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AmberDust

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  1. AmberDust

    Discordant Harmony

    By AmberDust,

    Aha! I knew it!
     
    Every since Discord's reformation, I've been hoping for a an episode where chaos lessens or disappears in Equestria (through the efforts of a new villain, a misguided hero, or Discord himself,) and because of that, Discord begins to vanish, get sick, or otherwise become at risk of disappearing for good. It would be a lesson in the value of differences and free will, the charm of the chaos of everyday life, and finally, we got that episode! ...sort of.
    My main issue here is that I was hoping for this theme to be explored under a lot more higher stakes.
    I enjoyed this episode, but I really hope its not the last we see of this theme! There's so much potential in this storyline beyond just a tea party!
  2. AmberDust

    But at what cost?

    By AmberDust,

    I've been thinking for a long time ago about selling commissions, but seeing as I myself am very cheap, I'm having trouble thinking of an acceptable price for, say, a show accurate vector. I'm even more conflicted when i consider paypal fees. What do you think is a good price? Have you--or would you--ever pay for something like that?
    I do enjoy making vectors, and people have asked me to make them drawings before, but seeing as I'm a student I feel as though I should start doing commissions rather than giving away art for free.
     
    What do you think?
  3. AmberDust
    Two part episode, two part blog. Why not? Welcome to part two, the ramblier, wishy-washier conclusion to my "To Where and Back Again" review...if you can call it that. *clicks 'play' button*
     
    Now is where we get to the "appeasing the fandom" bit of my title. As much as I love Discord's relationship with Fluttershy, his protectiveness over her is a bit exaggerated, especially when you consider what he's done in the past (see: season 4 finale). I feel like this is the fandom's influence manifesting itself. This isn't a huge issue, though, as they writers didn't go too far with it...I'm just nitpicking. At least his standup is getting better...sort of. The whole "I'm the real Fluttershy" scene was cool, and I'm glad he didn't immediately fall for the oldest trick in the book. He still got captured, though, and I feel like he could have talked his way out it, but whatever. He's not used to being sans-magic, so I guess it's understandable that he wasn't quite prepared. Speaking of characters being out of their elements...
     
    I was pleased to see that Trixie's gotten brave, and wise, and even sort of selfless now that she has a friend. I was surprised that this sudden change didn't bother me. It actually didn't feel too contradictory to her previously established character, probably because we've really never seen her in a situation like this one before. She was still the scared, whiny Trixie we know, but now the stakes are high and she's getting serious. Nice!
     
    And now we enter the throne room, meaning it's time for a bunch of play-by-play rambling, because everything that happened after this point was just one big "what?" after another. Obviously, spoiler warning.
     


    -Chrysalis's weird spider crawl was cool.
    -"What if you didn't have to?" Oh no, Oooh, no, another reformed villain? ANOTHER? who next, Tirek? That's just absurd.
    -Starlight is actually trying to reason with the Changelings, and they actually look like they're listening?
    -What was that--a love burst? Is that how that works? Chrysalis was trying to eat Thorax's love, and he could just--blast it all out of him like that? Why?HOW?
    -Thorax WHAT?? He looks so cool now!* What??
    -And how does Starlight know this transformation is a good thing? How does she know what caused it? How did she know releasing his love would even do anything to begin with??
    -Why are all these other Changelings suddenly so full of love that they can all evolve too, just like that?
    -Why did love destroy the castle?
    -"We defeated the Changelings with no magic at all, they found a new leader, and they're all kinda...good now." Yup. All problems immediately solved. Despite their horrible upbringing and previous hive-mindedness and devotion to their queen, they're all good now.
    -Oh, and because Starlight says so, Thorax is the new leader. Yup. She just said so, and now he is. Congratulations!
    -I'm glad Chrysalis ran away, at least, but I kind of wish she hadn't almost accepted Starlight's ideal. This just feels so very...un-changeling. So un-Chrysalis.
    -Discord hugging Fluttershy was cute. Her reaction was a little odd though.
    -Trauma over? Time for tea--at your house.
    -Seeing Discord almost becoming friends with Trixie was actually kind of great. They make a more interesting duo than Trixie and Starlight, in my opinion, because Discord is everything Trixie pretends to be, but she still acts high and mighty Great and Powerful towards him. He just responds with playful mischief.  

