It has been a long time since we have had a soapbox post! I blame lack of stuff to give opinions on.
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:
- Did Magical Mystery Cure's spell have longer reached effects?
- IDW's "Classics Reimagined" is a Great Idea
- Open pony is what G5 wanted to avoid
- Do Fan Made Ships Matter?
IDW's "Classics Reimagined" is a Great Idea
By: Glistening Dawn
By: Glistening Dawn
Not too long ago, IDW Comics announced a new line of comics for Generation 4, “Classics Reimagined.” It will be a series of short runs reimaging classical literature, starting off with a debut based on Louisa May Alcott’s masterpiece, “Little Women.”
Personally, I think this is a great idea.
Obviously, we need to address the Ursa Major in the room, the fact that the comics are specifically utilizing the ponies we all know and love, the cast of Friendship is Magic. This doesn’t surprise me at all.
While Generation 5 is very much underway, I’d imagine Hasbro is aware of the fact that Twilight Sparkle and her troupe are and always will be the ponies we care most about as a fanbase, now and forever. As a result, from a financial standpoint, of course they would want to keep using these characters. Fans still love Generation 4, and in the future if fans want to introduce their children or friends to My Little Pony, it will be to Twilight’s era. Having new products being made will likely continue to make them money, and they might continue to be made so long as Generation 4 remains the icon of My Little Pony as a whole. As a result, this comic using Twilight’s roster instead of Sunny’s does not surprise me, and I’m perfectly fine with it. Like many fans, I’m perfectly fine with Sunny and company, but I think Twilight will always be my preferred face of the IP.
So, this decision is likely beneficial to Hasbro and IDW, but what about us?
Admittedly, this series will not give us any further expansion to FiM’s canon, but we will get to see the ponies in new scenarios of some wonderful stories. Even just looking at comments here on EQD, I’ve seen some incredible ideas. Oliver Twist would be a fun time, Apple Bloom or Scootaloo could both be great as the title character in a struggle to survive a harsh world. Robinson Crusoe, I could imagine a character like Rarity or Fluttershy having to adapt to nature all alone to survive as best they can until they come out as master of the island. Even Lord of the Rings, a horde of ponies crossing the continent on hoof to destroy King Sombra once and for all. One of MLP’s greatest strengths, its enormous and wonderful cast, gets to shine here. Give a story a role, and odds are a pony can fill it. The possibilities are nearly limitless.
Of course, I expect stories to be watered down. I honestly doubt IDW will give Fluttershy the same fate that befell Beth in Little Women in this adaption, and some parts of Oliver Twist or LOTR would obviously be removed.
But that’s fine. This is a chance to see the ponies we know and love playing roles we all recognize. Our chance for Trixie to be Shakespeare’s Puck, or Spike and Twilight as Arthur and Merlin.
I’m all for it. Let’s go!
Did Magical Mystery Cure's spell have longer reached effects?
By: ManaMinori
By: ManaMinori
For the longest time, I have wondered about this- did Starswirl the Bearded's unfinished spell, seen in Magical Mystery Cure have much longer and farther reaching effects than on the scene of Ponyville, and the Mane 6? Namely, did it have an effect on the pony we know now as Flurry Heart, and her also becoming an alicorn- not by any sort of natural birth through Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, but rather, through somepony else's stolen or altered destiny? Let me try to explain....
Okay, so during MMM's episode, we see Twilight learning of Starswirl's unfinished spell, and immediately begins to recite it with little regard or knowledge of the repercussions it could- and did- bring upon doing so. "From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone fulfilled," This spell succeeded in changing more than just a simple cutie mark switch, but the very elements of harmony, and altered the mane 6's true selves- their destinies.
It is later revealed in this episode that Twilight is able to complete the spell with the following text: "From all of us together, together we are friends. With the marks of our destinies made one, there is magic without end." But before that could happen, I am left to wonder just how far of an impact did this unfinished spell have, when Starswirl himself attempted to use it, in practice and attempts to complete it? What ponies could this spell have impacted, and most importantly, how far into the future did the effects of this spell truly reach? Or whose lives and destinies could've been altered beyond her friend's own, when Twilight herself recited this unfinished spell, in present day?
I think that one destiny this spell could've succeeded in altering was the future Flurry Heart. Not only would this lend a hand....or hoof...in explaining why this pony was born an alicorn, when the birth of one had not occurred since before the very founding of Equestria (especially from a Unicorn father, and originally a Pegasi mother). Although we see from the examples of the Cake Twins, Pound and Pumpkin, that the resulting offspring between different species of parents could indeed be quite complicated, I find it quite difficult to simply explain a way this alicorn offspring between a base unicorn and base Pegasi parent, originally, as simply "it's complicated", as Mr. Cake did. And I highly doubt that in Cadance's case, a spell altering her bilological makeup would succeed in causing Alicorn genes to become dominant within her DNA to where it becomes the default that is passed to her offspring. I find it suspect that when official media, such as The Journal of the Two Sisters, for example, mentions Starswirl's exploits involving the mastering of hundreds of complex spells, such as the one involving cutie marks, it is usually followed by the additional mention of time/space travel soon thereafter.
So that then begs the question- it this spell of Starswirl's (whether recited by him in the past to have lasting implications in the far distant future, if (and very likely) left unchecked by remaining unfinished and unrefined, or by Twilight in the present to have an effect on the future as well) had such an effect in switching destinies, for Flurry to eventually be born as an anomaly alicorn Princess through it, then whose destiny could have been stolen/ swapped with hers?
