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[DrForester]

Nice Christmas carol adaptation.

Celestia got screwed though.

 

[Gold Coins for Cats]

"Why was Luna so tall?" "She's on her high horse."

Thank you, I'll be here all week.

-

Zecora could have also been in Luna's place to remove princess bias. Although they would have had to sing-rhyme.

Edit: I don't keep track of who's getting screwed anymore. Partially because it's a family thread, partially because we all know everyone's favorite queen is starved for screen time and everything else pales in comparison.

 

[Village]

Celestia got screwed though.

So business as usual.

 

[UberTag]

So business as usual.

Just like Hearth's Warming Eve, it's important to keep traditions alive.

 

[DrForester]

So business as usual.

Pretty much.

"We have these three roles that are perfect for the three princesses"

"OK, let's just use Luna"

"Why was Luna so tall?" "She's on her high horse."

Thank you, I'll be here all week.

-

Zecora could have also been in Luna's place to remove princess bias. Although they would have had to sing-rhyme.

Edit: I don't keep track of who's getting screwed anymore. Partially because it's a family thread, partially because we all know everyone's favorite queen is starved for screen time and everything else pales in comparison.

Chrysalis gets plenty of love in the comics, and if the show ever tries to redeem her, I will be angry, because her absolute love of being evil is awesome.

 

[Gold Coins for Cats]

Pretty much.

"We have these three roles that are perfect for the three princesses"

"OK, let's just use Luna"

How would either Celestia or Cadence have been more 'perfect' for the jolly Ghost of Christmas Present more then Pinkie Pie herself?

Chrysalis gets plenty of love in the comics, and if the show ever tries to redeem her, I will be angry, because her absolute love of being evil is awesome.

I'm being silly, I'd admit. The extent I'd want a changeling episode is for a black sheep changeling just trying to fit in, probably the same one from Slice of Life.

 

[DrForester]

How would either Celestia or Cadence have been more 'perfect' for the jolly Ghost of Christmas Present more then Pinkie Pie herself?

Using just one of the three Princesses as the ghost just felt really odd. And Celestia or Cadance both could have fit the role as Present. Celestia as the larger than life figure that he's portrayed as, or Cadance as the Princess of Love, loving life.

 

[Gold Coins for Cats]

Using just one of the three Princesses as the ghost just felt really odd. And Celestia or Cadance both could have fit the role as Present. Celestia as the larger than life figure that he's portrayed as, or Cadance as the Princess of Love, loving life.

Which is why they could have used Zecora, but I think they were focusing more on personality, and Luna was too good to pass up for being dark and mysterious.

Celestia and Cadence are fun loving, but not to the extent Pinkie Pie is. And that's if you take into account old first season characterization, in Celestia's case. In fact if you look at her most recent appearances she could be considered quite bitter. Arguing with her sister and being sulky at a dinner party, for shame!

Edit: Bringing up the comics could almost be a good point, but I could also say that Celestia was also much better represented in the comics as well, so it cancels each other out. Also, we're talking about the show, not the comics.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

I also notice this is partly a retelling of How The Grinch Stole Christmas, but that gets muddled, since the point is that Christmas came even without material possessions. i did make the initial theory that the Princesses would be used for the Spirits, and it does feel off that they used Luna for the Future even though they used Applejack and Pinkie for the other two. I do take issue with the past though. A teacher tells Snowfall frost she can be a great unicorn or play with her toys. Because one can't do both, and never mind that Hearth's Warming only comes once a year.

Oh, and great songs too.

 

[DrForester]

I also notice this is partly a retelling of How The Grinch Stole Christmas, but that gets muddled, since the point is that Christmas came even without material possessions. i did make the initial theory that the Princesses would be used for the Spirits, and it does feel off that they used Luna for the Future even though they used Applejack and Pinkie for the other two. I do take issue with the past though. A teacher tells Snowfall frost she can be a great unicorn or play with her toys. Because one can't do both, and never mind that Hearth's Warming only comes once a year.

Oh, and great songs too.

What did you expect pony Snape to be other than a total jerk?

