S04:E25+26 - Twilight's Kingdom

[Null_account 144]

I thought they were gonna kill Twilight off during that fight. 

Now THAT would be weird! If Hasbro killed off one of the mane 6, and a princess...

[Galen 1,354]

HA! That's laughable. G1 is much better than what we have now. The ponies were actually ponies. The animation was hand drawn and painted. The toys were even better. I mean with the G4 toys they are all the same just with recolors. For example Lula moon (Trixie) Looks like Twilight Sparkle. The G1 ponies may have used the same four or five molds with different poses and similar faces they STILL looked like individuals. Plus their cutie marks are on both sides. To say that G1 was bad is a joke.

 

- Why is it so important that the animation has to be hand-drawn? Why do you think that automatically means the series itself, nvm just the animation quality, is higher?

- Why is it so important that the ponies actually resemble ponies in a cartoon?

- How do the toys affect the quality of the series? Like, at all?

- G4 ponies also have cutie marks on both sides.

 

Animation preferences are highly subjective. Toys and other merchandise do not affect the story of the show apart from possibly making it longer as it allows the studio to expand their budget. Tbh, none of the reasons you gave really mean that G1 was genuinely good. Granted, I haven't seen it so I can't give anything specific, but from what I hear, none of the episodes really gave anything to the audience that all the G4 episodes did. The story was generally about ponies doing cute girly things with some more serious plot events, namely Tirek and Scorpan, without there being any particular character development and overarching connection between any of the main characters like G4 has had with the EoH in the beginning. And continuity became stronger as G4 progressed, and I haven't heard G1 had any to begin with.

Edited May 12, 2014 by Freedan

[SomeReallyRandomGuy 137]

 

 

but GODDAMN those rainbow power designs were ugly...  

 

I'm with you there... I was just sat here laughing at how stupid it looked. When I saw a image a while back, I was really hoping that it was fake.. but no, thats the only thing I was not happy with in 25/26

[moongarnet77 47]

Most. Epic. Finale. EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Singing Luna, G1 villain redone and made even better, and Rainbow Power.

 

 

What else could you want in a finale?

[Galen 1,354]

I, for one, actually like their new Super Saiyan Rainbow transformations

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

I think my OMG meter exploded during this episode. Seriously, this was just freaking awesome!

 

infinity^infinity/10

[GuillermoGage 246]

This was a really exciting finale. It managed to take this show to a whole nother level, even moreso than the lore that has already been presented throughout the first three seasons and living up to the new lore presented in the beginning of the season 4 premiere.

EDIT: like three minutes later. I went back on these forums today, just to comment on this Season 4 finale. It really is especially good.

Edited May 12, 2014 by GuillermoGage

[moonshy 27]

Wel my infinity is so high it is still unknown where it stops

[Grumpy Enchantress 586]

Now THAT would be weird! If Hasbro killed off one of the mane 6, and a princess...

It would have been cool, though.

[Pastel 7,630]

It would have been cool, though.

Not really, it would have been very sad.

And MLP:FiM without one of the mane 6 isn't really MLP:FiM...

[Grumpy Enchantress 586]

Not really, it would have been very sad.

Sad, but also cool.

 

And MLP:FiM without one of the mane 6 isn't really MLP:FiM...

As long as they still have Pinkie, it's all good.

[Cimarronboy 248]

An episode dash would get hooked on. I have to go as far as question whether or not there's anime/manga in equestria or if the writers and animators for the show were lost in some anime/manga before they worked on their parts of the show. The fight scene between twi and tirek were somewhat reminiscent of (or so I've heard) dragon ball. and other anime. I myself thought the scene where twi teleported out of tirek's aura based hold and proceeded to shove a ball of energy on him from above was similar to the flying thunder god technique from naruto and that when twi was charging at him while flying at high speed and he was sending up spike's of rock and stuff in her path it reminded me of something like an jet/airship scene from maybe starwars or top gun, something where the ship in question is dodging obsticles and blasting other obsticales in a race to escape or something. Tirek at the end seemed like he'd make a great sprring partner. Some parts of the episode were cliche predictable, example tirek turning on discord when tirek was powerful enough, even without the spoilers. 

