UK PonyCon: It's a sell-out! (Well, nearly)

In spite of the venue for UK PonyCon having an increased capacity this year, weekend and sponsor tickets have completely sold out! There are still some one-day passes left, so you could still attend the whole thing by buying a Saturday ticket and a Sunday one, but that's more expensive than a weekend badge.

Despite what you may read elsewhere, this is not the first time UKPC has sold out, not even in its current Nottingham home. The convention sold out entirely in 2018 – the first year it took place in the city – and thanks to archive.org you can see the proof on UKPC's own website from September of that year.

That said, I think that the greater ticket availability this year means that selling out in 2024 is a bigger achievement than it was in 2018. All the more so since we're now a full five years from the ending of Friendship is Magic, the show that brought such expansion to the My Little Pony fandom. Congratulations to all concerned!

Maybe Nottingham isn't cursed after all!

The tram strike has been called off! Apparently an agreement was reached. I don't know the details and won't be commenting on the politics on a blog like this anyway. But it's a major relief.

I'm still not entirely enthralled by the thought of attending next year if the con is in Nottingham at Goose Fair time again, but for this year things are very definitely looking up. :)

My Little Repeats 172: "School Daze, part 2"

Now this I did like. The expressions tell you a fair bit about each student's character.

S8E02: "School Daze, part 2"

24 Mar 2018

My original rating: ★★★ (for both parts)
IMDb score: 7.8

The one with stairs!

Thoughts: And here Friendship is Magic succumbed to the temptation of referencing "20% cooler".¹ Not for the last time. Sigh. It also sees the debut of the pukwudgies, who just leave me cold. The Mane Six were pretty idiotic in the cupcake scene. However, there are pluses: the song "Friendship Always Wins" is nice, and as you all know I'm fond of the students, who of course get lots of screen time here. I also like Starlight's relatability in this episode and the way she doesn't rely on magic. She too is learning! On the other hoof, Twilight's "we're going to ignore the rules because I say so" line remains immensely annoying, especially since Celestia had to abide by them. It also still grates that Cheerilee has been forgotten. At least the Castle of the Two Sisters finally reappeared, though it didn't exactly do much. Overall I think this is slightly better than part one. Probably not quite enough to take it out of the two-star band, though. As I'd put it in a ponyfic review: a top-end two.
¹ Although Rainbow Rocks had already featured "20% less cool".

Choice quote: Smolder: "Smolder like... breathing."

New rating: ★★

Next up, "The Maud Couple", which I've slightly soured on since I considered it a middle-of-the-road instalment back in 2018. We'll have to see whether that assessment holds, won't we?

Is Nottingham cursed or something? :(

For the third year running, UK PonyCon weekend will have an unwanted extra in the shape of transport strikes. In 2022 and 2023 it was the trains, this time it's the trams. This isn't the place for political comments, but the practicalities of a multi-day strike over a Goose Fair weekend are not good. It won't stop me going to UKPC, but it will make the travelling that little bit more of a pain each day.

I'd already been musing over whether it's time to consider doing something else next year. This will be my tenth UKPC and sixth in Nottingham, and much as I like it I've already mentioned going to the same place every year starting to feel a little repetitive – though I can't deny that it's very well connected by road and rail and that the venue itself is pretty well set up for us convention people.

I think this latest news has swayed me to the point where if UK PonyCon is in Nottingham again next year and it clashes with the Goose Fair again, the balance of probabilities is that I won't be going to UKPC. Instead I might be choosing to attend Griffish Isles (in Manchester) or Festival of Friendship (in Southampton), or even having a year off going to conventions entirely. They're increasingly heavy hits on the wallet.

There is a compromise option: go to UKPC but only stay the Friday night, as I did in 2022. That was especially awkward as there were train strikes, and I wouldn't do it again if those recurred – but without those I could have a reasonable chunk of the Saturday at the con. It might reduce my costs to the point where I could wait until the last minute (ie when it was known if there would be strikes) before making firm plans.

As I've said, I'm still going to the con next week, and I think I'll only have to miss one late-night event on the Saturday (one that I might not have gone to anyway). But I was so hoping that for the first time since the post-Covid resumption I'd have a UK PonyCon that didn't include fretting about transport. No such bloody luck. It's very tiring, apart from anything else – and I'm not as young as I was!

