S03:E01+02 - The Crystal Empire

[XUNUSEDXXX 3,459]

Like everyone else said, King Sombra definitely needed more to him. All we saw of him was a dark cloud and, for about 2 minutes, him screaming NOOO NOOO STOPPPPP...

 

I'm disappointed in the villian, but I absolutely ADORED the songs.

[Victor van Dort 202]

King Sombra wasted too much time threatening the crystal ponies. I don't know if anybody else noticed this, but it looks like he made a rage face when he was defeated at the end of the episode.

[NavelColt 22,879]

Jesus christ, fifty two people viewing this thread at once xD

 

I enjoyed that a lot. I loved how dark and malevolent Sombra appeared, though I was rather disappointed he didn't manifest for very long in his actual form, to take on any of the main characters in a straight up battle. Seeing Twilight taking him one would have been beyond amazing. Still, very nice. Now if you excuse me, I'm off to make an awesome Sombra signature for myself.

[hawkflame 3,310]

Am I the only one a little let down by this episode? There wasn't quite the sense of personal urgency that there was in the second season premiere...

[Radiance64 7,053]

The premiere of season 3 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was pretty great, although I have a few qualms with it I think this was overall a crystal solid(c wut i did ther) season premiere. All the characters were in top form here, especially Twilight of course but Pinkie stole the show for me with her various wacky costumes(spy, jester... Fluttershy? )

Sombra was a decent villain, very cool looking and intimidating but was mostly a big blobby shadow the whole time, and at the end with the cleansing I felt like I was playing Zelda Twilight Princess or something(doubt it was at all intentional, but funny it reminded of something with that particular name )

The new Crystal pony characters were interesting as well, I like how their coats seem to reflect their emotions(lol reflect, more crystal humor). The librarian one was particularly hilarious.

Overall, I thought they were excellent episodes. Sure, the overthrowing of the villain was rather deus ex machina but anyone who has watched FiM should expect that anyway. What matters is that the story was pretty solid, the characters were all at their best, the music was as great as usual(didn't mind some reused tracks, expected it), and it all had good dramatic/humor contrast like one would expect from FiM. Loved it.

Edited November 10, 2012 by (\SBB64/)

[Starswirl the Trixie 975]

its photoshopped I've seen that pic before without the wings

 

It ain't photoshopped. It's from a European licensing convention.

 

http://i.dhne.ws/a5vykemwm.jpg

[null1 606]

its photoshopped I've seen that pic before without the wings

 

Ah, what I thought.

 

On another note, to those that were able to get through those commercials, the ad for the next episodes coming up, one part had Celestia with a bunch of friends or something, around her height, something like that... Thoughts?

[akita-ken 581]

While I felt that Sombra was kind of underdeveloped, I think it's basically a by-product of the producers trying to shoehorn what should rightly be covered in a three-parter into a two-parter. The amount of new content that has been generated is mind-boggling (Crystal Empire, the crystal castle, crystal pony design, crystal library, essentially an entire city) and the fact that they've managed to compress everything into 45 minutes is quite impressive. Hopefully, the proper backstory of the crystal ponies and their empire will be revealed further into the season or through references in the later episodes. That said, the deluge of new canon in S3 will give the fandom a *lot* of new material to work with for a the foreseeable future.

 

I'm kinda disappointed they didn't come up with a new/tweaked opening for the show though.

 

Also, Cadence is the crystal princess? Was she always the crystal princess or was she just one because the occasion called for one?

 

Questions, so many questions!

[MatrixChicken 879]

Of course, there were all those epic, "dark" parts of it. Like when Twilight uses the dark magic spell that Celestia showed her. It overall felt a bit more... For older audiences, but King Sombra needed to have a less "dumb-sounding" voice for it to really feel good. Also, he would have needed more talking parts. A good villain always has backstory.

[Nas 2,873]

Well, I do have to say it lived up to the hype that was built from it.

 

First off, I can tell things are getting better from here. A lot of cool themes, such as dark magic/corruption, etc. Sombra turned out to be a darker villain than I expected, but not quite the amount of screentime I was expecting. He could've been used for, like say, some sort of combat, as he is very very powerful, and that epic voice just backs it up. I predict he will return along with Discord in the season finale.

 

As for the action and drama, it was a fair amount. Nothing too repetitive, the humor was good as always. The songs were all great, too. I'm thinking this looks like it's going to be a promising new season.

