Prince Firemane

The concept of brony toxicity is something that, I think, has been wildly blown out of proportion. As has been said, every fandom has it's toxic elements. From arrogance and zealous pseudo-intellectualism in the Rick and Morty fandom to hyper-defensive psychosis in the Steven Universe fandom. From the hyper-fixation on relationships based on arbitrary interaction in the Star Vs. fandom to the desperation to have LGBT representation specifically so they can find something wrong with it in the Voltron fandom. Toxicity exist no matter where you go. As far as bronies are concerned, I never saw that much toxicity, especially in comparison to what we saw in the latter half of the 2010s. I've been exposed to the show and the fandom since 2012 and I saw a lot of trends come and go. Perhaps the most toxic element I saw was bronies being hyper-sensitive about our liking a show that had the target demographic of young girls. It did cause a lot of us to lash out at those who didn't deserve it. But the lashing out wasn't without cause. We bore the brunt of a lot of criticism for our interest. It caused a lot of us to develop insecurity about it. For those of us who grew up as boys, it hit home at an uncomfortable sore spot. Society has never liked us taking an interest in anything that was outside the realm of 'for boys' and we've been hit with scorn for it our entire lives. Those of you who grew up as boys liking the Powerpuff Girls know exactly what I'm talking about. Suddenly we were back in that space only now it was worse because we are adults so that means our fondness for MLP must mean we're pedophiles. Hateful critics were desperate to paint us all with that brush and even went so far as to erase the women who like the show because they don't fit the stereotype. Some hateful critics are still at it to cover up their own insecurities at best and to cover their tracks and hide skeletons in their closet at worst ((hello, Lily Orchard)). And speaking of Lily, she is the most singular toxic element in the fandom. She actively lies, slanders and generally showcases her ineptitude and laziness with every video she makes and every post she makes on tumblr. She represents the absolute worst of toxic fandom stereotypes and willfully ignores the fact she is explicitly guilty of just about everything she attacks others for. I wouldn't bring Lily up except for the fact that her growing popularity has led to more and more people citing her behavior as representative of how all adults who enjoy children's media are. Ever since she spent two hours calling Rebecca Sugar a fascist, Lily is cited as a prime example of the 'petulant, spoiled man-babies' stereotype that is applied to us all, a stereotype which Lily applies to each and every one of us in turn. To sum up the overblown text wall that is this post, toxicity is a thing in every fandom. It's a basic fact of fandom interaction. Thankfully, it's usually the minority of fans and most people are good-willed and are often very creative. As far as bronies specifically are concerned, the toxicity in our fandom rarely goes above background levels other than one infected, very painful thorn in our side that most of us wish would just go away.

