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TheTrueMelissa

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  1. TheTrueMelissa
    Turns out the movie is only on Netflix, so I can't watch it. Oh well.
  2. TheTrueMelissa
    I love Iron Will, too. He does come back later. He's in an S7 episode, "Once Upon a Zeppelin." There's also this from the wiki: "In the season six episode Flutter Brutter, Iron Will is depicted in a photograph in Pinkie Pie's wallet." Now why would Pinkie Pie carry around a picture of Iron Will? Are they secretly related? Does she have a crush on him? Is she a secret believer in his motivational methods?
  3. TheTrueMelissa
    Another thought: Many are disappointed to learn that Grogar was Discord all along, and one reason given is that Discord doesn't get any penalty for trying, once again, to take over Equestria. What if that's not what he was doing? The three sub-villains are very, very frustrated that Grogar keeps saying now is not the time to strike. What if it would never have been time to strike? Maybe his plan was to keep them eternally preparing and thus out of the way. In history, some rulers have not just infiltrated but organized their own resistance movements. It's easier to keep an eye on them that way. I speculate that Discord was engaging in his own chaotic method of keeping the trio out of trouble. Celestia either knew this already or perceived it, and so no one's mad.
  4. TheTrueMelissa
    Hmm, okay. I'll give it a try. As both of you mentioned, I can always stop.
  5. TheTrueMelissa
    I just finished G4, and I am feeling the lack of ponies. I'm not sure how well I'd like G5, though. I'm not even totally sure what it is. It's a movie and two TV shows, I guess? Or is the movie the only part which really furthers Equestria's story? I can probably adjust to the 3D, but I'd rather not enter if there's no central narrative to it. What do you recommend, G5 viewers?
  6. TheTrueMelissa
    That's the great thing about this show. It's all about making and keeping friends, which is already important to most girls (or boys, for that matter). All the power and glory in the world doesn't mean anything without solid friends.
  7. TheTrueMelissa
    This was an epilogue, set years after Twilight's coronation. I thought it might be a clip show, but no, they put in the effort to give us a whole story told by flashbacks. Twilight is now drawn in the more elegant style of Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and that one blue unicorn who's never explained. In the frame story, a current student of Twilight's, Luster Dawn, is baffled as to why she might want friends (a common problem in this universe). Friendships end, after all, and so what's the point? Twilight tells the story of her journey to her coronation, beset by hilarious problems. The rest of the Mane Six arrive to show that all of them are still friends despite Twilight's exalted position, and Luster Dawn gets it. This was really nice. It used a lot of my own ideas for an ending, so it felt highly fitting and appropriate to me.
  8. TheTrueMelissa
    This was good, and it went in some unexpected directions. The alliance of villains has been seeding distrust among ponies, and now they abruptly betray Grogar. They steal Grogar's power, revealing that he was Discord in disguise all along. Discord flees and warns the good guys. Epic battles follow. The villains defeat the Pillars and the Two Sisters and the Elements of Harmony, with Twilight alone escaping. The young ponies (kid sisters and students and their friends) rally Equestria. The assembled might of several kingdoms holds off the terrible trio long enough for Twilight to free the Pillars/Sisters/Elements. The mightier forces rejoin the battle, this time backed by the others, and the villains are defeated. They are turned to stone until the day when they can finally learn to let the warmth of friendship into their cold hearts. Everyone rejoices, then goes back to preparing for Twilight's coronation as the new ruler. 10/10. Great job. Nice wrapup, epic battle, great vibes all around.
  9. TheTrueMelissa
    I give the showrunners credit for a major-league fakeout here. I never saw this coming. As far as I know, the only clue was that her cutie mark is a chess piece. I vaguely wondered why she never played chess, but there are other ponies who don't actively demonstrate their cutie marks, so I didn't think much about it. They got me.
