S09:E26 - The Last Problem

[HereComesTom 2,267]

4 hours ago, BastementSparkle said:

It's a headcanon I think works and explains their actions in a way that isn't romantic. I have no problem if somebody likes the ship and wants to take their interactions in this episode in the shippy direction, but I don't really like the couple at all, so I like this better.

I think they'll leave it open to interpretation.  There's more than one possible explanation; them opening up a side-business together would explain their lines, too (Dashie's crazy for cider, after all!)

[Spidey10 846]

On 10/13/2019 at 5:03 PM, KH7672 said:

Woah now don't go talking crazy here. I mean sure the send off was nice, but absolutely nothing can beat the Mystery Shack mech showdown, and the sacrifice of Stan, plus the absolute heartfelt moments between the twins finally ready to grow up. And yeah the finale song was good, but nothing can beat that bus ride montage of characters transitioning into the credits with the instrumental song that screams a perfect end to summer. Sorry but for the 2010's GF absolutely still has the best cartoon finale.

Ehem  Apologies I think I may have over-reacted there. Carry on with your opinion.

I would argue that MLP's finale beats Gravity Falls's as well actually. I love season 1 of Gravity Falls and the first half of season 2, but after A Tale Of Two Stans (Fantastic episode), things felt pretty rushed. I know Hirsch planned for the show to be 3 seasons, but turned season 3 into the second half of season 2. It didn't feel like we naturally reached the endgame in GF IMO. But with MLP, I think we did.

[Thrond 3,263]

9 hours ago, Senko said:

unlike Applejack and Rarity.

Yeah no that would be just as out of left field. 

[doomie-22 19]

Well, here it is. The big finale shitshow, possibly the worst thing to come out of this entire horse franchise this side of "Newborn Cuties." So, let me get this straight. They just time skip, what, 60 years? Everypony we know and love is getting old and dying, except Twilight, who becomes a big alicorn, and Spike, who becomes a buff anthro dragon. The best part about the entire thing is they give the Mane Six (except for Twilight) these single stroke lines under their eyes for eyebags and rougher, uglier manes to show that they got older, but characters like Twilight Velvet or Mayor Mare all literally look the same as before. Apparently Celestia and Luna fucked off as planned, so Twilight's stuck running the country with Spike as her assistant for the foreseeable future. She gets to be all alone with no close friends or family (except Spike), just like Celestia was for 1000 years. Happy ending! That's just terrible. Twilight's student Luster Dawn specifically wonders why making friends is important if friends will inevitably drift apart, and Twilight assures her that her friends have stayed with her this whole time, even when their lives are in faraway cities. Yet . . . what happens when Twilight is asked the same thing 100 years later? Have fun sleeping tonight. With that disturbing thought bobbing around in my head all night, I am amazed I got to sleep that night.

Regardless of what side of the fence you were on when "Magical Mystery Cure" aired, the vast majority of the fandom agreed that Twilight Sparkle becoming immortal should not be allowed to happen. It got to the point that Meghan Mccarthy had to go on record declaring that Twilight was not immortal. I don't mind the idea that Twilight would outlive her friends, but more for the fact that this episode is basically the writers going back on their word at the worst possible time. it contradicts what the wrtiters had promised us, that being that Twilight would not outlive her friends. I remember them saying this and I felt good about it. It let me accept Alicorn Twilight. But of course they lied. Either they forgot about their promise, or they didn't care. Or more likely Meghan McCarthy forgot she even said this to begin with. And if there are any hardliners out there with the audacity to defend this by saying they were fickle enough to simply "change their minds", it would have been wiser if the showrunners remained silent on the issue to keep the situation ambiguous. Better to stay silent than to make promises you cannot keep. I mean, be honest: did anyone want to see their heroes old and looking like they're on their way to their deathbed as the series finale?Seriously, the only shows I've ever seen pull that off were ones that did it as a joke.

A thing to appreciate is ending on a book closing (a reference to the very first episode). That is literally the only nice thing I can say about this episode. The more I've thought about this episode, the worse it has become. This episode is an abomination and cements so many things that so many fans, detractors, and hardliners alike did not want to see happen. Its story amounts to future Twilight telling her student about her coronation disaster (think a watered down "Best Night Ever", without the good pacing or humor.) It ends with the student learning all about friendship, with a lulling song that tries to evoke emotion, but does not. For as awful as "Magical Mystery Cure" was, it at least evokes feelings. "The Last Problem" only evokes bleh, and that's the perfect way to describe this episode: it Just feels like one big bleh. There's so much superficiality in this episode, which seems to be an overarching problem with this series finale. it doesn't help that this episode really drags its feet. You could honestly just maybe have the last song on its own and not even have a time skip at all without all the imagery, nor this new student. Why not make the two-parter a three parter with the final segment after a commercial break be this epilogue segment with the coronation and subsequent song? Worst yet, the very sight of the last shot of the episode with the Mane Six with Twilight now an unaging immortal princess made me the most upset I had ever been with anything in the show.

I don't know. This is just so over-the-top dreadful. All the bad fanfic ideas, the lazy way it's all thrown together. . . . It's beyond lazy. I find it truly ironic that this was meant to be a "tie up" but all it does is raise more questions than answers, and some questions the fandom has wanted answered for years like, "What happened to Spike's parents?" The finale itaelf also brings up several questions. For example, the presentation of them accepting they'll have to go their separate ways. First of all, didn't we already do this in the Season 4 premiere? Rememeber then they went ahead and just made her stay in Ponyville? Second of all, didn't we touch on this a bit with Rainbow Dash and Rarity getting their goals more realized in season six and they showed it didn't affect them much before? At least here they actually show results of that. Kinda lessens the impact of this. Also, we're honestly just expected to accept this premise of Twilight going through with being ruler? Really? Celestia and Luna, both who are probably over 1,000 years old themselves, are just literally retiring? And I do mean that since Celestia says, "Visit us at Silver Shoals." Like, are they also just not gonna bother with the sun and moon anymore given that amulet given to Twilight before? They don't need to be rulers to still do that? They'll put a child in stone, but can't even do something like "It's time for Luna and I to move on"? And yes, I'm aware that was one of the ideas for the season.

