The meets scene seems in decent health still

At least here in the UK it does; I can't speak for anywhere else. The Worcester Shires meet on Saturday had no fewer than 18 attendees (albeit not all at once) which is very close to our all-time record – not bad considering we've been running for more than ten years! I've also noticed a couple of people discussing starting up local meets in other places.

As someone said on Discord, there was a bit of a feeling that with the end of Friendship is Magic and G4 as a whole, plus the underwhelming response to G5 (apart maybe from the original film), interest in ponymeets might start to show a clear decline. That doesn't in fact seem to be the case, and I for one am very happy about that. Long may this continue!

Hasbro, if you like how G5 is going for you, then where are the toys?

I've seen a few people now saying that Hasbro is very happy with G5 in how well it reaches the target audience. (Which is to say, not us.) Even to the extent that it's done better than G4 in that regard. If that's so, then I do wonder why the selection of G5 toys – here in the UK, at least – is so underwhelming. Okay, G4 didn't dash out of the blocks either; in spring 2012 when I joined the MLP fandom it was still hard to get much on this side of the Atlantic. Even so, when even toy shops in the UK have a couple of small shelves of G5 if you're lucky, you do have to wonder...

A chill wind starting to blow through UK fandom finances?

Anyone who hasn't been asleep for the past few months will have noticed that all is not well economically in the UK. I don't want to get into partisan political stuff here, so I'll simply note that energy bills are generally expected to go through the roof this winter, with inflation now heading strongly upwards as well. What does this mean? Well, for one thing, a lot of people are going to have a lot less money to spare on fun things than they'd like. If you're reading this, it's an easy guess what "fun things" might include for you.

Since I'm about My Little Pony on this blog, let's consider what that means for British Pony fans. First, it probably means buying less merch. Okay, the range of G5 official merch in our shops is really pretty poor anyway, borderline pathetic in the case of what's getting into supermarkets – but there is some around. And though it's not physical merch, there's also the question of Netflix. A standard subscription is now £10.99 a month. If you only use the service to watch MLP, that's absolutely not a nothing sum.

I expect there to be a knock-on effect on fan-made merch as well. I already know of people who used to be willing to spend say £50-100 on a piece of art from time to time who are now wondering whether they can really justify continuing doing that once their new gas bills hit the mat. The really expensive stuff like big plushies or ponysuits even more so.¹ Since we now have to pay chunky VAT and/or import duties from EU sellers, not the case in the first few years of the G4 fandom, I think these sales may be especially vulnerable.
¹ Okay, ponysuits are usually one-off purchases, but plushies a bit less so

Right, past the break I will get to the subject of conventions.

Some new merch might be nice, toy shops...

I was at a local shopping centre with a friend the other day, and naturally we spent some time in The Entertainer toy shop looking at their My Little Pony section. This company is usually pretty good about stocking ponies, and so it was again – with some decent discounts on some of them, too. What was lacking was more than minimal new merch. It was the same stuff we've seen again and again, with Sunset's EqG sushi truck among the newer items available.

I think the Cutie Mark Crew was the last time we got a truly new toy line widely available over here. Nothing wrong with those, but it would be nice if The Entertainer et al would consider bringing in some of the newer stuff that we keep seeing on EqD. I'm not talking expensive fan-aimed figures of course, but even some different brushables would be nice. Right now, it's getting hard to see a reason for fans to buy much more Pony stuff in this country's toy shops.

UK PonyCon in the mainstream media

In this weekend when about every second tweet reminds me that BronyCon and GalaCon are on and I'm not at either of them, I need things to take my mind elsewhere – but still keep it on ponies. Fortunately, I have two! One is that later today I'll be off for the Worcester meetup group's annual all-you-can-eat buffet lunch. If there's any pudding there which features custard, you can be sure I'll be all over it. (Well, not literally. Probably.)

