S08:E25+26 - School Raze

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,543]

I really dug the Season finale and can't wait to hear the English dubbing, that's when I'll give my full thoughts. Until then, I'll give the finale an 8.5 out of 10.

[MystMane 6]

So did the tree save the school or what?

[Fractured 2,683]

Somewhat of a review/ rant coming. All spoilers: 

Spoiler

Kind of want to do a funny preface, but all I can say is... what?

Good things- The new Six working together. They didn't get anything terribly major in these two episodes, but i've actually come to enjoy their dynamic together. Not perfect, but with only one season of build-up they're solid enough that having them be the main characters was engaging.

They finally found an organic way to make the princesses useless. This may seem like a small thing, but every single season finale and opener with a major antagonist has seen them be handed the idiot ball in terms of either sheer stupidity or just being handicapped. I'm glad they went this direction for once.

-Starlight didn't become an alicorn. I was worried at the end for a second, but thankfully we dodged that bullet. Enough said.

Now onto the bad.

-It's been said here already, but everything to do with Tartarus is just tragic. For a place that's been hyped up to be a holding place for the world's most dangerous magical entities in the entirety of Equestria, seeing it's reveal be a tiny cave holding cell with a half-dozen piddling magical creatures and Tirek is disheartening. The entire place is hardly any bigger than celestia's throne room; I know it would've been hard for Tartarus to live up to the expectations placed on it, but that's why some things should remain expectations. Especially if you know you can't keep to it.

-Underwhelming/useless/pointless characters: Tirek, The M6, and the CMC. Weird to say especially for a season finale, but the entire subplot of the M6 amounted to nothing more than frustrated looks aimed at cozy Glow at the end of 26. Tirek talking about how him and cozy were pen pals was interesting, but their relationship wasn't elaborated on anymore than that and also didn't go anywhere. The CMC got duped and ended up in a literal closet for their run time in the episode. The combined spent between all of these different characters was about half of the entire finale's run time, so... yeah.

-Everything to do with the artifacts and the Tree of Harmony being left open. How they (artifacts) can be used in order to drain the magic from Equestria, how the new Six managed to interact with them, why the tree (which is apparently sentient) didn't do anything whatsoever in order to stop this process. Where the magic was even going- pick a question, and it's generally sure to go unfulfilled. None of this was hinted at beforehand or explained afterward, so a good chunk of the plot hinging on this is sort of a problem.

-Neighsay's "redemption." Not nearly as bad as some of the other characters in the past. This might just be a personal thing at this point, but the lack of depth to commitment of ideals of villains in this series is both disheartening and grating. We see villains with strong commitments to their goals and strong reasons for believing in those ideals all of the time- NMM was driven by jealousy on being given the cold shoulder by the entire world in favor of her sister. Discord was driven by vegeeance at being despised by everyone and a general desire for making the star pupil of Celestia suffer. Starlight was... underwhelming, but her commitment to her own ideals was almost enough to tear the world asunder on two separate occasions. Neighsay was driven by a belief that the beings that lay outside of Equestria's boundaries were genuinely dangerous to the security of Equestria. Something he's presumably held onto a long time, to the point he would risk potential war and replacing the seat of a school official/ well-known public figure/ Princess of Equestria without permission. Yet at the end, he 180's completely on his ideals and his values. Is being saved from a situation by a group of non-pony children enough to be a believable shifting point for his character? It honestly could go either way (i'm personally standing on "no"), so i'll let everybody else decide.

-Cozy Glow.

Oh how I love Cozy Glow.

Another personal thing, but I have a love for villains who are just so absolutely over the top and all out bonkers. Crazy Glow is everything I want in a villain- She's intelligent. She's insane. She's self-aware. She's commited to her own ideals. She's insane. Without an ounce of genuine power in a series that is jammed full of world ending threats and magical monsters, her competency, ruthlessness, and understanding of just how deluded she is makes her a bigger threat than all of them. I'll probably be within the small division when I say this, but I truly believe Crazy Glow is one of the best villains in the series both from an internal and external perspective.

...

