Since joining the Discord can take a while, if you just want to see information about the G5 and season 8 leaks and you aren't already part of the channel, then PM me or Sylvee.
EDIT: Speaking of which, also PM me if you want access to the weekly episode stream without going through Discord. It's starting at 12 PM PST today.
'Tis sad to read the show will end at season 9, but shows can't really last forever. And I certainly wouldn't want it to last so much the show will become stale and suffer more seasonal rot, which is a mix feeling I usually have with long runners like the Simpsons.
It's kind of weird since it felt like they were setting things up to go for a lot longer, with the Pillars and such. And then season 8 adds even more stuff that could potentially allow the series to go on for a while. But I agree, I always felt that the show should end before it gets bad.
This generation 5 show will certainly be a tough act to follow, though I hope the writers of FiM continue to stay and transition to the new show. I just hope the animation style becomes impressive.
Meghan McCarthy at least is heavily involved in the creation of G5, but that's because she's overseeing all animated projects now. I imagine we'll see a lot of returning writers.
EQG - Best Trends Forever
Kind of surprised the CYOA episodes are all distinct. I thought they were all going to connect into one long story.
Nice "all the girls I like don't like me back" haircut there, Flash. Rarity sitting on the desk is cute.
Hmm, the animation seems different. Is it just that we don't see the faces from the front this often? It reminds me of Silver Quill's Pinkie Pie Says Goodnight comics.
Because I'm me, and they gave the option, I went with Twilight first. It was cute, and Rarity and Twilight smoosh cheeks at the end. I don't ship Rarity with SciTwi, but I'll take it.
Next is rainbows, rainbows, darling. Yes, I was reminded of G3 Rainbow Dash. This was pretty funny, especially with the Twilight Zone moment--wait wait wait, why not use a Twilight Zone joke with Twilight?
With Pinkie... Rarity, I don't think confetti is a fashion. And indeed, as opposed to the previous two, only Pinkie actually follows this trend. I love how Rarity uses her geode power in such mundane but useful ways. Twilight, you're seriously just throwing confetti outside? This one was alright.
This was a lot of fun.
So have at it, which scenario is canon?
Though wait, come to think of it, it's also possible that this exact scenario happened on three different days, with Rarity going with a different girl each time. Flash would use the same joke every day.
Important thing to note on the G5 leak is that they seem to be in the earliest planning stages for something that isn't going to launch until 2020 or 2021. It doesn't even seem like they're at the "show bible" stage yet, and if you look at the G4 bible, things still changed between that and the final product.
The big thing is the race changes. I hope this doesn't happen. It seems like changes for the sake of changes, and I would rather they just create new characters.
One thing I found really interesting about the two proposed schedules is how they really consider Discovery Family to be an albatross around their neck. It looks like they had a ten year deal in place to produce content for Discovery, and it's listed as a positive for scenario 2 that G5 will start after the deal ends. I was wondering why FiM hadn't been shopped around to other networks. That and not having to compete with Frozen 2 makes it seem really likely that they'd go with scenario 2. Unless they're idiots.
I mentioned it in the Discord, but the slides showed they were expecting 100 million WW for the first movie, whereas they actually got around 50 million. Something like that might put a damper on the idea of having a second theatrical release as an attempt to close out the series. Between that and the issues that the first movie had with trying to both be a good movie for fans and newcomers I'm incredibly skeptical that something like this would be a good idea. If it's supposed to be something to close out the series I would expect them to go all-out and feature all of the fan-favorite characters over the series' history and just give the fans what they want, which is going to make the story almost completely unapproachable for people that don't know who any of the characters are. I feel like something like an EQG-style TV movie would be much smarter then a full Theatrical release given that it's supposed to serve as an end to the series. That being said I really do wish they push the reboot back a year. It's a really big undertaking so they need to get it right.
Though we joke about how boring and limited Applejack is, it surprised me that the show crew considers it a huge problem too, to the point that they don't want her to have any farming or country aspects in G5.
