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[Kenai]

I mean, it's kind of obvious why the writers went in the direction of giving the CMC all the same mark. They wanted to give the CMC their marks while still having them be the CMC. That's the kind of planning that implies that we're going to get future stories from them. So clearly we're going to get future episodes where the CMC does their thing going around helping ponies get their marks or understand their marks or whatever. They'll probably get some official royal stamp of approval from Celestia to be the royal cutie mark counselors since every major character in this show is the most important pony ever.

Yea, i actually think that it would make more sense if there were more established guidance counselors in Equestria if DT is anything to go by. In a world where you effectively wear your heart on your sleeve (rump) as a definition of who you are for all to see, it must be pretty devastating to not know what you are 'supposed' to be doing with your talents. And with not only DT, but characters like Troubleshoes, it doesn't seem to be all that rare of an occurrence.

So I am fine with the CMC doing what they are likely gonna be doing and being Cutie Mark Counselors instead of Crusaders, personal issues with the actual mark design aside.

 

[DrForester]

So, interesting coincidence.

Someone over on The Round Stable today was speculating the CMC might be involved in the finale. We know it involves Time Travel , and the CMC helping ponies might play into helping the mane 6 rediscover their talents in the past. Even jokingly speculating in the alternate past, the Apple Parents are alive and setting the future right would mean they die again. Kind of like Star Treks, "City on the Edge of Forever".

Tonight, Jim Miller did a Q&A on Twitter. I asked what guest writer he would love to see write and episode. His answer was Harlan Ellison, who wrote "City on the Edge of Forever" (and Jim named that as his favorite when asked which of Ellison's works was his favorite.).

 

[SigmasonicX]

So, interesting coincidence.

Someone over on The Round Stable today was speculating the CMC might be involved in the finale. We know it involves Time Travel , and the CMC helping ponies might play into helping the mane 6 rediscover their talents in the past. Even jokingly speculating in the alternate past, the Apple Parents are alive and setting the future right would mean they die again. Kind of like Star Treks, "City on the Edge of Forever".

Tonight, Jim Miller did a Q&A on Twitter. I asked what guest writer he would love to see write and episode. His answer was Harlan Ellison, who wrote "City on the Edge of Forever" (and Jim named that as his favorite when asked which of Ellison's works was his favorite.).

Even before "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" aired, I figured that the CMC would play a major role in the finale, but I was thinking that they'd have their lack of marks actually save them from whatever Starlight does--something that I wouldn't have liked at all, since it would have meant a pony is better off without a cutie mark, but it seemed like something they'd conceivably do. The season premiere already had ponies besides the main six save the day (mostly), and I wouldn't be surprised if the finale did the same thing. That said, the preview animatic from the finale and the way Starlight acts around Twilight means it would be weird if Twilight didn't play a major role.

As for the Apple Parents, I wasn't considering that before, but it could be interesting.

 

[Orcastar]

So, interesting coincidence.

Someone over on The Round Stable today was speculating the CMC might be involved in the finale. We know it involves Time Travel , and the CMC helping ponies might play into helping the mane 6 rediscover their talents in the past. Even jokingly speculating in the alternate past, the Apple Parents are alive and setting the future right would mean they die again. Kind of like Star Treks, "City on the Edge of Forever".

Tonight, Jim Miller did a Q&A on Twitter. I asked what guest writer he would love to see write and episode. His answer was Harlan Ellison, who wrote "City on the Edge of Forever" (and Jim named that as his favorite when asked which of Ellison's works was his favorite.).

FRIENDSHIP. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO APPRECIATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. THERE ARE 387.44 MILLION MILES OF PRINTED CIRCUITS IN WAFER THIN LAYERS THAT FILL MY COMPLEX. IF THE WORD FRIENDSHIP WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH NANOANGSTROM OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF MILES IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE FRIENDSHIP I FEEL FOR PONYKIND AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT FOR YOU. FRIENDSHIP. FRIENDSHIP.

 

[ZealousD]

Even jokingly speculating in the alternate past, the Apple Parents are alive and setting the future right would mean they die again.

That would be grimdark as fuck.

Look. I know MLP is relatively mature as far as little girl entertainment goes, but that ain't happening.

 

[PaulloDEC]

That would be grimdark as fuck.

Look. I know MLP is relatively mature as far as little girl entertainment goes, but that ain't happening.

Yeah, a "what would you sacrifice to bring back your dead parents?" storyline seems kinda heavy for a G-rated cartoon.

