Honestly, I fail to see how that's an "acknowledgment of how Spitfire acted differently in Wonderbolts Academy". I haven't watched that episode in a while, but Spitfire has always been a "drill sergeant" archetype.
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic season 6 |OT| Six seasons and a movie!
- Thread starter SigmasonicX
- Start date
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Honestly, I fail to see how that's an "acknowledgment of how Spitfire acted differently in Wonderbolts Academy". I haven't watched that episode in a while, but Spitfire has always been a "drill sergeant" archetype.
UberTag
Member
The character rehabilitation for Trixie is easily my fave new development from Season 6. In both her case AND Starlight, I would love to see them given more opportunities to interact with the Mane 6 and others within Ponyville. Trixie's pretty darn hilarious. Give me an ep where she has to compete at something with Rarity and have both of them go ham and I'll be entertained.
I'm also disappointed about the veritable absence of
SigmasonicX
Member
Yeah, just continue to have Trixie camp right outside Twilight's castle, and you have a "sitcom archnemesis" right there. And then you can make Inconvenient Trixie canon!
Oh damn, I knew Starlight is a princess now, but I didn't realize Diamond Tiara is too! Anyway, yeah, it is a shame they didn't do anything with her this season. Somehow her mother played a much bigger role! The most we got from any official MLP thing is her brief moments in the comic's recent Election Arc. Speaking of comics,
Friends Forever #33 - Applejack and Cherry Jubilee
This reminds me of how the fandom used to give extensive backstories to all the characters. For season one, this applied to background and side characters; for season two, just side characters; and after that, only some side characters. Cherry Jubilee didn't get too much of this, to my knowledge, so giving her one here is actually somewhat unexplored territory. The story was interesting enough, but I feel like they didn't really do too much with it. Cherry and Buffalo refuse to talk to each other until Applejack discovers their connection, and then they talk. It's also another Friends Forever comic where the friends don't actually interact much.
Cherry's backstory was surprising in the sense that I didn't get the impression that she was that much older than Applejack, such that she'd be an adult while the latter was a filly. But then again, I suppose the Main Six parents don't look that much older than their children either.
I liked the art. The "Read!" poster with Twilight in the library was adorable. For some reason, the Comixology copy split up the two page spread of Cherry's scrapbook in two, when they're typically put together as one image, which made things confusing at first.
Overall, it was alright.
==
For news, another vinyl record is coming. I guess the Celestia and Luna ones earlier did well.
ShinySylvee
Member
I feel like Starlight along with Spike were the best characters in season 6. Pairing her with Trixie was probably the best decision they've made on the show. I always thought Trixie was a fun character forever doomed to have bad episodes until Season 6 where she got not one but three different episodes where she could shine. I just wish Starlight was allowed to actually interact with the Mane 6 on a personal level. Every episode she's either working with Twilight and Spike or is spending like 30 seconds talking to each of the mane 6. I don't think she should have 3 episodes and both 2-parters focusing largely on her in the next season but it would be nice if she could play a supporting role in some episodes or possibly join in with the Cutie Map. (Say that her helping with the spell to fix it made it call on her too) Her being Twilight's apprentice is nice too as it gives Twilight a chance for growth which she really hasn't had since the end of Season 4 but just restricting Starlight to just learning friendship lessons really limits her potential.
Also it took 6 seasons but it seems like the writers finally found out how to write Spike. All too often in these shows characters are often oblivious to when their friends are clearly upset about things which is why it's great that Spike is now stopping them and really asking what's wrong. His performance in The Royal Crystalling was great and I loved him in Gauntlet of Fire and The Times They Are a Changeling. (Even though that episode was pretty mediocre) I'm looking forward to him in Season 7 and beyond.
SigmasonicX
Member
Yeah, I enjoyed the way Spike was handled in this season too. It's actually kind of miraculous that we didn't have a big badly written Spike scene this season. I also agree that Starlight should have had more scenes with individual non-Twilight Main Six.
==
Just like with Friendship Games, we have a Legend of Everfree blooper reel. More of these seem to be actual flubs from the VAs, particularly Twilight having a hard time saying "rock quarry". As for the obviously scripted ones, I liked the first one.
From the German dub of "Flutter Brutter", German Fluttershy is pissed. Of course, the equivalent German word isn't considered offensive, but it's still amusing.
My overall season comments will probably come tomorrow or Saturday, along with the final roundup post for this season. Then I'll move over to the Community thread for the episode guide and whatever comes after. Is there any interest in that story round robin idea I suggested earlier? Where everyone writes a small segment of a story, using only the previous segment as reference?
That could be fun. I think the word limit would have to be pretty low to keep people interested, but I'd be happy to get in on it.
Choppasmith
Member
So, thought I'd catch up with my last few episodes (Hey it only took me a month this time XD)
PPOV: Yeah I thought this episode was a bit of a letdown for the same reasons Forrester mentioned. Dumbing down the characters to serve the plot. The exaggerated portrayals from each pony's view was kind of funny, but I thought the final payoff and the "real" story just seemed rather uninspired. I'm like "THAT'S it? A boat ride where they barely left the harbor caused that?" This episode has gotta be on the bottom in rankings for me.
Where the Apple Lies: Okay THIS was a fun episode. Young AJ and Big Mac are great. Lots of great little details and references. I'm not so sure I quite agree with the idea of Big Mac being this very talkative pony that suddenly decided to go quiet out of respecting AJ. Maybe since it's confirmed that their parents were still alive at the time, maybe it was their death that really did it for Big Mac.
Top Bolt: I'm usually kind of "ehhhhh" on Dash/Wonderbolt episodes, but this was really fun and enjoyable for me. I actually thought Vapor Trail was Ashleigh Ball trying to do a different take on her voice, but it turned out to be a new VA. Not much else to say about this one. Hearing about Angel Wings made me "dawww". I liked her even before finding out she was a Make-A-Wish addition. Really wish her the best.
To Where and Back Again: Oh boy, a really divisive episode. I actually REALLY enjoyed this episode. Just fun all around. I was never crazy for Trixie, but to actually see her get some spotlight here was wonderful. I might actually be a fan of hers now and hope there's more episodes with her in it. Maybe her and Discord like what was hinted at in the ending?
Not to say I don't see the problems with it. It certainly bugged me that the Mane Six, Spike, AND the other Princesses were taken out with no explanation. And when you think about it, Chrysalis' plan was really dumb as it doesn't seem to take into consideration of raising the sun and moon. Things would've just fallen apart eventually. Hopefully Season 7 explains it, but I have to wonder, Changelings made sense as shapeshifters who take on a desirable appearance and then feed off love, but what do these good ones do? Do they still shapeshift? WHY would they need to shapeshift? It doesn't make much sense. I don't have a problem with their design though, just their "function".
But if you take it for what it is, a team of reformed villains that have to rescue the main heroes, it's a LOT of fun.
If I were to rank the Season Finales, I would go 2 > 4 > 6 > 1 > 5 > 3
PPOV: Yeah I thought this episode was a bit of a letdown for the same reasons Forrester mentioned. Dumbing down the characters to serve the plot. The exaggerated portrayals from each pony's view was kind of funny, but I thought the final payoff and the "real" story just seemed rather uninspired. I'm like "THAT'S it? A boat ride where they barely left the harbor caused that?" This episode has gotta be on the bottom in rankings for me.
Where the Apple Lies: Okay THIS was a fun episode. Young AJ and Big Mac are great. Lots of great little details and references. I'm not so sure I quite agree with the idea of Big Mac being this very talkative pony that suddenly decided to go quiet out of respecting AJ. Maybe since it's confirmed that their parents were still alive at the time, maybe it was their death that really did it for Big Mac.
Top Bolt: I'm usually kind of "ehhhhh" on Dash/Wonderbolt episodes, but this was really fun and enjoyable for me. I actually thought Vapor Trail was Ashleigh Ball trying to do a different take on her voice, but it turned out to be a new VA. Not much else to say about this one. Hearing about Angel Wings made me "dawww". I liked her even before finding out she was a Make-A-Wish addition. Really wish her the best.
To Where and Back Again: Oh boy, a really divisive episode. I actually REALLY enjoyed this episode. Just fun all around. I was never crazy for Trixie, but to actually see her get some spotlight here was wonderful. I might actually be a fan of hers now and hope there's more episodes with her in it. Maybe her and Discord like what was hinted at in the ending?
Not to say I don't see the problems with it. It certainly bugged me that the Mane Six, Spike, AND the other Princesses were taken out with no explanation. And when you think about it, Chrysalis' plan was really dumb as it doesn't seem to take into consideration of raising the sun and moon. Things would've just fallen apart eventually. Hopefully Season 7 explains it, but I have to wonder, Changelings made sense as shapeshifters who take on a desirable appearance and then feed off love, but what do these good ones do? Do they still shapeshift? WHY would they need to shapeshift? It doesn't make much sense. I don't have a problem with their design though, just their "function".
But if you take it for what it is, a team of reformed villains that have to rescue the main heroes, it's a LOT of fun.
If I were to rank the Season Finales, I would go 2 > 4 > 6 > 1 > 5 > 3
Trigonometrize.
Member
Magical Mystery Cure as worst season finale? Dude, that episode elevated the show to a new tier of cartoon. You are an insane person.
