S08:E01+02 - School Daze

[Brainstorm 4,107]

7 hours ago, YoshiAngemon said:

Don't B-B-Bet on it! She's voiced by a celebrity, which is why Queen Novo isn't appearing, either.

They could be voiced by someone else too and since they are mention in the show(Tempest/Fizzlepop and Queen Novo) couldn't hurt for them to appear. At least for a moment, like Twilight's having a meeting with them.

Edited March 27, 2018 by Brainstorm

[age3rcm 101]

lightning dust appeared only once in the show
maybe we can be contemplated with 1 episode of fizlepop

[Buttonmash1973 1,026]

deleted

Edited March 30, 2018 by Buttonmash1973

[Carolina 212]

On ‎3‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 8:54 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

Twilight says that "the world is full of so many different creatures who know nothing about friendship". That seems like a pretty strong statement. The world is FULL of creatures who know NOTHING about friendship? It seems a little uncomfortable and condescending for Twilight to say that and to talk about how the Mane Eight are "gonna teach them all about friendship", as though Twilight and company will magnanimously deign to teach all the inferior creatures about the obviously superior pony society values of friendship.

This part actually made me really uncomfortable as well. It kind of reminds of the Buddhist organization I am part of, where some members really stress teaching everyone they come in contact with about the practice, allegedly so that everyone can be happy (as the focus is on happiness, rather than on friendship), without considering the possibility that every person's definition of "happiness" is unique to them and sometimes without really getting to know the person's circumstances. Oddly, the core values of this Buddhism and the core values of Twilight's school are pretty similar: be accepting, treat others with respect, look for the good in everyone, etc..., but with both, there seems to be somewhat of an uncomfortable gap in preaching and practicing what you preach. You cannot be accepting and respectful to someone with the belief that your way will unequivocally make them a better person and that they need your help. I think we saw in "Treasure of Griffonstone" and in "The Gauntlet of Fire" that dragons and griffons, at least, are much more independent/less social creatures and that their cultures thrive on competition, so who even knows if this way of life would work for those two cultures? 

Is it wrong of me to kind of want this attitude to bite Twilight in the butt at some point?

[gingerninja666 487]

6 hours ago, Carolina said:

This part actually made me really uncomfortable as well. It kind of reminds of the Buddhist organization I am part of, where some members really stress teaching everyone they come in contact with about the practice, allegedly so that everyone can be happy (as the focus is on happiness, rather than on friendship), without considering the possibility that every person's definition of "happiness" is unique to them and sometimes without really getting to know the person's circumstances. Oddly, the core values of this Buddhism and the core values of Twilight's school are pretty similar: be accepting, treat others with respect, look for the good in everyone, etc..., but with both, there seems to be somewhat of an uncomfortable gap in preaching and practicing what you preach. You cannot be accepting and respectful to someone with the belief that your way will unequivocally make them a better person and that they need your help. I think we saw in "Treasure of Griffonstone" and in "The Gauntlet of Fire" that dragons and griffons, at least, are much more independent/less social creatures and that their cultures thrive on competition, so who even knows if this way of life would work for those two cultures? 

Is it wrong of me to kind of want this attitude to bite Twilight in the butt at some point?

They started off slow with this I think. Twi opened a school and each race that wanted to send a student did so. I can't imagine Celestia forced them.

[Kaidyn 212]

They really changed a lot in this new season opener. To be honest, I think that's probably one of the most exciting thing for me is the fact that it is changing the status quo. I'm curious in this season a little more so than others as it doesn't appear to be as predictable as some of the other seasons in the past. It's great to see every character shine in one scene or another and I really am looking forward to seeing how this setup propels the story forward into the rest of the season. Oh, and the music was pretty good too. Always a plus for me when an episode has music.

[blackstarraven 142]

 

Also... Brain pony.....

----------

Rolling Thoughts as I watch the show...

#1: YAY! brain pony! Really.. that's not just the same voice actor... That's basically Brain as a pony.. This is part of a plot to take over the world....

Actually I kind of get a Servirice Snape feeling off this guy.

#2: I don't like the first song... Like.. I don't like it a lot.