Another thing that really pisses me off is the fact that Jim Miller said in a Q&A that what things have happened were mostly "left ambiguous" or "up to interpretation." This makes the whole thing feel like another, "Eh, we'll let the fans write the story in their heads!" But all I think it ended up doing was pissing off fans like me because it's such a jarring change and the implications run high. I mean, the immortality factor already runs high, and that's just with Twilight. It doesn't help that this finale strongly implies that what happened with certain characters just get left to rot away. So many important characters who've been with the show for so long got nothing. Zecora is, by far, the biggest wasted character of them all. She had a whole land and heritage worth of story to explore and nothing was done with it at all. What about poor Spike or, as long as we're talking about important characters, I guess I might as well ask what about Cadence now? Hell, throw Smolder in there too. Why does Spike look older than Smolder now? Did they really just give Ocellus a larger neck? Speaking of the Student Six, only Gallus gets a speaking role in the final episode. Really feels like they were tacked on as a whole and as a result, this makes all of this feel like a lot of it was just to add fanfic fuel but they ended up pouring it on the dumpster fire of the show itself.

The creators of generation four of this franchise have taken a big, smelly amoebic dysentery diarrhea all over the series with this finale, and I now can look upon them only with disgust because they're now poisoned by being tied to this piece of shit that was the last season. All we got were irrelevant episodes that didn’t involve the villains, most of the episodes had basic plots, the series ends with a horde of unanswered questions, and a very disappointing finale, possibly even worse than 2015 "Transformers Robots in Disguise’s" finale.

I think the ultimate question is, "Is this episode bad on its own merits, or is it bad because of everything else going in?" Feels hard to answer that because you can't really take this episode on its own because it's the final one meant to be the conclusion to all their efforts. It's not just the end of the three-parter, but the end of FiM. And all the things they didn't address or think through just taint it to many people. This entire episode is woefully disrespectful to the countless fans that allowed it to get as far as it did. This final episode is basically an amalgamation of all the shoddy decisions they've made and now they had to include them to come to a forced happy ending of sorts. If I hadn't seen what a shitshow the last season of Game of Thrones was, I'd be certain this ending was a fake. The more I watch this, the more this looks like a deliberately bad ending, written by someone who actively hates the show. It’s like the crew just wanted to get the show over and done with so they can quit Hasbro and forget about it; however, that will someday come back to bite them. Watching this, a part of me wants to cry, and not for a good reason. I have never felt more upset with something in MLP FiM than this. Jeez, and I thought the finales for The Amazing World of Gumball and Star vs the Forces of Evil were bad. Honestly, this ending was so bad that I would've preferred a meta ending with them all tossing out their scripts in relief that it's finally over. That would certainly be much more welcome. But, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. It's fitting that a terrible series with notoriously terrible writing gets a terribly written ending.

I am DONE with this show. It failed the most basic principles of writing and world-building in the last three seasons. This finale has effectively killed any remaining interest I had in this show or its fandom. I am never going to watch this god-awful show ever again!

The one good thing that I will say has come out of this series finale is the very vocal and angry pushback the show received once it was leaked. So many loyal fans woke up to the sorry state the show was in and made it very clear everywhere they could. The effects were immediate, a fandom revolt happened almost overnight, and even the most vocal and stalwart hardline fans that remained loyal to the show went silent with their arguments from as recently as six months ago no longer holding as much water. Truly, I am proud of this fandom for finally establishing some standards. A reevaluation of the series will likely happen in the near future, which I am looking forward to seeing.

And to the writers of the later seasons, thanks for squandering my interest. You actually had a chance to make money and make a great show at the same time, but instead you double dipped both on money and community headcanons to the point where that's really all the later seasons of the show was all about, headcanon services to satisfy the hungry crowds willing to eat that shit up.

