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:
- Concerns about the series finale
- The Students Becoming the Teachers
- The Problem of Maud Pie
- Choose Your Own Canon? Why I Think The Equestria Girls Multiple Ending Shorts are Not In Continuity
- Do we still remember Thorax?
And get your soapboxes below!
Concerns about the series finale
By: Dark Mind
Despite the S9 is doing great so far, there's something that is constantly concerning me about the series finale: that they pull the same exploit writers used in the S6 and S8 for the series finale and that would be sidelining the Mane 6 and let the secondary characters doing the whole final battle against Grogar. And yet Twilight is still gonna be crowned despite not having done ANYTHING in the final battle. That would be the bullshit of the bullshits.
I know that this might sound quite self entitled but.... this is the thing: Twilight has to ascend to the throne? Then she has to DESERVE it. Leading the final assault against Grogar (who will surely build an army once he recovers his bell, let's not forget he's the "father of all monsters") it's the perfect trial for her proving to be worthy of the throne. But I'm worried that writers might sideline the Mane 6 instead, making them prisoners of Grogar for the whole time and will only watch by behind the curtains their allies defeating him. Honestly I wouldn't be fine with that. At all, it would be stupid, nonsense and totally counterproducing to Twilight's development. I really REALLY hope to be wrong on this...
The Students Becoming the Teachers
By: FlareGun45
With the Mane 7 becoming royalty, and Glimglam watching over the school, there's still the matter of question of who's gonna help Glimglam teach at the school? Trixie's got her own life travelling, Sunburst works at the Crystal Empire, and Maud is a maybe but that's still not enough. Then it got me wondering, what's the destiny of the Student 6? Are they gonna do after they graduate? They're not gonna wanna go back home cause they're gonna wanna stay together!
And the answer I got: the Student 6 will become the Teacher 6! Since they're new representations of friendship in a way, it makes perfect sense to take the Mane 6's jobs as the new teachers of the school, cause c'mon, the Mane 6 have their own lives AND helping Twilight out, they're not gonna have time to teach! Unless of course ponies have 10x more energy than humans do and drink Red Bull all the time!
So what do ya think? Could the Student 6's destiny is to become the new teachers of the School?
The Problem of Maud Pie
By: Warriorterra
I found Maud Pie, shallow as a character. Since his introduction in Season four, she has become one of the most beloved ponies in the Fandom, but it has been all smoke and mirrors with a character that has so little: his lack of reaction and his obsession with rocks. It feels so simple and easy to make jokes with her, and that's why everyone loves her. Also, she's a character that cannot hold a story, always have to work with another character to make a contrast with her, whatever is Pinkie, Rarity (in FF #29) or Starlight, and that makes it so predictable what is going to happen.
And then, the writers made a "prosthesis" for her. Mudbriar, a character that looks and acts like a Rule 63 of her. And somehow, it's more annoying than she, I heard that some people compare with Sheldon Cooper, but I don't see the similarities, at least they're superficial at least. And that my main issue with Maud and his "coltfriend", they are perfect examples of their cutie marks, a rock and a piece of wood, I don't feel them as alive as other characters, and I feel them overrated.
Choose Your Own Canon? Why I Think The Equestria Girls Multiple Ending Shorts are Not In Continuity
By: Moonlit Stones
At the time of writing this soapbox, I had asked Katrina Hadley, one of the directors of the Equestria Girls series, whether or not the Choose Your Own Ending short films fit in with the continuity of the series. While I have yet to receive an answer, I will explain why I believe they are part of the canon. While this does not ruin the fun of these shorts, I just want to tell you why they don't fit continuity wise.
First off, it's in the title. "CHOOSE YOUR OWN ENDING." That means only you, and you alone, must make the choice. You get three options for how the episode ends, with each one maybe having the same result, just in a different way. If you choose your favorite character, but the ending is bad. it's probably your fault.
Also, I see various scenes that don't really fit the ending. For example, the short "Happily Ever After Party" shows a lot of contradictions that interfere with the other shorts. You see references to other endings in this one short alone than all the others, and it all becomes very, VERY confusing.
This should be taken into account for continuity's sake.
Do we still remember Thorax?
By: FlareGun45
Thorax is one of my favorite characters in the series! He's so adorable, he opened the door to a huge amount of changeling development, and I for one had no issues with the new changeling designs! But Thorax has had so much story potential that wasn't used, and after season 7, he basically just turned into "just the king of the changelings", and Ocellus' guardian.
Thorax... remember that changeling that was an outsider to his kind, much like Spike, which is probably the reason why Spike worked so hard to befriend him? Then with the help of Starlight, he became king, just like that without getting to know him a little more? He's also had a ton of troubles with rogue changelings that was resolved off-screen, except for his brother? I'm sure we can agree that the rogue changeling episode shoulda happened, but also, one other problem: I think he became king way too quickly. Like we had the episode introducing him and how he's different from other changelings, but we really shoulda had an episode that focused on Thorax getting to know Starlight a bit before joining her team, and also learn a bit about being a leader even BEFORE being king, so the idea can be foreshadowed. That woulda been a great opportunity for that well-needed Spike/Starlight episode too!
Speaking of which, Thorax hasn't really being interacting with those two in a long time. Especially Spike, the one who saved Thorax from being alone, and they only interact for like TWO episodes! While Thorax interacted with Starlight for THREE, plus the S6 finale - which I still don't understand why Starlight stole Spike's changeling redemption arc. I'm really hoping the writers didn't forget about their friendship, because it's super unique, and gives Spike a well-needed break from the Mane 6. That's why Times Are Changeling was my favorite season 6 episode!
Regardless though, even though Thorax is a pretty cool character, he doesn't get used in the series as much as he should, and it's been a while since we seen more of him on than just being King of the Changelings. Let's not forget, he was once an outsider, lost and alone. It would be SO GREAT for all that to notified again before the series ends - especially for the conclusion to Spike's character arc, cause that was one of Spike's biggest highlights in the series!
