#but still it was just refreshing to actually have a semi-major antagonist have to deal with his actions

[todayisafridaynight]

i think what gets me most about aoki’s death is that it is the perfect allegory for how rgg treats its antagonists: even if the antagonist is willing to change or implies they’re ready to start over, even if the protagonist is ready to accept them and help them move forward, even if it’s the very last second before the start of their redemption can begin, rgg has to throw in the BIGGEST Fuck You and stop any kind of progress from happening and kill them off before they can either change for the better, or justly face the consequences of their actions and get their comeuppance

ironically it’s like a stab in the back- like even if you want to change for the better, you’re doomed to the path you set out on and there’s nothing you can do to stop that now no matter how earnest you are in wanting to change and no matter who’s there to guide you to a better future (or at least get you to jail)

[marvelandponder]

Woo Hoo! The Small, Emotional Horses are Back!!!

And they’ve come back not with a bang, but with a song, tears, and lot of hugs. To steal a joke from the Steven Universe fandom, this week’s episodes of Singing and Crying really deliver what they promise!

Oh, and this also happens to be the first time I’ve tried anything close to a reviewing format when talking about MLP. So that’s new!

Since we’re starting off a new season with this new series of posts, I figure I should warn you: I love this show. Way too much.

In addition to that, I’m not a very good critic. I respect those who are because they can bring to light new perspectives I hadn’t considered, but I think it just comes down to how I consume the media I love. I’m more emotionally driven than it seems a lot of the best critics are, who enjoy taking things apart as they watch them. I might do that in the aftermath to explain myself, but even if I can take it apart, I can’t deny that I had that (usually) enjoyable experience watching my favourite show and that’s ultimately a huge part of my take-away.

So, why get into the reviewing game if I’m not much of a reviewer?

Well, because the Brony fandom already has LOADS of wonderful critics who are already so great at providing awesome criticisms*, so that’s already covered. And, even if I’m not as critical of the show as I sometimes maybe should be, being a super fan means my analysis can still be in-depth. If very obviously biased towards the positive.

*To be clear, I’m of course not saying all critics only pick apart an episode by its flaws alone (they of course can praise elements as they do their deconstructions and give their recommendations), just that I tend to forgive a lot of flaws too easily so my bias is excessively clear

So, that’s just some context for you before we dive into it. I won’t really rate episodes because, I mean, the majority of the time it’s going to be somewhere on the scale of liked it to loved it (and in this case leaning towards loved it).

Instead, let’s just talk about the horses. Because I could ramble about this opener for hours!

Subverting the “Two-Parter” MLP Formula

Right off the bat, I want to say how much I appreciate the staff’s inventiveness. Not for any mind-blowing story concept or even any awesomely emotional break-through, but because at this point they clearly know they can’t keep doing what they’ve always have been forever and ever.

Breaking up the premiere into two completely separate stories is a really simple idea, yes, but still one we’ve never seen before. 

One episode is higher in concept than the other---dealing with the fate of one our main characters while the other breaks itself up between an A plot and a B plot (another thing MLP hasn’t really done too much of)---but overall I think this works really well because we haven’t really had a low-key season opener.

I mean, we’ve definitely had openers that are smaller in scope than others. Season 5′s opener, The Cutie Map, took place and exclusively effected one small village, for example. It still threatened to take the identities of our main characters away with a sinister antagonist and the conflict took two episodes to solve, but it wasn’t all Equestria at stake. 

This is even smaller that that. More slice-of-life.

My theory’s been for a while that this is because of season’s 4 opener and finale. They went big on both occasions, but really big with the Tirek and Twilight battle. It seems to me that after they went full DragonBall Z, the staff realized that while it was cool to do once, they couldn’t keep escalating things forever. I mean, that battle had all the magic in Equestria---PLUS new, Rainbow-powered magic to finish it off! You really can’t go much bigger than that.

Which isn’t to say they always stuck to and will stick to stories with slower stakes. It’s just not always a show of who’s got the most powerful magic anymore.

And because of that, I really admire the ways they’ve tried to subvert our expectations recently. 

Not every attempt worked---like, I think The Crystalling compartmentalized its story into an A plot and a B plot incorrectly; the emotional story was all with Starlight in the B plot, and the A plot was mostly just Big, Exciting Plot Stakes! without any one character to feel the stakes with (for instance, if Twilight had been worried about becoming an aunt, or we stuck with Shining Armour and Cadence worrying over how they’re going to protect Flurry Heart from herself and the world around her---we would’ve felt those stakes a lot more)---but even when it doesn’t pan out, I can still appreciate that they’re always pushing themselves to try something new!

