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My Little Pony FiM Community [OT3] Surely You Saw This Coming

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Met Katie Cook today at Denver Comic Con.

oMytqVn.jpg
 

PaulloDEC

Member
S3 Rankings

Magic Duel: (5*2+4*1+3*0+2*0+1*0)/3 - 4.67
Sleepless in Ponyville: (5*2+4*1+3*0+2*0+1*0)/3 - 4.67
Too Many Pinkie Pies: (5*3+4*3+3*0+2*0+1*0)/6 - 4.50
Wonderbolts Academy: (5*0+4*4+3*1+2*0+1*0)/5 - 3.80
One Bad Apple: (5*0+4*4+3*2+2*0+1*0)/6 - 3.67 - new
The Crystal Empire - Part 2: (5*0+4*2+3*2+2*0+1*0)/4 - 3.50
The Crystal Empire - Part 1: (5*0+4*2+3*1+2*1+1*0)/4 - 3.25
Apple Family Reunion: (5*0+4*3+3*0+2*2+1*0)/5 - 3.20 - new

S1 and S2

Just rewatched "Apple Family Reunion"; how that episode is the worst-received of S3 so far is lost on me. Did people actively dislike it, or was it more of a lukewarm thing?
 
While I'd say the sample size of those rankings is far to small to reach any real conclusions, it is true that "Apple Family Reunion" is generally considered one of the worst episodes of season 3.

The main complaint I hear about it is that it's just boring. A big part of this is that none of the characters are allowed to get too over the top and absurd. Instead we see Applejack doing some mildly bothersome things, with everyone going along without too many complaints because they're too nice, and by the time Applejack starts actually upsetting people, it's already time for the resolution. Compare with "Somepony to Watch Over Me": while Applejack could be considered out of character, her overbearing actions did lead to actual gags. It says a lot about the episode that the part people tend to like the most is the flashbacks at the start.

I'm OK with the episode, but I do know some people dislike it because it seemed to demonstrate that the writers no longer knew how to write Applejack as the lead character of an episode.
 

Tenumi

Banned
Yeah, I think AJ is at her best when she's paired with someone as the lead for an episode. "Look Before You Sleep", "Fall Weather Friends", "Simple Ways", all episodes that turned out well with her as one of the leads.
 
The results were 3 4s and 2 2s. I gave it a 2 really because I really don't like farms, or the activities featured for the reunion. Thus I really wasn't interested in what was going on.
 

PaulloDEC

Member
While I'd say the sample size of those rankings is far to small to reach any real conclusions, it is true that "Apple Family Reunion" is generally considered one of the worst episodes of season 3.

The main complaint I hear about it is that it's just boring. A big part of this is that none of the characters are allowed to get too over the top and absurd. Instead we see Applejack doing some mildly bothersome things, with everyone going along without too many complaints because they're too nice, and by the time Applejack starts actually upsetting people, it's already time for the resolution. Compare with "Somepony to Watch Over Me": while Applejack could be considered out of character, her overbearing actions did lead to actual gags. It says a lot about the episode that the part people tend to like the most is the flashbacks at the start.

Maybe its an unpopular view, but I really enjoy the episodes that step back from the wacky antics and focus on telling simple stories that pack a lot of heart. I felt like this episode was an almost perfect example of that; Applejack episodes often are.

I'm OK with the episode, but I do know some people dislike it because it seemed to demonstrate that the writers no longer knew how to write Applejack as the lead character of an episode.

See, I thought it demonstrated just the opposite. It felt like a good exploration of a Applejack's (arguably) biggest character flaw to me; that she drives herself too hard and that she worries too much about letting others down. I also liked the way it portrayed the extended Apple family as being less enthusiastic about organised activities than they were about just getting things done when something needed doing.

Yeah, I think AJ is at her best when she's paired with someone as the lead for an episode. "Look Before You Sleep", "Fall Weather Friends", "Simple Ways", all episodes that turned out well with her as one of the leads.

Those are all fantastic episodes too, IMO. Just in a different way.

The results were 3 4s and 2 2s. I gave it a 2 really because I really don't like farms, or the activities featured for the reunion. Thus I really wasn't interested in what was going on.

That's fair enough I guess.
 
