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vanillapudding

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Everything posted by vanillapudding

  1. After a thread I started earlier today got me thinking, I'd really like to see a sort of Parents' Day episode (since some ponies have moms, dads, both, or neither) to give the mane cast a chance to celebrate those who raised them. Getting all their different families in one place could be just adorable, they could even make use of Twilight's castle for the event. Plus...I keep thinking about Spike giving Twilight a present and thanking her for caring for him as she does since it appears she more or less has had a heavy hand in his upbringing, if she hasn't been his caretaker since she first hatched him outright. It would just be the most precious little episode *-*
  2. Haha I totally missed that cameo in Inspiration Manifestation. I was thinking they could have just become travelers and just aren't in Ponyville very often anymore, which would explain extended absences and why Sweetie Belle seems to basically live with Rarity on a full time basis. But it could also make an interesting story for fanfic writers if Rarity's parents ended up...well, not coming home from that vacation they took back in season two. (Somehow despite being a hardcore non-shipper I have come to really adore Rarity and Applejack in any capacity I can get it in...I have no idea how that happened.) Though you guys did make me think about more family interaction. We now have families for most of the main cast (with Rainbow MAYBE having a parental appearance depending on who you ask) so they could totally do a mother/father's (parent's?) day kind of episode with the main six doing something for the ponies that raised them. I know it'd be really heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time to have AJ honoring Granny Smith, and I doubt they'd let her have more than a line towards her own missing parents...but that could be a really nice episode. Especially to have a chance to see Rarity interact with her own parents for a reason other than Sweetie Bell. But that might be too big an episode for 22 minutes.
  3. I noticed this while re-watching Sister Hooves social - they haven't actually appeared again since dropping Sweetie Bell off so they could go on vacation. Yet forever more after that Sweetie is living with Rarity every time we see her in a home setting, and the parents never show up again. Have they been on vacation all this time? Did they run away and abandon their children? (I know Sweetie Bell is a handful and Rarity is high maintenance but that's so rude O: ) Or...are they in such a state that they would be unable to come back (ala the main theory of where AJ's parents have been this whole series).
  4. Oh god...it had to have been when I was very young because I don't remember. I vaguely remember messing with the dial up in the mid 90s, but I don't know if that's when we got internet for the first time or if we'd had it and they were just fixing it. I knew how to log into the dial up before I knew how to use the rewinder for my favorite VHS tapes. Ok that might be a bit of a stretch since that was literally just hitting one button, but I grew up with a tech-savy mom. We had dial up until I was in 8th grade I think - which was really sad because high speed internet was around by then and all the commercials implied that everyone could have it, and my mom worked for Verizon (technically still does, but they jettisoned her department a few years back and renamed it Frontier). It took Verizon years before they extended high speed internet outside of towns so that we could access it in our 'country home' which was literally half a mile beyond the town line. It's actually because of that crap that I got my first cell phone. I was highly involved in school and had a lot of band, choir, etc practice (not to mention concerts, and a couple school dances) and I'd get stranded because someone would always be on the internet so I couldn't call the landline. And I could never remember my mom's cell phone number. At least, that's what I told her .
  5. On a whole (after watching literally every episode), it is possibly one of the best shows ever created, in my opinion. And I say that after being a staunch hater of it until a few years ago...when I actually sat down and watched the whole thing through. Until that point I'd only seen a few episodes from that time in middle school my brother taped over my Inuyasha recordings (which, no, my mother did not know what that show was about - I told her it was about a person who was half dog who saved the world) with South Park, and all the episodes were from season one, which is still my least favorite season even now. I hate programming that is just crude, gross shock humor, and that's what the early episodes tended to be. So with that as my base point I decided that it had to be the dumbest show ever. But a couple years ago my coworkers at this fast food joint I worked at were talking about all their favorite moments and I remember thinking "wait...South Park did THAT? They were that smart? They were THAT clever? Nuh-uh." So I tried it myself. And they were indeed that smart and that clever. The satire is truly top notch, and it's not really that crude (compared to the other 'shocking cartoons' like Family Guy and that ilk, which are literally just crude for the sake of being crude). Rude, sure, but it's far from just gross-out shocks. Actually most of the time it isn't even gross out, just shocking. They tear apart just about every sacred cow there is, and I think I'm at least the better for it. Holding things so sacred they become untouchable makes jackasses out of people (I mean just look at what certain religious organizations allowed for generations because of their believed untouchability).
  6. I think the only critics I'm subscribed to on YouTube are SilverQuill, MadMunchkin, and the various channels of MatPat (Game Theory, Film Theory, and GTLive). They're really the only ones I catch on YouTube because I can't catch them elsewhere, and MatPat isn't really so much a critic as he is an entertainer. He makes theories about games and movies...then plays video games with his wife live a couple times a week. And they are glorious. Most of my other favorites are all on ChannelAwesome so I just check in there every couple of days. My above and beyond favorite is Nash and Tara with Radio Dead Air's WTFIWWY segment where they tear into the stupid news of the week.
