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[SigmasonicX]

Yeah I checked it out and it was fairly cute. By the way there's also an off-topic community thread that's generally been a bit more active then this one and has a lot of content there that we don't put here. If you aren't already you might want to check it out as you might find some other stuff there you haven't seen.

Preeeeettty sure that Choppasmith already knows about the Community thread >_>

And it looks like we're getting normal issues in March after all!

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #52
James Asmus (w) • Tony Fleecs (a & mc) • Heather Breckel (c) • Sara Richard (sc) • Valentina Pinto (ric)

Twilight and friends dive into the secret history of Equestria to find out the origin of the new villain, Shadowlock!
* A look into the past that will hint at the future!

My Little Pony: Friends Forever #38
Andy Price (w, a, sc) • Tony Fleecs (mc) • Sara Richard (ric)

A minor squabble between Princesses Celestia and Luna turns major and the two decide they need some time apart. When they divide Canterlot castle between the two of them, will the leaders of Equestria find a way to live harmoniously again?

Shadowlock... or alternate universe Shining Armor?! Though really, it seems like we'll be getting alicorn history to lead into the season 7 to lead into the movie.

And a Celestia/Luna comic written and drawn by Andy Price? I know someone here will be excited. I haven't read anything actually written by him, so that will be new.

EDIT: Oh, and something I forgot to point out about the Deviations special: it marks the return of Katie Cook to the comics!

 

[Infinite Justice]

Preeeeettty sure that Choppasmith already knows about the Community thread >_>

And it looks like we're getting normal issues in March after all!

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #52
James Asmus (w) • Tony Fleecs (a & mc) • Heather Breckel (c) • Sara Richard (sc) • Valentina Pinto (ric)

Twilight and friends dive into the secret history of Equestria to find out the origin of the new villain, Shadowlock!
* A look into the past that will hint at the future!

My Little Pony: Friends Forever #38
Andy Price (w, a, sc) • Tony Fleecs (mc) • Sara Richard (ric)

A minor squabble between Princesses Celestia and Luna turns major and the two decide they need some time apart. When they divide Canterlot castle between the two of them, will the leaders of Equestria find a way to live harmoniously again?

Shadowlock... or alternate universe Shining Armor?! Though really, it seems like we'll be getting alicorn history to lead into the season 7 to lead into the movie.

And a Celestia/Luna comic written and drawn by Andy Price? I know someone here will be excited. I haven't read anything actually written by him, so that will be new.

EDIT: Oh, and something I forgot to point out about the Deviations special: it marks the return of Katie Cook to the comics!

So season 7 lead u oh wait you said that already.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

When they divide Canterlot castle between the two of them, will the leaders of Equestria find a way to live harmoniously again?

Will there be a strip of magic tape down the center of the castle too?

Death Battle: Deadpool vs. Pinkie Pie

 

[DrForester]

I really hope there's more to that Celestia and Luna story than the synopsis indicates. Finally having a story about the two of them and they'll be acting like childish idiots...

 

[SigmasonicX]

Still have to read the new comic, but in surprising news, "Where the Apple Lies" is censored on Netflix! All instances of "cider" have been replaced with "juice".

This is likely a change they had to make for the UK airing, and they decided to make it the official version. Still, this is really weird.

EDIT: Also, my post about the Death Battle.

It was always going to either be "they become friends" or "Deadpool shoots Pinkie", and I'm glad they went with the former. It also went in a direction I didn't expect regarding that.

Two Pinkie Pie things I'm a bit surprised they didn't bring up:
* Pinkie's sister, Maud, is very strong and fast, disregarding toon force. This doesn't necessarily imply anything about Pinkie, but in the Sombra alternate timeline from "The Cutie Re-Mark", she's shown to be as strong as Maud, with both of them punching through a large boulder.
* In the newest Equestria Girls film, the human alternate universe version of Pinkie gained the ability to turn small objects into explosives.

Both don't apply to the main universe version of Pinkie, but for a battle, it wouldn't have been out of the question to bring them up.

Deadpool's sections were good, but that's to be expected. I was impressed by how well Pinkie's new lines were integrated into old scenes, though it was obvious to me when a different VA was used.

 

[ShinySylvee]

Also, my post about the Death Battle.

It was pretty telegraphed when they chose Pinkie as the rep for the show that it wasn't going to be serious. If they actually wanted a serious contender they would have used one of the two-parter villains or one of the Alicorns, as despite Pinkie's reality bending stuff all of them would make far more fearsome fighters then her. There's just no satisfying way Pinkie could ever win a duel so having an actual match wouldn't make sense as it's not like beating her would even prove anything.

Just because it was fairly obvious that things were going to get crazy though doesn't mean that they didn't do some unexpected stuff. The 4th wall stuff was very creative and the ending was quite fitting as well. The only major problems I have are that they seem to be fairly generous with their assessment of Pinkie's combat abilities (I can't ever recall her actually fighting anything. Hell even Rarity has had more action then she has with her attacking the manticore in the pilot and actually punching out the changelings in Canterlot Wedding) and that Pinkie's voice was grating to me and it was hard at times to even understand what she was saying. Deadpool's voice was decent enough and there was enough fun stuff that it made up for everything else.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Friendship is Magic #49 - Accord part 2
I liked this issue, and in general, it looks like this arc will be better than I expected. The art was great here, with a lot of creepy Accord ponies and fun expressions and poses from the other characters. The part with Celestia kissing Luna on the cheek was adorable, with Luna's disgusted expression and Twilight's smile, though it made me think, "Woah, is Andy Price trying to provoke shippers?!"

Twilight and Luna going into Accord's mind is a very good plot development that made things more interesting than I was expecting. I didn't expect things to tie back into the Discord/Luna Friends Forever issue. Well would you look at that, Celestia isn't defeated by Accord's magic, but rather Twilight and Luna! Still, I'm expecting them to be faking it.

There were some odd moments, though. Celestia going "WAT" was a bit too much. And there must have been some coloring mistake in the panel where everyone gets past a group of Accord ponies, because it depicts Starlight and Rarity teleporting past them... with Rarity casting the teleportation spell. WAT.

There was another Strawberry Shortcake preview at the end. I feel like more than any previous one of these, this one suffers from a real bad case of sameface.

==

And to celebrate Christmas, let's not forget the holiday special that aired this season! Song playlist, and in a single video.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

Finally caught up on my missing episodes of Season 6.

The Fault in Our Cutie Marks: Gabby is adorable. Her enthusiasm is so over-the-top it can get annoying at first, but you warm up to her. I do like it all worked out in the end.

Viva Las Pegasus: Nice to see the pony version of Las Vegas and Elvis. Also nice to see Applejack get through her conflict with Flim and Flam to accomplish her goals. I am bothered that Gladmane saw through their plans the first time, but didn't see Fluttershy holding down the button.

Where The Apple Lies: When the synopsis said that the Apple family wound up in the hospital, I thought they were all severely injured. Snowball lie episodes do make me uncomfortable. What I did love is that Big Mac gets a ton of dialogue, and explains why he doesn't talk as much anymore. I do wish they'd explain where Apple Bloom was, or when their parents died, but I think that's a touchy subject.

Top Bolt: Hooray for more pegasi. You'd think they would have caught on to Vapor Trail helping out Sky Stinger a lot sooner, like in the original tryouts before they came to the Academy in the first place. Nice episode, nothing fancy.