[rainbowdashbrony1 130]

Did everypony realize  when TWILIGHT SPARKLE was fighting Tirex  what Anime battle scence   they went for  when half the canyons were destroyed like an nuclear bomb ?  Think when Twilight Sparkle use her magic against Tirex  was a KAMAMAMAMA !  move straightout of Dragon Ball-Z Awesome !!!

[Adorkable 2,737]

It's definitely a good thing that I wonder if this is the end of the series.

 

Best episode. Maybe, possibly, but likely not, last.

 

Oh, it's not! The 5th season has already been confirmed! ^^

 

If this episode doesn't get us a Discord blind bag figure then I don't know what will...

 

I guarantee it would look like the lamp from Trade Ya!

[King Sejong 859]

   This will be a season finale to remember, and it has taken me a while to come up with the words to describe and reiterate my ardour for this episode, because it was amazing. Princess Twilight Sparkle has indeed been sidelined until the last three episodes, after all you just don't go and be a leader without learning the job, next we get to see Flash Sentry again, I have a feeling he is going to be in season five, and I am okay with that, as he announced the delegates from Maretonia, but Twilight was disheartened because her role has been largely ceremonial, as a former serviceman I know this feeling, most of my service was public relations, my job as a hospital corpsman felt like it came second, and it can become tedious just marching in parades and standing at parade rest, at some festival or sporting event. Tirek was the best villain ever, he was imposing and fiendish, as he began to absorb the magic from unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies, causing a potential environmental catastrophe, I do like the fact that once and for all, it has shown that all ponies have magic, in the same way we human beings have different set of skills, I also love this Hellenic-Roman mythology that Equestria has, from Cerberus to Tartarus, I admire Hellenic and Roman mythology, I also love Tirek's backstory, it really opens up this world more to us, and I do wonder if more of generation one would make it into Friendship is Magic.

   As the princesses give up their magic to Twilight Sparkle, we also get this interesting exchange between Discord and Tirek, while Discord likes his powers of chaos, it was very tempting to side with Tirek and Discord betrays the ponies, including the mane six, however Tirek betrays him too, and take Discord's magic too, plus Tirek was unaware until he got to Canterlot that there was a new alicorn princess, as he battles Twilight Sparkle with the combined magic from Celestia, Luna and Cadence, and the battle was amazing, it was like watching an anime fight, like Pokemon or Dragon Ball Z, in the process Tirek destroys the Golden Oaks Library, I have to admit it was painful to watch, so with the two evenly matched, Tirek tries to bend the advantage over to him, but threatening her friends, thus she had to surrender her magic to Tirek, and Discord provided her the final key to the chest at the Tree of Harmony, giving them all rainbow supercharged magic and they defeat Tirek, as he is sent back to Tartarus, now Twilight Sparkle has a new home, a castle in fact, and the title of the Princess of Friendship, all in all this was a fantastic end to season four, it was as equally grandiose as season four première, I must now await for season five, and I do so with with much delight, so I will see you ponies again first in Rainbow Rocks, then season five, see you all there.       

[pony.colin 156]

Twilight's Kingdom – S4 E25 & 26

 

• Well that was an interesting finale. Okay that was a far better finale than season 3 (which is still the worst). My usual two cents (obvious giant wall of text incoming)

 

For up until about 3/4 of the episode I was going, Celestia you are a moron. And put off a really bad negative to this episode – though the other parts are excellent and outweigh that part. Thank goodness we got an adventure episode – been dying for one of those for a long while. SoL is good, but I still wished this series followed more of Faust's original vision being about 50/50 split between the two.

 

I have never watched G1 ponies, but I knew the small fact that Tirek was a villain that came back from the first gen. So I won't be comparing Tirek's appearance with his first gen appearance (and I figure others can go better in depth). However Tirek as a villain .... wow, a good, competent decent villain? I've had that bar really low for expecting G4 to actually whip out a good villain. Very impressive (and glad they finally did). I was quite happy with that, one of the major redeeming qualities of this episode. Please, have him come back again as re-occurring villain – I would totally love a villain comeback from Tirek.

 

Anyways, starting off with the episode, with Twilight's intro dialogue with her friends questioning her whole purpose of “Princess” ascension status – I sat with some stupid grin thinking to myself – is this some self-inserted meta-joke? This has been one of the major critical points about Twilight's princesshood – what was the point of her gaining princesshood? (other than to sell toys). So that was both intriguing and made me happy (perhaps because I saw it as a more inside meta joke).

