spoiler So the finale just aired in the UK...

[SunsetBaconDrive 169]

 

Okay, well, the first episode is pretty terrible imo. literally would put it at either a 2/10 or a 1/10. Starlight is STILL terrible and utterly unenthralling as a character. The plot is just pretty boring, and even when we get to the changelings having replaced everyone, Its still super slow.

 

THEN we get to Part 2, and it REALLY gets much better. This is mainly due to getting actual GOOD characters in the episode; Discord is freaking phenomenal, Trixie is great, and Thorax plays off Discord and trixie well. Starlight is actually a little better in the second half too, but is STILL being carried by the others.

 

The way they move through the hive, the character interactions and tricks they do is good, and while I STILL call super BS on the changelings just replacing the princesses like that without ANYONE noticing or problems is still pure plot bs, but no worries.

 

 

Overall, good second half, TERRIBLE first half, and starlight is STILL a horrible character. Please, get rid of her in the next seasons, PLEASE and stop shoving her down our throats. More discord, more Thorax, more trixie, YES, all three were great. BUT NOT MORE STARLIGHT.

 

 

as an aside, not happy they reformed ALL the changelings. COME ON, they're a great go to set of antagonists, you should have had only half choose to follow thorax's way and the other half choose to stay evil.

 

Also not happy about Chrysalis jumping to Starlight as her new "nemesis". This is bullshit like when she jumped to Twilight being her nemesis instead of Cadence in the comics, and it really comes off as character shilling for focus. Past that, good way to deal with chrysalis though

 

Wait, WHAT?! Sombra is generally ragged on as being the WEAKEST villain in the show almost unanimously XD

 

past that, agree about starlight's focus, she REALLY cannot carry things on her own; the episode was saved by the OTHERS, not by starlight.

Please oh god please do not make her still stay a mane seventh in S7 >.<

keep in mind, that assumes success in all those areas; Equestria girls has crashed before, so 100% constant financial success is never assured. Things could always take a downturn in any of those areas.

We aren't the target demographic though, while I think MLP is for everyone, the children watching it outweigh the bronies and its those kids making sure its stuck around. 

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

I'd say I was let down, but I wasn't expecting much to begin with. What a lousy season.

I was pleasantly surprised by the second half at least; This is mainly due to having characters that felt good and organic steal alot of the spotlight from starlight.

But yeah, this season has kind of crushed my enthusiasm for the series :/ Its a massive step down from S4 and S5, and things look to be focusing more on starlight, who I STILL do not care about even after this finale (if anything, its made me care about her LESS than other episodes like A hearth's warming tail and no second prances)

We aren't the target demographic though, while I think MLP is for everyone, the children watching it outweigh the bronies and its those kids making sure its stuck around. 

what makes you think the kids enjoyed sombra though? he's not exactly getting a ton of merchandise, while other characters that the kids liked, like Chrysalis, Discord and Nightmare moon got lots of toys made of them or more appearances (In discords case being made a supporting character, despite not many toys)

[heavens-champion 1,905]

 

Okay, well, the first episode is pretty terrible imo. literally would put it at either a 2/10 or a 1/10. Starlight is STILL terrible and utterly unenthralling as a character. The plot is just pretty boring, and even when we get to the changelings having replaced everyone, Its still super slow.

 

THEN we get to Part 2, and it REALLY gets much better. This is mainly due to getting actual GOOD characters in the episode; Discord is freaking phenomenal, Trixie is great, and Thorax plays off Discord and trixie well. Starlight is actually a little better in the second half too, but is STILL being carried by the others.

 

The way they move through the hive, the character interactions and tricks they do is good, and while I STILL call super BS on the changelings just replacing the princesses like that without ANYONE noticing or problems is still pure plot bs, but no worries.

 

 

Overall, good second half, TERRIBLE first half, and starlight is STILL a horrible character. Please, get rid of her in the next seasons, PLEASE and stop shoving her down our throats. More discord, more Thorax, more trixie, YES, all three were great. BUT NOT MORE STARLIGHT.

 

 

as an aside, not happy they reformed ALL the changelings. COME ON, they're a great go to set of antagonists, you should have had only half choose to follow thorax's way and the other half choose to stay evil.

