UK PonyCon 2025 report, part two: Saturday, first half

My hotel room view was concrete, so have Birmingham Council House (which I did walk past) instead

It's been too long owing to that WiFi outage, but I'm back with the next part of my UK PonyCon 2025 report. I was delighted to get a good night's sleep at my hotel – I think I chose pretty well – and because of not having to travel into Birmingham from elsewhere I was able to have Saturday breakfast at the Travelodge for once. The usual buffet stuff, but I ate a lot as lunch is always a problem at cons, so we're talking bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages, tomatoes, hash browns, yoghurt, cereal, several glasses of fruit juice... you get the idea. Then it was time to check out as I wouldn't be returning to this hotel. All smooth.

It was a very windy day, but fortunately Storm Amy's worst effects were elsewhere, and it was at least bright so a reasonable experience to walk into central Birmingham. I know a few people were in the Briar Rose (same pub as last night) for breakfast, though memory for specific identities is already hazy, so even though I wasn't eating I joined them there for a bit. By now of course I had my con badge around my neck – I only really take it off for bed and showers during the weekend – so the excitement levels were building nicely.

Off to New Street station, but not to catch a train: walking through it was just the easiest way to get to the venue, which was a few minutes' walk out the back. I made it at just before 9:30, I think, and the queue was already substantial, although it became even more so not long afterwards. I remember seeing a few people go by – Ace, Zen, Trixxy, Charles, a few others I can't recall. The building overhang by the comic shop would have protected us a bit from any rain, but there wasn't any, yay. Pretty much on time (10:00) we filed in!

The crowded Opening Ceremony. Britannia and Bexi on stage

The bag checks from venue staff on entering were an unknown, but they were very professionally handled all weekend, even if the level of strictness over outside food and drink did seem to vary from person to person. I had a little more to carry than usual owing to not being able to leave stuff in my hotel, but it all fitted in one bag. There was a very basic cloakroom (basically just a coat rail and a space underneath for bags) which was unattended; I was willing to leave my old jacket there but not my bag.

It was nice to catch up with some friends before things started, including Ghost Mike who I hadn't seen until this morning owing to all those plane delays. Chatting away with sometimes long-absent friends before a con is one of my favourite things, so that was great. I also made sure to have a quick chat with JowyB – it might have been then, it might have been slightly later – who is a great guy and a great artist. I bought one of his lucky dip sketches for a fiver and came away with a 2014 one featuring both Chrysalis and Flufflepuff. Very happy!

The opening ceremony happened in much the same way that these things nearly always do, by thanking everyone for coming, introducing the special guests Rebecca Shoichet and Imalou, having a little bit of minor physical comedy from the fursuiter playing UKPC mascot Britannia, etc etc. It was very cramped, though: we were right up against the venue's capacity, with quite a few of us having to stand around the edges of the room. This went all the more so as some of the stalls were squeezed in at the back owing to the lack of a sufficiently large single space for all vendors to be together.

"Have you seen this mare? Reward: B10 or one cherry"

Then it was train time! Zenfox who presented ably, with technical assistance but still no cake from Ace, shifted from the recent setup of simply helping people travel safely on our railways to the far more challenging task of trying to explain Equestrian railways. Given my own attempt to do that in ponyfic with On the Wrong Track a few years ago, I was all ears. And it was tremendous fun. I have issues with the use of a crying Scootaloo image on the shaky grounds that it was the best picture of a particular station. And I have Issues with the portrayal of Fluttershy as a train hijacker and all-round criminal mare. But yeah, I loved this panel.

There wasn't that much I wanted to do for the next hour or so, and so I wandered around, exploring the "Collectors' Cove" for toy-focused stalls on the ground floor, making a quick visit to put a lanyard on the freebies table and pick up some other small thing, and generally get my bearings in the venue. I can't actually remember what I did for lunch, though I have a feeling it might have been another trip to the Briar Rose with just Patrick. Either way, that big breakfast meant I didn't eat very much.

Back to the venue to see the last moments of the cosplay contest, which has never been on my must-see list but which I normally experience a bit more than that of. Since we were in Birmingham, Luna (my friend, not the Princess) and some cronies had dressed up in Peaky Blinders-style attire (as the Pinkie Blinders, of course) and arrived in a stretch Hummer, of all things. I didn't see it, but he told me about it. That car was a bit less Brummie, though! They ended up deservedly winning the prize for Best Group Cosplay, though we didn't know that until later on.

"Pony Romance Languages" – eg Apple Bloom speakin' in Fancy

Finally for this part of the report was an unusual little panel from ImmyChan: The Languages of Equestria. I was very keen to attend her panel, as this has been a minor interest of mine since the days I created Frithaes! An Introduction to Colloquial Lapine for the Watership Down fandom over 20 years ago. I thought it might just be Hawthorn and me, but in the event the small room was packed. Immy gave a good account of herself, and even though the panel was short I found it intriguing: the North Germanic nature of Breezie-speak, for example, and a decent stab at explaining how a Latin word like "draconequus" exists in Equestria in the first place.

Next time: Getting Batman wrong... 

Ponyfic Roundup 558: Thousand Words Contest IV Gold Medallists

Read it Later story count: 91 (nc)

Words read this week: 5,000

I am late this week not because of Logan being hopeless, which I'm sure you will agree makes a refreshing change! It's because I've only relatively recently got WiFi service back after a major outage caused by someone digging through a cable or whatever the cool kids do these days. I wasn't entirely without internet thanks to phone data, but I wasn't keen to repeat my experience of trying to write PR on a phone. This is, by the way, also the reason for the pause in UK PonyCon reports. They'll be back! Anyway, here's today's slate:

Rinse Cycle by HearthsEve
The Middlemare's Market by hawthornbunny
Dollhouse by pneu
Butterfly Stains by Kintsugi Sunset
The Development of a Lexicon of Epithets for a Diarchal Equestria by gloamish

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

Sounds of 2016, nos. 5 to 1!

Here we go, then: we've finally reached the very top of the Equestrian Trot 100 chart for 2016! It's really rather thrilling stuff, isn't it? Okay, maybe it isn't, but you get the idea. Sometimes there's something to be said for rambling on in this intro paragraph, but this time let's get moving/

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. 

We're into the top ten now, so Rule 3 applies across the board. Here goes!

5: Michelle Creber, Black Gryph0n & Baasik – Getting Stronger
4: Delta Brony – The Spectacle (remix)
3: µThunder – Say Goodbye to the Holiday (remix)
2: ponyphonic ft. Kristen Calvin – The Moon Rises
1: Aurelleah – Luna's Future (remix)

All right, for the very last time for 2016, off we go!

