spoiler Teaser for Second Half of Season 8 at SDCC!

[PacificGreen 1,163]

Dunno if this has  been posted yet, but apparently a trailer was released at San Diego Comic Con for the second half of the current season (videotaped quality, but it's the best so far I can find)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-tYqzS-m4w

Looks pretty exciting with the return of the villains (including Storm King, my favorite Rafiki-Yeti dude XD) The Mane Cast also seems to be headed to Tartarus to check on Tirek, and we even get to say Chancellor Neighsay return. And it looks like he's an outright villain at this point, locking up the students (and declaring "The Reign of Twilight Sparkle is Over")?

My thoughts? To be honest, I feel like the season premiere wasn't too well done and Neighsay's motivations and actions were simultaneously kinda understandable and confusing. So I don't know, I think it'd be better to make him an outright villain, since it may actually provide a decent ulterior motive to not wanting to open the friendship school. My guess is he's actually a disguise for some long-time villain of the Princesses and/or ponies?

In a hurry now so sorry if I sound a little incoherent with that last paragraph; I may update when I have time.

Thoughts?

[Megas 27,568]

Everything about the finale sounds really awful. It's giving the impression that he only has Cozy Glow free Tirek so he has an excuse to close down the school, which unbelievably petty and retarded. Like seriously "I'M HAVING THIS INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS MONSTER FREED SO I CAN PROVE TWILIGHT'S SCHOOL IS A BAD IDEA!"

[RDDash 19,167]

Does that mean we will see the moronic chancellor getting banished to the moon?

[Iam 525]

That must seem epic D: I can't wait!

[Them's Seeing Ponies 282]

17 minutes ago, R.D.Dash said:

Does that mean we will see the moronic chancellor getting banished to the moon?

Unlikely (not to mention improbable - can unicorns technically cast spells that allow them to breathe in space?), but entertaining -  how would the guy react to eternal damnation on a vast, empty moonscape? Perhaps team up with some other life form banished there by the Princess of Baked Decadence and exact his vengeance for his exile by TRYING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD? *cue Pinky and the Brain theme*.

But yes, the finale does sound akin to a plot direction that could fatally misfire. Here's to hoping that, as ridiculous as it sounds (and is), the writers at least reprise Tirek with dignity (and don't push Neighsay into season 5 Starlight syndrome by transforming him from an extremist with a different worldview from Twilight's to a hammy, vengeful comic book villain (which would be even less compatible with Neighsay's established character than with Starlight)).

13 minutes ago, Starlightglim said:

I love how rainbow dash saves starlight from dying it makes me want to put Rainbow dash as my 2nd favorite pony 

 

It is certainly noble of Dashie, but isn't that kind of a bizarre reason to class her as your second favourite merely because she saved your favourite briefly in one episode? I'm unsure as to whether you have other reasons behind it, but, although I could be wrong, the wording in your reply implies such reasoning.

Edited July 22, 2018 by Them's Seeing Ponies

[PacificGreen 1,163]

23 minutes ago, R.D.Dash said:

Does that mean we will see the moronic chancellor getting banished to the moon?

I know Neighsay is that guy everyone loves to hate, but I'm gonna play devil's advocate and say that, all his racism notwithstanding, he actually has some valid points about Twilight's school, even if he is an overbearing bureaucrat. I wish the premiere acknowledged that there was at least some truth to what he said and had Twilight and him respectfully debate it out, rather than painting him as a strawman completely in the wrong who needed to be called out.

That said, he is kinda a moron for not catching on to what Twilight was proposing. I mean, she is the Princess of Friendship, what business would she have building up a self-defense (read: practically military) school? 

I feel like making him an outright evil (cheesy cartoon?) villain may be kinda the best path for his character arc at the moment, rather than have him be the strawman proven wrong again. At least that would make for an exciting season finale. Ideally I'd like the show to address his valid points (as I mention above), but realistically I don't see it happening. In any case, if he is a Tirek-level villain, then yeah, maybe he should get sent to the moon.

[Will Guide 21,360]

I saw the video, and my main thought is: "so that's Spike's father?" I'm a little disappointed with his appearance, but I rather wait until the actual episode airs before giving a final verdict.

[PacificGreen 1,163]

4 minutes ago, Wholly Windcharger said:

I saw the video, and my main thought is: "so that's Spike's father?" I'm a little disappointed with his appearance, but I rather wait until the actual episode airs before giving a final verdict.

I think the official synopsis says that he's just a dragon claiming to be Spike's father, so he may very well be a fake.