  7. I dont know if you saw my post, but I was immediately reminded of a cross between Chickorita and their evolution of Bayleaf. But I do concede. Your pokemon reference is a might bit more accurate than mine XD. Just give it the neck jewels and done.
  8. So back in Times are a Changeling I recall posting something along the lines of "no wait don't get up in arms yet, one reformed changeling does not mean all will be reformed." Welp. Aside from the problem of 'only pretty things can be good' (thanks a lot Disney -.-) and the rush of their reform, I did enjoy their new designs, aside from Thorax. Thorax resembles the rainbow forms in the fact that they just threw way too much together with way too many colors. He kind of reminds me of the pokemon Chickorita/Bayleaf (Chickorita for the neck, Bayleaf for the shape and size). Behold! The new lord of the changelings. As far as the overall finale goes, the characterizations were a lot of fun and this really did a lot to flesh out the world. I loved seeing Starlight deal with her past and her current worries - that's something I've loved about Sunset and its nice to see it again. Especially when they have different situations. Sunset turned into a she-demon but was still stuck at the same place she tried to destroy and had to deal with their glares and hate head on. Starlight was able to leave and be away from the place where she caused misery (though as we see they weren't all that miserable - I mean, they basically ask her to take over and do all the festival planning for them, so to some degree it seems they really liked having someone like her around, though that could be that they're still recovering from their situation and don't know what to do as they have to be independent now). The mix of characters we got was definitely different. Twilight had better watch out since it seems Discord has made a new friend with Trixie. Pigs are gonna fly guys. Though if this is anything like his friendship with Spike and Big Mac it's probably just a passing "I'm ok with your presence" sort of friendship, vs a "I must go and destroy the changelings for kidnapping you!" Since we know he doesn't particularly dislike the princesses anymore, but he did seem entirely uninterested in a rescue until he heard Fluttershy was captured. And! There's something extra important about this finale - we had strong male characters being strong, and more than just an accessory for the ladies (sorry Shining Armor but lbr here, your most important role so far has been winning the gold medal in the princess javelin competition). I know that's been a sticking point for a lot of people. I admittedly didn't entirely notice it until just this year - I'm a girl who grew up watching male-heavy shows where girls were almost always an accessory, so seeing a show compensating for all of that by having a super female cast has always been great to witness. But it has gone out of its way, especially as of late, to be...well, lets just say problematic (*cough*ZephyrBreeze*cough*SkyStinger). And as I already mentioned even our royal captain of the guard has pretty much only existed as an accessory to his princesses - He was half of Cadence's love magic, he threw Cadence so that she could help the Crystal Ponies, and he fathered an alicorn. That's what he's done in the show. Granted Cadence herself isn't much better (aside from being the female half of that list, she's also been pampered to the point where she has lost her stamina when flying). And...there's Spike? And a plethora of background boys, but that's no help. But now we have a male ruler that isn't evil (take that Sombra!). AND he managed to turn an entire very starving and angry kingdom into yet another love hub for Equestria. Or wherever their kingdom is actually located. While Starlight was the official/unofficial leader of the ragtag band, Thorax was the one who saved the day - and they all did it together and all that lovey mushy stuff. We do need strong male characters that exemplify how great men can work together with great women. Basically, to show how we really can all be equal. And that isn't to say cut down on or take away from the strong ladies (though...Celestia, come on dearie stop getting kidnapped or we'll have to change your name to Princess Peach). Just...you know, maybe not all your prominent males have to be either subservient or jerkfaces. All hail King Thorax! Side note - how did I not realize until today that Starlight was voiced by Sango/Barbie? Best part of the finale: Trixie and Discord's relationship. As I said, Twilight needs to watch out because those two hanging out might just be the end of her sanity. Worst part: Wut no song? D: Way to break tradition guys. I was looking forward to the finale song. Edit: After glancing some other comments I did have a little bit to add here - while the songs of both the last two seasons' finales seemed shoe-horned and I have no doubt adding one to this finale would have felt the same way, the songs themselves have become favorites of mine (all three are in the top ten from the entire show for me). Mostly what I was hoping for was another song to put on repeat for the next six months. #soselfish
  9. Halfway there! It's so much fun watching the livestream reactions right now. First half has been golden, but I really want to dig in and talk about the second half >D I'm so excited for this part.
  10. I think the list of countries I don't want to visit would probably be shorter, but here goes: Ireland and Scotland are up at the top, followed by Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Italy, and a return visit to France to round out my top picks of Europe. Then I'd love to visit Korea and Japan. And I've always dreamed of a chance to go to Egypt, though I wilt like a flower in the heat so even if someday I have enough money to I'll probably never go there. I'll just have to settle for museums.
