Dark Qiviut

And I'm pleased that they're doing away with the comment system that promotes spam.

Actually, the system they implemented will promote spam.

1. For spammers, flamers, and trolls, they have an obstacle in getting a Google+, but in order for them to get an account, they just need to sign up to Google+ to restart. My Google+ has been inactive because it's an inherently broken system with bad Web design, and I'm no fan of social media altogether because they're designed to integrate virtual and real life into one. I like keeping both halves separated.
2. Unless you get a Google+, you can't moderate comments on any videos, including your own. Even the ones that were implemented one minute before Google+ and YouTube combined both systems. All of your notifications now are shipped to Google+, and no one wants it because it's a bad system. I CAN'T delete any comments on my YouTube unless I have a Google+ merged.
3. YouTube previously had a 500-character limit to prevent large chain and character spam. Spam is an extremely big problem for the big name fans on YouTube, who have to continually review the comment boards and clean up the shit troublemakers leave behind.

    

   With the character limit gone, you can have gigantic NSFW type imagery (much worse than a middle finger) and this:

   SASAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

   aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

   aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

   LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

   …multiplied by 10,000 times.

 

People always seem to forget that Google owns YouTube.

No one forgot at all. Google's getting bombarded with angry mail for what they did, and Google deserves the angry mail they're getting.

 

And there are many problems with the new system. Read these three posts from Hogfather in the SSMB. He explains the problems perfectly.

 

Particularly this excerpt from the first link:

 

 

If you have google+ and then delete it....

 

Your entire youtube account is deleted and all your videos gone, this is an unreversable action.

My opinion.

 

IT'S BULLSHIT!!!

 

I'm not into social networking, and Google+ is no exception. For several months, YouTube has been pestering me to change my handle and connect my Google+ (which I don't use anymore due to its convoluted layout and lack of privacy), and each time, I reject it. I don't appreciate being forced to connect my real life with my online life, especially the concept of putting my real name out there. Now YouTube is MANDATING me to go ahead and support such a bogus system that I want no business of. As a result, I can't comment (whether it's on someone else's videos or my own) or like a comment.

 

However, it gets much worse. This post offsite is why I hate this change entirely. (The thread has foul, angry language.)

Claiming the fandom memes — Tyralestia, Trollestia, Molestia — is Celestia-bashing is gross exaggeration, which is why I won't vote. All three memes are favored in some way by a lot of Celestia fans, particularly Trollestia and Celestia. I'm a big Celestia fan, and I love these three myself, Tyralestia the most. Molestia and Trollestia are often written very humorously, and that led me to laugh from the antics.

 

Ironically, the majority of the people who don't like Celestia (that I've seen) equally despise her memes.

Two days ago, a weekly newspaper based in Toronto called The Grid interviewed Craig McCracken, Lauren Faust's husband and creator of The Powerpuff Girls. He discusses the ability to create cartoons that cross boundaries, making them enjoyable for people of all ages regardless of gender, from The Powerpuff Girls (plus a key reason why the movie bombed), to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, to a cartoon called Wander over Yonder.

 

There's more he talks about, including the brony fandom itself, Lauren Faust's decision to leave the FIM team, and Equestria Girls.

 

An excerpt is as follows:

 

 

A decade before My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic—and the Brony movement it spawned—blew everyone’s mind with the crazy idea that older audiences (including males!) could like a show aimed at little girls, a similar thing happened with Powerpuff Girls, which was adopted by late-90s ravers (including me!) thanks to its sly humour, anime-inspired art, and electronic score.

 

This is no coincidence. The creators of both pop-culturally pervasive shows—Lauren Faust and Craig McCracken, respectively—are a married couple who met on the third season of Powerpuff and then collaborated on McCracken’s next award-winning cult cartoon, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.

 

Following Faust’s not-entirely-amicable departure from Pony after one season, and McCracken’s involvement with Adventure Time, they’ve rejoined forces for Wander Over Yonder. This kinder, gentler Loony Toons-esque cartoon—about a cluelessly optimistic space cowboy (voiced by 30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer) and a cynical steed, Sylvia, who travel the universe helping people—looks set to replicate the couple’s multigenerational, cross-gender successes.

 

“I’ve never sat and thought: ‘What does a kid like and I’ll make it for them.’ I just think about if I would’ve liked this as a kid,” says McCracken over the phone from the Disney lot in Burbank, California. “Powerpuff was my attempt to make the ’60s Batman series mixed with Underdog, which were my two favourite shows when I was little. It was me purely entertaining myself. I didn’t know what the response would be. And it worked. Kids really liked it.”

 

McCracken doesn’t have children of his own—“Not yet, we’re trying; it’s harder when you’re older”—but he made life a lot better for parents with Powerpuff’s extraordinary feat of appealing to boys and girls.

 

An unnecessary gender divide permeates every aspect of kid culture, but PPG erased it by mixing boy-centric action with the girliest girl characters imaginable. It became a huge Emmy-winning hit with kids, their parents, and twentysomethings, too—an unintended consequence that greatly influenced the show’s eventual big-screen adaptation.

 

Says McCracken, “When we were developing the [2002 Powerpuff Girls] movie, my boss was starting Adult Swim and that mentality was encouraging us to go older. He said, ‘I want you to make it for 25-year-old guys.’ There was a part of me which embraced that—even though Powerpuff was really solid, a lot of the merchandise that came out didn’t reflect the show. It was make-up kits and jewelry kits. This had nothing to do with the TV show we’re making, so I saw the movie as a chance to take back the superhero and fighting aspect of what Powerpuff was. Possibly, I might have swung the pendulum too far the other way,” he says of the shockingly dark movie.

