louder Yay – mildly positive (3/5; "a middle-ranking effort from Confalone")

Michaelsety – negative (graded D)

MLEEP Reviews – mixed (5.5/10; "hit and miss")

Rainbine – negative (4/10; "the worst Pinkie Pie episode I have seen so far")

Rhythm Red – quite positive (7.5/10; "pretty good, but it just didn’t pack the amount of comedy that I expected")

ShutterflyEQD – very positive ("a funny, fun, fun, Maud episode!")

TheDragonWarlock – mixed (graded B-; "I don't hate the episode, [but] it's certainly not that interesting")

Episode review: S8E03: "The Maud Couple"

"Technically, Tales is G1, not G2, as you can see here"

Easter having got in the way, this review will necessarily be a rather short one. It's either that or not get it done at all. "The Maud Couple" was written by Nick Confalone, whose last outing for the show was "Rock Solid Friendship" just under a year ago. That was a Maud-and-Pinkie episode with Starlight as a supporting act, in which I found Pinkie pretty annoying at times. So, what would this year's Maudisode bring?