Choppasmith
Member
Please explain this because to me you sound like the insane person here. MMC was a forgettable episode that suffered from being reduced to a single episode.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
My finale rankings...
S1 > S2 > S3 > S5 > S6 > Enterprise Finale > S4
S1 > S2 > S3 > S5 > S6 > Enterprise Finale > S4
Trigonometrize.
Member
The "it needed to be a two-parter" criticism never flew for me. The fact that it packed what it did into a single episode is why it's only amazing. It's less about the plot of itself and more about being figurative of everything it's following up on, and it does that brilliantly with the songs which are also almost all some of the best up to that point. I've never seen anything quite like it. Incredibly risky but it worked for me.
Choppasmith
Member
It's funny, I feel that way about the recent Hearthswarming Tale episode. The fact they crammed so much in to that half hour episode is amazing to me. Different stories for different ponies I guess
.Somebody doesn't like Super Saiyan ponies.
"Magical Mystery Cure" is probably the worst in my book. Making it a musical episode felt so damned forced, like a lot of the music numbers in Season 3, and the kind of non-explanation about ascension into allicorn-hood (along with how minor the problem Twilight solved was) continues to rub me the wrong way. We all knew Twilight was going to go princess one day, that's why it should have been epic.
5 > 4 > 6 > 2 > 1 > 3.
For season openers:
2 > 4 > 1 > 3 > 5 > 6
Trigonometrize.
Member
The best way to explain princesshood would've been to have it far away from MMC. The episode suffers from the lack of explanation, but at any point during the episode itself it would've been too late and contrived anyway. It should've been slipped into an earlier episode as a seemingly throw away line. I don't think MMC itself deserves any of the blame for it though.
MMC cuts the sub-standard writing of the rest of the series and just makes it a fun romp with little explanation and more open to interpretation. I think it perfectly capitalizes on what the show does best.
Pinkie Pride still the GOAT though since it has flair and good writing.
Rhomega Beta
Member
The problem with MMC is that it doesn't understand how cutie marks work. They're what you're good at, not what you're predetermined to do for a living, whether you're good at it or not. Applejack should be the best fashion designer in Ponyville. Rainbow Dash's cutie mark is speed, not weather work. Pinkie Pie's cutie mark is throwing parties, not making ponies smile or laugh.
S2>S1>S6>S4>S5>S3
S2>S1>S6>S4>S5>S3
Trigonometrize.
Member
The cutie marks aren't forcing them to do anything predetermined. They're just confused as fuck because of the spell.
ShinySylvee
Member
Since we're doing rankings I guess I'll throw in my 2 cents:
Opener ranking (Best to Worst)
S2 (Most of the openers have been pretty weak IMO. This is definitely the best one by a large margin. Discord is widely considered the show's most memorable villain and everything is just done well)
S5 (What I liked about the Cutie Map is that it was a breath of fresh air as the two-parters before it had been fairly formulaic. Competent villain who isn't some godly being? Check. Fun episode with good humor? Check. Main villain loses to the mane 6 outsmarting her in a way that isn't caused by her incompetence or due to dues ex macina friendship magic? Check)
S4 (Don't remember it too much but it's pretty decent. Nothing exceptional but competently done and good fun. Solid 7/10)
S1 (Don't really care for this one too much. Too much of it is just explaining the setting and characters and Nightmare Moon is such a wasted villain. Took such a cool character concept and turned her into a lame generic villain. Not horrible but pretty mediocre)
S3 (Good songs and the Twilight + Spike stuff save the episode. Sombra is a lame villain and the rest of the mane 6 are just here to eat up screentime which really drags the episode down. Twilight and Spike exploring the castle is really cool though and definitely the highlight of the episode)
S6 (Suffers from the exact same problems that the Season 3 premier had. Had this been just a Starlight Spike and Sunburst episode as a 1 parter it would have been pretty good but everything that doesn't feature them is such a drag)
And for Finales:
S2 (Great songs cool villain. Conflict is set up well and the fight scene in the second half is fun. My favorite episode ever and I doubt it will ever be topped)
S5 (Cool concept and the "what if" futures are really cool to think about. Also similar to the Season 5 premier Starlight is defeated differently then most the villains are, this time by talking her out of it. Her motivation could have been handled a bit better and the friendship montage at the end was a mistake but ignoring that the episode is awesome)
S6 (Another unique finale. Discord and Trixie steal the show but Starlight and Thorax are good in this episode too. The ending was REALLY dumb but everything leading up to it is top quality)
S4 (Not the biggest fan of Tirek but the fight scene is cool although I'm glad that isn't what the show has become. Although they did build up the plot device to save the day all season it's still just lame to see such a powerful villain just get bitchslapped by friendship magic and defeated with little effort. It felt like they ran out of time. It would have been way cooler if they actually had a fight vs him rather then just rainbow lasering him)
S1 (I haven't watched this episode in like 5 years I have no clue if it's actually good or not. I just remember not caring for it much when I watched it)
S3 (Worst musical episode by far. Alicorn Twilight is still the biggest mistake the show's made so far and the rest of the episode isn't that good either. Rushed as hell too)
I sort of rushed through this so most the reasons I gave are pretty bad.
Opener ranking (Best to Worst)
S2 (Most of the openers have been pretty weak IMO. This is definitely the best one by a large margin. Discord is widely considered the show's most memorable villain and everything is just done well)
S5 (What I liked about the Cutie Map is that it was a breath of fresh air as the two-parters before it had been fairly formulaic. Competent villain who isn't some godly being? Check. Fun episode with good humor? Check. Main villain loses to the mane 6 outsmarting her in a way that isn't caused by her incompetence or due to dues ex macina friendship magic? Check)
S4 (Don't remember it too much but it's pretty decent. Nothing exceptional but competently done and good fun. Solid 7/10)
S1 (Don't really care for this one too much. Too much of it is just explaining the setting and characters and Nightmare Moon is such a wasted villain. Took such a cool character concept and turned her into a lame generic villain. Not horrible but pretty mediocre)
S3 (Good songs and the Twilight + Spike stuff save the episode. Sombra is a lame villain and the rest of the mane 6 are just here to eat up screentime which really drags the episode down. Twilight and Spike exploring the castle is really cool though and definitely the highlight of the episode)
S6 (Suffers from the exact same problems that the Season 3 premier had. Had this been just a Starlight Spike and Sunburst episode as a 1 parter it would have been pretty good but everything that doesn't feature them is such a drag)
And for Finales:
S2 (Great songs cool villain. Conflict is set up well and the fight scene in the second half is fun. My favorite episode ever and I doubt it will ever be topped)
S5 (Cool concept and the "what if" futures are really cool to think about. Also similar to the Season 5 premier Starlight is defeated differently then most the villains are, this time by talking her out of it. Her motivation could have been handled a bit better and the friendship montage at the end was a mistake but ignoring that the episode is awesome)
S6 (Another unique finale. Discord and Trixie steal the show but Starlight and Thorax are good in this episode too. The ending was REALLY dumb but everything leading up to it is top quality)
S4 (Not the biggest fan of Tirek but the fight scene is cool although I'm glad that isn't what the show has become. Although they did build up the plot device to save the day all season it's still just lame to see such a powerful villain just get bitchslapped by friendship magic and defeated with little effort. It felt like they ran out of time. It would have been way cooler if they actually had a fight vs him rather then just rainbow lasering him)
S1 (I haven't watched this episode in like 5 years I have no clue if it's actually good or not. I just remember not caring for it much when I watched it)
S3 (Worst musical episode by far. Alicorn Twilight is still the biggest mistake the show's made so far and the rest of the episode isn't that good either. Rushed as hell too)
I sort of rushed through this so most the reasons I gave are pretty bad.
My reactions to y'all hating on Magical Mystery Cure:
But okay, let's do finale and premiere rankings.
Premieres:
Amazing: S5, S2
Great: S6, S3
Good: S1
Okay: S4
Finales:
Amazing: S6, S5, S4, S3, S2, S1
Huh. I just realised I kinda love all of the finales. I almost put S4 down a category, but I think that's just my lack of love for S4 in general spilling over.
But okay, let's do finale and premiere rankings.
Premieres:
Amazing: S5, S2
Great: S6, S3
Good: S1
Okay: S4
Finales:
Amazing: S6, S5, S4, S3, S2, S1
Huh. I just realised I kinda love all of the finales. I almost put S4 down a category, but I think that's just my lack of love for S4 in general spilling over.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
S1 is a nice simple story that makes use of all the characters. Not all of them need to be a big stupid threat to equestria.
S2. Really good. Hell, I even like how they handled Celestia's capture because it made sense, and was a fun twist on the "love conquers all" trope by having a villain who can use that power. I didn't particularly like the S5 finale, all of the alternate timelines are stupid and make no sense, but can forgive a lot because it's about time travel.
S3 has grown on me. The problems I have with it aren't with the episode, but with the season. There wasn't anything resembling a good build up to that finale. On it's own, and if you imagine proper build up throughout the season, I think it works fine.
I didn't particularly like the S5 finale, all of the alternate timelines are stupid and make no sense, but can forgive a lot because it's about time travel. Time travel by it's very nature is stupid and makes no sense. Then there's the instant-redemption at the end because they didn't want to bother with a redemption arc like they did with Discord and Sunset.
