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Season 4 Wishlist: My Top 5 "Yay" & "Nay"


Dark Qiviut

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Author's Note: If you want to see my older, yet complete wishlist, head here.

 

In response to

posted on Equestria Daily, I might as well do one, too, in text format.

 

 

 

My Top Five "Yay"

  1. The Twilicorn shows genuine development physically, emotionally, and psychologically. Magical Mystery Cure didn't handle the Twilicorn well at all, and you're lying to yourself if you think they did. At the same time, despite her poor execution, it's still doable. Here's what I wrote on both here and EQD earlier this year:
     

    I was okay with the idea in general because it showed a level of physical evolution from her, but only done at the right circumstances. I was never a fan of her being shoved in under Hasbro's mandate to sell toys. While I'm okay with the episode from a personal perspective, taste and quality aren't interchangeable. Magical Mystery Cure was, still is, and forever will be a bad episode because so many ideas were crammed in at one, abnormally and unrealistically speeding up the pace. There were two bold concepts, one good (cutie-mark-switching of the Mane Six) and one bad (the Twilicorn in season three's finale), and neither were pulled off well. And five minutes is MORE than enough time to impress your audience, especially when it comes to a really radical change in the character; it's extremely naïve thinking otherwise. Her first impression wasn't strong at all because the writing was so weak and relied on special effects in the animation to camouflage the issues.
     
    Currently, I'm not as moody about it, but I'm still a very vocal critic of it. However, I'm willing to give it another chance because the team is creative and intelligent and now has a bigger budget to handle the episodes. Everyone from DHX (and many from Hasbro, too) pushed season three as the final season of the series, so the team forced many bold ideas inorganically, the Twilicorn being one of them. If there was no season four, Twilight's reputation was permanently ruined. But season four gives her another chance to work.
     
    However, in order for it to work, Twilight MUST show genuine changes. Examples include:
     
    1. She can't be merely the same character other than growing some wings. Whether any of you like it or not, having her be Twilight in the way she was prior to her transition accomplishes nothing except proving that Magical Mystery Cure was a twenty-minute commercial for the toyline in disguise. I watch this show because it's GOOD; the plugs for toys are cleverly hidden within the context of the animation. Claiming that this should be merely a superficial change shows that you're not critically thinking of the consequences if that's the case. If nothing about her changes emotionally, physically, behaviorally, mentally, and psychologically, Magical Mystery Cure will be (at this point) factually the most poorly aged finale in the entire series regardless of the high quality of the animation and musical score, because it'll be intellectually insulting. Her personality must evolve to a form of maturity not seen in the first three seasons; not doing so regresses or stagnates her character.
     
    2. Wherever she goes, she must show the ability to progressively adapt to her given title and transition. "Maybe" won't cut it. The writers must exploit this at some point or risk disrespecting the very foundation of her character. If she returns to Ponyville (described by the interviews), then it must accommodate to her title. If she returns to the library, then a good reason why is required. Her path to being an alicorn princess is really flimsy due to the poor quality of the episode's pace and logic. A half-assed reason for her to stay in the library nullifies all of the character growth she received from the pilot to Magical Mystery Cure.
     
    3. Her bond with her friends must be demonstrated at some point. All seven — counting Spike — are very close already, but it was never tested nor hinted as such in the end of Magical Mystery Cure. Come season four, there needs to be some scripted trials of some kind to test their love and mutual respect for one another. How, that's up to you. This is something that risks altering an already tight dynamic between the seven (and relationship the fans have with Twilight already) if the script is crap. If the characters act like nothing happens, then that's lazy writing. Even with her ascension over with, the visual and critically thinking aspect of their dynamic is still fragile. You can't ignore it or shoo it away.
     
    This is something the writers must show proper care for. Having Hasbro thrust an obvious toy like the Twilicorn in there at the last minute doesn't excuse poor quality writing in future episodes. Just because the Twilicorn is out there in the canon doesn't mean I'll accept nor tolerate it willy-nilly. They're being paid to write (and in DHX's standards, write WELL), and I fully expect them to live up to those standards. It didn't, so that team should expect people like myself to review their work analytically and critically and call out the huge issues it has. If her first impression was actually written well, then we wouldn't have this controversy nor would I be so severe in my post. It's off to a rough start, so they must work twice as hard to show that her new role means something within the context of the story. DHX has another chance to make it work, and I'm cautiously optimistic they can do it, but it must be careful. Don't blow it!
  2. At least one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders gets her cutie mark. Over the last three seasons, we've seen how much they've grown. They've had a leadup to potentially getting their cutie marks, but following Faust's departure, so did the direction, showing us how much the characters learn through other means. The last time on camera that they went to try to find their cutie marks is in Spike at Your Service in passing. For a whole episode, it's Ponyville Confidential.
     
