Jump to content
Banner by ~ Ice Princess Silky

HereComesTom

User
  • Posts

    1,334
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by HereComesTom

  1. It's too bad they didn't give us any hints about just what Opaline wants or what her evil plan entails; that'd help me get more into it, but I want to see at least an explanation about why that cameo at the end appeared---especially in her smaller form. It could just be a recorded message or something. I also hope we, at some point, get a good explanation of just how the three pieces of the blanket from Argyle's video got to be where they were!
  2. I'm with Ashen on this one; there are plenty of better episodes, but this one at least had its good moments, and there weren't any sucky moments, either---you know how an episode can have a sucky moment that feels like it ruins the episode? None of that happened here.
  3. My deck! Even before the wasps decided to make a home in the aluminum siding in my deck, I never went out there. And it's a big deck, about the size of my living room.
  4. I think that's the highlight of the episode, now that you mention it! The episode's pros: having a sense of danger and adventure helped me get into its plot more, and the way the characters responded to it allowed us to see aspects of the characters that we often don't see: Izzy is more techy than she lets on, with the ability to cobble together or at least use a dog-detector, and Zipp has a drone to help her scan for signs of stuff. These skills are going to be pretty important in a more adventure-oriented series, which it looks like MYM is going to be. Sometimes all it takes is a few seconds of footage to give us context about characters, and they gave us that in this episode. Who knows? It might've been deliberate setup, kind of like how Rameses-turning-Moses'-hair-around was showing the audience it was a wig set up a scene later where Moses discarded the wig in Prince of Egypt (you had to have heard the DVD commentary to know about this, though). The episodes cons: using gross-out humor, like ponies slipping in a puddle of drool and trying to make us laugh because the dog is farting---this seems like a new low for the series' humor. I'll admit they've had "messy" jokes before: Sunny's alicorn magic messing up, flipping her smoothie cart, and her getting a faceful of smoothie for the punch line. Hitch being splattered in the face with fruit as a running gag in one episode. Izzy doing the backstroke in a dumpster while doing a musical number about trash. But this is the first time bodily functions have been drawn into it, and I honestly think it's a bit too lowbrow for the MLP franchise. Overall, I feel like this was a fair-to-middling episode, but a few tweaks could've brought it from "Fair" to "Good", maybe even "Great".
  5. If I'm being honest, seeing them use tropes for a constant villain is part of the reason why I want a constant villain! One of my favorite tropes is when they have a lackey who's comical and ineffective compared to the main villain (G-1 was all over that; G-4 only had Grubber from the movie meet that criteria), though I don't see that happening with Opaline's unicorn minion unless she's both (a) a lot more moral than Opaline, and (b) neither Opaline nor Misty are willing/able to terminate their working relationship---for whatever reason.
  6. One thing I wish G-4 had done (that it didn't do), was dabbling in having a "main villain" that the ponies face throughout a season, then defeat in the season's finale. I know what you're thinking: what about Starlight Glimmer and Grogar (if I can call him that)? Well, they're not exactly what I had in mind... See, there are tons of cartoons I can think of that, for the most part, have a single villain that the heroes square off against in most episodes: Pacman and the Ghostly Adventures had Lord Betrayus. The Little Mermaid series had Ursula. Adventures of the Gummi Bears had Duke Igthorn. Wander Over Yonder had Lord Hater. Miraculous Ladybug has Hawk Moth. Having a single villain allowed these series to give their villains deeper characterization, let the villains try multiple different plans and drive different plots over the course of the series, and of course these different plots allowed us to know more about the magic/technology of the world the characters are in, or even sometimes let us learn more about the world itself and/or its history. Starlight Glimmer and Grogar didn't drive the plots of very many episodes; I had in mind something more along the lines of a villain whose machinations drove either the A-plot or the B-plot of most episodes of the season. That, G-4 didn't have anything like, and I really wish it had. With all that context in mind, here's what I'm thinking: what if Opaline, the evil alicorn, were the kind of recurring villain that these other cartoons had? What if she were the Hawk Moth to Sunny's Miraculous Ladybug, the Duke Igthorn to Sunny's Cavin, the Lord Betrayus to Sunny's Pacman? What if Opaline were continuously trying to steal the magic of the three crystals, but kept getting her plans foiled each episode, all while never really being permanently defeated herself until maybe the first season's finale? Do you think that would be a welcome change for the MLP franchise? I ask because, to be honest, none of the MLP series so far has used a main recurring villain; at least, none to the kind of extent I'm talking about: G-1 had one set of villains that were used a few times (the witch Hydia and her daughters), plus a lot of one-off villains that held the plot for a few episodes at most (Lavan, Grogar, Squirk, Katrina, etc). G-2 was slice-of-life and rarely if ever used villains, unless you count one or more characters being jerks for the duration of the episode (and in this context, I don't). G-3 was preschool and didn't have villains. And G-4, again, had plenty of one-off villains, some of them came back for another episode or three or the season finale, but overall, G-4 didn't have the kind of recurring villains that drove most of the plots of a given season. Maybe MLP trying its hooves at this trope would be a welcome change, with a lot of storytelling potential?