 

Also not happy about Chrysalis jumping to Starlight as her new "nemesis". This is bullshit like when she jumped to Twilight being her nemesis instead of Cadence in the comics, and it really comes off as character shilling for focus. Past that, good way to deal with chrysalis though

 

Wait, WHAT?! Sombra is generally ragged on as being the WEAKEST villain in the show almost unanimously XD

 

past that, agree about starlight's focus, she REALLY cannot carry things on her own; the episode was saved by the OTHERS, not by starlight.

Please oh god please do not make her still stay a mane seventh in S7 >.<

keep in mind, that assumes success in all those areas; Equestria girls has crashed before, so 100% constant financial success is never assured. Things could always take a downturn in any of those areas.

I know Sombra's not exactly relevant to your review, but allow me to say... We get it. You wanted Sombra to be another cartoon villain.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Ugh, I'm torn about discussing something that I wasn't supposed to have seen yet, but it's too epic not to discuss and so many people clearly feel the same way, so I won't be locking this discussion. It's going to happen either way, so I might as well participate.

 

I think this finale even topped last season's! Wow. Just wow. I think we can all agree that, regardless of how anyone feels about the season finales, the writers do make a point of trying to up the ante at the end of every season, and it certainly shows. Changelings taking over all of Equestria. Check. Three reformed villains and one reformed antagonist against another popular villain. Check. Said villains being the last hope for Equestria. Check. Magical beings who somehow have to figure out a way to sneak in and save the day without magic. Check. Dark atmosphere. Check. Sense of impending doom. Am I even watching My Little Pony anymore? Granted, I've already asked that with previous finales. FiM sure has distanced itself from its much more cutesy predecessor.

 

I will say that I'm not thrilled about the changelings making an abrupt turn, but I would have easily forgiven it anyways since I forgave Starlight's abrupt turn last season as that wasn't enough to somehow make me forget the epic timewarp saga full of amazing alternate dystopias. An abrupt changeling reform wouldn't have completely killed this finale either. But, this finale earned some points back: Chryssalis didn't end up being reformed. That was my biggest fear with this finale since she's the last active unreformed villain from past seasons. Sombra is either dead or reformed depending on whether you read the comics and Tirek probably isn't getting out of Tartarus anytime soon...unless Chryssy busts him out...ok I'll refrain from writing fanfic.

 

Chryssalis escaping does curve the trend of too many villain reforms and I'm glad the writers decided to listen to the fans here. Plus, I'm once again excited for the possibilities that could come out of that. It doesn't seem like all the changelings were reformed, at least I hope not. Chryssy can certainly rally the remnants of her army. Reaching out to another past villain would certainly make for an interesting dynamic. The series finally has a recurring villain at least, and I couldn't be happier.

 

Oh, and cue the TrixCord shipping. In all seriousness though, I'm thrilled we got to see those four interact, particularly Discord with Starlight and Trixie. I'm actually kind of surprised Starlight and Discord haven't interacted much given their friend circle, but Trixie and Discord are the kind of pairing I wouldn't expect to see this side of Friends Forever. Speaking of which, I'm still a LunaCord shipper, but I still think it's cool to see characters together that I wouldn't otherwise expect to see in the same episode, let alone in the same frame.

 

All in all, I'm glad I saw this finale. I hope season 7 will be more focused, but for now I think season 6 went out on a high note, and we still have two more episodes to go. Yeah, I think it has been one of the weaker seasons overall but it still has its good moments. I certainly want more. Look forward to me copying and pasting this response into the actual thread when the finale officially airs in NA as I doubt I'll want to retype the entire thing.

I liked the changelings returning, but I STILL call BS on them capturing all of the mane cast like that without ANYONE finding out or any problems.

I can ignore it because its a plot tailored for secondary characters to save the day, but if this was a M6 story, I'd be MUCH harsher on that plotpoint.

 

 

Compared to discord or Tirek, the changelings STILL seem very small time and only got by due to plot armor-- they're good antagonists, but I wouldn't say they really upped the ante myself compared to some of the stuff in the past.

I know Sombra's not exactly relevant to your review, but allow me to say... We get it. You wanted Sombra to be another cartoon villain.

No, I wanted him to have SOMETHING compelling to his character.

For example, I actually enjoyed him more in the comics where he had a decent backstory and some good motivation; But in the show, all he did was glower, go "CRYSTALLLS" and kind of just... float there.

 

 

I have no vendetta against sombra, and am willing to accept him if he has his problems fixed, but his in show showing was pretty poor compared to pretty much every other villain we've had

(hell, I would love it if they somehow brought in the sombra from the Crystal wars timeline and gave him his Comic's backstory and personality, just show sombra isn't that good)

Edited October 8, 2016 by Unlikeable Pony

[Ganondorf8 11,315]

Yeah, and probably one we'll never find out at any point in the series.