S6 ranks low because of the stupid premise of just off screen capturing everyone in order to shoehorn the secondary characters into the spotlight. I have no problem with the secondary character's taking the lead, but for once it would be nice if the writers thought about a way to raise them up without bringing other character's down.
S4 ranks at the bottom because the entire story is nonsensical. It's like a Star Wars Prequel. Stupid story with a flashy fight scene.
"Twilight, we need to hide the magic with you because Tirek doesn't know about you."
"Didn't we just discus how Discord betrayed us, so there's no way Tirek doesn't know about me?"
"Look Twilight, we need a big stupid fight scene at the end, and we don't care about the story making sense to get it."
S2. Really good. Hell, I even like how they handled Celestia's capture because it made sense, and was a fun twist on the "love conquers all" trope by having a villain who can use that power. I didn't particularly like the S5 finale, all of the alternate timelines are stupid and make no sense, but can forgive a lot because it's about time travel.
S3 has grown on me. The problems I have with it aren't with the episode, but with the season. There wasn't anything resembling a good build up to that finale. On it's own, and if you imagine proper build up throughout the season, I think it works fine.
I didn't particularly like the S5 finale, all of the alternate timelines are stupid and make no sense, but can forgive a lot because it's about time travel. Time travel by it's very nature is stupid and makes no sense. Then there's the instant-redemption at the end because they didn't want to bother with a redemption arc like they did with Discord and Sunset.
S6 ranks low because of the stupid premise of just off screen capturing everyone in order to shoehorn the secondary characters into the spotlight. I have no problem with the secondary character's taking the lead, but for once it would be nice if the writers thought about a way to raise them up without bringing other character's down.
S4 ranks at the bottom because the entire story is nonsensical. It's like a Star Wars Prequel. Stupid story with a flashy fight scene.
"Twilight, we need to hide the magic with you because Tirek doesn't know about you."
"Didn't we just discus how Discord betrayed us, so there's no way Tirek doesn't know about me?"
"Look Twilight, we need a big stupid fight scene at the end, and we don't care about the story making sense to get it."
Haha, oh wow, I didn't remember that scene coming after the Discord betrayal. That's a surprisingly huge flaw in the plan.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
I firmly believe the entire script was written around having a bid dumb fight scene at the end.
Trigonometrize.
Member
I really don't get how nonsense like the season 4 finale is held on a higher pedestal than season 3. Twilight fighting Tirek with princess power over just having Celestia take care of it was stupid even WITHOUT the fact that Tirek not knowing about Princess Twilight gives them no actual advantage. And then having Discord redeemed for a second time despite the fact he would've otherwise completely enslaved them had Tirek not betrayed Discord was completely baffling. That guy is evil.
I liked what they did with Discord, personally. As someone who felt that his original turn was pretty contrived, having him relapse was satisfying.
Were it not for Tirek having easy access to information about Twilight, I think the magic stockpiling scheme wasn't too bad. It would've given Twilight both a huge amount of power and the element of surprise, which none of the other Princesses could've had.
I like the fight, too. It's a very rare example in MLP of a character resorting to violence out of anger, which I felt was an interesting direction to go in. I liked that it was ultimately painted as futile, too.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
Well, there was also the problem that the magic was given to Twilight just because.
Twilight, who had never met Tirek before, and had never wielded magic like that, fought him to a draw.
Goes to figure that had either Celestia or Luna gotten the magic, they would have defeated him. Having first hand experience of his fighting style, and both having wielded a massive amount of power before.
Twilight, who had never met Tirek before, and had never wielded magic like that, fought him to a draw.
Goes to figure that had either Celestia or Luna gotten the magic, they would have defeated him. Having first hand experience of his fighting style, and both having wielded a massive amount of power before.
I think the only reason Twilight got picked was because she was unknown to Tirek (yeah, well) and thus capable of hiding until a better plan could be formed.
The implication seemed to me to be that a straight fight with Tirek was not an option. He'd absorbed too much power and would be impossible to defeat for any of the Princesses, regardless of pooling their magic.
SigmasonicX
Member
I'm writing a post about my thoughts about the season, but it's taking a long time due to how I ending up rereading the entire thread. I have other things to do tonight, so it's probably coming tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll try to keep up with the discussion we're actually having.
If Chrysalis knew about it, then she likely kept it from her brood to keep them under control. If Thorax's brood isn't a clear upgrade, such as them no longer being able to transform, then she also could have thought the hunger was worth the benefits of her form and/or thought it was a purer form of changeling.
Ranking the finales is a bit difficult, due to how different they are, especially the season 1 finale. I probably would place season 4 at the bottom, even though I definitely don't have the seething hatred for it that DrForester does. It was neat having a big fight scene, but the story just didn't come together that well. People like the season 2 finale due to the changeling surprise, but personally, I feel like the episodes don't stand up as well on rewatches, especially since Cadance and Shining Armor still aren't all that interesting. One thing I have to give it over the other finales, which it doesn't get enough credit for, is actually the "Love is in Bloom" song, especially the piano section at the start and end. It just makes the ending so nice in a way the other finale endings don't match. Season 3's finale is a story mess, but the songs are great, and I just can't hate it. Season 5's and 6's finales were both interesting all throughout.
For now, I suppose it's:
6 > 5 > 2 > 3 > 1 > 4
As for season openers, season 1's is honestly pretty bad, especially after the increase in spectacle with future two parters. There's a reason people often tell new viewers to skip it. Season 2's is the strongest straightforward "defeat the villain with a friendship blast" season opening. Season 3's is better on rewatches, while season 4's is worse, now that we're past the stage where presenting Princess Twilight and Goodguy Discord in a way acceptable to the fans is an important issue. Season 5's is the strongest overall, largely due to going into unexplored territory for the show. Season 6 is alright, but doesn't feel particularly season-opener-ish.
5 > 2 > 3 > 4 > 6 > 1
==
Explore Equestria Greatest Hits vinyl record track list revealed
Side A
1. "My Little Pony Theme Song" (Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity & Fluttershy)
2. "B.B.B.F.F." (Twilight Sparkle)
3. "This Day Aria" (Queen Chrysalis & Princess Cadance)
4. "What My Cutie Mark is Telling Me" (Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity & Fluttershy)
5. "A True, True Friend" (Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity & Fluttershy)
6. "Hearts as Strong as Horses" (Apple Bloom, Scootaloo & Sweetie Belle)
7. "Bats" (Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy & Spike)
8. "Generosity" (Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity & Fluttershy)
Side B
9. "Glass of Water" (Discord)
10. "Find the Music in You" (The Pony Tones)
11. "Music in the Treetops" (Fluttershy)
12. "Flim Flam Miracle Curative Tonic" (Flim Flam & Silver Shill)
13. "You’ll Play Your Part" (Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, Princess Lun & Princess Cadance)
14. "Let the Rainbow Remind You" (Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy & Spike)
15. "Celestia’s Ballad" (Princess Celestia)
16. "On My Own" (Apple Bloom)
Track lists of previous records, for reference. Here's where we talked about it in the Community thread. I mentioned back then that it was odd that those vinyls had so few "Magical Mystery Cure" songs and season 4 songs, and here they are! Also a random season 6 song. The inclusion of "A Glass of Water" is odd, since that's carried by the visuals far more than John de Lancie's singing.
Some upcoming toys, notable that after over five years, we're finally getting toys with the gala dresses from the season 1 finale, "The Best Night Ever".
The changelings had access to infinite free energy all this time, and yet they turned into a society that needed to gather energy instead?
I don't think the writers of MLP have taken a basic economics course.
If Chrysalis knew about it, then she likely kept it from her brood to keep them under control. If Thorax's brood isn't a clear upgrade, such as them no longer being able to transform, then she also could have thought the hunger was worth the benefits of her form and/or thought it was a purer form of changeling.
Ranking the finales is a bit difficult, due to how different they are, especially the season 1 finale. I probably would place season 4 at the bottom, even though I definitely don't have the seething hatred for it that DrForester does. It was neat having a big fight scene, but the story just didn't come together that well. People like the season 2 finale due to the changeling surprise, but personally, I feel like the episodes don't stand up as well on rewatches, especially since Cadance and Shining Armor still aren't all that interesting. One thing I have to give it over the other finales, which it doesn't get enough credit for, is actually the "Love is in Bloom" song, especially the piano section at the start and end. It just makes the ending so nice in a way the other finale endings don't match. Season 3's finale is a story mess, but the songs are great, and I just can't hate it. Season 5's and 6's finales were both interesting all throughout.
For now, I suppose it's:
6 > 5 > 2 > 3 > 1 > 4
As for season openers, season 1's is honestly pretty bad, especially after the increase in spectacle with future two parters. There's a reason people often tell new viewers to skip it. Season 2's is the strongest straightforward "defeat the villain with a friendship blast" season opening. Season 3's is better on rewatches, while season 4's is worse, now that we're past the stage where presenting Princess Twilight and Goodguy Discord in a way acceptable to the fans is an important issue. Season 5's is the strongest overall, largely due to going into unexplored territory for the show. Season 6 is alright, but doesn't feel particularly season-opener-ish.