 

But that wasn’t the only reason the film flopped. “The kids didn’t come—a lot of boys who were fans of it didn’t want to tell people they were fans of it and didn’t buy tickets. There’s a safety of watching Powerpuff at home if you’re a guy. It was pre-Brony.”

 

Link to the article.

Applejack: Involve her in episodes that aren't exclusively related to the Apple family nor have the writers fall into the trap of her being stubborn only to realize her actions at the end. Three episodes — Applebuck Season, Look Before You Sleep, The Last Roundup — are enough; any more will be overkill and a sign that DHX doesn't know how to handle her. She's a character with a mound of potential, but she hasn't been taken advantage of so much due to where she lives and how complete she already is as a character. Apple Family Reunion did a good job handling one half of the task, having her be so giddy that she overlooked the simplest things in life.

 

Rainbow Dash: I could raise many criticisms of season three, but Rainbow Dash was where she gets the most praise as a character. Her character development stuck through season one, only to have it tossed aside in most of season two, May the Best Pet Win! and The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well the biggest culprits. Basically, Rainbow Dash had character development; make sure she sticks to it and not have the writers backtrack and retcon it to artificially create conflict.

 

Rarity: Make her less manipulative and selfish. Season one had her sway from one end of the spectrum to the other quite a bit. She starred in season two quite a bit and was involved in episodes where her strengths and flaws balanced each other. (The fact that she "ethically lied," a flaw in the series even I overlooked, in Sweet and Elite is a valid criticism.) Putting Your Hoof Down turned her act of generosity into a flaw by taking advantage of the nerd, but season three relegated her into a background pony. Give her spotlight and have her recognize her actions and attitude and have her stick to it. Less selfishness and want to head to Canterlot.

 

Pinkie Pie: Tone down her humor. She can be very hilarious, but season three turned her humor into a common theme, interrupting the flow of the episode and making her into a shallow, out-of-character shell of herself. She has many facets that make her her, from her deep connection to her friends to her mood swings. Use it! Don't waste the potential.

 

Fluttershy: Rarity was a background pony in season three, but Fluttershy fit the role even more regardless of her primary status in Keep Calm and Flutter On. Speaking of KCaFO, she was taken out of her common role of her being a shy, scared stereotype and taking advantage of her assertiveness and kindness. It was her best role since PYHD, but since season one's finale, she's been extremely inconsistent. She's strong in one episode only to have her regress into a shy, out-of-character bugger the next. Magic Duel flanderized her to an extent that makes no sense given the timeline whether it was written as a season two episode or not. Give her a more prominent role without having episodes relegate her into a shy puppet.

 

Spike: He's the only character where the main episodes haven't always been up to snuff. Owl's Well pushed him into being an out-of-character asshole and turned what would later be a justified worry and jealousy into something antagonistic. To make matters worse, there have been many episodes where he becomes the center of comic relief and repetitive mischief. Two of Morrow's episodes, Winter Wrap-Up and Hurricane Fluttershy, relegated Spike into being a jackass, either intentional or unintentional, just to force laughter. Spike's much smarter than that, and he's a lot wiser than his visual age dictates. Make him funny, but balance it out with his wisdom, ability to understand trust, and so on. Currently, Equestria Girls is the only "episode" where Spike's characterization was taken full advantage of.

 

Twilight Sparkle: If you know my past posting history, you can easily predict where I'm going here. She really needs to prove her worth as a princess. Equestrian royalty isn't about being held a title before going about your way. Royalty is worshiped, and alicorn princesses indicate responsibility in how you see, work, and behave in society. What they say and do affects everyone's livelihoods. Twilight has yet to be put under such pressure, whether it's in Canterlot, Ponyville, or somewhere else. Take the responsibilities and show to the audience that Twilight truly is ready to be a princess. So far, she did many moments that were just reckless or stupid, such as completely losing control in Lesson Zero, giving a book that showed the Cutie Mark Crusaders how to create a poison, and formulating a spell that could've permanently sent Pinkie Pie into the Mirror Pond without as much as a second thought of a different spell that would've sent those air-brained clones back more ethically. Magical Mystery Cure told the audience she was ready, and the logic lapses in both that episode and Equestria Girls aren't enough. Show me. Prove it to me! Equestria Girls was the halfway point Twilight needs to cross the bridge, but the lackadaisical storytelling and writing made that bridge crossing unconvincing. She can't leap from one end to the other, but she can't crawl her way across it or risk making your audience impatient, either. She needs to show bold, realistic development to make her ascension worthy.