AJ's character is really hard to write for. Her whole character is essentially that she's a country girl and there's just not much to do with her. If you were going to write a character development arc for her what would you even do? Fluttershy became more outspoken, Twilight because a leader, Pinkie is learning responsibility, Rarity is learning to business, Rainbow became a Wonderbolt. What would you do with AJ? Also maybe they didn't like that she was that big of a stereotype? She's by far the least-liked of the Mane 6 overall too. Wouldn't be surprised if the new AJ we end up getting has almost nothing to do with the old one besides being stubborn and physical and a hard worker.
What makes you say that though? One of the big things that I think is essential for them to get people to jump on board with the reboot is to make sure they don't go around and change a bunch of stuff that doesn't need changing. Obviously I think whatever the new AJ will end up being could definitely use a new VA and maybe they might want to give one of Andrea's roles to another person, but if the characters are still essentially the same with a couple changes to them to give them more depth I don't see why they would need new VAs too. The cast is already pretty dang good and they already know these characters so well that if they're the same basic character I don't see why they would need to replace them. If the character goes through substantial changes then I could see giving them a new voice (like maybe Twilight if she does become an Earth pony) but I don't see why they should change them unless they have a good reason to.
Also assuming they're still going to be pulling talent from Vancouver, it's not like there's going to be a massive list of talent to choose from anyway. It's worth mentioning that Tabitha, Andrea, and Kelly have all been voicing MLP characters well before FiM, and I don't see why they wouldn't want them for the next version. Maybe they might want another VA like Tara who has more prestige in the industry to get more attention to the show (to voice the new AJ character maybe) but I feel like if they're essentially the same character as FiM with a couple changes then they should have the same VA.
Important thing to note on the G5 leak is that they seem to be in the earliest planning stages for something that isn't going to launch until 2020 or 2021. It doesn't even seem like they're at the "show bible" stage yet, and if you look at the G4 bible, things still changed between that and the final product.
Yeah, you can also look at all the concept stuff for the MLP movie as well. LOTS of stuff can change in a short time span.
More elaboration on the race change stuff:
Fluttercorn: With them trying to make the world more consistent I think they might try to define each of the 3 major pony races more thoroughly. We've seen aspects associated with the races in FiM 1.0 but I think they'll be trying to make it a more prominent part of the show in 2.0. For Unicorns they were often portrayed as being high society, with the most elegance and extravagance. Rarity obviously fits into that mold to a T, but aside from her I think Fluttershy could fit in too. She's portrayed as the most graceful of the Mane 6 and I think that her soft-spokenness could fit well if they decide to make the unicorns a more mystical race. Additionally there was talks of having the unicorn world be a magical forest, which she would fit into well. Furthermore if they decide to have more adventure episodes I think it's important that each of the mane 6 feels like they belong there, both from a narrative and usefulness standpoint. Fluttershy has always just sort of been along for the ride with the exception of the Cutie Map, so giving her some "upgrades" would benefit her quite a bit. As a unicorn she would have access to magic, and making her able to heal others using magic would be a fitting way to take her character. She could serve as the party's medic, which would jive with her kindhearted nature that she already exhibits on the show. Lastly, of all the characters I feel like Fluttershy's ties to being a pegasus are the weakest. Flying and weather control have rarely been an important aspect of her character aside from giving her ties to Rainbow, and her nature was sort of the polar opposite of the bravery and brashness we usually saw from pegasi.
Earth Twilight: Twilight had sort of the opposite problem as Fluttershy in that she was way too powerful compared to the rest of the Mane 6 and was far too important in terms of the overarching story. There wasn't a single major episode (with the exception of the Starlight ones) that she wasn't the undisputed most important character of the group. Even before Twilicorn she was the central character, appearing in every Season 1 episode and had the biggest presence up until recently overall. And once she became a princess it got even worse. The big thing is that I don't feel she should be the most knowledgeable, most powerful, and most important character of the Mane 6. I think her being a super studious nerd works well to establish her character, and rather then her instantly warming up to friendship after the first storyline we can see her develop her friendships and realize their importance over the first season or two. She can still serve as the de-facto leader of the group, but I would like to see major stories that primarily focus on other members of the Mane 6, not just Twilight.