To be honest, I really didn't like this season at all. The entire overarching storyline of the season, preparing Twilight to rule Equestria solo after Celestia and Luna retire, is one that I really don't like because it came completely out of nowhere. Celestia seemed to just want to retire on a whim because she's bored and doesn't seem to take into account the sheer enormity of the ramifications on Equestria and the world at large that abdicating the throne will have after a solid millennium of ruling. The idea of exchanging power in Equestria is so completely foreign to the populace and Rarity acknowledges that fact. It would be one thing if Celestia and Luna were giving up just the throne, but they're giving up the sun and moon as well; literally turning their backs on their cutie marks in the name of retirement. There are so many unanswered questions about the entire storyline and the entire thing is brought about by Celestia giving in to an alarmingly shortsighted whim. Are Celestia and Luna reaching the end of their lives? Will their functional immortality continue even through retirement? If so, will they demand the throne back once they get bored again? Did Luna give up dreamwalking as well? I could go on. Like I said, I really didn't like this season because of its principle storyline. I was pretty much apathetic to the rest of the season and as such, it was hard to choose my most liked/disliked, but I think I did it. The Beginning of the End was an amazing opener and is perhaps my favorite of the entire series. The stakes were higher and more grand and it was one of the few times I was on the edge of my seat in this series. I loved seeing favorite villains return and I really liked the showcase of just how effective a force Sombra really is when at his prime, something only alluded to in The Crystal Empire. Naturally, The Ending of the End bookends the opener in an amazing way as well. Though I have to take points away for the reveal of Discord being Grogar the entire time as Grogar was someone built up to and should've been explored more. But like with The Beginning of the End, I was left on the edge of my seat the entire time and was genuinely worried for the Mane Six's wellbeing and very survival more than once. However, I didn't enjoy the other episodes as much and those like Sparkle's Seven, Frenemies and Between Dark and Dawn are episodes I only really mention my enjoyment of because of jokes or bits of character moments in these episodes. Shining Armor and Twilight play off each other really well and so do Celestia and Luna. But I was delightfully surprised just how much I enjoyed the dynamic between Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow. Which is especially surprising to me personally because I detest Cozy Glow, but I found her rather enjoyable amongst her fellow villains. Episodes like Dragon Dropped and The Point of no Return are ones I disliked because of Rarity and Twilight having to learn some pretty basic lessons. Rarity should know better than to think Spike wants nothing to do with her after making a new friend. Twilight shouldn't be allowing her neurotic fears get the best of her. Again. Especially when she's on the cusp of ruling an entire nation. Uprooted deserves special mention to me because while the episode is alright in a vacuum, it furthered a multi-season plot involving the Student Six that was completely dropped after this episode. It was plainly obvious from the beginning of season 8 onwards that the Student Six were intended to be the third iteration of harmony. The Pillars fostered friendship amongst the pony races, the Mane Six spread that friendship all over Equestria and the Student Six were plainly intended to evolve that friendship to include the species from all over the world. The even went so far as to forge a personal connection with the spirit of the Tree of Harmony and even resurrected it in an image befitting them. Clearly they were meant for more. But nothing more came of it. That's it. A Horse Shoe-In is an episode I thoroughly detest because it's yet another episode that once again showcases that Trixie and Starlight both are the absolute fucking worst and are equal parts in the most hideously abusive relationship this series ever offered and once again, we're just supposed to be okay with that. Sunrise, sunset. My least favorite episode of not only season 9, but the series as a whole has to be The Last Problem. There is nothing redeemable in this episode to me I didn't enjoy a single moment of it. The fact is, it's the only episode of the entire series that I genuinely hate. I've never before seen an episode of the series so completely spit on the show's entire theme: friendship, apparently, is not magic after all. Twilight rules without the rest of the Mane Six and they've drifted apart and moved on. The soul-shattering fact of the matter is that their friendship is over and we all know it. Despite all the lip-service to the idea of maintaining friendships, we all know that when you have close friendships for years that literally change your life for the better, getting together at most ((depending on the deliberately ambiguous length of 'a moon')) once a month just simply isn't enough. Anyone who had a best friend in high school that they saw less and less of after graduation knows this. And if that weren't enough, this episode confirms the worst fear that the fandom has had for the last six years: Twilight will indeed outlive her friends. Point. Blank. Period. It's just such an awful note to leave the series on, I really don't understand how anyone can enjoy it let alone call it their favorite episode. I won't begrudge anyone who does of course, but still. All in all, I really didn't enjoy this season as a whole. There were five that I enjoyed that were worth mentioning but I have to be honest, I struggled to find them. The series didn't go out with the bang I wanted, but instead whimpered to the finish line and I lament that this was the way such an amazing, influential series came to its end.

Meh, it is what it is. I won't hold it against anyone if they enjoy Lily's content.

