Fall of the Crystal Empire by Silly Filly Studios

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,671]

The trailer has been out for quite some time now but the actual work is finally done. Here's the video itself.

 

 

My own thoughts

 

 

 

That was friggin awesome! The voices are well done, it is nicely animated and there's more than just action going on here. It was interesting that Sombra could see Princess Celestia's fears and discover the thing in Princess Luna that Princess Celestia fears. Then to use that knowledge to try and get Princess Luna to join her. I also like how Princess Luna's character was handled here. Wanting to cut right into the action and is relentless. Unfortunately Princess Celestia wasn't explored nearly as much. She went toe to toe with him just before King Sombra pulled that darkest fear magic on her. That was really it. 

 

But oh man, that twist! When Princess Luna got caught in King Sombra's darkest fear magic and to see that totally backfire and turn her into Nightmare Moon... And then Sombra totally gets overpowered in his own game. Dang, man. Just dang.

 

 

 

9/10 - Wouldn't liked it if Princess Celestia was given more development.

[Khaoios 1,970]

Just saw it..................and its not really what i had expected, tbh.   Its was great though, but seems to be missing something.

[11th Doctor Whooves 794]

I liked it, but I feel like it didn't live up to the expectations we all had for it.  It was really good, but it feels like I walked into the theater late and only caught the tail end of the story.

 

I'd love if they'd go back and add more to it, like maybe showing Sombra's rise to power, or Celestia and Luna first encountering him

[Spring Veil 254]

I felt it needed to be polished a little more, the animation was a little rough in spots and some of the voice acting just seemed off. Overall I thought it was a solid fan work, and with Luna and Celestia in battle armour it's hard to go wrong.

[Oblivion 20,266]

Wow, that was pretty awesome. my only complante with the whole thing is that it needed to be longer IMO.

[Khaoios 1,970]

I felt it needed to be polished a little more, the animation was a little rough in spots and some of the voice acting just seemed off. Overall I thought it was a solid fan work, and with Luna and Celestia in battle armour it's hard to go wrong.

 

I concur......the animation, especially the facial animations seem to be unaligned.  What i mean is, the eye-levels were a little off. 

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

I concur......the animation, especially the facial animations seem to be unaligned.  What i mean is, the eye-levels were a little off. 

And the backgrounds tended to repeat. It felt like this (despite the set backs and wait) was rushed out the door. The animations felt kinda sloppy, and deffinatly not as crisp as other fan animations like Jan. Some of luna's line deliveries also felt like a first take, and the sound level on the voices fluxed noticeably. Another month of delay for some audio mastering and touch ups would have made it a 10/10.

[Khaoios 1,970]

And the backgrounds tended to repeat. It felt like this (despite the set backs and wait) was rushed out the door. The animations felt kinda sloppy, and deffinatly not as crisp as other fan animations like Jan. Some of luna's line deliveries also felt like a first take, and the sound level on the voices fluxed noticeably. Another month of delay for some audio mastering and touch ups would have made it a 10/10.

 

Yeah......there seem to have been "recycled" background scenes which was a turn-off.  I hate to admit, but it feels like this one was rushed just a little.  They've showed gone the same pace as they did with Snowdrop, IMO.   Hopefully, they come-up with a "re-edited" version as you said, a month or two later, with better quality,

[sonicdude558 27]

It was........... Interesting. I would watch it again if I had the time or with friends.

[~Rule 63~ Lyeco 527]

I expected it to be 21 minutes because it's been months after the release. But it was sadly short

[Kay Dreamer 884]

I enjoyed it, for a fan work the quality was quite high. (It's truly amazing what caliber of animation this fandom is capable of producing! Not to mention some of the music I've heard.)

 

That said, Luna's voice just sounded off to me. It's not a slight on the voice actress; she was quite skilled. But her voice just has the wrong timbre for Luna. Luna's voice is deeper, slightly rounded with an airiness to it at times, and that's impossible to pull off unless you have a naturally deep voice. (In which case it's possible to mimic both low and high vocal timbre.) Celestia and Sombra both sounded perfect though.

[Radiance64 7,051]

It's a good fan animation, but a little more stilted then I thought it would be after being in development for so long... that said though, it's a fantastic fanon interpretation of Celestia & Luna's battle with Sombra, when the darkness themes came along it went pretty much exactly where I expected it would go and I liked that, a rather interesting interpretation of what the origin of Nightmare Moon could be for sure.

Didn't love it as much as Snowdrop, but it's pretty awesome regardless.

8.5/10

[SeraphStar 398]

Wow, that was pretty awesome. my only complante with the whole thing is that it needed to be longer IMO.

Agree. I enjoyed it, but would have liked it to have been longer. That and something else I can't put my hoof on... *goes back to watch Luna time warp at Sombra*

[Forlong 1,725]

The good:

The fight scene and animation were top notch. Sombra was an absolutely amazing villain and using Nightmare Moon as part of the narrative was a stroke of brilliance. I don't just think it's as good as the show, I think it belongs on the show.