Becoming an Earth pony would help a lot with this IMO. Removing her magic would establish her as being mostly the brains of the operation and making her overall less useful in fights would require her to depend more on others to help her out. Additionally FiM 1.0 got a bit crazy with pretty much all the most important characters (aside from the rest of the Mane 6) being unicorns. Having Twilight be an Earth pony would be a good change of pace. One of the big things they need to establish overall is what Earth ponies bring to the table. They've been shown to be hard workers but perhaps a bit stubborn at times. I think those both can fit a pre-pilot Twilight. Her connections to being an Earth pony aren't as strong as Fluttershy being a Unicorn, but for the sake of the overall dynamic of the group I think it would be a good move.
PegaPinkie: At the moment this feels like them changing her race to make up for them making Fluttershy a Unicorn and Twilight an Earth pony because I can't really think that much of ways for this to really work that much besides her being a pegasus maybe opening the door for more gags. Pegasi are traditionally portrayed as brave and courageous as well as natural warriors. There aren't really any ponies besides Rainbow that fit this well, Pinkie included. Pinkie as an Earth Pony is definitely something that isn't broke and as such feels like an unnecessary change, but at the same time I feel like making Twilight or Rarity a Pegasi makes even less sense and they need to do some sort of shuffling to make Fluttercorn work. The other option is making the new AJ a Pegasi but I feel like there's a lot of overlap between AJ and Rainbow's personalities and so making them the same race would make the two core pegasi too similar to each other. I feel like PegaPinkie would be good in terms of enabling other stuff that I think would be better for the show overall but they need to make it individually work.
I mentioned it in the Discord, but the slides showed they were expecting 100 million WW for the first movie, whereas they actually got around 50 million. Something like that might put a damper on the idea of having a second theatrical release as an attempt to close out the series. Between that and the issues that the first movie had with trying to both be a good movie for fans and newcomers I'm incredibly skeptical that something like this would be a good idea. If it's supposed to be something to close out the series I would expect them to go all-out and feature all of the fan-favorite characters over the series' history and just give the fans what they want, which is going to make the story almost completely unapproachable for people that don't know who any of the characters are. I feel like something like an EQG-style TV movie would be much smarter then a full Theatrical release given that it's supposed to serve as an end to the series. That being said I really do wish they push the reboot back a year. It's a really big undertaking so they need to get it right.
Other emails have mentioned they're satisfied with how the movie performed, so I'm not sure what the situation there actually is. I'd be fine with the finale being a TV movie, but I feel like it would actually help with the G5 movie if it aired theatrically. I know that if they only released the G5 movie, then people (who were aware of the G4 movie) would go, "What, a reboot already? That first one must have done really badly." If they release a movie that's clearly intended to close out the story, then it's made clearer what's going on. Plus, it would be a huge shame if they never used the Movie art style for another feature; we know there are FiM holiday specials coming up, but from the leaked assets, they're still using the show art style.
Even for a movie aimed at fans, I think the finale movie would be better served focusing on the main characters, rather than showcasing the world. I think this would make it more appealing to casual viewers. Plus, there will be all sorts of people that used to watch the show, don't any more, and will pop back in just for the finale, and they'd want to make the movie approachable for them too.
What makes you say that though? One of the big things that I think is essential for them to get people to jump on board with the reboot is to make sure they don't go around and change a bunch of stuff that doesn't need changing. Obviously I think whatever the new AJ will end up being could definitely use a new VA and maybe they might want to give one of Andrea's roles to another person, but if the characters are still essentially the same with a couple changes to them to give them more depth I don't see why they would need new VAs too. The cast is already pretty dang good and they already know these characters so well that if they're the same basic character I don't see why they would need to replace them. If the character goes through substantial changes then I could see giving them a new voice (like maybe Twilight if she does become an Earth pony) but I don't see why they should change them unless they have a good reason to.
Also assuming they're still going to be pulling talent from Vancouver, it's not like there's going to be a massive list of talent to choose from anyway. It's worth mentioning that Tabitha, Andrea, and Kelly have all been voicing MLP characters well before FiM, and I don't see why they wouldn't want them for the next version. Maybe they might want another VA like Tara who has more prestige in the industry to get more attention to the show (to voice the new AJ character maybe) but I feel like if they're essentially the same character as FiM with a couple changes then they should have the same VA.
MLP is becoming a recurring franchise in a way it hasn't before. G5 will do a lot to establish what sorts of differences fans can expect between generations, and I think it will be important to not have the precedence that characters should have the same VA between shows. This is not just on the fan side, but on the production side.
