Support NeoGAF

[ShinySylvee]

I see. I get the impression that if things were released as intended, and we didn't know anything about the finale besides the synopsis, then this comic issue could be read on its own, and then when you watch the finale, you'd go, "Oh! I recognize that from the comics! That's neat!" Sort of like the previous Legends of Magic comics before we learned about "Campfire Tales". But now that everyone's saying that the comic has spoilers for the finale, it will be impossible to read it without looking for that.

Sort of the idea. That being said it's part 1 of what might end up being 6 parts given that the Legends of Magic series is supposed to go on for 12 issues I believe so not really a whole lot happens besides just establishing the conflict. Said it before but the finale spoils the comics substantially harder.


Speaking of spoiling, they uploaded a promo for the 24th episode, Uncommon Bond. For the 0 people out there that watch this stuff but haven't already seen the leaked episode, you can find ithere.


Lastly some pretty big EQG news, they announced a 45 episode Youtube series of shorts that will start airing November 17th, and they'll be uploading a new one every Friday. So at the very least we'll have that to kinda look forward to over the hiatus. The episodes will apparently have a variety of lengths. You can find the EQD page for it here and a promo for it here.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Lastly some pretty big EQG news, they announced a 45 episode Youtube series of shorts that will start airing November 17th, and they'll be uploading a new one every Friday. So at the very least we'll have that to kinda look forward to over the hiatus. The episodes will apparently have a variety of lengths. You can find the EQD page for it here and a promo for it here.

Oh, neat. A variety of lengths makes a lot of sense. 45 episodes seems pretty crazy, but I imagine their lengths add up to less than 26 pony episodes. Maybe even 13 episodes. If one is being released weekly, then it will definitely overlap with season 8, which is a bit surprising.

Once we get more concrete information, I might make a thread for it. Just to announce it; discussion is best suited for this OT.

EDIT: Looking at the article now, I suppose there is enough to make an announcement thread. I'll get on that tomorrow if there are no objections. From the press release and trailer, it looks like they really are going full magical girl (or "superhero", as they call it). That shot of the opening makes it seem like Sunset will actually be presented as the main character now. And... I guess they really are going to try Zephyr Breeze in Dougworld. He looks past high school age; is he still going to be Fluttershy's younger brother somehow?

 

[SigmasonicX]

Pinkie Pie Says Goodnight: Apple Core - Celebrating Applejack.

Japan Ponycon getting a special cover for volume 1 of the comic, based on Japanese ukiyo-e art. And yes, I noticed that Rarity is riding Twilight.

And I guess we now know the true reason the Movie included so many new species. Official RPG Tails of Equestria expansion unveiled that includes Movie species and locations.

Friendship comes in many colours.

Take your adventure far beyond Equestria’s borders with this: the first sourcebook for Tails of Equestria. Based on MY LITTLE PONY: THE MOVIE, this book contains everything you need to bring new and exciting characters, locations, and stories to your Tails of Equestria game. With new player options and tons of Gamemaster info, The Official Movie Sourcebook is a fantastic way to expand the boundaries of your Tails of Equestria game.

NEW LOCATIONS
You’ve left the comforts of Equestria behind—ahead of you lies a mysterious realm of unknown adventure, hidden lore, and magical wonders! The Official Movie Sourcebook contains expanded details on the locations featured in MY LITTLE PONY: THE MOVIE, in particular the bustling streets of Klugetown, the ancient citadel on Mount Aris, and the underwater realm of Seaquestria! As well as detailed descriptions, this book also contains advice for Gamemasters on how to incorporate these locations into a game in urban and underwater adventures.

NEW NON-PONY CHARACTERS
A parrot swings from a chandelier, flips in the air and lands with panache. A Lizardfolk explorer guides his friends through Klugetown. A Hippogriff soars through uncharted sky to deliver a vital message, and a Cat carefully disables an underwater ruin’s trapdoor. The Official Movie Sourcebook contains four new playable non-pony races:

Nimble, roguish Cats.
Swashbuckling Parrots, with striking plumage.
Brave and honourable Hippogriffs.
Shrewd and intelligent Lizardfolk.

EXPANDED RULES
If you’re looking to bring more depth to your Tails of Equestria game, these rules are for you! Both within and beyond Equestria, adventurers often meet factions and organizations of many kinds. The faction and reputation rules presented within give a bit more context to these relationships and help keep track of who the players know, whether that reputation is good or…not so good.
Optional vehicle rules detail how players can obtain, customize, and use their own personal vehicles. Beyond Equestria, long distance travel becomes a lot more difficult, so having your own airship is a real advantage!