Ponyfic Roundup 508

Read it Later story count: 95 (+1)

Words read this week: 10,000

Today, I'm returning to the Thousand Words Contest III winners, and the slate features the first ten of the sixteen Pewter Medal winners. For reasons I'm not entirely sure of (I'd guess a tie in judging) there were four such medals awarded in the Horror category, but only three in each of the others: Drama, Slice of Life, Comedy and Experimental. Today I'm covering the Drama, Slice of Life and Horror medallists in that order:

Too old to start over by TheDriderPony
All the Right Questions... by daOtterGuy
Encamped, Entrenched by EileenSaysHi
Pool Boy by TheDriderPony
Twilight Sparkle is Moving Back to Ponyville by RB_
The Daisy Behind Her Ear by Math Spook
In the House by Cold in Gardez
　　　i　　　 [sic] by PseudoBob Delightus
It Was a Beautiful Day in Ponyville by gloamish
Jack of All Trades by TheDriderPony

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 5 | ★★★★: 3 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Sounds of 2014: Nos. 5 to 1

That's right, everyone! The Equestria Trot 100 chart for 2014 reaches the summit today. We're going to be looking at the five tracks which garnered the most votes (or however this chart decided rankings; I'm not sure) ten years ago. Although this bit isn't strictly necessary this time as I'll explain in a moment, here are the usual criteria for inclusion:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion. 

Except that those criteria do not apply this one time. Look, if your song gets into the top five for an entire year, it's famous. Therefore, all these tracks are considered to qualify for inclusion under Rule 3 even if they don't fulfil any of the other requirements. As it happens, though, they all meet Rule 1 anyway, so this doesn't arise.

5: BlackGryph0n & Baasik – Academy
4: AcoustiMandoBrony – Laughter
3: Sim Gretina – Entropy (remix)
2: AnimatedJames – Brony Polka
1: The Living Tombstone – Stop the Bats (remix)

Jump break now, at least for those of you on computers. After that, it's time for the final countdown! (Well, until "Sounds of 2015", anyway...)

My Little Repeats 171: "School Daze, part 1"

"Can we tell her this thing is a mess?"

S8E01: "School Daze, part 1"

24 Mar 2018

My original rating: ★★★ (for both parts)
IMDb score: 7.7

The one with a teeny confetti cannon

Thoughts: Quite honestly, the best thing about this episode is that it introduces the Young Six, who in my book are the highlights of S8. As for the rest, though: Twilight says there's a difference between being a student and being a teacher, then ignores that. Cheerilee, the actual professional teacher in Ponyville – you know, the one who's been there since S1 – isn't even granted a name-check, let alone an actual appearance. At the start we get a few rather forced movie references – okay, fair enough. The racist Chancellor Neighsay (voiced by Maurice LaMarche, no less) could have sparked a very interesting storyline about how unpleasant people can sometimes nevertheless be right – a message very relevant to these days of social media. But no. Instead he turns out to be massively powerful (portals, magic chains, etc) with no explanation and none of Starlight's relatability to soften it. The students are entertaining, and I look forward to seeing more of them this season. The School of Friendship itself is ridiculous. The episode falls to two stars, and with quite a thump.

Choice quote: Fluttershy: "I've had quite enough of life-threatening adventures, thank you."

New rating: ★★

Having covered part one of the premiere, you'll never guess what's coming next in this series. What's that you say? A purple parakeet? The Box of Delights? A train bound for Morningtown, many miles away? No, no and thrice no. It's part two of the premiere!

Ponyfic Roundup 507

Read it Later story count: 94 (nc)

Words read this week: 42,959

There – I think I've somewhat made up for last week's low word count total! Indeed, this is substantially above my usual weekly number, so I'm quite pleased to have got through it all. Lovely weather for mid-September has helped, since I've been able to spend a little time sitting outside to read, something I wish I could do more than I actually can. Here are today's stories:

Tea Decisions by PsychicKid
Kindness's Reward by AVeryStrange
A Story to Relate To by SockPuppet
A Changeling Path by TCC56
Written in Synthetic Blood by Shaslan

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

Sounds of 2014, nos. 10 to 6

Exciting times, Pony pop pickers! Today we move into the top ten of the Equestrian Trot 100 chart for 2014. As a quick reminder, this means songs that were popular that year; they don't necessarily have to have been released in 2014. As usual, here's the list of criteria:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion. 

