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[SigmasonicX]

Friends Forever #36 - Rainbow Dash and Soarin
The beginning was a bit too wordy, but it got better once Rainbow left on her journey. Having Soarin want to prove himself after the events of "Rainbow Falls" is an interesting direction. The story reminds me of "The Last Roundup", which also involved a character leaving until they could prove themselves. The setting was pretty interesting, though the entire thing with ponies coming there to run away from something didn't get explained much. Given that there's an apparent need for strong fliers to deliver medicine at the mountain, it's odd that they just left at the end without a second thought.

This issue was alright, but I just don't find Soarin that interesting. I think it really comes down to the find that I don't like his voice in the show.

 

[DrForester]

Here's my Review of the 50th Issue of the comics...

Spoiler

Yeah, everyone gets brainwashed by Accord, and it's up to Mary Sue Glimmer to save everyone because she's sucha poorly written and developed cahracter, apparently the only way to build her up is to take everyone else down.

I'm done with the mainline series.

Credit where it's due, the mini-story at the end was fantastic, and thankfully had nothing to do with this dredge of a story arc.

 

[ShinySylvee]

Well, I suppose it was better then I expected. I had exceedingly low expectations though. I found all the stuff in the whole arc with Discord in it to be pretty good. His antics are even better when he's allowed to play around with the comic style. The bonus at the end was especially strong although Fosgitt tries his best to not try at all. Starlight's dialogue is well-written and makes sense for her character to say so if you're just looking for an arc where Starlight does the friendships and nothing else and completely skip over the second book (Like seriously that issue had no bearing whatsoever on the actual plot and could have been written out) then you'll be entertained enough.

What is probably the biggest problem with the whole arc (Besides the second issue being entirely pointless) is just how tone deaf it is. When Starlight was first revealed to be a new member of the group people feared that she would steal the spotlight from all the other characters on the show. (I would argue that she hasn't really so far but my personal opinion on it isn't entirely relevant) Additionally I believe that the biggest issue with her portrayal in season 6 is that she hasn't really integrated with the rest of the mane 6 and hasn't had a chance to show off her character besides that she has major anxiety problems, has done some awful things in the past, and that she's good at magic. What I really feel like Starlight needs at this point is a couple episodes where she plays a supporting role or does something other then a friendship lesson or saving the world. Despite pretty much being a main character and getting the most focus in the past season she doesn't really feel like she's part of the group. (To a degree I think it is excusable because they may be postponing this to happen until after the movie airs because she's not going to be in it) This comic addresses these issues by having her have 0 interaction with any characters besides Celestia (who is acting extremely out-of-character to make her look good) and single-handedly solves the problem. This is really not what the character needed at all. The people that like her might find some enjoyment out of the arc but the people that haven't warmed up to her will likely find the whole arc to be unbearable.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Friendship is Magic #50
Personally, I only had two big issues with this issue:
* Twilight and Luna going into Accord's mind amounted to nothing. They didn't transfer anything they learned to the other characters, so it was purely a neat scene for the audience.
* While I actually did like the use of the Elements of Harmony instantly corrupting its users (aside from the fact that they used the Elements of Harmony), having that also turn everyone in Equestria into Accord was too much of an escalation.

I really liked how they connected this evil Discord with all the previous evil versions to appear in the comics and show, especially with the realization that Accord wants the same thing Discord does. Thus, I thought Starlight's speech worked well. Overall, this was one of the better comic arcs, weakened by what I mentioned above.

Other notes:
* Celestia got the Elements of Harmony from the Tree? If that was always a possibility, that really undermines the threat of Tirek.
* Showing Sunset when Starlight talks about friends not being someone exactly like you is odd. That wasn't Sunset's goal, so it only makes sense as a jab at those two being similar, which is strange to do here.
* Doctor Hooves saying that he can finally blink is a cute reference.
* The final page of the main story was a reference not just to the first crowd shot of the comic, but various other bits of comic art.

In the backup story, Fluttershy's smug face when Discord realized he was challenged was super adorable. The actual plot, with Discord turning Celestia into a normal pony and her enjoying her day off with him, was really good.

