As revealed a while ago, soapboxes will now happen once we get enough submissions for it. Send them whenever, but also expect them whenever!
If you'd like to submit one, hit this post up.
This time around, your headlines include:
- Why Equestria is a Constitutional Monarchy
- Spike Also Left His Friends
- Somethin' Strange is Goin On In Ponyville: Twilight's Character Meltdown
- Please Stop Proclaiming the Word of Staff as Canon!
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Why Equestria is a Constitutional Monarchy
By Alexrioponylover95
Hello everycreature!
So after watching Sawtooth Waves’s (Formerly The Brony Notion for those of you who don’t know) most recent video on why Twilight is a dictator, I have to disagree with that thought, he does give many good points to support his argument, but I would like to argue that Twilight is a queen and Equestria is a constitutional monarchy.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this form of government, it’s basically having a king or queen in charge, however there is a constitution, whether written or not that the monarch has to abide by. Now why do I say that system also applies to Equestria?
Well you have Twilight, the absolute ruler of Equestria after Celestia, having inherited the throne (Kinda of…) and well the queen now, but wait… Twilight’s a princess isn’t she? Well this other idea comes from Silver Quill in which he argues that Celestia is a queen in every way but of course having the title of one (Because all queens are evil, thanks Disney…) and the same is also true for Twilight. After all, when Gallus and Luster Dawn addresses Twilight, they say, “Your Majesty”, something more fitting to say to a queen rather than a princess.
Now I did say that Twilight is the absolute ruler, well not really… Lets take the United Kingdom’s take on constitutional monarchy, for example, (fitting because both Canada and the United States, where the show was produced, was once part of the British Empire) they have a ruling monarch in place, however there is also Parliament, with the two houses, the House of Lords and House of Commons.
Twilight has her own from of a Parliament in some way, which she has to take advice or listen to, and that is of course the rest of the Mane 6, the Council of Friendship. Added to the fact that Twilight has Spike as her Friendship Ambassador and Advisor. Plus, we can not forget that there are town and city leaders, like Mayor Mare and Sunny Skies, so it’s not unreasonable to think that every town and city has a mayor in charge.
So no, Twilight is no dictator in my opinion, rather a benevolent queen who has to share power with other important ponies and help keep her in check and advise her on what to do so she can make a final decision. Being a dictator means that whatever Twilight says is not up for debate and everything she says must happen no matter what.
But what do you think? What kind of government does Equestria have? And am I wrong to think that Equestria is a constitutional monarchy?
Spike Also Left His Friends
By: FlareGun45
In the flashbacks of The Last Problem, it shows that Twilight is very much gonna miss her friends. As it turns out, they won't be with Twilight to help run Equestria all the time - which I do believe works best in this regard, they do have their own lives and shouldn't give them up for something they never asked for, the 6 even shared a group crying session! Luckily, they see eachother once a month for council meetings!
Here comes the usual FlareGun45 twist, ready for this? *clears throat* What about Spike? Yeah, who saw THAT coming? :P
What I'm asking is, what's Spike's situation with HIS groups of friends? Sure, he's got Twilight, but she's not the only friend he has. What about his Guys' nights with Big Mac and Discord? What about learning the ways of the dragon with Smolder? What about GABBY, she only goes to Ponyville to check on Gallus, she has no business in Canterlot, so what's Spike gonna do about that? And his other friends in Ponyville too. It's bad enough Spike never really sees Ember and Thorax since they're running their own nations (maybe that's one of the reasons why Spike became Ambassador).
Sooooo yeah, Spike took it pretty well in the last episode questionably, leaving HIS friends behind. I know he started off alone with just Twilight, but you'd think he'd get so used to having other friends he wouldn't wanna let go of them. He can see the Remane Five monthly, but what about his personal friends outside of the Mane Six? I guess he has more freedom to roam since he's basically Vice President and doesn't have the same responsibilities as Twilight does, so he can go to Ponyville whenever he wants?
What do you think?
