Expect these posts normally when not late every Tuesday at 2:00 PM PST. To submit your own, see this post.
Note: These soapboxes do not at all reflect the ideas of EQD. They are an open forum for anyone to post whatever crazy theory they want.
Headlines for the week:
- Equestria University
- The Decade of Ponies
- Equestria is an Orwellian nightmare
- Why Tempest Shouldn't Get Her Horn Restored
- Tempest Shadow and Darth Vader Similarities
And get your soapboxes below!
Equestria University
By: Fireside Fable
I’m a Hollywood professional who spent a weekend at Equestria LA. I sat with strangers and dove into conversations like diving into water. I asked one question at a panel; two people complimented me and initiated dialogues.
Am I jumping to conclusions? One might suspect friendship lies at the heart of their movement.
Within “the Herd,” a lantern to protect the flame of newly-kindled talent, they practice their arts: nascent writers, artists, musicians, performers, galvanized by hope, cynicism exiled.
They regenerate social skills stunted by part-time incarceration—those sausage factories passing for schools. Several Bronies confided about being bullied there, and Pegasisters of unwanted attentions. Let’s hope all can find the generosity to forgive.
I write to warn that many don’t talk about ponies anymore. Instead they scheme about moving to Hollywood, of joining their exemplars behind the show. Dusty’s built a new livelihood recording audiobooks, and traded his famous “horseshoe” mustache for a professorial beard. Students grow into teachers.
Bronies encourage maturation with “love and tolerance” (mysterious phrase -- never once appears in the show!) Students don’t stay in school; they graduate. They cherish their memories and status as alumni. Don’t mourn; applaud, even as new students enroll.
The Decade of Ponies
MegaSean45
This is only my personal opinion of what should happen, brahs. I'm not saying this will certainly happen. It's not up to us, I know that. But I think 3 more seasons of the show will be the best way to go! Now the reason I'm saying this is because we still have alot of unanswered questions about certain things from the show, certain things that should happen, episode 200, and I think the show can still give us some interesting stories for a while longer! So because of all that the show still needs, season 8 would be a poor choice to end the show. Season 9 could be ok, but then that's just a wasted opportunity to call this the 'decade of ponies'! The show shouldn't go on beyond 10, because we definitely don't want this show to end up like the Simpsons!
Stopping G4 after season 10 would give plenty of time for all our questions to be answered, give a chance for alot more unique friendships to be made, and it would be the decade of ponies! Plenty of time for more pony fun, and more of a chance for Spike to get his biggest season that I've been craving for so long!
Now this doesn't mean 'no more pony'! This would give a chance for a new main cast with new story possibilities, and maybe even continuity from this generation! It would be time for G4.5 or even G5! I say this is the best idea the MLP series should go!
Equestria is an Orwellian nightmare
By: Pony of Shadows
It has always struck me as odd that fans have expressed desire to physically go into the world of cute pastel ponies, if given the choice. Aside from the weekly monster attacks and unicorn-inflicted magical-disasters, there is very obvious government corruption going on, and nopony is even the wiser. With the threat of the FCC’s “freedoms” attempting to tear apart Net Neutrality and put freedom of the accessof information on the internet, I came to a terrifying conclusion that Equestria’s government, essentially, is Earth’s company monopolies who want a stranglehold on the internet and its info. With the very first episode, we see the government (Celestia) regulation of crucial information that the public can access- namely Twilight. One pony in the entire country knows about the threat of NMM and the weapons that can thwart her. Everypony else is literally left in the dark and put in peril. Knowledge about dragons, yaks, and griffons is scarce- if not entirely lacking in the country, and all of these can be considered threats to varying degrees, and unaccessable to even Twilight (“Bygone Griffons of Greatness” was the only up to date book she had, and nothing on Yak/ dragon culture at all).
Why Tempest Shouldn't Get Her Horn Restored
By: Rustin
I've been seeing quite a few people request that Tempest appear in Season 8, and how she could have a subplot about restoring her horn. I personally think this would be a horrible choice, because while it could make for an interesting story, it would detract so much from the movie. Throughout the whole thing, we keep seeing Tempest want her horn back, and I think most of us expected Twilight to use the staff or something to restore it in the end. But in the end, she never got her horn fixed, but Twilight pointed out she was amazing, even without her horn. Having Tempest get her horn restored in season 8 would create mixed morals for kids. Imagine if a little girl lost her arm in an accident. Yes it would be tragic, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't really get her arm back. It's a part of her now. In a show where it seems the magic of friendship can solve almost any problem, it's important that the show also says some problems are just unfixable, and you'll just have to deal with it.
Tempest Shadow and Darth Vader Similarities
By: Sheep
Ever since the movie premiered, fans have pointed out parallels between Tempest's character and Darth Vader. Tempest was a hopeful young pony who eventually committed to evil serving under the Storm King. She suffered a physical deformity in the form of losing her horn, and becomes obsessed with chasing down this one pony and turning her in to please her master. In the end she returned to the side of good by sacrificing herself to defeat the Storm King, resulting in the Storm King's death. Darth Vader undergoes practically the same thing. He started out as an optimistic (and poorly acted) young boy, eventually committing to evil under Emperor Palpatine, suffered a physical deformity from being burned by lava, losing all of his limbs and forced into a life-support suit, becomes obsessed with chasing down Luke, and returned to the light by sacrificing himself, resulting in Palpatine's, and his own death. If you want to push the similarities to Star Wars even further, you could say "Open Up Your Eyes" parallels Vader trying to turn Luke to the dark side, or how the Storm King is somewhat pushed to the sidelines in favor of Tempest, similar to Vader and Palpatine's differences in screentime and development. Tempest and Anakin even both have a scar in almost the exact same place on their faces.
