My Little Repeats 208: "Frenemies"

A visually inventive episode in the way you can't take for granted by this point

S9E08: "Frenemies"

18 May 2019

My original rating: ★★★★★

IMDb score: 8.9

The one with straw dolls

Thoughts: IMDb ratings are even less use than usual by this point in Friendship is Magic, but there's no doubting that "Frenemies" was very well received in 2019. I was interested to see whether it held up now we know the truth about "Grogar". For the most part, I think it does, as the main storyline is about the Legion of Doom. They're all good, funny but with that edge of darkness, and they combined to provide a really great song in "Better Way to be Bad". The episode was well paced, too, with even the Rusty Bucket sections not really letting things flag. As I've noted before, in G1 it was North Star, not Gusty, who took the Bell, but that's minor here. You know what? I'm going to be generous and say this is a 4.5-star episode still. And as I don't give half stars? It's keeping that five. This may or may not be the last perfect rating I give for FiM, of course!

Choice quote: Tirek: "Welcome back, baby!"

New rating: ★★★★★

Next up will be "Sweet and Smoky", which is a Fluttershy-heavy episode and therefore extremely important. The two go together. But will it be extremely good? At some point, we shall find out!

And yes, I will still be writing here about UK PonyCon!

I am well aware that I have still not put up my post about "Frenemies". It is coming, and once more I am going to commit to a date. It will be up by the end of 11th October, a week hence. You bet I am going to get to the end of Season 9!

Also, as the subject line says, the usual UK PonyCon convention report will be up after the con. It's later than usual this year, so that won't be until November, but – as the meme says – it's happening!

All this and Imalou too!

Not content with bringing us both Tabitha St. Germain and Andrea Libman, UK PonyCon 2026 will also feature a very welcome returnee from last year: none other than Imalou! She was extremely popular with attendees in Birmingham in 2025, and was very complimentary about UKPC itself in her closing ceremony speech. That rounds out an incredibly strong trio of guests of honour!

UK PonyCon completes the Manes (kind of)

 UK PonyCon has announced guests for this year's convention at the end of October: both Andrea Libman, who has been at UKPC before, and Tabitha St. Germain, who hasn't. The latter was announced in the past but had to pull out due to work commitments. Let's hope lightning doesn't strike twice where that is concerned! Unsurprisingly, there was a great deal of excitement when the identities of the guests were concerned. Very impressive work by the UK PonyCon team!

As for my title? Well, if Tabitha St. Germain does indeed make it, she adds Rarity to the existing UKPC alumni: Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie (Andrea Libman), Applejack and Rainbow Dash (Ashleigh Ball), and Twilight (Rebecca Shoichet). Six out of six! And as Ghost Mike pointed out, you can also add Spike owing to Tabitha St. Germain voicing him in Pony Life. A full house!

UK PonyCon: Saturday/Weekend tickets SOLD OUT

The world's longest-running My Little Pony convention continues on, heading for its fourth generation of MLP toys since its launch in 2004. And as usually happens these days, the con has now sold out of Saturday and Weekend tickets thanks to reaching capacity. As the Leicester venue is a new one for UKPC, I'm not sure what capacity actually is, but in the recent past the convention has generally seen about 1,000 attendees, er, attending.

Tickets for the Friday night concert and for Sunday of the main event are still on sale, but for how much longer? If you want to attend either/both of these days and haven't yet bought your ticket, I suggest you get in soon! 

My Little Repeats 207: "She's All Yak"

Spike, you're getting very big-headed

S9E07: "She's All Yak"

11 May 2019

My original rating: ★★

IMDb score: 7.0

The one with sprouts

Thoughts: Looking back, people had very mixed reactions to this episode, but I came down on the more negative side and still do. The YonaBar (friend)ship comes out of nowhere, but it's fine in itself, while the American pronunciation of "fete" merely needs getting used to. A bigger problem is that the whole "fitting right in" thing involves a yak being told she needs to be more, well, pony despite the whole point of the renamed Amity Ball being to include other creatures. This is pretty uncomfortable stuff, all the more for this show, and Rarity written as supporting it is deeply disappointing. It's a relief that the moral returns to not trying to be something you aren't. The song is rather dull and uninteresting to the extent I've already forgotten it again. A few amusing moments, such as Spike's DJ act, but very predictable stuff and I can't see a reason to change the two-star rating.

Choice quote: Rarity: "By Celestia, I think she's got it."

New rating: ★★

Next up will be "Frenemies"! This episode was widely seen as a highlight of S9 back in 2019, but will it hold up now that we know how the storyline ends? We'll see!

This is still me

...and "She's All Yak" is still on the list. I hope at some point in the future I can look back at the last few months and think to myself, "Sheesh, Logan, you had a rough patch there!" But unless I literally say "The rewatch reviews won't happen" then they will happen. In fact, I'm making a commitment now. Short of impossible conditions such as significant illness or family emergencies...

...the "She's All Yak" rewatch will be up within one week from this post.

Yes, I wrote it in bold. That means it has to happen! :P