MLP:FiM Megathread: Does anyone even watch this show anymore edition

[MJN SEIFER]

That hug at the end melted my heart. In fact I think it's worthy of making the thread huge, hmmm?


http://i.imgur.com/FQR7k.png
http://i.imgur.com/dmWD6.png
http://i.imgur.com/HoMjo.png
http://i.imgur.com/wwPp7.png
http://i.imgur.com/Q3Jng.png
http://i.imgur.com/zfupC.png


Saving myself for Sunday as always with the new episode. But two Dash episodes in a row? Hopefully this one will also put her in her better developed "confident but nice" light, in which case... two GOOD ones in a row, oh mannnn :love: First off; epic "awwwwwwwwwwww" at those images. ^_^

Secondly I also hope that we get some good Dashie development in this episode. Like I keep saying she wasn't really acting "correctly" in my eyes this season - Sleepless in Ponyville being an example as to how she should act based on her current stage of development in my opinion. The last time she got two episode in a row, she was accused of being an overused pony - though that may have been because a lot of people hated one of those episodes (even though I loved it).

Finaly: If anyone's interested I have a strong feeling that if it's the academy episode next then this episode may decide for me all for one and one for all, on whether my fanseries is going to be the future of FIM or an alternative future (though I guess as it's fanon and not canon, it's already an alternative future?) Hope people don't mind me mentioning that. EDIT: Saw the episode, looks like my fanseries can still fit into the timeline - for now.

[Cloudane]

Seen the latest, no complaints whatsoever I may even have her as my favourite again, but… *sees kind loving Flutters sad eyes*… fine, JOINT favourite :D

Busy day for Ashleigh Ball, basically voicing everyone there. Caught her channelling AJ a little bit when she was saying something like "y'sure?" to spinning the spinny thing to max speed :P

[NeoCracker]

You know, I came into this thread from the Lounge at first thinking it was about the British Bulldog, and am relieved to know nothing actually happened to him, and that this is just the Pony thread.

I am however furious at however the smurf changed it to this and worried me for no god damn reason! :mad2:

Edit: And to top it all off, apperently I was thinking of the entirely wrong wrestler anyway, so now not only am I remeinded of British Bulldog, but I was worried about

[Del Murder]

^ Same thing happened to me. :mad2: So I am going to make it a BB thread anyway.

One of my favorite wrestling matches of all time is the British Bulldog versus Bret Hart for the Intercontinental Championship. Some great technical wrestling.

EDIT: And now searching wiki I find that the Bulldog died in 2002. RIP man. One of the great IC champions of that era. :(

[NeoCracker]

^ Same thing happened to me. :mad2: So I am going to make it a BB thread anyway.

One of my favorite wrestling matches of all time is the British Bulldog versus Bret Hart for the Intercontinental Championship. Some great technical wrestling.

EDIT: And now searching wiki I find that the Bulldog died in 2002. RIP man. One of the great IC champions of that era. :(

I kind of feel bad for one of my favorite matches being Undertaker Vs. Mankind, not because of that match itself, but because of how much it fucked up Mick Foley.

[Tigmafuzz]

OH SWEET PONY WRESTLING THREAD

[Slothy]

I kind of feel bad for one of my favorite matches being Undertaker Vs. Mankind, not because of that match itself, but because of how much it fucked up Mick Foley.

To be fair, there was a lot more that fucked up Mick Foley than just that Hell in the Cell match. That man had probably more dedication to putting on an entertaining show at the expense of his own body than any other wrestler I can think of. Also, thanks for confusing me with the new thread title. I thought there was an actual thread about wrestling that got up to 80+ pages without me noticing for a minute.

[NeoCracker]

I kind of feel bad for one of my favorite matches being Undertaker Vs. Mankind, not because of that match itself, but because of how much it fucked up Mick Foley.

To be fair, there was a lot more that fucked up Mick Foley than just that Hell in the Cell match. That man had probably more dedication to putting on an entertaining show at the expense of his own body than any other wrestler I can think of. Also, thanks for confusing me with the new thread title. I thought there was an actual thread about wrestling that got up to 80+ pages without me noticing for a minute.

True, but having read his books, he explains why this match in particular screwed him up more then the others.

The thing that did it was the chokeslam on the top of the cage. When Foley went through, that wasn't suppose to happen. He took that fall from the top of the cage to the ring full unprepared.

[MJN SEIFER]

Would it be disrespectful to say anything pony related in this thread now? I'm a little lost as to if this is a joke or not, considering this person is dead, so it may be in respect for him, and I don't want to disrespect the dead. Or am I supposed to create a new pony thread or something?

[Tigmafuzz]

Would it be disrespectful to say anything pony related in this thread now? I'm a little lost as to if this is a joke or not, considering this person is dead, so it may be in respect for him, and I don't want to disrespect the dead. Or am I supposed to create a new pony thread or something?

This is still the pony thread. I guess it's just also a wrestling thread now. Which I feel is totally acceptable :bigsmile:

[NeoCracker]

We totally need an episode where Rainbow Dash does the Hulk Hogan 'I can't hear you' pose.

[Agent Proto]

Doesn't she do a bunch of them in that episode in the second season?

[NeoCracker]

I don't recall. :"p

Also, the newest episode was pretty cool as well. At least it's starting to look up after the fifth episode. :p

[Cloudane]

I was pretty sure that Ashleigh Ball was voicing all of them (RD, Spitfire, Lightning Dust) and basically ended up talking to herself the whole episode :p Spitfire even channeled a bit of AJ at one point. IMDB disagrees with me though, I guess they were all just similar voices.

If there was any doubt before in the first place, RD is awesome again after the previous two episodes. I felt she needed them, and there they are :)

[MJN SEIFER]

If there was any doubt before in the first place, RD is awesome again after the previous two episodes. I felt she needed them, and there they are :) *very softly*: Yay...

I agree with you though, after her backwards development in the season 3 opening, she definitely needed to be sorted out, and be more like the Dashie I know, and she's definitely there again. Also here's a stupid little thing I've been wondering...

If someone was to set up a drinking game for My Little P0ny (which are thirteen words that I never thought would form a sentence) how would it actually be done. If it was to be done online, it could easily be done using a live chat like we did for the ponythons, but we would signal the drinking moments, as well as just chatting - I have taken part in a Final Destination drinking game this way, so I know it works.

I dunno if we'd ever do it, but I'm just floating it out there. I would assume if we ever did it, we'd have to limit ourselves to one season - at the very least.

Here's some suggestions for what could go on the list of drinking prompts - though I have no idea how much you have to drink for each one...


Drink whenever the main theme of My Little P0ny is played in anyway during the show itself (not the titles)
Drink whenever one of the main six ponies does something that matches their element.
Drink when one of the main six ponies does something that contradicts their element (though I may argue about Dashie in The Last Round Up)
Drink whenever Derpy is on screen.
If a character makes you go "awwww" then drink!
Drink if something that later became a meme happens or is referred to (e.g. Fluttertree/Scootachicken)
Drink if a reference to any of the previous My Little P0ny media is made.
Drink whenever Pinkie says something about partying.
Drink if any shipping-fodder (friendshipping or otherwise) is shown.
Drink whenever a pony makes that "squee" sound or whatever that's supposed to be.
Drink during any OOC moments for characters (be they explained or not).
Drink anytime "cupcakes" are mentioned (sorry, I had to...)
Drink during any fourth wall moments.
Drink any time a version of "My Little P0ny" is used in dialogue.
FINISH THEM if Derpy is ever referred to by name.


That's all I can think of for now... I would like more character specific ones if possible.

[Cloudane]

I'd be up for this!

We could probably use Livestream or something.


Of course, once all 6 are around as plushies we can have hugging games, whenever one of them does something adorable or sad, hug their plushie :3

[MJN SEIFER]

I'd be up for this!

We could probably use Livestream or something. Really, that would be awesome if we could do this. I won't be able to this weekend though, or next Friday (I dunno about next Saturday but I assume I'm okay) I assume it's more realistic to expect it on a weekend? If anyone can think of more prompts (and how much to actually drink during existing prompts) that would be awesome. Like I say, I'm trying to think of character specific promts as well - like maybe a drink whenever there's a joke about Fluttershy being the softest pony or something (like the "yay" scene, or her adorably feeble attempt at screaming).



Of course, once all 6 are around as plushies we can have hugging games, whenever one of them does something adorable or sad, hug their plushie :3 If I could become the owner of a Fluttershy plushie that would be the best thing ever. :love:. I'd also kind of like a Dashie plushie thanks to my favorite FIMfiction (yes, I know most people didn't like it...)

[Shlup]

Everyone's bitching about all the shit you're making them do, so you make them raise the barn you fucked up? Seriously, Applejack? And "raise this barn, raise this barn, 1 2 3 4"? Worst song ever.

Fuck this shit. It's bull! BULL!

[Cloudane]

Fridays are always best for me. But in the UK here, not sure where timezones fit in!


==

Hahaha. Oh AJ. But I enjoyed the ep :3
Dat baby AJ
Dat American Gothic reference on the wall :p

[NeoCracker]

Episode on a whole was rather meh. Granny Smith was pretty funny though, but god that was a stupid song.

[MJN SEIFER]

Everyone's bitching about all the trout you're making them do, so you make them raise the barn you smurfed up? Seriously, Applejack? And "raise this barn, raise this barn, 1 2 3 4"? Worst song ever.

smurf this trout. It's bull! BULL!


Episode on a whole was rather meh. Granny Smith was pretty funny though, but god that was a stupid song. I still liked it, but Applejack's previous two episodes where a lot better in my opinion. Ironically some AJ fans have accused her of being upstaged in her previous two episodes (which to me, she wasn't) and where hoping that she wouldn't be here - now this may just be me, but I was far more interested in the Apple Bloom/Babs scenes for some reason; isn't Babs starting her own version of the CMCs now or something? It's a storyline I'm interested in.

Yeah, the song wasn't the best (I appologise to those who liked it) but then again, I never liked barn dances - which do sound exactly like that.


Fridays are always best for me. But in the UK here, not sure where timezones fit in!


==

Hahaha. Oh AJ. But I enjoyed the ep :3
Dat baby AJ
Dat American Gothic reference on the wall :p Is the first remark about the drinking game, I'll see if I can do a Friday, but it won't be the coming one. I'll also need help with someone who's actually organized a ponython before (like Pike or Proto) so we'll see how we go. Hope it can be done though.

Also, I'm in the UK too, so we'll have to check the time zones.

Also, I think they showed the American Gothic picture before - I can remember someone who missed the joke thinking it was their parents or something, and needed to be corrected.

I "awwwww"ed at the baby Applejack though.

[Cloudane]

Yeah someone used to such things would be useful, I couldn't organise a pissup in a brewery :p

So they apparently did show that pic before.. I didn't notice it last time :)

[MJN SEIFER]

Yeah someone used to such things would be useful, I couldn't organise a pissup in a brewery :p

So they apparently did show that pic before.. I didn't notice it last time :) When I know what days I'm more avaliable I'll ask around. Of course if anyone here wants to jump in, or PM me about how to do it, I would appreciate it.

It's either to miss things in the background the first time. It's like when I was compiling my list of all the times they've alluded to pre-FIM and I noticed in one episode that the candle on Twilight's door looks like Pegasus-Twilight's cutie mark/symbol. I was going to list it for that episode, but then I double checked and found it was in since episode one.

Aproppos of nothing; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MLDLLn-kiI here is how I will celebrate christmas today.

[Tigmafuzz]

I want more Derpy pictures. This thread doesn't have enough Derpy pictures.

[MJN SEIFER]

I want more Derpy pictures. This thread doesn't have enough Derpy pictures.

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[Tigmafuzz]

It's a good start.

[Hollycat]

Dash looks like a serial rapist in the third picture.
Just http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQBMchilWQehv9G74jogKiJ6U2pOO7rzvjiiXU0Awbl_-ETjywlZwOPQkk

[Tigmafuzz]

Dash looks like a serial rapist

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[Aulayna]

http://i.imgur.com/YAw4V.jpg

For you all, courtesy of imgur.

[MJN SEIFER]

Overused meme is overused.

Also, is it just me, or are there some comments on YouTube that seem to be from people who don't like FIM (which is understandable) or at least people who don't want it to be the only MLP generation to be recognised (which it's not, and I agree with the others being recognised), but portray a lack of knowledge of the classic generations?

What I mean is (because try as I might, I can't think of a coherent way to word the above at all) they try to call people out for only liking Friendship is Magic (which they simply guess), but make errors themselves.

Examples include; a response to a comment in a My­ Lit­tle Po­ny Tales episode saying it seemed strange that they didn't call the dragon Spike this time by saying "Because this was made before Friendship is Magic" - even though there have been Spikes before Friendship is Magic and anyone who's even glanced at the old versions would know that. Another was on a a G1 episode - I think it was something like Cloud Castle Either way, it contains a pegasus named Twilight - as you can imagine someone left a comment saying that it looked strange that Twilight wasn't a unicorn, and once again someone replied by saying that "This is not Friendship is Magic". However, in the very first episode of G1 there is a unicorn Twilight (where do you think the FIM Twilight came from?) so that commenter could have easily have been referring to that one.

Sorry if this doesn't make any sense I'm not really articulating today...

[MJN SEIFER]

This is something I've been meaning to ask for a while; am I the only one who thinks that Everypony/Somepony/Anypony/Nopony is just an alternative, and that Everyone/Someone/Anyone/No one, and Everybody/Somebody/Anybody/Nobody does exist in the ponies' vocabulary?

I get that the "-pony" sufix is the most commonly used, but I fail to see what stops them using the other two occasionally; a pony calling another pony "someone" doesn't in any way stop them being ponies. So, I don't find it a mistake like everyone else seems to, and it's certainly not like when a pony says something like "It's out of my hands now" - that is a mistake, as ponies do not have hands, so they have humanized themselves. Where as saying "Everybody" does not in anyway scream out human like behavior.

[Cloudane]

I think that there's no logical reason not to use -one or -body as they're not even human specific. It's not like we say "everyhuman" or "anyman". I guess it's just put in there for fun, and they try to keep it consistently like that for fun.

Though you know the older series, they had humans in those right? Did they maybe use -one/body and -pony to differentiate between them and it's just a legacy they brought forward to FiM?

[MJN SEIFER]

I think that there's no logical reason not to use -one or -body as they're not even human specific. It's not like we say "everyhuman" or "anyman". I guess it's just put in there for fun, and they try to keep it consistently like that for fun.

Though you know the older series, they had humans in those right? Did they maybe use -one/body and -pony to differentiate between them and it's just a legacy they brought forward to FiM? That makes sense in context. Thanks /)

And yeah, G1 ponies had human characters, which I kind of liked at first.

[NeoCracker]

Finally caught up to episode 10.

Before 10, I'd really only liked, oddly, the Scootaloo episode. o_O

Huge Episode 10 Spoilers below.

10, however, leaves me a bit mystified. Firstly, we got a lot of great Discord Style humor, and it was kind of great hearing his line at the end.

However... It's Discord, and the way they 'Reformed him' was kind of cheesy. In addition, I don't really like the Idea of him being a good guy now. It means we aren't likely to see a real fight against Discord again, as well as any trouble Ponyville comes across could, arguably, be solved by Discord. I mean with him on their side, could any other threat to Equestria reasonably pose any threat anymore? At all? So Narritavely this makes no sense, and does nothing but remove the shows greatest Antagonist to date.

But still, the episode was pretty on about a lot of the jokes, and was legitimately amusing the whole time.

[MJN SEIFER]

Let's not go back to randomly changing the thread title please; especially if someone really has died - it's kind of in poor taste.


Finally caught up to episode 10.

Before 10, I'd really only liked, oddly, the Scootaloo episode. o_O Ironic considering the times we'd clashed about CMC episodes...

Huge Episode 10 Spoilers below.


10, however, leaves me a bit mystified. Firstly, we got a lot of great Discord Style humor, and it was kind of great hearing his line at the end.

However... It's Discord, and the way they 'Reformed him' was kind of cheesy. In addition, I don't really like the Idea of him being a good guy now. It means we aren't likely to see a real fight against Discord again, as well as any trouble Ponyville comes across could, arguably, be solved by Discord. I mean with him on their side, could any other threat to Equestria reasonably pose any threat anymore? At all? So Narritavely this makes no sense, and does nothing but remove the shows greatest Antagonist to date.

But still, the episode was pretty on about a lot of the jokes, and was legitimately amusing the whole time. I'm in two minds about him being reformed, I can see it happening, in a sense (mostly because it was quite a common fanfiction material at one point), but on the other hand I can just as easily see him staying evil - he's one of those characters who can go either way. However, the advantage to having his powers on their side is a very good point, and one I seriously over looked, so well said. As much as the episode was far more enjoyable than I thought, as I initially hoped it would be a hoax, and was surprised to see how much I liked it. However, I do agree that Discord does (at the moment at least) hold more potential as a villain than not.

As for how they reformed him... well, again touch and go - mostly "go" at the end. At first it seemed like it was going to happen at a legit time period, but at the end it was kind of "Oh, I understand friendship now!" which is kind of a step down in how this show usually treats the audience. If you compare it to Magic Dual it kind of looks too forced, especially when you realize the Trixie (who is less of a villain, and only really became a true one in that episode), didn't actually reform, she just took the first step.

Also, I didn't like how he said "Friendship is Magic" at the end - I get that it was meant to sound awkward, but why was he supposed to say it? It looked too much like a fourth wall break (which I don't mind) than a title-drop. It wasn't like all the times they've said "My Little Ponies" to each other, because that always sounded natural, like what they'd actually say in that sentence.

As a side note; on the off chance anyone here is interested. (http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:MJNSEIFER/How_my_fanseries_will_deal_with_show_canon.) Note: if this counts as advertising please say, and I will remove it as soon as I can (or do so yourself if you want), and I'll put it in my sig or something, assuming anyone is actually interested in my project.

[Laddy]

Seriously guys, stop being douches and changing the thread title. It's seriously getting pretty old. This "rolf mlp" thing you guys have going on is childish. I can't find the damn thread anymore and it went from funny to downright condescending. :colbert:

[MJN SEIFER]

Seriously guys, stop being douches and changing the thread title. It's seriously getting pretty old. This "rolf mlp" thing you guys have going on is childish. I can't find the damn thread anymore and it went from funny to downright condescending. :colbert: /) To that.

Also, a jokes a joke, but can we please take out the filters that cause words related to the show, the fandom, or anything p0ny (spelling it with a 0 because it will get changed otherwise). to random things? I really hate to have to mention it, because I thought the joke would die out if no one complained, but it's getting annoying when your post makes no sense because of random words being changed.

[Tigmafuzz]

I don't even see how p­o­n­y and "bag" are similar.

[drotato]

PONY BAG. BAG PONY.

[Tigmafuzz]

bag BAG. BAG bag.

Oh yeah? Well BApo­nyG!

[drotato]

GOD HOW DO YOU DO THAT~? I CAN'T FIX IT~!? :cry:

[Tigmafuzz]

http://i.imgur.com/7X915Fb.gif

[drotato]

Hah... Hahaha... No but really.

[Værn]

However... It's Discord, and the way they 'Reformed him' was kind of cheesy. In addition, I don't really like the Idea of him being a good guy now. It means we aren't likely to see a real fight against Discord again, as well as any trouble bagville comes across could, arguably, be solved by Discord. I mean with him on their side, could any other threat to Equestria reasonably pose any threat anymore? At all? So Narritavely this makes no sense, and does nothing but remove the shows greatest Antagonist to date.

I think it would have been better if it had ended with Discord returning everything to normal and then vanishing, rather than promising to use his powers for good. At least that way, rather than being at Celestia's beck and call, he's free to come and go as he pleases.
Also, if Discord had simply vanished after causing a whole mess of trouble and being scolded by Ғluttershy, it would have left the audience with much more doubt about whether he can be trusted the next time he appears. And it would have left the Mane 6 in a position where, even if Discord was to return with good intentions, they would neither like nor trust him and his shenanigans.
It would have been a much more interesting and appropriate relationship for an avatar of chaos to develop with the rest of the cast, if you ask me.

