S07:E17 - To Change a Changeling

[Ganondorf8 11,297]

The beginning scene could have been done better by starting off with Starlight planning on paying a surprise visit to the Changeling Kingdom instead of just having her and Trixie show up there and revealing their plan immediately after through exposition. Also, the ending, whilst predictable in how it would turn out, needed a little bit more time to make it feel more believable. However, everything in-between was what truly shined though both Starlight and Trixie could have handled things a lot better than they did. Their usual go-to plans ended up not working as expected and they should have gotten the hint that a different approach was needed. Between the two, Trixie comes off as being more cringey because of her attitude and blaming Starlight for ideas she herself created.

And then we have Pharynx... The best character of the episode bar none. I was surprised that he was given a unique design as a regular Changeling but it helped show he was different in that he still felt the desire to perform his kind's original functions and couldn't accept what had changed. I liked how there was a probability that he couldn't be reformed because of holding onto his old values and had they gone down that path, he would have been unique in that they tried to change him but couldn't. Sure, it sounds similar to what Chrysalis was given but Pharynx was given a much better approach. His reformed look definitely suits him and it looks better than what Thorax received.

The Changeling Kingdom looks much nicer now and I loved how there were different activities including a place where you could express your problems to your peers. It would have been nice had specific Changelings been given a name but I see that as a minor issue at best which can be overlooked for now. Finally, there was the monster known as the Maulwurf. I have a soft spot when it comes to monsters in the show as I like to see how the animators can top themselves with each one that is created. The Maulwurf is definitely one of the better ones to grace the show and it proved to be very powerful and resilient to everything except itself.

Despite some cringe-worthy moments, this was a pretty good episode and again, Pharynx was the star of the show. Would I consider him evil? Not really as he was only trying to preserve the Changeling's old ways which had become integral to his way of thinking. I would view him as a partial antagonist as while he did make the others in the pack uncomfortable, he never tried hurting them or wanted to take over for himself.

[Brainstorm 4,108]

I'm glad everything worked out in the end, the new hive looks amazing, and Pharynx turned himself around. It just took a little longer then they thought. Now he and Thorax both have antlers. I like the Dance, Arts and Crafts, Theater, showed in the new hive.

Edited October 5, 2017 by Brainstorm

[Castle Bleck 19,341]

TFW you realize Evolved!Pharynx has Sombra horns.

 

Just saying.

[hollow-shades 129]

Meeh. Im not dissapointed with the episode, just with the new Changeling race. Don't get me wrong, I love them, but they could be more diversed in colors. More.

They are already neontastic dragonflies, but if you pay attention, they are copies of each other. Their coat colors are always either cyan, aquamarine, yellow or green. No orange ones, no red ones, no purple ones. The eye color is also repeated- orange, blue, or green. That is really the only problem that I see with them though. Thorax's brother's colors are really cool, how they fit the new Changelings yet it is still dark enough to fit his personality.

That being said, I really like the diversity thats already in the new race. Some of them don't have horns, some do, some don't have crystals, some do. I wonder if its some kind of sexual dimorphism?

Im also curious how Amber's advice managed to reform literally all the rebellious changelings. Im sure that advice was more than just a talk you know.

Edited September 3, 2017 by Flinp

[Truffles 2,033]

51 minutes ago, AlexanderThrond said:

I was under the impression that the changelings chose to share love because they were always nearly starving and were desperate for any alternative, so why would Pharynx prefer the old way? That's another thing which I found unconvincing. 

My guess is Thorax was letting his brother skim some of the excess love off of him and the rest of the hive so he wasn't starving. if they were as enlightened as they say they are, I would think they wouldn't mind. (Though they did seem to mind his negative attitude.)

 

1 hour ago, Ganondox said:

This sentence needs to be put and life support and reconstructed, because I still can't parse what you were attempting to say. I assume it's supposed to say "she wasn't as bad in "All Bottled Up" as she is here", but I'm still not sure. 

That bad, huh?  It seems readable to me, but then again I know what I mean to say. I guess it's a side-effect of reading messages all day long. My brain is fried. =P

But you surmised correctly - I liked her better in "ABU", but that isn't saying much because she exhibits many of the same annoyances there that I didn't like in "To Change a Changeling."

