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purfectmlpblog · 5 years

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...alright fuq it lemme explain my thoughts about the finale spoilers lol

Don’t worry, I WILL be posting this under a read-more so PLEASE turn away and ignore this now (especially with some “spoiler” tags on if you use ‘em) if you don’t want to be spoiled for the finale until it officially airs. I just can’t contain my thoughts no more after ponderin’ them and who knows when it’ll officially air in English (’cause slow schedules can be a pain to deal with lol) sooooo... yeah you’ve been warned xp

...Ooooh boi, well admittedly I kinda skimmed through what the whole plot was about behind the last three episodes (I was moreso focused on all the stuff happening for “The Last Problem” so lol), but I’ll try to keep it brief for the most part:

-So... that whole thing about Grogar being the last “big bad” was just a total lie... since apparently it was just Discord masking himself as the guy just to give Twilight one last battle to face? ...Ehhh, I get that he apparently had “good intentions” but this just seems to be pushing it too far even for Discord’s standards tbh... like these are his friends now (including Fluttershy, his best friend) so why would he allow this much risk to be thrown at them for the sake of just teaching them a valuable lesson about overcoming obstacles? ._. Then again, this IS Discord we’re talking about so him pulling some shady stuff like this is to be expected, I guess? Idk...

-As another twist to the trio of bad guys... NONE of them get redeemed at the end (not even Cozy Glow... who again, is nothing more than a whiny child compared to Chrysalis and Tirek :P), as they all pretty much get blasted with the same stone spell that Discord was under for what I can presume to be forever. I mean... had Sombra been placed in Cozy Glow’s position then I guess I’d be a bit more satisfied with this kind of ending for them instead of feeling questionable about it (’cause again, Cozy’s young age ^^;)... but at the same time, for what it is it’s at least a refreshing change of pace from just having them all instantly forgiven and befriended by all the main heroes. Now that would’ve been cringey... >_<

-We got a reaaally big group of cameos from many past ponies/other creatures from the show to aid in the final battle, including Sunset and a few of the MLP movie characters like Tempest, Capper and Skystar! o.o A shame that Captain Celaeno couldn’t have been added along with them but still, pretty cool to see that particular trio regardless along with my girl Sunset ❤️ about time the main show acknowledged her importance to Twilight -.-

-Moving onto the big finale itself, “The Last Problem”, we cut ahead to I presume to be a couple decades or so since the last episode... where Twilight and her friends are all grown up and leading their own lives as Twilight’s pupil (Luster Dawn, was it?) comes to prepare herself for her own first friendship lesson. Surprisingly, unlike past finales it’s not so much a really heavy or action-packed episode but more of a “relaxing breather” kinda filler... yet still pushes the feels the more we get to see the aged-up cast and realize how this truly is the end for our heroes :(

-We’re also given a nice flashback to Twilight’s coronation as Equestria’s new leader, though it didn’t go according to plan it still provided some heartwarming feels to teach that friendships will always remain solid even if some end up moving far away. Awww ;w;.

-As for the “Grown up” designs themselves... I’m kinda torn, tbh lol

On one hand, I do like Rainbow’s, Fluttershy’s, and AJ’s older looks just fine. AJ’s especially gives me the feels looking at it ‘cause of the shawl... really hits in that poor Granny Smith is no longer around by this time :( at least she’ll always keep her memory strong in her heart ❤️

As for Twilight, Rarity, Spike and Pinkie... ehhhh ^^;. Rarity’s sparkly shawl is rather pretty though that big grey steak in her hair kinda clashes too much with the regular purple imo, Pinkie’s beehive look could’ve been fine if they just took out all that random junk in her hair, and while part of me kinda likes the “ethereal princess-y” vibes of Twilight (despite the rather dark implications that she’s gonna outlive her friends now ;-;)... the fact that she still sounds like her old dorky self when speaking kinda kills the effect for me... plus idk if only a couple decades in the future would be enough to make her this tall as an alicorn, I mean even Luna (who’s older than her) is alot shorter so it’s just a little off-putting to me to see her so “Celestia”-sized ^^;. And as for Spike... yeah, I don’t even know what’s going on there, so... let’s just move on, please lol.

So then we get to look over how everyone else in Ponyville’s doing, with so many new species living there now, some old kiddos grew up like the CMC and the Cake twins, Starlight and her friends (plus the Student 6) continuing to run the friendship school together, and apparently some canon couples started to thrive during this time too including Lyra and Bon Bon, Big Mac and Sugar Belle, and... Pinkie and Cheese? o.o

...Um, wow lol Wasn’t really expecting that considering that most of Cheese and Pinkie’s previous screentime together (which was only in like, two episodes?) wasn’t really that romantic from what I can recall, but guess the writers decided to just throw it in anyway ‘cause it’s a popular ship? lol I mean, not like it’s a bad one or anything but it still feels a bit randomly-placed in a narrative sense imo ^^;

Speaking of their daughter (Lil Cheese, I think?), while I do think she’s cute, part of me is kinda disappointed that they didn’t really get more creative with her design like they’ve done for Flurry Heart and the Cake twins :c. Color-wise she looks okay but... why just make her a recolor of her mom’s filly design? .-. Even putting her hair in some pigtails or something would’ve worked better imo.

-Some more design nitpicks I had were certain weirdly placed hairstyles like Pumpkin Cake’s and Diamond Tiara’s, as well as why Gummy the alligator just looks like he resized into a giant than legitimately grew into an adult lol. Also this might also be nitpicky but why exactly is everyone (minus Twilight) so old-looking with grayed hair and/or eye bags (ex. Rarity and Sugar Belle), when a couple of them have school-aged children at this point? .-. Hell, even most of the Mane 6′s parents didn’t look this old (including Twilight’s, and they’ve got a granddaughter lol), so I’m kinda confused by this type of design choice tbh.

-I don’t really remember if they explicitly stated what happened to the old princesses during this time since they didn’t show up again, nor what the final fates of Shining Armor and Cadence were (save for a brief shot of Flurry Heart having her own stain-glass window in the throne room). Idk, just would’ve been nice to have gotten more explicit about that ‘cause I don’t wanna think of these poor royals being gone now with just Twilight being the leader now ;-;

-I guess there was also a couple “implied” ships thrown in too like Fluttershy and Discord (though that one might be more “loose” to interpret, depending on how much you like the ship) and apparently AJ and Rainbow Dash seem to be having something “deeper” going on considering they specifically walked in together when all the other Mane 6 walked in individually into the throne room. Hmmm...?

-And lastly after a bit more filler and than a montage song of the Mane 6 harmonizing together one last time, we get to close off the entire episode, season, and series with one final shot of the heroes standing on a sunset-y hillside together, saying goodbye to Twilight’s student who goes off on her own friendship adventures... and then the screen fades to a book closing as a call back to the very first episode of the series over 9 years ago... where the exact same book opened up to start off our beloved show to begin with T-T

....aaaand yeah my feels exploded over again, sorry T-T. Despite the lil nitpicks I had here and there (and how I wish certain plot holes could’ve been handled better in hindsight), this was still a really sweet and thoughtful way to end MLP: FiM with one last batch of fluff like this... the end of a good 9-year run of the show which’ll surely leave a special place in every fan’s hearts, including mine ❤️

Though again, like I mentioned before I still won’t be considering any of this actually “canon” in the main universe I’m setting up, which is all basically an AU at this point since I haven’t really been keeping up with the show as frequently to care much for sticking with the main canon :p. For my fellow content creators, please don’t be afraid to keep working on your own next gens and such btw, even if some of it might be contradicted in this particular finale I’d say anyone is free to make their own interpretations however they want, canon or no canon~ ;p

Hope y’all understand that well and I hope you guys have a great rest of your day! 😃

#mlp spoilers #purfy chat #long post #mlp season 9 spoilers #mlp finale spoilers #spoilers

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frosty-the-killer-doll · 5 years

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HC: Moondancer

I hate that Moondancer is made to be Twilight's bitter carbon copy, right down to her design. Overall the show kind of portrays introverts as evil and/or rude assholes. I don't see Moondancer like that. I think of her as a salty, sassy, commanding mare, with a hint of pettiness and a dash of superiority, yet still an well-meaning introvert at heart. Just because she doesn't take anybody's shit doesn't mean that she's an ass. Well, she's mostly not a complete dick. Sometimes.

Moondancer was raised primarily in Canterlot, a student of Celestia's (boarding) School For Gifted Unicorns. She had strong magical power from the start, and her being accepted into Princess Celestia's good graces only focused her more on her goal.

Since she was a young filly, she had to watch her older half-siblings-- Sunset Shimmer, Sunburst, and Starlight Glimmer-- rise to beloved students of the Alicorn Sisters, and not only had they both abandoned Celestia, but Moondancer too.

Her mother Stellar Flare's pressure and her father Firelight's constant cooing honed Moondancer's wish to succeed, to be her aging parents' golden child; their good legacy. Maybe then, they would stop comparing her to her sisters and brother. Maybe they would stop missing their runaway children, if Moondancer could become everything they had both wanted for their kids.

Moondancer put emphasis on trying to be a Canterlot filly. She grew colder to her friends, more resolved to let others play while she focused on rising through the ranks. Soon the only pony she would still call a friend was Twilight Sparkle.

It seemed that Twilight was just born with her abilities, her overreaching smarts. That fact become clear to Moondancer as Twilight became the best student, even as Moondancer had been working so much harder than her. A resentment began to fester for the purple filly. It was unfair, blatantly ridiculous, that Twilight Sparkle could do these things so easily compared to Moon. Twilight didn't deserve the attention; what had she done to get it? Be born? Even that was for her mother to thank!

As the seed of their inevitable failed friendship was planted, Moony also began to have a fixation with her friend... She began dressing like her, and even styled her mane the same way. Moondancer turned into a recolored mirror of the girl she would soon hate. Perhaps if Moondancer had all the same qualities as Twilight, Celestia would pay her mind...

That hope was shattered the day Celestia announced Twilight as her pupil.

The dislike Moondancer had held for Twilight grew into hatred. Twilight did nothing to earn her powers, NOTHING. Why wasn't Moondancer good enough? She was. She is! Moondancer deserved to be in Twilight's place. She deserved to be the apple of Celestia's eye, not some common kid! Moony deserved to be Twilight.

Under Celestia, Twilight would become reclusive to her studies. Her desire to be with her friends would slowly start to fickle. Her contact with them was irregular throughout their childhood and even more into adultescence. Meanwhile, Moondancer had become obsessed with being top dog.

Moony wormed her way into popular, wealthy social circles, hoping the Princesses would notice her (she became Blueblood's acquaintance through this). She threw herself into her studies, but to a much unhealthier extent than Twilight. Her sleep schedule was chaotic, she would go days forgetting to eat, and didn't bother with personal hygiene anymore, preferring to just pull her mane in a ponytail and be done with it.

