Rainbledon: My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic Thread

[The Derpy Democratic Republic Of Herp]

The party will last forever!

http://img09.deviantart.net/e624/i/2012 ... 5917ed.png
heck yea

Princess of partys

[Skylus]

So...I have been tempted to watch...I saw a few seconds muted of A Royal Canterlot Wedding Part 2 (you cannot forget a title like that.) and the animation is solid...

So, tell me - what season should I start with, and what series?

[The Derpy Democratic Republic Of Herp]

So...I have been tempted to watch...I saw a few seconds muted of A Royal Canterlot Wedding Part 2 (you cannot forget a title like that.) and the animation is solid...

So, tell me - what season should I start with, and what series?

The 4th series, Season 1 epsode 1.

[The Rich Port]

Well I was thinking about it. Jesus.

Fuckin' rood, some people...

[Ameriganastan]

So...I have been tempted to watch...I saw a few seconds muted of A Royal Canterlot Wedding Part 2 (you cannot forget a title like that.) and the animation is solid...

So, tell me - what season should I start with, and what series?

The 4th series, Season 1 epsode 1.

What he said.

[Giovenith]

So...I have been tempted to watch...I saw a few seconds muted of A Royal Canterlot Wedding Part 2 (you cannot forget a title like that.) and the animation is solid...

So, tell me - what season should I start with, and what series?

I made this list for a friend of more essential episodes. It doesn't cover the whole series, but if you get far enough down the list, using it shouldn't matter much anymore.

[Ameriganastan]

Mildly pony related. Was watching the new D.O.N.G. video on VSauce, and found this Map To Globe site. For fun, I put the map of Equestria over it.

[Ermarian]

I haven't caught up in a while; currently as far as Fame and Misfortune.

- This is the cutest thing that has been in an episode in a while:


I like small ponies and I like ponies holding things in their mouths and I like ponies standing on their hindlegs, so this is a trifecta.

- A Perfect Pear is the heaviest and saddest episode of the season, and possibly the whole show.

- "Yeah, but the purpose of the journal isn't supposed to be marketing." might be the biggest lampshade the toy-horse-promotion-show has ever hung.

Really, that entire episode is even more self-referential than Slice of Life.

We wanna know why Fluttershy keeps learning the same lesson over and over again. Be assertive already!

Twilight was better before she got wings.

[Frenequesta]

Here we have an episode full of ironies.

Fluttershy tends to go mad when it comes to finding cures--"A Bird in the Hoof" hinted at that and this episode certainly expanded on it. And in it she learns the very valuable lesson that one cannot help others without helping oneself--which, ironically, is the reverse of the typical friendship lesson--one cannot help oneself without others' help--but it's a good friendship lesson all the same. Friendship is mutual but still relies on individual power--which is another theme that this show has emphasized at least since "Cutie Mark Chronicles." "Physician, heal thyself" is also a theme known from "Do Princesses Dream of Magical Sheep," but this one adds a new dimension to it by predicating the need for healing on an overzealous need to help a friend.

A further irony of this whole episode is that IRL horses typically sleep for three hours at a time, and sometimes multiple times throughout the day so the effect of sleep deprivation on Fluttershy should have been more severe than depicted. Of course, this show has shifted the paradigm of "horses with people characteristics" to "people with horse characteristics" so that may not be all that important. Nonetheless, I also thought that Fluttershy should have shown the symptoms of Swamp Fever sooner, as sleep deprivation also substantially impairs the immune system (and may even blunt the body's fever response)). Either that or that doctor has a particularly weak immune system himself.

The most obvious irony, of course, is that Fluttershy has wanted to be a tree in the past. It would have been an interesting two-part episode if Fluttershy did find the cure but ended up turning into a tree in the process, leaving Twilight Sparkle and Cattail to try and figure out how to turn her back. But going full Space Whale Aesop isn't always the best option--it would have distracted a bit too much from the "physician, heal thyself" theme.

So, while not as deep as the best episodes, it is still firmly rooted in what this show is all about.

---

Not only that, they also say that the birth of an alicorn is "beyond [their] understanding." Ponies have at least a rudimentary concept of genetics (and I'm not just referencing "Baby Cakes"--ponies do farm and raise animals, so they likely know something about what varieties breed true, hybridization, etc.) so by saying it's beyond their understanding indicates that it's not a matter of basic genetics. Maybe epigenetics?

As to Sunstruck: Remember that in the MLP universe love is not just an abstract concept or sentiment--it is in itself a form of magic. It's not wholly absurd to think that love qua magic influences one's progeny. It could be that having more love makes it more likely to have an alicorn child, rather than one's own race, regardless of race.