  10. TheTrueMelissa
    Hmm. This is one of those episodes where I have to bear in mind that the real audience is small children. For a small child, playing badly for enjoyment is a fine path. However, it's more of a preschool attitude. Age 7-10 is getting a bit old for it. Kids that age are old enough to learn to think of others, hence the friendship lessons. The presentation had her doing actual harm (exploding apples, for instance). I think I would have liked it better if Pinky had learned that she should learn the instrument first, and only then expect others to enjoy listening. I also disliked that the yaks enjoyed her obviously terrible playing -- she's not playing music her friends dislike, she's flailing ineptly. The show acts as if Pinky only had to find the right audience, but in fact she doesn't know what she's doing and shouldn't be on a stage. There were a lot of better ways this episode could have gone. One obvious one would have been if Pinky had gone to Yakyakistan to learn to play instead of, essentially, to run away from not being good without practice.
  11. TheTrueMelissa
    I'm starting to have a real problem with this show's portrayal of Flim and Flam. Once again, they aren't doing anything wrong here -- they're simply competing with her. Twilight even admits that their lessons are sound and that she has no cause for suspicion, yet she feels justified in sneaking around and spying. Even when their allegedly perfidy is revealed, it's only that they were ... charging money for their lessons. Which is pretty normal for a university. And which we already knew. They've appeared four times, and only one of those times were they running a scam. We're expected to regard them as scammers because they're fast, smooth talkers and good at marketing. Seems to me that this is a bad lesson, and that one is in fact a scammer if one is running a scam, not otherwise.
  12. TheTrueMelissa
    That's so true. When I dip into the middle of those gigantic threads from the old days, a lot of the posts are pretty fluffy. Today, everyone still talking has something to say.
  13. TheTrueMelissa
    Because of a complicated backstory, hippogriffs and sea ponies are the same species, and the young choose to be land or sea creatures as they near adulthood. One, Terramar, is torn and cannot choose between his father on the hippogriffs' mountain and his mother under the sea. The Crusaders try to help by sampling both worlds -- Sweetie Belle loves the mountain and Scootaloo loves the sea, and they end up arguing so badly that they break their friendship. This was pretty obviously aimed at children of divorce. It was always clear that Terramar was more than welcome in both places, and in the end he realizes that he only thought he had to choose. The girls' group-breaking argument felt implausible; they should know better after all they've already been through. It was very nice overall, though. I certainly understand why Scootaloo loved being a sea pony so much, since she can't fly.
  14. TheTrueMelissa
    Rarity asks Fluttershy to mind the Manehattan location of Rarity For You. Fluttershy's insecurity leads her to take on various snooty personas, and she then gets so into her LARPing that she drives all the customers away. Rarity points out that she asked Fluttershy because she wanted Fluttershy's own kind personality, and Fluttershy relaxes. This was frankly terrible. Kindness is both part of Fluttershy's special talent *and* her designated Element of Harmony. I have trouble believing that she so easily slid into meanness when she wore a different costume. In fact, it implies that her real nature is rather mean and her standard kindness is a crafted pose ... which makes no sense for the rest of her history. Anyway, lame episode, but I did enjoy Spike understanding the racoons' charades.
  15. TheTrueMelissa
    Maud Pie, who lives in Ponyville now, finds a boyfriend. Pinky Pie can't stand him. Not only is he taking Maud away from her, he's incredibly annoying! She consults her other sisters, who point out that he makes Maud happy, and Pinky realizes that what matters is that Maud likes him. He even gives Pinky good advice on how to throw a party for Maud: with lots of advance notice and with Maud not in attendance. I liked this. The rest of the Mane Six learned that lesson re Pinky herself, and now Pinky has learned it too.
  16. TheTrueMelissa
    Hi, and welcome back! I'm pretty new here. I watched the first half of the series with my son, when he was little, and I recently decided to return and finish it. The roleplaying sounds fun. I'd like to try it at some point, though I should probably finish the show first.
  17. TheTrueMelissa
    Both Trixie and the Flimflam brothers do nothing wrong during their initial appearances. We're expected to dislike them for their personalities, not because of any actions. Odd lesson for a children's show, isn't it?