FAKE EDIT: After reading Silver Quill's review, and the above posts, I do have to agree that the resolution doesn't work with what was set up. I get the feeling that all the focus on Celestia was meant to be a red herring, and thus make Starlight's victory a surprise, but that doesn't work at all when the audience expects Celestia to fail to prop up another character. The note about everyone else being made to look worse to prop up Starlight reminds me of my own complaints about Rainbow Rocks, but Sunset at least suffered some hardship there. I suppose the reason why I didn't notice it at first here is that, indeed, the only character Starlight interacted with significantly was Celestia, and the way Celestia acted here was in line with what we saw in the Reflections arc. I didn't like her portrayal there, but now it's in line with what I expect from the comics. In comparison, for Sunset to work in Rainbow Rocks, it was the actual main characters (or rather human counterparts) who were made to look worse. Also, really surprised he didn't mention that the presence of the Elements of Harmony is odd.

==

Some older news I was holding onto.

Interview with Bobby Curnow, the comic editor, reveals that the next comics will tie in much more heavily with the show than the previous issues. Especially interesting is his claim that issues will, "directly tie into some of the episodes of the season—providing backstory, or expanding on characters or events."

And the writer of "Buckball Season", Jennifer Skelly, won't be in season 7. It's a shame, that was a fun episode.

 

[DrForester]

* While I actually did like the use of the Elements of Harmony instantly corrupting its users (aside from the fact that they used the Elements of Harmony), having that also turn everyone in Equestria into Accord was too much of an escalation.

But Harmony =/= order. I thought it was an incredibly cheap way to instantly Worf Celestia and the Mane 6, which doesn't fit at all with how we've seen the Elements used in the past. Least of which is the comics portrayal of the elements. Sombra was able to use the Elements in the Reflections arc to save everyone. There's really no logical reason Celestia shouldn't have been able to use them again, especially with what their goal was.

It was just a cheap way to get Starlight into the hero slot.

 

[ShinySylvee]

Friendship is Magic #50
Personally, I only had two big issues with this issue:
* Twilight and Luna going into Accord's mind amounted to nothing. They didn't transfer anything they learned to the other characters, so it was purely a neat scene for the audience.
* While I actually did like the use of the Elements of Harmony instantly corrupting its users (aside from the fact that they used the Elements of Harmony), having that also turn everyone in Equestria into Accord was too much of an escalation.

I really liked how they connected this evil Discord with all the previous evil versions to appear in the comics and show, especially with the realization that Accord wants the same thing Discord does. Thus, I thought Starlight's speech worked well. Overall, this was one of the better comic arcs, weakened by what I mentioned above.

Other notes:
* Celestia got the Elements of Harmony from the Tree? If that was always a possibility, that really undermines the threat of Tirek.
* Showing Sunset when Starlight talks about friends not being someone exactly like you is odd. That wasn't Sunset's goal, so it only makes sense as a jab at those two being similar, which is strange to do here.
* Doctor Hooves saying that he can finally blink is a cute reference.
* The final page of the main story was a reference not just to the first crowd shot of the comic, but various other bits of comic art.

In the backup story, Fluttershy's smug face when Discord realized he was challenged was super adorable. The actual plot, with Discord turning Celestia into a normal pony and her enjoying her day off with him, was really good.

FAKE EDIT: After reading Silver Quill's review, and the above posts, I do have to agree that the resolution doesn't work with what was set up. I get the feeling that all the focus on Celestia was meant to be a red herring, and thus make Starlight's victory a surprise, but that doesn't work at all when the audience expects Celestia to fail to prop up another character. The note about everyone else being made to look worse to prop up Starlight reminds me of my own complaints about Rainbow Rocks, but Sunset at least suffered some hardship there. I suppose the reason why I didn't notice it at first here is that, indeed, the only character Starlight interacted with significantly was Celestia, and the way Celestia acted here was in line with what we saw in the Reflections arc. I didn't like her portrayal there, but now it's in line with what I expect from the comics. In comparison, for Sunset to work in Rainbow Rocks, it was the actual main characters (or rather human counterparts) who were made to look worse. Also, really surprised he didn't mention that the presence of the Elements of Harmony is odd.

I feel like the story could have worked a lot better then it did. Maybe I would have been more easily accepting of the vulnerable and unsure Celestia if I had read all the comics and had experienced it in other arcs but I haven't read a good chunk of them and it just feels horribly out-of-character from what we've seen on the show. Moreover I probably would have been kinder to it if the payoff for it wasn't just to make Starlight look good and nothing else. Like if the pep talk led her to do something that was instrumental in Accord's defeat it would have felt slightly more justified but that to me wasn't the case.

