UK PonyCon 2021 report, part 1: The Merch Haul!

Marvel once again at my incredible photography skills :P

Given the combination of: a) my remaining tiredness as mentioned in the last post – although the con crud itself is no more – b) my keenness to get on with this UKPC report and c) my ever-lengthening to-do list in other areas (TRR, PR, etc) I thought I'd do this a little bit differently from normal. Usually the merch haul post, when I remember it at all (which isn't always!) comes near the end. This time, it's at the start! As usual, you can click on the photo above to enlarge it.

Key

1: Fluttershy Equestria Girls doll. This was a prize at the RDA tombola!
2: UK PonyCon 2021 T-shirt, with artwork by Beatlinked
3: UK PonyCon con book, with cover art by Avui
4: Spike enamel badge by StormBlaze
5: Bookmarks from the cancelled autumn 2020 UKPC
6: Various UKPC badges; two from 2020 and one for being an "Early Bird"*
7: Premium lanyard. I always buy these as they're nice souvenirs
8: Postcards from the cancelled autumn 2020 UKPC
9: My badge! I think also drawn by Avui. I was a Weekend Adult. Well, so I'm told
10: G5 character prints by JowyB. Sadly Hitch was sold out both days!
* I wasn't, but they'd seemingly had about a billion made and so kept giving them away!

And no, I did not buy any mayonnaise. Though now you come to mention it... you know, I think I'll save that story for its proper place, which will be in a later part of this report.

Hello con crud, my old friend

Just con crud, yes. Got out the box of Covid tests and did the thing. No "haha you're positive" line to be seen, yay. In a weird way I'm almost happy even to get con crud – because it's something normal, something that goes with going to conventions. It's not a terrible hit this time, either, maybe partly because there was a bit more space than in 2019. I am however very tired, to the extent that I haven't even fully unpacked my con stuff yet! Don't worry, though: I am already thinking of what to put in my full UK PonyCon report. It's happening!

Something I mentioned on Twitter but wanted to add here: UKPC 2021 was a really happy convention. Inevitably not every single attendee will have had a perfect experience throughout, and I'm sorry for those who did not. But for me at least, it really did feel happy and in its own way celebratory. Kind of "We're back! Sorry, world, thought you'd stop us ponying? Think again!" That will be reflected in my full con report posts when they do arrive.

Happy 10th, "Sunshine and Celery Stalks"!

PinkiePieSwear – Sunshine and Celery Stalks

While PinkiePieSwear's "Flutterwonder" will always have a special place in my heart, this musician also came out with another classic remix a little later in 2011. "Sunshine and Celery Stalks" is a reworking of part of "Winter Wrap Up", in particular Applejack's verse in that song. Ironically given its source, PPS's track has generally struck me as having a rather summery sound, with its laid-back yet upbeat, er, beat and the shimmering synths that go with AJ's vocals. A song that is deservedly still widely played a decade on from its release.

Back from BingBongCon

There'll be a proper write-up of UK PonyCon in the near future, but it's around midnight as I type and so you're not getting much now! Still, I imagine some people will be interested in what I thought, so l will say this now: I had a wonderful time. It's hard to compare with other cons because of the strange times we've been living in recently. But this will be a convention I remember with a very large smile on my face. While it wasn't flawless (it had dents and it had quirks) the bad was hugely outweighed by the good, at least from this con-goer's perspective.

Happy 10th, "Beyond Her Garden"!

WoodenToaster – Beyond Her Garden

The anniversaries are coming thick and fast now. I didn't feature Eurobeat Brony's original version of "Discord" on 7th October (10 years from its YouTube upload date) because it had appeared on the Super Ponybeat 2 album back in August 2011.* But WoodenToaster's "Beyond Her Garden" went up on YT on 10th October 2011, a year to the day after Friendship is Magic debuted. Easily Carrot Top/Golden Harvest's most prominent musical appearance, this is a fairly high-tempo piece that tells a tale of... well, what? I don't know. The lyrics don't make much more sense to me now than they did when I first heard this. But still, you have to admit it is seriously catchy!

