We need more soapboxes! Submit them ye foals.
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:
- Equestria Girls done right
- Why can't Twilight just lead Equestria from her own castle?
- Why Ponyisms are a Good Thing
- Will There Be A Spin-off Series For Friendship Is Magic?
And get your soapboxes below!
Equestria Girls done right
By Fluttershypegasus
(Caution:This contains spoilers for the film/ book “The Last Unicorn” which I would *highly* recommend you check out first)
When the Equestria Girls films came out, which involve Twilight being turned into a human, they received their fair share of criticism from fans. It seemed to be an unnecessary and cynical attempt by Hasbro to sell a new line of dolls, and doesn’t really seem to relate to the FiM universe in any way. However, the idea of a unicorn turning into a human has actually been done extremely well in the past with the story “The Last Unicorn”.
The story tells of a unicorn who tries to find the rest of her species. As a unicorn she is aloof and does not feel all human emotions, such as love, or regret.
A wizard transforms her into a human woman, and she slowly forgets about her life as a unicorn and falls in love with a prince. When she finds out about her past she’s terrified of being turned back into a unicorn because it would mean she could no longer be with the prince. She is finally turned back, and the prince and her never meet again. In this way, she is the first and last unicorn to learn of love, and of regret.
This is a beautiful and emotional story with themes of growling up, and especially of loss, so much so that I’d say EqG comes across as a cheap knock-off in comparison, which is really a shame since FiM has GREAT writing and imagination, and is capable of very emotional storytelling (such as ‘The Perfect Pair’ & ‘Crusaders Of The Lost Mark’), so it’s really disappointing that they would choose to drop the ball in such a way.
Why Ponyisms are a Good Thing
By: Loganberry
By ponyisms, I mean phrases like "Hello, everypony!" or the ever-popular "What the hay?" Sometimes, I see people saying that they don't like such phrases because they're silly or, perhaps even weirder, because they feel people are being cringy by taking the fandom too seriously.
I don't take that point of view at all. I mean, look at our fandom: most of us are teenage or adult fans of a kids' cartoon about magical talking horses, and a cartoon which exists to sell plastic toys at that. That *is* silly. We *are* being silly. Embrace the silliness. Silliness is *good*.
This isn't to say that I like *all* ponyisms. In particular, I think it's important to appreciate when and where is appropriate to use them. Don't go calling your bus driver "sugarcube", and don't keep using the terms to someone who asks you not to. But if you can't deal with someone saying "Morning, fillies and gentlecolts" without getting annoyed, then maybe the one taking the fandom too seriously isn't the speaker. Maybe it's you.
Will There Be A Spin-off Series For Friendship Is Magic?
By: James Jennings
Now that My Little Pony Friendship is Magic is officially ending, does Hasbro have any plans for a spin-off series based on MLP G4?
If that is true, I assume it will focus on Celestia and Luna in political retirement after they hand over the Equestrian royal government to Twilight Sparkle and her close friends.The two alicorns and former princesses move to the Horseshoe Bay area, especially the city of Baltimare.
Celestial becomes a teacher in the local school system while Luna joins the local police department. The Mane 6 make cameo appearances as well as beings like Spike and Discord.
Potential stories could include distant relatives of Twilight Sparkle and Princess Cadence living in Baltimare, racial tensions between local populations of ponies, donkeys, dragons, mules, and griffons; and even visitors from the Alicorn kingdom.
Why can't Twilight just lead Equestria from her own castle?
By: FlareGun45
Yunno what came to mind lately? From what location will Twilight rule Equestria from? We can assume that she's gonna rule from Canterlot, but everything she holds dear is in Ponyville - including the Friendship Map (which hasn't been used in a long time for some odd reason), and I know Glimglam's looking after the castle, but it seems kinda odd when that castle is meant for Twilight, while the Canterlot castle is meant for Celestia and Luna!
So in the finale, I'm thinking that circumstances with Grogar and company might lead to Canterlot castle being destroyed! So destroyed that it cannot be fixed unlike the movie! Which would lead to Twilight having to lead Equestria from Ponyville. But then again, Canterlot castle doesn't HAFTA be destroyed for Twilight to lead from Ponyville - she can choose, right? In a world like Equestria, you'd think Twilight would be allowed to lead Equestria from the Castle of Friendship! After all, the Mane 7 already have thrones there, and there's only two thrones in Canterlot - where are the rest of them gonna sit? :P
Regardless though, even then Twilight's not gonna have time for her school so that can stay with Starlight, but I think Twilight leading from Ponyville would be the best path for her! All her friends live there - it would be much more convenient for the Mane 5 to travel to her; plus they won't need to leave their family and friends!