And, sure, this whole dumpster fire of a finale is bittersweet, but if anything, i can say at least it helped reinforce the earlier seasons and episodes as they still stand about how they once cared and had strong internal consistency and didn't rely on the community. They had an idea and made a show out of it. At least they did add morals in the later seasons, but even those were too forced or created issues. What they really should have focused on was writing good stories with complex characters. That's what Faust did and that's what made the show great, and things went downhill when they booted her and her insistence on quality from the show. Most of us can tell everyone who cared about the show's quality are gone. The point is that everyone who originally worked on the show has long left, and even those who took their place have left too, and so this show hasn't just distanced itself from what it originally was meant to be, but also from the stupid parody of itself that we used to criticize years and years ago. It's not even consistent with its own inconsistency! And while I'm on the subject of show staff, I feel I should bring up MA Larson and how confused I am by him. From what I've seen and heard, he seems to care about quality and be aware of how awful the show has gotten, yet he keeps writing for it and letting them edit his scripts into abominations. See, this is what happens when the show's entire staff pander to the fanbase and ignore the fact that the cartoon is meant to market toys towards young toddlers like "Transformers." But it goes beyond that. They didn't just pander to the fanbase. They pandered to the ultra-woke portion of the fandom, the people that tend to be creatively bankrupt and are obsessed with their own personal quirks to the exclusion of all else. But the crew also screwed with the marketing thing, too. G4 was nothing but a huge mess by the time Season 4 ended. But let's be honest. Selling toys was part of the problem with this show from the very beginning, too. Here's hoping AllSpark does a better job than DHX. But the really funny yet sad thing about this is that no matter how much rage comes out of this, Hasbro certainly won't learn a goddamn thing from the mess, will make the exact same mistakes with G5, and have no idea why it's a flop. At least what comes in G5 will be 100% them and not a scramble to recapture the magic someone else created. Freelance writers was clearly the wrong way to go for this show. A large part of G4's downfall was due to freelance writers not being able to communicate to each other properly. All AllSpark has to do is avoid the communication problem and they'll already have an improved product. Until G5 comes, we can maintain a smidge of hope that things can get better, right? Unfortunately, there's no guarantee they won't do the exact same thing as G4 did with their writers. I'm expecting "yeah, that was pretty okay I guess" as an absolute best-case scenario in G5. We already know G5 will be trash. G5 is going to be a trash fire. Hasbro knows it's going to be a trash fire. If anyone can positively compare FiM to G5, it's going to be obvious to everyone. Between announcements and leaked communications we know it will be run by the same hacks who ran G4 into the ground and, most damningly, we know they think the mess they made is good and will be doubling down on it. At this point the only way it can come back is after Hasbro gives up on G5. It'll also need time for the pain to fade and someone like Faust to come along and rebuild it. The good news is that should happen sooner this time around because that'll be someone from the fandom who was involved in seasons 1-2 and saw through the crap that came afterwards.

You had it all, Hasbro. You had the community, a cult following (funny how true that is now), you had the writers and a great director at the helm in Lauren Faust who wanted to make a honest show to appeal to both kids and adults. You had all of the necessary ingredients to help propel your channel both in profits and in satisfaction. Your show could have been one of the greats that people would fondly look back to today after years go by. Instead, you took the show Faust created and pissed all over it. You turned into a discount Cartoon Network throwing any and all semblance of caring or having any shred of dignity just to try to keep the interest of your audience at the expense of well-crafted stories and you hid in your shells whenever backlash arose.

Here's hoping that G5 alienates all of your hardcore fans. 

Edited October 27, 2019 by doomie-22

[Steve Piranha 29,424]

Apparently, Lil’ Cheese is a colt . Colt looks like a filly much ?

[Dark Qiviut 22,396]

Note: Taken from here and edited.

---

- A nitpick, but the adults are looking a little older than what they show. They're all at least in their mid-thirties if not closer to 40, but the giant bags under their eyes make them look like they're older than Bow Hothoof or Windy Whistles. Lighter, smaller, subtler lines under their eyes may work more to better match that range.

- Twilight apparently had a little too much trouble relocating sheep away from the line, and her animation as Future Twi isn't very polished.

+/- Twilight looking like a Celestia recolor was a major surprise (and I can see why some don't like it), but over time, I've become more and more used to her. Her hair's beautiful, but the lack of strap over her crest makes it look like it's floating over her chest instead of being hooked around.

+ The new interior of the Throne Room is absolutely breathtaking. Beautiful color palette pleasing to the eye, excellent callbacks via the stained-glass windows (including updates since the finale, like Flurry Heart officially becoming princess and the Y6 saving the School), and the lighter pastel making the bolder-colored characters pop out.

+ Spike really shows how much he's evolved since becoming the ambassador, and I don't mean physically or vocally. He's part-royalty, Twilight's equal, and has done a spectacular job maintaining harmony throughout the world. Recall the very beginning of the episode, which he states to Twilight how he mediates peace between the Diamond Dogs and Abyssinians, a reference to one of the comics where Capper's originally from). Also, he's more mature despite maintaining a kid-like attitude, too.

+ What Twilight prophesied during the final battle before the last friendship laser comes true. Fifteen or twenty years into the future, several races are now at harmony with each other. Dragons, griffons, kirin, hippogriffs, yaks, changelings, and ponies are all in harmony together. There's no infighting; everyone's communicating with each other happily and without prejudice. Not only did everyone come to embrace the Magic of Friendship. But their own lives improved, too. (You got to see some of this affect the ReMane Six later, as Ocellus, Silversteam and Smolder teach at the School of Friendship, and Rarity lives and sells fashion at her boutique in Yakyakistan.)

+ Luster Dawn has that same naivety as Twilight, but at a very different angle. Twilight thought making friends was a waste of time, period, though was apparently never really taught friendship at any point. Sure, Twilight had friends in Canterlot, but never reciprocated those feelings. Here, Twilight teaches her best and most faithful student how friendship's the most powerful and most important magic in the School for Gifted Unicorns, but due to their time separated over the years, Luster wonders if friendship is worth it if the friendships fade away. Unlike Twilight back then, Luster's more outgoing, but doesn't embrace friendship as a result of seeing Twilight spend most of her time ruling alone.

+ As a result, Twilight tells and explains very intricately about how it can be easy to make friends, but it's much, much harder to maintain them. They may be separate more now, but they always stay connected so they have each others' backs whenever something bad happens or catch up on things. Back in her days, Celestia mostly had Twilight learn to make friends and understand friendship on her own. Here, she shows Luster that friends always matter in the most proactive, teaching way possible. Arranging a meeting with Luster on the day all gather.

+ The flashback itself is emotional.

1. Twilight was absolutely justified to feel super upset and scared what happens next. The big baddies are in stone sleep, but all of them have lives. Despite the promise of ruling together, we don't know how they're gonna rule together, budget their time to do so, and if they'll remain together at all. She's moving away to Canterlot, and the day of the wedding may be her goodbye.
2. It was also very subtle and impactful for the RM5 to use their preparation to admit they're grieving, too. They're so unnaturally happy and casual to see Twilight head off to Canterlot, but their conversation at the Castle of Friendship shows how that happiness is truly everything but. They don't know if Twilight will be able to communicate with them ever again.
   