Overall S6 rankings (this is a little hard):
1. To Where and Back Again Part 2
2. To Where and Back Again Part 1
3. The Fault in Our Cutie Marks
4. A Hearth's Warming Tail
5. The Crystalling Part 2
6. The Crystalling Part 1
7. Gauntlet of Fire
8. The Saddle Row Review
9. Buckball Season
10. Flutter Brutter
11. PPOV
12. Top Bolt
13. The Gift of the Maud Pie
14. Newbie Dash
15. Viva Las Pegasus
15. Spice Up Your Life
17. The Cart Before the Ponies
18. 28 Pranks Later
19. No Second Prances
20. The Times They Are A Changeling
21. Dungeons and Discords
22. Stranger Than Fan Fiction
23. Every Little Thing She Does
24. Where The Apple Lies
25. Applejack's Day Off
26. On Your Marks

While Season 6 doesn't have the overarching storylines that Seasons 4 and 5 did, it did have some good arcs like Thorax, the Cutie Mark Crusaders after they earn their cutie marks, and Rarity expanding her business to Manehattan. The real disappointment is Starlight Glimmer, who only gets 3 focus episodes outside of the season bookends. Here's hoping for more quality from Season 7 and the movie.

 

[ShinySylvee]

Finally caught up on my missing episodes of Season 6.

The Fault in Our Cutie Marks: Gabby is adorable. Her enthusiasm is so over-the-top it can get annoying at first, but you warm up to her. I do like it all worked out in the end.

Viva Las Pegasus: Nice to see the pony version of Las Vegas and Elvis. Also nice to see Applejack get through her conflict with Flim and Flam to accomplish her goals. I am bothered that Gladmane saw through their plans the first time, but didn't see Fluttershy holding down the button.

Where The Apple Lies: When the synopsis said that the Apple family wound up in the hospital, I thought they were all severely injured. Snowball lie episodes do make me uncomfortable. What I did love is that Big Mac gets a ton of dialogue, and explains why he doesn't talk as much anymore. I do wish they'd explain where Apple Bloom was, or when their parents died, but I think that's a touchy subject.

Top Bolt: Hooray for more pegasi. You'd think they would have caught on to Vapor Trail helping out Sky Stinger a lot sooner, like in the original tryouts before they came to the Academy in the first place. Nice episode, nothing fancy.

Overall S6 rankings (this is a little hard):
1. To Where and Back Again Part 2
2. To Where and Back Again Part 1
3. The Fault in Our Cutie Marks
4. A Hearth's Warming Tail
5. The Crystalling Part 2
6. The Crystalling Part 1
7. Gauntlet of Fire
8. The Saddle Row Review
9. Buckball Season
10. Flutter Brutter
11. PPOV
12. Top Bolt
13. The Gift of the Maud Pie
14. Newbie Dash
15. Viva Las Pegasus
15. Spice Up Your Life
17. The Cart Before the Ponies
18. 28 Pranks Later
19. No Second Prances
20. The Times They Are A Changeling
21. Dungeons and Discords
22. Stranger Than Fan Fiction
23. Every Little Thing She Does
24. Where The Apple Lies
25. Applejack's Day Off
26. On Your Marks

While Season 6 doesn't have the overarching storylines that Seasons 4 and 5 did, it did have some good arcs like Thorax, the Cutie Mark Crusaders after they earn their cutie marks, and Rarity expanding her business to Manehattan. The real disappointment is Starlight Glimmer, who only gets 3 focus episodes outside of the season bookends. Here's hoping for more quality from Season 7 and the movie.

That's an interesting list for sure. I don't think I've seen many lists that put Cart Before the Ponies or Crystalling so high or No Second Prances so low. I don't think I ever made a formal list before for season 6 so here one is:

1. Every Little Thing She Does (Could write an essay on why I love this episode so much but the short is I feel like it shows Starlight's struggles to be a "good guy" in a very in-character way and goes a long way to justify how she acted in her town before Twilight and her friends showed up. Also it's really funny)

2. To Where and Back Again (Ending tries WAY too hard to kind of recreate Starlight's initial defeat in Season 5 to force some parallels and bring her character arc full circle but everything else is solid gold)

3. No Second Prances (Trixie suicide feels super tonally off but it's a very interesting conflict and is finally a Trixie episode I actually like. The pairing of her and Starlight feels very believable as well and the secondary character gags are great)

4. Gauntlet of Fire
5. A Hearth's Warming Tail
6. Stranger Than Fan Fiction
7. Dungeons and Discords
8. Saddle Row Review
9. Top Bolt
10. The Gift of the Maud Pie
11. The Royal Crystalling (Would probably be like 5 spots higher if it was just a Starlight/Spike/Sunburst episode but every scene that doesn't feature them sucks)
12. The Fault in Our Cutie Marks
13. Viva Las Pegasus

Steep drop in quality from here IMO

14. Spice Up Your Life (Rarity is super out of character in this episode and the song sounds hella generic. Looks cool but the plot is really expected and I don't like the character assassination of Rarity)
15. The Times They Are a Changeling (Song is bad. Story is expected and Thorax feels like a plot device that the characters boss around rather then an actual character, even after the finale. Just not a whole lot interesting going on although there's some cool looking shots)
16. P.P.O.V (DWK's gag ending makes more sense then the actual ending. The best scene by far happens near the beginning and I feel sets the bar too high for the other character's recountings of the events)
17. On Your Marks (Confused story. Why is Tender Taps even here? It's like 2 stories in one)
18. Buckball Season (extremely expected plot and doesn't do anything interesting besides the Fluttershy rant to keep me interested)
19. The Cart Before the Ponies (Boring as hell and the mane 6 act like tools the whole time. I actually like the song though)
20. Where the Apple Lies (I always hate these types of episodes no matter the show)
21. Applejack's "Day" Off (The least interesting conflict in the entirety of the show and pulls off a character assassination that would make Lee Harvey Oswald blush. Gives Princess Spike a serious run for its money)

Episodes that I haven't watched or don't remember well enough to rank effectively: Newbie Dash, (Probably low) Flutter Brutter, (Don't actually know) 28 Pranks Later (Probably low)

 

[DrForester]

Here's my S6 episode ranking thread.


Great
The Saddle Row Review
Gauntlet of Fire
Top Bolt

Good
Dungeons & Discords
The Fault in Our Cutie Marks
Where the Apple Lies
No Second Prances
Viva Las Pegasus
Stranger Than Fan Fiction
The Gift of the Maud Pie
The Crystalling
Flutter Brutter
Buckball Season

OK
The Times They Are a Changeling
Spice Up Your Life
On Your Marks
A Hearth's Warming Tail
Newbie Dash
The Cart Before the Ponies
P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View)
Applejack's "Day" Off

The hell were they thinking?
To Where and Back Again
Every Little Thing She Does
28 Pranks Later

 

[Rhomega Beta]

That's an interesting list for sure. I don't think I've seen many lists that put Cart Before the Ponies or Crystalling so high or No Second Prances so low.

To be fair, I didn't rewatch the entire season. I just remember not liking No Second Prances that much. Crystalling and Cart were fine.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Since we're sharing our lists:

Classics Tier
- The Saddle Row Review
- A Hearth's Warming Tail

Excellent Tier
- Flutter Brutter
- Top Bolt
- Stranger Than Fanfiction
- To Where and Back Again
- Dungeons and Discords

Great Tier
- Viva Las Pegasus
- P.P.O.V
- Where The Apple Lies
- Spice Up Your Life

Pretty Good Tier
- Gauntlet of Fire
- No Second Prances
- The Crystalling
- Newbie Dash
- The Gift of the Maud Pie
- Every Little Thing She Does

Inoffensive Tier
- The Fault in Our Cutie Marks
- On Your Marks
- Buckball Season

Uh... Tier
- 28 Pranks Later
- Applejack's Day Off
- The Cart Before the Ponies

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

I'm so far behind on the comics now

I'd post an ep list, but I don't remember what most were about. The season was kind of forgettable to me.

Saddle Road Row Review or whatever it was was phenomenal though.

 

[SigmasonicX]

A reminder that there's still an episode guide to vote on episodes for in the Community thread, so get to it!

I previously mentioned that Netflix edited "Where the Apple Lies" to replace "cider" with "juice" (apparently just in some locations), and here's a comparison video.

