UK PonyCon 2022 – Part 2: This Is How A PonyCon Ends This Event · 5:00pm Oct 28th, 2022
The original art for the convention kills it every year. Honestly, for that quality, and for this fandom, the price these displays fetched at the charity auction isn't surprising…
Part 1 can be read here. Where last we left off, still on Saturday, the Voice Actor panel had just concluded with a hilarious, humorous and heartfelt Q&A from Andrea Libman and Anneli Head, leaving me and my friends in a corking mood moving into the evening. Also, my managing of appetite woes, while only barely out of a miserable Thursday and parting with some of my breakfast shortly after downing it that morning, was on the up and up, firmly manageable.
Now 4:30pm, there wasn’t much for the next while that really grabbed me – I considered the Elements of Justice: How to Organise an MLP project panel, but decided not to, between not having watched the webseries and also not feeling in the mood for the logistics of organising content creation (still in a burnout on that). I finally bought a frosted Sunny mug I’d been eying up all day (well, that or the Izzy/Hitch ones, couldn’t quite decide which to get for hours), and as it doubles as a scented candle holder, it’ll see use despite me not drinking tea or coffee. I am not a gambling spirit, but the fact of the tombola being down to very few tickets remaining and still having a fair few good prizes left meant I kept popping back for a few more. We’ll agree to overlook the moment where I spun it a bit too hard and broke off the door holding the tickets in 
(don’t worry, they screwed it back on, and I spun gently thereafter). A weird thing happened later, where there were barely ten tickets left in the tombola, yet half that many prizes, a statistical impossibility. When I informed Hawthorn of this, and that a handful of spins would actually buy out the remaining prizes, he went and had five goes. Yeah, turned out there had been a cock-up in setting up the thing (either that or some tickets got lost via other people spinning it later off the partly-screwed-back-in door), and the tickets assigned to two prizes (a Sunny plush and a large brushable Twilight) weren’t in there. That meant the spinner now had prize choice, so Hawthorn took the Sunny but gifted it to me, as it had been what I’d wanted most. This was A New Generation Sunny, none of that disproportionately-weighed newer ponytail or the rainbow streaks. It was very nice of him. Friendship really is magic, y’know?
Several of us whittled away the next half hour in the My Little Karaoke room, taking it easy. I only sang one song myself, Helping Twilight Win the Crown (not my choice), as most times I was slow to get up before someone else. And when I did stay in the queue, just before my turn, they shut up shop early to allow the next game in there, Werewolves in Ponyville, a chance to set up. I heard from others that the game, a MLP variation on the common party game Werewolf, was quite a bit of fun, but at this point I figured popping out to eat was more important, as I managed my snacking optimally to allow my appetite to get big enough by this point. Following a quick hotel stop to drop off most of my gear (and also pick up my phone power bank, which I’d left behind in a hurry earlier that day), I detoured to the nearest McDonalds. I needed something quick ’n simple, I kind of had minimal choice.
Getting back to the venue a little before 8pm, the music concerts were in full swing. I’m still not big on most fandom music – I like it fine, it’s fantastically made, but I’m not good at actively listening to the stuff, or telling most artists or songs apart. Thus I relaxed off to the side for a while. Thankfully, I did have the fortuitous timing to reapproach the stage right in the middle of Anneli Head doing her Swedish cover of Fit Right In! Some awesome vlogger caught most of it, so I didn’t miss out either. And after that, she had a very special surprise – her own 12-year-old daughter Lovisa had come to the con too, and she was not only a voice actor for four years running, but also the Swedish dub voice for Misty! For the first time ever, she sang in public, doing an a capella rendition of I’m Lookin’ Out For You (in English, to clarify), with her mother filling in on Sunny’s role. It wasn’t the full song, winding down before the last 20 seconds, and was a rather simple, low-key affair, but the audience loved it and were clearly moved. As was I, it was really touching stuff.
One year of experiencing this before and all the warnings from the others was not nearly ample preparation for the absolute grab-bag of stuff this proved to be. Hey, it worked for a ghost who normally finds pub quizzes quite dreary, that's one hay of an endorsement.
