MandelSoft

My top 5: 5. Magical Mystery Cure. Too many plot elements crammed in so little time, overall underwhelming. I'm still OK with alicorn Twilight, but what happens before that is way too rushed and too easily resolved. 4. Spike At Your Service. Spike was annoying and plain dumb in this one. 3. The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well. When watching it at first, I found it funny, but once you get to think about it, the moral is completely off... 2. Over the Barrel. Completely forgetable. 1. Baby Cakes. Kinda unintentionally creepy, boring and forgetable. Runner up: The Crystal Empire. Forgetable, not much spectacular was going on and it was an underwhelming season pilot.

So, I guess everyone has seen the Season 3 finale and saw Twilight reached her full potential: she became an alicorn by learning the most important lesson about friendship and she is now very powerful with magic (though, she already was powerful before that). Now you might say that it's a bit unfair to her friends, but is it actually? Maybe they have to discover their own full potential, their extraordinary special talent that makes them equally powerful as Twilight at their respect. Some of them may have already found them. Here are my thoughts about it: Pinkie Pie Pinkie Pie may be an earth pony, but she does things no other pony can: defy the laws of nature with fun. This makes her cartoony, but this may also have to do that she might discover later a new form of magic, the Magic of Fun. This would have the consequence that it is possible for earth ponies to perform magic on their own, but it's not the same magic we are used to. Or maybe, she already did discovered it... Applejack Applejack is a hard worker. She takes great care of Sweet Apple Acres and she has to work hard for it. Quite some of the work is based upon strength and endurance. She may discover a power within herself that makes her even stronger. She could do anything when she's motivated enough to do it, giving her magical enhanced strength and endurance. Rarity Rarity is very creative with dresses. However, she might discover that her creativity is not limited by making dresses, but to a whole range of other things. In fact, she might become a versatile artist with lots of creativity. And this creativity without bounds may be very helpful in other situations too. Fluttershy Fluttershy is very good with treating animals. She can even tame fierce creatures like bears. But there are some clues that her powers aren't limited to that; right off the batch from part two of the very first season pilot, she seems to have the ability to tame monsters. That's right, she can unlock the kindness inside any creature, no matter how fierce it is. She might not even fully realize it, but she already did a few acts of extraordinary kindness. This can be called a super-power. And then there is the Stare, which also seems to have taming effects... Rainbow Dash Rainbow Dash is one of the best flyers of Equestria. Funny enough, I think she already had unlocked her special super power all along: the Sonic Rainboom. She is the ONLY pony who can perform that, and the ability is very, very rare. But has she reached her full potential? Almost. She is in the Wonderbolts Academy now and it's only a matter of time to actually become the number 1 flyer of Equestria as the Wonderbolts Leader. To cut a long story short, it seems that Twilight is not the only pony of the Mane 6 who can have an extraordinary skill and she may not even be the first... I'd like to hear your thoughts about this Best, Maarten

*reads whole topic. Just to find 300+ replies in just a few hours* Well, the season finale was good, but not great. Here are my thoughts: I did not see the musical aspect coming. That was pretty OK The transformation itself was handled pretty well, as well as the motivation why this happened. All fan favourites on the screen, including Derpy. It was a good day... The lighting man, the lighting effects were awesome! Good job, animators! The episode feeled rushed. I mean, the Switch could've taken up a whole epside and it seems to be more fitting for a two-part episode... Due to the rushed character of this episode, there wasn't much tension to it. Everything seemed to happen... too easy... The final scene. How did Twilight learn to fly that quickly? Let's just say that that last part is a Dream Sequence and she still has to learn it... So, how do I rate it? 7/10. The writers did do a good job, but only if they had 22 more minutes, this could've been turned out great. My favourite episode is still the Season 2 finale. And now, the long wait for Season 4. In the mean time, I'll try to do more productive things (like getting my bachelor degree). For all other bronies: pony on! Best, Maarten

Well, this could always happen: Would be funny if it actually did, but we'll see what the writers come up with. I was completely surprised by last season's finale...

I strongly lean towards "everyone" or "everybody" rather than "everypony". This has a few reasons. 1) It's kind of awkward when used out of context. 2) I prevent that it slips from my thounge when I don't want to 3) English is not my native language; that would be dutch. And the dutch translation doesn't make sense in any way (I mean, "someone" becomes "iemand". How to substitute pony in that word?) So, I just remain using Terran English

That's indeed the best plot twist in the series and maybe it was also the best episodes. Other good plot twists:

I'm not that open in Real Life. Bought no merch yet. Parents don't know it. My brother does, but he's one too. Friends know it too, and one of my friends is also a brony (turns out he's also a mod on My Little Brony over at Cheezburger). But I would honestly answer the question "are you a brony?" if someone asked me to... On the internet I'm more open to it. And even there I can find support from some other bronies and it's also the reason why I ended up here.