[Thrond 3,263]

Just now, Truffles said:

My guess is Thorax was letting his brother skim some of the excess love off of him and the rest of the hive so he wasn't starving. if they were as enlightened as they say they are, I would think they wouldn't mind. (Though they did seem to mind his negative attitude.)

Pharynx couldn't have skimmed love off the other changelings before they transformed, however, so surely he'd realize something is different. 

[Truffles 2,033]

2 minutes ago, AlexanderThrond said:

Pharynx couldn't have skimmed love off the other changelings before they transformed, however, so surely he'd realize something is different. 

I misinterpreted your original comment. I see now you were referring to how things were under Chrysalis. I'll have to see the episode again, so you may have a good point there. My inclination is to say he liked everything about the old ways other than the starving.

Or maybe pony love just tastes better than changeling love and starving for the chance to suck off them was worth the pain? 

[Brainstorm 4,108]

What I'm still trying to figure out is Why only Thorax and Pharynx have antlers, think they mean leadership?

What will Spike think when he sees the new Hive?

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

25 minutes ago, AlexanderThrond said:

Pharynx couldn't have skimmed love off the other changelings before they transformed, however, so surely he'd realize something is different. 

Yeah, most of the changelings transformed to escape the constant hunger, but at the same time, they feared Chrysalis and now realize how much happier they were, yes, Pharynx may have been starving a lot, but he preferred that as he was still a high ranking officer in an elite swarm of unstoppable changelings, he had pride and honor, or perhaps, being head of the patrol, he was rewarded with more love, it is implied in the season 6 finale that Chrysalis wanted all the love to herself, but Pharynx likely had a share of that love to keep his loyalty in tact seeing as he was in a command position. 

[Thrond 3,263]

Just now, Ryanmahaffe said:

Yeah, most of the changelings transformed to escape the constant hunger, but at the same time, they feared Chrysalis and now realize how much happier they were, yes, Pharynx may have been starving a lot, but he preferred that as he was still a high ranking officer in an elite swarm of unstoppable changelings, he had pride and honor, or perhaps, being head of the patrol, he was rewarded with more love, it is implied in the season 6 finale that Chrysalis wanted all the love to herself, but Pharynx likely had a share of that love to keep his loyalty in tact seeing as he was in a command position. 

I would have liked a little more explanation in the episode proper. 

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

Just now, AlexanderThrond said:

I would have liked a little more explanation in the episode proper. 

Probably something I say at the end of every episode with a potentially deeper plot hidden beneath the basics of the episode, so many episodes make me wish we could have better explanations of things that happened than something that is just enough to count  as one. But at the same time, having the show be so consistently open to interpretation and theories, is both a strength, and a weakness of the writing in my opinion.

What we know is that Pharynx had pride in his previous position in the hive and he preferred it, technically that is all we need in the episode, but there are many possibilities about other reasons he thought the hive was better back before the great coloring book transformation.

[DonMaguz 1,023]

I liked this episode a lot, Pharynx is such a tough and serious character, his personality is so straight forward that it clashes with the way every other changeling reacted to the new ways of the hive and the transformation. I really liked him and his sense of humor, which by the way was amazing the whole episode!

I can't get enough of the Starlight/Trixie combo, the dynamic they have is outstanding, I believe they're the pair of ponies who make me laugh the most when shown together.

I had trouble liking Thorax in older episodes, it always seemed to me that he was too soft, softer even than most ponies and that didn't seem right to me for a changeling. But on this episode (and probably because of Ember's help) I really cared for and liked Thorax, specially when he was doing everything he could to help Pharynx to be involved within the hive, even standing his ground in front of the changelings who wanted his brother out, now that's the stuff leaders are made of!

The lesson was another thing I liked, how it was not an issue of Pharynx to soften out but about everyone else realizing that Pharynx is an asset to their hive and that them embracing him was what he needed to feel useful again.

Overall an awesome episode, solid 8/10 in my opinion.

[Truffles 2,033]

25 minutes ago, Ryanmahaffe said:

What we know is that Pharynx had pride in his previous position in the hive and he preferred it, technically that is all we need in the episode, but there are many possibilities about other reasons he thought the hive was better back before the great coloring book transformation.

I can understand Pharynx's position. Whether or not Chrysalis was feeding her most trusted warriors more love likely didn't matter. In the end, having pride in the job he was doing was more important than being hungry.