I stop and ask myself how we got ourselves here, though, and I arrive at a blank. Crazy Glow was touted up to be "a villain" since as far back as her first appearance (in one of the most subtle ways to still leave people enough to pick up on without spelling it out), yet we get... a power mad foal with a single-minded dedication to garnering friendship because she believes she can use it as a weapon? This would be the perfect time to explain exactly how that came about, but unfortunately the episode gives us absolutely nothing about her. While thematically that serves to make her all the more terrifying, the disjunct between her goal (to be the dark lord of friendship), her commitment to getting it (balls to the wall all-or-nothing), and her underlying reasons for doing so (potatoes) just leaves her unfulfilled as a character. Probably a "good" decision since I doubt the writer's have anything on their part that could legitimize her actions logistically, though it leaves her feeling shallow as a character. Considering she's the major crux of this episode, that's an issue that can't really be put aside. She's great in terms of character. She's great in terms of how she interacts with others. She's great in terms of presence, and how much driving point she provides the plot. She's an absolute joy to watch. Flubs at being even remotely believable.

 

Want to give this season finale a high mark, purely for how entertaining its main villain was. As a whole examination, though, it's very lacking. The subplots don't go anywhere, the reveal of Tartarus is tragic. Stuff just happens without any explanation, and the main villain is amazing, but thoroughly shallow. I don't know what to do with this.

 

 

[Senko 459]

11 minutes ago, Fractured said:

Somewhat of a review/ rant coming. All spoilers: 

  Hide contents

 

Kind of want to do a funny preface, but all I can say is... what?

Good things- The new Six working together. They didn't get anything terribly major in these two episodes, but i've actually come to enjoy their dynamic together. Not perfect, but with only one season of build-up they're solid enough that having them be the main characters was engaging.

They finally found an organic way to make the princesses useless. This may seem like a small thing, but every single season finale and opener with a major antagonist has seen them be handed the idiot ball in terms of either sheer stupidity or just being handicapped. I'm glad they went this direction for once.

-Starlight didn't become an alicorn. I was worried at the end for a second, but thankfully we dodged that bullet. Enough said.

Now onto the bad.

-It's been said here already, but everything to do with Tartarus is just tragic. For a place that's been hyped up to be a holding place for the world's most dangerous magical entities in the entirety of Equestria, seeing it's reveal be a tiny cave holding cell with a half-dozen piddling magical creatures and Tirek is disheartening. The entire place is hardly any bigger than celestia's throne room; I know it would've been hard for Tartarus to live up to the expectations placed on it, but that's why some things should remain expectations. Especially if you know you can't keep to it.

-Underwhelming/useless/pointless characters: Tirek, The M6, and the CMC. Weird to say especially for a season finale, but the entire subplot of the M6 amounted to nothing more than frustrated looks aimed at cozy Glow at the end of 26. Tirek talking about how him and cozy were pen pals was interesting, but their relationship wasn't elaborated on anymore than that and also didn't go anywhere. The CMC got duped and ended up in a literal closet for their run time in the episode. The combined spent between all of these different characters was about half of the entire finale's run time, so... yeah.

-Everything to do with the artifacts and the Tree of Harmony being left open. How they (artifacts) can be used in order to drain the magic from Equestria, how the new Six managed to interact with them, why the tree (which is apparently sentient) didn't do anything whatsoever in order to stop this process. Where the magic was even going- pick a question, and it's generally sure to go unfulfilled. None of this was hinted at beforehand or explained afterward, so a good chunk of the plot hinging on this is sort of a problem.

-Neighsay's "redemption." Not nearly as bad as some of the other characters in the past. This might just be a personal thing at this point, but the lack of depth to commitment of ideals of villains in this series is both disheartening and grating. We see villains with strong commitments to their goals and strong reasons for believing in those ideals all of the time- NMM was driven by jealousy on being given the cold shoulder by the entire world in favor of her sister. Discord was driven by vegeeance at being despised by everyone and a general desire for making the star pupil of Celestia suffer. Starlight was... underwhelming, but her commitment to her own ideals was almost enough to tear the world asunder on two separate occasions. Neighsay was driven by a belief that the beings that lay outside of Equestria's boundaries were genuinely dangerous to the security of Equestria. Something he's presumably held onto a long time, to the point he would risk potential war and replacing the seat of a school official/ well-known public figure/ Princess of Equestria without permission. Yet at the end, he 180's completely on his ideals and his values. Is being saved from a situation by a group of non-pony children enough to be a believable shifting point for his character? It honestly could go either way (i'm personally standing on "no"), so i'll let everybody else decide.

