My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (9th & Final Season Airing Now)

captain usopp

Robby.

I have no words

Retro

Okay

! I'll give prompts for pulling the rug out from underneath the fans like that. It did indeed seem like it would end in the usual, "we helped someone but our quest will continue"kinda way and then, bam, cutie marks. It was stated that the cutie marks come when the time was right and it was fitting that in helping Tiara that it would ultimately spark (heck a lot of fans even predicted it). And I'm not disappointed in the designs either, it's fitting because they can keep their names just under a new meaning and I look forward to see how they'll now apply their new purpose (hopefully with Babs making another appearance. I actually did like her).
! That said DT redemption felt rushed to me. There was no build up to it other then the short run time would allow and really would've profited more if we actually saw Spoiled in some episodes before hand. Gravity Falls did this better because an episode established that the spoiled character can be nice when just actually socializing after the competitiveness died down and that there was pressure involved that fueled their attitude but they don't really enjoy it. So the sympathy felt genuine when they became friends with the main heroes because you already saw the cracks starting show underneath the jerkass (the life or death situation likewise helped). But here, it just comes out of left field. DT never showed a smidge that she could be kind, even when with Silver Spoon. If anything Silver was the one that got this focus, the most we got with DT was that she was just really spoiled and her father was decent enough to punish her when speaking out of turn. But now, hey here's a reason for all her behavoir and, presto, instant sympathy and turn around. Meh, but I'm sure I said what the majority of fans were thinking. It was still a cute ep regardless. Not quite as good as the previous one but up there as one the tops of the season at least for me.

Nobodyman

@Robby:

Peronally I wanted Applebloom's to look like this.
http://www.perfectlyintune.com/page34/page35/files/2_3.jpg

Wouldn't it make more sense for that to be on Big Mac?

Satsuki

@Robby:

After five years of waiting, nothing was going to be good enough. Kind of like Beast's human form in Beauty and the Beast.

Peronally I wanted Applebloom's to look like this.
http://www.perfectlyintune.com/page34/page35/files/2_3.jpg

I suppose that's true. Still doesn't stop me from twitching every time I see them. Guess they're just going to have to grow on me.

But Jesus man.

Robby

@Nobodyman:

Wouldn't it make more sense for that to be on Big Mac?

Too obvious. ANd he already has one.

Besides, Bloom is constantly working on and inventing and crafting things… and zap apples have a rainbow hue. She just never earned te mark before now because the tech level wasn't high enough in Equestria!

Satsuki

Two more thoughts:

! I agree with everyone that Diamond Tiara's redemption came out of nowhere, but I do like how her cutie mark was "re-imagined." At first glance you could just interpret it as her being a bossy diva, which she was, but after she had a reality check she became less of a "diva" and more of a "leader," turning her sparkly crown into representing her qualities as a leader. A nice touch.
! And yes, I'm obsessing over the CMC's cutie marks, but another thing puzzled me. The symbols themselves represented the girls I'm guessing, but why the placards behind them? Are they just a way of saying, "These are them!" How does a placard symbolize their talent? Again, just bothering me.

BlackPirate

@Satsuki:

Two more thoughts:

! The symbols themselves represented the girls I'm guessing, but why the placards behind them? Are they just a way of saying, "These are them!" How does a placard symbolize their talent?

! The placards are actually shields. Their Cutie Marks are coat of arms, because they are "crusaders".

Satsuki

@BlackPirate:

! The placards are actually shields. Their Cutie Marks are coat of arms, because they are "crusaders".

! Aaahhhhhhh. Now it makes a little more sense.
! . . . . . . . still think they should have been a little more individualized.

valiantt

Now that I've finally seen this episode, I think it's waaaaaay too clumsily written and rides way too much on "feels" than anything else.

! And it's not really a good thing when the focus SEEMS to be more on Diamond Tiara than the CCs getting their Cutie Marks. And for after five years of build up, I would have thought that the CCs getting their Cutie Marks would at least have warranted them getting more of a focused episode (since they already had several but still, this is supposed to be an IMPORTANT occasion) rather than splitting it with an important plotline tied with DT. If anything, DT's redemption (which…really came out of nowhere, Silver Spoon makes much more sense in terms of any sort of gradual redemption) should have been its own episode while the CC's getting Marks should have either followed this episode (as a two parter) or should have been its own standalone thing with them helping another character discover their cutie mark's and reflecting on their own personal journey. In terms of significance, the whole CCs getting their Cutie Marks felt like an after thought that was tacked on to the end of the episode.