Upcoming toys in the new brushable line. It's still so weird that it took this long for the gala dresses to appear in the official toyline.

And... hmm...

EDIT: False alarm, it isn't MLP related.

 

[Choppasmith]

A reminder that there's still an episode guide to vote on episodes for in the Community thread, so get to it!

I previously mentioned that Netflix edited "Where the Apple Lies" to replace "cider" with "juice" (apparently just in some locations), and here's a comparison video.

Upcoming toys in the new brushable line. It's still so weird that it took this long for the gala dresses to appear in the official toyline.

And... hmm...

EDIT: False alarm, it isn't MLP related.

I saw the headline at ED, swinish wanted to think with the timing it'd be a MLP game revealed for Nintendo Switch.

 

[Strider_Blaze]

Zoe Saldana, who played Neytiri in Avatar, Nyota in Star Trek, and Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy, confirmed to join the MLP Movie cast.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Zoe Saldana, who played Neytiri in Avatar, Nyota in Star Trek, and Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy, confirmed to join the MLP Movie cast.

Nice get. I wonder who she's playing? Seems weird that they're still announcing new cast members this close to release.

We've also gotten a high-res of the logo art that we previously only had in postage-stamp-o-vision:

Looks good, and doesn't seem to deviate too far from the show-style.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Nice get. I wonder who she's playing? Seems weird that they're still announcing new cast members this close to release.

We've also gotten a high-res of the logo art that we previously only had in postage-stamp-o-vision:



Looks good, and doesn't seem to deviate too far from the show-style.

Yeah, it is weird that new major stars are still being announced. Though none of them are movie-sellers, the sheer number of stars announced feels odd, given the show VAs are returning too. Is more or less every movie-original character going to be voiced by a star?

It's nice to finally get an official look at the new art style. It looks good, but we still need to see it in motion.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention this here, but Dave Polsky isn't returning for season 7. And thus, there are no more season 1 writers.

Likely of more interest to the MLP crowd, but Hasbro has announced a new cartoon based on the Hanazuki clothing and toyline (despite the name, it's apparently of Dutch origin), headed by Dave Polsky, who wrote many MLP episodes (and incidentally, thus won't return for season 7), and I believe this is the first new girls show from Hasbro since Meghan McCarthy became Hasbro's "head of storytelling for girl brands".


It's clearly targeted toward little girls, but it could be decent.

 

[Ogodei]

Can't rank them all, but the standouts from S6 were "Flutter Brutter," "Gauntlet of Fire," "To Where and Back Again," and "Stranger than Fanfiction." The dead-weight episodes were "Gift of the Maud Pie," "Where the Apple Lies," and "The Cart Before the Ponies" (e.g. the episode where everyone's characterization reverts to season 1 level).

 

[meltingparappa]

I'm so curious on how the MLP movie will look. At first I assumed it was show/DTV quality, but then saw that the best 2D effects animator in the western hemisphere was working on it. I'm hoping for animation quality that surpasses the first season done in-house at DHX.

Also it'll probably be more relevant a few months from now, but if anyone has any questions about Hanazuki, ask away. I worked a little bit on every art aspect of pre-production at Titmouse Inc. With Dave Polsky and Meghan McCarthy handling story development, you can tell that Hasbro would like to position it as their "next" big property, and is going to push it pretty hard this summer.

 

[Fat4all]

here, i was bored

should be properly transparent around it

 

[How About No]

Finally! Now the thread title makes sense!

Spoiler

Yes I'm purposely excluding Equestria Girls

 

[PaulloDEC]

Yeah, it is weird that new major stars are still being announced. Though none of them are movie-sellers, the sheer number of stars announced feels odd, given the show VAs are returning too. Is more or less every movie-original character going to be voiced by a star?

It's certainly looking that way. I think they've announced maybe six or seven name actors in guest parts now.

I'm so curious on how the MLP movie will look. At first I assumed it was show/DTV quality, but then saw that the best 2D effects animator in the western hemisphere was working on it. I'm hoping for animation quality that surpasses the first season done in-house at DHX.

I'd be very surprised if the movie doesn't surpass the visuals of the show by a wide margin. It'd be pretty crazy of Hasbro to put together a big-screen offering in one of their key franchises and then skimp on the production values.

here, i was bored

should be properly transparent around it

Nicely done!

Finally! Now the thread title makes sense!

Spoiler

Yes I'm purposely excluding Equestria Girls

Spoiler

I don't mind EQG, but you're still right to do so.

 

[SigmasonicX]

I'd be very surprised if the movie doesn't surpass the visuals of the show by a wide margin. It'd be pretty crazy of Hasbro to put together a big-screen offering in one of their key franchises and then skimp on the production values.

But seriously, while I don't expect Disney level animation, it should look pretty good.

About Equestria Girls, while it had limited theatrical airings, it wasn't made for a theatrical release, so it doesn't count for that. Besides, EQG is EQG, not ponyland.

 

[DemWalls]

Finally! Now the thread title makes sense!

Spoiler

Yes I'm purposely excluding Equestria Girls

It didn't make much sense anyway, after 4 EG movies

 

[PaulloDEC]

Ow, touche. I guess Jem qualifies as a less valuable IP than MLP right now, but still, fair call.

 

[ShinySylvee]

I'm excited for the movie but I fear that they might be having too many important characters with all the stars they've already revealed to be working on the movie. The mane 6 is already quite a few and I don't want a Suicide Squad situation where most the characters end up horribly underdeveloped because there's too many of them. (Obviously people that watch the show are already acquainted with the base cast but I would hope that this movie would be good enough to stand on its own without needing to watch the show to make sense of it)

Ow, touche. I guess Jem qualifies as a less valuable IP than MLP right now, but still, fair call.

At this point MLP is probably Hasbro's number two brand behind Transformers, and if the movie does very well it could possibly take the number one slot. MLP has the possibility to become the next Frozen or Minions if it's a good movie. The brand actually has fairly large appeal provided they present it in a good way. (Hence why we are all here talking about a show primarily aimed at little girls)

Also there's a 3 page preview for comic 50 of the IDW comics. Here's a link to the EQD post on it.

As someone that really likes Starlight because I think she's an interesting and well-written character I really have to condemn the direction that they appear to be going with this comic. I was fine with them sidelining the rest of the main cast in To Where and Back Again because I think she needs some time in the spotlight to grow and it's somewhat plausible that the changelings could potentially capture the ponies while they're sleeping. (and maybe they got the jump on Luna while she was dream surfing or some shit, that would make sense as to why she was able to visit Starlight's dream while she was being captured) Furthermore I'm glad they didn't focus on the captured ponies at all since I feel like most of the weaker two-parters are not very good because they feel obligated to devote screen time to characters doing things that don't serve the plot because they feel obligated to include them, (both the Crystal Empire two-parters suffer greatly because of this) and as such To Where and Back Again feels very slimmed down and all of the scenes in it feel necessary and important. And in that episode it was easy to accept that Starlight would be the one to take point on the mission to stop Chrysalis because they had a (to me at least) believable narrative reason as to why she was the most capable person for the job. (Because everyone else more capable was already captured)

In this comic Celestia, Twilight, Luna, and the rest of the Mane 6 are all there at the conflict. In situations like this where everyone is present the person that comes out on top should be elevated because they have a unique skill that no one else possess. For example Rainbow Dash has her speed and Fluttershy is wonderful with animals and is a lot more forgiving then the rest of the cast. Starlight's two major assets is that she's an ex villain (Something that is shared with Luna) and that she's really good at magic. (Even with an extremely generous interpretation of Starlight's magical abilities it's hard to make a case that she would be stronger then Celestia) At any rate their way of elevating her in this comic is seemingly by making everyone else virtually useless. The idea of Starlight helping other characters through their emotional baggage (unless it pertains to something she herself has actually gone through) is pretty ridiculous to begin with as right now she still has a LONG way to go before she's a normal functional person but the fact that she's consoling Celestia of all people is just idiotic. Celestia has gone through some really demeaning portrayals in the show but this might just be the worst. This idea that Celestia feels inadequate as a ruler just comes out of left field as if nothing else Celestia has been an exceptional ruler given that she's taken care of it for over 1000 years by herself and has a protégé that is set up to take over for her when the time comes. Part of me just hopes this whole thing is an elaborate ruse being put on by everyone to help give Starlight confidence as her being apprehensive towards doing stuff is actually a problem she has and she could use a boost. However, if that was the direction they were going with it (and I don't think it is) then they needed to establish in part one that Starlight was feeling down on herself to the point of her being afraid of really doing anything. I hope I'm wrong but I don't see a way that they could end the comic in a satisfying way that doesn't end up with most of the cast looking bad. A lot of people don't like Starlight because they feel that she's a special snowflake character that they randomly added in too far into the show's run that hogs the spotlight from pre-established characters that deserve it more, and although I disagree with that notion for many reasons it's hard to argue that doesn't appear to be what's happening here.