Moondancer put on a smile for her friends-- Lyra Heartstrings, Minuette, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine and Twilight-- because they did still mean something to her. They offered her an escape from her worries, insecurities, and addiction. She valued them highly, but not as much as Twilight. She still thought Twilight didn't deserve what she had, but her unreceptive rivalry had a twinge of something else. She wanted to be Twilight, yes, but at the same time, she wanted to be with Twilight... A part of her wanted to share Celestia, for Twi.

Eventually, Twilight Sparkle fell back into their lives naturally, and was again a more prominent (if not unappreciative) friend. With Twilight back, Moondancer began to leave her shell. She realized that Twilight was just a pony, like her; that she wasn't something to be hated over who could cast spells better. She was Moondancer's friend.

And that all crumbled when Twilight ditched Moony's party. But you know her story from there. Humiliated and abanonded by the pony she cared most for, Moondancer felt rejected, like she truly wasn't good enough. She wasn't enough to be anybody important, much less the special somepony of Celestia's pupil. Moondancer wasn't a golden child. She was a failure, just like that voice in the back of her head had always whispered. She didn't deserve the things she had-- not yet, anyways.

The light and joy Moondancer had once found with her friends flickered out. She lashed out at them constantly, missed their plans and left them hanging, all in favor of studying to be worthy. Quickly, they were gone from her life.

Years passed before Twilight would return to reconnect with what she had thrown away like trash. In that time, Moondancer became a lonely, frustrated, surly stranger, to herself and to Canterlot. Her interactions with other ponies were short, curt, and filtered by harsh words on Moon's part. She had pushed away her doting parents, her only friends, and ponies she didn't know, because that voice still told her that she wasn't powerful enough, pretty enough, good enough to lead a happy life.

Then the so-called Princess of Friendship crashed back into Moondancer's life with half-baked apologies and clear embarrassment. Moondancer saw through this. Twilight wasn't back because she felt bad, she was back because she wanted an excuse to not feel guilty. As soon as Lyra, Lemon, Minuette, Twinkle and Dancer had accepted the Alicorn's sorries, she would be gone again.

Moondancer refused to give Twilight the luxury of feeling just. She refuted Twi's efforts at every turn, until the Princess set up a party for Moony. In a fit of rage and emotion, Moondancer lashed out at Twilight, finally breathing her frustrations out. When she's done, she crumbles in tears, like a scared foal.

And yet, Twilight helps her. Maybe if she's worthy of Twilight's forgiveness... She has value in this world after all. Perhaps it wouldn't be so terrible for her to be happy.

In time, Moondancer manages to believe in her own self worth. She whole-heartedly navigates the uncertain path to friendship with her old group. It's too much to really be close with Twi, the object of her obsession for years, but Moondancer hopes that someday, she can be Twilight's best friend again. And yes, that's all she wants for Twi now. She let her mane down and found who she is again.

That isn't to say Moony becomes a sunshine and rainbows lady. There's nothing wrong with being an introvert. She just became a less rude figure to friendship, more open about her good heart, ready to help, and open to discuss her feelings.

Her scars had mostly healed by the time she met a mister Zephyr Breeze. Given a second chance at being a Royal Guard (favor to Fluttershy), Zephyr was tasked with being Grand Duke Blueblood's escort. While the pair crossed Moondancer, Zephyr Breeze decided to give it a shot at flirting with the mare. Moon's reply was "fuck off and die, good sir." She didn't even bother looking at him.

The pure disinterest Moony held for romance seemed to strengthen Zephyr Breeze. Blueblood's daily walk around Canterlot crossed Moondancer's way to the library she owned, so Zephyr ran into her many times. At every dumb, cheesy pick-up, Moondancer got more and more flustered. Zephyr took this as her surrendering to his charms (i mean who wouldn't right).

Blueblood flatly argued against that. He saw the failed pick-ups as pathetic, and Moondancer was probably just getting pissed by now. Zephyr Breeze wasn't on the track to romance, or even just getting into Moon's bed, he was simply an idiot.

Zephyr Breeze taunted that if Blueblood knew so much about mares, why didn't he have one for himself? No pony would reject him, Blueblood replied, all of Equestria loved him. Zephyr responded with mocks, so Blueblood decided he would prove it!

Just as Moondancer was about to walk by them, Blueblood stopped her and asked her on a date, pouring all of his superficial charm into his honey-glazed words.

And Moondancer's retort was the same. Except this time, she looked into his eyes before she brushed past them. "Fuck off and die."

And so the two stallions began competing for Moondancer's hoof in dating. They showered the lady in compliments, gifts, and showed off whenever she was near. Slowly, Moondancer warmed up to the idiots, enough to call them somewhat friends. Moondancer walked up to them when the two were having a hissy fit over who she would choose in the end.

She shrugged and said, "we'll see, shitheads."

Years later, she became a Grand Duchess of Canterlot. Her other husband Zephyr loves calling himself Canterlot's Prince.

Other notes~

- Moondancer wears a golden wedding ring on her horn, a black sweater, red bowtie and a pink skirt.

- During that "i'm not worthy of anything" phase of her life, Moondancer developed an eating disorder. Back then, it made her feel in control. She looks bad to that and cringes.

- Zephyr Breeze eventually quit his job as a Royal Guard to pursue his dream of being a hairstylist full-time. Blueblood helped getting him a job at a homey, plain barber shop, which Zephyr Breeze would turn into a flashy, high tell establishment for celebrities.

- Shortly after amending fences with Twi, Moondancer turned Twilight's old tower into a functioning library. She works there part-time. Her main gig is a teacher at her old school.

- Stellar Flare is the mother of Sunset Shimmer and Sunburst, whose father is decreased. Firelight is Starlight Glimmer's dad, whose wife left Starlight as a foal. The pair got together when their respective younger kids (Starlight and Burst) were away at their boarding schools. They dated for a long while, eventually marrying and having Moondancer, who is a decade younger than her youngest half-sis Glimmer. The two are still together in the Parent Map. So yes, Starlight and Sunburst are step siblings in Harmonyverse.

- Moondancer was Lyra's best mare at Lyra and Bonbon's wedding. In Harmonyverse, Bonbon and Lyra are child-free by choice.

- Moondancer lost contact with Starlight during the lilac pony's cult years. She knew nothing of Glim's actions back then. She now is pen pals with her big sister. Moony also got back in touch with Sunburst.

- All of Moondancer's kids were surprises, but welcomed with open arms. It doesn't matter who their "real" father is (Zephyr or Blue), because they both are. Their childrens' names are Lady Winifred Evelyn Aaliyah, Lady Midas Miriam Marquita, Lord Jupiter John Herald, Lady Bellevue Alice Tallulah, and Lord Gale Maximus Rigel.

Jesus fuck did I get attached to this one-off or wHAT. I wuv my petty salty bitch. Don't use this headcanon in your own works without permission from me and don't use my art either ✌️

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jdscanvas · 5 years

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My Little Pony- Friendship is Magic: On the Changelings and How They Relate to Shining Armor and Princess Cadence

In Season 2, we were introduced to the changelings, a race of bug-horse like creatures that can change shape and feed on love. They were led by the nefarious Queen Chrysalis.

In Season 6, we were introduced to Thorax, a kind-hearted changeling who wanted to discover friendship. After meeting Spike, he found a friend who supported him, and showed the others not all changelings were mean love thieves. By the end, he usurped Queen Chrysalis, metamorphosed, and convinced all the changelings to do the same. Now the hive is a peaceful place full of colorful horse bugs awkwardly attempting to adjust to having their own lives. I love the changelings. They’re colorful bugs, they try so hard to fit in with the other creatures of Equestria, and a number of them are some of the best characters from the recent Seasons of the show.

The three most prominent changelings are:

Thorax- the new leader of the hive after Chrysalis

Pharynx- Throax’s brother, former head of patrol and the last to change; he's now pretty much the Hive’s guardian

Ocellus- the changeling of the Young Six, a group of students from Twilight’s school; a bookworm, shy changeling (with a cool mohawk/fin and ladybug wings)

And I love all three of them.

Thorax is basically a puppy dog; sweet, gentle and endearing. He looks out for his friends, and he tries the best he can despite lack of assertiveness to be the best leader for his hive. He’s unconditionally loyal to those he cares for. Even when he got mad at Spike he couldn’t stay mad, and he never gave in to pressure to eject his brother Pharynx from the hive. And good thing he didn’t, because the other changelings realized Thorax’s faith was well placed. He was the only leader who didn’t start accusing others when the students they sent to Twlight’s school went missing and was merely concerned about the hive’s vulnerability in a war scenario. He’s a sweet boy, and he’s dedicated to keeping his hive a safe, gentle place. Not to mention he's trying just as hard as the other changelings to lead an actual life outside after being a drone for so long, but I’d say he’s adjusted the best.

Pharynx has only starred in one episode and I pray he gets more speaking roles. He’s rough, he’s gruff, he’s passive aggressive, and he’s humorous. He roughhouses, but he’s also the first one to run into the fray for his loved ones. He does it without a second of doubt, and without anyone asking him to. He was always there to stand up for his brother in there youth, despite his roughhousing attitude. I’m my opinion he’s the only changeling that never gave up the warrior method, so he never went out of practice and he’s definitely the best pick for a guardian of the whole hive. Before he metamorphosed he was very distinct from the others with purple eyes, a red fin, and a gruff attitude. Afterwards, he still has a dark color scheme, and freakin’ devil horns (what else could they be???). And he looks really cool. He’s totally behind his brother 100% and he’s there for the hive he loves so much. It was never that Pharynx didn’t understand caring for others, or that he loved to be a bully. He was just acting harsh, maybe even strict, being paranoid and close-minded about the hive’s new ways. And he was lost.

He thought he had no place with the hive anymore. Who knows? Maybe he was even afraid of Thorax giving up on him. The others didn’t seem to want him around. But the second a creature tries to attack his hive? It’s go time. He doesn't hesitate in the slightest. They all witness this and give him a hand. They realize they were wrong and that Thorax was right. They still needed a guardian, someone who would march in without a second doubt to keep the peace they worked so hard to build up. Pharynx always loved them all he just never fully embraced it or admitted it, but once he learned to do that he was a shoe in. He’s the second tallest changeling, and he has cool horns now; his new look tells us everything. He’s the Luna to Thorax’s Celestia. He was that brave warrior that the hive needed.