Somethin' Strange is Goin On In Ponyville: Twilight's Character Meltdown
By Shimmer Sparkles
Like most shows, I feel as though FiM's writing evolved as it went on. I love Season 1, but the format of EI friendly episodes probably wouldn't be able to sustain itself for 9 seasons. Season 4 and 5 began to naturally embrace the growing responsibilities of certain characters, Twilight in particular showing immense development with her new role as Princess of Friendship. I like Twilight snarky, but I feel as though her more compassionate and logic based thoughtful approach as a political leader worked perfectly as character evolution. She had no reason to be an asshole anymore, her years in learning how not to be an asshole have taught her to know better. To think better. To act better. Amending Fences is a standout example of both Twilight's past endeavors and (at the time) current standing of the ever-expanding personality of Twilight Sparkle. This is why I had no problem with her becoming a Princess. It opened up new opportunities for her, and in some ways I see it as bridge between the gap of an inexperienced immature child to a young adult, who although has a lot more learning to do, is considerably more wise and above all, a model on how to develop a main character.
Then Season 8 happened.
I don't know if it was a change in staff, corporate mandates or creative burnout from the movie but the character assassination on Twilight Sparkle was one of the most backward approaches to a character I have ever seen in an IP. As I mentioned before, Twilight is a logic based leader. She does things with reason. So why does she feel the need to open a school for students to learn about friendship? I would give this less flack if she didn't appoint her friends with no teaching background whatsoever to become educators. This is nepotism, plain and simple, and it is very out of line with what previous seasons outlined as a natural progression for Twilight. This is not thoughtful at all. This is not something that Twilight thought over and considered why that was a terrible idea. Yeah yeah everything's cooler when you do it with friends, but do not mingle that into professional settings. It's irresponsible. Something not even Season 1 Twilight would consider doing.
There are even worse things they had done to Twilight as the final two seasons reared their ugly heads, like turn the problematic but utterly harmless character trait of anxiety ridden breakdowns into the only fucking plotlines they could write around her and made her a literal mouthpiece for democratic US politics (I voted for Bernie before anyone starts shit) in a show which was so far removed from 21st century politics that it pained me to see what they had done to my favorite character. My childhood inspiration. My creative muse.
I have more to say but that's 500 so you can argue with me in the comments. Next time I'm tearing the Student Six to shreds.
Please Stop Proclaiming the Word of Staff as Canon!
By: A Shy Brony
Recently, Nicole Dubuc made the statement at BABSConline that Cozy Glow is actually an adult in a filly’s body. I have problems with this statement, but I can accept it as just a head canon idea that Nicole had. What I can’t accept however, is the multitude of people on Equestria Daily, that are now proclaiming Nicole’s words as canon. “Cozy’s an adult now, so her punishment is justified!” they say. I also experienced statements like these from my “Twilight’s Friends Shouldn’t Get Immortality” soapbox; several people made comments of “But Megan McCarthy said Twilight won’t outlive her friends!” I’m writing this soapbox to explain why we shouldn’t accept statements from outside the episodes to be Canon.
The primary reason why statements like these shouldn’t be considered Canon, is because it sets up the entire Canon of FiM to be rewritten. That sounds extreme, surely it won’t get to that point, right? Except that it already has, sort of. Recently, Lauren Faust said that Celestia released Nightmare Moon from the moon herself. The problem with that is, it directly contradicts the first two episodes of FiM. What’s the point in all the prophecy, if Celestia could release Luna at any time? So Celestia directly lied to Twilight? That doesn’t make sense. (Sawtooth Waves, formerly The Brony Notion, has a great video about this on his YouTube channel.) As you can see, if we believe Faust’s statements, then we accept that the way the Season Premiere of FiM was portrayed was wrong. Thankfully, it seems most fans agree that this idea doesn’t make sense. Also, the fact that Lauren hasn’t been a part of FiM for a long time doesn’t exactly help her stance.
Outside statements also have the chance to be overwritten by the episodes as well. Megan McCarthy may have said Twilight won’t outlive her friends years ago, but like it or not, Megan wasn’t a part of the last episodes of FiM. And despite what Big Jim and others may say, it certainly seems like Twilight will outlive her friends.
But why are Dubuc’s and McCarthy’s comment’s popular, while Faust’s isn’t? Because ultimately, people believe what they want to believe. Which brings me to my second point. If you want to believe that Cozy is an adult, that’s great. But there are plenty of people like myself that still believe Cozy is a filly. And since it was never stated in the show whether Cozy is an adult, we should be allowed to still believe Cozy is a filly.
To reiterate, I have no problem with people believing Cozy is an adult now. What I don’t like is when people use statements like Dubuc’s to push their beliefs onto others. I experienced this in the last soapbox I wrote, “Your argument is invalid, because Dubuc says Cozy’s an adult now!” Statements from the staff of FiM should be seen as head canon material at best, and certainly not official Canon statements.
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