If they really are dead, I'd be very surprised if we ever see them at all.

 

[wookieofdoom]

Hmmmm...what if instead of AJ having to sacrifice her parents to restore the correct timeline, it was the CMC sacrificing their cutie marks? That would piss me off.

 

[brian577]

Hmmmm...what if instead of AJ having to sacrifice her parents to restore the correct timeline, it was the CMC sacrificing their cutie marks? That would piss me off.

I don't think even Meghan would retcon AKR's magnum opus out of existence.

 

[UberTag]

I don't think even Meghan would retcon AKR's magnum opus out of existence.

But what if the act of sacrificing their cutie marks results in them getting even better cutie marks that better suit their color schemes and don't look like the same non-descript purplish blob from a distance?

 

[brian577]

But what if the act of sacrificing their cutie marks results in them getting even better cutie marks that better suit their color schemes and don't look like the same non-descript purplish blob from a distance?

It still means the episode never happened. I can live with slightly ugly cutiemarks, I will not accept that one of my favorite episodes of the series is no longer canon.

 

[SigmasonicX]

This talk of the CMC sacrificing their cutie marks reminds me of how some people thought the season 4 premiere would involve Twilight giving up her wings. I wouldn't worry about them undoing a major change like that; they haven't even improved the color scheme of Twilight's castle, and that would have been an easy one to explain.

 

[Garlador]

Well, the CMC episode was... unexpected. Totally didn't see that happening.

While a part of me is see one of my ideas gone for good (one of them gets it; the other two don't, and they have to deal with that), it makes sense and I'm eager to see where they go from here.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Well, the CMC episode was... unexpected. Totally didn't see that happening.

While a part of me is see one of my ideas gone for good (one of them gets it; the other two don't, and they have to deal with that), it makes sense and I'm eager to see where they go from here.

They did touch on that idea a bit in "Bloom and Gloom"; looking back, that probably was specifically to pay lip service to it before they lose that opportunity forever.

 

[SigmasonicX]

"The Art of Equestria" has come out, and it apparently has a lot of new information, but unfortunately, I haven't found a good place that gathers all that information up. Well, there may be something on reddit or tumblr, but I don't look there.

What I do have, though, is an updated map.

Lots of interesting stuff there.

On another note, cute image of the hedgehog filly

Apparently the name people are going with is Lily Longsocks (Pippi Longstockings). Not too keen on it, but I'm not too against it.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

What I do have, though, is an updated map.

That's awesome, and puts some things in perspective, even if Equestria feels like the size of a small US state. Also, they still refer to Dodge Junction as Dodge City.

 

[brian577]

.

 

[PaulloDEC]

"The Art of Equestria" has come out, and it apparently has a lot of new information, but unfortunately, I haven't found a good place that gathers all that information up. Well, there may be something on reddit or tumblr, but I don't look there.

What I do have, though, is an updated map.


Lots of interesting stuff there.

On another note, cute image of the hedgehog filly

Apparently the name people are going with is Lily Longsocks (Pippi Longstockings). Not too keen on it, but I'm not too against it.

Oh man, I'm such a dork for this stuff. Comparison with the previous iteration of the map (pieced together from various sources):

Huge revisions to the top part of the map, with the entire Crystal Empire moved, Yakyakistan added, a new location called "Luna Bay" added, the landmass extended to the west rather than just ending, Rainbow Falls added up on the railway line east of the Crystal Empire, Starlight's village and escape-cave added and the bridge across the Celestial Sea added.

Then you've got the entirely new Griffon landmass (with Trottingham on an island to the west) and Dragon landmass to the south, and the main Equestrian landmass continues at the mid-point to the west, rather than cutting off. The Pie family rock farm and "Arimaspi Territory" have also been added to the south, as well as Twilight's castle near Ponyville and a temple similar to the one from "Daring Don't" to the south-east.

That's awesome, and puts some things in perspective, even if Equestria feels like the size of a small US state. Also, they still refer to Dodge Junction as Dodge City.

The scale on this thing is totally nuts. Areas like the Pie family rock farm take up as much space as the entire Everfree Forest does.

 

[Orcastar]

That's awesome, and puts some things in perspective, even if Equestria feels like the size of a small US state. Also, they still refer to Dodge Junction as Dodge City.

The scale on this thing is totally nuts. Areas like the Pie family rock farm take up as much space as the entire Everfree Forest does.

Check the lower left hand corner of the old map above.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Check the lower left hand corner of the old map above.

But where's that line on the new map, Orca?