#3: I'm not sure that I'm sold on these characters so far. (The students that is)

End of first Episode... I can already kind of see where this is going....

-----------

Episode 2.

#1: Pillow fort Twilight is adorable....

#2: I'm really enjoying Spike in the last few season. I like more assertive and snarky Spike. It also enforces my thought on what his role has always been.

I.E.: Spike is the younger brother in the story, but he's clearly the younger brother that's old enough to actually be in the group.

#3: The perpupine things are actually kind of neat...

I really feel like they should guard that castle better.....

#4: 2nd song was... ... No really I'm listening right now...

-And... I have to agree with Ember on this one.. I wasn't that impressed.... Really Both of the songs where total misses.

 

 

---------------------

Side note: Guidance counselor Starlight.... Umm... I approve but not in a great way.

Side note: Got it.. Beat us over the head with the Racism.. Um... Species-ism? Plot.

 

Well I liked it better then Season 7's... Opening.. Episode. (Or two)

It was good for world building if nothing else. And this is a pretty hard sell to be honest. Because its basically a complete direction shift, which is hard to do. I mean there basically making a two season spin off at this point...

Which brings me to a interesting point...

Are we just not going to get the new season eight opening? Or maybe they are saving that for episode 3 and later?
I feel like they might have openly scrapped it because of negative feedback.. maybe, maybe not.

 

3 out of 5.. On par with the weakest starting episodes in the show. but that's still not bad for a Cartoon to be honest. Again even Meh Episodes in this show are better then good episodes in most cartoons.

Edited March 28, 2018 by blackstarraven

[Truffles 2,033]

On 3/25/2018 at 6:52 AM, We. said:

Other than Spike, Fluttershy hasn't interact with a dragon since Season 1. It's been several years, and she's obviously grown used to them. Not to mention that she's among creatures and friends she trust. In fact, whenever dragons were brought up after that Season 1 episode, Fluttershy is never present to "Freak Out in Fear"

The Hippogriff thing isn't hard to figure out when you look at what they're wearing in Hippogriff form. 

On 3/25/2018 at 3:23 PM, Ganondox said:

Also, Ember is a small dragon, it's only the huge dragons seen in Season 1 that Fluttershy was terrified off, with good reason.

Not a real dragon, anyway - she did get scared by Rainbow Dash pretending to be a small dragon in "28 Pranks Later," though in that instance RD was trying to be scary whereas Ember is pretty chill around ponies for the most part, so that could be the difference.

On 3/25/2018 at 3:23 PM, Ganondox said:

I'm guessing Novo empowered the necklaces the hippogriffs all wear with limited power from the pearl so that they can transform.

Heh, I didn't notice the amulets they wore until the both of you pointed that out. Cool!

 

On 3/25/2018 at 11:07 AM, Music Chart Fan said:

All of those things are reminiscent of high school (or younger), rather than college, where class attendance often isn't mandatory and students can usually come and go from campus as they want.

True.

On 3/25/2018 at 3:23 PM, Ganondox said:

The subject matter seen on the boards appears to be either highschool or college, the fact the teachers are referred to as professor suggests college, and the class schedule structure suggests highschool.

I've come to lean towards it being more like a high school; or, at least the 6 students the season is focusing on are of high-school age. It wouldn't surprise me, however, if Twilight's school is pretty much open to any age group - from kindergarten to post-graduate level.

On 3/25/2018 at 9:54 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

First, I can't help wondering not just about how this new Friendship School was built, and over what period of time, but also who paid for it. Does Twilight have voluntary financial backers/investors? Did Twilight just take out a giant loan? Did Celestia appropriate government funds to build the school? I would expect that whoever supplied the funds to build the school would hold Twilight accountable for ensuring that the school is fulfilling its mission and that the investment to build it was prudent.

If you saw my earlier post in the thread, I was knocked for a bit of a loop when it was instantly built without any explanation. We know from "Fluttershy Leans In," structures don't get built by magic (though I suppose between Twilight and Starlight they could probably do some of the work that way). So it must have been built the standard way for the most part. That means they either had to paid contractors to build it, or it was build entirely by volunteers.