 

Unless the writers finally decide to make a mention of it somewhere.

[SunsetBaconDrive 169]

I liked the changelings returning, but I STILL call BS on them capturing all of the mane cast like that without ANYONE finding out or any problems.

I can ignore it because its a plot tailored for secondary characters to save the day, but if this was a M6 story, I'd be MUCH harsher on that plotpoint.

 

 

Compared to discord or Tirek, the changelings STILL seem very small time and only got by due to plot armor-- they're good antagonists, but I wouldn't say they really upped the ante myself compared to some of the stuff in the past.

I view Tirek as Krang and Chrysalis(Shredder) Changelings(Foot Clan) Using that villain type comparison that the changelings are supposed to be the 'anti pony' Hopefully Chrysalis can produce a batch of obedient changelings... Hate to see the normal changelings go extinct.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Odd. Still seems weird that it is selective but I suppose they have a different kind of magic entirely. My own idiocy comes through again. Go me.

If it was set up as a defensive measure that was created by the changelings, it would make sense that they'd calibrate it to not block their own power; otherwise it'd almost be a liability if it blocked their own powers too to have around.

[Ganondorf8 11,315]

I just watched the finale and I gotta say that I was a bit disappointed.

 

 

I felt that the ending was rushed and too much time was spent on Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, Discord, and Thorax exchanging dialogue whilst searching for Chrysalis. I know that not every finale needs an epic fight scene, but considering who it was they were up against, I was hoping for an altercation of some sort. But overall, it wasn't an awful end to the season and I love the reformed changeling designs

 

 

 

I feel that Starlight and Thorax didn't get to do all that much especially the later until they finally reached Chrysalis.

 

[heavens-champion 1,905]

I liked the changelings returning, but I STILL call BS on them capturing all of the mane cast like that without ANYONE finding out or any problems.

I can ignore it because its a plot tailored for secondary characters to save the day, but if this was a M6 story, I'd be MUCH harsher on that plotpoint.

 

 

Compared to discord or Tirek, the changelings STILL seem very small time and only got by due to plot armor-- they're good antagonists, but I wouldn't say they really upped the ante myself compared to some of the stuff in the past.

No, I wanted him to have SOMETHING compelling to his character.

For example, I actually enjoyed him more in the comics where he had a decent backstory and some good motivation; But in the show, all he did was glower, go "CRYSTALLLS" and kind of just... float there.

 

 

I have no vendetta against sombra, and am willing to accept him if he has his problems fixed, but his in show showing was pretty poor compared to pretty much every other villain we've had

(hell, I would love it if they somehow brought in the sombra from the Crystal wars timeline and gave him his Comic's backstory and personality, just show sombra isn't that good)

Yes, because all of those traps he set up didn't indicate that he was a master mind. Oh. And he made an entire empire disappear. He could have interacted with Twilight, but still.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

I view Tirek as Krang and Chrysalis(Shredder) Changelings(Foot Clan) Using that villain type comparison that the changelings are supposed to be the 'anti pony' Hopefully Chrysalis can produce a batch of obedient changelings... Hate to see the normal changelings go extinct.

Yeah, I REALLY would have liked it if half the changelings had decided to stay evil. The changelings (or at least alot of them) clearly enjoyed being evil, so it would have worked MUCH better IMO if they had made it so that only some of them were good to change into the new forms while the others just enjoyed the act of feeding and the evil actions too much.

 

 

Past that... well, I guess chrysalis better get "busy" then

[Ganondorf8 11,315]

Since I'm going to assume that everyone posting here has seen the finale, I'm going to ask this question--it will be hidden behind a spoiler tag just in case.

 

 

What are your thoughts on the new Changeling design?

 

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Yes, because all of those traps he set up didn't indicate that he was a master mind. Oh. And he made an entire empire disappear. He could have interacted with Twilight, but still.

His Mirror was circumvented by simply having TWO people working together as it could only target one person at a time; His stairs could be circumvented by any pegasi simply flying upward since the Crystal was on the top level of his castle and could be gotten there NORMALLY by any flying pegasus, no need to take the stairs.

 

The heart's trap was a simple "Touch object, prison pops up" trap that, once more, could be circumvented by 2 or more people working together.