Indeed, there are a lot of people who don't want to speak on issues that don't involve them and that has been a problem. Lily castigates the entire community for not speaking out on Toon sooner and that it shouldn't have reached that point. My question is: where was Lily before her video? The idea that "this should have been talked about sooner" is a non-argument because while it sounds good in hindsight when the sins have been committed and the dots connected, in reality it's harder to see things go down in real time. It happens, some people are less perceptive than others. My problem with Lily here is that she acts as if not speaking for any reason is tantamount to being Toon's enabler, and she has the gall to make such a video and demand that she not be held to the standards she holds to everyone else. She asks why people weren't talking like this about Toon sooner, I ask why wasn't she? Making a few comments here and there isn't enough, not when you want people to make scathing videos. It goes both ways and Lily refuses to acknowledge that. The fact is, Lily wants to get outraged about the very thing she's guilty of: ignoring the Toon problem until it escalated to the point of pedophilia. Yes, Lily kinda has a point but it's not a new point made. The fact is, Lily is parroting back points already made by a bunch of other people but wants people to think she's the only one making them. Despite what Lily would have you believe, most people already thought Toon was a scumbag before the leaks, just not that it went this deep.

Lily Orchard is the most vile, disgusting, hateful, fascist person within the fandom and our community would be much better off without her. She is bitter, angry and only wants to start drama in order to sate her own undeserved sense of moral outrage. Such outrage including people who disagree with her, people who enjoy serialized storytelling and anyone less liberal-minded than her. Her first answer is violence when solving problems and will try to destroy you if you don't agree with her. Just ask Josh Scorcher, her ex-fiance and even her own mother on that one. This isn't the first time Lily has accused the brony community of harboring pedophiles and it surely won't be the last. She doesn't actually care about the wellbeing of anyone in the fandom, surprise to absolutely no one. She wants to avoid people bringing up Stockholm, her own foalcon story because she loathes it when people bring up her past actions as criticism, despite using the past as a point of attack herself. The last time she made one of these videos against the brony community, she used Derpibooru and FiMFiction as points of reference to hives of depravity. She focused on Dedpibooru specifically, deliberately ignoring FiMFiction because to address it in detail would be to draw attention to the fact that she has actively contributed to the problem she claims to loathe. She tries so hard to deny Stockholm's existence even though there's an audio clip from one of her videos outright admitting that she wrote it. I could go on but to make a long story short, Lily Orchard is the last person with any kind of leg to stand on on this topic. She might have one or two good points here and there, but they're completely overshadowed by her violent hatred, toxicity, hypocracy and her actions as an all-around loathsome human being.