Overall I do feel like Starlight talking down Accord worked very well and totally makes sense for her character. Starlight more then anyone else on the show would be able to empathize with what Accord is striving to achieve and why it wouldn't work. I understand that there's a subsection of people that are going to be upset on principle by the fact that Starlight is saving the day and there's not much you can do to please those people but ignoring that I feel like the negative reaction from a lot of people to this comic is kinda justified as the way they got to the confrontation was handled very poorly IMO. Here's 3 things I feel like should have been done differently that would have made the arc work better:

1. Have Twilight and Luna's adventure actually pan out to something or remove it entirely. Like it's a fun diversion but it's ultimately pointless to the story as the outcome is that the audience (and only the audience) learns more about Accord and Discord and that Twi and Luna get mind controlled which was inevitably going to happen anyway since the story is set up so Starlight saves the day. I feel like they should have escaped and relayed to the rest of the group that they might be able to defeat Accord by reasoning with him. As it stands I feel like it only exists to set up that Accord can potentially be talked down and so they can show off Twilight and Luna as they're both very popular characters.

2. Have Starlight become disheartened when she sees Accord taking over Equestria. The whole Town thing is presumably still a sore spot for her and I feel like it would be totally reasonable for her to not take seeing someone else essentially do the same thing she did very well as it would show her first-hand how awful she was. From there the rest of the cast would have an opportunity to help her though it. (Celestia especially) It would both cause Starlight to have a conflict to overcome, making her showdown with Accord have more weight to her personally and would allow her to show off how she has changed as a person since then, and would give the other characters a chance to meaningfully contribute to the story. I understand this would make the story functionally very similar to almost all of Starlight's episodes in the show besides No Second Prances (Starlight has some issue with her past that causes her to do something wrong and it's up to someone else to help her understand what she did wrong and grow as a person) but I feel it would at the very least be better then what we got.

3. Rework the climax so other characters actually do things. Perhaps instead of using the elements they attempt to reason with Accord but fail because they lack perspective to understand why he's doing what he is. Maybe instead there's some intricate plan that involves them creating an opening so Starlight has the opportunity to confront Accord. (The rules would have to be tweaked a bit so that storyline made sense) Just give them something so they don't get one-shotted by some plot convenience that only really exists to get them out of the way.

 

[SigmasonicX]

After thinking about it, this could have been a great way to have a similar but better climax:
* Celestia and the others use the Elements on Accord, and it turns him to stone. Most everyone is cured, but Accord is still in his Accord form, and everyone is sad about that. Moreover, they discover that Twilight and Luna are in a coma, since they're still trapped inside his mind. Here Celestia brings up this may be due to the weakened connection.
* So, Starlight and Celestia use Twilight's spell to go inside the mind of the sealed Accord.
* There, they encounter Twilight and Luna's minds, trapped in cages, and they managed to get information from them.
* Starlight screws up and gets Celestia captured too.
* Then, we have the part where Starlight is surrounded and is able to get into a discussion with Accord. He returns to Discord, and thus is released from his stone prison.

However, this probably would have required an additional issue.

 

[DrForester]

 

[SigmasonicX]

Direct link

Shatner's been talking about MLP recently, which implied that he was contacted to do voice work, but I was holding off on posting about that until we got something substantial. Well, there it is.

I'm curious what kind of role he'll have. Previous guest roles have played into what the actor is famous for but successfully put a pony twist on it that made them fit in perfectly. I expect he'll be a leader type, but they won't lean too hard on the sort of character he plays in his other cameos.

 

[DemWalls]

Season 7 coming in April

Well, I suppose there won't be a mid-season break this year. Don't see them not concluding it before the movie.

 

[SigmasonicX]

I could have sworn we knew that already. Then again, it was probably just the most likely month, and I recall people talking about March as a possibility.

There's a toy fair later this month, so we might get more information there. If not footage, then likely misleading toys of new characters.

 

[ShinySylvee]

Season 7 coming in April

Well, I suppose there won't be a mid-season break this year. Don't see them not concluding it before the movie.

They might make it a bit shorter. Idk I have a fan theory/hope that the season finale will end up tying into the movie and show off the characters that aren't featured in the movie. (Pretty much everyone besides the Mane 6) if that is what they go for then it would make sense for the season finale to air at roughly the same time as the widespread release of the movie.