 

And to open the episode up – what does Twilight's duties as a princess involve? They involve smiling, waving and unfurling the banner to the Crystal Empire for the greeting of the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia (hey, we finally get to know who those royal dignitaries were from the previous episode). Just smile and wave Twilight, smile and wave.

 

“That was it?! Princess Celestia had you come all the way to the Crystal Empire to come and do that?!!” - Thank you Spike, I knew we kept you around for the humour. (Again felt even more like a meta joke).

 

Now it sort of grinds gears a bit for me, the thing about Twilight is that she was always very humble about her princesshood (actually she was always humble in character as well). So it seems a bit of a flip for Twilight to suddenly want a purpose/meaning to her princess status since previously, she seemed like she was trying to run away from it for a bit. Now she actually acknowledges - “hey, this was a meaningless title.” Okay not quite meaningless – she was really playing the “backup princess” in the truest sense of the word.

 

Catchy song – dang this is really catchy. I really like this, better than several previous songs. Been a while since I found a song to enjoy from the series on its own. Well done Ingram, cheers.

 

Now enter Tirek, with the ability to steal the magic of ponies (and later pegasi and earth ponies). Hmm, wait a minute, this guy is an actual threat. He can steal your magic and leave you defenceless. And he's been out of prison for how long? (He escaped when our little pup Cerberus, left Tartarus back in 'It's about time' dude, that was 44 episodes ago, how long have you been lurking in the shadows. And you've only just now become powerful to start stealing power? Dude, where have you been this whole time?)

But hey, there is more to Tirek, the little backstory that we get, we understand that Tirek had a brother, Scorpan – both were originally intent on stealing Equestrian magic – until Scorpan actually ended up befriending and enjoying the company of ponies (and Starswirl). So what do dear brother – we should not try to dominate these ponies, we should befriend them. Now I have to say, being betrayed by your own brother – that still stings even though Tirek's the more evil one of the two. But this gives something to chew on in the back later – whatever the heck happened to Scorpan anyways? He just returns back to his land? I mean, leaving your brother to prison, not exactly something easy to do. So I would like to see him come back later (and more back history explored as well).

 

Now Celestia's first choice is to go ask for the help of Discord – okay, fair choice. After all, Celestia did have the mane 6 try to befriend Discord, to offer him friendship rather than acting like an immature, omnipotent god that can wreck chaos and get away with it without consequences. So Discord can easily sniff out Tirek because he has the ability to sense “magical imbalance” - so sniffer dog capability. Find Tirek easy, then quickly send him back to Tartarus – after-all he's still weak at this point.

 

Now Discord's encounter with Tirek – this I liked. We finally get to call into question, how much did Discord really consider his friendship with the mane 6 a real friendship he valued? It was weak at best and I honestly figured Fluttershy was the only one whoever put some effort into building a bridge there, so if anything, Discord at (minimum) had a friendship with Fluttershy (which even he acknowledges secretly with Tirek, hah).

 

Now Tirek's reasoning and argument to get Discord to join his side is great (and by that I mean, a little more cynical than what this show has introduced, mixed with a bit of villain charm). This scene felt perfect, Tirek can size up Discord's situation and role and throw him a proposition as well to try and convince him to change sides. Now this works also as a real test to see if Discord really values his friendship (with Fluttershy) enough that he would still send Tirek back to Tartarus. Well we know what Discord chose, and as I figured, their friendship was shaky at best. Discord's betrayal didn't come off as surprising at first (I was kind of still half expect for Discord to do double agent flip and betray Tirek, at the end though, I actually had some disappointment in Discord, which is good, because then you also can make the argument about Discord playing the “necessary evil” role). This was an excellent scene I felt, well played.

 

Pinkie photo bombing and throwing rubber chickens at locked boxes – ALWAYS WORKS!

 

With Discord on his side – Tirek starts gobbling up all power, from the unicorns to the pegasi to the earth ponies (side note: wait you showed Tirek stealing magic from the unicorns and pegasi but not the earth ponies, sure it's mostly implied but why not show it? What the EP are too peasant for your taste and barely worth robbing from? Joking aside). Also, ponies are obsessive control freaks – completely scared of anything that cannot be micromanaged is unnatural – (from the natural weather to the farming, joking aside again).

