#her spikes dont make sense but she is a cartoon so its ok

[pand1on]

incredibly rough matilda references cause uh. in 5 months I have not made one whoops

extra rough ones bc I am SO lazy :)

[stevetwisp]

What do you think of the school 6? Have a favorite? Thoughts?

I LOVE THEM

the episode ���what lies beneath” was like such a treat to explore their fears and have them help each other out like-

what i loved so much about their introduction was that it was *about* them and their friendship and it’s honestly just been about that ever sincei’m glad they didn’t stray too far from them to tell an interesting story- like

i know i complained about cozy glow not being chrysalis, but it was a really good decision to make her just another pony who goes to school with our new student six because if she was, in the episode, the ending wouldn’t be about our NEW characters doing something

it’d be stuck in the past making starlight and the mane 6 more important- which in this episode, they are the B plot and that’s ok!!! 

i’m happy to see the student six like.... get a lot of time to shine, show case their personalities and how they interact with each other- while also not being like one note characters with no depth 

yona; is adorable and i think the thing i love most about her character is how willing the other characters are to help her out- like it’s so easy to have yona be kinda like the odd one out but it never feels that way, i love yona, because her friends love her so much and thats so special to me

silverstream; i honestly thought silverstream was going to be really one note- like trying to be a halfway between pinkie pie and skystar and while she sort of is- again what makes her shine is how she interacts with others, its nice to see her eccentricities not treated like she’s the “weird” one that no one gets (like s1 pinkie pie??) seeing her get scared and have the lasting effect of the storm king be showcased while also having gallus talk to her about her fear without solving her problem for her? like!!!!! this is just really great way to make these characters feel real and different from the previous main characters 

ocellus; IS PERFECT AND IS GONNA BE THE NEXT CHANGELING QUEEN, i wish more was done with ocellus- she’s a changeling and i wish she’d... *change* more- i know that part of introduction was like she’s gotta learn to “be herself” but even that i wish they explored more so im hoping if the student six get another season they explore ocellus a lot more c: I WANT AN EPISODE AND IT’S JUST OCELLUS AND YONA

gallus; gallus could have been some bratty idiot who makes everything cringy and terrible BUT NO gallus has a heart of gold with a sad backstory and they waste NO TIME letting you know that- which i think is awesome likethere was no way i was going to sit thru a bunch of episodes of gallus being horrible only to have some “very special episode” about how hes abused at home and then never have them talk about it again like, NO no im not going thru that shiti like that instead he’s mostly a decent griffon, he can be a little curt- and at first he’s a little mean- but it’s nothing that a little friendship can’t soften and i’m glad that that’s exactly what we see, gallus, content and happy to have friends and to tease them and have fun- while still having all that sad home life in the backthere’s nothing worse than a show- with a mean character who treats all their friends terribly and the show just keeps telling us like “oh this one’s damaged so it’s ok that theyre awful” without ANY growth 

sandbar; i don’t have much to say on sandbar, i wish they’d really play up his beachy-ness more, like i was really ready for like a borderline stoner character but to be honest sandbar can be a littleeeeee bland, which kinda sucks bc he’s up against the coolest characters the show has seen- like little kid griffons and changelings ??? sandbar’s got competition!!!!! so i hope again if they get another season, we get to see *more* of sandbar and what his deal is? on the other hand, i was so afraid that the show would just *forget* he’s a pony?? like in the finale i was afraid he’d be locked up with the others and no one would address that he’s a pony but they don’t! like he uses that to his advantage which is really cool and very topical for the sort of uhhhhh “theme” these story arcs are going for i also really like his relationship with the mane 6, i like that he’s just some teenager who thinks the world of them bc theyre like hometown heroes to him and it’s always special to see boy characters who admire girl characters for their work and achievements and not,,, idk literally anything else. 

smoulder; when i saw “what lies beneath” i was so afraid of what they were gonna do with smoulder, like you see the tea party and i was like ‘oh no, theyre gonna drag girly stuff in a show,, FOR GIRLS’ but nahi like the reveal of smoulder being really into that sort of stuff like- originally smoulder was a cool character to me bc she was like a less socially inept ember, she’s not really mean just likes to tease- like gallusbut most importantly is that she doesnt see herself as “too good” for the pony stuff- or even “too tomboyish” for it- she doesnt do the whole “im not like other girls” smoulder is just smoulder- she doesnt have some big commentary on her place in the society she just does what she wants and offers help when she canshe’s really... a very very nice dragon, despite what she might try and say about itand with the reveal of her “fear” it adds a huge amount of depth to her character without having to point directly at it and try and comment on itsmoulder acts tough because she’s a dragon, she has to act that way to survive, but now she lives in ponyville and she’s realizing she doesnt have to be tough all the time, she’s allowed to do the things she likes and be the dragon she wants to beit’s tiny but one of my fav lines of hers is in “father knows beast” when she just says “i sleep in the school now, nothing says we have to sleep outside” like; she’s a dragon, but nothing says she has to be a dragon in the traditional sense, she can be a pony-like dragon like spike, she can be girly if she wantsshe can be whoever she wants to and that’s real special 

i think what i like about the student six is not what they’re *doing* with them, but what theyre *not* doing? like i’ve watched... a lot... of cartoons in my life and this season feels refreshing because we’re treading in sort of new territoryi get these expectations and when they’re not met, it’s not disappointing it’s really exciting to see them go in directions i didn’t predict! same with the characterization with the new students 

there’s so many things they *could have* done, which would have been.. an.. acceptable show, but it wouldnt be different or exceptional- itd just be the same stuff over and over again

i’m so happy we have tomboyish girl characters who dont see girly things as below them, happy to see characters who talk and act differently be accepted as one of the crowd rather than gawked at for comedic value, happy to see boy characters treat girl characters with respect and admiration rather than just love interests or decoration and just really excited to see what happens next