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:
- MLP G4 25th Anniversary Special
- Pony Life And The “SD” Genre Attempt
- The Magic of Manes: A Theoretical Contemplation
- The Secret Ending of The Last Problem
Get the articles below!
MLP G4 25th Anniversary Special
By: FlareGun45
Yes, FIM is over, and pretty much Pony Life took it's place till G5 comes around, but have ya ever thought that maybe Hasbro would wanna be nostalgic with their wears? There are times when they advertise older generations and sell some toys to make a profit over old stuff, and I'm pretty sure it's gonna happen with G4 - but to really help advertise a G4 reunion merchandise, how about a G4 reunion SPECIAL?
Since G4 is the one that the entire My Little Pony franchise mainstream, I could see that in 15 years or so, there could be a 25th Anniversary special for G4, with the cast and crew reuniting to make a very special project! Would it one special, two, three? What would special be about? Would it just be a simple slice O life story, or could it be something that rivals the series finale? It wouldn't be an entire season, I can tell ya that much. It's not a reboot - it's something like that Invader Zim movie, or Hey Arnold, or Rocco's Modern Life - a one-time special that could potentially answer some unanswered questions! It'd probably take place between Twilight's coronation and the timejump, might have some elements from the season 10 comics in 'em.
Whether or not there'll actually BE a 25th anniversary special is uncertain at this time. Gotta wait 13 years or so for them to even make plans of havin' one. All I'm certain about is that making a G4 special and selling old G4 merchandise would make Hasbro alota money, and if the cast and crew are alright with coming back to making it, and having a decent writer or two actually making them, whether it's some old writers or maybe someone from the fandom who made a successful career for themselves in the field by the next decade could actually write it, I don't think Hasbro would deny this!
What do you think? Can ya wait 15 years for a FIM special? Hopefully at least Tara, Andrea, Tabitha, Ashleigh, Cathy, Nicole, Rebecca, Kazumi, Shannon, and Kelly will still be around and active during those days, let alone be interested in doing this! Cause the special can't be done without them! PL might not have alot to lose with replacing VAs, but this special would be too important for that.
Pony Life And The Attempt At Achieving The “SD” Format
By Badr Bally (Ballisima)
Pony Life And The “SD” Genre Attempt
By Badr Bally (Ballisima)
Ever since the announcement of Pony Life there was mixed reaction among fans that still exists since the first episodes aired. Among those is the fear that it would become the new Teen Titans Go!
I think it's works fine as an Super Deformed parody spinoff of Friendship Is Magic but is nowhere close to being as good as FIM then again not many SD spinoffs of popular animated shows can because they tend to be their own thing.
The Super Deformed or Chibi spinoffs have been stable in Anime since the Gundam franchise popularized this subgenre with the SD Gundam specials in the 80s. These range from typical slice of life parodies to inserting characters in other genres (like a Wacky Races settings used in productions like the Scramble Wars OVA, which featured characters from several series produced by the now defunct Anime studio Artmic such as Bubblegum Crisis and Gall Force) or shorts targeting a young audience like the 90's Godzilla SD anime shorts (yes that's a thing) or shorts providing details of the lore in the show (Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water’s Nadia’s Omake Theatre)
Attempts at this format were done in North American and European Anime-style projects for a number of years, within this category Pony Life is one of the better American attempts at this, though not as good as the Avatar The Last Airbender SD shorts but still a more tolerable effort than either Teen Titans Go! or ThunderCats Roar in my opinion at least.
The show has been improving each episode even though I still have my gripes, for example I didn't particularly care for how the recent Rarity episode portrayed Fancy Pants. Now, one of the aspects of the SD series format is the portrayal of characters of in a much different and far more comedic light compared to their canon counterparts in their series, which are usually exaggerations of characters' personalities or quirks, which is part of the humor of an SD series (take how a serious shrewd calculating character like Char Anzable from the original Gundam series is portrayed as over-exaggerated zealous and smug goofball in a number of SD Gundam shorts, which is different but still fits as an exaggerated comedic version of the character)
In Pony Life's case, you have Rarity summoning the sofa to whine, Fluttershy's size changing depending on her mood..etc but the issue is that you risk taking it too far like how they portrayed Fancy Pants who in the main series is a down to earth Canterlot elite as a vain snobby elite who's full of himself, it's too different it verges on OOC territory, the risk is that you might make the characters too annoying or unlikable (case in point with TTG and TCR). Luckily the Mane 6 have avoided this issue for the most part in my opinion, they have more exaggerated aspects of their personalities but they still feel familiar versions of their original counterparts.
So in summary, Pony Life as a more light-hearted slice of life SD spinoff to Friendship Is Magic, it's serviceable and works for the type of show it is. It will never be as good as FIM but it still works as its own thing.