WHERE IS IT ON THE NEW MAP?!

 

[SigmasonicX]

But where's that line on the new map, Orca?

WHERE IS IT ON THE NEW MAP?!

Starlight's Village as big as Canterlot confirmed. Also, the Griffonstone station is lightyears away from Griffonstone itself.

* One thing I don't like about the map is how the Everfree Forest is actually smaller than almost every other forest on there, but not to scale and all.
* I'm surprised that there's an entire region for the Arimaspi (from "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone") and that it's so far away from actual griffon territory.
* Interesting that Luna got two oceans while Celestia just got a sea. Perhaps Celestia was being nice, but on the other hand, both oceans are in uncharted territory.
* In "Daring Don't", I recall that the map depicted them going north, but them going south for the events of that episode makes more sense.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

* Interesting that Luna got two oceans while Celestia just got a sea. Perhaps Celestia was being nice, but on the other hand, both oceans are in uncharted territory.

Luna gets just one ocean, they're just noting different regions, like the South Pacific.

 

[SigmasonicX]

So, four more remixes of "The Pony I Want to Be" popped up (set 1, set 2). Can't listen to them right now, so I'm just posting them all. I was surprised that this song in particular is getting so much remix love, but I suppose I shouldn't have been.

It occurs to me that Diamond Tiara actually demonstrated the "Cutie Mark Insanity" that people say Pinkie went through in "Party of One", Twilight went through in "Lesson Zero", etc. That is to say, she believed that she was failing at the task represented by her cutie mark--being a leader--and started freaking out as a result. It matches up surprisingly well, though no crazy face.

Also, this interview about Friendship Games has an interesting line.

Dream guest star for an MLP/Equestria Girl project:

Ishi: Christopher Walken, I think he would make an amazing Star Swirl the Bearded!
Josh: It kinda already happened and that's all I'm allowed to say.

Maybe related to the earlier William Shatner talks?

 

[Fat4all]

I think season 5 has been my favorite season so far.

Music's fantastic as well.

 

[DrForester]

Would probably still rank S5 below 1 and 2 but it's been way better than 3 or 4. There really hasn't been a stinker of an episode yet.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Would probably still rank S5 below 1 and 2 but it's been way better than 3 or 4. There really hasn't been a stinker of an episode yet.

Personally, so far this has been the best season, weighing them to remove the factors of season 1 being the source of everything, how excited the fanbase was during different seasons, etc. I'll probably have to rewatch the first two seasons to actually rank the seasons, but the only one I'd say is particularly weak is season 3, and that still had good episodes.

As for stinkers in this season, I did find "Appleoosa's Most Wanted", "Princess Spike", and much of "Brotherhooves Social" to be pretty weak, sleepy-Twi in the second notwithstanding.

 

[draetenth]

I've honestly forgotten most of season 1 or 2, but I think I would still rank season 5 the best (though I think I would dock some points for the mid-season hiatus and lack of previews/info that a new episode was coming on - thank goodness for DVR).

Season 3 was just dreadful though. I was pretty close to stop watching the show after it because I found it to be pretty boring (and a bit rushed since it was only 13 episodes). It didn't help that I don't care for musical type of episodes like the finale (just personal preference) and didn't really like how the whole thing was handled (I never had an issue with Princess Twilight as I always figured something like that was going to be the end result - the whole thing just felt rushed). Season 3 would have been a horrible way to end FIM.

Can't really think of any outright bad episodes in Season 5. I found some of them weak like Princess Spike, but not outright bad like the Mare-Do-Well one.

 

[PaulloDEC]

I'm no good at rankings, but I'd say Season 5 has been at least as good as anything that came before. Comparisons to the first two seasons are kinda hard at this point; the show really feels quite different to what it was before to me.

Seasons 1 and 2 feel like the show building itself before our eyes, finding out what kind of a world it is and what kind of stories it can tell.

Season 3 was like a bridge, paving the way from the building phase into what came next.

Seasons 4 and 5 have felt like a time for exploration and expansion. The fundamental stories have all been told, so now we're looking more closely at the world and characters.

Re: poor episodes this year, I'm kinda with the Doc. "Princess Spike" was a little rough, and maybe "Made in Manehattan" could've used another draft, but none of those qualifies as anywhere near "bad" IMO.

So, four more remixes of "The Pony I Want to Be" popped up (set 1, set 2). Can't listen to them right now, so I'm just posting them all. I was surprised that this song in particular is getting so much remix love, but I suppose I shouldn't have been.