UK PonyCon 2025 report, part one: Friday

My key to Equestria...

Here we go at last with my report of UK PonyCon 2025! To save you all waiting in suspense, I'll say right away that it was an extremely enjoyable convention. Not everything ran entirely according to plan, but that's cons for you. My small grumbles here and there should not take away from the fact that, given the unavoidable issues of a venue smaller (though more expensive to hire) than last year's, pretty much everyone did a sterling job to say the least.

So then, here we are on the Friday! It was nice not to have to start early in the morning for TrainCon. Indeed, I was almost in danger of being too early into Birmingham! There were no rail strikes this year, so it was a simple process. Sadly I didn't notice any other Pony folk I knew at Birmingham New Street station at first, and so I went to the Pret on the concourse for a cheap filter coffee. Nothing of great interest happened, bar Oilyvalves giving me a wave from outside as he passed by on the way to his hotel.

Surprisingly, I got to the KitKats before Pinkie did

I'd bought an early check-in add-on (though that's gone from £10 to £15 fairly recently, grumble) and so I set off to Newhall Street to find my Travelodge around midday. I'd selected it carefully as it was just far enough out of the city centre that I hoped it wouldn't be too loud on a Friday night, but still easy walking distance. I'd booked the very slightly upgraded Standard Room Plus, which meant being on the top floor (big plus), a coffee pod machine (shrug) and for whatever reason, a couple of complimentary KitKats. Not complaining!

Then it was off to town for the usual Worcester Shires pre-con meal, which was moved from the Dragon to the Briar Rose at the last minute because Britain's Got Talent was on at the Hippodrome meaning there would have been about 73 people for every table in the Dragon. This was the usual very pleasant experience, marred only by Ghost Mike's plane woes (which he's talked about himself) meaning he wasn't able to arrive until late evening. We did, however, discover the secret of the Briar Rose's mayonnaise cupboard.¹ Even if the staff themselves were later defeated by it...
¹ What it sounds like. A big wall panel behind which were shelves and shelves of mayonnaise.

The essence of UK PonyCon, really. The gens, not the rain

Pre-registration for UK PonyCon was in the venue itself, only a few minutes' walk away, so most of us made use of the opportunity as it didn't take long at all. My Bronze Sponsor badge was very nice, with Britannia on one edge and Sunny on the other, in honour of special guest Imalou. Lanyard in place, it was back to the pub for a bit. This year, for the first time at UKPC, there was going to be a Friday evening music event as part of the convention itself, and that's why our meal was in the afternoon rather than in the evening as it had been in the past.

The venue opened properly an hour before the "Jungle Jam" concert began at 6 pm, so we wandered over. Only the music hall and an outer hall with a bar were open, but that was fine. The bar sold at least some drinks at a non-absurd price, which was a plus. First up was Bexi with her now legendary cheesefest. As with last year, they're a tad too modern for me, and sorry Bexi but the "Cha Cha Slide" still isn't very interesting, but "5, 6, 7, 8" "Reach" (yay S Club 7!) and the Macarena are hard to avoid smiling at. She wasn't ridiculously loud, so this set made a good introduction.

Acid Applejack at the Jungle Jam

Next up was Acid Applejack, a Dutch EDM (and similar) musician. Not quite as much my cup of tea, but I still enjoyed his set. Actually, he seemed to have a good time at the con; I found myself standing next to his chair at a Mane Stage event later in the weekend. The third act was StormBlaze, who although probably best known as an artist gave a storming (ha) set. Some of the tunes were horse-related rather than strictly Pony, but it worked – and even if she was nervous about singing "My Past is Not Today" with Rebecca Shoichet in earshot, I think she nailed it.

I don't dance as everypony who knows me knows, but I got about as close as I'm ever going to get during some of these tunes! Still, after that things started to move more to the loud'n'hard kind of music and much as I respect Blackened Blue's ability, he's just a bit too much for me. So I retreated to my hotel room, finding the light rain annoying but it was very agreeable not to have to spend 45 minutes on a bus first! I'd really enjoyed the music – more than I'd expected to, if I'm honest – so I was in a very good mood for the following day. I even got a good night's sleep!

Next time: UK PonyCon hits the buffers, in a very entertaining way

Ponyfic Roundup 557

Read it Later story count: 91 (+1)

Words read this week: 11,840

I am back from Birmingham and the truly excellent 21st iteration of UK PonyCon, about which there will most certainly be posts in the coming days and weeks. I doubt I'll add updates every day or anything like, but you will get the full story from Friday to Monday! Now, here's the Ponyfic Roundup I postponed from last week, meaning that unusually you do get a PR just after a UKPC. The slate is:

Story Time With Equestria or How Twilight Turned Every Pony Bald by Mister E
Daring Do & The Rookie Editor by Naughty_Ranko
Sisterly Lies by Emerald Ray
Teaching the Values by Just A Random Pegasus
Scientific Progress Goes Crash by Drax

★: 0 | ★★: 4 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Sounds of 2016, nos. 10 to 6

I had a fantastic time at UK PonyCon. I'll be posting the usual multi-part con report in due course, but I wanted to get that out there first. Today, though, it's music time. We're almost at the sharp end of the Equestrian Trot 100 chart for 2016, so what will we find? Let's have a look...

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. 

We're into the top ten now, so Rule 3 applies across the board. Happily, though, it's not needed: all five of these songs qualify under Rule 1 in any case. Here's the list:

10: FritzyBeat ft. Sim Gretina – Neigh Anything
9: Sim Gretina – The Pony I Want to Be (remix)
8: Ink Rose & Baasik – Little Sunshine
7: TIX & The Pøssy Project – Ponyville 2016
6: Aoshi ft. Rina-chan – FluttERR

All right, for the penultimate time in this series, here we go!

Swapping around

 My workload (not all work, but you get the idea) has been heavy and UK PonyCon is imminent, so I'm going to swap around the weeks for Ponyfic Roundup. This week won't get one, but next Wednesday will. This is the opposite order from what I originally planned, but this one I can actually do!

Ponyfic Roundup 556

Read it Later story count: 90 (nc)

Words read this week: 9,998

I think it's only fair to say that I don't expect this "five very short stories" format for Ponyfic Roundup to change in the near future. With UK PonyCon rushing upon us at a rate of knots, that's increasingly going to take my time and attention until it's passed. (See last week's post about UKPC guests!) I'm probably going to take a week off PR in early October, just after the convention. After that... well, who knows? But today I have this:

Princess Celestia is in your bed. [sic] by ocalhoun
Trixie's night by Neutron Alchemist
A Letter to the Griffin Emperor on the Matter of War by Wages of Sin
Requiem by The Sumareian
Melt by ambion

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

Sounds of 2016, nos. 15 to 11

We'll be into the top ten next time around! But for now, our look through the Equestrian Trot 100 chart from 2016 isn't quite there. As ever, here are the inclusion rules:

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 had to skip one song last week. This week? Well... I don't! A pretty heavyweight line-up today, as you'll see:

15: Aviators – The Magic Inside (remix)
14: JoinedTheHerd – It's Gonna Work (remix)
13: Black Gryph0n & Michelle Creber – Here We Are
12: WoodenToaster – Prototype VIP
11: Michelle Creber & Black Gryph0n – Equality

Isn't that fascinating? Well, actually, it probably is if you're reading a post like this! So then... 

