Dark Qiviut

*AHEM!* Yo-ho-ho, mateys!

Day #23: Favorite EQG song.

Several months following Rainbow Rocks's release, Hasbro released three Encore Shorts, each of them a music video, and they were all EQG's best releases. All are so close in fantastic quality that which one is best boils down to personal preference.

And my preferred one is this:

Life is a Runway really shows what Rarity does in the big city. What drives her to be the best out there and how to match clothing based on others' personality. Reminds ya a little of Art of the Dress, eh? But while AotD is about matching dresses based on her own friends, Rarity's own sass really shows, and not just her own swag. That catchy background beat makes your head bob up and down throughout the tune, believing that your own style and fashion helps accentuate your own character and makes you feel better inside. Being a fashionista makes her happy, and her designs make them happy, making her work feel rewarded.

It's upbeat, inspiring, catchy, and confident. And the animation itself ain't too shabby, either.

• Day 1: Favorite mane character
• Day 2: Favorite CMC
• Day 3: Favorite princess
• Day 4: Favorite background pony
• Day 5: Favorite villain
• Day 6: Favorite mythological creature
• Day 7: Least favorite character
• Day 8: Most relatable character
• Day 9: Least relatable pony
• Day 10: Favorite pony type
• Day 11: Favorite ship
• Day 12: Favorite season
• Day 13: Favorite episode
• Day 14: Favorite scene
• Day 15: Funniest moment
• Day 16: Saddest moment
• Day 17: Favorite song
• Day 18: Favorite place in Equestria
• Day 19: Favorite EQG film
• Day 20: Least favorite EQG film
• Days 21/22: Favorite EQG character/villain

Hope things are doing well for ya, and have a happy birthday!

Still feeling this catharsis bashing EQG1. However, this'll likely be the (second-to?) last really negative comment I'm gonna post during this challenge.

Days #21 & 22: Favorite EQG character & villain.

My favorite EQG character's also my favorite EQG villain, so I'm consolidating them both.

Gloriosa Daisy is actually a pretty compelling character. At first, her repetitious usage of "I got this" sounded a little annoying, but when you take a deeper dive, you understand that this pattern was just a way to keep things calm around Camp Everfree and reassure to herself that everything will be okay. But thanks to FIlthy Rich's open scheming, nothing's okay. Tension fills the place as mishaps happen and Sunset grows suspicious of Timber. But when Sunset uses her telepathy powers and puts together the picture.

So was she wrong to go down this obsessive path? Yes. The more desperate she became in keeping Camp Everfree open, the more she lusted for Equestrian magic. Over time, her false sense of security cracked and broke down. You saw at the beginning when Gloriosa stammered after he forbade any trekking to the rock quarry. With virtually nowhere to run, Gloriosa felt like needed more of that dangerous magic, turning her to Gaea Everfree. Unlike every other villain beforehand, her motives were plausible. Despite being the antagonist, you can't help but pity her.

• Day 1: Favorite mane character
• Day 2: Favorite CMC
• Day 3: Favorite princess
• Day 4: Favorite background pony
• Day 5: Favorite villain
• Day 6: Favorite mythological creature
• Day 7: Least favorite character
• Day 8: Most relatable character
• Day 9: Least relatable pony
• Day 10: Favorite pony type
• Day 11: Favorite ship
• Day 12: Favorite season
• Day 13: Favorite episode
• Day 14: Favorite scene
• Day 15: Funniest moment
• Day 16: Saddest moment
• Day 17: Favorite song
• Day 18: Favorite place in Equestria
• Day 19: Favorite EQG film
• Day 20: Least favorite EQG film

Hey-lo!  

Day #20: Least-favorite EQG movie.

Where the fuck do I start?!

