Nightmare Moon: Why So Stupid?

[Justin_Case001 4,860]

I think that, like most shows, the first episodes were a tad weak.  I mean, I don't think the pilot of any show in history is the series' best.  But FIM was stellar right away nonetheless, and FIM Pt1 & 2 set the stage for a great show.  That said, I think that NMM was a bit of a weak villain, and her actions and dialogue were a bit...cringeworthy.  She was a bit too cliché, and whenever she did the stereotypical villain laugh, I would cringe pretty good.  But she's still appealing because I loved the lore behind her.  I liked the story and the character, I just think her dialogue was kind of dumbed down.  She was just too stereotypical and hokey in the way she acted.  She was better in The Cutie Re-Mark, though.

 

Most of other villains didn't suffer from this problem, imo.  Sombra was fine, although he had no dialogue.  Tirek was great.  I really bought his character and performance.  He didn't seem overly cliché or corny.  Discord was brilliant.  Still is, but, you know, I'm talking about when he was a villain.  The normal pony antagonists, like Starlight, were fine.  Chrysalis...actually had a bit of corny dialogue as well, in my opinion.  She was a bit Nightmare Moonish at times.  But at the same time, she probably has more potential than any other villain, which, I think, is why she's so popular among the community and in the comics and such.

 

I, for one, think it might be really awesome if Luna had to somehow confront Nightmare Moon.  I'm not sure how that would work.  Maybe NMM begins to surface, first in Luna's dreams, then gradually as a split personality, until Luna has to confront and fight her in a dreamscape or something.  I just think there's so much potential for really epic and compelling development of Luna/NMM, and real opportunity to transform NMM from corny to terrifying.

 

I want this on the show:

 

 

[ManaMinori 4,144]

So I just re-watched FIM Pt. 2 and I remembered once again how dumb NMM acts. She can manipulate all these things (manifest into thorns, make scary tree faces, cut hair off, and shape herself into evil ponies), but she never just, er, "takes care of", the mane six. She could have just had the manticore chase them into the river or she could have cut the rope to the bridge while they were walking on it, or she could have just shown up and started shooting magic beams. Bam bam bam! There ya go, no more Twilot Sporkle.

So why doesn't she just try to kill the mane 6? Does NMM take after her ever-trolling sister? Is she dumb? Was the darkness within her "clouding her vision"? YOU decide!

because they're still her subjects. By killing them, that's Less ponies to appreciate her night, which is all she really wants. So she just tried to scare them off, so they wouldn't get in her way and stop her.

[cmarston1 5,952]

Because she was the very first villain in the show and it was the very first episodes.

Things haven't been fully established yet and the writing needed time to grow and improve.