 

[Rhomega Beta]

I hadn't thought of him as pony Snape, actually.

 

[SigmasonicX]

That was a really fun episode, and I liked all of the songs, particularly Ghost of Hearth's Warming Presents's and Yet to Come's (speaking of which, glad they used "Yet to Come" instead of "Future"). I also loved when it cut to Twilight singing Pinkie's song.

It was weird that Past made a big deal out of how Snowfall's past influenced her, but then no one wondered why not!Snape was such a grump.

Minor thing, but I loved that they brought back the Sherlock ponies for the story segments, including Moriarty peering around a corner, and made sure to update them to match the time period (i.e. Watson's mustache). It was odd seeing Moriarty celebrating in the same room as Watson at the holiday party at the end of the story, but Hearth's Warming brings all sorts of ponies together.

It's been brought up before that fiction in general is lacking in worlds that have their own fiction that doesn't turn out to be real. It looked like we were going to get in-universe fiction with Daring Do, but we know how that turned out. I really hope A Hearth's Warming Tale remains purely fiction in-universe, since I think it's a cute demonstration of how Equestrian society is. Particularly in that they tend to include a bunch of songs even in their books. Well, that and ponies in the story outright saying that the ideal Equestrian society would be an endless Hearth's Warming party. I could imagine in-universe critics dissecting this story, which you don't really get if it turns out to be true.

EDIT: Link to all the songs.

==

EDIT: Something that might cheer DrForester up, boxes for Guardians of Harmony Discord, Nightmare Moon, and Celestia toys.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Well, that was a delight. Can't wait to go back through all the songs to get a better sense of them, but Pinkie's was totally brilliant and Luna's was badass.

For the Doc:

 

[SigmasonicX]

Oh right, bingo card. Added full musical episode, and why not, one-parter with time travel.

There's a bunch of fanart already, so I might as well post some stuff now, along with some screencaps. Saving gifs for tomorrow.

FANART
A bunch of creepy Luna.
It Was You
This Desolate World
Interesting New Look
Japanese comic, no translation yet, but it's easy enough to figure out

And less creepy, Story Time, made really soon after the episode aired.

Comics:
Snowfall forgot what she made her potion with
The real effect of Snowfall's spell

SCREENCAPS
Interestingly enough, Luna got a new singing voice, Aloma Steele. To be honest, I wasn't a fan of Kazumi Evan's singing voice for her in "You'll Play Your Part", so this is an improvement. Also, this reminds me, when Twilight sings Pinkie's song, was that Tara Strong or Rebecca Shoichet?

Cameos! In the first we have Doctor and Rose together, along with our other favorites. In the second, we know for sure the character pairings in the story don't reflect reality, since Diamond Tiara is happy to be with her mother. In the third, Sherlock ponies. Then, flashback Vinyl and Octavia. And yes, that's a cameo from the Little Matchstick Girl. Hopefully things turn out better for her in Equestria.

NEWS
More villain songs coming! Two more, to be precise. It's unclear if this includes Equestria Girls. Maybe a hint toward Chrysalis returning, since that's one of the things affiliated with her?

REMIX
Oh, and from Ingram's twitter, a remix has arrived already! This one is of "Pinkie's Present", and it's basically just overlaying additional instruments, but it works well, I think.

 

[Fat4all]

Fuck yeah, bring on the villains.

 

[DrForester]

Oh right, bingo card

REMIX
Oh, and from Ingram's twitter, a remix has arrived already! This one is of "Pinkie's Present", and it's basically just overlaying additional instruments, but it works well, I think.

betting Chrysalis is returning, given the Changeling appearance in the premiere.

 

[PaulloDEC]

SCREENCAPS
Interestingly enough, Luna got a new singing voice, Aloma Steele. To be honest, I wasn't a fan of Kazumi Evan's singing voice for her in "You'll Play Your Part", so this is an improvement. Also, this reminds me, when Twilight sings Pinkie's song, was that Tara Strong or Rebecca Shoichet?

I've always liked Kazumi's voice, but it does go a bit Rarity at times. I think the new artist did a fine job in this story.

