S03:E01+02 - The Crystal Empire

[Mywas 687]

But the question is, who made the threat against Canterlot that Shining Armor mentions? If Chrysalis was supposed to be undercover, why did she threaten Canterlot? If she could get in, why didn't she bring some of her Changelings in with her for support? And she was clearly surprised that she managed to beat Celestia. If she wasn't sure she could win, doesn't that make her entire plan a huge gamble? There are still too many gaps to be plugged to make it a workable plan.

We need to remember that this isnt avatar or LOK or the secret Saturdays or an Anime or even a Disney Movie. this is MLP, no matter how much the writers try they arent going to do as good as mentioned Shows writers do. T

[Sunny Fox 5,929]

We need to remember that this isnt avatar or LOK or the secret Saturdays or an Anime or even a Disney Movie. this is MLP, no matter how much the writers try they arent going to do as good as mentioned Shows writers do. T

Well, sure, but even with that as a given, Chrysalis' plan still had a ton of holes. Besides, who is to say the writing can't be as good as in the shows you mentioned? We shouldn't let the writers off the hook because "it's just My Little Pony", right?

 

Hehe: King Sombra in a hedge. That's classic!

Edited August 19, 2013 by Full Spectrum

[Mywas 687]

Well, sure, but even with that as a given, Chrysalis' plan still had a ton of holes. Besides, who is to say the writing can't be as good as in the shows you mentioned? We shouldn't let the writers off the hook because "it's just My Little Pony", right?

 

Hehe: King Sombra in a hedge. That's classic!

Not saying Plotholes are right. But the writers are only given 20 minutes (sometimes 40) and are held by the Y rating as they cant mention stuff that are too dark

[Sunny Fox 5,929]

Not saying Plotholes are right. But the writers are only given 20 minutes (sometimes 40) and are held by the Y rating as they cant mention stuff that are too dark

Avatar and Legend of Korra fall into the exact same category, don't they? For anime, possibly, the themes can be a bit darker than in most western animation, but that doesn't really apply to Disney. No, bad writing is simply bad writing. And "A Canterlot Wedding" is full of bad writing. Not that it isn't enjoyable, mind you.

 

Wait, why are we discussing "A Canterlot Wedding" in the "The Crystal Empire" thread?

Edited August 19, 2013 by Full Spectrum

[Mywas 687]

Avatar and Legend of Korra fall into the exact same category, don't they? For anime, possibly, the themes can be a bit darker than in most western animation, but that doesn't really apply to Disney. No, bad writing is simply bad writing. And "A Canterlot Wedding" is full of bad writing. Not that it isn't enjoyable, mind you.

 

Wait, why are we discussing "A Canterlot Wedding" in the "The Crystal Empire" thread?

I guess we are for some reason.....

 

Well did anyone besides me wondered How did they get away with Slavery, Hints at Harem, That Bloody glass in Twilights nightmare, And Sombra attacking Shining Armor in a Rated Y show?

[Singe 2,109]

But the question is, who made the threat against Canterlot that Shining Armor mentions? If Chrysalis was supposed to be undercover, why did she threaten Canterlot? If she could get in, why didn't she bring some of her Changelings in with her for support? And she was clearly surprised that she managed to beat Celestia. If she wasn't sure she could win, doesn't that make her entire plan a huge gamble? There are still too many gaps to be plugged to make it a workable plan.

The threat brings in more guards who are very powerful in which her changlings can feed on. They wanted to attack Canterlot to feed and become stronger.

 

She didn't bring in changlings because that would risk messing up the plan. Another point is that the shield is strong to keep out Changelings but Chrysalis is not affected by it.

 

Chrysalis only fought Celestia after Twilight exposed the truth.

Edited August 19, 2013 by Singe

[Singe 2,109]

@Singe- However, her hubris caused her to slip up more than once, and ultimately cost her a victory (right as soon as she was about to have it, no less); she was smart (and a babe), no doubt, but she just needed better control over her emotions in order to have a better shot at winning.

 

Sombra, on the other hoof, seemed to have some hubris as well ("My crystal slaves," "THAT IS MINE!!!", etc.), but was able to keep it in MUCH better check (sometimes, the simplest solution is to just act/wait rather than talk).

 

The major folly to the entire plan was leaving Cadance around and sending Twilight to the same spot where she was at.

 

That was the one who defeated her.

[Castle Bleck 19,167]

@Singe,

 

My reaction(s) in a nutshell:

 

 

Edited June 8, 2014 by A.V.

[Singe 2,109]

@Singe-

 

Why did she do that, anyway? There was no point; everypony, even Twilight herself, was fully convinced that Chrysalis was Cadence by that point, so "silencing a witness" was an implausible motive. Was Chrysalis just that mad for catching Tartarus from Twilight all episode long or something?

 

Twilight was still a threat since she could beat Chrysalis with the Elements of Harmony. Chrysalis isn't going to leave the legendary pony who beat Nightmare Moon and Discord free to move around.

[the musty book 156]

I thought that Shining Armor's horn looked like it had poop sticking out from it, so I lol'ed from that. I liked that it wasn't too rushed, like other two part episodes in which they just fill the first episode with uselessness, and then rush the second part. (Not in this series, but in other series.)

[Mywas 687]

I actually gave it some slack when I thought he'd return in the finale...But nope. Nada. Just "I'M EVIL, GRRRRRRRRRRR, I'M DEAD"

The rest of it was...Ehhh, alright. Love the Crystal Empire, had a good song, and any Cadence time is great. But...Bleh. You had two episodes to be a great villain, Sombra.

Lol your acting like hes the only villain out there who never spoke a word. Ganondorf, Sauron, Lich, The Hunters from Bambi, Kidd Buu, Samara Morgan, Godzilla, The Grudge Girl, the Spirit from One missed call, Janemba all barely said a line or just standed there and did nothing until the end. Why no one complains about them?

