Nikola Xerdav

Flim and Flam are not NE, they are more TN/CN, they are sheisty and self interested capitalists, but they are not explicitly evil just because they do some shady things and tend to stretch truth and be dishonest. they are evil leaning, but i wouldn't say that they are so self-interested that they deserve to be evil, because things they do, are done in the media and world wide corporations every day, yet we don't call them evil, we call them smart businesses. Gilda also not evil, though a bitch, not really evil. people can be mean and commit petty theft without being evil, you would have to see much more of Gilda's actions to see if she was actually evil, i would say more CN, evil leaning. Gilda doesn't go around physically attacking people, doesn't commit any major crimes. yeah, she popped some of Pinkie's balloons and messed with her flying machine, which was dangerous, but without the context of a cartoon, and we know Pinkie can take that, and i think Gilda realized that it was a bad thing to do, but doesn't automatically make her evil, though it was a mean thing to do. if Gilda would have actually done lasting damage, caused bloodshed, or had more ill intent other than being a bitchy bully, i could justify her being evil. but i personally believe evil is a titled earned by some of the most dark minded and sadistic beings. and yes, i agree, Discord started as CE, then got reformed and slowly nudged over to CN.

as to expect with Dave Polsky, it was a solid episode, but i feel like the humor fell flat, and this episode continues to cause concern and curiousity of the actual mechanics and meaning of Cutie Marks. in earlier seasons, the "Faustian" seasons, the Cutie Mark was just a mark, it represented you and your talents, like a tattoo, but this slowly went beyond that, something that seemed so natural and simple was actually a huge mcguffin for drama and misery. ever since episode 65 "Magical Mystery Cure", i was started to get the hint that Cutie Marks are more like your soul, fate, spirit, destiny, the end all to be all, to the point where it's just as important as your brain and heart, and that disturbs me considering how easy it has been to mess with them! and now we learn from season 5 that you can actually get a destiny, have a soul, that is against your will?! i thought Cutie Marks were at least a mark of your true will, but Trouble Hooves is one of the most unfortunate souls. there is a theory that Diamond Tiara hates herself secretly, knowing that her destiny is decided as a spoiled brat, only fuels her to hate others even more, but this is merely speculation. as much as the CMC meant well, and helped Trouble Hooves see a brighter side of his fate, there is no mistaking that Trouble Hooves is just hated by the universe to have such a Cutie Mark, and if this episode would have happened before Blood & Gloom, that would have further justified and caused anxiety with the CMC in that episode, but instead in this chronology (if we can ever assume there is an actual chronological pattern episode to episode, hard to say for sure sometimes), allowed the CMC to have some insight about Cutie Marks thanks to the console of Luna. so perhaps that let them deal with Trouble Hooves with some insight and such, but otherwise is still a worrisome episode, while not a bad episode, i can't help to feel like this was a stale and bittersweet episode overall, though we could stretch a moral pointing out that sometimes life screws you over, some people are disabled since birth, but you just got to do what you can to get by, so if that is the point of the episode, then it covers that well, but it wasn't as entertaining as it could have been.

oh my god thank you, i am not the only person that was bothered by the premise of this episode ~hugs~

you have curious theories, but i still am pretty adamant about my ideas. i personally, as is, give EqG a C-, and Rainbow Rocks a B+. i know that B+ doesn't sound that high, but i am between a 4 and 5 stars with it, , i could say it borders on A- with me, but i defaulted to B+ because it's a direct sequel to EqG, which since i notched that down a full grade after seeing a review that pointed out more issues than i caught blindly through the first time. despite my skeptical grades, i still found them to be fun movies for what they are worth, sometimes bad or halfassed stories can still be good in other ways (Clannad, Angel Beats!, Kanon, Tenacious D And The Pick Of Destiny, Little Nicky, etc). even so, i can only wish that my input could be included into MLP's canon, i suppose i can only dream. i am glad that you didn't have any issues with the story though, it's good that people can be happy with things, but i am cursed to nitpick.