The bad:

Yes, there was bad, but it wasn't to bad. The fanfic greatly favors Luna. I see what they were going for. Showing the seeds of Luna's eventual fall, and showing the contrast between Sombra and Nightmare Moon. However, this comes greatly at Celestia's expense. Ironically, the opposite problem that led to Luna's fall. I don't think this breaks the video, but it could become a problem in later projects.

Edited May 27, 2014 by Forlong

[Guest90210 3,567]

I really enjoyed it. Better than I expected. The voice acting in particular was surprisingly good

[Carbon Maestro 1,003]

Positives:
Action Scenes

Character development for a 10 minute video is quite good

Fanmade (Definitely some really good fanmade stuff here)

Length: If you think about it, this is one of the longer fan animations I've seen. Very few go over 5 minutes, let alone ten.

 

Ways to improve:

Sound design. Oh man there were parts where the background sound feels empty (See Sombra's Monologue). Sometimes it's too quiet or too loud. I think more time is needed for this to be good.

I think a redubbing of some of the voices could make this animation even better. It wouldn't hurt, but it would only help if the VAs went over this more. The timbre is a bit off, I have to admit for Luna, but overall those are the red flags that I see.

Edited May 29, 2014 by Carbon Maestro

[Hive King 1,998]

I don't like Silly Filly Studios too much. They're skilled, but they have a fatal flaw that prevents me from liking them....their blatant favoritism of Luna. Imagine if in the Avengers, all the others fell but only Black Widow was left to save the day. Imagine if in MLP, Twilight wielded the Elements by herself

 

I'm sorry, but the fact that Celestia, by all accounts the more powerful at best and equal to Luna at worst, being fodder, really annoys me. Especially when Luna suddenly turns Sombra into a little bitch begging for his life. I wanted Sombra to laugh off Luna's threats, something like "Yes, give in, the power...it feels good!".

 

Only for Celestia to cut him off with a blast or something.

 

But nope, Celestia gets Worfed so that their precious Luna can be the hero once more. 

 

/Ignore my ranting

Edited May 29, 2014 by SCS
Removed violent image.

[The Coffee Pony 1,390]

Ah this, I pretty have the same view on this as Josh does.

 

http://fobequestria.com/fall-of-the-crystal-empire-review/

[Nuke87654 1,849]

I don't like Silly Filly Studios too much. They're skilled, but they have a fatal flaw that prevents me from liking them....their blatant favoritism of Luna. Imagine if in the Avengers, all the others fell but only Black Widow was left to save the day. Imagine if in MLP, Twilight wielded the Elements by herself

 

I'm sorry, but the fact that Celestia, by all accounts the more powerful at best and equal to Luna at worst, being fodder, really annoys me. Especially when Luna suddenly turns Sombra into a little bitch begging for his life. I wanted Sombra to laugh off Luna's threats, something like "Yes, give in, the power...it feels good!".

 

Only for Celestia to cut him off with a blast or something.

 

But nope, Celestia gets Worfed so that their precious Luna can be the hero once more. 

 

/Ignore my ranting

The Luna wank along with many other things caused my feeling that it was worse than their previous attempt in Snowdrop. Also thanks to Horse News, apparently they didn't cared about this animation hence why it felt like a first rough draft than a truly finished product.

 

I have a review about it if you wish to know my thoughts on it. http://mlpforums.com/blog/1519/entry-11646-fall-of-the-crystal-empire-fan-animation-review/

Edited May 29, 2014 by SCS
Removed quoted violent image.

[Argumedies 1,748]

It was... okay, I guess.

 

It wasn't quite JA or even Duo C in quality but it works for me.

 

The trailer was much better imho, but felt as if one person started the project and someone els finished it. Like two different fan fictions of the same plot lines

[~*bacon princess*~ 278]

Amazing. The fight scenes were my favorite.

Edited May 29, 2014 by Kumo

[ReverseFaller 2,483]

I can't watch it because I'm in class right now. 

 

I've been waiting to watch this for a long time, and I'll watch it first thing when I get home. 

[Castle Bleck 19,184]

I don't like Silly Filly Studios too much. They're skilled, but they have a fatal flaw that prevents me from liking them....their blatant favoritism of Luna. Imagine if in the Avengers, all the others fell but only Black Widow was left to save the day. Imagine if in MLP, Twilight wielded the Elements by herself

 

I'm sorry, but the fact that Celestia, by all accounts the more powerful at best and equal to Luna at worst, being fodder, really annoys me. Especially when Luna suddenly turns Sombra into a little bitch begging for his life. I wanted Sombra to laugh off Luna's threats, something like "Yes, give in, the power...it feels good!".

 

Only for Celestia to cut him off with a blast or something.

 

But nope, Celestia gets Worfed so that their precious Luna can be the hero once more. 

 

/Ignore my ranting

 

Luna becoming NMM to beat Sombra:

 

On paper?

 

 

SFS's execution?

 

 

Also, NMM being the real one to banish the Empire not only made no sense whatsoever, but also shot Sombra's "lost the battle, won the war" cred from taking the Empire with him.

Edited May 30, 2014 by A.V.