 

Rejoice, fellow bronies! For a new era is upon us!

[CaptainLuna 50]

Season three opening was amazing had a great feel, great suspense, and i liked how they showed more of cadnece and spike saving the day although i think they could have done more with sombra then trolling from the sidelines i think discord beats sombra any day but other then that a great first season /)(\

[Sunny Fox 5,950]

I still can't believe Twilight didn't teleport. She showed she was able to during her song and it was a long way to the bottom of the stairs. It was also a long way UP to the Crystal Heart. When she WAS at the Crystal Heart, she could've teleported there and to ground level to activate it.

 

No, she couldn't. She tried to teleport out of the circle, and was pulled back in. For the other cases, maybe she can't teleport unless she can see or knows the destination well.

 

The best part... she can control gravity with her magic. That is totally badass.

 

The funniest thing for me was that if I was to go by this two-parter alone Rarity might actually be my favorite character. o.O

 

And there is absolutely no shame in that. Edited November 10, 2012 by Full Spectrum

[Flicker Sweet 3,391]

 

 

It ain't photoshopped. It's from a European licensing convention.

 

http://i.dhne.ws/a5vykemwm.jpg

 

link doesn't work........interesting.......

 

 

Ah, what I thought.

 

On another note, to those that were able to get through those commercials, the ad for the next episodes coming up, one part had Celestia with a bunch of friends or something, around her height, something like that... Thoughts?

 

alicornCON?

[Batbrony 16,052]

Spike: "How'd you do that Twilight?

Twilight: "It's a little trick Celestia taught me... how to be evil!!!!"

Seriously, who other than me thought the exact same thing when she did that!

Oh, what are a couple other things I loved in this episode?

The group squee in the library was adorable! Also, I squeed when AJ said that bit to Rarity about how not everypony can be a rarity at the end of episode 2; seriously, those two are really close now, and it's little stuff like that that shows it. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy jousting was bucking hilarious, and Pinkie Pie dressed as a jester made a little too much sense.

Biggest laugh of the episode:

RD: "Who wants a flugelhorn?"

Pinkie: "I want a flugelhorn!"

RD: "Who else wants a flugelhorn?"

Pinkie: "I WANT A FLUGELHORN!!!" :lol:

Edited November 10, 2012 by Batbrony

[Jokuc 8,173]

So, time for me to put together a formal review, even though I'm still collecting my thoughts...

 

Plot: Adding a whole new sense of dimension to Equestria, with shadows of a long-forgotten empire in the frozen north? Excellent idea- they finally added in a main location other than Ponyville and Canterlot. Erasing the inhabitants' memories and thus giving them a depressed attitude? Check! A sense of urgency throughout the episode? Perfect. Like the S2 premiere before it, it managed to bring a dark atmosphere not often seen in children's shows to light. At points, you can really feel a sense of hopelessness creeping in.

 

Music: As usual, the songs were stellar, big kudos to the production team on this one! Ballad of the Crystal Ponies was perfectly executed, accompanied by the preparation montage. I'm gonna have to say that the Failure Success song didn't work out so well for me, though, with spike's singing voice and all. The reprise later was better, though.

 

Conflict: Are you kidding me? King Sombra could have been built into such an excellent villain, maybe even rivaling Discord, but they botched it. He's way too one-dimensional, pretty much reduced to laughing maniacally and trying to reclaim the crystal empire. Even cheesier than Nightmare Moon, in my opinion. His only shining moment was the doorway, and he didn't even really plan that one.

 

Now, of course, we still need arbitrary ratings, so here we go!

Plot: 8.5/10

Music: 9/10

Conflict: 5/10

Overall: 7.5/10

 

wow I agree with this guy.

Not exactly everything, but the most.

 

I really look forward to see the next episode since the story sounds awesome.

 

oh and I give the episodes a rating of 7/10

[Tom 891]

So... anybody have any idea why Luna had that book at the end?

 

Whatever it means we'll probably see more Luna this season that's always a good thing.

 

P.S. I think there's a bug with IE 10 and CKEditor

[XUNUSEDXXX 3,459]

My review of the show:

 

Songs: 9.5/10

 

I absolutely loved the songs! Twi's first song gave me goosebumps, I was literally dancing to the second one, and the last song sounded beautiful. I overall loved it.

 

King Sombra: 4/10

 

I was so excited for this villian only to be disappointed by the lack of anything special from him. All he did really was float around in a black cloud and for the last few minutes stood there while he got annihilated by the Crystal Heart. Did not like.

