S05:E01+02 - The Cutie Map

[ACoolDuel 0]

Well, Starlight had brainwashed everypony, and was trapping the mane 6 in some boring room while playing tapes through a loudspeaker to try and brainwash them, and all the ponies were "Equal" except the leader, Starlight. Sounds like communism to me.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Well, Starlight had brainwashed everypony, and was trapping the mane 6 in some boring room while playing tapes through a loudspeaker to try and brainwash them, and all the ponies were "Equal" except the leader, Starlight. Sounds like communism to me.

 

It's not exactly communism; more like fascism under the guise of a charismatic dictator.

[Honsou 399]

It's not exactly communism; more like fascism under the guise of a charismatic dictator.

No, it's actually the literal embodiment of "Utopia." But with Human and Pony society being what they are, Utopia is impossible, and will ultimately fall into a dystopian hell hole, kind of like the village did when the M6 showed up and said hi. I still want to know what Starlight Shimmer's motives were, was she planning a slow take over of equestria? Was she planning on ransoming Twilicorn's cutie mark to Celestia for prestige? 

[Horsing Around 28]

How do communists normally seem?

 

They seem how your anti-communist government has told you that they seem.

 

(This episode is not about economic systems. The village is best described as a friendship cult.)

[Honsou 399]

Communism is an idea. There is no such thing as an actual communist. China is a communistic state, but even then it has elements of Capitalism. If there was a such thing as true communism, I feel the world would be truly doomed. The Soviet Union was an attempt at a communistic state, but where they failed was they oppressed the people. All in the name of Iosif Stalin, millions of people were purged for "enemies of the Soviet Union."

[Foliha 395]

A bit of possible Fringe Horror just occurred to me. Starlight said that everyone who's ever come to the town has never wanted to leave, yet the town itself is isolated enough that they would have likely needed to import supplies from somewhere. Assuming those supplies were delivered by somepony, said pony would have promptly vanished without a trace, along with anyone else who found themselves unfortunate enough to stumble across the town.

 

No wonder the train refused to go any further. I can just imagine the ghost stories of "Any pony who's ever gone there has never returned..." 

Well, I have a theory about "Uptight Gimme."  I think that when she ran off to that cave she was descending to her hive of Morlock ponies.  That's where the ponies in Equalville get their supplies - they're grown in underground mushroom farms.  That's why the muffins were so nasty - they're made of some kind of icky mushrooms.  "Uptight Gimme" prolly had the town ponies brainwashed into thinking the supplies were delivered at night by ponies who protected the "Equalites" from contact with the bad, cutie-marked outsiders.

 

The Morlock ponies are fed on ponies who wander into Equalville and don't fall in with the "party line."  The Morlock ponies are all pale, and have poor eyesight from being underground.  (for centuries?).  Double Diamond is probably their overseer.  He's all white, and has blue eyes. 

 

It will take "Uptight Gimme" the rest of the season to assemble a new army of Morlock ponies and magic their eyes so they can come out of the caves and enslave/hypnotize (or eat) the town ponies and start marching for Ponyville to get revenge on Twilight and the Mane Six.

 

Why is it these weird cult-leaders always pick deserts to set up their enclaves?  Because nobody in their right mind wants to live there!

 

OK.  I go lay down now...

Edited April 6, 2015 by Foliha

[Not_A_Brony 29]

SPOILER ALERT!

So I watched the brand new MLP season 5 2-part episode. I LOVED IT! I think the writers were extremely brave and took a ton of risks that paid off beautifully. The theme is AMAZING and profound. I am surprised a theme with Marxism/Communism tones got produced and I'm very happy. I find it interesting that it focused on all of the girls rather than just Twilight like the way the last few 2 parters focused on Twilight's character growth. Fluttershy's screen time was interesting. I like that they gave Fluttershy a lot to do but I'm not sure if I like how easily Fluttershy was taken by the "niceness" of the villagers. I like what Fluttershy did at the end. Starlight Glimmer was a cool bad guy and I like how we find out she studies magic and her whole interaction with Twilight after Twilight puts up the forcefield. Looks like I was right about Starlight being a foil to Twilight. I wonder if Starlight will appear again since she just escaped. I never would have expected Starlight to escape. The animation itself was AMAZING especially Pinkie's cookie bloat/sick expression. I have no idea how they managed to make Pinkie's face contort that way and so fluidly. The only flaw I really noticed was maybe the pacing seemed a bit faster than the other 2 parters but that may not be a bad thing. btw the season 5 show opening is the same except for a spilt second image of the castle. 3 questions popped up as I was watching, why can magic be used to remove cutie marks but not make them appear? Does the = cutie mark remove all magic like what Tirek did? If so why can the pegasus ponies still fly(or fly a little anyway)? 