Also, who keeps messing with the filters? I can't type Ғluttershy properly any more D:<

[Tigmafuzz]

Why is Flu­tter­shy the only one that gets a filter? Also, Rai­nbow Das­h should be the one that gets renamed to a footballer, if anyone.

If you're going to troll, at least do it right.

[MJN SEIFER]

However... It's Discord, and the way they 'Reformed him' was kind of cheesy. In addition, I don't really like the Idea of him being a good guy now. It means we aren't likely to see a real fight against Discord again, as well as any trouble bagville comes across could, arguably, be solved by Discord. I mean with him on their side, could any other threat to Equestria reasonably pose any threat anymore? At all? So Narritavely this makes no sense, and does nothing but remove the shows greatest Antagonist to date.

I think it would have been better if it had ended with Discord returning everything to normal and then vanishing, rather than promising to use his powers for good. At least that way, rather than being at Celestia's beck and call, he's free to come and go as he pleases.
Also, if Discord had simply vanished after causing a whole mess of trouble and being scolded by Ғluttershy, it would have left the audience with much more doubt about whether he can be trusted the next time he appears. And it would have left the Mane 6 in a position where, even if Discord was to return with good intentions, they would neither like nor trust him and his shenanigans.
It would have been a much more interesting and appropriate relationship for an avatar of chaos to develop with the rest of the cast, if you ask me.

Also, who keeps messing with the filters? I can't type Ғluttershy properly any more D:< That could have worked better from the sounds of it.

On the off chance anyone clicked the link (no one's told me if I was allowed to leave it here yet) I have no idea about this episode yet - I can't really see any place for him yet... good or evil.

[Cloudane]

As for how they reformed him... well, again touch and go - mostly "go" at the end. At first it seemed like it was going to happen at a legit time period, but at the end it was kind of "Oh, I understand friendship now!" which is kind of a step down in how this show usually treats the audience. If you compare it to Magic Dual it kind of looks too forced, especially when you realize the Trixie (who is less of a villain, and only really became a true one in that episode), didn't actually reform, she just took the first step.

Also, I didn't like how he said "I love Kilroy-Silk" at the end - I get that it was meant to sound awkward, but why was he supposed to say it? It looked too much like a fourth wall break (which I don't mind) than a title-drop. It wasn't like all the times they've said "boris johnson's majestic fizzgogger" to each other, because that always sounded natural, like what they'd actually say in that sentence.

Agreed, it was far too sudden and forced. I liked that it was a bit of a struggle and wasn't immediate, but it's like someone said "we're up to 20 minutes guys, get him reformed already"

In fact that's probably the problem. It's what, 22 minutes? Reforming Discord is something that should've been done in a special / 2-parter as there just wasn't time to do it well.

Also I'm confused by the second paragraph due to all the sodding word filters :/


Also, a jokes a joke, but can we please take out the filters that cause words related to the show, the fandom, or anything p0ny (spelling it with a 0 because it will get changed otherwise). to random things? I really hate to have to mention it, because I thought the joke would die out if no one complained, but it's getting annoying when your post makes no sense because of random words being changed.

This.
I get that it's probably in good humour but really it's getting to the point where it's difficult to talk about it on this forum, which is a shame as we have some good and like-minded people here. It's at that point where the butt of the joke is starting to feel a bit antagonised and is wondering if they should just go. :(



I think it would have been better if it had ended with Discord returning everything to normal and then vanishing, rather than promising to use his powers for good. At least that way, rather than being at Celestia's beck and call, he's free to come and go as he pleases.

And agreed here too. They're doing a lot of parallels with John de Lancie's Q character from Star Trek, which is understandable and fun. But Q was a case of, even when he was being nice and was acting reformed (say at the end of the episode where he got turned human for a while as a punishment from the continuum, or the entire episode where he's "being nice" to Picard) it was done in such a way that you knew it was really just for his own amusement. And he was back to being a bit of a nuisance again next time he appeared.

Reforming all the villains like this... I don't know. Now we only have that Crystal Empire guy, who is a rubbish villain.

Hee hee... makes me think though. The Trekkie in me would love it if in a future episode Discord is seen interacting with Luna and trolling her a bit, and she whacks him one (unlikely of course, physical violence isn't really a thing they want to be showing the target audience)
"Y..you hit me! Celestia never hit me!"
"I'm not Celestia."
Something for fan fiction at least.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKR_RWkLgAE


===
So how about Spike At Your Service 2.0?
Fairly mediocre for me, but all in all good fun. CMC put to good use. An interesting change in the type of resolution in that Spike realises his mistakes on his own instead of getting caught and having someone point them out to him like often happened with "lesson" episodes. I was unsure about this at first but thinking about it, it shows that he's gained some maturity.

Still wondering about the direction of the show in general. I'm glad we've had one awesome ep this season (Sleepless) and one particularly memorable song (Bad Seed) but we could use more Dragonshy, Winter Wrap Up, Smile and Squeezy Cider levels of awesomeness. And ironic as it is, probably a little less catering to br0nies. I know they've been accused of that since like half way through season 1, but even I'm seeing it lately hehe. We belong on the sidelines and that was part of the appeal.

[NeoCracker]

I disliked the new episode. The pets were highly underused, except Bunny. The only part I really liked was Rainbow Dash and Tank's interactions. It was adorable.

[MJN SEIFER]

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. Pony. Brony.

At last!

[Pike]

Hey.

Hey guys.

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/i/2013/01/28/MLP-PRINCESS_510x317.jpg

It's official. (http://family-room.ew.com/2013/01/29/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-exclusive-twilight-princess/)

[NorthernChaosGod]

:squee:

[MJN SEIFER]

Hey.

Hey guys.

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/i/2013/01/28/MLP-PRINCESS_510x317.jpg

It's official. (http://family-room.ew.com/2013/01/29/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-exclusive-twilight-princess/) I'm perfectly okay with it being official, but I'm still going to stick to what I was going to do, I hope that's okay. Also, speaking of things being okay, do you mind me saying things like this, or shall I just place the link I posted earlier in my sig (which I might do anyway) so I'm not forcing it on you? Sorry if this is repettitive.

[Roogle]

That is very interesting. I figured that something like that was going to happen when Princess Celestia started to make references to getting Twilight Sparkle ready for something important.

[DMKA]

I'm like two thirds through season 2. I do/don't want to read all the spoilers in this thread.

[Evastio]

Regarding the spoiler, that doesn't mean that Season 3 will be the last season, does it? That'd be kind of sad if it was (sad as in it's over and there's no more new episodes).

[NeoCracker]

I am in no way excited about this.

[Cloudane]

Bronies ?
Yay! Thank you mods :)

I'm trying to avoid this big spoiler but have a feeling it's going to be difficult to.
Something becoming official that involves the pony mentioned... hmmm..... I think I have a fair idea, but will see for the time being. My idea is something that would make for a special in the toy range, so yeah.

Edit: So yeah, it's all over the internet and literally impossible to avoid. Alright then. I'll still use spoiler tags for those who wish to continue with the futile exercise :p

I have no huge problems with the idea of Twilight becoming a princess and alicorn, if done well. The show is about friendship, and I'm sure the question of whether she'll continue hanging out with her friends will be well addressed. Unless Tara Strong is looking to move on or only do guest appearances of course, but this seems to happen a lot less with VAs than actors on camera.

What does worry me though is this
http://i.imgur.com/x61o52Z.jpg

It's not that Twi's becoming a princess as a thinly veiled way to sell more toys (which happened with her suddenly gaining a brother out of nowhere so they could do the wedding sets) which I don't mind so much because they need to make money and can seem to weave things into the story reasonably.

It's not even that they're completely canning Derpy (oh well.)

It's that Hasbro are apparently meddling more and more heavily, against the wishes of those who make the show. That is a bit concerning. What makes this show appealing to bronies is a wonderfully magic but extremely delicate formula (so delicate we struggle to define exactly what makes it so good), and it'd be very easy for a bunch of out-of-touch suits and bean counters to mess it up.

The biggest concern I have is the rumours flying around that season 4 will feature humans.
I know G1 did, but that's the point I think, G1 didn't bring us bronies :P
I think part of the appeal IS the lack of humans, be it an escape from the ugliness of humanity that really hits people of a "brony age", or the fact that the ponies' ages are quite ambiguous and therefore easier for people of all ages to relate to. Put in a little girl like Megan again and it has a danger of being about a specific age group again.
Which may be what Hasbro wants, I don't know. Maybe they want to shake the "creepy bronies" thing. Just got to hope this is all just pessimism and cynicism talking.

Edit 2: But on this final point I'm now overreacting and jumping to conclusions plain and simple, based on a rumour that it turns out was created from some extremely tenuous links between one of the anonymous employee's sentences and some trademark stuff. Ignore me. Surely they wouldn't put humans in. If they do though that's not to say it's all game over.
I just happened to wake up from a bad dream this morning and I think it put me on a negativity track :P

[Agent Proto]

No more Derpy? :( I have noticed a lack of Derpy sightings in Season 3, but I was completely unaware that Hasbro are deciding to completely phase her out of the show. This really disappoints me. :(

EDIT: Oh wait, I thought it was true, but I've done some extra research and found out it's not true and the work of a troll. Good thing too, but still a bit disappointed that Derpy has been showing up less often lately.

[Cloudane]

The work of a troll? Got a source?
It's not that I don't believe you, just that it'd be useful to pass around :) Especially since this screenshotted reddit post seemed fairly believable (what with the Alicorn toys and what have you being months after it, that's not to say it wasn't a lucky guess)

[Agent Proto]

Meghan McCarthy confirmed it herself that a troll was behind it. (https://twitter.com/MMeghanMcCarthy/status/279088489117663233)

Edit: Though, I still kinda find it hard to believe if this is true or not. I guess we'll see in the future.

[Cloudane]

Ah well to be fair, this was in December and she's not specifying what things are being made up. Derpy? Humans? other things? What are we referring to here?

Very true though, people do make up a lot of stuff and start rumours!

[Tigmafuzz]

No.... more... DERPY?!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y241/Hefmeister/gifs/tumblr_lm3g40gKuD1qddp4io1_400.gif

[MJN SEIFER]

No.... more... DERPY?!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y241/Hefmeister/gifs/tumblr_lm3g40gKuD1qddp4io1_400.gif Hopefully, the worst case scenario is that they're treading carefully for this season until everyone who complained can see that Derpy was not what they thought she was. Derpy is still in the show, but she is more often than not standing with her back to us. I'm sure this is hurting Hasbro as much as the fandom, because it's clear that they really want to keep Derpy as a character. What I find stupid, (aside from the fact that Derpy was never intended to be offensive, and there have been characters like her in past versions) is that it was her voice of all things that started the whole thing...

If Derpy is gone for good; I motion for all Derpy fans to focus their time and energy in not complaining, and threatening to leave the fandom - but to do what the brony fandom is best known for, and get some fanart/fanfiction out there. That way, Derpy will never be "gone".

[Tigmafuzz]

There better still be Derpy... Or else this means WAR.


39921

[DMKA]

It's not like she's consequential to the series in the least. I mean, her name has been said, what, once the whole series? And she's had all of three lines the whole series? And all of the aforementioned was in the same minute span? I know she has a huge fanbase none the less.

I really don't know how I feel about the big spoiler. It seems rather silly and will totally change the components of the show, and also the makeup of the group (we have two of each type of pony in the mane six, after all).

I guess they need to do something to progress the series and add change for new plotlines. I certainly wasn't expecting that though.

[Cloudane]

It does need a tiny shake-up. I wasn't expecting that either though.

"plot lines"
A phrase I'll never look at the same way again :p

[MJN SEIFER]

There are a couple of posts on here, that I kept meaning to directly reply to, but things kept getting in the way, I might still do it though, one day.

However, I want to say about what's going to happen in the upcoming episode; I won't say what it is, because it's a spoiler, but most of you know it anyway (it involves Twilight, that's the only hint I'll give). It seems to have devided a lot of bronies on the FIM wikia, so I don't know how devided you guys are, but here is my take on the matter;

Do I agree with the change? Not really. Do I think that the change was planned from the start? Not at all (too much evidence to sugests otherwise). (What was I thinking here? Not only do I love the fact Twilight became a princess, It's also blatently obvious that her accension was planned from the start!! What was wrong with me when I wrote this?!) Am I going to bitch about it? No. Am I going to abandon the brony fandom because of it? Absolutely not.

I'll admit that Season 3 has been a bit touch and go at places (the odd character not behaving exactly right) and I did dread Lauren's non-involvment with it (sometimes, it showed I'll admit) but I still love this show, in fact I love the entire franchise - so to leave after one character goes through an extreme makeover? No, I'm not doing it.

Even if worst comes to worst, and Season 4 completely falls appart at the seems - I will still be a brony due to all the good stuff that came before it.

[Cloudane]

I can't disagree with a single word there! /)

The conflict, as we may well all know, is that DHX really know what they're doing and put their heart and soul into the show... but Hasbro are the ones who own the rights to the MLP brand and basically employ DHX to create a show. And it would seem that increasingly Hasbro are stepping in and telling them what to do based on their toy update strategies (i.e. show driven by toys) instead of taking their advice and developing the toys based on the directions the show goes in (i.e. toys driven by show).

Last season we had much the same thing with the wedding and Twilight suddenly getting a brother she'd never mentioned before out of nowhere and there was quite a big fuss back then too with it being clearly a thing directed by Hasbro to create wedding sets and wedding dress up ponies etc.

In the end? It was a great episode! And it introduced some fun characters.

I don't agree with the change but I have faith that DHX are still given enough creative freedom pull it off once again and make good with the story they've been told to create, even if they and we tend to disagree with it. I have faith that it'll be good still.

However I can admit to getting a little bit concerned at how much meddling Hasbro is doing against DHX's advice (allegedly and according to anonymous claimed-to-be-an-insider). I'm well aware that it's due to wanting to sell {redacted} Twilight, but it's getting worrisome.
But to be fair to them, that's the ultimate purpose of the show. I notice that a lot of the more bitter parts of the fanbase are shouting about "Hasbro just wants to sell more toys :mad2:" - well, yes, yes they do. This is not evil, they don't exist solely to create a great show for you to pirate on youtube, of course they're in it to sell toys.

It is a concern how it's happening though. I think the toys should be influenced by the story, not the other way around.

----

Not sure if you've heard the new big rumour. It's looking quite likely (but not yet confirmed or denied, so take with a pinch of salt if you wish) that in the spring we'll be seeing a spinoff show called "Equestria Girls" that sees the mane 6 sent on a mission to a human world where they take on a human form.
Equestria Daily: MLP Spinoff Series? (Rumor) (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/02/mlp-spin-off-series-confirmed-rumor.html)

Personally, I hate the idea :p I don't like to be too negative, I'm not predicting the end of all ponydom like much of the internet jumped into doing, but.... our favourite characters becoming teen girls in a school and dealing with inevitable stuff (boyfriends) and.... just no. It's a show about ponies doing pony things, dammit, not humans doing human things.

BUT. I have gotten the impression recently that Hasbro are itching to get humans involved in some way, and I'm far happier with the idea of them creating a spinoff series that we can cheerfully ignore, than putting humans in Equestria. It's not really a misanthropic thing for me, I just don't think they belong there AT ALL and I'm more than happy for Hasbro's thirst for human dolls to be quarantined to a spinoff :p

[MJN SEIFER]

I can't disagree with a single word there! /)
Thanks bro(ny?) I'm pleased I'm not the only one thinking this.


The conflict, as we may well all know, is that DHX really know what they're doing and put their heart and soul into the show... but Hasbro are the ones who own the rights to the MLP brand and basically employ DHX to create a show. And it would seem that increasingly Hasbro are stepping in and telling them what to do based on their toy update strategies (i.e. show driven by toys) instead of taking their advice and developing the toys based on the directions the show goes in (i.e. toys driven by show). That is probably the fear, and I can understand it being a fear. It wouldn't be the first time that Hasbro have allowed the toys to take precidence of what happens in the show; Gen 1 took awhile to get an official main cast, and wasted the potential of several one episode ponies because they didn't know wether it would help the toys or not to focus on just some ponies (ironically some toys were still never used), and Gen3 suddenly dropped most of it's ponies making it into the far more limited Gen3.5 (Gen3 itself was actually pretty heart warming and story driven - not as much as FIM, but it had a lot of potential).

During season 1 and 2, although most of the toys looked wrong at first (the pink Celestia was just a laps in judgement) the majority of it was more influanced by what the show was doing, and even went through some compromises for the fandom. Ironically, I find the Gen1 toys to be the most well made (and regret not buying them as a kid) simply because they looked more like the show ponies, and came with a story - I understand a toy being made into a character, but thats really all it should influance, and it would look less like they're trying to sell toys. It's hard to explain to be honest.


Last season we had much the same thing with the wedding and Twilight suddenly getting a brother she'd never mentioned before out of nowhere and there was quite a big fuss back then too with it being clearly a thing directed by Hasbro to create wedding sets and wedding dress up ponies etc. In the end? It was a great episode! And it introduced some fun characters. That's what people thought? Wow... I don't understand why, seeing as the episode was planned since season one, and based on an idea Lauren had when she was younger (like most of the season 1 episodes were). There were some bad-ish decisions on Hasbro's part such as retconing Cadance to being an alicorn, when she was scripted to be a unicorn (they clearly did it because they assumed royalty and alicorns were supposed to be synomninous, when I can actually provide back up that they are not, and an alicorn was just supposed to be another form of pony)

I agree about the brother thing, I don't know if that was Hasbro or DHX, but I always assumed it was an excuse to give Twilight and friends a reason to actually go to the wedding. If that's the case, I really wish they'd have thought of that earlier, so they could have... I dunno, just name dropped the two ponies in season 2 - so there was more of a build up the the finale. Seeing as it actually felt like a finale (and was an awesome episode) and The Best Night Ever, while still being entertaining didn't feel like a finale, yet it was hinted towards throughout the season - even having two episodes of them preparing for the event.


I don't agree with the change but I have faith that DHX are still given enough creative freedom pull it off once again and make good with the story they've been told to create, even if they and we tend to disagree with it. I have faith that it'll be good still. Neither do I, simply because it's obvious from past episodes an alicorn isn't something a pony becomes and the like. I'm sure they can somehow make it work though - as they have promised it won't change her personality (and there's no reason to believe that it would).



However I can admit to getting a little bit concerned at how much meddling Hasbro is doing against DHX's advice (allegedly and according to anonymous claimed-to-be-an-insider). I'm well aware that it's due to wanting to sell {redacted} Twilight, but it's getting worrisome.
But to be fair to them, that's the ultimate purpose of the show. I notice that a lot of the more bitter parts of the fanbase are shouting about "Hasbro just wants to sell more toys :mad2:" - well, yes, yes they do. This is not evil, they don't exist solely to create a great show for you to pirate on youtube, of course they're in it to sell toys.

It is a concern how it's happening though. I think the toys should be influenced by the story, not the other way around. Yeah, I'm kind of in the same state of mind, the sad thing is (even though the toys came first) Hasbro have always been stronger when they let what's happening in the show influance the toys (or just let the toys do their own their own thing on occasion) and it's been true for every generation (though I don't mind the occasional toy inspiring the show - seeing as some toys clearly should have been in the show, based on their storylines, but never were). However, I won't get annoyed if they do go completly the otherway, as I like I say I will have the memory of being a fan, and will remain a fan if the worst possible thing happens, and the show ends up losing everything it had (I don't see that happening too soon though, I admit that S3 lost something without Lauren's input, but even the most flawed episode was still within the basic charm of the show - there's just a little more OOC stuff at first than there would have been I think.
----


Not sure if you've heard the new big rumour. It's looking quite likely (but not yet confirmed or denied, so take with a pinch of salt if you wish) that in the spring we'll be seeing a spinoff show called "Equestria Girls" that sees the mane 6 sent on a mission to a human world where they take on a human form.
Equestria Daily: MLP Spinoff Series? (Rumor) (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/02/mlp-spin-off-series-confirmed-rumor.html) I would assume it's fanmade - I have seen (but not watched) much more better animated and drawn human-ponies episodes on YouTube - this doesn't even look as good as the style of the show itself (FIM: I mean), but even if it is real it will ultimately not affect the show in any way. Although, I kind of wish that they would give it another name. It shares it's name with a comerical that I really liked (I suddenly loved the song it was based on a lot more because of it), and if this show does turn out to be real, and is hated - I feel that a lot of people will take it out in the comercial (I may just be reading too much into it though).



