#mlp chancellor neighsay

[character-tournaments]

MLP Tourney: Round 1- Match 26/26

[sud-scribbles]

reeeally proud of this set! these may not be the biggest characters, but i think the rolled expressions and the drawings still came together very nicely!

[onebadpunspoilsabunch]

Another thing I hated from those last two seasons were the villains, especially cozy glow

Bgdsafhbb

I really should stop talking about mlp. It's embarrassing 😅 I'm kind of embarrassed. I apologize to all my followers. But...

But again, 100% right.

Funny thing is, I can see a world where Chancellor Neighsay's character is written better. The problem with his character is that the terrible writers wrote him as the most stereotypical, strawman-y racist villain that I've ever seen in any piece of children's media, ever. 

If they wrote him more realistically, and actually gave the audience an explanation for why he feels that way about the other creatures...

For example, they could've showed that the reason he hated the other creatures is because of their past history with ponies:

The hippogriffs/seaponies refused to help when the Storm King attacked 

The Yaks were very picky when they came to visit for the first time

The dragons were usually very hostile towards ponies, to the point where ponies were afraid to approach them

The Changelings attacked Equestria twice

The griffins had a better relationship with ponies, but the majority of them were still very rude

Of course, the explanation for all of their behavior is the result of their environment, leadership, and upbringing. But it would still be an understandable reason.

And if they had him realistically realize the error of his ways, combined with writing him in a realistic way and giving an explanation for his mentality, then BOOM! Character fixed, problem solved :)

Now, as for Cozy Glow...

Idk what the writers were thinking when they came up with her character, but in terms of writing/character motivations she is 10,000 times worse than Neighsay. At least with him I understand what the writers were going for, and he can be more easily fixed.

But Cozy Glow…

She is a child. The same age as the CMC. Who is... inexplicable an evil sociopath who hates the other creatures, wants to get rid of magic, and... rule the world...

Absolutely no explanation given for how this child turned evil, racist, a sociopath, a master manipulator, and a megalomaniac. No backstory, no explanation. At all.

At least with Neighsay, you can logical see how he got there. But I have no idea what they were going for with Cozy Glow. 

The only thing I can figure out is this: Cozy Glow exists to prove one point that Neighsay made. He was afraid that the other creature students would use their friendship lessons and the school to secretly take over Equestria. He believed that they were sociopaths who were incapable of being changed, so instead of being improved by the school they would only learn how to better manipulate ponies. That's what sociopaths do in real life. 

But instead of it being the other creatures who did it, it was a pony. The point of Cozy Glow's character is to prove that ponies are capable of being the megalomaniac sociopaths that Neighsay thought the other creatures were. So in a way, I can see where the base concept for her character came from. 

The thing that makes it terrible is that there is absolutely no backstory or explanation given for why this child is evil, or how she got there. The writers just expected the audience to accept this incredibly bizarre, horribly written character. 

Lol, shrug

Grogar would've been a really cool villain, if he wasn't actually SPOILERS Discord in disguise the whole time.

The real Grogar does exist in their world. He could be dead, he could be alive. We don't know. But the writers lied to people, telling them that Grogar would be the final villain, hyping him up... only for it to be taken away with a terrible plot twist. That they (apparently) planned from the beginning:

But when Discord was impersonating Grogar, he was still a better villain than Cozy Glow and Neighsay. The plot twist was the real problem, not Grogar himself. 

I actually feel kinda bad for Grogar's character. They did him dirty. They did my sheep dirty :(

Anyway, my final thoughts on the season 8/9 villains:

Chancellor Neighsay: Terribly written, but can be easily fixed.

Cozy Glow: They were high on BATH SALTS or something and were watching Cats Don't Dance (or the episode of Batman the animated series with Babydoll) when they came up with her character, and didn't give a shit about anything else.

Grogar: I feel bad for my poor sheep :( You deserve better, you could've been great 🐏

[incorrectmlpstudentsixquotes]

Twilight: Guys, give me your most controversial opinion!