 

(emphasis added)

I have a theory about this - before a pony's cutie mark is revealed, they have actually had it all along. Just as certain genes may not express themselves until a later point in life, and just as puberty (the obvious inspiration for the idea) will inevitably occur for everyone, a cutie mark can't be given because the final result was inevitable (sure it's a bit fatalistic, but that's another topic). If the skill associated with a cutie mark could be magically given, I would expect many ponies' parents would want to select a skill for their children to have, but can't, because it was already predetermined. This also helps explain the second part of my theory - why ponies slowly lose their defining abilities after the loss of their cutie mark. They aren't all grey and dopey up  until the point they get one because they already have it, inside of them so to say. That's why during the events of Magical Mystery Cure, the mane 6 don't gain the skills associated with another pony's cutie mark when they get it. Their true skill is within them - the cutie mark itself only has the effect of telling them what it is. When the mark is removed, they lose the knowledge of the skill, but not the skill itself. I assume during the period their abilities were draining due to lack of cutie mark, they were working off of a sort of mental "muscle memory" in order to keep up at least a shadow of their real abilities.

 

As for the problem of why removal of a cutie mark drains their powers, I have another idea about that... their cutie marks are, in fact, the physical avatar of their abilities, which are constantly telepathically (or otherwise) tied to the original owner. When Starlight Glimmer removes their marks, they don't seem to immediately lose their abilities (although if my first theory is correct, they instantly lost their knowledge of it). That was the purpose of the equal cutie mark - it was a sort of magic "leech" designed to transfer their powers into their cutie marks. Starlight placed them there as part of her spell (or maybe it was a separate spell? Probably will never know), which is why the equal mark does not appear by "default" when Tirek steals everyone's marks. It also explains why, when the jars are shattered, their marks immediately return to their owners - they were connected all along.

[paradoxical 1,735]

"Eastern Unicorns"

I think they were referencing Russia or N. Korea 

 

Definately Ponyang (pyongyang)

 

am I the first to name the settlement that?

I liked it, thought I think that we can all agree that Balloon animal pony is OP.

 

It explains Pinkie's thoughts about how she could use her talent if it isn't for parties [Pinkie's Pride].  He COULD have made a balloon heart (or whatever) and balloon supports

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

(emphasis added)

I have a theory about this - before a pony's cutie mark is revealed, they have actually had it all along. Just as certain genes may not express themselves until a later point in life, and just as puberty (the obvious inspiration for the idea) will inevitably occur for everyone, a cutie mark can't be given because the final result was inevitable (sure it's a bit fatalistic, but that's another topic). If the skill associated with a cutie mark could be magically given, I would expect many ponies' parents would want to select a skill for their children to have, but can't, because it was already predetermined. This also helps explain the second part of my theory - why ponies slowly lose their defining abilities after the loss of their cutie mark. They aren't all grey and dopey up  until the point they get one because they already have it, inside of them so to say. That's why during the events of Magical Mystery Cure, the mane 6 don't gain the skills associated with another pony's cutie mark when they get it. Their true skill is within them - the cutie mark itself only has the effect of telling them what it is. When the mark is removed, they lose the knowledge of the skill, but not the skill itself. I assume during the period their abilities were draining due to lack of cutie mark, they were working off of a sort of mental "muscle memory" in order to keep up at least a shadow of their real abilities.

 

As for the problem of why removal of a cutie mark drains their powers, I have another idea about that... their cutie marks are, in fact, the physical avatar of their abilities, which are constantly telepathically (or otherwise) tied to the original owner. When Starlight Glimmer removes their marks, they don't seem to immediately lose their abilities (although if my first theory is correct, they instantly lost their knowledge of it). That was the purpose of the equal cutie mark - it was a sort of magic "leech" designed to transfer their powers into their cutie marks. Starlight placed them there as part of her spell (or maybe it was a separate spell? Probably will never know), which is why the equal mark does not appear by "default" when Tirek steals everyone's marks. It also explains why, when the jars are shattered, their marks immediately return to their owners - they were connected all along.

I like your theory and I totally agree with it. I think Twist is an example of having your cutie mark all along and would explain why the other characters especially Twilight try to steer the CMC towards doing things they already enjoy in life. The cutie mark is only a "part" of who a pony is and what their talents are. A cutie mark does not a pony make as it were. People seem to make the mistake of assuming a cutie mark controls the ponies talent and personality directly when it is really only a symbol. The equal marks are definitely a spell designed to suck all personality and most of a ponies emotions out when it glows gray like when they are locked in that room. If you watch the wording closely in "Magical Mystery Cure" it seems like part of what Twilight had to learn was that her friends destiny / "true self" was not really altered. Just hidden and could be brought back out. 

 

 

twilight's force field she put up to protect everypony from starlight's magic blast was cool, she is getting better and better at magic, like she used to have trouble teleporting "remember all the effort it took when she was fighting nightmare moon?" and now she can teleport multiple times in a row with no trouble

 

I agree! The force field reminded me of scenes in "Danny Phantom" and "The incredibles" 

[paradoxical 1,735]

Oh, and one more thing...  Starlight Glimmer?  I went into this episode expecting her to be the sister of Sunset Shimmer or something, but I guess it's just that the MLP creators are running out of creativity with names.  Darn.