BUT. I have gotten the impression recently that Hasbro are itching to get humans involved in some way, and I'm far happier with the idea of them creating a spinoff series that we can cheerfully ignore, than putting humans in Equestria. It's not really a misanthropic thing for me, I just don't think they belong there AT ALL and I'm more than happy for Hasbro's thirst for human dolls to be quarantined to a spinoff :p If that's the case, I'm okay with a spin off for that reason. I remember the writers saying they'd never put them in the show, as it would be too much of a sudden change and there would be no way to justify it. I'm perfectly okay with bronies creating fanfictions with humans though (though I have never read any*). I understand the notion of humans (appearing side by side with the ponies) potentially working from a story perspective, and Gen 1 kind of proves it can sort of work.

However, the reason it worked in G1 is because the idea of humans was planted from the start - and they worked up until a point. I think that they wanted to establish a bond between their viewers and the ponies (if those humans can be friends with them, then maybe we could one day? - that sort of view), but dropped the idea and focused on ponies. I think it worked for the time being though - I know one of the humans was based on a toy, but since she was older in the show, maybe they only partly based her on the toy?)

*I don't know if I'll ever read a Humans in Equestria fanfiction, but ironically my favorite fanfiction is basically the reverse of it (one of the ponies is sent to our world) it's probably hated, but I love it.

[Cloudane]

I understand a toy being made into a character, but thats really all it should influance, and it would look less like they're trying to sell toys. It's hard to explain to be honest.

Yeah I see what you're saying and agree with that.

To be quite fair, you hear all this about how Hasbro are interfering and driving the show from the toys from "bitter anonymous employees" in both companies but that's the point, they're anonymous and usually posted on places like 4chan which are notorious for people making stuff up for attention. For all we know everything is rosy between them (though some interference just seems realistic)


That's what people thought? Wow... I don't understand why, seeing as the episode was planned since season one, and based on an idea Lauren had when she was younger (like most of the season 1 episodes were). There were some bad-ish decisions on Hasbro's part such as retconing Cadance to being an alicorn, when she was scripted to be a unicorn (they clearly did it because they assumed royalty and alicorns were supposed to be synomninous, when I can actually provide back up that they are not, and an alicorn was just supposed to be another form of pony)

Ohh right? I didn't know she'd planned it herself and from that early. Seems I share ignorance with those parts of the fanbase on that one. I guess people didn't realise and just made assumptions. As they do. Another thing to make you wonder whether people are just being overly cynical to bring up all these supposed cases of the toys influencing something in the story they don't like (personally whilst these characters were a bit out of the blue and could have been introduced more gradually and eventually married, I enjoyed the episode and what they made of it.


Neither do I, simply because it's obvious from past episodes an alicorn isn't something a pony becomes and the like. I'm sure they can somehow make it work though - as they have promised it won't change her personality (and there's no reason to believe that it would).

I guess we'll see tomorrow! I've noticed a lot of new merch coming out still has unicorn Twilight so what I'm wondering is whether it's even permanent or whether works a bit like *thinks of a parallel*... equipping a dress sphere. I.e. she puts her crown on and gains wings, takes it off and they go away again. So she'd only have them for royal occasions.


Yeah, I'm kind of in the same state of mind, the sad thing is (even though the toys came first) Hasbro have always been stronger when they let what's happening in the show influance the toys (or just let the toys do their own their own thing on occasion) and it's been true for every generation (though I don't mind the occasional toy inspiring the show - seeing as some toys clearly should have been in the show, based on their storylines, but never were). However, I won't get annoyed if they do go completly the otherway, as I like I say I will have the memory of being a fan, and will remain a fan if the worst possible thing happens, and the show ends up losing everything it had (I don't see that happening too soon though, I admit that S3 lost something without Lauren's input, but even the most flawed episode was still within the basic charm of the show - there's just a little more OOC stuff at first than there would have been I think.

Completely agreed. Let's just see, all this business of Hasbro suddenly going nuts could well be negativity from a worrying bunch of fans. People love their show and really fear it being messed up, so they dream up all the worst case stuff in a panic. Something that is seen in fandoms for everything.

----


I would assume it's fanmade - I have seen (but not watched) much more better animated and drawn human-ponies episodes on YouTube - this doesn't even look as good as the style of the show itself (FIM: I mean), but even if it is real it will ultimately not affect the show in any way. Although, I kind of wish that they would give it another name. It shares it's name with a comerical that I really liked (I suddenly loved the song it was based on a lot more because of it), and if this show does turn out to be real, and is hated - I feel that a lot of people will take it out in the comercial (I may just be reading too much into it though).

Yeah that commercial is great :)

The maybe-rumoured-leaked-image is also said to be a basic concept image. But once again all this came from 4chan so for all we know it's one elaborate troll.


If that's the case, I'm okay with a spin off for that reason. I remember the writers saying they'd never put them in the show, as it would be too much of a sudden change and there would be no way to justify it. I'm perfectly okay with bronies creating fanfictions with humans though (though I have never read any*). I understand the notion of humans (appearing side by side with the ponies) potentially working from a story perspective, and Gen 1 kind of proves it can sort of work.

However, the reason it worked in G1 is because the idea of humans was planted from the start - and they worked up until a point. I think that they wanted to establish a bond between their viewers and the ponies (if those humans can be friends with them, then maybe we could one day? - that sort of view), but dropped the idea and focused on ponies. I think it worked for the time being though - I know one of the humans was based on a toy, but since she was older in the show, maybe they only partly based her on the toy?)

*I don't know if I'll ever read a Humans in Equestria fanfiction, but ironically my favorite fanfiction is basically the reverse of it (one of the ponies is sent to our world) it's probably hated, but I love it.

Indeed. I dare say a tastefully done spinoff could be done well.. my friend came up with an interesting idea in that maybe because they've learned so much about friendship they're sent through to a human world to guide others. E.g. one episode might be about a new girl struggling to integrate herself into a new school because she's too shy so maybe Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash go in to help from experience and encouragement angles respectively. And then I figured that they could be Mirror Lake clones, as a way not to interfere with the original show.

I don't tend to read fics. That's a fine place for humans though.

Yeah in G1 they were in there from the start, so it's different. I can totally understand the concept, it just doesn't seem to fit in G4 where the entire world right up to the sun and moon are based on ponies. Maybe they could have humans as a non-dominant species that are just hanging out, like real ponies in our world, but it'd be kind of odd. Easier to just have a separate world (and preferably much like if ponies cross into the human world they transform into humans, the opposite should happen too)

[MJN SEIFER]

Yeah I see what you're saying and agree with that.

To be quite fair, you hear all this about how Hasbro are interfering and driving the show from the toys from "bitter anonymous employees" in both companies but that's the point, they're anonymous and usually posted on places like 4chan which are notorious for people making stuff up for attention. For all we know everything is rosy between them (though some interference just seems realistic) Thanks.

Yeah, if that's the case it could just as easily be people making stuff up, but who knows. I've seen a lot of people on the FIM wikia (which I can't edit on my own computer, or even reply to people on) saying that they are in someway "connected" to Hasbro, so it's really dificult to know who to believe unless you know for a fact it's someone from the show.


Ohh right? I didn't know she'd planned it herself and from that early. Seems I share ignorance with those parts of the fanbase on that one. I guess people didn't realise and just made assumptions. As they do. Another thing to make you wonder whether people are just being overly cynical to bring up all these supposed cases of the toys influencing something in the story they don't like Lauren loved MLP since she was a child, and often wrote fanfiction on it (do you still call it fanfiction if it was never posted online?) many episodes of MLP:FIM is based on her old fanfiction.

I'm not surprised that people judged the episode, and once again ignored Lauren's imput (I am not accusing you of this, nor am I accusing you of what so many bronies do...) Lauren seems to get very little respect and acknollegement from bronies where it really counts in my eyes - the following are examples of how our fandom tends to get wrong about her;

1. That she only wrote two episodes (or three if you split episode one).
2. That she had nothing to do with season 2 (or even most of season 1)
3. That she hated the previous gens.

For items one and two; Yes, she only wrote the script to two (or three) epidodes, but a lot of episodes of season 1 (and some season 2 ones, but not as much) were based on Lauren's old fanfictions, and she was still involved in the episodes that weren't - so she was like the ultimate co-writer or something. In Season 2, she was less involved, but didn't leave - she stayed to advice the writers (basically things like "That pony would never say that, but this pony would." she basically stopped the show from going OOC to many times, and still suplied a lot. She did so much for MLP:FIM and very few bronies appreciate her for it... (sorry, I just really respect her). For item three, she loved G1 as a kid, and clearly has fond memories of it (she even wanted far more G1 ponies in FIM than she actually got*) and understood the potential of G3, though she watched it as an adult after pitching FIM (as is my understanding). She clearly respected G3 enough to include some blatent G3 tributes in her episodes, as well as G1 ones that may have even been there from childhood (two episodes of FIM are directly based on G1 episodes),


(personally whilst these characters were a bit out of the blue and could have been introduced more gradually and eventually married, I enjoyed the episode and what they made of it. I agree they could have done better introducing them, from what I remember they just showed us them half way through season one (outside the show) saying these are two new characters, and then did nothing with them until the end of season 2. Like I say, if they had realized they were going to make one of them Twilight's brother they could have at the very least mentioned him every so often, and then at the end it's like "Oh my God, her brothers getting married.". I'm pretty sure that the reaction most bronies had when they saw that scene when Twilight read the letter was "What brother?"



guess we'll see tomorrow! I've noticed a lot of new merch coming out still has (SPOILER)unicorn Twilight so what I'm wondering is whether it's even permanent or whether works a bit like *thinks of a parallel*... equipping a dress sphere. I.e. she (SPOILER)puts her crown on and gains wings, takes it off and they go away again. So she'd only have them for royal occasions. We'll have to see if it's permanent or not, but I can still provide back up that it isn't synomynous with being royal, but I will wait until the episode airs to avoid spoilers.

What really staggers me, is all the fanon writers saying how it ruins their fanmaterial - couldn't they just make their fanfictions non-canon? That's what I'm doing.


Completely agreed. Let's just see, all this business of Hasbro suddenly going nuts could well be negativity from a worrying bunch of fans. People love their show and really fear it being messed up, so they dream up all the worst case stuff in a panic. Something that is seen in fandoms for everything. Amen, to that.


Indeed. I dare say a tastefully done spinoff could be done well.. my friend came up with an interesting idea in that maybe because they've learned so much about friendship they're sent through to a human world to guide others. E.g. one episode might be about a new girl struggling to integrate herself into a new school because she's too shy so maybe Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash go in to help from experience and encouragement angles respectively. And then I figured that they could be Mirror Lake clones, as a way not to interfere with the original show. That actually sounds like it could work. :)


Yeah in G1 they were in there from the start, so it's different. I can totally understand the concept, it just doesn't seem to fit in G4 where the entire world right up to the sun and moon are based on ponies. Maybe they could have humans as a non-dominant species that are just hanging out, like real ponies in our world, but it'd be kind of odd. Easier to just have a separate world (and preferably much like if ponies cross into the human world they transform into humans, the opposite should happen too) Yeah, I see what you mean. I think the idea of humans becoming ponies sounds like the best way to go about it (if any went to the FIM world). I personally think that FIM is set on a completly different planet to ours (with one episode confirming that Equestria is just one country supporting this) So I think that the best way to introduce humans (in canon or fanon) is the way you said; if humans go to their world they are made into ponies. It kind of works that way (btw; that fanfiction I mentioned, the pony who goes to our world, she stays as a pony - she gets younger, but she's still a pony...)

I can't believe I forgot to do this for you last post;

(\

[DMKA]

So being an Equestria princess is like being a Disney princess. Got it.

I'm pretty curious to see where the show goes from here, seeing as Twilight Sparkle's speech sounded like a partial goodbye, and seeing as she's a "princess" now, I doubt she'll continue living in the Ponyville Library.

[MJN SEIFER]

So being an Equestria princess is like being a Disney princess. Got it.[/spoiler]
I wouldn't know. I followed the animal Disney, not the damsel in a dress Disney. Not looking at the spoiler, as I will be watching the episode tonight - I will no doubt have more of an opinion on the episode then. I am actually looking forward to the episode whatever happens.

[DMKA]

So being an Equestria princess is like being a Disney princess. Got it.[/spoiler]
I wouldn't know. I followed the animal Disney, not the damsel in a dress Disney. Not looking at the spoiler, as I will be watching the episode tonight - I will no doubt have more of an opinion on the episode then. I am actually looking forward to the episode whatever happens.

Well I could explain it, but it would kind of be a spoiler for the dumbest thing to ever happen in the show. :p

[MJN SEIFER]

I loved it. :love:

I'll provide more detail if anyone's interested; there is one criticism (which you've probably guessed), but I can forgive it as it's only based on my own personal opinions. Looks like I'm staying for season 4.:cool:

[Agent Proto]

I watched the season finale, and somehow I felt a bit disappointed. It appeared rushed, but with so many songs it wasn't that bad. Would have fared better if it separated into two different episodes. :<

[MJN SEIFER]

I watched the season finale, and somehow I felt a bit disappointed. It appeared rushed, but with so many songs it wasn't that bad. Would have fared better if it separated into two different episodes. :< Apparrently it was supposed to be (according to another forum). I guess the pacing was another negative side to what I deemed to be an awesome episode though.

[Agent Proto]

I would have loved to see an entire episode with the ponies with their incorrect cutie marks, and the other episode with Twilight fixing the problem and then having to go through the coronation of becoming an Alicorn/Princess.

I also came across something that interested me.

About the Four Princesses and what they represent.

Celestia - Day
Luna - Night
Cadence - ... Dawn (I guess)
Twilight Sparkle - Twilight (haha, because it's in her name)

[NeoCracker]

Oh god....

I would just leave it at that, but this was a horribly done episode in just about every way possible.

1) The conflict is introduced and resolved literally in the first ten minutes, and then the next quarter of the episode is that true true friends song.

2) What did the corrected spell do? I mean Twilight fixed the problem before she completed the spell. We See Big Mac helping at the farm, so not every pony was affected, meaning fixing the spell wasn't creating a cure. Was it the spell that turned her into an Alicorn? That's a bizzare stretch of going from switching around everyone's Cutie Marks to turning someone into an Alicorn. That also seemed doubtful as Celestia seemed completely unsurprised by the change, as if she was expecting it.

3) Where the hell did the Princess thing come from? There was no set up for it not only this entire season, but not even in the episode. It's just 'Well, you're a princess now cause you earned it'.

4) This seems to be a problem with Season 3 as a whole is their inability to utilize any of the ponys. The whole episode all any of the main 6, outside of Twilight, manage to do is so bare bones. Rarity makes clothes, Apple Jack farms apples, Fluttershy takes care of animals, Pinkie pie throws a party, Rainbow Dash kicks some clouds. None of them get to do anything outside of the most basic aspect of their character.

5) That was to many songs. At the 10 minute mark there had been four songs. The only reason they were really here was to pad the episode out.


So yes, I find this worse then the Season 2 Finale.

[Cloudane]

I enjoyed it. I know it had its flaws (it was rushed, too many songs, Twi got all the credit for learning about friendship when the other 5 helped too, the whole thing was kinda shoehorned in the first place because of Hasbro insisting upon it etc), but eh. I went into it with a positive attitude and the past has taught me that makes all the difference. Nuts to all that, I was just tearfully full of pride for Twily :)

If you go in negative about it and looking for problems you will find them, I remember that from FFXII.


it's really dificult to know who to believe unless you know for a fact it's someone from the show.

Indeed. It's like the old "my uncle is a game developer" thing.


Lauren loved MLP since she was a child, and often wrote fanfiction on it (do you still call it fanfiction if it was never posted online?) many episodes of MLP:FIM is based on her old fanfiction.

Oh yes I know that much. I just didn't realise that was too :)


I'm not surprised that people judged the episode, and once again ignored Lauren's imput (I am not accusing you of this, nor am I accusing you of what so many bronies do...) Lauren seems to get very little respect and acknollegement from bronies where it really counts in my eyes - the following are examples of how our fandom tends to get wrong about her;

1. That she only wrote two episodes (or three if you split episode one).
2. That she had nothing to do with season 2 (or even most of season 1)
3. That she hated the previous gens.

I guess in this case many must have been like me and simply didn't realise there was a "Lauren's input" to ignore since we'd already been well aware of her departure by them. But yeah sadly I'm sure people get many things wrong about her.

The opposite happens too - people were raging to her about the developments in this episode and she was having to fight them off and tell them she's actually got nothing to do with it now. I don't understand how someone can claim to be so much of a fan that they'll rage about a little thing like that, and not realise that Lauren left the show more than a year ago.

Yeah she was well involved in season 2 still as far as I heard.
Sadly not being involved at all now it's lost her input and her guidance in not sending the show OOC, oh well.

Not to be negative but to be realistic I don't think it'll ever be as good as season 1 and 2. That was just magical, and that kind of "magic" requires its creator. Much like what has happened (IMO) with the FF games. I accept that though and continue to enjoy what they make of it - it has its weaknesses, but unless they were to entice Lauren back somehow it will not be in that league. It's okay - it's still one heck of a lot of fun and enjoyment and at least for now I'm in it for the ride still, warts and all.


Like I say, if they had realized they were going to make one of them Twilight's brother they could have at the very least mentioned him every so often, and then at the end it's like "Oh my God, her brothers getting married.". I'm pretty sure that the reaction most bronies had when they saw that scene when Twilight read the letter was "What brother?"

Indeed, that would've worked better. No matter. I didn't see when they revealed the characters beforehand.


What really staggers me, is all the fanon writers saying how it ruins their fanmaterial - couldn't they just make their fanfictions non-canon? That's what I'm doing.

You'd think. I guess people want to expand upon canon without conflicts *shrug*


I personally think that FIM is set on a completly different planet to ours (with one episode confirming that Equestria is just one country supporting this) So I think that the best way to introduce humans (in canon or fanon) is the way you said; if humans go to their world they are made into ponies. It kind of works that way (btw; that fanfiction I mentioned, the pony who goes to our world, she stays as a pony - she gets younger, but she's still a pony...)

Yep yep. I've always considered it a different universe, like the FFs. Though I guess that does leave room for magical portals to our world without complicating things with space travel.


I can't believe I forgot to do this for you last post;

(\

Hehe :) /)

[MJN SEIFER]

EDIT: To Cloudane, just saw you're post, I'll respond directly to it when I can. /)

Okay everybrony, here's my basic opinion on the episode in a positive and negative formation;


Positive Points
1. It was a beautifully written episode, and was a good character developed storyline. I wondered how an episode about cutie marks switching could even work as such an important episode, even with my fascination with cutie marks, but it was a real eye opener; this episode shows that you're cutie mark really is about "who you are", and if they were wrong it would be obvious. I don't think it's possible to get the wrong cutie mark the normal way, but it really showed that the characters in this show have a personality and are not one-dimensional, they have strengths and weaknesses, and this episode really showed that.
2. The songs were just beautiful, and didn't get in the way at all - I was expecting to not like at least one, but it added so much to the show, and some of them made me really believe what was happening.
3. The scene where Twilight is shown scenes from pervious episodes to show how far she's gone was just heart-warming and even a little tear-jerking.
4. I actually do think that maybe, Twilight becoming a princess was planned from the get-go. Think about it, there's been signs that she was being trained for something important since episode one.
5. Derpy was shown. The real Derpy, but we'll see if she's back for good and this isn't just a finale farewell to her (remember, the writers want her to stay too, but if they aren't allowed to use her they won't. Hopefully she's back, but if not, we'll still see her in fanon.
6. The word "Alicorn" has finally been used for its proper meaning (it was used in Magic Duel, but it wasn't actually clear if it meant what it meant in our world.
7. It's obvious that they are still aware of the two non-preschool targets (bronies, and fans of the old generations - and yes, I know bronies weren't the planned target).
8. Agree with Twilight's change or not - she is obviously the same character, and that is evident already to me. Also, she did look really cute at the end. ^_^.
9. The costumes that the ponies were wearing at the end, all looked absolutely awesome. Anyone else think it was Rarity again?

