Posts

@Cosmas-the-Explorer
So there are very good reasons that Luna is more popular.

Even in the very beginning, people found the story of Nightmare Moon to be oddly one-sided and self-serving, and a lot of fans assumed that there was another side to it. Then there’s A Bird in the Hoof. The Cakes are extremely nervous, so Celestia pulls a quick prank, but the moment doesn’t end with her having built rapport with The Cakes. There’s also the part where Twilight thinks that Celestia will throw Fluttershy in the dungeon. It’s funny, but it’s also strange that she thinks that.

We didn’t know anything about Luna until Season Two, so we had to fill in the blanks. In Luna Eclipsed, Luna is this loveable dork, and despite a series of mishaps, including cancelling Nightmare Night, she somehow manages to do a better job of building rapport with her subjects.

Despite being Twilight’s mentor, I don’t think Celestia gives Twilight any advice that isn’t just an empty platitude. Compare that to Luna, who has offered life-changing guidance to The CMC.

And then there’s the big one. Luna embarks on this huge redemption quest where she tried to help others avoid making the same mistakes she did. She feels so guilty about turning into Nightmare Moon that she created a nightmare creature to punish herself, and when it gets out of control, she tracks it down and helps capture it.

The decision to release Discord and send him after Tirek caused more harm than anything Nightmare Moon did. Celestia doesn’t feel any guilt or remorse. She doesn’t apologize or reflect on her decision. In fact, it’s like she’s forgotten about the whole ordeal by the end of the episode.

Celestia started out as “a bit off” and went downhill from there. Luna started out as endearing, and got even better over time.

@TheQuietMan
I mean

@Korora
Turns out Rule 85 had already come to G1 before there was even a Rule 85 to begin with.

@DerpyFast
I think Rarity and Sweetie dont fully understand each other and theyre a bit less close just by the fact Rarity works a solo job that Sweetie cant meaningfully contribute to.

Rarity probably thinks Sweetie has it easy and might even be a bit spoiled; after all Rarity didn’t have a successful older sister growing up. While Sweetie thinks Rarity doesn’t appreciate Sweeties own hard work and passion.

And over time they start to appreciate each others work and presence.

And for Luna, yeah that dreamscape allows many possibilities, honestly I dont even know if there are any episodes that really deal with Lunas moon abilities.

Do you think this is one reason why you find Luna better than Celestia in that she has something better to do? Do you think Luna would be a duller character without them?

@Mr.Myoozik
Schizophrenic.

@Toastypk
I wonder what would that make Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle then

@ЅℰℒᎯℙℋℐℰℒ
I mean, some would call that a fault, others a “premise”. (Though I suppose it could be both.)

@Toastypk
Scootaloo isn’t real! Scootaloo is a myth! Made by the non flying ponies to make pegasi look bad!

@Cosmas-the-Explorer
No idea.
It’s just stupid and i love it for being stupid.
And inciting so many downvotes.

@Toastypk
Why is she of all characters saying this? She probably barely knows her.

Why does shit like this make me laugh

@Mr.Myoozik
Surprisingly dark implication for this lighthearted pony show, but you can mitigate the dark aspect of it by imagining that it’s like dying in an RPG video game. “Death should not have taken thee” is a Dragon Quest reference for those who don’t know.

For people saying I only ever complain, here’s me praising a FiM episode I really like for six paragraphs.

This one is just dumb and frustrating. The over-protectiveness comes out of nowhere, and the misunderstandings are contrived. Applebloom and the CMC do more dangerous things on a regular basis.

This is the fastest I’ve put an episode into the “skip” category. However, the writer would go on to work on episodes like The Cutie Map and Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep, so this was just a rough start.

Maud Pie makes me wish we got more guest characters. You can fill up an episode by just having a new character bounce off each of the existing characters.

I absolutely love Maud as a character, and I’m so glad we got more of her. She’s weird and different, and sometimes a bit off-putting. But in contrast with Pinkie, she’s stoic, and has complete confidence in who she is. So the jokes are never at her expense; it’s everyone else who comes off as awkward. And there’s a lot of subtle nuance to her character. Pinkie has gotten obnoxious, so it’s refreshing to see a character that genuinely loves her.

Deadpan is one of my favourite types of comedy, and this is quietly one of the funniest episodes in the show.

I have been looking forward to this one.

So does the premise make sense? The whole idea of The CMC is that they go around and try a bunch of different things, and they’ve put on a big show before. There has always been at least some friction between Sweetie Belle and Rarity. Sweetie clearly put a lot of effort into the play. So the audience not loving it, on top of her not getting a cutie mark, is probably a level of disappointment that she’s not emotionally equipped to handle, and now she’s looking for someone to blame. And when you find someone, you start remembering other reasons you dislike them.

This episode is built around the contrast between what the kids and the adults are working on. Both Rarity and Sweetie Belle are working on the biggest project of their lives. However, the CMC have all the time in the world to work on this project, compared with the adults, who have to miss the play to meet their deadline. The play is this giant ego project, as opposed to Rarity’s need to deliver what the client wants. Lastly, there’s Sweetie’s short-term disappointment contrasted with the devastating effect her stunt would have on Rarity’s career.

I love how the moral is less of a specific life lesson, and more about her perspective changing and her growing as a person. She goes on this spirit journey and starts to gain an appreciation for how hard adults work. For whom does Sweetie Belle toil? Only for herself. For whom does Rarity toil? Herself, her clients, her friends, and her sister. Sweetie Belle has a nice little arc, and by the end, she doesn’t even care about the play.

And it wouldn’t be a spirit journey without a spirit guide. Forget royalty and raising the moon, the whole dream mentor thing is by far the most interesting use for the character, and it has virtually limitless storytelling potential. Alicorns are supposed to be like demigods, and Luna’s omniscience, and ability to show visions of the past makes her feel powerful in a way that actually transcends what mortals can do. I love how Luna’s redemption is less of an arc, and more of a meditation on what she’s learned. Lines like

and

are just next-level. This is a character who has truly reflected on her mistakes, and wants to help others.

I don’t usually talk about the visuals, but they really went all out for the dream sequence. All of the scenes flow into each other in creative ways, and the little intentional continuity errors help create this dreamlike feeling.

Episodes like this aren’t just good; they’re the reason that, despite all my complaining, I still want revisit the series. So that I can find the all-time greats and write walls of text praising them. Between this and Rarity Takes Manehattan, Dave Polsky has been writing some fantastic episodes this season.

@Mr.Myoozik
I’m having a hard time recalling toll booths in the show.

Regardless those depend of the owner, is just that the usual owner is the state so…well, you basically pay for maintaining the road at least in theory to the government, often while they hire a third company to do the real building while they remain as the owner, like when you hire someone else to fix your home.

Same can be said for g5. They’re stuck in the three settlements.

I will say it again.

One of the glaring faults of FiM was that they’ve spent too much time in Ponyville. Doing the same shit every season.

It took me far too long to realize the “Crystal Empire” is shaped like a giant snowflake.

@Mr.Myoozik
Precisely