  11. Hiding in my bedroom as Comcast rewires the place. Which I was also doing an hour ago. And will probably be doing an hour from now. No clue how to behave when people come into my home whatsoever.
  12. From what I've observed, even when the ruling powers are dismantled there still isn't much to fear...unless you live in one of the three hotspots (Ponyville, Canterlot, or the Crystal Empire). The first time a crazy all powerful creature tries to cause problems in the country, sure, that's kinda scary, but by the time you've had five or six try to take over and all be taken down within a few days its a bit less frightening. Unlike the real world, none of the threats pervade over long periods of time. Nightmare Moon went down in one night, Discord went down fairly fast, since apparently the first three seasons took place in one years time - Even though I like to completely ignore that factoid from the show because it makes my head hurt, it does put the other attacks into some perspective since they'd have had to have quick turn around times to all fit into the span of one year. Chrysallis, once revealed, went down in an afternoon. Sure the changelings were always there in the background but they didn't come back for quite some time, and when they did...well, I know this is a thread discussing spoilers but I won't speak the spoilers of the season six finale until after Saturday passes. We also see that Ponyville kind of regularly faces other problems (Cerberus, the BugBear, and that's not even touching on the uncontrollable forest of crazy they live next to). Since we don't follow the other locations nearly as much, its hard to say if that's common. From the comics (I know not primary canon, but they still reveal some fun stuffs) we can see that Canterlot has had a few incidents in its time, and from the episodes in the Crystal Empire we can see that they also have their own magical problems when they don't power their heart-stone-shield-maker properly. But that's what you get for building your empire in the frozen north where it's apparently a near constant blizzard. The point I really want to get at is that the ponies don't seem all that worried. Despite all the crazy that happens in Ponyville, they all still live there. They chose to build up their town near the Everfree Forest knowing how dangerous it could be. They could have just been like 'yo Apples are cray cray we ain't livin here,' but apparently rainbow apple jam was enough to convince them to build the magical stomping ground of their nation. And despite all the magical attacks aimed at all of Equestria, no one is clambering to go move in with the zebras or the yaks (er, well, can't blame them there) or to any of the other nations. So...basically, even when the royals are dismantled and changelings are putting everyone in cocoons, everypony still comes out the next day smiling. I know its a happy show so they're probably never going to address the long term emotional consequences of all the attacks, but taking everything presented in the show as the canon lore and lifestyle it seems that perhaps instead of Equestria being unstable....perhaps its so stable that it doesn't really need its rulers. I mean, clearly they still need the rulers, but if a band of six ponies that all started out as every day(ish - Twilight was clearly part of the 1% right from the get go) citizens can handle things, then maybe the other ponies are pretty hearty too and really only need help when the big guns (Discord, Tirek, Chrysallis) come along. I mean...we clearly see in the finale just how hearty some of the citizens can be. Without magic! They might not have been able to turn Discord to stone, but we've seen that with a bit of love and friendship he never needed to be stone in the first place. The only fights they might never have been able to win are Nightmare Moon (since the elements of harmony rainbowed the nightmare right out of her) and the battle against Tirek (since the elements of harmony...rainbowed the magic right out of him, a bit more literally this time). All the crystal ponies needed was for someone to get them their heart then they took care of the rest. It didn't necessarily have to be future princess Twilight, and Cadence didn't necessarily have to majestically swoop over them all pretty like. Then Flurry Heart both caused and solved the problem when it shattered, so without her the problem wouldn't have existed to begin with. Soooooo, yeah that's my rebuttal. :3 Maybe they don't need their princesses as much as the show tries to lead us to believe. Having princesses to do the hard work for them is just a nice perk of living in Equestria.
