"A change is starting with me!"
Everypony, let us trot in Sunny Starscout's hoofsteps, and spread around the messages of Friendship and Love illustrated in the movie! And, if you will, join me in this Followup that I first posted on my Twitter and that I have updated since for this post. I wrote up most of this right after watching the movie a second time and still while being caught in that distinct emotion. Analysis of several key moments and messages from the movie, info about various references spread all throughout, lots of screenshots as a testimony of the worth of all the movie's content, a newfound drive to change the world like Sunny did, and brony-ism all over, find it all after the break!
So first of all...
I loved it so much!!
So many emotional moments with the music, I teared up several times and had shivers all throughout the movie! Watched it for the first time yesterday in a group call on Discord and I could react with the others, and I watched it one more time today on my own to be able to pause and look at details and take screenshots and nerd to my heart's content! And I'm still wearing my unicorn Twilight shirt right now, that I wore for the occasion!
I was pleased with the messages of the movie, that are an extension of those of FiM. They are summed up with Sunny's line:
"We can choose friendship. We can choose love. That's the true magic."
Friendship and Love are Magic.
So it's basically a reboot of FiM and an extension of Lauren Faust's vision, which makes me very happy. We have to uphold her legacy, and keep striving to change the world by spreading Friendship and Love!!
I'm all about Love, so of course I am very pleased with that direction and those morals and messages from the movie.
I can identify and relate to the character of Sunny SO much, because I also want to change the world and unify people in being kind to others and loving one another instead of attacking or insulting, and the way she's trying to change things, the way she's holding on to her beliefs, how she's fighting against the "fog of lies" and the mass brainwashing, how she's reaching out to the truth, how she wants to enlighten ponies about trust and acceptance... I can relate to all that so much. I can see myself in her determination, but also in her suffering and sadness when she feels powerless and depressed in the movie because she notices she hasn't got the power/opportunity to change things (yet) and she fails to accomplish what she wants. I know how it feels to be powerless against the world, the meanies and those who keep up the vicious cycle of hate and mistrust...
So that's why, Sunny is my favorite pony from G5 right now.
I said it.
However... Izzy is a close second because of her cheerful nature, and because of how she's the one who reminded Sunny that they're in this together, being a true friend who was there for her.
While her hyperactive personality is reminding of Pinkie's for sure, Pinkie is spreading love and positivity (remember the Smile Song) and so many Pinkie episodes have shown just how much she cares about her friends, so that's why I wouldn't compare Izzy to Pinkie for now, there needs to be more chara depth about her unveiled first.
Still, Izzy is just SO CUTE and she gives me life, so she's my second favorite G5 pony for sure. I love her.
But I think meaning and depth comes before cuteness so for now Sunny's the one I'm most relating to.
Now that my internal debate on "who shall be my best pony from G5" has reached a conclusion for now, let's get back to the messages from the movie.
One underlying message that I noticed on my second watch, is the following:
If we can stand united by love and acceptance, we can make (actual) magic happen IRL.
Because if you analyze what's happening at the end, the 3 relics together don't do anything, but only after all 3 pony races start accepting each other and being friends again (being in harmony), at that moment the 3 relics in the rubbles start to glow and the ritual gets completed and all the magic in Equestria comes back.
In the lore of the movie it could simply mean that the one who made the relics and planned this ritual (maybe Twilight) set it up that way.
But... "Always seek the meaning in things."
The underlying/hidden message that I'm seeing there, is "If we can make that happen IRL, then the same thing will happen in our world." In other words, if in our world we can get all the people in the world to accept each other and feel love instead of hate, then maybe, just maybe... we could have actual magic (like being able to fly and teleport).
Who can say it's impossible?
So not only for the sake of finding out and having magic, but above all for the sake of building a better world... let's work on that, my brethren!! Let's team up like the Mane 5 teamed up in the movie, and show/prove to people that we can all be happy together!!
Maybe just like in the movie, it will take more than words, and it may take like a big battle fought together (when they struggle against the giant robot at the end and they save each other), some kind of powerful moment shared, to make people accept others, and be kind instead of assaulting them.
