Cleverclover

I like that. But honestly, is there any reason why Flurry Heart being born an alicorn apparently has nothing to do with her own DNA? I mean, seriously...

Nah, they were pretty worse off. At least their roles in The Crystal Empire were fairly meaningful....for the most part, though they did indeed get stuck with a mostly pointless B-plot. Aside from seeing Flurry Heart, they simply had no reason to be in this premiere. None whatsoever. It's a bit telling when even Spike is ultimately more important to the plot then they are. Hell, and this isn't even the first time either.

Maybe I'm just being overly cynical, but I'm feeling plenty of anxiety over how season 6 has started. The mane five have collectively never received any level of praise or reward that has matched or outweighed that of Twilight---the obvious proof being that she's an alicorn princess while they are not. While not particularly fair, we can accept this because Twilight is the central character in a group of mains. Twilight has also arguably done the most friendship-related work to get where she is. But even if I accept that, far too often does it feel like the mane five hold only a mere fraction of Twilight's importance to the show, and this has particularly evident in the milestone episodes which begin and end each season. For better or worse, these milestone episodes are ultimately the most important episodes of the show---the vast majority of changes in the status quo are borne from them. In general, these are the episodes that best display the show's themes and often end with the mane six overcoming some baddie through friendship magic and a whole lot of platitudes. But season 5's finale barely included them, and instead their only purpose was simply showing the viewers how much worse off their alternate lives were, just for the sake of raising the stakes. And the premiere of season 6 barely treated them any better, as they were given roles that could be considered even less than secondary. They could have easily been assisting Twilight with finding a spell or something else, but instead Haber thought that the best purpose that they could possibly serve in a two-parter was simply telling a group of idiotic ponies to get to shelter....and that's about it. So just to clarify, the mane five have played almost no role whatsoever in two milestone episodes in a row, and have instead been directly relegated into the background to make way for the characters who actually are important. So....what does this mean, exactly? What exactly does the fact that they can be so unimportant to two-parter episodes say about their status as main characters? Are they that worthless now? Are they now not only playing second fiddle to Twilight, but also Starlight as well? And after five long seasons, do they really deserve to be shoved aside in favor of a recently-reformed villain who has come nowhere even close to earning what they've earned? When can we expect things will get better for them? When exactly will the milestone episodes need them again? And lastly, if the mane five are no longer really needed for the milestone episodes, what exactly is there that still makes them main characters? It certainly isn't the fact that they have their own focus episodes, because the CMC do as well. I suppose there is the still the possibility of a season-long arc like there was for seasons 4 and 5 that includes them, but how much will Starlight's own arc as a student overshadow that? ^ How long before something like this happens? When the mane five are only present to serve the plot as magical batteries to those who are more important than they are? In any case, though I feel that these are perfectly legitimate questions to be asking, I am willing to wait and see how season 6 goes on to treat them. After all, I've been proven wrong before where Twilight was concerned.

Haber: "Twilight, you get right on cooking up a spell. Starlight, you'll need to be around when it's time to cast said spell and save the Empire. And as for the rest of you....ummm....go convince these stupid ponies to get to shelter or something, because in the middle of a crisis in a two-parter, that's honestly the most important thing I could possibly think for you to do as main characters of this show: jobs that could easily be given to a couple random guards."

Because I'm hoping it'll snap back to being the show I fell in love with. But I'll admit, it's getting harder and harder. How can we legitimately still see the mane five as main characters when they're now so damn useless to the show's milestone episodes? When there's now a new addition to the main cast who's importance will now more than likely tower above their own, even though she hasn't earned it, nor does she deserve it? If you want to say "Well, they still get their own focus episodes", I'll reply with "So do the CMC. But they aren't mains." I feel like the mane five have officially been demoted, and that saddens me more than anything.

