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mylittleponyauprompts · 2 years ago

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An AU where after Nightmare Moons imprisonment Celestia is incredibly weakened. The combination fighting Nightmare Moon and using the Elements of Harmony alone was too great on her. She was becoming increasingly aware that she might die. But her ponies needed something to raise and lower the sun and moon for them, and she would like the slim chance of seeing her sister again one day. She uses the rest of her power to use the elements of harmony one last time, to combine them with her and turn her into a crystal statue. She cycles the time of day automatically with the elements help. She remains in crystal for one thousand years, at the center of the Everfree forest where everything started.

Optional additions: the day of Nightmare Moons return, she is confused why the day and night refuse to change for her. What she finds shocks her, her sister trapped in crystal, a magical construct created to automatically change the time of day using the elements of harmony as the source of power. Her sister willingly trapped herself in crystal to keep the skies in balance. She is so shocked she becomes Luna again. Staying by her sister for some time, only being broken out of it when someone speaks to her.

Ponies from the current Equestria have apparently been expecting her return, prophecies telling of the keeper of dreams that would soon return. Time has of course altered what ponies know about the events of Nightmare Moon and Celestia. The only truly accurate thing being Celestia's sacrifice to become a magical statue that automatically changes the time of day. Luna works with a well known magic scholar in hopes of freeing her sister, this Twilight Sparkle is truly the Starswirl the Bearded of her Era. Luna also learning about the modern Era thanks to her new friend. Twilight Sparkle loves hearing stories about the past, but notices how deeply sad and/or guilty Luna looks when mentioning certain events.

Many ponies wanted Luna put into power as princess. Luna doesn't mind help ruling, but she currently feels like she doesn't deserve the title of princess. She lets Cadence take the honor, the newly ascended alicorn of love. Luna helping her with her new powers, Cadence incredibly happy to meet another alicorn.

The elements of harmony aren't used until Discords release, Discords return automatically freeing Celestia. The elements need to be used again, and Luna feels like she has seen a ghost when her weakened sister shows up with the elements. But she automatically knows exactly why she is here, there is no mistaking his magic. Discord has been freed and neither of them have much of an idea where the Elements belong. However, Luna has one idea. Her friend Twilight Sparkle has a cutie mark very similar to the element of magic doesn't she?

Twilight Sparkle is a well-known magic scholar. Mostly because of the magical flare that destroyed a good portion of Canterlot when she was a child. Due to not being Celestia's student and teaching mostly herself magic, she isn't the best at using it. But she is a jack of all trades (master of none), and incredibly talented in magical theory and spell creation and recreation. She is less of a hermit than canon Twilight Sparkle, mostly because she likes going out into the field to learn more about different types of magic and to get her hooves dirty testing things. She has met many different beings in her travels, her favorite place to visit is Pony Ville. She met her closest friends in Pony ville actually!

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certified-anakinfucker · 1 year ago

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tagged by @grandninjamasterren <3 oc tag game

favorite oc — Darrash Aron Nealev (SWTOR - IA) much to his dismay and detriment. He’s admittedly grown on me more than I ever expected him to, and evolved from just being some guy to literally being THE menace of the galaxy who never should have left Hutta. He’s just so. He contains multitudes now.

newest oc — I’m working on making an SCP Council Member because I bought an ID tag! And a Site Director too, afterwards

oldest oc — Oh shit, Princess PinkSpeckles the Alicorn (MLP:FiM). I don’t even know what she was princess of, but she had a hot pink sparkly peace sign for a cutie mark?? She didn’t even really have any lore either but I may pull her into SW as actual royalty.

meanest oc — Moonlight Shrine (MLP:FiM), and she might get reincarnated into Star Wars. I think she already did somewhere along the line? I know she’s Chiss now, and extremely militant.

softest oc — Physically? Tika Kiza (SWTOR), because she’s a longfur Cathar based on a Turkish Angora.

Or Ruluhra Lamik (SWTOR), also a longfur Cathar but based on a crossbreed of a Siberian, a Norwegian Forest Cat, and a Maine Coon!!

most aloof / stadoffish oc — Moon Hyeon (standalone), because dude was a complete ass to everyone who ever loved him. He just refused to believe he could be loved because he had such severe mommy issues. No, he did not go to therapy. Yes, he is a Scorpio. Yes, he somehow has a daughter that he would literally do anything in the world for. (fc - @ naopisgram on ig)

dumbest oc — Jedi Master Jupso Onurimaa (SWTCW), because imagine thinking you can stop a prophecy from happening because you ignored it for like forty years. Now your Padawan has the consequence prophecy plaguing them and you can’t even die because you’ve gotta help fix the damn thing.

smartest oc — Jupso’s older Padawan, Master Hacora Kushiri (SWTCW). Not that it’s particularly good Jedi practice to be spiteful, but she did allow Ki-Adi Mundi to murder her so he could get his just desserts later on in life. She would be happily at rest in the Force while he gets his ass beat continuously for the next forty ish years, so that was a total win in her book. Sorry that her Padawan Amira had to miss out on a Master though.

horniest oc — One answer: Simon Heilig Karnz. A standalone oc transplanted from a fandom that shall not be named, but he quite literally fucked his way out of a first degree murder case. Like. He slaughtered his grandfather in Germany, moved to the US, became a sex worker, and he was just.. never convicted. Ever. Everyone just moved on about it and said “oh well” - goals tbh (fc - Bartek Borowiec)

oc i’d bang — Anakin Skywalker, of course,

oc i’d be besties with irl — My boy Hellir’-Amderak Edi Drovaddal (SWTCW)! I love love love him and he really just needs a break. Like, six breaks. I would love to sit and listen to him sing and use his talent in the Force to bring an entire room of instruments to life through meditation, or his thoughts on different cultures he’s gotten to visit through his years, or even just.. sitting and enjoying silence, since it’s something he sees so rarely between being an adoptive father to five Zygerrian cubs, and having Obi-Wan as a Padawan, and just being a Diplomat in general. (fc - Tamino)

tag list uhhhh @kiwikipedia @kemendin uhhhhh @purgetrooperfox @friedennic @friendly-neighborhood-lich-queen @kkrazy256 @jekyllnahyena @ssoundwavee @d3epfriedangels

#cheeri was tagged here #i need a swtor tag #cheeri ocs #im way too lazy to tag all of these ocs rn

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estellardreams · 1 year ago

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Okay so... On the topic of this post, I'm going to provide my reasoning for each pony species and design attribute because I wanna talk about them. If you got any questions, just ask.

For starters, their ears are obviously a blend between their original Mobian ones and the pony ears... But in Rouge's case they're just Bat ears because for whatever reason people forget Bat ponies exist when they turn these characters into ponies!

Anyway, another detail was trying to match pony species to each Mobian's main attribute. And it led to quite a few plot changes and alterations to their designs in general. So let's just start...

Sonic: Pegasus. This one I had directly based off of a legitimate MLP G5 Cover where the artist themselves showed the unshaded version and it was LITERALLY SONIC. So I made it as close as I could but added my own flair to it such as the peach muzzle and a fluffier physique (bc I draw all of my characters like that). If you don't know what I'm referring to for "Pony Sonic" look at these.

As for lore reasons, I took it as a direct competition with Rainbow Dash, his free lifestyle, and because Pegasi are naturally the fastest pony type.

Now there still might be the question on... Will Sonic become an alicorn if he goes super? My answer: No. I doubt he would, and if anything super forms were traded out for rainbow forms instead since during this timeline the elements of Harmony became the core magic relics, and the crystal heart itself is now the Master Emerald.

Tails/Miles: Pegasus. A bit of a lore explanation on this one, so buckle in. Have you noticed that Tails' wings are more fluffy and round, like Pipp's? Despite that most likely being a design choice, I've decided to twist this attribute into something more like a disability.

Wings that fluffy and not aerodynamic make those having them struggle to fly, as such it's a genetic mutation. See where this is going? Miles was bullied a lot for being unable to fly, just like Fluttershy. Then Sonic came around, got the bullies to back off, and Miles wanted to catch up to Sonic and thank him. And despite the blue blur already being far away, he tried to fly... And managed to! His flying style is actually quite different from the usual pegasus, focusing more on long strides than fast and quick flapping. He also figured out gliding in the air to conserve energy, too!

Knuckles: Earth Pony. Do I need to state the obvious that earth ponies are naturally stronger than the others? Besides, being the sole guardian of a powerful relic and seperated during the three tribe's conflict entirely made him completely unaware of the other races. In a way, his kind is similar to the crystal ponies who are all earth ponies with a special gimmick.

Knuckles did guard the Crystal Heart his entire life, so when the empire itself was about to lose itself to the storm he gave some of the Crystal's energy to create an identical replica to restore it.

However, he's had to repeatedly replace it because once the energy exhausts itself, it just kept shattering and threatening the storms again. Eventually though, pure love from the empire stabilized one of the replicated hearts, leading to them not needing the replacement unless for emergencies.

Amy Rose: Unicorn. So... You know how unicorns are known to be more magically competent? Well, what if I told you I placed certain strengths between the species and enforced Amy's character that way. She was originally seen as weak, but built up her strength and speed to keep up with everyone else. Although she's still a fortune teller at heart, she's incredibly skilled with her hammer and is surprisingly faster and stronger than the average unicorn, who are by comparison the weaker race physically.

Shadow: Alicorn. Now you might be asking... Why an alicorn? Two things: One; Ultimate Lifeform's gotta keep up his title and Two; If they wanted a pony who is both immortal and immune to all diseases besides being a bio-weapon, wouldn't you design them to be the strongest race out there?

The story here is rather simple; Shadow was created in a space colony to help cure his friend/older sister Maria, who had an incurable disease. Eventually, the royal guards caught wind of this and alerted the princesses, who ordered for them to storm the space colony and arrest EVERYONE who was involved. However, because Maria was so weak during the escape she unfortunately died before Shadow and her could've reached the pod together. Shadow was ejected out and sent down to Equestria before he could save her.

Eventually he was imprisoned as well after getting captured and remained locked away for 50 years before eventually getting released, but told to never speak of the incident nor interact with anyone else... Guess what happened afterwards.

Detour real quick because small rant... Why do people make Shadow an earth pony, unicorn, or pegasus but not an alicorn in general?! It's legitimately so fitting and it kinda frustrates me. And also... I understand the appeal of an earth pony Sonic because, well... He runs. He's the fastest thing alive and would make him direct competition with Rainbow because they're both fast. But also... Aren't earth ponies the most physically strong out of everyone? Pegasi are known to be the fastest, and even then this would make him even more tight locked with a Rainbow Dash rivalry. Think about it!

Anyway, back to Shadow. I don't get the earth pony take but I understand why because A. Sonic's rival and B. Being the exact same like Sonic in every way except speed which no it doesn't work like that. If anything, I think Sonic could hold up rather well against Shadow through quick thinking and movement while he relied on pure strength and power. Opposites by design, too. As for the unicorn take... What part of that screams "Ultimate Lifeform"?

Anyway. I rest my case.

#ShadowAlicornSupremacy

Now, back to the other pony designs.

Rouge: Bat pony. Do I even need to explain?

Silver: Unicorn. Similar reason to Amy, except he didn't build up his physical strength or speed that much. He did still come from the future, however occasionally got stuck in the past due to the time travel schenagains. Also he was probably oen of the harder ponies to design because, well... Have you seen how little color his fur is? It's practically all white! I had to compensate by adding more cyan and yellow to make him more recognizeable than just eye color and cutie mark.

Also fluffy hair Silver... I love it when Silver's hair in human versions is soft and fluffy. It's adorable! :D

Now, how would this change the original MLP canon? Not too much, actually. If anything, these stories go on in the background during the Mane 6's adventures. But some things definitely intrude on some seasons and force the six to act and get involved, leading to them to meeting with the Sonic characters. Generally, depends on the threat at hand. Think of Dark Gaia being their first instigator to meeting, then the plunderseeds coming after because Harmony magic accidentally went haywire due to the Dark Gaia incident, leading to the plunderseeds finally being able to sprout, and they snag whoever has a ton of Harmony magic inside of them... Celestia, Luna, Shadow, and Sonic included.