Another one: The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well

1. The "Mare-Do-Well"/superhero idea would be scrapped entirely in favor of another approach. Also, expand the moral into not just being humble in what you do, but also to not let fame get into your head.
2. Scootaloo decide to take some time off Cutie Mark Crusading and create the Rainbow Dash Fanclub.
3. Scootaloo would begin throwing around mail throughout Ponyville. Dash flies on by, greeting Scootaloo and asking what's up. Scootaloo hands her the invitation and zooms away.
4. The Mane Six discuss this new club with interest. Twilight asks her what she thinks about it, and Dash is confident and happy, although she's reminded about the Young Fliers Competition. "Yeah. But not Ponyville," Dash replies. Pinkie asks her if it's fine for everyone to come, who says, "Yes."
5. They meet up at the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse where Dash was greeted by a barrage of young fans. Dash is given interviews about her adventures and achievements. Spike writes the report in a detective costume. Her friends are pleased and hopeful her talents at home will finally get a little more respect.
6. Next day, Dash and friends jog around Ponyville, and Dash can't stop thinking about the fanclub and attention. They're pleased, but also advise Dash to be a little careful. Dash reassures them when hordes of adult pony reporters show up and pull her aside, and Dash says she'll catch up with Rarity later. They ask her about her acrobatic abilities, and she explains and talks about them semi-vainly. They ask to see it, and Dash shows off her wild cloud-clearing, looping, and fast flying abilities. All but a Sonic Rainboom. The citizens watch with delight, and Dash asks if that was what they were looking for. Everyone cheers wildly, and Dash is very giddy.
7. Dash takes a little break to meet with Rarity, who finished developing some kind of superhero costume, and was continuing to self-talk about her abilities and awesomeness. Rarity, however, is still busy. Dash hovers above, getting her attention, and asks if she could try it. Rarity thinks about saying no, but Dash puppy-pleads, and Rarity gives her the okay. Dash comes out with the costume, looking cool and elegant. But… "The mask is dumb and ugly!" Rarity is offended by it, but before she answers, a knock on the door, and ponies show up with cameras and the fanclub in tow. They see Dash in the costume and race to her. Dash brags about not just her abilities, but how interesting she looked in the costume. All without crediting Rarity. Fillies come over and ask Dash for her autograph, which she accepts and takes pictures with them.
8. The interviews end, and Dash puts the costume (and mask) back and flies away till she sees Scootaloo, who was looking impressed. Then she decided to ask a question: Can Dash do a Rainboom tomorrow morning at 8 AM? Dash said, "No problem!"
9. Dash flies to the Library, where Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack were there. They talked to her and scolded her for what she did in the Carousel Boutique, taking credit for the costume and bragging about her abilities. Dash questions why she shouldn't. She's proud of her talent, and she tells them they should be proud that she's finally being viewed as someone other than a lazy, hardworking pegasus who controls the weather, too. They acknowledge that and tells her she should be proud, but warn her to be careful of how she acts upon it. Dash said she's always careful, but Rarity quickly reminded her of what she said about the mask and then actions after and before. Dash reassures that she'll be fine, but nonetheless apologizes to Rarity for going off like that. But before Rarity answers, Dash interrupts and says she has to prepare the Rainboom.
10. She returns home to greet a happy Tank. She hands him some plants and fruit to chew. As she sits on her bed, her mind races. Did her actions go too far? Did she exploit her pride in such a manner that how her words and complacency with the paparazzi really did go into her head and hurt her friends? Sure, she apologized, but did she mean it? Tank consoles her with a nuzzle, and Dash gazes up at the ceiling.
11. It's near 8 AM. On the ground, the ponies wait beside a makeshift runway for Dash to fly above and land. The Mane Six are there, too, and talk about the events. They wonder what Dash was thinking. Twilight witnessed Dash prepare for the dive. Applejack and Rarity ponder about the conversation aloud to each other. Spike and Fluttershy are sure she'll be all right.
12. Dash lightly bounces off a light cloud, which floats high up in the sky. She sees the crowd below and is growing more and more giddy. She felt better after a good night's sleep, but still thinks about Rarity's conversation, although not so extensively. Deciding she is ready, she teeters at the edge and dives off the cloud, approaches the ground at high speed like a swimmer plunging off the diving board. The barrier separating sound and the Rainboom becomes visible about 30% of the way down, and she looks ahead with joy and confidence.
13. Suddenly, she glances around and sees her friends and the RD FC looking up, the club feeling excited, her friends worried. The words ring in her mind loudly. On one hand, showing the Sonic Rainboom demonstrates her abilities to everypony, and she can finally be seen as a really talented pegasus permanently. On the other hand, does she want to do it for the ponies in Ponyville, Scootaloo, and her friends…or herself? Finally, she decides, "No."
14. She slows down her descent and lands softly on the ground. Cameras and paparazzi catch up to her, but she walks by. She looks at the Mane Six and tells them that she thought about the conversation, and she regrets her actions. She not just embarrassed herself, but her friends, too. She let her newfound fame get into her head, and she wanted more of it. She felt relieved by the attention, but all that did was cause tension in her close friendship. She apologizes to Rarity again, and this time meaning it, who forgives her back.
15. Then she looks at the dejected fanclub, walks to them, and apologizes to them. She should've said no, but she did so to fuel her own ego, not for Scootaloo, and apologizes to Scootaloo for not admitting it and deceiving her.
16. The fanclub and Mane Six forgive her. For the fanclub, they not only forgive her, but are proud of her for admitting it. Scootaloo feels guilty, but Dash tells her not to. She has very good intentions and wants her to continue running the club.
17. With everyone around her, Dash requests Spike to take a letter. In it, she describes her joy for having ponies admiring her for who she is and what she can really do. While she appreciates the effort, little did she know that the newfound fame eventually got into her head. She wasn't just showing her talents. She was showing them off in a way that caused tension between her and the others. The next time she's going to show off her talents, she's going to do it with grace and humility and not at the cost of her friendship. At the same time, she also begins to understand that, when there's fame, you have to keep your ego under control and not let it change who you are nor her relationship with those she loves the most. Does this mean she should shun fame and the media for good nor should she stop feeling proud of her abilities, strengths, and achievements? No. She embraces it and is proud of what she has done, but also realizes to watch what she does and says more and how not to let the attention and accomplishments cloud her judgment and get into her head.
18. Spike sends the letter and is in the mood for a little snack. She invites the fanclub and friends to join, but asks the paparazzi for a little time alone. They oblige and let them on their merry way.

