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 PST. To submit your own, see this post.
Headlines this week:
- Should Marble Pie move outta the rock farm?
- Reforming Lightning Dust?
- What My Little Pony does better than almost any other fantasy
- Friendship School Inspired Grogar's Plan
- Why did we love Frenemies?
And get your soapboxes below!
Should Marble Pie move outta the rock farm?
By: FlareGun45
Can't ya just feel sorry for Marble? She's so shy, the only one she's ever crushed on has found somepony else, and all she really has is her sister who orders her around! She has it worse than Spike even, at least he has some accomplishments to show for it, but not Marble! Marble's all alone in that farm! Perhaps she needs to make a real life outta herself, and be able to meet someone! We should totally have a season 9 episode that covers this! She always stands in Limestone's shadow and only says "Mhm". She needs confidence to live her own life and expand her horizons. Pinkie needs to help her lil sis out with this problem, and who knows, maybe we can get a reaction to the rest of the family, similar to that of Pinkie moving out when she was a filly!
Even if she doesn't move outta the farm, Marble deserves happiness, so she should really find someone! She deserves
it!
Reforming Lightning Dust?
By: MetalSonicX
One ot the things I wish to see before the show ends, is the reformation of a particoular character: Lightning Dust. As much I loved The Washouts, I'm quite disappointed that writers haven't reformed her yet. And I know that a lot of people are tired of redemptions but honestly I think it is part of the series and I'm totally cool with that. Besides, I think that of the antagonists still left, Lightning Dust is the one who deserves a redemption most of all. I mean, they've just reformed Garble, and they're (surely) gonna reform Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow at the end of the series, and those guys did a lot worse than her in past. Lightning Dust is not even properly evil and mean, she's just extremely reckless and only cares of putting up a good show. Honestly I think she still has hopes to change her ways of doing and becoming a better pony, and I think her redemption could be part of the eventual Rainbow Dash finale episode.
What My Little Pony does better than almost any other fantasy
By Friendshipismagic
In the Lord Of The Rings, The Shire And Rivendell are presented as idyllic lands, and this is what drives the conflict; Sauron’s forces threaten these peaceful places, which is why he is so terrifying and dangerous. However, we don’t get too attached to them in terms of the narrative; in The Hobbit, it even explains why not much of the story is spent describing Bilbo’s stay in Rivendell, and instead is focused on the more worrisome and dangerous aspects of the world ‘things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating,and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway. ‘
My Little Pony is different. We get a vast amount of insight into how ponies spend their lives and what Equestria is like when not under threat. From a few fillies attempt to find their purpose in life to simple friendship problems, as well as the beautiful meadows and woods of Equestria. This allows us to truly feel an attachment to this world, and help to add a great deal of investment whenever it’s under threat from evil forces like Lord Tirek and Grogar.
Friendship School Inspired Grogar's Plan
By: wileco
Chancellor Neighsay's concern in season 8 that friendship
could be used by other creatures for ill was correct. He was only worried about the wrong creatures.
Cozy Glow, the weakest villain imaginable, used friendship to learn from Tirek and manipulate
everyone in the school.
Cozy failed, but she wasn't the only one that learned friendship at the school. Grogar said he
watched each previous villain, from which we can assume he watched Cozy at the school and
learned friendship along with her. Why is Grogar striking now, when he has been gathering power for millennia?
He could have built a team at any time. The obvious explanation is that he only decided to do that recently.
Cozy Glow and the school of friendship must have been his inspiration.
Bonus chess symbolism: Cozy Glow's rook
cutie mark refers not only to her strategizing, but also to the fact that she is crucial to the series endgame
for the reason I just explained. She is also on a team with Grogar, "King" of Monsters ("King" Sombra couldn't also be allowed), "Queen" Chrysalis, and "Lord" (Knight, part horse) Tirek. The team lacks a "Bishop" (faith/trust).
Why did we love Frenemies?
By: indiana
It's quite funny to see that this particular episode is not only my best of the season so far but the best of the season for many other people. But why? Did we all secretly become evil or something? No. That is not it. While there are many factors at play here, I would like to try to explain a few of them. If the episode started with them harming someone innocent, this episode would not have worked so well. It instead started with them hurting each other in a sense. It starts with villain jokes at their own expense and that is ok because it's new and refreshing for a change. But then it continues with something extremely powerful. The song. It's not something you would expect a villain to do but there they are doing it and shattering any expectation of you thinking that they are evil and going out there to hurt innocents even if they do say that they will do that. And then in the second half it's all about that bonding and teamwork that is once again specific of heroes and not villains. For this one episode, the villains were portrayed not only as the heroes but as capable heroes too that are teaming up together to defeat a bigger baddie funny enough. And in the entire episode only they were the ones getting hurt and going trough trials. They actually barely did anything bad if you don't count Rusty Bucket in the snow.( I mean let's be honest, he kind of asked for it, isn't it? And he assured the public that he is ok too. What about the bull and the shadow? Self defense.).And finally let's be honest, we all have a rebel baddie side and this worked as a careful reminder that we want to imagine ourselves bad and imposing as opposed to cute and weak sometimes.
In conclusion I think that this episode is so popular because of how well these villains were humanized here. They were shown to be able to work as future heroes and capable ones too. By that I mean that they were made relatable enough for you to see that they weren't just evil for the sake of it but they each had their own way of seeing the world that is at least understandable even if it's not noble. And the finishing touch is the path to redemption. Many speculated that would happen and bang, there it is. The cherry on top has been served. There are more things I wanted to talk about but unfortunately I went far enough already. Continued in the comment section if anyone will help me with it.
