Tara on Alicorn Twilight: "It’s not going to change the feel of the show"

[Pixel Stick 927]

 

You did see the part where she flew at the end of the episode with no flight training right? There was no logic to that. In the season finale she also seemed to cast a spell that changed the very destinies of her friends and then afterward went into magical video dream land and grew wings and became a princess. You don't see a big power different as compared to somewhat like Rarity? Do you?

 

Of course I saw those points.  I also saw that there was no clear indication of just how much time had passed between Twilight getting her wings and being able to fly with them - lots of people assumed the coronation was held the very next day (and the plot summary in the MLP wikia article also assumes this), but Celestia never said "We're going to coronate you tomorrow".  So perhaps she had a bit of time to learn how to fly before the coronation actually took place.  This is one of the main reasons why I keep asking people if their criticisms about "Twilicorn" have more to do with the way the finale was handled, than with the essential concept of her ascension.

 

It had been long established that Twilight had much stronger magic capabilities than anyone else in the Mane 6 (particularly Rarity) - perhaps even more powerful than Celestia and Luna themselves.  She has ALWAYS been the most powerful of the main characters - this should be no surprise to anyone.  What Twilight has lacked up until now was the ability to fully control that magic, or to realize its full potential.  And I maintain she's still not all the way there yet - her ascension to Alicornhood is just another step in that direction.

 

And finally, I still disagree that her new status and physical form necessarily makes her any more powerful than she was before, nor does it HAVE to have a fundamental effect on her personality, her friendships or the way she chooses to live her life.  Yes, some responsibilities may be placed on her, but it's up to her to decide how to deal with them.  And yes, some things will change, and I'd be very disappointed if this DIDN'T cause some jealousy, confusion or hard feelings among Twilight's friends.  There are dozens of potential excellent plotlines that could spring out of these points alone.

[Chickey 383]

Of course I saw those points.  I also saw that there was no clear indication of just how much time had passed between Twilight getting her wings and being able to fly with them - lots of people assumed the coronation was held the very next day (and the plot summary in the MLP wikia article also assumes this), but Celestia never said "We're going to coronate you tomorrow".  So perhaps she had a bit of time to learn how to fly before the coronation actually took place.  This is one of the main reasons why I keep asking people if their criticisms about "Twilicorn" have more to do with the way the finale was handled, than with the essential concept of her ascension.

 

It had been long established that Twilight had much stronger magic capabilities than anyone else in the Mane 6 (particularly Rarity) - perhaps even more powerful than Celestia and Luna themselves.  She has ALWAYS been the most powerful of the main characters - this should be no surprise to anyone.  What Twilight has lacked up until now was the ability to fully control that magic, or to realize its full potential.  And I maintain she's still not all the way there yet - her ascension to Alicornhood is just another step in that direction.

 

And finally, I still disagree that her new status and physical form necessarily makes her any more powerful than she was before, nor does it HAVE to have a fundamental effect on her personality, her friendships or the way she chooses to live her life.  Yes, some responsibilities may be placed on her, but it's up to her to decide how to deal with them.  And yes, some things will change, and I'd be very disappointed if this DIDN'T cause some jealousy, confusion or hard feelings among Twilight's friends.  There are dozens of potential excellent plotlines that could spring out of these points alone.

There are characters since the beginning of the show that still can't fly. Case and point, Scootaloo. Going from ground unicorn to flying like a pegasus in one day is still not even remotely right in how long it takes to learn to fly.

 

So then you are pointing out that Twilight has more magical capability as a meager unicorn than the gods of Equestria Celestia and Luna?

 

You obviously have not fully grasped how a overpowered/Mary Sue character works yet.

[Treble Bolt 1,122]

Really, if you think about it in retrospect, Twilight becoming an alicorn in and of itself doesn't change much of anything (except now she can fly, which doesn't change much but may add some RD and/or Fluttershy and Twilight focused episodes). 