The movie (and many works before that) shows us that it takes a group of heroes and a strong-willed MC to trigger that kind of event and actually make the change.
I want to "do my part" as they say in the movie, and be part of that group of said ponies who will change the world!!
If you want to join me in this adventure, we could talk about it in my project Pony Family that I happen to have created for that purpose!! (Yes, it's not only about pony music, it's about changing the world too.) So feel free to join me there if you can relate to these values and this spirit, and maybe together we could make something happen!!
Okay let’s get back to the movie’s content… Here are some of my reactions along screenshots.
So first can we talk about how amazing it is that the first scene from the movie is literally our beloved G4 ponies??? That is just WONDERFUL how they did that for us, and it blew me away from the start!!
And I especially appreciate how Pinkie says “Spread Love!”, of course she’s the one who said that!!
“They wouldn’t do that!”
Sunny said that at the exact same time I said “Why would they do that!!” IRL in front of my screen!! At that moment I already knew just how deeply I could relate to Sunny’s character, and how we both want to change the world so much and how we have that determination to rise against the naysayers.
Loving that map and all the details and cameos!! (Why isn’t Applejack there though?)
So this is a confirmation that it’s set in the same universe as FiM.
Grogar’s Bewitching Bell?? Isn’t that a dangerous artefact to have lying around in your house?
Also, STARSWIRL!!
I’m gonna say it a lot, but the landscapes in this movie are GORGEOUS!! Also, I love lighthouses and such waterside sceneries <3
“But the important thing is that you stand up for what you believe in, okay?”
That dad is AWESOME. That is such a great moral and thing to teach to your kids, to make a better world. I’m so glad they left that very early in the movie, to set an example for all parents of future generations.
They picked orange for the earth pony because Applejack, blue for the pegasus because Rainbow Dash, and purple for the unicorn because Twilight!! I just know it!!
She also says goodnight to her pony figures/plushies!!
Notice the Spike plushie!
That “Magic Is Real” note!! I believe it’s a hidden message!! It means that magic is real IRL! Yes!
Gorgeous landscape <3
“Let's extend the hoof of friendship!”
YES!!!
That reference to Terminator is just so awesome XDDD
Dirty Dancing, Jaws, and Harry Potter AWESOME references!!
“You give a little speech and what? Everypony just magically welcomes unicorns and Pegasi into Maretime Bay?”
That is so painfully relatable… I can only use my words online, in my tweets, my comments or my posts, and as you can see it’s not really working and people are still being mean…
So yeah, unfortunately it doesn’t work magically just like that…
It seems like I need to “prove it” like he said…
“I'm the last real friend you got in this town. You really want to lose me, too?”
OUCH… I’m quite mad at him for saying that. Giving up on your friend because she has values and refusing to respect them, is NOT being a real friend. It’s really terrible that he could say such a thing. Thankfully he seems to have learned his lesson later on, but still.
That screenshot may be my favorite of the whole movie. Sunny’s determination in her look… Her determination to stand up for what she believes in, and her determination to change the world… I want to be as strong as her, and succeed just like she succeeded.
Izzy following that butterfly in such a carefree way, I love that so much <3
“We're going on a quest!”
AW YES the J-RPG vibes I got there!! And there’s even a map!
Alright, they got their Main Quest!
GORGEOUS LANDSCAPES <3
“Pegasus-ing”
That was so cute from Izzy when she sang <3
I first heard it as “Pegasissing” and thought it had got to be an awesome reference to “pegasisters”!!
I want to talk about the whole “Luminescence” thing that Izzy brought up. It’s definitely part of the new lore and it’s so intriguing. What is it exactly? An inherent passive magical trait that all ponies have and that some ponies can see (and even recognize the “color” like what Izzy did), even when their magic is gone? Aside from showing if they still have resolve/spirit, what does it entail? What are its other properties? I wonder if they will go into more detail about that in the upcoming show, and just how important it is...
She’s just so cool when she dives backwards like that!!
“Can you fly to the moon?”
Reference to FiM!!
I love the style of that map!! Reminds me of old maps from the middle ages, or the maps from Kingdom Come Deliverance!!
