My Little Repeats 94: "Castle Sweet Castle"

Spike casually chucking the doll away a moment later, though...

S5E03: "Castle Sweet Castle"
11 Apr 2015

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 8.0

The one with confetti cannons

Thoughts: The first episode credited to Joanna Lewis and Kristina Songco, aka the "Lady Writers", and they made a solid start. All the Mane Six and Spike get substantial parts here, and indeed Spike enjoys one of his best roles, one which is crucial in his spa-centric distracting of Twilight. His relationship with Twilight is the reason it works, too. The song is one that's grown on me (even though I never disliked it) and I also like how Fluttershy is starting to stand up for herself just a little more. Of course, the big deal at the time was that this episode confronted the loss of the Golden Oak Library (never named in-show until this point) and, looking back, I think it did so largely successfully. Most fans felt much as Twilight did about the castle at this point, and even if many never really loved it, this was probably where most stopped hating it. As I said in 2015, this felt in some ways like a return to the simpler early seasons of FiM, without any Big Bads or frenetic adventures – but respectful of the fact that these characters had developed since S1. Apart from brief turns by Aloe and Bulk, every line here is spoken by one of the Mane Seven. I'd been expecting to nudge my four-star rating from 2015 down to a top-end three... and I have. On the plus side, the characterisation is satisfying. On the minus side, the middle act is a bit draggy. Top-end three is still above average, though!

Choice quote: Rainbow Dash: "Touché."

New rating: ★★★

Next up is "Bloom and Gloom", an episode which I confess hasn't stuck in my mind much. Except for the Twittermites. Brr. But we'll see how it goes.

Ponyfic Roundup 369

Read it Later story count: 99 (+2) 

My life becomes ever more thrilling. Today, as this goes up, I have my Covid booster jab. Important, yes, but it involves a fairly dull journey to a fairly dull town in what promises to be fairly dull weather. Thank Celestia for the magical world of Equestria, where everything is all sunshine and rainbows! Well, usually. In the first of this week's stories, not so much...

Diamond in the Darkness by Sharaloth
Chrysalis Works at Quills and Sofas by Majin Syeekoh
Her Brother Doesn't Talk Much by Alpha Scorpii

★: 0 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.

Pony Music Library 63: "Solidarity"

I think it's about time I got the Pony Music Library series out of storage again! This entry will probably not be a huge surprise to most of you, but it's a song that's new enough that it simply didn't exist for most of the time when I was making PML posts more frequently. Indeed, I stopped doing that about when this song came out!

PrinceWhateverer – Solidarity

What? "Solidarity"

Who? PrinceWhateverer

Which? Original song

When? October 2018

Why? This song might be considered the last true major hit of the Friendship is Magic era. There's been a lot of excellent music made since then, but mostly with five-figure view counts at best. "Solidarity" has over 305k views on the original post alone, and with 696k for the hugely (and deservedly) popular multi-artist animation from the following year, it's now clocked up over a million YT views overall. (You can also download it in higher quality for £1 on Bandcamp.) This is a song for the fans, all about how even as numbers dwindled and some would "fade to distant memories", our fandom was still here and still meant so much to so many. There's a lot of heart and soul, and PrinceWhateverer's choice of melodic rock over the shoutier metallic style he sometimes uses really helps this have mass appeal. The sample of Twilight's speech from her coronation – an earlier time when some "moved on", mixes nostalgia with inspiration. To me, at least, "Solidarity" took on even more importance during the period when things were often bleak and lockdowns and restrictions meant that "Will I see you at the con?" could only have the answer, "What con?" Even then, the fandom was there for us all. I've always felt that, regardless of what other interests I have already or may acquire in future, MLP will be a part of my life forever. I'm not going anywhere, I'll die with the herd.

Ponyfic Roundup 368

Read it Later story count: 97 (nc) 

Late this week, but here I am at last with today's little selection of stories. Once again I really don't have anything much to say, although it is Griffish Isles this weekend so I hope everyone going to the convention has a great time! One thing I will say, though: I would dearly love to award a five-star rating again. It's been a very long time. Quite a few fours, but nothing that blew me away quite enough for a maximum. That doesn't change today I'm afraid, though there's still some worthwhile reading here.

Business Trip by AlwaysDressesInStyle
No Storms in Canterlot by Esle Ynopemos
Rainbow Dash and Rarity Get Into an Argument by Sonic_Applejack2005

★: 1 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.