    It's time to see at one of them get one so we can see what the characters are capable of and how well they can hone their talent physically and psychologically. Give them a sense of commitment. But don't just slap the cutie mark in right away or risk damning the character develop she received up to that point. Develop it via foreshadowing and a story arc that leads to this moment.
  3. Character development for Celestia. She's been around since the pilot and has had no development. Her personality is set in stone to the point of flatness. Luna, Twilight, and Cadance have personalities, strengths, and flaws front and back that give each of them full characterization. Celestia is portrayed as a deity figure with no emotional or psychological flaws that can make her such a deep character, which is shameful because she has the potential and a very good concept. We've seen flashes of her personality, but they're fully concrete, and she's there for only a brief amount of time. You're lucky if she's on camera for more than two minutes. A well-written full episode starring (or co-starring) Celestia and showing character development for her would really be a breath of fresh air.
  4. Discord appears and DOES something. Following Keep Calm and Flutter On, Discord has been completely absent, currently making that episode nothing less than wasteful horseshit. To give him more of a purpose, have him show up and have him communicate and cause chaos. He's a neutral, humorous character, and it's great if explored. If absent for most of season four, then KCaFO ages badly.
  5. GOOD episodes for Rarity and Spike. Rarity was best background marshmallow for plenty of season three, and Spike's two episodes were disastrous.

My Top Five "Nay"

  1. Twilight is the same character with merely the wings attached to her. Twilight becoming an alicorn princess indicates a huge social and psychological change for her, and I expect the writers to demonstrate this. If Twilight, at any point, becomes merely the same character before Magical Mystery Cure, even though she's an alicorn now, then Magical Mystery Cure becomes a twenty-minute commercial for the toyline. Prove to your audience that Twilight's transformation was actually worth it and not worthless!
  2. Bold ideas are rushed (to conclude the episode). Keep Calm and Flutter On and Magical Mystery Cure each went really bold, but did so for the sake of wrapping the series up. There was way too much going on to make the episodes conclude logically and realistically. They were cramped and poorly organized. Games Ponies Play was much more conservative, but even Polsky rushed the ending to wrap that piece of garbage up. Writers, your best episodes tend to go as conservatively as a Republican. Take your time and slow down!
  3. Episodes with atrocious characterization, especially if there's more than one. In season three, three episodes had really bad characterization: Spike at Your Service (Spike being incompetent and careless with a dumb "Dragon Code"; Pinkie acting way too random for her own good), Just for Sidekicks (Spike was an incomprehensible bastard with no regard for his friends' pets and trust), and Games Ponies Play (EVERYONE with the IQ of 3!). Pay more attention to the characterization, keep it consistently in character, and don't have the characters acting stupid!
  4. New characters are introduced for one episode, only for him or her to never reappear, whether the characters are antagonists or protagonists. One of my biggest peeves with the series was how characters appear once (in a two-parter or self-contained episode) and never again (i.e., Braeburn, Trixie, the Flim Flam Brothers, Chrysalis, Peewee). You have a character there. Use him/her. Don't throw away potential.
  5. The background characters barely appear. In season three, the budget was much smaller. If you want evidence for that, look no further than the lack of appearances of the background characters. Cheerilee only appeared once. Lyra and Bon Bon barely showed up following Magic Duel. Derpy didn't have one frontal appearance until the finale. Season four appears to have a bigger budget, so background characters have the potential to fill in the background and possibly even do something instead of leaving the scene empty besides merely the animation puppet standing there.

  • Brohoof 3

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>Derpy didn't have one frontal appearance until the finale

 

I assumed this was because they have to kill her off, this is what I have heard anyway.

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I assumed this was because they have to kill her off, this is what I have heard anyway.
That's one of the rumors, the other being having her character held off until the Derpy drama cooled down. I wouldn't be shocked, though, if it's because of the budget, as every background pony's appearances were sliced, especially following Magic Duel.
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It would be nice to give the background characters more appearances in the episodes for Season 4 since, they basically have character qualities just like the Mane 6. A very nice improvement it would be.

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Keep Calm and Flutter On and Magical Mystery Cure were actually my favorite episodes from season 3. XD But I definitely agree with you that they were rushed, and I wish that they didn't have to be. But being rushed was pretty much my only problem with the episodes.

 

I agree with you about pretty much everything else. I liked the video, but I feel like the guy who made it totally forgot that at the end of KCaFO, Discord said to himself after agreeing to be good, "Most of the time." Discord did not completely turn over - he simply decided that he should be more considerate of Fluttershy's and other ponies' feelings before causing mass chaos whenever he so desired. I am certain that he will do a little something "fun" here and there... if he ever shows up again, which I hope he does lol.

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