S09:E01+E02 - The Beginning of the End

[Misty Shadow 7,845]

8 minutes ago, Ganondox said:

Sure you can, you shine a light on it.

Anyway, your theorizing is completely irrelevant. The point is it’s clearly possible to take Sombra out of the picture whether he technically dies or not, it’s what the Crystal Heart did, and it’s what the second blast of harmony did, but apparently not the first. 

I was never arguing that it was impossible to take Sombra out of the picture, that's also what Celestia and Luna sealing him away for a thousand years did.  And don't forget that there was also no incentive for Sombra to try and take back the Crystal Empire again after the Heart defeated him for the first time. Before the Heart was destroyed once in The Crystalling, the Empire was perfectly protected. And don't just write off my attempt at constructive conversation here as "completely irrelevant", I'm just trying to "fill in" what I don't believe is a plothole here. If you have a better explanation, be my guest and share it.   

[Ganondox 899]

Just now, CloudMistDragon said:

I was never arguing that it was impossible to take Sombra out of the picture, that's also what Celestia and Luna sealing him away for a thousand years did.  And don't forget that there was also no incentive for Sombra to try and take back the Crystal Empire again after the Heart defeated him for the first time. Before the Heart was destroyed once in The Crystalling, the Empire was perfectly protected. And don't just write off my attempt at constructive conversation here as "completely irrelevant", I'm just trying to "fill in" what I don't believe is a plothole here. If you have a better explanation, be my guest and share it.   

Naw, you just have a biased view on Sombra. Nothing had changed about the status of Crystal Empire’s defenses since Season 3, so your reasoning makes no sense. What actually changed is the status of Sombra, note who we see Grogar ritualistically revive him before he’s teleported to Grogar’s lair. Finally, you apparently didn’t notice, but I ALREADY filled in that plot hole in the original post, while I find that your response fails to address the fundamental problem.

[ManaMinori 4,145]

I feel like the season premiers was bad. I don’t care for Chryssi or Sombra’s voices. The plot was weak. Spike got shafted again- he has always been the one to get Twi out of Twi Mode, but I groaned when he went to Starlight. all of the Mane 6 were horrible, just for losing sight of the fact that they’ve kicked butt before without help. Also. Shining and Cadance didn’t even try! What about their shield spells they kept up for days? 
Horrible. If this is the best the writers have, then....

[oregon 170]

Just finished the episode, and... it was fine. It resolved the way I expected it to, but I liked it. Some people are saying this is the best or one of the best premiers, but I don’t think it is. It felt a bit same-y, not really doing much unique besides retiring the princesses and handing up some villains, which we didn’t get to see much of and were mostly set up. But I liked a lot of the lines, interactions between the characters, and little moments.

Overall, I’m really looking forward to this next season, and this premier did what it needed to do.

[ManaMinori 4,145]

Just now, oregon said:

Just finished the episode, and... it was fine. It resolved the way I expected it to, but I liked it. Some people are saying this is the best or one of the best premiers, but I don’t think it is. It felt a bit same-y, not really doing much unique besides retiring the princesses and handing up some villains, which we didn’t get to see much of and were mostly set up. But I liked a lot of the lines, interactions between the characters, and little moments.

Overall, I’m really looking forward to this next season, and this premier did what it needed to do.

I called the fake out from the beginning. I knew it would be Sending Starlight away levels of troll all over again 

[oregon 170]

10 minutes ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

I feel like the season premiers was bad. I don’t care for Chryssi or Sombra’s voices. The plot was weak. Spike got shafted again- he has always been the one to get Twi out of Twi Mode, but I groaned when he went to Starlight. all of the Mane 6 were horrible, just for losing sight of the fact that they’ve kicked butt before without help. Also. Shining and Cadance didn’t even try! What about their shield spells they kept up for days? 
Horrible. If this is the best the writers have, then....

It was implied that if they fought him they wouldn’t succeed, and then he’d do something worse to Flurry. That’s why when Cadence was about to attack him, Shining stopped her.