Also for a more specific date a lot of people are theorizing it will start on Easter since that's when the past 2 seasons have started.

 

[Infinite Justice]

Shatner as a possible pony? lol.


i wonder if its gonna be some Captian Kirk based character

 

[SigmasonicX]

Now that I'm actually looking at the article, the only source of the season 7 start month is a single screenshot of a chat from a Twitter user that doesn't exactly seem trustworthy. I mean, it probably is April, but it will likely just be a coincidence.

Hasbro released a Q4/Full Year Report, and here are the most interesting MLP related things. There isn't much.

MY LITTLE PONY revenues declined last year, but grew in the International segment. Brand engagement continues to build through multi-screen storytelling, and we have an innovative and robust line with new characters and worlds.

[...]

2016 showcased the extensive innovation and progress Hasbro is making every day. Our brand blueprint is delivering bigger opportunities and new thinking from our teams. Beginning with the first quarter, we will no longer report revenue along the Boys, Games, Girls and Preschool categories. Instead, we will provide a revenue breakdown of Franchise Brands, Partner Brands, Hasbro Gaming and Emerging Brands. We believe this is a more relevant and appropriate view of our business.

 

[ZealousD]

Hasbro no longer differentiating their brands between boys and girls? Political correctness run amok! #BoycottPonies

Spoiler

Great. Now I have the image in my head of the show making fun of Donald Trump and I've never wanted anything more in my life.

 

[DemWalls]

They might make it a bit shorter. Idk I have a fan theory/hope that the season finale will end up tying into the movie and show off the characters that aren't featured in the movie. (Pretty much everyone besides the Mane 6) if that is what they go for then it would make sense for the season finale to air at roughly the same time as the widespread release of the movie.

Also for a more specific date a lot of people are theorizing it will start on Easter since that's when the past 2 seasons have started.

They've already confirmed that the season will be the usual 26 episodes, if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, yours is a nice idea, but I doubt they'll do something like that.

 

[ShinySylvee]

They've already confirmed that the season will be the usual 26 episodes, if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, yours is a nice idea, but I doubt they'll do something like that.

My b I meant that the midseason break could be shortened to make it work. I didn't really explain that particularly well.

I do think that aside from being cool for the fans they could also work it as a great marketing opportunity to promote both the show and the movie. At this point the show is (on top of being a genuinely good cartoon) an advertisement for not only all the various MLP merch that Hasbro is selling now but also an advertisement for the upcoming movie, and vice versa for the Movie in relation to the show. A blockbuster movie (especially one that has a marketable niche as being pretty much the only major 2D animated movie to come out in a very long time) is going to cause a much larger stir then a TV show that only airs on a channel that a good chunk of people don't even know exists. If the movie doesn't market the show well it's entirely reasonable that many people going to see the movie might not even know there is a show that it's based off of. To a degree I think that one of the goals of having a full-on movie based on the show would be to get people to check out the TV show that inspired it which would cause people to be more invested in the brand and therefore more likely to buy further MLP products. I think that, if done well, having the TV show tie into the movie to some degree could encourage people that enjoyed the movie to go see more stuff about it.

Say for example there's a scene where Celestia is talking to the Mane 6 about what they need to do to save the world (assuming this is going to be the plot) and explains they need to go get some artifacts that will save the day. (From some plot synopsis I read a while back I do believe this is the general plot of the movie) Celestia explains how they should go about getting all of the artifacts besides one of them and Twilight asks "What about that one?" and Celestia replies "Don't worry about it I'll take care of it." Later on in the movie Celestia delivers the artifact and they use all powers combined to solve the problem. After watching the movie some people say "wow that was actually pretty good. I wouldn't mind seeing more of that" and then they see some marketing material basically saying "hey you want to know the story on how they got that other artifact? Well here's a couple episodes showing it with a collection of cool new characters that you didn't get to see in the movie." They could market the episodes as the pony version of Rogue One. (In that it helps fill in the backstory of something that wasn't really fully developed in the movie) Then people would check it out and say "oh hey the TV show is actually pretty good too. I'll check out the rest of it."

Obviously that's a bit of dramatization (Like seriously its primary goal is to get my point across and not actually be a good way of doing it) but the idea I think is actually fairly solid. Convincing the population that watched the movie to also see the TV show would help them further people's ties to the characters and the brand and having a way to directly promote the show as having additional content related to the movie could be a very useful tool for doing exactly that.