Becoming a Princess on the other hand, really only changes how Twilight's studies are going to go.  You could say that the residents of Ponyville and any city she goes to, she'll get fawned over but I don't think the creative team will put that in much at all because it draw the focus away from her involvement with the rest of  the Mane 6.  At the most ideal, she'll become Celestia's heir or princess of her own land (as Cadence is with the Crystal Empire), and the very least, her studies will now PREPARE her for such roles a princess has.  Consider her now a princess, but still in training. 

[Silverblade 3]

Without a spoiler, this was the first time I saw the episode through fresh eyes, and I thought it was a masterful plot twist that also makes sense. "She will be that much closer to being ready"-Celestia

 

I'll say this much by asking this one question I'm hoping someone would relay to Tara Strong;

 

Will Twilight be immortal as an Alicorn and therefore outlive her friends?

 

if the answer is no, I think that could be enough to help us roll with it.

 

But my previous question on the issue still remains; Why should Twilight stay an Alicorn? what reasons story-wise does the show have that they should keep her that way?

 

"same Twilight but can do more stuff", like what? fly? so can Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy! so what's the point in giving Twilight wings?

 

change does happen in show, but it should only happen for a reason, and I have yet to see a reason for Twilight to stay an Alicorn.

 

okay, I'm probubly ranting at the moment, but you see my point? can the any of the cast and crew tell us why Twilight should stay and Alicorn? can anyone in this message board give a good reason? if so, I'd strongly appreciate a reply here.

 

'Cause I still see no reason why Twilight shouldn't be turned back into a unicorn later.

we will see 

 

But we should have faith, and not be afraid of change. Without change, things would become stale, the worse fate that can face a series, besides changing too much.

[TwilizzleFoShizzle 95]

 

Cadence has no special powers

Cadance has power over love, as was explained in the season 2 finale in Twilight's flashback. Supposedly love is a strong force, making Cadance's power just as legit as Celestia's or Luna's. Of course I expect a reply from this saying twilight has power of friendship or something, but the way Cadance has power allows her to magically create love, which would mean anything involving twilight having power over friendship would mean she can magically create friendship as a graspable object and throw it at people like a minecraft splash potion. 

[Silverblade 3]

Or we could not judge until season 4 comes out. these are professional writers writing for a Job! The series is immensely popular, making money. Why would they change it?

[Pixel Stick 927]

There are characters since the beginning of the show that still can't fly. Case and point, Scootaloo. Going from ground unicorn to flying like a pegasus in one day is still not even remotely right in how long it takes to learn to fly.

 

So then you are pointing out that Twilight has more magical capability as a meager unicorn than the gods of Equestria Celestia and Luna?

 

You obviously have not fully grasped how a overpowered/Mary Sue character works yet.

 

(1) Scootaloo's lack of ability to fly has been strongly implied in the show as a disability that she deals with in her daily life.

 

(2) Read what I said again: People are ASSUMING Twilight went from ground unicorn to flying pegasus in just one day, but the episode did not actually establish that.  Do you think Celestia was able to gather thousands of ponies from all over Equestria, arrange for a fancy coronation ceremony, etc. overnight?  I doubt it.  It wasn't explained in the episode, but one doesn't have to think too hard to realize there's room for Twilight to have done some learning "off-camera" - it's at least a possibility that surprisingly few people appear to be willing to consider.

 

(3) I don't have to infer or point out Twilight's power - they've been beating us over the head with that since the very first episode.  They even hinted in Cutie Mark Chronicles that Twilight COULD have more "magic potential" than Celestia does.  Lauren Faust reportedly intended for Twilight to succeed Celestia.

 

That does NOT necessarily make her a Mary Sue.  Mary Sue characters have no significant flaws, and nobody questions anything that they do or that happens to them.  Throughout the show's run, Twilight has been anything BUT a perfect character.  She has lots of flaws, lots of things to learn, and she does things that others find questionable on occasion.  If she were a Mary Sue, those statements would be false.  And her transformation doesn't necessarily turn her into one - again, please read what I said more carefully.