Neighsay: I'm racist.

Twilight: Alright.

[whoah-dawg]

If you told me you made logan a mlp pony design and showed me this I would fully believe you if I didnt know he was actually from mlp

[eriada]

[queencoldart]

Slapping is a common punishment in the Dragon Lands.

It isn't supposed to be fun.

[ashleyfableblack]

Chill, Chancellor. Queen Twilight's gotcha number. Happy Hearthswarming and Big Love to all y'all out there.

[kazachokolate]

Commission for @clownsstupidwork <з

[judadisyourjudaddy]

gotta do a quick shout out to childhood character kin Fluttershy for shaping my entire male gender envy i am now transmasc with the desire to look like someones mother fuck that yellow pony shes too relatable anyways

[shaslan]

My favourite crackship

https://www.deviantart.com/shaslan/art/Leaves-Like-Fire-940175219

[troodono]

Chancellor Neighsay,or this could be called as “Meowsay”??

I really, really hated him at first, but his performance in s08e26 surprised me and I quickly fell in love with (?) him

I started to like him in 2020🥺❤

[jungvxyy]

so silly 🤦🏽‍♂️

[magicalgirlagency]

Since you've talked about MLP and villains are the hot topic of now, how would you have rewritten Starlight Glimmer's arc?

Like I said long time ago, I'd have her arc remain untouched EXCEPT for its conclusion. And I'd also change seasons 6 to 9, too.

At the end of S5, after carelessly tampering with the time-space continuum to get back at Twilight and her colleagues, she erases herself from history, thus perishing completely. This causes Twilight to learn a hard lesson on how friendship isn't the final solution for everything, as not everypony won't be see reason so quickly, nor discuss things in a civil manner. She also realizes the potential of other blankflanks and latebloomers in similar positions, and what she can do to reduce such prejudices and avoid tragedies from repeating.

In one of her travels to the Crystal Empire, she eventually meets Sunburst, an old friend of Starlight's, who was currently in the middle of investigating her sudden disappearance and struggling to remember this unicorn who keeps haunting his memories. Twilight realizes that he's referring to Starlight, and she tells him of what she has done after he recieved his Cutie Mark, as well as the village she enslaved; feeling guilty for abandoning her, Sunburst decides to move to the village and hopefully spread the awareness of blankflanks and latebloomers, so they aren't excluded nor bullied for not having CMs like most ponies. The village is later renamed Aurora Retreat, with Sunburst as its leader.

Much later, Twilight chats with Moondancer again and appoints her as the Princess' Assistant and help her with the construction of her School of Friendship. Moondancer still doesn't forgive Twilight for rejecting her party invitation, but she accepts the offer in hopes of having access to more books and tomes to study, so their relationship is more professional at first. When Chancellor Neighsay closes the school, she confronts the bigot with the help of the Mane 6 (sans Twilight herself, giving the princess proper time to heal from her depressive episode), because while she hasn't forgiven her superior, she still could see how much friendship meant to her and how hard she worked on building an academy for it. After this, the bookworm finds herself gradually softening up and eventually making new friends of her own, finally having moved on from Twilight's past blunder.

With the School of Friendship reopened, arrives a mysterious pegasus by the name of Cozy Glow, who tries to approach Twilight and become her one of her favored pupils. However, what the princess didn't know, is that this prodigious little filly was in reality a puppet crafted by Tirek and Chrysallis, so they could exact their revenge on Twilight for defeating them in the past and find an opening to escape Tartarus, thus exploiting the princess' kindness and have her ideals of friendship be her downfall. And after the villains' ultimate defeat, all that remains for Twilight is to confront her biggest challenge of ascending to godhood after Celestia and Luna retire from their services, thus separating from the many friends she has made throughout her journey, but coming to the conclusion that friendships may be temporary, but their effects are everlasting.

[incorrectmlpstudentsixquotes]

Smolder: That's a nice argument, Chancellor.  Why don't you back it up with a source?

