My PATW photo for 2022: Sunset and the Bull

After a slightly longer gap than I would have liked, I should be back to S6 rewatches tomorrow with "On Your Marks". (As in, I'll watch the episode today and do my write- up tonight, so it will be published tomorrow morning.) In the meantime, here's my single EQD Ponies Around the World 2022 submission. Sunset Shimmer with the huge mechanical bull (yes, he moves – a little) installed temporarily in Centenary Square, Birmingham to mark the city's hosting a few weeks ago of the Commonwealth Games.

For those who don't know the city, bulls are somewhat associated with Birmingham as a major shopping centre is called the Bullring. There is another, non-mechanical and smaller but permanent, bull statue outside that. The mascot of the Commonwealth Games was also a bull, but a rather cuter, cartoonier one named Perry. That name was inspired by Perry Barr, the region of Birmingham that hosts the city's main athletics stadium. The more you know etc etc.

But still. Pony. That's what we're here for, after all!

Fluttershy says hello

Those of you on UK of Equestria may already have seen this photo, but I'm posting it here as well. Why? Because I've been lazy and haven't got my rewatch review of S2E26 done in time. So here's some Pony content of a sort. The other day I had a quick trip to Worcester and took Flutters along with me for company. Here she is by the River Severn, with Worcester Cathedral at top left.

You'll note that this is Rainbow Power (remember that?) Fluttershy. From memory, I think she was in one of those odd three-packs of blind bag figures, along with some unlikely combination along the lines of Derpy and Thunderlane. Those two are probably in a box somewhere, but I do take a travel 'Shy quite often. I even managed not to lose her on the train! :P

UK PonycOnline, Merch Haul

It was a bit of a trial taking this outside on a windy day!

I have firmed up my opinion on UK PonycOnline. It is now, without a doubt, my  favourite online convention so far, just shading the also excellent PonyFest 2.0. I'm sure part of that is because of my happy history with the in-person UK PonyCons over the years. But it was also the event which I think felt most like a con – and part of the reason for that was that I came away with an, admittedly small, merch haul! Here's a key to the numbers on the pic:

1a to 1f: A6 postcard prints of the Mane Six and Spike, by Pearly Pie
2: Unexpected sketch of Spike, also by Pearly Pie, on the packing slip!
3: A6 marker pen original of Seapony Rainbow Dash, by StormBlaze
4: Print-it-yourself con badge of Britannia, by Sparkler
5: Official con T-shirt, via Redbubble, by Sparkler
6: Con mug (same design as the shirt), by Sparkler

For the sake of complete honesty, I bought the StormBlaze piece from her Etsy a few days later, but I did so because of UKPCO and so I consider it a con purchase. Not the biggest merch haul I've ever had, but for various reasons funds ended up being very tight at exactly the wrong moment. Given that, I'm pretty pleased – and, as I said above, even this little haul helped to contribute to that "actually a convention" feel that UKPCO managed to achieve. :)

Interlude

The Text Review Roundup for "Daring Doubt" should be with you tomorrow, so here's a filler post in the meantime. As I mentioned the other day, I went off for a day of steam trains at the weekend, with a couple of friends from the Pony fandom. The weather was spectacular for the second half of September, and sunburn was more of a worry than rain. 'Twas a good day. Anyway, here are a couple of photos, one with a (slight) pony theme – which lets me get away without using the "non-pony" tag! – and one without.

Griffish Isles, Merch Haul

Today is a Bank Holiday and I've been quite busy over the (extended) weekend, so the episode review will be up tomorrow. I'll be back to my usual schedule for the rest of the week. To fill in the gap, here's the penultimate part of my Griffish Isles report: the obligatory Merch Haul photo!

For scale, the large prints at the top are A4

If you click on the picture to see it at a larger size, you'll also notice that I've annotated the photo. From that guide, here's who created the works shown. An asterisk after a work indicates that it's an original.