A NEW ADVENTURE!
‘The Beasts of Black Skull Island’ is the perfect way to kickstart your groups adventures outside Equestria. Join the crew of adventurous pirate Captain Rosella and hunt for the legendary treasure of Black Skull Island! But beware, somepony else might have gotten there first…

NEW CHARACTERS & CREATURES
The Official Movie Sourcebook contains loads of new stats for NPC characters from MY LITTLE PONY: THE MOVIE. You’ll find everything from friendly faces like Capper and Princess Skystar, to the villainous Storm King, Tempest Shadow, and their minions.
All of the new content and rules included in The Official Movie Sourcebook are, of course, 100% compatible with all other products in the Tails of Equestria range. So saddle up, take to the skies, and seek out adventure in the wide world ahead!

I'll make a thread announcing the new EQG series tomorrow afternoon. As a reminder, episode discussion will still be in this thread. While I'd like to say the point of the thread is to bring this to the attention of people who aren't looking in the thread due to not being caught up, or people who don't participate in these threads but have children that like EQG, honestly, I just think this is a good opportunity to baffle people with the existence of Equestria Girls.

Speaking of which, here are things worth pointing out from the promo.
Prim Hemline, who first appeared in "Rarity Takes Manehattan". This points toward Rarity participating in a fashion contest here too.
Zephyr Breeze, who seems to have less facial hair than his pony version (you know, minus fur). It looks like his short will involve him hitting on Rainbow.
Close up of TimberTwi photo - Still can't say I'm a big fan of Timber, but SciTwi looks pretty happy.
Rarity epic pointing 1
Magical girl Superhero Rarity (and others) epic pointing - I guess epic pointing is going to be Rarity's thing.
Edit - To be continued (embedded) - The hats were edited on, if you can't tell from the small size.

Now this image I'll blow up a bit, because I have an extremely important point to make.

This appears to take place after they all study for a test together, so they all get A's, but we can see that they have different levels of A. From this, we have semi-canonical intelligence power rankings! (For school exams that are notoriously bad at meaningfully measuring intelligence)
Rainbow Dash, Applejack - A-
Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy - A
Sunset Shimmer, Rarity - A+
Twilight Sparkle - A++

So in the end, Applejack is actually Rainbow Dash tier. How sad. Pinkie is better at tests than I expected. And it looks like unicorns are by default smarter than everyone else.

Anyway, Friday art dump.

Secrets and Pies
Not art, but this took longer than expected. Pie Hating Dash destroys Twilight's house.

Pie Hating Dash by Autello
Rainbow Dash WILL eat those pies and she WILL like them! by yeonang

Pointy Ponies by agrol

Comic - Edges by poecillia-gracilis19 - So so edgy.

Once Upon a Zeppelin
Pointy Ponies by agrol

It Isn't the Mane Thing About You
Pinkie -fabulous mane- Pie by selinmarsou

Rock Solid Friendship
Comic - Make Better Friends But Keep Trixie

Equestria Girls
Good Vibes SciTwi by tyuubatu

Movie
A Defeated Storm by Penny-Wren
Love of the Tempest by VittorioNobile
Happy Tempest by MeowMavi

Tempest Shadow by HakkiDS2
"A star in the ocean" by Loyaldis
Capper by Justasuta

Songbird Serenade by Justasuta
Tempest Storm by Justasuta
This is my favorite scene by looknam1205

I Can See a Rainbow by piepon
Tempest Hair Flop by MaxiMasMac - Note Twilight's wings.

 

[ShinySylvee]

Man Sigma, you didn't even get the best picture

source

This appears to take place after they all study for a test together, so they all get A's, but we can see that they have different levels of A. From this, we have semi-canonical intelligence power rankings! (For school exams that are notoriously bad at meaningfully measuring intelligence)
Rainbow Dash, Applejack - A-
Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy - A
Sunset Shimmer, Rarity - A+
Twilight Sparkle - A++

Intelligence is kind of a nebulous concept anyway. What if there was a test involving apple knowledge?

Nothing super surprising although I feel like Pinkie is lowkey really smart when she wants to be and Fluttershy hasn't really shown much in that regard, although she would probably be a pretty good student if nothing else.

 

[Lightning_Roller]

Agreed about Pinkie's intelligence. She seems to clearly understand twilight technobabble and was very excited about sharing something involving the plan in the flurry heart two parter. So yeah, Pinkie Pie is probably stupid smart.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Plus, we've seen her party planning lair and just how many party statistics she can recall offhand.