5 > 2 > 3 > 4 > 6 > 1
==
Explore Equestria Greatest Hits vinyl record track list revealed
Side A
1. "My Little Pony Theme Song" (Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity & Fluttershy)
2. "B.B.B.F.F." (Twilight Sparkle)
3. "This Day Aria" (Queen Chrysalis & Princess Cadance)
4. "What My Cutie Mark is Telling Me" (Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity & Fluttershy)
5. "A True, True Friend" (Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity & Fluttershy)
6. "Hearts as Strong as Horses" (Apple Bloom, Scootaloo & Sweetie Belle)
7. "Bats" (Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy & Spike)
8. "Generosity" (Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity & Fluttershy)
Side B
9. "Glass of Water" (Discord)
10. "Find the Music in You" (The Pony Tones)
11. "Music in the Treetops" (Fluttershy)
12. "Flim Flam Miracle Curative Tonic" (Flim Flam & Silver Shill)
13. "You’ll Play Your Part" (Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, Princess Lun & Princess Cadance)
14. "Let the Rainbow Remind You" (Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy & Spike)
15. "Celestia’s Ballad" (Princess Celestia)
16. "On My Own" (Apple Bloom)
Track lists of previous records, for reference. Here's where we talked about it in the Community thread. I mentioned back then that it was odd that those vinyls had so few "Magical Mystery Cure" songs and season 4 songs, and here they are! Also a random season 6 song. The inclusion of "A Glass of Water" is odd, since that's carried by the visuals far more than John de Lancie's singing.
Some upcoming toys, notable that after over five years, we're finally getting toys with the gala dresses from the season 1 finale, "The Best Night Ever".
Choppasmith
Member
I'll be honest, The Season 4 finale ranks so high on my list because of that fight. Actually had an old high school friend who got into the show tell me on Facebook how he would let his kid watch the show here and there, never really paid attention to it before until he basically went "HOLY CRAP!" at that fight and became hooked to the show.
And I guess if we're ranking Season Openers
5 > 4 > 3 > 2 > 6 > 1
Now I know what you're thinking "What?!? Return of Harmony is SO LOW! Are you CRAZY?"
It's a great episode. I was really invested in it at the time. Unlike the other two parters they actually aired the two parts a week apart. I was actually at the edge of my seat with the way part one ended. Watching it now though, it's just sort of "Ehhhh". Again, not a bad episode, I just don't enjoy it as much as I originally did.
The changelings had access to infinite free energy all this time, and yet they turned into a society that needed to gather energy instead?
I don't think the writers of MLP have taken a basic economics course.
It could just be because Chrysalis is just a big idiot who can't see beyond her superiority complex.
I found it to not only be the worst finale, but one of the worst episodes of the show. Right there with the likes of Mare-Do-Well. It almost made me stop watching.
Part of it was because it was like a Disney musical (which I detest), but it felt forced/rushed.(along with the season really).
At least, the S4 finale had an almost anime like fight (which I do enjoy) even if, like mentioned, it was weird/stupid to give all power to Twilight to fight Tirek. Instead of, you know, an experienced fighter.
I had more issues, but honestly it's been so long that I've forgotten most (iirc I hated something about how she cast the spell/fixed it by herself, but can't remember the specifics).
Hm, finales in preference:
6 > 2 > 5 > 1 > 4 > 3 (if I could, I wouldn't even put it on the rankings because I disliked it so much)
Openers:
6 > 5 > 1 > 3 (yep, I didn't really mind the opener) > 4 > 2 (honestly just not a fan of Discord or most of his episodes).
SigmasonicX
Member
Alright, time to go over the season as a whole. I ended up writing a pretty big post, so I broke it into sections for convenience.
Episodes
I haven't rewatched the season yet, but taking into account my previous posts and my current gut responses to the episodes, I'd rate them (bad < meh < OK < good < great):
1-2. The Crystalling - OK; it didn't gain potential future points due to not actually doing anything of note with Flurry Heart and Sunburst afterward.
3. The Gift Of Maud Pie - Meh; I was OK with the episode at the time, but in retrospect, I feel there's little notable other than some visual gags.
4. On Your Marks - Bad; when I looked at my episode review, I had forgotten a lot of the events I brought up. This is one I'll almost definitely skip when I watch the season with my family.
5. Gauntlet of Fire - Good; dragons didn't come up again, so it loses potential points for that.
6. No Second Prances - Good; I mention in my review that I don't like Trixie's voice, but I didn't mind it in "To Where and Back Again", so maybe I won't mind as much on a rewatch. Also, I notice in my roundup post, one piece of fanart predicted Discord teaming up with Starlight and Trixie.
7. Newbie Dash - Good; obviously a "your millage may vary" episode, but I was fine with the cringe humor.
8. A Hearth's Warming Tail - Great; in retrospect, they should have leveraged this episode to develop Starlight more, but still very enjoyable.
9. The Saddle Row Review - Great; up there among the best of the series, I think.
10. Applejack's "Day'' Off - Bad; 0% chance I'll rewatch this any time soon.
11. Flutter Brutter - OK; my review was positive, but over time my feelings have dimmed. Maybe I'll like it more again after a rewatch.
12. Spice Up Your Life - OK; good song, but nothing else stood out too much.
13. Stranger Than Fan Fiction - Great; justified Daring Do being real.
14. The Cart Before the Ponies - Meh; I still like the song, but the episode still seems weak.
15. 28 Pranks Later - Meh; still better than "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well", and this might be something I like more on rewatch.
16. The Times They Are a Changeling - OK; in retrospect, there should have been another Thorax episode before the finale.
17. Dungeons and Discord - OK; some others have said this is better on a rewatch.
18. Buckball Season - Good; or maybe OK, I think it's right on the border.
19. The Fault in Our Cutie Marks - Good
20. Viva Las Pegasus - Good; definitely the surprise of the season for me.
21. Every Little Thing She Does - Good; I was a bit uncomfortable on first watch, mainly due to anticipating everyone else's response, but it should be better on rewatches.
22. P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View) - OK; I still think they played their hand with Pirate Applejack too early.
23. Where the Apple Lies - Good
24. Top Bolt - Great; though closer to the good side, maybe
25-26. To Where and Back Again - Great; though I feel like this will change on rewatch.
In the end, I suppose season 6 was overall better than I was giving it credit for. In the first half of the season, it started out weak, had a strong middle, but then had a weak finish. Then while the second half started with a good episode, the next few after that were all pretty weak, then the last few episodes were all strong. Looking at season 5, that also had weak episodes, but there generally weren't more than two in a row.
Advancing the series
Season 5 advanced the series in various ways, including the unique villain in the premiere, how it presented the Main Six in as being older and more grown-up in some ways, how it quickly brought back stuff from the previous seasons and earlier episodes that season, and how it pushed side characters to the foreground. However, "Slice of Life" and "Amending Fences" didn't turn out to reflect the show's future, and out of all the non-Starlight characters introduced in season 5, it was only Spoiled Rich that got a major role in a season 6 episode. Ignoring continuity stuff, if season 6 episodes were shuffled into season 4, I think they'd be appreciated more.
But since I brought up continuity, I do have to commend the show crew for how many references to previous episodes were included without feeling awkward. In "The Saddle Row Review", for instance, we didn't have to wonder about Coco Pommel's absence because she was right there, and we got a bonus reference to "Too Many Pinkie Pies" that still works even if you hadn't seen the episode.
Compared to previous seasons, season 6 was much better about having various episodes come together in the finale, and Starlight's arc is unique for the series. For our episode guide, I imagine season 6 will have the largest number of "important" stories since season 1. Season 4 attempted to a story arc based on MacGuffins the heroes had to collect, but I feel the character-based arc in season 6 better fits the show.
Storylines and Character Usage
Comparing seasons 6 and 5, one thing that stands out to me is that while both have ambitious stories that bring about major changes, season 5 is better at making those episodes significant and, well, better. Compare the Cutie Mark Crusaders getting their cutie marks to Rainbow Dash becoming a Wonderbolt. The former was a big musical and is widely regarded as on the upper end of the entire the series. The latter got a mixed reception, and while I liked it, I can admit that it just didn't feel important. I'm not saying it should have been a musical, but they could have done more to make it a bigger spectacle. Of course, part of the problem is that we had several previous episodes of Rainbow Dash inching her way up the ranks, so it would have been hard to make it feel like a big deal no matter what. Still, as is, it doesn't feel like becoming a Wonderbolt mattered much for her character.
"The Times They Are a Changeling" was very important for the season, but it was just OK and had a very safe and straightforward story. In "On Your Marks", Apple Bloom's confusion about what's next should have been compelling, but it was mostly dull instead. This season had stories that impact the characters or plot, and great episodes. I think it would have been much more warmly received if the former were also all great, which I feel is something season 5 achieved.
This season set up a couple of plot threads that it didn't really follow through on. First of all, almost nothing from "The Crystalling" came up again, other than brief appearances from Flurry Heart and Sunburst in "The Times They Are a Changeling" and little more than mentions in "To Where and Back Again". "The Saddle Row Review" had Rarity open up a third shop, but while her Canterlot shop appeared a second time in season 5, neither shop did so in season 6. Rainbow Dash being a Wonderbolt didn't come up again until "Top Bolt", and made episodes like "28 Pranks Later" seem even more out of character for her. Despite "Gauntlet of Fire" doing some major world building, it wasn't relevant for the rest of the season. I don't consider this a huge issue, especially since it's what we expect from the show, but it's still an area to improve on.