Then Tirek comes around, leading to Sonic's squad to work together to distract him long enough so Twilight and her friends could figure out what to do, get everyone to safety, and avoid capture themselves.

Eventually their group falls, leading to a fight breaking out as Twilight's group goes Rainbow and begins to fight Tirek. But during this, one by one their own power-up disperses until Twilight is left, forced to choose to give up her stored alicorn magic in exchange for rescuing all of her friends, including Sonic's group. Then the final key, magic chest, yadda yadda.

Twilight's castle still has the original seven seats, though. Sonic's group functions more like a support friend group than part of the major group, and after this they went back to their normal adventures on the side.

The War still happened. Along with the Metal Virus. They don't talk about those.

#text post #sonic au #mlp au #explanation #World's Unite MLP/Sonic AU

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activistvictor-blog · 2 months ago

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Kevin the villain assistant from Dorkly is hired to assist nightmare moon with her evil plan. And by assist, I mean literally tear about everything about it due to logical inconsistencies.

“Mwah hahaha,” nightmare moon laughed maliciously. “Finally, the thousand years of waiting are over, and we shall enact my master plan to rule equestria and bring eternal night!” Suddenly however, her monologue and malicious laughter were stopped by a splash of water to the face by her newly hired villain assistant, Kevin. “Kevin, what in the Tartarus was that!? We shall teach you better than to mess with.” But Kevin cut her off mid tirade.

“Oh yeah, I’m a big and scary alicorn of the night using the royal Canterlot voice to intimidate people and show how angry I am blah blah BLAH !.”

Kevin cynically replied, “I’ve heard it all before, so if you are willing to cut through the horse apples, I’d like to have a chat with you about your good old master plan!”

“Ah, so you wish to stroke our ego about the greatness of our plan 1000 years in the making?” Nightmare moon boasted, “Well then we might just be willing to look past that little splash!”

“Oh ho no, I wasn’t here to congratulate your plan, I’m here to tell you how much it FUCKING SUCKS!” Kevin replied angrily.

“What, our plan sucking? How dare thou !?” Nightmare moon angrily clapped back. “We have worked for a thousand years in exile to make sure it is absolutely foalproof! I challenge thou to find one single flaw with it infidel!”

“Oh yeah? Well I challenge myself to NOT find a flaw in EVERY part of it!” Kevin retorted! “For starters, your plan to do grand reveal as soon as you’re free! I mean really, your first order of business after being gone a thousand years is to just launch yourself at everyone in the middle of the festival to announce your return by yourself? What the hell kind of stupid idea is that!?”

“Stupid? Ha!” Nightmare moon angrily replied. “I must instill fear in my new subjects and let them know who their new ruler will be! The best way to do that is to announce my arrival and show my powers in spectacular fashion!”

“Oh it’s the best way to do SOMETHING alright! The best way to get your ASS…. er um FLANK kicked!” Kevin snapped back. “For one thing they HOPELESSLY outnumber you. What if one of them is a sly dog and catches you monologing as a chance to sneak behind you and strike you with a blunt object?”

“It will take more than blunt objects to stop…” Nightmare Moon clapped back before Kevin cut her off again.

“Or how about if they shoot you with a GUN!” Kevin replied, “Which in case you weren’t aware, is basically a device that can propel a lethal projectile at you faster than you could EVER hope to dodge or stop it. It’s literally a device made for killing, and for all you know that entire room could have those on them! The town you’re planning to do that in IS a country town after all!”

“A gun? Surely no such device could EVER exist?” Nightmare moon replied.

“Oh and this is coming from someone who lives in a world where ACTUAL magic exists!?” Kevin said. “If you can use magic to raise the sun and create force fields and whatnot, then I certainly think such a weapon, or at the very least a lethal spell which can avada kedavra your ass, is within the realm of possibility, and dare I say even LIKELY given how long you’ve been absent. And that applies to your sister the literal goddess Celestia and her guards as well. “

“But then how are we to take control if we cannot stop Celestia?” Nightmare Moon said, “I cannot rule while Celestia does!”

“I agree.” Kevin replied. “Which is why you need to go about it differently. The way I see it, you’ve been gone been so long you probably have long since faded from public mind, so why not use that to your advantage and sneak under the radar, Celestia is so busy handling politics and raising the sun and moon in your absence she probably won’t even remember the exact date until we’ll after it’s passed if she does at all! And even if she does remember, you can literally SHAPESHIFT! Become another pony like you did with that Shadowbolts plan demonstration you did last week! Or better yet, just transform into some nameless nobody no one will notice suddenly came into being and bide your time while you learn about new technologies, spells, snd geopolitical rivalries and how you can use those to your advantage when you do choose to strike! Heck, maybe you could even take a more proactive approach while your st it and infiltrate the government and bring it down from the inside without ever having to fight like Neighdolf Hitler!”

“Preposterous!” Nightmare replied,” “Neighdolf Hitler has an army backing him up, and no pony would ever actually want to aid me in bringing everlasting night!”

“Oh I think you overestimate the intelligence of the general public quite heavily” Kevin replied. “There’s LITERALLY an entire group of people where I come from who think the planet they live is flat.”

“Wait…. You’re kidding right ?” Nightmare Moon said aghast.

“Nope, you can’t make this shit up”” Kevin replied. “And there’s an even larger population of idiots around than just them. Did you know a fair number of people in a fandom about friendship based on your show seem to get a sick enjoyment in others’ misery and have missed all the morals it’s supposed to teach…. Especially on fanfic sites! Or that half of my entire country literally voted for a fascist a few years ago and got him elected despite him CLEARLY outing himself as horrible and saying things directly counting their own best interests? Actually, speaking of which, I actually have an appointment with him coming up next.” Kevin said, before he shook his head realizing he went on a tangent.

“Point is though” Kevin continued, “There’s always someone, er um somePONY, who will follow you if you look hard enough and know what to say, which slipping under the radar and NOT immediately exposing yourself in some stupid grand reveal gives you plenty of time to learn and enact on countless palookas looking for someone to follow and who you can throw under the bus if the plan fails while you escape and try again. Sure it might take a few years to do it, but what’s that compared to the thousand you were imprisoned for? If you’re gonna get revenge may as well do it right I say!”

“Ah…. I see, we thank thou Kevin for the valuable insight, we shall now go and engage in your master plan and use it to bring eternal night and rule Equestria.” Nightmare moon said, before Kevin splashed her again. “Grrrr! I swear to Celestia, soon to be myself, if you do that to us again…”

“Uh, no! You will not be bringing eternal night when you take over because that is the stupidest idea EVER!” Kevin snapped at her ignoring her threat.

“But we must show our might to the land and make others know how powerful we are in their everyday lives just by going outside.” Nightmare moon replied angrily. “And since the grand reveal instilling fear is out that is all we have left!”

“Look, I do respect the desire to be respected…. Something I never was from my two ex wives, but that is a HORRIBLE way to go about it!” Kevin replied. “You do realize you need sun to do some minor teeny weenie SUPER IMPORTANT things like, oh I don’t know, grow crops, make clouds for pegasi to shake rain from due to heat causing convection, or get sufficient vitamin D for example! If you take away the sun, you’ll be looking at a wasteland in ten years if you’re lucky! And how are you going to be respected if everyone who could do so is DEAD!? Assuming of course they don’t just French Revolution you and ffoverthrow you before that point and kill you instead. Let them eat moon cake as it were!”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Nightmare Moon replied.

“Oh yeah, forgot, alternate dimension! Doesn’t really make knowing French history all that easy.” Kevin mused, “The point is, don’t take away the sun, you’ll actually kill everyone and likely yourself due to starvation, drought, vitamin deficiency or an angry mob, and even if you don’t die for some reason, you’ll just be ruling a wasteland by yourself with NO ONE to respect you! No, what you do is use the sun as leverage! Demand the citizens follow you OR you don’t raise the sun. That will give them plenty of motivation to not try anything funny, because it’s not like they have the magical ability raise the sun if you’re out of the picture! So that leaves them two choices, either they overthrow you anyway and doom themselves to a slow painful death, or do your bidding for their own sakes, and if they’re anything like the people where I come from, when faced with an existential threats they will most certainly do the latter!”

“That…. Could be a potential solution too..” Nightmare Moon said.

“Uh huh” Kevin replied smugly. “But anyway, I gotta go, if I’m late to my next appointment he’ll grab me by the pussy! But before I go, is there is one thing I want to ask. Why are you so vehement about the night being a staple anyway? Like I know your whole schtick is night time so I could understand some desire, but you have an obsession so I’m thinking that isn’t the only reason is it?”

“Um….. you won’t judge us will you?” Nightmare Moon said.

“I’ve worked with people who LITERALLY snapped half of all living things into oblivion and who tried to kill a baby, there is NOTHING you can say which will faze me at this point.”

“Um….. we may or may not enjoy nighttime donkey shows” Nightmare said sheepishly.

“Aaaaand I stand corrected…..” Kevin said, “On the plus side though, at least you’ll fit right in with the sexually frustrated teens and spiteful miserable manchildren on the website I mentioned earlier!”

#kevinthevilllainassistant nightmaremoon mylittlepony

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gigonia · 3 months ago

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Hey, thanks for responding at all! Love the discussion, bring whoever in. The more the merrier!

In regards to the Sith, the Sith Code itself is not morally repugnant. I wouldn't say it's particularly good either, but it isn't pure evil.

Peace is a lie, there is only Passion. Through Passion, I gain Strength. Through Strength, I gain Power. Through Power, I gain Victory. Through Victory, my Chains are Broken. The Force shall Free Me.

This could very well be the ideology of chainbreakers, and indeed many Sith were former slaves. You can also get the more benevolent minded Sith like Plagueis who disagreed with the notion that lightsabers should exist as he believed the galaxy had enough weapons. Of course, the man also saw democracy as a failed system of government and wanted to create an Empire with himself and his apprentice as immortal rulers (which is essentially an actualization of Plato's concept of the Philosopher Kingdom and might actually work alla those benevolent fantasy kingdoms that show up in children's fantasies that are ruled by fairies or elves or alicorns or whatever [I guess Tolkien also had that with his High Elves]), but it was still a fairly nice concept. "The galaxy doesn't need more knights; it needs more healers, or crafters, or guides," was essentially his reasoning, inspired from how Chiss society organized itself and how they used their force sensitives, since they'd never had contact with either Sith or Jedi culture. Of course Sidious, being a bottomless pit of evil, betrays his master. Something which his master genuinely didn't expect, showing that Plagueis actually, honestly trusted Sidious for some reason. Plagueis was hardly a hero, but he certainly wasn't a pure evil villain like Sidious was. My point mostly is: Sith religion is itself not evil in the same vein that Christianity in and of itself is not evil simply because Conquistadors believed in it as they committed atrocities. The Sith people, though? They often use this way of thinking as an excuse to act solely in their own interest with little-to-no regard for others. So, yes, those people are certainly evil. The way I see it...

Don't just sit around, follow your passions.

Following your passions will make you stronger, either literally or metaphorically. (Such as political strength)

You then turn this strength into tangible power to actualize change with.

Then use this power to accomplish your life goals or otherwise self-actualize. (AKA "Victory")

And now that you have achieved victory in your life, any "chains" holding you down are now gone. You are now free.

Moving on from the Sith, I actually agree that Anakin's relationship would have been helped if he had been honest with the Jedi. I also think the Jedi would have been cross with him, since it is stated fairly explicitly that the Jedi are a no-lovers type organization. Afterall, the only way Obi-Wan was willing to be with Satine was if he left the Order. But that wasn't quite what I was referring to. Anakin never received mental help for his trauma and mental illness. Anakin was intentionally written as having Borderline Personality Disorder, caused by the trauma of his enslavement. Never once do we hear or ever see Anakin being given therapy or psychiatric treatment, and it clearly shows in his behaviour. As others have noted, he reacts to every social interaction with some mix of defensiveness and longing, and he lashes out the moment anyone or anything he considers his is hurt or threatened. He needed help, and I don't see how or why it would be impossible for a collective of psychics to help him. To even order him to a counseling (heh, puns) session. I mean, I'm pretty sure that, by how slavery works in Star Wars, the Jedi technically owned him... although that would be a pretty messed up card to play. I guess it comes down to this: I feel that the Jedi could have helped Anakin if they had just pressed the point, especially when he was younger. Anyways, thanks again for the response. Good luck with college.

