Am I the only one who liked The Crystal Empire?

[Pony Of The Month 534]

Am I seriously the only person who enjoyed this episode? For some reason, it seems like everyone is harshly critical towards this episode. The only criticism that I am hearing is that Sombra is a lame villian. Now I know that Sombra is the G4 equivalent of The Smooze, but did you really expect something with a black and red color scheme to be an interesting villian? 

Maybe the reason that I wasn't disapointed by Sombra is because I didn't expect much from him in the first place. But if you ask me, the episode isn't about Sombra as much as it is about Twilight, and the crystal ponies. I was actually disappointed that we didn't get to learn much about them. It would've been interesting if one of them was given a cannon name, and a bigger role. If you ask me, if anyone really needed more screen time, it was the crystal ponies. However, despite that, I still loved this episode. 

 

I loved Twilight and Spike's journey to find the crystal heart. I really loved the scene where Twilight was seeing her true fear, and I liked the dramatic "what if" story they gave us. I really liked Nicole Oliver's performance as Celestia, even though it was a short scene, it was very heartbreaking. 

 

I also loved some of the gags from Pinkie Pie. My personal favorite was the Fluttershy costume, and how Fluttershy reacted.

 

Overall, I think you're all trying way to hard to criticize a kid's show. You have to remember, that this is still a kid's show, so it's not going to be an incredibly perfect masterpiece. Obviously, it's okay to not like this episode, but some of you are treating the franchise like Christopher Nolan's Batman. It's a lot more understandable that The Dark Knight Rises is heavily criticized, but My Little Pony has a completely different demographic.

[Feather Gem 967]

What?  People disliked this episode?!

No way.  No way.

Those are my favorite episodes! 

And that's all I will say because I can't be bothered to type much more.

 

(Notice my excessive use of italic)

[Stellafera 3,836]

Nope, you definitely aren't alone. While the main plot didn't really interest me (But does it ever with two-parters?), I loved the interaction between the Mane 6 and how they each were well characterized with time in the spotlight. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were particularly good, and Rarity was nice as well.

[Wingnut 6,992]

Speaking for myself, I didn't think the Crystal Empire was that bad.  It probably has to do with the fact that "Return to Harmony" and "A Canterlot Wedding" has raised the bar so high for season bookending episodes. 

 

One thing I was expecting to see was Sombra confront and threaten Twilight in person.  You know, ya gotta have a face to face meeting between the pro and antagonists.  Exchange some words, then some blows.  The bad guy gets the upper hand first but then the hero rallies to win and save the day. 

 

I wasn't disappointed that it didn't go down like a "normal" fight between the hero and the villain.  Even though it's the most reliable plot structure, it gets repetitive after awhile.  It was nice to see Spike save the day and to have Cadance and Shining play major roles in attaining victory too. 

[Leafeon 2,702]

Yes.

 

Actually, a lot of people liked it. I'm not one of them, because the episodes have a lot of flaws. Here's a review cos I'm too lazy to type.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XPcpUpL1_4

[PoniesPlease 365]

I don't get it. I adored this episode. I love every episode! You can't really go about saying you hated this episode, or found that you didn't like the message raised by another. Just enjoy the show for what it is, people/ponies.

 

Although, I do like the use of Sombra, because his only real purpose was to cause Twilight to hasten to the Crystal Heart, increasing the tempo of the episode and distributing a feel of desperation towards all characters.

Edited February 2, 2013 by PoniesPlease

[Faithful Dawn 8]

I'm with you there, bud. While the entirety of the episode is still as normal as the usual My Little Pony shows, what really lost me was the plot twist that Princess Cadence is actually the Crystal Princess. The Ballad of The Crystal Ponies is too, very catchy. I loved listening to it when spoilers of the song came out. Overall, I liked it, although gets predictable.

 

I do also agree that the structure gets repetitive. The MLP episode structure is getting old. The show itself should gets a new variation, like star the background ponies or something? We want wider worlds than Mane 6, Spike and CMC. Because we pretty much already knew everything about them.

Edited February 2, 2013 by Snow Heart

[Ember_star 229]

I loved this episode  i also like king sombra, i mean... You can say he didn't do a good job of fighting, but i still liked them all, also that episode was really fun!