1 & 2: prints by JowyBean
3 & 6: prints by GreenFly
4: canvas by JowyBean*
5: con poster by Ponebooth (writing: Lee Tockar* :P )
7: print by Featherpaw
8: con T-shirt by StormBlaze
9: ACEO by Sparklepaws*
10: coaster by Torben Goldmund, art by Setharu
11: conbook, cover by StormBlaze
12: marker pen pic by StormBlaze*

Nearly done with GI 2019! My Final Thoughts post will probably go up on Friday, assuming I have the time to write it by then.

I ATEN'T DEAD

Just exhausted. I've spent the last two days rushing around looking at (and travelling on!) steam trains, one day with friends and one day on my own. Very enjoyable, but it's surprisingly tiring. Hence no Pony content today... unless you count this. Big Mac admiring a big engine. Specifically, Gordon – named after General Gordon, not the Thomas the Tank Engine character! :P

UK PonyCon 2017 report, part 5: Merch haul (ish)

Relatively restrained on the Fluttershy front, I feel :P

Above is the more-or-less compulsory photo of the things I brought home from UK PonyCon 2017. That "ish" in the subject line is because two were actually presents before the event began, but I'm including those specific items here as I took them both to the convention. As usual, click it to enlarge. Going roughly across rows from the top left, you can see:

• G1 Posey from Chrissytree – my very first G1 pony
• Legend of Everfree DVD – a con exclusive for a full two days :P
• The con book. Duh
• 4DE Fluttershy plushie – a gift from Rorschfox
• The con poster, designed by Sparkler
• Applejack Hearth's Warming card from Limelight Press
• Two original Fluttershy A6 pieces by StormBlaze
• Derpy print by Dori-to
• Mailmare Derpy postcard by PoneBooth
• Fluttershy "Best Pony" badge, also by PoneBooth
• The all-important con badge (with themed lanyard)
• Supporter-tier enamel badge
• Celestia "Best Princess" badge – PoneBooth again
• Mystery Mini Scootaloo – a gift from Snowkitten
• Fluttershy print – another one from Dori-to
• Con T-shirt, designed by Sparkler

I'm not sure exactly how much this little lot cost me, but it wasn't especially out of line with what I've spent on merch at previous conventions. The only time I splashed out was for the pair of StormBlaze originals, but I didn't really have a choice with those. Not pictured: cider and muffins. :P

Next time: some final thoughts on my UK PonyCon 2017 experience

UK PonyCon 2015 report: Sunday

A quiet King's Hall early on Sunday morning. Idris in orange!

After a generally good night's sleep (despite a couple of students being annoyingly noisy far below), it was a slightly more leisurely start on the Sunday, thanks to not having to arrive early for registration. Admittedly this had been accomplished smoothly, but simply being able to wander in with con badge ready around neck once proceedings began at 10 o'clock was very nice. Leicester station was packed with people heading to the later Argentina v Namibia Rugby World Cup match, but I had no trouble getting to the Mercure.

I was very pleased to find Idris early on, and we had a short but pleasant chat before I wandered off to do a little early shopping. Despite being sorely tempted, I didn't buy Kuuru Pop's Filly Fluttershy plushie, as I felt one was enough! Instead, I picked up a couple more prints and a few badges. Back in the main hall, Idris and his remarkable cosplay made for quite an attraction, and our little group ended up hosting an impromptu fanfic-and-welding mini-panel. (No, really.)

UK PonyCon 2015 report: Friday/Saturday

The obligatory "What I bought at the convention" photo

I'm feeling a little under the weather at the moment, but this year I left the con crud until I'd got home! As I've mentioned briefly in other posts recently, UK PonyCon 2015 made for an extremely enjoyable weekend. It was by far the largest in the con's history, selling out for the first time with a total attendance of around 600. Unfortunately this did mean that the planned on-the-day sales had to be cancelled very close to the event, which caused some people to be disappointed. I wouldn't be surprised if the 2016 con was advance-only.

For the first time in its 12-year history, UK PonyCon 2015 was held in the same venue as the previous year's event: the Mercure "The Grand" Hotel on the edge of Leicester city centre. We won't be back there next year, partly for reasons I'll get to in the next post, but in purely geographical terms it was a winner: close to both Leicester station and The Last Plantagenet, a Wetherspoons which was welcoming despite our con clashing with the Rugby World Cup! Mentions of "the pub" refer to this place.