Ocellus is just...well a cutie. She’s shy, she’s just as awkward as the other changelings, and she’s a bookworm. She also has a handful of cool transformations. I haven’t seen a lot from her comparatively but I do have to wonder, does she ever suffer from low self-esteem? Later in Season 8 we see she still felt guilt over the Hive’s past when under Chrysalis’ hoof, so I can’t help but wonder. Furthermore, the fact that she tried to befriend a hedgehog like creature makes me wonder if she has a secret love of animals of some kind. She does seem to be modeled after Fluttershy to an extent.

Whenever I think about the changelings, I’m reminded of two of my favorite characters:

Shining Armor and Princess Cadence.

Those two have had less than stellar history with changelings....as any fan could tell you; their former queen kinda almost got them killed....and almost completely ruined their wedding, and tried to hurt their sister and her friends (yes, as most fans would tell you Cadence is definitely Twilight’s sister at this point). Armor even had deep seeded resentment for changelings before Spike showed them all it was possible for a changeling to be as good as any other creature.

Here’s a big question:

What if Chrysalis went after them, or their loved ones again? What if Chrysalis somehow kidnapped Flurry Heart, and then blackmailed Twilight into being her prisoner under threat of harming her niece? And then, to avoid any unexpected heroics, what if she threatened them with violence against the two girls if anybody other than Armor, Cadence, Thorax, and Pharynx accepted her challenge?

The two ponies that ultimately defeated her, and the two changelings who look after the reformed hive (which would consequently leave the hive vulnerable).

Cadence and especially Armor would come face to face with the reformed changelings. And even if they’re aware that the changelings were not to blame, but Chrysalis, they’d probably still find it strange that changelings were now fighting along side them to rescue their girls. It would take some getting used to, but then they’d fully see for themselves how sweet these guys are deep down, just like ponies. They wouldn’t hold anything against them, it would just be weird for them at first. Armor would probably still feel some guilt over despising them all because of Chrysalis, but then also resent Chrysalis more for mistreating her own kind; she was a horrible leader. And of course, kidnapping they're babies. That’s obviously gonna give him motivation to crush the changeling.

Maybe even the hive is attacked, and only Ocellus seems to make it out. Alternatively, maybe she’s not there at all and hears the news, thus driven to aid the fight against their former queen. Even under the threat of harm coming to the leader of her school and said leader’s niece, she can’t just stand on the sidelines. She could still be afraid of Chrysalis, but does her best to confront that fear. She’d figure out someway to help...and yes of course her friends would back her up. Same goes for Armor and Cadence receiving support from Twilight’s friends.

I can’t help but think ponies becoming Alicorns is very similar to when changelings metamorphose....it’s like they fully embrace a part of themselves, and in a way...become their true selves.

I had mentioned before how I think it would be very likely for Shining Amor to feel insecure over being the only royal who’s not an alicorn. Maybe it’s because he’s only seen as a figure head, or maybe it’s because he’s afraid of getting left behind because of what he can’t share with his family....or maybe he doesn’t feel like he’s where he should be in life because of how often he’s failed lately.

I think Pharynx would understand Shining Armor, and consequently get along with him quite well. They both seem like they have their stern sides. Both of them are technically guardians. They both have a sibling who achieved greatness and who they are 100% behind. They both help look after a whole kingdom. And they both are always there for their subordinates. Pharynx would see Shining Armor and see who he once was, a confused lost soul. Someone who’s starting to think that he’s losing his place, or never had a place to begin with; someone who might get tossed aside.

Pharynx would probably be stern with Armor about his insecurities, but it would be because he cares (I don’t think he'd entirely lose his rough and gruff side). He doesn’t want to see another soul in such a similar position as he was go through the pain of being left out like that.

Maybe Pharynx would tell Armor that he has to fully embrace what he already knows deep down, that he’ll never give up on his family or kingdom even when he doesn’t seem needed. That at the first sign of trouble, he'll come running. His love for his sister, wife, daughter, friends, family, and citizens will always pull through.

Maybe something....would explode out of Armor in a moment of danger. He will never let himself give up. NEVER!

He can’t. Even when he fails, even if his enemies seem like they’re going to crush him, he will never let anyone hurt his family or his friends. He prays to be stronger, he tries his best to adapt so he can still be there for his family.

Not for wings, not to be seen as true royalty,

...but to be his best self, to be a guardian like he was born to do so those he loves with all his heart remain in his life and remain safe.

I don’t know, I hope I’m not playing favorites I just think it would be really cool. There are other ways to tackle an episode where Armor finally gets wings or has to confront insecurities.

If we could get an episode with Spike growing up after so long, or Celestia and Luna jumping over the hurdles in their relationship even after being reunited for some time, why not?

This show is great at giving us those feel good moments where friendship and bonds give people the strength to confront adversity (even if sometimes in typical , cliche ways), so I’d love to see more of it.

#prince shining armor #princess cadence #ocellus #thorax #pharynx #my little pony #friendship is magic #editorial

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diamond-song42 · 6 years

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Pone Reviews 80: Non-Compete Clause Happy Mother's Day and welcome to Pone Reviews! Hoo boy. Diving back into Season 8 today with an episode that I thought was pretty disastrous. Am I overreacting? Maybe. Hope you're still waiting on your brunch because it's time for "Non-Compete Clause!" To begin, the moral. "By showing someone how NOT to do something, you can show them how to do something." Wait, what?! I'm going to overcook this pasta so you know you shouldn't do it like this! I'm going to construct this Ikea furniture backwards so you know how not to construct it! I'm going to punch myself in the face so you know not to punch yourself in the face! I just... it's so dumb! I think it's important for a person to do something wrong themselves by accident so they know how to change their behavior in the future. Don't have a friend/family member do it for you! Oh, you forgot your baseball jersey, Timmy? Guess you'll remember to always grab it in the future. And what's the use of teaching someone the wrong way like AJ and Rainbow do here? They'll know what not to do... and do nothing with it. Feels like wasted time. I really hope the curriculum gets it right in the future. Now for the plot. It's field trip time for the School of Friendship students! But Rainbow Dash and Applejack are both vying for that Teacher of the Month award... who will win? Remember when I said a long time ago that I REALLY hate episodes that seem to reverse character development? This is a prime example of one of those episodes. I knew this would be a trainwreck the moment I read the synopsis! We established SEASONS ago that competition shouldn't get in the way of friendship. That's especially true here when you are in a caretaking position. Applejack and Rainbow Dash got past this ages ago... but apparently not! The school nearly got shut down because of stupid shenanigans like this! I respect Twilight and the students for calling Dash and AJ out... but like Twilight said, it didn't really need to be done in the first place. It all frustrates me so much. This isn't even enforced in the end like in "Fall Weather Friends," either! They just keep arguing. Can we just... not? Here are some more things about this episode that made me so mad: *Uh... how long has the School of Friendship been running? If Equestria's units of time are to be compared to ours, the School has been up and running for nine months as Fluttershy has eight pictures on the wall (and an empty frame for a ninth). Yet it's only been seven episodes since the premiere where the School was opened... WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE?! *Too bad Starlight didn't even get nominated for the award. Yes, I know she's the counselor, but she was seen teaching a class in the "Friendship Always Wins" song. *Silverstream - the one with the almighty pearl fragment that allows her to live underwater - needs a lifevest. *Anycreature got questions? NO TIME GET IN THE BOAT! Jesus, Rainbow Dash. *The students thought they were pretending to argue to show them the way? How dumb are they? AJ and Rainbow are TEACHERS, for Celestia's sake! They have standards to live up to! *Even you should be smart enough to realize that those branches can't hold jack, Rainbow. *Twilight... how does a nature walk teach teamwork? Other than the couple instances in the montage, I struggle to see your logic, Principal Sparkle. *Apple sheds. Why. Sweet Apple Acres never used them before. And here are some things from this episode that made me forget my anger for a little bit: *Aww that scene with Ocellus and Silverstream hugging Yona after saving her was so cute. *Yona still has her little braids so she doesn't trip over them! Also hahahaha literal field trip. *I nominate Smolder for Teacher of the Month because she's got the right idea to fly over the ravine and carry the non-fliers. It's not even like the puzzle where the farmer has to transport animals in a boat and have them not get eaten. *Katrina Salisbury, the voice of Yona, said on Twitter that her take on Yona whistling was actually her whistling really bad. That's adorable. *I have no idea how Yona fit her horns into that helmet, but I'll be damned because that's so cute. *Ocellus is still my precious little snowflake. *This episode is basically Ashleigh Ball screaming at herself for half an hour. *HAHAHA TWILIGHT'S BOOK IS LARGER THAN THE EEA'S BOOK In short: A really irritating episode with a dumb moral and Ashleigh Ball yelling at herself. Maybe I'm not overreacting. 2 out of 5 rainbows 🌈🌈 Phew, that's all my rage. Thanks for reading another Pone Reviews. Go eat your brunch! I am delaying Pone Reviews next weekend as I will be helping out at Everfree Northwest! I'm hoping to release my throwback Pone Review next Monday and my new Season 8 review next Tuesday. Until then, I sign off. Diamond out!

#my little pony #mlp:fim #my little pony friendship is magic #mlpseason8 #non-compete clause #rainbow dash #applejack #mlp #mlp: friendship is magic #school of friendship #yona #ocellus #silverstream #sandbar #gallus #smolder #mother's day #irritating #pone reviews

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askredrage · 6 years

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Open up your EYE (Thoughts on MLP Movie)

Has the show gotten one of those characters that doesn't know what a sense of humor is and fights back with combat? Or am I thinking of a lot of reformed characters from other media? Spoilers down below. Haven't seen the movie? Well the DVD/Blu-Ray aren't far behind.