 

[How About No]

It didn't make much sense anyway, after 4 EG movies

There's FOUR???

Wow, I am so out of the pony loop

 

[draetenth]

There's FOUR???

Wow, I am so out of the pony loop

Incredibly, I find they even manage to get worse with each release.

 

[ShinySylvee]

By the way for those not following along with EQD it appears that we are on the verge of season 7 as we are starting to get some info on the production on it. William Anderson, the background music composer for MLP has already started working on the season, which given that I would assume that BGM is one of the last things added would indicate that the show is coming soon. We have quite a few confirmed writers to be returning as well as a couple that will not be working on season 7.

Not working on Season 7:
Dave Polsky, formerly the last Season 1 writer, has confirmed that he will be moving on to write for Hasbro's new show Hanazuki instead of continuing for MLP.

Michael Vogel, Season 6 writer of Hearth's Warming Tail and Stranger Than Fan Fiction among other things, has said that he has focused on the production of the movie and has thus not written anything for Season 7. Here's to hoping he gets back to writing for season 8 as he wrote many of my favorite Season 6 episodes.

Working on Season 7:
The Fox brothers, writers of Gift of the Maud Pie, P.P.O.V, and Applejack's "Day" Off, have confirmed to be returning. Given their mixed reception for Season 6 hopefully their second season will be a bit better.

G. M. Berrow has been confirmed to be writing two episodes for Season 7. She is the author of most of the chapter books that have been written that contain new stories rather then just retellings of episodes. As an aside although I haven't read as much of them as I should have they're actually really good and totally worth checking out. Berrow is a master of keeping things simple enough for kids to understand but deep enough to be engaging for an older audience as well. She really has a full handle on the characters and knows how to write all of them. She just comes off as someone that is really invested in the world that the show has created and knows how to craft cool stories that both feel true to the established canon and add to it as well. She also wrote the Season 5 episode The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows which was a bit iffy to me but it was her first attempt at writing and most people's first episode isn't their best work.

I'll be updating this post if it doesn't get buried as more info comes in.

 

[meltingparappa]

Not working on Season 7:
Dave Polsky, formerly the last Season 1 writer, has confirmed that he will be moving on to write for Hasbro's new show Hanazuki instead of continuing for MLP.

Not to be completely shameless to an utterly embarrassing extent, but the first nine episodes of his show have premiered on youtube!

Hanazuki: Full of Treasures Episode 01 - A Moonflower is Born

It is... weird, but a couple of his episodes very clearly have Polsky's signature.

 

[Cheerilee]

Incredibly, I find they even manage to get worse with each release.

The second one was better than the first one.

 

[SigmasonicX]

It's great to hear that Berrow is coming back, since the writing of "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows" showed a lot of future promise. Hopefully the Fox Brothers do better this season. Vogel did a great job with his episodes, so it's disappointing he won't participate.

The second one was better than the first one.

Yeah, Rainbow Rocks had a lot of good songs; Sunset's character arc made her easy to cheer for; the Dazzlings were fun characters and at least Sonata should just turn good already; and it still has the hypest villain defeat of the franchise. Plus, it had a ton of tie-in shorts that were decent at worst. However, for the plot to develop the way it did, the characters had to act in weird ways, and it's contrived at points; Sunset only had stuff to do because the other characters weren't doing things they normally would; the main characters other than Sunset and Twilight weren't presented well; and Brad. Thus, I still can't say even this movie is that good.

It becomes more difficult to rank the other movies. In the first movie, I genuinely thought the "Twilight can't figure out humans" stuff was fun, and the cafeteria song is catchy, but a lot of it was dull, everything about Sunset was nonsense, and there was Brad. Friendship Games had some good songs and good ideas, but the plot is by far the most nonsensical of the movies. Legend of Everfree doesn't stand out as particularly bad or good.

 

[PaulloDEC]

It's great to hear that Berrow is coming back, since the writing of "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows" showed a lot of future promise. Hopefully the Fox Brothers do better this season. Vogel did a great job with his episodes, so it's disappointing he won't participate.

I'm excited to see Berrow returning, I thought "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows" was a blast. The Fox brothers were something of a mixed bag in 2016, but I enjoyed "Gift" and "PPOV" enough that I'm happy to see them returning too.

Losing Vogel is a shame, as I thought he did some top-notch work on Season 6. Hopefully if the show continues past Season 7 we'll see him again.

 

[DemWalls]

I knew about the others, but I'd missed that Mike is not returning. Too bad, but if this means having new writers on board, I'm curious to see how good (or bad) they'll do. Still waiting for my pony episodes written by Joe Abercrombie and David Milch.

 

[draetenth]

The second one was better than the first one.

Nah, too much terrible singing for a movie supposed to be about singing. If singing wasn't supposed to be the plot, maybe it would have been fine. The dazzlings/sirens/whatever did nothing for me as villains.

 

[ShinySylvee]

It's great to hear that Berrow is coming back, since the writing of "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows" showed a lot of future promise. Hopefully the Fox Brothers do better this season. Vogel did a great job with his episodes, so it's disappointing he won't participate.



Yeah, Rainbow Rocks had a lot of good songs; Sunset's character arc made her easy to cheer for; the Dazzlings were fun characters and at least Sonata should just turn good already; and it still has the hypest villain defeat of the franchise. Plus, it had a ton of tie-in shorts that were decent at worst. However, for the plot to develop the way it did, the characters had to act in weird ways, and it's contrived at points; Sunset only had stuff to do because the other characters weren't doing things they normally would; the main characters other than Sunset and Twilight weren't presented well; and Brad. Thus, I still can't say even this movie is that good.

It becomes more difficult to rank the other movies. In the first movie, I genuinely thought the "Twilight can't figure out humans" stuff was fun, and the cafeteria song is catchy, but a lot of it was dull, everything about Sunset was nonsense, and there was Brad. Friendship Games had some good songs and good ideas, but the plot is by far the most nonsensical of the movies. Legend of Everfree doesn't stand out as particularly bad or good.

I have high hopes for Berrow. It'll be interesting how she communicates character motivations in the show as a lot of my favorite parts of her writing are the parts where the characters explain why they're doing stuff in their heads which is not really something you can easily fit into the show.

EQD is pretty easy for me to rank. I go 2>4>1>>>>>>3. I dig the original EQG a lot more then most people do. I too actually find Twilight's shenanigans to be pretty enjoyable and there's a couple standout moments too. Brad is horrible for obvious reasons and Villain Sunset is a serious contender for worst major villain the series has had but I found that when I go into the movie expecting those things I can fairly easily look past them and find the rest of it to be pretty fun.