Seriously, are your parents upset for watching and loving something that is morally correct? Where the main message we should respect and tolerate each other for who we are? I think you may be more sane than they are. Everyone has his oddities. They should be glad that it isn't porn. They should be glad that it's just this little "quirk" and that it does inspire people for being creative, to care for each other and supporting each other. Not to do stuff like violence, sex or other things they might be afraid of being "immoral" Is there something wrong with being a brony? No! I'm perfectly capable of liking MLP:FIM and your generic action packed Hollywood movie, or heck, even Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad, which is kind of odd when you watch one of those two after you just checked out the latest episode of MLP. The series doesn't make you gay or something (but some people think it does). The fact that hetero-sexual men are attracted to the show (and I'm talking about manly men) proves otherwise... There are a lot of geeks in this world, people who most of all stay theirselves and do the things they love. And those geeks can surprise you someday, giving you insights you never seen before. Maybe your parents finally need to know that we live in 2013 now and that things like the Internet changed society. Society has the habit to change every once in a while, because the world changes too. Take a look at some music genres for example 30 years ago, hiphop was virtually unknown, but today it's kinda mainstream (and no, I don't like hiphop, but this was just the best example). Internet has done a great deal to our life. How many people do you know that use sites like Twitter or Facebook? Probably a lot. The fact remains that the world you grow up in is not the world where they did grow up in. I like different music than my parents do. So what? True, I might share some of their opinions, but I also differ from some of them... Just tell them this is the way you are and it's probably not going to change and that they fail to empathise with your perspective of things. Say that both of you have to agree to disagree on the subject and that it will be benificial to you all if they stop bothering you with this mosquito-sized non-problem. However, if that doesn't work out, you can always go for the Secretive Brony strategy. Remember, you have a whole community of intelligent people to support you. Some of us may even have a degree (or are on their way to get one). The Brony community is one of the friendliest and caring communities I ever came across. Heck, I'm even writing these kinds of posts trying to support people, despite being member for only two days! Best, Maarten (FYI, my parents don't know it really, though I mentioned it to my father once. I think he didn't recieved the message at all).

I second that. I like the show not for what you expect from it, but rather from the things you didn't see coming. Sometimes, you know how it's gonna end, but you wonder how do they work theirselves out of this? This was the case with the Discord episode. You think that it's going a totally different direction, but the situation resolves in a clever way. But yes, the stories can be predictable from time to time...

You're not the only one who noticed it. It goes even further; they are ALL opposites of each other: http://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/6942031104/h3408EF05/ Isn't that interesting? Best, Maarten

Equestrian Advetures would've make people giving it a try earlier. At least, for some people, MLP has a stigma of being "girly" (and yes, that was my first thought too before I watched the show). But hey, don't forget the famous words of Yoghurt the Wise: "Merchandising, Merchandising! Where the real money of the movie is made!" -- Yoghurt the Wise, Spaceballs

Haha, knowing some German, I've listened to the german dub fragment and it sounded funny But for regular listining, not advised...