We last left our heroes with a season finale that also subverted the formula, by having side characters band together instead of our mains. In my opinion, it ended up working fantastically, giving us some great character dynamics and a refreshing way to end the season.

This time, we come back to see the results of that in two stories with low, normal stakes, but satisfying emotional arcs nonetheless!

Episode 1 Celestial Advice A.K.A. STOP MAKING ME FEEL THINGS

Even the first, while dealing with Starlight’s Ultimate Fate™ has a lot of its action take place within Twilight’s freakouts. The action itself is either funny or a bit emotional, but it’s not going to be incredibly exciting because there are no stakes to it, since it’s all a fantasy. But the Lady writers of this episode know that, and that’s not what we’re following throughout the episode.

The majority of the conflict is really simple---to the point that the first half of this episode is a bit slow in terms of pacing as Twilight starts to work herself up (with Discord’s “help”). Little jokes here and there help keep the leisurely pace from getting too dry (Spike’s sass, Katie Cook and Andy Price showing up at the celebration, gags with Discord, etc.) but it starts very modestly nonetheless.

Maybe too much so. As things escalate and we take the journey with Twilight, Spike, and Celestia, I started to get a little worried that while funny, this episode wouldn’t deliver much since all the fun fantasy gags, being the most memorable part so far, wouldn’t ultimately add anything in the long run.

That’s when it becomes a Celestia episode for a while and the emotional stakes go from meandering to oh-my-gosh-this-is-so-sweet.

Recontextualizing things from the past from Celestia’s point of view was so adorable, and without a doubt the best character development she’s gotten in the series so far.

Going back to watch the first three seasons and hearing Twilight write those letters is going to be extra sweet now (and Celestia even giving those up when Twilight graduates... dammit, that’s too cute).

Also, this is a bit out of order, but props to the moment when Twilight makes herself cry by imagining Starlight getting herself killed with a magic portal (and Celestia just losing her shit laughing shortly after). Twilight spends this whole episode worrying about Starlight and her future, but that’s the moment that really sells how much she loves her student (to the point that she’s begging her not to do it despite the fact that she’s the one imagining it).

That really pays off when you see how much Starlight doesn’t want to leave her either, despite graduating. Having the resolution of this episode being them crying and hugging is just... really great??? Thank you for this??? And Celestia smiling to Twilight being proud of her, too???? YES???

It’s also satisfying for at least one of the characters (and especially Starlight herself) to say that even if Starlight’s learned a few lessons and stepped up when she needed to, she really isn’t done learning.

And, honestly, Twilight’s line about her future being in her own hooves now makes this move rather fitting. You could say it’s just the writers admitting they don’t know where they want to take Starlight’s character, and maybe that’s true for now, but it’s also well-suited to Starlight for her to have to take responsibility for what comes next.

With the whole blaming cutie marks thing and then blaming Twilight for not letting her blame cutie marks thing, Starlight had to take responsibility for her past. Not necessarily by taking punishment for it, but by accepting that it was her fault and taking ownership of that.

Now that she’s started to progress in her friendship studies a bit, it’s up to her to define her future as well. That’s... pretty cool, in my books. I don’t know that she needed to stop learning friendship lessons from Twi, but to be fair, even Twilight hasn’t stopped learning about friendship, and she graduated in season 3!

So, with all the concerns in the fandom of Star being too perfect (read: too Mary Sue-like) and things coming too easily to her (more on that in episode 2 it seems), I’m glad we can still acknowledge her victories without giving her the world on a silver platter. To let her take responsibility for her life going forward, but not just claim she’s by any means done learning.

Because as the next episode proves, she’s still far from the master of friendship.

Episode 2 - All Bottled Up A.K.A. Stop Making Starlight Feel Things

Now we get to the StarTrix I mean totally not gay, platonic A plot contrasted by an adorable, easily resolved B plot to compliment it. The B plot couldn’t really stand on its own, but it makes a point of showing you that it knows it’s purely there to make the chaos and misery Trixie and Starlight look worse by always transitioning with some ironic restatement of the last line in a completely opposite tone.

A super simple thing, but it still got a chuckle out of me, especially the “Aw, nuts!” gag.

But I’m getting ahead, let’s go.... semi-chronologically.

We start with Trixie trying to learn actual magic, and that in and of itself is super neat. 

In the comics, it’s canon that Trixie went to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns at the same time as Twilight, so I wonder. If that’s canon with the show, is illusion/fake magic something you can learn at the school? If not, was she able to perform the spells the other gifted unicorns could, but focused more on her special talent to the neglect of her studies?

At any rate, it’s as early as this in the episode that we find the balance Trixie will be striking throughout the episode: between lovable, oblivious jerk and adorable, caring but misguided friend.