Maybe its an unpopular view, but I really enjoy the episodes that step back from the wacky antics and focus on telling simple stories that pack a lot of heart. I felt like this episode was an almost perfect example of that; Applejack episodes often are.

See, I thought it demonstrated just the opposite. It felt like a good exploration of a Applejack's (arguably) biggest character flaw to me; that she drives herself too hard and that she worries too much about letting others down. I also liked the way it portrayed the extended Apple family as being less enthusiastic about organised activities than they were about just getting things done when something needed doing.

Well, I was going to say all these things but PaulloDEC beat me to it. I love Apple Family Reunion, it has a great song and a lot of heart. Cindy Morrow is a pretty flawless writer in my opinion.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
I wasn't a huge fan of Apple Family Reunion. Just found it a tad boring. That being said, I think the writers did an excellent job with AJ in S4.
 

Cheerilee

Member
I wasn't a huge fan of Apple Family Reunion. Just found it a tad boring. That being said, I think the writers did an excellent job with AJ in S4.

My general impression of S4 was that everyone had a chance to shine. Likely the result of Meghan's showrunning and having enough episodes to work with.

[Insert best pony] did okay but didn't really raise the bar, while [insert worst pony] did really well and ceased to be worst pony.

So of course, we can all agree that Applejack had a great S4.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
My general impression of S4 was that everyone had a chance to shine. Likely the result of Meghan's showrunning and having enough episodes to work with.

[Insert best pony] did okay but didn't really raise the bar, while [insert worst pony] did really well and ceased to be worst pony.

So of course, we can all agree that Applejack had a great S4.

Given Meghan's "no-shits given" view on everyone but Twilight in her episodes, I'm inclined to give the credit to the individual writers. Also, the key episodes that actually tied into Meghan's story were more miss than hit for me. Rarity and Pinkie's were great, but Fluttershy and AJ's were meh, and Rainbow Dash's was just stupid.
 

Village

Member
Will they be wearing that goth-ey stuff?

I have to mentally prepare for the laughter that will ensue if that were to happen. Them going on adventures dressed like that
 
Synopsis for Rainbow Rocks proper

"In 2014 music rules and rainbows rock as TWILIGHT SPARKLE and pals complete for the top spot in the CANTERLOT HIGH "Mane Event" talent show. The girls must rock their way to the top, and outshine rival ADAGIO DAZZLE and her band THE DAZZLINGS, to restore harmony back to CANTERLOT HIGH."

Nothing too new. Adagio Dazzle is confirmed for villain, so I'm not sure what that one investor report slide saying the final round would be against Trixie means. I rolled my eyes at how the rock competition really is to "restore harmony" in the high school. Still no explanation what's up with Twilight.

This was also posted by someone else on the season 4 OT, but I'm not sure many people are still paying attention to that topic. I know I wasn't until I saw it on the front page for a bit.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
New comics announced!

jO6O8KZ.jpg

Check out the original Power Ponies in action! When Mane-iac assembles an all-star team of villains, the Power Ponies may be outmatched! It will take a familiar face from Equestria to even the odds! Get ready for super powered adventure like you've never seen it!


r5rtGxK.jpg

A special one-shot issue featuring the ponies' pets! When some new trouble comes into Ponyville, all of our normal heroes are incapacitated. Luckily help is on the way in the form of Angel, Owlicious, Gummy, Tank, Winona and Opal! Will they be able to use teamwork to save the day?



ZJEcCo7.jpg

Granny visits an apple convention and is dismayed to see the Flim Flam brothers are up to their old tricks. Only the two are no longer working together... something has divided the brothers! It will be up to Granny to mend hurt feelings. But will she want to?
 
You might want to put those in quote blocks.

Anyway, Friends Forever keeps surprising me with its pairings. It's a bit of a shame that due to production times and such, the new issue probably won't have any direct references to "Leap of Faith", though. The regular series having its first one-shot issue is interesting, and it looks like it could be fun. From the previous image a while ago, I assumed the annual special would be about the Mane-iac coming to Ponyville, but it's neat seeing the actual Power Ponies, and that they don't just look like the Main Six. Unlike the first Annual Special, I'll definitely be getting that.
 

PaulloDEC

Member
I'm not super interested in the Power Ponies, but the pets one-shot and Flim/Flam comics both seem like they could be pretty cool.