 

 

 

Now afterall this, Tirek is going for the last real power source: alicorn magic. And what's Celestia's plan? Get rid of our alicorn magic and hide it somewhere else. Oh plot, you were doing so well, guess we have to have Celestia act as moron to set up the whole 2^nd half of this two parter episode. Giant evil villain, taking over your Equestria kingdom/or city states, whatever. All Equestrian citizens are being robbed of their magic, getting captured and falling prey to Tirek. And the great leader of this entire kingdom, instead of coming up with a defence plan to save the kingdom ... decides to hide it in Twilight. Really??

 

I once made the joke that if Equestria was truly invaded by some real threat that wanted to dominate Equestria and take them over, it would be a fairly easy campaign to do so. Thanks Celestia for confirming that for me. Whole kingdom in peril, pony citizens being robbed of magic and being captured – abandon kingdom and save thy royal flanks ... thanks Celestia. And of course this plan isn't well thought out – which painfully shows in the 2^nd half. Nope, definitely not putting up a fight to defend thy kingdom, this plan will surely not fail. (sarcasm) Yep, ponies being steam-rolled here.

 

So Twilight (on top of her base power) gets the power of three alicorn princess, the logic for hiding it in Twilight is the belief that Tirek is unaware of a fourth Alicorn princess (GEE, if that was supposed to be a secret – THEN WE REALLY SHOULDN'T HAVE A GLASS MURAL DEDICATED TO HER HONOUR, OUT ON DISPLAY AT THE CANTERLOT ROYAL CASTLE, FOR EVERYPONY TO SEE ..... really? Didn't anypony think it would have been a good idea to have removed that BEFORE you toss all your magic away? Celestia ....   ) Honestly if Tirek didn't know about Twilight – then he could have started ruling Equestria right there and then (and we could have set up the viva le resistance scenario against your new tyrannical ruler)

 

Celestia's plan was plain bad from the beginning and sets up everything for the end game.

Poor Shining Armour as well, you got abandoned by your leader and your sister kind of accidentally forgot about you – would have expect a bit more for Twilight to have kept her family a little more closer to safety, but guess duty calls.

 

Poor Fluttershy, she genuinely thought Discord would not have betrayed their trust (which is a big thing really). And the even bigger thing is Discord falsely believing that Tirek would work cooperatively with him – sorry you got suckered Discord. Impressive, Tirek, now that he's finally powerful enough and lulled Discord into a false pretence of trust, reveals his true plan. There never was a “we” in this domination game, there was an “I” only. And stealing the power of a near omnipotent, reality bending, demi-god of chaos and leaving him hanging there thinking, what just happened – dang Tirek, you're pretty badass. (Did I say I loved this villain yet? Cause I do) And on cue, Applejac, “Surely you saw this coming?” (more meta jokes to me, I for a minute wondered if AJ was being sarcastic).

 

Okay so Tirek, stole all the magic from all the ponies of Equestria, (EP, P, U) and the power of the mane 6 + Spike and even Discord's magical ability. Welp, time for epic battle, this was truly epic battle. Reference it to whatever you like, we have never had such an epic battle (on this scale) in the universe of G4. Now the stakes have been raised well.

 

Tirek's Power (all Equestrian ponies + Discord's magic + mane 6) VS. Twilight (her base alicorn magic + three alicorn magical powers). And they are at a draw – even power strength – (SEE Celestia – you had a real fighting chance to put a defence against Tirek – don't throw it away next time! Still going on about her awful planning).

 

Now we go to bartering – give me all your power (So that you no longer pose a threat) and I will trade off your friends. Well done scene. And the second chance scene well played – this is the second chance scenario played well. Discord now genuinely has something he hasn't displayed – remorse for his actions. Now at this point – saving the ass who is also partially to blame for causing this situation, this was important and good of Twilight. Though like any situation, second chances don't come often, and you are lucky if you are ever forgiven. Well done scene, and necessary for that pesky ol key Twilight's been looking for.