* Well, maybe not. Odyssey herself reckons 6th October is the anniversary, so maybe the tracks on the album weren't all released at once? I'll defer to the actual writer!

UK PonyCon 2021 questionnaire thingummy

Very late in the day, but I haven't been able to do one of these for two years and it's about time I did! So here you are. Some of it is pretty much unchanged from the 2019 edition, but not all of it.

What do I call you? Logan. My actual fandom name is Loganberry, and I don't have any problem with you using that, but it's pretty rare that anyone does. Mult1C0rN... well, if you must. But it'll confuse me! A lot of things confuse me.

Gender and pronouns? Male. He/him.

What will you look like? Not very interesting. Middle-aged, bespectacled, T-shirt. If the person you see is wearing jeans, it's not me, because I don't. On the Saturday, I'll be wearing the most recent UKPCOnline shirt. Dark red, with boxes containing various staff members' OCs – representing a rather frantic Zoom call. I'm not a cosplayer really, and I haven't had time to do anything like that this year even if I was.

Who will you be with? As usual, it's a case of who can bear my company for more than 15 seconds at a time, really. Given previous conventions, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some custard involved. Or possibly a little mayonn—[Ohhhh no you don't! —Ed.]

What will you be doing? Mostly, I'll just be basking in the feeling of being at a Pony convention again. I'm really not certain exactly which panels and so on I'll be attending, and many things are in the "nice to do" list so I'll have to pick. Although the Pub Quiz on Saturday evening is high on my priorities list!

Can I talk to you? You certainly can; I'm fairly waffly and chatty when I finally get going! I'd prefer you kept conversation to lighter topics and preferably to MLP for the most part – escapism matters to me, and all the more so after the last year and a half. Of course, feel free to play it by ear.

What can I talk to you about? What I just said. Ponyfic is my main interest in the fandom, so I'll nearly always be happy to chat about that. I have seen the G5 film and I'm more than happy to talk about G5 in general. But really, most things Pony and UKPC-appropriate should be okay!

Can I take your photo? I won't be looking remotely interesting, so it would be a bit odd – but if I'm in the background of a crowd scene or something I won't ask you to crop me out before sticking the picture on your web folder or whatever.

Can I hug you? We-ell... this one is a bit trickier this year, isn't it? I'm not in the "no hugs ever" group, and I am vaccinated in any case, but I would definitely very strongly prefer not to get random, unexpected hugs. Ask first, please. Especially if we're friends, then I'll probably say yes. In many ways I'd be very happy. But if I don't feel comfortable on the day, please don't read anything beyond that into it.

How long are you staying? This year, owing to my very short-notice decision to attend UKPC, I'm only staying on the Saturday night, so I'm travelling up early on the Saturday and going home on Sunday evening. Thankfully it won't need to be the second the con ends, so if there's a post-con meal not too far away I expect I could spend an hour or so there. Which would be very nice. :)

Where are you staying? Er... well. Let's just say it's a bit further away than I'd have liked, again because of the short notice. However, it is not the Travelodge Nottingham Central, so it's possible I'll actually get some sleep this year! :P

How are you travelling? By train to Nottingham, then I'll either get the tram or walk if the weather's okay. Not having heavy bags will make the latter option sensible for once.

Favourite characters? Fluttershy, as always. Much as I like Sunny, she doesn't beat Fluttershy. Nopony ever could, I'm sure. Also Scootaloo, Celestia, Derpy... and maybe Hitch.

Anything else I should know? Yes. How long does it take five ponies to dig half a hole?

Ponyfic Roundup 363

Read it Later story count: 98 (-5) 

Look at that RiL number! Look at it! It's taken me years to get to this point, but here I am at last: it's in two figures. From here on in, I won't be trying to get the number down every week, but simply to keep it roughly steady, say between 90 and 110 fics. I'll keep posting the stat because why not, but at last I have reached the goal I set myself so long ago. Yay and all that. This week's three fics are:

Figments by Obselescence
The Drop of Ambrosia by FanOfMostEverything
The Life and Times of an Honest Pony by Casca

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.