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. To submit your own, see this post.
Headlines this week:
- Forget Spike's origins! Focus on his DESTINY!
- Manes of Mares under the Microscope- Sunset Shimmer
- The Evolution of the Animation of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic through One Fan's Perspective
- Cozy Glow: Was she helped by secret backer?
- Empathy
And get your soapboxes below!
Forget Spike's origins! Focus on his DESTINY!
By: FlareGun45
So after what happened in Father Knows Beast last weekend, do you still want to know about Spike's origins? I do think it would be nice knowing, but Spike doesn't seem to care really. Besides, his biological parents could be complete jerks anyway! Do they even miss him? I mean there are other things to worry about other than Spike finding his origins, but there is something waaaaay more important for Spike to have we should be looking forward to! Know what that is? HIS PURPOSE!
What IS his purpose in Equestria? What more than being Twilight's assistant could Spike look forward to in his life? Sure he's Dragon Ambassador, sure he's a hero, but what about something more of a permanent career choice like Rainbow joining the Wonderbolts or Rarity's boutiques? What's HIS destiny? It is unknown at this time, but we know it's that IS going to happen! His character description from the Movie book, and his description on a little plushie I have of him say and I quote, "he is uncertain of his destiny"! That not enough? How about what I found on Wikipedia? Quoted by Meghan McCarthy: "He's trying to figure out who he is. What beyond being Twilight's assistant is his role in this world? I think he really reflects how everybody feels at some point in their life."
So lemme ask you again - would you rather know about Spike's PAST that he doesn't even care about, or his FUTURE which could lead to great things for him? What do you think his purpose will be?
Manes of Mares under the Microscope- Sunset Shimmer
By: Nightmare Muffin
I've always found it rather distasteful that a lot of fans of Sunset Shimmer so readily compare her beautiful, flowing mane to slabs of a dead, processed pig carcass meant to be prepared for human consumption. Sure, many find the nickname "bacon mane" cute and endearing, but personally, I do not. Its not even a compliment. To many girls, their hair is everything, both in the real world, and in cartoons, is we learned anything in "Magic Duel" (Rarity's hair transformation), and "It Isn't the Mane thing About You". And true, while we did see a glimpse of Sunset rolling out of bed and being ok enough to go outside with bedhead in the rain in "Monday Blues", to see that she doesn't concern herself too much with appearances like Rarity, she still has a sense of style and respects herself enough to keep her appearances up to where's she's well-dressed and groomed, and not slovenly. Comparing her dazzling locks to chunks of swine meat meant to be cooked in its own fat is rather disrespectful toward Sunset, especially as a Canterlot citizen. I doubt any self-respecting girl would take such an insult if such a thing was said to her face!
And to be honest, as far as visuals go, her mane (thankfully), looks nothing like said meat product. In fact, by comparison, the brown pony in Feather Bangs' backup dancer group has a mane that much more closely resembled bacon, I think. Sunset Shimmer's, on the other hoof, seems to have a mane more reminiscent of the condiments, ketchup and mustard.
The Evolution of the Animation of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic through One Fan's Perspective
By Moonlit Stones
With the annual celebration of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic's premiere on the Hub Network (nowadays Discovery Family) coming soon, I wanted to take a special look at how I've seen the animation of the show evolve from season to season.
When I first saw the pilot just as I was becoming a Brony, I thought that while the writing was good, I felt a little bit that the animation was a little jerky, and it seemed not as real, with the animation software at the time. As the seasons go by, the software does get better, along with the animation of the show.
What I feel the peak of the show's animation was in last year's movie that was in theaters. What I liked about it was how all the characters moved and felt, along with the beautiful backgrounds. Unfortunately, after the movie; when the current (and close to ending) season eight premiered, I felt that the animation returning to normal Flash/Adobe Animate style instead of the Toon Boom Harmony that was used in the movie. I know it's the show's budget, but it felt not like the magnum opus in the movie. What do you think?
Empathy
By: indiana
It's that time of the year again! It's time for a pony theory. Season 8 as we have already seen has been the season of school. Or was it? I think the school was just one big red herring meant to hide the fact that this season was part 1 of a 2 parter scattered around 2 seasons. What am I talking about you say? Cozy Glow of course. And let's not forget about Chrysalis. What do these two have in common at the moment? A distinct lack of empathy. The queen and the rook are meant to fight against the pawn AKA Starlight. It would take way too long to explain why she is the pawn so you will have to take my word for it. My theory is that season 8 was the setup for season 9 and Starlight becoming the element of empathy and the reason for that being that she will finally graduate from her "pawn" status and become a " white queen" herself after converting the former black queen. What basis do I have for this? 3 things:
1.Starlight mentioned empathy when Cozy first showed up.
2.Starlight mentioned season 9 in her song(and I suspect she was talking about the fact that it would be focusing on her).
3.Starlight was at the center of the magic artifacts in the finale.
I believe these weren't just random gags but hints for what is to come in the next season.
But hey, that's just a theory, a pony theory.... or something.
Cozy Glow: Was she helped by secret backer?
by ShadowWriter45
If you didn't see School Raze, I suggest you not read this. But if you have then you know about Cozy Glow's plan was to become Empress of Friendship and had Tirek help her in draining the magic in Equestria. However, how did she get in touch with Tirek in the first place? I don't think they have a mailing system to Tartarus.
I think it's possible that she had outside help, that we haven't seen yet, pull this off. I'm not trying to say Cozy Glow couldn't have done this herself based off her personality,intelligence, and cunning but it feels like she could have been assisted by someone. Only question is who? I don't think it's someone we've seen yet that's for sure. I've also had this theory for Starlight too but I've sense dropped that due to Cutie Re-mark, her being manipulated in the shadows.
The ending to School Raze hints that we haven't seen the last of Cozy Glow so I bet if there was someone who helped her we should be seeing him or her next time, especially if season 9 is the last season of mlp.