The purpose for this is as followed:

• It eliminates usage of the Idiot Ball that did nothing but push the official episode and make Rainbow Dash look worse. One of TMMDW's biggest weaknesses in objective quality is how the foreshadowing is shoved in, only to artificially prolong it. Dash may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but she's capable of thinking and performing more than basic math. The real RD would've identified the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well as more than one character the second the Mane Six spilled those clues in front of her, as they were right there to see.
• It eliminates the double message of her friends being passive-aggressive assholes who wanted to teach her a lesson in humility, but performed it hypocritically by bragging in her face (spilling the MDW identity in front of her) and inadvertently shaming Dash. If Dash was a child, what her friends did would be borderline criminal.
• The contrived part of the episode (the dam, constant life-saving) is cut. Keep the worldbuilding in character of Ponyville.
• Dash would hear and listen to their words, which were discussed privately. If Dash was truly in character, she would think about those words and then question whether they were right or not. She has an ego and may be headstrong, but she won't inwardly shoo criticism right away. Criticism eats her because of her pride, especially if it's sharp and honest.
• Despite her ego, she would also show her loyalty. The beginning would have her conflict between her loyalty with her friends and loyalty with her ego and fame. Show her loyalty as not just a strength, but also a flaw. She keeps her inflamed ego and jerkiness, but balances with consequences of tension and realization of how poor her behavior becomes.
• It gives Dash an opportunity to prove her talent to Ponyville in a way that isn't exclusive to her helping with the weather, nor confined in smaller chunks. Dash shows off the Sonic Rainboom in Cloudesdale in a desperate attempt to rescue Rarity and the Wonderbolts, which is a completely different environment compared to those who live in Ponyville. It spreads her worth in her other home.
• An extra message/moral is given to the audience, bending, yet not breaking, the repetitive friendship report pattern up to that point. Her lesson wouldn't be just to be humble in your talents, but also learn not to let fame infiltrate and blow up your ego. In an interview another MLP Forums user gave me earlier this year, I explained how fame can be really bad for the mind if not careful.
  
  

  Quote

  One thing about fame is that you receive more recognition from the media — for the brony fandom, it's DeviantArt, the fanfic Websites (Fanfiction.net, FIMFiction, Mediaminer, etc.), Tumblr, YouTube, and maybe even an interview from a news site such as CNN if you're lucky. When you get famous, you have to be way more careful with what you say or do in comparison to someone who isn't famous. If you say something daft, and you're not famous, then perhaps you can get away with it, and your history will bury itself in the background. But if you do something stupid, and you're famous, then the people who follow you and see you as inspiration latch onto it more. Chances are, the people who follow you will feel betrayed or extremely disappointed in your actions. Even if it's one person, that response will sting, especially if the disappointment is justified. Actions have consequences, so whether you're famous or not, think before you submit.
  
  Another issue with fame or infamy is the ego. The more famous you become, the bigger your ego can be, and the more invincible you tend to feel. If I ever do become famous in the brony fandom for the right reasons, then keeping my ego in check is one of my biggest responsibilities.

• It allows three things to continue: the Rainbow Dash Fanclub to prosper, the paparazzi to flourish, and the relationship with Scootaloo to develop. (For the latter, I would think of weaving it in some way to foreshadow it into Sleepless in Ponyville.)
  
  For the former, there'll finally be an origin to the Rainbow Dash Fanclub. IIRC, that was never explained in the official episode.
• Instead of being told and suddenly realizing she's in over her head, the realization is woven in. She'll be confronted about her ego, ponder about it, and show the character development via her own actions, thoughts, realizations, and decisions. She was told to be humble, but the episode never showed it at any point, because the script never gave her ample time to act upon it. Show, don't tell.
• The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well is confined to a cameo, and no more. It's an idea for Dash's ego to boost instead of tearing it down idiotically.
• The episode's resolved by her failing to do the Sonic Rainboom. Many of the episodes (and official movies outside FIM) tend to have an achievement/accomplishment and then wrapped up nicely. Here, unlike Sonic Rainboom, she won't do the Rainboom because she realizes the damage she caused, eating her up in the process, and realizes how bad an idea this would be. The failed assignment confronts her head on and subconsciously gives her that opportunity to either really show off or prove to her friends how loyal and trustworthy her conscience really is. You don't need to succeed an achievement to wrap up an episode well.

More would be necessary to fix the pace and fit it in the twenty-minute frame. At this point, it'll take way too long to explain it in detail. How long? Longer than Double Rainboom, roughly thirty-five minutes. Extra details are needed to be chopped off and new material must replace it so the idea can flow in a twenty-minute frame. But the concept is there, one where, personally, it would tell a much better story of Dash getting an ego, being scolded for letting fame and ego get into her head, and eventually realize the dangers of fame and reward for humility. Plus, she realizes that being proud and confident in what she does doesn't have to interfere with her true self and relationship with her friends and fans.

Excuse me for bumping, but there's an episode rewrite I feel can really improve an episode.

