Ponyfic Roundup 259

Read it Later story count: 247 (-1)

I don't have a lot to say here today, except that the Ashes begin tomorrow – so you can expect the occasional cricket-related comment on the blog again. Depending on England's performance, of course, which is never something to take for granted in either direction! As far as PR is concerned, I've reviewed three stories this time. It hasn't been a bad week, either.

How to Remove a Unicorn Tooth by Skywriter
Intellectual Property by AugieDog
We Were Bunnies by Heartshine

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

Sounds of 2012: Nos. 90 to 84

It turns out that a late report from Cambridge Botanical Garden means that last Thursday was in fact the hottest day ever officially recorded in the UK, at 38.7 °C (101.7 °F). Whew. Anyway, it's now cool enough to return to Sounds of 2012. This week, I'm skipping music for the first time. That's because of my four rules. Summarised criteria for inclusion:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the artist
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion

To compensate for the two songs one song I've had to skip this time around, I'm going a couple of entries past where I'd normally stop, so you're still getting five six tracks. Here's the run-down:

90: MandoPony – I Am No Hero
89: Forest Rain – Luna (Alt Mode)
88: skipped
87: Sim Gretina – Princess Of The Night
86: PrinceWhateverer & Acoustic Brony – Breaking Bonds
85: Aviators – Luna (Aviators Remix)
84: Sand Josieph – Daddy Discord

Past the cut for videos and details!

Equestria Girls: Nearly Over and Nearly Out

With the US broadcast of "Sunset's Backstage Pass" (which yes, I'll try to get at least a mini-review of up this week), it appears that we're almost at the end of the road as far as the Equestria Girls sub-franchise is concerned. According to Nick Confalone, there will be no more specials – a season finale was planned but has been set aside, and there doesn't seem any real hope for a third season either. There are more shorts to come, but that would appear to be all.

Also in HumanHorseWorld, news of another background same-sex couple. It would be much better if these things could be right out in the open, of course, and it's right that people keep pressing for that. But I think it is progress to get to this point. Not enough progress, but progress nevertheless. Even so... I wonder whether G5 might finally take the plunge and give us some explicitly LGBT characters. If Arthur can do it, then so can My Little Pony.

Meltinggggg

The UK recorded its hottest ever July day, and second-hottest on record, yesterday, with Cambridge hitting 38.1 °C. That's 100.6 °F for those of you who still work in Fahrenheit – only the second time hitting three figures has happened, too. And remember, home AC is barely used in this country, so the day was pretty hard going for many of us. Admittedly it reached a mere 32.5 °C (90.5 °F) in my neck of the woods, but even that was the highest I'd recorded for three years.

For this reason, I haven't had the energy to do any work on this blog, so all you're getting today is a note to the effect that the Pocket Ponies mobile game has received an update. I haven't had the chance to play the new levels yet, but I understand Fluttershy plays a significant role. This is a Good Thing.

Ponyfic Roundup 258

Read it Later story count: 248 (nc)

With temperatures going past 30 °C again this week, I'm taking things as easily as I can. The fan's on full blast, but it's still not much fun – and opening the window only makes things even warmer! Even so, I've somehow managed to get through five fics this time around. Okay, several are really short, but hay. They are:

The Quest by iisaw
Seeking Love in Laughter by Leafdoggy
Though the Present is Never Perfect, She Bought the Perfect Present by Star Destroyer
I Am a Pegasus by Tranquil Serenity
I Dream Of Dashie (But I Wish I Didn't) by Eskatarina

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

Season 9A – the UK of Equestria rankings

Since we're in the mid-season hiatus, it's also been time for the members of UK of Equestria to vote for their favourite and least favourite episodes of the first half of this final season. As in previous years, voters were required to rank all the episodes, with no ties permitted. The double-length premiere was treated as a single episode for these purposes, and Rainbow Roadtrip was not included. We had 13 voters this year, which is fewer than for 8A but more than for 7A.

I've divided the episodes into tiers on the basis of their mean rankings. One notable feature this year is that there are no one-star episodes, which I informally defined as eps with an average rating below 20. ("Sweet and Smoky" scored 19.846.) My own rankings are in brackets after the episode name; as you'll note, the one really major difference I have from the average is that I ranked "Sweet and Smoky" much higher than the average (Fluttershy bias? What Fluttershy bias?)

★★★★★
1. Frenemies (1)

★★★★
2. Between Dark and Dawn (5)
3. The Beginning of the End (2)
4. Sparkle's Seven (3)
5. Student Counsel (4)

★★★
6. The Last Crusade (7)
7. Common Ground (8)

★★
8. The Point of No Return (10)
9. Going to Seed (9)
10. She's All Yak (12)
11. Uprooted (11)
12. Sweet and Smoky (6)

Number of times each episode placed first
9: Frenemies
2: Sparkle's Seven
1: Between Dark and Dawn
1: She's All Yak

Number of times each episode placed last
4: She's All Yak
4: Sweet and Smoky
3: The Point of No Return
2: Going to Seed

Most controversial (highest standard deviation)
1. Sparkle's Seven
2. She's All Yak
3. The Last Crusade

Least controversial
1. Between Dark and Dawn
2. Frenemies
3. Uprooted

There's no doubt about UK of E's favourite episode: "Frenemies" has a clear lead over anything else, and apart from one person who placed it seventh everyone else put it in their top three. "Between Dark and Dawn" made everyone's top six, though only one voter picked it as their winner. At the other end of the table, I was really surprised (and frankly more a little disappointed) to see "Sweet and Smoky" get the wooden spoon. No fewer than seven of the 13 voters ranked it in their bottom two. (I had it in sixth spot.)

This half-season's "most controversial episode" award was also one that startled me. "Sparkle's Seven" did not get the unmixed praise on UK of E that it did in some other parts of the fandom, with four voters placing it in the bottom half. "She's All Yak" also split opinion, as did "The Last Crusade", whose controversy centred on Scootaloo's parents rather than her aunts. Meanwhile, the top two's consistent placing won them the top two spots in the "least controversial" list, too. "Uprooted" was the other ep to appear there, with all but two voters ranking it between eighth and 11th.

I get the sense that S9A has been quite well received so far – that's a British "quite", not an American one! – and that, while there's only one episode that seems set to be counted among the classics ("Frenemies") there haven't been any "Non-Compete Clause"-style disasters either. The season so far seems to be being seen as solid and better than S8, but perhaps falling a little short of the blockbuster feel that you might hope for from the very last season we'll ever see. Perhaps part two will provide that!

Well, there's a few themed Ponyfic Roundups sorted!

Super Trampoline's FimFiction Feghoot Festival closed yesterday (barring any entries allowed extensions) and, once judging is over, I rather fancy the idea of reviewing some of them here. I've been slacking on the themed PRs front in recent months, and this seems a decent way to do something about them. Since there have been over 60 contest entries, I don't think I'm going to be reviewing all of them. I'll see how the results are announced first and then make a decision.

Those with long memories may recall that back in the early days of Ponyfic Roundup, I reviewed the 20+ finalists of the Equestria Daily "Outside Inside" competition, which asked entrants to write about ponies from a non-pony point of view. (See PRs 25, 26, 27 and 28.) It was pretty interesting, but it was also pretty time-consuming. On the other hoof, that contest had a higher word limit. I make no promises, and it's unlikely I'll end up reviewing all the entrants, though I'd like to read more than just the winners.

Ideally, I'd finish this post with a terrible pun, but you know what I'm like. Instead, here's a terrible pone.