ClosetBrony

Might as well finish off what I started, so lets start off with further analysis of why Twilight's status causes fear in some people but also the new possibilities this change can bring. My Best Friend is the Alicorn Ascendant, (How the Main 6 Dynamic may have changed) In simple terms the main reason why some fans are so uncomfortable with Twilicorn is because it breaks the status quo. We came to love this show due to the bonding and character relationships between a diverse cast of engaging and interesting personalities and part of why it was so believable is because despite their different backgrounds they were all on the same level, they were a group of down to earth ponies (figuratively speaking), just living their lives, trying to follow their dreams while learning from one another. While Twilight has always been considered the main character and more special then the rest of her friends, it wasn't to a significant degree and it was easy to immerse in the slice of life drama that was presented. But now Twilight is a princess and an Alicorn, so how does this change things? Well imagine your part of a close group of friends. You're ordinary down to earth people living normal lives, having fun. Then one day one of your friends in the group makes it big and becomes a rock star or something. Its great, you're happy for him and so is everyone else and you still get to hang out with each other. However things have changed, your friend now lives a more fantastical lifestyle, going to places you've never been before and dealing with problems you'll never experience. While you're all still friends, it feels awkward that one of you is so much more successful than the others and you all feel like you're stuck in his shadow. This is the problem that some fans are fearing, that Twilight has reached the point where she and her friends can no longer relate to one another the same way they use to. Any accomplishments the rest of the gang achieve will now always be eclipsed by the fact that Twilight is an Alicorn princess. Being an a princess also comes with it an inherit authority and status above the common masses so any sense of equality before has now been lost. There's also the fact that Twilight has now grown moreso than the others. As stated in my previous post Twilight's transformation is a symbol of the wisdom and strength of character that she has now attained. How do you connect with someone who has reached the stars while your still on earth. If executed poorly, Twilight's new status might even turn her into a mary sue, characters who are loathed because they make all others insignificant and having the world revolve around them (I gotta admit, when Twilight started walking down that isle with a heavenly choir in background singing her praises, it felt like the 2nd coming of Jesus!). Had Twilight's transformation happened as the final conclusion to the entire series, I don't think there would be nearly as much controversy as there is now as ascending into Alicornhood is the logical conclusion to her development. The danger now is that since there are more seasons to come, unless Twilight is given a whole new kind of character arc to go through, sticking to the same formula as before would feel incredibly hackneyed and contrite. But its not all doom and gloom, with great change comes great opportunity. When one door closes, another one opens All of the risks and worries I stated thus far actually have the potential in my opinion to be great stories. The next season of MLP could deal with Twilight and friends adjusting to her new life. Twilight's now princess duties now keep her from spending time with her friends and alienates her to a degree from the common ponyfolk she was once apart of. Her friends in turn learn to deal with the fact that Twilight won't be around as much as she use to and comes to terms with the new life Twilight now leads. In the end after much struggle and soul searching all parties learn that true friendship can overcome any physical or social obstacles and that we will never truly be apart as long as we hold our friends in our hearts. If the writers show that they're not afraid of breaking the status quo, then there's the chance for all of the other main cast members to obtain the conclusion to their character arcs. You might say that letting the other ponies like Rainbow Dash or Rarity finally achieving their dreams to be the end of the show, but the writers can always pursue the complications of what life would be like after obtaining their life long goal (I for one would love to see a two parter involving spike finally finding his long lost family and have him find a balance between embracing his dragon heritage and his life with his pony friends). If Hasbro decides to let loose a little, we could also have a story arc involving either Twilight losing her Alicorn status to a new threat and over the course of the season regain her lost power to defeat her new foe, or perhaps have this new foe neutralise the other princesses temporarily, requiring Twilight to assume the duties of her mentors (with hilarious hijinks ensuing) while searching for a way to save them. A good example of taking risks, implementing change and maturing over time would be the Toy Story trilogy. While each film maintained the cast of core characters the nature and lessons of Woody's trials changed over time as while friendship was a major theme, alongside that theme was growing up and accepting change and how while great friendships of the past moved on, oppportunities for new friendships will arise we can always keeps the memories of the old in our hearts. Of course doing something new could also go wrong. A common way to extend a story where the main cast have already concluded their character arcs is to introduce a new set of characters to replace the old ones but this would just piss the fanbase off since it was the origninal main six that we fell in love with. As implied before it would also be ridiculous to go back to the status quo after such a game changer in Twilight's character development. I don't know what lies ahead for the show and its fandom but what I do know is that inorder to keep the magic of this show alive, both the fandom and the writers are going to have to keep an open mind. Risks and new ideas will have to be have to be taken as we explore new themes. Friendship is Magic will have to come to end eventually but hopefully that wont be for many years to come and lets enjoy the ride while it lasts.