UK PonyCon announces Rebecca Shoichet!

Ponyfic Roundup is delayed again – but for a good reason this time! 

Some big news from UK PonyCon last night: none other than Rebecca Shoichet has been announced as a special guest. VA for Sunset Shimmer, Night Glider and Sugar Belle, not to mention singing voice for Twilight Sparkle, the reveal of her attendance has been extremely popular. I'm not surprised now that the staff who were in the know were finding it a real strain to keep things quiet until they were in a position to announce more!

Also in UKPC news, the weekend schedule is up! There's a lot going on considering the forced move to a smaller venue this year, and on a personal note I'm thrilled that Archer's Pub Quiz will be early enough in the evening that I can attend without having to sprint to the station for my train home at the end! :P Inevitably there are times when two events I'm interested in clash, but that's conventions for you! I'm really looking forward to the first weekend in October. :) 

Sounds of 2016, nos. 20 to 16

After a gap last week, which was largely because I was just ridiculously busy with other things, I'm back today with another look at what was making waves in the Pony music fandom nine years ago. As ever, I'm using the Equestrian Trot 100 chart, which runs from December 2015 to November 2016 – although if a song was popular then, it didn't have to have been released then to qualify. Inclusion rules first as ever:

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. 

Now here's the list of songs we're going to be covering today. And yes, I'm sorry to say there's a skip. We're not quite at the point where Rule 3 conquers all!

20: Saynonara Maxwell – Light of Your Cutie Mark (remix)
19: Aurelleah ft. ButterflyIdentity & Decibelle – Midnight Lament
18: Magpiepony ft. WildCardVA – Our Sweet Little Flurry
17: Aurelleah & Orange B – Under Our Spell (remix)
16: skipped

With all that out of the way, let's get on with the actual music...

Ponyfic Roundup 555

Read it Later story count: 90 (nc)

Words read this week: 13,945

I apologise for the slightly late appearance of this blog, and for the general lack of updates recently. I'd been unexpectedly diverted by something I'd previously known nothing about because I wasn't in that fandom. Suffice to say here that the story of actress Sandra Peabody's experience on one film shocked me, and not in a good way. Anyway, I will be back with "Sounds of 2016" next week, and if everything goes right, hopefully a "Best Gift Ever" rewatch too. Off we go:

The Worst Form of Government by Aquaman
Another Night Alone by TwistedSkittles
Why? by The 24th Pegasus
The Smartphone by SilverStar7
How Many Princesses Does It Take by Georg

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

Ponyfic Roundup 554

Read it Later story count: 90 (+1)

Words read this week: 11,369

We're definitely into (meteorological) autumn now, given the constant flicking between torrential rain and bright sunshine, with the odd near-gale thrown in! As I've noted a few times now, for the near future it'll be low word counts almost always. Not forever! Just for now. Today's quintet:

A Day at the Tracks by BradMayFan
Spring Tide by SPark
Many Parts by OkemosBrony
The Truth About Dark Magic by Waypoint
The Fifth to Final Move by The Lunar Samurai

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

Sounds of 2016, nos. 25 to 21

We really are reaching the rarefied heights of 2016's music scene now, aren't we? The Equestrian Trot 100 chart moves today into the top quarter. From here on in, these songs weren't just quite popular, they were really popular. Still, for the moment the usual inclusion criteria still apply:

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. 

Today's list of songs (all five again!) follows.

25: Silva Hound ft. Eurobeat Brony – Come Alive
24: Magpiepony – I'll Keep Trying
23: Carbon Maestro ft. SweetPoffin & Wubcake – The Siren and the Seamare
22: Caleb Hyles – Lullaby for a Princess (cover)
21: Royal Canterlot Symphonic Metal Orchestra – Fall of an Empire

Has that list whetted your appetite? Let's hope so! Here we go, then...

My Little Repeats: Reflections on Season 8

Official FiM S8 trailer

The official Friendship is Magic season 8 trailer was, to be honest, not particularly fascinating. There was none of the experimentation of last season's "Fresh Princess of Friendship". Let's see how the season ranked overall. You can probably guess where S8 is going to place, but here's the list anyway:

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
8. Season 8: 2.65

I've said pretty much since this season first aired that it was comfortably my least favourite, and nothing seems to have changed that view. The main problem S8 had can be seen pretty starkly when you look at the star rating breakdown by episode, which you'll see beyond the page break.

Ponyfic Roundup 553

Read it Later story count: 89 (+1)

Words read this week: 12,029

Not a great deal to say up here, other than that it's raining as I type. A higher word count than last week, but not by all that much. So here we go:

Coming Home by The Cyan Recluse
Twilight's Revenge at Midnight by Shadow Light
This Is How A Unicorn Thinks by Casketbase77
If I Were Discord by n [sic]
The Castle's What?! by RB_

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

Sounds of 2016, nos. 30 to 26

Getting quite exciting now, isn't it? Remember, I don't know what's going to top this chart, so no spoilers please! I do however know what's in today's mix. As ever, here's the reminder of the inclusion 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. 

Here's today's list of songs. All five today! :D

30: JoinedTheHerd – The Pony I Want To Be (remix)
29: Animated James – Brony Polka
28: BassBeastJD – The Magic Inside (instrumental cover)
27: Silva Hound ft. BlackGryph0n – Egomania
26: JoinedTheHerd – The Magic Inside (remix)

And now on to the bit that I imagine most readers look at first!

My Little Repeats 198: "School Raze, part 2"

"Let me be crystal clear: Real Pony Fanfic about me is not permitted in this school!"

S8E26: "School Raze, part 2"

13 Oct 2018

My original rating: ★★★★ (for both parts)

IMDb score: 8.3

The one with Mane Six marionettes

Thoughts: This final episode of Season 8 is certainly packed with stuff, and that's really its main problem: it's too packed with stuff. We have Cozy Glow, Neighsay's sudden change of heart, the CMC's semi-comedic diversion, Starlight stuck in that magical prison until she isn't, the Young Six saving the day, Celestia asking for trouble at the end, a lengthy diversion to Tartarus, Tirek playing his own part... it goes on and on. I actually did still enjoy most of it. The students in particular are great and almost deserve that graduation they don't get, though I'll never stop finding "Land of Hope and Glory" disorientating in a US-style school. Cozy's manipulation is interesting on and off, though as with so much else the knowledge that we never do get a backstory grates here too. Overall? Half as much stuff given twice as much time could have made this a classic. As it is, it's fun but not amazing. So as with part 1, down it goes from four to three stars.