I considered dropping those requirements for the top ten and just saying they all met Rule 3 by definition, but as it happens none of this week's songs would have needed to be skipped anyway, so I thought I'd keep them. The top five will all be featured come what may, though. Here's this week's list:

10: YourEnigma ft. Rhyme Flow – On Hold
9: 4EverfreeBrony – House of Glass
8: The Living Tombstone ft. Feather – Stay (remix)
7: BlackGryph0n & Baasik – Taking Off
6: BlackGryph0n & Baasik – Moonlight

Going to be lazy and leave the following sentence the same as last week: I'm sure you know by now what happens past the jump break, so let's get to it!

My Little Repeats: Reflections on Season 7

The Fresh Princess of Friendship

By Season 7 of Friendship is Magic, Discovery Family was finally doing interesting things with its pre-season trailers. "The Fresh Princess of Friendship" was not in fact the first S7 promo – that was this rather more conventional 30-second spot – but I'd be willing to bet it's the one most of us remember.

At long last, over a bloomin' year after I began on this season, I've made it to the end. S7 was generally more popular with fans than S6, and there's a fair case to be made that the first half especially was the last time most people were on the same page when it came to opinions of the show. Not all, but most. Of course, you'll want to see my rating compares, and so here you go:

1. Season 4: 3.42
2= Season 1: 3.38
2= Season 2: 3.38
4. Season 5: 3.27
5. Season 6: 3.23
6. Season 7: 2.96
7. Season 3: 2.92

Well now, were you expecting that? I'm not sure I was. I would have guessed that the season would come in with a rating of around 3.2 or 3.3, yet instead it ends up significantly below S6 and not a million miles ahead of the wooden-spooning S3. There turns out to be a fairly clear reason for that, which we'll see in a moment. Past the break for that and a few more details.

UK PonyCon schedule is out!

Yesterday, I posted briefly about the UK PonyCon concert line-up and said I wasn't personally that excited by it. This is not the feeling I have when looking at the UKPC schedule, which has just been released – although without lots of details about each event as yet. I'm seriously hyped after seeing this so far.

From a quick scan, it looks really good, and it's very nice on this 20th anniversary of UK PonyCon – now the world's longest running MLP convention! – that there are some non-G4 events sprinkled through the programme. Slightly to my surprise, I can't see any specifically G5 panels, but G1 and G3 are certainly represented.

It may have been corrected by the time you read this, but there was one error in the schedule initially released: there is a panel on The World's Biggest Tea Party on Sunday afternoon which was accidentally omitted from the timetable. Since Sunday is so much quieter a day, I'm almost tempted to attend that one myself.

Since I will after all be able to go to the whole UKPC weekend this year (though that was in doubt for quite some while) I will be able to take part in Archer's Pub Quiz again. I adore that and I was very sad to miss it last year owing to having to go home earlier than hoped on Saturday evening due to train strikes.

Naturally the VA script reading/Q&A is going to be a highlight with Ashleigh Ball in attendance this year. But as anyone who's ever been to a convention will know all too well, plans usually change quite a bit over the course of the event, so all I'll say on that for now is that I am looking forward greatly to three weeks' time.

UK PonyCon reveals music lineup

Fresh from the official UK PonyCon blog, here's the list for this year's Saturday evening concert. Each performer gets 45 minutes:

Coltastrophe¹
Pagan Pegasus
Blackened Blue
PrinceWhateverer
BassPon3
¹ Making their UKPC debuts.

So, what do I think? To be honest, somewhat mixed feelings. I'm pleased to see newcomers to UKPC (I think) in Coltastrophe, and Pagan Pegasus in particular is an act I tend to really like. On the other hand, it's quite a samey lineup in terms of genres. Pagan does mix things up – witness electro-swing, drum'n'bass and dubstep in one song – but otherwise it's basically the usual hard rock fest with a DJ to end.

I obviously appreciate that there's only so much a UK-based convention can do, and also that acts like Blackened Blue are both good at their job and really popular. What I personally like is not necessarily what's sensible to choose for a con. But I really wish we had say an acoustic set or someone like EileMonty (yes, I know she herself no longer does Pony stuff) to provide something completely different from the loudness around her.

So... this year, I think I've finally reached the point, for the first time since the concerts began in 2018, at which it is going to be a secondary consideration. It'll be a thing to attend if there's nothing else that interests me more, rather than a big centrepiece of the con. Again, for me. But this is my blog and so my thoughts are what you get. If you want your thoughts, start your own blog! Or comment on this one, obviously...