It's even shown in the episode how useless he feels in the new order and that is probably the biggest reason he wanted to go back to the old ways.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

What is it about Starlight and Trixie that works SO well in every episode they star in together? Whatever it is I LOVE it!

As for the episode itself; it was great! A bit predictable, but in the end it was fun. The dialogue was great and the characterizations were fun! Hope to see more of Pharynx in the future!

[Jeric 46,851]

1 hour ago, Truffles said:

I can understand Pharynx's position. Whether or not Chrysalis was feeding her most trusted warriors more love likely didn't matter. In the end, having pride in the job he was doing was more important than being hungry.

It's even shown in the episode how useless he feels in the new order and that is probably the biggest reason he wanted to go back to the old ways.

What I like is that they showed this fairly early on, and Thorax was keenly aware of this fact. In a lesser approach this would have been revealed late in the episode in a 'talk it out' scene. 

Pharynx is endearing to me because that sense of being left behind and having your identity and purpose threatened can push someone into a dark place, but throughout the episode he was depicted as more than a one-note soldier/warrior type who was sensitive to the needs of the hive and how others felt about him. 

With him in a stronger role now, the Changelings may have balance. 

[Will Guide 21,360]

About Pharynx:

He quickly grew on me. From the moment he first trapped the unicorns in a bag to bringing up a good point about the Mole-like creature. 

They didn't make 100% wrong in his beliefs; Just a Changeling who wants to protect his Hive from outside threats.

That voice gives me the good kind of Chills! I wonder if the VA worked on other stuff that I've seen?

Even after he transforms at the end, "The Author Threw a Save by: a) having him keep his black colors and voice, keep his self-proclaimed job of protecting the Hive, and C) his loyalty to Thorax ("No one picks on my brother but me"- kind of thing)

[NullAccount 287]

That turned out to be a very entertaining episode. I personally love how Starlight and Trixie interact, and Thorax is definitely one of my top ten favorite characters. This episode had great writing, was a visual treat, and managed to build the world without feeling forced or out of place. Well done! 

[Victoria Sponge 1,017]

A good episode with great characters. I like how they showed the flaws of the characters, how Starlight still makes mistakes even though her heart is in the right place and how Thorax is still working on becoming more assertive. The new changeling was cool too, I like his reformed design with the darker colours and red wings.

[ErisPegasus 56]

Good episode, but not great. I'm biased towards the new changelings, yet there were some issues here.

Its world-building was better than the A-story proper. I much preferred the background information about changeling society to any of its manufactured conflict.

And that's what the conflict was - manufactured. The new changelings HAD to be utter wimps. Despite their training that was portrayed in flashbacks before their society transformed, the exact same changelings had to suddenly be unable to fight. Despite their structures of patrols, etc, that had been engrained in their minds, embracing friendship meant forgetting everything. Because otherwise you had no conflict. That's my big sticking point here.

The first 1/3 of the episode went out of its way to play up the cloying nature of the new, 'friendly' changelings. And Pharynx had to be the exact opposite, with only blinking room for nuance. To the earlier comment using this as an example of desiring 'middle-of-the-road centrism' between two extremes...why?

Isn't that basically a self-own; that the middle option is only good because you warped the left and right to parodic extremes? If the writers really wanted to broach 'centrism' regarding the changelings, they would have had Chrysalis' hive gradually change over several seasons, and much of the existing structure remain, but repurposed to better ends. But their designs drastically changed, Chrysalis was driven out, and the surrounding wasteland transformed into a rich plain. That's not reform - that's revolution. 

So of course you had the 14y/o Youtube chuds like Ostrogoth1488 and VeritasCrusader spouting racial slurs, as well as "le triggered" and "Pharynx is totes Milo, right fellow Kekistanis?" The irony of railing against emotion is lost on boys who watch a show about colourful ponies learning lessons about respecting each other.

Also, this show's exposition problem is becoming harder and harder to ignore. The first 2 minutes were a drag. 

Edited September 3, 2017 by ErisPegasus

[Truffles 2,033]

1 hour ago, Jeric said:

What I like is that they showed this fairly early on, and Thorax was keenly aware of this fact. In a lesser approach this would have been revealed late in the episode in a 'talk it out' scene.

The better episodes seem to be more successful at this. I felt the same way about "Equestria Games" in that one of the best things it did was not let Spike go on for more than a minute thinking he had somehow lit the fire with his mind. The plot could move on and get to the real conflict.