Is Twilight still popular enough around the kingdom to pull a favor from her fans and have them do much of the work? If so, that could have helped defray the costs. If she could convince Ember to have some of the larger dragons lend assistance, that could go a long way to putting up the larger parts of the structure and they'd probably just want a bunch of gems in return (which seem easy to come by thanks to Rarity's special ability.)

It might even be that if there was money required, she may have emptied her coffers (wherever that gets sourced from is a whole other discussion, lol) and maybe even asked the rest of her friends whether they'd be willing to pitch in with a loan. If they did, then she may be free from any influence as to how to run the school. If it's her friends, however (and the money wasn't a gift/grant) then it's not clear how she'd pay them back since the school seems to be free to attend. For that matter, as you alluded to later in your message, the mane 6 must be taking time off their regular jobs to teach. Is it all volunteer? Or is Twilight paying them? Keeping the school running requires additional income and food for the cafeteria (I wonder what Gallus eats? lol), but then again, a lot of things in Equestria seem to run without knowing where the cash comes from to pay for it.

I guess my takeaway from the way the school came together is the show is trying to tell us not to think too much about it, and the only thing Twilight has to worry about concerning curriculum is the EEA and no one else (for now).

 

On 3/25/2018 at 9:54 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

So are they all relatives of the leaders of their societies, perhaps in line to become the leaders themselves one day? Were they judged to have the most potential talent for learning about friendship, or for being able to teach it to their respective societies upon returning from school?

My guess is Twilight asked the leaders of the other species to pick one student they felt would benefit the most from attending. As for all the ponies, that's a good question. Since Twilight has better access to their records, she may have offered them a chance to attend herself, if they wanted to. Or perhaps she put out a general call for pony students and then had some kind of testing like Celestia has for her school. One thing is for certain - everyone at the school doesn't seem to have serious friendship issues since the main characters all became friends on their own.

On 3/25/2018 at 9:54 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

The first mention is when Spike brings up "two small problems", one of which is that the school is still unaccredited. Following that, Twilight says that she'll take care of the lack of accreditation if the rest of the Mane Six round up the students. But what exactly did Twilight do about that? We later see her sitting in the throne room with Celestia and Luna as the leaders of the other societies of species confront them. So was Twilight trying to convince Celestia to get Chancellor Neighsay to back down?

That's a good question. The story didn't really answer what the solution to a lack of accreditation is, other than for her to go ahead unaccredited and believe in Starlight's advice that the school should forge it's own path.

On 3/25/2018 at 9:54 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

He could presumably order guards to physically prevent the teachers and students from meeting, have the Mane Eight thrown in jail, or, if he goes off the deep end, even personally attack the Mane Eight or the non-pony students.

...

I can imagine a negative spin that could be put on that: "Princess Celestia fires/arrests head of EEA so favored student Princess Twilight Sparkle doesn't have to follow the same rules for her school as everybody else".

I think these two things cancel each other out. If there was a threat against the Mane 6 by a government official, the population would probably support having Neighsay arrested. They are still the Element Bearers who have saved Equestria on multiple occasions after all, even if the actual elements are back with the Tree of Harmony.

On 3/25/2018 at 9:54 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

I've never liked this show's use of words like "everypony" when words like "everyone" and "everybody" already exist, are as easy or easier to say, and are more inclusive. But now apparently we're going to have characters saying "every...creature" instead of just using already existing and more serviceable words.

AJ caught and corrected herself by calling the students "everyone" after realizing she can't use "everypony." Perhaps they will switch between the two - everycreature and everyone - when it makes sense?

On 3/25/2018 at 9:54 PM, Music Chart Fan said:

Does he just not remember having seen or used stairs as a hippogriff previously?

I went to YouTube (I don't own a copy of the movie yet) and watched the scene at Mt Aris. There are indeed stairs - a LOT of them in fact - to get to the top. So you're right - it doesn't make any sense for Seaspray to not know what they are. Silverstream I could see her not knowing since she's young and was likely born after they went into exile. Unless they went into exile a really long time ago - but the Storm King and his imperialism doesn't strike me as something that is particularly ancient compared to the scale of Celestia and Luna's age, which it would have to be for the hippogryphs to no longer be familiar with the concept of stairs.