Negative Points
1. This is more of an opinion thing, but it kind of messes up my idea on what Alicorns are.
2. The episode probably could have been longer, or split into two episodes. As awesome as the episode was, it could have been that the penultimate episode was about the cutie marks spell, and it ends with Twilight vanishing, and we get an extended episode about her final trials before she becomes an alicorn/princess. I still love how they did it though.
3. I can just see MLP: FIM getting the Harry Potter/Naruto treatment with "alicorn", since no one does they're research these days.

Looks like the positives have it; I'll let this sit here before I explain why even though the Princess Twilight was most likely planned, the Alicorn = Princess thing was a recent choice from the writers.

[NeoCracker]

And because I like to argue....



Positive Points
1. It was a beautifully written episode, and was a good character developed storyline. I wondered how an episode about cutie marks switching could even work as such an important episode, even with my fascination with cutie marks, but it was a real eye opener; this episode shows that you're cutie mark really is about "who you are", and if they were wrong it would be obvious. I don't think it's possible to get the wrong cutie mark the normal way, but it really showed that the characters in this show have a personality and are not one-dimensional, they have strengths and weaknesses, and this episode really showed that.

I disagree that is a good point, because the show has already done a wonderful job establishing these as very well written characters. In addition, as I pointed out earlier, we only really see the five that aren't Twilight do only the most basic traights of what they did, and showed they weren't very good at doing the jobs of the others, something we've had episodes dedicated to before. (Everyone telling Rarity how they wanted their dresses in Art of the Dress as one example, Fluttershy's handling of the Dragon in Dragon Shy as another).


2. The songs were just beautiful, and didn't get in the way at all - I was expecting to not like at least one, but it added so much to the show, and some of them made me really believe what was happening.

I wasn't to fond of the songs, though they weren't bad. They just felt kind of pointless in the grand scheme of things, where as previous times they have served some sort of purpose. Examples include...

1) Giggle at the Ghosties from Episode 1. It served as a method to make the dark and creepy woods look silly, as well as highlight the outrageous nature of Pinkie Pie.

2) Art of the Dress. The song described Rarities desire to help her friends, as well as the building frustrations and stress of everyones constant Input.

I could go on, but in both of those cases, as well as others, I'd feel like if they were cut something would be missing. I can't say that about a single song from this finale outside of the True Friends song, even if I didn't like it that much it still seemed like there was purpose to it.




3. The scene where Twilight is shown scenes from pervious episodes to show how far she's gone was just heart-warming and even a little tear-jerking.
I disagree, because I didn't think the episode earned that moment. Again as I pointed out earlier, the entire conflict of the episode is introduced and resolved in 10 minutes. I know this, because I watched the time on the episode. It was around 9:30 she started curing the mixed up Cutie Marks.



4. I actually do think that maybe, Twilight becoming a princess was planned from the get-go. Think about it, there's been signs that she was being trained for something important since episode one.

I don't deny that, but it doesn't change that she just became a princess out of nowhere. We get 'solve this spell', spell is solved, then 'wow you're a princess now'. Again they didn't do anything to earn the moment.


5. Derpy was shown. The real Derpy, but we'll see if she's back for good and this isn't just a finale farewell to her (remember, the writers want her to stay too, but if they aren't allowed to use her they won't. Hopefully she's back, but if not, we'll still see her in fanon.
Eh, I'm not worried one way or the other about Derpy showing up. I'd like her too, but outside of an easter egg the show isn't missing anything.


6. The word "Alicorn" has finally been used for its proper meaning (it was used in Magic Duel, but it wasn't actually clear if it meant what it meant in our world.

Another point that's a bit irrelevant to me, but whatever. :p


7. It's obvious that they are still aware of the two non-preschool targets (bronies, and fans of the old generations - and yes, I know bronies weren't the planned target).

While it's nice to know the keep in mind their varied audience, it's not something I feel will make up for any problems. This is actually a really low priority for me, but I can see why it might matter more to someone else.


8. Agree with Twilight's change or not - she is obviously the same character, and that is evident already to me. Also, she did look really cute at the end. ^_^.

Well, yes she's the same character, but that's only a point if you think 'not completely mucking it up' is a good point. :p

And I actually think every other ponies outfit looked a lot better then Twilights. It's like they had Rarity design every outfit, but they decided to outsource for twilights. :p

[MJN SEIFER]

Both Cloudane and NeoCracker need to be directly replied to, but before I do I will take the opportunity to prove that, while I have warmed to the idea of Twilight becoming an alicorn (but still won't use it, even though I'll still draw fanart of it) it obviously wasn't planned (even though I personally think her being a princess was) and the fact that all royal ponies are alicorns, and an alicorn is just something you become, and not what you are born as is a brand new idea from the writers. (ignore this, I'm totally using Alicorn Twilight).

1. Cadance was planned to be a unicorn the whole time, she was never going to become an alicorn in the future, nor was she supposed to be an alicorn when we first see her. She was most likely changed into one to please the brony fandom, seeing as anyone who created a non-royal alicorn is often criticised.

2. There have been non-royal alicorns before such as that douchebag prince in the season 1 finale, and Princess Platinum in Hearth's Warming Eve. You may wish to argue that maybe the real Platinum was an alicorn, and we only saw her as a unicorn because Rarity was playing her. However, if that's the case, do you honestly think that neither nopony doing the play, or nobody in real life writing the episode would have thought the give Rarity some fake wings, if she had to play an alicorn?

3. Even if Cadance being an alicorn and not a unicorn is retcon, how come if the newer retcon of alicorns being something you became, then Cadance was an alicorn all her life? Before she was princess of anything?

[Cloudane]

Simple answer: Hasbro decided they wanted Twilight to:
* Become an alicorn
* Become a princess
And bugger the concept of continuity because continuity isn't what brings toy sales in. We must pretend that Cadance was always a princess.

I hate to be cynical and prefer to think as positively as possible, but to be honest that is probably the most realistic answer and anything else is over-thinking it...

[Madame Adequate]

They specifically wanted to do a musical episode so complaining about the songs is a bit :greenie:

Also y'all are looking awfully hard for super continuity in a show aimed at pre-teens. I mean MLP has set pretty high standards, granted, but come on. The episode was fun and awesome.

[NorthernChaosGod]

So... did Steve hijack some people's accounts or what?

[MJN SEIFER]

I just tuped a full response to Cloudane's earlier post (not his most) recent, and IE decides to mess up :mad: I'll redo it when I can, but its unsaved. Sorry, I'm going to be really behind in this conversation soon.

Additional: Who's Steve?

[NorthernChaosGod]

Iceglow.

[Laddy]

Additional: Who's Steve?
Ignorance is bliss.

[Cloudane]

I just tuped a full response to Cloudane's earlier post (not his most) recent, and IE decides to mess up :mad: I'll redo it when I can, but its unsaved. Sorry, I'm going to be really behind in this conversation soon.

Isn't it irritating when that happens!

Don't worry too much - our textwalling was getting quite hard work eh :p

[Laddy]

My city (Memphis) just did a new piece on bronies, and it was very high-quality and respectable. It was cool to see some of my friends in there! xD

[MJN SEIFER]

My city (Memphis) just did a new piece on bronies, and it was very high-quality and respectable. It was cool to see some of my friends in there! xD I know this is old news now, but that sounds really awesome. /)

In other news, acording to a lot of people on DeviantArt, I don't count as a brony because I haven't actually contributed to the fandom in anyway, am I the only one who dissagrees with this?

Note: I am working on something, but it's miles away from being done.

[Cloudane]

Haha what, that's the first time I've heard that one.

People overthink the term.
Requirements for being a brony:
1. Watch My Little Pony
2. Enjoy it.

That's it. :p

We're all contributors in our own way by being part of a community and fanbase that wouldn't exist without the people. To insist people contribute art is silly...


Equestria Girls then, New York Times have confirmed it as well. Interesting.
Equestria Daily: New Equestria Girls image at NY Times (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/03/new-equestria-girls-image-at-ny-times.html)

And there's a rumour of Spike being a dog. Which is hilarious :D
Equestria Daily: Rumor - Spike a Dog in Equestria Girls? (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/03/rumor-spike-dog-in-equestria-girls.html)

[MJN SEIFER]

Haha what, that's the first time I've heard that one.

People overthink the term.
Requirements for being a brony:
1. Watch My Little Pony
2. Enjoy it.

That's it.

Thanks, that's my logic as well - I just really needed reasurance in it right now, I really love being part of this fandom.


Equestria Girls then, New York Times have confirmed it as well. Interesting.
Equestria Daily: New Equestria Girls image at NY Times

And there's a rumour of Spike being a dog. Which is hilarious Equestria Daily: Rumor - Spike a Dog in Equestria Girls? Oh yeah, the wika has pretty much exploded with comments about Spike being a dog, that sounds pretty strange even if it's a seperate show (which some people still don't get as they think it's replacing the show). Either way, thanks for the reasurance. /)

[MJN SEIFER]

Thought I'd show you all this; It's supposed to be the ponyfied versions of several people involved in the show (although at least one of them isn't a pony). Basically writers, and voice actors, and the like. For some reason, it's not letting me post the image here. Note: There will be another version with all characters labled, but for now we shall merely guess who they are (there are hints to who they are if you look) of course some of them we already know...

http://zelc-face.deviantart.com/art/Cast-and-Crew-Poster-Finished-331703911

[Cloudane]

>searching Tara Strong, Tara Strong spotted
>Lyra spotted with fingers
"CLOP" XD
>failing to spot WallyWaldoDerpy

Very good.

[Evastio]

Also, My Little Pony (Generation 4) has supposedly only debuted in Japan very recently (so they're only receiving Season 1, Episode 1 now). They've sure missed out on a lot in the past few years, but at least now we're going to get a whole slew of new bronies joining our ranks. I'm especially looking forward to all the artwork and cosplay the Japanese bronies will be making, since they're really creative like that.

I guess I'll post artwork of ponies in Japan to commemorate the occasion:

http://th04.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2012/282/c/2/ponies_go_to_japan__natsu_matsuri_wallpaper__by_baraniruchu-d53vz7w.jpg

http://th07.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2012/280/7/6/ponies_go_to_japan__hanami_wallpaper__by_baraniruchu-d5dg41w.jpg

[Cloudane]

I'm actually really surprised it's taken this long. FiM is very Japanese anime-like - that's what attracted me to it to begin with. I have a feeling it'll be very big in Japan (with apologies to Alphaville)

[MJN SEIFER]

@Evastio: Awesome find on the drawings (awesome work if you did them).

On a side note to everyone; Yes, I realize I'm more than likely the only one who remembers this song (it was probably never heard in America) here is a PMV I found. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFfhcRfoYms&nofeather=True)

[Cloudane]

*puts this here (includes trailer)*

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/business/equestria-girls-a-my-little-pony-offshoot-in-its-movie-debut.html?_r=0

*lurks outside of the room with ears plugged waiting for the explosion to go off* :D

[NeoCracker]

Well, that's a thing alright.

[Cloudane]

It's a symbol of the change in direction from Lauren Faust's "toys driven by a great show" to a pure Hasbro's traditional "show driven by toys". Same with the wings, which I think is why the fandom has chosen those things as points of extreme rage and overreactions (though the not-entirely-confirmed rumours that some have been sending DHX death threats is disgusting and I would encourage the use of the #ThankYouDHX Twitter campaign to balance it out)

We are fortunate that we have DHX in the process who care about continuing the vision of creating a really high quality show that everyone can enjoy. It may not be in the same league as that brief era but I don't think we have to panic that it'll all be terrible and I'm even looking forward to Equestria Girls a bit.

I don't follow football but in England you'd have to have been living under a rock not to hear about Alex Ferguson's retirement from managing Man Utd and all the gushing about how he got them to where they are. To use an analogy I consider Faust to be a bit like Fergie, i.e. an irreplaceably great manager who I attribute FiM's resounding success to, but that there's no need to panic because although the direction's changed a little it still has awesome players (names like Meghan Maccarthy and Daniel Ingram come to mind) and huge finances behind it. We've already seen the show without her influence (season 3) and whilst it's not quite in the same league and had a bumpy ending, it was still good stuff.

Side note, anyone else watching Littlest Pet Shop while we wait? :)

[Pike]

New trailer for Equestria Girls. (http://family-room.ew.com/2013/06/07/my-little-pony-equestria-girls-trailer/)

It's not something I'll be rushing out to see but the part where human Twilight was running on all fours cracked me up.

[Cloudane]

Same. I was highly sceptical (but remaining as optimistic as possible) but after this new trailer I'm quite hyped :)

[Hollycat]

I'm apprehensive about EG, but I'll give it a shot. Though, I'll probably forego the theater version so as to not scare the parents of young children.

[theundeadhero]

I had a dream last night that Rainbow Dash died and I dream-bawed my eyeballs out :weep:
I have no idea why.

[Makoeyes]

I haven't watched much MLP yet but I already think it's a great show. It just always makes me feel happier. My favorites are Spike and Pinkie Pie.

[Cloudane]

Yay! It has that effect.

Aww. I'm sure the ponies will live long and happy lives!


I'm apprehensive about EG, but I'll give it a shot. Though, I'll probably forego the theater version so as to not scare the parents of young children.

I imagine there were plenty of bronies there. Can't see why parents should be scared unless you're waving a camera around, cosplaying or making creepy smiles at their kids :p

[Pike]

I wonder if Equestria Girls is even showing here.

My little sisters are coming for a visit next week so if it is I might have an excuse to go :p

EDIT: Not showing here apparently. OH WELL.

[Jinx]

Rob and I saw the preview for Equestria Girls last night, and I told him we must go.

[MJN SEIFER]

While I myself am not interested in that Equestria Girls (still wish they had chosen a different name) I am finding it kind of refreshing to hear possitive ideas towards it.

I'm not sure if I will ever be sold on the idea of it, but I really wish that the people who hate the idea (that's 96% of the wikia) would just take a chill-pill about it. It's not even canon, and it's just one episode/movie, but everyone's acting like it will affect the entire fandom.

[Jinx]

I personally think it's kind of a cute idea.

I wish they'd gone the extra mile, though, and used real-life actors instead of animation.

TO MAKE IT REALLY REAL

[MJN SEIFER]

I wish they'd gone the extra mile, though, and used real-life actors instead of animation.

TO MAKE IT REALLY REAL To be honest, I'd actually like that idea better.

[Hollycat]

I read a review, apparently, the movie is pretty good, it's just not well paced.

Equestria Girls Review - MLP Forums (http://mlpforums.com/blog/171/entry-5377-equestria-girls-review/)

[theundeadhero]

Nearest Equestria Girls showing: 263 miles away. Not gonna happen :p

[Hollycat]

Nearest Equestria Girls showing: 263 miles away. Not gonna happen :p

Wow, that's even worse than me. 183 miles.

[Pike]

204 miles here!

[theundeadhero]

There's only one theater in my whole state showing it.

[Pike]

We've got three in my state, and all three are at least 200 miles away. Just in different directions.

[Jinx]

Thank god for torrents.

[Cloudane]

From what I heard it was just a really small select handful of theatres showing it for 1 day.

Which begs us to to invite the question: WHY?

What was the point?

All this big fuss and barely anyone actually (legally) gets to see it? It doesn't make sense! Even if the point of it was just to justify some humanised dolls, why not just make them a "what if the ponies were humanised" doll range and just not go to the effort of making a movie to justify it in the first place?

Surely it'll get expanded or at least put onto DVD. SURELY.

So far I've heard that it's actually good. From people who thought nothing good could come of it. The surprise of having the open-mindedness to check out MLP in the first place and having that open-mindedness pay off, strikes again?

I'm in the UK so I have to pirate it all anyways. Hasbro/DHX have my money the minute they bring it to UK iTunes (give or take a month or two, seeing as I have the expenses of BUCK and stuff coming up..)

[theundeadhero]

Anyone know when season four starts yet?

(bump)

[Cloudane]

I herd winter. So, December. Unless the first episode is about Shining & Cadance's filly, in which case "as soon as William and Kate's sprog pops" :p I.e. very soon. Yay!

[Pike]

I forgot to mention that I watched Equestria Girls and it was better than I was expecting. Nothing dramatically groundbreaking but worth a watch if you're a fan.

[Cloudane]

Waiting for a rip (I'll buy it when it's out in the UK, pinkie promise) but allegedly it'll be available early at comic con so I reckon this weekend.....

[Pike]

I watched it on YouTube a couple of days before it was taken down. It's probably floating around the internet somewhere...

[Cloudane]

I watched the first 5 minutes of the one taken in a cinema.. the picture quality was amazing, but sadly it sounded like it was recorded down a toilet bowl!

[theundeadhero]

I finished watching it on youtube five minutes before making that post. It was okay if you were already a fan of the show but if you didn't know what you were getting into it probably would have sucked. It did have Derpy in it twice though!

[Pike]

Speaking of Derpy I now own a combination plushie/backpack of her :D

[Laddy]

Equestria Girls was insultingly awful, imo.

*hides*

[Pike]

Equestria Girls was insultingly awful, imo.

*hides*

OH YEAH?? WELL THAT OPINION IS JUST STRAIGHT UP very understandable and I respect it a lot

[Laddy]

This is why Pike is cool, gaiz. *hugs*

[Hollycat]

I'm going to go ahead and ask that all of you mark spoilers for Equestria girls with spoiler=EQG or spoiler= Equestria girls.

I'm waiting for the bluray to ship.

[Cloudane]

Agreeeeee'd.


Speaking of Derpy I now own a combination plushie/backpack of her :D

Super jelly!
I have the vinyl figure. I had no idea they were so big and heavy, you could bludgeon someone with one (there's one for the records. Murder weapon, wall eyed my little pony)

[MJN SEIFER]

Agreeeeee'd.


Speaking of Derpy I now own a combination plushie/backpack of her :D

Super jelly!
I have the vinyl figure. I had no idea they were so big and heavy, you could bludgeon someone with one (there's one for the records. Murder weapon, wall eyed my little pony)

So it's a vinyl figure of Derpy? I got a tad confused for a second, because of Vinyl being a pony's name...:roll2

[Jinx]

Equestria Girl Spoiler: The fucking horses turn into humans.

[Madame Adequate]

Equestria Girl Spoiler: The fucking horses turn into humans.

And somehow far fewer people want to fuck the fucking horses now.

[MJN SEIFER]

Equestria Girl Spoiler: The smurfing horses turn into humans. What horses? We're talking ponies here.

[theundeadhero]

Well, they do turn into <i>underage</i> humans.

[Cloudane]

So it's a vinyl figure of Derpy? I got a tad confused for a second, because of Vinyl being a pony's name...:roll2

Oh you mean DJ PON3 :p
Newp not that pony or a recording of one on an L.P. - one made from the stuff! http://dyn1.media.forbiddenplanet.com/products/2791982.jpg.size-285_maxheight-285_square-true.jpg

[theundeadhero]

To give this thread some life until the season starts let's talk about some pony stuff. For the background characters with non-canon names which names do you prefer? There's lots to choose from but feel free to talk about them all.

I like wubs that come from a <i>Vinyl Scratch</i>.

[MJN SEIFER]

So it's a vinyl figure of Derpy? I got a tad confused for a second, because of Vinyl being a pony's name...:roll2

Oh you mean DJ PON3 :p
Newp not that pony or a recording of one on an L.P. - one made from the stuff! http://dyn1.media.forbiddenplanet.com/products/2791982.jpg.size-285_maxheight-285_square-true.jpg Looks pretty cool. :cool:


To give this thread some life until the season starts let's talk about some pony stuff. For the background characters with non-canon names which names do you prefer? There's lots to choose from but feel free to talk about them all.