The other is that UK PonyCon (which I do hope to be at) has had some mainstream media coverage, something much rarer for British conventions than for the big American ones. Nottingham Live's headline – "Thousands of My Little Pony fans are coming to Nottingham - and here's why" – is perhaps a little over the top, but the article itself is reasonably straightforward and accurate, even mentioning correctly that only Sunday tickets remain.

Text Review Roundup: "The Break Up Break Down"

Another week, another batch of early-release news. This time, it appears from the online listings that Tiny Pop (the UK broadcaster) will be showing the first half of S8 on a daily basis through the half-term week and beyond. If so, we'll get to episode 13 a few days ahead of Discovery Family – which will be the first time since the S6 finale that's happened, although a combination of the leaks and Finland mean it won't be quite as big a deal this time round.

Unsurprisingly, this episode was well received, far more so than "Non-Compete Clause" was. A number of reviewers were slightly disappointed by the underlying plot's predictability, but most other aspects were heavily praised.

Cuddlepug – very positive (graded A; "does everything a good episode Friendship is Magic needs to")

Dark Qiviut – extremely positive ("Spike and Discord are outstanding [...] the dialogue really shines [...] one of the ten best of the show altogether")

Derpy News – quite positive (graded B+; "a good episode apart from one part being telegraphed and one part extraneous")

JDPrime22 – very positive (rated 9/10; "the jokes all hit, the flow and pace was perfect")

Louder Yay – very positive (4/5; "Despite a very well-worn "misunderstanding" plot [...] highly entertaining and well paced.")

Mega Sean 45 – very positive ("I found this episode very fun and very inspiring at the same time!")

MLEEP Reviews – positive (8/10; "while predictable, 'The Break Up Breakdown' was just the pick-me-up that Season 8 needed")

Rainbine – fairly positive ("7/10; "leagues better than last weeks episode, but nothing spectacular")

ShutterflyEQD – very positive ("the best Hearts and Hooves day special we had since a long time ago")

TheDragonWarlock – positive (graded B+; "the main story is filled with cliches, but it's still a great episode all around.")

Movie Blu-ray/DVD out today! At last...

It's really rare to have two formats of disc in the same pack these days

After what seems like an age, My Little Pony: The Movie finally becomes officially available for home viewing today. Americans have had it for ages, of course, so what the point was in delaying its UK release until now is anyone's guess. Answers on a postcard. Anyway, it's £12.99 at Amazon and the same price at HMV. At the time of writing I hadn't seen it in a physical shop, so I don't know how prices there will compare.

Worcester Shires ponymeets

Updated 22nd February 2023

Just to be crystal (pony) clear here: I'm talking about the Worcester in England! Also: we are an independent meet group, not hosted by any other organisation. If you're told otherwise, you're told wrong!

Who are you?
Officially, we are the Worcester Shires! Yes, it's a horse pun. We like horse puns. Mind you, it took us nearly six years to adopt the name. That's right: we've been running since spring 2013! A lot of the time we still refer to ourselves as simply "the Worcester meets", though. Our meet leader is Pigasus, and while he's in attendance he is the boss. When he isn't, it's actually me. Yes, really – though the vast majority of the time we operate by consensus. An average attendance is maybe 7-10, though we do occasionally go above that.

Where do you meet?
Caffè Bolero, an excellent independent place on the edge of the city centre. (Google Map.) This is five minutes' walk from Worcester Foregate Street station and also a short walk from various city centre car parks. We meet, as any self-respecting bronies should, in the basement – down the stairs to your right as you enter.

What days do you meet?
We try to keep up a reasonably regular schedule of twice-monthly meets, on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month. The schedule does occasionally change to fit around holidays and other special events like conventions, or if a number of people are unavailable, so you may want to check the first post in this UK of Equestria thread to make sure it's going ahead.

What times do you meet?
Our meets currently start at about 12:30 pm and run through until about 5pm, though the end time is a little variable. You're welcome to come for just part of the meet if you like.