While I will say that most Jedi are good, and the Jedi ideology is mostly good, and I agree that the Sith as individuals are evil...

Not all Jedi are good. Ki Adi Mundi, especially, he treated his clones like objects, and there are certainly other Jedi who I feel fell short of their own ideal. I feel that Luke Skywalker is everything a Jedi should be, and that much of the Order came short of what he achieved. I also feel that Jedi ideology is just... not right for some people. And that's okay. I don't think there is any universe where Anakin would have truly been okay being taken in by the Jedi. He was broken in a way only deep, interpersonal connection could have solved and the Jedi tend to shy away from that for fear of attachment. In terms of my issues with the Jedi Code, there really is only one line I have issue with: "There is no Emotion, there is Peace." This line is psychologically harmful, I feel, and as we can see with people like Ki Adi Mundi there are some Jedi who interpret this line very literally. It's why it shocked when I discovered that there was actually an older version that was abandoned after a later Jedi philosopher decided it wasn't good enough. "Emotion, yet Peace."

This is much better, accepting your own emotions and choosing peace is much healthier than outright rejecting them, I feel. Anyways, sorry for the wall of text. I'd love to hear a response from you! I hope you have a good one, regardless.

Yea, individual Jedi aren't always good, but for me personally, I tend to focus on the Jedi because I find that nitpicking each and every Jedi's flaws for myself is personally taxing, and it's also easy or reasonably easy, imo, to find posts about the failings of individual Jedi. Asking out of curiosity, what do you mean when you say 'the Siths as individuals Sith are evil'? Is it that the Sith as a whole aren't as evil or really that evil, or am I looking at it the wrong way?

In regards to Anakin, the Jedi love interpersonal relationships, Anakin and Obi-Wan were considered, by themselves even, as brothers, the relationships between Master and Padawan is highly valued for the deep, personal relationship it breeds, and many Jedi had friends outside of the order, from Dexter to Chewbacca and Tarrful. The problem that arose was that the Jedi couldn't help Anakin as much as they would like because he wouldn't let them. Obi-Wan, Mace, Yoda, and many others maybe, knew or were at least very aware of how close Anakin was to Padme, and offered him the best advice, some with subtle hints that they knew, in regards to that relationship. Anakin wasn't ready to let go of the Jedi or Padme, so he bounced between them, and despite it being very easy to leave the Jedi Order if one so chose, he wanted to have both, and it was tearing him apart. The Jedi wanted to help, but when the person you wish to help won't let you into the relationship, there's only so much you do and so much advice you can offer.

I don't know enough about the Jedi code, so I can't respond to that one in a way that might help you. However, @short-wooloo might be able to help. (I hope it's alright to tag you, you're the only person I know who might be able to answer this more accurately than I can attempt)

No worries about the text wall, I'm an avid reader. Sorry this took so long, I've been busy with college. Take care!

#star wars

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jdscanvas · 2 years ago

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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic----It Doesn’t Deserve It’s Fanbase

I feel like based on the amount of traction that one post I made years ago about how I felt about the Changelings post-Season 6, I should finally clarify how I actually feel about the show, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It's been almost three years since the show concluded, and in that time I came to a realization...

It doesn't deserve the community that was built around it, and I honestly feel like the fandom and even the IDW comics (of what little I know of them) took far better advantage of the world and characters.

Now I am heading into this argument on somewhat shaky legs, because I have never actually sat down and watched an entire episode of the show.

Why didn't I? Well to tell the truth it was fear. Whenever I thought of doing it, I would start suffering serious nervousness and second-hand embarrasment. I could never figure out why. After seeing how the series finale was handled, and then seeing where Hasbro was going with G5, I have my answer: I wouldn't be caught dead watching this Care Bears level cringe.

Most folks who love the show might say it was better than anyone expected a show attached to this toy line to be good since it was primarily targeted towards girls and yet it ended up having mass appeal. I wholeheartedly believe that Lauren Faust had a clear passionate vision for the series, but even in the beginning information came out that the final show did not always turn out how she wanted. Luna and Celestia should have been the only alicorns, Celestia was supposed to be a queen, etc. Faust claimed she wanted to create a show that challenged the perception that shows for girls tend to be low quality. One quote I remember being sourced from her was that in these shows characters could defeat villains by crying/smiling/something along these lines. The show's solution to this? Anti-climatic friendship kamehamehas. Like almost every villain was defeated this way, even in the Seasons that Faust was directly involved in. Sometimes the journey to get to the kamehamehas was different, but literally nothing else ever worked.

Even when the Elements of Harmony aren't directly involved, a friendship kamehameha ended up being the answer. Or, going directly against Faust's desire for her show, beating them via emotional speeches, LIKE STARLIGHT GLIMMER. And honestly, Starlight I was always on-and-off about. On one hand she felt like a replacement for Twilight for fans who absolutely despised her alicorn princess fate, and on the other she felt like a Filmore (the disney show) style character---a former foe/deliquent who is recruited by the good guys and that which leads to their redemption. Literally all the writers had to do was have Starlight initally punished/imprisoned for the nasty stuff she did in Season 5, and then have Twilight take pity on her and take her under her wing (literally). And I would've had no problems with that; the concept of a character like that is really cool to me. You could've also taken out two birds with one stone and use Starlight as an example for kids that anyone can change as long as they want to. To some extent though, Discord technically already fulfilled that role in Seasons 3 and 4 so I guess the writers' hands were tied here?

Twilight being an alicorn, in hindsight, was a huge mistep that I don't believe Faust would've ever been OK with if she was still there to do anything about it. Twilight was a nerd, a bookworm, an aspiring master wizard. Some skeptics would argue the only reason she became an alicorn princess was because it was a show for girls and girls wanna be pretty princesses. I argue it was mostly a case of main character syndrome, and how the "nowhere-to-go-but-up" mentality can ultimately screw up a character. Like...Goku is super-powerful, to an almost ridiculous degree, but Toriyama didn't make him the new King Kai, or the new freaking Omni-King? Luffy may eventually become the Pirate King, but he's not going to become King of the whole damn world! Naruto always wanted to become Hokage of his village, and he did, but that doesn't mean it would've made sense to make him like Grand Master of all Ninja Villages of the World??? Consequently, why in the hell did Twilight need to be turned into Chad Celestia (or Celestia 2.0)? Yeah sure she had leadership qualities but that doesn't qualify her to be a monarch of an entire country/kingdom. Even with the exsistence of the Council of Friendship, it was so obvious at the end that she was Celestia and Luna's replacement because hurr durr she main character. Was it because of other characters that became leaders of their "tribes" (Thorax, Ember, etc.)? Keep in mind, by the end of the series she had her own castle and school ON TOP OF CELESTIA'S CASTLE AND SCHOOL. Guys, this isn't an Elder Scrolls game where you can just keep piling on important titles onto your protagonist. From a narrative standpoint, I guess the writers just had no other places to take Twilight. They had her achieve basically all of her dreams at once (except the Master Wizard thing, because I don't think she was ever considered the next Starswirl, just a super powerful ball of magic), so what "shocking" developments could they have given her next? Ruling all of Equestria. Even taking into account that Faust apparently always intended Twilight to succeed Celestia in some fashion, I seriously doubt she intended to mutate her into Neo Celestia. You put her side by side by her friends, and she doesn't even look like one of them anymore, she sticks out like a sore thumb (doubly so in the future episode).

I do believe effort was placed in some of the humor and especially some of the non main characters, but almost all the characters post....Season 2 never got enough screentime to truly take advantage of the story potential. How many fans of Shining Armor like me were praying that he at least had an episode focusing on how he felt being the only non-alicorn royalty? Wouldn't anyone have loved an episode where Armor and Cadence got to meet the new changelings and really get to know Thorax and Pharynx and what not (or did Thorax's debut episode count as checking that box?)? Why did the Cutie Mark Crusaders (again the mere words "cutie mark" really make it near impossible to see anything in this world as genuinely dramatic) need to have nearly identical cuite marks? Even taking into account their "destines" to help other kids find their talents, you didn't have to make them homogenous from a design standpoint to do so. Meh, but they got more than others did. Cadence I loved more as a potential cool character, but they never developed her enough even when she had so much more screentime in later seasons. Her infant daughter who couldn't even talk got more development. Flurry being born an alicorn felt like a kick in the gonads to fans that wanted an alicorn Shining Armor. Like wow his daughter gets to be born one, but he doesn't even get the honor of proving himself worthy? Spike getting wings doesn't count because he's a dragon and that was an obvious leap in intuition. Speaking of Spike, he's one of the more developed non-main characters (although to some he's the Butters of this show, the unofficial extra main character) but even he got done a little dirty. I say a little because his crush on Rarity never went anywhere, it was just one-note comic relief, and they only ever talk about what it was like to grow up with Shining Armor and Twilight in the final season. That little moment where he wins the Sibling Supreme crown and they tell him he's the little brother they've always had? Awesome, yes, more of that please. Also his future self looks like a freaking Chad. Like why did they give him a buff body type that wasn't too far removed from how he fantasized about himself? I've heard some theories as to why but I don't really agree with them.

Celestia is a strange case to me because I was glad to see more of her personality show in the later seasons, but you could also argue that she was made to be more like Twilight (and maybe they did that to try and convince fans that it was totally a natural evolution for Twilight to become like Celestia because they're so alike yo!). I know Faust always intended her to be somewhat mysterious and now I can't help but feel like the writers went against that idea. Luna was always a favorite of mine, and they handled her very well when they did focus on her, I don't have too many complaints there. Honestly, the characters that weren't given much development could've gotten plenty, because they managed to do exactly that with Sunburst in Season 6. One two part episode, and he automatically became one of the more interesting side characters. Heck, I'd even argue Maude from Season 4 gets this honor even if parts of her are the generic "stoic misfit". Pharynx I think was handled pretty well in Season 7 as well, for someone who only ever mattered in one episode (again they could've done so much more with him).

I remember thinking that the movie that came out in 2017 could've been like The Lego Movie of little girl's cartoons if they played their cards right, but even just based on interviews the creators clearly were not concerned about doing anything interesting.

Equestria Girls should've never been a thing, and kind of went against the whole point of the franchise not being so stereotypically girly girly. I mean jeez the main series still had the balls to lampoon the whole "we totally aren't like those girly girl generic shows" on occasion (like in Rainbow Dash's nightmare) but like....you have a concept called "cutie marks", hearts decorate almost every piece of architecture, the main character was made a princess for no real reason, the highest authorities are princesses and not queens "because queens are evil bad guys", your theme song is like something out of a generic Disney TV special, and your heroes never get to actually directly fight and win against the villians.

Powerpuff Girls literally did the whole "girly show that's actually bad ass and funny" thing years before you (of which Mrs. Faust was a writer, and it's being revived with original creator on the helm so yay!)....

I can't help but think that the show being inherently connected to a franchise called My Little Pony, and therefore being the first part of the title, the first thing people think of when they think of this show, ruined a lot of it's chances of being taken more seriously. You hear that title and you cannot distance it from literally the most generic girly girl stuff you can ever think of. You remember that's the franchise this is connected to, and you think of all the attempts FiM made to be like one of the "good shows" with "actual stories worth telling" just not meshing well. Was the show Dead on Arrival? Clearly not if so many folks of all walks of life saw something in it worth salvaging.