I like wubs that come from a <i>Vinyl Scratch</i>.
I usually try to come up with compromises so that, both names can be used, especially if I like both names. For example, I used "Lyra Heartstrings" long before Hasbro caved, and made that her official name. I mostly call Derpy, Derpy, but I like the idea of Ditzy being her real name, which is barely used by ponies (Derpy being an affectionate nickname her friends call her in my headcanon). I use both Vinyl Scratch and DJ PON3 for the DJ pony, with the excuse that "DJ PON3" is just Vinyl's dj name or whatever... see, compromises.

Sometimes, I can't compromise, and just have to pick favorites. Bon-Bon/Sweetie Drops for example. I stick with Bon-Bon, and can't really think of a way she could be Sweetie Drops as well.

[NeoCracker]

Vynal scratch fro the win! Lets get rockin' with the bestsest of the ponie side cast! Yeah!

Thouch mac will own all your soulds on judgement day. O_O

[Hollycat]

I recieved an early birthday present of the Equestria Girls blu-ray today. I don't know who to thank, but whomever it was is awesome.

[Cloudane]

Then merry early birthday!

Watched EQG. Loved EQG. Especially the crown song...

[NeoCracker]

To revive, I just watched Equestria girls!

...I have mixed feelings. For the posotive, I think they characters were all done very well, and really did feel like the Equestria counter parts.

There were quite a few funny moments as well.

But yeah, the moments weren't that many for me. The crush Twilight had on the guy was cringe worthy as all hell. And the villain was given no redeeming qualities what so ever, then suddenly at the end we are suppose to feel sorry for her? No. The villain in this was god awful, damn most of her plans pretty damn stupid.

Overall I can't say I like it, even if I liked aspects of it.

5/10.

Also, why do we get a fucking Blu Ray of this, but not of the show itself!? :mad2:

[Hollycat]

I found Equestria girls to have about the same amount of humor as put into one episode of the show, stretched over an hour and a half. It also had a horrible villain, only one average song, a bunch of awkward scenes, a completely unnecessary crush so that Twilight can have a new relationship upon the opening of season 4, and the worst ending by far FiM has ever seen. I felt like I was watching a cross between power rangers and strawberry shortcake at the end.

[NeoCracker]

I actually liked the end when it went all Sailor Moon on us, though that's just because I watched that when I was younger. XD

[MJN SEIFER]

I found Equestria girls to have about the same amount of humor as put into one episode of the show, stretched over an hour and a half. It also had a horrible villain, only one average song, a bunch of awkward scenes, a completely unnecessary crush so that Twilight can have a new relationship upon the opening of season 4, and the worst ending by far FiM has ever seen. I felt like I was watching a cross between power rangers and strawberry shortcake at the end. Do we even know that Flash will be transfered over to the real show? I though Equestria Girls (which I have not seen) was going to be non-canon stand alone movie...

I will say though that if any bronies start complaining that it interferes with fanfictions, then it doesn't. fanfictions, can break away from canon.


I actually liked the end when it went all Sailor Moon on us, though that's just because I watched that when I was younger. XD Was it that rainbow thing with the elements, like when Nightmare Moon was stopped? If so, you realize that's based on My Little Pony don't you?

[Hollycat]

I found Equestria girls to have about the same amount of humor as put into one episode of the show, stretched over an hour and a half. It also had a horrible villain, only one average song, a bunch of awkward scenes, a completely unnecessary crush so that Twilight can have a new relationship upon the opening of season 4, and the worst ending by far FiM has ever seen. I felt like I was watching a cross between power rangers and strawberry shortcake at the end. Do we even know that Flash will be transfered over to the real show? I though Equestria Girls (which I have not seen) was going to be non-canon stand alone movie...

I will say though that if any bronies start complaining that it interferes with fanfictions, then it doesn't. fanfictions, can break away from canon.


I actually liked the end when it went all Sailor Moon on us, though that's just because I watched that when I was younger. XD Was it that rainbow thing with the elements, like when Nightmare Moon was stopped? If so, you realize that's based on My Little Pony don't you?

No, it's sailor moon style transformations.
And I think flash will be in the show because at the beginning they introduced him in the pony world.

[MJN SEIFER]

I found Equestria girls to have about the same amount of humor as put into one episode of the show, stretched over an hour and a half. It also had a horrible villain, only one average song, a bunch of awkward scenes, a completely unnecessary crush so that Twilight can have a new relationship upon the opening of season 4, and the worst ending by far FiM has ever seen. I felt like I was watching a cross between power rangers and strawberry shortcake at the end. Do we even know that Flash will be transfered over to the real show? I though Equestria Girls (which I have not seen) was going to be non-canon stand alone movie...

I will say though that if any bronies start complaining that it interferes with fanfictions, then it doesn't. fanfictions, can break away from canon.


I actually liked the end when it went all Sailor Moon on us, though that's just because I watched that when I was younger. XD Was it that rainbow thing with the elements, like when Nightmare Moon was stopped? If so, you realize that's based on My Little Pony don't you?

No, it's sailor moon style transformations.
And I think flash will be in the show because at the beginning they introduced him in the pony world. Ah, a see. It is Sailor Moon then.

Got it about Flash then.

[NeoCracker]

MLP: Equestria Girls - Transformation (FullHD, 1080p, BDRip) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUZ69IylX2s)


Yeah, I don't see how one would not automatically associate that with Sailor Moon/Other Magical Girl Anime. :p

[MJN SEIFER]

MLP: Equestria Girls - Transformation (FullHD, 1080p, BDRip) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUZ69IylX2s)


Yeah, I don't see how one would not automatically associate that with Sailor Moon/Other Magical Girl Anime. :p I thought you meant something else (which also happens in that clip), that's why.

Yeah, the transformation was probably Sailor Moon inspired.

[Cloudane]

TBH, I loved it so much if it was an episode it'd probably be in my top 5, and the song (the cafeteria one) would be up there as well :)

I wasn't bothered about the slight romance, it was a cute passing thing for the movie and it's already been confirmed that Flash isn't in season 4.

My one criticism is that yeah, the final defeat was the usual overdone "rainbow of d00m" thing but I really enjoyed the rest of it.

Big fan though, I've just come back from BUCK con, it was awesome :)

[Hollycat]

TBH, I loved it so much if it was an episode it'd probably be in my top 5, and the song (the cafeteria one) would be up there as well :)

I wasn't bothered about the slight romance, it was a cute passing thing for the movie and it's already been confirmed that Flash isn't in season 4.

My one criticism is that yeah, the final defeat was the usual overdone "rainbow of d00m" thing but I really enjoyed the rest of it.

Big fan though, I've just come back from BUCK con, it was awesome :)

I'm cereal jelly man.

What did you get to do and see?

[Cloudane]

In a (big) nutshell:

Day 1: The Summer Sun Celebration, lots of pony related musicians and DJs playing in a big club atmosphere. Not all of it pony related music, there were remixes of course but a lot of other tunes - some singing, some acoustic, then quite a lot of this modern "wub wub" bass cannon drop stuff (oh dear, I'm getting old), which I did gain quite an appreciation for. Like many of the shy pones there I was surprised how much bouncing it made me do.
Got to chat with our special guest Michelle Creber (Apple Bloom!) who was also singing and then did personalised autograph copies of her CDs, her musician parents Monique and Michael were also there. Did you know Michael is responsible for bananaphone :D
SSC was just awesome, and we partied so hard we blew the doors off Manchester Central. (Well, one of them, and it just kinda fell off, but we caused it with all the music, bass drops and jumping around xD)

Day 2: Got to peruse some merch, empty my wallet etc. I picked up a Build-a-bear Dashie, a bunch of the IDW comics, and some posters from one of the artists there. Saw a really good cosplay catwalk, watch a Q&A panel with some voice actors, listened to some pretty good karaoke, then various "lower key than SSC but also really good" music performances as the night drew in. There was loads going on at any one time (http://www.buckcon.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/shed-draft.png) and we could've done with a mirror pool, but those are the things I chose to attend. After closing, had a good few drinks back at the hotel with a small herd from the UK Equestria site.

Day 3: Watched writer and art Q&A panels which were interesting, finally got to see Double Rainboom (on a big screen) which I loved, it was silly and funny and well done, then there was a panel with some of its creators. Had a browse around at some of the little competition things going on and watched a stupidly hard pub quiz. Then the BIG and exciting Q&A panel with Michelle Creber, writer Cindy Morrow, and via Skype: Meghan McCarthy and Amy Keating Rogers and a grand finale.
It doesn't sound much when it's written out, but believe me, it was huge with just so much going on! Quite a lot was the crowd in general too, gathering in the foyer and doing their own thing.

Pinkie doesn't just stop after 3 parties, she then goes for an after-party. Basically, a more limited number of us officially took over a bar and squeezed the last drops of partying out of the weekend.

It was absolutely awesome, and the highlight was the truly buzzing, energetic, positive, super friendly, enthusiastic people :jess: As my first con for anything big like this, I don't think I've seen such a happy crowd enjoying themselves so much in my life, it was amazing.

I couldn't make the nutshell any smaller, too excited.


--- tldr version ---
Con was awesome awesome awesome. Loved every minute! Well, apart from it ending :P

One thing I found interesting was that the queues to get into the music do and the con, were both as much fun (FUN FUN FUN) as the events themselves, that is not to say the events weren't as good as they could be (they were awesome), but rather that people really had such a great time getting to show off their cosplays and partake in various shenanigans while we waited, that the queueing was just another of the highlights.

The Summer Sun Celebration music event was so epic, we blew the bloody doors off the venue XD I'm not joking, one of the doors seriously fell out of its frame we shook the place so hard O_o (luckily the event was insured for accidental damage like that)
Glad to have taken that opportunity to see Michelle Creber and her parents (also professional musicians) Monique and Michael as well, I don't know what the line was like at the con but it was reasonable enough at SSC that we each got time for a quick chat, which was surreal really getting to talk to a star like that (my favourite CMC no less) and I was super nervous :P

Con was great, so much to see and do that I really hope they provide a mirror pool next year (I'm very tempted to go again next year) so we can clone ourselves xD I went to a lot of the Q&A panels, most of which were with fan content producers (for example the voice acting panel was with people who fan-voice things like Double Rainboom and are well on track for careers in voice acting), those were really interesting as we got to listen to how they learned to do what they do. The drawing one was interesting as well, as they mentioned that it's perfectly acceptable to use other pictures as a reference when drawing (I always thought that was "cheating" and avoided it), so long as you don't trace, which does nothing for improving your skills. That makes me think about trying to draw again.

Cosplay catwalk was good to watch, there were some really awesome outfits (especially the girl from our hotel herd who did Celestia and Rarity who did a fantastic job with it).. it's interesting as when I've seen cosplay images on the internet I've often thought "oh dear, guys, you look ridiculous" but I guess being there makes all the difference, or in general I think most of them were just so good and people picked what suited them. I think what you often see online is people highlighting the bad (as usual) e.g. things like an oversized man in a neckbeard trying to pull off Fluttershy and it reeeeally doesn't work (if you're big you're probably better off with a fursuit, Fluffle Puff or might be able to pull off somepony like Big Mac) but people seemed to pick the right cosplays for their build and appearance.

It certainly wasn't all about people selling stuff (this was just one floor and there wasn't a massive emphasis on it), which was a worry I had before going. There was loads of non-selling stuff going on. But hey, it was very interesting to see so much pony merch in England of all places and good to see BAB there selling Dash and Twilicorn, of which I grabbed the incredibly adorable Dashie (for a fraction of the price of the fan made plushies there, some were going for £150+, these were £20, that's economies of scale for ya)

Occasionally popped up to watch the karaoke singers, who were good at singing (why was everyone so good at what they do at this con!), I think the highlight for me there was Anthropology (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4dWMxTWTXE), a catchy little Lyra song that someone was singing really well.

Finally got to see Double Rainboom and a panel about it. I think they said it took something like 2.5 years to produce, wow. I enjoyed it and it tied in quite well with a comment in the fanfic writing Q&A, which was to avoid deus ex machina (meaning a solution to a problem out of nowhere) where possible but that it can be good if it's explained and done really well. Turns out Double Rainboom was a perfect example of this, with the inspired use of Pinkie to "unzip" the world and rescue Dash after discovering the secrets of the universe (Adobe Flash) from drinking the potion. Very funny and very well done :).
A friend in the US told me lots of people hated Double Rainboom, I don't see why, everyone here loved it.

A big highlight of course was the Q&A with Cindy Morrow, Michelle Creber, Meghan McCarthy (via Skype) and Amy Keating-Rogers (also via Skype), generally interesting stuff, no spoilers were allowed but we did get a heavy hint that we'll be seeing more of Discord :)
One item that I think will interest the fandom (some branches of the fandom more than others, no doubt *coughcough*) was a confirmation that in the creators' minds, the ponies are considered to be young adults since they're out of school and working, and around late teens to early 20s. But also that they're kind of timeless and ageless really as it's a unique universe so ultimately people can really interpret their ages however they wish.

On the smaller highlights (which actually ended up very popular and not-so small) the pub quiz was good as well. Many of the questions were ridiculous trivia that you'd have to be a super meganerd / trivia fan to know (what was Fluttershy's first wingpower rating... FYI it was 0.5) but some were interesting like finding out that Fluttershy was originally an earth pony and Pinkie a pegasus, and the very silly horse-related questions in the last round (how do you sound if you have a dysphonic voice?)

The afterparty was also good, we all piled into a hired bar and basically, there was much drinking, much pony music in the background, and many dances and singalongs.

Overall it was truly awesome, and good to meet some people from the UKoE forum too. I forgot to mention, on the Saturday the con closed at 10pm with nothing after it, and was left free for everyone to group together for our own fringe events. Great idea! Our hotel herd got together in the common room with booze we'd brought along and had some good brony fun together :D
The ending to the weekend happened twice, once at the con and once at the afterparty (which had fewer people - limited tickets), and it was typical brony style: we had a massive group hug outside at the end (things like this weren't organised or anything, they were spontaneous, someone yelled "group hugggg!" and everyone nearby was straight on that xD)

That was one of the great things about this, there was so much liveliness and spontaneity. Random groups of con-goers would just suddenly start singing one of the fan songs and dancing, or start the EQG stomp-stomp-clap and loads would join in, or we'd be all sat in the auditorium and half the crowd would end up singing "pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows" out of the blue XD

Not to mention the meme of everyone shouting "FUN?! FUN?! FUN?!" like the mirror pool Pinkies whenever anyone said the word "fun"... it meant the people on the panels kept having to say "er... doing this was... er... enjoyable!", it was very amusing xD But it actually annoyed the organisers towards the end as Michelle and Cindy were getting caught out with it all the time (it meant they kept getting interrupted) and so they banned it part way through the Q&A. :P

I think one of the truly amazing things was that I never heard a negative word about anything all weekend. Usually there's at least someone spreading doom and gloom, maybe ranting about twilicorn and EQG etc, or being unfriendly with someone. But no. Not one. It was astonishing. It was the happiest, friendliest atmosphere I've seen, and I'm pretty darn sure I'll be going again next year.


----

Earlier in the year I thought the fandom was falling apart, which would be a huge shame as like FF it can be a really nice fandom. Season 3 wasn't as well received as 1 and 2, there was drama about Twilicorn, there was all the doom and gloom about how EQG would be terrible and ruin everything etc. EQG was very well received over here though (perhaps less in the US *shrugs*) and then the con just blew me away with how much love and enthusiasm was there and completely obliterated any thoughts of the fandom dying. I am back to maximum excitement for MLP again, and love it.

[MJN SEIFER]

TBH, I loved it so much if it was an episode it'd probably be in my top 5, and the song (the cafeteria one) would be up there as well :) I see, while I'm still on the fence and haven't seen it yet, I am pleased that it has fans.


I wasn't bothered about the slight romance, it was a cute passing thing for the movie and it's already been confirmed that Flash isn't in season 4. Knowing me, I'd find it adorable, since I have a passion for romantism for some reason. If it's been confirmed fair enough (which makes the fact that some bronies are threating about him even sillier)


My one criticism is that yeah, the final defeat was the usual overdone "rainbow of d00m" thing but I really enjoyed the rest of it. I dunno if anyone in the team knows this, now that Lauren's gone, but that's actually a tribute to the real My Little Pony - The More You Know *shooting star.*


Big fan though, I've just come back from BUCK con, it was awesome :) Awesome, I missed out this year, but if there's one next year I'm tottally going.

I'll have a look at your rundown of it, and respond later.

[Cloudane]

All the "romance" is anyway, without giving too much away, is basically a crush, and some humour with it :)

I guessed the rainbow would be a tribute since it was the logo for ages, it's just a slightly overdone defeat method I think, but it's a fairly minor nitpick.

You should totally go ton one, this one was in England (i.e. not Bronycan) mind, and it's all but confirmed already that there will be another BUCK next year :)

[Hollycat]

I doodled something during a conference call today
47579

[theundeadhero]

I work with a girl who's favorite pony is Fluttershy. I had a second Fluttershy from a blindbag so while she was working today and I was off I took in it. When she said hi I put it on the counter and said, "A wild Fluttershy appears. What will you do? "Name" used love. It's super effective!" Then gave it to her. It made her day :bigsmile:

[Shlup]

Sailor Moon characters (and items) appear in the MLP:FiM comic. (http://sailormoonnews.com/2013/09/15/many-sailor-moon-references-in-the-my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-comic/) Neat.

[theundeadhero]

Yesterday Fluttergirl told me she brings it to her math class every Monday and Wednesday and that it helps her learn :)

[Hollycat]

A wild video appears
GKFpYX9cp-k
0_0
o_o
ouo

[Pike]

Huxley and I bought Octavia at Wal-Mart the other day :D

47861

[Hollycat]

-Z7UnO66q9w

[theundeadhero]

Tomorrow is MLP day.

[Hollycat]

For anyone who missed it, here is Season 4 episodes 1 and 2
rXb4qdlBzog

Also, I just recieved one of these:
Snuggle Bubble Muffin Vinyl Figure (http://www.welovefine.com/6212-snuggle-bubble-muffin-vinyl-figure.html#.UpTfD1CsiSo)
In the mail, and I'm really torn about what to do with it. It's really really nice looking, and I bought it to keep, but I can sell one on ebay and get enough money to buy my family christmas presents. I don't know which I should do.


Edit: 3rd print Derpy Vinyls are now available

http://www.welovefine.com/7048-snuggle-bubble-flocked-vinyl-figure.html#.UpU3mlCsiSo

[MJN SEIFER]

I do still watch it, I'm just on actual MLP sites more (well, one anyway - it's the only one that allows talk of all versions that I've seen, which is my kind of ponysite.)

I enjoyed the season 4 premire, It was kind of cool because I was right about a few things, and no one developed backwards this time.

So yeah, I am still interested (refering to the title) it's just that I'm on an MLP site now, so I can discuss it there, if that makes sense. Though I'm up for talking about it on here still.

[Cloudane]

Yyyyyup, still watching it and loving it. Haven't had time for much forumgoing lately.

I felt season 3 was rather weak, but season 4 so far is brilliant stuff, up there with good season 1+2 episodes.

Liking the way they've brought back the moral/summary at the end without reverting to reports to Celestia (which they've rightly moved past as they've matured)

The animation and facial expressions have really seen a jump recently, which is nice.

I'm getting a bit worried about the Flanderization of Pinkie (particularly notable in the castle episode) - more episodes like Cranky Doodle and Baby Cakes to flesh her character out again plz.

But yeah overall, top marks! Hope this quality continues!
BTW, watch Twilight slowly grow to princess size throughout the season...

[Fuzakeru]

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

I loooooooooooooooove MLP! :D Fluttershy is my favorite'st pony! For a long time I tried to hold out on not buying tons of plushies and toys and stuff (minus what was gifted to me through Reddit exchanges or b-days or whatnot) but then last night IT HAPPENED! My boyfriend and I exchanged gifts and.... aaaaand....