-Cozy Glow.

Oh how I love Cozy Glow.

Another personal thing, but I have a love for villains who are just so absolutely over the top and all out bonkers. Crazy Glow is everything I want in a villain- She's intelligent. She's insane. She's self-aware. She's commited to her own ideals. She's insane. Without an ounce of genuine power in a series that is jammed full of world ending threats and magical monsters, her competency, ruthlessness, and understanding of just how deluded she is makes her a bigger threat than all of them. I'll probably be within the small division when I say this, but I truly believe Crazy Glow is one of the best villains in the series both from an internal and external perspective.

...

I stop and ask myself how we got ourselves here, though, and I arrive at a blank. Crazy Glow was touted up to be "a villain" since as far back as her first appearance (in one of the most subtle ways to still leave people enough to pick up on without spelling it out), yet we get... a power mad foal with a single-minded dedication to garnering friendship because she believes she can use it as a weapon? This would be the perfect time to explain exactly how that came about, but unfortunately the episode gives us absolutely nothing about her. While thematically that serves to make her all the more terrifying, the disjunct between her goal (to be the dark lord of friendship), her commitment to getting it (balls to the wall all-or-nothing), and her underlying reasons for doing so (potatoes) just leaves her unfulfilled as a character. Probably a "good" decision since I doubt the writer's have anything on their part that could legitimize her actions logistically, though it leaves her feeling shallow as a character. Considering she's the major crux of this episode, that's an issue that can't really be put aside. She's great in terms of character. She's great in terms of how she interacts with others. She's great in terms of presence, and how much driving point she provides the plot. She's an absolute joy to watch. Flubs at being even remotely believable.

 

Want to give this season finale a high mark, purely for how entertaining its main villain was. As a whole examination, though, it's very lacking. The subplots don't go anywhere, the reveal of Tartarus is tragic. Stuff just happens without any explanation, and the main villain is amazing, but thoroughly shallow. I don't know what to do with this.

 

 

Spoiler

I'd also like to add the question of how this foal got close enough to Twilight that she was essentaily acting as a personal secretary without ANYONE figuring how insane she actually is. Brilliant sociopath or no she's still a child and their throwing in enough hints for us as an audience to figure out there's something off about her should mean other ponies interacting with her for massive amounts of the day should have picked up on somehting.

 

[Fractured 2,683]

8 hours ago, Senko said:

  Hide contents

I'd also like to add the question of how this foal got close enough to Twilight that she was essentaily acting as a personal secretary without ANYONE figuring how insane she actually is. Brilliant sociopath or no she's still a child and their throwing in enough hints for us as an audience to figure out there's something off about her should mean other ponies interacting with her for massive amounts of the day should have picked up on somehting.

 

Spoiler

She's not depicted as an "ordinary child," so I don't consider her as one. She was self-aware enough to actively plan all of the season finale's schemes from top to bottom (including on the hoof planning when it came to getting rid of counselor Neighsay and everything that happened in 26), and also smart enough to play the long game when it came to fooling the crusaders, the new Six, all of the students, and even Twilight. I have no doubts she was able to keep herself conspicuous the entire time.

 

[PacificGreen 1,163]

Just watched the dubbed Swedish version, and...well, let's just say I was blown away.

I may not have liked the way Neighsay was handled this season, and I'm still not sold on the whole school of friendship concept, but this finale was still really well plotted

And we got to see a bunch of characters help out in the action. Neighsay getting "reformed" in a way was also kinda sweet. Plus who would've thought Cozy could be so manipulative?

[Steve Piranha 28,778]

Oh, me forgets today is the first part of season finale in Australia 

[Twilight Luna 30,940]

I’ve been seeing clips of the finale popping up on YouTube. The finally has already ruined by some members but I was glad that my suspicions about a certain character were confirmed. 

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

A quick announcement: Orangebirds (who streamed previous Australian premieres) won't stream Part 1. They're recording it and will hopefully not screw up.