[Will Guide 21,360]

1 hour ago, Truffles said:

Heh, I didn't notice the amulets they wore until the both of you pointed that out. Cool!

When Silverstream saw the stairs at the Royal Sister's old castle and switches to Seapony form. She touched her necklace right there; it should have be obvious. 

Also I can't be the only one who noticed how when Angel Bunny actually tried to give a depressed Twilight a hug, he immediately turned sad. I think that's the first time we saw legitimate tears of depression from our Jerk with a Heart of Gold ( or Jerk with a Heart of Jerk depending on your opinion of him)

[Music Chart Fan 819]

1 hour ago, Truffles said:

I think these two things cancel each other out. If there was a threat against the Mane 6 by a government official, the population would probably support having Neighsay arrested. They are still the Element Bearers who have saved Equestria on multiple occasions after all, even if the actual elements are back with the Tree of Harmony.

That's a good point. I was sort of thinking about how this scenario might play out in real life, but at least for this case in the show, the Mane Eight should have some "hero" status from saving Equestria multiple times and being famous, and we would probably expect Celestia and Luna to vouch for the Mane Eight. So things might not go as badly as I was originally thinking.

So what if, say, Chancellor Neighsay were to show up at the school with a group of guards to arrest the Mane Eight for violating his decree as head of the EEA to shut the school down? Could Chancellor Neighsay carry that out under his own authority, or would it need to be "cleared" with some other authority, such as Celestia or Luna? Would the guards just refuse to carry out Chancellor Neighsay's orders? Still, if we imagine that Chancellor Neighsay could order it, I would think that the Mane Eight wouldn't resist arrest, but after that, presumably Celestia and Luna would take the Mane Eight's side and work to get them released. Would it be as simple as Celestia and Luna invoking their ultimate authority to free the Mane Eight?

In this scenario, Chancellor Neighsay could make the argument that his order to arrest the Mane Eight was for the greater good, and that it was necessary to protect the ponies of Equestria - from the threat of dangerous non-pony species and from the threat of a poorly-run school. Celestia and Luna might not buy that argument, but perhaps if Chancellor Neighsay believed it enough, he could take that argument to the populace of Equestria in general. It is hard to imagine that he would persuade many Equestrians to accept his view, rather than trusting Celestia and Luna and the Mane Eight. But they might still want to formulate persuasive arguments for why the Friendship School and the non-pony students are not dangerous, and for why the Mane Eight are justified in running the Friendship School in defiance of the head of the EEA.

And I think it would be prudent for the Mane Eight to still be prepared to physically defend themselves and/or the students in the worst-case scenario of Chancellor Neighsay attacking them, even though I'm sure that afterward, that kind of attack (which would not be in response to violence, and would be against the popular and beloved Mane Eight) would be essentially universally viewed as wrong, and would probably lead to Chancellor Neighsay's arrest.

[heavens-champion 1,905]

I wonder... are the writers trying to make Starlight Twilight's best friend, or am I jumping to conclusions?

[grotesque_figure 6]

I am fairly sure most of the ponies in the Mane 6 should have little time for teaching when they already have jobs.

[KH7672 1,604]

6 hours ago, heavens-champion said:

I wonder... are the writers trying to make Starlight Twilight's best friend, or am I jumping to conclusions?

No I don't believe so, now if you excuse me I'm going to rant, but not directly toward you:

If this is referring to her being the only one to get Twilight out of her funk implying she knows Twilight more than the others, I'm starting to get tired of this apparent shilling criticism. Instead of just focusing on Starlight, why wouldn't any of her other friends do what she did?

The answer is obvious: They HATED the school! They know nothing about teaching, they were not having fun, it was not something they could get invested in because even though Twilight was invested she still showed incompetence in running the school. They certainly wanted to cheer Twilight up but that school was the least of their worries and they felt it should be hers too. It's mostly thrown around that Rainbow Dash would be the one to suggest breaking the rules but that has only happened when she is confident in what she's doing to break those rules and she is definitely not confident in teaching.