HE BUILT ME A FLUTTERSHY FROM BUILD-A-BEAR! OMG! She is so soft and cuddly and cute and big! My boyfriend, Paul, doesn't watch or care an inkling about MLP and hates being fussed over or treated like a kid and his tale of going in and asking for a pre-made one only to be turned down and having to make one just like a child would is the BEST! (He heated her heart up between his hands and kissed it and everything!)


49290

The combination of his public ridicule and me getting this giant stuffed animal has made this the best thing ever for me!

If you have a Build-A-Bear nearby I highly suggest getting one! I can't believe how good she looks and she doesn't feel cheap - which is remarkable since she is only $25.00 if you don't get the gala dress option.

[Pike]

I really want a Twilight Sparkle but I don't think there are even any Build-a-Bears in my state :crying2:

[Fuzakeru]

You can buy it directly from their website. :o They also have Spike for $12.50 you could buy to go with her.

[Pike]

OMG I NEED A SPIKE

[Fuzakeru]

Spike (http://www.buildabear.com/shopping/store/10-in-MY-LITTLE-PONY-MINI-SPIKE-THE-DRAGON/productId=prod11070301) and Princess Twilight Sparkle (http://www.buildabear.com/shopping/store/16-in-MY-LITTLE-PONY-PRINCESS-TWILIGHT-SPARKLE-Plush/productId=prod11070300).

They're soooooo cute! I'm gonna buy my BFF a Pinkie Pie for her birthday because she doesn't need adult things but a stuffed pony instead! :jess:

[Pike]

omg I want both

for my 30th birthday next week because clearly that's what a 30 year old needs

[MJN SEIFER]

Yyyyyup, still watching it and loving it. Haven't had time for much forumgoing lately.

I felt season 3 was rather weak, but season 4 so far is brilliant stuff, up there with good season 1+2 episodes.

Liking the way they've brought back the moral/summary at the end without reverting to reports to Celestia (which they've rightly moved past as they've matured)

The animation and facial expressions have really seen a jump recently, which is nice.

I'm getting a bit worried about the Flanderization of Pinkie (particularly notable in the castle episode) - more episodes like Cranky Doodle and Baby Cakes to flesh her character out again plz.

But yeah overall, top marks! Hope this quality continues!
BTW, watch Twilight slowly grow to princess size throughout the season...
Yeah, I'm going to admit that I found Season 3 to be the weakest season, with the acception of a few episode (Magical Mystery Cure being the most awesome in my opinion), and even they got things wrong in my mind. I think that part of it is to do with Lauren going; I know that she wasn't the only one involved in making it, but keep in mind that the majority of season 1 is updated versions of her old fanfictions, and any episode that wasn't she was still involved in, which continued in season 2. Season 3 is the first season she did nothing in, and it shows.

I think what's happening to Pinkie is also down to that; she was written as more of a fun loving "free spirit", but someone who cares about others, and isn't just a one diemensional gag or whatever the current writer wants her to be. It's like how Rainbow Dash suddenly went back to Dragonshy style personality, in season 3, despite going through a change through season 1 and definitely season 2. There was noway the Dashie I saw in The Crystal Empire is the same one I saw in her later season 2 episodes, especially Hurricane Fluttershy.

So yeah, Pinkie... she didn't work in season 3 most of the time, I even half believed that they sent back the real one in Too Many Pinkie Pies at times. The only episode I really liked her in during season 3 was Wonderbolts Accademy - I found her really cute in that episode. :)

[Cloudane]

I loooooooooooooooove MLP! Fluttershy is my favorite'st pony!


You have great taste :)



For a long time I tried to hold out on not buying tons of plushies and toys and stuff (minus what was gifted to me through Reddit exchanges or b-days or whatnot) but then last night IT HAPPENED! My boyfriend and I exchanged gifts and.... aaaaand....


HE BUILT ME A FLUTTERSHY FROM BUILD-A-BEAR! OMG!


X3


That's how it starts as well.
"I'll not buy any of the merch though"
(some time later)
"Well, I suppose one pony wouldn't hurt"
(shortly afterwards)
"GIVE ME ALL THE PONY THINGS!"

Soon you have an entire desk, shelf or more basically acting as a showcase of ponies, at least I do, and then I have the two plushies for night time snuggles.


Super jealous, the Fluttershy is soooo adorable but I'll get her (and maybe Twily and Spike) after Christmas. I know they're good as I picked up the BaB Dashie at the BUCK convention and she is also insanely adorable and soft and just the huggiest snuggliest thing ever. (The joys of a 31 year old man saying this, heh)
They didn't even let us do the ritual as they were too busy, they were selling by the second. I gave her heart a 'remote' warm and kiss through her back afterwards :P
I've found that it's physically impossible not to let out little "awwww!" sounds whenever I pick her up!


Poor guy having to do that as a manly type hehehe
No kidding on the value. Not to knock anyone's work, but it was one of the best plushies I saw at the con and yet all the others were like £70+, so £20 was a steal.



Yeah, I'm going to admit that I found Season 3 to be the weakest season, with the acception of a few episode (Magical Mystery Cure being the most awesome in my opinion), and even they got things wrong in my mind.

Interesting, it was certainly a mixed episode for a lot of people. Personally, I didn't mind it and wasn't fussed about the wings issue that so many had a flap over (sorry :P). But for me the highlight of S3 was Sleepless in Ponyville. And then a highlight of S4 so far as been another Scoot episode..


I think that part of it is to do with Lauren going; I know that she wasn't the only one involved in making it, but keep in mind that the majority of season 1 is updated versions of her old fanfictions, and any episode that wasn't she was still involved in, which continued in season 2. Season 3 is the first season she did nothing in, and it shows.

Could well be. I think they got a lot of feedback regarding season 3 and have obviously upped their game accordingly - they'll be fine without her in the long run I think, as much as they owe to her for kickstarting it all.


I think what's happening to Pinkie is also down to that; she was written as more of a fun loving "free spirit", but someone who cares about others, and isn't just a one diemensional gag or whatever the current writer wants her to be. It's like how Rainbow Dash suddenly went back to Dragonshy style personality, in season 3, despite going through a change through season 1 and definitely season 2. There was noway the Dashie I saw in The Crystal Empire is the same one I saw in her later season 2 episodes, especially Hurricane Fluttershy.

Yeah. Personally I'm liking the Dashie so far in season 4, she feels more like her older self and I have no problem with that at all. I found her a bit obnoxious in parts of season 2 (she wasn't exactly nice to that line-up of potential pets) and better but not perfect in 3 (I like the Wonderbolts Academy version of her though, which I find in line with her earlier self too). I basically like the version that is confident and sure of herself, but NOT selfish or arrogant, and cares about others. Which is how I felt she was through most of S1, though I dunno about Dragonshy, she was a bit of a cow in that one like in those parts of S2.

I basically sometimes think she treats Fluttershy a little harshly, but I do let her off her being her best friend and probably knowing how much she can safely push to bring out her potential.

I thought the best use of her I've seen for some time was in this one just gone, when she made the other CMCs go back for Scoots - this not only developed the sisterly friendship she has with her, but also made excellent use of the fact she's the element of loyalty. I was really impressed by the writing of her in that ep and it secured her position as joint best pony for me.


I even half believed that they sent back the real one in Too Many Pinkie Pies at times. The only episode I really liked her in during season 3 was Wonderbolts Accademy - I found her really cute in that episode. :)

Haha, I have wondered that as well. It was around then that she started getting flanderised.

[Cloudane]

POWER PONIES!

Interesting. I don't really rate this episode like the first 5, it's more "season 3" kind of material, as in, it's not bad but not "OMG GREAT" either, and kind of bizarre. But yeah, entertaining!

It occurred to me that this is the equivalent of a Star Trek "Holodeck Episode". It's completely separate and out of character and they get away with it by putting them in a virtual environment. They then have to solve the problem in order to end the program. Holodeck episodes tended to be a bit "average" but memorable, and I think this fits the same mould.

Given the "rainbow power" ponies that have come out, I think this was probably a Hasbro decree, that they have to introduce them in some way, like with Princess Twilight and the Equestria Girls. So like any Hasbro decree, they satisfied the requirement and got it out of the way in the best way they can, and props to DHX for their ability to do that effectively :)
Then again the Rainbow Power ponies look a little different, so maybe it's something that Dash will apply based on this story later on.

I've not watched much PPG but I think this was maybe a bit of a reference to that? The town looked similar.

I d'awwed at Spike a few times and kinda wished I had him as a plushie to hug. Soon.

lol'd at Hulk Fluttershy and heard that Andrea lost her voice after it, I guess that's her Amusing Out Of Character Moment for the season. Just pleeeeeeease don't flanderise her with it like Pinkie and I'll be happy. I know I keep banging on about Pinkie being "flanderised" but ever since someone mentioned it I keep thinking about it.

Not sure what else to say. This orb thing sounds like it might be real (which fits in with Daring Do being real) and maybe to do with Nightmare Moon. And now I'm wondering if there's going to be some sort of theme behind the mixing of fantasy and reality this season.

Oh yeah the castle being restored. Hmm, I guess this is where Princess Twilight will end up ultimately, especially since it has a huge library (hopefully at the end of G4/FiM and not before - she belongs in Ponyville.)

[theundeadhero]

I went to build-a-bear like a week and a half ago by myself to build a Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. There's was a funny old lady there who helped me do it. I think a few people stared at me funny but :shrug: The Fluttershy is my friend Felisha's but only while she visits. Fluttershy stays here with me :p

[Cloudane]

I'm so hitting up Build-a-bear sometime around new year.

Anyway, so yesterday I decided to be brave and take a little dip into the world of G3. Yep, the old sickly era! I just had to try "A Very Minty Christmas" on Christmas Day :)

I wrote a little review thing, thought I'd share.

=====

tl;dr - get past the sugariness, which is a LOT more than G4 yes, and it's actually really good.

Well, put this firmly into "guilty pleasure" territory - it left me with a really happy glow that I'm still buzzing with at the time of writing (though I didn't finish the review til after Doctor Who), and is that not what MLP and indeed Christmas are all about?

It's worth a shot, do the same as ya did with FiM, just give it a chance, worst case it's about 40 minutes lost. :p

I'll keep this fairly spoiler-free, and I'll start with the flaws to get them out of the way and work up from there.

Being G3, it can be ludicrously sugary with a lot of fixed smiles and the VAs doing the "smiling and laughing while talking" thing. It initially made me think that old familiar "oh god why am I watching this" and at first I may have wanted to vomit a little :p I like sweet and happy more than most people, but it hit me with more saccharine than even I can easily stomach. BUT I got used to it though, and as the story set in some of the sugar and smiles were put on hold for the character to reflect on her own flaws (yay! They do have them!) and resolve a problem.

It also wouldn't seem too spoileriffic to mention that the premise involves Christmas and Santa, which I find odd concepts considering both involve humans, and G3 (as far as I know) doesn't have them just like G4 doesn't. Maybe they have pony versions of Christ and Santa or something, it just seemed odd, and I can see why with G4 they went with a fantasy allegory instead.

But is it bad? Heck no! Not by a long shot - in the end I absolutely loved it! I'd rather let people have the chance to experience it for themselves than elaborate, but basically don't go thinkin' the spirit of the show you know and love wasn't around in 2005. Oh it really was - and you only have to zone out the sugariness a bit (mostly at the beginning and end) to get to the meat of it :)

Put it this way, the emotions were still there and there were still shall we say, heavy dawws

Slightly more spoilery but without details
"Friendship is Magic" is clearly not a new concept to MLP, nor is that of the general moral of the story being that friendship is the no. 1 important thing in life.

Really enjoyed what I shall call the sock song.

Actual unabated spoilers
i.e. the fact that in the end, after all the fussing poor Minty did (oh how I wanted to hug her at times!) over restoring the more materialistic aspects of the day that she thought she'd ruined, that's not what's important - the important thing is she stopped up all night and went out of her way to give away her most prized possessions (I love that it's socks XD Sock ponies are canon!) to try and restore what she saw as her friends' happiness in the near future, and then also basically risked her life to see Santa and let him know what happened - leading to the other ponies immediately turning their attention to her safety, being completely understanding about her mistake and recognising that the acts of kindness and true friendship are the true spirit of Christmas.

And of course, it was all ok in the end anyway, and the unseen Santa in his mysterious ways was lured not by the glow of the cane on top of the tree, but of course the warm glow of the ponies' friendship. D'awww!!

Some observations about the characters and how they compare with G4 counterparts, which I found fun to see as they came, so I'll spoiler 'em.

Rainbow Dash, oh goodness poor Rainbow Dash... she's Rarity! XD In fact I'd say she darling well overuses the word darling, darling.

The equivalent of Celestia (same coat and mane, same sort of "slightly bigger and maybe older/wiser" appearance) is called Star catcher and has a catchphrase of "Consider it done". Interesting...

A smidge to the left, maybe a smiiiidge to the right says Minty. I remember Pinkie saying this during Winter Wrap Up, now I know it was probably a reference!

Don't know about the idea of a whistling pony (Thistlewhistle), it was kind of annoying, but I like the idea of a pegasus who is scared of clouds, interesting concept, it could make a good G4 character if fleshed out a bit.

I thought at first the first pony who spoke (one of the sweet makers) was Andrea/Fluttershy, but it's not. However, Tabitha/Rarity plays Minty, so that's why that one seemed familiar :p

Very satisfying, glad I watched this for Christmas Day :)

[MJN SEIFER]

Anyway, so yesterday I decided to be brave and take a little dip into the world of G3. Yep, the old sickly era! I just had to try "A Very Minty Christmas" on Christmas Day As you can see this reply is really, really late, but I have been meaning to reply to this for ages, because let it be known, I love G3! I love every generation of My Little Pony


Being G3, it can be ludicrously sugary with a lot of fixed smiles and the VAs doing the "smiling and laughing while talking" thing. It initially made me think that old familiar "oh god why am I watching this" and at first I may have wanted to vomit a little I like sweet and happy more than most people, but it hit me with more saccharine than even I can easily stomach. BUT I got used to it though, and as the story set in some of the sugar and smiles were put on hold for the character to reflect on her own flaws (yay! They do have them!) and resolve a problem.
To be honest, I never minded the sugaryness to it, and found it quite close to G4 if I'm honest, but then I am a fan of it in general so it didn't take me that long to get used to it, but I'm pleased you managed to see past it and enjoy the movie. And yes, the G3's do have flaws and personality. :)


also wouldn't seem too spoileriffic to mention that the premise involves Christmas and Santa, which I find odd concepts considering both involve humans, and G3 (as far as I know) doesn't have them just like G4 doesn't. Maybe they have pony versions of Christ and Santa or something, it just seemed odd, and I can see why with G4 they went with a fantasy allegory instead.
No, G3 doesn't have any humans in it ever. Only G1 does that. I get what you mean though, it is a little strange how they did it in a sense, but it doesn't distract too much. I think the only correction I would have made if I had made it was, like you said had a pony Santa or something, or made a fantasy that actually resembled Christmas (I'm still on the fence as to whether Hearth's Warming Eve was supposed to be Christmas or not)


But is it bad? Heck no! Not by a long shot - in the end I absolutely loved it! Fluttershy Voice: "Yay!"


I'd rather let people have the chance to experience it for themselves than elaborate, but basically don't go thinkin' the spirit of the show you know and love wasn't around in 2005. Oh it really was

Friendship is Magic" is clearly not a new concept to MLP, nor is that of the general moral of the story being that friendship is the no. 1 important thing in life.

Exactly, as much as I love G4 - it wasn't the first MLP generation to do what it does that makes it so awesome; which makes sense as it was made by a fan of the previous generations.


the fact that in the end, after all the fussing poor Minty did (oh how I wanted to hug her at times!) over restoring the more materialistic aspects of the day that she thought she'd ruined, that's not what's important - the important thing is she stopped up all night and went out of her way to give away her most prized possessions (I love that it's socks XD Sock ponies are canon!) to try and restore what she saw as her friends' happiness in the near future, and then also basically risked her life to see Santa and let him know what happened - leading to the other ponies immediately turning their attention to her safety, being completely understanding about her mistake and recognising that the acts of kindness and true friendship are the true spirit of Christmas.

I know right? The whole thing was just so heart-warming, and beautiful. You really hit it dead on with your review here. And yeah, Pony's in Socks will always, first and foremost, be a G3 thing for me. :cool:


Rainbow Dash, oh goodness poor Rainbow Dash... she's Rarity! XD In fact I'd say she darling well overuses the word darling, darling.
Actually, Darling, I never really saw a link between G3 Rainbow Dash and Rarity (and even if there was, is acting like my 3rd favorite of the Mane Six really a bad thing?). Either way, G3 Rainbow Dash is still awesome in her own way, and trust me, the more you watch, you get used to her obsession with the word darling (I actually find it endearing), and hey, it's not like the other ponies don't playfully troll her for it sometimes. :)



The equivalent of Celestia (same coat and mane, same sort of "slightly bigger and maybe older/wiser" appearance) is called Star catcher and has a catchphrase of "Consider it done". Interesting...
While this isn't exactly important, she's actually my second favorite G3 pony (Minty's first).


A smidge to the left, maybe a smiiiidge to the right says Minty. I remember Pinkie saying this during Winter Wrap Up, now I know it was probably a reference!
Very likely, like I say FIM was made by a fan of My Little Pony, so there's likely to be shout outs here, and there.


Don't know about the idea of a whistling pony (Thistlewhistle), it was kind of annoying, but I like the idea of a pegasus who is scared of clouds, interesting concept, it could make a good G4 character if fleshed out a bit.
And there's my third - I just find her adorable for some reason. ^_^. I would like to see how her fear could be handled in G4 though, like you say.

Sorry this is really late, but I had various projects to work on, and I had to reply at some point. I'm really pleased to see some G3 appreciation.

/)!

[Pike]

Did you guys see the Weird Al episode from a few weeks back? Not gonna lie, it's the first pony ep I've seen in a while (I haven't been keeping up much lately :shobon: ) but it was a real gem. Weird Al has a great voice and it's perfect for animation.

[Cloudane]

I'll just say one thing quickly cos it's late in the day (thanks for the feedback Seifer and no probs! I'll try to do a better counter-response soon!)

I know a lot of people lost interest after S3, but seriously, everyone who loved FiM before that should definitely give S4 a shot with my wholehearted recommendation. Whilst you'd be forgiven for taking my words with a pinch of salt due to fanboyism, I can say hand on heart that - subject to rewatching the whole lot from S01E01 sometime - S4 is the best season I've seen so far. Early in the season it got some mixed responses (all at least 'good' from me) as it got a little experimental, and then towards the middle it just gets insanely good.

Pretty much anyone would be doing themselves a disservice not to watch:
- 14: Filli Vanilli (Fluttershy fans MUST SEE THIS BEFORE THEY DIE, I rank it no1 of the entire show's run so far. It is that good. I guess if you really hate Fluttershy you might not like it, but then there's the music.)
- 8: Rarity Takes Manehattan (for Rarity fans and non-fans alike. I wasn't big on Rarity, but.. you'll see.)

Also well worth watching are Rainbow Falls (10), Pinkie Pride (12) (the Weird Al one. I'll admit, I wasn't too aware of Weird Al, but I liked the ep), Pinkie Apple Pie (9), Bats! (7) (mostly because it introduces a cool new Fluttershy meme to give the tree thing a rest.. ;))

[Hollycat]

I haven't watched an episode since the 2 parter at the beginning of the season. I'm going to binge the season starting tomorrow.

[MJN SEIFER]

I'll just say one thing quickly cos it's late in the day (thanks for the feedback Seifer and no probs! I'll try to do a better counter-response soon!) You're welcome and thanks. I'll look forward to seeing it. :)


Pretty much anyone would be doing themselves a disservice not to watch:
- 14: Filli Vanilli (Fluttershy fans MUST SEE THIS BEFORE THEY DIE, I rank it no1 of the entire show's run so far. It is that good. I guess if you really hate Fluttershy you might not like it, but then there's the music.)
- 8: Rarity Takes Manehattan (for Rarity fans and non-fans alike. I wasn't big on Rarity, but.. you'll see.) Out of the Season 4 episodes I've seen so far (not due to losing interest, I just haven't gotten around to it) these two are my favorites. Filly Vanilli reminded me that Fluttershy was my favorite, after fearing that no one knew what to do with her anymore, it was a very season 1-2 (aka Lauren Era) approach to her character.