So yeah…the writing has too many flaws for me.

MDL

A Friendship Games video I did, with some surprisingly fitting audio.

!

valiantt

@MDL:

! I honestly think you missed the big picture if you think it was tacked on.
They helped Diamond Tiara realize who she was meant to be and what her cutie mark truly stood for, which is what the CMC's talent is.
The entire Diamond Tiara fiasco was to drive them towards that moment, when they embraced what they wanted to do, essentially letting go
of their cutie mark worries and continuing to do what they were great at. In that moment, the cutie marks appeared to affirm their choice.
! Personally, I thought the whole episode was beautifully crafted, and tied itself together nicely.

Oh no I got the message behind the whole episode. It makes sense and I can see how it progresses, but the problem lies with the overall structure of it

! Because the issue lies with tackling DT's redemption which in itself is a big thing with the CC's cutie marks at the same time. By pitting two big things together: DT's redemption and CC's cutie marks, one of them are going to get less attention which I feel was the latter. The two are clearly entwined as DT's schtick was ragging on the CC's for not having cutie marks and by having the episode turn it around by having the CCs help her discover/realize what hers meant is in itself clever. So the idea behind it isn't the problem, but the fault lies with pitting two big events together which (I feel) diminishes the appropriate attention that they both deserve. In result, it was handled in a clumsy manner by having DT's redemption come out of nowhere and the CC's Cutie Mark thing not getting nearly as much focus so both are kinda weak when they should have been fairly prominent moments.
! If anything, this could have been a whole lot stronger if DT's redemption was its own episode (or at least had episodes that foreshadowed it) with more exploration of her family dynamics (at least the redemption could feel a bit more organic as result) and CC's helping another minor pony (not as big as DT so the CC's realization/epiphany will still get appropriate focus) which leads them to the same conclusion.
Not a bad episode at all, but it is definitely too flawed for me to overlook.

Robby

That's a weird argument to have when they've been doing exactly that. They helped another minor character figure out what their mark was about earlier in the season, and all 3 of them have had dream sessions with Luna about their marks in the last season and a half… and given that the season isn't over and we know at least one more is coming, there's no doubt still going to be follow up.

Should it have been a big moment? Well, it was. It got the first couple minutes of the episode and discussion throughout as per usual, and the last four or five minutes solid about it, complete with song number, flashback to old stuff, and showing off and getting reaction from their older siblings.

The DT stuff was rushed and out of nowhere, not to mention it totally stole from itself by regurgiating the first movie with the humans but in 10 minutes instead of an hour, but the Crusaders stuff was paced fine... especially since we'll see more of them later.

BlackPirate

I watched the streams of Them's Fightin' Herds on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/user/ManeSixDev/videos

Lauren Faust looks really happy about working with complete creative freedom (a.k.a. no network executives vetoing stuff, no toymakers grafting merchandise…). She talked about how she wants to include darker and morally ambiguous themes that would never be allowed in a children cartoon.

They also mention long-term plans for expanding the setting if this first game is successful. Ideas include games in other genres (TFH itself will have RPG elements in the Story Mode) and branch out into other media (comicbooks are the main focus).

It may be the start of an entire new franchise, like a non-girly, action-oriented version of MLP:FIM.

Sorikai33

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Thought this was pretty cool, the Art of Equestria book that was just released has an updated map.

yamatadragon

Just curious but how many of you wouldn't mind if Equestria Girls became it's own TV series and if it did, what would you want to see out of it?

MDL

As long as there's plenty of Sunset and she keeps being awesome, the show couldn't do any wrong IMO.

Satsuki

@Sorikai33:

[hide]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uj5l0C_W9Ps/Vh9gxWnaXKI/AAAAAAAAA98/kYLCGxpkHmI/s1600/eq_map.jpg[/hide]
Thought this was pretty cool, the Art of Equestria book that was just released has an updated map.

So they've included Yakyakistan, but still no Saddle Arabia. Hmmmm . . . .

And I love how there's a North/South Luna Ocean and a Celestia Sea.

Satsuki

There is now a limited-time My Little Pony-themed cafe in Harajuku.
http://kotaku.com/japan-has-a-my-little-pony-cafe-1736899014?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow

Honestly? For an MLP-themed cafe, it looks rather dull.