All the other shows of FiM's generation, even the PG ones that kids of the same age group shouldn't techincally be watching unsupervised but many many kids did, Regular Show, Adventure Time, freaking Gumball, Steven Universe. These shows had far more intricate characters and lore, had more interesting styles, and told far more interesting stories that went beyond generic Aesops. Again, even taking into account the PG rating of most of these, GUMBALL, a show that while on occasion dabbles into the juvenile, was also still able to tell interesting stories with decent lessons behind them AND they also had more thought out humor. Even companies as conservative as Disney are willing to let Gravity Falls and Star vs the Forces of Evil get through. HELL, HASBRO THEMSELVES let at least 90% of the Transformers television shows, with their interesting stories and characters, be released.

I always believed that Friendship is Magic could've been a Transformers level franchise, but for mostly young girls. It could've had more developed characters, better action, and genuinely bad-ass moments. It could've been Powerpuff Girls with more story, or simply Samurai Jack for a new generation. Unfortuantely, I guess it wasn't meant to be.

It still hurts when I think of something that was born from one person's passion become what it became and how it could've truly landed among the stars. I still don't know, almost three years after the Finale, if i'm better off completely ignoring it, or simply indulging in the fan content that continues to come out to this day.

I do know, however, that G5 will not be a true successor to FiM like the fandom deserves. Literally in the very first story, the main character became an alicorn. Wait 8 more years, and they'll make her ruler of the entire world. That's how little faith I have in the people attached to this franchise. Hasbro even killed FiM in the IDW comics to completely focus on G5.

If you have a love for FiM despite it's failures, I'm glad and I would never try to take that from you even if I can't see it. I personally would love to create a show with a similar style, even though I've got a long way to go in the field I'm trying to get into now. The things that I appreciated about FiM, as few as they turned out to be, continue to inspire me like the many other stories I've come across over the years. I hope someone inspired by FiM can come along and succeed where it failed. Ultimately though, we have no choice but to wait and find out.

#mlp fim #rant #twilight #spike #flurry #shining armor #celestia #lauren faust #alicorn

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princess-of-the-corner · 3 years ago

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if i wanted to get into mlp just to read fanfic, what episodes would be like. absolute necessities to watch

or should i just go through a season or 2 to get the vibes

Okay. Bare minimum I'd say watch the first two episodes. That introduces you to the basics of who everyone is, some of the lore, and things like the Elements of Harmony. From there you can figure things out from context or spelunking the Wiki.

Best speedrun to introduce characters and plot points… I'll go over the list and why it's important.

Season 1:

"Friendship is Magic", parts 1 and 2. (Introduces our main cast, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon, and the Elements of Harmony.)

Griffon The Brush Off(Introduces Gilda. She's only in a few episodes but is a fan favorite)

Boast Busters(Introduces Trixie. Another fan favorite who only had a few appearances until later seasons).

Bridle Gossip (Introduces Zecora, who will show up occasionally).

Winter Wrap Up(A bunch of worldbuilding on how their world works)

Call of the Cutie (Worldbuilding around Cutie Marks. Introduces the little sibling characters and their classmates, formation of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.)

Suited For Success (not as important, but has good character moments, a line that became a meme, and the dresses reappear).

Feeling Pinkie Keen(Shows off Pinkie's "Pinkie Sense")

Sonic Rainboom (Tells us what a Sonic Rainboom actually is)

Stare Master (Shows us Fluttershy's Stare Ability)

The Cutie Mark Chronicles (Flashbacks to how the Mane Six earned their Cutie Marks)

Party Of One (Shows Pinkie being….. Rejection-sensitive. Lead to the Pinkamena stuff)

Best Night Ever (Payoff of going to the Grand Galloping Gala)

Season 2:

The Return of Harmony, part 1 and 2 (Introduces Discord.)

Lesson Zero (Twilight going nuts about the whole "Friendship Lesson" plotpoint)

Luna Eclipsed (Brings back Princess Luna with a new look, shows her personality and how she's adapting, and gives lore about the holiday Nightmare Night)

Secret of My Excess (Worldbuilding on Dragons)

Hearth's Warming Eve (holy worldbuilding Batman!)

Baby Cakes (Pumpkin and Pound Cake are born!)

The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 (Introduction of the Flim Flam Brothers)

Hearts and Hooves Day (Some worldbuilding. The reason Bih Mac and Cheerilee are a popular ship)

Dragon Quest (More Dragon Worldbuilding)

A Canterlot Wedding, Part 1 and 2 (Introduces Shining Armor, Cadence, Chrysalis, and the Changelings)

Season 3:

The Crystal Empire, Part 1 and 2 (Introduces the Crystal Empire, the Crystal Ponies, and King Sombra)

Too Many Pinkies (Introduces the Mirror Pool)

One Bad Apple (Introduces Babs Seed)

Magic Duel (Trixie Returns)

Wonderbolts Academy (more on the Wonderbolts. Introduces Lightning Dust)

Keep Calm and Flutter On (Discord Redemption speedrun)

Magical Mystery Cure (Twilight becomes an Alicorn)

Here is where you should watch the first Equestria Girls movie!

Season 4 (aka, the first season with an overarching plot!)

Princess Twilight Sparkle, Part 1 and 2(shows Twilight trying to be Princess, they give up the Elements of Harmony, and we are introduced to the Tree of Harmony and its mysterious locked box)

Castle Mane-ia (Sets up how they are exploring the castle in the Everfree Forest)

Daring Don't (Daring Do was a children's book series, but turns out she's a real Pony!)

Bats! (Where the "Vampire Fluttershy" stuff comes from)

Rarity Takes Manehattan (Part of the overarching plot)

Pinkie Apple Pie (Pinkie and AJ might be related!)

Rainbow Falls (Overarching Plot)Pinkie Pride (Introduces Cheese Sandwich(aka: Weird Al's Ponysona), and is part of the overarching plot)It ain't Easy being Breezies (Overarching Plot)

Maud Pie (Introduces Maud)

Leap of Faith (Overarching Plot)Twilight's Kingdom, part 1 and 2 (Payoff with the Tree of Harmony. Tirek is a dick. Discord backslides on the redemption but tbh I get it. Twilight gets a Castle)

Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks!!!

Season 5:

The Cutie Map, Part 1 and 2 (More on Twi's castle, intro to The Cutie Map, intro for Starlight Glimmer and her Town)

Make New Friends But Keep Discord (Discord …. Tries to make a friend)

The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone (Griffon Worldbuilding)

Slice Of Life (Mostly irrelevant but is fun to see all the background characters get the spotlight)

Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? (The Tantabus, discusses Luna's lasting guilt of beinf Nightmare Moon)

Canterlot Boutique(Rarity's career is moving forward and she's opening shops in new locations)

Crusaders of the Lost Mark (Diamond Tiara redemption, intro of Spoiled Rich, the CMC earn their Cutie Marks!)

The Mane Attraction (introduces Rara)

The Cutie Re-Mark (Starlight Glimmer returns, but gets a redemption at the end)

Equestria Girls: The Friendship Games!

Season 6:

The Crystalling, Part 1 and 2 (Flurry Heart is born. Introduces Sunburst)

On Your Marks (Shows that the CMC, having earned their own Cutie Marks, are figuring out what to do and begin helping others earn their Marks)Gauntlet of Fire (Dragon Worldbuilding)

No Second Prances (Trixie comes back and stays for the ride!)

A Hearths' Warming Tail (More Hearth's Warming Worldbuilding)

Flutter Brutter (Unfortunately, introduces Zephyr Breeze. Featuring Flutters being 110% done with this shit)

Stranger than Fanfiction (intro to Quibble Pants. A lot of meta jokes about the fandom)

The Times They Are A Changeling (Introduces Thorax)

Dungeons & Discords (Not necessary, but it's a D&D themed episode!!)

The Fault In Our Cutie Marks (The CMC deal with a client from a species that doesn't get Cutie Marks)

Where The Apple Lies (Actually fuck this episode but this is the one where I joke that Applebloom came from the Aether!)

To Where And Back Again (Chrysalis Returns)

Equestria Girls: The Legend of Everfree!!

Season 7:

Celestial Advice (We come a bit full circle, in Twilight discussing the beginning of the series with Celestia)

Parental Glidance (Introduces Rainbow's parents)

A Royal Problem (Introduces the concept of Daybreaker)

Discorant Harmony (Discord has some issues! Holy shit!)

The Perfect Pear (We learn about Applejack's parents and fucking sob)

Fame and Misfortune (Not necessary, but is both meta at addressing the show's criticism, and a good lesson for everyone)

Campfire Tales (First mentions of Rockhoof, Mistmane, and Flash Magnus)

To Change A Changeling (Updates on Thorax ruling the Changelings, and introduces Pharynx)

Daring Done? (More Daring Do, first mention of Somnambula)

A Health of Information (first mention of Mage Medowbrook)Marks and Recreation (More on the CMC helping others earn their Cutie Marks, this time focusing on a pony who doesn't want one)

Shadow Play Part 1 and 2 (Pony of Shadows plot. The mentioned "Pillars of Equestria" come back. Etc)

My Little Pony: The Movie

This is about when I fell out of watching so Idk what's important. Season openers and finales are your best bet.

There are also Eqg Special Episodes like The Forgotten Friendship.

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thedenofravenpuff · 5 years ago

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The Summer Sun Setback - Episode Reaction

I’m continuing on with these early releases bit by bit. Think the hiatus is about to end, but as far I know that’ll be during my vacation far from home and I rather not miss anything. So getting ahead of the game it is then, just because it’s an option!

Think I’ve seen one screenshot of this, so with the rest I’m pretty much going in blind because it’s still too early for spoilers. Which been quite nice with these.

Let’s get on with it!

S P O I L E R S !

Gasps! Back at the Foul Four! A good start by me!!

Still on edge whether or not he’s just pretending to not realize they are hiding the bell from him.

Evil road trip!

Been something just slightly off with the audio for the intro song for all of these early releases, but rest of the audio is just fine. Oh well.

Oooh, still continuing with the season arc of letting Twilight practice for her takeover. Now for that Summer Sun Celebration, interesting.

Kinda dig the humble way they enter, seems like the Sisters have no idea what to do when not in charge of these celebrations.

Continuity!

Oh, they got a point.

The two of them still in a rush to bail I see.

Also, you might find the holiday to be ABOUT you, but after centuries of becoming a strong tradition, that’s obviously become FOR the ponies. I mean, damn, at least consider what it means to others before deciding to cancel it.

And Discord!

Oh Discord.

Already sensing a strong theme here, with everypony already been making references to “Twilighting” as their expectations, and Twilight showing she already prepared for that. So I assume the Foul Five Three gonna be having fun sabotaging her efforts on the side until Twilight finally breaks. Probably Discord joining in on the fun too as revenge for not being asked to help (as usual). Anyways, let’s see how it’s actually gonna go.

New security still in place with those wind blades by the castle, huh.

Oooh, they really are running with that continuity.

... Chryssi, why the odd voice? You sound like a mare pretending to be a stallion despite your disguise is a mare. And your voice ALSO change when you disguise yourself!!

Okay, who wanna bet Discord already know the evil gang is here and planning to mess around with both teams?

Damn, Twilight... I mean, not as blunt as “Don’t get in the way” but still, daimn... You still not learned how sensitive Discord is about being excluded, ESPECIALLY this passive aggressively? Future Queen of Equestria, everyone!

Mandatory Apple family reunion cameos.

Oh gosh, Pinkie’s eating animations this season XD

... Tirek drainage with the eyes going dull but butt mark still there. Guess he’s holding back to not be too obvious?

Aaand the pony herd mentality of instant panic. Good times.

Tirek snatching that pie XDD

Oh no, he’s adorable.

Oh Dash, not helping. But you try.

Unicorn Master Race club president arrived, don’t think too much about it folks.

Oh Discord, that’s adorable XD Gotta give it to him, he does try to take his task serious. Probably just to prove he can be trusted to do more.

Yes, covering that ONE window surely is enough to make sure she won’t notice what’s going on outside, through any of the many other windows. Foolproof!

Yeeaaah, I don’t think this gonna help her stick to the course of NOT micromanaging, you guys...