 

[DemWalls]

Obviously that's a bit of dramatization (Like seriously its primary goal is to get my point across and not actually be a good way of doing it) but the idea I think is actually fairly solid. Convincing the population that watched the movie to also see the TV show would help them further people's ties to the characters and the brand and having a way to directly promote the show as having additional content related to the movie could be a very useful tool for doing exactly that.

I get what you're saying, really. The way I see it, however, it's more likely that their intention is for the movie to further strengthen the brand and (hopefully) raise awareness about the TV show, but without "forcing" a direct story connection between them. Even if they were just tiny details, I think they'd prefer to avoid any kind of confusion in the new audiences they aim to attract with the movie.

 

[SigmasonicX]

I think it's likely that Hasbro isn't expecting a strong box office, but are instead banking on home release sales for the movie. If they release a random episode collection DVD around the same time and have them be displayed together, I think that will be enough to direct children and parents to the show.

In terms of show references in the movie, I don't think they'll do much beyond cameos and jokes that can stand alone. It's likely that they won't explain that Twilight used to be a unicorn, and won't include Cadance.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

Character reveals for the movie:

 

[SigmasonicX]

Skystar doesn't have a horn and appears to have insect wings. Is she maybe a breezie? Though she doesn't have antennas.

I like that they're reaching back into the G1 well by including cat people, like in the second TV special.

It looks like Tempest Shadow has a broken horn. At least we now know what that canonically looks like.

And you forgot one.

I was expecting the main villain to be an alicorn, so him being apparently another of Tirek's species is unexpected. Perhaps we'll see Tirek himself again.

 

[Sciz]

Skystar doesn't have a horn and appears to have insect wings. Is she maybe a breezie? Though she doesn't have antennas.

Lots of aquatic elements in the design. I'm calling seapony.

 

[McNum]

Could also be a Flutterpony.

Return of the Utter Flutter!

 

[ShinySylvee]

Lol as expected someone beat me to the punch while I was typing this up. Either way, I was going to post my thoughts on the designs anyway.

The Storm King seems like the most openly antagonistic character they've shown off but his design doesn't seem grandiose enough to be the main villain. I'm guessing he'll be some mid-boss that's antagonistic to ponies due to some misunderstanding and ends up working together with them by movie's end. At any rate, he certainly seems cool and I'm excited to see how his role will play out as well as what kind of powers he'll have. In response to Sigma's claim, he seems like a new species of creature to me, one that appears to be based off some sort of monkey.

Princess Skystar is a weird name for what appears to be the leader of the Seaponies. (Who are confirmed at this point to be in the movie) I'm at least guess that given that she has a pearl around her neck as decoration. Not super familiar with their G1 counterparts but it certainly seems interesting that the Seaponies also have wings and I'm interested to see what the practical use of them is going to be given that I was under the impressions that they were sort of like mermaids. Either way I dig the design.

By visual design alone you can infer that Capper is likely to be some sort of hustler/scoundrel type. I always liked those sorts of characters so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing him in action.

Tempest Shadow is definitely the most intriguing character revealed for me. The clothing and name would indicate some sort of covert ops character and the darker color pallet and fractured horn would seem to indicate some sort of villain. However her mannerisms in the picture are fairly friendly. She also seems to be a bit bulkier then the other female characters on the show. Given the scar over her eye I'm guessing that the removed horn is more of an indicator that she's seen some shit (Like Rainbow's mechanical wing in Cutie-Remark) then an indication that she's done something super bad and had her magic removed. It appears to have been snapped off rather then sheared which further would indicate to me that it was accidentally broken off rather then intentionally. It will be interesting to see whose side she ends up being on as well as what kind of action she's done so far.

Overall there's a lot of creativity and new ideas in these pictures. Each one shows off something we've never seen before, and as someone that really enjoys the world of MLP all these new things are getting me even more hyped for the movie. As I had suspected before, it definitely appears that they will be focusing primarily on establishing new characters and concepts in an attempt to likely avoid having to reference major plot elements from the TV show that the general audience won't be familiar with. It will be interesting in season 8 (assuming we get one) how much the show incorporates ideas from the movie given that some of the voice actors they've gotten so far are primarily movie actors and might not be able to voice for the TV show for one reason or another. Either way, I'm hyped.