There also appear to be fewer stories that do interesting things with the main characters. A common complaint about various individual episodes is that they play it very safe with characterization or revert to "classic" versions. However, I have to give credit to "No Second Prances" for its willingness to present Twilight as unpleasant at times, along with every Spike episode being at least decent.
Starlight Glimmer
Of course, one can't talk about season 6 as a whole without talking about Starlight. She definitely could have used one or two more episodes to better smooth out her character progression, but I thought she was handled in an interesting way. I've compared Sunset and Starlight in the past, but in brief, I think Starlight trying to be reformed while still having villainous qualities is a surprisingly bold move for this franchise, as compared to Sunset instantly being pure good. Discord still acts in villainous ways, of course, but you don't get the impression that he's trying to be good but failing.
The episodes focusing on Starlight are the premiere, "No Second Prances", "Every Little Thing She Does", and the finale. "A Hearth's Warming Tail" doesn't count. The premiere served to more or less reintroduce Starlight as a heroic character, and in that regard, I think it worked well. In the second story, making Trixie her closest friend worked out far better than I would have expected, for both characters. I appreciate the third story, but there definitely should have been a followup episode. She hasn't actually interacted with the non-Twilight Main Six much after that episode, so perhaps we'll get a scene of them being nervous around her in season 7, but that's still too much of a delay. The finale could have been slightly adjusted to better act as a followup, perhaps with her just mentioning to Trixie what happened after they leave her town, to explain why she was so nervous about taking charge.
It seems like Starlight will be sticking around, so it will be interesting to see what they do with her in the future.
Overall
Overall, I think one big issue with this season is that of prioritization. Some episodes should have been better to provide a better overall season, and some episodes could have afforded to be worse. You can't just redistribute episode quality, but episodes like "The Times They Are a Changeling" should have gotten more time and resources than it did, and they probably should have made Flurry Heart's introduction a single episode, so maybe the two-parter slot could have been used for the former story. But of course, it's very likely that would have been impossible given marketing and scheduling realities. And really, this season isn't bad for not doing what I'm suggesting.
There's also the issue that there were stretches of multiple weak episodes in a row, and maybe some rescheduling with that in mind could have improved my initial reaction to the season. However, the fact that some of the big "must watch" stories ended up being merely OK or getting a mixed reaction will prevent that from being a perfect solution.
I had a big post examining the previous seasons here, where I gave the following ranking:
5 > 2 > 6 > 4 > 1 > 3
I believe that still applies for me. Despite how harsh I was on season 6 in this post, it's still pretty good.
==
Following up on things from my previous posts, Daniel Ingram posted that he wrote 3 villain songs and one would be in "A Hearth's Warming Tail". There were no other villain songs this season, so I guess both were for Legend of Everfree, counting both the Gloriosa song and one of Twilight's I suppose.
At the start of July, there was this secret project that was hinted about. It turned out this was just Guardians of Harmony, which wasn't officially announced until then.
When the synopsis for "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks" was posted (after the "Stranger Than Fan Fiction" discussion), I posted an MLP Facebook image that depicted a bunch of griffons, one of which could have been Gabby. It wasn't.
For future reference, the missing image in this post was a picture of Applejack's map, I believe, which had a bunyip on it.
Episodes
I haven't rewatched the season yet, but taking into account my previous posts and my current gut responses to the episodes, I'd rate them (bad < meh < OK < good < great):
1-2. The Crystalling - OK; it didn't gain potential future points due to not actually doing anything of note with Flurry Heart and Sunburst afterward.
3. The Gift Of Maud Pie - Meh; I was OK with the episode at the time, but in retrospect, I feel there's little notable other than some visual gags.
4. On Your Marks - Bad; when I looked at my episode review, I had forgotten a lot of the events I brought up. This is one I'll almost definitely skip when I watch the season with my family.
5. Gauntlet of Fire - Good; dragons didn't come up again, so it loses potential points for that.
6. No Second Prances - Good; I mention in my review that I don't like Trixie's voice, but I didn't mind it in "To Where and Back Again", so maybe I won't mind as much on a rewatch. Also, I notice in my roundup post, one piece of fanart predicted Discord teaming up with Starlight and Trixie.
7. Newbie Dash - Good; obviously a "your millage may vary" episode, but I was fine with the cringe humor.
8. A Hearth's Warming Tail - Great; in retrospect, they should have leveraged this episode to develop Starlight more, but still very enjoyable.
9. The Saddle Row Review - Great; up there among the best of the series, I think.
10. Applejack's "Day'' Off - Bad; 0% chance I'll rewatch this any time soon.
11. Flutter Brutter - OK; my review was positive, but over time my feelings have dimmed. Maybe I'll like it more again after a rewatch.
12. Spice Up Your Life - OK; good song, but nothing else stood out too much.
13. Stranger Than Fan Fiction - Great; justified Daring Do being real.
14. The Cart Before the Ponies - Meh; I still like the song, but the episode still seems weak.
15. 28 Pranks Later - Meh; still better than "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well", and this might be something I like more on rewatch.
16. The Times They Are a Changeling - OK; in retrospect, there should have been another Thorax episode before the finale.
17. Dungeons and Discord - OK; some others have said this is better on a rewatch.
18. Buckball Season - Good; or maybe OK, I think it's right on the border.
19. The Fault in Our Cutie Marks - Good
20. Viva Las Pegasus - Good; definitely the surprise of the season for me.
21. Every Little Thing She Does - Good; I was a bit uncomfortable on first watch, mainly due to anticipating everyone else's response, but it should be better on rewatches.
22. P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View) - OK; I still think they played their hand with Pirate Applejack too early.
23. Where the Apple Lies - Good
24. Top Bolt - Great; though closer to the good side, maybe
25-26. To Where and Back Again - Great; though I feel like this will change on rewatch.
In the end, I suppose season 6 was overall better than I was giving it credit for. In the first half of the season, it started out weak, had a strong middle, but then had a weak finish. Then while the second half started with a good episode, the next few after that were all pretty weak, then the last few episodes were all strong. Looking at season 5, that also had weak episodes, but there generally weren't more than two in a row.
Advancing the series
Season 5 advanced the series in various ways, including the unique villain in the premiere, how it presented the Main Six in as being older and more grown-up in some ways, how it quickly brought back stuff from the previous seasons and earlier episodes that season, and how it pushed side characters to the foreground. However, "Slice of Life" and "Amending Fences" didn't turn out to reflect the show's future, and out of all the non-Starlight characters introduced in season 5, it was only Spoiled Rich that got a major role in a season 6 episode. Ignoring continuity stuff, if season 6 episodes were shuffled into season 4, I think they'd be appreciated more.
But since I brought up continuity, I do have to commend the show crew for how many references to previous episodes were included without feeling awkward. In "The Saddle Row Review", for instance, we didn't have to wonder about Coco Pommel's absence because she was right there, and we got a bonus reference to "Too Many Pinkie Pies" that still works even if you hadn't seen the episode.
Compared to previous seasons, season 6 was much better about having various episodes come together in the finale, and Starlight's arc is unique for the series. For our episode guide, I imagine season 6 will have the largest number of "important" stories since season 1. Season 4 attempted to a story arc based on MacGuffins the heroes had to collect, but I feel the character-based arc in season 6 better fits the show.
Storylines and Character Usage
Comparing seasons 6 and 5, one thing that stands out to me is that while both have ambitious stories that bring about major changes, season 5 is better at making those episodes significant and, well, better. Compare the Cutie Mark Crusaders getting their cutie marks to Rainbow Dash becoming a Wonderbolt. The former was a big musical and is widely regarded as on the upper end of the entire the series. The latter got a mixed reception, and while I liked it, I can admit that it just didn't feel important. I'm not saying it should have been a musical, but they could have done more to make it a bigger spectacle. Of course, part of the problem is that we had several previous episodes of Rainbow Dash inching her way up the ranks, so it would have been hard to make it feel like a big deal no matter what. Still, as is, it doesn't feel like becoming a Wonderbolt mattered much for her character.
"The Times They Are a Changeling" was very important for the season, but it was just OK and had a very safe and straightforward story. In "On Your Marks", Apple Bloom's confusion about what's next should have been compelling, but it was mostly dull instead. This season had stories that impact the characters or plot, and great episodes. I think it would have been much more warmly received if the former were also all great, which I feel is something season 5 achieved.
This season set up a couple of plot threads that it didn't really follow through on. First of all, almost nothing from "The Crystalling" came up again, other than brief appearances from Flurry Heart and Sunburst in "The Times They Are a Changeling" and little more than mentions in "To Where and Back Again". "The Saddle Row Review" had Rarity open up a third shop, but while her Canterlot shop appeared a second time in season 5, neither shop did so in season 6. Rainbow Dash being a Wonderbolt didn't come up again until "Top Bolt", and made episodes like "28 Pranks Later" seem even more out of character for her. Despite "Gauntlet of Fire" doing some major world building, it wasn't relevant for the rest of the season. I don't consider this a huge issue, especially since it's what we expect from the show, but it's still an area to improve on.
