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:
- Why Sombra's Return in the MLP/Transformers Crossover Makes No Sense!
- The Censorship Problem in the Fandom
- How Gallus training can help make Flashlight, Spabby, and Others.
- Scootaloo's Parents- Too Little, Too Late
Why Sombra's Return in the MLP/Transformers Crossover Makes No Sense!
By Alexrioponylover95 and Hononoken the Samurai
Hello everycreature! (And I guess in this case, also every transforming alien robots… That doesn’t roll off the tongue that easy… Anyway, getting sidetracked!)
So I got to read the first two issues of the second MLP/Transformers crossover and just like the first one, it’s really good thus far and shows the best of what crossovers can bring! Except there’s just one thing that really bothers me… Sombra’s return and how it literally makes no sense!
Let me explain… In the first issue of the crossover, Twilight says “No… We destroyed you!” And then Sombra says, “Only the combined magic of your friendship defeated me.” You know what this tells me… This crossover literally happens after The Beginning of the End! And well let me tell you… There’s no way Sombra’s coming back after Twilight and her friends literally vaporized him! Also, how his remains ended up in the Crystal Empire when he was defeated in Canterlot, I have no idea how to begin to explain that…
And if this is the case… Than that means Chrysalis has in fact broken free from her stone prison after The Ending of the End. Which added to this fact, also means Tirek and Cozy Glow are somewhere roaming about, if they were also freed alongside Chrysalis that is.
And another thing… I’m questioning how Sombra can control the Decepticons, who are not organic beings, but machines… But I don’t know much about how the Transformers work, so I’ll leave that to my good friend, Hononoken the Samurai, to explain that side!
Thanks, Alex!
So, for those not familiar with Transformers, there are some examples across the franchise of Transformers being hypnotized. But in terms of Transformers being brainwashed, the best example that springs to mind is Mindwipe, a lesser-known Decepticon from G1 who can hypnotize both organic and mechanical beings just by looking into their eyes. One look at the three-part finale of G1, "The Rebirth", and you'll see him brainwash an Autobot into backing up into a river, and brainwashing an alien into serving him.
Then, there's "Transformers: Animated". In the two-parter "Human Error", Soundwave kidnaps Optimus Prime's team and traps their minds in a virtual reality, eventual taking control of them and all machines in the surrounding area, making them serve the Decepticon cause. By the end of it, Optimus' team is freed, but seeing their eyes glow Decepticon red and Soundwave controlling fellow machines with ease is scary to watch.
With these two examples in mind, the idea of someone like Sombra brainwashing Transformers is entirely plausible. If a machine can brainwash any sentient life (silly as it might seem), so can an organic (or in Sombra's case, a living shadow).
Addendum: As for everything else, well... it's best not to think about it too hard.
The Censorship Problem in the Fandom
By: EnergeticRider
For a while now EqD has a problem with censorship. I think it started since the FedEx shooting. At least, that was the topic of the first thread where my comments where I called out bigotry and hypocrisy were deleted.
Yes, that thread as well as other threads about “Nazis in Brony Fandom” had a lot of bigoted and just nonsensical statements even now. If you go and search through some you can find rants about “white male privilege”, calls for socialism takeover, and even personal attacks, where one person calls another person Nazi without any proof or argument.
Look, I understand that censorship in itself is a necessary thing. Commentaries must be moderated, otherwise, a civil
discussion will devolve into an incoherent nonsense. But if censorship lacks clear and reasonable guidelines – that destroys discussion too. If you allow making a certain type of comments but just shut everyone, who disagrees or simply points out questionable claims – that doesn’t lead to anything productive, as one side is just spewing crazy nonsense and
the other is silenced.
The last soapbox was an especially egregious example, with the thread closed altogether. It had several (potentially) controversial entries – one where the author attacked people who don’t like LGBTQ+/-themes in the show (I’m not going to dive into why simply disliking certain themes shouldn’t be a crime – this entry will be long enough without it and it's not the topic of my entry anyway) and two about Season 9, as apparently a lot of people can’t get over the problems of how FiM ended (including Twilight's place in the world and why Grogar matters).
Which one sparked heat? I don’t know and I don’t think that matters. What matters is that all those entries were published thus giving voice to their authors. But then, the thread was closed – silencing everyone, who had an objection to the ideas presented. Regardless of the topic, such moderating policy prevented any constructive discussion about the topic.