1 hour ago, Jeric said:

Pharynx is endearing to me because that sense of being left behind and having your identity and purpose threatened can push someone into a dark place, but throughout the episode he was depicted as more than a one-note soldier/warrior type who was sensitive to the needs of the hive and how others felt about him

We can generalize his plight even further to not just that of a warrior looking for a purpose, but anyone who, either due to technology or culture, has been left behind from the rest of society.

MLP already visited this back in "TSSCE6K," and one could envision Pharynx as a version of Applejack who lost the contest to Flim and Flam and became bitter as mass-produced fruit products put her and many other farmers out of business. However that theme is executed better here, IMO. There's far less contrivance in the characterization of the new changelings and Pharynx compared to Flim & Flam and the Apple family.

[SugarCoatxMarblePie 701]

10 hours ago, Ryanmahaffe said:

A fantastic episode with a pretty crude fight scene and a Starlight nerf that is more irritating than any other nerf in the series.

8/10 what the hell Starlight.

To be fair Twilight is slow n darkish, and this changeling was smart and not staying still to be an easy target. Dash and Twi kept getting hit because they weren't ready to dodge too much, a couple seasons back. She isn't a master duelist. Also they were essentially ambushed so she had less time to practice spells for a big plan or anything. Starlight is more used to using magic on people who stand still lol. Or using relics to overpower opponents.

Then they also suggest Pharynx  was especially good at his job, not a possibly hungry noober like Chrysalis organized when invading.

[Firedog 320]

Meh, it was good, just kinda uneventful.

 

I just don't really care too much for the reformed changlings 

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

31 minutes ago, SugarCoatxMarblePie said:

To be fair Twilight is slow n darkish, and this changeling was smart and not staying still to be an easy target. Dash and Twi kept getting hit because they weren't ready to dodge too much, a couple seasons back. She isn't a master duelist. Also they were essentially ambushed so she had less time to practice spells for a big plan or anything. Starlight is more used to using magic on people who stand still lol. Or using relics to overpower opponents.

Then they also suggest Pharynx  was especially good at his job, not a possibly hungry noober like Chrysalis organized when invading.

Starlight has advanced shield spells, decent enough reaction timing, just demonstrated mass teleportation, has shown duplication, spells to make her incredibly fast, mind control, etc. and of course, her losing to Pharynx was dumb but explained, they didn't lose when put in the bag, Starlight wanted to see what was going on.

It was the Bearmole that was dumb.

[Music Chart Fan 819]

Overall, I think this is another one of those mixed bag kind of episodes. It's nice to see how the transformed changelings are living these days. Pharynx's position is ultimately understandable and relatable, despite his being a bit of a jerk, and he does have a good point that, even though the changelings have transformed, the hive still has to be defended from external threats. I'm glad that Pharynx and the rest of the hive reconciled, and that Pharynx is accepted as a defender of the hive, although as I mention below, there still seem to be open questions about the details of that. The part where Thorax rather smugly gets Pharynx to admit that he cares about the hive and wants to fit in despite his "tough guy" attitude is kind of cliche and eyeroll-worthy, but still sweet. As you might have noticed, I haven't mentioned Starlight and Trixie yet, and that's because they're probably the main issue I have with the episode. I just find Trixie's shtick, and her "chemistry" with Starlight, to be insufferable. Neither of them seem to be particularly helpful in this episode, and the roles they played just weren't very interesting or relatable to me.

As I mentioned, the episode does come to a kind of happy ending, with the rest of the hive acknowledging that Pharynx has a point and accepting him, while Pharynx admits that he "loves the hive" and transforms. However, there are still questions I have about what will happen afterward. Will Pharynx's love for "the hive" translate into love for individual members of the hive (other than Thorax)? Pharynx says that he doesn't get excited about pretty flowers and feeling circles, but will he presumably stop trying to destroy them and stop harassing others to do things the "old way"? In other words, how much "assimilation" will Pharynx do? Furthermore, will Pharynx be trying to defend the hive by himself, or will a group of changelings agree to help him with defending it? How much would such a group be willing to do things as Pharynx wants, even if it makes them uncomfortable or whatnot? I suppose we're left to assume or speculate that they work all this stuff out somehow.

