My Little Repeats 98: "Make New Friends But Keep Discord"

Maud's sheer contempt for all this is plain to see

S5E07: "Make New Friends But Keep Discord"

16 May 2015

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 8.6

The one with dust bunnies

Thoughts: There was a fortnight's break between "Appleoosa's Most Wanted" and this, so anticipation was fairly high. The Smooze is a very different creature from his G1 incarnation, but he does a job. Discord's jealousy of Fluttershy is what holds the episode together, though, and both the characters play their parts nicely. I also like how Twilight these days can stand up to Discord more than she did even a season ago. The ep's message about different friends in different settings is simple but well enough told. Tree Hugger (voiced nicely by Nicole Oliver) is fairly amusing, though not that strong a character beyond one episode – plus a lot of the fandom stuff she inspired is stoner humour, which I generally find really boring. Maud has a fun cameo with one brilliant line to deflate Discord's stand-up routine, while Pinkie's energy suits a Gala setting well. I really like her shaking the fourth-wall camera! The CMC are taking another step forward; whether this was deliberate foreshadowing of that moment later this season I don't know, but it could have been. I think my four-star rating in 2015 was too high for what isn't an especially substantial episode – but it's still decent entertainment, so letting it keep three of those stars is a given.

Choice quote: Discord: "I'm actually pretty lukewarm about cake."

New rating: ★★★

Next up is "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone", which of course sees the return of Gilda. I quite liked that one at the time, but looking back from 2021 it doesn't feel like an especially amazing or especially terrible episode. As always, we'll see!

A few tweaks to Ponyfic Roundup for 2022

Before I begin on that: I hope to return to Season 5 of Friendship is Magic with "Make New Friends But Keep Discord" in the next day or two.

As we look towards a new year, I think it's time to mention a few little things that I intend to do with Ponyfic Roundup in 2022. These won't be huge changes: it will still be weekly on Wednesdays (mostly...) and it will still have the same basic layout as it has for years now. The first PR of 2022 will be a Spotlight on Nine Days Down this coming Wednesday. But from the first regular edition, expected on 12th January, there are three small changes that I'd like to make:

1. G5 fics will become eligible. Actually, all generations will become eligible, but I think it unlikely that I'm going to be reviewing more than a tiny handful of those from the pre-G4 days, if even that. With G5, though, there are already over 350 fics on Fimfiction and that number will only grow, especially if the forthcoming series proves a success. Since my Read it Later list has been all-G4 until now, don't expect any G5 fics for a little while – but they're coming eventually! However, I expect G4 stories to remain the large majority of reviewed fics for the foreseeable future. Most PRs will remain all-G4 unless G5 fics truly take off.

2. Only fics with ratings enabled. Fimfiction has for some time now allowed authors to switch off the ability to upvote or downvote their stories. While I have had an unofficial policy for a while not to review fics where this has happened, I am now making this official. The overwhelming majority of reviewed stories come from Fimfiction, but in the tiny number of cases where I find a fic elsewhere, I will apply a broadly similar policy. Stories in hard-copy books produced by or with approval from fic authors will almost always be considered eligible. (That "almost" is to cover any exceptional circumstances I haven't thought of.)

3. More reviews! Those with long memories will recall that Ponyfic Roundup used to review five stories a week, not the mere three seen more recently. While I don't think I can reasonably commit to going back to that, at least for now, I will aim to review four fics each PR. I will also try to give at least a little more room to reviews of mid-length stories (say 10k to 50k words) as these have tended to be neglected both in regular Roundups and in the occasional Spotlight issues that usually focus on a longer fic.

UK PonyCon 2022: 8th & 9th October

Here we go! The first announcement from UK PonyCon about its 2022 in-person convention has been made: the con will be held over the weekend of 8th/9th October 2022. This is in line with the last few in-person UKPCs in that it's the second weekend of October. No announcement about venue yet, but I know some people are already speculating that a date announcement this early may suggest we'll be back in Nottingham once again. (And if so, I think we might as well treat that as a permanent venue now.)

It is far too early yet to know whether I'll be able to attend. Hopefully I won't have to leave a decision quite as late as I did this year, when I didn't think I was going at all until about two weeks away, let alone be able to attend for the full weekend. Obviously the situation in wider society will affect this, as will the more usual concerns of finances, railways and whether I have any other commitments that can't easily be rescheduled. All I can say is that I really enjoyed UKPC 2021, and that I have much affection for the convention.