What do you do?
We sit around and chat! Unlike some meetups, in Worcester ponies are still the main topic of conversation at pretty much every meet. We do talk about other things sometimes, but talk nearly always drifts back to MLP before long, especially when there's something big to talk about. We also play a simple card game using a pony-themed standard deck. It's very easy to learn and very silly.

We're not really into the CCG or other major card/board games, since we find they do tend to divide meets – not the best idea for a smallish gathering. We do sometimes play smaller, quicker games. We don't go for mass shop walkabouts either, but of course if anyone would like to explore Worcester's (frankly quite limited) retail options then that's fine and we'll welcome you back when you're done. Oh, and I'm afraid watching episodes isn't something we can offer, partly because we don't have a private space to do that.

How much does it cost?
The meet itself costs nothing. However, as we're sitting in a café for several hours, we do ask you to buy some food and/or drink. The Bolero's folks have been very good to us over some years now, and they deserve something back in return.

Talking of which...?
There's the usual range of coffee, soft and (a few) alcoholic drinks, cakes and snacks and light meals. Prices are very reasonable: a substantial coffee and a muffin will set you back around £6. Ah yes, muffins: Bolero's chocolate muffins are legendary for good reason. Indeed, their cakes are generally great.

Who can come?
Anyone! Well, okay, we do have one significant restriction, which is that if you're under 16 we do ask you to bring an adult with you. The basement is only accessible by stairs, as is the case in many of Worcester's old buildings. Meeting upstairs isn't really an option as there's generally far less space. If this is a problem for you, please let one of us know and we'll do our best to sort something out.

Am I committing myself to anything?
No, absolutely not. You can come to every meet, or once and never again, or anywhere in between.

Can I bring my plushie/pony shirt/sketchbook?
Yes, certainly, as long as it won't get in the way of other customers. (So no NSFW shirt designs, please.) As I said above, the staff at Bolero are very good to us and are tolerant of tables with plushies dotted around.

Anything else I should know?
Because of the nature of the venue we use, as well as the wishes of our regulars, we are a fairly strictly SFW meet – this includes asking attendees not to swear beyond the language used in the show. (So, for example, "they're jerks" is okay, but stronger stuff is probably not.) Please don't deliberately push the boundaries to the limit. And though doubtless this is obvious by now, this really isn't the place to bring Cards Against Humanity, even the theoretically "all-ages" versions!

Also, if you're coming by train and don't know Worcester very well, feel free to ask one of us to meet you at Foregate Street station. There's usually someone around earlier who can do that.

UK Pony conventions old and new

So... much... nostalgia value

2018 is shaping up to be a very interesting, and potentially record-breaking, year for the UK as far as My Little Pony conventions are concerned. While much of the news from America over the last few months has been of cons calling it a day – Nightmare Nights and EQLA being two big names to do so – here in Britain we're apparently going in the other direction. There are two established cons to consider and two newcomers, so here's what we know so far.

UK PonyCon: venue TBA, date TBA
This is the biggie, being both the longest-running (by far) and the largest British MLP convention. It is unusual both as a multi-generation event and for its extremely strong family-friendly ethos, but as it's sold out three years in a row that approach clearly works. Plans are already well under way, with committee applications having closed earlier this month. I'm biased, having loved almost every minute of UKPC 2017 in Bristol, but this is the convention I'll be aiming at as a priority in 2018. Last year's con was in mid-October and details were announced in late April.

BronyScot: venue TBA, date TBA
Last year, BronyScot in Glasgow was the only specifically brony-targeted convention in the UK. I don't think I've seen any definite confirmation that the con will happen again this year, but BronyScot will have a presence at Hearth's Warming Con in the Netherlands in February. That's a pretty good indication that we can expect a 2018 iteration. Last year, for various reasons, some details were very late in arriving, but with luck that won't happen in 2018. Last year's con was in late November and ticket sales opened in August.

Griffish Isles: venue Manchester, date 19 May 2018
Now we're on to the new conventions. This is a one-day event organised by HypnoHooves, a name well known to many from other conventions and his organising of the regular Lancashire meets. Although exact locations have not yet been revealed, the con website states that there are two, both walking distance from Manchester Piccadilly station. The only reason I can see for having two venues at a single-day con is a separate music event, as with Rock Nessie at BronyScot. Mention of hotels on the website does hint at an evening component.

