FiM Special: Rainbow Roadtrip

[MangoFoalix 24,898]

Fairly surprised this isn't on here, but I'll make a thread for it. A few months ago there was an hour long special planned to release this Summer. From what it looks like, it seems to it will air in the middle of Season 9 sometime in mid-June. The date that says it will premiere is June 29th, 2019.

At the moment, there isn't much known about the special but there are a few sources that at least says it exists.

EqD Story

Wikia Stuff

Synopsis: "When Twilight Sparkle and her friends arrive in Hope Hollow, they find the town and all its residents completely devoid of color – their dream vacation is starting to feel more like a nightmare! The Mane 6 will have to solve the mystery behind this washed-out world if they hope to bring the "rainbow" back to the Rainbow Festival and color back to the lives of their new friends."'

 

I have added a download link for the special.

Download link: Mega

[FlareGun45 2,221]

It's made by the same people who are gonna do G5! It's gonna be like... a trial run! See how they do with the G4 characters! 

[Kion 7,374]

I’m a little worried about this one Starlight and spike look like they’ll be absent from the special really hope that isn’t true.

[FirePuppy 627]

There's still 13 episodes left after this special.

[Megas 27,064]

51 minutes ago, FirePuppy said:

There's still 13 episodes left after this special.

I'm pretty sure he's talking about production, not air date

[MangoFoalix 24,898]

6 minutes ago, This Whomps said:

I'm pretty sure he's talking about production, not air date

No, I'm wrong. It premieres in the middle of the season instead of after.

[Rappy0 338]

On 5/7/2019 at 8:56 AM, FlareGun45 said:

It's made by the same people who are gonna do G5! It's gonna be like... a trial run! See how they do with the G4 characters! 

Is this confirmed? Or no? Because I think that Rainbow Wings Twilight commercial was from RR and the animation in that is great,

[Rushing cash 824]

https://www.facebook.com/196511640528050/posts/1164267433752461/

It was confirmed that the special is animated by boulder media, it also says the special will be 60 minutes, although it might mean the screening time and includes the ad's. 

 

[Steve Piranha 28,782]

19 hours ago, Rushing cash said:

https://www.facebook.com/196511640528050/posts/1164267433752461/

It was confirmed that the special is animated by boulder media, it also says the special will be 60 minutes, although it might mean the screening time and includes the ad's. 

 

Well, I don’t think the ads will take 20 minutes tho . Anyway, regardless, makes sense this special is longer than Best Gift Ever, considering is a salvaged scrap for the cancelled Pony Movie sequel. Well, Majora’s Mask joke time 

 

[Rushing cash 824]

2 hours ago, Steve Piranha said:

Well, I don’t think the ads will take 20 minutes tho . Anyway, regardless, makes sense this special is longer than Best Gift Ever, considering is a salvaged scrap for the cancelled Pony Movie sequel. Well, Majora’s Mask joke time 

 

It will be cool if the special was 60 minutes, but most likely it will be 44 minutes and the rest commercials. The plot in the special is probably not related to the main plot of the season and has nothing to do with grogar(it seems so at least by the synopsis) even though I wish it was somehow related.

[Rushing cash 824]

2 hours ago, Bas said:

Wait, it is in 3 days already?

No, its on june 29, a week after episode 13 aires if I am not mistaken. 

[Steve Piranha 28,782]

7 hours ago, Rushing cash said:

No, its on june 29, a week after episode 13 aires if I am not mistaken. 

DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERP . I really thought it was this week 

And I was just about to post the night of the first day 

Edited May 27, 2019 by Steve Piranha

[Rushing cash 824]

Well, it makes more sense to air it during the hiatus then between episodes. The synopsis really reminds me of the cutie map... I hope it will be different enough.  

[Steve Piranha 28,782]

5 hours ago, Rushing cash said:

Well, it makes more sense to air it during the hiatus then between episodes. The synopsis really reminds me of the cutie map... I hope it will be different enough.  