So that's the Mane 5 out of the way, what about Spike? I think they made it pretty obvious he was also worried for Twilight's ambition for the school. But there's a huge difference between Spike and Starlight in regards to their relationship with Twilight. Spike experienced Twilight as a student of Friendship and Starlight experienced her as a teacher of Friendship. Spike was there the entire time she was failing and learning friendship lessons, and to him this was just another failure that she needed to bounce back from and learn from this lesson. However, Starlight was there to experience Twilight AS the teacher, she knows her ambitions are worth it, because she has experienced it first hand-err hoof. And just like Starlight went about her lessons the wrong way she can pick up how Twilight went about it the wrong way.

There is no favoritism here, there is writing exactly who would be the one to give this talk and give this advice given the mindset and previous experiences of all characters involved.

[Hierok 11,831]

I think the music here is pretty great. 

 

[Treble Bolt 1,122]

I am not a fan of Twilight in the episode. Her blanketing statements about other races is well, racist. And the head of the EEA is even worse. However, I think this presents the thought that ponies, in general, are racist due to ignorance. Not a bad thing, but Twilight of all ponies should know better. On the other hand, Twilight herself is still learning, she is far from perfect and there is a lot to do to get over preconceived notions of other races, despite having more contact with them than any pony. She has even made a few enemies due to the lack of respect. I cannot imagine the hippogriff nation just up and forgiving her, especially with how she went behind Queen Novo's back in the movie. That can present some international conflict, and at the very least, Novo would not trust Twilight in the future even if she does trust Celestia. The movie in conjunction with the season opener really makes me think about the international ramifications.

On a lighter note, Yona is the cutest thing EVER! I want a plushie of her so bad! Seriously, that character just made me smile every single moment she was on screen. Her design is adorable. The yaks in general are appealing, even though the adults are disheveled in appearance.

And what's with the Changelings' names. Ocellus is a term for bug eyeballs.

I wish there was sentient deer canon to the series. The Changelings I guess come close, but they aren't deer. I wish that part of the comics became canon. I love deer.

[EquestriaGuy 1,074]

While I am still continually annoyed by how pushed aside the mane 6 generally have been since S6, these new students were better than I expected. I'm sure season 8 will be fine, but I'm just not a big fan of how expansive and decentralized the show has become, even though I know full well the show never could have survived 8+ seasons always focusing on the same small main cast.

[Truffles 2,033]

17 hours ago, We. said:

When Silverstream saw the stairs at the Royal Sister's old castle and switches to Seapony form. She touched her necklace right there; it should have be obvious. 

It would have been - if I hadn't been looking away from the TV so often to live-type comments as it was airing.... <_< XD

17 hours ago, We. said:

Also I can't be the only one who noticed how when Angel Bunny actually tried to give a depressed Twilight a hug, he immediately turned sad. I think that's the first time we saw legitimate tears of depression from our Jerk with a Heart of Gold ( or Jerk with a Heart of Jerk depending on your opinion of him)

It was a nice change of pace for Angel to try to be supportive of somepony besides Fluttershy for a change. I actually felt a little bad for him - Twilight's depressed mood was overwhelming and spread to him instead of his mood spreading to her!

 

16 hours ago, Music Chart Fan said:

So what if, say, Chancellor Neighsay were to show up at the school with a group of guards to arrest the Mane Eight for violating his decree as head of the EEA to shut the school down? Could Chancellor Neighsay carry that out under his own authority, or would it need to be "cleared" with some other authority, such as Celestia or Luna?

My thinking is most of his authority is to put those magic locks around the schools that are not following the guidelines to prevent the school from being used anymore. Under normal circumstances, most ponies wouldn't be able to break that spell and I imagine if it were a regular public school the townsfolk would be upset that the school is no longer in operation and they may work via political means to change the teachers and/or principals to get it re-opened.

But Twilight being Twilight, she of course didn't have any trouble casting a counter-spell to disable the lock. And even then, the spell being broken immediately alerted him to the fact, which, again if it weren't the Elements who were involved, might be enough to get whoever breaks such a lock arrested.