Choice quote: Spike: "Um... there's seven of us."

New rating: ★★★

And at last it's the end of the penultimate season of Friendship is Magic! If your memory stretches back far enough, you'll recall that after each season I do a recap post. I'll be doing the same again this time around – including the all-important average score. (If you've worked that out for yourself already, please don't spoil me!) Then of course we'll be on the home straight.

Ponyfic Roundup 552

Read it Later story count: 89 (+1)

Words read this week: 9,038

A very low word count indeed this week, and that's likely to remain the case for a little while. I haven't lost motivation for these, but I have been absurdly pushed around by real life. What I'm hoping to do is to get my reading a full week ahead of publication, and if I can do that then there should be significantly fewer occasions when I have to delay Ponyfic Roundup. However, to get to that point I'll need some weeks with fewer words, so here we are.

Ciderfire by ambion
Dressed in Dappled Gold by CharmingMarething
Discord's Time Travel Trip. [sic] by Hotel Chicken
Dressed to Egress by AsiagoUnicorn
Balloon To The Moon by The Sleepless Beholder

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

Sounds of 2016, nos. 35 to 31

Into the top third of the Equestrian Trot 100's chart of Pony music for 2016 we go! (Okay, strictly it's roughly December 2015 to November 2016, but close enough.) While songs right at the top of the chart will be featured come what may, we're still low enough in the rankings for me to go by my usual inclusion rules:

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 the list of songs. As you'll see, there's one absent this week, which is a pity but unavoidable. The other four make a pretty good selection, though:

35: Sayonara Maxwell ft. MiatriSs – Magic Everywhere
34: Spectra – Luna's Future (remix)
33: PrinceWhateverer – Spectacular
32: Aurelleah – The Magic Inside (remix)
31: skipped

All right, enough with the yattering and on with the music!

My Little Repeats 197: "School Raze, part 1"

The interior layout of Tartarus leaves something to be desired...

S8E25: "School Raze, part 1"

13 Oct 2018

My original rating: ★★★★ (for both parts)

IMDb score: 8.2

The one with crosswords

Thoughts: I really liked this finale (as a whole) on first watch, but I said in my 2018 review that "I suspect that it might not age terribly well once a cooler, more critical eye is turned upon it". Well, that was partly right. The fact that we never got a proper explanation for Cozy Glow is a big problem, and it diminishes her otherwise fun evil monologuing. There are questions elsewhere, too: why is Tirek getting letters in Tartarus? Why this incredibly convenient skeleton key artefact thing? On the plus side, Sandbar is finally about to have his day in the sun – and it's already clear in this episode that his "change of heart" to Neighsay is a ruse. The students are a real unit by now. So, a mixed bag, really. I still enjoyed it, but it did indeed have more issues than it used to. Three stars feels about right – remember, I'm not rating part two until next time.

Choice quote: Sandbar: "Sorry, I ran out of apples."

New rating: ★★★

Next time, of course, is "School Raze, part 2" – the end of the journey as far as Season 8 is concerned. A little while after that, I shall do the usual post-season summary and see where S8 stands in my overall rankings.

Ponyfic Roundup 551

Read it Later story count: 88 (-1)

Words read this week: 33,900

Oh look, another 30 °C heatwave. We're really not used to this in the English Midlands, you know. It's also been really dry, and all the grass is yellowing. At least I can still read ponyfic, and that's just what I've been doing this week. Here at last is the slate:

In Droves, They See by Odd_Sarge
The 108th Page by Rightir_Russian_Mare
A Better Way To Be Dad by Jade Ring
Mourn The Wicked by SoundoftheWaves
Octavia's Last Night by Rune Soldier Dan

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

Sounds of 2016, nos. 40 to 36

Although I've had to delay Ponyfic Roundup, "Sounds of 2016" is less time-consuming and so I've been able to give you this, albeit also a day or so late. Inclusion rules:

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. 

Last week I was able to feature all five songs – and happily, the same is true again this week! Huzzah! Here's the list:

40: JoinedTheHerd – Luna's Future (remix)
39: OhPonyBoy – Blob It
38: Aurelleah – Chromatica
37: Aviators – Chaos Theory
36: Notion – The Midnight in Me (remix)

All right, enough with the yattering and on with the music!

Yes, again :/

Another week, another delay to Ponyfic Roundup. A hospital appointment and a couple of other unexpected issues have meant I'm going to have to delay until Friday again. This is frustrating me as much as it is you, so apologies. 

My Little Repeats 196: "Father Knows Beast"

"Remember those pancakes? Well, I've gone a whole lot better!"

S8E24: "Father Knows Beast"

6 Oct 2018

My original rating: ★★★

IMDb score: 5.6

The one with stone-skimming Smolder

Thoughts: Here's something that may surprise you: the text-based reviewers largely liked this episode on release. A major exception was DrakeyC, who despised it. My view was once middling – yep, I gave this three stars in 2018 – but has since moved towards his. I still don't hate all of it. Smolder is good value, for one; and the song is vaguely okay, if a long way from amazing. But I've become much more negative on Sludge himself. I originally saw him as a bit of a "lovable rogue" character, but not now. He's a one-dimensional, tedious slob. Zephyr Breeze had considerably more about him, and that's saying something. The script is dull. The Mane Six ask all the right questions about Sludge's story – then just... stop asking. Spike is absurdly gullible, then he deeply hurts Twilight and doesn't seem to mind – nah, not having that. There's a deeply tedious adult joke that isn't even consistent within this episode. It's all just so bloody superficial for such a potentially emotionally rich subject. To borrow a phrase I use in ponyfic reviews, this is a top-end one.

Choice quote: Spike: "You know how I get when I'm in the embroidery zone."

New rating: ★

The next episode is "School Raze, part 1". The S8 finale is one of the more divisive, with reactions running the gamut from delighted to seriously unimpressed. I liked it at the time, but S8's rewatch experience has often had me lowering my ratings from 2018. This one might as well, but as ever we shall see.

Ponyfic Roundup 550

Read it Later story count: 89 (-1)

Words read this week: 29,656

I'm not sure whether PR 550 really counts as a proper milestone, but it's nice to reach it anyway. I keep having things sprung on me in that annoying game called Real Life at the moment, so it's probably more of a milestone for me to get this update out more or less on time...