Neighsay: My source is that I made it the fuck up!

[heartfullofpony]

School Raze

Rewatching the Season 8 finale, rather a lot comes to mind. The underrated genius of Cozy Glow as a villain. Chancellor Neighsay's surprising integrity - the fact that all of his villainy came from an earnest impulse to "protect Equestria," and that he was willing, in light of new evidence, to pull a 180, and change his entire world view - no easy feat.

I'll be writing a more in-depth analysis of these two episodes in general, but first, I would like to focus on something a little bit more personal.

Since MLP: FiM ended, I, (Sprocket here), have come out as trans/non-binary. Since last I viewed this finale ("School Raze, Pts. 1&2"), my perspective has changed a great deal, and there are themes explored here that hit way harder than before.

For those who don't remember, "School Raze" opens with one of Starlight's spells failing. Then Twilight's. Then Rarity's. Then comes a summons from Celestia. And a letter from Starswirl the Bearded.

The upshot? Equestria is losing its magic.

Cozy Glow puts the idea in Twilight's head that it might be Tirek, and packs Twilight's bag to aid in their journey to - you guessed it - Tartarus.

To make a long story short, the Mane Six get stuck in Tartarus (but eventually bust out). Cozy Glow imprisons Starlight Glimmer in a magic-glyph-sphere-thing; Chancellor Neighsay locks up the Young Six (minus Sandbar) for being eeeeeevil non-ponies; and when they eventually get busted out by the CMCs, the Young Six makes their way down to the catacombs under the Friendship School, where they discover Cozy Glow's evil plot - Starlight Glimmer imprisoned - and Equestria's magic, draining (via a glyph-a-majig that Tirek had taught her).

[Caught up on the convoluted turn of events? Good.]

Anyway, as the Young Six are trying to figure out how the buck they are supposed to free Starlight, and restore magic to Equestria (without causing a massive magic explosion that would destroy the whole school), in comes Cozy Glow with an army of students.

She points an accusatory hoof at obvious racial minorities. She riles up all the kids around her, and proclaims that [paraphrasing here] "it all makes sense; you're trying to steal Equestrian magic because you have none of your own and you're jealous."

The WHOLE SCHOOL surrounds the Young Six. It turns into a mob that won't even listen to the CMCs.

While this had always been a powerful moment, for me, it now hits even harder than before, and strikes a nerve that is a bit more personal.

Here on Earth, and particularly in America, violence, (and violent rhetoric) against LGBTQ+ people is on the rise.

I have grown accustomed to assessing danger levels in every scenario. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time - being completely surrounded by those willing to believe the worst about you - it's a terrifying thing.

The social commentary behind the very existence of the Young Six - and the obvious mission of the show to foster respect and tolerance for diversity - had always been intentional.

To be 100% clear, those themes had always been noble ones worth exploring.

However, I felt a little essay was necessary just to highlight the difference between respecting themes, and living them - that this episode, while rough around the edges in many ways, does a great job of demonstrating the horror of prejudiced panic responses to tragedy - of putting you, the viewer, in the shoes of folks that the angry mob might turn against.

In Equestrian fashion, the episode ends with a bit of a Deus ex Tree of Harmony, and a realization on the part of the students (i.e. angry mob) that the Young Six were actually exemplifying the lessons of friendship way more than Cozy Glow was.

The Mane Six and the princesses ultimately return. Cozy Glow is apprehended and imprisoned, but the real glory here goes to the Young Six, who embody what friendship really means, and more importantly, act as a lens for the show to tackle themes of social injustice on a level that children can understand.

The nightmare scenario that the Young Six experience here - of being in the wrong place at the wrong time - of being accused, but neither listened to nor believed - of ending up in a powderkeg situation, simply for being different - it's a very real possibility that millions of people face, (and we factor into decisions in our daily lives).

Kudos to "School Raze, Pts 1&2" form dramatizing that.

Discuss.

-Sprocket

If you enjoy essays like these, please consider supporting my work on Patreon.