Update: The full version of the map
has been released as one of the concept arts for the movie!!
Whahaha!! Not as crazy as that one split second shot in the 100th episode of FiM with staff members wearing horse heads, but still pretty good!!
Can I just say that this scene of the ponies headbanging to the punk rock music is one of my favorite parts of the movie?
(Loved that song and the rock style they went with btw <3)
That perfume commercial was SO hilarious and just amazing!! I want the community to make something with that!
I wonder what cocktail she’s drinking!
“Izzy Mooonnbowwwwhhh~~”
That unexpected sass in her voice then (that I know she totally did just for funsies and not seriously), I LOVE IT!! That’s when I knew for sure that she was gonna be one of my favorite ponies.
A hot air balloon station!!
Notice “Manehattan” on the board!!
I went crazy at that shot <3 Notice it’s the same one from FiM, but it has the castle from Zephyr Heights!
When I saw that board I immediately thought of how it looks just like one of those that Twilight did <3
Got a lot of intense shivers here…along the motif in the music.
So, we can surmise it’s something that Twilight, or maybe somepony after her who wanted to uphold her legacy, made as a safeguard for the values of Friendship, for everypony to always remember.
“It's like everypony just... forgot.”
That is quite sad to think about, especially in regards to our world. I don’t want to think that in the future bronies would forget about FiM… Just like I don’t want to think that people in general will forget about being kind and caring and doing the right things. And yet, it’s true it seems to have happened all over our world, with meanies and bad people everywhere who don’t seem to know the first thing about doing the right thing… So that’s why that line is sad: it reminds me of the unfortunate current situation of our world.
But that also means that they made this movie more “modern” and realistic in regards to our world, precisely for the sake of leaving powerful messages of Love. FiM already did that, but maybe they thought that it was too “fantasy-like” and not relatable enough. Like some kind of utopia where everything is already perfect and we’ll never achieve that. While with this movie, it’s like “This is our world right now (with smartphones, livestreams etc) and this is how we change it”. And even though I prefer “fantasy” settings over “realistic” settings (because of being able to “escape” there etc), I would very much approve of that way of doing things especially if it can help change the world. So all of my YES!!
Also, it has come to my attention that the Memory Stone from EQG Forgotten Friendship is
present in the movie, and that it may be a theory as for why everypony "forgot". I have watched all 4 main EQG movies but that's one of the specials that I have yet to catch up on, so unfortunately I can't comment about that theory right now, but if there could be a scientific explanation rather than something quite sad like "they just forgot" then all the better!! I really hope the show could answer the many unanswered questions from the movie.
“Get your flanks to the palace!”
“On the bright side, we had so much fun losing it!”
Okay Izzy is truly embodying the Element of Laughter here and I so appreciate that, and also it makes for the same moral as in the FiM episode “The Best Night Ever”!! And I so love that because the moral of that episode is one of my favorites in the whole show!!
That sakura tree is just so beautiful <3
Also, it has come to my attention that Imalou
said on Twitter that the directors said that it's actually the Tree of Harmony from FiM!! That's crazy! But it only leaves us with even more unanswered questions...
I want to prance around in that grassy meadow and roll in the grass and cuddle many ponies <3
Those fluffy wings!! That’s definitely one of the things that I like in the new design. You couldn’t achieve this level of detail before, that gives this very “fluffy” impression. I just want to touch them..!
Reminds me of Ghastly Gorge! (That was on the map at the beginning of the movie!)
Sunny is so cute at scenes like these <3
Gorgeous landscape!!
I’m telling you, this needs to be adapted into an AAA RPG. In which you can explore all that luxurious world like in Skyrim for example, and have both a Main Quest and Sidequests, etc.
And it can’t be a RPG without campfires!!
How Zipp sparked that fire with her hooves, was quite impressive and cool I must say!
I teared up at that part. Especially with Izzy’s emotional voice… oh my gosh. Most emotional moment in the movie for me.
How what Sunny and her dad did back then could have made a difference in the end and made this encounter happen, is just so wonderful…
THAT moment of Friendship!! I LOVED it!! I was hoping for hugs though!