   Also, the criticism of Twilight not moving the capital of Equestria to Ponyville's nonsense. Canterlot has been Equestria's capital for well over a millennium, if not before Celestia and Luna were princesses. In addition to Canterlot having a firmer legacy than Ponyville, moving an entire capital would be a task of epic proportions.
3. To be able to share their sadness, fright, and despair reminds he audience how close they are, no matter what trials they face. They were scared, and it's okay for them to be scared. Their cries felt very real, and it's heartbreaking to see them all slowly break down, especially ones like Pinkie (her words just got me crying, literally).
4. Everyone was so obsessed and focused on the "perfect" coronation that everything went terribly wrong so quickly when things got complicated. The hilarious screwups were a very refreshing break from the drama.
5. With the coronation over, they can laugh it off knowing it's over. They had their hardships today, and to have this break means they can relax. Because of this, Twilight has a clear head now and can use that knowledge over the years to come up with a great idea: every moon, they meet once under the Council of Friendship. It was a challenge they had to face, and they found a way to conquer it.
6. The ending really marks the end of a long era, mirroring FIM's, too. Celestia and Luna are no longer ruling, and they felt confident in letting Twilight and her friends rule Equestria on their own. Yes, they'll be more happy to help her whenever they need it, but the RM7 are confident and can be trusted in helping Equestria move on to its next chapter.

+ The moral is excellent in concept and better than excellent in execution. I already talked about that extensively.

+ The episode took another bold, daring direction by giving everyone definitive lives with both occupations and sometimes love lives. not only on what they're doing. CheesePie, SugarMac, YonaBar, and LyraBon are more than confirmed, but ones like FlutterCord and AppleDash are hinted with subtle clues (i.e., Fluttershy's lunch bag and bluebells, AJ/RD's banter). It's DHX's story, but their lives also have a purpose: no matter how much your lives change, your friendships keep you connected. Everyone's extremely busy now, but they always manage to meet together. When they don't, they see them. Starlight and Sunburst still lead the thriving School of Friendship. Look closely, and you see all of the confidence from the Young Six. (For example, Smolder openly has tea with Ocellus, a hobby she once derided and hid until What Lies Beneath.)

+ Not everything ends happily. Granny Smith and Goldie Delicious are gone now, and AJ and AB are wearing their scarves in their honor.

+ The Magic of Friendship Grows. All of it. It's emotional, hopeful, and beautiful. This song got me crying at times. The background shots during the final chorus are extremely moving and very well-done. But there are two things to mention:

1. The final shot of all seven watching Luster walk away with new friends is absolutely fantastic. Even more beautiful is the sunset glow, a literal twilight sparkle as one YouTuber wrote.
2. The final shot: the book to open FIM closes, indicating the end of an era. (Pay attention to the "fin" on the left page, a great piece of detail in a show that doesn't always show the English alphabet so clearly.)

This is an EXCELLENT episode! A magnificent cap to a great, successful show!

Edited October 18, 2019 by Dark Qiviut

[Will Guide 21,360]

21 minutes ago, Dark Qiviut said:

The busts of Star Swirl, Rockhoof, Mistmane, and Mage Meadowbrook suggest they died as well.

What busts? If you're talking about the ones in the school, those actually were there in the entrance since the day the school was still open at the start of Season 8. Those weren't made because they died.

23 minutes ago, Dark Qiviut said:

This is an EXCELLENT episode! A magnificent cap to a great, successful show!

A toast to an excellent finish to a great series!

Teacup, teacup, teacup!

[Dark Qiviut 22,396]

10 minutes ago, Wolf Guide said:

What busts? If you're talking about the ones in the school, those actually were there in the entrance since the day the school was still open at the start of Season 8. Those weren't made because they died.

Whoops! You're right! Never mind that part, then!

[Ganondorf8 11,303]

I'd like to reiterate that I'm happy that Sunset appeared during the montage at the end, her and Flash Sentry.

[CinnamonSwirl 90]

4 hours ago, Steve Piranha said:

Apparently, Lil’ Cheese is a colt . Colt looks like a filly much ?

Interpret however you want.  This guy said they didnt give lil  cheese a gender to you choose.

I liked the ending. I like that the creators left a lot for the fans to decide for ships. I love pinkies daughter.  She is so adorable and bounces just like her mama. I dont like how pinkie looks with candy in her hair. Rainbow dashs hair looks horrible imo but I also love AJs braided tail. Luster Dawn is so pretty. Spike looks odd lol. Rarity working in yak yakistan? That's odd. She never went there.

[Music Chart Fan 819]

Overall, I'm not really sure how to feel about this episode. I thought that it was good that the flashback story around Twilight's coronation acknowledges that things are going to be different with Twilight's moving to Canterlot, although it's also a little painful to watch. However, with the future part of the episode, I can't help feeling that Twilight's position as ruler of Equestria is a lonely one, particularly with Twilight's living in Canterlot, the Council of Friendship meetings with the Mane Seven only being once a month, and the rest of the Mane Seven's seeming to be really busy with their own jobs and lives. That could probably be considered a more realistic outcome, but it also feels more depressing. (Plus, there's the whole question of whether Twilight is aging at the same rate as the rest of the Mane Six, or whether Twilight will outlive them by hundreds of years.) I also can't help questioning some of the things that are shown or implied to have happened in the interim years. But, by the end of the episode, as we see what many of the main and secondary characters have done with their lives, it does manage to evoke some wistful and bittersweet feelings.