There also appear to be fewer stories that do interesting things with the main characters. A common complaint about various individual episodes is that they play it very safe with characterization or revert to "classic" versions. However, I have to give credit to "No Second Prances" for its willingness to present Twilight as unpleasant at times, along with every Spike episode being at least decent.
Starlight Glimmer
Of course, one can't talk about season 6 as a whole without talking about Starlight. She definitely could have used one or two more episodes to better smooth out her character progression, but I thought she was handled in an interesting way. I've compared Sunset and Starlight in the past, but in brief, I think Starlight trying to be reformed while still having villainous qualities is a surprisingly bold move for this franchise, as compared to Sunset instantly being pure good. Discord still acts in villainous ways, of course, but you don't get the impression that he's trying to be good but failing.
The episodes focusing on Starlight are the premiere, "No Second Prances", "Every Little Thing She Does", and the finale. "A Hearth's Warming Tail" doesn't count. The premiere served to more or less reintroduce Starlight as a heroic character, and in that regard, I think it worked well. In the second story, making Trixie her closest friend worked out far better than I would have expected, for both characters. I appreciate the third story, but there definitely should have been a followup episode. She hasn't actually interacted with the non-Twilight Main Six much after that episode, so perhaps we'll get a scene of them being nervous around her in season 7, but that's still too much of a delay. The finale could have been slightly adjusted to better act as a followup, perhaps with her just mentioning to Trixie what happened after they leave her town, to explain why she was so nervous about taking charge.
It seems like Starlight will be sticking around, so it will be interesting to see what they do with her in the future.
Overall
Overall, I think one big issue with this season is that of prioritization. Some episodes should have been better to provide a better overall season, and some episodes could have afforded to be worse. You can't just redistribute episode quality, but episodes like "The Times They Are a Changeling" should have gotten more time and resources than it did, and they probably should have made Flurry Heart's introduction a single episode, so maybe the two-parter slot could have been used for the former story. But of course, it's very likely that would have been impossible given marketing and scheduling realities. And really, this season isn't bad for not doing what I'm suggesting.
There's also the issue that there were stretches of multiple weak episodes in a row, and maybe some rescheduling with that in mind could have improved my initial reaction to the season. However, the fact that some of the big "must watch" stories ended up being merely OK or getting a mixed reaction will prevent that from being a perfect solution.
I had a big post examining the previous seasons here, where I gave the following ranking:
5 > 2 > 6 > 4 > 1 > 3
I believe that still applies for me. Despite how harsh I was on season 6 in this post, it's still pretty good.
==
Following up on things from my previous posts, Daniel Ingram posted that he wrote 3 villain songs and one would be in "A Hearth's Warming Tail". There were no other villain songs this season, so I guess both were for Legend of Everfree, counting both the Gloriosa song and one of Twilight's I suppose.
At the start of July, there was this secret project that was hinted about. It turned out this was just Guardians of Harmony, which wasn't officially announced until then.
When the synopsis for "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks" was posted (after the "Stranger Than Fan Fiction" discussion), I posted an MLP Facebook image that depicted a bunch of griffons, one of which could have been Gabby. It wasn't.
For future reference, the missing image in this post was a picture of Applejack's map, I believe, which had a bunyip on it.
SigmasonicX
Member
No more discussion? Alright, then time to "wrap up" this thread. Of course, comic discussion and news about the show and other official stuff will still go here, but a lot more activity will be in the Community thread, especially with episode guide voting starting now.
Short movie prequel book coming August 1, 2017. The description doesn't say anything of note.
Some other interesting books that ED didn't highlight:
My Little Pony: Mystery Series Book #1
Join the Cutie Mark CrusadersSweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootalooas they read mysteries, legends, ghost stories, and every other kind of tale that makes a mane stand on end. From Ponyville School classmates to Rainbow Dash to the Princess of the Night herself, you never know who else...or what else...awaits. Ideal for younger and more reluctant readers, this new original series complements our existing chapter book program with numbered titles, shorter page counts, and a perennial popular genre. These spooky stories are sure to appeal to all My Little Pony fansboth girl and boy.
Released April 4, 2017
(#2 released July 3, 2017)
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: POB #8
Join Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy as they rely on their special friendships to guide them through the highs and lows of being students at Canterlot High in three short stories!
Released July 6, 2017
The first is an unexpected idea for a book series. Plus, the fact that we're still getting a new book series is surprising. The second, I assume, is actually a continuation of the Equestria Girls movie/shorts adaptations. Will there be more shorts coming?
==
And now the final episode roundup of this thread!
Video - The Many Faces of Season 6, a compilation.
Comics
Sky Stinger's Big Mouth - another Princess of Flying comic
Terrible Event Horizon - that guy that makes those changeling comics doesn't like the new design
Pinkie Want Skittles
I've found you
Balloon Thorax
Meanwhile, in an alternate reality...
For Fluttershy!
Fallen Queen
Grumpy Old Supervillains
Changeling King (humanized)
Fluttershys
Flying After 6
I will back... (sic)
The Odd Team of Heroes
A New Leader's Light
A Change of Heroes
Short movie prequel book coming August 1, 2017. The description doesn't say anything of note.
Some other interesting books that ED didn't highlight:
My Little Pony: Mystery Series Book #1
Join the Cutie Mark CrusadersSweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootalooas they read mysteries, legends, ghost stories, and every other kind of tale that makes a mane stand on end. From Ponyville School classmates to Rainbow Dash to the Princess of the Night herself, you never know who else...or what else...awaits. Ideal for younger and more reluctant readers, this new original series complements our existing chapter book program with numbered titles, shorter page counts, and a perennial popular genre. These spooky stories are sure to appeal to all My Little Pony fansboth girl and boy.
Released April 4, 2017
(#2 released July 3, 2017)
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: POB #8
Join Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy as they rely on their special friendships to guide them through the highs and lows of being students at Canterlot High in three short stories!
Released July 6, 2017
The first is an unexpected idea for a book series. Plus, the fact that we're still getting a new book series is surprising. The second, I assume, is actually a continuation of the Equestria Girls movie/shorts adaptations. Will there be more shorts coming?
==
And now the final episode roundup of this thread!
Video - The Many Faces of Season 6, a compilation.
Comics
Sky Stinger's Big Mouth - another Princess of Flying comic
Terrible Event Horizon - that guy that makes those changeling comics doesn't like the new design
Pinkie Want Skittles
I've found you
Balloon Thorax
Meanwhile, in an alternate reality...
For Fluttershy!
Fallen Queen
Grumpy Old Supervillains
Changeling King (humanized)
Fluttershys
Flying After 6
I will back... (sic)
The Odd Team of Heroes
A New Leader's Light
A Change of Heroes
SigmasonicX
Member
Friendship is Magic #48 - Accord part 1
I thought this was a pretty good issue. The art was great, with cute moments like Twilight eating cereal with her hair up, and creepy moments like the ending. I thought everyone accepted Discord's change into Accord a bit too quickly, but I liked how Starlight and Fluttershy were less enthusiastic. I like Accord's design, though the continued asymmetry is odd given his theme. Though perhaps that's foreshadowing.
EDIT: In Silver Quill's review, he goes more into how odd it is that no one seems concerned about how Discord had this change forced on him. Also, I thought this was a neat panel.
I thought this was a pretty good issue. The art was great, with cute moments like Twilight eating cereal with her hair up, and creepy moments like the ending. I thought everyone accepted Discord's change into Accord a bit too quickly, but I liked how Starlight and Fluttershy were less enthusiastic. I like Accord's design, though the continued asymmetry is odd given his theme. Though perhaps that's foreshadowing.
EDIT: In Silver Quill's review, he goes more into how odd it is that no one seems concerned about how Discord had this change forced on him. Also, I thought this was a neat panel.
ShinySylvee
Member
Friendship is Magic #48 - Accord part 1
I thought this was a pretty good issue. The art was great, with cute moments like Twilight eating cereal with her hair up, and creepy moments like the ending. I thought everyone accepted Discord's change into Accord a bit too quickly, but I liked how Starlight and Fluttershy were less enthusiastic. I like Accord's design, though the continued asymmetry is odd given his theme. Though perhaps that's foreshadowing.
EDIT: In Silver Quill's review, he goes more into how odd it is that no one seems concerned about how Discord had this changed forced on him. Also, I thought this was a neat panel.
I hope that they don't just end up having it so Starlight basically solves everything. I love her a lot and I'm glad she's getting a spotlight in this arc but I don't want it to come at the expense of everyone else. Twilight in general has really suffered in Season 6 being a teacher of Starlight as she is usually completely oblivious to all the troubles that Starlight is going through and it's usually Spike or in the finale's case Luna that has to tell her to bring it up with Twilight. And in this comic it's a problem again. To a degree I can understand the other mane 5 minus Fluttershy being totally cool with Accord since most of them were largely just tolerant of him rather then actually liking him and since they aren't very magically affluent it's believable that they wouldn't recognize that Discord used a mind control spell on the architects. And MAYBE Twilight might not recognize it since that's a darker kind of magic then what she usually uses. But Starlight points it out to her and she still just brushes it off without much thought. Common sense would say that someone that is the polar opposite of Discord would probably be extremely dangerous given how insane he was but Twilight just doesn't make the connection and assumes it was an honest mistake. Doesn't bring it up privately with Accord to make sure it's not going to be a problem or anything. It's just annoying that every time something obviously problematic is happening she's just completely oblivious to it. She's quickly becoming Celestia levels of useless.