Overlooked by Sciphy
The Rain, the Poison, and the Job by HapHazred
Does she know— by semillon
Project WNDR-BLT by Bright Keys
I Know You're There by 8_Bit

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

Sounds of 2016, nos. 45 to 41

It's time once more to head back into the mists of time, to see what was making waves in the MLP fandom's musical scene nearly a decade ago. As ever, here are the inclusion 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. 

For the last two weeks running, I've had to skip one of the five tracks as it didn't meet the above criteria. This time, all five are there! The last one took a little bit of finding before I could be sure it complied with the rules, but comply it does. A remix-heavy week this time. Here we go:

45: Archie – Legacy
44: JoinedTheHerd – Friends are Always There for You (remix)
43: JoinedTheHerd – Pinkie's Present (remix)
42: µThunder – We'll Make Our Mark (remix)
41: Notion – Song of the Sirens II (remix)

That's the end of the intro, so let's have a look at the actual music. Or listen, really. While some of these tracks are associated with visuals such as animations or PMVs – and hasn't "For Kids" and having no YouTube comments ruined the PMV experience? :( –  here at least we're much more concerned with the actual music. Go!

Ponyfic Roundup 549

Read it Later story count: 90 (nc)

Words read this week: 25,278

Well, would you look at that? A Ponyfic Roundup actually going up on the correct day! Here's to hoping this will happen again next week – although I wouldn't advise holding your breath on that score. Here's today's slate of stories. And yes, there's one story I've had to rate "N/A" this week, for reasons I'll explain when I get there.

The Princess and the Reaper by DrakeyC
Rot by Mister E
My house, My say by Felfox
After Glow by TheDriderPony
No Need For Words by Whirring Gears

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

Sounds of 2016, nos. 50 to 46

We're into the top half of the chart, yay! The Equestrian Trot 100 for 2016 has already thrown up plenty of interest, so I'm looking forward – as I hope are you – to finding out what we'll get this week. Here's the usual reminder of my inclusion rules:

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 had to skip one track last week – and I'm sorry to have to say that I had to do the same this week. It's frustrating, but what can you do? Here are the four songs I am able to feature today:

50: PrinceWhateverer ft. Wubcake & NRGPony – So Long
49: The Wasteland Wailers – Broken Wing Recital
48: oodorato2 – トワイライト Sunshine Remix
47: PrinceWhateverer ft. Milkymomo – Frailty
46: skipped

I missed out on the waffle here last time, so I'm going to indulge myself a little bit more this week. I really do think the music scene for this fandom should be more appreciated outside it than it is. While plenty of fandoms have a few great songs created by fans, this fandom has well over a decade of them. That's quite remarkable. Anyway, let's continue...

My Little Repeats 195: "Sounds of Silence"

At this point, the Phantom's outfit parts to reveal... Pinkie Pie

S8E23: "Sounds of Silence"

29 Sep 2018

My original rating: ★★★★

IMDb score: 9.1

The one with sudoku

Thoughts: Kirin time! Now, to me kirin are a bit like Luna. (Stay with me on this.) I like them, but I don't share the utter adulation for them that half the fandom seems to. Fortunately, their big episode here – Gregory Bonsignore's only FiM writing credit – is a good one. The kirin/nirik¹ have an interesting concept and design. Applejack and Fluttershy make a good Map team, though Twilight's excitement about their being the first repeat Map team is never followed up. Autumn Blaze (voiced by Rachel Bloom) is a nice character and her song is plenty of fun. The moral is surprisingly solid for this late in the show's run. The crazy ticket office clerk is amusing. Downsides: Flutters insisting the kirin needed to be eternally silent isn't great. The plot is a tad predictable, and the story itself is actually not that packed with action. But I enjoyed the watch a lot. I think, as with "What Lies Beneath", it still just about scrapes a four. But no, I'm still not obsessed with kirin. Sorry!
¹ Fans often give the plural form as "nirik" too, but in the episode both that and "niriks" are used, more than once each. 

Choice quote: Twilight: "Sorry, Fluttershy – flanks don't lie." [Cringey, but funny with it.]

New rating:★★★★

The next episode is "Father Knows Beast" – and if I give that four stars, scraped or otherwise, you can probably safely assume that Logan has been quietly replaced by... dunno, really. But by something. From here, it's definitely a "get this one out of the way" episode. But I will give it a fair chance!

Ponyfic Roundup 548: Spotlight on The Witch of the Everfree

Read it Later story count: 90 (-2)

Words read this week: 56,028

Let's just ignore Muggins here having everything ready to go and not clicking the mouse button hard enough late on Wednesday night and not checking the next morning, shall we? Good. Time for another look at a longer ponyfic today! This is a tale that I'd never even heard of until recently, despite its nearly 40,000 views – but the author has a decent record and "alternative Sunset history" fics can often be interesting. This one has a notable difference from many, as I'll get to in a minute...

The Witch of the Everfree by MagnetBolt
Sunset Shimmer, Mane Six and Celestia
G4 AU; Slice of Life; 56k words; Mar 2015; Teen

My name is Sunset Shimmer. I am the strongest unicorn in all of Equestria, and my life is over. I'm in hiding and on the run, and I have no idea where to start putting things back together.

The difference I alluded to above? In this AU fic, which begins a short series, Sunset never went through the mirror. She's hiding from Celestia in Equestria itself. Along the way she interacts with the Mane Six, including a particularly interesting experience with Twilight. She meets Zecora in the Everfree Forest. And that's not the last of it. Sunset narrates herself, and so you do have to question narrative reliability – which is fine, considering just who is narrating. The chronology is grounded in the fact that the original sonic rainboom happens quite early in the story, meaning that the Mane Six are fillies just beginning to make their own way. But this is Sunset's tale – pony Sunset, remember – and her characterisation and development are satisfying pretty much all through. Even though it's an AU, you feel a clear link with the canon Equestria Girls character, but changed by her environment, which is as it should be. We even find out where that leather jacket comes from in this universe! There are some quibbles, such as Zecora's dialogue being a bit ropey sometimes, and the occasional meta can threaten to get in the way although it never quite does. I liked this a good deal, more than I thought I would to be honest, and it shades into the fours as a result. ★★★★

As usual, major spoilers lurk beyond this line!

UK PonyCon is (very nearly) completely sold out!

Yeah, I know Ponyfic Roundup still awaits, and it will be here tomorrow – but this news has taken precedence. UK PonyCon is very nearly completely sold out, a mere twelve days after tickets went on sale! As I write this on Thursday evening, All Weekend, Saturday and Sunday tickets are now sold. The only ones left on sale are purely for the music event on Friday night. If you want to be part of UKPC 2025, that really is now your only remaining option. At £15, the tickets aren't going to break the bank, either.