Um...so that was the movie I had almost missed out on, huh? Well it was.........something... Ok, so I'm afraid this "review" is going to be EXTREMELY difficult to judge because the night before I actually watched Disney/Pixar's Coco first (by the way, 10/10, would DVD/Blu-Ray again). And sitting down to watch this movie second was probably a huge mistake as this movie left me with a rather sour taste in my mouth. Perhaps if I waited to see Coco later, then I wouldn't feel this...negative. I'm the kind of person that goes to the movies a ton so I'm pretty much judging this movie along with all the other movies I've gone to see in the past several years. So let's get an obvious good thing out of the way first; the movie's return to 2-D or 2.5-D animation. Never in a long time since Princess and the Frog in 2009 have I been glad to see the return of hand-drawn styled animation. It's actually quite interesting when you learn that the movie characters were actually made 3-D FIRST before becoming 2-D characters in a 3-D world. Speaking of which, a major chunk of the pony characters don't feel like repeatedly used poses like in the TV show. They've been given a similar design to the show but more expressive and created with greater, fluid movement in a few areas. So of course Pinkie Pie would be the one to mostly get the spotlight in this area. I think people were worried about the 3-D landscaping dampening the style, but I'll let it slide as they did create the landscapes beautifully. Plus 3-D environments have worked for 2-D movies in the past. Talk to a good chunk of Disney Renaissance movies like Beauty and the Beast's Ballroom. An interesting way to segue into this next part. Whereas the Disney Movies were mostly the movie first and merchandise later, Hasbro's the company that will make a product first then get their animators to make an episode or movie around it. Also I am aware that Hasbro has one hell of a leash on these animators. They've probably had a ton of amazing ideas for a My Little Pony movie to appeal to all audiences instead of the targeted one. But what I was given to view not fell into my low expectations...it went even LOWER! Perhaps being exposed to Coco first had ruined my enjoyment for this as there was much needed room for improvement. See if I can sequence this a bit. Let's start with the story. Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship has created a massive party in an unusually-styled Canterlot that's looking a bit spacious than the busting city I'm usually seeing in the show. Through some comedic introductions, a song and a series of show-related cameos we are given the things that the outside audience needs to know. Things get shaken up when Tempest Shadow, an broken-horned unicorn visitor representing for the Storm King, arrives with an army to take over the entire kingdom in order to siphon the magic out of the four princesses. Now it's up to Twilight and her five friends (not six, Starlight Glimmer got shoved out of the spotlight) to find aid outside Equestria and take back their home capital. Interestingly enough, the one hour and forty-four run time actually felt kind of long when normally I'm sitting for two to three hour-long movies...but then it quickly sped through the story in a poor pace to show off their new toys/playsets and have money left in their budgets. I'm probably not the first to say this movie was poorly paced, am I? From memory, I think the longest we've stuck with a setting outside Canterlot was probably the desert city of Klugetown. You could probably argue that perhaps it was Hippogriffia/Seaquestria but events there kinda made me WANT to make it go faster. Get to that part in a second. Songs? As a 90's kid, you know that most of the songs are either set aside or forgotten (like the ones in this film) for the most important one: The Villain Song. And Tempest Shadow's Open Up Your Eyes (currently having its instrumental being spammed repeatedly during this typing) is indeed worthy of the title "Villain Song". The setting, the lighting, the flashback made by a different team (according to the credits), I loved it all. I'd say it reminds me of Unleash the Magic from Friendship Games but I rank this song much higher. Honorary note for Sia's Rainbow. I'm being told by some reviews that the song felt a bit too somber for a finale but I don't know, this felt like a calm, perfect way to wrap up the movie with. I haven't a clue what the problem with it was. Finally, how about the characters. We've got your familiar TV show cast along with a ton of celebrity voices, including Sia as Songbird Serenade at the beginning and end of the movie who is literally modeled after one of her actual outfits. I chuckled when I dug up her photo, I don't know how she manages to see through that hair. Other noteworthy celebrities that got a good chunk of screen time were Kristin Chenoweth as Princess Skystar, Liev Schriber as the Storm King, Zoe Saldana as Captain Celaeno, Michael Peña as Grubber the Hedgehog and Taye Diggs as Capper the anthropomorphic cat. Most have been given the appropriate amount of screen time while others (STORM KING, MAIN ANTAGONIST OF THE FREAKING MOVIE), were held off until the end. Oh yeah, that one Parrot Pirate with the squawking and demolitions. Loved that guy. Sadly, the weakest of the group was the Storm King himself and not just because he was saved for the climax. Previous TV show antagonists have ranged from either self-motivated tyrants to strategic conquerors for their own kind. This knucklehead is literally announced as "evil" from Grubber and there just wasn't much from him to label him as an awesome villain. Even his own funny moments couldn't save him. And this is coming from a guy who isn't very fond of Starlight Glimmer yet she's still WAY more interesting than this cloud yeti. Oh well, maybe next time don't model your villain to be a lazy, wacky monkey. On the other side of the spectrum, however, is Emily Blunt as Tempest Shadow, the true antagonist of the movie, picking up all the work for the Storm King to restore her cracked horn. Compared to "her boss" this character has her own goals and motivations, sort of like a bounty hunter or mercenary. Kudos there as those areas would reach up into the top three MLP:FIM villains on my list. Sadly, as the movie is indeed called "Friendship is Magic", she's (OMG) reformed much like many of the other unicorns in this show (Anyone seeing a trend here?). Regardless, when she was a villain, this was a skilled and probably self-trained fighter trying to regain her happiness through any means necessary, even serving a clown. Even gave me a chuckle when she lost her cool in Canterlot in front of Grubber before realizing and calming down. The Mane Six and Spike are mixed in their performances and what they're given to do. I'll have to rate them all from best to worst...you're not gonna love who's on the bottom. Pinkie Pie stuck out the most with previously mentioned animations and tons of interactions with the girls and the strangers they came across. Side-note: She is mean with a barge of cupcakes; had they been red-frosting, that fight scene might have been banned. We even get a serious moment with her and Twilight where--getting ahead of myself. Getting there soon, promise. Rainbow Dash, despite causing some extra trouble, gives the "awesome" the movie needs including getting the Parrot Pirates off their rears to face off against their former employers...that doesn't last long. Rarity's charm and generosity got Capper the cat to not only change Tempest's army's course but gather the other characters for a full on pledged climax fight. Fluttershy has hardly anything except the funniest moment in the entire film regarding opening up with a Storm King soldier. Honestly want to know what became of those guys now. Spike, you trustworthy pal and weapon. The TV show might have given you terrible episodes but who would have thought you'd become a necessary Pyro tool? TF2 Workshop! Make a mod! NOW! Applejack...sold apple juice and roped a few people and rocks. That's uh....that's about it. ....you all hate me now for this: Twilight Sparkle ends up on the bottom heavily and deserves it all from actions, character writing and poor pace. Our beloved Princess of Friendship is still the nerdy and orderly princess aimed at saving her home kingdom enough to act grumpy, annoyed and careless in her actions. Said carelessness led to attempted robbery and created the biggest and most painful moment of the movie: When Twilight angrily lashes out at Pinkie by saying she'd be better off without friends like them. Not only was this stupidly painful, but it was the necessary tool for the whole "We're not friends anymore but then we get back together later" bit. And said apology was being shoved in a climax to be ignored for comedic effect. Now if perhaps both Twilight and Tempest were together during the end of the battle for apologies, that would not only be forgivable but an excellent moment for the movie. But no...more like the Princess of Pace-dumping. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh....I know, I know, this is a movie targeted towards children, but so was Coco. It would really help if some of that Disney magic could save the MLP Movie from its Hasbro chains. I know if the team wasn't being held back, they could have gotten away with much, much more to save the film from me giving it a 4/10. Well, this is the West Coast Psycho, and in the words of Max G, "I hope ya hated it."

#review #opinion #my little pony #my little pony the movie #tempest shadow #west coast psycho #my little pony friendship is magic #mlp:fim #other

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marvelandponder · 7 years

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I Feel Partially Responsible

One of the most satisfying moments of season 6 was when Queen Chrysalis bitch-slapped Starlight Glimmer’s offer of redemption. We would’ve accepted it, I guess, but we’ve had… a number of reformed villains. A very large number.

And admittedly, I’ve talked about this a lot (I’m surprised people aren’t sick of me yet), and I’m definitely not the only one, but the reason we’ve had so many redemptions and the reason I won’t shut up about it are one in the same.

This fandom loves us some reformed, tragic characters.

Go back about 5 years, and Luna was worshiped. Well, Woona was. Or the socially awkward, gamer Luna that became a thing after Luna Eclipsed.

And Luna’s far from the only character who got a boost in popularity once they joined the light side. Some of the characters we’ve responded to the most happen to be reformed characters—and you can argue the amount of reformed villains skews whatever that statistic is, but that’s my point.

It might not just be that we have a lot of reformed characters because the show staff likes reforming them, but maybe, at least in part, because we’ve responded so well to the characters who have been reformed. Well, I mean, for the most part.

But this the best of the best. Or, I guess, the best of the worst, you could say.

Important Note: I didn’t do this on purpose, but after starting my list, I remembered our good friends at WatchPony. And lo and behold, one quick search on their channel brought me to their Top 10 Reformed Villains in MLP. Damn my unoriginality!

But I still had enough to say about my choices, so I did my best to limit the overlap between these their list and my list (although there are two choices that are the same number). I thought it’d be best to warn you ahead of time: WatchPony did it first and you should absolutely support them.

In fact, maybe this’ll make it more interesting.

If you want, you can watch their list or read mine, and then watch/read the other. Comparing the order and the reasons behind them could be fun, I hope!

Or not. Just so long as you know I’m at least trying to differentiate and add some value to an idea that’s already been done (and done well).

Honourable Mentions

Wow, that pout

Nightmare Rarity

The Flim-Flam Brothers

Scorpan

Iron Will

Gloriosa Daisy

#10. Gilda

Here’s someone the fandom never thought they’d like! And for that, she gets extra points. It’s one thing to go from a decent baddie to a paragon of goodness, but to go from making Fluttershy cry and anatoginizng Pinkie Pie to decently decent? That’s impressive.

She also was the first to give us a sympathetic look into griffin culture—how they’ve been defined by their greed and scrupulousness because of the depression they’re in. Gilda herself has to work to leave the place, which makes it all the more heart warming to see her instead work to slowly make Griffinstone a friendlier place. Now that’s character progression!

#9. King Sombra (Comics)

Yeah… as with anything in the comics, you can debate if it’s canon all you want, but the golden rule for B-Canon is that it’s canon until proven otherwise, so, heck, I’m counting it!

This one’s especially awesome because you get not one but two of the more poignant redemptions! The Reflections arc Sombra and the main universe Siege of the Crystal Empire Sombra! That first one might seem like a load of bullcocky, but in the eyes of audience members, the first story is one of redemption, because to us his character goes from bad to good (to bad again).

The Good Sombra himself never changed from bad to good, I know, so it’s a technicality, but that’s why it’s low on the list. It’s a heartbreaking arc because we’re so new to this good version of Sombra, but I digress, that’s not the reason Comics! Sombra is on the list.

I actually think you couldn’t have the second Sombra redemption arc without the first—since they imply that there’s a sort of balance that needs to be struck with this parallel universe. Meaning, because the Good Sombra went bad at the end of the Reflections arc, the Sombra in the main universe had to go good to compensate.

So, yeah, it’s all relevant. Not just talking about it because I’m a sucker for that arc.

The actual redemption arc comes in the form of the story that continues from the Sombra Fiendship is Magic issue to the Siege of the Crystal Empire arc. The story overall may be a bit cluttered here and there, but in addition to giving us the scariest looking monsters they could have in a kids comic (with the silliest sounding name to offset it: Umbrum), it presented another genuinely likeable love story to seal the redemptive deal.

Each of Sombra’s better moments are times when he’s in love. Which, in hindsight, seems rather fitting, given that his origins are in the Crystal Empire, the empire of the Princess of Love.

