I asked my Twitter readers to recommend me a cartoon series I could watch during the MLP break, with the condition that it should be PG-rated or lower. I got an absolute flood of replies, but two stood out: Gravity Falls (which I'll get to) and Miraculous Ladybug. The latter is a bit more anime-magical-girl than I was really looking for, and I'm not a huge fan of the high school romance aspect, but it's fun and colourful and has ridiculous storylines involving Wi-Fi and evil butterflies and pigeons, so I'm on board.
Read it Later story count: 290 (-4)
Four fics for you this week, which is reasonable going. I seem to have collected several stories this time which at least some others are likely to rate higher than me. Still, I've always scored on my enjoyment in PR, so please bear that in mind as you read my ramblings. Today's quartet:
Do you like reading blog posts in which people talk about MLP? Well, you're reading mine, so there must be a chance that you do. That being so, give Mike Cartoon Pony's Fimfiction blogs a look. He's still quite new to this Pony game, being that fairly unusual creature: someone who was brought into the fandom because of the 2017 movie. His two main posts on Fimf so far are a review of "Best Gift Ever" (pretty positive) and some detailed thoughts on the movie score album (ditto). That latter post is almost 3,000 words long, and has a 2,000-word followup, so I really meant it when I said "detailed"!
Mike – that rare thing, an Irish Pony fan – came to MLP through his long-standing interest in animation, and he has a YouTube channel called "Cartoon Karma" where you can find a fun two-part analysis of the film (embedded in this post). There's a fair amount of nit-picking, but it's done with good humour which always helps a lot. And as he points out himself, this movie is what got him into the series itself (and watching the whole lot in 51 days!) so it can't be all bad. If you want to keep up with his blog posts, though, make sure you follow him on Fimfiction as well. And who knows, maybe one day he'll write a ponyfic of his own!
I've done this from time to time in the past, but here's my YouTube audio piece in which I briefly review Friendship is Magic's eighth season. For those who prefer to read, the script I used is pasted below the page break as plain text. The whole review lasts just 11 minutes 30 seconds, so obviously it's just a summary; I intend to keep this blog as my main home for reviews and suchlike. Still, I hope some people enjoy this departure from my usual format. :)
Tickets for next year's Griffish Isles convention went on sale yesterday, but I haven't had the time to look up a few things I'll need to check before making a post about it. That should happen within the next week. Today, therefore, it's back to the Everfree Radio chart for 2011.
Yes, it's another Super Ponybeat song, by the artist generally known these days as Odyssey Eurobeat. It's a cheerful, bouncy Eurobeat (amazingly) remix of the most famous of all G1 MLP songs: this all-time classic from "Rescue at Midnight Castle". There isn't really a great deal more than that to it, and there really doesn't need to be. It's just fun. If you're still sad that the 2017 movie didn't have any shoo-be-dooing, then this may help. For HQ goodness it's a name-your-price download on Odyssey's Bandcamp, and as it's CC by, you can even remix it yourself if you like!
We move into the seventies with a track by another fandom big name – and another who's moved on from brony music, the odd Hallowe'en special aside. Find him now at Mumble Etc. This is more accessible a song than I'd been expecting, with a cool piano intro and then a repetitive but immensely catchy synth section. The piano reappears just after the 2:30 mark, after which the Pinkie voice sample that gives the song its title (from S2E06, "The Cutie Pox") kicks back in. The Mediafire link in the description doesn't seem to work, but you can buy an HQ copy for £1 on Mumble's Bandcamp.
Here we have a real oddity: an official piece of FiM music in a countdown of fan-made tracks! I'm not sure why it's here, but my guess would be that the rules excluded only songs made by Daniel Ingram – which of course this piece by William Anderson was not. It's the fun synthy track that plays in the background as the CMC try all sorts of ways to get their cutie marks, way back in Season 1's "The Show Stoppers". I've heard it said that Anderson doesn't particularly like this tune, but if so I think he sells himself short. I think it fits the sequence's animation very nicely. The track has never been officially released; this is a version ripped by Senn555 and stripped of nearly all sound effects. There's a Mediafire link for a 210kpbs MP3 in the video description.
Next time: three more tracks, including an early effort by one of the fandom's best known bands.
Probably everyone who's likely to care about this knows about it by now, for example from Equestria Daily, but a score album for My Little Pony: The Movie has been released. It's available on most of the usual digital distribution channels, including iTunes, Google and Amazon. You can also legitimately listen to it for free on Spotify, the usual ads allowing. Sadly it seems extremely unlikely that a slightly non-mainstream album like this will ever get a physical release, but it's still nice to see.
This is especially the case given that the final track on this new album is a short piece called "Equestria" – the only one with any lyrics, albeit pretty simple ones. This is the track that was dropped to make way for the unevenly-received "Ponies Got the Beat" in the released version of the movie. In true fandom style, BradYank has put together a "what might have been?" version of the film's opening section (embedded above) with both this and – preceding it – the deleted scene from the Blu-ray/DVD. I've embedded it below; I think it works quite well.
I thought I'd posted about this already, but it seems not. According to official figures, the auction specifically raised £4,674, which was itself a record for the 15 years the convention has been running. I didn't manage to contribute any of that, but that was largely because people kept bidding high amounts – so I'm not going to complain! Adding to that VIP/Supporter ticket donations, raffles/contests and the final committee donation, and...
£6,750
...is the final figure! From memory, I think it was £6,000 last year, so we've beaten the mark by quite a margin. Excellent news for long-time UKPC charity the RDA! Of course, we'll have to take this as a challenge, and see whether we can surpass this number once again when con time rolls around again. Who knows? But a few more £440 Derpys wouldn't go amiss there... ;)
Another from the seasons-related concept EP by Jackle App, this one focuses on the griffon from S1E05, who at the time wasn't really expected ever to return to the show. She was also widely hated for making Fluttershy cry. It's a string-heavy, sombre, yearning song that takes a much less critical view of Gilda. It's told from the point of view of someone who sees the griffon's casting-out by Rainbow and feels pity for her. Perhaps, also, something more. As was the case with many songs in the old days, though far less so today, there are several uses of a phrase from the MLP theme. You can buy the HQ track for $1 from Jackle App's Bandcamp.
This guy – now known as Matt R, though he hasn't uploaded in nearly five years – is better known for certain other tracks that we maaaay just get to. However, this song precedes either of the mega-famous PPS tunes, dating from early July 2011. If you're familiar with the artist's style, the general sound of this choptune will be very familiar. Based on "Boast Busters", it's never quite managed superstardom, having "only" around 600k views, but that's pretty healthy. Matt R removed his songs in 2016 to much disappointment, but earlier this year they returned to public status, where they remain. Hurrah! You can buy this in HQ for $1 from PinkiePieSwear's Bandcamp.
Next time on Sounds of 2011, I'll be bringing you three more tracks, all by artists who remain very well known. See you then!