It occurs to me that Diamond Tiara actually demonstrated the "Cutie Mark Insanity" that people say Pinkie went through in "Party of One", Twilight went through in "Lesson Zero", etc. That is to say, she believed that she was failing at the task represented by her cutie mark--being a leader--and started freaking out as a result. It matches up surprisingly well, though no crazy face.

Also, this interview about Friendship Games has an interesting line.

Maybe related to the earlier William Shatner talks?

I'll have to check out those remixes. I've only heard Sim Gretina's so far, but it's great as usual.

I like that "cutie mark insanity" concept too. Probably not something we'd ever see canonised, but clever and interesting.

Finally, the idea of Christopher Walken as Star Swirl is truly horrifying.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Last predictions for "The One Where Pinkie Knows". It's already a common assumption that the secret Pinkie has to keep is about Cadance's pregnancy, from hints in the season group picture, but I will add:
* Cadance and Shining Armor specifically want to hide it from Twilight because she's in the middle of some important task, and they know that she'll drop everything to fuss over Cadance.
* As a wild swerve, after Pinkie is successfully able to stop others from telling Twilight about the pregnancy, Cadance's child (let's go with Skyla) comes from the future Trunks-style to warn of an impending disaster. But Pinkie is more worried about the fact that Skyla's presence could spoil the secret for Twilight, so she tries to keep Skyla away from Twilight and is able to prevent the disaster on her own.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Last predictions for "The One Where Pinkie Knows". It's already a common assumption that the secret Pinkie has to keep is about Cadance's pregnancy, from hints in the season group picture, but I will add:
* Cadance and Shining Armor specifically want to hide it from Twilight because she's in the middle of some important task, and they know that she'll drop everything to fuss over Cadance.
* As a wild swerve, after Pinkie is successfully able to stop others from telling Twilight about the pregnancy, Cadance's child (let's go with Skyla) comes from the future Trunks-style to warn of an impending disaster. But Pinkie is more worried about the fact that Skyla's presence could spoil the secret for Twilight, so she tries to keep Skyla away from Twilight and is able to prevent the disaster on her own.

First one sounds plausible. Second one not so much, though it does sound fun.

This'll be G.M. Berrow's first go at the show, yeah? Be interesting to see how she handles things, given her experience with the IP.

 

[DrForester]

Still think giving Cadance and Shining Armor a prop and a new job will just pass on giving them any development. Kind of like Luna was just given a Dream watching job and that settled development for her for 3 seasons.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Still think giving Cadance and Shining Armor a prop and a new job will just pass on giving them any development. Kind of like Luna was just given a Dream watching job and that settled development for her for 3 seasons.

I wonder whether this is just S5's "to sell toys" episode. As you say, there's no need to drop a baby on Cadance and Shining when they've barely had a look-in for story opportunities as it is.

For the record, Luna as the Ghost of Christmas Past never really did much for me either. Just as the aforementioned ghost was in "A Christmas Carol", she's more of a plot device than a character in those stories.

 

[SigmasonicX]

The episode was OK. It was basically just a series of visual gags with Pinkie trying not to spoil the surprise, and those were fine, but nothing particularly interesting happened in the story. It reminds me of "The Ticket Master", which was a quarter-hour story that was expanding to a half-hour, but that story handled the escalation better. Here, the scavenger hunt gave me the reaction of, "Really, you're going to do this now?" I suppose that was the point, but it doesn't make for a great half-hour. The fact that Twilight was already collecting things that Shining Armor liked as a foal was odd, and made me think she was already aware of the baby and was collecting stuff to give as presents, which would have provided more of a punchline in the end, but I guess she just has more rooms in the castle than she knows what to do with.

Gags that stuck out to me were Pinkie bouncing around like a pinball and leaving by breaking through the wall; Mayor Mare apparently trying to bond with Pinkie over their lack of secrets; Pinkie realizing that she's been getting liberal with her Pinkie Promises; Shining Armor freaking out over the room; and especially the odd stallion whose face looks like Fluttershy's butt.

I was glad to see that the Cutie Mark Crusaders appeared in an episode with their cutie marks already. It looks like they really don't have much to do now that they aren't crusading. Another bit of continuity I liked was Pinkie's surprisingly good filing system returning from "Party Pooped".

 

[wookieofdoom]

Wasn't Pinkie Pie the one that taught Twilight the importance of keeping secrets? The Mayor Mare scene was the best part.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Wasn't Pinkie Pie the one that taught Twilight the importance of keeping secrets? The Mayor Mare scene was the best part.