[Singe 2,109]

Sombra was different from the standard beat up the bad guy. He was an evil force trying to reclaim his kingdom. He couldn't do anything since he was held back by Cadence's magic. On the other hand, any pony outside of the Circle of Love Protection would get a Horn Transmitted Disease.

 

To bad Zecora isn't part of the Mane. She could have been a big help nursing Candence to last longer.

 

The writers wanted to use a different method to beat the villain instead of Elements of Harmony and simple things like love conquers all.

Edited September 11, 2013 by Singe

[Castle Bleck 19,167]

@Mywas,

 

Don't forget Ivan Drago, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Predator, Terminator, etc.

Edited July 11, 2018 by A.V.

[Delta Brony 5]

The episode was very good. I knew Spike and Cadence were the chosen ones who helped the Crystal Ponies defeat King Sombra. Although that Sombra had a few lines in the episode.

[Mywas 687]

I like this episode, but I feel like something did not go through with King Sombra during the development phase. Either they made him too malicious and had to tone it down, or they really did not know how to write him when he finally showed up. I mean, you have a Cool Design, Dark Magic, Male villain, so This is probably the only episode where I desperatley want to know What went wrong?

 

I mean the writers ARE competent, right? So where did the thought that they didn't need to try that hard on Sombra come into play? Who made the call that he shouldn't get any real lines? Who decided to kill him instead of having the elements just banish him or whatever? Whose idea was it to put in more jokes than screen time on the freaking villain!?

Meghan wanted a Sauron like villain. I mean the Sauron in the lotr books and movies not the rest of the books.

Whats wrong with force of nature type of villains?

[Mywas 687]

It sucks that I was sick for the actual premier but since I have the DVR in my room I was able to watch it when I woke up two hours later. Hmm...why to say about this season premier well it was a pretty good episode except that STUPID KING SOMBRA HAD NO PERSONALITY!!!! COME ON! really!? all he did was laugh and say "Crysttttttalssssss..." I mean seriously? Queen Chrysalis had more personalty then him! sorry about ranting but that was pretty much the only part of the ep that got on my nerves besides it seeming kind of rushed....

Thats because he was suppost to be a dark presence, Him not speaking makes him more scary.

In a horror movie The more the villain appears the less scary he becomes

[BlinkZ 1,151]

I really did Enjoy this episode "stairs why it have to be stairs"   anyway evertime I look at the cystealm empire i think of Stargate Atlantic casue the shape of  the city really simialr to Atlantic, i mean even the crystal heart is like a ZPM that powers a sheild.

[Red Storm 14]

*sigh* I just want a king Sombra backstory so badly!!!'

but I do think that it was a decent episode to start the season with.

[conroybumpus 1]

Pinkie's flugelhorn scenes still rank up at the top of the list in terms of the funniest scenes of the show, for me

[Mywas 687]

You all wanna know what I find ironic?

The Naruto fandom is complaining that Kishi is taking too much time giving Backstories to to the villains and not focus on the main cast.

And this fandom did the opposet here.

[pegasus255 15]

is it bad if if I find unfinished charcters with little screean time awesome. Cause I got a ton of hadcannon with king Sombra

[Mywas 687]

Twilot spurkle most fenesh hir destenai.

Oonlay she cun dwo et

Edited April 3, 2014 by Mywas

[Pastel 7,627]

This is my favorite season premiere so far.

It was hard to make an episode as good as A Canterlot Wedding, but they succeeded.

I really like The Crystal Empire, the inhabitants, and especially when the mane 6 try to talk to them.

Cadance and Shining Armor reappeared!

King Sombra is a great villain, unfortunately he doesn't make a lot of appearances...

 

And there's a scene I find hilarious, when Rarity (and the others) become crystal ponies, I love her reaction.

At 6:02

Edited April 23, 2014 by Blobulle

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,152]

I recently rewatched this episode a few nights ago, and my opinion has certainly changed, as has that of a certain unicorn villain.

 

1. For me, King Sombra kicks so much ass in this episode. I recognize that I may be in the minority here, but he just worked for me as a villain. Granted he didn't get a lot of screen time, but for the time of villain he is, he didn't really need it. You knew he was there; biding his time, waiting for the perfect time to make his move. His presence was felt, and he had weight enough to make the characters continually fear him. I especially loved the end of part one when Cadence's shield fails and it ends with the dark cloud slowly encroaching on the city as Sombra's face emerges. That scene alone was done right, IMO. To add to that, his traps were actually pretty clever and even gave Twilight plenty of trouble. Sombra knew what he was doing, and from what I can tell, was probably the smartest of the villains thus far. While I'm sure he had a huge ego, he seemed to be able to keep it in check a lot better than Chrysalis or Discord were able to. To me, personally, he is the best villain thus far.

 

2. Now, villain-gushing out of the way, I felt that the episode just worked for me. The atmosphere was right, and the mane 6's attempts at keep the crystals ponies attention was down-right humorous. Gotta love poor Fluttershy here. There were moments that actually made me LOL, such as Pinkie's flugal horn issues. Overall, it all just worked for me.

 

3. Also, I LOVE how the Crystal Empire is designed.

 

Just love this episode, though I can understand why some didn't care for it.

[Castle Bleck 19,167]

Sombra's screentime and lines may have been less than ideal, but he still delivered as a Knight Of Cerebus:

 

- He made Cadance nearly die from emaciation.

- He gave the Crystal Ponies realistic PTSD.

- He set Dangerously Genre Savvy traps that nearly broke Twilight and Spike.

- He nearly cannibalized Spike.

- He remains the only Big Bad to die (and violently).

Edited July 6, 2018 by A.V.