Ponyfic Roundup is coming on Friday

I have a little apology to make. Thanks to sheer carelessness, I've managed to delete my Ponyfic Roundup post just as I'd got it done. I won't have time to write it up again until Thursday evening, so I'll schedule it to go up on Friday morning. No, not a big deal, but annoying as it was my fault. Sorry!

Happy 10th, "20 Percent Cooler"!

Ken Ashcorp – 20 Percent Cooler

I almost missed this one! 16th November 2011 saw the initial upload to YouTube of this absolute certified dancefloor banger. [Don't try to talk like that, Logan. It's embarrassing. —Ed] "20 Percent Cooler" is a song that is a legitimately good club track even if you know nothing whatsoever about Rainbow Dash or MLP in general, as indeed several of its Bandcamp reviews make clear. Indeed, most of the references are pretty subtle It has a wonderful, driving beat, the lyrics are cleverly done (and only a tiny bit on the risqué side by club standards), and at only 3:12 in length it doesn't fall into the common fandom trap of outstaying its welcome. This kind of music isn't to everyone's taste – indeed, it's often not to mine. But Ken Ashcorp does it so well in "20 Percent Cooler" that I find it completely irresistible. It deserves to have kept its fame for a decade.

My Little Repeats 93: "The Cutie Map, part 2"

"I was told this image was an old meme now, but I didn't listen"

S5E02: "The Cutie Map, part 2"

4 Apr 2015

My original rating (for the whole premiere): ★★★★
IMDb score: 9.0

The one with balloon binoculars

Thoughts: This was great. Starlight is a deeply threatening villain, powerful and intelligent, with a range that runs from her use of imprisonment and brainwashing, to her clear intent to do harm to the pursuing villagers, to her willingness to yell over one of Twilight's speeches. (Okay, that one I can sort of understand.) The brainwashing section is creepy, what with the use of non-stop slogans over loudspeakers and the way the Mane Six are locked straight back in the moment they don't come around. It's about the closest to Orwellian you could imagine in a TV-Y show aimed at six-year-olds. Party Favor is shown no mercy until he "repents", either. The Cause trumps all. Fluttershy gets a good role in this half of the episode, with her oddly naive behaviour from part 1 being turned into a secret weapon. Starlight doesn't just accept her unquestioningly, though, and without Party Favor's self-sacrifice Sugar Belle at the very least might also have ended up in the Ministry of Equality building. Though who knows, given 'Shy works very hard not to betray anypony? There's not a huge amount of humour this time around, though "even tweets don't make sense any more" always amuses me. Pinkie's "barrel of laughs" line is kind of funny, but also pretty starkly shows how bad things have got at that time. (Pinkie is written well throughout this premiere, I'll note here.) Despite the paucity of laughs, there's certainly plenty going on, and the last third is action packed. Even with their cutie marks restored, it takes everything the Manes and the villagers (notably Double Diamond) have got to tackle Starlight, and even then she manages to escape... for now, at least. Custom end credits music, too! As with part 1, this was hugely watchable. As with part 1, it gets a full five stars.

Choice quote: Starlight Glimmer: "QUIET!"

New rating: ★★★★★

Next up is "Castle Sweet Castle", which was a bit overshadowed by this premiere but which did at least address something we'd all been wondering about.

My Little Repeats 92: "The Cutie Map, part 1"

Until Starlight fixes it later, that picture is hanging not quite right

S5E01: "The Cutie Map, part 1"
4 Apr 2015

My original rating (for the whole premiere): ★★★★
IMDb score: 8.9

The one with tasteless muffins

Thoughts: At almost 11 months, the S4/S5 hiatus was the longest in Friendship is Magic's run. Luckily, we got Rainbow Rocks in the gap... and a superb start to the new season when it finally arrived. Although its Hugo nomination came via controversial means, I think Starlight Glimmer's debut really is perhaps the most interesting episode FiM ever did. After a relatively normal opening scene introducing us to the titular map – which turned out to be largely just a plot device – we're into... "whatever the name of this village is that we're in right now" (thanks, Pinkie). Our Town starts off a bit unnerving and gets ever creepier as we go along. Rewatching and knowing the story, I pick up more on side details, such as Double Diamond's warning body language as Sugar Belle chats to the Mane Six. The eventual cliffhanger trap is teased, then seemingly over, then actually there. (Plus it only happens because of the Mane Sixers' own plan, which makes you wonder whether Starlight anticipated that.) Starlight herself starts out friendly, but there's always that hard edge – and she doesn't have the washed-out colours of her, frankly, cult members. The song, which Daniel Ingram consciously based on WW2 propaganda, contains the full-on terrifying lyric, "You can't have a nightmare if you never dream." By the end it's clear that we are in... it's often called a dystopia, and it is, but perhaps "false utopia" might be a better description. It is legitimately chilling, an extraordinary feat for a cartoon for six-year-olds about talking horses. This episode gets better with age, and as such I'm bumping it up a point to the maximum. I can't wait to see part 2 again in a few days.