  13. I lost my original post (the browser crashed and didn't save it like it used to when I had a mac) So here I am trying to recreate its magic: I do have to admit when I heard there was to be a friendship problem at Wonderbolt Academy, I sincerely hoped it meant that it'd be something with the Wonderbolts themselves. I mean...they have some pretty serious issues (even if Spit Fire did apologize to Sorin at the end of Rainbow Falls, the fact that they found that ok in the first place just shows they have a long way to go). BUT I was not disappointed with what we got. Seeing Dashie come completely full circle to help out pegasi that had once been in her place was just too good. Speaking of our main ponies, T-Sparks and The Dashinator were in tippity top form. I love it when they do the cutie map episodes because not only are there friendship lessons to go around Equestria, there's lessons between the mane six too as they learn to gel together in their differing ways. It was really interesting seeing this episode juxtaposed right after Where the Apple Lies. That episode was all about not hiding the truth and telling lies. In this episode their first attempt at solving the problem revolves entirely around not telling the truth. They weren't necessarily lying per say, but they were definitely creating a falsehood by withholding the truth. What really interested me was how, between these two episodes, all theories about AJ and Rainbow having had their elements swapped seems to have been blown to bits. First AJ learned just why honesty is so important (and even then it looked like she had some issues with telling her fibs, and she certainly sucked at keeping up with them - seriously she was a horrible liar), and now in this episode we see Rainbow having absolutely zero qualms with with holding the truth. In fact.....that plan was her plan to begin with. Though I do believe AJ's rainbow-eyes-key episode also revolved around her learning a lesson about with holding the truth, so maybe that whole point was neither here nor there. And on the other side of the equation we have Sky Stinger. Man did he Zephyr that up. I know the idea was that he had a big head because he never failed, thanks to Vapor, but...That was a horrible relationship. I do admire her loyalty, but Sky Stinger was constantly putting her down to build himself up. That kind of trait only really happens in one type of relationship: an abusive one. Sure she was really strong and it turned out she didn't care, but Rainbow also pointed out later that she never really acknowledged her own strengths. So even if she was aware of the situation and 'above it' in a way, it still seemed to be affecting her. Seeing all the people talking about shipping them is giving me flashbacks to Twilight. Not the pony. The rancid book/movie series about an abusive vampire and the robot he eventually had a child with. I do not ship them. I really hope for something better for Vapor. She's a beautiful character and deserves someone who cares about her more than himself. (Heyy maybe we could tie up Flash Sentry by shipping him with Vapor. Can this be a thing? Keep Flash away from Twilight by putting his nice-guy-ness to good use with a nice girl pegasus?) When I watched the livestream lots of people were saying "Zephyr was worse" but I have to disagree. Zephyr was annoying and whiney and took advantage of his family, but he didn't outright abuse them. And at the end of the day, he just really had confidence issues and didn't know how to express them, which is kind of a common problem. Annoying and sometimes you want to punch them in the face, yes. Abusive? Not half as much as Sky Stinger. Even his 'compliments' were backhanded and raised him above her. Not once did he ever just compliment her for her own abilities. And no, telling her she has a cute sneeze does not count. His childhood is no excuse for that behavior. (Tho....the Princess of Flying was a really funny joke. Especially if he thinks he's ahead of Dashie on that list.) Ughhhh I was so not rooting for him. Now don't get me wrong, I liked this episode well enough. I was ok with the ending. I just think they went a little to hard on his character because I sincerely wanted him to fail. Or at least be just mediocre and have a 'long way to go.' MLP used to do that sort of thing all the time. Having him excel was too much. All I can do now is hope he doesn't come back up. Vapor tho - I'd love to see her again any day. And speaking of Vapor, the ways she helped Sky Stinger were kind of genius. If the Wonderbolts used her tricks to help each other out, they could make their performances 30% cooler. She'd be a great choreographer for them. If she doesn't want to be in the center of attention that might be a better fit for her. :3 She'd also make a stellar back up for Rainbow in case 'Official Friendship business' gets in the way of Wonderbolt business. Gotta love Angel Wings :3
  14. I'm really curious as to how Zephyr ever got a cutie mark. Like, getting a cutie mark means you realized your 'true calling' right? The only exception we've ever seen was Trouble Shoes because even though he got his he completely misinterpreted it. Diamond Tiara kind of almost was like this, but she knew she liked to lead, she just didn't know how to be a good leader. So she knew her talent, but not how to use it. The whole cutie mark thing never comes up with Zephyr but if he's this lost then clearly he hasn't realized his talent. Which is apparently hair dressing? Only not really, that's just something he dedicates himself to at the end. And a feather with some breezy lines has nothing to do with hair dressing anyway. So what is his true talent? I want to hear his cutie mark story. Because from what we see, he's completely clueless and lost, which should point towards an adult pony who shouldn't have a cutie mark.
  15. I'm glad too. In full honesty I'm entirely baffled by the amount of people who expected to see her parents at all, let alone the number that wanted her to be the reason for her death? Like......sure that might be an interesting and very adult topic...for a fanfiction (fanfic writers away! :3 I might actually look forward to those stories). But for MLP FIM that would just be a huge distraction from the entire premise of the show (friendship, and the elements that make it stronger). Not to mention that plot isn't particularly child friendly, it would cause intense retcon issues, and Hasbro would just never allow something like that. MLP was a toy brand first, tv show second, and lets be real "I killed my parents" isn't exactly going to sell well as a playset. I saw someone mention that they only read the title ("Where the Apple Lies") and....I guess I could see drawing that conclusion? But........still. And I swear this isn't to diss on people who did come to that conclusion - you're you, you saw it your way. I just didn't see that, and I don't understand how you saw that. I'm just so baffled.
