Note: We might take a break for a week or two on these since people are kinda running out of topics to discuss. If we get enough we can keep it going, but we've nailed just about everything at this point.
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:
The Crystal Heart was meant to be the first line of defense before the elements
Are Humans No Longer Trusted In Equestria?
Season 8's Dialogue Quality
The Elements Of Darkness
And get your soapboxes below!
Are Humans No Longer Trusted In Equestria?
By: Spiky Dash
As I stared at the Blu-Ray combo of the 1986 My Little Pony movie and the 2017 movie together at my local Walmart, one thought kept pounding through my head: why, pray tell, are humans no longer welcome in Equestria?
Now I'm not counting EQG in this because to me that's a totally different spectrum. I'm talking TRUE humans, like those that were called upon to help the ponies in the original movie. Granted, that was because one of them had a magical locket, so we had an element that was important to them. However now, with the Elements of Harmony, Tree of Harmony, the magic of friendship itself, and all the magic that exists....are humans no longer needed....or wanted?
What if, sometime between the period of the original movie and Gen 4's movie, that the human race either did something to completely eliminate the ponies' trust, or Celestia simply had them banned altogether (a la Nightmare Moon) because they either broke trust, or served no purpose to the kingdom anymore?
But if it's also so easy for ponies to travel between their world and ours, wouldn't one inquisitive human try to find a way to get there and figure out why?
Or maybe that's best reserved for fanfiction, as I have done. But it still makes you wonder...
Season 8's Dialogue Quality
By: Dark Qiviut
Season 8 is one of the show's best. Its dialogue is an important reason why. Conversation drives much of the season, especially its humor-centric episodes, so how well they write and edit lines determines the overall story quality. What they accomplish is an organic, emotive, and crisp flow of lines full of personality. Allspark plays the characters off against each other, incorporating plenty of snark, occasional teasing, starts, and stops. Four episode examples include:
1. The Break Up Break Down: Spike's and Discord's opposing personalities create lots of organic banter between them.
2. The Mean 6: Snarkle and Chrysalis share wonderful chemistry, with the former exploiting the latter's pride and need for help. Conversely, the ReMane Seven's anger at each other feels raw and real.
3. Road to Friendship: Starlight & Trixie's banter. Nuff said.
4. The Washouts: Dash's concern, Scoot's desire for inclusiveness, and Dust's cleverly woven manipulation spark intense conflict.
Sharp dialogue helped Shadow Play stand atop FIM's tier. From that point forward, it's like Dubuc and Haber expanded upon it for S8, and it really shows in the final product of many episodes. Hopefully, Allspark pursues this strength in S9.
The Elements Of Darkness
By Fluttershypegasus
When Queen Chrysalis tried to use the elements of harmony for evil, she failed, as the elements recognised her copies as not compatible. However, would it be possible to use these artefacts for evil in a different way?
As far as we know, the elements have to be used by those who understand them best: Applejack understands honesty the best out of the mane six, which is why she and only she can use that element. But if there was an evil character that understood honesty to the same extent, could they theoretically use that element? A villain does not always have to be dishonest: Nightmare Moon was extremely honest and clear about her intentions for example, and even if she personally couldn’t use the elements, that at least proves it’s possible to be honest whilst being a villain.
This applies to the other elements too: You can be loyal to the wrong people, use laughter in a malicious way and even generosity can lead you astray: a few weeks ago in real life, a couple decided to create a kickstarter to help a homeless man, but as it got hundreds of thousands of dollars, both the homeless man and the couple began fighting over portions of the money.
But there is one issue here: kindness. It is very difficult indeed to think of an instance where kindness could lead to evil, in fact this very idea was discussed by the philosopher Kant, except he referred to it as goodwill instead. And without kindness, the elements cannot work at all. This may explain why it was completely impossible for Discord to corrupt Fluttershy without force. So I would say that this one element is the reason that their power can never be used for evil (and part of the reason Fluttershy=best pony)
The Crystal Heart was meant to be the first line of defense before the elements
By: Nightmare Muffin
There’s a lot of heart symbolism in FiM. Its on housing structures, interior, in pony formations and positions, the Fire of Friendship, Coloratura’s lyrics. We even see Twilight’s magic come out of her heart to transform her into an alicorn in MMC. Most importantly, its in Equestria’s strongest original weapon, the Crystal Heart. I’m led to believe that this artifact predates even the Elements of Harmony, because the heart theme in FiM is so evident. Hope and love from the heart were meant to radiate through all of Equestria and combat villains, but when Sombra made the heart and empire vanish for 1000 years, a new weapon needed to take its place, which led to the Tree of Harmony being created. Also noted is that the sisters didn’t use the elements, but their own power to defeat Sombra, since the Tree and elements had not yet existed.
