Episode review: S5E20: "Hearthbreakers"

"Pinkie! Are you telling me you forgot the rock cakes?"

It's episode review time again, and as it's late October we naturally have... a Christmassy episode. Well, of course. I can only guess that season five's original broadcast schedule would have had this ep airing in December, but that the mid-season hiatus messed up those plans. Anyway, this one was written by Nick Confalone, whose only previous My Little Pony episode was the okay-I-guess "Party Pooped". Second time round, how did he do? Read on!

Well, this won't do

DemonAngel13 said in one of her blind commentaries that there needed to be an episode starring Coco Pommel and Maud Pie. I agree with her, but as this seems unlikely to happen soon, I went off to Fimfiction to look for a story that had both character tags.

With the exception of one by Sir Hat that's both cancelled and M-rated, there isn't one. I am most upset, to the extent that I may even have to write such a thing myself. Though I probably won't, because, you know, laziness.

Ponyfic Roundup 78: Post-Convention Edition

Be honest: you knew this title was coming, didn't you? Anyway, before I begin: since Titanium Dragon dug his claws into We Who with Songs Beguile, I've had more upvotes (across my stories) than I have for ages. I already knew a TD NR was a badge of honour, but even so! :P As far as Ponyfic Roundup is concerned, it's a fairly short one this week as I haven't been in the best of health. Still, some interesting stories to look at. They are:

An Unepic Pony War in the Non-Distant Future by anowack
Shutdown by Cupcakes
Ice by alarajrogers
Ponies Debate Gun Control by PresentPerfect
Things Better Left Unseen by Take

UK PonyCon makes the mainstream media (again)

This happened in 2013, with a decent Daily Mail article and an iffy Guardian one (yes, it really was that way round), and it's happened again this year. For some reason, the only place I can find the article right now is here on news.com.au, but it's not paywalled, so it's there if you want to have a look at it for yourself.

It's a reasonable article, though it calls the convention "UK Pony Con" and I can't help noticing that the title bar refers to "grown men" even though the headline says "grown ups". There's also heavy emphasis on bronies, even though UK PonyCon is an all-gens, all-fans convention rather than a brony event as such. No, I'm not in it – but several people I know are. :P

Episode review: S5E19: "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows"

There: proof that ponies really are marshmallows

After last week's episode brought one of the longest arcs in the history of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to a close, we were all expecting something a bit more straightforward this time round. Well, as straightforward as you can get when Pinkie Pie is at its centre! This was the first episode to be written by G. M. Berrow (credited as Gillian M. Berrow, but I'm using the old tag for convenience). While her Pinkie chapter book isn't one of my favourites in that series, I was eager to see what she could do with a cartoon script.

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.