They did? I've been out of touch with the series for far too long. I hope that Luna and Celestia were born into their position, even if they don't know it or remember exactly how they came to be, because those two being the first or last of an alicorn race is just too epic a thought to pass up on.

Why is being the first, but not born into it, out of the question? Putting aside the good arguments that the story in "Hearth's Warming Eve" is little more than a Platonic Noble Lie, Celestia and Luna were apparently not around for Equestria's founding, and certainly not in the roles we know them today. We know that alicorns have all the attributes of the three pony races (even earth). I find it hard to imagine that everypony lived under rainbows and roses after the first Hearth's Warming; they still had to overcome their tribal tendencies. So, short of drafting a constitution, and believing that a mere distribution of power among themselves would risk at least the appearance of favoring one race over another, they decide to vest the social contract, so to speak, in two sisters with particular aptitude in the heavenly bodies, everyone else giving up part of their magical power to create a new breed of pony.

Or, we can just go by The Journal of the Two Sisters, which does imply they were born alicorns, but might be unreliable in light of "The Crystalling."

I wish the story direction would've leaned less on more princess and more on Twilight's quest of learning and development. I'm still sore about season 3. It felt way too early for her transformation. Hell, if the show ended at the last episode of season 2, that would have been fine too.

Season 6 was in part devoted to Starlight Glimmer's quest for learning and development, which, while a shadow of Twilight's in the first three seasons, has many parallels.

But yes, Twilight had transformed way too early. While there are many subsequent episodes with good friendship lessons that take special significance from Twilight's ascension ("Twilight Time" and "Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3" especially come to mind), her princesshood effectively cut out what made her relatable.

But it's not fair for me to stay stuck in the past, in the glorified days of bronydom. Watching the show again doesn't have that same sparkle it used to. I'm starting to notice more flaws, more imperfections. The characters are still amazing and true to themselves the majority of the time thankfully, and they're a very important part of the series. It's like the community has focused more on the fan content than the show itself, tho. The art, the fanfiction, the music (Moonrise is still great), the games. I'm guilty of this. Most of my days in the fandom were spent on fimfiction. Which isn't bad, I'm just starting to wonder if bronies really love the show, or if they really love the content that fans produce. Or both. There's even a fimfic author that named her daughter after Trixie. The show is a powerful influence on our lives. To this day, I still wonder how it all happened, how it was all possible.

you win, Faust

There is a substantial part of the fandom, maybe a quarter, that don't really care much for the show itself and are mostly there for the fan art. I am almost the opposite--I don't care much for the fan art and am mostly here for the show. (I do compose a couple of songs myself, but they are out of the brony manestream and still haven't gotten the reception I hoped. I love the show all the same.)

I'll confess: MLP:FiM and its fandom has filled a role that religion once played in my life--it provides moral guidance in the context of a community of shared stories, simple enough to grasp but capable of complex interpretation. (I still sometimes entertain the idea of the show becoming a sort of spiritual manifestation of secular humanism, though it is hardly that ambitious, not to mention that the show overall takes the position that people are inherently good compared to a more neutral stance, and episodes like "Feeling Pinkie Keen" can contradict principles of rationality.) Those stories often provide me a springboard for thinking about more serious pursuits--for example, I often think of the Flim-Flam Brothers when pondering antitrust law, or the events in "Viva Las Pegasus" for labor law.

I would be evangelical about toting the show's merits if it weren't for the fact that the overall quality of the show in later seasons has soured. And, perhaps as my reviews have showed, my expectations for the show has outpaced what the writers are willing to give it. I often need to remind myself that at its heart, MLP:FiM is still a kid's show, and there is only so much you can give kids without going over their heads. I also need to remind myself that despite the fervor of the fans, we are still largely a small internet phenomenon, with its lexicon hardly permeating the larger popular culture. However small we are, we still feel powerful, and at least know that it has made our lives fuller.

[Ermarian]

I'll confess: MLP:FiM and its fandom has filled a role that religion once played in my life--it provides moral guidance in the context of a community of shared stories, simple enough to grasp but capable of complex interpretation. (I still sometimes entertain the idea of the show becoming a sort of spiritual manifestation of secular humanism, though it is hardly that ambitious, not to mention that the show overall takes the position that people are inherently good compared to a more neutral stance, and episodes like "Feeling Pinkie Keen" can contradict principles of rationality.) Those stories often provide me a springboard for thinking about more serious pursuits--for example, I often think of the Flim-Flam Brothers when pondering antitrust law, or the events in "Viva Las Pegasus" for labor law.

I can't put into words how closely this paragraph matches my own thoughts. (Though I've never been religious in the normal sense, I guess.)

[The Derpy Democratic Republic Of Herp]

Apple pony

[Giovenith]

I like that Zecora is getting featured more! Also like how Fluttershy is more consistently bold.

