UK PonyCon 2021 report, part 2: Saturday (first half)

I remain far from convinced that this time in the morning actually exists

Thanks to my late, late decision to attend UK PonyCon this year, I could only really justify a one-night stay. (Saturday night hotel rooms = £££!) As such, I was on the platform at Kidderminster station with my single tote bag of clothes'n'stuff before six o'clock. The trains ran like clockwork, and so I was in Nottingham around half past eight. I wasn't sure what to do, but Culdee kindly invited me to join his little group in the pub for breakfast, so I accepted. Two stops on the tram and I was there.

We walked up to the con venue, since it wasn't worth getting the tram again. The queue didn't look too big when we arrived, and like everyone else we were curious as to how many attendees there'd actually be. However, the line lengthened steadily and I was glad not to have waited until the last minute! A final reminder of our current strange times with the Covid status check later, I was picking up my badge at the reg desk and I was through the portal into another, better world. Where everypony knows your hame.

Hi, Pony, I'm home!

For reasons that rather escaped us the con book (which was generally excellently produced) listed events in alphabetical rather than time order. This didn't work all that well, as it meant for example that the opening ceremony was listed after the closing ceremony; we spent a bit of time flicking back and forth to find stuff. Talking of the opening ceremony, this was a quietly emotional affair. We'd all, from committee to us 'umble hattendees, waited so long for this. But we were back!

The con schedule this time was a little quieter than in previous years, with the opening ceremony not kicking off until 11. This was fine, as it allowed time for us all to get reacquainted with the venue (also used in 2018 and 2019), buy a little merch (as ever, I had to have the UKPC T-shirt!), meet friends who in some cases we hadn't seen in person for two years and just generally readjust to being in the half-forgotten World of Conventions. (That sounds like a theme park. In a way I suppose it was!)

We're here! We're strong! We're gonna shout bing-bong!

After an initial wander around some of the stalls, quite a few people headed for the "Discorded Quiz". This turned out to be a kind of QI-influenced affair, with questions that demanded some lateral thinking. I enjoyed these, although many of the questions were ones I'd seen before and there was a bit less actual Pony in them than I'd have expected. Then it was time for a spot of light lunch. The café pod's huge queues from 2019 were far less of an issue this time, so a big tick there! There was definitely no mayo on my BLT sandwich... :P

More chat and stall-wandering followed, wherein I picked up the Spike badge by StormBlaze that you saw in my merch haul post. One of the most welcome changes this year had been the introduction of free water coolers (not near the art stands, obviously!) and I hope those continue at future UKPCs, whatever the venue used. The hand sanitiser dispensers were appreciated, as well. From memory in 2019 there were drinking fountains in the toilet areas, but those had gone, maybe for Covid reasons.

Hey Google, what's the definition of a lost cause?

I was deliberately not attending as many panels this year as I had in the Before Times, as being with friends and soaking up the atmosphere were more important. Also, I had after all woken up before five that morning! However, I did want to attend the Cosplay Contest. As with other "mane" events this year, it was held in the big cinema-style lecture theatre. This worked very well, as the raked seating, good sound and big screens made it a comfortable experience. Excellent, my favourites probably being the trio of G1 cosplayers: Megan, Danny and Catrina.

By now it was fairly clear that G5 had made a positive impression: one staff member told me that they'd met several people who had only experienced G5, and yet had been impressed enough to do the convention thing. "Bing Bong!" echoed through the halls every time someone dared to utter the M-word. For now, loads of fun, though now I come to mention it I hope it's dialled back a little in future cons, as "Fun! Fun! Fun!" itself had to be back in the BUCK days. Still, we were off to a great start. :)

Cosplay! Featuring Ace as Best Babysitter Sunburst...

Next time: rich man mixers, Hasbro's increasingly worrying G1 history and Saturday night trains