Soon enough, it was time for the last event of the evening, and another UK PonyCon staple: Archer’s Pub Quiz. I don’t care much for Pub Quizzes, usually, as my general knowledge is often lacking, but this is different. Apart from being totally goofy fun and a priceless laugh riot anyway, that Archer has been at every UK PonyCon since 2004 means it isn’t all G4 stuff, with a lot of G1-3 questions and toy-only queries thrown in. Plus, it’s the kind of quiz where difficulty assignments fluctuate and the last round accounts for 50 of the 90 maximum points. Our group finished 4th or 5th with 41 points. And I was actually pretty helpful, providing answers to two five-point questions, those being the full name of Sunny’s dad (Argyle Starshine) and where the Mane 6 went in Rainbow Roadtrip (Hope Hollow). As my dad often used to say, “You are a fountain of useless knowledge”.
The quiz finally wrapped up at eleven, and we all dispersed pretty much instantly. Following preparations for tomorrow and watching the next FiM episode reaction off of the one from last night, I curled up. The day’s early afternoon had been a little soft, but it generally got better as it went on. I’d had a good time. And as I’d mostly wasted Sunday last year, I was determined not to do so this time, and thus make far more out of this con.
Sunday: This Is How a PonyCon Ends This Event
Sunday morning was mostly a repeat of Saturday, just 45 minutes later and with me being more sensible with my breakfast, in both sticking to water and not speeding up to force it all down. The same staff were on hand again, meaning the waitress from before again kept me stocked with iced water. Humans are a well of kindness, aren’t they? I skipped the last handful of cornflakes, packed Applejack, Sunny and what I needed (power bank this time!) and joined the small queue around 10:35. Got in a few minutes after the panel I was trying to make, but thankfully it hadn’t started yet, and I settled in with the others who were already there.
That panel, by the way, was Britannia’s Best of British, another one designed primarily for the two show VAs, with Anneli’s daughter and two non-British staff volunteers joining the panel. To show the eccentric nature of Brits, they were offered all manner of British cuisine to sample and give their take on. Followed by some fun introductions to varying British slang and colloquialisms. Lots of fun, quirky takeaways, not least Andrea concluding that she doesn't like marmite. Yeah, I don’t care much for it either (and not just under my then-current conditions!) Like yesterday, she truly brightened up the panel without even trying, it was a great start to the day. It doesn’t sound like much, you probably had to be there, but it was much better than I’d expected.
Also better than I’d expected: Total Chaos. Best described as a chaotic head-to-head gameshow run by the draconequus himself (or staff mainstay Ember cosplaying as him), this consisted of several rounds of varying game types, building points for Team Pony or Team Draconequus. Be they the 90-second drawing round (the contestants’ art skills were lacking, to put it charitable, but that made it all the funnier), the Guess That Pony?, or the round based on the answers folks had filled out in the questionnaire previously, this was honestly just really goofy fun, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.
Also, Fluttershy got bored of being a tree, and decided to be a train. You heard it first here, folks. Pay no attention to the question…
Up next was the other half of the Cosplay Competition, but as mentioned before, not my thing, so I took this next bracket lightly. I gave the old standby of Rainbow Dash Attack one spin (firmly an offline game now, what with Flash having been discontinued), and scored 34K despite not having played it since the first time three years ago. All those early 2010s hours wasted on endless runners did have some lasting effects! It was a little disheartening to check back 10 minutes later and see some endless runner die-hard had scored 90K, but what can you do, sure.
Now, though, it being 2:45pm, it was time for a panel I hadn’t given much thought to at the weekend’s start, but which had built in anticipation as the weekend had gone on: the Charity Auction. UK PonyCon has been associated with the RDA (Riding for the Disabled Association – yes, as in, facilitating disabled people bonding with and riding horses) since 2009, so it’s a fantastic cause. I’d observed earlier the plethora of donations: a healthy mix of good-condition items you can buy at stalls, the originals of art done for the cons, items given a hefty value boost due to being signed by some show staff associated with it, and other assorted odds and ends. They had a whopping 111 lots too, meaning we were in for a lengthy bout of fun.
And what a bout it was. Me, I’d only observed a handful of items that truly interested me, but between the absurdity of some items (a horse crossing road sign fused with a “2 Days” sign that had been intended for Griffish Isles but arrived late and got repurposed for this con), the size of others (all 6 con banners), and the price some lots went for, there was never a dull moment. The panel went over by a half-hour, lasting a full two hours, but I don’t think anyone minded. If the frequent cheers anytime an item passed any threshold that was a factor of £100 is any indication.