It’s a tricky thing to pull off, actually. Trixie spends the majority of the episode causing the conflict, not really realizing it, and showing off how self-centered she is. It would be easy for her to become annoying or just downright unlikable.

But even in her most flawed moments, she’s always entertaining, and it’s quickly followed by an adorable expression, funny bit of dialogue, or a genuine look of concern in the few moments that she catches on to what’s going with Starlight. With the ever excellent voice work from Kathleen Barr, Trixie pulls off the lovable jerk really well.

Like, one moment I loved especially on the rewatch was when Trixie tells Twilight Starlight has something for her. Like, she clearly thinks she was having Starlight’s back, making sure she didn’t forget to give her the snacks she wanted to that morning, and she’s so proud that she demonstrated what a good listener she is.

The fact that she’s trying to be a good friend even though she clearly doesn’t get it is just... really cute. She’s trying, she’s just really bad at it.

And speaking of things I loved on the rewatch, there are a lot of fun details you can actually track throughout the episode. Besides the ironic juxtaposition transitions, there’s little details, like when Starlight enters the kitchen, Spike’s cleaning all the new teacups that Trixie transfigured that morning.

And because of the whole ‘didn’t get to have any teacakes this morning’ joke, you can also see how snacky is. She eats the apple she was supposed to teleport when Starlight leaves, has the idea to get cinnamon nuts because of it, and later takes them back for more apples because they apparently go really well together.

Don’t do magic on an empty stomach, I guess.

And speaking of adorable, can I just gush about Starlight and Trixie some more? Because you know I’m going to anyway!

These two have an instant chemistry (whether we’re talking shipping or just plain ol’ vanilla flavoured friendship) that continues to work exceedingly well! You can really buy that these two would be friends in real life because they compliment each other that well. It’s one of the most natural feeling friendships in the whole show, in my personal opinion, even when one of them is simmering with barely concealed rage at the other.

Which brings us to Starlight. This episode yet again demonstrates why she’s a fun character to keep around. While some fans are opposed to having her be so (over) powerful, like I said in my Starlight/Dark Magic editorial, Starlight’s our gateway into some interesting, fun, and sometimes messed up magic.

Even in the early seasons, Twilight seemed mature enough to only really breakout the big guns in a full own Freakout (i.e. the Want it Need it spell). Starlight is not that mature. At least, not emotionally, which is apparently what her magic is tied to. So, even though you can tell she’s learning using magic to solve her problems isn’t really the way to go most of time, she also just know how to cope with big emotions otherwise yet.

In Every Little Thing She Does, Star’s panic and fear of failure lead her to finding the quickest solution. Here, she’s just trying not to deal with her anger at all.

This demonstrates that she’s still most definitely still growing, so props to the last episode again for keeping her around and imperfect to experience that growth.

But, speaking of dynamics and perfection, the mane six’s storyline is so pure. They all still have their quirks that in earlier seasons and more stressful situations would’ve gotten on each other’s nerves, but things just go smoothly because they’ve all come to expect those things from each other and clearly know how to accept each other for their flaws.

Which, of course, leads us to both a great punchline about sappy musical numbers (the meta humour in this two-parter is so wonderful, I loved all of it) and our first song of the season! It’s my understanding that we won’t be getting a huge amount of songs since Daniel Ingram was stretched so thin between the Movie, EQG specials, and season 7, but I’ll take quality over quantity if this is the sort of thing we’re getting.

The reused animation for the second chorus is a bit disappointing from such a creative team, but with how enjoyably sweet and catchy the song is, I’m kinda hoping for a longer version (or at least a fan version that’s extended). It won’t be one of the most iconic MLP songs ever, but it’s one I’d definitely listen to on repeat (and have been), so it’s a solid entry in my books.

Also: take a drink every time you hear mandolin in an MLP song. You’ll die, but what a way to go.

And with that, I think that about wraps it up for all the big stuff in this season premiere. On the whole, these episodes present a strong, yet humble start to the season. A slower start than usual, but one that’s filled with some really heartwarming and funny moments showing off both how far we’ve come with these characters, and that we can still find new avenues to explore with them.

And based on the spoilers that have been released for the rest of the season, and the comics that have boast a tie-in at some point with the season or its themes, I’m more than excited to see where we go from here.

The year of the pony, indeed.

Want some more MLP content while waiting for the next episode? Got you covered right over here, with some editorials! And why not have the last three things I did, free of charge:

Starlight Editorial, Supporting Cast, and Legends of Magic Comic Review

Or, browse it all! See everything I’ve done this year so far:

Year of the Pony

Special Thanks to Millennial Dan on Deviantart, who made the Microphone vector for the logo!

And, We’re Off!