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| My muffin did break, but I can't say I wasn't warned! |
After the cosplay contest, I decided I really, really needed a muffin. Well... actually there was a small ulterior motive. For the first of two times that weekend, I had a minor attack of "I need to be not sitting still in a busy room" type social anxiety. Please note minor. Anyway, Nottingham is happily possessed of a Muffin Break within ten minutes' walk, so I headed off to the (busy!) Victoria Centre and found myself an apple and cinnamon muffin. Happy now, AJ?
I was feeling fine after my few minutes in the open air, so I came straight back into the venue. (A note of appreciation here for the excellent venue security staff, who were reassuring, professional, calm and unobtrusive throughout.) I can't actually remember what happened at this point, but I expect I found a friend or two and rambled on inanely for a while. As usual, I also looked from a distance at the serious collectors' stalls and felt slightly intimidated!
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| I used to wonder what Neo-Medievalism could be |
Four o'clock came, and with it the next panel I was attending: this was given by long-time UKPC and fandom supporter Dr Ewan Kirkland, aka "Dr Pony". A serious academic who realises the immense importance of pastel talking horses. This year's subject was "MLP and the Gothic", and it was a very interesting and thought-provoking hour. The first audience suggestion to "Who is the most Gothic pony?" was Pinkie – and on examination, that wasn't entirely a joke.
Dr Pony's talk ranged widely, from the 18th century origins of Gothic literature to modern computer games like A Night in the Woods. I'd definitely recommend his panels if you haven't had the pleasure before. I think after this I probably wandered off to have a look at some of the lots for Sunday's charity auction. I wish I'd been able to think of something to contribute to it myself, but most of the Pony tat I own would be lucky to raise more than 75p...
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| Fluttershy cookie, before she lost her head |
I think it was at around this time that Stu asked who'd be interested in a quick run down to Burger King. I tagged along with about half a dozen others and we walked briskly through the chilly autumn air (it wasn't that close!) to the aforementioned fine establishment. I like BK burgers, but in Nottingham at least they ain't cheap. Still, "cheap" and "convention" don't really go together. A shame our table was in a howling gale, but still, ventilation, eh? :P
After a good chat we all headed back to the con. The next highlight was the "Great Britannia Bake-Off". Venue restrictions meant cooking actually in the hall wasn't possible, so we watched a very amusing video of several of the staff making Pony-themed treats with... various levels of success. Jez benefited (well, kind of) from his posh "rich man mixer", as pointed out mercilessly by the on-screen captions. I wish there'd been a dire warning about the Fluttershy biscuit beheading, though! ;)
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| "What did G1 Taffy spill into spaghetti?" Backcard canon. Oh, Hasbro... |
Pub Quiz time! UK PonyCon legend and Derpy superfan Archer (who was at the first UKPC at Morecambe in 2004) returned to her equally legendary role asking the questions. Our team, shamelessly called "Derpy Continuously Flies into Custard" put up a worryingly good showing, and we only avoided the disaster of winning the thing thanks to some judicious wrong answers.* That's our story, anyway. It was a fantastic hour, though, and felt just like a UKPC Pub Quiz should.
* One day there will be a question to which the answer really is "Kaiser Wilhelm II". This was not that day
I had ages to wait until my train so hoped to join a few friends in the nearby Roebuck. However, central Nottingham was heaving (not helped by England's men's football team playing the mighty Andorra that night) and so I decided not to join the others in their quest for a pub with room to stand up in. Instead, I headed for the station. Oh, there were all the football fans. A not very pleasant half-hour journey to Mansfield later, I was in the Travelodge reflecting on a pretty darn good day one.
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| The pride of the Northern fleet. Not pictured: 745 loud football fans |
Next time: avoiding Amazon, big breakfasts and renegade panels
I wish I had heard Dr. Kirkland's presentation! That's one of the aspects of MLP that I quite enjoyed. And Pinkie as a neo-gothic character type? Yeah, I can definitely see her as a wise Fool, and have said as much.
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