S03:E01+02 - The Crystal Empire

[JeanHover 326]

The episode was amazing and a good start to the third season. The only thing I wished to see was a little more in-depth explanation for King Sombra. They gave little information on him besides that his heart was "black as night." All in all, it had a nice plot and beautiful animation.

[That Colt 42]

A good amount of people on this thread have expressed their opinion on the episodes, and the characters in them, and all have failed to mention Spike in the character reviews... Really?

[CapnKrunk 307]

The two episodes weren't that bad.Spike got something important to do at least,but I'm a little disappointed with the villain king Sombra.Gak got more airtime than The villain itself.For some reason the thing that stood out to me is rainbow dash eating corn.I found it awesome

 

Link to rainbow dash eating corn: http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/435/160/d55.gif

Edited November 13, 2012 by Flutter derps

[Whofch 128]

I do agree that alicorn Twilight would be risky of making the other 5 seem less important, but I think there would be some good lessons to learn, for Twilight to stay humble, and the other 5 not to take advantage of her status for their own gain. After all, some of the kids watching will grow up to be rich and/or famous (or simply popular at school), or their friends will, and it would be good to show that you can still be true friends anyway

 

Still not something I want to see myself but as you say, it could be made to work with the lessons and if what we've seen so far is to go by, they will do a good job of it. I can understand people wanting her to become one and I'll still happily watch either way. it'll be exciting to see how it plays out anyway.

On a side note to the whole time thing, perhaps Cadence can go back with them to give the writers an excuse for the crystal pony peeps from identifying her so easily as the crystal princess

[BaBaBrony 111]

It seems the main gripe about Sombra was that he lacked a personality. What kind of personality would everyone have liked? I'm not even sure. I liked him as the silent brute. Sombra was darkness and sorrow boiled down to its essence.

[Winona the Dog 1,984]

@@BaBaBrony,

 

Yes that's something i would've liked to see......his motivation to why he's evil. Is he corrupted? or is he just being evil for the heck of it?

 

Anyway i really liked the episode everyone seemed to fit thier roles well im a little confused on why Shining Armour had to throw Cadence to save Spike (Who by the way i was super glad to see get such a big role at the end) since she was already tired. Im sorry it just seemed something Rainbow Dash could've done since she was just sitting there with the others.

Edited November 13, 2012 by ~Chaotic Harmony~

[Copper Loosebrain 31]

@@BaBaBrony,

 

Yes that's something i would've liked to see......his motivation to why he's evil. Is he corrupted? or is he just being evil for the heck of it?

 

Anyway i really liked the episode everyone seemed to fit thier roles well im a little confused on why Shining Armour had to throw Cadence to save Spike (Who by the way i was super glad to see get such a big role at the end) since she was already tired. Im sorry it just seemed something Rainbow Dash could've done since she was just sitting there with the others.

 

I think Cadence was closer than RD, and that Shining Armour wanted to give her some extra speed.

 

Also Princess Miamorae Cadenzi and Prince-Captain Shining Armour are really popular, people wanted to see more of them.

 

Finally it allowed Cadence to become the Crystal Princess, her powers are perfect for the role, as the love she spreads would get radiated across Equestria.

 

I wonder if she was already the Crystal Princess when Sombre took over, and if she was evacuated so she could help restore the place one day...

 

Also, what would happen if Chaos and Sombre were in the same area? Sombre likes to impose order, enslaving everyone and turning everything black, while Chaos disrupts just about anything, and anyone in power, and spreads about colour randomly, would they just cancel eachother out?

 

EDIT: Yay! I have a cutie mark now!

Edited November 13, 2012 by Copper Loosebrain

[Ponsiedon 5]

What did everybody think about Applejack? In the season 2 opener, Discord disabled AJ's honesty element, causing her to become a pathological liar. Now in the season 3 opener, she had to reprise that role to keep the Crystal Ponies away from the fake crystal.

 

I don't think she lied at all. Instead, she channeled her apple sales-pony powers to point the crystal pony's attention away from the fake heart and to the other attractions, such as the refreshing crystal empire nectar, or the jousting match. IMHO she stayed in character perfectly.

[Radiance64 7,053]

It seems the main gripe about Sombra was that he lacked a personality. What kind of personality would everyone have liked? I'm not even sure. I liked him as the silent brute. Sombra was darkness and sorrow boiled down to its essence.