Why has the convention sold out in record-breaking time? I think it's a combination of several reasons. The largest is surely the significantly reduced capacity of this year's venue over the (unavailable) Nottingham one. The fact that tickets didn't go on sale until 12th July gave people time to save up, so more bought instantly than usual. A new venue adds a frisson of excitement. We're just starting to see G6 hints appearing. But mostly I think it's that reduced capacity. But even so, twelve days. Wow. 

Sounds of 2016, nos. 55 to 51

Some big news from UK PonyCon: Weekend and Saturday tickets are sold out already! The lower capacity of this year's venue (which was not the con's first choice) has been a major factor. Sadly the early sell-out of full-weekend tickets (not since 2018 has this happened in July) has caught out a couple of my friends, who just weren't able to buy in time. As I type, Friday-only and Sunday-only tickets are still on sale, but even they probably won't last that much longer.

Returning to music, today we round off the lower half of the Equestrian Trot 100 chart for 2016. As usual, I'll give a quick reminder of my inclusion criteria, of which Rule 1 is always the most important:

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. 

Last week I was able to feature everything. Not this time, sadly.

55: Foozogz – Acceptance
54: The Wasteland Wailers – Dare Master
53: skipped
52: JoinedTheHerd – Out On My Own (remix)
51: Metajoker & Respin – Become

You know what? No waffle here this time. Music awaits!

UK PonyCon tickets selling fast. Very fast

You know how I often mention that UK PonyCon has maintained serious popularity for so many years? And I mean many – it's the world's longest-running MLP convention, after all! Well, yesterday UKPC put out this blog post, noting that although the Birmingham Conference and Events Centre has its bonuses, one compromise that's had to be made is on total capacity. I don't think the number has been officially published, but most people I speak to expect attendance this year to be around 1,000 rather than the 1,300 of 2024. Anyway, I'll quote the part that stood out to many of us:

For Friday we have sold 55% of our available tickets

For Saturday we have sold 73% of our available tickets

For Sunday we have sold 59% of our available tickets

That's a whole lot of tickets! In fact, it suggests pretty strongly that if you want to attend on Saturday, which of course includes wanting to be there all weekend, you're going to have to get your skates on. (Or roller skates, if you're Hip-Hop, Jazzie or Melody.) Selling out early is not unprecedented – in fact, in 2018 UKPC sold out of everything but Sunday-only tickets in July. But in recent years they've been available almost until the day of the con.

Not this time, methinks! Remember, those percentages were before the flurry of sales that I know the announcement caused. I was one of those, by the way: I took the announcement to heart and bought my own ticket (Bronze sponsor) yesterday, almost as soon as I learnt about the official blog post. I'm very glad I did, because waiting much longer might have ended up turning into waiting for next year!

Ponyfic Roundup 547: Serious Edition

Read it Later story count: 92 (+4)

Words read this week: 24,863

Thanks to Blogger being a bit of a pain, Ponyfic Roundup is slightly late this week. For once it's not my own fault, at least! Anyway, as I noted last month, I once had an edition of PR wherein all the fics had the word "silly" (or variations thereof) in their titles. That being so, I thought, why not have an edition from the other end of the spectrum? And here we are!

Potions Are Serious Business by Rough_Draft
Twilight Sparkle Marries a Book (Seriously, Twilight?!) by ThePinkedWonder
Are. You. SERIOUS?!?!?! by SomeGenericPonyNameHere
Serious about Silly by Grey Faerie
Apples Are Serious Business by housedoc

★: 1 | ★★: 3 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Apologies

Blogger won't post anything with links or formatting in, so PR can't get through. It won't post long stuff or let me use tags either. I've had this before and it's only lasted a day, so hopefully tomorrow! Frustrating when I *didn't* have to delay it for other reasons!

Sounds of 2016, nos. 60 to 56

The heatwave I mentioned last week did come to pass, peaking at 34 °C in my neck of the woods (in Worcestershire). Things have now cooled off significantly, with a high today of just 18 °C; and as I look out of the window a few hours before this post goes up, it's overcast and lightly raining. A good day for sitting indoors and listening to Pony music, therefore. The inclusion rules:

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. 

Last week I could only feature four of the five charting tracks. No such problems this week, and all five are present and correct. They are:

60: 4EverfreeBrony – Bound with Time
59: µThunder & FritzyBeat – Luna's Swing
58: Jyc Row ft. Aloma Steele – Luna's Future (remix)
57: YourEnigma ft. EileMonty – Are We Insane?
56: Pinkie Rose et al – Friendship Through the Ages (cover)

Okay, now that you know what you're facing this week, let's get moving to the tracks themselves. As ever, YouTube embeds here where possible.

My Little Repeats 194: "What Lies Beneath"

"You really wouldn't like to be a tree, whatever Professor Fluttershy says."

S8E22: "What Lies Beneath"

22 Sep 2018

My original rating: ★★★★

IMDb score: 8.3

The one with plumbing diagrams

Thoughts: Not everyone agrees with me on this, but I generally find Mike Vogel to be among the most reliable writers of the later seasons of Friendship is Magic. He largely hits the mark again with "What Lies Beneath", an episode which was extremely popular at the time and which prompted a lot of discussion at the time and probably only faded a bit because of its misfortune in being immediately followed by "Sounds of Silence" and the fandom's kirin obsession. "What Lies Beneath" shows us that the Tree of Harmony is a complete sociopath very powerful indeed, scarily so really. As has often been noted, Smolder faces the terror of being cute at tea parties, while Gallus faces the terror of being crushed to death by rocks. Silverstream and Ocellus's past traumas are more directly addressed than ever before (or since) – though "tell[ing] him exactly what you think of him" prooobably wouldn't defeat the real Storm King. Yona is cute as ever and commands a mighty spider army. Sandbar... well, he's a bit dense, but quite appealing anyway. Cozy Glow's manipulative behaviour is considerably creepier from a post-S9 viewpoint. The (other) students support each other, and that I was very pleased with. In 2018, I thought this was four/five-star boundary. I no longer think it's that good, but it's still highly watchable, even if the Tree is weird. (Mind you, it's not a pony, so why should it think like one...?) Take a star off and it becomes a top-end three, but I'm going to creep it over the line to a low-end four. The students' character moments, their care and compassion for each other, is what does that.

Choice quote: Cozy Glow, to the non-pony students: "Golly, it's so inspiring how relaxed you all are about studying friendship, considering your disadvantage." [Creepy in 2018. Even more so in 2025.]