This episode did give me a sense of going through the motions, but I can’t hate it. Maybe I’m being too easy on it, but it felt like set up, so maybe we’ll get something better later.

Edited April 7, 2019 by oregon
Typo

[Misty Shadow 7,845]

1 minute ago, Ganondox said:

Naw, you just have a biased view on Sombra. Nothing had changed about the status of Crystal Empire’s defenses since Season 3, so your reasoning makes no sense. What actually changed is the status of Sombra, note who we see Grogar ritualistically revive him before he’s teleported to Grogar’s lair. Finally, you apparently didn’t notice, but I ALREADY filled in that plot hole in the original post, while I find that your response fails to address the fundamental problem.

Chill out dude, don't throw around accusations or get emotional over this, it's just an episode of a TV show. I did notice that, I was just offering my take, what I felt was a much simpler explanation. I don't mind a friendly debate, but I'm starting to detect hostility here, so let's agree to disagree. 

[Jeric 46,850]

5 minutes ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

don’t care for Chryssi

It is still the same voice actress, right? What changed?

6 minutes ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

Spike got shafted again

He was part of the offense against Sombra in the Crystal Empire, a critical one in fact. 

7 minutes ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

he has always been the one to get Twi out of Twi Mode, but I groaned when he went to Starlight.

It hasn't always been Spike though. School Daze it was also Starlight. 

 

9 minutes ago, Ganondox said:

Naw, you just have a biased view on Sombra. Nothing had changed about the status of Crystal Empire’s defenses since Season 3, so your reasoning makes no sense. What actually changed is the status of Sombra, note who we see Grogar ritualistically revive him before he’s teleported to Grogar’s lair. Finally, you apparently didn’t notice, but I ALREADY filled in that plot hole in the original post, while I find that your response fails to address the fundamental problem.

Stop now please. You know what you are doing. Be respectful. 

[Fluttershutter 2,412]

9 hours ago, Myung said:

Unpopular I guess (?) but I wasn't really a fan of this premiere.

• The pacing just felt completely off throughout both parts and I disliked the way the Mane 6 suddenly lost their intelligence and their powers where the plot suited it.
• Twilight suddenly remembers how to teleport to get into the castle but couldn't do that multiple times before.
• The other villains had no screentime at all after their first appearance and the end of the episode. The princesses retiring came out of the blue.
• The lesson about "having the elements within" is rehashed and has been covered multiple times. Just in the season 1 premiere in fact, Nightmare Moon destroys the elements but the Mane 6 realise the power is within them and defeat her.

Probably my least favourite premiere but maybe it just needs a rewatch.

Yeah, I agree. There were problems with it and it definitely wasn't my favorite but still a fun battle. 

We'll be seeing the rest of the villains through the season I'm sure.

Cozy glow is still too darn cute to be a convincing villain to me. 

[bwrosas 252]

#bronies #brony #pegasister #pegasisters #MYLITTLEPONY_FRIENDSHIPISMAGIC #MYLITTLEPONYFRIENDSHIPISMAGIC #theriftcafe

[oregon 170]

Just now, bwrosas said:

#bronies #brony #pegasister #pegasisters #MYLITTLEPONY_FRIENDSHIPISMAGIC #MYLITTLEPONYFRIENDSHIPISMAGIC #theriftcafe

The best way to get the viewer’s attention is to just jump right into it. It takes you thirty seconds to mention season 9.

[bwrosas 252]

Guess on who maybe next on the villain chop block 

Spoiler

Tirek will be next to go.

 

[oregon 170]

2 minutes ago, bwrosas said:

Guess on who maybe next on the villain chop block 

  Hide contents

Tirek will be next to go.

 

I want Grogar to go too. Not only would it be an interesting twist, but it’ll give an old villain a chance to shine as the final villain. 

 

ohhh. He is an old villain. Technically.