And if you think that there wouldn’t be constructive discussion anyway – why would you publish the entry? THIS is the biggest problem. EqD moderators censor people’s criticism based on their personal opinion and nothing else, denying people their voice simply because of a different opinion. Is it a worthy practice for a community that prides itself on “love and acceptance”?
How Gallus training can help make Flashlight, Spabby, and Others.
By Double C
It was interesting that we saw Gallus as the Caption of the Royal Guards in The Final Problem. But it’s unknown why or what influence him to become a royal guard and move to Canterlot instead of staying in Ponyville with his friends. His journey might in some ways help two ships happen and reintroduce some characters.
Once again a lot us can believe that he will have Flash Sentry as his mentor. Even though he will have other mentors like Shining Armor, Fizzlepop Berrytwist, and Flash Magnus but our Flash will be his main mentor. Like Rainbow and Scootaloo, Gallus would see Flash as an older brother figure since he never knew about sibling bonding except when he is around his friends. If Gallus would to find out Twilight has a crush on Flash, he would enjoy teasing him like a sibling would do. In return I think Gallus will help Flash bond with Twilight since Flash be to nerves and Gallus will give him confidence and simply saying “Just tell her already.” I mean you all can imagine Gallus doing something like that to get Flash to confess to Twilight right?
For Spike both would be best friends since they have many things in common. They both are orphans, they work and live in Canterlot, and they helped Twilight and Flash get together. That last part is just my opinion so don’t give me any flak about it. The other thing for Gallus being in Canterlot is that Gabby can stop by. As FlareGun45 stated that her job was to check up on Gallus and won’t be able to spend time with Spike. But if Gallus is in Canterlot training then she can both checks up on him and spend time with Spike, problem solved. So we might get more Spike and Gabby adventures after all if this will happen. Just an idea, Twilight could make Gabby a royal messenger which means that Spike will finally retire from “burping” messages and they will be working together. I’m actually staring to like this ship and thinking it’s going to be the most likely one to happen.
But the most interesting is what Grampa Gruff would think of Gallus training to be a royal guard. He is not among my favorites for he seems to show less interest in caring for him and rather let someone else do it. Maybe Gallus joined was to just gain his respect since no griffon has ever been a guard since King Guto. I beat Gruff would say that he is proud but still be rude because his name literally matches his personality. Also Guys Night Out would continue with Spike hanging out with Gallus, Flash, and maybe Discord. Even though Big Mac has a family to care for, he would understand that it must go on even without him.
So yay, Gallus journey would have been an interesting story if the show and comics would have continued. Besides these, what other things could happen during Gallus training?
Scootaloo's Parents- Too Little, Too Late
By Oddball Tales
In this soapbox, we will be discussing one of the plot points that somewhat bothered me in the show, that is the handling of Scootaloo having parents. The popular fan theory though the first 8 seasons was that she was an orphan, and while I somewhat understand why they would avoid this, I personally still believe the show made an error by having her parents be alive. Here's why.
For one, in season 9 of the show, the very final season...this subject really need not be addressed at all. I mean you went 8 seasons without addressing it, so why not allow the fans to just keep their own ideas surrounding it?
Okay, so you want to address Scootaloo's family life...you bring in the Aunts, Lofty and Holiday, who are two awesome characters! (Seriously, those two are great!) Again, just living with her aunts would be fine, don't even have to bother with bringing in the parents.
Or just have Rainbow's family adopt Scootaloo! Can you imagine the tears of joy that the fandom would shed when she OFFICIALLY became Rainbow's sister? (Especially after her earlier episodes in the series!) Adoption may cause some writers hesitation given it's a big subject to tackle in a young children's program, but they touched on it in Mr. Roger's Neighborhood... so I'd think it could be done here too.
Bringing in the parents in the last season, even with an explanation like they "travel the world"-they still somehow, to me, feel like AWFUL parents and caretakers! Where the heck are they during seasons 1-8?
Additionally, part of Scoot's struggle, to me anyway, was that she always seemed somewhat ALONE compared to the other two CMC, who always had their sisters there to take care of them. The Aunt's absence in earlier seasons is a bit better explained, due to a Season 10 comic in which Lofty tells/admits to Scoots they were "not around as much when she was little." To me, that sounds like they became her caretakers more recently, and her "being little" was in reference to the earlier seasons. The parents really have no such explanation.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments! This has been Oddball Tales- until next time!
