Midtown Madness

Look what arrived in the post for me today! :D Well, I tell a lie: I've had the Derpy cover for a little while now, but the Time Turner one did indeed turn up this very morning. It was that rarest of things, a genuine eBay bargain: £6.95 including postage and packing. The seller wouldn't have got any money from me if they'd been charging the usual £20 or so, though, so in fact it was canny business. I just love that TARDIS-shaped street lamp.

I really love Amy Mebberson's style; in fact, she's the one artist I've seen who I like as much as Andy Price for drawing ponies — and she's the one signed by IDW to draw the second MLP:FiM story arc! That's pretty much guaranteed that I'll remain a regular buyer, even if the world does seem to be conspiring against getting the darn things out on time...

Review: "Keep Calm and Flutter On" (S3E10)

Fluttershy fails to read the title of the episode...

Fluttershy is Best Pony, as everyone knows, so it's great that we finally got an episode with her at the centre. This one was written by Dave Polsky, who has a mixed record in my book, ranging from the infuriating "Feeling Pinkie Keen" to the amusing "Too Many Pinkie Pies". The underlying story, however, came from a new name to MLP:FiM, Teddy Antonio. It's hard to tell who did what, but it'll be interesting to see whether he becomes a regular. Join me after the jump for the full review.

Ponypic: Scootaloo's Quiz Time by Bloo-Ocean

Scootaloo's quiz time by Bloo-Ocean. CC by-nc-nd 3.0

I won't have much to talk about for a little while, since I've only just seen "Keep Calm and Flutter On" and the Bronies documentary is still being uploaded so I doubt I'll see it until tomorrow. (And that's if Scrnland's servers don't crash...) However, in the meantime, have a nice ponypic of the undisputed (by me, which is what matters around here) Best CMC. The heart-shaped cutout in the desk is a nice touch.

Suggestions for future ponypics are welcome, incidentally, but there are a couple of catches. First, they must (that's must) be either licensed under Creative Commons or already have permission from the artist to be used like this. "I bet X would let you use Y if you asked nicely" is no good; I need things I can use on the spur of the moment. Second, nothing above a PG rating, please! No exceptions.

Saturday creeps closer...

...and that means the return of ponies, on two fronts. First, there's episode 10 of S3, which is one I've been looking forward to for quite some time now. Here's hoping it lives up to its billing — and gives Fluttershy a bit more of the spotlight than she's had in this season up until now. Second, there's the release of the Bronies documentary about our fandom, delayed from the 12th because of problems with clearance. Both will, of course, be reviewed here on Louder Yay.

ArtsCow mouse mat

Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Fluttershy can really fly!

Someone on UK of Equestria pointed out recently that ArtsCow was offering custom mouse mats (or mouse pads, if you must) for a very good price. I took the plunge and ordered one, which you can see above. Despite coming from Hong Kong, it only took around ten days to reach me, which I think is pretty good going. I'm pretty happy with the quality — it's a floppy fabric mat, not one of those nasty shiny plastic ones — and so I'll mention it now in case anyone else is interested.

The ArtsCow service is a "design your own" thing, so you can choose any image to go on your mat, as long as it's of a reasonably high resolution. They also offer a range of other customisable products, though some of those are quite expensive, especially once you factor in international shipping; a mat like this comes in at US$10.98 including p&p. It might be a good idea to keep an eye out for more offers, though: as I type, they have a Special Sale promotion which offers free shipping on some items

Ponies stomp Dredd, again

Why no, Mister Dredd, we are the law now...

From ICv2 comes news of December's comics sales figures, and I'm pleased to say that things are still going pretty well for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Coming in at number 54, it remains IDW's best-selling comic book, well ahead of 101st-placed Doctor Who/Star Trek TNG Assimilation #8 and Judge Dredd #2 in 147th spot. Only DC, Marvel and two Image comics (The Walking Dead #8 and Saga #8) manage to get ahead of our pastel-hued heroines this month. So, that all-important number?

39,841

That represents a drop of around 50.3% from issue #1, which is pretty much what I'd expected. I think it's extremely encouraging that the comic is still way out in front of any of its IDW stablemates (the aforementioned Assimilation sold barely 20,000 copies) and that it's still knocking on the door of the top 50. To add to the good cheer, issue #1 came in at no. 229 for the month, adding another 6,651 copies in December to its November total of 80,128.

Top 10 pony tracks of 2012, part two

Fractal Flame Effects Cutie Mark by uxyd, Nov 2012. CC by 3.0

In the first part of this piece looking at my top 10 pony music tracks of 2012, I ran down from number 10 to number 4 in my personal rating. (Remember, only non-show music uploaded to YouTube in 2012 is eligible.) This time, we're looking at the medal positions. As before, the number in square brackets is the track's position in the Top 100 Brony Tracks of 2012 survey by Everfree Radio, and the song links all go to YouTube.

3. Vicious Lies (d.notive) [N/A] — I'm no fan of anti-Celestia sentiments on the whole, and I find the whole "Lunar Republic" stuff rather boring, if I'm honest. So why does this song make my top three? Quite simply, because it's brilliant. "Vicious Lies" genuinely sounds as though it was Depeche Mode, in another reality where Depeche Mode had been bronies. Quite why it didn't chart at all in the Everfree list is a mystery; perhaps its early upload date (3 Feb) counted against it.

2. The Fear of Flight (Aviators) [35] — It may not have escaped your notice that I quite like Fluttershy, and indeed "Hurricane Fluttershy" is my favourite episode of all of MLP:FiM. Perhaps it's unsurprising, then, that this masterpiece should gain a place so high in my affections. Although the singer had a cold during recording, something which might just be the reason for the song not taking gold here, he can really sing, and this is one spine-tingling piece of work.

1. A Pony Like Me (Replacer) [N/A] — Replacer did make the Everfree list, with his cover of d.notive's "Let Your Mane Down", but this wonderful original song didn't score at all. Quite, quite absurd. "A Pony Like Me" may be one of the most beautiful pony songs in existence. Gentle and affecting, it has strong echoes of The Beach Boys in their Pet Sounds era. If you can't see past dubstep, you'll hate it. Otherwise, give it a listen. I really don't think you'll regret it.