    ...The episode wraps up, and aah, all back to normal again. I liked the moral (?) of this story about reluctant leaders, and find it relatable and important, but the story itself just felt forced, and broke so, so many headcanons that were practically accepted as canon by the community after sitting on the shelf for years, untouched. I refer back to what I said in part one of my blog--the whole setup of this story feels forced and lazy.
     
    Still, I guess I did enjoy this episode...I just hope season 7, if we can expect another season, will be a little more consistent with their lore and the development of their characters. Now THAT would be the best way to appease this fan...instead of giving us background ponies, pop culture references, and shipping fodder, please just stay consistent with characters' development and lore instead! (Or do both, but really, consistency is more important.)
     
    If a story idea doesn't work because of how easily it could be resolved, either find a believable way around it, or change your story! Don't be lazy with important details--I'm looking at you, magic rock throne!
     
    Well, that's all for now. Thanks for reading my mad ramblings. What did you think of this two-part finale, and season 6 in general? Agree? Disagree? Tell me your perspective in the comments.
     
     
     

     
    *When Thorax's green hooves first appeared, I thought he had turned into a pony and was ready to be really surprised and rethink everything I ever thought about Changelings. I think that would have been a really cool, weird plot twist...like, if changelings were ponies who had been cursed somehow, or fell from grace, and could be healed by sharing their love once more...like the inverse of Crystal ponies--ponies who had become mindless and evil through jealousy and selfishness
    ...I considered of all this in the fraction of a second between hooves appearing and the pan-up to Thorax's full form. *sigh*.
  4. AmberDust
    "Now, isn't this quite the combination of secondary characters?"


     

    I don't know. Is it just me?
     
    I think I've pinpointed one of my main issues with the more recent episodes of mlp...that meaning season 5 and 6 in general. At this moment, I'm about halfway through the Season 6 finale, and I'm almost reluctant to continue because this setup, this forced storytelling just feels like a fanfiction to me, and I really don't want to see this show that I love so much stumble* like this.
     
    Now, putting aside the main characters in order to let the secondary characters shine is all fine and good, but...I don't care about these secondary characters! I still don't like Trixie, I can't wrap my head around Starlight's reformation, and although he's fine as a character, I don't like what Thorax's existence did to Changeling lore and i'm frankly finding it hard to retain my suspension of disbelief. I always look forward to Discord, of course, but even he has become a bit of a diluted caricature of himself in recent appearances, and this just upsets me. Also, the way other ponies treat him (rudely, without an ounce of caution or tact) is still just hard to believe considering he was way more destructive towards Equestria than the likes of Nightmare Moon or Queen Chrysalis ever were**.
     
    And then there's this special stone that absorbs magic...This just made me sad. An element forced into the story in order to handicap the key players and make it so the problem couldn't be solved with a simple snap of Discord's claws just feels lazy. Now, this magic rock would be totally acceptable if it appeared about five seasons ago, but it falls flat when you ask yourself "hey, why didn't Chrysalis bring some of this rock with her on her first invasion?" If it's powerful enough to stop Discord and Starlight's magic from so far away, tying a couple pebbles to your troops could have majorly affected the outcome of your raid on Canterlot.
     
    Anyways, I haven't actually finished the episode yet, so I guess I should calm down and continue watching before I get myself too riled up. Let's see how this episode plays out...
     