 

Owl's Well that Ends Well

 

It'd be much better if it's something like this (copied and pasted from my review for the same episode):

 

 

• Twilight and Spike prepare to gaze at the comets so Twilight can observe in awe and study. Suddenly, Spike sneezes at the book, burning it. Twilight smells the burning and asks Spike if he was okay, only to find the book being burnt. Spike apologizes to Twilight for letting her down, but Twilight lets him know it's okay. A little disappointed, but fine. She can always ask Celestia for a new copy.
• The Mane Six star gaze and Spike watches in delight, but eventually falls asleep.
• Twilight and Spike return off, lets Spike fall asleep. Suddenly, as Twilight writes her report, the wind blows her quill and parchment away. Twilight tries to use her magic to retrieve it, but the spell-binding wind nudges her magic away. Suddenly, an owl picks up the paper and quill and returns it to her desk. They meet and greet, and Twilight gives him the name "Owlowiscious."
• Spike wakes up late and worries if he's behind schedule. Twilight reassures him to not worry and greets him to Owlowiscious, who will be her "junior assistant" to help out Spike whenever he has trouble. Spike doesn't really understand the owl much, but still thanks him for helping.
  
  When Twilight leaves to get food supplies, they get acquainted better and begin doing some chores. Spike takes care of some of the tasks by cleaning up the floor and dusting the books, but suddenly begins to feel like sneezing. Owlowiscious comes by and stops him, and Spike thanks him.
  
  But then tasks become difficult. Spike, who's normally accustomed to working alone, wants to work alone. The owl helps him, anyway, easing up the tasks. Spike begrudgingly thanks him and wonders if Owlowiscious may be helpful, after all.
• He takes a break by reading a book on how to cast a fire-free spell on parchment and paper, when Twilight's friends overly gush on Owlowiscious, giving him the same gifts as Spike during their night picnic. Spike tries to call for attention, but the chatter was too loud for them to hear. Feeling a bit down, he heads back into the Library. Fluttershy, however, sees Spike feeling a bit glum and askd if he was starting to feel a bit left out, which Twilight assures it doesn't feel like it was the case.
  
  However, Spike's feeling a bit upset and begins to mutter about how the others ignor him and focus on Owlowiscious instead. He wonders why everyone gushes over Owlowiscious with the same praise and gifts despite not knowing him so well and not "earning" it all, either. Twilight and Owlowiscious pass by, and as the owl and dragon makes eye contact, Spike's eye twitches.
  
  Twilight asks Spike to find one book. He goes up the ladder, only to find the owl taking it. Then another, only for Owlowiscious taking it from the stack he stood on. The books collapse, but Spike holds onto the shelf so he doesn't fall to the ground. He scowls at the owl. When Twilight writes, her quill brakes and asks Spike if he can fetch new ones. He obliges and heads to the arts and crafts shop to buy them.
• But when he returns, new quills were beside her, and she credited Owlowiscious and also helped with dusting and rearranging one of the shelves. Dejected, Spike mutters and walks to the observatory, leaving a surprised, concerned look on Twilight's face.
  
  She goes upstairs and asks what's the matter. Spike said now when he tries to do his chores, the owl's doing them better and quicker than him, and he's wondering now if he is just not up to some tasks anymore. Twilight is confused, because the two got along fine earlier. Spike admitted it, but Owlowiscious got the groveling treatment while he was left out and was upset by it. And what happened after (the quills, dusting) upset him more. Twilight felt bad and apologized to Spike for accidentally starting it and reassured that, no matter what happens, the dragon will always be her little brother and number-one assistant. Owlowiscious flew up and hooted reassuringly.
• Commence the new friendship report, detailing about other friends' feelings are important, and sometimes it's important to be careful how to act and behave. Also, friendship is about being able to communicate to one another and reassure them when they're feeling down and upset. Spike and Twilight each co-signed.
  
  End of the episode.

 

 

It's improved this way:

1. You get the moment where Twilight confronts Spike for lying earlier out of the way.
2. The introduction between Owlowiscious and Spike builds. It doesn't just drop on the lap.
3. Spike wouldn't be villainized for having his jealousy over him nor would his jealousy make him a constantly incompetent punching bag.
4. Spike's ability to think beyond his age is taken advantage of by initially trust Twilight's instincts, while also eventually wondering if Owlowiscious would be the better assistant.
5. The unnecessary "adventure" part that pads the episode is cut, streamlining the episode better.
6. You eliminate that mixed message of Twilight yelling at Spike, shunning his feelings midway, and making him feel like he's unwanted. The second it's there, that impression gets shredded down.
7. You get—to—the—point. Quality over quantity. Owl's Well's sluggish pace would be much better with the second half chopped off and the ending scene before Spike falls asleep a second time heavily revised.

There's a bit more to be done, hence why I wrote "if it's something like this." It's still rough in the pace, particularly the moment where Spike's feelings of doubtless and perception of worthlessness is confronted and how to resolve it more fluently. Plus, it still doesn't solve this question: If Spike's still Twilight's #1 assistant, why did the writer not prove it to the audience in the ending? Show, don't tell. However, the rest of the baggage, from the concept stage, is observed, reviewed, and revised to cut the issues to a minimum. If the episode should be padded, characters like Pinkie Pie can appear to try to cheer him up and reassure that Owlowiscious was just being anxious and how Twilight still views him as her #1 assistant. What she says may or may not work, depending on the delivery of the lines, in-character reaction of Spike, and sequences of scenes.    
    
Once it's cleaned up more, then there can be a moment when Spike has to help Twilight and Owlowiscious and/or some other character, as Owlowiscious may be incapable of doing the task. Or Owlowiscious can ask Spike for help. If done right, Owl's Well can be pushed to the twenty-minute deadline and still allow the pace to flow like thin oil paint from a liner brush onto a canvas. Owl's Well showed how he was Twilight's #1 assistant in the beginning, but the official ending didn't. A moment where Spike can still demonstrate why he is #1 assistant in Act 3 puts it full circle.