The Magic of Manes: A Theoretical Contemplation
I've been reading some novels and research by a writer named Brandon Sanderson with whom I've come to share a love of magic and world's that use magic. In my own time, I've studied and contemplated, written and rewritten, until I now have in my mind a basic construct to which magic in Equestria draws upon. With you today, I would like to share an example of Equestria's magic through the second Law of Magic devised by Brandon Sanderson, that being the Magic of Manes.
The second Law of Magic states that "what magic cannot do is far more interesting than what it can" leading to my research on manes. What I discovered was interesting though sparsely covered so to let this discovery breath, I would wish that you as a reader refrain from comparing the mane of a pony to that of hair in this world. Instead, view Equestria as a separate universe, where their laws may seem to mimic those of Earth but rather have different causes for their effects, thus changing how we are to perceive and understand them. As an example of such, I will share with you that manes share a distinction with a pony that only the same body can understand which is magic. Magic flows throughout the physical form and shares in its uniqueness like that of a physical form's DNA. To be quick in explanation, the magic of a being is unique unto them so only by their magic can that form be affected.
That in short explains the magicality of magic in a mane but does not explain its inability to be affected by magic. This is where the connection of laws to our world plays in. While the manes of ponies do indeed contain the magic of the individual and thus act in accordance with the body, they are also dead cells meaning magic is the only thing in them that keeps their color. This magic, being individual to the pony itself, resists all outside forms of magic, leading to no other pony able to force its growth or create new hair already imbued with that magic. This example reveals a key law in Equestria's magic system, that the more unique and crafted a magic becomes, the more it resists change and protects itself.
"But", one might protest, "we have seen examples of hair growth before and ponies using magic on hair at other times! This assessment then cannot be true!" In deeper thought however we see that these examples all held a key difference. While magic cannot be affected, the thing in which it resides can. This allows for powerful magic to change the shape of the body or remove parts such as Trizie with the alicorn amulet or Discord in multiple occasions. It allows for Twilight to style hair or remove water from it as she changes the state and condition of hair rather than the magic within, and it allows for hair to burn or singe without magical feedback. We also see in Spike's mustache play and Rarity's attempts to mend her hair in that hair in its structure and color can be created and placed upon one's body, but hair infused with magic will reject the new attachment much like a body might reject a new organ.
In truth though, these are all speculations gathered from canon evidence and have a right to be disputed and clarified. Despite that, I know I will quite enjoy piecing together the fragments given in the series to a cohesive understanding of this world. However, this will be my last submission for the next 2 years as I serve a religious mission, so ponder these ideas until I return to expand on them some more.
The Secret Ending of The Last Problem
By: Anonny
"Twilight will not outlive her friends" ~ Meghan McCarthy
This was the promise during the storm of infighting which was Twilight's Ascension, where a moment that should've brought great joy instead lead to a vicious civil war, driving many from the community. These fears resurfaced with the Finale, much loved as it is, where many hate what it stands for... most of all for its contradiction to that promise. Did the new writers not care? Or was it a lie, to begin with? After a great length of time to reflect on the series, and the finale which was so bitter-sweet, I think I have an answer to this. And Twilight will NOT outlive her friends.
I have a full analysis I wrote up on the subject, but I will be short to match the Soap Box criteria.
I will briefly say that the whole of Season 9 emphasized three themes with many of its episodes: Life, Endings, and Change. We see life in relationships, in fulfilling a bucket list, in a new holiday; we see the ending of the Tree of Harmony, and the Summer Sun Celebration; changes as little as abandoning a crush, to something as big as Scootaloo narrowly avoiding separation from her friends. Some of the foreshadowing is obvious, where we were let off easy with Scootaloo only to be hit with the harsh reality of the coronation.... All together, they foreshadow a greater theme, that of the Cycle of Life itself, which we see very strongly in The Last Problem.
The Finale is clearly set far into the future, as all the characters from the series are old or grown up, and Equestria has changed considerably. Flurry Heart appears to have become the ruler of the Crystal Empire, and the Student 6 had followed in the hoofsteps of the Mane 6, defeating some monster. Twilight now has a new student, Luster Dawn, who through the episode is taught about friendship, and begins her journey in Ponyville just as Twilight did; beginning the cycle anew.
But there are some odd points, if we consider what I just said. Why is she continuing the cycle now, when we already had the Student 6? Well, it seems they're all grown up now, and have separated just as the Mane 6 did, with Gallus in Canterlot and the others in Ponyville. An entire generation has passed, and we are seeing the third Mane 6 forming (4th if you count the Pillars). But why continue it at all when Twilight is immortal, and why now? The reason is that a generation has passed... and Twilight will not outlive her friends.
Dawn is set into motion, and she will repeat Twilight's journey to become the new ruler of Equestria, inheriting her powers as Twilight did from the Celestia and Luna. With this completed, the sun sets on the Mane 6, who will soon retire to Silver Shoals... or Ponyville. Because this was The Last Problem for Twilight and her Friends.