I suspect that the pony whose destiny got swapped with Flurry Heart's may have been the drastically ignored and overlooked toyline pony, named Star Dreams. If one were to put these ponies together in a side by side comparison, you would note that they look nearly identical, if not the spitting image of each other.....This, of course, means that perhaps this pony was meant to become the Alicorn that Flurry Heart was born into through Starswirl's spell. There are many reasons as to why this might be- first, we have to look at the toyline in order to see why.
This pony named Star Dreams made her first debut in a "Sweet Slumbers" set with Applejack. This came on the scene in 2011/2012. Then, in 2013, she came back in the :Cutie Mark Crusaders & Friends" set. Once more, she reappeared in 2014, in the Rainbow Power: Pony Spa Set, with Rarity and Rainbow Dash. While virtually no information is given, even as a backcard blurb, as some blindbags have done, on this pony, I am led to believe that Hasbro might have had big plans for this toyline exclusive pony, for her to appear a total of 3 times in the toyline as a brushable figure, when most other background ponies don't typically get such treatment. Additionally, for her to be included in a set where (along with the CMC), she is the only pony who is lacking a cutie mark seems highly suspicious. Even moreso when you take into account that she is also in a rainbow power set, that is an effect that the mane 6 themselves received, in the show's episode. Very few toyline ponies that were not the Mane 6 had been packaged in a Rainbow Power packaging- namely, Princess Cadance, Princess Sterling, Princess Gold Lily, Princess Celestia, Nurse Redheart Cheerilee, Daisy Dreams, Mrs. Cake, and Holly Dash. There are quite an impressive number of alicorn ponies- including two that have never been seen before until now, in this Rainbow Power themed release.....
So could this Star Dreams pony have originally meant to be an alicorn, if her destiny had not been swapped with Flurry Heart's? Was this what Hasbro had been building up to with this character that had been only a toyline pony, only to scrap the idea, or perhaps alluding to and continue it through the animated series when Flurry Heart had been born? Given the many mysteries that still continue to surround Starswirl, his legacy, space/time travel, this largely obscure toyline pony, along with Flurry Heart herself, one can never truly say for certain if this is really meant to be the case. Although there is, in my opinion, enough evidence to provide such an hypothesis. But what do each of you think? Was Star Dream's alicorn destiny basically stolen through the far reaching effects of Starswirl's original unfinished spell?
Open pony is what G5 wanted to avoid
By: Anon
By: Anon
In the last soapbox post and a lot here on this site, people have been going on and on over this new open pony. Sethisto keeps posting them on Twitter and I know I'm not the only one weirded out by the model. It frustrates me that people are comparing it to G5 and trashing the style over it. On 4chan they've been complaining about their "flat dog butts" ever since they were first revealed and this is only making it WAY worse. Do you all not realize this is exactly what hasbro wanted to avoid? Open ponies have cute faces and fun accessories, but they are essentially hyper-sexualized in proportions. Whenever one of the videos pans to the back it's obvious. Hasbro gave G5 flat bottoms with no curves specifically because they didn't want people attracted to their characters in that way. Imagine running a billion dollar company and having to convince people to not search too deeply into google images for their little girls brand. I'd be doing everything I could to wash away the damage G4 did to the MLP brand and so far I think G5 is doing this really well since people don't have gross screencaps to post on social media about it since the ponies don't have butts aside from that one rap scene which was a joke. So next time you insult G5 and compare it to a fandom model that is obviously built with bad intentions in mind, please realize that hasbro wants nothing to do with it.
Do Fan Made Ships Matter?
By Double C
By Double C
Besides comedy and adventure, romance is the most popular among fans that both write and draw about it. Even though Lauren Faust mention that she had no interest in any romance stories but that didn’t stop future writes to do that. From 2010-2019, fans have created many ships that are enough to be considered a Naval Fleet. So do fan made ships matter, in some circumstances they can especially it could help character development with some that have potential but the writers chose not to do so.
However ships have caused lots of shipping wars between fans that the creators and cast get irritated to hear and see. But sometimes the writers of both the show and comics don’t help much either with their own ship teasing. I really don’t get involved in these conflicts which only creates even more conflicts. Many of the ones I’ve written about are those with good chemistry with some having potential of being cannon while others are just for good fun. But the one ship I will always defend is FlashLight and believed it became cannon just off scene.
Soarindash is an example of a fan made ship that has gain popularity since first introduce in The Best Night Ever. Both are Wonderbolts, love to fly fast, and their different personalities help balance each other. It was so popular among fans that even the creators of both the show and comics liked it as well. Also fans including me feel that it is a better ship for Rainbow than AppleDash. Another is Spabby which started as a crack ship before Dragon Dropped which is among my favorite episodes. It makes you wonder if the writers drew influence from fans suggestions for many of the episodes like the relationship between Spike and Gabby.
So it may be the reason why Jim Miller stated that it’s up to the fans to see who of the Mane 6 is married to. This way fans wouldn’t have melt downs if their favorite ship didn’t become cannon and ones that they hate. Besides Pinkie and Cheese, who do you think the others are paired with?
I feel like the ship war is in Gen 5 is showing its presence like with Hitch being shipped with either Sunny or Zipp since both are the most popular. Do you think there are potential ships in future episodes of Make Your Mark?
Last question, do you all think fan made ships help or do harm to the My Little Pony franchise?