I'd put money on it being Tara in Twi's little singing bit, doesn't seem significant enough to get Shoichet in for.

REMIX
Oh, and from Ingram's twitter, a remix has arrived already! This one is of "Pinkie's Present", and it's basically just overlaying additional instruments, but it works well, I think.

This is terrific. I'm such a sucker for remixes that expand and crank up the energy on songs, and this does exactly that.

Never ceases to amaze me how goddamn fast this fandom works.

 

[DrForester]

I've always liked Kazumi's voice, but it does go a bit Rarity at times. I think the new artist did a fine job in this story.

I'd put money on it being Tara in Twi's little singing bit, doesn't seem significant enough to get Shoichet in for.

She was probably also singing with the townsfolk at the beginning and end for Twilight.

 

[PaulloDEC]

She was probably also singing with the townsfolk at the beginning and end for Twilight.

I'll have to go back and listen again, but I was surprised the first time around that Twi didn't get a line in the opening song. It seemed all geared up to give everyone a shot, too.

Not that Twi doesn't get her fair share anyway.

 

[UberTag]

betting Chrysalis is returning, given the Changeling appearance in the premiere.

This series does need at least one recurring villain who doesn't get reformed or forgotten at the end.

 

[Fat4all]

I'd like to see more with the changlings in particular, I've been itching for a story about them for a while.

Apparently Cranky was friends with one.

 

[SigmasonicX]

^ I believe the crew has said that the changeling at the wedding was actually friends with Matilda. Speaking of which, odd that we keep seeing Cranky without her, even in this episode.

betting Chrysalis is returning, given the Changeling appearance in the premiere.

My hope for the finale is that it turns out Flurry Heart is somehow actually a baby changeling queen and we get some Sailor Moon Dark Lady stuff with Chrysalis aging her up and turning her evil. But then power of love, Flurry returns to being a baby. My hope for this hope is that Flurry actually remains a changeling, but everyone accepts her anyway.

Though the problem is that this might be considered too creepy to use in the show. If Chrysalis returns in the final, it will probably just be to kidnap Flurry Heart.

 

[draetenth]

I file this episode under: probably good episode quality-wise, but found it to be terrible because it wasn't my thing. I don't care for singing so I don't like it when the episodes get musical and honestly I really don't care for these Christmas stories.

 

[wookieofdoom]

I feel like this was the first great episode of the season. Really liked it, I loved all the songs.

 

[SigmasonicX]

I feel like this was the first great episode of the season. Really liked it, I loved all the songs.

Yeah, honestly, a lot of this season just felt OK up to this point. I enjoyed the previous three episodes well enough, "Gauntlet of Fire" in particular being better than I expected, but this is the first episode of the season to leave me warm and fuzzy.

 

[DrForester]

Headcanon accepted...

 

[Gold Coins for Cats]

Headcanon accepted...

"Watch the horn, WATCH THE HORN!!"

As a completely unrelated aside, I do hope unicorn horns regrow if broken, that would be a crippling injury otherwise.

 

[SigmasonicX]

^ After seeing the Luna on stilts image, I was hoping someone would draw Luna standing on Celestia.

Anyway, main episode roundup.

NOTES
I was amused by the return of subtle alcohol hinting. In particular, in Pinkie's song, the lyric, "Cider's flowing, this is living!", and Fluttershyholly's concern that the eggnog had too much cinnamon in it, pausing before she said cinnamon. Plus, a gif I'll post in a bit.

SCREENCAPS
First, out of context screencap. Second, huh, I guess it really is that easy in ponyland. Third, a look at chibi Snowfall and Snape. And lastly, using a dustpan is really unfortunate for non-unicorns.

Now, you may think this is an animation error, but obviously Pinkie just left an odd gift tag. This last image is meant to demonstrate Flutterholly's clothes disappearing, but it also gives a nice view of her hairstyle.

GIFS
Link to the most important gif of the episode (small)
Second gif with Granny Smith doing a drive by, linked because the small version still has a large file size despite the full version not being super big (small). And I feel it needs the lead up to the crushing to work.

