Viridian Dreams Forum

.... Eh.

I'll say this: the idea to turn this into a musical episode was pretty ingenious. No genre of storytelling allows for a rapid succession of plot-points to be entertaining than a musical.

However, even here, with just 22 minutes, I think they pushed past the limits of what a musical can allow. I really can't have an opinion on much of the episode because all of it just sped right on by before I could form one. It really just didn't have an impact.

So, eh.

Although I will say this: if Twilight wasn't a Sue before, boy oh howdy, did she shoot right up there.

It's a pretty decent episode overall. And I'm holding out hope that Twilights ascension is the harbinger to some serial escalation. I doubt it, but it's possible. She's basically a demigod now so lord knows she's gonna need bigger challenges. Logic also dictates that she'll probably spend a good chunk of next season learning to control her new powers. Then there's the continuation of Rainbow Dash's Wonderbolt training.

There's still some hope for this thing. Although Season 4 is definitely looking to be a Make or Break season.

And why was this season so short?

I've heard something about them targeting this season to at least get them to the 65 ep mark for syndication of kids shows.

....

I need to start reading the comics.

What the what? That's...wow. There was also an amusing Gravity Falls reference in one of the comics.

In news relevant to possibly no one, the Japanese opening came out. It's pretty wow. I honestly don't know if they could have made it more anime.

From what I can tell, references like that are more common in the comics than even what we've seen in the show (one issue had a reference to It, Phantom of the Opera and The Evil Dead all within one page), so it seems like the comics are built more with the Bronies in mind and freed more from the obligations of the show as it concerns marketing and demographics.

Also, yeah, that was pretty friggin anime. Makes me wonder how the show, over all, will be received in Japan.

The Equestria Girls trailer

Buh, movie? An hour and twelve minutes of this... thing? And it's in canon with the actual Equine-verse? Fuck me.

... But, awkward Twilight comedy, and it's written and voiced by the normal cast

The visual aesthetic is still whiplash inducing though. I can't get over human shaped characters with the cornucopia of skin colors. It doesn't vacation in the Uncanny Valley, but it's definitely buying a timeshare somewhere in there.

Still, at least the animation isn't awful and it looks better than the vectors.

But Brad.

But, DJ P0N-3.

But it's a high school set story, with a token boyfriend character, a 'bitchy' antagonist and it centers around fucking prom! If this were a well and originality was water then it would've run dry within the first fucking seconds of being dug!

But... Scootaloo doing the chicken dance!

I'm very conflicted.

This is a watch and forget movie it has no impact on season 4 at all. We should not worry that it is going to affect our MLP.

Exactly. It's just a movie. Not an entire cliched spinoff series. And apparently there's a stolen magic artifact involved, so it might not be too bad.

On the one hand, you're right. It's just a movie, not a spin-off series (for now), so it isn't going to directly effect the main MLP series. However, I think there's room to argue for the fact that we're getting a cliched, unoriginal hack-job of a movie featuring humans who are five of the main six except not instead of an actual movie, but that's beside the point.

On the other hand, this movie doesn't have to be directly canon to be kind of insulting. I mean, what does it say about Hasbro execs that, expanding into an entirely new universe of human not-ponies, that their ideal plot for a movie aimed at teenage girls is a prom-centered, cute boy having piece of tripe? The only thing that's going to make this movie even remotely worthwhile is fan service, and even that depends on your taste. Even the existence of the stolen artifact is not in any way going to save this movie because, get this, the artifact in question is a crown.

A crown in a high school, token (most likely popular) boy, bitchy antagonist, prom centered movie. Gee, I wonder just how the pieces of this plot are going to fall into place?

Well it is targeted at the 16YO Girl crowd and is Hasbro's attempt to go after Monster High.

Well it is targeted at the 16YO Girl crowd and is Hasbro's attempt to go after Monster High.

And Mattel; that Barbie market is just sitting there after all.