    ---



    Part 2


    ---


     
     
     

    *Not crumble, stumble--in the hope that it will stand up again.
    ** Nightmare Moon hardly did a thing to Equestria, and was still majorly feared when she was first re-integrated into society. Discord caused mass havoc, pain, fear and general destruction on multiple occasions and still gets sassed by two-bit magicians and rock farmers. What?
  5. AmberDust
    "Fear not, your romantic delusions are safe with me."
    *
    "Aren't games fun?"
    *
    "You find yourself on a battlefield: a barrage of arrows rain down on you. If you roll a fifteen or higher, the shield protects you, fourteen or lower, and, well, haha, you get the idea!"
     

     
    Dungeons and Dragons and Discord?? Yes, please!
     
    Heading into this episode, I knew that I always get more excited than I should about 1) D&D things, and 2) Discord, so I tried to lower my expectations before I got started. I did, and in the end, I got an enjoyable episode, that, as suspected, didn't have as much D&D stuff in it as I had hoped, but was still fun to watch and had me wanting more.
     
    I think there was potential here for a better episode with the same "Don't knock it 'til you try it" lesson, but they spent a little too much time showing characters hemming and hawing and not enough time giving Discord, Big Mac, and Spike the chance to actually begin enjoying the game together, with a little Discord twist. I kept waiting and waiting for the episode to really get into full swing, but it just...didn't, really.
    I also feel like the points between "I'm bored of this," "I'm angry," and "please take me back" were a bit quick, and the whole "I'm cooler than you guys" theme was kind of unnecessary.
     
    I suppose I'm picky though. I headed into this episode hoping to see more of Discord controlling a chaotic D&D (O&O?) version of Equestria, with more regular characters converted into the rpg genre,* with cool visuals and animations beyond the underwhelming paper cutouts that were used.
    More than that, though, I would have liked to see the three guys slowly beginning to enjoy the discord-ified game, as well as each other's company, through little in-game victories...but hey, you can't always have your d20 and crit it, too.
     
    What did you think of this episode? Do you play D&D? Would you like to see this game/topic come up again?
     
    *
     
  6. AmberDust
    ~*~ Merry May, everypony! ~*~



    Today, a Christmas episode, at the exact wrong time of the year.


     

    ...But timing aside, I personally think this was the best season 6 episode so far!
     
    I'm gonna be blunt--haven't been liking Season 6.* I wasn't a fan of how quickly Starlight was forgiven and reformed, I didn't care for the royal baby two-parter, and most of the characters have seemed like mere caricatures of themselves lately. (I'm looking at you, Twilight!) Heck, some of the episodes have just been so bland that I couldn't even bother myself with a blog entry for them. This episode, however, was just great!
     
    I've always liked Christmas episodes and other holiday specials, and this was no exception. For once, I thought Starlight's inclusion was both valuable and enjoyable. The Equestrian adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" was well thought out, and the songs (oh, the songs!) were fantastic. Hopefully more episodes like this are on the way, and we can say goodbye to the same-old-same-old that Season Six has been so far...although I do realize that holiday specials are kind of...an exception.
    Oh, also. Pony professor Snape. I can't be the only one who saw that.
     
    Anyways, what did you think of this episode? And the ones before it? Have you been liking season 6 so far? Come join the community conversation over in season 6 discussion!
     
    And this episode's featured question: Which Holiday episode (not just of mlp) is your favourite of all time?
     
     
     
    *Season 5 wasn't too thrilling, either,
  7. AmberDust
    So, after a little break, Season Six has officially begun with a brand-new two parter, The Crystalling, and, well...
    I didn't like this episode.
    The whole thing, from character interactions to major plot points, just felt way too hard to believe. It was almost like watching a fanfiction brought to life. Here, let me explain...
     
    To start, I'll get this out of the way:
    I still don't like how Starlight's character changed so drastically at the end of the Season V finale. I mean, I like how she is now, I guess, but the change was just too quick and too drastic for me to actually believe.
     
    In fact, most of my issues from this episode stem from that very issue--my suspension of disbelief was continually being broken, so i just couldn't get into it. And it wasn't just because of Starlight--but because of almost everything that happened in this episode.
     