It's been a long time since I enjoyed an episode this much. Perhaps my favorite thematic execution was the juxtaposition of 'slice of life' and 'adventure' in this one episode. Chrysalis's presence and the clones obviously give callbacks to previous adventures such as The Return of Harmony and A Canterlot Wedding. However, the idea of an innocent retreat gives the feeling of an average slice of life episode, complete with its own friendship lesson. Heh, I almost expected Twilight to end the episode with the declaration of "Dear Princess Celestia". I also really liked how nothing was actually resolved, especially after that nightmare fuel of an ending. The friendship lesson itself leaves a weird taste in your mouth because there are elements of the episode that we, the audience, are aware of that the Mane Six are not. As others have mentioned, Pinkie outright stating that she never said that Twilight's retreats are boring and Rarity rebuking Applejack's accusation of theft are never elaborated upon even though we saw both of those events transpire. It was, admittedly, frustrating at times to see the Mane Six so oblivious, but we're biased as the audience because we have perceptions and knowledge that they don't. To them, the idea that there are evil clones of everyone messing everyone's day up was probably the last possible explanation for the day's events that could've entered their minds. At the tail end of the episode, the Mane Six discover their campsite destroyed, but laugh it off and start to rebuild. Twilight confidently declares "If we can survive a day like this, I think our friendship is strong enough to handle anything the world can throw at us." Damn it, Twilight, why you do dat? The episode ends on a positive note. Laughter, a light and fun musical flourish, the pan upwards to a beautiful night sky; everything we've seen before. But again, it leaves a weird taste in your mouth because we saw some major shit go down, and it was never resolved. It almost leaves a sense of foreboding for the future, poignantly punctuated by Chrysalis flying off into the distance. As for the Mean Six, well, they were a lot of fun to say the least. It was very easy to tell that each voice actress in the episode had a tremendous amount of fun recording and that made us have a lot of fun as we were watching. They're often compared to the Mane Six when 'discorded' in The Return of Harmony, a clearly obvious callback, but they were different, if only subtly. Discorded Dash was disloyal to the point of running away. Mean Dash was lazy, which caused her to not be interested in lifting a hoof to help her friend. Discorded Fluttershy poked at her friends and wanted to make their lives that much more difficult. Mean Fluttershy, true to her name, wanted to watch the world burn and do what she could to fan the flames. Discorded Applejack was a notoriously bad liar, seeming almost compelled against her will to lie, complete with her own facial tic that further gave her away. Mean Applejack was confident and more subtle with her lying, almost as if she knew what she was doing and did it just because she enjoyed it. Discorded Rarity selfishly held close a single object that she was made to believe was the most beautiful, valuable thing in the universe. Mean Rarity horded literally everything she got her hooves and magic on, even something as mundane as a stick used to hold up a tent was not beyond her clutches. Discorded Pinkie was angry at the world for perceiving everyone to be laughing at her and not with her. Mean Pinkie was completely apathetic and bored with everything and everyone around her. Discorded Twilight, for the brief time she was shone, was in total despair and had completely turned away from the magic of friendship. Mean Twilight was conniving, manipulative, cocky; she would betray anyone, probably including her own fellow clones, for the sake of power. The discorded Mane Six existed as the inverse of their individual elemental attribute while the Mean Six existed as the inverse of individual that they each were made in the image of. The color schemes of the Mean Six were a tad different than their discorded counterparts as well. They're desaturated, but not in the same way. Some colors are shifted just a tad and lightened up while others, such as Mean Twilight's eyes, were nearly completely different than normal. I think it's just a further visual element that they ain't quite right. This is also subtly punctuated by the appearances of their cutie marks. Mean Dash's cutie mark was upside down, showing that instead of active and energetic, this Dash is slow and lazy. Mean Fluttershy's cutie mark colors are inverted, showing that she's now the total opposite of who she's modeled after. Mean Applejack's cutie mark has the apples shift from red to green, showing that she's become a 'sour apple'. Mean Rarity's cutie mark is darker and more dull, showing that this is the tarnished version of the beautiful gem we all know and love. Mean Pinkie's cutie mark has the center balloon placed below the other two instead of above, showing how deflated she's become. Mean Twilight's cutie mark has the center star become entirely magenta instead of magenta with smaller, white, secondary spikes; a... well, dark foreshadowing of what would happen to the center star on the Tree of Harmony. Speaking of the Tree of Harmony... holy shit. That was intense. And the thing I think is the most insanely fucked up, aside from the scene playing out entirely in all its twisted detail, is the fact that this is the first time we've ever seen the Tree, and by extension the Elements, take a life. In fact, I always thought it was out of the Elements' power to destroy as the closest they've ever come is neutralizing Discord by turning him to stone. I have to wonder, did the Elements react so violently against what could be seen as twisted perversions of their own bearers, or were they corrupted? I tend to think that the Elements were corrupted, they didn't lash out against the Mean Six until after they were all hit by that flash of darkness. Then when they did lash out, their magic connected to the Element of Magic in the same way they did when the Chest of Harmony or when the chest was opened. But instead of soft and wavy, the lines were sharp and jagged. Instead of filled with colorful rainbows, the lines were filled with nothing but black. We can't help but wonder just what the hell we watched go down. I get it, the Mean Six were simply copies of the Mane Six and the Tree neutralized the threat to harmony by getting rid of the perverted, abdominal insults to their bearers. Nevertheless, the Mean Six were still living, sentient creatures. They were alive, and the Tree killed them. This was something that the Elements had never done before, not even to Discord himself. Regardless for the reason, a line was crossed here and I think it means something. All in all, I found this episode really fun and it gave so much to think about. I really look forward to seeing what the rest of season eight has to offer.