It's the summer of the soul in December

G3 Minty – Nothing Says Christmas Like a Pair of Socks

As this post is published, the clock will just be striking midnight in the UK to bring in Christmas Day. With that in mind, I'll just take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy Hearth's Warming. Up above, you'll see that Minty's next song is about socks. They're not all about socks.

Ponyfic Roundup 373: Return to the RCL

Read it Later story count: 97 (-1) 

Today's fics were all inducted by the Royal Canterlot Library. For newer readers: the RCL was for some years one of the major curated collections of fine ponyfic. A few special exceptions apart, an author could only be featured once. Upon accepting an offer to have their fic inducted, an author also provided an interview which was featured alongside the story's entry. Click the "RCL feature" links in the header of each review to read them, as well as the RCL judges' remarks.

The RCL has not, I believe, ever been officially wound up, but as life intruded more and more on its assessors the regular updates ended in spring 2020 and nothing has been inducted since October 2020. I think it's fair to consider the RCL moribund now, although its archives are happily still available and the collection remains very well worth mining, especially if you're new to the ponyfic game. I was hoping not to only manage three fics this time, and I'm pleased to say I got through four. My stories from the Library were:

Autumnfall Change by MSPiper
The Life and Death of April Fool by Prak
Nothing Left to Lose by Freglz
Do Not Serve These Ponies by Thanqol

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

My Little Repeats 97: "Appleoosa's Most Wanted"

"Can you quit with the 'every "y'all" I play 5% faster' stuff already?"

S5E06: "Appleoosa's Most Wanted"

2 May 2015

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 6.8

The one with Fish My Wish

Thoughts: I was mildly surprised to find I'd given this a three in 2015, as I'd remembered finding it a bit meh – as did the fandom as whole; that IMDb score is fairly representative. But whatever the case, this is now a reasonable enough episode, if no all-time great. Knowing the future for the CMC actually helps, I think: their work for Troubleshoes foreshadows their discovery that their cutie marks represent helping others to find who they are. Troubleshoes himself is quite a fun character, though his lugubrious self probably wouldn't work well as a regular. As I said six years ago you'd think the combination of a rodeo clown and Dave Polsky might have brought even more actual jokes. (The angry mob is an accidental one now, though!) This is an episode where Sweetie's magic really comes on, another quiet bit of foreshadowing that something might be up. A few minor callbacks to "Over a Barrel" (I know some may prefer to forget that one!) but overall this is a nicely self-contained episode. I don't think it's a particularly high three, as it's not that memorable – but I do think it does enough to retain that star rating.

Choice quote: Sheriff Silver Star: "I called for a meetin', not a mob scene."

New rating: ★★★

Next up is "Make New Friends But Keep Discord", which engendered some considerable excitement about the return of the Smooze, but which I remember as a moderately-good-but-no-more episode.

Ponyfic Roundup 372

Read it Later story count: 98 (+1) 

Another week goes by, and somehow I've blundered my way through it well enough to still be here to host another Ponyfic Roundup. This is the penultimate edition of the year, and the final conventional edition – see the footer for what awaits next week. Three stories as you've all come to expect by now, and here they are:

The Taste of Blood by Shrink Laureate
In the Shadow of the Stage Lights by Quicksear
"What Does Love Taste Like?" by Poison Claw

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

My Little Repeats 96: "Tanks for the Memories"

Aw, those slippers... and Dash has Tank slippers, too

S5E05: "Tanks for the Memories"

25 Apr 2015

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 8.3

The one with Applejack crying on the inside

Thoughts: It's nice, and fairly unusual by this stage in the series, to see a significant amount of an episode's plot rely on the way ponies control the weather in (most of) Equestria. Good to see an old-school writer handle it, too: this was the last of Cindy Morrow's 11 episodes. (She also wrote "Winter Wrap Up", so she can handle snow just fine!) It also felt a little old-fashioned – again in a nice way – to have the educational snippets about how hibernation works. What's best, though, is that Morrow manages to take Rainbow through the five stages of grief without the episode ever once mentioning death. Fluttershy's handling of Dash later on isn't liked by all fans, but I think it shows that where Rainbow is concerned, and especially by now, 'Shy can have plenty of self-confidence. "I'll Fly" remains a song I like although I still don't adore it, while the whole "Who's on First?" homage is great fun. You can argue that Rainbow's character is regressed a bit for this ep, especially as she suffers no real consequences for her Weather Factory sabotage, something you'd think would be an absolute no-no in Equestria. Oh, and Caramel and we got some Sassaflash too. An established non-married couple is rare in FiM, but I've always liked those two. Overall, then? Enjoyable, but not without flaws that hold it back from real greatness. Three stars last time, three stars this time.