Edited September 7, 2018 by Dark Qiviut

[cuteycindyhoney 13,283]

On 8/15/2018 at 3:51 PM, Dark Qiviut said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Part 1: Nicole Dubuc
Part 2: Josh Haber

1.   Reveal hidden contents

   When the magic of Equestria mysteriously begins to fail, Twilight leads her friends on a quest for answers, leaving the School of Friendship open to attack from a dangerous mastermind.

2.   Reveal hidden contents

   While Twilight and the rest of the Mane Six try to escape Tartarus, Cozy Glow furthers her plot to take over the School of Friendship with only Twilight's students and the CMC's to stop her!

@Jeric

 

1. Part 1:
     Hide contents

   https://sendvid.com/0a0jncm4

2. Part 2:

     Hide contents

   https://sendvid.com/cqmfvkcx

    

You should mark those video links more clearly. They're the Swedish language release. They are not in English.

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

1 hour ago, cuteycindyhoney said:

You should mark those video links more clearly. They're the Swedish language release. They are not in English.

Until today, the fansub was all we got. The Aussie release today is the first time we'll (hopefully*) see it released in English. Nonetheless, I relabeled it for better clarity.

*No stream tonight; Orangebirds is asleep. Hopefully, their recording will be up in a few hours.

Edited September 7, 2018 by Dark Qiviut

[cuteycindyhoney 13,283]

16 minutes ago, Dark Qiviut said:

Until today, the fansub was all we got. The Aussie release today is the first time we'll (hopefully*) see it released in English. Nonetheless, I relabeled it for better clarity.

*No stream tonight; Orangebirds is asleep. Hopefully, their recording will be up in a few hours.

I didn't notice they weren't in English until after I downloaded them both. (Love my firefox downloader add on!) Oh well. Very good quality though.

 

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

Spoiler

Cozy Glow is one of the best things about this season. This finale should be named Cozy Glowed.

 

[RaphLuna 305]

 

can this show get any Tackier... I mean Come on A Pushy young Filly Pegasus outsmarts them all.. and they are far to clueless to see it.,

Lame... the Show whent from Awesome, To Building Up Steam, to going of the track, and into a crash.

you can tell by the laziness they are Shoving this show out the door..

by the ending looks like the students 6 got more studies crammed on them again..

even when Chrylisis got involved that episode was Tacky as Hell.. they make the evil villans look very weak And so easy to defeat them or foil their plans so easy.

Hasbro can really make great shows way better than this slop, had they not fire the real creative writers, and replace them  for tacky Lazy Writers. 

However they own MLP Franchise, and Know how to play loyal fans to their advantage, as long as we follow their brand like loyal Zobbies Buying the Merch from the shows..

they will sink so low to make G4 so tacky just so they can Justify a G5 Reboot,and you bet Hasbro is licking their chops seeing your wallet, as you as loyal Pony Fans Line up in the masses to Buy their Merch tagged to the G5 Reboot Brand..

sad.. they can make G4 an Amazing Show, however they care more about Merch sales than TV Shows.

[Truffles 2,033]

I'm skipping reading everyone's comments for now. I can't tell how much of those spoilers are for just Part 1 or also include Part 2.  I'll just wait till after I've seen the whole thing.

One thing I will say is this bit of world-building regarding Spike:
 

Spoiler

 

We finally have some answers in regards to how his message-sending ability works:

So I always wondered if that magic is something that was attached to him, or instead whether it was the scrolls which were enchanted to teleport when exposed to dragon fire.

The answer is now clear: It's a magical ability Spike has.

The reason this is now established is due to Starswirl's notes about the order in which magic would fade from the world, and magical objects would be the last phase of magic disappearing forever.

Therefore, since Spike was already having trouble receiving the scroll from Celestia vs. the unlocking gem they used to get into Tartarus - which worked without issue - it means the ability to do that is bound to him and not the scrolls.

Other questions still remain, like whether it's a natural dragon ability or if it's due to something Celestia did to him. (I say the latter, but that's just a hunch.)

 

Anyway interesting stuff.