  18. TheTrueMelissa
    Thorax, the relatively new King of the Changelings, has a brother named Pharynx who didn't accept the peaceful new ways. The gang keeps trying to convert him to the path of love, but he refuses to give up his warrior's ways and eventually concludes he must leave his beloved hive. Then, when Thorax goes to find him and a monster appears, Pharynx intervenes to save everybody. The hive realizes it still needs some warriors, since not everyone else is peaceful. I liked this one. It was more for the older viewers, though kids probably got it. Just beaming love in all directions is okay for many situations, but not all. The changelings seem like a metaphor for abuse survivors. They grew up in a harsh and hateful environment under Queen Chrysalis, where they were always starving for love and snatching any scrap of it just to survive. When healthier people introduce them to real affection, they filled up from the inside and could heal. Pharynx wasn't unfixable, but he had a slightly different nature and required a different approach. He now uses those old skills to defend, not attack, and that was what *he* needed to metamorphose into his true form.
  19. TheTrueMelissa
    Rarity mixes up condition with hair remover and dissolves most of her mane. This is a real problem, since she has an upcoming photoshoot. She tries to hide the problem. Her friends have both magical powers and considerable crafting skills, yet none of them can make her a wig (they have literally made wigs in other episodes). She then decides to "shine from the inside out" and adopts a punk look which suggests that she did it on purpose. Behind her back, her friends hire Photo Finish to do a creepy photoshoot while she's just walking around town, and this is then featured in a magazine without Rarity's permission or even knowledge. I didn't care for this one. We've got some dubious messages here. Rarity, the epitome of feminine elegance, adopted a look very much against her personality and managed to carry it off. That doesn't mean she wants to be seen all over Equestria in that state. Also, big no to the creepshoot. Oh well. There've been several great ones recently, and I can't love 'em all.
  20. TheTrueMelissa
    Fluttershy has Discord over for tea every week, and he realizes he should return her hospitality. He tries to tone down the chaos so she'll be comfortable, and worriedly creates a home so conventional that he begins to fade away from lack of chaos. Fluttershy, who may be the least anarchic pony in Equestria, must create some chaos to restore her friend. The moral's predictable, but getting there is fun. Discord's devotion to Fluttershy, his first and best friend, is adorable.
  21. TheTrueMelissa
    Pinkie Pie visits Yakyakistan for Yaktoberfest. The yaks need help but are too proud to ask. This one was mediocre, IMO. The Yaks are stereotypical, but not in a single way. They're like German Viking Klingons.
  22. TheTrueMelissa
    Celestia and Luna have been squabbling, and Starlight learns that each believes the other doesn't appreciate her work, so she switches their cutie marks. Both are soon in over their heads. Luna's failure at Celestia's job isn't so bad, but Celestia's lack of expertise with nightmares could scar Starlight's psyche forever. This was really good. Daybreaker was appropriately menacing, and the real menace to Starlight added some tension. I wonder if we'll see Daybreaker for real? That would be awesome.
  23. TheTrueMelissa
    I loved this one. It was great to see minor characters stepping up to save the day. I didn't think I'd like Starlight, but she's growing on me. I loved how a lack of magic made Trixie's illusions important. I do find it slightly implausible that an entire species had never thought of this until Thorax came along. We also never get an explanation as to why he was born different. In my head canon, it's because he's a king changeling, and those who might potentially rule have a greater ability to consider others, invent, and see the broader picture. It makes sense. Chrysalis, for all her many faults, is serving her people via a very creative scheme.
  24. TheTrueMelissa
    Does anyone want to do another watch party for the end of S5? This time I know to set up a Discord event, so it'll go more smoothly. :) I haven't seen this part of the series yet. It'll be new to me.
  25. TheTrueMelissa
    This was nice. I liked Diamond Tiara having a story of her own, making her act like that. I guess she reached an inner crisis here, yelling at her best friend and all, and finally just dumped it all out there... to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who of course were on the case. I'm not sure why they say they all have the same mark, because they don't. Their marks are each a shield with a different emblem. If it's true that the shield means helping others, then perhaps (e.g.) Sweetie Belle is destined to be a music teacher rather than a musician. Although, in case, you'd think Cherry Jubilee would have a shield backing her cutie mark. I guess this is some special thing for the CMC, then.
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