So what would Twilight be instead?

It's just speculation, but my guess is that she's going to be some kind of unicorn ruler/sage/witch, maybe something akin to a teacher of the Magic of Friendship or a Wise Man. During seasons one and two (particularly the first half of the latter, for Faust had a heavy hand for many of them), she really studied magic and was slowly getting into advanced forms of them. As she studied to pass the entrance exam, she really studied her plot off to pass. She didn't merely study magic. She craved it, too. Plus, in Luna Eclipsed (an episode Faust was extensively involved in developing), Twilight trick-or-treated as Star Swirl the Bearded, one of the greatest unicorn magicians, and she knew about him and idolized him.

 

 

Do you think Lauren Faust meant for Twilight to become an alicorn when she said she wanted Twilight to be Celestia's successor?

I doubt it, because Faust spilled a tad more of the beans on DeviantArt. In response to a DA comment several months ago, she said she only meant "successor" and said "successor" didn't mean she'd be a princess, alicorn, or a combination of the two.

There's no such word as "alot." There's "a lot" and there's "allot."

That does annoy me a bit myself. I see it too much, and "a lot" isn't all THAT hard to spell, so it baffles me when it gets constantly misspelled.

 

But one incorrect spelling annoys me much more since I first saw it in 2005: "noone." It's spelled "no one," and it's not that hard to spell correctly. But instead of it going away, the mistake is now much more commonplace.

 

Others include "U," "Ur," and "U'r" unless it's in a status update, chatroom, or a Tweet. When there's so little space, I let netspeak slide.

 

———

 

Also, I see WAY too many Americans place the comma or period after the closed quotation mark. In American punctuation, too many do "this", or "this". The comma and period always go inside the quotation mark, "like this," or "like this."

 

Unless you're writing a story where exclamation points, question marks, etc. are required to be placed inside the quotation mark, this peeve doesn't apply.

Sony's "Giant Enemy Crab" wasn't a factor at all. It was literally something else.

 

Over a year ago, a user name Onsaud traditionally drew Rarity taking out a coconut crab. Whatsapokemon — who's a big fan of Onsaud — saw it and, using the picture as inspiration, created a Rarity-vs-Giant-Crab commission. Because the art was so good, he created more and more commissions. As it turned out, it spread far more than he intended and blossomed into something intriguing, creative, original, and funny. When you have something so crazy and so funny, yet you have so much good work dedicated to it, you get people into buying it and twisting it into something they can play with.

 

It got so popular, Whatsapokemon created a DeviantArt group dedicated to it!

 

P.S.: My most favorite Rarity-vs-Giant-Crab fanart is located in the "spoilers" below.

 

 

 

The new forum theme is miles better than the old one.

1. It sticks to the Poniverse brand far better. Check Pony.fm and Poniverse, and you'll see the same Josefin Sans typeface. The navigation uses the same beautiful, clean typeface, connecting the Forums with the rest of Poniverse.
   
   One small critique: The kerning in some of the letters is a little finicky, for the lack of a better word. You have big gaps between some characters, while most are extremely closed.
2. The navigation no longer intrudes with the banner. If I ever want to create a banner, I have to create it with severe restrictions in space and composition in mind. The new forum layout gives the banner a lot more real estate for me to work with.
3. It's much more user-friendly. When I used the old theme, I would have to scroll up or hit Command+Up just to click on a button, activate the pull-down menu, or use the status updates. Now wherever I go, I always have the navigation following me at all times and don't have to scroll up anymore.

 

What Type of Brony are you? "I'm a..."

At this point, I'm a Moderate/Creative brony. I don't create much on paper or digitally, nor do I write much, but I do participate in discussion and like to share my knowledge on and support for bronydom whenever I can.

 

 

How do you contribute to the fandom? "I..."

Of the options available, it's creating artwork and attending conventions. However, my current forte is writing brony-related non-stories, be there analyses, essays, critiques, and reviews.

 

 

Are you in the closet, or out the closet?

Out of the closet. I don't wear anything pony-related, but I'm not afraid to tell others I'm a proud brony.

 

 

How often do you watch the show? (on average)

Anywhere from 0-3 shows per week. I don't watch it all that often. When I do, I tend to watch the most memorable ones such as Return of Harmony, Party of One, or Magic Duel.

 

 

On a scale, How often do you think about the fandom/show

I'm between a seven and an eight, leaning more to eight. I think about it quite a bit and explore sites that are pony-related, but I'm not exploring or thinking about it all the time. For one big example, I'm a very passionate busfanner and will occasionally railfan and will go around taking pics and clips of vehicles related to this hobby.

 

 

Would you like more surveys like this?

Absolutely. It's a good poll with good ideas. I may not participate in all of them, but you can definitely go ahead and do more, especially if they're more fun-related.

At this point, Derpy is and should be still in the show come season four.

1. A month after the Derpy drama, Hasbro published a Comic-Con-exclusive Derpy toy, which sold out before EQD published its report. The toy was sold out at SD CC a few months later.
2. There have been many toys, either first-party or third-party, featuring her, including ones from Funko and WeLoveFine.
3. IDW's FIM comics have plugged in Derpy left, right, and center. They even made the mailmare fanon canon in the comics.
4. Magical Mystery Cure plugged in as many Derpy appearances as possible. She showed up at least five times, one of them breaking the fourth wall by winking at the audience.
   