that is a curious point out, i had to find the scene, you're right... that is so curious and subtle though... considering all the things the write staff like to make blatantly clear, this is so subtle and vague, that it's easily missed the first time around, if not almost missed. the thing i don't care for, is the high level of speculation the plot causes in the first movie, and it doesn't help that the comics don't give any insight to Sunset Shimmer's in depth character, neither does this movie, we are completely blind to any sort of depth, and even in Rainbow Rocks doesn't completely make up for the way she was presented in past media. don't get me wrong, i want to like Sunset Shimmer as a character, as a past villain even, but she was presented in such a way that it makes it hard for me to take her character seriously. it's cinema sins like this, makes me want to fire the entire staff of MLP and kick Hasbro in the face. i've already testified that i liked the movie, but i refuse to let speculation let me like her character, because plot holes are plot holes, and i've given plenty of anime the same treatment (especially Clannad and Angel Beats!), but i still like those stories as well, but by far none of these stories are perfect at all with the way they do plot and characters. i honestly wish there was a sufficient canon backstory for Sunset Shimmer, instead the team presented her as nothing more than a selfish bitch, that wanted to conquer the world of Equestria with mind controlled teenage humans? are you serious? how dumb of an evil villain is she? the mane six fought off Discord, Sauron, i mean, Sombra, The Changlings, and even beyond all doubt somehow mcguffin deus ex machina Tirek, an impossible enemy... granted, i think a couple of those situations came after Sunset Shimmer... but even so, she couldn't have been that foolish to think she could overpower the mane six, Luna, Celestia, and Discord if he felt like helping... not at least with mere human mind controlled zombies i digress, why should i merely complain? no one merely likes complaining, let me tell you what i would have headcanoned... let's say Sunset Shimmer was kinda like Twilight, not really interested in friends at first, maybe there was a reason, maybe Sunset was a nerd growing up, had issues talking to other people because she was too interested into her own obsessions (hence, Aspergers, and since i have Aspergers, i am allowed to talk about it, lol), i don't care if she actually has Aspergers or not, just nevermind, continuing on... let's say Sunset got picked on as a young filly, and growing up she just alienated others with her own interests, instead of working at bridging gaps, the gaps merely got wider as she wanted to earn love and respect, but eventually gets deluded into thinking, the only way to be respected is to be like Celestia, a powerful ruler with great magic, but she missed all the finer importance of what makes Celestia a great ruler, which is mutual respect and love for others. Sunset Shimmer grows more and more hungry for power, and like in the comics, becomes banished by Celestia to no longer be her student. Sunset parts ways for many years (but does not go into the crystal portal, i will explain why later), and eventually comes back to the castle to fake apologize to Celestia, and promised to turn a new leaf, but this is a facade, Sunset instead had devised a plan to steal Twilight's crown, but needed an excuse to get close enough to her, and she knew she wouldn't have been welcome unless she acted like she had become repentant. any sense of urgency to have guards watch her activities at night then vanish, and Sunset takes advantage of this and sneaks into Twilight's room, steals the crown, accidentally bumps into something, wakes them, they chase her, and then as Sunset gets around a corner, just as you would think she would try to teleport away, a guard bumps into her and she drops the crown, and panics, has to use her magic to levitate and is too stressed to teleport, finds her way into the crystal portal room, notices a warning sign stating that it leads to another world, and decided to chance it and enter inside. i know what you're all going to say "but Sunset Shimmer was supposed to be in that world for longer so she could establish herself there", i think it would be more entertaining to see Sunset struggle with walk and using fingers, but even more so showing her develop proper use of such at a slightly better pace than Twilight. now this is going to sound ambitious, but for the sake of a 2 hour movie, i want to show Sunset shimmer's manipulative side at work, and have her cause rifts between the humans, instead of it just being stories told to Twilight. also, we need a scene with Pinkie Pie rocking out to Andrew WK's Party Party Party! just saying... Snips and Snails are easy to impress pushovers, Sunset could earn their allegiance within a day, how do i know this? (Boast Busters, 'nuff said), honestly, the only thing that needs to be different is that Sunset can't be a full on jerk, like how the Harpies actually have some depth, i think Sunset as a villain needs some hint of vulnerability shown, and once in a while needs to be shown being nice, even if it's to use someone. then before getting towards the end where the omega boss battle happens, have her alone and nearly crying, monologue about how when she finally gets the crown, people will love and respect her finally, as she wishes to conquer Equestria in her rule, not to specifically be an evil tyrant, but just to have people bow down and marvel at her power. i think the whole "evil, tyrant, conquerer" paint of her villain motives was too simple and bland, but if we can paint her as just as a misguided and desperate for love, as corkscrewed as her vision is, i think would make for a better and more appreciated complex villain. but i will admit, that crying during the transformation, that is worth keeping, but a couple things i have to add... Sunset is not retarded, i do not want to treat her as a fool, YOU CAN NOT TAKE OVER EQUESTRIA WITH AN ARMY OF TEENAGE HIGH SCHOOLERS. instead, i am going to drag this movie out, because come on, we get a quick deus ex machina fight like with Nightmare Moon, how lame for a feature length movie! instead, i will make Sunset shimmer teleport away, while her zombies try to fight the heroes, and something, a song sings, something, the heroes undo the zombie enchantment on the students, love, friendship, etc. meanwhile.. Sunset Shimmer encounters the human armies of the world while searching to build up her forces, and while Twilight and company try to find and stop her, she amasses millions of special ops and Marines and MI6, you name it! imagine Sunset Shimmer with enough German tanks and Japanese mech suits to even make Celestia flinch! and then we'll have Sabaton work with Daniel Ingram for a song about amassing an army fit for an Equestrian world war. okay, now we can have our moral-inducing-deus-ex-machina where Twilight stops Sunset (yeah, i know, building such a big army to not use it is a let down, but hey, if we can get some Sabaton music before this, i personally think that is good enough, it would please me at least, lol). and then have a Mr. T pony come out of nowhere saying "I PITY THE FOOL WHO DON'T BELIEVE FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC!"... okay, maybe not, but it would funny, lol xD speaking of Deus Ex Machina, the whole Pinkie Pie scene where she basically shotgun messages the exact reason that Twilight was in their world, that... is... a stretch, but it's amusing, because it's Pinkie, and as cheap as that was to move along plot, i am on the fence about getting rid of that moment, because even though it breaks the seriousness of the story, it's just hilarious that Pinkie is such a wonderful plot device in herself, so i can go either way with that scene. otherwise, at the top of my head without rewatching the movie, yeah, this is what i would do to change it, otherwise keep it more or less the same other than my edits and suggestions. anyone still reading? lol... hopefully someone likes my ideas.