Berry Punch taking advantage of the season. Derpy derpin'. Snowfall acting like a cat. I liked the animation of Snowfall reacting to a ghost walking through her.

I like the animation for Spirit of Christmas Presents' song detection. Hoofy kicks. Lyra hopping.

And MrPoniator gif.

FANART
A normal Luna humanization
Really neat humanization
Back to pony versions
Another one

Art of Rarity Merry
And how the Spirit of Hearth's Warming Presents could have really looked. Just like how the A Christmas Carol ghosts look different in different adaptations, it might be interesting to see how in-universe stage productions handle their looks.

REMIX
Another one, Eurobeat remix of "Luna's Future.

 

[Zelias]

Best episode of the season so far, narrowly beating out the Trixie one. Without knowing anything about the episode I called that Luna was the spirit of the future too, albeit jokingly - now that she's done with the CMC's Luna has to help someone else out in their dreams and fantasies, right?

 

[SigmasonicX]

Discord was going to appear as Jacob Marley, but it was cut out at the outline stage due to space issues. It'd be kind of weird if Snowfall had a draconequus as a dead former business partner anyway.

More cast members for the movie, Liev Schreiber and Taye Diggs. Both are prolific, including some voice actor roles, but they're primarily live action actors.

Comic: the true story of A Hearth's Warming Tale

Twilight's Singing
Auntie Snowfall
Hearth's Warming Rarity X Hearth's Warming Rarity

And more remixes of Luna's song. Jyc Row remix, Aurelleah remix.

EDIT: uThunder's remix of "Say Goodbye to the Holiday"

 

[SigmasonicX]

August comic solicitations

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #45

Thom Zahler (w) • Tony Fleecs (a & c) • Sara Richard (sc) • Thom Zahler (ric) • Heather Breckel (colors)
“Ponies of Dark Water Part 3” Chaos reigns over Ponyville as normal ponies across town turn evil! It’ll be up to Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, with the help of an unexpected ally, to save the day!

My Little Pony: Friends Forever #31

Tony Fleecs (w & a & c) • Sara Richard (sc)
Little Strongheart asks Rainbow Dash to go on a quest with her... one that may save the Buffalo! Who, or what, is the Great Crow?

Sooo... those covers for the main series sure are something. I'm guessing since good ponies are turning bad, Nightmare Moon is actually turned good. As for Friends Forever, I really didn't expect Little Strongheart to appear after all this time.

Reprint of issue #1, being sold for $1.

I hadn't realized the comic fun packs were still being made. I guess there have been a bunch, since they're past the micro series and a bit into Friends Forever.

And Snowfall Frost plushie!

 

[PaulloDEC]

More cast members for the movie, Liev Schreiber and Taye Diggs. Both are prolific, including some voice actor roles, but they're primarily live action actors.

EDIT: uThunder's remix of "Say Goodbye to the Holiday"

I'm only vaguely familiar with those two new movie cast members, but the response I've seen has been pretty positive.

Nice uThunder remix there too. He or she does great work.

August comic solicitations

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #45

Thom Zahler (w) • Tony Fleecs (a & c) • Sara Richard (sc) • Thom Zahler (ric) • Heather Breckel (colors)
“Ponies of Dark Water Part 3” Chaos reigns over Ponyville as normal ponies across town turn evil! It’ll be up to Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, with the help of an unexpected ally, to save the day!

My Little Pony: Friends Forever #31

Tony Fleecs (w & a & c) • Sara Richard (sc)
Little Strongheart asks Rainbow Dash to go on a quest with her... one that may save the Buffalo! Who, or what, is the Great Crow?

Sooo... those covers for the main series sure are something. I'm guessing since good ponies are turning bad, Nightmare Moon is actually turned good. As for Friends Forever, I really didn't expect Little Strongheart to appear after all this time.

Reprint of issue #1, being sold for $1.

I hadn't realized the comic fun packs were still being made. I guess there have been a bunch, since they're past the micro series and a bit into Friends Forever.

And Snowfall Frost plushie!

Funny to keep seeing all these later issues of multi-part stories before the earlier issues are out. I guess we're getting some more Nightmare Moon?