   
5. Equestria Girls plugged her in, too, showing up three times with her trademark eyes. In fact, during the end of the credit roll, Derpy showed up dancing to the tune of the ending theme.

You can definitely go with the two-part pilot, for they're responsible for setting the stage for the rest of the series. A couple of other season one episodes that come to my mind are Winter Wrap-Up and Party of One. When it comes to high-quality writing, storytelling, and characterization, they are among the cream of the crop. Party of One has the insane Pinkie Pie antics that demonstrate her serious connection to her friends (and how bipolar she can be, too), while Winter Wrap-Up is much simpler and focuses on Twilight's ability to adapt to the more conservative environment within a tightly knit community in Ponyville.

@@PoisonClaw, @@Scootalove, @@Shoboni, @@Kyoshi, @, @, @,

All of you killed the credibility of your opinions one hundred percent by tossing rightful criticisms of the Twilicorn as needless bitching, sarcastically dismissing said criticisms, and throwing around daft strawmen like "it's against their headcanon" and "accept change/they hate change," whether you stated it blatantly or not.

 

It's not about being "opposed to change" nor about about "how MMC damages their headcanon," but about how well or poor the execution of the change was handled. The Twilicorn's handling is rushed and tacked on; it doesn't belong one bit in a cramped, thirty-minute season finale that only added extra questions and made people wonder whether it could genuinely work or not. If Magical Mystery Cure was factually good, well-written, and not full of unneeded questions, the controversy would've been over the second after the finale ended. While you have the privilege to compliment, praise, and be happy about it, those against the Twilicorn and don't like the report's news have the privilege to criticize, critique, and complain in return. Only supporting one way and shooing good opposing reasons aside enforces a single-minded viewpoint, and I'm not going to sit back and tolerate that.

 

IDW's report doesn't settle those fears, and that's why those who on Equestion Daily were disappointed and upset, and they have every good reason to be. An alicorn princess isn't about holding a title. Alicorn princesses have serious responsibilities on their shoulders. Whatever they say or do affects everyone's everyday lives. Her being a princess isn't equivalent to current royalty in the United Kingdom. Royalty means something. Twilight is not only part of a new race. She's a part of a higher class status now, so ascension affects everyone around her (the rest of the Mane Six, her family, Canterlot, Ponyville, all of Equestria, et al.), and it should be greatly explored. If Twilight is merely the same character with only the "Princess" as a title and alicorn wings, it enforces two things:

1. It wastes potential, a common flaw in this series. You have a big change in her character. Follow through and show to your audience that her ascension is WORTH it and BELONGS in the series. Retaining the same status quo plus wings and title reinforces those thoughts and doesn't push the boundaries.
2. Her ascension is useless. MMC's purpose is to tell the audience the Twilicorn was worth it. It's one thing to take advantage of it in fanwork, but the canon is where the ideas can really come to life over a multitude of demographics. Keeping her as is with the excess baggage ages MMC extremely quickly.

Having her change is something Twilight SHOULD do. The Twilicorn is a factually bad concept that was badly executed, but unlike Equestria Girls, it's at least doable and full of opportunities to explore. But don't tell me it'll work. SHOW me it'll work. Show your audience the Twilicorn is worth everyone's time. Go through a bold, step-by-step process and make Twilight grow past her extremely adorkable self featured in season one through MMC and have her develop a stronger sense of maturity, responsibility, leadership, and ability to connect with her friends even more. Don't do it in piecemeal: You'll stagnate her growth and make your audience wonder if the team genuinely has a direction for her. Really leap it forward. Push the boundaries. She can remain adorkable, but keep it more subtle and have her develop further and further. Really develop her!

Retaining the status quo plus the extras attached makes it all pointless, insults the creative process, disrespects the roots of this generation, and wastes everyone's time.

it is kind of creepy for an adult man to tell a little girl he likes her shirt.

No, it's factually NOT creepy, and anyone who thinks otherwise is seriously deluding themselves and needs a dose of common sense from the Logic Vial. As a kid, I've had adults tell me they like my work, from art I created to the designs on the shirts I wore, and I've spread my compliments to kids right back as an adult today. If the designs are good, you damn right I'll compliment the art. Implying this happened, the Reddit brony complimented the art on the girl's shirt. All you did throughout this thread (and in this quoted piece alone) is throw around fear-mongering paranoia and delusion, passively enforcing the Reddit brony's credibility and destroying your own.

 

BTW, you and @ didn't read the report properly. He was NOT fired for complimenting the boss's daughter's shirt. He was called in for this. He went back to work and was fired a few months later.

Although her appearances have been sparse over the past season, Princess Celestia is nevertheless one of the most prominent characters. She's the one Twilight idolizes and the reason why she worked her hardest to enter The School for Gifted Unicorns. She wants to be as great as Celestia, if not better, and will try her hardest to achieve.

 

But before the show started, there was a concept of Celestia that was rejected by Hasbro because they thought having a Princess may equal more toy sales.

 

 

 

 

The image in the spoilers in Faust's sketch of Celestia as a Queen. Instead of a Princess, Faust wanted to break the mold of clichés in fairytale/fantasy marketing and television by introducing a benevolent Queen in the FIM canon. Hasbro, however, deemed it too much of a risk.

 

The fact that Celestia was supposed to be a Queen was fantastic, and how Hasbro recommended Faust to backtrack the idea is royally disappointing. Part of what FIM is about is to turn the typical fairytale trope upside-down in the form of more unique, fresh ideas. Queens in fairytales and fantasies are very uncommon because of the decade-old marketing perception that Princesses are protagonists while Queens are villains. Queen Celestia would be great to break the mold and send a message to families, especially ones of little girls, that it's possible to have a benevolent queen in family-friendly fairytales, yet still not only be popular as a character, but also a toy. I love the idea of Queen Celestia much more than Princess Celestia and wished the concept was fulfilled.