It does, I was just mistaken since I’ve finished watching the leaked remaining first half of the season, and there was nothing horse else to look forward to 

[Rushing cash 824]

2 hours ago, Steve Piranha said:

It does, I was just mistaken since I’ve finished watching the leaked remaining first half of the season, and there was nothing horse else to look forward to 

Happens to everyone, toy should have paced yourself. I'm too, really tempted to watch all the episodes that yet to air.

[Megas 27,064]

The storybook adaptation's been updated with a more final cover

Seems to re-enforce that the special will use the movie artstyle

[Steve Piranha 28,782]

17 hours ago, This Whomps said:

The storybook adaptation's been updated with a more final cover

Seems to re-enforce that the special will use the movie artstyle

Fuck yeah, ponies ain’t going away without one last show of Toon Boom horses 

[n1029 224]

Apple Books has some page previews up and yeah, looks like movie style confirmed.

 

I'll reiterate that I just hope they have a better handle on it this time. Big thing that dragged the movie down was the awful slapstick timing, like they were so self conscious about it being perceived as a girly movie that they just threw all kinds of wackiness in early on hoping some of it would stick.

[FlareGun45 2,221]

No Spike? Yeah, MAIN CHARACTER, Hasbro! You have some way of showing it!

Maybe this is a good thing if this means more roles for him season 9, since Cathy'll be more available!

[SaburoDaimando 1,196]

I was hoping that they would use the movie style for the special.  And I'm glad they're doing so.  If anything, I actually prefer the art-style over the TV show's art-style mainly because the former as an almost Disney-ish vibe to it.

[Steve Piranha 28,782]

Yep, Toon Boom Horses confirmed. Looking forward to it 

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

Oh look: another movie with fan art interpretations that are vaguely reminiscent of FIM characters.    Pass.

Spoiler

Yes, I'm deliberately being a grouchy buzzkill because I'm still extremely sour, bitter, and salty about the Toom Boom animation, which I feel looks nothing like our beloved ponies.  Quite frankly, I'm getting really sick of people saying how it's so much better because it looks like Disney.  That's exactly why I DON'T like it.  FIM has a charming style all its own--a style that is absolutely unique.  Why would I want them to ditch that just to make it look more like something else that we already have a crapton of? 

But that's more beside the point.  The real point is that I felt like it was a betrayal to change the way they look at all, regardless of whether it's better or worse.  Believe it or not, I am still genuinely upset about the animation change, as I described at great length in a blog entry on the movie.  I don't (usually) lose sleep over it or anything, but I am regularly reminded of it, and it still makes me angry.  I've never really gotten over it.

Awhile back, I watched a Dr. Wolf youtube video about the 2017 movie.  He was critical of it, but he said that one of the best things about it was the animation change, which was "a major upgrade compared to the show".  I still continue to hear this sentiment a lot, and I usually ignore it, but that time it really upset me for some reason, perhaps because I generally like Dr. Wolf and agree with him.  Or, maybe it was just the straw that broke the hippogriff's back.

I hated the animation change, but I'll try not to repeat too much of what I said in my blog here.  (If you're interested and incredibly bored, you can check out my blog.)  What I want to reiterate here is this: the thing that upset me, and still continues to upset me, more than the change itself, is the fact that I often feel like I'm the only person who hated it--the only person who felt like it was a betrayal, and that the ponies didn't really look like themselves.  I want to provide an analogy to help you understand how I feel.  It's a hypothetical question.  Now, this isn't a perfect analogy, but I think it's a very good analogy.  Before I describe it, however, I want to make a couple things very clear: firstly, I'm not judging anyone for liking the animation change.  It's perfectly fine if you like it.  It generally doesn't bother me when I think about a specific person liking it.  I don't hate someone for their opinion.  C'mon--I'm not that bad.  It's like....okay, y'know how the fandom is about 50/50 split on Slice of Life?  I reckon about half the fandom loved it, and half hated it and ripped it for being "shameless fanservice".  I'm in the camp that loved it, but I don't mind if you don't.  I don't care who doesn't like it.  I don't hate someone for not liking an episode.  That would pretty ridiculous.  But the difference is that it was a pretty equal split.  I know a lot of other people liked it.  With the Toon Boom animation, it's almost unanimously loved, and nobody seemed to notice or care that they looked so different.  Or they did notice, and loved it.  I just feel so alone, like nobody understands what why I find it upsetting, and that's what upsets me the most.  People told me things like, "Just grow the f*ck up.  Change happens.  Quit bitching."  I understand why people would say that, I but I want them to understand how I feel.