But I don't think he had enough political capital to spend to have anything like that subjected on the Mane 8, which is why all he could to is give up in a huff and regroup to try and take control of the school at some future date. Now he probably has a conversation with whomever his assistant is every night when he goes to bed:

"What are you going to do tomorrow, Neighsay?"

"The same thing I do every night - try to take over The School of Friendship!"

16 hours ago, Music Chart Fan said:

And I think it would be prudent for the Mane Eight to still be prepared to physically defend themselves and/or the students in the worst-case scenario of Chancellor Neighsay attacking them, even though I'm sure that afterward

Agreed, especially if he's some minion of a much greater evil. He does kinda resemble Sombra in a way.... <_<

[Music Chart Fan 819]

2 hours ago, Truffles said:

But I don't think he had enough political capital to spend to have anything like that subjected on the Mane 8, which is why all he could to is give up in a huff and regroup to try and take control of the school at some future date.

Yeah, again, that's a good point. I read that we'll be seeing more of Chancellor Neighsay later in the season, so it'll be interesting to see if some greater evil is involved with him, or whether he might just act alone on a personal vendetta (like Starlight in Season 5) against the Mane Eight and/or the non-pony species - and in that case, to see what he could accomplish working alone.

[Thrond 3,263]

On 3/25/2018 at 12:55 PM, MAIKUN said:

Starlight WAS supposed to betray the Mane Six...I mean, she's STILL EVIL! Right?

No. She will never be evil again. Let it go. 

[gingerninja666 487]

Three other random notes:

I like how Ember instantly gets softer when she's speaking to Spike. She really seems to like him and it's adorable.

Thorax's reaction to the crisis was my favourite out of all the races. I like how he's trying to solidify his race's place in the world and trying to keep their noses out of any kind of trouble. He wasn't furiously threatening to tear things apart to get Ocellus back, he was worried about what the consequences would be if the Changelings were blamed for it. In general they don't seem to be as accepted as it initially appeared. He also had that line where he hinted that many ponies still don't accept them the way the mane cast does.

I find the fact that Starlight is a guidance counselor adorable. Just something about the title

 

[Thrond 3,263]

12 hours ago, KH7672 said:

No I don't believe so, now if you excuse me I'm going to rant, but not directly toward you:

If this is referring to her being the only one to get Twilight out of her funk implying she knows Twilight more than the others, I'm starting to get tired of this apparent shilling criticism. Instead of just focusing on Starlight, why wouldn't any of her other friends do what she did?

The answer is obvious: They HATED the school! They know nothing about teaching, they were not having fun, it was not something they could get invested in because even though Twilight was invested she still showed incompetence in running the school. They certainly wanted to cheer Twilight up but that school was the least of their worries and they felt it should be hers too. It's mostly thrown around that Rainbow Dash would be the one to suggest breaking the rules but that has only happened when she is confident in what she's doing to break those rules and she is definitely not confident in teaching.

So that's the Mane 5 out of the way, what about Spike? I think they made it pretty obvious he was also worried for Twilight's ambition for the school. But there's a huge difference between Spike and Starlight in regards to their relationship with Twilight. Spike experienced Twilight as a student of Friendship and Starlight experienced her as a teacher of Friendship. Spike was there the entire time she was failing and learning friendship lessons, and to him this was just another failure that she needed to bounce back from and learn from this lesson. However, Starlight was there to experience Twilight AS the teacher, she knows her ambitions are worth it, because she has experienced it first hand-err hoof. And just like Starlight went about her lessons the wrong way she can pick up how Twilight went about it the wrong way.

There is no favoritism here, there is writing exactly who would be the one to give this talk and give this advice given the mindset and previous experiences of all characters involved.

Furthermore, Starlight has a somewhat coarser, blunter personality than the others. Others, like Applejack, can certainly be blunt at times, but they were all more interested in trying to comfort Twilight. This, to me, is the first time that I genuinely perceived her unique influence; the mane six perceived this situation through the lens of trying to help their friend, but Starlight is a little more distant, and admittedly a little less sensitive, so she could tell it like it was. And for once I liked that, because I didn't think she crossed the line into being actively rude. 