  16. My three problems in order of least to greatest: 3. She-Demon. Take three. Tho if they'd gone with an escaped-from-Equestria monster, that'd be a rehash too. Not that Gloriosa wasn't a pretty cool she-demon, and had an entirely different reason/reaction/motivation/etc than the other two so at least it was semi-fresh instead of the EXACT same story again and again...but get some variety guys. 2. Filthy Rich's characterization. - He's actually a pretty sensible, nice guy as a pony. Yeah he likes business but here he was your typical bad kids movie sleezy businessman villain. And he did not have to be. He could have been sad to be closing down the camp "sorry Gloriosa, it's just costing me too much money - I can give you to the end of the month to make up the difference, but if you can't I'll have to close the camp down." Then remove the sleezy tie-fixing-glaring moment at the end and change it to a smile and you've got a businessman with a heart. Which is shy I like Filthy Rich in the tv series. He's not a cookie cutter bland buisnessman villain. He puts a priority on his money but he's not a jerky idiot. He understands that there's life outside of his pocketbooks. (Especially proven in the latest episode of the series which I won't spoil for those who haven't seen.) As long as he doesn't come back though I can ignore the whole fiasco, just like I ignored Flash after movie one (until he became pretty cool this movie). 1. SciTwi. Had. WINGS?! WTF?!?! This was really my only true rage point (though Filthy Rich came very, very close). As I said in my comments on the main thread for the movie, I don't really have overall issues with this movie series because the main reason I watch them is to feel a bit happier, and all the movies have accomplished that. But........whyyyyyyyy. I figure it was purely a marketing thing for the sake of toys, but this was a glaring case of that which ruined a huge moment. Plot wise she did not need wings. Characterwise she does not deserve wings at this point in her arc. It was so. Freaking. Stupid. (But yeah those were basically my only issues. I actually really liked Twi and Spruce and I found him to be quite adorkable. Naturally adorkable, not forced adorkable like Flash - and Flash's arc made him quite a bit more likable for me too.)
  17. Sorry to pick on you here specifically, but your comment sums up a lot of what I've been seeing - half of the Derpy talk has been saying 'looks like an accident caused her eyes' and the other half is saying 'looks like she tried to get it fixed at some point.' The truth is they didn't really show more than just some eye bandages - what was going on there could have been literally either of those options or something else entirely (there's many people born with conditions who have to have operations not just to better their condition but sometimes just to maintain their functionality in life), so it's really all headcanon speculation at this point. And...that's probably all it'll ever get to be. But it really opens up avenues for whatever anyone feels fits best. Maybe she was born with her handicap and had to deal with it her whole life, maybe it came about later and she had to deal with being changed from a 'normal' pony to a handicap one. Both stories are deeply invaluable to have. (Though I do admit the 'became handicap later' is more common where I can name at least a few characters kids might know or my generation might have known growing up - about the only 'handicapped at birth' story where the person wasn't the villain I can think of is Quasi Modo and...well, let's just say Disney is the most positive telling of his story, and even then he was lucky to be deemed acceptable to appear in public at the end). Besides all that, Derpy did seem happy throughout her cameo despite her worried-looking nurse. So personally I think that whatever her history is, she's still pretty awesome and upbeat and uniquely Derpy. :3 Basically everything else is just headcanon, so dream the backstory you want. That's what fandoms are for. (And like I said FizzyGreen this wasn't to pick on you. Your post just made me think a bit harder and I felt a need to add to my original comment because of what I've been all over in reaction to the cameo, so your post was kind of just a jumping point to echo on.)