 

It's hard to show a lot of personality when you've been turned to shadow and have disappeared for 1000 years.

His only motivation was to take back the Crystal Empire, so he took advantage of his shadowy form and used it to infect as much of the city as he could with his plague-like shadow magic. Honestly, considering his rather misrable state I'm not sure what else people were expecting out of him, I thought he was fine.

[Wingnut 6,988]

"This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Hasbro, Inc. Sorry about that."

 

I wasn't even planning to watch the new episodes again. But I could tell from the "suggested" videos on Youtube that Hasbro has already had them removed. I'm not surprised. They had gotten very lenient, and this was the perfect time to strike and send a message.

[Squid 100]

That was a wonderful episode. A good start to the season.

I wouldn't say as good as the season 2 two-parters, but better than the first.

 

Sombra's design was awesome, and I thought his voice was cool. I just wanted him to have a really cool well-thought out monolouge about his evil plans.

I really, really love those sorts of things.

 

But, if I'm lucky, Sombra will perhaps regenerate from his full horn which seemed to survive the blast.

Since he will now have a deep hatred for Spike, the Mane 6, and the Royal couple, I think he'll have a lot more to his character as he seeks his revenge.

 

Also, I loved that epic wife-throw. xD

[moongarnet77 47]

This episode was so epic!!!!!!!!!!! I love the design of the crystal ponies!!!!!!!!!

 

I even made a crystal version of my OC!

 

 

Anyway, I'm excited to see what possible foreshadowing these episodes gave us...

 

(like the black book that Luna had at the end, for example.)

 

The black smoke that Sombra resides in reminds me of the black demon smoke from Supernatural.

 

It actually reminds m of Hexxus from Ferngully. There r a few similarities.

 

 

 

See? Either way, I was kinda disappointed by King Sombra. Not because He wasn't as good as the other villains, which he wasn't, but as a character... He barely got any build-up and little, no pay-ff, except for Shining Armor launching Cadance at Spike and the Crystal Heart.

[Radiance64 7,053]

"This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Hasbro, Inc. Sorry about that."

 

I wasn't even planning to watch the new episodes again. But I could tell from the "suggested" videos on Youtube that Hasbro has already had them removed. I'm not surprised. They had gotten very lenient, and this was the perfect time to strike and send a message.

 

Boo!

Oh well.

[windy_prance 114]

Honestly I feel meh about the first two episodes. It felt rushed, we barely saw the villain, and it wasn't...memorable. I liked the crystal pony design (especially the eyes) but once again...meh.

Edited November 14, 2012 by windy_prance

[Flying Whales 311]

I know a lot of people weren’t thrilled with King Sombra as far as his role in the plot, but I thought this episode was great. Maybe they didn’t want to have such a focus on the antagonist like with Discord and Chrysalis. The episode had its moments. It was great that Princess Celestia and Luna were side by side even though Luna had no real dialogue. I, personally am a big fan of Cadence and Shining Armor so it was great they played a role in the episode. Overall I was very pleased with the season premier, I don’t think it was as good as The Return of Harmony, but still not bad at all.

Edited November 14, 2012 by Flying Whales

[Dave247 568]

"This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Hasbro, Inc. Sorry about that."

 

I wasn't even planning to watch the new episodes again. But I could tell from the "suggested" videos on Youtube that Hasbro has already had them removed. I'm not surprised. They had gotten very lenient, and this was the perfect time to strike and send a message.

it's been said Hasbro are OK with the lower quality versions of the episodes that float around but instead go after having the 1080p one's removed from Youtube. There still appears to be a 720p version up but if anyone wants a link to watch or download the 1080p with 5.1 you can get it as well as previous episodes on this reddit page.

http://www.reddit.co...line_streaming/

[Lifehax 81]

I just dont get it. why do we have to introduce a new evil character? i mean, i know its the season premiere and all, but we dont need another evil character in the show. we already have quite enough imo

 

also glad to see applejack involved a bit in the show again.. give us more!

[Squid 100]

I just dont get it. why do we have to introduce a new evil character? i mean, i know its the season premiere and all, but we dont need another evil character in the show. we already have quite enough imo

 

Well, the villains might get over-used if they have them too much. But I think that Discord will come back sometime. But we should still get old and new villains, kinda evenly I think.