Ponyfic Roundup 506

Read it Later story count: 94 (nc)

Words read this week: 8,000

With the Paralympics over, I now have time to read more ponyfic again. A very low weekly word count nevertheless, but there's a good reason for that. Today I set out on the long road that will be reviewing all 46 recognised fics in the Thousand Words Contest III. As I've already mentioned, I'll be covering them at a slower pace than I have done in the past, with non-contest PRs between. First, it's the turn of the eight Hono(u)rable Mentions. These are as follows:

It's Time To D-D-D-Duel by D-20
The Royal Snitting Room by gloamish
In Darkness, a Light by Pascoite
Heavy Things by Pascoite
A Fall, Unnoticed by Not That Anon
You Were My First (Snatch and Grab) by RedHoodie21
The Cake Job by GeodesicDragon
Click! by marmalado

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 5 | ★★★★: 2 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Sounds of 2014, nos. 15 to 11

Here we are again with another "Sounds of 2014" – and this time, it's the last instalment before we reach the top ten! By this point, we're looking at songs that were really, really popular all those years ago, and in many/most cases actually released for the first time in 2014. Here's the usual run-down of the criteria a song needs at least one of to be featured here:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion. 

Here's this week's list:

15: The L-Train et al – Moonrise
14: Aski Meskin & The Living Tombstone – Manehatten
13: 4EverfreeBrony ft. Faux Snyder & Emily Jones – Here on the Moon
12: SlyphStorm ft. 4EverfreeBrony & Midnight Melody – Soldiers of the Night
11: Black Gryph0n & Baasik – Quest (This Can't Be All)

I'm sure you know by now what happens past the jump break, so let's get to it!

My Little Repeats 170: "Shadow Play, part 2"

Feel the wave of sound as it crashes down

S7E26: "Shadow Play, part 2"

28 Oct 2017

My original rating: ★★★★★ (for both parts)
IMDb score: 8.5

The one with Mister TheBearded

Thoughts: The first episode of this two-parter got docked not one but two stars since my delighted 2017 review. This one, I'm afraid, is going the same way. I think I was wowed by... well, everything first time out, as were a lot of people, but now the shine has worn off a bit. The fact that little was done with the Pillars after this doesn't help. Mind you, grumpy Star Swirl is good fun to watch, except for Twilight I guess. The origin story for the Elements of Harmony is... okay, I guess. I like Starlight being the voice of compassion and redemption for the Pony of Shadows. It's fun to have the map again, silly as it is. I had actually forgotten the Sirens' part in Stygian's backstory, and I still like that aspect. And look, we did get the ponies using the Elements one more time. That's worth a bit on its own. So... three stars again. Not as good as I once thought, a bit jumbled in parts yes, but I still had fun. That's still a decent three-star rating.

Choice quote: Rainbow Dash: "Oh, we've saved the world, beardo. And we can do it again."

New rating: ★★★

And here we are, finally, at the end of Season 7! I published the "Celestial Advice" rewatch on 31st July 2023, so the season as a whole has taken more than 13 months. Two episodes per month on average, a far cry from the pace of two per week I kept up in the early days of this series! I hope to get through S8 and S9 considerably faster than I managed with S7.

Before too long, I will post the usual post-season stats and thoughts about the season. Then it will be on to the changes that S8 brought. I know not all of you will be staying with me for that, certainly not for every episode, so to you I say thank you for coming along on the ride this far. For those who are staying, let's see what we can find!

A little more on my "free and online only" review policy

I mentioned in my intro to Ponyfic Roundup 504 that I was making a decision only to review fics in their free, online forms. I am hereby formalising that decision. From now on, I will not review (or indeed read for review) any ponyfic that is not available without charge to everyone. This is partly because I do not want to review any ponyfic that would cost readers here in the UK more to read than it would cost readers in the USA, or wherever the author hails from.

For example, this policy will exclude from consideration:

• Fics only available in physical form
• Fics only available to Patreon supporters or similar
• Fics only available to attendees of conventions, meets, etc
  

In all these cases, the same policy will apply if a story has seen substantial extensions or revisions to the text, and the new version is only available under any of the conditions listed above. "Substantial" means something more than just spelling and grammar corrections. "To the text" means that I won't exclude fics just because their physical/enhanced form includes illustrations or other design features, as long as those things are not necessary to properly enjoy the story.

In the specific case of a fic being published first under one of those conditions but later made available free with the same text on Fimfiction (or a similar site), those will be eligible for review – but not until after they have been published there. Simply expressing an intent to do so at some later date, especially if that date is left vague, is not enough. If authors wish to restrict their fics' circulation, that is of course absolutely their right. It is my right not to be interested in reviewing such fics.