1. OK, how the hell were Luna and Celestia able to know how the portal magic works? It's like they understood how it worked already and knew how time there and here worked despite never visiting this location.
2. Why didn't Celestia or Luna either accompany Twilight to get the crown? They may not possess the Elements anymore, but they previously used them, so they have a history. Because they have three days, they could stay for at least one.
3. For some odd reason, Sunset Shimmer knew the mirror was relocated to the Crystal Empire, even though it was still missing when she left. For some odd reason, she knew what the sixth Elements was and what it looked like, despite the Reference Guide explicitly stating that no one knew what it was until Twilight discovered it. AND knew who bears it!
4. What could've been a very compelling character with an interesting strained relations, Sunset Shimmer's nothing more than a quarter-dimensional Alpha Bitch stereotype who bullies the entire school because she can.
5. Instead of thinking of some Louie Duck-esque scheme to steal back her crown (after all, it IS hers!), Twilight just said, "Yeah, I'll win some goofy prom contest!" (Perhaps they should've brought back that plastic look-alike.)
6. Somehow, Sunny knew who the other bearers were and concocted a scheme to break them up. Would've been okay hadn't it relied on the RM5 believing Sunset's framing at face value, when basic communication would've cleared it ALL up. Making TS the voice of reason turns them into colossal idiots.
7. Snips and Snails are dimwits, but they're actually compassionate. Why the hell did EQG make them out as villains?
8. Other than Win the Crown, each song is insipid. The only other one remotely fun to listen (This is Our Big Night) is pretty tasty junk food.
9. CHS is sterile and boring.
10. Sunset, Snips, and Snails may not be as feared as it shows, because they thought it was a good idea to cyberbully her on YouTube and spread the word out to the entire school. None of the adults confront the trio or punish them. Only the RM5 defend her! Also, if it's THAT easy for the entire body to be swayed into TS's corner, then why even attempt to write in this useless piece of "drama" in the first place?
11. The interrogation scene is the worst one in ALL of FIM!
    1. No time to build any tension. 75 seconds of wasted time.
    2. Sunny, Snips, and Snails thought it was a good idea to cut and glue Twilight's poses on top of plain images and present them to not student Twilight to kick her out of the Fall Formal, knowing that the damage would've delayed it till the day AFTER the portal closes!
    3. VP Luna bought the framed "evidence"!
    4. Twilight needed Flash Sentry Walking Cardboard to present VPL with the doctored images to exonerate her, when the RM5 could've done the same.
12. FlashLight = worse "romance" than Bella/Edward.
13. Flash = stereotypical jock and literal embodiment of what makes EQG so shallow.
14. The final battle is complete dogshit!
    1. Sunset threatened to bash the portal side of the statue's base. Yeah, that sledgehammer would go right through.
    2. Twilight took the threat seriously.
    3. Sunset Demon = Diabolous Ex Machina! The crown shouldn't have caused her to turn to that form.
    4. Sunset's plan? To use her teenage army to take over Equestria?
    5. The movie AND entire show establishes that the Elements would not be able to activate when split from their hosts. Yet, the HM6 are able to trigger its power just before Sunset was about to murder them! Deus Ex Machina!
    6. Sunset's old personality completely erased thanks to the EoH's zapping those qualities and replacing them with a brainwashed version of her!
15. Flash asks for Twilight to dance, knowing that she has about thirty minutes before the portal closes!

EQG1 is literally everything FIM is against. It treats adolescent girls like soulless zombies. Everyone here looks completely stupid. This stereotypical tween high school drama's treated as literally Twilight's biggest obstacle when Discord beat the confidence out of her and had to scramble to fight back Sombra. The setting lacks any imagination whatsoever. The "villains" are sloppy, dumb, quarter-dimensional stereotypes with no effort whatsoever to make them compelling and unique. The third act completely handwaves the very lore established by the show and reminded of by the film itself!

To put it simply, EQG1 is broken, lazy, bland, wasteful of resources and time, soulless, and panders to the lowest common denominator. A complete piece of corporate, sexist schlock. FUCK this movie!

*breathes in and out*

That feels better!

• Day 1: Favorite mane character
• Day 2: Favorite CMC
• Day 3: Favorite princess
• Day 4: Favorite background pony
• Day 5: Favorite villain
• Day 6: Favorite mythological creature
• Day 7: Least favorite character
• Day 8: Most relatable character
• Day 9: Least relatable pony
• Day 10: Favorite pony type
• Day 11: Favorite ship
• Day 12: Favorite season
• Day 13: Favorite episode
• Day 14: Favorite scene
• Day 15: Funniest moment
• Day 16: Saddest moment
• Day 17: Favorite song
• Day 18: Favorite place in Equestria
• Day 19: Favorite EQG film

Getting away from politics for a bit for a wee PSA regarding Pony Life.