Today's episode is

24. Uncommon Bond
When Starlight gets a visit from Sunburst, she discovers that he has tons in common with her friends and starts to wonder if he still has anything in common with her.

Where Sunburst affirmatively proves that he isn't a figment of Starlight's imagination. Or does he?

 

[ShinySylvee]

Where Sunburst affirmatively proves that he isn't a figment of Starlight's imagination. Or does he?

How would that have even worked? When Spike and Starlight were "hanging out" with him in Crystalling was Spike just pretending that Sunburst was there? And are Cadence and Shining Armor pretending that they have a person looking after their baby to humor Starlight?


By the way I'll comment on the episode later but for now I'll say that at least one of the channels that upload episode clips to Youtube has started uploading ones from the leaked finale. The one that I saw was from the climax of the episode so I guess be careful since this stuff is out there.


Also just going to leave this here

 

[draetenth]

Solid episode with a lot of good expressions (like the Trixie gif posted by ShinySylvee above). I think I also like the little happy dance/trot in place ponies do.

I'm not a fan of pony facial hair though and it imo looks bad on Sunburst.

Today's episode is definitely seems to be something people could relate with as people do change and you may no longer find you have things in common (or the opposite could be true as you suddenly find you do have a lot in common with someone).

Can't wait to see the finale (I haven't been spoiled on it yet other than the preview I just saw before watching my dvr recording of today's episode)...

 

[SigmasonicX]

How would that have even worked? When Spike and Starlight were "hanging out" with him in Crystalling was Spike just pretending that Sunburst was there? And are Cadence and Shining Armor pretending that they have a person looking after their baby to humor Starlight?

Well I mean, we've never actually seen anyone in the show acknowledge the existence of Sunburst when Starlight wasn't present. And I suspect he doesn't actually do anything in the Crystal Empire. I'm not saying everyone is pretending he's real, but maybe Starlight is unknowingly using a spell to make everyone think he exists, but only when she's around.

Nothing in this episode has provided proof otherwise; for all we know, when Starlight left Maud, she just went back to looking at rocks.

(Not serious, of course)

Anyway,

Uncommon Bond
More proof that Sunburst doesn't exist: he didn't get off the train, and instead suddenly poofed into existence.

Holy shit that part where Twilight gets excited about the game and knocks over the board. Twilight's interactions with Sunburst were pretty fun, and she has much better chemistry with him than her canon love interests. When Sunburst was talking about Twilight to Starlight, I was half expecting him to ask if Twilight was single.

I was expecting Sunburst to interact with the Main Six, so when they went to the apple farm, I was pretty surprised to see Trixie just bumming there. That must have been an intentional fake out. Sunburst had great scenes with Trixie too, including the above GIF.

Bringing back the Mirror Pool was pretty random; they didn't even use it for anything. Maud's scenes were less interesting, aside from Sunburst being confused about when she was joking.

I read a post about Starlight's magic being OP here, and yeah, her spell was pretty far out, but we don't know the actual extent of it. It seems like it was very specific for those circumstances, and required that paper as a medium. Still, it's always fun when she goes crazy with her magic.

The ending was alright. Nice to see Sunburst being used for slapstick in canon, though Twilight is more alright with her home being wrecked than I expected. Also, those books are huge.

To match up what we saw at the end of Legends of Magic #6, Sunburst must have unpacked Starswirl's book from the barrel without reading it then lost track of it. Which... isn't that unlikely.

Overall, this was a nice episode for the scenes of Sunburst getting along with the other mares, but I thought the resolution was a bit weak.

EDIT: Posting the PonyGAF Discord chat invite link again. Quote to see:

 

[ShinySylvee]

Well I mean, we've never actually seen anyone in the show acknowledge the existence of Sunburst when Starlight wasn't present. And I suspect he doesn't actually do anything in the Crystal Empire. I'm not saying everyone is pretending he's real, but maybe Starlight is unknowingly using a spell to make everyone think he exists, but only when she's around.

Nothing in this episode has provided proof otherwise; for all we know, when Starlight left Maud, she just went back to looking at rocks.

It would actually be interesting if Starlight literally created a friend for herself because of how lonely she was. I almost want that to happen for some next level mindfucking.


Also you said that they didn't do anything with the mirror pool but...

Going to wait for the site to stabilize before doing my full post.

 

[draetenth]

It might be awhile for the site to stabilize...