Alright time for the next part of my critque. Part 2 Moving Forward Now that Twilight is an Alicorn there is a huge shift in the dynamic of the show and this is where people start yelling "jumped the shark" but why is that? Twilight becoming an Alicorn is the biggest game changer in the histroy of the show for better or worse and you would have to be in denial to not admit that. No other season finale, premiere or episode in general has greater fundamentally changed one of the main cast than this episode. As metioned before in my previous post, this is a more mature level headed and wise Twilight Sparkle with new responsibilities. If she was still the socially awkward, over analysing, prone to exaggerating the situation twilight we know and love then what was the point of her becoming and Alicorn, why didn't they just make her a princess in the beginning, is all it takes to be an Alicorn just invent a fancy new magic spell? It would be very strange for Twilight, now an Alicorn and a princess still living in ponyville in the library, studying magic and friendship by herself and getting into the same mundane problems and slice of life comedy she was before. It would be taking one step forward and 2 steps back. How not to go forward, the risks and fears Let me illustrate with two examples, a show I loved and a movie I enjoyed. The first is DBZ, through out DBZ it was hinted that Gohan had a great hidden surpassing his farther's and all other and that one day he would become the hero he needed to be. Come Cell saga this build up come to fruition. Gohan lets go of all his doubts and fears and becomes the legendary super saiyan he was meant to be and defeats a villan who has all the powers of the z warriors and then some. Goku passes the torch onto his son and even though life becomes peaceful, if ever dark forces show up again, Gohan will take his father's mantle to save the day. This was meant to be the conclusion to Gohan's character arc, then Majin Buu saga happened. Now don't get me wrong, DBZ after cell saga had some great moments and there was a great opportunity to explore Gohan adjusting to life after Goku. But what happened, Gohan gets regulated to be the punching bag to show off just how powerful Majin Buu is and when he finally becomes Mystic Gohan and gets his chance to save the day and show everyone just why he is the one to inherit his father's legacy, he blows it and Goku has to come save the day with his spirit bomb. So much for passing the torch and a new and better Gohan. Lets move on to my next example, Kung Fu Panda. This movie is a story about how the everyman becomes the legendary warrior he was meant to be and become the savior of the valley. Po starts off as goofy, uncoordinated and clumsy with no talent in martial arts. However his master Shifu after much soul searching learns that Po is meant to be the dragon warrior and that he just had to change his methods. By working together, Po overcomes his overeating and confidence issues and by the end of the movie, defeats the villan who was Shifu's greatest mistake becomes the dragon warrior. While he still has elements of being goofy and overexcited, he is far more wise and mature than he once was. Then comes the TV series and all the growth and character development he gained has dissappeared. He's still a great fighter but it implies that things just comes to him naturally and even then he has difficulty defeating low level mooks and has just as tact and wisdom as he did at the start of the first movie. For the sake of continuing his story Dreamworks decided to undo almost everything Po learned in the first movie. What does all this have to do with Twilight and MLP: FIM? The examples I gave above shows the danger of continuing the story of protaganists who already reached the conclusion of their character arcs. In order to use the same stories and plots that made us love the franchise in the first place, they have to undo all of the character development the characters gained previously. One of the ways MLP could now stuff up in season 4 is to regress Twilight's growth or treat becoming an Alicorn as no big deal and she will still end up getting into the same antics as she did previously, making the princess coronation completely pointless. The only good way to move forward now is to take the show to the next step go off into new story arcs and ideas. But this means changing the format of the show and sailing into unchartered waters. Hasbro has stated before that they prefer a show format with limited continuity, not requiring viewers to go too deeply into previous episodes and focusing on self contained slice of life comedy. How can this be maintained with such a fundamental change in Twilight's character? Even if the new changes to the show turn out to be great, it still means that there is a difference in style between when the show started and post season 3 and this can get people worrying. I for one am hopeful for new and better things for MLP: FIM but I cannot deny that this is an uncertain future. Next time i will be discussing what I think are the appropriate steps forward and the potential good story arcs that could come from season 4, (though that may be off topic).

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I Wanted to start a new thread to avoid all of the baggage and getting lost in sea of posts but I'll move this post and future posts over to those threads and see how it goes.

Introduction So season 3 has passed and with it came a lot of joy, laughs, tears and now a rage storm over the twilicorn issue. I may be new here but I feel there needs to be a calm analysis and discussion and try to get some understanding between the two sides of this argument. First off I would like to say that overall I liked the season 3 finale. I give it a B rating. Good episode with some awesome moments but also some flaws (mostly pacing issues). The real thing I want to discuss are the implications of Twilight now being an alicorn. Through out this topic I will be discussing the pros the cons and where we go from here. So lets get started. What does it mean to be an Alicorn? Lets first start off discussing about what being an Alicorn implies. From the beginning of the show we have been led to believe that Alicorns are beings far above any other pony. They wield incredible magic and ruler over a specific dominion of the physical world. Celestia and Luna together control the day and night cycle and together rule Equestria. Then along came Cadence who showed there were more than just 2 Alicorns (so Hasbro could sell pink canonical Alicorn =p). While Cadence is not on the same level as Celestia or Luna, she still hold great magic, being capable of casting a protective shield over and entire city (Crystal Empire) and her signature magical talent of bringing out the love within ponies. So as we can see, there can be multiple Alicorns but they all share some things in common. They're all princesses who rule an aspect of the world and they hold great power and great responsibility. While not omniscient they do posses far greater wisdom and or knowledge than other ponies and are held in high regard because of this. So what does this mean for Twilight? Twilight's status as an Alicorn Twilight becoming an Alicorn and a princess is a symbol of the growth and maturity she has gained through her adventures. Over the course of the show Twilight has gained greater knowledge and in turn displayed greater magic and wisdom as evidenced in episode 12 season 3 where she didn't freak out and panic the same way she use to. Twilight's transformation is similar to the Hero's Journey story structure where the protagonist after much trial and tribulation achieves the final growth in their character that cements the conclusion of their character arc. Think Luke Skywalker when he becomes a full fledged Jedi Master and after defeating the Empire dedicates the rest of his life rebuilding the Jedi Order and training the next generation (ignoring all the obscure expanded universe which is not in the minds of the mainstream audience for good reason). If not for the messages from the writers that there will be a season 4, many fans would have thought that this would be the end of MLP FIM. There's a reason for that, because Twilight is no longer the same pony she was when started and she has now learned all there is to about friendship, symbolised by her Alicorn transformation made possible by the bonds she created with her friends. It is the logical conclusion to her character. Which begs the question, where do we go from here. This is where a lot of the hate, fear and arguments come and I will be discussing this issue soon but for now I need a break. I hope you enjoyed by amateur analysis and hope for a continued rational discussion.