Choice quote: Sugar Belle: "Is your friendship ending?"

New rating: ★★★★★

Next up, of course, is "The Cutie Map, part 2" – and I really hope I like it as much as I liked this!

Ponyfic Roundup 367

Read it Later story count: 97 (+1) 

This is one of those weeks when I have nothing to say in this intro paragraph. There's really not a lot going on in these parts. Griffish Isles is in less than a fortnight, but I'm really not going to that one. Well, almost certainly not; yes, I do recall what happened with UK PonyCon! Most unlikely this time, though, if only because of the miserable refusal of the world to shower me with the necessary readies. Anyway:

The Profanity Garden by J Carp
It's The Eyebrows by Lets Do This
Gentle Persuasion by Minds Eye

★: 0 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.

Text Review Roundup: A New Generation (part 2)

Off we go with part 2 of TRR! This time I'm looking at text-based reviews from within the fandom. It's worth noting that reviewers can change their minds – an example is Mike Cartoon Pony, who I know has warmed to the film somewhat since he first saw it – but for the most part I'm going on their main review, not separate posts they may have added afterwards. If the main review itself has been updated, as for example Mike's has, that will be taken somewhat into account.

Apologies to several reviewers for my savage cutting of their reviews. ANG prompted a fair number of long reviews – for example, Jarvy Jared's, Mike Cartoon Pony's and TheDragonWarlock's each weigh in at around 7,000 words when all's said and done – and it's just not possible to do more than give the tiniest flavour in a TRR-sized bite. Please bear that in mind as you read.

Interestingly, the fandom reviewers seem less strongly agreed on ANG's high quality than the general reviewers did. There are a couple of outright negative reviews in this bunch, whereas you'd have to search quite hard to find more than moderate criticism in the non-fandom assessments. Since this post goes on a bit, I'll shove it behind a page break.

Text Review Roundup: A New Generation (part 1)

Finally, I'm getting back to A New Generation, and today it's the first part of Text Review Roundup. The second part on (I hope but daren't actually promise) Monday will cover some of the fandom reviews – not all, as I'm bound to miss some – but today it's the turn of reviews from outside the MLP fandom itself.

There aren't a huge number of these, partly because the interest was somewhat limited (maybe because ANG didn't get a cinema release*) and partly because several of those that were published are paywalled. This is a bigger issue now than it was in 2017 for the G4 movie, and frankly if people want to hide their content unless I pay to read it, I don't see why I should give their reviewers free publicity. I'm looking at you, New York Times.
* Okay, technically it did. But not in the UK or US

Right, that's that little whinge out of the way, and in fact there are still a reasonable number of reviews once you count non-fandom blogs. Remember, I'm not just covering general, professional media today. Anyway, here we go. Click on the publication name to go directly to the review page.

BeautifulBallad – very positive (graded A; "a winning addition to the My Little Pony Family [...] “Gonna Be My Day”, sung by Hudgens’ Sunny, was the clear standout song [...] Whether you are someone with kids, someone without kids, or a kid yourself, this movie is an overall good time.")

CGMagazine – mostly positive ("My Little Pony: A New Generation works well as both a continuation of the nine-season series and as the launching point for the next. [...] While the computer-generated graphics lack some character of the previous generation’s animation, it still looks great and has its own charm [but] the ultimate conclusion felt a little quick")

FSM Media – very positive ("The movie is adorable and really funny and not in that cheesy kind of funny that a lot of kids’ movies peddle. [...] The animation is on another level [...] a great movie with a great message")

KPCC – kind-of positive ("I don't know if I respect what this movie is doing, but I appreciate the absurdity with which they do it.")

Mama's Geeky – very positive ("incredible cast [and the] animation [is] gorgeous [though] the plot is predictable [...] some moments are going to hit you right in your heart until you cry. This movie has something for everypony, and is the standout family film of the year!")

Movie Mom – mostly positive (graded B; "candy colors, poppy music, gentle humor, warm-hearted lessons about friendship, and basically a way to sell merchandise [...] I prefer [G4's] flat, 2D-style animation to this movie’s 3D CGI modeling [and] the characters and messages of the film are likely to raise some parental eyebrows and perhaps some hackles as well [but] the only message here is the real magic of trust, understanding, cooperation, and generosity.")