Damn, Discord got right back at them all XD Though I’m sure he’s really off to watch for a chance to sabotage the saboteurs. I’m still convinced he already knows what’s happening, it’s Discord.

Oh Pinkie XD

The freak goose being all suspicious, yet saving its honking until sure.

Okay, that was surprisingly smart move of Chryssi, I did not see that.

Front gate more secured than the restricted library.

I still adore panicky pega boy, how can someone stress and panic this much and make it look cute??

Yeah

Woah, what was that? Almost tempted to describe it as tiny contained sonic rainboom, probably all kinds of wrong in that though. Still, quite a surprising but very neat move Dash just pulled off there. Wow.

Erhmergerd, Discord! XDD

Unicorn Elitists surprisingly talked down again fast, as long it alicorn I guess.

Okay, I know cute is her whole stick, but squeezing through the shelf like dat was dang adorable.

Oh gosh, how, what, I’m laughing at it anyway.

Dr. Whooves and Rose for the Doc Who crowd and their shippers.

They already wanted to cancel the holiday for being about them since they think it not worth celebrating them if they are not around. This changes nothing, really. Still about them.

Temporary distracted by the background ground looks like it was made in MS Paint..

Okay, Discord didn’t intervene at all, to give back at the Foul Three. But still think he knows. Something.

Aww, Pouty Tirek.

Oh Gosh, Tirek when she pulls the book out from under his horsebutt!

Plz tell me they made sure to check the book and didn’t wait with that for the point of a cheap punchline just before credits...

*Phew* They didn’t pull that after all. I know they are the bad guys, but still want them to have some success to keep the threat level.

Sounds like they might be plotting for ways to part the three tribes, huh? Sounds promising.

Anyway, cute episode! A bit cluttered, but they sure work with what they got. Tried a bit hard hammering down out throat that Twilight is no longer Twilighting, but guess worth it after making too much of a point how much she panics all the time and then somehow have to convince us it changed.

The continuity was well used, and still a joy to see the Foul Three work together to double cross everyone while trying not to bond too much.

It worked for its purposes.

#PuffBlog #MLP #MLP Spoilers #FiM #FiM Spoilers #Season 9 Spoilers #The Summer Sun Setback #The Summer Sun Setback Spoilers #Spoilers #League of Doom #Foul Four #Princess Twilight Sparkle #Episode Reaction #Reaction #Puffy Reacts #Early Release

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shadowfoxsilver · 6 years ago

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Some might wonder what Jess the mod!dragon thing is

She’s basically a joke oc made to poke fun at people who didn’t like ‘alicorn’ ocs in the mlp fim fandom. She’s quite literally eveything and anything.

But the kicker of it all?

She’s actually a unicorn. Those purple wings are an illusion and her real wings are just skeletal stubs that are hidden by magic.

She’s barely a master of her own magic, actually.

And she’s really not even a pony outside of things. Or even a dragon.

She’s a literal ‘Thing’

She’s anything and everything.

#mod talks #Jess the mod!dragon thing

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digikate813 · 6 years ago

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My Little Pony Re-Watch: Episode 53 & 54 The Crystal Empire

*We’re up to Season 3! The first season I watched as it was coming out. Not all of it because i was still a little embarrassed to be watching this show, but I was excited for it nonetheless. And this is yet again a controversial episode. For a while it was deemed the worst season premiere. But I’ve always liked it and i still do.

*Twilight stresses out over Celestia giving her an assignment. I know. I’m shocked too!

*Nah! Luna doesn’t have to come along. I mean come on. Luna on an epic quest with the Mane Six to a lost kingdom? Who wants to see that?! Well at least there’s a new stain glass window depicting Cadance and Shining Armor’s victory that’s very pretty.

*I love the idea of a long lost kingdom with the Crystal Empire. Though I’ve always felt that detail of the spirit that embodies the empire reflecting across all of Equestria has never been utilized as well as it could have been. I think it was just a way to build stakes but honestly protecting a very populated empire is stakes enough as far as I’m concerned.

*And we are introduced to it’s former ruler and our villain for this episode, King Sombra. A pony of shadows of sorts before we got an, actual pony of shadows. A lot of people say he’s a very, very weak villain. And while he’s by no means the best villain, I say that reputation is a bit unwarranted. I’ll touch on this more as we go on, but Sombra is a villain that is nothing else, thinks ahead. He put the curse on the empire to make it vanish for 1,000 years. Possibly waiting until he could regain enough strength to reclaim it.

*Also there were a lot of fan theories for a while that Sombra was somehow connected to Luna becoming Nightmare Moon. I don’t know why either.

*The Failure Song is a cute song, but the most noteworthy thing about it is that it’s the first time Spike gets to sing. At all. I can’t believe it took this long, but it says a lot about how much the show just couldn’t find places for Spike in the early seasons.

*Going back to what I was saying last time about Shining Armor and Cadance’s sudden appearance not really bothering me because a lot of TV shows have siblings appear out of nowhere, more often then not those siblings also disappear barely to be mentioned again. And I like that this episode tells us that Shining Armor and Cadance were not just one off characters to tell a single story. They gave then important roles in this world, and they’re going to stick around.

*Also Cadance is casting the shield this time to protect the kingdom. Role reversal!

*Apparently the Crystal Empire is inhabited by crystal ponies. Which is cool. Not the most creative species in Equestria but y’know, I’m all for expanding the world. But Rarity’s reaction makes this scene!

*Pinkie Pie: Master Spy! How is there not a whole episode on this?! Also the Fluttershy costume and Fluttershy’s reaction to it is priceless.

*As I’m writing this, I’m realizing there’s a lot of great reactionary comedy in this episode. Another example is Twilight’s reaction of awe to the library. Whoever animated this deserves a raise because it’s so freaking funny.

*I really like the song putting together the Crystal Fair. It’s fun and bouncy and a cool way to see all sorts of Crystal Empire traditions. A great way to flesh out this location and it’s history.

*I never noticed that Pinkie playing the Fluglehorn is just her shouting “Fluglehorn” into it. That’s great.

*And the crystal ponies regaining their crystal shimmer in their coats as they regain hope is a great visual

*Okay so here’s some more about how Sombra thought ahead. He supposedly disposed of the page in the Crystal Empire history book mentioning how important the Crystal Heart was, hid it away under many secret entrances loaded with traps, the curse he put on the land erased the Crystal ponies memories of it until they regained their shimmer, and is now a giant shadow cloud threatening to engulf the entire empire to regain his throne!! Sombra may not have much in terms of personality, but these aren’t really the signs of a weak villain to me. More like one with one heck of a contingency plan.

*Twilight may be determined to find the Crystal Heart on her own, but Spike still gets to come along. Spike finally gets to be part of an adventure! He gets to do things! Woo!

*On the other hand Twilight bolts out of the castle in urgency, only to run right back in. Huh.

*Pinkie is that jester outfit is too adorable. I probably love it more then i should, but it’s a really cute look for her.

*Twilight uses dark magic to gain access to some of Sombra’s secret passageways. Which is weird because she just, does it. And then it’s never mentioned again. Usually a character using dark magic of some kind to accomplish a goal is treated with urgency and regret, and comes with some kind of consequence. But here it’s just another, average spell. Alright then.

*There is a great moment where one of the roadblocks is seeing a doorway that leads to your worst fear. Twilight’s being failing Celestia’s test and the empire, and Spike’s being forced to leave and being abandoned by Twilight. It’s a small moment, but a nice look at our characters.

*And of course the running gag in this episode. Too. Many. Stairs.

*So Twilight can do gravity magic now. To quote ACRaceBest “That’s one way to give the middle finger to physics”

*I’m sorry, am I the only one who thinks this series of events is genuinely suspenseful? Twilight getting trapped, Sombra on the rise, Cadance’s magic almost completely gone. It works really well for a great climax.

*I’ll get to Twilight’s choice in a second, but let’s just appreciate that not only did Spike get to do a thing in this adventure, he got to do the most important thing. He got to save the day! Good for you Spikey Wikey

*Throw your wife! Such a classic moment. It never gets old.

*So Cadance is the Crystal Princess? I mean it kind of makes sense thematically since her greatest power as a princess is love, and this empire seems to revolve around maintaining light and love, and Cadance’s cutie mark appears to be the Crystal Heart. But this is what I meant last time by the show never did a great job at establishing Cadance’s role in the world. They told you what it was, but not really how that’s possible. Maybe this is explained in some supplementary material, but how is this alicorn, who is apparently not much older then Twilight, the destined princess of a kingdom that’s been lost for over 1,000 years? Is that why she was a foal sitter? Because the kingdom she was supposed to rule was still missing and she needed something to do?? It’s just weird, and something I really wish the show had established better.

*With that said, the moment when the Crystal Heart is returned is EPIC! The light and love powering the city, the mane cast getting crystal designs which are adorable, and Sombra getting obliterated! Not banished, not imprisoned, he explodes! It’s disturbing but pretty awesome.

*Okay so a big criticism of this episode is Celestia’s test for Twilight and the stakes it creates. Basically it was wrong to put an entire populated empire on the line to test if Twilight could do this on her own. But here’s the thing, I feel like just like a lot of other assignments Celestia sets up for Twilight, she knows she’ll do well, and if she doesn’t, she’ll be prepared. After all, if Celestia truly wanted Twilight to do this on her own, why would she let all of her friends come with her? This is the choice Celestia always wanted her to make, because this is the kind of choice that will eventually fit the role she’ll fill in this world. Twilight may have been determined to do this as the princess requested, but that was never how it was going to be. Because Twilight will always prioritize the well being of her loved ones over her own self gain. That’s the message. And it might be a bit sketchy in just how it’s presented, but I think it’s just fine. And i think self sacrifice is a lesson any hero in any kind of story needs to learn.

*A sweet and heartwarming reprise celebrating Twilight’s victory. Hooray!

*The princesses have a mysterious book. I’m sure that’s not important.

Sorry guys, but I think this episode is great! It was a great adventure story to start this shorter season. To reassure me that that scale and high stakes i saw in A Canterlot Wedding would still be present. and writing this has only made me enjoy it even more since I’ve always liked this episode and watched it for fun multiple times, but never really analyzed it before. This definitely made me excited for what Season 3 had to bring, and it certainly brings, a lot in a short amount of time. Next Time: Too Many Pinkie Pies!

#My Little Pony #MLP Rewatch Marathon #the crystal empire #My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Review #analysis #MLP:FIM

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bronyinabottle · 6 years ago

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SPARKLE’S SEVEN THOUGHTS

First of which I will definitely say Sparkle’s Seven was quite the fun episode. Plenty of good humor, good performances by the voice actors done for their very own ideas. And a nice way to set off the 200th episode of the show.

But I do need to kind of address the whole Spike sibling sub plot for the episode since I’m not going to lie. I was screaming internally a bit given a huge part of I Dream of Twilight Sparkle is the mother/son interpretation. I’m not saying I was entirely upset by this angle. I’ve kinda long suspected that most of the staff aside from maybe Meghan McCarthy saw Spike as at most a tag-a-long little brother to Twilight more then the complex relationship that it is. My concern mainly came with how the fanbase might react now. The mentality of “They said in the show they consider eachother as siblings, therefore the Mother/Son interpretation is and always will be wrong!”. When there are perfectly legit reasons to believe they’re kind of both at the same time.

Twilight and Spike’s relationship remains rather complex even as we get closer to the end of the show. Even one episode that explicitly says sibling isn’t exactly the final answer because there are several moments in the show that even in the best case scenario where an older sibling is a parental figure to a younger one is a little odd to say the least. And for what it’s worth, the very person who suggested this be a part of this episode (Cathy Weseluck, Spike’s voice actress) has said after the fact that both are valid interpretations. In the show, it’s not clear cut one way or the other and that’s actually what makes Twilight and Spike such an interesting dynamic.