    First off, there was the baby. Like everyone, I already knew that Flurry Heart was an Alicorn, but that fact that Luna and Celestia said that "the birth of an alicorn is something Equestria has never seen" really bothered me. THEY were born Alicorns. Hasn't that been established in canon? I just feel like this statement was unnecessary, especially since that plot point was immediately dropped. (Although I'm sure we'll hear about it again in a future episode...)
     
    Secondly, there's the Crystal Heart. The fact that the Crystal Heart could break so easily is simply ridiculous to me, especially considering what its survived in the past. It felt like the writers maybe couldn't really think of a realistic way to move the plot along, so they used baby-ex-machina again, like in Baby Cakes. This would upset me less if the Crystal Heart wasn't so important and powerful. I mean, it only takes one sob to shatter the heart, but it takes every royal in Equestria to fix it? That's just absurd! Why would they keep something so fragile and so important out in the open in the first place?? Especially when a decoy has worked before. Aah, whatever. Moving on.
     
    Thirdly, there's the Two Sisters. It was nice seeing Celestia and Luna again...typically they're absent when Equestria needs them most, so it was a great change of pace to see them fly into action. However, the fact that they were easily defeated by weather really upset me. I mean, these two can move planets, but they can't fend off clouds? What? Even Spike has overcome more dangerous feats than that, and they mentioned them in this very episode.
     
    Fourth, there's the whole "evacuate the city" plot point. THAT was just plain stupid. You cannot escape bad weather by plunging into its source, and the fact that they were taking a train is even more absurd. It wasn't even necessary, either. They could have just hidden in their houses.
     
    Lastly, there's the character interactions. The pivotal conversation between Starlight and Sunburst felt really forced. Their outbursts didn't make sense in context, and felt really cut-and-pasted in, as though the writers knew that these things needed to be said, but didn't know where to put it.
     
    Overall, the events in this episode felt very forced, and what's worse, the point they were forcing them towards wasn't even that rewarding. The plot felt scattered and unrealisitc, and although Sunburst made a cool character, all the rest of the cast felt like mere caricatures of themselves, edited to serve the story.
     
    For me, the highlight of this episode was Shining Armour's first appearance. Never thought I'd say that.
     
    I rate this episode 5/10. Although it didn't do anything over-the-top to upset me, the plot felt forced and poorly planned, and seemed to go against established lore.
     





    I'm still struggling to believe it, myself, Sunburst.


  8. AmberDust
    Back in October, I drew my character, Amber, dressed up in her Nightmare Night costume. Today, I complete the trio. Here's Amber Dust, Plum Pudding, and Stormjumper as the Ancient trio. Enjoy!
     
    This also serves as a little preview for the kind of vectors I can draw. I'd like to go into selling commissions.
  9. AmberDust
    Hullo everyone.
     
    I've finally come back to the forums after a few weeks of holiday bliss, and now I'm wondering to myself--what should I do with this? This, as in, this blog?
     
    Thinking about the type of things I do on this site, I'm considering doing an OC/Character Showcase, where I take reader-submitted** characters and put them under the microscope--meaning, review them, consider the good and the bad, and basically do exactly what I do on my OC help thread, just condensed and more in the form of a review.
    Or, maybe, I could look at the canon characters of mlp and put THEM under scrutiny. Maybe defend some characters, tackle theories, and offer my two-cents for future developments.
     
    So, dear reader, what do you think? I know we've only just met, so it's hard to see what our future together will look like, but what kind of character-driven mlp blog would you be interested in reading? Please leave you opinions below!
     
    Today's question, in addition to the main survey, is this: Which character in mlp do you think has most potential for storylines?
     