Unrelated: Rainbow Rocks Twilight looks a ton better than Rainbow Power Twilight.
 

Darksol

Member
Shitty potato shot, shitty lighting and shitty levels don't really show the colour well, but still can't contain the hype.

Maud.jpg


I think it rocks :)
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Nice to hear, I was a bit wary after the last Rainbow Dash issue. How would you say it measures up against the other single-issue comics?

I'd put it #3 for the 6 released "Freinds Forever" series.

Celestia/Spike > CMC/Discord > Dash/Trixie > Twilight/Shining Armor > Fluttershy/Zecora > Pinkie/AJ
 
In another case of a foreign Equestria Girls Youtube channel posting one of the songs presumably early, we have another new song, "A Perfect Day for Fun", though this time in Spanish. Still no new plot details revealed.

I can't help but notice this song follows the exact same format as "Shake Your Tail", with the human Main Six hanging out in an area together intercut with them later playing in the same place. However, at least with "Shake Your Tail", they were hanging out in a way that demonstrated each individual's personality well. Here, everyone's doing generic "Disney Channel girl band music video" stuff, and Fluttershy even acts counter to her pony self by being scared by a Discord toy and hitting it with a whack-a-mole hammer. The use of the cutie marks in text messages was cute, though. I can't remember a single thing about the song itself as I'm typing this.
 

PaulloDEC

Member
I'd put it #3 for the 6 released "Freinds Forever" series.

Celestia/Spike > CMC/Discord > Dash/Trixie > Twilight/Shining Armor > Fluttershy/Zecora > Pinkie/AJ

Nice. I've not read the CMC/Discord issue yet, so I might grab that one too.

In another case of a foreign Equestria Girls Youtube channel posting one of the songs presumably early, we have another new song, "A Perfect Day for Fun", though this time in Spanish. Still no new plot details revealed.

I can't help but notice this song follows the exact same format as "Shake Your Tail", with the human Main Six hanging out in an area together intercut with them later playing in the same place. However, at least with "Shake Your Tail", they were hanging out in a way that demonstrated each individual's personality well. Here, everyone's doing generic "Disney Channel girl band music video" stuff, and Fluttershy even acts counter to her pony self by being scared by a Discord toy and hitting it with a whack-a-mole hammer. The use of the cutie marks in text messages was cute, though. I can't remember a single thing about the song itself as I'm typing this.

As you say, it's all pretty typical high-school-battle-of-the-bands type stuff. I can't really get a fix on the song while it's in Spanish though; kinda feels like looking at a picture through frosted glass for me.

If you feel like listening to some music, check out these orchestral version of pony songs:
https://www.youtube.com/user/MelodicPony/videos

Getting so much nostalgic feeling from the Winter Wrap Up one, even though it's only been two years...

MelodicPony does astonishing work. His/Her most recent three in particular are magnificent IMO.
 
Friends Forever #6 was pretty good. The art was a bit plain and Rainbow Dash looked a bit odd at times, but Trixie looked good, and there were good-looking moments like
Dash's Sonic Rainboom
. Dash and Trixie's interaction wasn't too amazing, but it was nice to see Trixie acting "normally", as opposed to being entirely in stage or rivalry mode. The scene at the start where everyone gets angry at Dash for being so happy even though she wasn't doing anything was odd, but thankfully it didn't herald anything about the rest of the issue. It was odd how Dash kept saying that Rarity told her what the Diamond Dogs act like, and that she didn't meet them before but her friend did, and such, considering she interacted with them too--though maybe like in the first issue of the main comic, she drank one of Pinkie's super sugary drinks and forgot everything. The moment where Dash threatens to leave after failing to carry Trixie out seemed to be begging for a moment where Dash says that since magic's involved, she'll get Twilight, only for Trixie to tell her not to, so it was actually a bit odd to not see that. Then again, Dash did say it was a day's flight at the start.
The escape trick at
the end was pretty well done.

I liked how the Diamond Dogs were portrayed here. I get annoyed when fanworks decide to portray the Dogs as actually being incredibly clever, since it invariably leads to "ponies are racist against dogs" stuff, but this issue just had one gag of a dog being Dennis from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", which worked. Here, they were portrayed as smart enough to have, well, buildings, but not much else. The idea of them just
grabbing random people to rule them and having trouble actually getting them to stay, with the hard part actually being to convince them that you are a bad ruler
, was amusing.