Sparkle Nights: venue Bristol, date TBA
The fourth UK con of 2018 doesn't have a date, though "sometime in May" was mentioned on its Twitter, but it does have an exact location: the SGS College WISE Campus near Bristol Parkway station. With a team headed up by another familiar name on the UK fandom scene, Jollyoldcinema, this con is aiming for "laughs and fun" and describes itself as "a more teenage/adult event", though a reference to a target age group of 14–25 seems to have disappeared since I first checked the site. Sparkle Nights has the most eye-catching and detailed website of all four cons at the time of publishing.

Some personal thoughts past the cut.

Movie out digitally for US... but not for us

This is going to suck. Right over the Christmas and New Year period, we're going to be told again and again all over the ponynet that My Little Pony: The Movie is out on digital platforms and that we should rush to buy it. Guess what, guys? It isn't and we can't.

Because, as ever, too many people online think the world consists of the US, or of North America at best.

Here's Amazon UK's page for the film. You'll note two things. One, that the UK price is ridiculous – £13.99 for HD, which is more than the physical Blu-ray. Two, that not only is it not available, but there isn't even a release date listed.

I'm trying to be supportive of Hasbro right now over the hacks stuff, but Celestia it's hard when they treat by far the film's most successful non-NA market like dirt. Going back to add the "rants" tag to this post now. :P

Frustrating news on the movie's Blu-ray release

I discovered yesterday that the Blu-ray of My Little Pony: The Movie will be released in the UK on... 12th February 2018. That's more than a month after it comes out in the US (9th January). For some utterly bizarre reason, the UK DVD release is two weeks later still, on 26th February. I can't even remember split Blu-ray/DVD release dates before, and I have no idea why they're doing it.

I haven't been able to find out what's happening in the UK regarding download releases, but my guess is that the late release of the discs is because a couple of countries (eg Spain) are only getting the movie in the cinema this month. Whatever the case, I am not happy. It was bad enough waiting two weeks after the US for the big-screen release. Waiting five weeks for this is, frankly, a bit much.

Also on subject of the Blu-ray, it's still not clear what our "Triple Play" will be. I'd like it to be Blu-ray+DVD+download, but I have a feeling that we'll get Ultraviolet instead of the DVD. Much less attractive a package, but it's the way things have been going recently.

And the movie's UK run comes close to its end

I managed to see My Little Pony: The Movie in cinemas four times in the end. And yes, I paid my own money each time. That should tell you which side of the debate I'm on as to whether it's an enjoyable watch. (If you don't mind spoilers, my film review will do that anyway.) I've now seen all the G4 movies in the cinema, except of course Legend of Everfree which never got a big-screen release in the first place. (Someone out there hire a cinema room and give a private screening to fix this!)

Last week was the final one during which the film could really be considered to be on wide release. This coming week is rather different: here in the west Midlands, only one major cinema (Vue at Star City in south Birmingham) is showing it at all. A few small venues are still putting it on for one-night-only showings, such as Gloucester's Sherborne Cinema, but even those are becoming rarer. Paddington 2 and the re-release of Frozen are taking over the screens. (We don't get Coco in the UK until late January.)

It's been fun. Despite almost non-existent promotion (if you don't count branded merch) and often rather empty auditoriums, the movie has made $4.6 million over here, easily its best box office outside North America. I'm hoping that if we do get a sequel down the line, that will encourage the big UK cinema chains to show it widely again. It's been a great experience watching ponies on the big screen, and I'd love to do it again sometime. But now it's time for me to say goodbye to this flawed but greatly entertaining production.

Well, until the Blu-ray comes out.

Text Review Roundup: My Little Pony: The Movie (part 2: Britain and Ireland edition)

I hope to get the S7 finale review up very soon (sneak peek: I loved it) and then my film review a little after that. Speaking of the movie, though...