The Dash/Strongheart issue is a surprise though, didn't expect to see more of the latter.

 

[alfredofroylan]

Ok, this one crack me up

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Really enjoyed the latest episode. I've found I have a fondness for these musical ones, and that Luna song certainly made this un spectacular.

 

[DrForester]

I'm not sure if evil ponies will be enough to carry 3 months of comics.

The Friends Forever sound like fun though.

 

[SigmasonicX]

That Dark Souls gif is pretty good, though it's pretty huge. Could you embed this version instead?

I'm not sure if evil ponies will be enough to carry 3 months of comics.

The Friends Forever sound like fun though.

Ah, that reminds me, quick and dirty edit.
"Who, or what, is the Great Crow?"

 

[SpaceCadetKeon]

So can we talk about today's episode? And how awesome it was?

I watched it with friends this morning and God we were having a good time. Lots of good jokes, lots of fun little character moments, and an Office-style format that was implemented wonderfully. I'd go into more detail but, you know.

Spoiler

NO SPOILERS!

 

[Jay RaR]

Yeah, this is the best episode in the season so far.

Lotsa cameos, lotsa callbacks, lotsa good reactions. Good stuff.

It should be a Rarity episode but it feels like a Mane 6 episode since they're all involved in sprucing up Rarity's Manehatten shop and adding their fun little details to that J Jonah-lookalike's story. (Also he has quite the nerve drag a sickly Coco Pomel to a diner to get some scoops) Probably the worst thing about this episode is Rainbow Dash trying to recruit ponies but it can't be helped.

And once again, this season keeps on giving DJ Pon3 some spotlight

Spoiler

and torturing me in the process.

 

[draetenth]

Agreed, that this was a pretty good episode. Honestly, it's hard to choose what I liked as I might end up just describing the whole episode...

I guess I really liked Twilight's scenes, Fluttershy vs the raccoon, and watching the weird way the ponies were dancing at the club. The callback (and slight cameo) with Too Many Pinkie Pies was good. Seeing DJ Pon3 was nice too.

I thought the presentation of the episode (events already happened so we were learning about past events) worked well as I usually don't care for this style.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

Great episode. One of the most interesting things I noticed was the Angel and Devil Raritys talking to Pinkie, which shows that ponies apparently have concepts of religion and afterlife.

Also, Mr. Plinkett pony returns.

 

[SigmasonicX]

So can we talk about today's episode? And how awesome it was?

I watched it with friends this morning and God we were having a good time. Lots of good jokes, lots of fun little character moments, and an Office-style format that was implemented wonderfully. I'd go into more detail but, you know.

Spoiler

NO SPOILERS!

Oh, detailed episode discussion is perfectly fine in this thread. Those that wish to avoid spoilers can go to the Community thread.

Anyway, I enjoyed this episode a lot. From the description, I was expecting the episode to focus on the fallout of the review, with Twilight and the others having messed things up by being dumb, and maybe they would have to convince the newpaper to give a better review. I know that elsewhere, people were already complaining about Twilight not using her princesshood and everyone not properly interpreting what Rarity would want.

However, I was impressed by how everyone handled getting the store ready, aside from Rarity waiting until the day of to get ready. Even when everyone was doing what they thought Rarity would want, they weren't doing anything particularly stupid.

Twilight's sweeping song was adorable. Also, after the pep talk about doing what Rarity would trust them to do, she just kept doing what she was doing, showing she best understood what Rarity wanted. And she was the only one Rarity hugged. Rarilight confirmed. (Not being serious, but it amused me)

I thought the use of DJ-PON3 was kind of odd. First of all, even Pinkie calls her that and pronounces the 3, so I guess that's straight up her name. Second, I can understand Rarity not knowing her particularly well, but Pinkie didn't seem to acknowledge that they would know each other. I would say it's odd that she runs a club in Manehattan but lives in Ponyville, but Rarity's doing the same thing, so eh. Plus, the club is upstairs? Ponies are weird, guys.

I liked that Coco appeared, even if it was just to justify why they weren't getting help from her.