  18. I missed the livestream cos I was sleeping oopsie. Where was Apple Bloom? Like baby Apple Bloom? (I know it might've been kind of annoying shoving in a random baby, but its better than assuming that they're all horrible at taking care of babies and left her up in a crib for the entire episode.) Or is she so much younger that she hadn't been born yet and AJ's parents were secretly still around? But if they were still around then it wouldn't matter if Big Mac or AJ was the heir to Sweet Apple Acres (since it would pass to their parents first), which meant they couldn't be around, not really. Which means Baby Apple Bloom had to already exist. UNLESS she's not really their sister but a cousin O: (ok enough about that) There were a lot of really great small moments in this episode. At the beginning I really connected with AB. She just wanted to do right and make everyone proud and she messed up and wanted to fix it. Spoiled Milk was a glorious little joke - though it did raise quite a few questions regarding pony naming traditions since clearly she changed her name. Also her name might explain her attitude a bit more. Parents have to be really really cruel to name their child Spoiled Milk. Especially in a world where names tend to usually predict where someone's life will go. What did they expect of her - for her to become a garbage pony? Not that that wouldn't be a noble profession, it just doesn't strike me as something most parents want for their baby. And I do question her cutie mark anew - what if she got her cutie mark late. Like waaaay late? Like when Filthy Rich proposed and she realized all she wanted was to raise through the social ranks and become a super important pony? (Cos, yknow, her cutie mark is a diamond ring that looks suspiciously like an engagement ring. Tho not sure what an earth pony would do with that since rings seem to be something reserved for unicorns.) Ah but I'm running off down headcanon paths again. There's just so much fodder for that sort of thinking in this episode. On my expectations: They...were not quite met. Not that this was a bad episode, but when the description said 'put /the whole apple family in the hospital/' I was rather expected, well, the entire family. Like cousins and all of them (via something akin to serving a bunch of baked bads at a family reunion). Now that would have been one helluva lie. In the episode itself I was kind of sad and surprised about different choices they made. Like...when Granny was talkin' like she knew just how Apple Blight would appear if it were a ponyfied disease, I thought for sure she was faking it for AJ because she'd caught on because seriously Granny? You didn't realize that was your grandson there? You just up and decided that red leg with orange hoof was a disease? You trust your grandkids too much dearie. I did love her response to all the 'taking over the farm' talk. 'Yeah after this fat chance to either of you' basically. It looks like she's forgiven them since then and is alright with letting the two of them work it out together. As for Chatty Mc Big Mac...I'm not entirely a fan of what they did to his character here. Listening doesn't mean not talking anymore and that whole twist just didn't feel well handled for me. Don't get me wrong I could buy into it, maybe, if it had been handled differently. Maybe if they flesh out the idea more in the future, I dunno. And now for the hospital: Broken horn. The stallion from Read it and Weep. And Shining Twins. But! There is one egg more important that I spied: Well. Would ya lookit that. Either she tried to get her eyes fixed at some point, or something happened to harm her eyes and perhaps cause her condition. Either way she seemed rather upbeat in the few seconds that she was in the corner of the screen. The nurse on the other hand was rather worried looking. I at least found it quite an interesting little cameo.
  19. So I feel like I should preface my entire discussion with a little note that...I've never really had any dislike for any of the movies. I've seen a lot of differing negative opinions on which movie is worst and why and which songs work and which don't and I've just...never really had an issue. Don't get me wrong there's been parts that were annoying, but overall they didn't bug me. Even with Flash...over time. Like movie one I rolled my eyes but when I saw he wasn't coming out of the movie as a show regular I didn't mind him. And now that we're on movie four, I really like human Flash, especially after this one. Poor guy - you can just see his heart breaking over and over again. Fell for a princess, and she seems to like him fine enough, but if she wants Flash Time there's a pony right in her own world to satisfy that need. And in the meantime he only gets to see her every couple of months while constantly having to see her double hanging out and being not the pony princess his crush is actually on. Problems of parallel world love interests I suppose. I really liked that they didn't have SciTwi getting involved with him, instead setting her up with someone else. And actually taking time to develop it as opposed to trying to fill a quota, since they've shown with the last two movies that they understand romance doesn't have to be a part of the plot. And they actually nailed the awkward teenage flirting. From what I'm seeing this seems to be an unpopular opinion, but I really liked Twi and Spruce. But this goes back to how I am with all four of the movies - I really don't expect a whole lot out of them. That isn't to say I'll let anything slide or do that thing where people 'turn their brains off' to watch something, but as long as the movie makes me feel good then it's done its job for me. And Twi and Spruce, as far as romantic relationships in the MLP series goes, is pretty good. Not as good as the Cakes, but they're young. They have time yet to become adorable adults. Ok, so that's literally all I have to say about romance. Which is more than I ever thought I'd have to say considering how annoying it can be in this type of show, but that's it for that subject. And now for something different: As always, the animation jumped up again, and the music was top notch and really fit the vibe. I saw some reviews saying that the songs throughout the movies were lackluster and...well I've never agreed with that. I've found