-----

In this first section, I'll put my observations from the flashback story around Twilight's coronation.

Does Spike's saying that he doesn't need to bring the Power Ponies comic to Canterlot imply that Twilight and Spike aren't going to take all of their belongings to Canterlot? Does that mean that they plan to come back and stay at the castle in Ponyville at least occasionally? Will Starlight and whoever else lives in the castle (Sunburst?) have to do maintenance on Twilight's and Spike's stuff for whenever they come to stay?

If Pinkie is so worried about whether Gummy really took care of the fireworks (and she's probably not wrong to be worried about that), then why doesn't she just do it, or get someone else to do it?

So are we to presume that these star spiders of Rarity's voluntarily agreed to this work load and these work conditions? Would Fluttershy approve of what's going on here?

Wow, Spike has a normal clock with 12 hours marked, and an hour and minute hand. As I recall, the depiction of clocks on this show has been kind of all over the place.

Why is it such a struggle for Big Mac to make the food deliveries correctly without Applejack there? Each of the recipients says what they're expecting to receive, and if Big Mac isn't sure what's in the crates, why couldn't he and the recipients just open the crates and verify them? When Applejack was closing the crates earlier, she saw her just setting the lids on top, and not even nailing them down or anything, so it may not even be that difficult to check the contents.

So Rarity carries off her animal tank, but I guess she never glanced at it to see that the star spiders weren't inside. I wonder if that says something about how much Rarity cared about these star spiders.

Does everyone really need to gasp in melodramatic horror because Twilight tripped? I guess they may just be following Celestia's lead in doing so, but Twilight's a young(er) pony, she should be fine.

I wouldn't expect Rainbow to have too much trouble flying to Canterlot in a timely manner. So if Rainbow wasn't able to go over the routine with the Wonderbolts before they attempt to do it, should we chalk that up to Rainbow's being in Canterlot, but just not being able to find where in Canterlot the Wonderbolts were waiting?

I read a theory that Celestia's and Luna's fusing their crowns to make a crown for Twilight supposedly passed their power to raise the sun and moon to Twilight. That seems a little weird, since I don't recall seeing their power to do that being infused into their crowns before. And would that mean that Twilight must wear the crown in order to have the power to raise the sun and moon?

The book of memories made me think of the "chandelier" made from the roots of the Golden Oak Library, and how each of the diamonds on the chandelier contains a memory. Is that chandelier still there? How much meaning does it have now that Twilight doesn't live at that castle anymore?

When Twilight uses a royal decree as ruler of Equestria to establish the Council of Friendship that meets once a moon, is that royal decree legally binding and enforceable by law?

Is Luna still going to be on dream patrol, even in retirement? There was even a joke about this in "The Beginning Of The End", where Rainbow says to Celestia and Luna "Does this mean we get all your powers?! Ooh, ooh! I call dibs on showing up in everypony's dreams!". But I guess we're just left to speculate about whether Luna is still guarding ponies' dreams, and whether anyone else will take over doing that.

-----

Now, in this section, I'll talk about my observations from the future part of this episode.

First, as mentioned in the opening paragraph, when I see the future that's depicted in this episode, I can't help feeling that Twilight's position as ruler of Equestria is rather lonely and depressing. Luster Dawn tells Twilight that "as far as I can see, you rule by yourself now", and Luster Dawn is apparently unaware of the Council of Friendship. All of the Mane Seven - except for Spike, perhaps - are late to the Council of Friendship meeting, and almost all of them, including Spike, say something that suggests that they're really busy these days. Plus, we were told that the rest of the Mane Six would continue to live in Ponyville as Twilight moves to Canterlot. All of this seems to suggest that Twilight doesn't see or talk to her best friends much more than once a month, and that she may not have many good friends other than the Mane Seven. Does Twilight have any "work friends" among the government bureaucracy that she oversees, or at the School of Magic that she runs now? There was dialogue throughout this season that the rest of the Mane Seven would be helping Twilight to rule Equestria, and I honestly thought that would mean that the Mane Seven would take positions in the Equestrian government in Canterlot. But instead, the Mane Six's helping Twilight to rule Equestria seems to be limited to this once-a-month Council of Friendship meeting.

Also, I'm not really a fan of the shipping, or implied shipping, in the future part of this episode. It's true that I'm not particularly a fan of CheesePie, AppleDash, FlutterCord, or YonaBar - but then, I'm also not particularly a fan of most Mane Six ships, either. And more importantly, I don't really like having a show throw characters (particularly main characters) into romantic relationships, or implied romantic relationships, without any real buildup or development of those relationships. Maybe some of these ships would be more plausible to me (or less scary, in the case of CheesePie) if they were properly developed and shown enough in the show. But as it stands, these ships or implied ships are being shown in the very last episode, so I'm going to be skeptical and just not really onboard with them.

When, and why, did Twilight grow to the size of Celestia? Does Twilight's body know that she's the ruler of Equestria now, and it grew to the "right" size to match? I'm not sure that this is just the normal course of growth for all alicorns, either, since future Twilight looks bigger than Luna, who's over 1000 years old, and Cadance, who had been an alicorn for many years.

Is it that shocking that Luster Dawn "doesn't want to make friends"? If she's very introverted, and hasn't met anyone at the school with whom she really relates, then that wouldn't be surprising to me.

Luster Dawn says "if friendships ultimately fade, why even make them in the first place?". We could take that course of reasoning further, and question why most people should do anything. After all, unless they're going to become really famous and really change the course of history, then it's likely that essentially everything that most people do will ultimately fade away and be forgotten at some point in the future. But should that be the way to evaluate what's worth doing in one's life?