New rating:★★★★

Next time, it is of course "Sounds of Silence". I am not someone who thinks kirin are the greatest things since sliced bread, so don't expect me to rave on and give it an easy five-star rating. It does have a reasonable amount of Fluttershy in it, however, which is rarely a bad thing. We shall see!

Ponyfic Roundup 546

Read it Later story count: 88 (+1)

Words read this week: 25,683

The news from UK PonyCon has quietened down a little over the last few days, and so this edition of PR is going out on the usual day. Not a lot else for me to say, which is normal. I'm not going to ramble too much, which is less normal. Here's the slate:

Schadenfreude by Daemon McRae
Carry Me Home by PropMaster
Jade's Adventure by Ni-kun
Backstage by Noriko Nakayama
Derpy Explodes at the End of This Story by Brony_Fife

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

Sounds of 2016, nos. 65 to 61

We seem to be facing another heatwave here in Britain – which, don't laugh if you're from Miami or somewhere, means temperatures nudging into the low 30s °C. I'm not really looking forward to it, especially not the warm nights that are humid and uncomfortable for sleeping. (Only about 5% of British homes have air-con.) What I am looking forward to is bringing you all a bit more of the Equestrian Trot 100 chart from 2016! Here's the usual refresher regarding inclusion rules:

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. 

For two weeks now, I've been able to feature all five of the tracks in the relevant segment of the chart. I'm sorry to have to tell you that I can't make it three weeks on the trot. Ah well. Here's what I do have:

65: Aurelleah – Harmony
64: Vylet Pony – Little Dreams
63: skipped
62: Eurobeat Brony – Discord 2015
61: Silva Hound & UndreamedPanic ft. Synthis – The Storm

Time for us to get on to the part of this post that, I suspect, quite a lot of you scroll straight forward to anyway: the music itself!

Ponyfic Roundup 545

Read it Later story count: 87 (nc)

Words read this week: 25,724

As you'll have noticed, the UK PonyCon news coming out a few days ago meant that I just couldn't find the time to finish writing up my PR 545 post and so there was a blank week. I hope you'll appreciate, though, that UKPC stuff is about the biggest deal there is for fans over here, at least when it comes to the social side of the fandom. I'm back with ponyfic today, though! The stories under review are as follows:

A Chat Between a King and a Prince by PoisonClaw
Oh, For The Love Of... by StoryEdge
The Price of a Smile by Trick Question
According to Plan by Vic Fontaine
Her Best Behavior by Fervidor

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Sounds of 2016, nos. 70 to 66

Welcome to July, everypony. It's been quite warm and summery here in ol' Blighty, although as I type this the weather has gone cloudy and muggy, which isn't my favourite kind of weather. Anyway, it's time once more to see what the Equestrian Trot 100 chart brought back in 2016. Remember, these are songs that were popular that year; they don't necessarily have to have been first released then. Inclusion 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. 

Last time, I was able to feature all five of the featured tracks. Same again this week! I love it when a plan comes together.

70: 174UDSI – Sweeeeeep (remix)
69: Archie – Back Again
68: 4EverfreeBrony – Stay
67: OhPonyBoy – The Blob Pad !
66: Aurelleah  ft. Joan Silentio – My Wings Aria

There we go, then. It's about time we moved on to the important part of this post: the songs themselves. Onward!

My Little Repeats 193: "A Rockhoof and a Hard Place"

"I am never known to quail at the fury of a gale..."

S8E21: "A Rockhoof and a Hard Place"

15 Sep 2018

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 7.4

The one with surfer Pinkie

Thoughts: A clunky pun for the episode title. This was the second of three writing credits for Kaita Mpambara, who began with the amusing "Horse Play" earlier in S8. This is one of those frustrating episodes that has a solid, interesting idea – that Rockhoof finds it harder to adapt to the modern world than the other Pillars – but doesn't always quite get the execution right. That shows up particularly from the end of the second act, when Rockhoof asks to be turned to a statue. This should be an extraordinarily powerful scene – it's not quite suicidal, but it's close for a TV-Y show – but the gravity of it doesn't quite hit home. The episode's pacing is uneven, too, with the section featuring the other Pillars dragging. Bits and pieces: it's a bit much Twilight and Applejack telling Rockhoof off for being a hero when "what we need here is a teacher", given their own approach to their School of Friendship commitments! AJ lampshading the weirdness of hippogriffs having ships is funny, but it doesn't really help!¹ I do like Yona a lot in this episode, and the students in general, really. The resolution of having Rockhoof appointed official storyteller also does seem fitting. I think it's probably right on the two/three border for me these days. I'm not that interested in the Pillars, but even with the issues I mention I think it's just about still a three.
¹ Though iisaw did suggest in 2018 that the ships might be for cargo (or cannons!)

Choice quote: Rockhoof: "I'm, uh, your new Theory and Defence of Friendship teacher."

New rating:★★★

Next time, it will be "What Lies Beneath". In some fans' eyes, this is a contender for the best episode of S8, although a certain even later ep tends to steal the limelight. I remember liking it a lot, although I had very mixed feelings about one particular scene, which I'll get to when the time comes.

UK PonyCon news – venue change reasons and stalls changes

I said in my post on Thursday that one reason UK PonyCon was trusted was that it fronted up when things were awkward instead of hiding. The excellent Reskell (UKPC comms lead) did just that recently. There's now a Stallholder Clarification article, but that title is a little deceptive as there's quite a bit of info in it that's of interest to all potential attendees. It's only really the first section on carer and helper tickets that's narrowly focused. I'd strongly advise you to read the full piece for yourself, but a few bullet points of things that stood out to me:

• UK PonyCon did not choose to leave Nottingham. Rather, Nottingham Trent University (NTU) was not available for the usual UKPC dates and alternative dates offered clashed with other conventions. UKPC doesn't rule out going back to NTU one day; the language used suggests that relations are still good.
• Reasons for the choice of Birmingham venue. There are quite a few of these, but notable is the extremely central location of the Birmingham Conference and Events Centre. It also has better air circulation systems, which will be good news to those of us who were dropping like flies at last year's auction!
• Running UKPC at BCEC costs more than at NTU. This is given as the (main, anyway) reason ticket prices had to increase. We're not going to get fine details since no significant venue wants its contract details in the public domain, but you can make a few more or less educated guesses about why the cost is higher.
• Reduced stalls space compared with 2024. It seems that the available stalls area is significantly reduced this year compared to what NTU could offer. I suspect it's a painful but necessary trade-off for the other advantages that BCEC brings. But it will mean single tables only, and fewer of them, so be prepared.

There is also a concerning section right at the bottom of the post about certain people having taken it upon themselves to contact the venue directly about booking extra space. Please do not do this! It's really important that concerns and questions go through the UK PonyCon team themselves. A con having good relations with a venue is worth its weight in gold. 