Rainbow Rocks is definitely the best one. Solid villains, stellar soundtrack, and a solid plot that leads to an extremely strong climax. Sunset is easy to get behind as the main character although there's a couple problems with her that I think hold the series back as all of these issues are present in all of the EQG movies besides the first. Sunset's reformation doesn't really feel like a natural part of her character arc. She was pretty much irredeemably awful in the first movie and got friendship lazered and forgiven as sort of an homage to the first episodes of MLP with Nightmare Moon. I don't really think that McCarthy actually had a plan on what to do with the character from there and as such for the movies afterward they essentially just swapped Villain Sunset out for an entirely new character that doesn't have any of the negative qualities of the previous one. Sunset is fun and all but I just don't really feel like there's a whole lot of depth to her. Her character really doesn't have much more to her other then that she's done bad things in the past (Which is hard to fully get behind as it feels like an entirely different character did those things) and that she's a generically nice person that says the right things. A large part of her enjoyability as a character is tied to how useful she is, which she largely has because the Mane 6 besides Twilight rarely do anything of serious consequence in the movies. Most of the other ex-villain characters in MLP are to some degree shown struggling with being a "Good Guy" or adjusting to life after being a villain for so long but Sunset doesn't really go through this in the movies. In the most generous interpretation you could say that stuff happened off-screen between movies but that doesn't change that we personally didn't really get to see it. I think that it's rather telling that in her first outing as a good guy her big thing she needs to accomplish is not figuring out how to be a good guy after years of being awful but rather proving to everyone else around her that she's good now. Having to struggle with being good would have added another layer to her character and made her more interesting but largely due to the format of the EQG series (it's a lot harder to do gradual character development in movies as you have less time to develop them then you would in a TV show) and her portrayal in the first movie as being irredeemably awful they kinda missed that opportunity.

Bit of a detour there but the main point is that I feel like Sunset as a character doesn't have enough depth to be a main character on her own and in order to make her likable they have to let her solve all the problems that the group encounters largely by herself which makes the rest of the cast look bad in comparison.

Moving on Friendship Games is the only EQG I actively dislike. Most of the HuMane 6 feels like less interesting downgrades over their pony counterparts (Largely because they never get much focus and aren't really allowed to solve any of the problems or have any real development) but none of them feel as bad as SciTwi. She just lacks any strong personality (Which is the opposite of regular Twi. Just try to think of how she would react to getting blackmailed by her principle and was forced to go to a school where everyone there kept bothering her and tried to be her friend) and is just sort of there for the plot-important people to order her around. Also it's pretty annoying that her main defining trait is being smart but seems to lack common sense as she continues to bring her weird device around everywhere when she has no clue how it actually works and it has repeatedly done seemingly bad things. The scene where Sunset calls SciTwi out on her stupid and reckless behavior is really the only standout scene for me as she's essentially just saying what the audience has been thinking for the past 30 minutes or so. The soundtrack is also probably the weakest of all the movies. The average quality is probably a bit higher then the first one but I don't feel like it has a standout song like the Cafeteria Song.

Legend of Everfree is a pretty solid movie in my eyes. It's a nice lighthearted romp with some funny scenes and a cool setting. Filthy Rich probably has the worst portrayal in the series compared to his pony counterpart as all of the likability and nuance of his character is just blasted away and replaced with a generic capitalist bad guy who is shown to be the clear bad guy even though he offers to give the good guys a reasonable amount of time to raise funds to pay him even though it's his legal right to just grab it up instantly. SciTwi is better in this movie although it would have been nice for her to figure out some of her personal baggage herself rather then needing to get coached through everything by Sunset. I want to establish that I don't hate Sunset as a character. At this point she's really the character that's holding the entire movie series up by herself, and I enjoy her quite a bit. However, it is important to recognize that a large part of her appeal comes at the expense of everyone else in the movies. Getting back on track I really liked Timber Spruce in this movie as well, he was definitely the standout character for me besides Sunset. He's essentially everything Brad should have been. The soundtrack was some of Dan's best work and really only comes in second to Rainbow Rock's soundtrack due to the latter having more songs. And the superpowers is a cool premise for the series to expand upon in the future. (Even though I feel like there's some power level issues with them. Rainbow, AJ, Rarity, and Pinkie all seem roughly similar in power level but Fluttershy and Sunset's powers are situational at best and basically require the narrative to be built around them for them to actually be useful, and Twilight's seems WAY more powerful then everyone else's) Overall it's nothing groundbreaking but it's a solid movie for me.

 

[Infinite Justice]

Rainbow Rocks is definitely the best one. Solid villains, stellar soundtrack, and a solid plot that leads to an extremely strong climax. Sunset is easy to get behind as the main character although there's a couple problems with her that I think hold the series back as all of these issues are present in all of the EQG movies besides the first. Sunset's reformation doesn't really feel like a natural part of her character arc. She was pretty much irredeemably awful in the first movie and got friendship lazered and forgiven as sort of an homage to the first episodes of MLP with Nightmare Moon. I don't really think that McCarthy actually had a plan on what to do with the character from there and as such for the movies afterward they essentially just swapped Villain Sunset out for an entirely new character that doesn't have any of the negative qualities of the previous one. Sunset is fun and all but I just don't really feel like there's a whole lot of depth to her. Her character really doesn't have much more to her other then that she's done bad things in the past (Which is hard to fully get behind as it feels like an entirely different character did those things) and that she's a generically nice person that says the right things. A large part of her enjoyability as a character is tied to how useful she is, which she largely has because the Mane 6 besides Twilight rarely do anything of serious consequence in the movies. Most of the other ex-villain characters in MLP are to some degree shown struggling with being a "Good Guy" or adjusting to life after being a villain for so long but Sunset doesn't really go through this in the movies. In the most generous interpretation you could say that stuff happened off-screen between movies but that doesn't change that we personally didn't really get to see it. I think that it's rather telling that in her first outing as a good guy her big thing she needs to accomplish is not figuring out how to be a good guy after years of being awful but rather proving to everyone else around her that she's good now. Having to struggle with being good would have added another layer to her character and made her more interesting but largely due to the format of the EQG series (it's a lot harder to do gradual character development in movies as you have less time to develop them then you would in a TV show) and her portrayal in the first movie as being irredeemably awful they kinda missed that opportunity.

Bit of a detour there but the main point is that I feel like Sunset as a character doesn't have enough depth to be a main character on her own and in order to make her likable they have to let her solve all the problems that the group encounters largely by herself which makes the rest of the cast look bad in comparison.

I must be the only person that doesn't see her change as being so drastic to the point they are labeled as different people. I honestly thought the change was fine as it was just someone who was literally going at it in the wrong way at 100mph and was then told (beaten into lol) the better way and hence changed direction. So all that effort being thrown into the better way would result in a similar path tbh.*shrug*

Actually she does still have few of her traits from before (albeit toned down) and she does struggle with trying to being a good person hence her constant communication with Twilight and lead into the idolization of her in the third movie (you see more of this in her novel). But is the struggle on the level of other villains? not really and honestly what she did as a villain was pretty tame tbh. And this is just myself being cynical here but this struggle with being good while being considered good has never worked in these shows since it will always be in the back of the viewer's mind saying that this person is good and that wont change.

I will agree that not enough time was shown her transitioning and it looks really off as a result (eg imagine if Rainbow Dash suddenly stopped being a jerk after the episode she was called out as a jerk) and even though they resorted to other material to fill in the gaps (like that novel for one) i think having another movie or something a bit more official would temper a lot of the criticism.

Also not a fan of the others being so stripped down that its basically all up to Sunset to figure everything out, when she trying to get this friendship thing down. It makes it way too obvious she's the unsung hero and the Dougworld version of Twilight. Would be nice if the others could step it up.

 

[UberTag]

Also not a fan of the others being so stripped down that its basically all up to Sunset to figure everything out, when she trying to get this friendship thing down. It makes it way too obvious she's the unsung hero and the Dougworld version of Twilight. Would be nice if the others could step it up.