 

I thought it was self parody.  I can't wait for Moonlight gloaming!

[Admiral Regulus 2,769]

BTW, I want to make sure it wasn't just me here...but the part where they arrive at the town, and Pinkie rolls down the cliffside....did Applejack sound like a dude when she told Pinkie to be careful?

Yes, I noticed that too. I thought for sure that didn't sound like AJ.

[Pony Munchies 47]

Pinkie Pie and Party Favor ship anyone?

[Pastel 7,630]

BTW, I want to make sure it wasn't just me here...but the part where they arrive at the town, and Pinkie rolls down the cliffside....did Applejack sound like a dude when she told Pinkie to be careful?

Caaaareful Piiinkie.

There's a topic about it: http://mlpforums.com/topic/125411-something-that-is-bugging-me/

[Radiance64 7,053]

Pinkie Pie and Party Favor ship anyone?

What about Cheese Sandwich tho... maybe they made PF to be an eventual backup love interest in case they can't get Weird Al back on again? Only time will tell.

[Silver Letter 1,832]

From my first impressions, I thought the season debut went well. I am going to watch it again to form a firmer picture over the whole though. I am certain that the rest of the season will indeed live up to the prior.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Am I the only one who really enjoyed this episode's song?

 

I need to listen to it again, but it's a personal fav of mine so far.

[EquestriaGuy 1,074]

This episode is now available on iTunes in HD and SD. This also means the entire season pass is now available.

[[NULL] 906]

 

 

Am I the only one who really enjoyed this episode's song?

I kind of liked it. It's no This Day Aria, but it did it's job at setting the tone.

[Luffyiscool 397]

My favourite opener so far. 

Starlight is a FANTASTIC villain. 
She even has the backbone and ambition to snub the friendship speeches and carry on with her own ideals.

The way she interrupted Twilight's first speech was one of the best moments in the whole show.

[ScarfaceOne 263]

Are those eight artifacts a Chekhov's Gun? Will this season focus on Meadowbrook's Artifacts? If not, it will certainly be this. The Ponies have to go to different towns, cities and villages to solve friendship problems. I hope one village has widespread fighting, just like in ''Over a Barrel''. What if the Six different ponies have to solve the problem themselves in those villages and that they go to Six? Like, Applejack goes to a village where everyone is lying to each other and are not being Honest. Fluttershy goes to a Village full of widespread fighting. Rarity goes to a village where people are greedy and keep taking money from each other. Rainbow Dash goes to a town full of fighting thanks to it being divided into two sides with different philosophies and no one knows which side to be Loyal to. Pinkie Pie goes to a village that is full of misery, and needs to teach them the way of happiness. And of course Twilight's was the first village. And then eventually. Grogar will return and ally with Starlight or something. He is very likely to be this season's villain.  And that Appleloosa's wanted criminal? Probably some kind of robber cowboy. I still don't know why this episode had commie and cult themes though. Grogar is more powerful than Tirek because of Mind Control. I hope he returns. I hope chrysalis returns.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

That "QUIET!!!" scene is the best villain's moment in Mlp history so far.

[ScarfaceOne 263]

I kind of liked it. It's no This Day Aria, but it did it's job at setting the tone.

 

Nice, another Metal Gear Fan!!! Hooray!!!

[Not_A_Replicant 109]

This was a great episode, with so much stuff to laugh at. I thought this episode covered what society, at least American society, is starting to become, we've pushed for equality so much, that we are starting to forget what makes us human.

[Honsou 399]

I wouldn't start betting on ships just yet every pony. Season 5 has only just turned on the lights, and we can barely see down the alley. Don't go in first without your pointman, and keep your spacing and sectors locked in. This season proves to be an interesting one, especially with the Knights of the Round Table vibe I'm getting from the castle map.

[Juggerpony 92]

My favourite opener so far. 

 

Starlight is a FANTASTIC villain. 

She even has the backbone and ambition to snub the friendship speeches and carry on with her own ideals.

 

The way she interrupted Twilight's first speech was one of the best moments in the whole show.

I completely agree. Starlight is one of those villains that honestly doesnt see herself as the villain, but has a genuine goal to help everypony see her point of view. But at the same time, their is some mystery to her. Was that her only motive? It seems like she has a master plan for all of Equestria. Plus, she is the first villain to not be (completely) thwarted by the mane six. AND SHE GOT AWAY! That has NEVER happened to an MLP villain.

I completely agree. Starlight is one of those villains that honestly doesnt see herself as the villain, but has a genuine goal to help everypony see her point of view. But at the same time, their is some mystery to her. Was that her only motive? It seems like she has a master plan for all of Equestria. Plus, she is the first villain to not be (completely) thwarted by the mane six. AND SHE GOT AWAY! That has NEVER happened to an MLP villain.

Kind of reminds me of Kang the Conquerer from the Avengers books. His goal for wanting to destroy the Avengers was to save the world in the long run from catastrophy.