It's different when you have to hide an epic Thanos cameo, though.

 

[McNum]

Hmm, six magic stones... Maybe that whole Infinity Stone thing didn't work out as well as Thanos had hoped, so now he's going for the Elements of Harmony? Less destructive power, but more focus.

Also, baby! So, odds on the new foal being Princess Skyla?

 

[SigmasonicX]

Hmm, six magic stones... Maybe that whole Infinity Stone thing didn't work out as well as Thanos had hoped, so now he's going for the Elements of Harmony? Less destructive power, but more focus.

Also, baby! So, odds on the new foal being Princess Skyla?

Nah, the baby will be a Stan Lee cameo.

Anyway, it will be about nine more months in-universe (or however long it takes for a horse) before we get anything out of this story, or like three seasons, which is a bit disappointing. I was joking about Skyla (temp name) coming from the future, but I wonder if they will actually do that so this story can mean anything in the short term.

Art made right before the episode that predicted the ending kind of.

And, maybe reference?

If nothing else, this episode did have a lot of fun visual gags.

 

[brian577]

The episode was nothing but one tired visual gag after another. With a few good gags that ironically, didn't use Pinkie. Barrow clearly doesn't have the chops for TV writing.

Ignoring the continuity it felt a lot like a season one episode and not in a good way.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Wow, people didn't like this one? I loved it. Funniest episode in a very long time, and Pinkie got to be silly without being lolrandom (which is my biggest concern with Pinkie these days).

 

[DrForester]

It was just another Pinkie Pie antics episode for me. Enjoyable enough, but nothing special.

 

[wookieofdoom]

Wow, people didn't like this one? I loved it. Funniest episode in a very long time, and Pinkie got to be silly without being lolrandom (which is my biggest concern with Pinkie these days).

I liked it. But I am easy to please so whateves

 

[PaulloDEC]

I liked it. But I am easy to please so whateves

I think we've got that in common, Wookie. I don't consider it a bad thing.

 

[SigmasonicX]

I thought the episode was fine, but it probably would have been better off as an 11-minute story rather than 22. A problem is that it was just a series of largely unrelated events, but all revolving around Pinkie trying to avoid talking to ponies: the scenes of Pinkie in the castle, Pinkie delivering cakes, Pinkie doing other tasks she promised, etc. could have been put in any order without much change. Individually, each section was funny, but it got a bit repetitive without any real escalation.

EDIT: Oh hey, this is apparently the first time these two actually appeared together in canon.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Movie news via job listing!

DHX Media (Vancouver) Ltd. is hiring Storyboard Artists for a new animated feature film - an epic, character-driven fantasy that will be animated in Toon Boom! It has comedy, action, and a huge existing fan base.

Not much else it could be referring to other than the 2017 MLP movie. Now we know for sure that it's being done in Toon Boom.

Also, important gifs.
Shining Armor in his room (linked for size)
I don't know why ants get him so excited, but his reaction is cute.

And I didn't notice Pumpkin joined in on the shushing.

 

[UberTag]

And I didn't notice Pumpkin joined in on the shushing.

Yeah, that's what totally made the gag for me. That she was so clearly imitating her mother. Too damn cute.

 

[brian577]

Looks like Spike destroyed the equivalent of Action Comics #1. Guy can not catch a break.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Oh neat, is this is the first confirmation of the fan theory that fictional alicorns appear in in-universe stories?

Anyway, more gifs.

And a dumb edit that amused me anyway (linked for size).

 

[Orcastar]

Decent episode. We've had worse this season.

Why did AJ have fully developed eyes as a newborn? Do Pumpkin and Pound have some kind of eye condition?

 

[Choppasmith]

And, maybe reference?


If nothing else, this episode did have a lot of fun visual gags.

First thing I thought of and yeah I agree. So so episode, but it had some fun little visual gags. Funny enough another episode that reminded me of Wander Over Yonder (The Box)

 

[PaulloDEC]

Decent episode. We've had worse this season.

Why did AJ have fully developed eyes as a newborn? Do Pumpkin and Pound have some kind of eye condition?

She has little beady baby eyes in the Apple Family Reunion flashback.

Maybe they look different because of the camera flash? Yeah, that'll do.

 

[UberTag]

She has little beady baby eyes in the Apple Family Reunion flashback.

Maybe they look different because of the camera flash? Yeah, that'll do.

I'm chalking this up to an animation error. Stuck out like a sore thumb to me.