Rarity Takes Manehattan was Rarity's "Hurricane Fluttershy" moment for me, in other words, it was the episode that made me wish the character was real, just so I could be there for her, especially one moment (hint: it involves rain). I did the next best thing, and hugged my Rarity plushie during that scene... yeah.

[theundeadhero]

I'm enjoying season 4 much more than season 3. The Bat episode has definitely been my favorite of the season so far.

[MJN SEIFER]

I really need to watch more of season 4, especially the "key" episodes (I've only seen Rarity's and Fluttershy's, and Rarity's was the superior of the two for me).

Appropos of nothing; I feel that fans of the show should take a look at this; Shazzbaa - Double Z, Double A - My Little Pony: The Elements of Harmony (http://shazzbaa.tumblr.com/post/17644330485/my-little-pony-the-elements-of-harmony) it's very well written, and makes perfect sense about the show. I already gathered about "The Magic of Friendship" being Twilight's true elemement (I don't know why so many don't seem to realize that), but rest of it make me appreciate the show even more.

[Cloudane]

Season 4 was awesome. Best season hands down!
Season finale was interesting as it felt like aside from a couple of loose ends it was only really missing the words "The End", so I can't help wondering if S5 was a question mark at the time the S4 ending was written.




As you can see this reply is really, really late, but I have been meaning to reply to this for ages, because let it be known, I love G3! I love every generation of My Little Pony

I still owe you a reply, I think I have you beat on lateness :)

Well, that's good! With the gens being so vastly different (at least in terms of appearance and the people watching it) I often did wonder how many people who liked the older gens actually like G4 or if it's sort of ruined it for them. Good to hear.


To be honest, I never minded the sugaryness to it, and found it quite close to G4 if I'm honest, but then I am a fan of it in general so it didn't take me that long to get used to it, but I'm pleased you managed to see past it and enjoy the movie. And yes, the G3's do have flaws and personality. :)

I don't mind a bit, but take for example the first 10 minutes of the Christmas one, to me that was quite difficult to watch without feeling embarrassed (and I'm at the stage now where I'm fairly shameless in what I watch). The G4 opening theme has the same effect.

Well worth it once it got going though. I love the character of Minty.
I've wondered lately if there'll one day be a "G4.5" of sorts focusing on the CMC and some newcomers - thinking about it, a modern Minty could be a nice addition to that!


No, G3 doesn't have any humans in it ever. Only G1 does that. I get what you mean though, it is a little strange how they did it in a sense, but it doesn't distract too much. I think the only correction I would have made if I had made it was, like you said had a pony Santa or something, or made a fantasy that actually resembled Christmas (I'm still on the fence as to whether Hearth's Warming Eve was supposed to be Christmas or not)

I see. But yeah, I'm not of the misanthropist type but I do prefer that it's a pony-only fantasy world (with EQG being a separate universe).
I figured Hearths Warming probably is in reference to Christmas, but religiously neutralised - it's named in a similar way to other metaphors like Everquest's "Frostfell", WoW's "Winter Veil Festival" etc. I do like it that way - it's easy to overdo "political correctness" but we live in such a diverse world, I vastly prefer the inclusiveness of a fantasy celebration over the attitude you sometimes see of "America is a Christian country, dammit. We should promote Christian celebrations" and all that. But then I am in England and we're a bit less religious in general here.


Exactly, as much as I love G4 - it wasn't the first MLP generation to do what it does that makes it so awesome; which makes sense as it was made by a fan of the previous generations.

Yup, we tend to assume "first there was something terrible, then there was an awesome reboot" but really just the art / character design style got a lot 'cooler', and I've not watched much of the old gen stuff but it's perhaps closer to progressive than revolutionary than people realise.


I know right? The whole thing was just so heart-warming, and beautiful. You really hit it dead on with your review here. And yeah, Pony's in Socks will always, first and foremost, be a G3 thing for me. :cool:

I bought some socks during the Christmas period just so I could post to FB "nothing says Christmas like a pair of socks", I don't think anyone got the reference XD


Actually, Darling, I never really saw a link between G3 Rainbow Dash and Rarity (and even if there was, is acting like my 3rd favorite of the Mane Six really a bad thing?). Either way, G3 Rainbow Dash is still awesome in her own way, and trust me, the more you watch, you get used to her obsession with the word darling (I actually find it endearing), and hey, it's not like the other ponies don't playfully troll her for it sometimes. :)

Fair enough! I just thought the way she spoke was similar, but that doesn't really mean her personality is the same.
And good that they had the same thing of self referencing odd things like "darling", I find it makes the difference between a quirk being weird and endearing.

As an aside, I didn't realise until recently that the design of G4's Cadance is based on G3's Fluttershy (whether deliberate or not I don't know, but the colours are the same), I found that quite interesting.


While this isn't exactly important, she's actually my second favorite G3 pony (Minty's first).

Cool, well you do have good taste there with Minty, then


And there's my third - I just find her adorable for some reason. ^_^. I would like to see how her fear could be handled in G4 though, like you say.

Hehe great. I think her whistling would get on my nerves, but knowing the G4 crew they'd probably find a 'cooler' way of doing it.


Sorry my reply is so late, too! Quite simply I got absorbed in other things.

[DMKA]

Is Friendship is Magic still going? Is it still popular?

It seems like all the rabid fandom I saw surrounding it last year has vanished.

[Ayen]

I watched the first two episodes of it out of curiosity and was pleasantly surprised at how much depth and character development a show which premise is about ponies has. It saddens me that a lot of other shows out there with premises aren't as 'mocked' by the general population aren't anywhere near as well written and thought out. The first two episodes could have easily spanned a whole season if they wanted it to.

I never did get around to watching any more after that.

[Pike]

It's still around, a lot of the initial hype has kind of died down though.

[Cloudane]

Season 3 was pretty weak, and I think it shook a lot of the "casual" following off. A shame, as season 4 was brilliant - anyone who abandoned it because Twilight gained wings was being rather silly IMO.

That said, I don't think it's really lost its keen fanbase - it's just shaken off fair bit of the "internet bandwagon" crowd, and I'm not sure that's really a bad thing. It means it's not being shoved down throats as much, which helps people to hate us less :)

Also, this year I saw Bronies in this very town (it's a very small town, population about 11,000). I've seen two walking around town wearing brony t-shirts (alas because of various reasons I never got to offer a brohoof!). This is the first year I've seen ANY Bronies in the wild in the UK, aside from obvious geek meets like the con and the gadget show. So I'd say it's actually more "taking off" than "dying" (in the UK anyway), but the internet rabidness does seem to have eased off and I think that could be a positive.

@ToriJ it's worth persevering if you get bored. I recommend "Dragonshy" if you like some insights into characterisation. For good character development look to "Winter Wrap Up", "Read it and weep", "Putting Your Hoof Down", "Hurricane Fluttershy", "Sleepless in Ponyville", "Magical Mystery Cure" to name a few and they also happen to be favourites of mine as well :)
"Filli Vanilli" is also a must (it's my favourite of all episodes) but I think it's better experienced after watching the first 3 seasons to really appreciate what it does for Fluttershy.

[DMKA]

I watched the entirety of Season 4 this week. It was really good, especially the last episode where the show turned into Sailor Twilight Sparkle Ball Z.

[Cloudane]

Hahaha. Yes, it kinda did.

#RIPlibrary

Ballsy move!

[MJN SEIFER]

I doubt there is, but is anyone going to BUCK next week? I am.

[Madame Adequate]

Actually on Wednesday I'm going over to visit Pike and I plan to BUCK her until she can't walk.

[Agent Proto]

What's the best way to watch season 4? Watching the episodes on Youtube is quite finicky at times.

[Cloudane]

I doubt there is, but is anyone going to BUCK next week? I am.

Eep! Wasn't expecting that!

Yep, I sure am :)
I'll be wearing a badge with my username on it and the Fus Ro D'aww (Flutterkiin) avatar that I use on ukofequestria, will also be wearing Fus Ro D'aww on a t-shirt on the Saturday

Highly recommend Summer Sun Celebration too, last year's was great. Even people who "don't usually like music events" liked it.

[MJN SEIFER]

I doubt there is, but is anyone going to BUCK next week? I am.

Eep! Wasn't expecting that!

Yep, I sure am :)
I'll be wearing a badge with my username on it and the Fus Ro D'aww (Flutterkiin) avatar that I use on ukofequestria, will also be wearing Fus Ro D'aww on a t-shirt on the Saturday

Highly recommend Summer Sun Celebration too, last year's was great. Even people who "don't usually like music events" liked it.

Awesome, I'll look out for you. :cool:

I'm sure, but I don't think I can make the Sumer Sun Celebration (and I am someone who likes music events) but hopefully if they do anymore, and I go again I should make it next time. Other than that, I am SUPER hyped about this! :D

Also, I keep wanting to call Manchester "Manechester" because of all this...

[Cloudane]

Awesome, I'll look out for you. :cool:

I'm sure, but I don't think I can make the Sumer Sun Celebration (and I am someone who likes music events) but hopefully if they do anymore, and I go again I should make it next time. Other than that, I am SUPER hyped about this! :D

Also, I keep wanting to call Manchester "Manechester" because of all this...

Hope to see you there :)
Where you staying? I'll be at Weston Hall. It's a cardboard box, definitely more Applejack's Barn than Rarity's boudoir, but it's sufficient.

I recommend making it to SSC if you can - BUCK has an extremely uncertain future next year (either not happening or a scaled down reimagining, unless they've had some sudden massive sale of 20% cooler tickets to fund it) and it's sounding like SSC would be high on the list for the chop. Not because it's no good - because it's TOO good (like, proper top quality stuff) and really hard work for them to do. But you never know, they might do one as a separate event.

Hehe... we all call it Manechester on UKoE. And I'll be getting off the train at Piccafilly, of course ;)

Oh yeah and it coincides with Pride weekend. So it's a pretty busy city but full of the air of love and tolerance!

[Cloudane]

Not spotted any obvious final fanatics, but if you see filly fluttershy eating a muffin today that's me :p

[MJN SEIFER]

Not spotted any obvious final fanatics, but if you see filly fluttershy eating a muffin today that's me :p I looked out for you, I promise. I didn't see you to my knowledge, and I looked for you on Saturday as well based on that day's description.

I'm sorry we didn't cross paths, but I had an awesome time, and got some great stuff, including a Pinkie Pie plushie, I'll give you all the full report on it as soon as I can.

Also, I have to confess I had to miss both the opening (Summer Sun) and the closing, not my choice, but it was getting to and leaving Manechester that caused the problems with that, I did go to the Lunar Eclipse (is it not "Luna"?) on Saturday though, which I guess was like a lower-version of SSC? Eitherway, I had a blast. :cool:

[Cloudane]

Not spotted any obvious final fanatics, but if you see filly fluttershy eating a muffin today that's me :p I looked out for you, I promise. I didn't see you to my knowledge, and I looked for you on Saturday as well based on that day's description.

I'm sorry we didn't cross paths, but I had an awesome time, and got some great stuff, including a Pinkie Pie plushie, I'll give you all the full report on it as soon as I can.

Also, I have to confess I had to miss both the opening (Summer Sun) and the closing, not my choice, but it was getting to and leaving Manechester that caused the problems with that, I did go to the Lunar Eclipse (is it not "Luna"?) on Saturday though, which I guess was like a lower-version of SSC? Eitherway, I had a blast. :cool:

Oh don't worry about it :) Happens at cons, it's quite difficult to spot people and we're all going from event to event anyway!

All sorts of random things happen at these cons, and one of them was in the vendor area, suddenly someone started playing the Jenova theme and several people acted out an FF battle, it was hilarious xD Will have to upload the vid. I lurked around there trying to look prominent just in case your "FF Shenanigans Sensors" were as finely tuned as mine though let's just say I didn't speak up to ask if anyone was you because yeah Fluttershy... (loved those badges though)
Actually I think Dave Polsky indirectly gave me an idea regarding shyness related to his answer about dealing with "writer's block" but I digress..

Glad you enjoyed it, me too! I picked up a really sweet little Apple Bloom plush about two minutes after walking into SSC :) She just instantly jumped out and said "buy me! You want me NAO!"

You didn't really miss much, all the SSC action is in the middle... it's fairly low key stuff at the start while everyone browses the vendors, and to be honest after Tombstone finished towards the end, just like last year, the floor pretty much cleared :p Felt a little sorry for the guy who got the slot afterwards (Hmage)! But I didn't stay long after either.

I suppose if it belongs to Luna then it's Lunar :) I found it to be like a really hardcore version of SSC... I must be getting old as much of that one - no disrespect to the artists, just my personal taste - was just kind of "noise" to me. I can enjoy that kind of music ("speedcore"?) but I need to be a little drunk, which wasn't really happening at £3.80 per 250ml bottle of Becks. Tombstone on the other hand.. I know he gets a lot of hype, but I can see why, probably my favourite as well. Love his performances, with or without booze!
Was all so. awesome!

I could go into length. It'd probably be thousands and thousands of words.

[MJN SEIFER]

To Cloudane: I will do a propper response to your post as soon as I can (as well as a more detailed rundown of my time at BUCK). I am very sorry, I realize that this is a habit of mine - taking forever to respond to things, and then stopping to appologise.

In General: You know how everyone seems to be doing let's play threads now? I'm thinking of doing one for Pony Fantasy VI at some point (yes, it's out of date, but why should that matter?). I really hope no one minds if I do it.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

59842

[Fox]

59842

You know, I've just started playing through FFVII again! Thanks to this I think I may have found my Chocobo names!

...although you do have to breed them, now I think on it. That might start getting a little too fan-fictiony for my liking...

[Cloudane]

Now I will end up using them for chocobo names too next time I play xD (Though I may well have ended up doing that anyway!)


To Cloudane: I will do a propper response to your post as soon as I can (as well as a more detailed rundown of my time at BUCK). I am very sorry, I realize that this is a habit of mine - taking forever to respond to things, and then stopping to appologise.

Don't worry about it, I know it's a bit of a chore responding to textwalls so if you don't feel like it I completely understand!

Oh yeah... BUCK vid! I've been waiting for someone, anyone to post so I can post this, without it going unnoticed in an edit, due to the silly rule against double posting ^^;

WX2srl1Je2E

[MJN SEIFER]

Thanks Cloudane. :)

Loved that video! :D I can't believe I missed that on the day itself. Do you happen to remember what events were taking place during that event, so I could probably pin point what I was doing at the time? Either way, I will still give a rundown on my experience when I can. I know it's late, but I hope people don't mind.

And it is a stupid rule about double posting.

Also, I am going to attempt my let's play as soon as I can, so get ready for it ponyfans. :D

Also one last thing; Heeeeeres, Dave! I really enjoyed his talk, and now BUCK have finally uploaded it on YouTube, and I hope they upload more things, as I am surpirsed they are taking so long. I invite you all to listen to what Dave has to say, because it was in my opinion very interesting, and if you're a writer like me, very helpful (his advice on Writer's Block is very helpful).

SH34ZmIfczs

P.S.: What happened to the Twilight Time Guy?! :eek:

[Cloudane]

So Rainbow Rocks was awesome. Especially a little something after the credits (in the cinema version)

Aaaaanywho

Errr I'm not sure - if ever I was wandering around, it was during the gaps where there was either nothing on or something I'm not really interested in (e.g. the charity auction... don't get me wrong I love charity and such, but the event itself didn't interest me and they put everything else on hold while it was on)
Might be able to find out if I look at the metadata, there should still be a schedule around :)

It'll still be interesting to read your rundown!

Yeah Dave's talk was a highlight of the weekend for me (the cosplay being the other one, especially that Dashcon guy spilling his balls everywhere..)
His point about Writers Block is fantastic, I don't write but it can be applied to other things like even when you just don't have the energy to do something. "Just do it", and it'll come.

And I have to admit, I loved his constructively worded putdown of the Twilight Time guy :p I have it on good authority from over on UKoE and the Facebook group that he didn't get banned (there was a rumour going around that he did) and I'm glad he didn't. He was clearly somewhere on the visibly autistic scale, meaning that whilst it's another thing he can learn from on socially acceptable behaviour (and I can see why he got mixed up and thought it was ok - the talk was about rebellion after all) it's not really appropriate to be overly harsh on him. I had a video up of just that segment and took it down (well, set it to unlisted) in fear of the internet going after him.

[MJN SEIFER]

Is it too late to reply here now? If not I'll do a more direct reply and post my rundown (better late than never).

I feel the limit may have expired on how long it takes before this becomes a "revival" though. :(

[theundeadhero]

Nah, it's good.

[Pike]

I haven't watched this show since season three. I know four is supposedly really good but... xD

[theundeadhero]

I liked four more than three but the first two held most of the magic. I saw Rainbow Rocks was on Netflix last week and watched it but I don't have a lot to say about it.

[MJN SEIFER]

Nah, it's good. Thanks. :)


I haven't watched this show since season three. I know four is supposedly really good but... xD


I liked four more than three but the first two held most of the magic. Seasons 1 and 2 were by far the best, they seemed to know what they were doing more, and it felt more like My Little Pony (i.e closer to the older versions, which FIM really wasn't that much of a departure from). Both seasons have good ideas, but it's lacking in places for me. I am reviewing episodes (I've only uploaded two so far) so I will cover it more in them.

Okay, here's my report on BUCK, but be warned - it is LONG (please be respectful to the length, if you don't want to read it all in one go, you don't have to).

Before I begin, I must explain that due to the distance and (I think)
ticket types I was unable to the "Summer Sun Celebration"
and also I had to leave before Sunday properly ended, but I still got
the majority of Saturday and Sunday, and in one word it was AWESOME!!

But in order to begin at the beginning, you would not believed how
hyped up I was for this the entire week - I was like the Mane Six on
the way to the Grand Galloping Gala back in season 1, but thankfully
that is where the metaphor ends, because unlike the Gala, BUCK did not
disappoint, and was just as awesome (and in places more awesome) than
expected. Note: There's a chance the word "awesome" will be overused.

It was overwhelming when I first got there, and there was a part of me
that felt like the odd one out, as I didn't have anything "ponyfied"
about my clothing while the others ranged from simply having pony
related clothing on, to being in cosplay, be it semi-humanized
versions of characters (nothing to do with Equestria Girls, I think -
bronies have done this before) to being fully decked out in costume.
Thankfully the majority of people there were very welcoming and
talkative, that I didn't feel like a sore thumb for very long - in
fact, they were how bronies are supposed to act, actually being a
community of friendship, so I was really pleased by this.

In the vendor (which I was in and out of, so there's no direct part of
the story all of this belongs to) there was a karaoke machine loaded
with pony songs that every so often people would gather round and sing
a long with and some beautiful artwork on sale, which I loved going
around to see - it was like being in a live version of DeviantArt or
something (after choosing to search for ponies of course). At one
point I and another brony got a chance to sing together on the karaoke
with "At the Gala" being the chosen song (though everyone joins in so
you are always part of the song, even if it's not you holding the
mic). It wasn't just songs from the show, but songs that fans had made
as well, which I admit I wasn't that familiar with, but I still had
fun hearing them. A lot of people were carrying their own ponies
around as well, but these appeared to have been brought from home,
which I did not think to do (at the time of this convention, I owned a Rarity plushie), and sadly there did not appear to be any ponies on sale (save for some “Discorded” versions of the Mane Six,
and a Rainbow Dash plushie that was part of a raffle), so it seemed
that unless I could get some serious bidding down at the auction, or I
won the raffle; my Rarity would sadly not be getting a new friend just yet…

I did however end up buying an artwork of the following; Alicorn
Twilight, Celestia and Luna, and Rainbow Dash in a trainee uniform.
The artists themselves were very friendly and talkative, and you could
tell they were pleased to hear comments about their art (and
understanding enough if I was unsure if I could buy anything as there
was so much to choose from). I even ended up chatting with one artist
about a G1 pony of all things (as she had done a beautiful painting of
that pony) however, I did not think to buy anything from her until
Sunday.

