The soapboxes continue! As always, these are the opinions of fandom members, not us here at EQD. If you'd like to submit your own soapbox, hit up this post for infos.
Have some headlines:
- G5 is not G4.1
- How "Fan Depictions" Hurt Celestia
- IDW Idea: Twilight and Flash vs. the Suitors
- Did Luna Create the Cirrostratan Pegasi?
And go read them below!
G5 is not G4.1
By: Peace Petal
I’ve heard a lot of speculation in the brony community about connections between G4 and G5. For example, theories about where Twilight and Discord are, how we might add another cast member to bump it up to a Mane 6, which G5 ponies correspond to which Elements of Harmony, etcetera. We all have the right to speculate how we wish, but I for one hope that G5 isn’t quite as closely connected to G4 as many are imagining.
Previous generations of My Little Pony weren’t connected at all. G5 already went beyond the norm by setting itself in the same world of G4. But the kidscreen article from January (Kidscreen » Archive » My Little Pony rides high with new CP) made it clear that the creators made this choice to access the rich worldbuilding of Equestria. Why throw away a world with so much depth, history, and locations? But I think they will keep references to G4 minimal, or at least they won’t make them obvious. G5 is supposed to be a jumping-on point. Starting with a movie, animating it in 3D, including the first male main character, and starting with a darker premise than G4 are all decisions that could potentially broaden the audience of MLP. I think they want to be less of a niche show and more mainstream. But that isn’t going to work if they’re too heavy on references to G4. I don’t want new fans to feel that they are missing something.
Any references to G4 should enhance G5 whether or not you’ve seen G4. For example, Sunny is clearly inspired by the Mane 6 of G4. This could add to her character, as she looks up to Twilight Sparkle but finds herself unable to repeat Twilight’s successes in a world that has become hard and cold. In trying to apply the simple, sweet lessons of the Friendship Journal, she comes across as a misguided and laughable optimist who’s lost touch with reality. Sunny could be a more complex character for her connection to G4. But if she ends up being too similar to Twilight, she’ll feel like a repeat. Old fans will be comparing her to Twilight, a near-impossible order that will probably make Sunny look bad. New fans won’t fully understand the character, and pieces of her personality might seem incongruent with the world she lives in.
G5 is not G4.1. G4 should be the backstory to G5, not G5 being a sequel to G4. In other words, G4 should be The Silmarillion of G5, not G5 being The Force Awakens of G4.
By IronYoshi
I've talked in great detail about Princess Celestia before. She's not only my favorite Princess, but my favorite character in general. But she's been horribly mishandled, barely getting any time to shine while Luna hogged all the fame. Part of it can be blamed on the show not giving her a spotlight episode, but another can be blamed on the fandom, given how needlessly cruel they were to her (kinda ironic, really), mainly in the way they interpreted her in fan works, which in my opinion, only helped damage Celestia's reputation.
By interpretations, I mean things like Trollestia, Tyrant Celestia, Molly, and a handful others have done nothing more than paint a negative image of Celie. And I know what most of you all are thinking, "well, they're only interpretations, they're not meant to actually be Celestia!" That may be so, but many fans actually treat these interpretations as if they were apart of Celie, rather than seeing her as the wise, caring, and young-at-heart ruler she really is.
Like, because Celestia is sometimes like to joke around instantly labels her as a "troll". That's just ridiculous. If anything, what was meant to show Celie being a bit down to earth and letting her subjects feel comfortable in her presence just got overblown by the fandom. Suddenly they started depicting Celie pulling very outlandish, somewhat mean-spirited pranks and sending ponies to the Moon because "reasons". Leave it to the fandom to take a one note gag and continue to beat it to the ground to the point it stop being funny. But they may be a discussion for another day.
Then there's the whole "Tyrant Celestia" depiction, one I personally detest. Basically take Celestia and make her as evil, if not more so, than any of the villains in the series. It goes against everything Celestia stands for, taking this kind and caring ruler and turning her into this irredeemable monster. I know Daybreaker is a thing, but this was well before she came into being. And many fans simply rolled along with it! It certainly wasn't helped by the whole Solar Empire/Lunar Republic thing (probably one of the worst things to come out of the fandom, fight me), which seems to have Celestia being a tyrant.