I don't like, however, these new writers' apparently very reckless attitude toward worldbuilding. They're adding way too many "legends," past cultures, magic rules, and stuff that don't make a lot of sense in Equestria's previous context. Wasn't Meadowbrook supposed to be a unicorn, not a weird swamp pony? And as much as I liked the last episode, I find it really hard to believe that ponies are able to create interdimensional travel and transmogrification, yet making hair grow out is "too tricky." The ideas by themselves aren't bad, but it really feels like they're only thinking about what sounds cool in the moment and not about how to make a believable world.

And given that a large part of MLP's appeal was the way it took place in a defined setting instead of just another confusing "anything that fuels the plot goes" cartoon world, this is really disappointing.

[Giovenith]

Golden Ponies!~ <3

[New Naephak]

Wasn't Meadowbrook supposed to be a unicorn, not a weird swamp pony?

This is only conjecture, but it's possible that it simply wasn't known in the past that Meadowbrook was an earth pony. She could have been a skilled artificer and alchemist without being a unicorn and earned the title of Mage, but people took the title as meaning that she was a unicorn, without actually checking if she was.

[Giovenith]

Wasn't Meadowbrook supposed to be a unicorn, not a weird swamp pony?

This is only conjecture, but it's possible that it simply wasn't known in the past that Meadowbrook was an earth pony. She could have been a skilled artificer and alchemist without being a unicorn and earned the title of Mage, but people took the title as meaning that she was a unicorn, without actually checking if she was.

That seems like a pretty far stretch. Twilight said in The Cutie Map, "I haven't studied Eastern unicorns as much as I should have, but I'm pretty sure Meadowbrook only had eight magical items, not nine," and not only is she not the type to screw something like that up, but I think she would have expressed some surprise upon learning that Meadowbrook was an Earth pony in this episode. Unfortunately, I think this is just a pure case of the writers fucking up by not paying close enough attention to their own canon.

[Frenequesta]

This is only conjecture, but it's possible that it simply wasn't known in the past that Meadowbrook was an earth pony. She could have been a skilled artificer and alchemist without being a unicorn and earned the title of Mage, but people took the title as meaning that she was a unicorn, without actually checking if she was.

That seems like a pretty far stretch. Twilight said in The Cutie Map, "I haven't studied Eastern unicorns as much as I should have, but I'm pretty sure Meadowbrook only had eight magical items, not nine," and not only is she not the type to screw something like that up, but I think she would have expressed some surprise upon learning that Meadowbrook was an Earth pony in this episode. Unfortunately, I think this is just a pure case of the writers fucking up by not paying close enough attention to their own canon.

They didn't get enough sleep.

Actually, the characters never actually referred to Meadowbrook as an Earth pony. We only see her depicted as an earth pony in the journal reading "flashback". It's more an error on the part of the artists than the (screenplay) writers. I wonder if they would be willing to edit the episode post hoc and slap a horn on Meadowbrook (and maybe Cattail) for consistency--probably a much easier fix than "The Last Roundup." (Of course, just doing that we'd have the odd behavior of unicorns who never seemed to use her horn even for simple telekinesis...)

No, the real contradiction is Twilight's assertion that she "studied [Meadowbrook] in Celestia's school," which is explicitly inconsistent with "I haven't studied Eastern unicorns as much as I should have." (Funnily enough, in the official maps, the Hayseed Swamps are in the Eastern part of Equestria, so at least the team got that consistency.) Maybe Twilight didn't get enough sleep in "The Cutie Map."

[The Derpy Democratic Republic Of Herp]

[The Derpy Democratic Republic Of Herp]

Rainbow song from the MLP movie (spoilers)

[Sunstruck]

So...I have been tempted to watch...I saw a few seconds muted of A Royal Canterlot Wedding Part 2 (you cannot forget a title like that.) and the animation is solid...

So, tell me - what season should I start with, and what series?

First few episodes might seem childish and girly, but just hold yourself together and stick through it, the whole series will fold together quite nicely.

[Giovenith]

That seems like a pretty far stretch. Twilight said in The Cutie Map, "I haven't studied Eastern unicorns as much as I should have, but I'm pretty sure Meadowbrook only had eight magical items, not nine," and not only is she not the type to screw something like that up, but I think she would have expressed some surprise upon learning that Meadowbrook was an Earth pony in this episode. Unfortunately, I think this is just a pure case of the writers fucking up by not paying close enough attention to their own canon.

They didn't get enough sleep.