 

Rainbow ponies – well okay not exactly a design that looks aesthetically pleasing to me, (Dash was the only one who pulled off the look well though. ) FLOWY manes everywhere. Well time to wrap this up – end game for Tirek.

 

Let us a take a moment to give a somber farewll to Twilight's tree (aka Golden Oak Library) – that was her home really (and ponyville's public library). All those memories, information and Twilight's stuff lost (oh and Owlowiscious, where did you run off to). RIP dear Golden Oak Library.

And now this new real estate crystal tree that just popped up as a new castle for Twilight to live in – okay everypony your property taxes just went up. Anyways, Twilight now has a more proper (well, we'll see) purpose to her princesshood. The Princess of Friendship – whenever a giant evil villain is going to come and invade the lands, guess it's time to pull out the Princess of Friendship (but seriously, looking forward to seeing the future of these characters and what it will entail). Oh and I figure Discord now has taken some time to genuinely re-evaluate his friendship with the mane 6.

 

 

Overall, a much better finale than previous episodes, (I could go on complaining about Celestia, but I'll finish here). Was enjoyable overall and several redeeming things balanced it out.

Cheers, here's looking to S5 in 2015.

 

TL:DR – Best finale (so far), Celestia's a horrible leader, epic battle, excellent villain (want to see Tirek for a 2nd time), Discord's real redemption, catchy song, well done.

Edited May 12, 2014 by pony.colin

[Legacy Dash 438]

I loved how intense and dramatic they made this episode. 

 

I    this finale!

[Stellar Hunt 51]

I must say that for the longest while, my fire for MLP had died a little.  I still loved Season 4 and every episode was amazing.  But I just felt like something was missing for me in the fandom.  I think it might be because my favorite artists had slowed down making music and artwork.

 

But this season finale REALLY sparked the fire in me that died and I now can't wait for season 5 to get here!  At least I get to have Rainbow Rocks to keep me entertained till then!  And I really hope that the music remixes keep on coming and the artists keep on drawing, but for me it's mainly the music.  I think that this episode was the best one of the whole series.  The animation of Twilight Sparkle as she sang the first song really captivated me.  And OH MY GOSH!!! LUNA SANG FINALLY!!!!!!!  I think after watching this finale, I might just have to start watching all episodes over again starting at S1 E1!  And I wouldn't doubt that some bronies do the same with me .

[Winged Dragon of Ra 55]

I always like seeing Discord again because I think he is funny and has a great sense of humor. I hope that in the next season he will get his throne too like all the rest because he did have a big part at the end even if he betrayed everyone in the beginning

[Bill Ames 11]

I see something, and it must have been noticed by someone before. So please direct me to that insight. Now, if you look at Twilight's cutie mark, it is surrounded by 5 stars. I propose they represent the other ponies. Too obvious, but really cool if true. Comments? (I really want to be directed to whoever made this connection first...) They have seats in the new home, why? They are just her friends, or what?

[aidanbrony 12]

You can never trust discord

[NezPPTS 36]

First of all, this finale was fantastic. Almost everything was great from the songs (Especially "You'll play your part", but "Let the Rainbow Remind You" was pretty lackluster IMO), story & the new villain (Tirek was awesome and probably my favorite villain in the entire series now that Discord isn't much of a villain anymore), up until about the final 5 minutes or so.

 

The ending was just... ugh. I don't really know how to describe it without sounding a bit harsh. It felt like nothing was really accomplished except the opening of the box (Which didn't really change anything either except its use to defeat Tirek), a new unnecessarily flashy castle in the middle of a rural town, and Discord's true reformation.

 

- Firstly, I honestly dislike the idea of "Rainbow Power" and the designs looked so ridiculous it's not even funny: not to mention that the power itself was extremely OP. It's just like having the EoH again (Whereas I prefer the EoH, even though a change in the show is sometimes nice), but in a different and new manifestation. This is just a minor nitpick and it doesn't really effect how I view the show in anyway.

 

- Her new castle looks out-of-place, but it does look cool.  

 

- It was clearly rushed and gave me an unsatisfying feeling after what had just occurred (Such as the Twilight Vs. Tirek battle). It gave us nothing to build off of and inference about what the possibilities are in upcoming seasons. Maybe i'm not thinking hard enough, but I can't think of anything they would do outside the norm other than some more adventure (Which I'm kinda uncertain about).