If any other pony was depicted in these ways, then there would be a massive outcry. Yet why it is it completely okay to do it to Celestia?
Now, these depictions have thankfully died down in the years since, but it begs the question if these depictions never happened, then would Celestia's image have been better? Would she have gained the love she deserved? Who knows, but I feel that those depictions did more harm than good. There's so much more to Celestia than these depictions paint her as. I hope these tasteless depictions of her stay in the past, because she deserved so much better. At least we got Momlestia. That's one positive depiction out of these.
By Double C
Hey everyone this is another Twilight and Flash I’m making for the soapbox and some great news.
Twilight has faced many challenges from being Celestia’s student to becoming the ruler of Equestria. But the one thing that she never faced yet is something that her sister-in-law Cadence did, Suitors. With the Mane 6 as heroes, they would have many stallions who want to be their boyfriends. While the Mane 5 will have each other to deal with them except for Pinkie who is with Cheese, Twilight will have the most trouble since her friends aren’t going to be there and Spike probably decided not to get involve. This is another good reason for Flash to be with Twilight. His good looks, physical fitness, fighting skills, musical talents, and good nature make him the perfect chose for Twilight that keeps the suitors away.
In my opinion Celestia may have kept them at bay by any means since she didn’t want Twilight to deal with them. She may have feared that when she retired Twilight would be at their mercy especially if some of them are princes. It also wonders if Cadence knows as well since she only dealt with Buck Withers who was obviously only interested in her because she is a princesses. That is why I was hoping she would assign Flash to protect Twilight just like how Armor won her heart by saving her from Buck. So both Twilight and Cadence found their love interest after they were saved even though it was human Flash in Equestria Girls but it still counts. In return Cadence saved Armor from Chrysalis and they both saved the Chrystal Empire from Sombra. So hopefully we will see Twilight save Flash and them both save Equestria most likely from Grogar. It would make Twilight and Candace have something in common, so it was destiny that Twilight and Flash where indeed meant to meet.
Somehow I probably think Hasbro and IDW wanted to explore something like this but you hates just won’t give it a chance. But after reading that IDW is coming out with the 100 issues, one of the things they will talk about is the Mane 6 unravel the mystery of the Knights of Harmony. Even though it’s early to call but this may finally make Flash an important character. So fans lets pray he will appear in Issue 10 and be the knight we want him to be for us and Twilight.
FLASH SENTRY AND FLASHLIGHT FOREVER.
Did Luna Create the Cirrostratan Pegasi?
In the book published by A.K.Yearling, “Daring Do and the Forbidden City of the Clouds”, we read about a very interesting subset of ponies- that being the Pegasi within the invisible, floating city of Cirrostrata ( with the mystical artifact, the Halo of Cirrostrata, being what actually keeps the city invisible). However, these seem to be unlike the regular Pegasi ponies that we know and have seen within FiM, and the whole of the MLP franchise that encompasses all generations. The Pegasi here have long, rabbit-like ears and three vertical lines beneath their left eye.
These features intrigued me, and I soon found myself making the connection between rabbits and the moon. There exists an old Chinese folktale about a rabbit that pounds mochi on the surface of the moon, Additionally, rabbits are feminine creatures, renowned for their fertility and have also been worshiped as such. Similarly, the moon is also aligned with feminine traits and fertility.
Interestingly enough, the book itself brings up other important artifacts that could imply the involvement of Luna- that being the Doomed Diadem of Xilati, which, if separated from her sister artifact (the Tiara of Teotiale) for longer than fourteen moons, a curse would usher in eternal night? (sounds familiar?) Seems funny to me that both of these artifacts are both crowns, and are sister objects to one another….
My thoughts on this are perhaps Luna in the midst of her transition to Nightmare Moon, might’ve created the Cirrostratan city and the rabbit-eared pegasi, hiding them and their city away to forever keep them safe from being found by Celestia. The three vertical lines beneath their left eye could perhaps be a reference to the triple moon symbol that shows off different lunar phases- the waning crescent, full moon, and waxing crescent.
Of course, all of this is purely speculation.