 

4 hours ago, EquestriaGuy said:

While I am still continually annoyed by how pushed aside the mane 6 generally have been since S6, these new students were better than I expected. I'm sure season 8 will be fine, but I'm just not a big fan of how expansive and decentralized the show has become, even though I know full well the show never could have survived 8+ seasons always focusing on the same small main cast.

I feel this started around season 5, when new characters started to be introduced left and right. I'm okay with that as long as the mane six get development and the new characters are cute, but I don't agree that the show wouldn't have survived this long. Other shows have. 

[Nyactis Mewcis Catlum 672]

An episode that's not necessarily special on its own, but a good set up to where S8 may lead up. I wasn't surprised upon the news that Chancellor Neighsay would come back; he was set up as especially important, so it makes sense that he would get his own time to shine later down the road.

This episode isn't an epic or grand adventure, nor did it really stand out as particularly amazing or anything, but it's a premiere. I don't usually expect premieres to be the most earth-shattering thing, just to show me what I can expect from the season, and I think it delivered on that. It's plainly obvious to me that these non-mane 6 are going to be developed out later. Not sure why people are concerned that they're one-note now. The mane 6 were pretty one-note in their own debut, and they would later have their characters completed as time went on. Patience, my friends.

As for taking focus off the other mane 6, I definitely agree that it makes sense that Starlight was the one to say this to Twilight, but at the same time I understand the frustration that the other mane 5 have been pushed out of the focus. That being said, I think it's too hasty to jump to the conclusion that they won't be in the focus at all. The previous season, while certainly emphasizing other characters more, still gave the mane 6 their own episodes (it's just that quite a few of them people don't like to remember ). 

I stated this in a status update, but if there's anything I'm concerned about, it's the life that's being sucked out of the musical numbers in the show lately. There's been some great musical numbers in seasons past, but I think this absolute need to shove them in every episode, even where it's not necessary, is really beginning to show in the musical numbers' quality. S8's premiere shows this the worst, as the songs just... I'm sorry, you're free to like them, but they really aren't good. They're off-rhythm, and when they aren't the lyrics are generic and just not what I like from MLP: FiM music. I would honestly prefer if they dialed back on writing songs just because they feel they have to meet a quota and instead make better songs in the special moments where the songs deserve to be showcast. Quality > quantity. I'm a bit of a rhythm junkie especially so it sticks out when they're literally stretching lines just to fit the rhythm of the song, and this could so easily be fixed if they just spent more time refining the more lack luster lines in songs. Magical Mystery Cure suffered from a very similar problem.

I'm interested to see what the future of S8 holds for us. The School of Friendship can certainly lead to some interesting plots, and it's pretty great that some more relatable characters are being made out of different species. Certainly, there are some who decry it out of the fact we didn't get them earlier, leading to some unfortunate implications, but I'm honestly just glad they're here now.

[Thrond 3,263]

Also, the one thing which has always been consistent with Starlight is that she's proactive. Nearly everything she's done in the past couple seasons came from a desire to get something done, it's just that before now she was usually misguided. Certainly, she's not exactly polite here, but aside from a bit of smug bluntness, what she says is positive and constructive. The difference between this and, say, "Shadow Play" is that she doesn't dominate the narrative. Nobody needs to make bad decisions for her to see what's needed. We know exactly what the mane six are feeling, which is what @KH7672 described; they're not in the background like they were in the second half of the season 7 finale. And Starlight's part doesn't fit because X Y and Z conditions were explained to us. It just fits. 

Though this is yet another case where she can't do anything without referencing her own past. I kinda want the writers to move on from that. 

 

[Nyactis Mewcis Catlum 672]

2 minutes ago, AlexanderThrond said:

Though this is yet another case where she can't do anything without referencing her own past. I kinda want the writers to move on from that. 

This is a pretty valid concern. I'm worried that the writers feel that the only way to set Starlight apart from the others is to keep referencing that past, that they think that past defines her. But it's through referencing it so much that they aren't really allowing Starlight to showcase the other great qualities she has above that.