Edit: I had trouble remembering but apparently the voice actress for Tempest Shadow said in an interview that she was going to be a villain. Some people are theorizing since her name is storm themed she might be some sort of underling for the Storm King. Also a lot of people are supporting Sigma's idea that he's related to Tirek.

 

[draetenth]

I like the designs (though the Cat seems out of place...).

Re: Skystar, I would need to look it up again, but iirc:

1) seaponies have been confirmed to be in the film
2) Kristin Chenoweth actually said she was voicing a seapony.

Granted she could be voicing a minor seapony character in addition to Skystar, but it's likely Skystar is the seapony.

Wasn't there mention of the movie taking place in three main locations are something? It could make sense:

1) Seaponies with Princess Skystar (assuming she is a seapony - though my first thought was flutter pony, unless she is a hybrid?)
2) Cat people with Capper (cat version of diamond dogs?)
3) Ponies like whatever Tempest Shadow is?

I'm already more hyped for this film than any of the Equestria Girls films...

 

[DrForester]

That cat is clearly a reject character design from an entirely different film that somehow found it's way into the movie...

 

[PaulloDEC]

Lots of aquatic elements in the design. I'm calling seapony.

Yup, she looks like a Seapony to me.

EQD posted up a low-res of Zoe Saldana's character too:

Griffin?

Interesting that we're seeing a lot of "tough" looking characters, too. Chenoweth got the token pretty princess, but otherwise we've got a battle-scarred warrior in Blunt, a scary-looking centaur dude in Schreiber and a flashy military leader (or I guess maybe like a pirate?) in Saldana.

I don't know how the cat guy really fits into it.

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Really digging the designs of these new characters, especially the cat. I do hope the movie is good, but the four Equestria Daily movies have me worried. Granted, this isn't stuck with some of those bad worldbuilding decisions, but I've only ever seen this franchise work in 20 to 40 minute chunks, not movie length.

Also I'm so far behind on the comics it kinda makes me feel sad

 

[ShinySylvee]

Yup, she looks like a Seapony to me.

EQD posted up a low-res of Zoe Saldana's character too:

Griffin?

Interesting that we're seeing a lot of "tough" looking characters, too. Chenoweth got the token pretty princess, but otherwise we've got a battle-scarred warrior in Blunt, a scary-looking centaur dude in Schreiber and a flashy military leader (or I guess maybe like a pirate?) in Saldana.

I don't know how the cat guy really fits into it.

Most the revealed characters so far appear to be leaders of races/factions. I'm guessing the plot will have something to do with these factions turning hostile towards Equestria or eachother and it will be up to the Mane 6 to use friendship to make peace with them. Taye Diggs can sing so I figure he'll get a song. He could either be the leader of some undercity faction or just be some guy they meet that gives them some useful info.

 

[SigmasonicX]

It's already been revealed that the movie will have pirates, so Celaeno is likely a pirate captain. She looks weirdly bipedal, but that might just be due to the promotional image. In general, I think the designs will blend together better in actual animation.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Another reveal:

 

[SigmasonicX]

Another reveal:

Likely Skystar's mother, and yeah, the "wings" definitely look like fish fins, meaning seapony.

 

[Fat4all]

shoopy-do

sho-shoopy-do

 

[Infinite Justice]

For some reason i always thought this movie would be a retelling of the princess arc or something (i think it was the name that gave that vibe *shrug*) but this seems to be way more recent, so i guess it will be after or around season 7?

 

[DemWalls]

Capper just looks... off.

 

[Jawmuncher]

I forgot all about a movie happening. This one is actually going to be a wide release in theaters isn't it?

 

[SigmasonicX]

For some reason i always thought this movie would be a retelling of the princess arc or something (i think it was the name that gave that vibe *shrug*) but this seems to be way more recent, so i guess it will be after or around season 7?

Back when the movie was first announced, it was a common theory that it would be a remake of the Nightmare Moon arc that integrated Twilight becoming a princess at the end, which is probably where you got that idea. Plus, it's the logical "hero's journey" to put in a movie.

It's pretty likely that the movie will be after season 7, but because it's meant for an audience not necessarily familiar with the show, it's probably going to be vague about the exact timeframe.

I forgot all about a movie happening. This one is actually going to be a wide release in theaters isn't it?

Yes, this is a wide release.

 

[Sciz]

That cat is clearly a reject character design from an entirely different film that somehow found it's way into the movie...

Capper just looks... off.

