Episodes with changelings

[Aradon92 9]

Just as a precaution this potentially has spoilers for season 6 episode 16 so if haven't seen that yet please avoid reading this post.

 

Does anybody else feel that the episodes with changelings in them are of pretty poor quality. To clarify, I'm speaking about the two main instances I remember changelings from which are the season finale "A Canterlot Wedding" and the episode "The Times They Are a Changeling". Now while the title of the topic is "Episodes with changelings" the changelings actually are not my main point of contention, it's the episodes that contain them that I really wish to discuss and so the topic title is more a way to single those episodes out. Let me start with the one that I can more easily relay why I dislike it and that is the episode called "The Times They Are a Changeling". To start on sort of the opposite pole what do I like about this episode? Well I like the tension brought on by the appearance of the changeling, I like the interactions between Spike and the changeling, I like the entire concept of trying to get past barriers to being friends due to differing natures. So what is it then that ruins this episode for me? To put it bluntly, it's the establishing of a character trait that then gets thrown out in the very same episode to the detriment of the character who displayed said trait. Now what am I talking about? I am referring to Shining Armor and his going from and I quote "There's no such thing as a nice changeling" to suddenly just accepting the changeling with no real justification for why he changed his mind. Now maybe you're thinking isn't it a good thing he was willing to change his mind after all the changeling really was a nice one after all. Well yes and no, sure its great that they overcame their prejudices and were able to make friends with a being that they before had only known as enemies and it goes well with the shows motif. But no in the end they threw a part of who shining armor was out without giving him the time or even ability to change it on his own thereby making him a more shallow character. I understand you can't have extreme levels of complexity in a show like this since it's marketed towards kids but to suddenly throw a piece of a character out that makes them a little more complex without a good reason is also bad. I mean is too much complexity a bad thing? Yes of course it is, but not giving any complexity to speak of is something I feel is deserving of at least some if not equal consideration as being a bad thing. This isn't exactly what I wanted to say or how I wanted to say it but I'm having trouble coming up with the right words and hopefully people understand at least the basis for my complaints for that episode. As to "A Canterlot Wedding" I'm gonna hold off on explaining my problems with that one till I see what people think of my opinion on "The Times They Are a Changeling". Suffice to say though I have a similar kind of complaint against "A Canterlot Wedding" with other characters having character traits established then just suddenly thrown out, the main difference being I feel they had them established throughout the series up until that point not just in the same episode like with this one.

Oh one more thing I forgot to mention that you of course can like these episodes as much as you want I have no intention of starting a fight over these. An intense discussion maybe but no out and out fighting please.

Edited December 31, 2016 by Aradon92

[sweetolebob18 728]

Well, Ponies do tend to 1 of 2 extremes with villains.  Either kill them (or some equivalent punishment like send them to the moon or turn them to stone), or just take a really sincere "I realize now I was wrong & I'm ever so sorry" (Discord, Luna, Starlight, Diamond Tiara + all the Mane 6, Spike & the CMCs at times).  No one ever doubts them because even a villain would never lie about it. No one ever holds a grudge, either.  So, yeah Shining was awful quick to forgive but it's consistent with the internal logic of the show.

 

Canterlot Wedding, my problem is nobody takes Twilight seriously or even bothers to ask why she thinks that. +Twilight never bothers to explain & the whole "conquer Equestria to get love" scheme totally makes sense, because everyone loves being conquered.  

[Aradon92 9]

Well, Ponies do tend to 1 of 2 extremes with villains.  Either kill them (or some equivalent punishment like send them to the moon or turn them to stone), or just take a really sincere "I realize now I was wrong & I'm ever so sorry" (Discord, Luna, Starlight, Diamond Tiara + all the Mane 6, Spike & the CMCs at times).  No one ever doubts them because even a villain would never lie about it. No one ever holds a grudge, either.  So, yeah Shining was awful quick to forgive but it's consistent with the internal logic of the show.

 

Canterlot Wedding, my problem is nobody takes Twilight seriously or even bothers to ask why she thinks that. +Twilight never bothers to explain & the whole "conquer Equestria to get love" scheme totally makes sense, because everyone loves being conquered.  

First of all thanks for actually being willing to read through my entire post and furthermore responding to it. I've got a pretty lengthy response so hopefully you can read it. If not no hard feelings and I hope You have a happy new year.

 

I see your point about it being consistent with the shows logic and with that being the case I shall adjust my complaint to just saying that the line from Shining Armor just shouldn't have been there as it adds nothing to the plot. If it weren't for that line the entire episode would be much more bearable for me. As to my complaints against Canterlot Wedding it's mostly based on how I perceive the characters and their relationships meaning it's fairly subjective so anyone's free to disagree with me. The characters and relationships that most caught my attention was the relationship between Twilight an the rest of the main 6 and perhaps more importantly between Twilight and Princess Celestia. To start with the one that really caught my attention, namely the relationship between Twilight and Princess Celestia, I just couldn't bring myself to see Twilight bursting into the wedding hall and accusing the fake Cadence like that in front of Celestia, maybe I could've seen it if it'd just been her friends it still would have been a stretch for me but I think it could have worked. The reason I just can't see this happening in front of Celestia is simply because of the way Twilight kind of idolized or at least admired Celestia in the previous encounters with her. Think about it, whenever Celestia is involved Twilight may go crazy yes, but she always went crazy trying to please Celestia, whereas when she bursts into the wedding hall with her announcement she had no reason to expect Celestia to be happy about it. Now I suppose you could claim that her concern for her brother overrode even her devotion to Celestia but I find that difficult to believe simply because I had no indication that her relationship with her brother was that strong, I mean sure they had the song called "My Big Brother" which pretty much said when Twilight was little they were the best of friends, but the relationship with Celestia was the one that was still fresh from Twilight being her student all those years which continued on into her time at Ponyville. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's not completely acceptable to have a relationship you just brought up trump one that's been established throughout the series that's been indicated to be very strong even with the consideration that the new relationship you brought up is between a sister and her brother. All of this is from Twilight's side, there's more I wish to say on what I see as being wrong with Celestia's side in terms of her response but I'll get to that some other time. There's a few other points I could make about Twilight's behavior just not being at all what I'd expect from her but I fear I'd risk repeating myself so I'll leave it at that.

[cmarston1 5,959]

I Don't see the problem with these episodes.

In fact the two/three changeling episodes where my favorites of season 6.

[Aradon92 9]

I Don't see the problem with these episodes.

In fact the two/three changeling episodes where my favorites of season 6.

Like I said when I wrote this you're free to like the episodes as much as you want. Having said that I do not like your response whatsoever. I suppose it's partly my fault for maybe not making it clear enough but what I really wanted out of people wasn't for them to tell me that they liked or disliked these episodes so much as why do they like or dislike them, give a thoughtful explanation in short. You're basic response also makes me feel bad because it feels to me like you just read that I don't like those episodes and then skipped my entire reasoning as to why. Again you're free to like or dislike the episodes as much as you want but it kinda feels to me that you didn't give me the same leeway, I of course could be entirely mistaken it's quite likely that your intention at all, but that's just the way your response made me feel. Sorry I was just hoping for a response that had more thought put into than just that you liked the episodes. Anyway though I still wish that you have a nice day and a Happy New Year.

Edited January 3, 2017 by Aradon92