[Scootalove 10,689]

Well, I understand the criticism for this episode. But, I liked it for the singing, the short fight scene, and well how the Mane 6 portrayed in this episode. I find that, all episodes have flaws.

[Pony Of The Month 534]

 

what really lost me was the plot twist that Princess Cadence is actually the Crystal Princess.

 

I thought that everyone already knew that before the episode even aired. It was pretty obvious from the very beginning. Eh, whatever.

[Betez 1,734]

I liked it, and thought it was a great way to start season 3. I didn't even know people disliked it. I don't see anything wrong with it. No, you're not alone.

[Veylon 255]

I'm one of the dislikers and I must say I feel like I'm the only one sometimes.

 

Anyway, the main issue with the episode is that a lot of cool stuff is thrown up, but none of it is worked through properly. Sombra is a very threatening sadistic dictator-type villain, but he never really reaches a moment of triumph. That Nightmare Door is well, nightmarish, but Twilight never properly deals with her fear. Spike pulls her out and they bypass it. Celestia's admonition to Twilight that "you must be the one" is ignored as Twilight accepts help from anyone and everyone right up to the last minute and then she refuses help. By the way, what was the point of that bit of instruction in the first place?

 

I think this could've been one of the best episodes of the show, but there are so many plot problems that drag it down.

[Freewave 1,145]

While i guess i would fall under "didn't like it" category i'm not going to say that i couldn't find parts about the 2 parter that i didn't like. Some of the animation was really dramatic and well done. Some of the themes (enslavement, doubt, struggle, evil), while barely explored, were good. I mean i wish for more parts of Equestria to be explored in future plots and for more adventures rather than hanging around ponyville all the time, but this just missed so many marks.

 

First off the Twilight song seemed out of place like she failed when she really hadn't even started her adventure yet, Sombra while he seemed to have a really EVIL back story (enslaving ponies ffs) wasn't developed into anything interesting or any speaking role. All he did was threaten but didn't even touch any of the mane 6. Other problem was the mane 5 (- Twilight) were not giving anything to do! Throwing the fair and milking an hour just seemed like a wasted opportunity.

 

At least Spike and Twi had some great moments and we saw Cadence and Shining Armor again.  I had no idea Cadence was the Crystal princess until today because that was never explained on the show anytime in the hour.  Maybe the crystal ponies will be explored more in future episodes. But yeah it was the weakest 2 parter by far. I actually captured everything i liked about in one my songs / pmv's though becaueven a week show will have some good dramatic moments.

 

 

Even something that's weak but ambitious for MLP will often trigger good art and fanfiction responses (more so then Spike at your Service for example which seemed like a padded half hour). If it makes you feel any better i know a lot of people who hated the season 2 finale and i LOVED that one. One of my favorites from seasons 1+2 so you can't please everyone!!

[Dr. Eggnog 203]

Though I have a lot of issues with the main story, I don't care because there were like a trillion great smaller moments that made it work.  I love the banter between the mane six, the librarian that doesn't know if she's the librarian, the way they herd the crystal ponies around, Rainbow Dash kicking Fluttershy's flank, etc.  I also think it's cool that bloody Spike saves the day.  Somber was kindof just designed to be a physical force, I don't care that he didn't have a personality.  I'd give the episode an 8/10 myself.

[Keylise<3 488]

You're not alone

The Crystal Empire is one of my favourite episodes. I like all the 2 parters.

My absolute favourite is probably lesson zero though

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

nope, I liked it quite a bit, Sombra was more or less intimidation in what he did, not what he does in the episode.  Sombra is the main complaint people have with this episode.

[LittlemissLuna 5]

Yeah I liked it but a have a few complaints:

 

1.Cadence's damn swooning and fainting..I know she was tired but really?

 

2.How did Twilight pick up black magic so fast.

 

3. Rarity's character was destroyed.

[Phoenix237 353]

Well I liked the Crystal Empire.

I get it people are criticizing it, but ou know what it wasn't that bad.

 

One complaint is about the villain King Sombra.