Actually, the characters never actually referred to Meadowbrook as an Earth pony. We only see her depicted as an earth pony in the journal reading "flashback". It's more an error on the part of the artists than the (screenplay) writers. I wonder if they would be willing to edit the episode post hoc and slap a horn on Meadowbrook (and maybe Cattail) for consistency--probably a much easier fix than "The Last Roundup." (Of course, just doing that we'd have the odd behavior of unicorns who never seemed to use her horn even for simple telekinesis...)

No, the real contradiction is Twilight's assertion that she "studied [Meadowbrook] in Celestia's school," which is explicitly inconsistent with "I haven't studied Eastern unicorns as much as I should have." (Funnily enough, in the official maps, the Hayseed Swamps are in the Eastern part of Equestria, so at least the team got that consistency.) Maybe Twilight didn't get enough sleep in "The Cutie Map."

I doubt that it's the artists' fault. Artists and character designers depict what the script describes, and as a mage it would be pretty hard for the script to describe her doing magic without explicitly mentioning unicorn traits if they intended her to be a unicorn. I doubt they wrote what was meant to be a unicorn spellcaster character without once mentioning levitation, aura color, spellbooks, or even just mentioning her race in her scene introduction/description.

Nice additional catch. This is a relatively minor but still glaring blunder on the show's part. I think this is the first time they've managed to have such a hard canon contradiction. I think this coupled with the alicorn fiasco over Flurry Heart kind of proves that this staff doesn't really give a shit what they wind up setting in stone, they just think if it sounds cool in the moment it should go in.


Oops, wait, I forgot! None of this matters! I'm only supposed to care about the precious friendship lessons, nothing else that goes into the show's quality.

[The Derpy Democratic Republic Of Herp]

They didn't get enough sleep.

Actually, the characters never actually referred to Meadowbrook as an Earth pony. We only see her depicted as an earth pony in the journal reading "flashback". It's more an error on the part of the artists than the (screenplay) writers. I wonder if they would be willing to edit the episode post hoc and slap a horn on Meadowbrook (and maybe Cattail) for consistency--probably a much easier fix than "The Last Roundup." (Of course, just doing that we'd have the odd behavior of unicorns who never seemed to use her horn even for simple telekinesis...)

No, the real contradiction is Twilight's assertion that she "studied [Meadowbrook] in Celestia's school," which is explicitly inconsistent with "I haven't studied Eastern unicorns as much as I should have." (Funnily enough, in the official maps, the Hayseed Swamps are in the Eastern part of Equestria, so at least the team got that consistency.) Maybe Twilight didn't get enough sleep in "The Cutie Map."

I doubt that it's the artists' fault. Artists and character designers depict what the script describes, and as a mage it would be pretty hard for the script to describe her doing magic without explicitly mentioning unicorn traits if they intended her to be a unicorn. I doubt they wrote what was meant to be a unicorn spellcaster character without once mentioning levitation, aura color, spellbooks, or even just mentioning her race in her scene introduction/description.

Nice additional catch. This is a relatively minor but still glaring blunder on the show's part. I think this is the first time they've managed to have such a hard canon contradiction. I think this coupled with the alicorn fiasco over Flurry Heart kind of proves that this staff doesn't really give a shit what they wind up setting in stone, they just think if it sounds cool in the moment it should go in.


Oops, wait, I forgot! None of this matters! I'm only supposed to care about the precious friendship lessons, nothing else that goes into the show's quality.

haven't seen the epsode but maybe she was talking about her private studies?

[Frenequesta]

I doubt that it's the artists' fault. Artists and character designers depict what the script describes, and as a mage it would be pretty hard for the script to describe her doing magic without explicitly mentioning unicorn traits if they intended her to be a unicorn. I doubt they wrote what was meant to be a unicorn spellcaster character without once mentioning levitation, aura color, spellbooks, or even just mentioning her race in her scene introduction/description.

Nice additional catch. This is a relatively minor but still glaring blunder on the show's part. I think this is the first time they've managed to have such a hard canon contradiction. I think this coupled with the alicorn fiasco over Flurry Heart kind of proves that this staff doesn't really give a shit what they wind up setting in stone, they just think if it sounds cool in the moment it should go in.


Oops, wait, I forgot! None of this matters! I'm only supposed to care about the precious friendship lessons, nothing else that goes into the show's quality.

haven't seen the epsode but maybe she was talking about her private studies?

I'd assume that formal education on a particular magician would already be fairly comprehensive and include the eight artifacts. But of course, we don't know the significance of Mage Meadowbrook in the development of magic to really say.

[Sunstruck]

What's with all the spoilers? I'm scared to look.

[New Naephak]

What's with all the spoilers? I'm scared to look.

We're talking about the new episode, which we spoiler for a while after it has aired.

[Giovenith]

I did a thing: Toola meets Toola

What's with all the spoilers? I'm scared to look.

Discussions about new episodes are spoilered so as not to... well, spoil it!