 

Also, Smolder gets bonus points again:

Spoiler

She wins the betting pool for the first character to be suspicious of Cozy. Sometimes being a cynical dragon is an asset, I guess.

And that just reinforces my decision that she's my favorite Student 6.

 

Also, who would have guessed:

Spoiler

"A Matter of Principals" would actually figure in a minor way as part of the buildup to the finale with Cozy Glow bringing up the shenanigans with Discord as an excuse?

Speaking of her:

 

 

Finally, F you-know-who.     Poor Starlight.

Edited September 8, 2018 by Truffles
Add'tl thoughts

[darkwingmare 1,296]

On 8/15/2018 at 10:23 PM, Buttonmash1973 said:

Our neighbour country Sweden is so lucky to have the season 8 finale early at the end of this month.

Even if we get the episodes early, I seldom watch them since I want to watch it in English anyway. XD Our dub is pretty bad. 

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,543]

5 hours ago, darkwingmare said:

Even if we get the episodes early, I seldom watch them since I want to watch it in English anyway. XD Our dub is pretty bad. 

I actually muted it and just read the subtitles when i watched it last week.

[Maslovitz 122]

 

The first part was so mental I didn't even make any notes. Like holy shit, how is Equestria ever gonna get revived from that stuff? We have

two, no, wait, three villains counting Tirek, M6 are trapped, so is Starlight, magic is gone, dude

PART 2:

Yona still believing in Sandbar was wholesome, legit expected nobody to believe in him anymore
Cozy is an insane character, like what's this kid's background, she seems more evil and insane than most of MLP anthagonists
Artefacts = Magic, huh, didn't exactly see that coming *Neighsay opens a portal to hell*
Neighsay's good now, did see it coming to be honest and I'm glad it happenned
Seven! (the Spike quote) 
Gallus, ye an egghead
That's some top tier Cozy propaganda Starlight would be proud 
Oh, so all these Tartarus creatures just got tranformed int... LMAO, TIREK JUST GOT HIT
These horse student almost realised something's wrong with The Headmare, oh well
WOAH, WOAH, WOAH, THE TREE IS BACK AT IT AGAIN, BOIS
You're going to jail, kid
A serious note now, they honestly should have graduated at some point imo, would totally be deserved
 

AND THAT CLIFFHANGER, WE'RE ONTO A FIRE SEASON 9 PREMIERE

_

 

Aaalright, that was a great season! Weak first half imo, the second half totally made it better, maybe even my fav one so far! The slice of life episodes were genuinely fun, the adventure ones were cool, some nice songs, the Young Six are great, the school idea was actually great, we had some plot throughout the season, leading us to the finale, which was top notch; nothing I can complain about, totally glad I started watching the show again in July <3

Edited September 8, 2018 by Buttaflight

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,671]

Cozy, oh Cozy. You turned out to be more cunning than I thought. You did pretty good as a villain. You used that silver tongue of yours quite well. Unlike other villains, you felt quite real, though more so had you been a teenager at the very least. Why? Because people like you do exist. I know, of course, because I had the misfortune to have known someone just like you. Sure, he may not be at the same level of delusion as you so he had less ambitious goal but your methods and your competence really cut through bone. Delicate things like skin, muscle and tendon can hardly impede such sharp wits, let alone the arteries and capillaries that bring life to our flesh. I say this as someone who not only accepts but even celebrates some of the grotesque manifestations humanity and the world they inhabits have to offer. But by forcing me to relive such a turbulent part of my life, you've shown me what a hypocrite I am. Why should I revel in the monstrous display that is humanity and life itself but shake in my boots whenever it breathes down my neck, my flesh? You've shown me now that I must celebrate my own misfortune if I am to revel in others. After all, I would be a fool to think that I can hide from its clutches as I watch it devour all else. I will get my turn and I shall welcome it with open arms. For every misfortune I assimilate in my being, I will grow stronger so long as I breathe.

That was cathartic. I needed that. 

I'll have to watch this finale one more time and hopefully my mind won't go to places it shouldn't.

Have a nice day.

[Buttonmash1973 1,024]

20 hours ago, Lambdadelta said:

  Hide contents

Cozy Glow is one of the best things about this season. This finale should be named Cozy Glowed.

 

I also think she was the best thing about this season.