Secondly, I realize that when people ask a hypothetical question in order to prove a point like this, the person being asked the question often feels reluctant to answer honestly because they feel like it's entrapment.  Perhaps when you read the question, you'll be inclined to give whatever answer you feel will give you the upper hand, or prove me wrong, or save face.  I want to make it abundantly clear that this isn't a game or a debate that I'm trying to win.  There's no winning or losing, here.  I'm not trying to trap anyone in a "gotcha" moment, I'm not trying to prove anyone wrong or judge anyone.  It's totally, absolutely, 100% fine if you liked the change, but I just want you to understand why I didn't, and why it upsets me so much.  This isn't about trying to win an argument.  This isn't about trying to prove I'm right.  This isn't about trying to get anyone to agree with me.  This is purely an exercise in sympathy and understanding someone else's viewpoint.

Here's the question: rewind time to a few months before the movie premiered.  Suppose that the creators announced in some tweet or something that they would be replacing all of the voice actresses for the movie.  Tara, Tabitha, Ashleigh, Andrea, Cathy: all gone.  Suppose that they announced that they would be replacing the VA's with similar but distinctly different voices, perhaps some bigger, more recognizable names.  Like, for instance, maybe they'd replace Ashleigh with Reba McEntire for Applejack.  Eh...y'know, kinda similar.  Country western gal.  Suppose that they similarly replaced all the VA's.  Suppose that the movie team said that they just wanted to upgrade the cast, use some names that are big enough for the big screen in order to make it really special.  How do you think you would have felt, sitting in the theater, and hearing someone else's voice coming out the mane six's mouths?  Now....suppose that every single person in the fandom said, "LOVE the new VA's!  SOOO much better than the old ones!  Those old VA's were definitely outdated and needed an upgrade.  Who needs Tara Strong and Ashleigh Ball anymore?  Pfffft.  I hope they bring the new VA's to the show for seasons 8 and 9!!  "

How do you suppose that would make you feel?

That's how I feel every time I see Toon Boom, and how much everyone loves it.

And that's why, for me, Rainbow Roadtrip can f*ck off.

 

[bigbertha 410]

This might be fun, but it is a bit of a disappointment that this is going to be done in Toon Boom. Based on the movie, the Toon Boom animation was a lot slower than the Flash which I'm not a fan of. To be fair, the Storm King moved pretty quickly in the movie so there's a chance that the animation will be nice and snappy in the special, but I'm not sure.

[Kion 7,374]

Hopefully Starlight appears in this special.

[Dawn-Sunlight 1,228]

If Spike isn't in the special, that is going to be insanely disappointing since in the movies he tends to do really well.  @Justin_Case001: That is exactly how I feel about Sunset's hair change in the EQG shorts.  I hate that they decided to animate her hair like that, when it is clearly shown that it can be animated the old style because that's how it is in FF for the one scene where Sunset is writing to Twilight in her bedroom, and the fact that only Sunset's hair is changed.  And now they changed it again!  I honestly feel mad and a little betrayed that they're doing this and changed her hair TWICE and I don't think anyone besides me is mad about it.  I completely understand how you feel about the animation style, I do agree that there is something off about it, and the characters don't look like themselves as much, especially on the official cover, Twilight looks so weird and Spike looks off, it took me a little bit to get used to it.  People like the animation style because it. . . looks like Disney?!  That's it?