Twilight's idiocy and the prospect of everyone besides Starlight jobbing to Accord the comic was pretty cool though. I thought that Starlight, Fluttershy, and Applejack acted fairly in character and did a fairly good job at representing all viewpoints the audience might have had with the situation. I feel like AJ as the voice against Discord makes the most sense as she's probably the main character that has the least amount of patience for that kind of shenanigans. It is just part one but I'm curious where they're going to take it.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
I have a feeling I'm going to hate this arc for the same reason I hated the season finale.
SigmasonicX
Member
Yeah, the fact that everyone but Starlight so easily dismissed Accord's mind controlling the designers was pretty odd. In Twilight's case, I figured she was more forgiving because it's what Starlight did, but really, that should have made her more worried. Still, his true colors were revealed by the end of the issue, so there wasn't really any harm.
I thought Twilight was handled fine in season 6. She had a mix of fallible moments, like what you mentioned, and also plenty of likable moments.
Yeah, besides what I mentioned with Starlight, I thought Fluttershy and Applejack were pretty in-character.
EDIT: Also, can you guys vote on the season 6 episode guide in the Community thread?
SigmasonicX
Member
Season 6 part 2 coming to Netflix on December 20. Some of you guys mentioned that you're behind on episodes, so hopefully you can catch up with this.
(Also, avatar change)
(Also, avatar change)
You did the right thing.
SigmasonicX
Member
February comic solicitations
Friendship is Magic #51
James Asmus (w) Tony Fleecs (a & mc) Heather Breckel (c) Agnes Garbowska (sc) Nicoletta Baldari (ric)
Twilight is startled to find that the most important history books in Equestria are going missing. Will she and her friends be able to uncover the identity of the mysterious new villain responsible?
Friends Forever #37
Jeremy Whitley (w) Agnes Garbowska (a) Tony Fleecs (mc) Sara Richard (sc) Melody Often (ric)
Rarity is excited to work on Sapphire Shores' next big concert! What should be a dream job could turn into a nightmare when Rarity discovers that she'll need to work closely with a pony with a checkered past Trixie!
With FiM, we have a gray unicorn with purple hair and magic... are we getting Black Twilight? The fact that a story like this isn't listed as "part 1" is surprising, but will it actually be a one-parter? Also, interestingly, the writer comes from Marvel, and note the new font for the FiM part of the logo.
With Friends Forever, that's a combination I didn't expect. Plus, is this technically a set of three friends, with Sapphire Shores?
We also got the official solicitation for Guardians of Harmony, which will be the 2017 Annual Special, but there's no new information. Note that this is for the physical release, and it's getting a digital-only release in December.
Friendship is Magic #51
James Asmus (w) Tony Fleecs (a & mc) Heather Breckel (c) Agnes Garbowska (sc) Nicoletta Baldari (ric)
Twilight is startled to find that the most important history books in Equestria are going missing. Will she and her friends be able to uncover the identity of the mysterious new villain responsible?
Friends Forever #37
Jeremy Whitley (w) Agnes Garbowska (a) Tony Fleecs (mc) Sara Richard (sc) Melody Often (ric)
Rarity is excited to work on Sapphire Shores' next big concert! What should be a dream job could turn into a nightmare when Rarity discovers that she'll need to work closely with a pony with a checkered past Trixie!
With FiM, we have a gray unicorn with purple hair and magic... are we getting Black Twilight? The fact that a story like this isn't listed as "part 1" is surprising, but will it actually be a one-parter? Also, interestingly, the writer comes from Marvel, and note the new font for the FiM part of the logo.
With Friends Forever, that's a combination I didn't expect. Plus, is this technically a set of three friends, with Sapphire Shores?
We also got the official solicitation for Guardians of Harmony, which will be the 2017 Annual Special, but there's no new information. Note that this is for the physical release, and it's getting a digital-only release in December.
SigmasonicX
Member
Friends Forever #34 - Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich
This was a pretty fun issue. I like the idea of this house going around eating party-goers, it was interesting how the story intercut with a flashback, and I liked the way Pinkie and Cheese interacted with the fillies. I thought the resolution was pretty good.
The art was fun and energetic. I like the new character designs, particularly Java Bolt.
One complaint is that, in the end, Pinkie and Cheese are too similar for there to be much benefit from both being in the story. This comic basically just has them do similar things, but they alternate who comes up with ideas. While Pinkie interacting with a similar character is actually pretty rare in the show and comic, I don't think Pinkie and Cheese's interactions were all that interesting.
Silver Quill's review.
And as a reminder, artist Jenn Blake is suffering from brain cancer. Her GoFundMe for her treatment is here. This is her last cover for the comic, a Retail Incentive for this issue.
This was a pretty fun issue. I like the idea of this house going around eating party-goers, it was interesting how the story intercut with a flashback, and I liked the way Pinkie and Cheese interacted with the fillies. I thought the resolution was pretty good.
The art was fun and energetic. I like the new character designs, particularly Java Bolt.
One complaint is that, in the end, Pinkie and Cheese are too similar for there to be much benefit from both being in the story. This comic basically just has them do similar things, but they alternate who comes up with ideas. While Pinkie interacting with a similar character is actually pretty rare in the show and comic, I don't think Pinkie and Cheese's interactions were all that interesting.
Silver Quill's review.
And as a reminder, artist Jenn Blake is suffering from brain cancer. Her GoFundMe for her treatment is here. This is her last cover for the comic, a Retail Incentive for this issue.
ShinySylvee
Member
I couldn't really get into the comic that much. I never really cared much for cheese sandwich in the first place and the premise is just a bit too weird for me. The fillies were probably the highlight for me.
By the way, in light of the newest season of MLP I feel like the two Trixie episodes are required to follow on with the story. Both of them are listed as recommended now but given how her history is given greater importance with her being a major character in the season 6 finale I feel like they need to be watched now.
By the way, in light of the newest season of MLP I feel like the two Trixie episodes are required to follow on with the story. Both of them are listed as recommended now but given how her history is given greater importance with her being a major character in the season 6 finale I feel like they need to be watched now.
SigmasonicX
Member
I'd like to avoid updating guides for previous seasons if we can. And part of the goal with the "important" episodes is to minimize the number, so I try to restrict them only to episodes that would confuse people if they were absent, and given that we previously concluded that "It's About Time" didn't pass this threshold despite its role in "Twilight's Kingdom" and "The Cutie Re-Mark", I don't think the previous Trixie episodes fit. I feel like a new viewer wouldn't be that confused if they didn't watch the recommended Trixie episodes before watching "No Second Prances", especially since we include screencaps of her with both episodes. In fact, given some reactions to Twilight's animosity in "No Second Prances", it might be less confusing if you didn't watch Trixie's previous episodes.
Plus, my view on confusion is that a character being introduced to the viewer is less confusing than a known character being different, which is why "Luna Eclipsed" and "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" are recommended, for instance. A viewer may better appreciate Trixie as a returning character in "No Second Prances", but I think she works fine as a "new" character in it.
SigmasonicX
Member
So, it turns out the digital release of Guardians of Harmony was moved to December 8th, which is why it isn't online anywhere. ED updated their comic release tracker on their forum, but no one ever made an article about this change, to my knowledge.
It also turns out that comic #51 is the start of a 3-issue arc, and it ties into season 7!
I find it hard to imagine that the comic will introduce a villain that will appear on the show, given previous hesitation toward having even Equestria Girls continuity references in the show, but perhaps the comic villain will be working under the orders of the show villain without the heroes knowing. Given the book theme, perhaps the comic introduces magical book MacGuffins that play a part in season 7.
And while I'm here, preview for Friends Forever #35 (Twilight and Starlight).
It also turns out that comic #51 is the start of a 3-issue arc, and it ties into season 7!
I find it hard to imagine that the comic will introduce a villain that will appear on the show, given previous hesitation toward having even Equestria Girls continuity references in the show, but perhaps the comic villain will be working under the orders of the show villain without the heroes knowing. Given the book theme, perhaps the comic introduces magical book MacGuffins that play a part in season 7.
And while I'm here, preview for Friends Forever #35 (Twilight and Starlight).
ShinySylvee
Member
Well a new comic dropped so I thought I'd try my hand at making a post for it.
Friends Forever #35 - Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer (And Spike and Owlowiscious)
Silver Quill in his "review" of the comic remarked that he liked the idea of Starlight appearing in the Friends Forever series as it allowed them to flesh out her interactions with the rest of the cast as the show so far has really only highlighted her relationship with Twilight, Spike, Sunburst, and Trixie. First comic unfortunately misses the notion entirely as it's about her with Twilight and Spike. (And although I usually love her interactions with Spike there's very little of it here)
Right off the bat you have to know that it's drawn by Jay Fosgitt. Opinions on his work are energized to say the least and he shows off his strengths and weaknesses as an artist in this comic. The actual drawings I think is fine and I think his art style is fairly cute and works well, but he just doesn't seem to care about making a good product and the art suffers for it. First off Starlight has her season 5 villain mane style because I guess he couldn't spend 2 seconds to look the character up and see if anything changed since then. There's like 5 backgrounds he uses for the whole comic (The two pictures above are actually in completely different parts of the comic) and a lot of panels don't have any background at all. I feel like with a bit more effort his stuff could be good but he doesn't put the effort in and given that he keeps getting jobs for it the publisher doesn't seem to care that he doesn't finish his stuff either.