Sombra for me is like Lord Suran. He is there, he is the villain, he has power that may or may not be inmeserable, but he dosn't really appear.

The episode wasn't about King Sombra, it was about Twilight (and her freinds) trying to restor what the crystal ponies lost. King Sombra was the reason for their time constraint, and it actually made the characters race against the clock. In other words Sombra was a threat that needed to be taken care of in the short time they had.

 

Now one thing I could say they should have done, is at least make one I the crystal ponies more important. It would have said something like, "hey were the crystal ponies, and we're not just cardboard cutout characters".

But that's just me being picky

 

Anyways the episode for me was great, the writers did a fantastic job, and I can't wait to see where this series goes.

[Zeruis 53]

Nah, the Crystal Empire episodes were my favorites in season 3. The villain was awesome, I loved Twilight and Spike's relationship, and the Crystal Pony song was my favorite song out of the whole show.

[Zygen 6,066]

I didn't really have any problems with it, I quite liked it myself .

I really just love the show so much that It takes an actually quite bad episode for me to dislike any of them.

 

Of course not everypony will love every episode. So its understandable of course. I guess maybe I'm just easily pleased or just not very critical of small things. .

[GC13 17]

Crystal Empire is my favorite part of season three. You wanna talk flaws, you talk Canterlot Wedding, not Crystal Empire. The series seems to have a thing for awesome two-part season openers, and Crystal Empire doesn't disappoint at all.

[Guest]

coincidentally, because of the lack of episode today, i decided to watch it again.

i very much enjoyed this episode, animation was excellent, the bgm was excellent, the relationship between the characters was good, cadence was in existence and twilight learned a valuable lesson.

quite frankly i'm surprised that people disliked it, never heard a complaint about it apart from sombre only having about 20 seconds.

also about that Sombre was one of them villains who has alot of power that you just don't see.

[Victor van Dort 202]

I loved this episode. I like it more than The Return of Harmony and Friendship is Magic. I didn't really expect much out of Sombra either. It's like why people hate the movie Sinister; because of the non-scary somewhat dull villain, when really what it was about was the intended feels to it.

[Buttonmash1973 1,026]

I don't dislike the episode.

 

I waited so long to see how the Crystal Empire would be after an early screenshot of the empire months ago,

[EpicApplejack 73]

In my opinion, I absolutely loved this episode!  It was great and despite other people's complaining (seriously no offense  ) I for one enjoy all those little plot twists.  Through the additions to the myth and lore of Equestria, new ideas can form, thus more episodes, moreover creating great places for people such as myself to ponder little questions and what many believe to be flaws.  

 

I mean seriously, I know that its a show for children, but I believe the target market is changing whether Hasbro likes it or not...

 

If you'd like some insight into my thoughts by all means keep reading...

 

One of my initial reactions to this episode was "Holy hoof!  Celestia did dark magic!"  Then through greater thought I realized that Luna was corrupted to becoming Nightmare Moon.  That means Celestia is just as capable of corruption!  I mean did you see the way she is always calm and collected (nevermind her actions in return of Harmony pt 1)?  Almost as if everything is already under her control... 

   All evil comes from power.  Whether one is drunken with power or they are bent on gaining it, etc. that seems to be the source of all corruption

 

Furthermore on the whole dark magic thing (excuse my rambling).  Isn't it amazing how Twilight just spat out the same evil spell her mentor did at the beginning of the episode?  And then she proceeds to say "That was a little trick Celestia taught me..."  Remember when Celestia just left Twilight to her test outside of Canterlot Castle?  I don't think Celestia taught Twi through any direct lessons.  It was more like something Twilight did behind everyone's back (for she didn't know if she should but she couldn't fight curiosity). 

 

Catch my drift?

 

No?...                         TWILIGHT DID SOMETHING ON HER OWN ACCORD FOR ONCE!!!!  For better or for worse she is indeed moving on to her next level of magic...

                                                                             Heyyyyyyy...... Didn't Celestia say that too! just a thought...

 

P.S.  TL:DR  If you aren't interested then don't bother   Friendship is Magic!!! 

I apologize for all errors and/or rambling... I typed this rather quickly...

Edited February 2, 2013 by Duece