 

Also, it is perfectly possible for a character to be "overpowered" and still be a realistic, believable character.  Perhaps Twilight is now more powerful than Celestia.  Does she know how to use that power?  What if she lets it get to her head?  I could easily see an episode devoted to her going on a power trip and the rest of the Mane 6 finding ways to bring her back to the ground and remind her of what's important in maintaining friendships.  And that's just one of the many doors that this transformation might open - I can only hope that the writers realize this potential and take advantage of it.

 

Cadance has power over love, as was explained in the season 2 finale in Twilight's flashback. Supposedly love is a strong force, making Cadance's power just as legit as Celestia's or Luna's. Of course I expect a reply from this saying twilight has power of friendship or something, but the way Cadance has power allows her to magically create love, which would mean anything involving twilight having power over friendship would mean she can magically create friendship as a graspable object and throw it at people like a minecraft splash potion. 

 

I'm not sure you can say that Cadance creates love.  She spreads love and harmony through her power.  She may have the power to invoke love and harmony in ponies, but I think the ponies in question have to have the capacity to love, and thus such a power might be totally ineffective against a loveless pony.  (Which might explain why it wasn't effective against King Sombra directly - all it could do was keep him at bay.)  This can have the effect of calming ponies who are otherwise arguing or unhappy.

 

Again, this is my interpretation: I don't think ANYONE can be forced to love another, or to be friends with them.  Twilight so far has derived power from friendship, but she does not create it.  She can't force any two ponies to be friends - at least, there's been no indication thus far that such a thing is possible.  But her power can awaken the spirit of friendship in ponies, making it easier for them to put aside their differences.  That, I think, is a much subtler and more effective power that would have a real place in this universe.

[Pinkazoid 3,493]

(2) Read what I said again: People are ASSUMING Twilight went from ground unicorn to flying pegasus in just one day, but the episode did not actually establish that.  Do you think Celestia was able to gather thousands of ponies from all over Equestria, arrange for a fancy coronation ceremony, etc. overnight?  I doubt it.  It wasn't explained in the episode, but one doesn't have to think too hard to realize there's room for Twilight to have done some learning "off-camera" - it's at least a possibility that surprisingly few people appear to be willing to consider.

 

Okay. We're all talking about a fantasy show of magical talking horses. You may be right, it may just be some plot hole the creators didn't fill, I'll go with the second one since it's really more of a constant thing that's been going on through out the seasons, I'm not saying either of those are bad things, but I honestly won't eat up anything from a finale crammed together into one episode.

[Twinhead B 482]

So, by extension, if I say the Season 3 finale was a terrible episode, I'm automatically a hater?

 

I seem to be in the minority of people who think Twilight's ascension in general is a good thing and opens a lot of doors, but that it was poorly handled in the season finale.  I totally understand people's concerns about what this will do to Twilight and the Mane 6, and taken at face value, I'd agree that we have a right to be concerned about it.  But time and time again I keep seeing people jumping to all sorts of conclusions about what the future will bring in the absence of any hard evidence of what the writers have planned.

 

In my opinion, the haters are the ones who, in this case, are too stubborn to even consider the possibilities of what Twilight's ascension could mean - they just want Twilight to remain a "regular old unicorn" for the rest of her life, and thus anything that stands against that notion is automatically bad.  But I don't believe that someone is a hater because they thought the studio could have done a better job with the finale.

 

My opinion?  Magical Mystery Cure is so far very close to my least favorite episode of the entire series.  But the overarching storyline involving Twilight's ascension also has potential to be one of the best things to happen to this series since it began.

 

It's very easy to confuse the meaning of words on the internet isn't it?

 

Believing the episode wasn't very good is well within your right as a fan, I was talking about those who are going around saying Magical Mystery Cure is the end of the show, and that Hasbro has destroyed our precious ponies.

 

Those with a knee-jerk opposition to something will always be more vocal than those who are perfectly fine with something.