I will say that at the very least, much of the relation between Spike and Twilight were closer to the show in terms of being somewhat more sibling-orientated early on even in the chronological timeline of this blog. I think for the exception of Owl’s Well That Ends Well and up until the fear door scene in Crystal Empire, siblings is closer to what Season 1 and 2 portray Twilight and Spike. However, from Season 3 onward I feel like I could point a sort of growth between how the two interact that include a bit of parental and/or child behaviors that kinda comes to a peak in Father Knows Beast when Twi’s heart breaks when Spike yells at her because he thinks he might of found one of his “real” parents. In this blog’s timeline however, a bit of a sub plot of the whole “Twilight becomes a genie” thing with Spike being her designated “master” is how the whole thing shapes the relation between Twilight and Spike. And I’ve done (or at least I hope I’ve done as best I can to do so) it in a way where I think the situation would bring Twilight and Spike closer to the conclusion that Twilight has grown into becoming Spike’s mother figure.

In my blog, Twilight’s biggest reason for staying a genie for at least 1000 years was for Spike, and while the official adoption doesn’t happen until a year after that moment. It’s harder to view an older sibling doing the same thing for a younger one but would probably be a wish that a mother would have to see their son grow, especially in the case here where it’s implied Dragons have much longer lifespans (Also keep in mind the moment Twilight became a genie both meta-wise and in-universe wise we wouldn’t know Twilight kind of already at least got her life extended via becoming an Alicorn) then most ponies do. Twilight perhaps doesn’t explicitly see this as motherly behavior at first, but perhaps her instinct to choose the path where she’ll actually get to see Spike grow up to full size was the first major domino effect leading to where they are now. Choosing to stay a genie effectively dedicated herself to Spike more then getting wished free and getting her lifespan increased by just the Alicorn transformation later (Of which she nor Spike couldn’t of known was going to happen) would of done. No doubt by now Twilight has found more reasons to enjoy being a genie, but there’s no stronger reason then what it will mean for the future she’ll have with Spike. Who is her pride and joy, and while it will always seem a little unorthodox based on both character’s histories. He is and will always count as Twilight’s son on this blog.

I actually have a few surprises in store after Season 9 is finished for more of Spike’s story. With only 13 unknown Synopses left in the show. I doubt we get any heavy stuff about Spike’s past before his egg ended up in Canterlot. There may be a closure Spike episode near the end of some sort, but even if say it tells us who Spike’s birth mother is. That’d be a special case where I ignore an episode (Or part of an episode) in canon altogether. Cause let’s just say, I have ideas that will fit in with the rest of this blog’s story and lore.

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earthnashes · 6 years ago

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A long post to answer a bunch of worldbuidling questions for the Slayer!AU. All of these are from @gastredner uwu

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Are the dragons living in Zebrica and Equestria part of the same, overarching dragon culture, or was there a rift between them sometime in the past? Like, for example, a number of dissenters leaving during the war between the alicorns and the dragons for other, non-involved countries?

No, the dragons don’t really have an overarching culture aside from a traditional “meetup thing”, basically the Great Dragon Migration. Dragons from all over the world meet together in what they all believe to be the place of their ancestors, the dragons they all originate from. This is always neutral ground: no matter what conflict is occurring between each tribe, they must be peaceful on these grounds or they risk breaking the most sacred of rule and will forever be banished from these lands.

Their cultural differences is natural, not so much because of the war that happened between equine and dragons. I’ll probably even go so far to say that this war pre-dated mortal civilization and was exclusively moreso Alicorn vs Dragon, two of the longest-living species in the world. Hence why you don’t see many alicorns or dragons anymore.

How much of the dragon culture from before and during the war still exists?

I’d say quite a bit of it. Aside from the additional vendetta and general demonization of equines in some cultures, they maintain a rather “traditional” cultural structure, or in their case, it still remains a Chiefdom among nearly all dragons. Each clan has a Chief, warriors, healers, shamans, hunters, and civilians. These clans range in size and how social equality is handled, with some tribes seeing everyone as equals and others using social equality to herald power amongst themselves.

Does Zebrica have problems with marauding dragons? Who deals with such problems, the zebra or the local dragons?

Zebrica is one of the few places in the world where dragons and mortals of all kind (not just equine) co-exist peacefully. Outside dragons can, and have indeed tried, using this to their advantage in taking over territories and clearing said lands of anyone already living in it, believing these peaceful inhabitants won’t fight back. They often forget that the dragons there can, will, and have actively protected their smaller neighbors from unfriendly invaders. I’d assume that it’s through this repeated action that dragons eventually became revered by the inhabitants of Zebrica.

How did zebras end up revering dragons, anyway?

It isn’t just zebras, though I do believe I answered this question with the previous answer.

How did Twilight meet Zecora? Did she have the same problem as in the show, as in, a huge amount of magical power and insufficient restraint for that, and went there because Zecora is seen as some kind of luminary on dragon magic?

Twilight does still have that issue: her magic grows faster than her ability to control it and she had to seek out help in learning how to control it, and that eventually led her to Zebrica: the dragons there are said to be the ultimate masters of magic, having learned and exchanged techniques with the locals that better their control over their power. Zecora is old, too, old enough to remember the great war, so she is revered even among dragons. I’d wager she’d be what is known as an Elder Dragon. So, Twilight meets Zecora during one of the Great Migrations and she is told to meet her again in her homegrounds, Zebrica, in which Twi spends years among the locals learning everything there was to be learned. Thanks to Zecora and the tribes of mortals there, Twilight has a greater grasp on her magic (she even learned how to disguise herself as a pony from Zecora). Twilight still sometimes does something she used to do in order to control her magic: overextend her usage and cause magic exhaustion. This is not a safe way to handle magic and can be very harmful (and terribly painful) to the individual. She no longer does it on purpose though, now having better control of her magic, but sometimes she forgets her own limits and causes magic exhaustion.

Also, what is their relationship like? Is it comparable to the relationship between Twilight and Celestia from the show,? Is it like that, but more relaxed? Or something completely different?

I think it probably be a bit similar to how Twi and Celestia are in show but definitely far more relaxed. Twilight might have once revered Zecora because she’s an Elder Dragon, one of the highest ranks that all dragon clans acknowledge, but that near-worship dynamic dissipated the longer she spent time with her. They’re closer to friends for sure, but there’s style the master/pupil dynamic there.

How do dragons live? You already stated that they live in clans, but how, exactly, does that work? Do they share cave complexes? Does every dragon get their own cave at some point? Do they have pony homes in place, to pass themselves off as ponies when needed? Or are there actual ponies, living around them as their public face?

It entirely depends on which culture, species, and which clan you look at. Some clans live entirely underground, some underwater, some make their homes on the highest peaks of the mountains. Sometimes their homes are cave systems, but sometimes they build their homes, using tools and magic to construct huts and structures they use for their lives. Not all dragons know how to cast the transformation spell (it’s a very uncommon practice; many would see it as a disgrace, parading yourself around as anything but a prideful dragon) and most dragons don’t even have the ability to maintain the spell since it takes a lot of magic to maintain in the first place. Most dragons, with the exception of Zebrica and a few other countries, live away from mortals. They don’t try to use them as public face though I’m sure some have actually come to an agreement to do such a thing in Equestria.

Is there still some kind of overarching dragon society (and possibly government), or is it every clan for themselves?

This sounds a lot like the first question, but no there is no overarching dragon society or government. Every tribe is for themselves, they govern themselves and they take care of themselves. I’m sure there are alliances and such that happen between them but overall, nah. The only thing that even resembles some overarching governmental body are the Elder Dragons.

There aren’t many, but Elder Dragons are dragons far older than a few thousand years. These dragons have seen the world change several times over, some are even date back as far as prehistoric times. They generally live in the ancestral grounds all clans go to for the Great Dragon Migration, and they are the ones who hold the clans accountable for their actions should said action be severe enough for their intervention. They were there for the great war: many of them died in it, hence why there aren’t many of them left. I’d like to think Zecora is one of the highest ranking Elder Dragons, and so even among her own kind she’s something of a god-like figure.

#worldbuilding #Slayer!AU #Answered Questions #asks #au #au worldbuilding

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somethingfoe · 6 years ago

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You’re SPECIAL (FO4): Tacticians

This took some time as well, didn't it? Considerably longer than my Medics one, considering that I had that scheduled for release but got pulled back as a result of me moving out. Why? Well, Fallout 76 was as much of a fucking disasterpiece as I feared. It's barely even wearing the skin of the Fallout franchise as it tries to be some rust clone 3 to 5 years late on that bandwagon, with rehashed out assets from Fallout 4 with all kinds of dialogue interaction skimmed out for audiologs spitting out diatribes. It seems to me that Bethesda have rested on their laurels way too long to give Fallout the kind of treatment it deserves, and don't give me this bullshit that it's just merely a 'side' project and won't have any effect on future titles. Fallout 4 was basically them testing the waters of the settlement crafting system and attempting to skim down the dialogue options prevalent in previous titles, if Fallout 76 would've succeeded off it's own laziness, guaranteed that Elder Scrolls 6 would've had the same treatment as well as other future titles. Considering that not barely a month into release and Fallout 76 has been knicked off half it's retail price is probably a tell tale sign that Bethesda have fucked far beyond just making their typically buggy games, and that they seriously need to reevaluate their ethical decisions for the long run, because at this point, the fucking fans are making better games than they are. Fallout New California, a 6 year old mod based off of the working parts of Fallout New Vegas, just came out and is indefinitely superior in what Fallout is conventionally known for, save for the isometric view and turn-based combat. As a result of this disappointment, I found it really hard for me to continue on this You're SPECIAL series considering that that was primarily why I even wanted to make a 'FO4' version of it, but alas, I must continue with the ones I made prior. With that side note out of the way, here is the tacticians of the respective FOE and PH lores! I figure that I first cover the Main protagonist's companions across all boards before doing the side entries like Malevolent Relics and Main Antagonists, which means that the Odd One Outs (or Pets) will be the next entry on that. I'm not sure if I intend to slash their base SPECIAL attributes Like I did previous, maybe just lower their level cap a hair and see where I can skew some of the attributes too. With the nods in mind, the Xenith art was by :DevClutterCluster: and the Lacunae art was by :DevInLucidReverie:, and boy was the Lacunae art fucking hard to make work in this format, what with the huge flowing mane that I had to cut out but not too much to make it obvious. As with Saboteurs and Medics, This is taking into account a build that is at Level 65, with 12 perk points put into the actual Attributes themselves, pitting it at 40. If you're curious how I decided the Attributes, like with the others, the link for the original is right here https://www.deviantart.com/somethingguy912/art/You-re-SPECIAL-Xenith-VS-Lacunae-525076774 since I'm going to have to explain why I chose what perks. With that, here is the technical mumbo jumbo, as always.

STRENGTH

Strong Back Xenith :star: :star: :star: :star: - Seeing that Xenith lived all her life as a slaver, I'd imagine that her being forced to lug around huge items was a day to day part of her life. Not to mention how Xenith was capable of carrying Littlepip unconscious on her back after Littlepip's attempt to save both of them from captivity of Red Eye is a impressive feat on it's own. Armorer Lacunae :star: :star: - Seeing that Lacunae is not keen on either fiddling with guns or armorer, we are merely talking about the hypothetical armorer work in that Lacunae can project a 'bubble' around herself as a means of protection, what with being a Alicorn under manipulation by The Master of Maripony. Iron Fist Xenith :star: :star: :star: :star: - Xenith is the master of Fallen Caesar, a sort of close quarters combat brought down through the generations even beyond the apocalypses attempt to eradicate it, and with Xenith being a hard boiled gladiator for the mere spectacle of the other raiders, Xenith is not one to be tussled with in close proximity.