And as for me? Well, I’d hardly even been to an auction before, but there was a certain thrill to raising my card for stretches of a couple dozen pounds, even when I knew full well the item would go for more than what I deemed it worth. So it was for one of those skeleton-open ponies figures, and a Power Ponies set of the Mane 6 (which was a bit odd I went for, given someone in the stalls was selling a set boxed for £40 – okay, not that odd, I’d forgotten its price out there). But even though the few items that piqued my interest were slipping by me, I didn’t mind. Good cause, they went to a better owner, and it really was fun anyway. I was having a good time!
Then Lot 78 popped up.
Nope, that’s not dandruff in her mane and tail. That be glitter, my friends.
Yes, Sewpoke had gotten a plush she normally would sell for £200-225, paid £20 to get Andrea to autograph it (or used her autograph token, potato patoto), and then donated it to the charity auction. I was convinced it would go for a very high price, yet it had grabbed my attention, so when this lot came around, I joined the active bidders, first intending to see what it was like by the £150 mark. Not as many folks as I’d figured, nor as intensely, so I stuck with it, intending to drop at £250. At that point, only one other person was present, so I quickly decided to ride it out for a couple more tiers. At £280, they dropped, and I realised how much I was about to spend, but for better or for worse, lacked the conviction to drop. Seconds later, Pinkie Pie was mine.
Honestly, given an earlier custom Chibi Britannia plush rocketed to £560 off a bidding war, this was a steal for a charity auction, barely £50 more than normal purchase/autograph price. Personally, autographing a plushie wouldn’t have been my first choice (will the ink fade and smear over time?), but it happened, I got her, she’s a unique rarity, I vowed to treasure her.
I needed a bathroom break after the auction, which turned out to be a big mistake, as it meant the queue for picking up winnings escalated in my absence. I decided to sort out a few things and do my last wanderings of the stall while waiting for the line to thin, but it moved so slowly, I eventually had to join it for fear of missing the closing ceremonies. In the end, I did miss the start of the closing ceremonies, including Zen being awarded a certificate for all the help and advice he’d given for travelling by train during the weekend’s strikes. I did catch most of it still, though the lengthy amount of time taken to hand out the charity auction prizes meant we didn’t yet have a concrete figure of money raised, though they had announced hitting the 5K marking a bit over halfway through the auction (and a week later, they announced that the auction, tombola and jar-guessing game accumulated to £11,000, matching the record in 2019 and beating last year’s £10,095).
Yup, just about everyone's having as much fun as Britannia, it seems. As it should be.
And after that, the con was over. Not quite time to head home, thankfully, our group had a pub meet organised in the local Gooseberry Bush, another Wetherspoons. This one went much smoother on the old belly, as I was generally faring better by this point, but also it was later in the evening, and I was hungrier, especially off of having run out of stockpiled sweets midway through the charity auction and not having had the chance to buy another pack of sweets. As a result, didn’t quite wolf it down (same meal as before, it served me well), but got through it quick enough, to the point I was glad when one of our table didn’t feel like finishing their chips. Gave me something to nibble on for another half-hour.
Otherwise, the banter and refusal to acknowledge the con was over yet abounded in equal fashion, Oilyvalves joined us for the meal after missing the con, words were tossed around about what UK Pony conventions would be happening next year and when. Many of the group’s biggest purchases had prime table space, and that included Andrea Pinkie. And as before, Wetherspoons proved a prime venue for a group like us, what with the ability to move tables together and being perfectly accommodating of a large, oddball group. Oh, and as much thanks to Logan for being the whole reason I went to UK PonyCon in the first place three years ago (and did episode reviews, among other things), I gifted him one of the two Fluttershy figures I’d bought earlier. Naturally, he finds her adorable even in raging Hulk form.
Given it’d be a year before I saw any of this crew again, I did what I could to make the most of this meal. Alas, all too soon enough people were leaving around 9pm that the rest of us decided to follow suit. Those of us at the Premier Inn, once getting back in, vaguely felt it was too early to turn in, and some were hanging around in the bar. I wasn’t as enthusiastic, though after returning to my room and doing a few loose errands, I decided I’d at least pop down and see if anyone was around. Though many PonyCon attendees abounded, none of my group, so I returned back and tackled the difficult task of deciding which of my 4 Pony plushies would get prime backpack space tomorrow. In the end, Pinkie won out, though AJ was quite understanding. Less so after getting jammed into the suitcase with Sunny, Batannia, my other purchases and everything I’d brought with me, of course. Another FiM reaction video, among a few others, sent me off to a peaceful enough sleep, comfy in the knowledge there’d be one final meet-up tomorrow before leaving Nottingham Trotingham.