During Rainbow Dash's sections, I thought for sure that the blue pony was going to be hired, since she was the only one that didn't have a weird design, so I actually was surprised by all three candidates being hired. Though could Rarity actually afford all three?

I thought everyone's sections were fun, though Dash's were probably the weakest. Pinkie's shoulder Rarities were great, and Fluttershy and the raccoons were amusing. It was odd that they decided to go for an Italian stereotype with the landlord. His daughter was alright.

The interview format worked well in this episode. I guess that explains the old title of "Saddle Row & Rec" (Parks & Rec uses the interview format), though that was really clunky as a reference, so I'm glad they changed it to "The Saddle Row Review". This jumping around in time was also generally unusual for this show. I would have preferred a bit more jumping around, with the clean up sections not necessarily being in order, but kid's show and all that.

Overall, really enjoyable episode.

 

[Fat4all]

Also, Mr. Plinkett pony returns.

Oh god, I hope he gets a talking role eventually.

 

[Azure Dream]

It was odd that they decided to go for an Italian stereotype with the landlord.

Russian, I think.


Fantastic episode. I cringed so hard I still haven't finished last week's Rainbow Dash Wonderbolts episode, but I loved this one. I don't think it would work all the time, but the writing was much punchier than it's been, some really good comedy beats, different story structure, and relatively little "dumbing down" of the characters while still creating a problem. (In this point,

Spoiler

they were overthinking things, trying to solve things Rarity's way, when she already trusted them to solve it their ways.

) I even loved the callback to

Spoiler

Pinkie cloning herself, complete with surprise Pinkie clone hiding behind her.

 

[draetenth]

Russian is/was my guess as well.

Russian, I think.


Fantastic episode. I cringed so hard I still haven't finished last week's Rainbow Dash Wonderbolts episode, but I loved this one.

Not sure if it was a typo or not, but the RD/Wonderbolt episode was two weeks ago. Last Week's was the Holiday/Christmas Carol episode.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Alright, Russian it is. Still, I always found it weird when a wacky foreigner character appeared on this show. Where are they coming from?

Fantastic episode. I cringed so hard I still haven't finished last week's Rainbow Dash Wonderbolts episode, but I loved this one. I don't think it would work all the time, but the writing was much punchier than it's been, some really good comedy beats, different story structure, and relatively little "dumbing down" of the characters while still creating a problem. (In this point,

Spoiler

they were overthinking things, trying to solve things Rarity's way, when she already trusted them to solve it their ways.

) I even loved the callback to

Spoiler

Pinkie cloning herself, complete with surprise Pinkie clone hiding behind her.

I myself didn't have a problem with "Newbie Dash", but I knew more "cringe moments" would upset people here, so I was glad none appeared in this episode. From the description, I was expecting some.

I forgot to mention the callback to "Too Many Pinkie Pies", that was great. I wonder if we'll get fics based on a Pinkie clone establishing herself in Manehattan.

By the way, again, you guys don't have to hide stuff behind spoiler bars for this episode.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Brilliant episode this week. Feels like we've been on a roll with Rarity episodes for a while now.

Nick Confalone deserves huge props for this one, the writing here is some of the sharpest and funniest in recent memory. I absolutely loved all the cutting away to the interviews, and there was something really naturalistic to the dialogue that put me in mind of G.M. Berrow's "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows".

One of the best episodes of Season 6 so far for sure.

 

[draetenth]

Yeah, once an episode has officially aired, there is no need for spoilers for that specific episode.

Unless I'm mistaken, spoiler tags are only really necessary when talking about episode previews or if an episode got leaked early...

 

[PaulloDEC]

Yeah, once an episode has officially aired, there is no need for spoilers for that specific episode.

Unless I'm mistaken, spoiler tags are only really necessary when talking about episode previews or if an episode got leaked early...

But seriously, you're correct to my knowledge.

 

[wookieofdoom]

This show is so weird lol. It's become so self-referential and I love it. Brilliant episode, one of the best and I am glad to see season six knock two great episodes out of the park back-to-back.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Well, the fans did it. Remix of "Sweep Sweep Sweep".
And the show clip for 10 minutes.

And also,

Pony Pulp Fiction