Overall, nothing too amazing, but still a good issue. Better than the last two issues and certainly the first issue.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
So preview pages dropped for the final Mirror Universe episode. If they're doing that I think they're doing, they just took a massive shot at the fanon. An amazing, fantastic shot.


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IMzk-W0QeFA/U6MWNrPK3qI/AAAAAAAB0K0/kSudD0ZiScU/s1600/3.jpeg

Solar Flare, the fan name for an evil Celestia in which she goes full "flame on" in appearance. They've apparently taken the "flame on" Celestia idea and made the idea, not an evil Celestia, but a Celestia fuel by righteous anger and the need to protect her people.

That's just awesome.

Draw pony OCs and post them here. Everybody wins.
Except people who hate OCs.

Only if they are Alicorn OCs.
 
As a heads up, the "preview images" are taken from all over the issue, instead of just from the start like usual. So many of the images are actually from the end.

Also, the previously linked Equestria Girls video in English.

With this being the last of the shorts (since it was officially released in English), Twilight really is just there without explanation. Perhaps there are only six actual prequel shorts, and these last two are more like music videos that don't actually have any canon value. ... They really should have said so from the start, so there wouldn't be all of these people confused about what Twilight is doing there.
 

PaulloDEC

Member
Solar Flare, the fan name for an evil Celestia in which she goes full "flame on" in appearance. They've apparently taken the "flame on" Celestia idea and made the idea, not an evil Celestia, but a Celestia fuel by righteous anger and the need to protect her people.

That's just awesome.

I wasn't aware of that fanon. I like the way the comic uses the idea a lot more.

As a heads up, the "preview images" are taken from all over the issue, instead of just from the start like usual. So many of the images are actually from the end.

Pretty strange behavior. It'd make sense for a magazine maybe, but you'd think comics would get different treatment.

That new EQG video is pretty meh. Fun visuals in the video though.

Agree. Though every time I see Fluttershy up on stage, my brain screams.
 

Orcastar

Member
So preview pages dropped for the final Mirror Universe episode. If they're doing that I think they're doing, they just took a massive shot at the fanon. An amazing, fantastic shot.


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IMzk-W0QeFA/U6MWNrPK3qI/AAAAAAAB0K0/kSudD0ZiScU/s1600/3.jpeg

Solar Flare, the fan name for an evil Celestia in which she goes full "flame on" in appearance. They've apparently taken the "flame on" Celestia idea and made the idea, not an evil Celestia, but a Celestia fuel by righteous anger and the need to protect her people.

That's just awesome.
I don't understand how that's "a massive shot at the fanon".

I hadn't heard of this Solar Flare thing before, but from the few images I checked on Derpibooru, it just seems like a Nightmare Moon-esque alter ego for Celestia. Does the fact that she "gets her flame on" in the comic somehow invalidate the entire concept for you?

Good for you if you get a kick out of it, but I really don't understand your logic here.
 

draetenth

Member
I don't understand how that's "a massive shot at the fanon".

I hadn't heard of this Solar Flare thing before, but from the few images I checked on Derpibooru, it just seems like a Nightmare Moon-esque alter ego for Celestia. Does the fact that she "gets her flame on" in the comic somehow invalidate the entire concept for you?

Good for you if you get a kick out of it, but I really don't understand your logic here.

Logic doesn't seem to really matter to Dr. Forester if it's his chance to uphold canon and spite the fandom...

Personally, I've never heard of Solar Flare myself either, but it does seem petty to worry about what the comics do compared to the fandom...
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Celestia gets shit on far too often by this fandom. When their lousy headcanon about her gets torpedoed, you bet I'll celebrate.

Not to mention, with the current showrunner not giving a shit about the character, the only chance for Celestia character development now comes from the comics.
 
Ponies on The Colbert Report again. He plays a clip from the opening to show how nice Bush had left Iraq before Obama screwed things up. What I found odd was how low quality the opening looked.

Also, season 3 heading to Japan--a Japanese speaker in the comments says that while it doesn't outright confirm season 3, it states that there will be future episodes starring Princess Twilight.

I suppose this is a good time to bring up that over at Toon Zone, I had actually watched every Japanese episode and posted comments on them, except for some of the early ones, here.
 
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