can't believe someone can relate to Pinkie Pie, she is such a toon, lol. i have not met anyone in real life that i could compare to Pinkie, thought Weird Al and Andrew WK come pretty close, maybe even Dahvey Vanity (and it was then that everypony in the room pulled out guns and shot me in the face for suggesting that) i love at least 3 characters though, maybe 4, and all of them from the mane six, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight Sparkle. near the beginning, the list was more like Twilight, Flutters, Pinkie, and RD, but over time i felt like Twilight's character had become lackluster in the series, but thanks to fanfiction, i do at least keep her close to heart, but it's sad that fanfics have done more for me liking Twilight than the main show has lately. to the point though, a pony that makes me happy when on screen, that is difficult... this is very difficult to answer... there is at least one episode for each character within my top 3, that i found more disinterest than love, but i would have to say... Pinkie... even though Pinkie has sinned in the show at least once (i blame the writers), and even though i find RD to be inspiring, and Fluttershy is half the way my soul-mate in personality, even so, Pinkie makes me very happy, because i like order, i like things to make sense, but Pinkie is such a magical pony, that even though most of her doesn't make sense, at all, i am okay with this, as long as it was fun Pinkie has a few moments of true character as well, which helps me connect to her a little bit better, but otherwise i do not relate to her as much as RD and Fluttershy. despite this lack of relation, Pinkie is one of the most entertaining characters on the show aside from Discord, and if Discord was a pony (at least more than 15% of one at least), he would make me the happiest, because the more i see him and his antics, the more i have so much fun with his chaos if ooBrony reads this, know that even though i don't really care about Rarity on the show, i like a lot of fanfiction that has Rarity as a main character, if i could, i would fire half Hasbro's writers and add Karrakaz to the write staff, especially for writing Rarity