Yeah. I just find that a bit insulting. Like, instead of using the time and energy put into this movie (which is probably why Season 3 was cut in half, mind) on something original or of better quality that could've been aimed at the same demographic but also have wider appeal, the decision came down that a better investment of time and manpower would be uninspired tripe. I just feel like this could grind the gears from any number of perspectives: 'animation aimed at kids or teens doesn't have to be crap', 'the lives of teenage girls doesn't just revolve around prom and boys' and 'quality should be paramount' are all perspectives that can be insulted here, and just taking refuge in the 'it won't effect our ponies' trench just seems to be giving this movie too much slack, in my opinion.

I thought season 3 was cut in half because 13 episodes for S3 means that they hit 65 episodes and the syndication barrier just as they hit a clean season break. Y'know, just in case they don't get a season 4.

But they did, so, whoohoo.

As for Equestria Girls -- yeah, I'm not enthused, and I'm likely not going to see it ever, but neither am I going to hate on it. Its there for the people who like it and its not hurting anybody... shit, isn't that we've been saying for three years to people who don't like FiM? Its our turn to live on the other end of the boot for awhile. Let us try to do so with more grace than the brony haters. :)

http://rainbow-dash-reads-homestuck.tumblr.com/

Something to help tide us over until the next season.

To think I actually fought against even looking into this series, how silly I was back then.

Here are some of my favorite MLP videos, just incase anyone missed them. The fandom is a bit large now.

Sadness warning, beware: Silly stuff to cleanse the sadness.

....

....

HAAAAAAATE! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!

(Translation: I've been busy with a substitute program, so I haven't been able to keep up with as much of the fandom as I would've liked)

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE! I HAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!

(~But I did finally nut up and watch the Equestria Girls movie. It was not my cup of tea.)

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!

(~Here's a video that more succinctly wraps up my problems with this movie than I could myself.)



(But more seriously, I feel like Equestria Girl's nearest relative when it comes to 'bad movies' is actually the pre-Lasseter Disney sequels, prequels and midquels. In both cases these are television writers who can't quite make the jump from the writing demands and stakes of a television show to movies and, weirder still considering that the exact same team is involved with the show as is this little movie, it feels like the movie doesn't get the show it's based on.

MLP: Friendship is Magic is a show about friends, pony friends, but friends who live in a magical world where conflicts range from the mundane to the mystical, always feeling perfectly natural to one and other because the show builds up its universe as such. The cartoon blurs the line between boys and girls entertainment and also raises animation as a respectable medium, alongside Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, etc. Equestria Girls is every High School movie from the 90s and 2000s with five minutes of a climax from Friendship is Magic spliced in as the movie's climax. This movie is what would happen if you took She's All That and gave it a veneer of Lord of the Rings.

In the end, it isn't the superficial bullshit that people complain about that makes this movie bad. The existence of Brad, making a new line of toys and the wasted opportunity to make a movie based on a good show that is actually good are all regrettable but not what makes this movie truly, truly horrid.

It's that this movie fails on the fundamental levels of both being a movie and not a three-part pilot to a TV show and understanding both the source material and the plot it is attempting to write.)

only good thing about that movie were the first 12 and last 12 mins of it.

Season 4, Let's get to it:

(spoilers yadda yadda and all that)

Ok, didn't expect them to nut up and go there but they did it. The status quo has been shaken. Their go to solution to everything is gone for now. And they actually grew some stones and introduced a possible season-long storyline. Or it might just be a season ending two-parter (maybe three). We'll see. And that's the thing, I really do wanna see where this is going. I am hooked for another season.

Things looked kinda bleak for awhile, but for now it's a new day and all is well.

And then it's discovered that the series is not being renewed after this season.




More seriously, yay at apparent positive change for the series this season. Now I just have to get caught up on just over a season of mlp.

I was pleasantly surprised.

Well, I binged over the last few episodes of season 4 this weekend. I think the show has not quite returned to the heights of season 2, but I think it showed improvement over the lackluster season 3. And the season finale… Wow!

I think it actually would work as a better series finale than the ending of season 3. Now let’s see how things proceed in season 5.