 

 

 

This was not some diabolical jigsaw trap here, this was Level 1 D&D stuff.

[heavens-champion 1,905]

His Mirror was circumvented by simply having TWO people working together as it could only target one person at a time; His stairs could be circumvented by any pegasi simply flying upward since the Crystal was on the top level of his castle and could be gotten there NORMALLY by any flying pegasus, no need to take the stairs.

 

The heart's trap was a simple "Touch object, prison pops up" trap that, once more, could be circumvented by 2 or more people working together.

 

 

 

This was not some diabolical jigsaw trap here, this was Level 1 D&D stuff.

Do you honestly think he wouldn't plan for pegasi? Such a limited imagination.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

Since I'm going to assume that everyone posting here has seen the finale, I'm going to ask this question--it will be hidden behind a spoiler tag just in case.

 

 

What are your thoughts on the new Changeling design?

 

To be honest, not really impressed. they're "Okay", I'm not going to knock them too hard, but I would MUCH rather have had something similar to the designs that fans were making all the way back in 2013

 

I think they would have looked nicer with hair of some type too.

So, one big thing I do have to ask: Can chrysalis REALLY pose much of a threat anymore without her army? She was a villain that's true power came from her followers, not from herself, so her being able to return as a villain on par with the others seems to have been shot to pieces at this point.

 

 

Do you honestly think he wouldn't plan for pegasi? Such a limited imagination.

Given there wasn't any other traps up there that stopped spike from leaving, it doesn't look like he has any other traps "planned", so No, it doesn't appear he planned for pegasus :/

[heavens-champion 1,905]

To be honest, not really impressed. they're "Okay", I'm not going to knock them too hard, but I would MUCH rather have had something similar to the designs that fans were making all the way back in 2013

 

I think they would have looked nicer with hair of some type too.

So, one big thing I do have to ask: Can chrysalis REALLY pose much of a threat anymore without her army? She was a villain that's true power came from her followers, not from herself, so her being able to return as a villain on par with the others seems to have been shot to pieces at this point.

 

 

Given there wasn't any other traps up there that stopped spike from leaving, it doesn't look like he has any other traps "planned", so No, it doesn't appear he planned for pegasus :/

He's a friggin mastermind. Do you honestly think every single one of his booby traps are gonna be in plain site?

[SunsetBaconDrive 169]

To be honest, not really impressed. they're "Okay", I'm not going to knock them too hard, but I would MUCH rather have had something similar to the designs that fans were making all the way back in 2013

 

I think they would have looked nicer with hair of some type too.

So, one big thing I do have to ask: Can chrysalis REALLY pose much of a threat anymore without her army? She was a villain that's true power came from her followers, not from herself, so her being able to return as a villain on par with the others seems to have been shot to pieces at this point.

 

 

Given there wasn't any other traps up there that stopped spike from leaving, it doesn't look like he has any other traps "planned", so No, it doesn't appear he planned for pegasus :/

Chrysalis is 2 for 2 with plans that worked, Chrysalis was defeated by the plot. Chrysalis also comes prepared and plans several steps ahead, so she is dangerous on her own. Adagio lost her amulet. Tirek lost his magic and body. Does that mean they can't come back? No it doesn't

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

He's a friggin mastermind. Do you honestly think every single one of his booby traps are gonna be in plain site?

Well given nothing went off to stop spike, I don't put any more faith in him having more traps than in the giant pink invisible unicorn.

 

 

If he was a mastermind like you say, he'd have had WAY more than that.

 

 

Chrysalis is 2 for 2 with plans that worked, Chrysalis was defeated by the plot. Chrysalis also comes prepared and plans several steps ahead, so she is dangerous on her own. Adagio lost her amulet. Tirek lost his magic and body. Does that mean they can't come back? No it doesn't

To be fair about chrysalis being defeated by plot, she ALSO won by plot too-- Her grabbing all the alicorns without a fight or anyone notice reeked of plot armor, so her being defeated by plot kind of makes sense

[SunsetBaconDrive 169]

Well given nothing went off to stop spike, I don't put any more faith in him having more traps than in the giant pink invisible unicorn.

 

 

If he was a mastermind like you say, he'd have had WAY more than that.

 

 

To be fair about chrysalis being defeated by plot, she ALSO won by plot too-- Her grabbing all the alicorns without a fight or anyone notice reeked of plot armor, so her being defeated by plot kind of makes sense

We can assume it was just classic 007 espionage that captured everyone, its what the changelings excel at after all. 