Finally, I'd once again like to compliment Reskell's handling of this. This is how you do it. Front up, give details where you can, be polite but clear and firm, keep your head. They're good at this. No names, no pack drill, but we can all think of other events that would not have dealt with this as calmly and speedily. But as a rule, those events don't survive for 21 years...

UK PonyCon 2025 ticket details!

You know how when I posted a revised schedule on Tuesday I said that "[i]f any big news intervenes then so be it." Well, about that...

With exactly 100 days to go until UK PonyCon 2025, last night saw ticket details announced! They will go on sale at 7pm BST on Saturday 12th July. That's still over a fortnight away, but nevertheless the tickets page itself is now live, allowing you to see what you get for your money. I'll put some thoughts after the main bit, for which I'll keep to the format I used in 2024:

I'm using Adult Weekend ticket prices here, since I imagine the large majority of people reading Louder Yay will be buying those. There are also one-day, child and family rates – and a cheaper (£15) option granting entry only to the new-for-2025 Friday night music event. The tiers remain as they were last year, except that Silver numbers fall from 75 to 60 and Gold from five to four. That returns the totals to where they were in 2023.

Standard: £75 (+25% on 2024) – entrance to all days of the convention (including the Friday night music), con book, basic blue lanyard. You can have a personalised con badge if you book by 15th August.

Bronze: £99 (+16%) – nicer lanyard, Bronze sponsor badge, name in con book (if you want it), Bronze button badge, vinyl sticker sheet, £5 donation to UKPC's long-standing charity, the RDA. New for this year is the option to purchase (for £60) the sponsor hoodie, which previously could only be obtained by Silver or Gold ticket-holders.

Silver: £210 (+14%) – priority queue, silver sponsor badge, drawstring bag, Silver/Gold sponsor-exclusive T-shirt, art print, water bottle, wooden pin, two autograph tokens, £10 RDA donation. New for this year is a special guest signing session just for Silver sponsors.

Gold: £525 (+17%) – all the Silver perks and sponsor hoodie, Britannia plushie, top-table seating at Afternoon Tea, personalised welcome letter, four autograph/photo tokens, £20 RDA donation. New for this year is custom artwork from a member of the UKPC Arts Team in both digital and various physical forms. The Britannia this year is not a Sewpoke one. It's the mass-produced one from last year, but with a fitted-to-size themed shirt (with each buyer getting a unique design) from the highly regarded shadowonthemoon.

There are more perks I haven't listed, especially for the top two tiers, so go and read those on the Tickets page itself if you're curious! (And why wouldn't you be?)

Anyway, thoughts. First, I'm happy and relieved to see tickets announced. Except for the 2021 iteration, which was held in very unusual circumstances as we emerged from the Covid pandemic, this is by some distance the latest tickets have gone on sale since I started attending UKPC over a decade ago. In 2018, the last time the con switched venues, they could be bought before the end of April. So yeah, this is unusually late even considering the fact that the con has a new location.

Prices? Well, I would first like to compliment the UK PonyCon folks on fronting up on this issue in their announcement blog post. One of the reasons (though by no means the only) that this convention is so trusted is that its staff don't try to sweep things like this under the carpet. I also recognise the amount of effort that went into keeping the popular Bronze tier under £100. I think it's probably still the best value tier, as was the case last year. The gap between Standard and Bronze is in fact now very slightly smaller than it was in 2024.

As I said last year, annual rises of roughly 15% are not sustainable in the longer term and have to end before too much longer.¹ But that's the only real note of concern I'm going to sound in this post. So to get back to good things! I'm glad Friday pre-registration is staying; it was an excellent innovation last year. With that and a Friday night concert this year, it may become more challenging to fit in the informal pre-meets that a lot of us really enjoy, but that can be worked out. Of course one unknown is the venue staff. If they're as good with attendees as the Nottingham ones were, we'll be in good shape.
¹ A 15% rise for the next 15 years brings a Standard ticket to £600+ by 2040, four times what it would be with 5% rises. 

At this point it is traditional for me to say that I don't know whether or for how long I'll be able to attend. This year, with the convention in a city that's convenient for me to access, I'm cautiously on the side of "I will be there". The question for me this time will be whether I stay over or commute in each day – or even adopt a hybrid approach, perhaps staying on Friday night but not the much more expensive (in hotel terms) Saturday. That's not something I yet know, but we shall see!

This post is long enough now, I think. I remain of the opinion that UK PonyCon is a wonderful event that is run in a way that reflects very well on the British My Little Pony fandom. It is, after all, the longest-running MLP convention in the world, and you don't earn that status by accident. In the old days, coming of age used to be your 21st birthday. Unless you're an American wanting to buy beer, turning 21 now has less resonance – so I'll borrow UK PonyCon's 2025 theme title and simply say... Adventure Awaits!

Yep, yet another of those meta posts

Honestly, if you've been here any length of time, you probably know what this is without even reading the body text! The lack of a "My Little Repeats" post on Sunday might have tipped you off, too. But yeah, I've run out of time to do stuff again thanks to life being life. Nothing especially bad, just that I've been ludicrously busy and expect to continue being so for a little while yet. (And yeah, this is also why I'm still behind with my Ponyfic Roundup courtesy notes on Fimfiction.)

So here's the deal:

• I have managed to get "Sounds of 2016" out, as you saw earlier today.
• Ponyfic Roundup should be up on Friday or Saturday, with a low-word-count week to follow.
• "My Little Repeats" should happen on Sunday.
• Things should be back on an even keel by this time next week. 

I can't promise any of these (well, maybe the first one) but it's what I currently think is likely. If any big news intervenes then so be it. But one thing I can reassure you all about: I am definitely not losing interest in this fandom. Ponies still rock!

Sounds of 2016, nos. 75 to 71

It's time once again to return to the Equestrian Trot 100 for 2016, which as you may remember actually runs (in terms of voting period) from December 2015 to November 2016. It's the best you're going to get from me, though! Comforming to my usual custom, here are the inclusion rules:

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. 

It's always nice when I can feature all five songs in a week's selection, but it doesn't always work out that way. This time, though, it absolutely did! Huzzah! How many tracks do I receive? [Five. That's kind of the point. —Ed.]

75: Spectra – Welcome to the Show (remix)
74: JoinedTheHerd – I Can Do It On My Own (remix)
73: Forest Rain ft. Luna Jax – Let the Magic Fill Your Soul (cover)
72: Crusader! – Power Ponies GO!
71: Aurelleah & Kadenza ft. PegasYs – Firelight

You can make up your own pre-break waffle here. I'm going straight to the tunes!