Naw, she's not twerking. This isn't the Powerpuff Girls reboot.

Well, Celestia and Luna themselves could've been inspired from Skinfaxi and Hrímfaxi of Nordic mythology. Skinfaxi drew Dagr's ((day's)) chariot and his mane lit up the world below while Hrímfaxi pulled Nótt's ((night's)) chariot and his mane dropped dew upon the world.

Eh, it's an interesting idea but I don't think so, the similarities are completely superficial. Many works of fiction have shown light oriented characters as fun and playful while dark oriented characters as aloof and serious. We can't really draw any conclusions as far as Starswirl is concerned because he hasn't been in the series proper. EU materials like the comics and books have a dubious canon status so we have to take their content with a grain of salt. But like I said, it's an interesting idea. We need to get some pony Clow Cards up in here.

Starlight to me seems to be lacking a certain amount of empathy for those around her. Not to say that she's completely without empathy, but she shows repeated lack of interest of most ponies around her. She has to be told not to repeat actions that are reminiscent of her former self and seems to have a lack of self-awareness of that fact. And time and time again, she's shown that she is just not interested in making any friends, even after doing so with Trixie. Even then, the two of them had to bond over their dark pasts and actions which allowed Starlight to empathize with her on a deeper level. But for average ponies around her in her day-to-day life, she's just not interested. It sometimes honestly feels like she's just using Twilight to expand her already needlessly overblown knowledge and power over magic. And that's the problem. Starlight has shown such incredible amounts of magical skill and knowledge already which keeps exponentially growing for no reason. She quite easily surpasses Twilight in sheer power, this is quite evident because we keep having to be told that the two of them are on some kind of equal footing yet we're consistently shown the contrary. I mean, the fact that they would even be close to equal footing in spite of Twilight's Alicorn magic ((Which we have been shown to be incredibly powerful in it's own right; the four parts of Alicorn magic at the time were combined and shown to be equal in raw power to all of the rest of pony magic in Equestria combined.)) and Starlight's lack thereof is nothing short of complete and total bullshit. Again, that's the problem. Starlight never has to work for anything, she never has to struggle or face the fear that she might not be able to reach her goal. She just simply does it, or it gets simply handed to her by way of her ability to somehow find ancient powerful spells and edit them to her own uses. She keeps having to learn the cardinal lesson that magic isn't the answer to everything yet she repeatedly ignores that because she isn't bound by those conventions. At this point, magic really is the answer to everything for her because she can do everything with magic. Her skills, somehow acquired knowledge and potential are never hindered, are never given limitations; there's no ceiling. They just keep getting higher and bigger with no end in sight. As far as Twilight goes, people are criticizing her for stalking Starlight and trying to keep a friendship from forming because she didn't trust Trixie. Honestly... I don't really see anything wrong with that. Twilight had pretty good fucking reasons not to trust Trixie. When it comes to villain redemption, they have to earn it. Discord did, as did Sunset Shimmer; a lesson that Starlight of course had to avoid. Trixie had done nothing to earn that redemption and subsequent trust of others. She said she wanted it, but then so did Discord and look how well that turned out the first time around. Yes, Twilight did go behind Starlight's back after she said she'd trust her which is objectively wrong; but I'm personally jaded because I don't think that Starlight is worthy of that trust. I don't think anyone should be completely trusted not to stray back down a dark path after so soon leaving it when someone who closely fits their former self is staring them in the face. If I have a friend who was a former drug addict who truly was working very hard to change themselves, I won't allow them to be around another drug addict who shows no remorse up till that point. Judge it how you will. But even then, Trixie proved herself to Twilight and Twilight immediately backed off which I think is the proper move. Twilight is protective, and yes, perhaps a tad bit distrustful of Starlight's decision-making; but her heart was in the right place and she certainly had ample reason to do what she did.