Keep in mind, Pony Life is very likely a reboot. Mane Six remain intact, but has its own style, characterizations, worldbuilding, storytelling structure, and the like. FIM's fresh in our minds, but Pony Life is its own show with its own set of logic. Think of it as G4.5. As natural as it is to compare it to FIM, don't. Pony Life'll have a very different direction. Comments such as how it is "in/out of character," "contradicts/sticks to continuity," "peaceful/mean-spirited atmosphere," "too silly/grounded," "sticks to/breaks from Faust's family-friendly vision," etc. likely won't apply. Unless it directly calls back to or intentionally attaches itself to FIM's hip, judge it on its own merits.

The fact that (White) Moderate/Karen Twitter got so incensed at Van Jones for saying out loud what a lot of lefties and Black radicals (including MLK while writing from a Birmingham jail and Malcolm X before his assassination) think of them really proved his point.

…I never thought I have to say this, but Trump's full-on threat of fascism tonight against the protestors has just put me back on the "I'm-voting-for-Biden" bandwagon. As awful as Biden's record as an architect of modern tough-on-crime laws, corruption, pursuit to cut social security/Medicare/Medicaid, senility, and rape allegation by Tara Reade (the reason I opted out of the presidential ticket) are, I can't see him literally threaten a race war against Black America.

…my God, Trump literally threatened extrajudicial killings of Black protestors tonight, using a phrase coined by Dade County's former police chief (and white supremacist) Walter Headley in 1967.

To call this "terrifying" is an understatement. He's literally threatening a declaration of war against his own citizens.

Trump has gone full fascist tonight.

Apparently (Scoob spoilers)…

>30 Day MLP Challenge
>EQG
>feels like Charlie Brown

Day #19: Favorite EQG movie.

It's the only one of the four to not suck:

Legend of Everfree actually surprised me in a good way. I mean, this film's actually pretty competent. Move away from Act 1, and it starts becoming less bland and more interesting. My reasons from two years ago remain. In short:

+ Sci-Twi, internal conflict
+ Stand for Everfree
+ Final battle
+ Tries to patch the worldbuilding as best it could
+ Timber Spruce
+ Gloriosa Daisy/Gaia Everfree
+ TimberSci chemistry
+ Final two-thirds
+ Flash Sentry got over his crush

- Rest of the HM7, especially Rarity
- Songs other than SfE
- Most of the comedy
- First third bland
- OOC & antagonistic Filthy Rich
- Midnight's lack of presence
- Expository at times
- Flash a bkg pony
- How Equestrian magic has been able to connect between Equestria and Pedestria after the portal closed is still the spinoff's biggest plot hole.

In all, an okay film.

• Day 1: Favorite mane character
• Day 2: Favorite CMC
• Day 3: Favorite princess
• Day 4: Favorite background pony
• Day 5: Favorite villain
• Day 6: Favorite mythological creature
• Day 7: Least favorite character
• Day 8: Most relatable character
• Day 9: Least relatable pony
• Day 10: Favorite pony type
• Day 11: Favorite ship
• Day 12: Favorite season
• Day 13: Favorite episode
• Day 14: Favorite scene
• Day 15: Funniest moment
• Day 16: Saddest moment
• Day 17: Favorite song
• Day 18: Favorite place in Equestria

I know Amy Klobuchar was a terrible tough-on-crime prosecutor, but this bites off even more of that poisonous cake. George Floyd's blood is now on her own hands.

If Biden picks that cop for VP, mark my words, Trump will win the election!

…Y'gotta be kidding me!

Earlier this week, the Minneapolis PD lynched George Floyd. But don't think for one second that the police's murder of an unarmed, innocent Black man is or remains an outlier. Our tough-on-crime, militarized "justice" system is corrupt and racist from the top on down (from our governments to our DAs to the police departments themselves), and police brutality has been institutionally grained in America since before its dawn. Black America and especially Black Lives Matter have every reason to distrust and hate cops. Protests, revolts, and especially riots don't exist in vacuums.

There's a reason why people like Shaun King campaign for progressive and decarceral DAs like Krasner, Kim Foxx, and Chesa Boudin; they're the gatekeepers of what goes on in the criminal "justice" system (i.e., eliminating cash bail and not prosecuting marijuana possession arrests) and keep the perpetrators of said corruption in line. The University of Minnesota did the right thing cutting off the Minneapolis PD, but that isn't enough. Great changes must be reached, or they're gonna keep protesting and rioting.