So, here’s to the sweet-hearted Sombra: may his love always surpass his fear.

#8. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon

Double-whammy, you say? Cheating, you say? All of the above!

Technically putting two separate characters in one spot is unfair, but you can’t really talk about Silver Spoon’s redemption without Diamond Tiara’s. And if I were to separate them, Silver Spoon honestly wouldn’t make the list, so I thought it’d be more fun this way.

With that said, Silver Spoon has by far the funniest redemption on this list. She doesn’t go through some life-changing journey, or has any real foundation-shifting epiphany. Just a sassy, satisfying comeback that shows that she’s not just Diamond Tiara’s loyal follower no matter what. Just funny.

And then there’s Diamond Tiara herself. Loads of people have talked about her redemption before by this point, and in particular how it was generally likeable but would’ve been even more believable and interesting had we seen any flickers of doubt or moments of pause with her mom in prior episodes.

But, what can I say? If it’s done well enough, I’m a sucker for a good musical, and not only did the songs and scenes in between sell the emotions behind her turn-around, it honestly made me root for her. She should still make up for her past, but I can’t deny that it was the perfect bookend to that chapter of her and the CMCs’ lives. Way to go, DT. You made me cry (in a good way).

#7. Thorax and the Changelings

Now, okay, I get the reservation. We never saw Thorax himself be particularly evil, but he did grow up in a society that championed the stuff. He was taught certain values by the culture around him, and was even indoctrinated one way or another as a changeling soldier.

So his choice to find actual honest-to-goodness friendship counts as redemption to me. He’s rejecting evil when he can see that his doubts weren’t unfounded, that there should be another way for him, and ultimately, another way for his people.

He and Gabby both realized what they lacked in their culture through seeing Equestrians and their love, but with Thorax, he had to outright renounce the traditions and ideology of his culture. And he was so cute while doing it!

The changelings following suit shows us Thorax was likely far from the only one who ever had hesitation feeding the way they did. When the opportunity came about to survive and be morally upright, it seems like almost all of the changelings took it. Perhaps a fraction followed Chrysalis off-screen, I wouldn’t oppose a ret-con like that, but the point is, the chose to change under the guidance of a truly worthy King.

Hail to thee, King Thorax. Long may you reign!

#6. Sci-Twi/Equestria Girls Twilight

In true Jekyll and Hyde fashion, the pursuit of knowledge is not always the loftiest ideal, proved by this pick: Mightnight Sparkle.

There’s an argument to be made that because Twilight never intended harm to come to anyone until she got sucked into that glowing light, she was never really “evil,” per se. More a victim of circumstance.

But I don’t know. Her device grew more dangerous as time went on, but she didn’t care. And the less she cared (which in this movie meant the less was cared about), the more dangerous it got, until she couldn’t control it.

I mentioned Jekyll and Hyde not because of the Sci-Twi/Midnight comparison, but because the theme of that tragedy was, as the old saying goes, ‘the path to hell is paved with good intentions.’ Dr. Jekyll’s original intention with the potion was to rid himself of all his bad qualities, but as the story goes on, in the pursuit of science, he loses control more and more until the unthinkable. Just watch Ink Potts’ fantastic animatic of Pinkie in that story if you need a refresher. It was a choice to pursue that knowledge further and further, and that’s what doomed both the titular Mr. Hyde and our very own Sci-Twi.

Since losing that control and accepting Sunset Shimmer’s offer of actual love and friendship, the lonely Sci-Twi has gone on to still try to tackle problems on her own, even her P.T.S.D.

It’s why Twilight gets her big ‘Friendship is magic!’ realization at the end of the fourth movie. Isolation and the resulting obsessions are what made Twilight a villain, and it’s the acceptance that those things don’t have to be real anymore that lead her to make the right choices.

But hey, we already knew Twilight was better with her friendships, didn’t we?

#5. Starlight Glimmer

You knew we’d get to her eventually! As someone who likes Starlight and her delightfully questionable morals, I’ve very much enjoyed her character, both as a villain, and as struggling friendship student.

Although, I do get why there’s such a divide. I don’t pretend to know all the reasons, but I think the main reason—even more than ‘she was instantly forgiven at the end of season 5′ (because most of these redemptions weren’t earned until after the fact) or ‘she’s an actual sociopath/seems disingenuous— is that infamous backstory scene.

Even as someone who can forgive it, I understand. The execution made it seem like that small, if hurtful event was what made her into a full blown villain. When it feels like a character’s main motivation is a gross overreaction, it can be hard to relate to them. You start asking questions like ‘Why didn’t you just ___?!’ or ‘Seriously? That’s so irrational!’

Believe it or not, it’s not a fundamentally broken idea, just one that wasn’t executed well. I mean, yeah, there are logical inconsistencies with her backstory—she could’ve reached out to Sunburst. But I can think of another character who let a tiny event shape their entire world, and who subsequently let their emotions blind them to logical solutions to their problems.

Moon Dancer.

Moon Dancer swore off friendship entirely after Twilight didn’t show up at her party. And I think there are a few reasons why that one worked for so many more people than Starlight’s story did.

Yet both Moon Dancer and Starlight had somewhat of a breakdown to express that their decision was primarily based on emotions, not logic. Moon Dancer’s problems would’ve been solved as easily as Starlight’s, too—if she had gotten in contact with Twilight, somehow, they could’ve cleared things up. But why don’t we question that?

The big differences are how recent these events are, and the severity of their reaction.

Time-Order Moon Dancer: this small event was implied to be the last straw for her, after years of not having very many friends aside from Twilight Starlight: this event was the first straw, if you will, but we didn’t get to see the years in between or how things developed over time, gradually— hence, it feels like an instant overreaction, as if she went from 0 to 100

Severity Moon Dancer: Doesn’t want to be hurt again, becomes a complete shut-in, only ends up hurting herself Starlight: Doesn’t want to be hurt again, _________, cutie marks are to blame/mindset develops, is able justify to herself some messed up stuff

So this is where season 6 comes in, and why there’s still such a divide on this one issue (among others, I’m sure).

For a number of people, Starlight’s character lost a lot of believability because all of this seemed like such a huge overreaction. After losing that trust in her, it’s gotta be hard to give her a chance, even if you wanted to stay open-minded.

Whereas people who could overlook that momentarily, understand enough to shrug it off, or just empathize with her might’ve been able to see the things that season 6 helped contextualize.

Like, the season 6 premiere shows us the anxiety she had reuniting with Sunburst, especially since the whole, you know, dictator thing. That anxiety that she’d be rejected again seems to me to be part of the reason she isolated herself for a long time after losing Sunburst to his school.

And the whole Starlight relies on magic arc (especially in Every Little Thing She Does) shows us she doesn’t just have a fear of rejection, but a fear of failure. She copes by relying on something that came naturally to her, and overcomes that fear along with the fear of rejection once again, in the season 6 finale.

Having that outlined in such great detail throughout the season helps me fill in the blanks between the time Starlight was a child and lost her best friend, to the Starlight we met in the beginning of season 5.

I do wish her backstory was executed better to show that even though that one event was the catalyst, it’s in fact Starlight’s own actions that isolated her.

Really, the order seems to go like this after Sunburst leaves:

Starlight: Doesn’t want to be hurt again, becomes too afraid he’ll reject her to reach out to him and isolates herself, relies on her magic to gain approval, is still alone, becomes good at justifying things/blames cutie marks instead of Sunburst or herself, slowly develops an ideology so she won’t be alone anymore, goes too far because she’s really good at justifying things to herself, etc. etc.

That’s why I’ve really enjoyed Starlight’s redemption. Even though some parts of her development really could’ve been executed better, there’s enough there for me to see that she’s a surprisingly interesting and 3-dimensional character.

Plus, I just enjoy her snarky personality (she will always be Snarklight to me). Not gonna lie, that’s just fun.

Over the course of this past season, I grew to like the reformed Starlight more and more because her redemption has certainly been the most interesting. I think we can agree on that, no matter what tone of voice you use to say it: her redemption has been interesting.

#4. The Great and Powerful Trixie

And here we have a truly flawed character, whose short-comings are what make her so irresistibly adorable: The Great and Powerful The Humble and Penitent Trixie!

Right from the start, the self-proclaimed Great and Powerful Trixie constantly boasts that she’s the best around, but because the world around her seems to inevitably prove her wrong, or at the very least roll its eyes, her lack of self-awareness is… well, kinda endearing.

Her ego-driven claims aren’t taken seriously enough to be annoying—everyone seems to just shake their head at her—so that her continual drive to entertain and prove her over-evaluated self-worth is just fun to watch. There’s something adorably pathetic about that.

Which is why I think there’s a little bit of a lovable loser vibe to Trixie. Just a bit. Something about how she lives in her wagon, trips running away at the end of Magic Duel, or continually finds herself second to Twilight—I don’t know. I think there’s something about the fact that she’s so self-absorbed and not really aware of it that seems immature, but in a cute way. Kinda like a pouty, spoiled child, without ever crossing into irritating brat territory.

Not to say she’s too immature or incapable of growth. In fact, that’s when she gets even cuter! The line “Let’s be great and powerful together” is so ridiculously cute that I still don’t know what to do with myself. Even more than Twilight’s reluctant, but still warm accepting of Trixie’s apology (I always love how Twilight legitimately looks like she wants to tell Trixie no for a second), this was her big moment of character growth: realizing how much Starlight meant to her.

She gone from a pitiable character who seemed like they were too narcissistic to ever change, to someone who would go to the ends of Equestria and back to support a friend. Now that’s a redemption!

#3. Discord

Speaking of, ‘beyond hope.’ Here’s a villain no one particularly expected to turn good. This was before most of these baddies got a second chance, too, so a redemption for a villain this beloved was a pretty big deal.

Especially because Discord was such a delightfully evil villain. He had so much fun with it and appreciated his own chaos so deeply that it was hard not to love to hate the guy. Or just love to love him!

So, like a lot of the contenders on this list, Discord’s redemption felt a bit rushed. The dude was so into causing disharmony and so infinitely powerful that he can snap most any problem away, not to mention being thousands of years old—seems like you could expand on his redemption for a whole season, if this were a serial show.

But all the things that made the initial moment of redemption feel rushed later were addressed in Discord’s backslide into being evil, which where his redemption really shows it’s value.

That whispered line delivery when Discord realizes he actually trusted Tirek to be his friend is so wonderful. And that moment (and his whole story in that two-parter) compliments another from the Luna and Discord Friends Forever comic. I bring this up too much, I think, but only because it’s one of the greatest moments of character development and commentary the comics have to offer, in my mind:

Discord feeling as though it’s inevitable that he’ll hurt the ones he cares about is a bit heart-wrenching. Until, of course, you realize Luna’s right: there’s more to what happened with Triek than just a backslide.