Here we go with the second part of the My Little Pony: The Movie megaTRR, or whatever you'd like to call it. As with the much longer first instalment, I'll put the actual review extracts under a cut in case anyone finds them a little too spoilery – one review blatantly gives away something we only discover close to the end of the movie. I've included The Times review even though it's paywalled, since what you can see free is actually everything but the BBFC rating and the running time!

Early movie releases... in England! *UPDATED*

Awooga! Awooga! Pastel alert!

Big news if, like me, you live in the UK outside Scotland and are counting the days until the film's release on the 20th... there now seems to be a limited early release in England too. I don't know how many cinemas will be involved, as the numbers seem to have gradually increased during the Scottish previews, but so far I've found:

Brighton: Cineworld
Showing at 10:30, 13:10 and 15:30
Tickets: £11.30 Sat/Sun, £9.80 weekdays
Online booking fee: 70p
Book tickets here

Brighton: Odeon
Showing at 11:50 and 14:20
Tickets: £11.25 every day
Online booking fee: included
Book tickets here

Leicester: Showcase Cinema de Lux
Showing at 10:00, 12:30 and 15:00
Tickets: £9.90 Sat/Sun, £7.95 weekdays
Online booking fee: 60p
Book tickets here

Leicester: Odeon
Showing at 10:15 (Sat-Thu only), 12:45 and 15:15
Tickets: £11.00 Fri-Tue, £8.75 Wed-Thu
Online booking fee: included
Book tickets here

Loughborough: Odeon
Showing at 10:45, 13:15 and 15:45 (not Sat)
Tickets: £4.75 every day
Online booking fee: included
Book tickets here

Thanks to mlpbronypony on UK of Equestria for the initial heads-up.

New keyboard!

Yes, it's wired. I prefer that for simplicity's sake

A couple of months ago, I upgraded from a truly dire keyboard to a Microsoft Wired 600 – here's my post about it. That keyboard still works pretty well and I'm certainly not throwing it out, but it's now become my reserve unit. That's because I've decided to go up another notch and move to a Cherry Stream 3.0, which currently retails at around £20 from Amazon UK.

The Cherry uses scissor switches, which is the technology that laptop keyboards use, and indeed typing on it does feel rather like typing on a good quality laptop – something like a Thinkpad. It's pretty slim, which does take a bit of getting used to, but it's also quite heavy – around 900 grams – thanks to a slice of metal in the base which gives the keyboard a nice, sturdy feel.

In use, it's nice and quiet (which I prefer) and easy to type fast and accurately on. "Fast" here is a relative term: I'm not a touch typist, and I'd find it hard to keep up more than 50 words per minute for any length of time. The keyboard has the usual 105-key UK layout, and it's large enough that I don't find myself pressing down two keys at once. I haven't bothered with the multimedia keys.

So far, I'm very pleased, and my hands have remained comfortable after typing some fairly long documents. My one slight concern is longevity: a minority of German-language reviews I've read have suggested that the laser-etched keytops aren't as long-lasting as they really ought to be. But right now, I'd say this was a good buy, and a noticeable step up from High Street keyboards.

Five years in the fandom, part 2: looking ahead

Yes, I know about the Brony Dance Party situation. Can't think of anything much to say about it now, though, so I'll wait to see what transpires. On to the promised forward-looking and generally quite optimistic post. :)

Not so long ago, I made this post which mentioned some of the things that I'd experienced during my five years in the My Little Pony fandom. In today's post, I'm going to look into my Mystical Orb of Fate's Destiny and talk about where I see the fandom going from here. I'll be concentrating on stuff that affects me, so there won't be a lot about gaming or plushie making.

You may have noticed that I've added the "uk-specific" tag this time round. That's because there are several areas where the American experience is not fully shared by those of us on this side of the Atlantic. Conventions being the obvious example, but there are several more that I'll touch on. Not in huge detail, as I don't want to drag on, but as always comments are welcome!