Chikorita, i have reason to believe that beyond season openers and season finales, there is no valid chronological pattern from episode to episode, i mean the fact that in the first season the whole running of the autumn leaves episode was only 2 episodes after winter wrap up, like call of the cutie was supposed to be the only major thing that happened within the several months between the new springtime, til autumn, yeah, we can assume that chronology was somewhat loose. but then again, i doubt the MLP staff are really trying that hard to make a really high quality series, their goal to to cater to kids, and when that's your main goal, you don't have to try that hard. while MLP has a decent amount of continuity, it has unmistakable flaws, yet for the most part, such flaws do not stop me from enjoying the show for the things i like about it, which i'd rather watch MLP than any other modern kid's cartoon. not to hate on Adventure Time or Legend Of Korra, but i guess i just never cared enough for their style and characters, but i love the characters of MLP <3 now let's see, i've been wanting to voice my opinion on this episode but i've put it off because from what i've seen, everyone loves it and that just makes me the odd one out... firstly, let it be known, that unlike other analysts who have a whole top 10 list of "worst episodes", i merely have a top 5, and while i acknowledge the issues mentioned about certain episodes, i dislike very, very few episodes, i mean, come on, that's saying something! i hated half of the 12 or 14 episodes of Adventure Time i've seen, but out of 101 MLP:FiM, i only have major issues with 5 episodes, whether my issues are legitimate is based on bias, i am obviously biased for a lot of my own reasoning, but let me just get to the point of this episode specifically. there is only one thing, that if different, i not only would stop being upset (because i didn't "hate" the episode per say, i just "hate the premise"), i would have taken everything else with a grain of salt, but it was the premise that killed this episode for me, and it's a tragedy because i did want to like it, yet you have no idea how upset i am, not just with the episode, but with myself, because i refuse to enjoy it, all due to being stubborn and picky about drama, i just can't get passed this one detail!... Rainbow Dash went through the 5 stages of grief, destroyed property, all because her pet was going to sleep for 3 months... SERIOUSLY?! ugh... i'm sorry, i get that this story is an allegory for death, and the grieving process, but wouldn't actual death be a better premise, you know, considering the incredible selfish over emotional way RD was acting? but i am too picky about drama, i can not get passed this, and since there wasn't an investigation or any proof that Rainbow Dash trashed the Cloudsdale weather machine, it could be assumed no one knew that she done it, so she avoided punishment, which i know was an initial issue i had alongside with the premise, which did actually make me hate the episode a bit until i realized that oh, she just didn't get caught aside from my nitpick of this episode, i love RD, i really do <3 there are good things about the episode. the progression was well paced, considering 22 minute limits, and even the song was good, though i don't really like this style of music, i actually kind of liked this song in some way, which surprises myself (though i like the metal version better, kudos to DusK on Youtube). as for everything RD does in this episode, if death was at stake, i would not have a single thing to complain about, because when dealing with death, it can make some people really torn apart and do things they wouldn't typically do otherwise. i mean, death is a touchy matter, but it's not like Disney hasn't had death in their movies, and it's also not like MLP is perfect sunshine and rainbows all the time either. there are a lot of heavy moments in the show if you think about it (Twilight might have been turned to stone forever in Staremaster; Crystal Empire might have been enslaved again but they KILLED Sauron, i mean, Sombra before he could take over again in the Crystal Empire two parter; cult leader trying to brainwash ponies to either feel superior over everypony, or possibly has deluded sense of a flawed extreme version of communism in The Cutie Map) aside from the premise of death vs hibernation, i also think RD should have shown remorse for destroying the weather factory, i'm sure she didn't intend on destroying it all, just sabotaging the water machine was her plan, but she was so short sighted and selfish that she didn't even think it would have been a good idea to confess what she done and help fix it any way she can, and it's not like she would go to jail, she's too important to the plot, i mean.. she has connections with Twilight, you know, stuff, nepotism, corrupt justice system, etc.. lol, but anyway, she should have admitted that she made a mistake and got carried away. i personally would kill off Tank, why not? i mean, they basically killed off that pet phoenix with an episode intro, sure, not "killed", but the point is, Spike's pet will never return, and no one cared enough to complain when that pet was gone. sure, we technically got more development with the tortoise than that phoenix, but i never cared that much about Tank personally, and though he was a good pet to RD, he wasn't that prominent in the series, but just enough to warrant an emotional reaction, but not as severe as like if a mane six died or even a background pony. so anyways, the episode had interesting ideas, funny moments, cool references, a good solo song, and just so much good, but the premise and the lack of higher conscious shown by RD this episode turned me off, and i overall have a love/hate relationship with this episode.