Plugged In – positive ("Unity and friendship is definitely the clarion call here [...] a sweet little film filled with bouncy musical tunes, delightfully cute characters and truly funny moments")

Pretty in Baby Food – positive (rated B+; "My Little Pony: A New Generation surprised me, and I was not prepared to like it as much as I did. [...] it is Kimiko Glenn as Izzy and Ken Jeong as Sprout who are the standouts [and the animation is] spectacular")

Skwigly – mixed ("the plot tries to pack in too many characters [...] The animation though is really well made [...] Young fans of the previous shows might enjoy what this new generation of characters has to offer, but it didn't quite cross the finishing line as someone who is not the biggest fan of My Little Pony.")

South China Morning Post – fairly positive (rated 3/5; "While the film is not Pixar-level brilliant, A New Generation doesn’t fall flat either [...] never gets too preachy [...] lively pop tunes that don’t really stick but are fun while they last [...] comfortably in the middle")

Variety – fairly positive ("retains its predecessors' lively, spirited drive centered on friendship, empowerment and magic [...] layered, smart subtext to the narrative, despite it following a predictable path [though notably disappointing are] no consequences for those in power positions who’ve defrauded the public [and] the third act climax gets unnecessarily tied up in itself [but nevertheless] with its resonant sentiments on conquering fear, obliterating bigotry and bravely facing adversity, the toon finds its strength and emotional draw.")

With Ashley And Company – very positive ("a colorful, fun adventure [...] vivid colors, big musical numbers, and plenty of adventure [...] Friendship is still working magic in Equestria and it is as strong as ever.")

Ponyfic Roundup 366

Read it Later story count: 96 (-3) 

So here I am at PR 366. Why is that number significant? It isn't, really, but it does mean that if I'd posted a PR every day since the start, I could now have filled up an entire leap year. That's quite a lot of ponyfic. The fact that I'm still not bored with reading the stuff just goes to show how interesting people's ideas about this remarkable cartoon can be. As we will see today...

Forever Young by Trick Question
The Shadow of a Doubt by Ardensfax
Twilight Sparkle Puts It in The Wall by JimmySlimmy

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 0 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.

November plans for Louder Yay

Heeeeeeere's Glimmy!*
* May take up to 28 days. We are not liable for postal delays. Governed by the Laws of Equestria. E&OE

As I've said before, the combination of A New Generation and UK PonyCon has knocked me right off my stride in terms of doing stuff on here. This week should be the week I get back into that stride! And you know what? I'm gonna live dangerously and give you actual dates this time. So you can expect:

• Ponyfic Roundup 366 this Wednesday (3/11)
  
• ANG Text Review Roundup (part 1) this Friday (5/11)
  
• ANG Text Review Roundup (part 2) next Monday (8/11)
  
• Ponyfic Roundup 367 next Wednesday (10/11)
  

Hmm, a lot of Roundups there. But then, at long last...

• My Little Reviews, "The Cutie Map, part 1" the following Saturday (13/11)

That's right, folks. We'll be a-headin' back to Friendship is Magic, that world of endless colour and songs and 2D Flash animation. It's been quite a while – if I stick to my plan, that MLR will be one day short of three months since I did the review of S4E26 – but hay, we've endured longer waits than that in this fandom.

Generation 4 is by no means done yet as far as this blog is concerned! :)

Happy 10th (and one day...) "Nightmare Night"!

WoodenToaster & Mic the Microphone – Nightmare Night

Yeah, mea culpa: I should have posted this yesterday. But better late than never, right? It's such an iconic track in this fandom that I don't think I can leave it out. "Nightmare Night" is inspired by the S2 episode "Luna Eclipsed", but it takes that inspiration and canters away with it. Yes, it's full of the electronica and voice distortions that were everywhere in the early fandom. But in this case, who cares? Someone might well: I don't. The Living Tombstone's 2013 remix is perhaps slightly more often played these days, but I prefer the original, with that piano riff to set us going. There are a heap of remixes and PMVs of this, but for me the finest will always be Ferexes' SFM video. It says something that I like that so much even though I'm not much of an SFM fan and I don't care at all about TF2. But this post is mainly about the song. Mic performed it at BUCK 2014, so I've seen it live, but its heart is being the Halloween song for us bronies. It's a rare late October when I don't hear it quite a few times!