More past the break; this one will be longer than last week's. It remains spoiler-free, however!

Argos keyboard offer

The Calculator button even works in Linux :P

I recently became fed up with the awful quality of my HP K45 keyboard (looks like this, but isn't). It might be okay for people who occasionally press the odd button, but for actual typing it's terrible – it's much too light, has poor feedback and feels like something from Poundland. Actually, I wouldn't recommend it even at a quid, it's that bad.

Since I don't have the cash sloshing around to buy a really nice keyboard – and don't think I could bear the noise of a mechanical one anyway – I needed a cheap replacement. But what? I hadn't been impressed by the Logitech K120, or those Trust keyboards you see in places like Wilko. The HP was so bad that I needed something right now.

And look what Argos have right now: the venerable Microsoft Wired 600 for a mere £7.49! (It was actually £7.99 when I bought it. Huh.) The offer only applies to the white version – they don't even stock the black one – and a few stores are running low on supplies. Nevertheless, my local Argos had one so I snapped it up immediately.

In use, it's very much a budget keyboard, with slightly wobbly keys and the occasional very quiet squeak, but it's approximately a million times nicer to type on than the HP. The keys are a little soft, but they're reasonably responsive and pretty quiet. The small Esc and function keys are a bit of a shame, but it's by no means a deal-breaker.

The keyboard is very slightly concave, with the lowest row of letters and space bar tilted slightly away. I got used to this very quickly, but then I'm not a touch typist. And to set minds at rest, the one Argos sell is the UK layout: big return key, double-quote on the two and all. The picture that heads this post is of the one I bought!

It's odd, but MS have made decent cheap peripherals most of the time, even when their operating systems were terrible. The 600 continues the line. My personal view is that at the price Argos are asking, it destroys anything else available. You'd probably have to spend three times the amount to get anything appreciably better.

Looks like the Smyths monopoly is over!

I don't post much about merch on here, but I would like to record my pleasure at starting to see Guardians of Harmony sets turn up in supermarkets. I was in my local big Tesco yesterday and they had several, including the Cheese Sandwich cannon, Chrysalis/Spike and Twilight/changeling. What I'd really like, of course, would be a Fluttershy GoH set – a regular one, at regular prices, not just that not-exactly-cheap SDCC set with her and Discord. I don't think Rarity has a GoH set at the moment, either. Boo.

At least some of the Fan Series figures would be nice as well, given the usual silly import prices.

Yesterday and Today

Also, there are no ad breaks after the titles in the UK. So there. :P

Since someone asked, I will be doing episode reviews here after their US showing, as usual. Part of the reason for that is that Tiny Pop's schedule is so ridiculous: 25, 26, 24... and that's all. So for E23 I'd have to watch the US version anyway, and that being so it's just easier to do the same for the others. Now, that means that the finale review will be a couple of days late, as I'll only have got back from UK PonyCon during the afternoon of Monday 24th. But it'll all work out in the end. :)

Tiny Pop to show the end of Season Six before Discovery Family?

As reported on Equestria Daily (though for once I knew about this slightly before EQD posted it), the electronic programme guides for Tiny Pop in the UK are showing something very interesting. Namely, that the last four episodes of Season Six are slated to be shown on 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th October. There's also a marathon of episodes 21-26 (but missing 24?!?) listed for the morning of the 9th.

Will this actually happen? Who knows, really? We've had "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks" airing early in some countries – but that was for production-order reasons. We've had Legend of Everfree airing early in Brazil – but that's a movie. I'm pretty sure we've never had an actual Friendship is Magic season finale shown in other territories before Discovery Family has aired it in the US.

Even though I have access to Tiny Pop and will probably watch the finale this weekend if it does go out then, I have slightly mixed feelings. I'm not generally a fan of squashing up new episodes (I don't like "Steven Bombs" much either) and I was also looking forward to UK PonyCon (22-23 October) coinciding with the finale. Still, all we can do right now is wait and see what happens.