Text Review Roundup: "Molt Down"

This will be the last TRR for a little while, owing to my imminent holiday. I do intend to do them for episodes 12 and 13, but you'll have to be patient. This episode was very popular with the text-based reviewers, rivalling even "The Break Up Break Down" on that score. Also, a belated welcome back to the Railfan Brony. After they chose the video-review route for the premiere, I thought that was it, but they've now resumed written reviews and have caught up with the season.

Cuddlepug – mixed (graded C+; "Welcome to adulthood, mate.")

Dark Qiviut – very positive ("one of the best episodes of S8 so far and one of the best Spike episodes altogether.")

Derpy News – very positive (graded A; "Congratulations, Josh Haber. You’re the new M.A. Larson.")

JDPrime22 – extremely positive (rated 10/10; "The possibility for future stories this sets up is incredible. Have at it, MLP crew!")

Louder Yay – very positive (4/5; "Time will tell how Spike's new wings may change him, but for now I'd consider this another very good 22 minutes of FiM.")

Mega Sean 45 – very positive ("my favorite episode this season so far!")

MLEEP Reviews – very positive (9.5/10; "plenty of world building to expand upon and one of the biggest surprises of the season so far")

The Railfan Brony – very positive ("One of this episode's greatest strengths is that Spike feels relatable and not being constantly brought down to size")

Rainbine – wildly positive ("10/10; "This was a Masterpiece.")

ShutterflyEQD – very positive ("The Twilight and Spike moments in this episode were so very sweet [...] a lot of laughs")

TheDragonWarlock – very positive (graded A-; "This is an excellent Spike episode that's right up there with Gauntlet of Fire.")

A few temporary changes (and one permanent one)

I'm going on holiday for a week this Saturday, and I'll be in some fairly remote parts of Scotland with little or no reliable internet access – so there'll be a few changes to the usual routine on Louder Yay. These temporary changes first:

Episode reviews for E12 and E13 will be considerably delayed, since I doubt I'll even see the eps until the week after next. Thank Celestia for the mid-season hiatus!

Text Review Roundup will therefore also be delayed, though the one for E11 will go up on Thursday as normal.

Ponyfic Roundup this week will be delayed until Friday or Saturday, to reduce the gap resulting from the fact that there will be no PR at all next week.

As for the permanent change: you can no longer comment on this blog using OpenID. This is not my decision – support for the facility has been withdrawn by Google. All previous OpenID comments will get anonymised – again, this is Google's doing, not mine. Your choice is now limited to Google ID, Name/URL or Anonymous.

Episode review: S8E11: "Molt Down"

Now I want to know about Smolder's brother

After a slightly shaky start, Season 8 seems to be on a bit of a roll at the moment, with only the unimpressive "Non-Compete Clause" interrupting a sequence of good-to-great episodes. This week, we had Josh Haber's first ep this season, as well as the prospect of a full-on Spike-isode. Those used to be a bad sign, but since "Gauntlet of Fire" the little dragon has come into his own. As for this episode...

hawthornbunny's list of the 20 most-used titles on Fimfiction

(Source)

Here's something interesting: hawthornbunny has put together a list of the most commonly used fic titles on Fimfiction. Perhaps to be expected, 14 of them are single words. Slightly to my surprise, none of them contains a character name (unless there are some OCs in there). Here's the full list, which I've edited only in terms of formatting:

1. Memories (49 fics)
2. Alone (42 fics)
3. A New Life (39 fics)

4. Broken (36 fics)
5= A Second Chance (31 fics)
5= The Trotting Dead (31 fics)
7. Destiny (26 fics)
8= The End (25 fics)
8= Lost (25 fics)
8= A Night to Remember (25 fics)
8= Redemption (25 fics)
8= Silence (25 fics)
13. Eclipse (24 fics)

14= Forgotten (23 fics)
14= Monster (23 fics)
14= Nightmares (23 fics)
14= The Pony Games (23 fics)
14= Secrets (23 fics)
14= Trapped (23 fics)
14= Wings (23 fics)

So, if you want your story to be found easily, it's probably not a great idea to call it Memories! Also, this isn't exactly a list packed with hugely popular or well-received stories. Think of your favourite fic, and it probably isn't here.

Welcome to the herd!

There was a discussion recently on Equestria Daily about what our fandom does especially well (to go with a previous piece about what we could stand to improve on), and one thing that many people mentioned was that bronies are generally very welcoming to newcomers. That's been my experience, too, and I'm very glad: I sometimes hear about fandoms where new people are almost considered second-class citizens if they don't know all there is to know from the off.

Anyway, the discussion reminded me of the GIF posted above. I don't know who made it as my Google-fu has failed me – let me know and I'll add a credit – but I used to see it everywhere when new people joined the fandom. In spite of my usual antipathy to animated avatars and the like, I make an exception for this one. It's always made me smile (smile smile) and I like to think it represents the general mindset of established fans towards newcomers.

I know there are still new bronies joining the herd in 2018 – not as many as in the old days, of course, but they're still around – so if you're one of them, then... well, see the GIF. Welcome to the herd!

Pony Music Library 53: לעוף (Fly)

( Text link )

Hey, would you look at that? It's less than three weeks since the last PML entry! Clearly dark magic is at work. (And why has the show forgotten about dark magic, anyway?) Today, a song written by a musician far better known for remixing other people's works – and this one isn't even in English.

What? "לעוף (Fly)"

Who? The Living Tombstone

Which? Original song

When? February 2012

Why? As far as his time making MLP music goes, The Living Tombstone is generally known as a remix artist – but there are exceptions, and this is one. What we have here is a very nice rock number in which one of Spitfire's fans (no, not Rainbow Dash!) sings about their wish that one day they could fly with their hero, despite not having wings of their own. This song is in TLT's native Hebrew, but even though I barely understand a word of that language, the track has really nice guitar sounds and an excellent beat. Into the PML it goes!

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.")