most EQ songs really enjoyable, and Everfree is no exception. The intro song was uploaded well before the movie was put up on YouTube and I annoyed the crap out of my roommate because I played it over and over. It's in the same ilk as Apples to the Core, but I like that because it really sets the tone for the rest of the movie. All the songs were like that, save for the Midnight in Me which was just kind of there then gone (but still managed to allow for some good moodlighting). The others pushed forward the plot and did a good job of amplifying the mood. As far as what this movie does to confirm/deny headcanons: Apparently there are seven elements of harmony (and no one can convince me at this point that those little conveniently colored gems aren't tied to the elements) and apparently Sunset did not become an alicorn princess ( I really like that headcanon so I'm gonna keep it for myself kthxbai). Though of course SciTwi has wings. I've seen some people pointing out how annoying this is and I am going to second and triple that. She has not earned princesshood. The animation was cool but they could have worked without that. She literally only has wings because her pony counterpart has wings. Though that does open up questions to just what effect Equestria is having on this universe. We've seen the magic leaking through the broken statue-portal now, so maaaaaaaaybe (and it's a super headcanon stretch) she literally only has wings because her magic is being pulled from Twilight. Not pulled, that's probably bad wording, but that's the kind of idea. The worlds are mirroring each other more and more as time goes on - while they started with just basically having the same personality, now that they have superpowers that parallel the abilities of their counterparts: Rainbow is speedy, Pinkie Pie is a rather destructive in her need to bring great cheer to the world (lest we all forget the exploding cake on poor Cranky Doodle), Fluttershy talks to animals, AJ is amazingly extra super strong, and Rarity......well hers is themed off of diamonds (and I believe is actually the only one who lines up from pony to human to power ponysona since they all 'create' in their own ways lovely glittering pretty things). I doubt they'll tie it into the comics any more than it already has been (via that little retcon that this wasn't the only mirror) but it definitely feels like a semi-similar vibe. Things are slowly becoming more potent. They probably won't climax in a 'both worlds on the verge of destroying each other' because that would entirely end all potential future EQ movies, but it's still interesting to watch and think about...and helps explain SciTwi's wings in a semi-acceptable way. Some other varying things of note: THEY GOT SOME OF THE GIRLS OUT OF SKIRTS! There were shorts. And pants. And variety across the board. True they found a way to get them all prettified for toy sales, but it was so refreshing seeing some variety in their clothing choices. Even the prettification gave us different dresses (that were hit and miss in their own ways). They had so many costume changes in this movie, starting with what they arrived in, to Rarity's fashions, to their magic girl transformations, to their concert/ball dresses. Even if they weren't all good, I really enjoyed having that much variety introduced in a variety of ways that were all interesting additions to the story (as opposed to tossing in a makeover montage because 'it's a movie for girls there has to be makeovers'). She-demon, take three. They did the she-demon again. They really need some villain variety. Though I will give them that at least all three she-demons had very different stories. Sunset wanted power - she embraced the magic and while she might have had reservations about what it did to her, the demoning itself didn't haunt her as much as the person (pony?) she'd been. SciTwi wanted to understand the magic and was able to be peer pressured into doing dangerous things. She was terrified of giving into her weaknesses and becoming a monster again. Gloriosa, on a completely different hand, wanted to protect what she held dear, and wasn't afraid to do what it took to do that. She stood for something, and at the end she managed to get what she needed. So at least repeating a villain type hasn't meant that we've gotten literally the same story arc every time. But they really need to shake it up. Even the sirens weren't that far from the she-demoning. They were just always demons and didn't have to become such. What was up with Filthy Rich? I know personalities change between show and these movies but...GEEZUS MAN. Have you no heart at all? Have you no purpose at all? (Seriously the 'conflict' he offered really could have been reached in other ways. Maybe the camp needed some serious repairs and they just couldn't afford it and it'd be shut down if they didn't. That actually happened to the camp I used to go to as a kid. They just couldn't scrap together the funds to keep it continuing on, and we didn't need any sleezy cliches to deal with that kind of misery.) They set up some serious sequel baiting there at the end, and for a series of movies I really thought I'd never care about...I'm really excited for the next movie to find out more of the lore they've been building. And I really do so hope they keep building it. And lastly...Sunset Shimmer continues to win best human awards. That is all. (Please forgive me using KissCartoon instead of Netflix for the screen grab - for some reason I just could not get Netflix to work on my computer today. It kept crashing everything.)
  20. I haven't had this much fun in a long time. There's so many things to say but it's all jumbled in my mind XD I might pop back in later, but by far this is my favorite episode since the CMC got their cutie marks.
  21. The Trail we Blaze from The Road to El Dorado https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVFHKUMHJ3Y I'm a longtime member of a site called Subeta (kinda in a similar vein to Neopets only not owned by greedy money mongers and not over run with tiny children and the adults who love to exploit them) and they do a plot every summer, and this year it's an adventure through the jungle to find a lost tomb of an ancient king. And ever since it started a week ago every time I look at the site that song just plays on repeat.