I am not entirely excluding from consideration fics published in other places than Fimfiction, although those will be much less likely to be reviewed. It's only if they're restricted in availability as covered above that they lose their eligibility.

Ponyfic Roundup 505: Spotlight on Twidark

Read it Later story count: 94 (-1)

Words read this week: 47,512

In case the author or anyone else wonders why I'm reviewing such an ancient fic: it's been on my Read it Later list for so long (literally years) that it was time either to drop this or to give it a chance. Since it's not ridiculously long, since I really enjoyed a more recent Isseus fic – Tough Little Pony (PR 212) – and since I found the question posed in the longdesc interesting (see below) I chose to give this a chance. 12-year-old fics have a decidedly mixed record with me, but let's see how this one does.

Twidark by Isseus
Twilight, Spike, Celestia, Mane Six and CMCs
G4; Dark/Comedy/Horror/Slice of Life; 48k words; Jun–Jul 2012; Teen

Twilight goes darkside.

Not a terribly informative shortdesc, so I'll quote the last part of the longdesc: "Are there limits to what Twilight's magic can do, and what lies beyond those limits?" A question that caught my eye and got me to read this fic. Those mixed-up genre tags are in fact not misleading: this really is quite the mixed-up story. Deliberately, I think, since its central point is Twilight's descent into mental anguish after she discovers darkly magical Necroponicon book, and how this impacts on her closest friends. This isn't handled in the unremittingly grim way that some authors do, and there's plenty of gentler fun around the edges, especially with the CMC early on – but be warned that ponies do get hurt here, and not only Twilight. There are some odd sidelines at times, one about a rock band being almost Douglas Adams length, and they do make the experience a little rough. Still, Twidark has enough capacity to surprise just when you think it's settled into predictability that it shades into the threes. ★★★

Naturally, this is a Spotlight and so if you head on into the dark, you will probably be eaten by a grue spoiler.

Sounds of 2014, nos. 20 to 16

We really are getting to the sharp end of the 2014 Equestrian Trot 100 chart now! Only a few more editions of "Sounds of 2014" to go before we find out who made the top spot. Since I'm deliberately not looking ahead, even I don't know at this point! Anyway, for the moment, let's get back to the usual quick summary of the criteria songs need to fulfil to be included here. Any one of these is sufficient:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion. 

As it happens, I can feature all five songs anyway, so vive to that and an éclair for both of us! Here's the list:

20: YourEnigma ft. Lady Aria – I'll Come Running
19: 4EverfreeBrony ft. Chi-Chi – Chant of Immortality
18: 4EverfreeBrony ft. Chi-Chi & Relative1Pitch – Chant of Mirth
17: Glaze – I'm an Asshunter, Gimme That Booty
16: Black Gryph0n & Baasik – Set in Stone

Come with me to the casb—er, past the jump break and there'll be the usual embedded YouTube videos and thankfully brief rambling from yours truly.

My Little Repeats 169: "Shadow Play, part 1"

I love that the runic inscription says "Pony Rocks"

S7E25: "Shadow Play, part 1"

28 Oct 2017

My original rating: ★★★★★ (for both parts)
IMDb score: 8.4

The one with Star Swirl's bad hornwriting

Thoughts: As you'll have noted, I loved this finale first time round. Perhaps inevitably, this first episode has lost a bit of its shine since 2017. Part of that's because the show rarely made the Pillars all that compelling. This was the first episode with a writing credit for Nicole Dubuc,¹ which won't help it in some viewers' minds, either. Nevertheless, I still like this episode. Rainbow is such a good Spike buddy, especially. Starlight being the voice of reason when it comes to magic is a fun reversal of her norm. She works well with Twilight and Sunburst, too. I like the storybook-style opening. The setup at the end is exciting – if only it had been a full cliffhanger, but oh well. There are irritations, for example Applejack suddenly acquiring Maud-level strength when it comes to rock control. Things ramble a bit and could have been tighter with a tad less exposition. But overall, though not the amazing experience I felt it was back in the day, this is still a pretty enjoyable and very watchable first half. Top-end three seems a better rating now.
¹ On Discovery Family. For its earlier Treehouse (Canada) showing, Haber got sole credit.

Choice quote: Rarity: "Darling, your diorama!"

New rating: ★★★

It's been a much longer ride than I'd have liked, but next time out I shall finally be reaching the end of S7! I wonder how this half of the finale will hold up? Only one way to find out...