Neither of Pinkie's turns as a God of Chaos, in the comics or the show's finale, compare to the power and impressiveness on display here. Unique actor signage, an effective low-grounded camera angle, lots of glitter and being even more adorable than usual will do that.
Monday: Say, did Daniel Ingram ever write a Blues song for the show? Dunno if ‘Post-Con Blues’ is an acceptable title, but…
Yet another late rise on my part, and one I almost left too late, forgetting that breakfast stops serving at 10:30 on a weekday as opposed to the weekend slot at 11. Thankfully, I got down at 10:20. Thanks again to greater recovery and more time, I finished the whole bowl of cornflakes with minimal trouble, and following an uneventful last-minute check I had everything – and everypony – I checked out and was off. Unlike the trip to the hotel on Friday, not a drop of rain abounded, though the temperature remained chill enough despite the high sun.
By a quarter to noon, I’d reached the train station, and also the Starbucks opposite where much of our group had met for one last post-con. Many of them had been there for over an hour, so I was for sure a bit late to the party, but sometimes one’s gotta fancy their beauty sleep more. Besides, I am not a morning spirit, and had just been through three days of early rises. Other than Ace, Zen, Fluffles and a few others that had to make earlier trains, just about everyone was there, so there was plenty of time to have more low-key convivial chats.
Eventually, though, by 12:25pm, four hours out from my flight, it was about a sensible time to depart. Awkward hugs were exchanged with those willing (and not just awkward because the recipients had to approximate them on a form they could just as easily phase through), and I was off. Not alone, either, as Logan decided to get his train alongside mine to Birmingham, before we split. Bit of silence along the way (if Logan’s anything like me, he too was recovering, reflecting and already reminiscing on the weekend), though we still talked aplenty. Mostly about ponies, because we’re those sort of folks. Off some fanfic talk, and me enquiring if there was much progress on his front since his Really Good outing for the Thousand Words contest earlier this year (glacial, but not nothing), he asked if there was any progress on my ends for my Ponyfic adventure novel. Also glacial, I was sorry to report, though I enquired if he’d be interested in hearing an extract. Which, him being ever the astute fellow, he was. 
Luckily, it so happened that the sequence most prime for avoiding spoilers yet getting the taste buds tantalising featured Fluttershy heavily for a chunk of it. So a point in the favour for someone for whom there is no such thing as Too Much Fluttershy. After it went down well (got chuckles and intrigue at the right points), and following some broader talk of what I could share (a brief summary of the opening, one I knew by heart down to the dialogue), we sadly arrived at the station, and had to split.
I won’t make you all wait forever for it. I’m gonna get it out in 2023 if it… well, not kills me, my kind doesn’t really have an equivalent. We’ll go with ‘breaks my spirit’. 
Regardless, mark your calendars!
And from there, with the last spell of the pony weekend finally dispelled, an uneventful last train and airport passage followed. My internet was still awfully spotty, though thankfully I was able to fall back on the saved Ponyfic both while waiting and on the flight, keeping the land of Equestria alive that bit longer. I probably read close to 80K of Ponyfic during this outing, more than I’d have done at home! Doesn’t include doing the write-ups later, of course, but impressive nonetheless. This flight was only delayed by twenty-odd minutes, and the car trip home benefitted from very fortuitous traffic, so just a few minutes before 7pm, I was home. Unusually, but naturally, I didn’t feel the usual ‘home sweet home’ euphoria upon pulling into the driveway, instead something far closer to a case of the blues. But the fact of feeling those blues makes them worthwhile, you know?
Final Thoughts
Still not a big haul by any stretch – eliminate the freebies and it's only seven items, one of them gifted away before this photo was taken – but it satisfied me fine. Maybe I’ll get more adventurous next year, but this is a good ‘un.
Plus, Andrea Pinkie. She’s worth ten items on her own, don’t’cha know.
I may have given a somewhat mixed impression of my time at UK PonyCon 2022, given all I was grappling with. And yes, even setting aside the appetite woes, there were issues, most of which weren’t specific to the con. Mobile data inconsistency, for one. And the odd panel or event I attended that didn’t pan out.
