Woops, kinda late today! I blame Glimmer. Always Glimmer.
Community soapbox time, where opinions from around the fandom are dropped down below for you all to discuss and debate! Expect these posts normally when not late every Tuesday at 2:00 PM MST And now Saturday at 2:00 PM MST. 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:
- Is Gaia Everfree the sentience behind the Tree of Harmony?
- Keep Paramount away from the next MLP Movie
- How Starlight Glimmer made me a Brony
- Celestia's Secrets
- How to Lose a Friendship with Just One Cutie Mark (or Job)
And get your soapboxes below!
Is Gaia Everfree the sentience behind the Tree of Harmony?
by: Nightmare Muffin
We’ve seen dopplegangers of familiar faces from the pony world in the human world of EG, so there should be an equivalent to Gaia Everfree, the ancient spirit who holds domain over the forest, in FiM if both are mirrorverses of each other. I think that rather than being a physical presence in FiM like she was in EG LoE, Gaia Everfree is the essence of the Tree of Harmony, which resides in the Everfree forest. Gaia is the sentience tuned to good behind the tree, to know far in advance who will lead Equestria, to display their cutie marks on her trunk, and who will rightfully bear its fruit, the elements, and lead ponies at a later time, which is why Twilight’s mark is at the center. Gaia also knew at which circumstance to give the rainbow power to the spirits of the elements.
Keep Paramount away from the next MLP Movie
By: SleepySteve
Amid all the leaks about what’s in store for Generation 5, a potential theatrical film to tie in with the new generation caught my eye. The film is (reportedly) planned to be a co-production between Allspark and Paramount. Since Hasbro has a film financing deal in place with Paramount, this was probably expected. Still, there are reasons why this could go wrong.
For one, Paramount has made bizarre choices when it comes to finding the right staff. Why is Michael Bay producing a Dora the Explorer movie? Let’s also not forget that they’re producing a Sonic the Hedgehog movie, with producers Neal Moritz (Fast and the Furious) and Tim Miller (Deadpool) potentially giving the film a PG-13 rating, shutting younger Sonic fans out. And literally everything family-friendly from Paramount is based off a property from Nickelodeon, a sister network.
The Generation 4 film released last year is a decent family flick, and it didn’t need a major film studio to work. There are plenty of things that can make a film setting the stage for Generation 5 great. Letting the studio that’s ranked last in box office share among major studios is not a good idea.
How Starlight Glimmer made me a Brony
By: Will
A few years ago, I tried to get into MLP:FIM and could not do it. Then, I found they added a Cousin Oliver character named StarlightGlimmer and I got hooked after seeing her episodes (Note: A Cousin Oliver character is when a long running show adds a new main character like Cousin Oliver to the Brady Bunch or adding a future Oscar winner like Leonardo DiCaprio to Growing Pains). The reason? Tragic backstory. She was alone, isolated, and no one cared. She was a throw-away foal where no one such as her parents or teacher or a neighbor saw she was developing very bad habits or that she had extensive magical powers. No other pony had it this bad. Whenever I see her in a story, I always want to see her succeed even in her post-rehabilitation because of this tragic upbringing and hope she does not to fall back into her old habits as she is a very bright pony. Thus, she is the most three-dimensional character on the show and she is why I became a brony.
Celestia's Secrets
By: nopony
Lately I've been thinking about the very first episode in the series, and Celestia's role in it. I have some questions, and I hope the EQD community will help me find the answers.
(A) In "Celestial Advice", the princess said "I knew there was a special group of fillies in Ponyville". I think it means she knew they would be the future wielders of the Elements of Harmony. How did she know that?
(B) Why did Celestia write to Twilight "you simply must stop reading those dusty old books", while she knew that the book in question contained important information about the incoming crisis? Perhaps it's the first time we saw Trollestia in action.
(C) Putting the Mane 6 members in charge of the celebration was probably Celestia's doing, so Twilight would meet them while supervising the preparations (except Pinkie Pie, because she always wants to befriend anypony new in Ponyville). But wouldn't it be a better idea to simply tell Twilight what's going on?
(D) What exactly happened to Celestia when Nightmare Moon appeared? It seems like the presence of Nightmare Moon somehow prevented her sister from showing up or doing anything.
How to Lose a Friendship with Just One Cutie Mark (or Job)
by: KH7672
So when a pony earns their cutie mark, what does that really mean? You learn what your special talent is sure, but does that mean your life has to change? Maybe Starlight would have been there for Sunburst if she knew what it really meant to have one.
Consider this: A younger you and your only friend age are together, and they get a call. They have a job! You know what a job is, your parents have one, you know you’re going to get one but what is the point of it currently in your life? Apparently, it’s a big deal to your friend as they rush out the room and immediately celebrate when you still have no idea what’s so great about a job and why it must disrupt this time together. Soon that job over takes their life and you never see that friend anymore, not even taking the time to finish what you were already doing. Do you hate them? No, they got something everyone wants, right? But now you’re left out and you still don’t understand why this job is so important to them because they are not communicating. Is this what it’s like having a job, you lose the life you once had and the friends who don’t have jobs? Is that what every person who works had to go through? Why would they do that to themselves?! What if you never had to worry about jobs, or everyone did the same job so that you would never feel left out? That way your friends can never leave you for something better than what you all have.
Is it self-centered? Yes. Is it a flawed thought-process about jobs? Of course, but is it also not a logical conclusion the mind of that kid who thought jobs were just something you get, but life would still continue on as normal. Well it didn’t when Sunburst got his cutie mark, and if there’s one thing Starlight has shown a resistance to all her life, is changes in her comfortable existence.