It’s a bit ironic. Here Discord’s afraid that there’s no stopping himself from eventually returning to his evil ways, but in fact, we saw that once he started caring about Fluttershy and the rest, he inevitably looked for friendship. Even if it was in the wrong place at the time.

Discord’s learning to let himself care about ponies. He can never fully change his chaotic, trouble-making nature, but he’s so extremely new to relationships. It really is like teaching a sociopath how to love, except less grim, because Discord is actually capable of learning. Slowly, and with baby-steps.

And learn he does. By the time we get to the season six finale, he will tear apart the fabric of reality (or in this case, go on an adventure where he can’t use magic) to make sure Fluttershy’s safe.

Reformed Discord has been a round longer than the evil Discord was in terms of screen-time, but his has always been an arc centered on trust. Fluttershy trusting him when he didn’t deserve it. Twilight and the girls constantly being skeptical, and Discord constantly giving them reasons to be skeptical. Even Discord struggling to trust himself, if this comic is to be believed.

But in fact, the point has never been to change Discord completely. After all, we as an audience fell in love with his mischievous nature, and delight whenever we get to see it pop up in fun ways. So, while he hasn’t changed in terms of his chaos, we can trust that he’s changed where it counts.

#2. Sunset Shimmer

Oh, pardon me. My bias is showing. I really love Sunset. For some reason, over the past year I became especially attached to her and now she tops my favourites list. It’s a problem (for my poor followers).

But, lucky for me, the fandom as a whole loves Sunset, too, so I can at least say there’s actual reasons to praise her redemption arc, instead of just shoving who I like at the top.

In the interest of keeping my bias to a minimum here, we’ll start by admitting that in the first Equestria Girls movie, Sunset was a really flat character. Pretty stereotypical, outside of an intriguing backstory that was unfortunately relegated to just brief exposition at the time.

Her turn-around seemed quite sudden, and everyone around her was pretty willing to forgive her, it seemed. So, not many people were huge Sunset fans after the first one, but it’s downright shocking how well the writers developed a stereotype of a villain in hindsight!

What I love most about Sunset’s arc is how it builds and builds. Each movie builds off the last, to the point that it feels like there’s a natural flow to her development.

Like, Rainbow Rocks is all about her guilt and the continuing distance between her and her new friends (and the school at large, of course). You can tell she’s really been humbled, which is both endearing and a great story-beat towards the end, where she finally realizes she has to speak up even though she’s not experienced in friendship.

Then there’s Friendship Games, where Sunset’s noticeably closer to the girls and is even the one they look to for advice. Now that’s she’s grown closer to them, though, she’s more protective, and we get to see that her anger problems didn’t just vanish when she was reformed. She’s also instrumental in giving Sci-Twi another chance because of how she’s grown since she was given her second chance.

And in Legend of Everfree, she not only takes on the mentor role, but demonstrates that she learned not to let her protectiveness blind her to people’s feelings. Plus, she’s just a bit goofier, and I think that just goes to show that she’s happier and more secure in her friendships. A healthier person overall.

Sunset’s not perfect even though she’s continually driven to improve herself, and I think more than anything, that’s what makes her such a fan-favourite. Her on-going struggles to be better.

#1. Princess Luna

Well, I think we all saw this one coming, but what can I say? She’s earned it.

The story of Nightmare Moon is like a classical tragedy, in a number of ways. The story of a hero whose hubris leads them to their own, often ironic, downfall. In Luna’s case, a deep, unrelenting loneliness spawned a jealousy and pride that would lead her to becoming Nightmare Moon—which isolated her on the moon for a 1000 years.

From that simple, yet powerful starting point, we start our series and our first ever redemption. It really did set the tone for the reformations to come, didn’t it? At the time, it was easy to accept that rainbow lasers had the power to instantly make a character good and that everyone around said character could forgive them on the spot.

Nightmare Moon and Luna were different entities, but it still didn’t change the fact that it was her fault.

But, like a lot of the redemptions to follow, Luna truly earned that forgiveness later.

By teaching and supporting others through her dream-walking, by adjusting to a time-period 1000 years ahead of the one she came from and learning to have fun with her subjects, and by letting go of her guilt and pain before it caused her to make the same mistake again, with the Tantabus.

By the very nature of being the less beloved, depressed, nocturnal sibling, she was bound to get some love (everyone loves an underdog, right?), but Princess Luna’s growth set the standard for what can be done with a redemption arc. And after all the stories we’ve gotten since, I for one am glad she got a second chance.

Want some MLP editorials? I’ve got the full list over here, and links to the most recent three right here for you:

IDW Comics, Top 10 Cutest Families, and Derpy Editorial

Year of the Pony

Header Image Only Possible Because of…

Nightmare Moon’s Castle by Drakizora Starlight Glimmer by DerAtrox Trixie by Reginault Gilda by AwesomeLuna Sunset by 8-Notes Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon by DashieSparkle Thorax by DashieSparkle Discord by DashieSparkle Princess Luna by DashieSparkle

A whole flock of talented vector artists! Go love them all, they all deserve it! And another special shout out to WatchPony and their awesome videos. They’re the real kings and queens of top 10s for MLP!

I Wanna Get Better

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panpanpanini · 6 years

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Thoughts on MLP The Movie: Unpopular Opinion Edition

(I made a small post about this a few weeks ago, closer to when the movie premiered, but now that the hype has kind of fizzled out I thought I’d take the time to fuss more in-depth.)

So... I really thought the MLP movie was bad. Terrible. I had sooo many problems with it, so where do I start?

Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD!!

My two biggest complaints are:

1) The movie didn’t hold up in terms of quality-- nevermind MLP expectations, it was just a bad movie in general.

2) Target demographic was noticeably shifted (downwards), especially when compared to the show.

Let me start by saying I’m not at all notorious even among friends for being this grouchy, self-elevated, overreaching entertainment critic/analyst. I can enjoy most things at face value, ie. MLP. I despise fanaticism (not fandom, fanaticism), and I’m long past the mindset that if I like something, I have to be blindly uncritical of it.

Please also note that I have not read the movie prequels or supporting media, and I went into this movie with only limited knowledge of those materials.

*deep breath*

(1) So, starting from the top: “It was just a bad movie in general.”

Visually, the movie barely held up for me. Anyone who’s even had a basic flash animation class knows about this thing called ‘motion tweening:’ it’s an optimized process for creating movement, with which you can set a path for objects to move and deform as opposed to painstakingly animating each frame one by one. It’s a much quicker process, but the (immediate) result often looks way more mechanical than its traditional counterpart and can often come off as... soulless, or even lazy. It was unbelievably easy to notice this throughout the movie and it was a huge distraction for me.

You can more easily see what I’m talking about here.

As a side note, I was never really on board with the ToonBoom style from the get-go; I eventually got used to it, but I was never able to totally immerse myself in it-- the whole tweening thing just cemented my dislike for it.

Continuing my comments on style, the new character designs were interesting, but... so many of them felt too disconnected from established MLP universe conventions. In fact, the only ones I could only get on board with were the hippogriffs (with a preference towards their seapony forms). My biggest problem with them has to lay in the fact that nearly all of the new characters-- background and supporting-- were bipedal, when in-show nearly every new race introduced has been on all fours like our titular ponies... and to add insult to injury, so many of them had hands! Their designs just felt too distant for me to connect that they live in the same world as our pony heroes.

Note: I realize most of these creatures inhabit lands self-defined by Celestia to be ‘beyond Equestria,’ but that doesn’t dismiss that they still felt like they belonged in a movie not prefaced with ponies.

(Tempest is a little different. She was visually darker than most ponies than we’re used to seeing, and to the surprise of nobody the poster child for edgy pony OCs, complete with the perfect voice. Unfortunately, her intimidating demeanor was sometimes too much for me, as it’s much more *effectively* threatening than what we’re used to seeing in-show-- the closest being the Shadow Pony in the S7 finale.)

On a more positive note, I really enjoyed the new environments. Just the fact that we had new locations to begin with was endearing already, but unlike a lot of the other stuff (see above) they were on par with what I was expecting from MLP on the big screen. I seriously think the environments had more character/place in the MLP universe than most of the (we’ll call them NPCs) NPCs that occupied them.

Speaking of character, I can forego most of what I’ve talked about above in lieu of a good story (spoilers: the story wasn’t even all that fresh, it was predictable and full of classic kid’s movies tropes). What I can’t ignore is blatant out-of-character writing.

“But Salt Mom, if you hate out-of-character writing, why are you still watching the show post-season five?” -Most Starlight Glimmer Opposition

As I mentioned at the start, I still enjoy the show at face value. We’re seven seasons in; our beloved ponies have seen some noticeable character development over the years, which is what some people (perhaps those ruled by nostalgia for the earlier feel of the show) like to label ‘out-of-character writing.’ But the changes are justified by their development, which is why I don’t see it that way. The movie, however, seems to completely forego character development and reduces them to (at times, vapid) caricatures of themselves and the out of character writing is now completely obvious to someone like me who doesn’t typically enjoy ponies through heavy analysis.

Pinkie was by far the most glaring. Pinkie is already one of my least favorite ponies, so maybe I’m biased here, but she was for the most part written as comic relief. She wasn’t a pony Grubber-- she did play the part of ‘voice of reason’ in the climax with Twilight-- but she had an irritating tendency to completely downplay the seriousness of their situation, as they all did (she was just the most obvious, second being tied between Dash and Rarity). Since when have they all been so naive? Except for Twilight, all our heroes had minimal speaking roles (and even more damning, speaking roles with substance), most notably Fluttershy.

Other problems included the princesses (once again) being victims of weak writing-- they’ve been proven to be capable of putting up more of a fight than we were shown, jeez!-- for the sake of putting the Mane 6 in the spotlight, probably something some people would call ‘forced progression’ (related: bad pacing).

... Which leads into the movie’s general issue with logic.

OH BOY. I had so many issues with the movie logic. As mentioned before... the ponies’ general naivety, their blatant disregard for the grim nature of their situation... Capper betrays them, doesn’t explain his reasons, doesn’t get a proper chance to apologize, and our ponies are totally cool with him by the falling action sequence of the movie? Celaeno’s crew (and similarly, the seaponies) is swayed into changing allegiances with a simple, three-minute song? The Mane 6 add six or so characters to their posse and suddenly it’s possible to take back Canterlot, after being overwhelmed so easily in the beginning, when the princesses weren’t yet turned to stone? Really? How could Tempest-- a pony who comes off as smarter than the rest-- be so desperate to have her horn back that she couldn’t foresee the Storm King’s betrayal?