Robby

The wall mural is pretty cool.

And for something that's going to only be there for 5 weeks and was clearly low budget and just someone's personal passion rather than an actual sponsored thing, its just fine.

yamatadragon

Well, it's official:

! Cadance is going to have a baby. Lot of laughs from Pinkie and Shining Armor's scene when he stumbled into Twilight's surprise room was pretty funny.

KageKageKing

@yamatadragon:

Well, it's official:

! Cadance is going to have a baby. Lot of laughs from Pinkie and Shining Armor's scene when he stumbled into Twilight's surprise room was pretty funny.

! They released a plushie of it years ago.
What was her name again? It was a girl right?

yamatadragon

@KageKageKing:

! They released a plushie of it years ago.
What was her name again? It was a girl right?

! I thought it was one of those talking baby-type pony dolls? The name was Skyla. I knew that it had to be Cadance's daughter but I kinda wanted official show confirmation.

Nobodyman

Well, this is certainly turning out to be a very eventful season, between Gilda's redemption, the 100th episode, the CMC getting their Cutie Marks and now…

! Shining Armor and Cadence are expecting.
! And yes, good episode. Pinkie episodes are always a riot. And we get to see her family next week, which I'm really looking forward to.

Zar

Finally got around to catching up with the series after taking a break. Finished the Twilight's Kingdom finale, it was really cute! Loved when all the princesses sang together. Their mane six's' new super forms were a little too much for me, but not awful. Discord stole the show, in a good way. From what I've read in this thread and seeing the finale, I'm glad the show dares to move on and shake things up a bit.

I only have two real complaints with the show, and both aren't that big.
The first is that the series finale villains could use a bit more build-up. I loved how they utilized the locked box in season 4, so something similar but for a great evil would be amazing.
The second is to make the not-Twilight Alicorns a bit more active. Yes, Twilight's the protagonist so we want to see her and her friends prevail, but the amount of times the other revered Princesses in this show has put the fate of Equestria in the hooves of Twilight is getting a bit redundant. I'd love it if we got an episode focusing on the other princesses for once, in particular Luna or stories set before the Nightmare Moon incident. Just something to flesh them out beyond being present and looking pretty when the world is about to be taken over by the next evil force.

But as said, those are mostly minor complaints. I forgot how good this show was.

Now on to season 5, and to see whether some of my complaints have already been amended.

MDL

My favourite part of the Season 4 finale, aside from Discord's true personal redemption,
was definitely the DBZ-esque fight scene. I want something like that to crop up again at some point.

Robby

Well, the animators certainley ha fun with that Pinkie episode.

ALso, the Halloween episode has leaked to places. it's cute. There's a brief moment where someone on the staff is clearly a fan of late 80's early 90's anime.

Zar

Almost caught up, season 5 has been amazing so far.

The very, very best part has to be this scene.

!

I hope I'm not seeing things wrong, but it looks like a Starlight Cameo. I hope other ponies can make cameos too! Especially the original Bon Bon. And Clover. And Patch.
Or even some of the lost G2 ponies! I have a (fake) Silver Swirl which I always loved.

Satsuki

Bon Bon WAS cameoed. In episode 100.

And maybe I just missed an episode, but has Owlicious been seen since Twilight moved to the castle?

Robby

I don't think so, but then, he barely ever appeared before then either.

Satsuki

He still showed up sometimes though. It'd be nice if he could just pop up in a scene to show he's still there as Twilight's pet.

BlackPirate

@Satsuki:

And maybe I just missed an episode, but has Owlicious been seen since Twilight moved to the castle?

Episode 13, he was being groomed along with the other pets.

yamatadragon

Clip from this weekends episode:

!

Satsuki

@yamatadragon:

Clip from this weekends episode:

!

! Apples . . . . Pies . . . . head a'sploes

yamatadragon

Well, that was an interesting episode.

! Pinkie's family was very interesting. Limestone is probably my second favorite of the Pie sisters. I almost lost it when Granny Smith said she wanted to use that stone that got Pinkie's parents together to find a "hunk". And that ending with Maud reading about rocks.

Satsuki

What an adorable episode. We need more of the Pie family. Especially Limestone and Marble. We need more of the Pie siblings.

Zar

Finally caught up! And what better episode to round it off with. I love it when two of the Mane 6 who don't usually hang together get to spend time with each other, away from the rest.