As far as the Minneapolis PD's concerned, the least to happen is firing the cops responsible for taking part in the events that led to Floyd's murder and charging the ones who killed him.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday!  

I’m still pretty apprehensive toward Pony Life. However, each promotional image released these last few days…don’t you feel like they’re part of the same episode? 

Happy birthday, Divine!

Since the 1990s, Pixar has been the king of CGI animated films. Traditionally, their films are easy contender for best animated picture that year. On top of that, their animation improves. Their animation has become so photorealistic that the character designs are the lone giveaway to not being live-action. The only western company to even compete with Pixar both aesthetically and narratively is, ironically, Disney animation.

Time to conclude double duty tonight!

Day #18: Favorite place in Equestria.

Ponyville's fantastic as a whole and my favorite locale, but picking it would be too convenient, so I'm gonna talk about others, maybe places within Ponyville too.

Well, if we're gonna ignore the traps and threat of it being sunken underground if the Doomed Diadem of Xilati and Tiara of Teotale and the heat, Somnambula's really beautiful. Quaint, tranquil, and peaceful, it stays a quiet part of Equestria, yet folks will come and visit whenever possible. For one night, you'd like to sit in your hotel room and gaze at the sphinx's pyramid, then venture to honor Somnambula at her statue.

Up north, The Crystal Empire has one of the most peaceful environments in all of Equestria. When that nasty blizzard's unfortunately blocked, it's extremely quiet, a pleasure to walk around, and explore all the sights, from the Equestria Games stadium to the Crystal Castle to Mistmane's beautiful crystal garden.

Yes, The School of Friendship from Ponyville is one of the most aesthetically pleasing complexes in Equestria. Unlike that crystalline eyesore next door. everything about this place feels extremely homey. Colors blend beautifully. Architecture gives the place a sense of prestige while simultaneously fitting into Ponyville's landscape. Within it, the fountain square is a beautiful place to either watch every class in action or relax throughout the day.

Canterlot's a fine city today, but what it used to look like has a ton of character. These old buildings look fascinating, and Old Canterlot's aesthetics make Hearth's Warming Tail one of the best episodes of the series.

Stonehenge's mysteries include being an ancient burial ground. How poetic it was that Ponehenge, a play on the mystical site, was also the "resting spot" for the Pillar Six when they sacrificed themselves to seal the Pony of Shadows in Limbo.

• Day 1: Favorite mane character
• Day 2: Favorite CMC
• Day 3: Favorite princess
• Day 4: Favorite background pony
• Day 5: Favorite villain
• Day 6: Favorite mythological creature
• Day 7: Least favorite character
• Day 8: Most relatable character
• Day 9: Least relatable pony
• Day 10: Favorite pony type
• Day 11: Favorite ship
• Day 12: Favorite season
• Day 13: Favorite episode
• Day 14: Favorite scene
• Day 15: Funniest moment
• Day 16: Saddest moment
• Day 17: Favorite song

FiM knows how to cap a series very well.

Day #17: Favorite song.

Sometimes the best is saved for last, and FIM ain't no exception.

Twilight and her friends are ruling, proactively taught Luster a powerful lesson of how friendship takes work to maintain, and helped her get acquainted with all of Ponyville, where she will begin her new quest. All nine seasons culminated to this point. One day, the Mane Six won't be here, but their work in developing this magical harmony between multiple countries will transcend generations, which Luster represents. Like the finale itself, Magic of Friendship Grows gives the show the proper justice and sense of finality. The background jingle of the theme song blends swimmingly while delivering something new. An emotional, tear-jerking cap to this great series.

• Day 1: Favorite mane character
• Day 2: Favorite CMC
• Day 3: Favorite princess
• Day 4: Favorite background pony
• Day 5: Favorite villain
• Day 6: Favorite mythological creature
• Day 7: Least favorite character
• Day 8: Most relatable character
• Day 9: Least relatable pony
• Day 10: Favorite pony type
• Day 11: Favorite ship
• Day 12: Favorite season
• Day 13: Favorite episode
• Day 14: Favorite scene
• Day 15: Funniest moment
• Day 16: Saddest moment

"You're Welcome" is just one three-minute-long song saying, "Thanks for the boat, toots!" XD

“We Know the Way” is one of the most powerful songs of the entire Disney canon.