So does future Pinkie just go around with toys and candy and confetti and stuff stuck in her hair all the time? Does she ever clean that stuff out? If so, does Little Cheese just put that stuff in her hair every day?

Is Luster Dawn being sent to Ponyville because, out of all the cities and towns in Equestria, Ponyville is the most friendly, and Luster Dawn is most likely to make friends there specifically? Is it because the rest of the Mane Six will be there to keep an eye on her? Is it because she'll transfer to and/or live at the School of Friendship? Or is it just because Twilight has a sentimental bias toward Ponyville?

What's with future Gummy being twice the size of ponies, while still having the same body proportions?

Is future Rainbow still a regular performer with the Wonderbolts? They seem like an organization that would place a high priority on athleticism, and at some point, I would think that Rainbow's aging body wouldn't be able to keep up. Or does she perhaps have a less strenuous part in the shows, akin to what Wind Rider would have done back in "Rarity Investigates!" before Rainbow took his place?

It's weird to think that, in the future, the School of Friendship has been run by Starlight and Sunburst for much longer than Twilight and the Mane Seven ever ran it, even though it was Twilight's idea to make the school, and she (along with the Mane Eight) fought to open it even without EEA accreditation. Plus, I have to wonder whether they still have, and still follow, Twilight's enormous rulebook that she first wrote for the school.

Also, did Trixie ever think, back when she was a traveling magician, that she would settle down and take a long-term job being the guidance counselor at a School of Friendship?

The griffon on the far right in Scootaloo's class seems much younger than the other students in the class, for some reason.

Finally, it appears that the character collages behind each of the Mane Six near the end of the song are supposed to consist of those characters that each of the Mane Six particularly helped, interacted with, are related to, etc. And that is true for many of the characters. But, for some of the characters, I don't really see the connection. For example, what particular connection does Rainbow Dash have to Pharynx, Featherweight, or Vinyl and Octavia? What particular connection does Fluttershy have to Dr. Whooves, Mayor Mare, Nurse Redheart, or Lyra and Bon Bon? I'm not sure if I'm just not remembering all of these connections, or if some of these characters were sprinkled among the collages just to make sure they were there somewhere.

[Sovereign Leader Rarity 12,006]

5 hours ago, Ganondorf8 said:

I'd like to reiterate that I'm happy that Sunset appeared during the montage at the end, her and Flash Sentry.

That was a highlight for me as well.

I really liked this episode, and thought that it was an excellent way to end the series. I've always been fond of these flash-forward series finales in shows, and this was a really humble, low-key, but still nostalgic and emotionally potent episode that I believe sums up the events and the purpose of the show very well. It's not perfect, no episode episode is in my opinion, but it's a bloody good finish to one of my favorite TV shows of all-time, that I think that anybody in the fanbase can (and SHOULD) enjoy. Very reminiscent of the finale to Parks and Recreation (one of my other absolute favorite television shows), and I mean that in the best way possible.

It's odd to me, thinking that this is to be my final episode review of the series as we know and love it. I deduce that my next episode analysis is going to be that of the G5 premier, which I'm sure is going to be interesting to say the very least.

Edited October 18, 2019 by Rarity the Superior

[Yotes 156]

I'm still crying about it...

[Rixton 1,105]

8 minutes ago, Yotes said:

I'm still crying about it...

I too was, and sometimes still, it is completely normal now. But they did not died, nor left in trouble, but fine and happy. And...they did not separated from us.
They helped us with their stories, now it is our turn to help them, keep the memories and write/draw/animate fictions or compose music or do anything related to them. This is what will keep us connected with them!

[bwrosas 252]

At one time, Megan said that wouldn't happen, but yet the finale shows the fandom otherwise.  However I have 2 theories on how she may/will not outlive her friends.

Comments are Welcomed

#MLPSeriesFinale: Will Twilight Sparkle Outlive Her Friends?

[Steve Piranha 29,424]

4 hours ago, CinnamonSwirl said:

Interpret however you want.  This guy said they didnt give lil  cheese a gender to you choose.

I liked the ending. I like that the creators left a lot for the fans to decide for ships. I love pinkies daughter.  She is so adorable and bounces just like her mama. I dont like how pinkie looks with candy in her hair. Rainbow dashs hair looks horrible imo but I also love AJs braided tail. Luster Dawn is so pretty. Spike looks odd lol. Rarity working in yak yakistan? That's odd. She never went there.

Yeah, that came after. It would be interesting to ask what everyone thinks about Li’l Cheese’s gender 

[CinnamonSwirl 90]

27 minutes ago, Steve Piranha said:

Yeah, that came after. It would be interesting to ask what everyone thinks about Li’l Cheese’s gender 

Theres two different answers. Jim said colt because thats what the script said but he also said they always put colt for every pony with scripts and then josh said they didnt decided just wanted to show the pony. 

I'm in this FB group and I said I prefer to call lil  cheese a girl and an admin kept bullying and harassing me. Deleting my comments whenever I said she is cute. Then said the pony is trans. I tried telling her to leave me alone we can have different views but she kept shoving it down my throat. She takes the fun out of the show.

[Steve Piranha 29,424]

3 hours ago, CinnamonSwirl said:

Theres two different answers. Jim said colt because thats what the script said but he also said they always put colt for every pony with scripts and then josh said they didnt decided just wanted to show the pony. 

I'm in this FB group and I said I prefer to call lil  cheese a girl and an admin kept bullying and harassing me. Deleting my comments whenever I said she is cute. Then said the pony is trans. I tried telling her to leave me alone we can have different views but she kept shoving it down my throat. She takes the fun out of the show.