     
     

    **Haha, what readers??
  10. AmberDust
    Because I am!
     
    This is my first school year away from home, and I am more than ready to see my family again for Christmas. I miss the snow, the food, the lights...and I just can't wait to see my brothers and my sister and my parents again. It's only been a couple months, but I'm anxious to see them. Before I head back home though, my sister is coming to visit me for a few days, and it'll be fun to explore the area with her without worrying about homework or exams.
    Of course, I have quite a bit of shopping to do, before I head home...but what do you buy for people who have more time and money than you? Welp...
    I'd really love to make gifts for my family members, but I don't exactly have the resources, especially considering I'd have to fly all these gifts home with me in my luggage. Aah, well. I'll figure something out. I've got a bit of time between the end of the term and my flight home, and plus, there's plenty of cool things to buy around here if only I can find them.

     
    Today's question:
    What do you do for the holiday season? Do you have any traditions that you look forward to? Do you remember which Christmas was the BEST?
     
    Hope you all have a lovely holiday~! ♥
     
    ~AD
     

  11. AmberDust

    The Cutie Remark

    By AmberDust,

    I just finished watching the most recent Two-parter, The Cutie Remark, and boy, was it something.
     
    Overall, I'd day it was pretty awesome!
     

    --mostly. Unfortunately, the ending left me a bit disappointed. Here's why:
     

    In this episode, we get a LOT of cool scenes. My favourite among these was seeing Zecora leading a tribe of rebels and getting some solid screentime. Hearing about the war with King Sombra from AJ was pretty cool, too, and I enjoyed seeing all the alternate versions of each character each time. I'm really interested in knowing how each and every one of those potential events came to be, based on the variety in Starlight and Twilight's interferences.
     
    Anyways, regarding Starlight, this is where the episodes fall short.
     
    First, a little plot ranting: Starlight says that whenever Twilight uses the Time Travel spell, it will call her there as well...so, did she travel into the new future at all? Or was she just waiting in Cloudsdale for Time to reset again? This bothers me, because she obviously kept her memory from each alternate past, but never knew any of the presents that she caused. What was she doing while Twilight was exploring the future? Or did time reset for her the moment Twilight was pulled away? I guess that last option makes the most sense.
     
    Anyways, onto Starlight's character. I like Starlight Glimmer. She makes a pretty cool villain, and her concept--an unstable, powerful manipulator who seems to sincerely believe what she preaches--is unique to the franchise. However, types like her are all too real, (see: any cult leader) and they are NOT the type to change. This is why Starlight's reformation bugs me. But more than that, what bothers me is her backstory. I feel like the writers didn't give themselves enough time figuring our Starlight Glimmer's backstory, because it seemed awfully weak to me, and maybe that's why her reformation didn't feel very believable...Not to mention how rushed it was. I daresay I'd have liked it better if she'd been whisked off to some dungeon in Canterlot to serve time before being allowed to live free. I sincerely hope she doesn't stay with the mane six...I'd rather her story arc be over.
     
    Until the last ten or so minutes, this episode was a solid 9/10.
     
    Overall I give this episode...

    75%
     
    But what about you? How did you like the episode? Did it rival Tirek's two-parter? Do you want Starlight to stay with the mane 6? Sound off in the comments!, and thanks for reading!
     

  12. AmberDust
    Hello everyone! Looks like I've decided to start a blog, for anypony who's interested.
     
    Here I'll post art, advice, and thoughts related to mlp. Hopefully I wont bore you!
     
     
     
    For my first entry, I just wanted to post about this subject that simply wouldn't fit anywhere else on this forum: The family of my OC, Amber.
     
    Amber started out as many characters do--based on myself, her creator. But after a while, she became someone else entirely. I did the same with her siblings, initially basing them off of my own, and gradually changing and adapting them to the world--and adding in an extra, for good measure!
     
    The two oldest are Pegasus twins--the blue-eyed stallion and the purple mare are Magnum Opus and Crystal Clasp, a scholar and a jeweller.
    Next is Ignius Quartz, or Ignius, the brown Earth pony, who's a geologist.
    Lastly, before Amber, we have Piston Whirl, a mechanical engineer.
     