[Ganondorf8 11,315]

@@Ganondorf8

 

For a short amount of time, I thought that Thorax was the one who would fight Chrysalis

 

 

 

The only thing he did in that regard was stand up to her until she saw through his disguise. There wasn't really much of a conflict apart from a brief scuffle between Chrysalis and Starlight, but I attribute that to Starlight touching a sensitive nerve.

 

To be honest, not really impressed. they're "Okay", I'm not going to knock them too hard, but I would MUCH rather have had something similar to the designs that fans were making all the way back in 2013

 

I think they would have looked nicer with hair of some type too.

 

So, one big thing I do have to ask: Can chrysalis REALLY pose much of a threat anymore without her army? She was a villain that's true power came from her followers, not from herself, so her being able to return as a villain on par with the others seems to have been shot to pieces at this point.

 

I thought the design was pretty weird when I saw it for the first time, but watching it a few more times has made it grow on me a little bit. Her future appearances will revolve around her wanting revenge now more than ever before, yet I do agree that her true power has been lost due to the hive evolving. I doubt she'll be undeterred on that front and probably would seek revenge against Thorax and the others.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

@@Ganondorf8

 

For a short amount of time, I thought that Thorax was the one who would fight Chrysalis

 

To be honest, I feel the episode would have actually worked better if it had centered around thorax from the start and been primarily about his desire to stop the other changelings from hurting his new pony friends, leading up to him defeating chrysalis and redeeming the other changelings.

 

Like that's what HAPPENED, but I mean, framing wise, if it had centered around him instead of starlight.

[heavens-champion 1,905]

Personally, I think Chrysalis wants more than just revenge on Starlight. She's going after her first. After all, who taught her the magic of friendship? Twilight.

[Ganondorf8 11,315]

To be honest, I feel the episode would have actually worked better if it had centered around thorax from the start and been primarily about his desire to stop the other changelings from hurting his new pony friends, leading up to him defeating chrysalis and redeeming the other changelings.

Like that's what HAPPENED, but I mean, framing wise, if it had centered around him instead of starlight.

 

I felt that Thorax didn't get to do all that much throughout the experience. I mean, he was there and saved the day in the end, yet he was a relatively new character journeying alongside three established characters who had proven they could carry a story in their own fashion.

[Goat-kun 2,527]

The ending was rushed, but it had a lot going on it was pretty epic, I think that objectively makes it good even if the Glimmer reform part came out of left field, she did feel she was doing right as some people tend to justify their misbehavior tend to do already so its not entirely unbelievable and she was so powerful she simply didn't take anyone's advice seriously until Twi. 

The only issue I can see is nostalgia goggles clouding people's vision, or there weren't enough songs or Mane 6 action. What real tangible complaints do people have? I just think people are butthurt cuz of the fandom waning. Because if you say story, that had story going for it more than the first changeling invasion. Maybe you are just upset the show was somewhat self-conscious, but thats inevitable, I think people aren't going to be satisfied no matter what, and if its a show I spend my time watching I might as well be optimistic, and ignore the two silly parts and enjoy the rest of it, you have to consider they are packing alot of plot into two episodes, some parts won't be as smoothly explained as they could've been.

 

So until people can objectively give a better episode that everyone agrees on, I will disagree with their disagreement.

Well excuse me for finding politicians flinging their shit at each other to have more humor and satisfying character development!

 

The state of overarching story in FIM is old news and everyone who wanted to watch such stuff has already chosen another primary fandom, or they’re just really, really patient and deserve some sort of medal for their wasted time. FIM’s selling point has always been in its main characters, and shafting them is the source of my concern. That is pretty much the gist of it. Two episodes worth of a grander story won’t bring in anyone new and I’m pretty sure those already here wouldn’t really mind if it was slice of life instead. It’s funny that you are trying to excuse it all on show’s constraints while promoting the very thing that doesn’t work well within them.

 

How would you rank the villains? Best to worst?

Chrysalis, Tirek, Starlight, Discord, Moon, Sombra. We should discuss this in more detail sometimes, but not in this thread, or the mods will mark us as villains.

 

[Sonic5421 423]

Unless the writers finally decide to make a mention of it somewhere.

 

I really hope that they consider it in the future.

[cider float 2,538]

Watched part 1 and part 2. Out of respect for other members, I'm going to try and avoid talking about it here. XD