  7. I figure the odds are low that G-5 will be better than G-4 in terms of its objective quality. I've seen a lot of posters comment on how the popularity of G-5 will likely be lower than G-4, even if it does get objectively better than G-4. I'm not sure I agree with that; if the storytelling, acting, pacing, and characterization get to be even better than G-4, I think word will get around. Of course, the odds of beating G-4 in those areas is low, and if I'm being honest, it's not happened yet. Don't get me wrong; TYT has had some really good episodes on par with G-4's quality, but the most outstanding parts of G-5, the CGI specials and movie, haven't been up to G-4's standards: ANG's ending was rushed and kicked the audience's expectations around too much for its own good to the point where the ending didn't really make enough sense, the video game was rushed and unpolished, and the MYM pilot jumped around from Zipp to Sunny a little too much.
  8. This episode was a good one for sure---even a great one. But I have to wonder: who had the foreknowledge that Sunny and her friends would exist and be friends? Who put the pieces of the blanket in those places? Who even could, what with the separation of the tribes? I sure hope they eventually give us answers to these questions. You never know whether there's going to be a payoff with a new series; there were payoffs with FiM almost every time, but that doesn't guarantee G5 will have payoffs.
  9. Too much gawking at the sights seemed to be a problem for how many selfie-sticks there were, but...what do I know about smell? They haven't gotten screens to give off odors, yet!
  10. I've been thinking about this myself, and I'm terrified that she'll turn out to be Flurry Heart in the end. I feel like having cute little baby FH turn into an evil alicorn villainess would be a desecration of the character---though I have to admit that attitude may not be fair on my part. After all, Luna was probably a cute filly before she became Nightmare Moon, too. One thing that reinforces this idea is---what is the opposite of "sunny"? Cloudy, rainy, and snowy all count. And "Flurry" counts as snowy... With that context in mind, Queen Stormheart seems like an appropriate name for nightmare!Flurry Heart.
  11. It could be character development for her---and for the mane five, for that matter: after all, technically the mane five were working toward solutions to her complaints! Plus, her complaints were legitimate this time! I think this was one of the better episodes. Dunno if it'll be my favorite or not, but it's got potential. Some part of me is saying "This is setup for Make Your Mark; Sunny is going to get a powerup at an important time when other ponies come together, and this well-done TYT episode will be foreshadowing for that!"
  12. I felt like the episode was mediocre---not really bad per se, but not really all that good, either. It called attention to Zipp's parallels with Rainbow Dash with her makeover, but it made Zipp seem like she was too shy for her own good, and needed to be brought out of her shell---like she'd genuinely enjoy what her friends were inviting her to if she just gave it a chance. As an introvert, myself, I could relate to that. It felt more like it was reverse psychology than anything else, though I have to admit, they could've done a lot better with their song lyrics than "pony-ony-ony-ony"...
