UK PonyCon 2017 report, part 2: Saturday

I got up at six o'clock, which was a fine way to start a holiday weekend, I can tell you. :P At least that allowed me to get up slowly before I met up with Snowkitten and Rorschfox at seven for breakfast. The restaurant was dark and almost deserted, but it was open and since it was included in the room rate, I made the most of it: bacon, sausages, fried egg, tomato, baked beans and hash brown on one plate, then two mini muffins, a bagel, a pancake and a yoghurt on the other. Plus orange juice.

Rorschfox's tiny yet TARDIS-like car took us to the con venue at UWE and we arrived a little before nine, so were able to witness the VIP-tier Raritys sauntering in while we Applejack-style salt-of-the-earth peasants shivered in the near-gale (though there was a rainbow!) and bought our optional-but-everyone-buys-them upgraded lanyards. Come 9:30, though, we plebs were also allowed in. Well, as far as the registration desk, though reg was very quick and smooth. I picked up my con book, weekend pass and Supporter-tier badge and I was in!

Today's report is long, so I've added a page break.

Of my friends, I'd already seen Oilyvalves... because he was volunteering and was the person who checked my ticket. That was amusing. I took the opportunity to have another look at his amazing 3.7k-brick Lego Rainbow Dash, who was on display at the con merch table. During this early part of the day, I also bought the con shirt and poster, as well as the UK-spec Friendship Games DVD, which was a con exclusive at the time as it wasn't released publicly for two more days.

I can't remember exactly who I found before the opening ceremony, but I think Alliminaro, Griffin and BBQNinja501st were around. There was a rather uncertain singalong going on at the stage, but I can't resist singing at cons so I enjoyed myself anyway. Come ten o'clock it was opening ceremony time! In true UK PonyCon fashion this was nice rather than slick, and it didn't outstay its welcome. Time for a quick scope-out of the stalls for later on.

The venue was very nice and spacious -- one large area with the stage at the far end and the stalls at the near, then several smaller rooms along one side wall and bar, toilets and café along the other. There were ranks of seats in front of the stage, but informal tables dotted around further back for chatting, eating and drinking. Then CCG (etc) tables further back still, but I don't CCG so those didn't really play any part in my weekend. I listened to "Room 101", and was of course appalled that someone had nominated Fluttershy! >:o

By now I'd found some of Team Custard from last year: Zenfox, Daft Night, Bridle Timeout, Aldersgate etc, plus Hawthorn, who I hadn't seen since BUCK 2014. At some point during the morning, I also ran across Ialyrn, Dodj and Ursa, who are regulars at the Worcester meets but were making their first visit to UK PonyCon. Also UKPC first-timers, but experienced furry con-goers, were Entei-rah (who I've known for 15 years and previously met once) and his wife Arcfellut. Then an early lunchette (Ribena and "Pinkie Pie's white chocolate and raspberry muffin") from the café, whose prices were pretty reasonable by con standards.

Having said hello to Idris (best known as the incredible Battle Pony!), I was heading for the Zap Apple Theatre and my first actual panel: the 1pm "MLP Studies 2017" lecture by Dr Ewan Kirkland. This is the guy who, a couple of years ago, held a genuine academic conference on our fandom. He's a very interesting speaker, and I even managed to ask a question about whether there were differences (other than scale) between the British and North American fandoms. Dr Kirkland thought it an interesting point and opened it to the floor, which sparked a lively little debate. Yay!

In the afternoon, I made my most expensive single purchase at any convention: £40 for a couple of really nice A6 marker pen originals of Fluttershy by StormBlaze. (This is one of them.) Then I watched the Cosplay Competition, which like the opening ceremony still showed UKPC's roots as a much smaller affair. Lots of kids competing, which is always nice to see. After that, Rainbow Dash Attack! I was the very last contestant, just after the winner had obliterated everyone. Cheers for that. :P

Annoyingly, that long wait meant I'd missed Mad Munchkin's panel, though at least I had managed to attend that last year. Instead, I headed for "Applejack: Awesome Through the Ages", which was brilliant. Starting off with "Who's a Silly Pony?" and "Call Upon the Seaponies", we then headed into an in-depth exploration of AJ toys through the generations, not forgetting the rest of the Apple Family. (G2 had no actual Applejack, but did have a Bright Bramley!)

At some point during the afternoon, I can't remember exactly when, there was a marriage proposal on stage. I'm not generally a fan of the idea of public proposals, since they must put horrendous pressure on the person being asked to say yes, but in this case I have to admit everything went really swimmingly. And yes, the answer was what the proposer wanted it to be! Who was already in the know I have absolutely no idea.

As it was now around 6pm, I needed a near-essential preparation for the forthcoming karaoke: cider! A slightly expensive pint of Thatcher's Haze later, I was off to the Vampire Bat Sanctuary room. Perhaps surprisingly, relatively few people wanted to perform, so I got to sing "Light of Your Cutie Mark", Aviators' "Heroes" (which for once I nailed) and "The Magic Inside", before a truly hilarious "Bats" duet with Dodj. Naturally he sang AJ and I sang 'Shy!

I was very happy to see a little live music at UKPC this year, with Steely Hooves the main attraction. I did get to listen to him a bit, but his performance overlapped with the utterly unmissable Pub Quiz. Our 11-strong team, "Custard's Magic Roundabout", was as usual completely at sea in the G1 and G3 rounds, but as happened last year we had a spectacularly good time anyway. I also gained the vital knowledge that "Pillow Talk" is a genuine Hasbro pony name.

Just one event remained: the Cartoon Riff. This was the first time I'd been able to stay for this joyously awful celebration of terrible animation, both Pony and otherwise. Here's this year's playlist – I'm tempted to adopt "Here in Unicornia" as my theme song. :P The Japanese one was easily the weirdest though, rapping dogs notwithstanding. At around 11pm came the end, and all that remained was the walk back to the hotel, with a break at a handy 24-hour McDonald's for Bridle Timeout, Hawthorn and me.

Next time: G1 ponies, auction duels and barnstorming barn-raising