PERCEPTION

Refractor Lacunae :star: :star: :star: :star: - Borne of a weird radioactive experiment and being artificially made into a Alicorn, it only makes sense that being so attune with magic can make nearly resistant to any sort of plasma or energy weapons to the point that they might as well bounce off of her! The aforementioned protective bubble also helps to confirm this notion. Night Person Xenith :star: :star: :star: - Being thrown in a dark, dingy cage outside of having to fight in a dark, bloody arena would make one a bit more perceptive of the goings on during the night, so it makes sense that Xenith would have superior eyesight during those times. Lacunae :star: :star: - While Lacunae does sport some of that same ability as well, not to mention by her being previously a trained assassin post-apocalypse, Lacunae's innate ability to project light out from her horn in times of darkness gives her less of a edge when it comes to matters of the night. Still, having a weird connection to other Alicorns across the globe helps too. Demo Expert Lacunae :star: :star: - Lacunae is a big guns babe, and she likes all things big, from Miniguns to heavy grenade launchers, so Lacunae does sport some fascination with the big and loud and brutal, even if it makes her a sort of open target for ongoing attacks. Awareness Xenith & Lacunae :star: :star: - Both these lasses sport the same skill in awareness, with Xenith's more isolated nature helping to observe things around her, and Lacunae being a agent of misery for the Master's worst parts. You need the Nuka World DLC to get a 2 star in awareness, so if you don't have it, Xenith would get a one star in Pickpocket, whereas Lacunae would get Three stars in Demo Expert.

ENDURANCE

Adamantium Skeleton Lacunae :star: :star: :star: - Being irradiated with pure magic makes it quite difficult to knock down someone, and Lacunae has that in spades. Barely able to even get hurt, save for the perchance of getting a train dropped on you, Lacunae is completely numb to the idea of having limbs damaged. Rad Resistant Lacunae :star: :star: :star: :star: - Almost in comparison to resistance as Steelhooves is, perhaps being doused in radiation makes you almost nearly immune to it, to the point that it might beef you up too! Who'd funk that! maybe everyone should just dump in radiation...oh wait, it doesn't quite work THAT way! Chem Resistant Lacunae & Xenith :star: :star: - Again, both lasses are pretty resistant to chems, even if both don't really use it that much. Probably Xenith for Med-X what with her battle scars and slight trauma, and Lacunae's inherently somber nature needing some version of AntiDepressants? Lifegiver Lacunae :star: :star: - Being a large body Alicorn would tend to give you a bit more resilence, even if Lacunae doesn't really need the help. Her protective bubble, and her slightly regenerative radiation also gives her a bit more longevity than most. Lead Belly Xenith :star: :star: - Both hated as a Zebra and a outcast, Xenith has had to take the worst from others in order to survive, so I wouldn't be surprised if she's been able to tolerate some otherwise dirty water to keep going. Toughness Xenith :star: :star: :star: :star: :star: - Being beaten, bruised, raped, tortured, and splayed as a exotic attraction for the arena, Xenith can take the worst that anyone can bring upon her, assuming that it's not to the expense of her lost daughter. Lacunae :star: :star: - Lacunae can similarly take some beatings, but not nearly as much as Xenith has. Lacunae does have to endure with all of the negative feelings that the Master pumps into her, but not much more beyond that.

CHARISMA

Lone Wanderer Lacunae :star: :star: :star: :star: - Lacunae is absolutely isolated from everyone else, despite being tied with Unity and the other alicorns. Treated merely as the ugly duckling of the pack, and vilified on sight by anyone else, Lacunae is the very definition of a lone wolf. this requires the Far Harbor DLC, so if you don't have it, Lacunae will get a additional point into Cap Collector. Xenith :star: :star: :star: - Xenith is almost equally in measure to being isolated from everyone else, but unlike Lacunae, being a Alicorn, Xenith is not immediately killed on sight, so I guess she does get 'some' interaction, even if it is almost entirely abusive. Xenith could be considered a 'Haphephobe', which is being afraid of being touched by others, a trauma that Littlepip had to learn once she got to know her better. Lady Killer Lacunae :star: :star: - I know this might seem strange, given Lacunae's demured nature, but Lacunae does catch some eyes, like with Paladin Stronghoof, in spite of her Alicorn nature and personality. You could also say that Lacunae's more quiet nature does give her a bit of a allure to others as well. Cap Collector Lacunae :star: - In the most basic means, Lacunae can collect caps, if merely as a half measure. More interested in trying to lead Blackjack to the goddess more than anything, I merely put this in on account of Lacunae's desire to keep her black dress in check so others don't immediately recognize her as Alicorn.

INTELLIGENCE

Nuclear Physicist

Lacunae :star: :star: :star: - while Lacunae is not one to delve in using specifically energy weapons, Her innate alicorn abilities more than compensate for that and factor into her ability to use a multitude of abilities to either fire projectiles out of magic, or cast shields for herself and allies. Robotics Expert Lacunae :star: :star: - Seeing that Lacunae can master levitation with relative ease, she can inadvertently use enemy robots on her side by merely directing them towards another target for her own purpose. She can even use her own magic to literally shred robots to pieces, from the inside no less if need be! Chemist Xenith :star: :star: :star: - Supporting the stereotype that Zebras tend to delve in the alchemical, Xenith is one such, being able to brew unusual potions that help with wounds or other ailments if need be, even if it's a rare thing for her to do. Science! Lacunae :star: :star: :star: - Again, while Lacunae is not keen on using technology to win the battle, her intense knowledge stemming from her connection to the other Alicorns around her, and her fascination with heavier weapons gives her some desire to amp them up from their initial build. Xenith :star: - Another stereotype of Zebras is that they are technophobes, which I guess requires some idea as to how weapons and technology works to be afraid of them, so I guess Xenith gets merely a one for her paranoia of it. Scrapper Xenith :star: :star: - with the aforementioned technophobia, Xenith doesn't tend to let those weird do-hickys stay functional, vying to scrap them or strictly warn others of using them. Basically she is the bane of the philosophy behind the BoS. Gun Nut Lacunae :star: :star: :star: - While Lacunae isn't quite the aficionado when it comes to all things gunpowder, Lacunae still enjoys using the otherwise unwieldy weapons to great effect, like with the Anti-Material Rifle for example. Medic Xenith :star: :star: :star: - Xenith does surprisingly sport some knowledge of healing ailments, what with her being somewhat capable of deterring Killing Joke as well as her ability to use healing powder during her time as a slave to heal some grievous wounds. Lacunae :star: :star: - While Lacunae can indeed 'heal', so to speak, she really only can do it for herself. Other with her being able to levitate friends out of trouble, or give them a protective bubble, Lacunae cannot gift her friends her healing ability.

AGILITY

Blitz Xenith :star: :star: - Xenith is almost entirely melee based, so it makes sense that her prowess in Fallen Caeaser would require that she needs to close the distance with her enemies, thus giving her maxed out in Blitz. Ninja Xenith :star: :star: :star: - Xenith is quite a sneaky zebra if you give her the ability to get out of her cage, metaphorically or no. A lot of Zebras have a good knowledge of what amounts to Sun Tzu's the Art of War; covert attacks. Seeing that Xenith is equally melee based as Rampage is, it only makes sense that Xenith would want to quickly make that distance. Moving Target Xenith :star: :star: :star: - Continuing to be agile and fit as she is, Xenith got her recognition as a deadly fighter in the arena, being nearly untouchable as a result of her nimble ways. Action Boy Xenith :star: :star: - Xenith has to keep moving, goddammit! she's moving to avoid enemies, moving to close the distance, and moving to stay out of sight, she's got to have as much action points in order to win! Sneak Xenith :star: :star: :star: :star: - Xenith would more than likely prefer to hide than be seen by a crowd to be mocked at until she drove their face in the dirt. This also confirms the suspicions that Zebras adopted Sun Tzu's tactics of hit and run and subdue the enemy psychologically then moreso. Commando Lacunae :star: :star: :star: :star: :star: - Lacunae is a star when it comes to all weapons two handed, and seeing that Miniguns, Launchers and .50 Cal Sniper Rifles are ostensibly two handed, it only makes sense that Lacunae would have a fondness for them.

LUCK

Mysterious Stranger Xenith :star: - this might be a strange inclusion for me to put on here, but Xenith does have the help of her lost daughter later on to get the slight upper hand, as both are very good at sneaking and attacking when necessary. Bloody MessLacunae :star: :star: :star: - Lacunae can tend to get a little out of hand with her excitement of heavy weapons, often times literally making paste out of her enemies once Unity starts to control her moreso than other times.And that is it with the Tacticians! I have a photo run planned to do sometime tomorrow, as I have only one day off and I figure that I do one considering how long it's been since my last proper one! enjoy this for now!

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ambris · 7 years ago

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MLP The Movie review by Ambris

Quite simply, I enjoyed it!

For a fan of the series, the entire movie is fun romp through a variety of locales with a colorful supporting cast in a world that feels alive and vibrant. As a fan of the series, and I enjoyed every moment of it from start to finish. There are numerous cameos that longterm fans of the show will appreciate, but nothing that feels overly self-pandering. If you’re a fan of the series I hope you enjoyed the ride as well! It’s been a long time coming, and it’s with great relief that I can say they did not f**k this up.

Having said that, the rest of this review will be spent looking at the movie from a more objective critical perspective. If that’s not your looking for, then just take my first paragraph to heart and keep on scrolling.

ALSO SPOILERS. MAJOR SPOILERS even. The weekend has passed, so I’m going to assume most everyone who it really matters to has seen the movie. But I’ll keep everything below the Read More, out of respect for those who may not have gotten the chance anyway.

So no clicky if you don’t want spoilers. And no clicky if you’re not interested in critical discussion.

You have been warned.

Overview:

Looking at the movie with a outside critical eye, it’s safe to say it has problems. Nothing awful and nothing deal-breaking. But definitely flawed.

A movie like this generally has to decide if it wants to be for the fans or for everyone. While the ideal is for both, treading that line is exceedingly difficult. On one end, you get movies with plots and dynamics that are so insular that any outsider is likely to be baffled and lost, and on the other end you have movies that only share the most superficial traits of the franchise it’s based; the latter is almost what happened to MLP (and thank god it didn’t). I won’t got into details here, as you can easily look it up, but suffice to say that the original pitch would have basically been the same plot to the Smurfs movie--that’s literally how generic and cookie-cutter of a pony movie we almost got.

But the MLP Movie we did get attempts the lofty goal of being rewarding to fans while being inclusive to outsiders. Does it succeed at this? Well. . .partially.

Characters:

Key characters and their relations to the world are conveniently and casually explained to the uninitiated viewer, while never derailing the plot for people who already know what’s going on. That’s absolutely a good thing.

Honestly, this opening scene is possibly one of the best examples of it. In just under 60 seconds, Twilight is established as a neurotic perfectionist, incredibly smart, and a person in authority but not the highest authority, as well as establishing the royal alicorns and their role in the world, AND establishing Twilight’s unique relationship to them. That’s an insane amount of information to throw at someone who may not have ever seen MLP, but it’s all presented or implied gracefully while never feeling like a distraction to the plot or longtime fans.

But at the same time, the more esoteric qualities of these characters that really should be here to center the movie taking place in the same same Equestria we know and love are absent; The end result feels a bit watered down. And while nothing in the movie contradicts the characters as we know them, they yet seem unrealized in the new contexts the plot throws them in. We establish Twilight is smart, but Twilight never DOES anything with her higher intellect or advanced magic.

Allow me to elaborate. Throughout the course of the movie, there are very few points in which the main character’s individual skills and abilities really matter. They’re present, but yet usually pointless. For the most part, the mane six are collectively and ineptly scrambling out of one crisis right into another; often only succeeding with the help of a supporting character new to the movie (more on that later).

A movie like this seems like it should be culmination of everything significant about these characters, and while it gets halfway there, it proceeds to just sit on those ideas.

For example, the movie cleverly establishes Rainbow Dash as the “Fast, Cool, but Impulsive” one, but rarely does anything with that. Yes, her attitude inspires the sky-pirate crew to retake their roles as rebels. . . But that’s really it; RD exists in the movie to make a set of new characters be cool, not be cool herself. You see this pattern a lot.

Rarity is similarly established early on as the “Fastidious, Pretty, but Dramatic” one early on, but the only thing she really does with that is one small act of “generosity” to a secondary new character, Capper; whose subsequent choices, based on this one act, are the real significant driving forces in the plot.

