Sorry this one was delayed by a day. I'm super busy lately, so I completely missed it. Expect these on Tuesdays at 2:00 PM PST from now on , but for this one we go Wednesday!
Below the break, people complain, praise, and discuss the following topics:
- Moondancer: Better than Shimmer or Glimmer
- Will the 2017 Movie be the Series Finale?
- The Pony Meme Face
- LyraBon: Shipping Confirmation By-Us!
- Metatextual Narratives
- Equestria Girls Place in the Franchise
And get them down below!
Moondancer: Better than Shimmer or Glimmer
By: Sidral
Moondancer, the third and oft forget option in the Shimmer Glimmer debate, and arguably the best one of the group. While Shimmer and Glimmer have their strengths and weaknesses, Moondancer seemly combines the two’s strengths while absconding their weaknesses. She lacks the Rainbow laser turnaround that Shimmer had but also has more relatable and rational backstory and motivations than Glimmer did. And unlike either Shimmer or Glimmer, Moondancer challenges Twilight Sparkle in a way those two couldn’t, emotionally. While the stakes are high and the battles are big with Shimmer and Glimmer, neither of them caused Twilight Sparkle to look back on herself and reflect on her past actions. Moondancer did though. She makes Twilight to admit her past mistakes and causes Twilight Sparkle to grow with Moondancer, unlike the other two where Twilight Sparkle is more a helping hand to them. It is far more relatable and emotional with Moondancer because of this personal stake and lack of “End of the World” scenarios as well as a more gray morality because both sides have to explore what they did and that is why in my opinion Moondancer is the better of the three.
Tl;dr Show needs more Moondancer.
The Pony Meme Face
By: Dan
MLP is increasingly rich in all sorts of faces and other small details that leave you laughing, questioning, mildly amused, confused or even scared. But are they noticed enough?. I think the answer is both an yes and a no. Let me explain. Many times we watch an episode and enjoy it a whole lot more than we suspected but if someone would ask us : why did you like it so much? We would fist look at the story, script and setting aspect and research every bit of it and only after all that is done we then look at animation and art details but there is not much to say there because we may have lost some focus on it for the sake of the story focus. More often than not we can't remember the details but they were still the ones that played a huge part in the fun aspect of the episode. I encourage you all to pay more attention when you re-watch MLP episodes and check for meme faces and you will be amazed on the things you missed before consciously but made your day because you saw them subconsciously.
Metatextual Narratives
By: LEO
Both boon and bane to an episode, they seem to come too far and few between. The message of the show can be found beyond the delivered moral, and tackle much grander subjects implicitly than it can explicitly, though not always to its benefit.
Feeling Pinkie Keen is the easiest example of it done, where its own moral of accepting your friends' eccentricities is undermined by the (seemingly unintentional) portrayal of science vs. religion.
Meanwhile, episodes like Suited for Success can shine for having 2, 3, or more morals with only one ever being explicitly delivered.
Such examples aren't the sole domain of the earlier seasons, as such episodes as Daring Don't, The Cutie Map (S5 opener), and most recently Every Little Thing She Does all show how nuanced the show can be. They're none of them perfect, mind, but reach much loftier heights than more mundane and straightforward material like the also recent Viva Las Pegasus.
I'm not trying to say every episode needs to be as grandiose as Brotherhooves Social, but I'd love to see more of what elevates this show above the cartoon cannon fodder that tends to populate children's television.
LyraBon: Shipping Confirmation By-Us!
By Stunthead
The debate on whether or not Lyra and Bon Bon are a couple is as old as the fandom itself. Ultimately, the problem is everybody interprets what their interactions mean differently. Something that looks like romance to one person may look like friendship to another. As it stands, there is no way to fully confirm or deny either way.
However, the pairing is in a unique position that protects it from official disconfirmation, and it was put there by us. Like many other background pony characteristics, the ship didn’t come from one particular person, but from the collaborative effort of many people. The show has disproven fan theories and destroyed headcanons before, but to my knowledge, no composite idea about any background pony has ever been disconfirmed.
Love the ship or hate it, officially refuting it in the show would be akin to having Derpy say “I hate muffins” or Minuette say “I never brush.” It wouldn’t celebrate the fandom’s contribution; it would destroy it, which isn’t in the staff’s best interests. Lyra and Bon Bon’s romance may one day be confirmed, but if my trust in the staff is well placed, it sure as sugar won’t be denied
Will the 2017 Movie be the Series Finale?
By: Epic Twilight
To be honest, I doubt it. Generation 4 has been successful, really successful. If the movie ends up doing well, It would practically be financial suicide to end the series at that point. As long as toys sell, FIM is unlikely going anywhere. Even if Hasbro does decide to move on to generation 5, it will likely be heavily inspired from the previous generation.
However, the upcoming 2017 movie and recently announced season 7 do bring up an interesting question. How long will My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic last? Many other cartoons that began in the early 2010s such as Adventure Time, Regular Show, and The Amazing World of Gumball have recently been announced to be ending in the next few years. As great as FIM is, it can't last forever nor should it. If FIM goes on too long, it will eventually run out of ideas and it'll just become one of those infamous shows that everyone just wants to end.
Regardless of how long the show will last, the upcoming 2017 movie is a huge step for our favorite colorful equines and time will only tell where the show goes afterwards.
Equestria Girls’ place in the franchise
By: Solar Blade
No matter where My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic takes us, there are certain avenues it’ll never go down. We love writing our ‘what if’ fanfics and irreversibly changing the show’s nature in our own little way.
But that’s probably never going to happen in the show. Gradual additions aside, Friendship of Magic will never go through a permanent genre change.
Good spinoffs allow creators to do things that cannot be done in the original series, and Equestria Girls serves that purpose. Nowhere in the main series would you have seen the characters we know and love form a rock band, or take part in a motocross race, or fight monsters with unique superpowers.
The reason for Equestria Girls’ existence is so much more than just toy sales. It’s a sandbox of new ideas that we never could have seen in the regular show, and it is less bound by a status quo than the show. Every entry ups the coolness factor of the Humane Seven and expands upon the human world. I look forward to seeing what the subseries can do with the upcoming specials.
Also, Sunset Shimmer rocks your socks off.