 

Episode Itself: 8/10

 

I'm a real sucker for the show like everyone else here, so I basically like all episodes. But I think they could have taken some parts a bit slower (like mentioned before, King Sombra's parts) and also just make it a bit more played out.

 

 

I liked the episode as always though! Satisfied.

[Radiance64 7,053]

 

Ah, what I thought.

 

On another note, to those that were able to get through those commercials, the ad for the next episodes coming up, one part had Celestia with a bunch of friends or something, around her height, something like that... Thoughts?

 

They looked like horses and were wearing bridles. I think they've gotta be rulers from other lands or something, at least I hope so.

[Flicker Sweet 3,391]

Guys stop freaking out about sombra! If they had tried to make him like that he probably would've been too similar to discord or nightmare moon

[None42069 520]

No, she couldn't. She tried to teleport out of the circle, and was pulled back in. For the other cases, maybe she can't teleport unless she can see or knows the destination well.

For the circle, she could teleport over the crystal and grab it. For the stairs leading down, she could at least skip a few sets until she reaches the bottom.

[Starswirl the Trixie 975]

 

I'm serious when I say I want to make this a meme.

[Princess Lintsalot 73]

wow I agree with this guy.

Not exactly everything, but the most.

 

I really look forward to see the next episode since the story sounds awesome.

 

oh and I give the episodes a rating of 7/10

 

Heh heh, even I have my moments. More often than not, I know what I'm doing or saying. Hopefully.

Anyway, forgot to note that Cadence made another strong appearance in this one, although her role was a little more limited this time.

[Music Chart Fan 819]

A few random things I noticed which didn't make much sense:

 

If you're looking for a history book at a library, I don't think the most efficient way is to have all six of them just go randomly pulling books off of shelves. Most libraries are organized by subject; find the history section first and then have everyone look there.

 

If the crystal heart ultimately did not have to be delivered solely by Twilight, why did Celestia and Luna tell her that she had to do it by herself? Is it Trollestia striking again?

 

I also like how the mane six minus Twilight were told that they had to keep all the crystal ponies happy so that they could "activate" the crystal heart once it arrived, but by the time it did arrive, the crystal ponies weren't all happy and it didn't matter at all.

 

I did like that Twilight eventually thought to use some magic rather than climbing all the stairs; I was thinking that the entire time.

 

I thought that when Spike was picking up the crystal heart, his sweaty hands would cause him to drop it and break it, but I guess the sweatiness of his hands turned out not to be a plot point.

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

One thing I DID like about Sombra was how he managed to put traps wherever Twilight went. The most prevalent one was when Twilight was about to step through that door, but she triggered the "door trap" as you say and it put her under some sort of manipulation/illusion combo spell which made her believe that she had failed Celestia's test. That was pretty dramatic, but nonetheless I knew something was up. For starters, the illustration of Twilight's failure appearing in Canterlot Castle so quickly. Who could have bothered to draw it in say, one outing, and with the level of detail it was obviously paid attention to? Second, Celestia would never just give up on her personal protege like that even if she had failed her... test. They WOULD fight back even under the dark clouds Sombra put up, for that's all they'd have to be doing at that time anyway. A great display of preparing for, really, what could be the worst.

 

There's a theme of test-taking in this episode, which is common in what most kids at my own age fear quite a bit. The fear of failure, about not being prepared, and even getting overconfident but we'll discuss the latter another time. Twilight was subjected to Sombra's trap in the first place because she was fearful of what the outcome would be if she failed, and in this case, Sombra (or his trap) identified it pretty easily and would have knocked Twilight out for good had it not been for Spike's intervention... and it's uncanny! How many times have we failed a school test because we were so scared that we'd fail, and how many of those times did we need our friends to pat us in the back and say, "you can do this"? It's a rather subtle, but pretty powerful way of making kids realize that you have your friends to lean back on if you're struggling with tests of that sort.

[Shining Star 33]

For the circle, she could teleport over the crystal and grab it. For the stairs leading down, she could at least skip a few sets until she reaches the bottom.

 

She probably would have teleported over it if she knew it was going to be a trap. But she didn't know so that is why she didn't do it. At least that's my opinion. And with the issue with Celestia telling Twilight what she did is because she wanted to test her to see if she could do the right thing. Edited November 10, 2012 by Shining Star