Looks like he wandered in from a Don Bluth film.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Early fanart! Most of it is of Skystar, but I suspect Novo got so little art just because Skystar was revealed hours before her.

Very first fanart
From WolfyOmega
From Joakaha

Gif, and still version

Also, this concept art we saw a while ago appears to depict Skystar.

Capper has mainly gotten memes.
Parody of Cool Cat Saves the Kids
If I see that fucking cat one more time...
(Menacing)

Tempest Shadow has gotten a bit of art. Oh, and there's one Novo art.
A favorite food already!
Canon
Queen Novo

 

[ShinySylvee]

I guess since no one else has posted it I'll go ahead and show off Michael Pena's character for the upcoming movie:

source

Based off the emblem on his shirt it's pretty clear that this guy is going to be an underling for the Storm King. Looks like with the movie we got 3 major factions we know about so far that have been established with their prominent leaders. We got the Seaponies, (Queen Novo and Princess Skystar) the Storm Tribe, (Storm King and Grubber) and the pirates. (Captain Celaeno) Whether Tempest Shadow or Capper fit into any of these 3 factions, belong to a new one we haven't yet seen, or are just third parties is yet to be seen. Everything being said I do believe that is all the star actors we knew would be working on the movie accounted for, so those worrying about having so many new characters voiced by famous people can possibly rest easy knowing we're at the end of it.

As for the actual character I think it's alright. He definitely looks like some comic relief henchman which is fine by me. They've revealed a not of non-pony characters so far but I'll wait until I see how they integrate them into the world before I pass judgement on them.

Since Sigma posted some memes though I thought I'd post one I found on reddit. This should probably be posted in the community thread since it has not much to do with the movie but since I'm already here I thought I'd share it here.

"Every Time there's a new reformed unicorn on the show"

 

[DemWalls]

Everything being said I do believe that is all the star actors we knew would be working on the movie accounted for, so those worrying about having so many new characters voiced by famous people can possibly rest easy knowing we're at the end of it.

Personally, I still think that there are too many characters for a movie that will supposedly be well under 2 hours. I honestly expect some of them to be little more than background characters.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Personally, I still think that there are too many characters for a movie that will supposedly be well under 2 hours. I honestly expect some of them to be little more than background characters.

I imagine it's going to be a big road movie in which the Mane 6 meet a wide selection of interesting characters during their travels. I don't expect too many of these guest roles are going to stick around for the whole run.

 

[SigmasonicX]

The seaponies at least seem like they're going to be significant, given that two major roles have been revealed. From the Sony emails, we know that the main six were going to visit three different lands, but I wonder if that aspect has been cut down.

As for Grubber, not a fan of his design, but comic relief henchman, so eh.

 

[ShinySylvee]

So there was some polish plot synopsis for the upcoming movie that came out 6 months ago that's resurfacing now. Here's the rough translation:

The herd of brave ponies comes eye to eye with their biggest enemy. The sinister Storm King decides to steal all of the magic from their home Kingdom of Equestria. In order to save it, the brave heroes have to set out to a journey full of adventures. They will make new friends like seaponies or good pirates and will live through many emotional and funny turn of events to once again prove that friendship is magic.

Not 100% confirmed but it coming out 6 months ago and lining up with the reveals so far makes it seem pretty legit. Kinda surprised if Storm King ends up being the final boss as I didn't feel his design was intricate enough for that.

 

[SigmasonicX]

From the Sony email leaks, the original premise involved a search for three artifacts from different civilizations and the history of alicorns. Given what we've seen and that summary, I think they decided to cut down the three civilizations to just the seaponies and perhaps decided to remove the ties to alicorns. The comics point to a greater focus on story and history in season 7, so perhaps the alicorn history stuff was moved to season 7.