The business with the seaponies/hippogriffs is a bit more ambiguous. Arguably, it was Pinkie’s endearing nature that won over Queen Novo, but it’s not really concise, as that cause-and-effect is muddled with Twilight’s screw-up and the subsequent climax of the movie, making Pinkie’s action feel less relevant to the plot.

And probably the most significantly helpful thing Twilight does is bring about Tempest’s redemption--and while redemption is a pretty common and reoccurring theme in this series, and therefore is perfectly acceptable, it’s still a shame Twilight doesn’t do more purely under her own power.

The main character rarely do much on their own, and instead simply enable new characters we’ve never heard of before to actually save the day. But the Mane 6 themselves seem almost. . .helpless.

The most egregious example of this, is how Twilight’s well noted ability to teleport was conspicuously absent from the movie, made all the most noticeable when she could have used it to escape her cage near the end. Yes, they could have hand-waved the cage as being magically enhanced to prevent that, but it at least needs to be established, else it just looks like Twilight forgot how to teleport. This is frustrating to say the least.

There are genuine exceptions here and there throughout the movie, but they’re minor. And the final assault on Canterlot does a pretty good job of showing the Mane 6 “dispatching” guards in the ways they do best. But it’s brief, and shares screen time with secondary characters again.

But any good in that feels negated by MORE often than not, characters’ individual quirks throughout the movie make their situations worse. Pinkie makes loud noises when they need stealth. Rainbow Dash’s need to show off brings a major threat right down on them. Twilight’s inclination to overachieve, or in this case, to just get shit done at any cost, is the catalyst for the darkest moment before the climax.

All of these conflict escalations would be fine if their quirks and natures also got them out of conflicts just as regularly. Especially if one pony’s strength compensates for another pony’s weakness--that would really drive home the theme of friendship and the signature song of the movie “We Got This”.

But as is, the Mane 6 spend most of their time flailing and screwing up, only to inspire other characters to feats of heroism. It’s kinda baffling.

Capper, Celaeno, and Skystar, collectively steal the movie from the Mane 6. It feels like the writers loved these new characters so much, they couldn’t help but to give them more spotlight (I’m sure that’s not actually the case, but that’s how it comes across). And make no mistake, they’re all genuinely great fun characters that are impossible to not love; But I thought this was a movie about the Mane 6.

Tempest as well, as the real villain of this movie, is incredibly captivating. She not especially complex, but she has an established motive and drive, and it’s consistent all the way through. It would have been better if the movie perhaps actually established how awful life as a unicorn with a broken horn might be early on, rather than after the fact, but Tempest’s screen presence, between the masterful animation in face and body, and Emily Blunt’s passionate voice acting, is enough to sell her character 100%. In my opinion, she’s the best part of this whole movie. I do wish they had drawn more of a theme of Tempest and Twilight being similar yet taken different paths, as any good hero/villian plot lines generally does, but it’s not a huge deal either way.

The Storm-king takes a backseat to Tempest, but that’s not unusual for a Big-Bad/Dragon dynamic (TV Tropes is your friend). He’s entertaining while on screen, but his motivation seems weak and the overall evil-plot seems like overkill, if not ill-defined. But I have to give the movie props for LITERALLY KILLING the Stormking at the end, going one step farther than Disney usually does. I don’t know if it really adds to the movie or not, but I have to respect that creative resolve, when it was likely resisted by higher ups.

Strangely for a movie that should be about the Mane 6, it feels like most significant characters but the Mane 6 are the ones who have interesting character arcs and things to actually do. This trait is probably my single biggest complaint about the movie, made more frustrating by how consistent it is.

Story:

The story is rarely as important as the characters. You can get away with an incredibly standard dime-a-dozen plot so long as your characters are compelling (Star Wars Ep 4 is probably the ultimate example of this).

MLP’s plot: Invading kingdom, heroic journey to seek the macguffin armed only with poor information, being hounded by the villains--this is all standard stuff. And that’s okay. Despite rarely doing anything significantly helpful to their cause, the Mane 6 are all delightfully vibrant and alive in their personality and interaction. I never felt bored seeing them play off each other and react to their environment. There are moments like this in the main series, but never as rich and on-point as is here. The movie nailed it the banter, and I expect mainly highly quotable bits to be appearing on the internet soon.

But it’s kinda frustrating that yet again, Celestia and Luna basically do nothing in this massive conflict. As is usually the case, the Worf Effect is in play, as they’re dispatched at the beginning of the conflict to establish how truly dangerous the bad guys are (But at least they’re not just plain MIA, like sometimes in series). I guess it’s a necessary weasel; Having demi-gods running around might make relatable conflicts difficult to write, but I’d honestly prefer if they’d just establish Celestia and Luna as not-all-that-powerful, and actually give them something important do for the length of a movie.

Reading the prequel comics adds a lot of good context to the side character’s character-arcs, especially Capper’s, but they’re not necessary for understanding the plot. I do kinda feel like they should have been included, but there just wasn’t enough time. Again, the side-characters are fighting the main characters for focus in the movie, and while the side characters come out ahead, it does detract from them both.

I feel like I have to cite Tempest not turning Twilight to stone at her first chance as something of a plothole, but I can to admit the plot would probably be a lot more boring if she was stoned, so I’ll give it a pass.

Other than that, the pacing of the movie is solid--the epic adventure vibe as the Mane 6 explore exotic locales is ever present in the movie and makes everything feel alive. The world that Equestria exists in seems bigger and grander than ever before and that’s a great thing.

Art and Animation:

No one can say the movie doesn’t look good (well they can, but they’re wrong). The visuals are absolutely a work of passion by incredibly talented people. The fact that they used a custom developed “Harmony Engine” for animation is a testament to that.

The action scenes are gorgeous and the choreography of it all is just perfect. But I will say that in the slower talky moments of the movie, some of the animation felt off to me in ways I’m not clear on. It’s almost like there were too many frames in between key frames, making for smooth slow animation that resembles real-life, instead of of the cartoon bounciness you’d expect.

Having said that, it stopped bothering me not-at-all-long into the movie, so it’s a very minor complaint.

But the attention to detail in the animation is amazing by contrast.

A prime example is this brief moment at the end of Capper’s song, where the ponies are walking in single file, and every single one of them has a 100% unique walking animation that reflects their personality. The movie is full of details like this, and this is the kind of work only passionate talented people can pull off. It’s inspiring really.

All the designs of the main characters feel consistent with what we know, and yet deeper, richer, and more vivacious than ever before. The style is slightly different, with the larger sparklier eyes, defined ears, and soft shadows, but never enough to distract.

All the new species we see in this broader world, cat people and bird people, do feel a bit out of place with what we’ve seen, as they’re very very anthro/furry in general design. But that’s only in relation to ponies. Indeed, one gets the impression that ponies are the exception to this world in being quadrupedal and super colorful. I’m not sure if this is a good thing, but it doesn’t feel inherently like a bad thing. It does do a good job of visually communicating a sense that our cast is out of their element.

The seapony/hippogriffs fit right in though! Both were gorgeous, though I personally love the hippogriff designs better than anything~

The background art too, is downright staggeringly beautiful--

. . .when it wants to be. Which is less often than one would like.

The movie spends an alarming amount of time with dark, drab, grey, and empty backgrounds. The effect is kinda depressing at times. Now without a doubt, this 100% appropriate in places where the Stormking’s influence dominates. This shot here dramatically demonstrates that.

But even at times when the mood is supposed to be bright, it’s still dark. And even then, dark and drab can still be visually interesting if you’re clever. Just look at the Fallout series.

When the main six first encounter the sky-pirates, the sky is bleak and empty--which makes perfect sense, as Celaeno and her crew are miserably subservient to the Stormking. But when the fight in them has been rekindled by Dash, I would have expected the sky to open up into bright blue wonder to reflect that mood change. It never does, even at the crescendo of the song.

Same thing with Pinkie’s song with the seaponies. At the climax of the song, which everything should be overwhelmingly bright and happy, the background looks like this:

Just kinda. . .empty.

This issue is all over the movie. But seems to be portioned more to some areas than others.

The people who made this movie are too talented to have simply made mistakes like that. I genuinely believe this is an issue with budgeting. It’s not a damn Michael Bay Transformers movie, so Hasbro probably didn’t dump the same kind of absurd money into it--and some of the potential background work was the first (and really only) sacrifices that had to be made to the budget gods. They instead had to leave things relatively blank or obscured by clouds and mist.

It’s disappointing, because in such an epic movie, the background art really carries so much emotional weight, and I feel like some things just came across flat because of it.

Music:

The highlight of the soundtrack is without doubt “Open Your Eyes”, sung by Tempest (It’s always the villain song with these things, isn’t it?). Again, Tempest is the best thing about this movie, and her song is no exception. It’s intense, poignant, and the visuals of Tempest’s sneering and Twilight’s look of utter dismay really drive this whole song home.

Now I hate to say it, but no other tracks in the movie felt memorable to me, even the ones by Daniel Ingram. Nothing was bad or out of place, but only “We Got This’ really had any impact on me, and I can’t recall how it even went right now. This is personally a bit of a letdown, as the music is such a huge part of MLP.

These days I worry that Daniel Ingram might be heading towards burnout? As a creative person I can absolutely relate and I don’t fault him for anything, but just seems like songs from the series recently don’t resonate with me as much as they used to. It could just me though.

I don’t really have anymore to say here, other than you might disagree--and that’s cool. To each their own.

Conclusion:

Some of you might be saying “Shut up Ambris, and enjoy the movie”, to which my response is “sure”. I’m perfectly capable of enjoying this movie from my perspective as a fan only. There is a lot of great stuff here, and anyone who has woken up early to watch each new episode on saturdays, like me, will have a great time here like I did.

But I can’t help but to be aware of it more critically. The movie was fun, but could have been better and funner. It doesn’t really feel like a logical extension of the plots we already know. It feels more like a pilot for several spin-off series in the same world. That’s not at all bad, but it’s not what I was hoping for. I still absolutely enjoyed the movie from start to finish, and I could easily watch it over again. In rewatching bits of it now for screenshots, I found myself getting caught up and watching for several minutes before I remembered I was writing a review. I’m happy to have spent money on it, and I’ll be buying the Blu-Ray when it comes out, in hopes that they’ll make another, even better movie!

I remember that the first Equestria Girls movie itself was similarly flawed but fun. But then they followed it up with the phenomenal Rainbow Rocks (Which I still think is the best pony movie ever). And it’s my genuine hope and belief that the studio is capable of making a sequel on the level of Rainbow Rocks.

We got a good movie, and I’m happy. Going to see it with friends was probably one the happier moments in my recent life. And I’m hoping the next movie will be all that much better!

Other, silly things of note:

You know, Derpy is the real unsung hero of this movie. She took the hit of that petrifying spell for Twilight. If she hadn’t, Twilight wouldn't have been able kick-start the events of the rest of the movie. Derpy MVP.

When the Stormking literally died, broken in stone, there was a quiet dramatic moment to let the moment sink in. And directly behind me, a 10-year-old muttered, just barely loud enough for me to hear “He’ll be okay” with absolute, perfect conviction. I almost died trying to stifle the laughter in the theater, it was so absurd. You probably had to be there though. But thank you, random 10-year-old, for your flawless comedic timing.

The “Seapony” song had a distinct lack of “shoo-be-do”. 0/10

They kept using a squeaky toy sound every time Pinkie and occasionally other ponies crashed or bumped into whatever; and it killed me every time. It’s such a simple yet subtle gag--I love it.

Tempest’s real name is a brilliant last minute plot twist. And it demonstrates that her "special talent” even as she is with her broken horn, is consistent with her name. Sure, it was funny--but it was also poignant. “Fizzlepop Berrytwist” does suggest someone good at firework type magic, especially in her specific aesthetic. Even with her horn broken, she’s capable of so much, including her destiny. Idk, I just really like that implied message.

And finally: so like, we all saw that moment at the end. Twilight and Tempest? They wanted to kiss.

We all saw that right? RIGHT?

#mlp the movie #review

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