 

What about you? Conceptually, do you like Celestia as a princess or a queen? Explain why below.

 

P.S.: To encourage discussion better, I won't include a poll.

I've eaten both crepes and pancakes (including blintzes, which are similar to crepes, but have some yeast and are embedded in Yiddish culture, but that's another topic), the former more lately than the latter. When it comes to having fruit topped or wrapped, I easily prefer having crepes over pancakes. For some reason, I have never liked layering fruit over pancakes, but when I wrap fruit with the crepe, I love the sweet, savory balance of the fruit and nutella. But when it comes to mixing fruit or chocolate chips in the batter, I'm definitely for eating pancakes, especially chocolate chip pancakes or buttermilk.

 

One thing regarding crepes and pancakes: It tastes objectively better making it with flour and eggs. Real ingredients. Don't ever make crepes and/or pancakes with the disgusting, artificially tasting pancake mix! And pancakes taste better when you use real maple syrup, not "maple syrup."

Eh, what the heck? ^__^

 

Favorite Color: Orange, followed by pink.
 

Favorite Pony: Fluttershy, followed by Derpy.
 

Favorite TV Show: Digimon: Digital Monsters.
 

What country do you live in? United States.
 

Favorite Pokemon: N/A
 

Favorite Musical Artist: As a big Sonic fan, Crush 40.
 

Favorite MLP Episode: Magic Duel.
 

Favorite Movie: Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame followed by Pixar's Up! and Wall-E.
 

Favorite Fanfiction: NetRaptor's What if Metal Sonic Ran on Windows 95. It's one of the oldest stories on Fanfiction.net, and it's still just as hilarious now as when I first read it nine years ago.
 

Favorite Song: N/A. My favorite determines on what mood I'm in.
 

Favorite Superhero: N/A.
 

Favorite Animal: Cobra.
 

Favorite Board Game: Chess.
 

Favorite Video Game: Sonic Adventure.
 

Favorite Video Game Console: Sega Genesis.
 

Favorite Book: Yonnondio: From the Thirties, by Tillie Olsen and We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin.
 

Favorite Fictional Character: Davis Motomiya from Digimon and Carmen Sandiego.
 

Favorite Sport: Baseball, ice hockey, and tennis.
 

Favorite Instrument: For nostalgia's sake, cymbals and the musical triangle.

Yup! I went to two of them, both of them being BronyCon: Summer 2012 and 2013. They are by far some of the funnest weekends I ever had. Not only was everyone friendly, but they were very passionate, too. There was so much fantastic work and people all united under one roof due to liking the franchise. I expressed my thoughts on BronyCon 2013 in my blog here.

 

They are just too expensive and not enough to keep me entertained.

No argument on how expensive it can be (unless one's a commute away), but depending on what convention you go to, there may be a hell of a lot to be entertained. In BronyCon 2013, there was so much stuff to do, you had literally no time to do everything. You have the vendor hall, panels (big and small), BronyPalooza, autographs, and more.

Not at all. Of the forums I've been onto, this one is easily one of the best forums in terms of moderation that I've seen. They're very organized and actually care about the overall perception of the place. In the other two I go to, when a moderator calls out the actions, I tend to see unprofessional behavior often, even from my friends. Not here, though. Everyone minus Feld0 doesn't get paid (and even that's minimal), but they understand that's a lazy excuse to behave badly. A good attitude from mods when responding to users makes the place much more welcoming. The proactive moderation is there to keep everyone honest.

 

I actually feel the opposite of you. Part of me belives this place is a tad under moderated. We have more than 15,000 users, but only about one-and-a-half dozen mods/admins. I personally think a couple more moderators are needed to keep it all under control more, as sometimes response to reports tend to be a little slow.

 

If you want to understand the Brony movement -- the adult human fans of My Little Pony-- you've come to the right place.

 

["Pegasister" is] what you call a female fan of My Little Pony. I guess everyone needs groupies.

 

I've said it a thousand times, and I'll say it again. A brony is nothing more than a fan of Friendship Is Magic, whether it's the show, comics, and/or merchandise. It doesn't matter how old you are, what your gender is, how passionate you are about it, or how active you are within the community. If you're a fan of FIM, you're a brony.

 

Now as for the rest of the slideshow, I agree with GrimCW, this doesn't feel like it was written by a brony at all, but more by someone who's slowly come to grips to embrace the culture. He or she seems to tolerate it in some capacity, but either still finds it a bit discomforting or can't find the right words to properly explain the phenomenon.

 

Two other problems with the slideshow itself:

1. Describing the fandom as one ranging from ages 18-35. We have thousands and thousands of bronies outside that age range.
2. Ragging the female bronies as "groupies." That term has negative connotations, as if they're riding the trail just to be a part of the community (a.k.a., "bandwagoning"). No, they're bronies because they love FIM just as much as the rest of us.

…

*ugh!* Even in College Humor's standards, this is stupid. There is nothing factually creative, interesting, and funny in this piece CH calls "humor." It's full of generic, flat, old, clichéd, BAD jokes that stereotype and prejudice nerd-centered fandoms, not just the brony fandom itself.

Want to make a good brony parody? Be more creative and have your audience laugh WITH the fandom, not AT.