! The Pie Family was wonderful, I hope they'll bring them back in the future. My favorite part was how Marble and Big Mac got along, it'd be wonderful if they set them up to become a couple.
I also liked how well the message of different traditions came across, and how it didn't end with the Pie family being "liberated from their boring ways".

Makes me hope we can see more of the other Mane 6's families.

yamatadragon

New MLP album hitting iTunes on November 6th. They are taking preorders starting today. Here's the cover:

And the track listing:

“It’s a Pony Kind of Christmas” (Performed By: Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Apple Jack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy & Phoenix Chamber Choir)
“Jingle Bells” (Performed By: Rainbow Dash)
“Deck the Halls” (Performed By: Rarity, Phoenix Chamber Choir)
“We Wish You a Merry Christmas” (Performed By: Twilight Sparkle & Phoenix Chamber Choir)
“Silent Night” (Performed By: Fluttershy & Phoenix Chamber Choir)
“Twelve Days of Christmas” (Performed By: Pinkie Pie)
“Last Year I Got Coal for Christmas” (Performed By: Pop Fly)
“Jolly ol’ St. Nick” (Performed By: Spike)
“Days Gone By - Auld Lang Syne” (Performed By: Applejack, Applebloom, Granny Smith)
“The Heart Carol” (Performed By: Phoenix Chamber Choir)

MDL

That's actually pretty damn awesome. Looking forward to hearing this.

Robby

It can't possibly beat the Pokemon Christmas Bash album.

SInce that contained a scene where Misty asked Ash
"so did you get more wood?"
an he replied
"Ooooooh yeeeah."
in a way that could only be indecent.

Best christmas album ever. Also painful insertion of pokemon names into the Night Before Christmash.

Satsuki

I dunno, man. Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics is pretty high up there too.

Zar

Spoilers for Scare Master

! Being the kind of person who likes being alone and who dislikes horror, this episode really struck home for me.
I think it was a good message that everything isn't for everybody, and you shouldn't feel bad for not participating in some events.
! And flutterbat! I really thought she transformed for a second.

yamatadragon

One of my favorite moments was

! Derpy/Muffins as Princess Twilight in the maze. It was also nice to see Flutterbat return and I loved Fluttershy's first attempt at scaring her friends with the tea party.

Also, a new Chapter Book by G.M. Berrow set to release in August 2016 has it's first details and it's a HUGE spoiler going by the description

! My Little Pony: Untitled Starlight Glimmer
G.M. Berrow On Sale Date: 08/02/16
! An original My Little Pony chapter book featuring one of Twilight Sparkle's most notorious pupils!
! Source

Satsuki

Don't tempt me, you bastard!

Robby

And here I'd been waiting to see Satsuki's reaction to the Halloween episode.

Satsuki

Sorry, I haven't gotten around to it. Give me a day.

yamatadragon

For those who want to hear "it's a Pony Kind of Christmas", here you go:

yamatadragon

We got a clip for this weekends episode:

!

Zar

Thoughts on new episode

! Not so sure if this was a good or bad episode…
! It felt mean spirited. Nobody in their right mind treats a friend who was gone for a few days and missed some jokes like that. And given Discord's track record of causing trouble, Twilight was right in suspecting him (and she was partially correct). The mane 6 turning on her felt a bit forced, especially when they've been getting along so well during the season. I was almost expecting them to get a lesson. I'm also a bit sad they never addressed that sometimes people like to be alone and enjoy strange things (but I'll bit my tongue, that was the message of the previous episode).
! However, I did recognize myself in the episode. We've all been there - we missed something great and then feel jealous because of it. It also ties in with Discord's personality. The mane 6 are among his only friends, and he probably felt left out several times. Being the semi-villain he is he took out that frustration on Twilight, and made her feel like he has. That's a theory, at least. It might've felt mean and forced, but you could really feel for Twilight, and it's rarely such a complex feeling is brought up and dealt with. In a way I suspect they forced it for the sake of getting the feeling and message across. Sacrifice one for the other.
! I'll give it a pass, if only because the overarching message was a very important one.
! Now I'm done over analyzing a kids cartoon… this week.

MDL

My full review of the new episode

Loved it, btw.

captain usopp

I think Discord just thinks causing shit is funny, and finds out the hard way, he's alone in that thought. I think we all know people like that.