The homogenization of the Mane 5 seems to be a conscious decision on Hasbro's part when it comes to Equestria Girls and many of the season book-ending two-parters (Fluttershy being the occasional exception when Discord is involved).

I'm not sure that's about to change any time soon and fully expect that trend to continue with the MLP movie later this year.

 

[DemWalls]

In the most generous interpretation you could say that stuff happened off-screen between movies but that doesn't change that we personally didn't really get to see it. I think that it's rather telling that in her first outing as a good guy her big thing she needs to accomplish is not figuring out how to be a good guy after years of being awful but rather proving to everyone else around her that she's good now.

There's a fanfiction I read a few months ago, Long Road to Friendship, that does exactly this, and is actually decent at it, but then...

Spoiler

it becomes a rather insipid SunLight-centered kinda-drama about halfway through. Bummer.

 

[Cheerilee]

IMO, the first EQG was a parade of MLP:FIM fanservice, wrapped in human ponies because human ponies, wrapped in a simple fish-out-of-water story for Twilight. I thought it was "harmless" (even the stuff with Brad, which many MLP:FIM fans seemed to dislike), but I don't think it made good use of anything.

I feel Rainbow Rocks is the best of the four, due to it being a redemption story for Sunset, who immediately becomes the standout character of EQG (although she always had the best visual design), and the songs were the best of the four movies, as well as being perfectly integrated into a battle-of-the-bands story. The movie's biggest flaw is that it didn't have the courage to be a Sunset Shimmer-centric movie, so they shoehorned Twilight Sparkle/Tara Strong in as the lead. Don't get me wrong, Twilight/Tara is great, but Rainbow Rocks didn't need to bring in a ringer. She's in the way, she adds nothing, she's taking up space that could've been used to beef up Sunset and/or the rest of the cast, and this wasn't even a particularly good role for Twilight/Tara (the first EQG was a better role for Twilight/Tara, and the third/fourth basically gave Tara an entirely new character to work with). IMO, this movie took EQG and tried to do something good with it, and for the most part succeeded.

For Friendship Games, I couldn't help but feel that they did a much better job at trying to forcibly take the franchise away from Sunset and give it back to Twilight by having Twilight become the new Sunset. I don't think they did much with the "games" concept, Sunset and Twilight were the focus of the movie and they weren't that great, but... eh, I've seen much worse.

I think I would agree that Legend of Everfree was a bit better than Friendship Games. I don't think I'm on board with the new superpowers. I agree that Timber/Twilight is better than Brad/Twilight, but I should point out that they had a little spark of some Brad/Sunset in Legend of Everfree, and it seems like they can make that work really well, although I think that the subtle hints of Brad/Sunset in Rainbow Rocks were better, which is another reason why Rainbow Rocks holds the position of best so far.

 

[SigmasonicX]

The homogenization of the Mane 5 seems to be a conscious decision on Hasbro's part when it comes to Equestria Girls and many of the season book-ending two-parters (Fluttershy being the occasional exception when Discord is involved).

I'm not sure that's about to change any time soon and fully expect that trend to continue with the MLP movie later this year.

With Equestria Girls, that lack of focus on characters other than Sunset or Twilight is due to:
* The fact that these are movies, so every story has to be a big event. This leaves less room for smaller moments.
* The Main Six already receive a lot of focus in the show, so with Equestria Girls, they're naturally driven to the characters unique to the world and the outsider perspective to the world. Thus, visiting Twilight, Sunset, and SciTwi.
* It would take effort to do stories involving the other Main Six that couldn't already be done in the show, especially combined with the above factors.

EQG is getting three half-hour TV specials this year, so hopefully they're more willing to give moments to the other characters. At the very least, they should have SciTwi and Sunset interact with the others more. You could pretty easily imagine various ways the premise "Twilight and Fluttershy unexpectedly run into each other in town" could play out in pony land, but I don't think you could get far in Dougworld swapping Twilight with Sunset or SciTwi.

As for the show two parters, they've gotten better about making sure the stories aren't just Twilight solving everything herself, but it's true the other Main Six still aren't doing too much. I'm more willing to forgive that because they get plenty of attention in the normal episodes.

 

[ShinySylvee]

I must be the only person that doesn't see her change as being so drastic to the point they are labeled as different people. I honestly thought the change was fine as it was just someone who was literally going at it in the wrong way at 100mph and was then told (beaten into lol) the better way and hence changed direction. So all that effort being thrown into the better way would result in a similar path tbh.*shrug*

Actually she does still have few of her traits from before (albeit toned down) and she does struggle with trying to being a good person hence her constant communication with Twilight and lead into the idolization of her in the third movie (you see more of this in her novel). But is the struggle on the level of other villains? not really and honestly what she did as a villain was pretty tame tbh. And this is just myself being cynical here but this struggle with being good while being considered good has never worked in these shows since it will always be in the back of the viewer's mind saying that this person is good and that wont change.

I will agree that not enough time was shown her transitioning and it looks really off as a result (eg imagine if Rainbow Dash suddenly stopped being a jerk after the episode she was called out as a jerk) and even though they resorted to other material to fill in the gaps (like that novel for one) i think having another movie or something a bit more official would temper a lot of the criticism.

Also not a fan of the others being so stripped down that its basically all up to Sunset to figure everything out, when she trying to get this friendship thing down. It makes it way too obvious she's the unsung hero and the Dougworld version of Twilight. Would be nice if the others could step it up.

The motivation for Sunset was potentially believable if they had put any effort into building it up. If they had shown her having any remorse for her actions or gave a good reason for why she treated everyone at the school like shit in service of whatever her goal was then her "I didn't know there was a better way" bit at the end would have felt a bit more genuine. Although there was a couple major issues with how it was presented (largely that the big reveal for her being evil, although believable given what is later established for her character, is really underwhelming in the context of the episode) I believe that Starlight's face turn is much better in this regard and is generally what I think Sunset's should have been. Starlight isn't intended to be sympathetic, but at least we have a decent understanding as to why she's acting horrible (she believes that her actions are justified to better Equestria or are fine because she's just returning the favor to someone that has wronged her) and she at least has a mini-arc that leads to her accepting friendship. For the most part when Starlight is in control she's smug and condescending towards Twilight and her friends. But when Twilight argues that what Starlight's doing is wrong (and especially when she provides concrete evidence for it) she instantly turns hostile and tries to defend her actions. Starlight giving up on her plan and submitting herself to punishment for her actions at least feels like something that makes narrative sense for the character to do, and moreover it was a decision that she made of her own free will rather then being more or less forced into making that decision since it was the least shitty option presented to her. Sunset has no real buildup to her face turn and is not really given any justifiable reason (For example: she was not really in control of herself, she thought that what she was doing was right, she doesn't really concern herself with how her actions affect other people, ect) for acting so horrible, especially before she transformed. When she apologizes it feels like it's the only logical action for her to do at that point since she's powerless and not given any good alternatives. If they had spent a scene or two where Sunset says that treating people horribly was necessary so she could have full control of the school or give off the indication that she had lost control or lost sight of what was really important then her reformation would have felt believable rather then a item to be checked off the MLP happy ending checklist. But again they don't put any effort into her reformation besides like 2 lines of dialog from her saying she's totally sorry in a situation where she's given no other real choice.

The few scenes in the 3 later movies where Sunset does show some of her "old personality" (such as not being afraid to give tough love) are some of my favorites. I think her character could work better in a way that doesn't just make the rest of the main characters look useless by solving everything but the fact that every EQG thing has been a movie or short so far and that she was an extremely uninteresting character pre-reformation has made things a lot harder. But that doesn't entirely excuse how she ended up turning out.