One other thing I did appreciate in the episode is how Thorax tells Starlight that she of course ought to be going with him to save Pharynx and stop the maulwurf, because she caused the problem of luring the maulwurf back in the first place. And at the end of the episode, Thorax rightfully starts to get on Starlight's case for both leading the maulwurf to the hive and driving Pharynx away from it, even though that's seemingly interrupted by Pharynx's story. I see these things as an acknowledgement that merely having good intentions, or things just happening to work out in the end, doesn't let Starlight off the hook. Rather, the expectation is that she has to fix (or prevent) the damage she caused, and she ought to demonstrate that she's actually learned what she did wrong, and what she'll do to prevent doing so in the future.

Those are about the only big-picture comments I had, so here are the rest of my miscellaneous observations:

Starlight tells Trixie that Thorax described the maulwurf as "half-bear, half-mole, half-raging-pile-of-claws". I think that may be one too many halves...

Starlight says that "now that the changelings don't feed on the love of everything around them, plants have started to grow back". But I'm not sure what exactly the connection is. How did the changelings' feeding on the love of others cause plants not to grow around their hive? Do wild plants somehow rely on love to grow? I would think that "love" is something only sentient beings would possess, not plants.

Is there any actual music playing for the swing dancers? Or are the swing dancers supposed to be hearing the background music that we in the audience hear?

I suppose the existence of the potluck lunch (and the changeling eating soup later) proves that the changelings apparently don't literally subsist only on love. That kind of makes me wonder, then, whether all the previous talk about changelings "feeding" on love and "starving" for it was meant to be taken literally. Are love and "normal" food interchangeable for changelings?

When Thorax shows "craft time", two changelings hold up a drawing of Starlight and Trixie. Did they just draw that within the few minutes that Starlight and Trixie had been there?

It's just part of the limitations of the episode format, but I couldn't help noticing that Thorax asks how things went with Pharynx just a couple of minutes after Thorax originally left - not much time for Starlight and Trixie to have done much of anything.

At the "feelings forum", it doesn't seem like the changeling with the identity crisis got a solution - after saying that being different colors at different times would feel like "living a lie", she was told that it was brave to share that, and then she just sits down.

With how many times Starlight's "great ideas" have turned out not to be, would it be too much trouble to run her ideas by another person or two before implementing them?

Starlight's "inspirational" speech seemed like it could use some work. I felt like it meandered and failed to make an easily graspable or emotionally resonant point to rally around.

Finally, when Pharynx is fighting the maulwurf, he at first tells Thorax, Starlight, and Trixie to get out of there and let him handle this. But then, no more than 30 seconds (and one attempted kick) later, Pharynx says that he could beat the maulwurf with the rest of the swarm, but not alone. Is he supposed to have done a 180 on whether he thinks he can defeat the maulwurf in that short of a time frame?

[Dark Qiviut 22,393]

2 hours ago, ErisPegasus said:

And that's what the conflict was - manufactured. The new changelings HAD to be utter wimps. Despite their training that was portrayed in flashbacks before their society transformed, the exact same changelings had to suddenly be unable to fight. Despite their structures of patrols, etc, that had been engrained in their minds, embracing friendship meant forgetting everything. Because otherwise you had no conflict. That's my big sticking point here.

Gotta play Devil's Advocate here. The Changelings fought pre-transformation, because Chrysalis forced them to act like warriors and psychologically manipulated their way of life. Thorax, OTOH, is a much more relaxed leader and promoted free will. Because they no longer fed on love, they don't fight constantly anymore. They could remain in the Changeling Kingdom and rebuild it to their heart's content. Given the presentation of the episode, the Malwurth (or whatever he's called) was their first threat in quite some time.

Pharynx is the only one who didn't change, because he cared for the hive and didn't want anyone there getting hurt. To him, fighting meant protection of the kingdom, and the changelings under his bro's rule lost their fighting skills over time. Since they now stink at fighting, trying to lure him away via veggie bait rather than fight was the only solution they could think of.

Both sides have a point. The changelings hated him around, because he was way too aggressive, and his desire to keep it the way it was destroyed the progress. OTOH, Pharynx was the only one who fought to preserve the kingdom and didn't appreciate them talking shit behind his back. The fight scene, contrivance notwithstanding, provides closure in that both Pharynx and the changeling hive understand how much they need each other.

Edited September 3, 2017 by Dark Qiviut