*angry flailing motions*

In summary: the animation was mechanical, character designs suffered from a serious disconnect with established MLP canon, and everything from logic to pacing to character behavior suffered from bad, trope-y writing.

---

(2) “The movie demographic was shifted noticeably.”

(A lot of what I’ve addressed above can also be applied to this section of grievances.)

Very few times have I watched anything in general and walked away feeling like a real dumbass. This was one of those times. Everything from the humor, the songs, the logic (see above)... it all came together to make me feel dumbed down and like a huge moron for even buying a ticket. Overall, it was extremely apparent to me that they’d knocked the target demographic down a few years, and that the movie was made with younger kids-- rather than families as a whole-- in mind.

The brand of ‘humor’ (I use that term loosely) employed by the movie has to be the cringiest one in the book. It was clear that it was the most vanilla one they could have gotten away with and I found myself rolling my eyes a lot because honestly, none of it was funny at all. Grubber was purely on the screen for comic relief (we literally don’t see him again after the finale); Pinkie’s naivety was obviously supposed to be funny, as were Rarity’s trademark dramaticisms-- They got close sometimes to pulling a laugh, but then it just... fell short and wound up feeling more pathetic and forced than anything. Was it even humorous to the kids?

I laughed literally once during the entire movie, and that was at a very transparent marketing joke (perhaps not deliberate) made towards the beginning, after the Mane 6 fall from Canterlot and band together to decide how to proceed. They end up saying something to the effect of “hungry, hungry, hippos” as they’re brainstorming and I chuckled because... Hungry Hungry Hippos is also a Hasbro property.

I thought I might be able to find solace in some of the songs-- I’d heard SIA’s contribution in the days leading up to the movie and thoughts it was a decent tune-- but alas... They turned out to be completely vapid, with the sole exception of Tempest’s song. Compared to the extensive library of songs we’ve gotten in the show, the lyrics and melodies we got in the movie were neither clever nor catchy (I recall thinking that rhyming schemes were nearly non-existent) and I found myself waiting with bated breath until they were over. “Time to be awesome?” Blegh. Completely forgettable.

IDK. Maybe I need to see the movie again to confirm my position with it; after all, I had already decided I didn’t really like it before the end of the first act. For the better part of a year I couldn’t get away from the hype surrounding MLP The Movie, but when I finally saw it it didn’t deliver on the same level and ended up being a huge let-down. It was lacking in a lot of things standard to its TV-counterpart, including what makes the in-show universe so appealing (lore, memorable songs, and magic), and if they end up putting out a sequel I hope it can bounce back in the same way EQG2 built on the shortcomings of its predecessor.

That’s all I’ve got. If you’ve managed to get this far, thanks for reading. ✌

(Bonus) Things I would have liked to see: an entire pirate fleet (instead of a single crew); more Capper and time spent in Klugetown; more Storm King and the land he comes from; the hippogriffs actually doing something (isn’t Queen Novo supposed to be friends with Celestia?) to contribute to the finale, even if it was them swooping in just before the final fight.

#mlp #mlp the movie #thoughts #unpopular opinion #review

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aboutthemponies · 7 years

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Rainbow Dash as a Symbol of the Fandom

If you’ve ever taken a course in literature, you’ve probably heard the dreaded s-word before. Symbols, hidden meaning disguised as objects, locations, and characters, sometimes obvious, sometimes obscure, but always present in great works of literature. While MLP may not be such a work, it is obvious that symbolism is present in MLP. The elements of harmony (laughter, kindness, honesty, loyalty, generosity, and magic) are directly embodied not in the gemstones of the show’s premier, but of the very characters that wore them. This relation between pony and abstract idea has been insisted upon so often during those first seasons that it’s a core aspect of the show, and perhaps forgotten when we look elsewhere for the show’s meaning.

But on a more debatable note, are there any symbols present in our fandom and what might they mean? Having spent as much time as I have in the fandom, it is through observation that I’ve come to realize that there is such a symbol, and it is Rainbow Dash herself. While all of the main characters in FiM receive a fair amount of love, Rainbow Dash gets an especially high dose. This combined with the fact that her image is frequent paired with the word brony and the fandom’s obsession with the phrase “20% cooler” are all indicators that Rainbow Dash may represent more than just herself, but bronykind in general.

Choosing Rainbow Dash, intentionally or not, as a symbol of the fandom makes sense when compared to choosing another member of the Mane6. Although the show revolves around Twilight Sparkle, Twilight Sparkle isn’t exactly your typical pony. She’s a very strong student, a book worm of sorts, and while there are fans who can relate to that quite well, it’s not a good fit for a fandom of mostly non-intellectuals. This leaves us with the rest of the Mane 6 for consideration, though given the introvert-extrovert foil of Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, neither of these two ponies alone fit the bill. While Pinkie Pie matches the excitement and energy many of us have for the show, there are many of the quieter types in the fandom who relate much more with Fluttershy. This leaves AJ, Rarity, and Rainbow as choices. AJ runs into a similar problem as Twilight Sparkle, as much of her character is derived from her role at Sweet Apple Acres. Like with Twilight, I’m very sure there are some who share much in common with Applejack, but the dependable and honest agrarian leader isn’t the most fitting trope for a modern society.

This leaves us between Rarity and Rainbow Dash, both of which appear to fit quite well. Given the devotion this fandom has for creating art, music, etc, describing the typical brony as an artist (or more generally, art enthusiast) like Rarity is pretty spot on. Rarity’s melodramatic outbursts also match the fandom’s reaction to drama, and her acute attention to detail aligns with the fandom’s obsession over tiny aspects of the show. However, it is unlikely that a fandom compromised of many young-adult males will rejoice as symbolizing themselves as the most white, girly, unicorn in the show. Instead, the fandom has chosen the most masculine of the Mane6, Rainbow Dash, whose passion and enthusiasm for flying and the Wonderbolts is comparable to the fandom’s love for the show. The similarities do not end there though; Rainbow Dash’s bright colors set her apart from the other ponies in a way that our fandom’s bright colored avatars, t-shirts, cosplays, conventions, etc. set our fandom apart from others. I’d also say the attitude of most fans is not that of a radical group intentionally subverting norms by liking a TV show made for little girls, but rather an initial attitude of “This show is so AWESOME!” later followed by “Yeah, the show’s pretty cool,” both of which mirror dialogue Rainbow Dash says in the show.

But unless you’re in complete adoration of Rainbow Dash, you’re probably also aware that Rainbow Dash has many downfalls. Although she’s considered to be the element of loyalty, there have been just as many instances where she defects rather than be loyal (she traded Fluttershy for a book, she trained with the Wonderbolts rather than her own team, et cetera). She also tends to be the most clueless of the mane 6 in terms of reading her friends’ emotions and feelings, and there’s many moments when you wonder if she actually thinks (studying with Twilight for the Wonderbolts Reserves test, most of “May the Best Pet win,” et cetera). This isn’t to say that Rainbow Dash is a bad character or an unlikeable pony, it’s just that she isn’t the pony to turn to for intellectual matters and deep emotional support/understanding.

Continuing to think of Rainbow Dash as a symbol of the fandom begs the question if the fandom might have the same flaws that she does. Once again, I don’t find the typical fan to be as cerebral as Twilight Sparkle. Sure there’s definitely a few fans out there like that, but there’s also the drama, the emotionally driven squabble, which seems to dominate the fandom more than crystal clear logic. And in that squabble, it is more difficult to reach out and understand other fans on that emotional level.

But perhaps the most astute connection to be wary of between fandom and Rainbow Dash in my eyes is in the preoccupation both have with being cool, because if there’s one thing Rainbow Dash tries to be, it is cool. From her use of the phrase “chillax,” to her sunglasses, to the phrase “it needs to be twenty percent cooler,” there’s hardly anything Rainbow Dash does that doesn’t reflect her desire to be cool. The fandom at large also acts this way: with its endless pony memes and the insertion of pony into other popular works, the fandom actively keeps up with the latest internet fads, which in some sense is precisely what coolness is. This might not seem destructive, but keep in mind that something which is cool in the moment is often not in the future, and when something is no longer cool, what then? Especially now past the “peak” of the fandom in 2012, the phase when MLP was cool has been over for quite a while, so trying to play the cool game could be more harmful than not.

Anyways, that’s a lot of ideas, many of which could use more elaboration and many of which may be completely opposite of what you, the reader, or others in the fandom experience. After all, to symbolize something as large as the fandom down to a single character is bound to produce some discrepancies and simplifications. To any interested readers, let me know what you think of the fandom’s attachment to Rainbow Dash. Is it nothing more than a majority thinking that she’s best pony, or is there a deeper connection?

#mlp:fim #brony

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glapplebloom · 5 years

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My review on Fluttershy’s vacation to the Dragon Lands.

Before the review, I would like to reveal that I have the following episodes for the rest of the first half of the season in english and downloaded. Why? Because these were not leaked, they were released early. But do not worry, I will still wait till after the episode airs on America before review. Doing so just gives me more time to make content.

Smolder has to go away for a week because she is worried about her brother. Twilight is worried since she plans on going alone. But Spike is there to volunteer to help her since this could be considered a Kindness Field Trip. So it looks like Spike and Smolder are going to go on a trip alone... Together...

Until Smolder reveals its Baby Dragon Hatching Season. Fluttershy’s fears of Dragons is taken out Old Yeller style so she can see a whole bunch of Baby Dragons being born. As they go there, Smolder tells Spike that her brother is just like him. Spike waits at her brother’s hangout while Smolder tries to find him and Fluttershy tries to find the Dragon Eggs.

Fluttershy finds them and also finds Dragon Lord Ember. This is her first time as Dragon Lord taking care of the eggs and already there is a problem. They should have hatched by now but they haven’t. Fluttershy tries her best to help, but because of her lack of knowledge she doesn’t figure out why they aren’t.

With Spike, Garble and friends show up to tease him. Luckily it stops when Smolder arrives. Good news: she found her sensitive brother that she’s here to cheer up. Bad news: its Garble. So this episode is basically trying to redeem Garble like how they redeemed Diamond Tiara.

Like Diamond Tiara, they’re trying to make you forget all the past episodes to get this redemption. Unlike Diamond Tiara, the episode doesn’t really focus on doing that. By the time Diamond Tiara sings a song that shows a different side to her that we can sympathize with, Garble is still acting like the jerk we know him as. While he gets embarrassed when the others tease him, nothing really makes us want to see him succeed. Despite Spike’s best effort to being the bigger person, Garble still acts like a jerk.

Since they both have difficulty dealing with their subject, the two exchange problems. Spike goes to see what’s up with the Dragon Eggs while Fluttershy tries to get through Garble’s thick skull. We’ve seen her do it and even stop the four from throwing lava at Spike.