Izzy’s house is just the best house ever!! As a lover of Nature and colorful things, I’m just such a fan of it!! Another reason why she’s my second favorite G5 pony!
Looks like her house is a mix of Pinkie and Fluttershy influences…
It’s making the melody of the MLP Theme Song!!! Come on, I can’t be the only one who noticed it!!
That is SO crafty and awesome, I love it!
Loving all the colors as well, very MLP-like, I’m glad it renders so well in 3D in the end <3
That reference to the Scream movies OMG!!
Update: From an exchange in the comments I learned that that thing from the Scream movies is actually itself a reference to the movie Psycho from Alfred Hitchcock! "Hitch"cock... Really makes you wonder just how deep this reference goes..!!
SO colorful, I truly LOVE this setting so much!!!
Ah, that’s a reference to that one talk show!
“Watch you shake your unicorn butts”
Well okay then
She’s so cool when she moves her head like that <3 Zipp originally wasn’t feeling too hot about the whole makeover thing (saying “This is not what I signed up for. No.”), but looks like in the end she embraced it!!
Gorgeous landscape <3
Look, a Save Point!
I actually love this mare, she looks so cool <3
That reference to the famous painting “The Scream”!!
Let’s D.D.R.!
I love herrrrr <3 <3
The emo culture is represented in the movie!!
Loving this cool commander mare <3
Wingboner… snrk.
That Rainbow Dash poster, and the cutie marks in the stained glass… Also notice the presence of a dreamcatcher!
“I thought that I could make a difference.”
I SO, so feel you, Sunny…
I teared up at that scene and the music <3
Who built this? Twilight? And Sunny’s dad just happened to preserve that device in his home?
So many questions left unanswered…
The Mane 5 back together <3
That little toy to the left, reference to those hidden collectibles in the Fallout games!!
So nice that those two actually trusted Sunny and accepted to let her have the relics a second time, right? Almost too good to be true! But I guess they are both good ponies, and they had the hope that things could change deep inside!
Aw yeah, BOSS BATTLE!!
That little scream she lets out, SO CUTE!
“We can bring back everything that was lost, but it's up to us.”
See, it’s up to us!! To ALL of us!!
In our world not everyone is following such guidances sadly, and that’s why it doesn’t work.
“We can stay separated by fear and distrust, or we can choose friendship. We can choose love. That's the true magic.”
Like I said in the intro, that’s the main moral of the movie right there… It’s up to all of us to actually make the conscious decision and the effort to “choose love”... Not everyone will do that, even after watching FiM for example, and that is so sad… Now my question is, how to make everyone “choose love”... (especially when we can’t make such events like those in the movie happen so easily IRL) Even if we were to reach out to them and tell them “Hey I think you should choose love instead of doing bad things”, they would just ignore you and keep doing bad things… (this is coming from experience) So what can we do? The latest response I got from someone is “Nothing. You can’t do anything and you just have to accept that.” But works such as this movie, filled to the brim with such messages of love and changing the world, always give me hope that it could still be possible to change things…
So like I said in the intro, it’s interesting to note how the relics actually activated for real AFTER all the ponies became friends again… As in, if we manage to achieve that same unity in our world, maybe something could happen…
And I actually called it, about how the relics were only just jewels like the Elements in FiM and the “real” magic is in their hearts. It’s the same moral from several key FiM episodes. I bet they made Lauren proud! At the very least, they continued her legacy and vision for sure!! I was thinking they were maybe gonna tackle on different morals and teachings, but looks like they’re set on using the MLP franchise to focus on Friendship and Love. Which I’m definitely okay with!!
ALICORN!!
So I get that those magical wings and horn are glowing and seem like they’re not a permanent part of her and they will probably vanish after the event, but we never saw them vanish in the movie right?? So maybe it could be permanent after all and she truly has ascended to an alicorn, or maybe it will only activate at key moments!! Like when she truly needs that power, or when she’s together with their friends feeling the Magic of Friendship!! There’s a lot of potential there, I hope they will use it in the series!!
Sonic Rainboom!!