  22. Hmm. Well there's a few major ways to measure success. (Disclaimer - this was going to be short. It really really was. But I can't keep things short. I'm sorry.) If we're going based on an outsider looking in and only seeing their careers, it has to go Rarity - Twilight - Rainbow Dash - Applejack - Fluttershy - Pinkie Pie. I put Rarity above Twilight because, despite becoming a Princess, she hasn't actually done a whole lot of Princess-ing. She mostly just keeps on doing what she was doing before she got her wings - reading and saving the world. She has added being an actual teacher to her repertoire, but if not for actually achieving ascension she probably wouldn't be particularly high on the list. Twilight clearly came from a rather high in the social strata anyway what with a captain of the royal guard for a brother, a princess for a foal sitter and sister in law, etc, and really becoming a Princess isn't much of a leap for someone who was already basically part of the royal family. Rarity on the other hand had a goal and achieved it and went beyond it and if her parents were any indication, she didn't exactly come from a prominent family. She went from literally a no-name pony to designing wedding dresses for princesses, being the go-to for a prominent popstar, and having very prominent stores. If we look at it with a completely unbiased eye, she's gone the farthest. Rainbow Dash is third because she's also very visibly achieved some notable standings (from being in charge of the weather team in Ponyville, which can't be a non-existent feat even if it is kind of like being a manager at a McD's) to winning a very prominent competition to quite quickly rising from Wonderbolt trainee recruit thing to being a fully realized pegasus superstar. Applejack is next because she doesn't just run an apple farm - it seems she runs THE apple farm. And not only that, but her farm is a huge focal point for the entire town and her family plays a huge part in what keeps Ponyville together. But most of her accomplishments are just that: Family. She's just not a solo success. Fluttershy though is questionably the town's pet therapist/natural healer/groomer/singing instructor? and clearly supports herself somehow even though most of her 'clients' seem to be the wild animals. Maybe they just pay her to keep the bear happy. Who knows. But she is above Pinkie Pie because she's entirely independent. The super party pony might be able to support herself, or she might not, we don't have any signs to indicate either way. If she charges for parties she probably does, but if she doesn't then most people (yes, humans out here not in the show) would probably categorize her true purpose in life as a 'hobby.' She's successful with her hobby sure, but that's like being a well known fanfiction writer. People don't tend to consider that a measure of success. BUT fret not! Because that's just looking at financial/conventional definitions. I have another list to present. 2. Success as measured by their accomplishments within their true callings (aka the reason behind their cutie marks). This has to go a different way: Twilight - Pinkie Pie - Fluttershy - Applejack - Rainbow Dash - Rarity It doesn't get much more successful than becoming the world's ponyication of magic, and then going a step further to become a princess. Pinkie Pie does give her a run though. She's entirely the living embodiment of her passion. She wants to make all the ponies (and everyone else) smile. She wants to make their worlds better. She also almost always lives in a state of joy, aside from a few notable exceptions. She is her cutie mark. Her cutie mark is her. She doesn't need to be independent because living in Sugar Cube Corner and dedicating herself primarily to her hobby while her main source of income is probably no where near as lucrative as party planning (if she were to make that her career hooo-eeeee I mean just look at the wedding planning industry for an example) but she doesn't need a lucrative career. What she needs is happiness, to have it and to share it. And she has achieved that. Just not enough to ascend to become the Princess of Laughter. If that'd even be possible. Now, I'll go into the rest of them by saying this: They're all successful by defining their true callings. But I can't just say 'they're all number one' because that's cheating. So I had to make the hard choices when ranking them. Fluttershy comes next because she's very similar to Pinkie Pie. She probably wouldn't mind living in an animal shelter...oh wait, I take back what I mentioned before, she probably runs the town animal shelter. Anyway, if she wasn't the one in charge, she doesn't strike me as the kind who would have minded working for the pony who ran it no matter how little the pay. She finds her fulfillment entirely in her animals. Well, most. Big dragons still terrify the poor pony. So she hasn't quite achieved the level of Pinkie Pie. Applejack follows for much the same reasons: She's reached contentment. But she has an actual business and we almost always see her building up on that farm, so clearly she has some expansion goals that she hasn't yet fully realized. Rainbow Dash follows because she wants to be best, has a need for speed, and she has broken speed records and has become among the best. But given the nature of wanting to be the best, she won't have entirely reached the epitome of success until she's the Captain of the Wonderbolts. And last...Rarity. Yes, the most outwardly successful pony and my personal favorite still has the longest way to go. The fashion industry is a monster, as shown by the fact that she designed Princess Cadence's wedding dress and still isn't all ponies think of when they think of fashion. She's still clawing her way up, despite having three majorly successful boutiques. She has a lot of work still to do to become the epitome of the Equestrian clothing empire.
  23. I just noticed that Cadence took her hair down during Twilight's coronation. (It was up in that weird style of the royal crystal ponies in one scene...then entirely down the next time we see her.) When she and Shining Armor came running up the aisle like they'd just been outside that ceremony room and Cadence has a completely different hair style, it kinda makes you wonder.
  24. I'm really curious if you guys would read fics where an OC was a main player in the story (without being the villain since, well, canon villains are dropping like flies). (Well Hazard Time I see you have an OC list XD but I am interested in your personal interests - what you accept and where you'd draw the line. Besides the obvious Suelicorn.)
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