Wow, I'm just stunned......stunned about how right I was. The writers took the "please feel sorry for me" route for Starlight, and it appears to have done the job. In any case, I do like how they showed that her severe anger issues are still a thing. Show's that her mental problems haven't been entirely glossed over. Flurry Heart's supersonic scream, which started all this trouble, is flat-out nonsensical. If you'll notice, her horn never glowed at all when she did it, meaning that it had absolutely nothing to do with magic and is just some power that she inexplicably has....for some reason. In any case, I'm sincerely questioning whether or not the mane five are still main characters. For the second two-parter in a row, they've done absolutely nothing noteworthy, and overall, it's starting to show that they really just aren't that useful anymore. With Starlight now around to devalue them further, what other use could they possibly have to the show? Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy were relegated to convincing an obviously braindead group of citizens to evacuate while Pinkie and Rarity were mostly just trying to tame Flurry Heart, which was obviously beyond them.....and that's about it. But naturally, Twilight was still front-and-center when it came to figuring out what to do, and Starlight managed to make herself useful when it came to restoring the Crystal Heart. So there's no need to worry about Twilight being stripped of her status as the main character, but Starlight is now comfortably situated directly underneath her in terms of importance, with the mane five dangling somewhere else. Overall, this shows that FiM will now handle seven main characters just as poorly as Equestria Girls does. When it comes to two-parters, there's probably no reason to expect anything from the mane five anymore. But then again, it's possible this will be the last season, so... Worst premiere to date, in my opinion. How such a crappy writer like Haber has rose through the ranks to replace McCarthy, whom I now sincerely miss, is a complete mystery to me.

She may as well. Much like Sunset, she has a whole lot of hearts to win over and not a whole lot of time to win them. Which is particularly problematic when you consider that she legitimately attempted to kill Twilight and doom Equestria's future forever. It sure would make much more sense to trivialize her actions by passing the blame to her psychopathic persona and claiming that her new, reformed persona had absolutely nothing to do with them. Again, this is exactly what worked for Sunset.

I admit that I'm definitely predicting that the writers will give Starlight the Sunset Shimmer treatment in order to make her popular. Expect Starlight to be continuously run into the ground (for starters, supposedly her attempt to reunite with Sunbust will end in failure), her actions being brought up negatively while she repeatedly states "B-b-b-but, that was the old me. That was the bad me. I'm totally good now!" She'll be treated poorly enough that we'll be compelled to feel sorry for her, and then finally, she will be the one to save the day, and will be given all the glory that will come with it, to include a new level of importance which will inevitably overshadow the mane five. If it works again, the majority of the fandom will love her by the end of premiere.

I can't really get behind Starlight's new hairstyle.

I sincerely doubt it. Not only do the pony designs in G3 make me want to hurl, the style of the animation does as well. Too many flashy colors, with pink and purple standing out especially. It's just not appealing to look at.

Gauntlet of Fire sounds a bit random, but given that the god-awful Princess Spike was the only episode Spike got in season 5, I'm more than happy for an episode that displays his competence and dragon badassery.

Nothing is worse for a show than losing its original writers, and without Larson, I guess all we can do is hope and pray that McCarthy will return. Considering that this is a season which will presumably change the status quo with a new main character, with the added bonus of an baby character (a trope which has almost never been done well), this is a time where the show needs its best writers the most. And yet, almost all of them have now jumped ship. I have honestly never been more worried for the show's future.

Without any doubt, this is the worst news I've heard in months. Amy Keating Rogers leaving the show was almost overkill itself, but now Larson?! So not one, but TWO of the show's best writers by far will be absent from season 6---the very season that will clearly have to navigate the pitfalls of the "overpowered baby" trope, as well as potentially adding a new character to the main cast?!?!?! *Activates Panic Mode*

Yeah, Tanks for the Memories was more enough to convey that message...

It won't likely happen, but I sure would love it if it did. It would serve as the ultimate confirmation that the mane six cannot simply throw friendship at every single problem they come across and expect it to work 100% of the time. I really think they need to learn that it actually can fail. Additionally, it would further establish Starlight as an incredibly smart and crafty villain, and not the massive disappointment I found her to be in The Cutie Re-Mark.

I sincerely doubt it. I imagine that her one-note, rock-related dialogue and humor would grow stale pretty fast. Then again, pairing her with Pinkie is a good step. It's really cute how much Pinkie cares for her.