As for the actual comic, I feel like it could have been a lot better. The main premise was a sort of verbal sparring match with Twilight and Starlight butting heads which was what got me (and I imagine a lot of other people) interested but it feels very underdeveloped as you get like 3 lines of back and forth between them before the comic moves on to the next big thing and it feels a lot less genuine as it's stated in the book that they were antagonistic towards each other due to the evil plant's spores. I would love to see more of them going at one another as they both have fairly large egos and different ways of going about doing things. Twilight has never really had someone that regularly challenges her from a magical or a plan-making perspective so Starlight opens up ways to explore other sides of Twilight's character we haven't really seen a whole lot of before.
As for the rest of the comic it's alright. The vines weren't particularly interesting as a villain and having an extended fight scene with them is iffy because there isn't much visceral feedback in beating them up so there isn't as much cathartic glee in seeing giant Starlight, Spike, and Owlowiscious go to town on them. Twilight I feel plays even less of a role then Spike and Owlowiscious in this one. There were some fun moments but nothing spectacular. That being said looking through the EQD comments it seems like others enjoyed the comic a lot more then I did. Art is what you would expect from Fosgitt and the story wasn't bad but was a bit of wasted potential IMO.
Here's the Silver Quill EQD post on it
On to some other stuff, we posted some info on this in the community thread but given that a lot of people don't check that thread out and there's also some new info I thought I'd post it here. The official Tabletop RPG for MLP "Tails of Equestria" dropped some more info regarding the systems it will use and also about its first expansion, "The Curse of the Statuettes." Here's a link to the EQD post and the article it cites. I personally can't wait for this to come out. It looks like a ton of fun.
Friends Forever #35 - Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer (And Spike and Owlowiscious)
Silver Quill in his "review" of the comic remarked that he liked the idea of Starlight appearing in the Friends Forever series as it allowed them to flesh out her interactions with the rest of the cast as the show so far has really only highlighted her relationship with Twilight, Spike, Sunburst, and Trixie. First comic unfortunately misses the notion entirely as it's about her with Twilight and Spike. (And although I usually love her interactions with Spike there's very little of it here)
Right off the bat you have to know that it's drawn by Jay Fosgitt. Opinions on his work are energized to say the least and he shows off his strengths and weaknesses as an artist in this comic. The actual drawings I think is fine and I think his art style is fairly cute and works well, but he just doesn't seem to care about making a good product and the art suffers for it. First off Starlight has her season 5 villain mane style because I guess he couldn't spend 2 seconds to look the character up and see if anything changed since then. There's like 5 backgrounds he uses for the whole comic (The two pictures above are actually in completely different parts of the comic) and a lot of panels don't have any background at all. I feel like with a bit more effort his stuff could be good but he doesn't put the effort in and given that he keeps getting jobs for it the publisher doesn't seem to care that he doesn't finish his stuff either.
As for the actual comic, I feel like it could have been a lot better. The main premise was a sort of verbal sparring match with Twilight and Starlight butting heads which was what got me (and I imagine a lot of other people) interested but it feels very underdeveloped as you get like 3 lines of back and forth between them before the comic moves on to the next big thing and it feels a lot less genuine as it's stated in the book that they were antagonistic towards each other due to the evil plant's spores. I would love to see more of them going at one another as they both have fairly large egos and different ways of going about doing things. Twilight has never really had someone that regularly challenges her from a magical or a plan-making perspective so Starlight opens up ways to explore other sides of Twilight's character we haven't really seen a whole lot of before.
As for the rest of the comic it's alright. The vines weren't particularly interesting as a villain and having an extended fight scene with them is iffy because there isn't much visceral feedback in beating them up so there isn't as much cathartic glee in seeing giant Starlight, Spike, and Owlowiscious go to town on them. Twilight I feel plays even less of a role then Spike and Owlowiscious in this one. There were some fun moments but nothing spectacular. That being said looking through the EQD comments it seems like others enjoyed the comic a lot more then I did. Art is what you would expect from Fosgitt and the story wasn't bad but was a bit of wasted potential IMO.
Here's the Silver Quill EQD post on it
On to some other stuff, we posted some info on this in the community thread but given that a lot of people don't check that thread out and there's also some new info I thought I'd post it here. The official Tabletop RPG for MLP "Tails of Equestria" dropped some more info regarding the systems it will use and also about its first expansion, "The Curse of the Statuettes." Here's a link to the EQD post and the article it cites. I personally can't wait for this to come out. It looks like a ton of fun.
SigmasonicX
Member
Yeah, I previously posted about the RPG stuff in this thread, so good move.
Friends Forever 35 - Twilight and Starlight
This was a rather plain and straightforward issue. The heroes go somewhere, encounter a monster, then defeat it. Similar to last month's Pinkie and Cheese issue, Twilight and Starlight felt rather interchangeable in this story, and thus their interactions didn't feel that interesting. Given how far before release these stories are written, I'm guessing there simply weren't enough episodes out with Starlight to provide a good basis for how she acts, which can also be seen by the continued use of her old hair style. Spike also wasn't too interesting. It was nice to see Owlowiscious, though.
I agree with Silver Quill that the art style and story were a mismatch, especially with the lack of backgrounds.The monster and the spells were fun, though.
Friends Forever 35 - Twilight and Starlight
This was a rather plain and straightforward issue. The heroes go somewhere, encounter a monster, then defeat it. Similar to last month's Pinkie and Cheese issue, Twilight and Starlight felt rather interchangeable in this story, and thus their interactions didn't feel that interesting. Given how far before release these stories are written, I'm guessing there simply weren't enough episodes out with Starlight to provide a good basis for how she acts, which can also be seen by the continued use of her old hair style. Spike also wasn't too interesting. It was nice to see Owlowiscious, though.
I agree with Silver Quill that the art style and story were a mismatch, especially with the lack of backgrounds.The monster and the spells were fun, though.
SigmasonicX
Member
Just noticed that December 8 has come and gone, and still no sign of Guardians of Harmony online anywhere. I guess we have to wait for January after all.
For March, it appears that the normal comics are on break, and instead we're getting a glimpse into an alternate reality, as part of IDW's yearly Deviations special event.
My Little Pony: Deviations—SPOTLIGHT
Katie Cook (w & sc) • Agnes Garbowska (a & c)
In a world where Prince Blueblood becomes Celestia’s star pupil, not Twilight Sparkle! What will happen when he journeys to Ponyville to get a lesson in friendship?
* 40 pages
I feel like there must have been a fanfic like this back in the early fandom.
Also, Discovery Family to have a pony+EQG marathon on New Years Eve.
For March, it appears that the normal comics are on break, and instead we're getting a glimpse into an alternate reality, as part of IDW's yearly Deviations special event.
My Little Pony: Deviations—SPOTLIGHT
Katie Cook (w & sc) • Agnes Garbowska (a & c)
In a world where Prince Blueblood becomes Celestia’s star pupil, not Twilight Sparkle! What will happen when he journeys to Ponyville to get a lesson in friendship?
* 40 pages
I feel like there must have been a fanfic like this back in the early fandom.
Also, Discovery Family to have a pony+EQG marathon on New Years Eve.
Choppasmith
Member
Apologies if this was posted, but did anyone else catch The Toycracker? It's on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXUFoLzckwo
Probably the best retailer sponsored short I've ever seen! And it's confirmed they actually got Tabitha St. Germain to voice Rarity for a couple lines.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXUFoLzckwo
Probably the best retailer sponsored short I've ever seen! And it's confirmed they actually got Tabitha St. Germain to voice Rarity for a couple lines.
Just noticed that December 8 has come and gone, and still no sign of Guardians of Harmony online anywhere. I guess we have to wait for January after all.
For March, it appears that the normal comics are on break, and instead we're getting a glimpse into an alternate reality, as part of IDW's yearly Deviations special event.
My Little Pony: DeviationsSPOTLIGHT
Katie Cook (w & sc) Agnes Garbowska (a & c)
In a world where Prince Blueblood becomes Celestias star pupil, not Twilight Sparkle! What will happen when he journeys to Ponyville to get a lesson in friendship?
* 40 pages
I feel like there must have been a fanfic like this back in the early fandom.
Also, Discovery Family to have a pony+EQG marathon on New Years Eve.
I've been waiting for the Guardians comic too. Checked Comixology a few times, but as you say, guess we're in for a wait.
That AU comic sounds pretty oddball, but could be good for a few laughs. I also read the Starlight/Twilight comic recently, which I found to be pretty average, cute art aside.
ShinySylvee
Member
Tails of Equestira just showed off their character sheet for the upcoming tabletop RPG. Here's the EQD link
Lastly the second half of Season 6 is now on Netflix. Now you can watch Starlight's ascension into best pony status AND support the official release without commercials at the same time. Everypony wins!
Lastly the second half of Season 6 is now on Netflix. Now you can watch Starlight's ascension into best pony status AND support the official release without commercials at the same time. Everypony wins!
- Status