Choice quote: Twilight: "Winter is coming."

New rating: ★★★

Next up is "Appleoosa's Most Wanted", which wasn't that popular at the time but which may gain a bit now we know what happened to the CMC later in S5...

Ponyfic Roundup 371

Read it Later story count: 97 (-1) 

The real world continues to behave in a way any self-respecting editor would throw out for being unbelievable, so let's get back to the considerably more sensible unreal world of Equestria. I'm pleased to say my cold/bug/whatever has disappeared and I'm all set for more ponyfic reviewing. Three stories as usual, and here they are:

Treating Her Right by Rated Ponystar
The Rook Triumphant by Halira
Flawless by Arisa-chan

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

Friday PR, volume 2,368...

I'm feeling really pretty meh this evening. It isn't You-Know-What (yay for the UK's free test kits) so I imagine it's one of those pesky Twittermites Normal Bugs that do in fact still exist. :P I haven't quite finished my reading for this week's Ponyfic Roundup, but the headache means I haven't feel very comfortable with it. (Short sessions on a PC monitor aren't as bad, hence this.) To be on the safe side, I'll do the usual and delay PR until Friday. Over and out!

My Little Repeats 95: "Bloom & Gloom"

#RaiseThisHouse

S5E04: "Bloom & Gloom"
18 Apr 2015

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 8.2

The one with the blink-and-you'll-miss-it return of Chicken Pinkie

Thoughts: Those Twittermites! Not pleasant stuff for a TV-Y show, when you think about it, even allowing for them not being real. Anyway, the third and final of the loose "Luna in a Crusader's dreams" collection follows the other two in having some quite disturbing aspects, though this one may be the most so. At the time quite a few of us in the fandom wondered whether all the messing with cutie marks in dreams might be the then-absent Starlight's doing – but by the time Glimmy arrives again, we'll have had the massive show-stopping moment quietly foreshadowed at times here anyway. (Michelle Creber did the voice of AB's "shadow" too.) FiM never really decided to be consistent about the "destiny" aspect of cutie marks, but here in S5 may be where it was the treated as the biggest deal. The whole "you can't be in the CMC without a mark" thing was sensibly dropped later, though it was a real shame we never saw Babs again.* Luna was pretty nice in her short appearance in this episode, while there was dark amusement from Big Mac's expanded speaking role and much warmer stuff top-and-tailing the main story with Applejack's gentle, loving lullaby. I think this one can keep the high three I gave to it six years ago.
* Well, not in a speaking role. Even if they'd needed to find a new VA, it would still have been nice

Choice quote: Luna: "It's been a busy night for us all."

New rating: ★★★

Next up is "Tanks for the Memories", which I'm looking forward to as it sees Cindy Morrow writing Fluttershy and Rainbow interacting, something I like to see.

Happy 10th, "Cerulean Blue"!

Replacer – Cerulean Blue

 
This great song wasn't Replacer's first Pony fandom track, but it's most definitely the first of his that's remained a classic to the present day. The instantly recognisable piano intro adds drums and then we're straight into the vocals. Replacer's voice, even if it might perhaps be considered slightly on the light side for pop-rock, has a driving energy combined with an ethereal quality that reflect its subject very well indeed. This is of course early-series Rainbow Dash, and there's clear influence in the lyrics from the likes of "The Mysterious Mare Do Well". Although a moderately long song at 4:26, it's well broken up thanks to its inventive harmonies and instrumental breaks, with a wonderfully bombastic final section to round things off. Oh, and if you're looking at that YouTube upload date and thinking, "Er..." then wonder no more: the Soundcloud upload is dated 4th December 2011. Ten years ago today!

Ponyfic Roundup 370

Read it Later story count: 98 (-1) 

Now thrice Pfizered, I sally forth once more on another nail-biting adventure. Well, no: actually I just write some waffly stuff about a few ponyfics. But hay, you should be used to that by now. I am planning on doing a slightly larger edition again before the year is out, by the way – perhaps another RCL edition in search of a story to which I can award that elusive five-star rating! Not this week, though. Today's three stories are as follows:

Ponyville Chess Club and Mail Swap by Singularity Dream
Longevity by RainbowBob
Nightmare Moon is a...Salespony?! by iAmSiNnEr

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