  13. Cancer is scary to me. Once upon a time, I thought cancer was simply another disease that had the potential to kill you, and there are a lot of those. But...then I had someone who used to be my boss die of it. He wasn't that much older than I was! It started in his colon and spread---that's what's so scary about it: it can spread from one bodily system to another, and it can come back even after you think you've beaten it. That stupid disease withered him from the inside out. Some of his last words, I'm told, were "I'm tired"---it drained all his energy. I couldn't help but shed some tears at his visitation---we all liked him at work. RIP Steve.
  14. Not even worth expounding on it? In my experience, when something is terrible, like the Food Fight movie or any of the bad video games that they review on Youtube, a reviewer can spend a good fifteen or twenty minutes breaking down what's awful about it.
  15. That means the ponies themselves number in the billions in this world! ...Assuming the writers care enough to pay attention to numbers. Or that Pipp wasn't exaggerating.
  16. I liked this one and thought it was pretty good---I'm a bit surprised some people are calling it the best; I felt like the stakes were too low for it to actually be epic---that doesn't make the episode bad, of course; just more slice-of-life-y. It was a good message, of course: own your fails. Being able to laugh at yourself is important. I might change my tune and make it my fave if I go back and watch all the episodes back-to-back, of course; at some point, I'm going to have to do that.
  17. You're right; it was a lot like Neighfever. I sure hope they don't overdo this format, though if they find a way to keep it fresh, maybe this kind of episode isn't a bad thing.
  18. I dunno; Rufus wasn't a jerk who puts others down like Trixie was; he didn't crave worship or dominance over others like Trixie did, but a legitimate place in this new world full of magic. He didn't seem like Trixie at all to me.
  19. I'd say this episode was good---not "great", but good: it once again focused on the consequences of magic returning, and what that does to a society---and to individuals in it. I'm glad Izzy turned out to be something other than a sociopath with zero respect for others' property, but I'm a little unhappy that her characterization isn't consistent: when Rufus made some jewelry disappear, Izzy reacted as if that was a bad thing, but a few episodes ago, she was trying to steal earrings right off a mare's ears! ...Of course, if this is a sign of character development for Izzy, that's a different matter. Overall, I'd say the plot was well-paced and had a decent payoff. The episode didn't have any big flaws to it, though it isn't as memorable as some other episodes.
  20. You know...if it was well-done, it might actually be awesome! I guess that's kind of tautological; if Hitch's rap were really well-done, I might be praising it. I mean, I loved that "10% luck, 20% skill" song!
  21. I hope they address these. Heck, they could make a two-part season finale about this if they wanted: the sun is staying in one place, the temperature is rising, pegasi find out they can move clouds so they pour rain down on everyone to cool them off, but that's only buying a little time for the mane 5 to figure things out. that'd be a pretty good conflict for the ponies to resolve, and it'd be a very MLP-ish plot, I might add: there's danger, there's world-ending stakes, but it's very fantasy, and it's not as scary for the little girls in the audience as, say, Galactus threatening to eat the Earth would be.
  22. I thought that the episode wasn't one of the best ones. I didn't really care for Hitch's song; there've been really, really good MLP songs, but his rap sure wasn't one of them. I don't know why, but I feel like Izzy's rap as part of her Fit Right In song in ANG was harmless, but I don't feel like Hitch's rap was harmless in this episode...maybe because Fit Right In was a good song and already extremely varied with shifts in tempo and pacing, and the rap kind of fit into its back-and-forth of fast and slow. By contrast, Hitch's rap is simple and...for pete's sake, it's not the 90s anymore, and it hasn't been for over two decades! What's next? Are you going to have Sunny do a disco song three episodes from now???
  23. I can't believe no one's said "becoming a fan of the My Little Pony franchise"! I wouldn't have believed it in 2008 if someone had told me "Hey, I got a message from the future that you're going to be looking for My Little Pony parody material in 2010, find a genuinely excellent MLP show, and become a lifelong fan!" ...I sure wouldn't have believed it!
×
×
  • Create New...