And it's kind of sad, because Starlight actually makes a great foil to Twilight in that Twilight is clearly more empathetic whereas Starlight is more practical. While Twilight is prone to bouts of panic and worry, Starlight has a tendency to keep that worry under lock and key. I know people aren't as fond of "A Royal Problem" these days, but I really liked what it showcased about Starlight's personality and the way that she handles guilt: it's something that's clearly always there, but she tries to shove it to the back of her mind.

[Thrond 3,263]

4 minutes ago, Wolfhog said:

As for taking focus off the other mane 6, I definitely agree that it makes sense that Starlight was the one to say this to Twilight, but at the same time I understand the frustration that the other mane 5 have been pushed out of the focus. That being said, I think it's too hasty to jump to the conclusion that they won't be in the focus at all. The previous season, while certainly emphasizing other characters more, still gave the mane 6 their own episodes (it's just that quite a few of them people don't like to remember ). 

I mean, there were a lot of characters, and especially considering that there's a huge new cast to consider, I think every character got a pretty fair amount of focus. I'm not gonna praise this for balancing everyone - less is more, after all - but I liked what the mane six did in this, and I felt the groundwork was laid down for better stuff down the road. 

6 minutes ago, Wolfhog said:

I stated this in a status update, but if there's anything I'm concerned about, it's the life that's being sucked out of the musical numbers in the show lately. There's been some great musical numbers in seasons past, but I think this absolute need to shove them in every episode, even where it's not necessary, is really beginning to show in the musical numbers' quality. S8's premiere shows this the worst, as the songs just... I'm sorry, you're free to like them, but they really aren't good. They're off-rhythm, and when they aren't the lyrics are generic and just not what I like from MLP: FiM music. I would honestly prefer if they dialed back on writing songs just because they feel they have to meet a quota and instead make better songs in the special moments where the songs deserve to be showcast. Quality > quantity. I'm a bit of a rhythm junkie especially so it sticks out when they're literally stretching lines just to fit the rhythm of the song, and this could so easily be fixed if they just spent more time refining the more lack luster lines in songs. Magical Mystery Cure suffered from a very similar problem.

I've honestly felt the show's music has been on a downwards spiral for years now. I thought the songs here were reasonably bouncy, though I can't remember any lines from them, and I generally dug the sentiments, which is more than I can say for most FiM songs from season 5 forward, which are so often either 1. very similar to previous songs, 2. lacking in hooks, or 3. express a sentiment I don't much like. There are exceptions, but as far as I'm concerned they're pretty much concentrated in two episodes - "The Mane Attraction" and "A Hearth's Warming Tale." Though I would not say I'm the best versed in musical theory of any sort. 

3 minutes ago, Wolfhog said:

This is a pretty valid concern. I'm worried that the writers feel that the only way to set Starlight apart from the others is to keep referencing that past, that they think that past defines her. But it's through referencing it so much that they aren't really allowing Starlight to showcase the other great qualities she has above that.

And it's kind of sad, because Starlight actually makes a great foil to Twilight in that Twilight is clearly more empathetic whereas Starlight is more practical. While Twilight is prone to bouts of panic and worry, Starlight has a tendency to keep that worry under lock and key. I know people aren't as fond of "A Royal Problem" these days, but I really liked what it showcased about Starlight's personality and the way that she handles guilt: it's something that's clearly always there, but she tries to shove it to the back of her mind.

Starlight was my least favourite part of "A Royal Problem" - that tendency to hide her emotions makes her feel really bland to me, and what she did in that episode is not good - but I liked her more there than most elsewhere in the season because her anxiety is something I can actually relate to, unlike the endless fountain of self-pity she seemed to have in season 7. 

I felt she had more uniqueness here, though; her proactive nature, as I said, lends her a sort of distinctive bluntness, which is a degree of personality that seasons 6 and 7 never allowed her. Now... what's next for her? Will we see anything of her kite interest? I don't buy her as a guidance counsellor, but at least it's a fresh angle.