The first event I attended was called "Word Crimes" which was an in
depth look at fanfiction writing and why we are motivated to do things
like that. At the beginning, one of the speakers confirmed it be the
fanfiction discussion, and someone in the audience jokingly(?) said
that she thought it was the cupcake making event, and I'm afraid I
couldn't resist saying "But that is a fanfiction, isn't it?" which got
a massive reaction from the other bronies, including the speakers
(for those who don't know, "Cupcakes" is a self-mocking spoof horror
fanfiction made as a joke, that has been exaggerated in its infamy),
but all jokes a side, it was very helpful and informative to hear what
they had to say.

After that it was a talk hosted by a group of brony musicians, and
what goes in to creating music, and as someone who loves a very wide
variety of music it was very interesting to hear from them, and it was
cool how some of them had been involved in the fandom for some time,
and they were fun to watch as they joked around with each other (at
one point one of them playfully threw something at the other because
of his answer – though at this moment I can’t remember what he said.).
Throughout the talk, they kept plugging a CD entitled “Now That’s What
I Call Horse Music” (which I, for some reason didn’t end up getting,
but I might check it out when I can). This was jokingly advertised
several times, and continued to be a running joke throughout the
convention.

Note: There’s also a chance that the throwing happened in the
fanfiction one, and I just remembered it wrong as there was so much
going on and I was still overwhelmed at this point – it could even be that I’m thinking of the Voice Acting panel, as I can confirm that someone did get a bottle thrown at him for getting a voice actor wrong).

Next up was the auction, where as I said, I hoped to acquire a new
friend for Rarity, as well as whatever else looked interesting.
However, I soon saw that I was out of my depth, as the first item
alone; a Derpy plushie, shot up to either £80 or £800 pounds before
she was sold, and with the next item (this time it wasn’t a pony, but
I honestly can’t remember what it it was) also shooting up in high
price range, I knew I was not going to have any luck here. So I
retired to the gaming area where I just played some Street Fighter for
a bit. Not at all pony related, but it was all I could think to do.
There was also a Smash Bros tournament that I put my name down for,
but for whatever reason, I ended up not doing it (I think I went to
get some food by the time it was on, and there was such a long list I
didn’t think they’d get to me anytime soon, plus I would’ve sucked
anyway). I am sure that this was one of the many times I wondered the
vendor looking at the art, and deciding what I could buy.

Eventually, it was time for the Cosplay Show, which took place in the
Main Hall (not spelled as “Mane Hall”? Okay…) which was fun to see,
as the cosplayers were quite varied in how their costumes were done,
as mentioned earlier as well as a mixture of real My Little Pony
characters and OCs, and at one point a group of cosplayers all played one OC by
all dressing in matching colors and standing in formation, and holding
up pictures for the face, it was pretty cool. Some of the cosplayers
did some rollplaying as well, alternating between actual scenes from
the show, or basically doing their own thing
(which sometimes still made sense based on what
we know in the show). Even the ones who were on their own would
sometimes do a bit of acting - there was a Blueblood cosplayer who
behaved completely in character, and was jokingly booed off by the
bronies. There was also one cosplayer (who threw a beach ball into the audience, and it kept being
bounced around, with the cosplay announcer saying that “it should
never touch the ground” (it never came to me, though) and at one point
a second beach ball appeared, with no one (including the announcer)
knowing where it came from – another Discord cosplayer appeared on
stage at the same time as when the second beach ball appeared, which I
found ironic as it’s a character makes random things happen for no
reason (I kind of regret not saying something like “He did it!” when
the announcer was acting puzzled about the second beach ball, but by
the time I thought about it, it was too late). Note: a video uploaded by someone on this site (I won’t say if you don’t want me to) reveals where the second ball came from).

Saturday was rounded up perfectly with “The Lunar Eclipse” which was
an all out dance that more than made up for the fact that I couldn’t
attend the Summer Sun Celebration, and the closing ceremony. With
some awesome sounding music, and an equally awesome atmosphere it was
just so much fun being there, as a good celebration of music is my
kind of thing. It wasn’t completely pony related, but it was
basically a selection of remixes of various songs and I could hear the
talent involved in compiling it all (there were several, presumably
brony DJs taking turns), and as well as dancing there was a lot of
balloon catching, and bro hoofing, and like I said a great way to end
my Saturday. As awesome as it was, I didn’t stay to the exact end
though, and with the awesomeness of the ponies in my mind, I retired
to my hotel for some sleep (and even then I wasn’t exactly pony-free
as I even had a mild dream about some ponies) to basically recharge for
tomorrow.

Then it was Sunday, and once again, I was free to roam the vendors in
between events, where I was able to get a painting of Majesty (a G1
pony who is supposed to be a very important pony, but was bizarrely
never animated into the show – even though her castle was) as well as
a painting of Rainbow Dash and Firefly racing from the artist I was
chatting to about G1 the day before, as well as a signed drawing of
Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust racing or flying. I also managed to
find at last, a new friend for Rarity – in the form of Pinkie Pie, who
was suddenly on sale despite being nowhere to be found the day before.

The first main event was the “Crazy Music For Crazy Ponies”, which was
all about improv music (basically seeing if you can make music out of
assorted sound clips), and how it can all be created and edited
together in fun ways – there was a lot of messing with the speed and
frequency of clips and sounds used, and apparently there’s a CD on the
way with the cover being designed on set by them getting the audience
to say random things based on madlibs style prompts, to decide what
was going to be featured, and the cover art we ended up with was a bit peculiar, which I’m
sure is the point of what I’m sure is going to be an intentionally
whacky CD. (Note: as far as I can see, this CD still hasn’t actually appeared)

Also on Sunday I attended a talk about animation and someone had to
put together a felt animation as it was being done (in which Maud Pie ended
up dying, but you could tell it was done as a self-mocking joke, and
no hate was involved) the animation
itself purposely made very little effort to take itself seriously what
with day suddenly turning to night (a joke on the fact that someone
kept turning the lights on and off) and Maud acquiring a fedora in
mid-scene for no reason.

Next up was a talk on voice acting which was both interesting and
inspiring, and I even got to ask a question at the voice actors panel
(At least, I think I did, I remember approaching one of them at the end, unless I’m thinking of something else)
about how to handle voice acting if most of the voice actors are
likely to be met online – the advice was simple enough; get Skype, and
make sure the voice actors have it too, then they can be directed as
if they were there. It was also fun hearing about how to really do
voice acting, the key advice they gave everyone being “remember the
“acting” part” so if you ever want to take a stab at voice acting,
remember to act as though you are doing what your character is doing –
the example they gave was “If your character is swinging a sword when
he speaks, act as though you are swinging a sword” (they did warn you
to not hit the mic, though) as that’s the only way to really make your
voice sound right, and if your character has to scream, you will have
to scream properly – pretending to scream (a “whisper scream” they
called it) just damages your vocals, and it sounds really bad on
recordings, and my favorite piece of advice they gave was the all too
obvious “Don’t be scared of looking silly while doing the voices –
because no one will be able to see you”.

The next event took place in the Main Hall, and was awesome – it was a
presentation run by Dave, an actual writer for MLP: FIM. He basically
took us through the ins and outs of creating an episode for FIM and
how it all gets put together, as well as how he approaches writing,
and it was really informative, and as I have already shown you, it’s on YouTube now. He also answered questions from the audience, which were touch
and go, as he couldn’t really answer too much about episodes he had no
involvement in at all (he is, after all, just one writer) but gave
good insight into the ones he had, and gave me another way of looking
at the episode “Daring Don’t” (which I actually haven’t seen, but know
the general idea behind it) as well as learn some basic ideas about
writing and how things are done. Dave was also very calm and
professional with his audience; one brony apparently hated “Twilight
Time” (which I also haven’t seen) stating it to be the worst episode
ever, and asking a series of questions all of which could have been
shortened to just a simple “What were you thinking?!” he took it
professionally, and responded without losing his cool, which was
pretty admirable. (Note: as Cloudane said, the brony probably wasn’t trying to cause trouble)

One highlight for me was Dave’s advice to beating writer’s block (as a writer, I’ve been there)
and that advice is as follows; If you have writer’s block, don’t focus
on the fact that you do (in fact, try not to even think of it as
“writer’s block”) but instead go and do something that you know
inspires you – watch a movie that inspires you, listen to a song that
inspires you, do whatever it is that you do that inspires you, just
don’t get hung up on what you’re not getting done, and you’ll find
that it will help you. I am totally doing that, when I get writer’s
block again. (just watch the video, he puts it much better than I do)

There was one question (I forget which one) which Dave had a hard time
answering, and he just sort of froze on stage in one position looking
like he’d died standing up or something – this lead to the guy sitting
next to me to joke that Dave must have “Got writer’s block”.

During all this, the Rainbow Dash raffle was getting ready to take
place, and I knew that if I wanted to see all of Dave’s presentation,
I would have to miss-out (I signed my email address, so if I did win I
would be informed later if I was unavailable) and sure enough, when I
returned from the Main Hall, Dashie was gone. I have yet to receive
an email so I doubt I won, but it’s okay as I had already acquired
Pinkie by then, and I knew that Rainbow Dash can find another way to my
home one day.
And she has! I got her sometime after BUCK, but I managed to find Rainbow Dash at a shop while I was on holiday, so I got her after all (always kind of hoped I’d find Dashie in a box on the street or something personally – sorry I’m afraid I actually love that fanfiction)

I then had a choice of two events to round-up my awesome weekend, and
it was between a Digital Art thing (which was what I had planned on
seeing) and “Who’s Show is it Anyway?” (as spoof of “Who’s Line is it
Anyway?” which I have never seen) but having heard people talk about
it, I checked out the latter, and it was kind of fun; the people doing
it had to act out the scene while changing the genre during the scene
(it was the same scene all the way through, but it kept changing genre
but kept the original scene). The first thing they acted out was
hosting a disastrous (non pony) convention or something that had taken
place in real life, but as they did the second event (which I think
vaguely involved ponies) I had kind of gotten the point, and went to
check the Digital Art, which was much more interesting as we basically
saw an artist (who I bought some drawings of) design a pony in a
computer program, but unfortunately I arrived too late to know what
program she used. Doh!

With all that done, it was time to say goodbye to BUCK, with fond
memories and full inspiration in my mind. My first pony convention
was awesome, and I am totally going to go to more if I can.

[Cloudane]

Nice read. I'd address it blow by blow but I'd need a few weeks :lol: so just going to say it's read and digested!


Season 5 then. I was going to post about this in the feminism or race & privilege thread since the overall discussion in both threads keeps touching on equality, but didn't want to shove ponies in an unrelated subject - I know that tends to annoy people.

Anyone caught last week's episode? It takes a very interesting stance on equality. Or rather more importantly, enforced equality in a highly Orwellian village. It's very deep stuff and I'm not really sure how I feel about it - it's great that it's addressing such grown-up issues and challenging something that we tend to just automatically assume is good (equality is good, right? Well put it this way, from now on I'm qualifying it with "of rights and opportunities") without properly thinking about it - it forces us to think.

But I also don't want it to turn into purely a Brony show or to push politics too hard (it also takes a big swipe at communism) - I admired it best in early seasons when it was purely a kids show that just happened to be of a good enough quality to have a huge adult gathering on the sidelines, and realising how easy it is to kind of "forget" the basics of friendship and how to best treat each other in order to be the best friends we can. If it's going to "grow with its audience" and become all dark and grown-up and tackle deep stuff, then it takes away what originally attracted me to it - the upbeat, simple little slice-of-life joy that makes you laugh, smile and possibly shed a tear. In turning into like a Star Trek TNG with ponies it'd still be great (I adored TNG), just not the same thing, and I worry about them forgetting who it was originally meant for. The last thing I want to do is effectively "steal" something from little girls, who may not be all that interested in watching some deep political and sociological stuff even if it does have cute ponies in it. I'm conflicted, as I thought it was a superb episode for ME, I just worry about that.

Anyway, on equality, I was kind of expecting this to be this season's Massive Internet Drama and trigger some kind of massive tumblr vs. 4chan gamergate-lite war of extremism based on misinterpreting it as an attack on social justice. Fortunately, it hasn't happened.

Which in my view, it's not - it makes a very interesting point about enforcing equality and that's where I like to learn something from it such as the difference between "pure equality, like it or lump it" and "embrace our individual differences but allow an equal opportunity to express that individualism and be treated fairly". A common view that I've held myself is that things like gender roles are bad and.. well they are if someone is pressured into following it, which society tends to blindly do (I cringed in the toy aisle when I heard a boy say "I want this!" then get told "no you don't, that's for girls"). But if someone wants to follow a role - such as shock horror a girl wanting to play with pink ponies, great! The point is if a boy wants to, that should be fine too. And it's how we bring that about without turning the world into that dystopian enforced-equality nightmare.

[MJN SEIFER]

Cloudane
Nice read. I'd address it blow by blow but I'd need a few weeks so just going to say it's read and digested!
I'm pleased to see you enjoyed it. If you choose to adress it blow by blow, I'll look forward to it, but it's up to you.


Anyone caught last week's episode? It takes a very interesting stance on equality. Or rather more importantly, enforced equality in a highly Orwellian village. It's very deep stuff and I'm not really sure how I feel about it - it's great that it's addressing such grown-up issues and challenging something that we tend to just automatically assume is good (equality is good, right? Well put it this way, from now on I'm qualifying it with "of rights and opportunities") without properly thinking about it - it forces us to think. I saw it, and I will probably be able to adress this episode better when I review it, but long story short it didn't seem like a grown up issue to me, in fact, it seemed like a very standard children's show storyline about how while we're all the same where it matters, we shouldn't hide what makes us individual. It's something that is pretty standard for children to be made aware of, it's not really a grown up issue - it's an every age issue.


But I also don't want it to turn into purely a Brony show or to push politics too hard (it also takes a big swipe at communism) I've seen a lot of talk about this, and I can safely say that the episode has absolutely nothing to do with communism. From what I've heard, communism was nothing like what happened in this episode, and wasn't about forced equality. The whole thing was discussed on The My Little Pony Arena, and it ended up being established that the episode has nothing to do with communism at all. No offense.

Ultimately though, I agree about not wanting it to become purely a brony show. I keep meaning to write a full article on this, but basically it's been constantly brought to my attention on MLP Arena that the writers are trying too hard to put brony stuff in the show. Now, I'm not completely against them tipping their hats to their older fans as long as it's subtle and/or makes sense with what they are doing in the storyline. After all, Season 2 contained brony shout-outs, but they were indeed subtle, and when they weren't they made some level of sense with the episode. In season 4, while I admit I am less familar with what bronies are making memes out of (I was completely lost with the fedora references at BUCK), it seems like season 4 tried to hard in many places, and one of those cases maybe the brony shout outs; in "Pinkie Apple Pie", there was a clear "Twilightlicious" reference, which probably wouldn't have been too bad if it wasn't so forced into the scene, but sadly it seemed really forced in there like they really wanted us to see it, like we wouldn't have noticed it otherwise.

Another thing I've noticed is that they seem to be trying too hard in giving us things to make memes out of in season 4. Season 1 and 2 had things that had memes made out of them too, but the differences is they didn't try to become memes - they were just things that people found they liked enough to keep using.

There's a lot more on this, but I'm already off topic. Ultimately, one of the reasons bronies fell in love with MLP: FIM is because it was already a well written children's show - it was obviously for kids, but it had storylines, and developed its characters enough for us to take them seriously - it felt like we'd actually watched the show as kids ourselves, and had grown up with it. It didn't have to try to appeal to us, it already did when it was basically the previous MLP shows smushed together with its own flaire. Hopefully season 5 will be closer to season 1 and 2.


I admired it best in early seasons when it was purely a kids show that just happened to be of a good enough quality to have a huge adult gathering on the sidelines, and realising how easy it is to kind of "forget" the basics of friendship and how to best treat each other in order to be the best friends we can. If it's going to "grow with its audience" and become all dark and grown-up and tackle deep stuff, then it takes away what originally attracted me to it - the upbeat, simple little slice-of-life joy that makes you laugh, smile and possibly shed a tear. In turning into like a Star Trek TNG with ponies it'd still be great (I adored TNG), just not the same thing, and I worry about them forgetting who it was originally meant for. The last thing I want to do is effectively "steal" something from little girls, who may not be all that interested in watching some deep political and sociological stuff even if it does have cute ponies in it. I'm conflicted, as I thought it was a superb episode for ME, I just worry about that.

Pretty much that. Though I will say that a show can be deep, and still be for kids, but I know what you mean (when I was a kid, I tended to look deep into the storylines of things), but ultimately I agree that it should remember who the show is really for, but also take note of season 1 and season 2 (which in turn took note of the previous generations) and continue to make a kid's show with good writing, and help the bronies realize that they are guests in this shows audience, not the audience themselves.


A common view that I've held myself is that things like gender roles are bad and.. well they are if someone is pressured into following it, which society tends to blindly do (I cringed in the toy aisle when I heard a boy say "I want this!" then get told "no you don't, that's for girls"). But if someone wants to follow a role - such as shock horror a girl wanting to play with pink ponies, great! The point is if a boy wants to, that should be fine too. And it's how we bring that about without turning the world into that dystopian enforced-equality nightmare. I agree with this, and it's a very good point. I have actually decided that if I have children, I'm going to let them decide what they like, regardless of what gender it's aimed for. I also agree that it's okay if you do want to follow a gender role then it's also okay.

[theundeadhero]

Season 5 came out on Netflix so I caught up with the series. Slice of Life was my favorite episode. I liked getting to see more of the background ponies.

[Pike]

Oh man was that the episode with Doctor Whooves and so on? Because I LOVED that one :love:

Also creepy pony stasi episode was pretty good

[theundeadhero]

It was that episode, and it had secret identity agents and musical jam sessions :)

[Cloudane]

Quiet thread is quiet. How's the ponying? :) Still ponying plenty here! I'm heading to Bronyscot at the weekend.

Hah, not that long since we were on about the Starlight Glimmer episode. To be honest since then I've grown tired of politicising things again - ponies should not be about politics. Still, I understand that better now and feel much better about that ep, after having read this review
https://mlpforums.com/blog/1500/entry-16079-fim-the-cutie-map-episode-review/
which points out what 4chan discovered about M A Larson, that he's a fan of Harrison Bergeron

to quote,

The story is a tale of how the society is built on enforced equality where any sign of superior talent or gift are immediately stamped out by 'handicapper generals', government agents who stamp out any sign of differences, by impairing the beautiful with a mask, the intelligent with a radio to scramble their thought processes, and the strong with heavy weights.

In other words, assuming it's based on this, it's certainly not anti-equality or anti-feminism (which would've been very silly for MLP). What the message is against, is the means that some use to achieve it: by putting down those who are good at something, or perhaps privileged, rather than elevating those who are disadvantaged. Note: in my mind, "disadvantaged" isn't just a PC way of saying "disabled" or "not as good at things" but also means "at a disadvantage caused by society, such as the echoes of historical unfairness towards women"

This ties in somewhat with an image my aunt happened to share on Facebook one time
http://cloudane.com/bucket/2015-11/equality-vs-justice.jpg
The actual image is about semantics and that tends to bug me (I get tired of changing words because of pedants, one of the reasons I still say 'feminism') - I would interpret "equality" as "an equal ability to see the game" - but that's the sort of thing and makes you realise there are two ways to achieve that equal status. Equality the Starlight Glimmer way would've been to lower the taller boys so they can't see either.

Anyway we've had much sweeter things since - that CMC episode... best episode ever or best episode ever? :)

[Cloudane]

B...bump?

GZRYBn4PSuw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZRYBn4PSuw)

[Pike]

Have to admit it's been a few years since I watched this :shobon:

[theundeadhero]

I am unaware if a new season came out because I don't have the channel to watch it. I haven't seen a new season to talk about on netflix though.