    All members of Amber's family had rocks or minerals in their cutie mark, and Amber is the only Unicorn in her immediate family.
     
    These pictures were made on Generalzoi's Ponymaker V3, if it wasn't obvious, excluding Amber, who was an edit from a Twilight Sparkle vector.
     
    Today's question:
    I'm curious, do your characters have family? How much of your character's life and history is recorded in your head, but not on paper or online? Do you branch off from your character to make places, things, and other characters? I'm always curious about how other people create their worlds, so go ahead and post your stories in the comments!
  13. AmberDust

    Pony Point of View

    By AmberDust,

    Three close friends going on a trip together...what could possibly go wrong?
     

    Rarity's account of Cpt. AJ was pretty fun.
    Pinkie's account of Rarity was also humorous.
    AJ's account of Pinkie Pie and Rarity was friggin HILARIOUS. It was so mean and exaggerated, but just fun to watch.
     
    And the best part is, at this point I honestly didn't know which was closest to the truth.
     
    ...The worst part is that we never find out. I guess this isn't really a bad thing, considering this wasn't really a mystery-themed episode, but I would have like to know. You know?
    Another criticism is that the bitter anger between the three ponies involved was a bit exaggerated. I think it could have communicated just as well if it were a bit...quieter? Also, pinkie doesn't seem the type to get angry over this sort of thing, so i feel like some character sacrifices were made for the sake of the story.
     
    Regardless, I enjoyed this episode! Nothing like a Luxury Maritime Adventure Party Episode to get you out of your element!
  14. AmberDust
    Starlight in one sentence: "Well, when you put it that way, it sounds really bad."
     
    I'm really liking this episode. It's not amazing, but it was entertaining. I enjoyed watching Starlight in this episode.
     
    I love how she does not at all understand what these Friendship lessons are about. It's cool to see how she has these similar anxieties as Twilight, but handles them so, so differently. It was actually kind of hilarious how ignorant she was about what she was doing, or, more importantly, why she was doing it...just total social ineptitude mingled with moral amiguity, but not really breaking her pre-established character.
    The Hungover ponies joke was kinda funny, too.
     
    Overall this wasn't a terribly exciting episode, but it was still cool. Nice animations, cool concept, well handled.
  15. AmberDust

    Viva Las Pegasus!

    By AmberDust,

    Hey, a season 6 episode that I actually liked!
     
    I don't know what it is about season 6, it's just been very inconsistent for me, and not terribly enjoyable. Well, no, I actually DO know what it is. The characters were becoming caricatures, the lore was contradicting itself, and the writers were getting in too deep with the fandom...
    that all being said, I actually enjoyed this episode, Viva Las Pegasus, quite a bit!
     
    I'm always glad to see Flim and Flam, and the story itself surprised me. I figured Flim and Flam would be pulling another con (pretending to be competitors in order to get more money and attention for both of them), but I was pleasantly surprised that it went quite differently. The antagonist was cool, even if his defeat was a little clichéd, and it was interesting to see Fluttershy use her animal affinity to actually move the story along and get an inside scoop.
     
    I look forward to more episodes like this!
  16. AmberDust
    I love making characters. I absolutely adore it. In fact, becoming a professional character designer/cartoon writer would be a dream come true! So why is it that naming my characters is so dang hard?
     
    I've been working on a couple characters for a while now, and a story to go with them, but the fact that I can't place names to their faces creates a big roadblock in their development. Without names, they feel too generic. Too much like carbon-copies of the people or characters they're based on. In other words...
     

     
    So, once again, I call to the mlpforums community of artists and creatives to help me out of this jam.
     
    Without further ado, I present...What's-her-name and So-and-so:
    ♀
     
     
    ♂
     
     
    Anyways, any name suggestions are appreciated! Comments on their personalities would be super helpful, too.
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