Edited November 14, 2012 by Squid

[Twango 39]

I got brohoofed by like 15 people including King Feld0? Woah

[BlueFlame 28]

lol'd when shining armor threw cadence like a paper airplane. Scumbag Shining Armor

pfft! Still funny...lol, hold on I need a minute...

[Radiance64 7,053]

Hey, remember when Twilight said curses weren't real in Bridle Gossip? And in this episode they said King Sombra cursed the Crystal Empire? It seems curses actually do exist now, or at least they're some sort of dark magic.

[NavelColt 22,879]

Of course Hasbro is cracking down, people. They're going to be that way with all of season three as they come out. As months go by, they're more lenient, because things aren't 'out of the oven fresh' popular anymore.

 

Glad to see more people are coming to their senses about Sombra, too He was meant to be a Sauron-esque villain from the start, who's thing was presence and influence over the kingdom and it's subjects, not personality or back story. That said, I'm 90% sure he's not done and that we're going to be seeing him again this season. Maybe then those people who still crave more lines and such from him will get their wish.

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

Glad to see more people are coming to their senses about Sombra, too He was meant to be a Sauron-esque villain from the start, who's thing was presence and influence over the kingdom and it's subjects, not personality or back story. That said, I'm 90% sure he's not done and that we're going to be seeing him again this season. Maybe then those people who still crave more lines and such from him will get their wish.

 

Oh, THAT'S what his character was about?

 

Shit, I haven't watched Lord of The Rings to fully appreciate his character, then. I probably should have checked it out first before watching this episode, but too bad I had no way of knowing.

 

On second thought, this show gets so much inspiration from Lord Of The Rings that Sombra's character could be a plausible "parody" to Sauron himself. Hell, even their names are similar!

[NavelColt 22,879]

Oh, THAT'S what his character was about?

 

Shit, I haven't watched Lord of The Rings to fully appreciate his character, then. I probably should have checked it out first before watching this episode, but too bad I had no way of knowing.

 

Definitely. You don't honestly need to watch Lord of the Rings to appreciate the type of villain Sombra is, though. Check out this post I made, it has an actual legit review about Sombra down to the letter from someone on Behind the Voice Actors, and it's very comprehensible.

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

Definitely. You don't honestly need to watch Lord of the Rings to appreciate the type of villain Sombra is, though. Check out this post I made, it has an actual legit review about Sombra down to the letter from someone on Behind the Voice Actors, and it's very comprehensible.

 

That's an awesome post, and I'll have to agree myself. I guess we aren't just used to villains with simply a presence? We expected this guy to have a bigger role in actually interacting with the others that our disappoint was all to apparent in the end.

 

One thing I loved Chrysalis, incidentally found in that very post you wrote, was her motivation in fulfilling her objective. It blended perfectly with the plot and showed us there was much more to all of it than just a simple wedding and problems you might encounter along the way. For Sombra, at first glance he didn't do much at all besides snarl and growl (Crystal Pony's ATTACK fell!), but he did have quite the presence, which made everypony tremble. With Nightmare Moon, her presence wasn't apparent all that much - in fact, ponies were confused the minute Celestia was found to be missing from the Summer Sun Celebration. Who is this new alicorn, and what does she want? Oh wait... she wants to rid the world of all sunlight? Cue to some more confusion and not taking her seriously, except for Twilight who managed to read up on her on essentially the last minute, and also Celestia herself.

 

And what of Discord? His attitude and interaction among not only the ponies, but us, made him a formidable foe and a lovable character. Did he have presence? Indeed he did. He covered all of Ponyville in his idiosyncratic image of what he believes to chaos, but to what extent? He only seemed to make the Mane 6 and Celestia furious. Did he strike fear to all subjects in Equestria constantly, being that little voice in their heads speaking to them with malice? No, he was not. He did manage to toy around with the ponies that were sent to stop his reign, and he viewed the Mane 6 as the only ones that could put up at least a decent fight. With Sombra? He feeds off the fear of every pony and wants to instil fear in everyone. Not surprising, coming from a unicorn who only wished to enslave a peaceful kingdom and play mind games with everypony constantly. While Discord also loved to mess with ponies' heads, he does it like how some playground bully would - not like Sombra who's aggressiveness in his ways of toying with ponies' heads screams horrible malevolence.