Spike arrives and figures out the problem fast: the Hatching Lands aren’t as hot as they’re supposed to be. With Ember’s inexperience and Fluttershy’s focus on the eggs, none of them noticed the ground they’re on isn’t hot enough. That’s because a couple of Garble’s friends unknowingly been taking lava from there. And if they don’t find a way to heat them up, they may never hatch.

Meanwhile Fluttershy finds the secret behind Garble: he’s a Beatnik... They’re like a cousin to hippies, so still not winning me over. But Fluttershy seems to be though as she pretty much verbally beats him down to realize Spike is tougher than him. That’s when A and B plot merge to become one.

Every Dragon available has to breathe fire but its just not hot enough. But Garble realizes (thanks to Spike and a pre-establishing earlier in the episode) that Dragon Fire gets hotter when they’re laughing. So he does his Beatniking in public to get them to do so and it works.

So it ends with Garble getting respected and others wanting to learn his thing (first being Ember) and Fluttershy finally seeing the Baby Dragons hatch. Overall, I enjoyed half of this episode. The Dragon Egg Plot was so cute to see the baby talk from Fluttershy, the attempt at such from Ember, and the cleverness of Spike for figuring it out. Sadly, Garble’s side is the side I did not enjoy.

Unlike Diamond Tiara, we don’t see a want to change until near the end. And unlike Diamond Tiara, Garble just gets rewarded for doing something he hid publicly once. Compare that to Diamond Tiara’s face turn. There was an internal struggle and even after proving it she worked to show she has changed. Garble never even says sorry to Spike (he did say thank you). So unlike Diamond Tiara, Garble is still a LONG way for me to think otherwise. And with the series ending, we may not get to see it.

Despite that, the episode remains the same. I better see him at least in the finale to help Spike.

#mlp review #season 9 #Green Lantern Apple Bloom

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marvelandponder · 7 years

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Seems Like the Answer Should be No

I want to start this off by repeating something I’ve already said on my blog at various points: most of the time Rainbow Dash has terrible self-esteem. In that, she either has too much or too little. It’s kind of a problem.

So the goal, here, being healthy self-love, doesn’t necessarily mean building up kids to be a bunch of tiny ego-maniacs. If done right, I’m willing to bet it could do some good.

If for no one else, then for Rainbow Dash.

And, I mean, as a member of the generation who grew up with constant self-esteem campaigns and also has to face criticism for being too self-centered (go figure), I know teaching kids how to love themselves a healthy amount is notoriously complicated.

So, what is healthy self-love and how can Rainbow Dash finally achieve it long-term, thereby teaching the kiddos how to do the thing?

You know what time it is.

Friendship is Self-Love

Our first goal is to find a way to teach kids self-love in a nuanced, balanced way. Which... admittedly would be tricky for an adult show not to oversimplify, let alone a kids’ show that necessarily has to simplify things to some degree.

So, when I say this it’s something you’ve heard before and yes, it’s cheesy in the extreme: treat yourself like you would your best friend.

Honestly, it’s the perfect message for Friendship is Magic, for very obvious reasons. This show is all about well-developed relationships, so coming from this source, it doesn’t just mean ‘be nice and compliment yourself.’

It means develop a deep respect for yourself. It means be loving enough to build yourself up, but also be able to give yourself a reality check when you need one---be supportive. It even means to have a sense of humour about yourself where appropriate, as the girls aren’t afraid to poke some well-meaning fun at each other every now and then (but note that humour is never really mean-spirited).

It means treat yourself how the mane six treat each other, in everything that means.

Every element that makes up harmony---Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty, Honesty, and Friendship---is extremely useful in loving yourself to a healthy degree, and it gets more nuanced the more lessons you take from the show and reinterpret. Because, perhaps just like Friendship, self-love is just another kind of Harmony: being in harmony with yourself.

And it gets even better when you add in characters like Sunset Shimmer and Starlight, who’ve had to struggle forgive and trust themselves, respectively. And going back to the friendship metaphor, Discord, who’s had a backslide since reforming but was forgiven anyway because he recognized the error of his ways. In fact, most characters who got a second chance only deserved that second chance just because they realized how much they messed up (at the time, they hadn’t done much to earn it, and only proved that judgement right in hindsight)---which is an equally powerful lesson when it comes to forgiving yourself.

By invoking lessons from the show’s past to teach this new lesson, we get to see how complex self-love really is. It helps us see pass the cheesy sentiment to the real meaning of the phrase. Treating yourself like a best-friend comes with just as many lessons as friendship itself does.

Well, that’s a fine goal, you say, but how do you plan on achieving that self-love? That’s where Rainbow Dash comes back in.

Is Rainbow Dash Rainbow Dash Without a Big Ego?

Here’s something I kind of touched on in my recent Twilight editorial. When a character develops past their defining trait(s), well, are they still the same character?

Thankfully, we already have an answer: Fluttershy!

Sure, our girl’s still introverted and quiet, but shy? Not quite. I went over how I think Fluttershy’s developed extremely well in recent seasons in that link up there, and what strikes me is how much Fluttershy still feels like herself since developing, just a healthier, more mature version of herself.

She’s still a complex character with flaws, but she’s learned to be comfortable with herself and stand up for her own feelings.

And frankly, at this point I think we could have Fluttershy teach Rainbow Dash about self-love.

The two of them have often be paired together (I mean, not just in the shipping sense) because of the obvious and stark contrasts between them. One of those contrasts being how Fluttershy valued herself so little, and Rainbow seemed to value herself too much.

Well, seemed to.

Before I dive down this rabbit-hole, I’d be remiss if I didn’t direct you to Azkre’s analysis of Rainbow Dash’s self-esteem, because I’m about to get to a number of the same conclusions they did, just through different means. It’s a good read, I totally recommend it.

Anyway, like I said at the top, Rainbow is a realistic portrayal of someone with an ego. It’s not just highs that are too high, but lows that are too low. It’s why I usually disagree with fans who would label Rainbow Dash as a narcissist (although, yeah, she’s close enough that I totally get the comparison).

Mainly, what separates Dash from this particular personality disorder is 1. Her empathy (the disorder is often characterized by a lack of empathy), and 2. She has massive insecurities that she tries to cover up with her ego.

For example, from as early as Read It and Weep which I still think should’ve been called Reading Rainbow, there was a hint that Rainbow’s insecure about her intelligence. At the episode’s end, instead of saying she thought reading was boring or just for lame ponies, she tells Twilight she “thought reading was only for smart ponies, like [Twilight].”

This comes back into play in Testing, Testing, 1,2,3, when we see this insecurity explained, as Dashie explains her show-bouty class-clowning prevented her from learning how to learn. And not only that, considering how schools normally teach and how Rainbow Dash actually learns, it seems like the school system itself gradually taught Rainbow she was “too dumb to learn anything.”

As a total aside, it interests me to think whether the class-clowning came first or the failing grades. Was there an order, or was this always just a perpetual cycle?

She then used her natural flying ability to define herself instead---a “world-class athlete” or a “future Wonderbolt.” She had to prove herself in a different way, and you can see that insecurity still there in how she has to brag to assert her worth.

I think her ego is genuine to some extent, don’t get me wrong. She can back-up most of her big claims, so it’s not hard for her to genuinely believe she is the best flyer in Equestria or just all-around awesome.

But it goes to show what a complex character Rainbow Dash actually is. She’s not just a dreamer who simultaneously wants praise and to inspire others, she’s insecure and big-headed.

So, back to our point. How do we teach Rainbow Dash healthy self-love? Well, I think we have to attack this from both sides.

Rainbow Dash has slowly been learning humility. For example, her entrance into the Wonderbolts marked a turning point in her professional career: instead of striving to stand-out in hopes of gaining entrance to the Wonderbolts, she now has to learn how to fit-in and work with them as a team.

She’s learning to get a healthier amount of praise and spotlight, I think, and even learning to accept praise with humility. It was legitimately exciting for me, as a Rainbow Dash fan, to see Quibble Pants and Spitfire (in Rarity Investigates) praise her, and more importantly, to see Rainbow Dash respond by accepting these compliments without going too far.

But, that’s only half of the story.

I do believe Rainbow’s lessons in humility and focusing more on others are extremely important to her development, but I also think we have to tackle her insecurities if we’re ever going to get her to stop bragging in excess.

And here’s Fluttershy’s role. Back in Hurricane Fluttershy, Rainbow helped to boost Fluttershy up in the face of adversity and the memories of Fluttershy’s childhood bullies. Dash needs something similar from Shy. With Fluttershy’s help, she needs to learn how to stop seeking approval from external sources so much, and instead be satisfied giving that approval to herself.

Sounds like just being egotistic when I put it that way, but what I really mean is times like in 28 Pranks Later, Newbie Dash, and some of the Mysterious Mare-do-Well.

There are times when humility is the thing that would stop her from bragging (like the first half of Mare-Do-Well, when she’s unopposed), but then there’s times like these where Rainbow Dash’s bragging and impulsive actions are to impress ponies for the sole reason of proving herself to them.

Just like Fluttershy, who developed performance anxiety because of the teasing she endured, there’s still a part of Rainbow Dash who’s that little filly trying to shout over the bullies tearing her down. To some degree, her ego is a coping mechanism.

Which is why she needs to learn to care less about what others think of her, and more about what she thinks of herself.

Fluttershy’s had to learn this lesson for other reasons and could be a great teacher in helping Dash to learn to be her own best friend. Someone who can support herself and keep herself in check, in addition to all the other lessons I talked about before.

And you know, Rainbow Dash is capable of learning this lesson. Hell, she taught it a different version of it to Scootaloo when she had doubts. Rainbow Dash thankfully never expects Scootaloo to live up to her example, and instead teaches her to avoid comparing herself to others who can fly.

So, what does a healthy, but still complex Rainbow Dash look like? Well, Silver Quill just put out an awesome video on Rainbow’s archetype (go watch, it’s great), and among other things, he points out Rainbow’s drive to meet challenges. To overcome the impossible.

I don’t think Rainbow Dash would have to lose that drive to be a more humble, well-balanced character, and I have to think she’ll always have that confident pizzazz of hers. Just... to a healthier, less obnoxious degree. And to be clear, she still has plenty of lessons to learn (no one ever stops learning), like balancing her impulsiveness with some manner of fore-thought, so she’s not ever going to be perfect. Just more mature.

So, with any luck, maybe by the time Rainbow Dash makes Captain of the Wonderbolts, she’ll be humble, considerate, and self-assured enough for the job. Hopefully, we can learn with her.

That’s all, folks! But, I’ve done other stuff, if you liked this editorial. Here’s a link to all the editorials, and here’s the last three Year of the Pony posts, so you don’t have to look far!

Rainbow Dash Editorial, Spike Editorial, and Design and Animation Analysis

Year of the Pony

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