[BastementSparkle 20,312]

Can I just say how utterly terrifying and competent a villain Cozy Glow is? She literally only lost because of one simple, tiny little miscalculation in assuming that the Tree of Harmony would be disabled by the magic being drained, if it weren't for her assumption being wrong, she would have won. She had the Mane Six and Spike trapped in Tartarus, Starlight stuck in the draining spell, was easily turning all the students of the school against any potential threats like Neighsay or the Student Six. Forget the magic sucking Centaur, Shape-shifting Queen or reality warping Spirit of Chaos, that cute little Pegasus filly is the scariest thing in Equestria.

 Some people might say it's a little silly that she did all this as a filly, but I think that just makes her even more frightening. Think about it, if she can come up with all this as just a little filly...What could an even more mature and intelligent adult Cozy have done?

Anyway, I really liked the finale. Cozy was a surprisingly great villain, lot's of characters got plenty of screen time to shine (I think this was actually the first time the CMC have played a role in a two-parter, even if it was a small one.) and the return of Tirek was pretty cool, lot's of little funny jokes and moments as well. Based off that ending scene, I think we've got plenty to look forward to next season as well!

Edited September 9, 2018 by BasementSparkle

[Truffles 2,033]

That may be the best finale yet. So complex. And like last season, so many characters juggled. And somehow I have this feeling that this finale lacks a finality which just makes it all the more intriguing to take in. More later.

[Ganondox 899]

On 8/29/2018 at 8:03 PM, twichlove said:

I don't know how to say this, but i was disappointed about it atleast at first glance.

Just going to say one of the reasons i disliked this season finale and rank it as one of the worst ones of the show.

  Hide contents

Starlight Glimmer- Brainwashed a town against their will, stole cutie marks of everypony there, has magic that can rival twilicorn, has the ability to manipulate time and almost destroyed equestria, torturing the ponies of alternate universes.

Cozy Glow- Some kid who feels autistic (Not the insult.), and manipulative sure, but she also has no horn, and didn't have nearly as horrifying a plan as starlight, and just plainly didn't understand friendship to the point where it begins to be portrayed as insanity. 

Starlight: Reformed with no punishment and instead becomes the Princess of Friendship's pupil.

Cozy Glow: Blasted by magic with multiple visible wounds and scars. Send to hell for her crimes, locked in a small cage, WITHOUT magic may i add.

But oh let's let the much older time traveling broken unicorn, God of Chaos, Changeling Queen, Pony of Shadows and Nightmare moon go free with little to no punishment.

Sure, Discord was stoned for ages, but i'm pretty sure he wasn't conscious, and was freed instantly and trusted after reverting a disaster of his own doing.

Sure, pony of shadows and Nightmare Moon were manipulated, but both were controlled due to their own envy/hate.

Fun fact: Stygion transforms into the Pony of Shadows and turns to the dark side due to betrayal by friend, then proceeds to betray the Shadow who "Helped him when no pony would".

Edit: Oh god, the way the show passes on her literally being sent to hell as a joke, eugh.

Ps: Favorite part of the episode: Tirek gets hit in the face by his magic returning.

Many other problems i have with this episode, but this one was one of the most transparent.

 

While I disagree with pretty much everything you said, the one thing I’m going to comment on is your claim that Cozy Glow feels autistic. I have no idea how you could come to that conclusion, she’s about as far from autistic as you can get as it would be nigh impossible for someone with autism to manipulate crowds like she did. Her problem is not that she doesn’t understand friendship (yes, I know what Twilight said, but context), she had them all fooled, it’s that she’s freaking evil. There is nothing autistic about that. 

Edited September 9, 2018 by Ganondox

[Vlazamal 338]

On 9/1/2018 at 8:32 PM, chronos911 said:

 

  Hide contents

Also Cozy Glow as a villain was just kind of weak and her motivations made no sense.

 

1

Spoiler

Well honestly, "I want power" is the most realistic motivation for doing evil there can actually be. Its why most real-world "villains" of that caliber exist, not because they had a bad childhood.

 

 

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

A little announcement: New polls are added: the main poll and three secondary polls! (Excuse the numbering; deleted a poll as I was making it.)