With Equestria Girls, that lack of focus on characters other than Sunset or Twilight is due to:
* The fact that these are movies, so every story has to be a big event. This leaves less room for smaller moments.
* The Main Six already receive a lot of focus in the show, so with Equestria Girls, they're naturally driven to the characters unique to the world and the outsider perspective to the world. Thus, visiting Twilight, Sunset, and SciTwi.
* It would take effort to do stories involving the other Main Six that couldn't already be done in the show, especially combined with the above factors.

EQG is getting three half-hour TV specials this year, so hopefully they're more willing to give moments to the other characters. At the very least, they should have SciTwi and Sunset interact with the others more. You could pretty easily imagine various ways the premise "Twilight and Fluttershy unexpectedly run into each other in town" could play out in pony land, but I don't think you could get far in Dougworld swapping Twilight with Sunset or SciTwi.

As for the show two parters, they've gotten better about making sure the stories aren't just Twilight solving everything herself, but it's true the other Main Six still aren't doing too much. I'm more willing to forgive that because they get plenty of attention in the normal episodes.

Idk the trouble with the Mane 5 in two-parters is that usually the main plot is written in a way that doesn't really give them anything to do and the writer is forced to either give them something uninteresting to do that has no bearing on the main plot (Both of the Crystal Empire two-parters are guilty of this) or just write them out of the story entirely. (IE Cutie ReMark and To Where and Back Again) The former in my opinion is the worst as not only is the thing they're doing usually uninteresting but it also kills the flow of the episode and gives less screentime to the conflict we actually care about. If they made The Crystal Empire just about Twilight and Spike exploring Sombra's castle and gave some screentime to flesh out Sombra a bit and didn't keep throwing in the scenes with the Mane 5 trying to entertain the Crystal Ponies I think that opener would have been fantastic. I almost wish that the writers would experiment a bit and try writing two-parters centered around someone other then Twilight or Starlight so other characters could get a chance to do some heroic world-saving thing. Part of why I like Cutie Map is because it gives most of the Mane 6 a chance to shine. (although as per usual Rarity and Rainbow get shafted. Those two characters as well as usually Fluttershy in particular get to do little in the episodes focused on the Mane 6) Also it definitely feels like the non-stop two-parters focused primarily on Twilight to show her growing into the princess role (Elements of Harmony, Return of Haromny, Crystal Empire, Princess Twilight, Twilight's Kingdom, and The Cutie ReMark) seem to be over so they don't need to dedicate more of them to working towards that. (Although now they seem to be entirely dedicated to growing Starlight as a character so I guess they're just doing the same thing but with a different lead character now)

Forgot where I was going with this. I got a headache right now so I guess I'll just leave this post at that.

 

[Infinite Justice]

If they had spent a scene or two where Sunset says that treating people horribly was necessary so she could have full control of the school or give off the indication that she had lost control or lost sight of what was really important then her reformation would have felt believable rather then a item to be checked off the MLP happy ending checklist. But again they don't put any effort into her reformation besides like 2 lines of dialog from her saying she's totally sorry in a situation where she's given no other real choice.

Whats funny about this is that they kinda did all of these but not in the first movie and instead in supplemental works plus the sequels.

eg. For the control of the school aspect the comics which gives her backstory and how she arrives in Dougworld kinda hints at what she was planning to control the school. Another comic has her preparing to fuck over the mane 5's friendship in that world also.

Her losing control was subtly hinted once she placed the crown but her music video (after rainbow rocks iirc) is where she basically showed that she had basically lost sight and wants to move on from that ordeal. (she looks at her pictures when she won that Fall Formal thing and how she had changed in each shot and in an effort to change for the better she dumps them). It was also briefly mentioned in Friendship games

And honestly sometimes you need that wakeup call to show that you are fucking up big time.

To be clear i'm not saying that sunset's stuff was done well so if that's the impression i'm giving then apologies but i don't think it was completely terrible either and just needed more smoothing of those rough edges to make it clearer .

Also i agree about Starlight's version of this arc being better as someone stopping of their free will was a nice change in this series and also showed growth in Twilight as she didn't need pummel someone into submission before they can accept what she is peddling.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Well, while we're on the subject, stray thoughts on Sunset.

Sunset being Celestia's student is one of the biggest wasted opportunities in the franchise. It isn't relevant at all to the events of the first movie, except to kind of not really explain how she knows what she knows. In the second movie, it's just there to explain how she can contact Twilight. After that, nothing. Even in the deleted Friendship Games scenes where she mulls going back to Equestria, it doesn't come up. If anything, her origin comic makes this worse, since her magic power and connection to Celestia are emphasized so much, but it doesn't amount to anything.

Imagine if Starlight was given the backstory of being Celestia's student instead. That would have made so much more sense!

Plus, it really is kind of a waste that Sunset's pony design never appears in official animation. I like Starlight, but back when she was first revealed, everyone was pointing out how she has the same color scheme as Aria Blaze (one of the Sirens), and it while it worked well for a cult leader, it doesn't really pop enough as a main character.

 

[ShinySylvee]

Whats funny about this is that they kinda did all of these but not in the first movie and instead in supplemental works plus the sequels.

eg. For the control of the school aspect the comics which gives her backstory and how she arrives in Dougworld kinda hints at what she was planning to control the school. Another comic has her preparing to fuck over the mane 5's friendship in that world also.

Her losing control was subtly hinted once she placed the crown but her music video (after rainbow rocks iirc) is where she basically showed that she had basically lost sight and wants to move on from that ordeal. (she looks at her pictures when she won that Fall Formal thing and how she had changed in each shot and in an effort to change for the better she dumps them). It was also briefly mentioned in Friendship games

And honestly sometimes you need that wakeup call to show that you are fucking up big time.

To be clear i'm not saying that sunset's stuff was done well so if that's the impression i'm giving then apologies but i don't think it was completely terrible either and just needed more smoothing of those rough edges to make it clearer .

Also i agree about Starlight's version of this arc being better as someone stopping of their free will was a nice change in this series and also showed growth in Twilight as she didn't need pummel someone into submission before they can accept what she is peddling.

I think we're on the same page here. I do think that it could have worked adequately if they had actually put effort into establishing it in the first EQG movie. I think it's just a case of the writers doing something without understanding its significance later. I'm fairly certain that if Meghan McCarthy knew how important Sunset's reformation was going to be with the overarching plot of the series (which she probably didn't even know was going to happen when she wrote it) she would have put more effort in making her reformation feel natural. A lot of stuff ends up taking on different context based on things that happen later. A scene that feels really silly looking back on it in my eyes was the one where Twilight is practicing a magic trick that's supposed to be really tough in Magic Duel where she's just levitating 10 or so animals around. They're acting like this is some herculean feat of magic which is just laughable to me given what Twilight and Starlight would go on to do later in the series. Even at the time the scene was silly given that we saw Rarity levitate way more objects in a choreographed manner in Art of The Dress and Rarity isn't even supposed to be good at magic. (And if you're going to argue that levitating a living thing is harder then levitating an object in the very next episode we see Rarity easily move Scootaloo with her magic so it doesn't appear to be harder) Overall I just feel like her portrayal in the first EQG is bad largely because it wasn't really understood at the time how important Sunset would be going forward. Later stuff has tried to rectify this but it just feels like slapping a Band-Aid on something that shouldn't have been a problem in the first place. Hopefully one of the 22 minute specials will go into fleshing out her backstory and making it better.

Well, while we're on the subject, stray thoughts on Sunset.

Sunset being Celestia's student is one of the biggest wasted opportunities in the franchise. It isn't relevant at all to the events of the first movie, except to kind of not really explain how she knows what she knows. In the second movie, it's just there to explain how she can contact Twilight. After that, nothing. Even in the deleted Friendship Games scenes where she mulls going back to Equestria, it doesn't come up. If anything, her origin comic makes this worse, since her magic power and connection to Celestia are emphasized so much, but it doesn't amount to anything.