[FearTheBelle 55]

That was great. Cozy and Tirek are so gonna be legit friends before this is over. Not sure about Chrysalis. Sombra fell prey too that all too common villain trap of overconfidence and too much ambition.

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

8 minutes ago, FearTheBelle said:

That was great. Cozy and Tirek are so gonna be legit friends before this is over. Not sure about Chrysalis. Sombra fell prey too that all too common villain trap of overconfidence and too much ambition.

Yeah, he should have taken and fortified the Crystal Empire before marching on Cantelot.

[Jeric 46,850]

9 minutes ago, FearTheBelle said:

That was great. Cozy and Tirek are so gonna be legit friends before this is over. Not sure about Chrysalis. Sombra fell prey too that all too common villain trap of overconfidence and too much ambition.

Yeah, I expect the Tirek and Cozy friendship will have a specific impact toward the conclusion to the arc in a way that may actually give them a slight redemptive moment. Would be interesting if through villainy they become true friends and that puts them at odds with Grogar at some point. Chrissy is definitely the wild card tho, but I’m sticking to her redemption being tied to Thorax 

2 minutes ago, RyanMahaffe said:

Yeah, he should have taken and fortified the Crystal Empire before marching on Cantelot.

It warms my heart to see a Grogar avatar on this site! Yay. 

[RDDash 19,163]

Well of course it's Twilight Sparkle who is going to save the day not only for Cadence but for everypony else. Cadence didn't even tried to resist when King Sombra came right in.

My main gripe is that bad guy has a perfect opportunity to get rid of the heroes for all eternity but he just leaves them be, overconfidence much.

Like make the example out of them or kill them or something. It's like he wanted to be defeated.

[oregon 170]

Spike v Grogar FORSHADOWING?

[Ganondox 899]

Just now, R.D.Dash said:

Well of course it's Twilight Sparkle who is going to save the day not only for Cadence but for everypony else. Cadence didn't even tried to resist when King Sombra came right in.

My main gripe is that bad guy has a perfect opportunity to get rid of the heroes for all eternity but he just leaves them be, overconfidence much.

Like make the example out of them or kill them or something. It's like he wanted to be defeated.

One thing I suspect is that his mind control might not work on alicorns, that would explain why he didn’t use it on Cadence or Twilight, or the people he imprisoned them with. 

[oregon 170]

It’d be nice to see Spike get involved for once, anyways.

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

8 minutes ago, Jeric said:

Yeah, I expect the Tirek and Cozy friendship will have a specific impact toward the conclusion to the arc in a way that may actually give them a slight redemptive moment. Would be interesting if through villainy they become true friends and that puts them at odds with Grogar at some point. Chrissy is definitely the wild card tho, but I’m sticking to her redemption being tied to Thorax 

It warms my heart to see a Grogar avatar on this site! Yay. 

I have been wanting him for years
So yeah, first chance I took it.

[oregon 170]

Just now, Ganondox said:

One thing I suspect is that his mind control might not work on alicorns, that would explain why he didn’t use it on Cadence or Twilight, or the people he imprisoned them with. 

That makes sense. Though I figured he’d use it on the other five. Idk. Maybe he wanted to save them for something. Or maybe it’s just a weird plot point.

I try not to think about this kind of thing too much.

[ManaMinori 4,145]

It bug me that Chrysalis asked what PONY was powerful enough to summon them. Why’s it gotta be a pony that first crossed her mind? Especially given their villain nature and non pony species. 

Edited April 7, 2019 by Nightmare Muffin

[bwrosas 252]

It's nice to see Celestia and Luna admit they may have rush things with placing Twilight in charge. I have a feeling they will play a MAJOR Part later on in this final season.

[Ganondox 899]

9 minutes ago, oregon said:

That makes sense. Though I figured he’d use it on the other five. Idk. Maybe he wanted to save them for something. Or maybe it’s just a weird plot point.

I try not to think about this kind of thing too much.

I figure the issue is that the alicorn could then just free the rest, but then he could just separate them...