But make no mistake – I truly did have a fantastic time. It bears mentioning how well run a event it is. Obviously on the 4th convention running in this venue (they used to rotate all over England), they’ve got the organisation down pat – whatever behind-the-scenes woes occured, we barely noticed them. It obviously doesn’t have the density of panels and events that the big Americans cons do, and one could argue it could do with a few more applicants for panels to fill up the gaps in the schedule. But that’d be kind of antithetical to the point of this more gentle, easygoing, laid-back con. If one is willing to roll with having relaxation periods amongst the events they attend – and given the stalls and general atmosphere, that’s part of the experience, really – they’ll have a great time. It helped this year, of course, to have two panels featuring the guest VAs, plus a signing event. They’re definitely boosting my impression a bit. But, hey, it counts. While I probably wasn’t as adventurous as I could have been, I was far more so than last time, and given that resulted in a few events that pleasantly surprised me, I’m more game for next year’s roster.
It may not have felt so at first, given my miserable day before departing, but the con really was what I needed, and I got that. A gradual start, but it had the fortune to generally get better as the weekend went on. I never thought I’d enjoy the Sunday more, but enjoy it more I did. The sincerity, warmth, friendship and, yes, love present there really did a lot to keep my mood high. I reiterate that large social gatherings and travelling don’t vibe with me much at all, but something about this event does, and I am now fully committed to it being a yearly thing for me. The regret of going three years without this, I’ve finally moved on from it now. One thing’s for sure, it shows that whatever the distance we have from FiM now, and our opinions on G5, MLP as something adults (and kids, of course) unironically love and treasure is alive and well. A pop culture mainstay it may never be again, but I don’t doubt we’ll continue to see it stay at this level for years to come.
Between a great venue, a near-total lack of actual problems (one or two technical hitches), the wonderfully charity, and the wide assortment of people (if, understandably, lighter on families ever since tickets became pre-purchase only), stalls, merch, panels, content, and a truly wonderful jubilant atmosphere, it really was a great time, and even if I have the misfortune to be struck by a mild illness again for next year’s event (October tends to be a rough month), I have no doubt I’ll love it all the same.
Thank you, UK PonyCon. Thank you, my friends. Thank you, everypony.
Oh, and of course, thanks again to Ace and the UK PonyCon Twitter for some of the pictures here. Though I contributed some of my own this time! 
But… they might be related…!
D'aw, that last picture.
It's always fun seeing post-con loot pics. Good draw on the Pinkie! You own a piece of Pony history now.~
Although I'm surprised you picked up a Sunny Starscout too, given [gestures generally to G5.]
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You'd better believe I knew what I was doing with that one.
An improvement over the four or so items I bought three years ago for sure. As mentioned, kind of in my phase of wanting to clear out stuff at home over bringing more in, so I tend to be selective. I'm hoping my next year the clearcut will have been done, and I can afford the space for more items. And to broaden my horizons a little more too. That said, in most walks of life, I do tend to favour quality over quantity, so who knows what will happen. Might well continue the trend shown this year.
I knew that'd make a good story. Especially as it meant my earlier lack of interest in joining the autograph sessions, something I regretted, didn't end up costing me.
I mean, I like the film, and I like her as a character in there. Just not… everything after. This is her earlier non-rainbow-maned design, after all. Besides which, a person can like a character or something that is nearly always, or even always, done poorly in the official media. Little different to taking something done poorly in the show and making a better fanfic out of the character, really.
Plus, as stated, she was a tombola prize, thus only "costing" me £25. Obviously it's an official merch plush, and not an expensive one. But being honest, I prefer her to the Batannia plush – I'm not one for batponies much (if obviously nothing approaching Present Perfect's hatred of them), and these ones have awkward asymmetrically-positioned hips. Casualty of not knowing at the time that I'd get better plushies. But oh well, it was cheap, being official con merch, so not a big deal.
I don't know about blues, specifically, but would some closing credits jazz work?
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I had forgotten about that (and shame on me, Rarity Investigates! is an absolute corner of an episode), so I do appreciate the reminder. Even if jazz (which I do like) is more than a bit removed from blues.
Though I am obliged to point out that would be William Anderson’s work, not Daniel Ingram’s, being BGM in a non-musical episode (or the 2017 movie, which he also scored). A technicality, yes, but one worth noting.