Come on, I must not be the only one who instantly thought of that!
I LOVE her new colored streaks in her mane so much!! So colorful, and it’s precisely that kind of things that got me into the show when I became a brony in early 2014!!
“Hooves to hearts!”
Let this become our new motto as bronies!!
That smiling sun is so so cute <3 <3
And now we see the full stained glass!!
I really wonder who made it…
The music at that moment is so emotional..!!
And see, that’s why they have heart shapes on their hooves!! It was all for this moment, and lasting message of love at the last scene!!
Notice how Lauren Faust got duly credited at the end!
Here we are, my little ponies! I thoroughly loved this movie and all the awesome details and the landscapes and messages and music and characters and… just everything! I was wondering how I would feel about the new design but I can actually get myself to like it! Especially considering that it enables more details in the environment and textures etc, and how it can make new sensations happen like fluffy wings etc. I think that I still prefer FiM’s 2D style, 2D > 3D forever anyway, but this is good too and I can enjoy it too. So, only good surprises. I guess the only thing is that I kinda hoped that it could do “more” than just a reboot of FiM’s messages, or maybe that it could do something different, like different kinds of messages that would be important too, like about Passion for example… (I’m always hoping for that because it’s what I feel the most.) Well, it did mention “Love” which is an awesome additional direction in my book, I always wished that there would be more messages about “the power of Love” because that’s very much what I want to spread about, in addition to messages of Passion. If they somehow manage to spread the message that “Friendship love can be very powerful love too, maybe even more powerful than romantic love” in future content (which is what I believe in and feel from my own experience), then it would just be wonderful. I’ll be hoping for that! Also, in the series, there could be all kinds of messages depending on the writer, just like in FiM! So, who knows! In any case, I just know it’s gonna be amazing and wonderful, if this movie is of any indication. The future of MLP is bright!! Come on, everypony! *group hug with all of you who read this Followup* I love you all <3 Don't hesitate to react and respond to my reactions and tell me your own thoughts, and we could discuss about the movie! Let us gather as friends and spread the values of Friendship and Love from the movie!! And stand united by our Passion and what we believe in!! For Equestria!!
Thank you for reading my very first Followup that I'm getting to post on EQD!!
And if you want to check out my reactions/followup to the FiM series finale that didn't get posted on EQD, you can find it
here!
Also, let me just quote very inspiring and relatable lines from a game that came out recently and whose messages are so very similar to those in the G5 movie!! So I thought it was very fitting to include them here.
"- First, we can try to figure out what to do about the existing conflicts we have.
- Yeah. It would be nice if one day people could learn to get past their hatred.
- It's no small task. We can't pretend like the past didn't happen and ask people to forget their very real pain and suffering.
- Right. Everybody has their reasons for feeling the way that they do. But if we just keep yelling at each other about it, we'll never move on. In a worst case scenario, it might lead to even more people getting killed.
- Then we all have to figure out how to meet halfway. Not just that, but to also... embrace each other's pain, in a sense.
- That's an interesting way of putting it.
- It's true. Everybody has their own scars, their own trauma. The first step to healing those wounds is to put aside that hatred. It won't be achieved through reasoning. But I think it's a good first step, if nothing else. And now I think I see a way to move forward."
"- When you can pull someone aside and talk to them one-on-one, then you have the chance to come to an understanding. But as soon as you stereotype, that chance goes away and you stop thinking of them as people that you can relate to.
- Realistically speaking, surely not everyone will be able to get along.
- Even if we end up butting heads with one person, maybe we'll find better luck among their friends. If we can build a society that works like that, that'll be something worth nurturing and protecting.
- So you wish for people to form real bonds and do away with the hierarchy outright. To deal with one another as humans and nothing more. That's the ideal future you hope to see?
- Yes, I do."
Originally shared on Twitter
here.
So it's up to ALL of us! I'm so glad that they came to the same conclusions and are going in the same direction as me! Let's keep all of that in mind, and work on building a better world my brethren! Join me if you want, my PMs are always open on Twitter or Discord! Together we are stronger!
"Ain't it time we made the team, the dream?"