BUCK report: Friday

(L) Manchester Central by night; (R) The SSC in full swing

All right then, here we go with my report for BUCK 2014, which sadly seems almost certain to be the con's last iteration thanks to spiralling costs. I travelled up on the Friday morning, and the journey was uneventful. Didn't see any other bronies on the way, which was a slight disappointment. As I couldn't check into my hotel until after 3pm, I had to lug my rucksack around for a while, but I'd been careful not to overpack it, so it wasn't too bad an experience.

First task (after eating) was to get to Manchester Central to pre-register for the Summer Sun Celebration. This didn't go all that smoothly at first, as I was told (politely but firmly, and against what had been advertised) that only those who had premium tickets for the con proper could pre-register. I was too tired to argue, so walked away grumbling under my breath. Then I had a stroke of luck: bumping into Hurricane, Nekky and Coastie purely by chance in the city centre. They told me that Standard ticket-holders were now being allowed to pre-register.

So, I trekked back to Manchester Central and this time got my SSC wristband. Then it was off to the nearby Central Library's café for the inaugural meeting of the Fluttershy Club. With an attendance of about 40, twice as many as expected, it was a little bit unwieldy and we didn't get far beyond saying hellos, but at least it was there. I had to leave early to get the train to Bolton to check into my luxurious five-star Travelodge. (Actually it was fine, though the surrounding area was a little on the grim side.)

(L) Alliminaro's fine OC plush; (R) Pinkie Pie and Party Cannon

After a bite to eat, it was back to Manchester Central for the Summer Sun Celebration! The nearest thing to a rave I'm ever likely to go to, and a rather surreal experience. Most of the con vendors were in operation in the lobby, so there was a good deal of merch-buying going on. I snagged a Fluttershy cushion for £15, which was something you're not going to find in your local Tesco Extra. (More's the pity.) It was actually very useful when I was feeling a bit chilly sitting at a metal table in the huge main hall!

The opening act was Prince Whateverer: not bad at all and pretty enthusiastic, if a bit metal for my tastes. I was mostly there for the next guys: Acoustic Brony. Only the second time (and the first in Europe) that they'd belied their name by being backed by a full rock band, and my word it was good! We got several show songs ("Babs Seed" and "Helping Twilight Win the Crown" among them), we got my favourite "I'll Fly Higher"... and yes, we got "Loyalty".

After that, it was Mic the Microphone. Starting to get a bit heavy for my tastes now, though I really enjoyed "Nightmare Night". I stayed on through his set and General Mumble's, but by the time we got to Icky things were just sounding like noise to me, so I went back to the hotel. I was a bit sorry not to stick it out for the others (Lavender Harmony, Addictia, The Living Tombstone and HMage) but if I had done, I'd have missed the last train to Bolton by about two hours!

(L) Programme for the SSC; (R) Manchester Central's main hall

All in all, I had a pretty good time, and it wasn't nearly as intimidating as I'd feared. We are, after all, pony fans, so we don't do "intimidating" very well on the whole! Acoustic Brony was easily my favourite act, but until it all merged into noise I enjoyed the others as well. I was pretty tired by the time I got back to the hotel (no thanks to Northern Rail's inability to provide enough trains) but I was looking forward to what Saturday might bring.

Ponies Around the World!

There's just today and tomorrow left to enter Equestria Daily's Ponies Around the World event. Sorry for the late notice, but I didn't realise it was on myself until recently! Anyway, the idea of PAtW is that you take a photo of a pony toy of some description in front of a landmark of your choosing, then submit that according to the instructions on the EqD page I linked to. Unfortunately the weather hasn't always been kind of late, but here are my two entries anyway.

The first photo shows Twilight in front of the recently opened Library of Birmingham, the largest public library in Europe. (No wonder Twi is gazing longingly at the place!) The second picture was taken nearby, and shows Octavia posing in front of Symphony Hall, the home of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and one of the foremost concert venues in the world. Maybe she'll play there herself one day!