If that's the case, then it's a good move. I generally don't think it's good for movie tie-ins to a series to address major storylines, unless it's meant to be a conclusion, and even then there are issues. The movie tie-in is generally expected to reach out to audiences who haven't seen the show, so you need time to reintroduce everyone and establish storylines to people who didn't see the previous developments. Plus, if it tries to incorporate the series storyline, it won't have a proper start and often won't have a proper end. Take the first X-Files movie, which I found entertaining, but it was more or less just spinning its wheels and thus didn't work too well as a standalone story. Plus, despite its pretenses, it didn't really matter much to the overall story. From what I can tell, this movie will be completely standalone, and thus should have a clear story arc.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

I'm a little bothered that half the movie's premise is redoing Twilight's Kingdom.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Friends Forever #37 - Rarity and Trixie
A big problem with this issue is that it took about 1/3 of the story before Trixie was actually introduced, and meanwhile there are other interesting character interactions that end too soon. We have Sweetie Belle and Babs Seed seeing each other with cutie marks for the first time, and then we have Rarity and Sapphire Shores getting ready for a concert. It seems like that second one just stops so Rarity can be mistrustful of Trixie, despite this being after "To Where and Back Again" (and the "Manehattan Mysteries" comic story), and Trixie can exposite about how she changed.

There is some interesting stuff with Trixie feeling like Rarity is outshining her and thus pushing herself to impress Sapphire, which causes problems. This causes Rarity to realize that things would have worked out better if she planned things out with Trixie instead of working alone. However, I feel like not enough time was spent on this. In the end, the real focus character appeared to be Sapphire Shores. I wonder if this was originally a Rarity / Sapphire story, perhaps with a new character in Trixie's role (some upstart that Rarity doesn't work with at first), but Trixie was swapped in due to being a stronger selling point. Still, this is a pretty decent issue overall.

There's also a preview for Guardians of Harmony at the end, but it's the same Shadowbolts one we got before. I still wonder what happened to the supposed early digital release.

 

[brian577]

New toy for the movie. Looks like Tempest works for the Storm King as well.

 

[ShinySylvee]

Friends Forever #37 - Rarity and Trixie
A big problem with this issue is that it took about 1/3 of the story before Trixie was actually introduced, and meanwhile there are other interesting character interactions that end too soon. We have Sweetie Belle and Babs Seed seeing each other with cutie marks for the first time, and then we have Rarity and Sapphire Shores getting ready for a concert. It seems like that second one just stops so Rarity can be mistrustful of Trixie, despite this being after "To Where and Back Again" (and the "Manehattan Mysteries" comic story), and Trixie can exposite about how she changed.

There is some interesting stuff with Trixie feeling like Rarity is outshining her and thus pushing herself to impress Sapphire, which causes problems. This causes Rarity to realize that things would have worked out better if she planned things out with Trixie instead of working alone. However, I feel like not enough time was spent on this. In the end, the real focus character appeared to be Sapphire Shores. I wonder if this was originally a Rarity / Sapphire story, perhaps with a new character in Trixie's role (some upstart that Rarity doesn't work with at first), but Trixie was swapped in due to being a stronger selling point. Still, this is a pretty decent issue overall.

There's also a preview for Guardians of Harmony at the end, but it's the same Shadowbolts one we got before. I still wonder what happened to the supposed early digital release.

I actually dug the comic a bit. I feel like if they reframed why Rarity was so upset at Trixie (Maybe by having her initially appear incompetent or because she feared Trixie would attempt to upstage Sapphire or something) then the story would have been a lot more effective. Even then I still found it to be pretty fun even with the massive continuity issue detracting from it.

In other news, we might be starting to see some new info on Season 7 in a slightly unexpected place. As some of you might be familiar, Shout Factory releases mlp episode compilations on DVD and they just released info on an upcoming one showcasing Starlight Glimmer. The first 3 episodes on it are the season 6 episodes No Second Prances and To Where and Back Again part 1 and 2. The final 2 are previously unknown titles. They are "Celestial Advice" (IS IT FINALLY HAPPENING?) and "All Bottled Up." (Which I'm guessing is some episode centered around potions) The DVD drops on May 30th so both those episodes are looking to be released pretty early on in the season.

 

[PaulloDEC]

I've not gotten around to the latest comic yet. The premise wasn't really getting me all that excited, so I might wait for the price drop.

More Movie toys:

In other news, we might be starting to see some new info on Season 7 in a slightly unexpected place. As some of you might be familiar, Shout Factory releases mlp episode compilations on DVD and they just released info on an upcoming one showcasing Starlight Glimmer. The first 3 episodes on it are the season 6 episodes No Second Prances and To Where and Back Again part 1 and 2. The final 2 are previously unknown titles. They are "Celestial Advice" (IS IT FINALLY HAPPENING?) and "All Bottled Up." (Which I'm guessing is some episode centered around potions) The DVD drops on May 30th so both those episodes are looking to be released pretty early on in the season.

Interesting!