Imagine if Starlight was given the backstory of being Celestia's student instead. That would have made so much more sense!

Plus, it really is kind of a waste that Sunset's pony design never appears in official animation. I like Starlight, but back when she was first revealed, everyone was pointing out how she has the same color scheme as Aria Blaze (one of the Sirens), and it while it worked well for a cult leader, it doesn't really pop enough as a main character.

I think everyone is in agreement that Sunset's history with Celestia is probably the biggest missed potential in the show so far. Given that most the other major things that people have been clambering for have been delivered, (Luna is a relevant character, Trixie has gotten several appearances, Chrysalis has returned and didn't get reformed, the CMC got their cutie marks) I think it's only a matter of time, especially since it's a pretty interesting concept for an episode. (A lot of people are asking for a Celestia episode but I don't know how you would even make one since she doesn't really have any conflicts to go over so it would be hard to come up with a compelling story for her to have)

That being said I would disagree that Sunset's backstory would make more sense for Starlight. Although it would be a better justification as to why Starlight is so magically talented, I feel like it would be very hard to believe that she would still have so many mental and social issues after being Celestia's student. It would be very hard to believe that she would have so many issues with basic stuff like casting mind control spells on your friends is not something you should do. Besides I think it's cool that Starlight learned most of the stuff herself. It's a bit of a stretch that she's on par with Twilight but I feel that's better then her spending a ton of time with Celestia and still be that poorly adjusted.

 

[SigmasonicX]

This was posted in the Community thread, but it's more appropriate here. A new MLP comic from IDW is coming, called Legends of Magic, but it will unfortunately replace Friends Forever, which ends with the Celestia and Luna issue.

My Little Pony: Legends of Magic #1
Jeremy Whitley (w) • Brenda Hickey (a & mc) • Zachary Sterling (sc) • Derek Charm (ric)

The origins of cutie marks, friendships, magic and more are available in this new ongoing series devoted to revealing the secret history of Equestria! In this opening story arc, we travel back in time to uncover the secrets of Starswirl the Bearded and his magical friends!
* Ties into new season of My Little Pony!
* The magic of My Little Pony continues with a brand-new ongoing series!
* From seasoned MLP writer Jeremy Whitley, creator of Princeless, and writer on Marvel's The Unstoppable Wasp!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Honestly, I'm not really feeling this, especially since it comes at the expense of Friends Forever. I know people wanted to learn more about Starswirl and presumably filly Celestia and Luna, but an entire spinoff about them is too much. BTW, the other ponies on the main cover are likely supposed to be the actual appearances of the characters from the Hearth's Warming Eve play.

In related news, a sequel to the Elements of Harmony guidebook is coming, covering the events of seasons 4-6. This isn't the book that has behind the scenes info, I think.

And in show news, Kevin Burke and Chris Doc Wyatt aren't returning for season 7. They wrote "The Times They Are a Changeling" and "Viva Las Pegasus", and did the story for "POV". I really liked that middle one, but the other two were just alright.

EDIT: Also, official Golden Book picture books coming, one for "My Little Pony" and another for "My Little Pony: The Movie".

 

[Choppasmith]

Those G1 cave drawings are a real hoot!

Won't miss Burke or Wyatt, their episodes were pretty meh.

 

[ShinySylvee]

This was posted in the Community thread, but it's more appropriate here. A new MLP comic from IDW is coming, called Legends of Magic, but it will unfortunately replace Friends Forever, which ends with the Celestia and Luna issue.

My Little Pony: Legends of Magic #1
Jeremy Whitley (w) • Brenda Hickey (a & mc) • Zachary Sterling (sc) • Derek Charm (ric)

The origins of cutie marks, friendships, magic and more are available in this new ongoing series devoted to revealing the secret history of Equestria! In this opening story arc, we travel back in time to uncover the secrets of Starswirl the Bearded and his magical friends!
* Ties into new season of My Little Pony!
* The magic of My Little Pony continues with a brand-new ongoing series!
* From seasoned MLP writer Jeremy Whitley, creator of Princeless, and writer on Marvel’s The Unstoppable Wasp!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Honestly, I'm not really feeling this, especially since it comes at the expense of Friends Forever. I know people wanted to learn more about Starswirl and presumably filly Celestia and Luna, but an entire spinoff about them is too much. BTW, the other ponies on the main cover are likely supposed to be the actual appearances of the characters from the Hearth's Warming Eve play.

In related news, a sequel to the Elements of Harmony guidebook is coming, covering the events of seasons 4-6. This isn't the book that has behind the scenes info, I think.

And in show news, Kevin Burke and Chris Doc Wyatt aren't returning for season 7. They wrote "The Times They Are a Changeling" and "Viva Las Pegasus", and did the story for "POV". I really liked that middle one, but the other two were just alright.

Coming from someone that really likes MLP for its setting and lore potential, it is nice to see them releasing stuff like Legends of Magic and Tails of Equestria that is specifically targeted towards me. This is stuff that is clearly aimed at an older demographic and so it is great to see that they recognize that this audience exists and is trying to cater to that fan base. (Non-mobile video game when?) On the other hand, I can't really say I'm looking forward to the series as an actual consumable product for one major reason. I think I don't generally like a lot of the comics because they feel like "fanfiction" to me. It's kind of hard to pin down but I feel like a lot of the comic writers take too many liberties with the source material and as a result the storylines generally don't feel like something that would actually happen in the show. (The Siege arc is the king of this but most of the core comic series have this feel to it for me) There's just sort of a disconnect with reading most of the comics (The Friends Forever are a bit better in this regard) as they might be fun but to me it's hard to take them seriously because it doesn't feel like they're actually taking place in the show version of the MLP world. And this disconnect is only going to get even worse as they attempt to explain major lore stuff for the show. Also I don't really like the idea that this stuff is going to be fleshed out in a series of non-canon comic books rather then the actual show. We shall see but I'm not entirely feeling it.

Wasn't the biggest fan of Burke and Wyatt, but at this point we have to start asking who is actually working on season 7. It looks like they're probably bringing on a ton of new talent which is a bit worrisome to me. Season 6 had a LOT of new writers and the vast majority of the weak episodes from the season were written by the new writers. (Aside from Michael Vogel most of the generally well-regarded episodes were written by returning writers Josh Haber, Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco and Nick Confalone) I feel like most writers generally get better as they go on especially after the first couple they do so the appearance that the next season is going to be a bunch of newbies again is a bit worrying overall. Season 6 had enough "good" episodes for me but I feel like there was a lot of mediocrity as well, and with a new batch of writers presumably coming on for season 7 I can imagine the same will be true there as well.

Mentioned it briefly earlier but MLP's upcoming tabletop RPG Tails of Equestria has released a bit more info. Pre-orders literally just went up for the core rulebook, the first expansion Curse of the Statuettes, and the "Tokens of Friendship" expansion, priced at around $25, $25, and $10 respectably. Moreover there was also a preview that dropped a couple days ago. Mostly stuff we already know but it appears they're also going to be rules for creating Dragon and Griffin characters as well. I fully expected this at some point but it would be pretty cool if that was included in the base game as I expected that to be part of some supplementary material down the line. Here's the EQD links here and here.

 

[SigmasonicX]

April comic solicitations. Legends of Magic was revealed earlier, so there's just Friendship is Magic.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #53
James Asmus (w) • Tony Fleecs (a & mc) • Heather Breckel (c) • Sara Richard (sc) • Christine Larsen (ric)

With the other ponies trapped, it will be up to Twilight Sparkle to uncover the secret agenda of Shadow Lock and put an end to his plan once and for all!
* The surprising conclusion to an epic tale!

OK, probably not Alternate Shining Armor after all. Thinking about it, there hasn't actually been a "everyone but Twilight is trapped" story in the comics since the first arc.