Everyone knows here the series MLP:FIM in the original English version. However, since it's a kids series, it's deemed to be overdubbed in foreign languages, since ya know, not all kids know English. I know that there are over a dozen translations out there, including German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Swedish, Italian and Finnish. All of these differ in quality in overdubbing. I've once tried the dutch version and I'd like to share my verdict about that version. The voice acting When watching the dutch version, I discovered what an effect good voice acting has to the series. The English version has an excellent cast that just get it right. The dutch version is way less. Notably, there's a 50/50 amount of dutch and flemish actors, because of ... you know, less discrimination and stuff, so get voice actors from both Belgium and the Netherlands (though I haven't heard an Antillain or a Suriname voice actor yet). Let me emphrase the problems I have with the voice acting with the Mane 6: Twilight Sparkle: she over-pronounciates words and she sounds someone from the high-class society, something that doesn't seem to fit her well. This makes her appear more like a snob than she really is. Pinkie Pie: good heavens, she sounds really annoying in the dutch version! Her voice is 20% more squeaky and high pitched. You can barely stand listening to it. Applejack: she's half-decently done. She does have a flemish accent, which makes her a little more country-like, but she could have so much better accents, like Limburgian, Branbants, plat-vlaams or Frysian. Just not awesome enough. Rarity: what striked me the most is that Rarity in the Dutch version has the very same accent as Applejack! In the English version she sounds like a high-class pony, which suits her. In the Dutch version she has none of that; she sounds the same as Applejack, which is her opposite. An Gooi-ish accent would fit way better. Rainbow Dash: no idea what's really wrong with her voice. It doesn't sound like she's energetic or (may I say so) manly. Her accent could also be better, for instance, an Amsterdam or a The Hague-accent might have worked better. Fluttershy: only her voice has been done right: soft and kind, just like her. Spike: oh my, his voice sounds a bit like Gollem! Great nightmare fuel for your kids! Princess Celestia: her voice is OK, nothing to mention here... Pronounciation and names Something that also bothers me is pronounciation and the names. The fact they have not changed any name of the main characters makes them sound like nonsense in dutch, because the names don't mean anything in dutch. Also, they pronounce the names in a overly English way, which sounds totally off. They didn't even bother to change the title into "Mijn Kleine Pony" (though they have translated the sub-title to "Vriendschap is Magisch), while this translation doesn't sound half bad... This is something that occurs more often in kids series here, but some of them translate half of the names and use dutch pronounciation instead of English, which oddly enough sounds less off (Spongebob Squarepants, Danny Phantom, heck, even Pokémon did this). However, in the way they've done it in the dutch version of MLP:FIM is very obvious and sounds annoying. The Singing Here's where they totally loose it. The signing is off-key and the lyrics don't sound that catchy. It sounds like a cheap translation and the off-key singing makes it hard to listen through. Other things to mention Oh yeah, they also scratched at least one episode, and you're not gonna like it, because it breaks continuity. SE02EP01 and EP02 are scratched for being too scary, while I find these episodes one of the best just because they were dark and they did challenge the main characters. It's a shame that such a good episode is thrown away (and I was curious who would do his voice in the Dutch version). It also breaks continuity with SE03EP10, where Discord returns... The intro is the same sequence as in the English version (as far as I know, only the Italian version has another, long intro) So, anyone else have experience with other language versions of MLP:FIM? Best, Maarten

OK, this topic might be useful for people writing fanfics. It brings up some good points about do's and don'ts. I was planning to make one, which does feature part of the Mane 6 out of character, but in a logical way with good elaborate back-story (hint: severe drama and disaster!). But I have to work out the story better in my mind and I think I'm making a rough draft first for people to critize (I like constructive criticism) before I work out the story completely into detail. For each character, hero or villain, you must have a good motivation that explains their actions. They also need to fit into the world they are in. I mean, the whole pony world is a bit strange and odd, but the characters behave in a way that feels natural for that world...

I portay Derpy Hooves as clumsy, happy spirited, a bit naive, but not stupid. Her cross-eyed ness and her bad motoric skills (I suffer from that too a bit) make her clumsy. She means it right, she does want nothing but the best for her friends around her, but she doesn't always succeed. Her appearance makes her misunderstood; other ponies may think she is stupid, but in fact she's not. She can deliver mail just fine and she can perfectly do what any other pony can do in daily life. Only a few ponies know that she's brighter than she looks. With this perspective, you can get a great storyline for an episode involving here: - Derpy's being clumsy. - Things go a little wrong. - Derpy gets the blame and a lot of ponies turn their back on her. - She's sad because she's misunderstood. - Only one or two ponies support her (why not Rainbow Dash?). - Then things are about to go seriously wrong, but only Derpy notices it. - Nobody believes her because they think she's stupid - Derpy decides to do something on her own and saves the day. - All ponies apoligize for treating her so badly. - Moral of the story: don't judge anyone only based on their looks and clumsiness... There you have it: a good moral AND a good way to bring Derpy back... Best, Maarten

Why do I like this series? The characters: the Mane 6 are all opposite characters from each other in some way, and yet, they are good friends and play each other off so well. Each character is detailed and outspoken, making them alive. Each character has its talents and flaws and they are really funny when they are actually NOT in their normal mood. In general: an interesting cast. And don't forget the side characters! They are all believable in the world they live in. Villains: every good hero needs an equally talented villain. Villains are a good addition to this show, making Equestria less of a harmless, painless world. It brings tension in the series and it challenges the main characters. Besides, I just love villains (I mean, who didn't love Discord in SE02EP01?). Action, humour and dark stories: this is what makes this show less girly than most people would think it would be. Darkness brings tension into the story and makes Equestria less harmless. It also shows that life doesn't work out the way as you want to and that bad things do happen. We don't live in paradise and neither do the ponies. Action also makes it more manly and more exciting to watch. It makes the ponies less innocent and vunerable, and therefore more believable. Humour can bring in the lightness in the story and the cartoony action is for me part of the success of this series. The world: the creators have created a vast world with its own creatures, geography, history, mythology and culture. I'm quite fond of this type of detail And that's why I became a brony Best, Maarten