It’s Facebook, that’s hardly surprising at this point . Due to the uncertainty, everyone can see Li’l Cheese whatever they see fit, but it’s rather disturbing they wanna see him/her as transgender at that age, and worse, impose it to others 

Edited October 18, 2019 by Steve Piranha
Typo DERP

[Quinch 1,120]

4 hours ago, bwrosas said:

At one time, Megan said that wouldn't happen, but yet the finale shows the fandom otherwise.  However I have 2 theories on how she may/will not outlive her friends.

Hehe... basically, a wizard did it?

[Ganondorf8 11,303]

7 hours ago, Yotes said:

I'm still crying about it...

On the inside, I'm still crying though I'm doing my best to remain strong. It's also made my age issues flare up which usually doesn't happen involving cartoons. Guess there's a first time for everything.

[swordsman 192]

On 10/12/2019 at 9:54 PM, Kevin said:

If you had told me 9 years ago that I would fall in love with a show featured multi-colored ponies, I would have laughed and thought you were crazy. Yet here I am 9 years later crying about the show ending.

This show has made a tremendous impact on me that will stick with me for the rest of my life and leave me memories that I will carry with me.

i feel the same way. also i watched this with my mom who does not watch MLP(she watch it with me becuase she liked it now). the AJ and RD thing really i was like "when that happen" but it seem right like they should be together.  Really  i feel at peace with the end, it just feels right. I am not good with writeing but the way the show ended was like water sheld momnet.

that song "my tiatin shot me down(cover of my baby shot me down)" sum up how i feel about MLP ending.

[Dark Qiviut 22,396]

17 hours ago, Ganondorf8 said:

I'd like to reiterate that I'm happy that Sunset appeared during the montage at the end, her and Flash Sentry.

Agreed. I'm not an EQG fan, but Flash and Sunset were vital to her growth in some way or another and vice-versa. They belong in the final background shot.

---

———

On 10/17/2019 at 1:00 AM, doomie-22 said:

The big finale shitshow, possibly the worst thing to come out of this entire horse franchise this side of "Newborn Cuties."

I've seen Newborn Cuties online. Nothing from any MLP generation can be compared to that shit mountain. NC's by far the worst thing to ever come out of My Little Pony. The Last Problem is nowhere close to either that level of quality or any of the worst-of contenders in this series, and that is a fact.

On 10/17/2019 at 1:00 AM, doomie-22 said:

She gets to be all alone with no close friends or family (except Spike), just like Celestia was for 1000 years.

Wrong. She often works with Spike, but as the episode showed and stated quite a bit, every single one of them meets up once a lunar cycle. Despite how busy their lives are, they all manage to work together, meet, and help each other as they rule Equestria. Twi's the de facto princess, but her friends are always there to help whenever they need it.

On 10/17/2019 at 1:00 AM, doomie-22 said:

If I hadn't seen what a shitshow the last season of Game of Thrones was

That season had a host of problems coming into the finale, and the finale's epic failure was the icing on the cake. I don't watch GoT, but I know a bad finale. TLP actually makes sense.

On 10/17/2019 at 1:00 AM, doomie-22 said:

Honestly, this ending was so bad that I would've preferred a meta ending with them all tossing out their scripts in relief that it's finally over. That would certainly be much more welcome.

That would've truly been awful. This show has been meaningful for a lot of people. If they went with that idea, then they're telling us, "We don't give a damn about this show and will rather throw it away." DHX cares about the quality of the writing, the story, and how much FIM means to those young and old. Bronydom's passion gave them the passion to create and deliver the best they could.

On 10/17/2019 at 1:00 AM, doomie-22 said:

and things went downhill when they booted her and her insistence on quality from the show.

1. Faust was never fired. She left on her own volition and went to work elsewhere.
2. One person helped with all the ideas, but not one person is responsible for everything created. FIM was always a team effort. Even after Faust departed, people who worked with her promised to retain her vision, which they did for the rest of the run.

On 10/17/2019 at 1:00 AM, doomie-22 said:

Most of us can tell everyone who cared about the show's quality are gone.

Again, false. Even after those who worked closely with Faust left, people who loved to write and wanted to write for the show were given the chance to try to deliver for the masses. Sometimes they work, sometimes not. Nick Confalone, Mike Vogel, Haber, the Lady Writers, Hohlfeld, etc., all wrote a lot of great work, and they all came after Season 3. Despite the turnover, they were still able to write a good-quality show.

On 10/17/2019 at 1:00 AM, doomie-22 said:

What they really should have focused on was writing good stories with complex characters.

The final morals of each episode mattered. From the first to the last, every episode was a combination of entertainment and education, whether it had the E/I attachment or not. The characters drove the story, and what the characters learned echo to what the episode's lessons were supposed to be. Sometimes these lessons were simple like from Season 1, sometimes more mature like from S4 onward. Only two episodes of the entire show have no moral (Chronicles, Frenemies). These characters learned from those lessons, grew individually and collectively, and the audience grew along with them.

On 10/17/2019 at 1:00 AM, doomie-22 said:

They pandered to the ultra-woke portion of the fandom, the people that tend to be creatively bankrupt and are obsessed with their own personal quirks to the exclusion of all else. 

Your whole rant jumped the shark the second you wrote this right-wing talking point.