 

- Lastly, the biggest problem I had with the ending and what made it seem underwhelming was what Twilight's role as a princess became to be. I mean, the princess of friendship? Really? Is it just me, or does that seem a bit... unrealistic and unnecessary? She pretty much already was the pony/princess of friendship if she was anything at all; plus, it's pretty similar to what Cadance spreads (Love, although it's not exactly the same). For Twilight, I greatly prefer a title for her such as "The Princess of Magic", (or maybe something similar to that) as being the princess of friendship doesn't really give you the duties or responsibilities that being a princess of magic might give. What exactly would she do being the princess of friendship? (Just to spread friendship around is kinda pointless).She doesn't rule over a land, nor she isn't in control of some object that makes the day go on. It feels like to me that she's just back to where she started at the beginning of the episode, with only a minor title change. Think of it like getting a promotion at work and getting a new work space, but doing the same tasks for the same amount of pay which makes no sense at all. Literally nothing has changed. What her duties might be as the princess of friendship was probably the biggest question left unanswered heading into season 5.   

 

Maybe it's just me, but I don't really see where the writers are headed to with Twilight's new role. I know that i'm taking this way too seriously, but it's the one thing that keeps this finale from being absolutely perfect for me. Don't get me wrong, I did love this finale, but some things just didn't make sense to me.

Edited May 13, 2014 by NezPPTS

[Arceus Clone 42]

Who else thought:

1: Dragon ball Z

2: Mega evolution

3: G1

[Antismurf9001 1,271]

Okay, first of all, I want whoever reads this to know that I actually did enjoy the finale.  It was really freaking good!  However I have problems with it, some more important than others.  Just so everyone is clear, the reason that I'm about to be harsh on it is because I enjoyed it, if that makes any sense.

 

Most things were fantastic.  The story was cool, Tirek was a pretty decent villain, the initial interaction between Tirek and Discord was awesome!  I'm sure that many people will agree that the visuals were the best that we've seen in MLP, period.  I honestly believe that my favorite part of the whole finale was the song with the princesses, but that doesn't mean that other parts weren't done really well too.

 

And then there were a couple of things that weren't quite so fantastic.  A lot of people would probably list this as a minor point, but the music really bugged me.  It just... wasn't up to par with what I was seeing on the screen.  Particularly during the end and the battle with Tirek, it just sounded so... standard.  It was like a normal episode; closer to Applejack kicking a chimera in the face than two demigods in a battle for the fate of a planet.  That really disappointed me, and I would love to see those ending scenes reorchestrated.  Then, there was the ending with Discord: I liked it, right up until Discord had his friendship monologue...  It felt so forced, and cheesy.  They could have incorporated it so much better and not had it be so obvious that he was doing this monologue.  Give it a moment of silence, give it some time to sink in that Twilight just gave up Equestria to save her friends, and make the viewer really question whether or not that was the right decision.  Make the viewer realize that Twilight just sacrificed the lives of millions for the temporary freedom of six friends!  Then, bring back the hope, open the box, shoot friendship railguns, etc, etc.  It's not like the team can't do scenes like this, it was done exceptionally well in Return of Harmony.  Just... urgh...

 

As my final thought, I think that the main problem with the episodes was that it was a 2-part season finale.  Why is this a problem?  Because I honestly think that this should have been a full-length movie instead.  I fully believe that all of the problems that I mentioned could have been solved if they had been given more time, and they could have made the really good parts even better.  Think of what they could have done with Tirek if they were given an extra 45 minutes!  Or the fear spreading over the population of Equestria as their magic energy was being stolen!  I have no deep hatred for Equestria Girls (it actually turned out to be much better than I expected), but Hasbro, this is the movie that we wanted!

 

Lastly, yes, as many people seem to do, I am judging this on a level with films like Schindler's List and Cloud Atlas rather than what an 8-year old girl would typically watch.  It's just... when you have something that's already this good, how hard would it be to take it the one step further to make it fantastic?  Again, I really did enjoy the finale, but I feel like it could have (and should have) been so much better.

[cuteycindyhoney 13,306]

the problem is, I am a teenager, i should know this crap

Don't be a follower! You don't need to use weird abbreviations or acronyms!