[hawkflame 3,310]

Why is it that every time I try to encourage people to be open-minded, it turns into "My way or the highway"?  That is NOT what I've been saying!

 

I call it as I see it. IMO, all of the following statements are "jumping to conclusions", in my opinion:

 

- "Now that Twilight is a princess, she has nothing more to learn.  The show has jumped the shark and might as well end now."

- "Twilight should never have become a princess.  Change her back to a unicorn NOW or I will hate this show forever."

- "Twilight as an Alicorn is automatically awesome and it should never have been any other way."

 

These are the most extreme positions I've seen in this debate, on opposite ends of the scale.  And in my opinion, they're all flawed for the same reason: We've only seen that she's ascended, but we know nothing about what the writers have planned.  I say it's jumping to conclusions to assume what's going to happen in the show when we don't have any evidence to go on.  And I see a lot of it, mostly from the "anti-Twilicorn" camp.

 

I think that the perception is because you don't seem to call out those who love the idea and can't see how it could possibly go wrong.  Believe me, they're out there, and I've been trying to tell them why there are legitimate points of concern here. 

 

Yes, I think it's important to encourage people to be open minded, but it's also important to encourage others to be realistic and challenge opinions *that* way too. 

 

I think a personal gripe of mine is that it just feels too early in the show to make this change. If Twilight had helped all her friends achieve their destinies in some way or another, (say, she helped RD with a wonderbolt exam or the CMC get their cutie marks, helped Rarity with budgeting for her new range that makes her famous etc) and then became a Princess by the idea that she had helped out all these ponies, I would have to say, "Well, she definitely deserves it. There's no denying that."

 

I'm just left wondering where Twilight can go from here without episodes delving too much into royal life. I kind of feel like her ascension would have been better suited towards the end of the series with a massive build-up. Assuming the show runs for several more seasons, I'm left wondering where they can go from here, since the title of 'princess' is the highest rank in existence. It kind of makes it seem pointless for Twilight to even bother with anything anymore since she's hit the upper limit. Alas, that's just me.

 

I think a worry that a lot of people have is as follows:

- If the show doesn't change, Twilight's new wings and title will feel utterly pointless.

- If the show changes too much, the writers risk messing with the formula and losing fans.

 

Hopefully, the writers can strike a good balance and satisfy everyone to some degree.

 

Every single point here outlines about 85% of the issues I've had with this whole development.  Well said. 

 

These are legitimate questions and concerns, and I hope that the writers spent a lot of time really trying to think about how to address them.

[Dolphanatic 298]

If Twilight is not going to do any royal duties and stay in Ponyvillle with her friends, then why would they make her a princess in the first place? Something big is obviously going to happen in Season 4 or else the whole alicorn transformation would be that much more pointless.

[Mzukiller 233]

Because

 

One pony suddenly transforming into an almighty god being doesn't change anything.

 

 

It doesn't matter, the show has changed already, at least for me it has, it's different than the first season, it doesn't feel the same as it used to.

You know a year ago, I predicted an event would occur. An event that would split the fandom right in half, where there's one side passionately for and another vehemently against a conflict that would very likely tear our friendships apart, split the seas and turn Brony meetups into World War 3. Lo and Behold, Mzuark was right and as it turns out I'm on the side defending.

 

I should probably inform you that that feeling you have, the one that changed. It was most likely your pure euphoria for FiM. The thing that shut your mind to critique, filled you with happiness and pride and basically made everything in the show rose tinted and lovely. It expires after 3 months....no refunds. I consider myself a type of, expert for this because my experience with actually watching the show was pretty chaotic. Season 1, as you know introduced us right? It was how most of us first saw the show, it was where the euphoria bled from. It was not perfect, it was in no way free of flaw or at all different fromm the other seasons except in one respect: You're still new to these characters, to this world, so itt's still exciting.

 

 

You know what, I completely lost track of what I was getting at. The point is, nothing changed, cheer up. Everything's going to be just fine.