[Goat-kun 2,527]

So a friendless grand wizard edgeboi for whom we can assume does not have a tragic past can casually drain all magic from Equestria. Playing around with non-pones post-show is gonna be a bucking cakewalk.

 

 

P.S: Tartarus still looks lame.

[TransitPony 238]

The part of the teaser that shows the season finale summed up:

Neighsay is a pony supremacist abusing his power at the EEA by bringing back monsters defeated in past episodes to take over the world with xenophobic messages about other creatures, hinting at a potential coup-d'etat ("The reign of Princess Twilight is over!"), and that Cozy Glow was possibly put in by Neighsay to discredit the School of Friendship. 

[Iam 525]

Just now, TransitPony said:

The part of the teaser that shows the season finale summed up:

Neighsay is a pony supremacist abusing his power at the EEA by bringing back monsters defeated in past episodes to take over the world with xenophobic messages about other creatures, hinting at a potential coup-d'etat ("The reign of Princess Twilight is over!").

Why everywhere there must be somebody who abuses his power? It makes me crazy!

[Jeric 46,850]

Tirek is likely the finale's red herring. We'll see him, but it isn't him behind the magic disappearing. 

I expect a Fellowship of the Ring reference during the door to Tartarus scene. 

6 minutes ago, Iam said:

Why everywhere there must be somebody who abuses his power? It makes me crazy!

It's a common narrative element because it speaks to things that people worry about in reality.

[gingerninja666 487]

I'm interested.

I thought back during School Daze that they made Neighsay look oddly powerful for the villain in a conflict that required no fighting. He has this whole weird medalion magic that he uses. He can teleport through portals. He can stomp so hard it caused a whole crowd of creatures to flinch.

 

It's not surprising that he was being set up for more of an adventurey two parter at some point. I think something to keep in mind is that he wasn't just mad at the idea of Twilight opening a friendship school. He despised what it represented; Equestria expanding to mingle with more and more non-pony folk. The school is a symbol of forward progress that he thinks will ruin Equestria.

[Dark Qiviut 22,379]

36 minutes ago, PacificGreen said:

I know Neighsay is that guy everyone loves to hate, but I'm gonna play devil's advocate and say that, all his racism notwithstanding, he actually has some valid points about Twilight's school, even if he is an overbearing bureaucrat. I wish the premiere acknowledged that there was at least some truth to what he said and had Twilight and him respectfully debate it out, rather than painting him as a strawman completely in the wrong who needed to be called out.

I have to disagree. Neighsay's guidelines clearly weren't working with Twilight's school, a revolutionary idea in Equestria, and his xenophobia created temporary distrust between Equestria and the international nations. If it was going to succeed, Twilight couldn't do it Neighsay's way, but their own.

[PacificGreen 1,163]

Just now, Dark Qiviut said:

Neighsay's guidelines clearly weren't working with Twilight's school, a revolutionary idea in Equestria

This I will agree with, but I think the episode should have placed more emphasis on the idea that "what works for a traditional school may not work for this idea" (which would honestly be accurate, considering EEA is likely actually a legit institution if even Celestia allows her schools to be held under their standards). Unfortunately I think the episode felt more like "screw the rules, I'm doing what I think is right". 

Additionally I think he had valid concerns about Twilight and Co. going off on adventures and having to miss school (which she didn't even try to answer), about them being unqualified teachers, about the safety of the students and so on. Yet the episode steamrolled past these in favor of just making him a one-dimensional racist.

[gingerninja666 487]

6 minutes ago, PacificGreen said:

This I will agree with, but I think the episode should have placed more emphasis on the idea that "what works for a traditional school may not work for this idea" (which would honestly be accurate, considering EEA is likely actually a legit institution if even Celestia allows her schools to be held under their standards). Unfortunately I think the episode felt more like "screw the rules, I'm doing what I think is right". 

Additionally I think he had valid concerns about Twilight and Co. going off on adventures and having to miss school (which she didn't even try to answer), about them being unqualified teachers, about the safety of the students and so on. Yet the episode steamrolled past these in favor of just making him a one-dimensional racist.

On the qualified teacher point. They weren't qualified EEA teachers, definitely. But Twilight was very adamant about them teaching the way they wanted to, and it seemed to be working before the EEA's restrictions started messing with everything.

 

Similar with the safety point, the students wouldn't have run away if they weren't doing things the EEA way.