1. Representation matters. In The Last Crusade, we got our very first canon same-sex couple. Both Aunt Holiday and Aunty Lofty are excellent characters that were never tokenized at any point, and they were extremely crucial to the development of The Last Crusade. Without their involvement, Scootaloo would've had to go to Shire Lanka with her parents and say a sudden goodbye to her friends back home.
2. Lyra and Bon Bon developed over the years, and in Season 8, their relationship really grew with little clues here and there. The Big Mac Question was the perfect time for them to pop the question together, and their announced marriage in the Foal Free Press was extremely heartwarming.
3. Over the seasons, FIM was validly criticized for sometimes acting imperialistic to other species, spreading their "better" culture to others around the world. In She's All Yak, the characters learned that their accidental tokenization of the non-ponies was only excluding the Young Six and pressured Yona into believing she had to give up her yak ways to do better. The lesson they learned (while not being unlikeable or intentionally imposing) was a long time coming.
4. FIM has always had a very liberal to left-leaning slant, both while under Faust and otherwise (she didn't create a blatantly blatant pro-feminist show for no reason), and the repulsive stereotype you attached on those with a similar ideology shows a massive lack of understanding FIM's construction from the ground up.

On 10/17/2019 at 1:00 AM, doomie-22 said:

G4 was nothing but a huge mess by the time Season 4 ended.

I don't think outstanding episodes like Flight to the Finish, Pinkie Pride, Slice of Life, Lost Mark, Saddle Row, Perfect Pear (the franchise's best episode), Horse Play, Sounds of Silence, Sparkle's Seven, Dark and Dawn, and this (along with the continuing improvement of consistently good quality from S7 onwards) help your case of G4 being "nothing but a huge mess."

On 10/17/2019 at 1:00 AM, doomie-22 said:

And while I'm on the subject of show staff, I feel I should bring up MA Larson and how confused I am by him.

The F&M episode concept and ideas given to Larson weren't his, and he disliked it for its mean-spirited tone and lack of lesson learned, but Larson complied to Hasbro's demands and wrote the whole script and song from beginning to end. There was no ghost editor or writer.

On 10/17/2019 at 1:00 AM, doomie-22 said:

The good news is that should happen sooner this time around because that'll be someone from the fandom who was involved in seasons 1-2 and saw through the crap that came afterwards.

There is no such thing as a perfect season. Both Seasons 1 and 2 had plenty of crap in it. Boast Busters, Bridle Gossip, Owl's Well, Mare Do Well, PYHD, and Dragon Quest are each among the very worst of the show. Likewise, I already gave a list of some of the best after Season 3. Every season has its great and bad, some more than others.

On 10/17/2019 at 1:00 AM, doomie-22 said:

I am never going to watch this god-awful show ever again!

If I want to watch a truly godawful show, then I'll find Breadwinners, Sanjay & Craig, Allen Gregory, or modern Family Guy. FIM has been and will always be a million cuts above above them.

On 10/17/2019 at 1:00 AM, doomie-22 said:

a cult following (funny how true that is now)

This show continues to have a following that's tens of thousands of people deep, and you just reduced their current love for it to "they're just a cult following." Your diminishing of their appreciation for the show beyond the early seasons is insulting.

Also, bronies as a whole do care about quality and know when something goes wrong. But FIM does maintain good quality. Even after Faust left during Season 2's production, this show did very well, then did roughly, then bounced back. Whenever there was an episode that makes anyone wonder if it truly jumped the shark, it goes right back on track. Just a few examples.

1. Princess Spike blew. Badly. Soon after, Amending Fences aired, and it's one of the most popular episodes to this day.
2. 28 Pranks Later and Cart sucked. Then Times airs, and it's the best Spike episode of the show.
3. Fluttershy Leans In put FS in a terrible light. Parental Glideance airs not long after.
4. Fame & Misfortune? The rest of S7 was much, much better, and FIM never had an episode this low again.
5. Non-Compete Clause is one of the most despised Pony episodes of all time. The rest of the Season 8A was very, very solid.

There's no way to cut it here. Your tone-deaf rant tells me you don't understand the episode at all, and it's incredibly offensive to read a massive diatribe that gaslights the fandom and stereotypes the bronies that love the show beyond the so-called "glory seasons." Whether you want to watch the show again or not is up to you, but if you ever do come back, I really recommend you watch it with a clear, non-bitter mind and not stereotype bronies.

Edited October 18, 2019 by Dark Qiviut

[cmarston1 5,959]

17 hours ago, Ganondorf8 said:

I'd like to reiterate that I'm happy that Sunset appeared during the montage at the end, her and Flash Sentry.

As small as it was, I think that might have been the thing that excited me most about the episode.  Ever since Rainbow Rocks back in 2014, I have been wanting to see Sunset make an appearance in the show, even if it was just a small cameo.  So after all these years, to finally see Sunset appear in the main show, it just felt really good, and I know that I'm not the only one who felt this way.  It was like icing on the cake to have a much desired fan request finally make it into the show during its finale, and after watching I had to go back and watch the song on youtube to make sure I didn't imagine it.  It was just really great, and touches like this are why I love the episode.

[Ganondorf8 11,303]

1 hour ago, cmarston1 said:

As small as it was, I think that might have been the thing that excited me most about the episode.  Ever since Rainbow Rocks back in 2014, I have been wanting to see Sunset make an appearance in the show, even if it was just a small cameo.  So after all these years, to finally see Sunset appear in the main show, it just felt really good, and I know that I'm not the only one who felt this way.  It was like icing on the cake to have a much desired fan request finally make it into the show during its finale, and after watching I had to go back and watch the song on youtube to make sure I didn't imagine it.  It was just really great, and touches like this are why I love the episode.

Another extra touch is that Rebecca Shoichet, Sunset's voice actress, got to sing in the final song. Granted, it was as Twilight, but I'd like to think of it as Sunset being able to contribute to the final episode in her own way. But yes, to see my favourite character finally get her dues after being denied so long, it made me cry on the inside.

[Jedishy 3,548]

So this episode hit me HARD. It was just perfect and frankly I am emotional enough to want to force choke a few neigh sayers. Ill post more thoughts tomorrow. But remember a Jedi can still use electric judgement....