[PacificGreen 1,163]

19 minutes ago, gingerninja666 said:

I think something to keep in mind is that he wasn't just mad at the idea of Twilight opening a friendship school. He despised what it represented; Equestria expanding to mingle with more and more non-pony folk. The school is a symbol of forward progress that he thinks will ruin Equestria.

I read on an insightful (read: agrees with me :P) thread on Reddit that, although racism is nothing new in the pony world, one major criticism about Neighsay was that he lacked a believable motive for his ideology. Contrast that to Starlight in Season 5, who had a well-meaning but ultimately misguided view of friendship that still provided some visible "good" (note the quote marks) in the form of a "happy" village where no one worried about the cons of having a special talent.

On the other hand, we don't really know why Neighsay is a racist, so at the moment he just kinda feels like a villain for the sake of being a villain/obstacle to the main characters. Who knows, maybe we'll learn his reasons soon enough, but I think I'd like it if he actually was some super powerful entity on par with Tirek or Sombra, which it actually kinda seems it could be based on what we see in the trailer. It might give some twist in the form of "he's not just a racist, he also doesn't want the friendship school to open because something something evil power harmony something magic something something" (yeah, i know I'm rambling here). It may make him a cheesy stereotypical cartoon villain, but at least he'd be a more believable threat. 

[PacificGreen 1,163]

4 minutes ago, gingerninja666 said:

On the qualified teacher point. They weren't qualified EEA teachers, definitely. But Twilight was very adamant about them teaching the way they wanted to, and it seemed to be working before the EEA's restrictions started messing with everything.

 

Similar with the safety point, the students wouldn't have run away if they weren't doing things the EEA way.

True. This actually makes me think of the EEA less of a bunch of evil racists, and more as an institution that actually does have the best interests of Equestrian students at heart, but has some trouble acknowledging the idea that their rules may not always work well in all instances (like the friendship school). 

Still I think they could have placed more emphasis on the "why" of why they should be allowed to teach differently (namely because it just works better that way for something that's not a formal field of study like magic or flight). I think Twilight touched on it briefly in the final confrontation with Neighsay, but it just felt like it paled in comparison to "defying the EEA because they're wrong".

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

2 hours ago, Whomps said:

Everything about the finale sounds really awful. It's giving the impression that he only has Cozy Glow free Tirek so he has an excuse to close down the school, which unbelievably petty and retarded. Like seriously "I'M HAVING THIS INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS MONSTER FREED SO I CAN PROVE TWILIGHT'S SCHOOL IS A BAD IDEA!"

Except Tirek is obvioulsy a Red herring to get the Mane 6 out of the picture. No evidence that they freed Tirek.

Man, what great stuff, the Kirin episode looks F A N T A S T I C!
The Storm King!!! Neat. This is obviously from "What Lies Beneath"
The finale looks epic

Overall season 8B looks much better than 8A which I already think was pretty solid.

[gingerninja666 487]

2 minutes ago, PacificGreen said:

True. This actually makes me think of the EEA less of a bunch of evil racists, and more as an institution that actually does have the best interests of Equestrian students at heart, but has some trouble acknowledging the idea that their rules may not always work well in all instances (like the friendship school). 

Still I think they could have placed more emphasis on the "why" of why they should be allowed to teach differently (namely because it just works better that way for something that's not a formal field of study like magic or flight). I think Twilight touched on it briefly in the final confrontation with Neighsay, but it just felt like it paled in comparison to "defying the EEA because they're wrong".

She says it's because every friendship is unique, so she needs a unique approach to teaching. Like, she wants to teach creatures about the elements, and so who else could possibly teach them these things but the actual living embodiments of those elements?

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

2 hours ago, Goat-kun said:

So a friendless grand wizard edgeboi for whom we can assume does not have a tragic past can casually drain all magic from Equestria. Playing around with non-pones post-show is gonna be a bucking cakewalk.

 

 

 

 

P.S: Tartarus still looks lame.

 

Um, we don't actually see Tartarus in that trailer, we see the area outside of it and the door to it (and that's a good door)

[Buttonmash1973 1,026]

4 hours ago, Wholly Windcharger said:

I saw the video, and my main thought is: "so that's Spike's father?" I'm a little disappointed with his appearance, but I rather wait until the actual episode airs before giving a final verdict.

I also think the same.

[CastletonSnob 3,074]

Will the Spike dad episode be good?

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

Just now, VG_Addict said:

Will the Spike dad episode be good?

Probably.

[Iam 525]

The most important episodes for me are those ones with the character in my avatar. I hope she will appear in at least 50% of the episodes, like she did in 53% of all episodes in the first half of the season.