While the bases of most of the characters will likely be the same, I have to imagine there will be differences in their personalities that will result in different voices being preferable. I'm thinking the DC direct to video movies circa Batman: Under the Red Hood, where they got different VAs for Batman, Joker, and others depending on the mood of the movie.
Plus, hasn't the fact that Tara Strong is recording in a different country than everyone else been a production issue for the show? I imagine they'll use G5 as an opportunity to get someone else as Twilight because of that.
Fluttershy indeed is often portrayed as a healer in DnD crossover art and AUs where she can use magic. I hadn't thought about the fact that as a more action-oriented setting, they'd need a way for her to be more relevant in combat. Significantly weakening Twilight, and possibly making Rarity the strongest spellcaster on their team, also goes a long way to make things more balanced. The more I think about it, the more I like Earth Pony Twilight in this setting, especially with her being the brains to AJ's brawn. About pegasus Pinkie, that was the original plan for the character, but wings were given to Fluttershy instead. No reason was given why, and all we have is comments like this from Lauren Faust, but I imagine it was purely due to the character names.
I still think Twilight will become an alicorn at some point because TOYS, but maybe it will be a temporary power up she can achieve via friendship.
I don't think a character not fitting the general nature of a race will be a reason to reject that. Fluttershy works because she's a contrast to Rainbow Dash and it's a funny character trait that she's a pegasus who generally doesn't enjoy flying, for example.
"Owl's Well That Ends Well" had more dumb Twilight and Spike moments than I remembered, including them straight up not realizing Owlowiscious wasn't saying "who?" and Twilight forgetting how to use magic. Still, there are sweet moments. "Spike At Your Service" had better comedy than I remembered, even if it largely relied on Spike reaching a higher plane of idiot and everyone taking his Dragon Code seriously for no reason. For that reason, I declared it the second best episode of this set.
The best episode was of course "Dusk's Dawn", the other fan episode of 2012, featuring incomprehensible English, a nine year old adult villain, gender stereotypes, and set ups for a sequel that never came. Incidentally, one of the leaked emails mentioned someone at Hasbro who thought the Mane Six were meant to be nine years old (everyone else thought teen / young adult). Such a specific number... could it be?
"Princess Spike" was still dumb other than sleepy Twilight and made no sense with the climax being unrelated to the lesson Spike learned. "Applejack's "Day" Off" is still boring and drawn out, but one person liked it. With me rating boredom lower than other emotions, this episode won worst of the set for me.
The season 8's opening is so COOL! Finally a entire new opening and so much things we can notice from that. I can't see the hour to it officially inaugure.
The season 8's opening is so COOL! Finally a entire new opening and so much things we can notice from that. I can't see the hour to it officially inaugure.
I know that if they only released the G5 movie, then people (who were aware of the G4 movie) would go, "What, a reboot already? That first one must have done really badly."
I'm pretty sure most the people that watched or paid attention to the first movie were the fans and would know that it was part of a series that was ending independently of the movie's success. And the people that don't know any of that probably wouldn't be bothered by it that much anyway I feel. It's MLP, it's a pretty big stretch that any non-fan is going to go see it regardless of it being a perceived reboot due to the "failure" of the first film.
Plus, it would be a huge shame if they never used the Movie art style for another feature; we know there are FiM holiday specials coming up, but from the leaked assets, they're still using the show art style.
With any luck they'll use Toomboom for the new show. The bits and pieces of season 8 look like there's a ton of new models and assets being made, so they might have the budget for it. Plus if they do plan on making the show more action-focused, moving away from Flash is going to be a REALLY good idea since Flash does that kind of stuff poorly.
If they really want their pony princess they'll probably introduce something else. And I'm pretty sure that Cadence was hardly topping the charts in terms of merch sales, so I feel like the lesson learned there is that in the context of MLP people buy merch for characters that they like, not the ones that fit into the demographics that typically fit them. The most popular character was a tomboy and the super girly one was one of the least popular. They don't need to make Twilight an Alicorn Princess to make people want to buy toys of her, and I'm pretty sure the crew themselves will be firmly against this given that it would essentially defeat the whole point of making her an Earth Pony in the first place.
I won't comment on the new EQG CYOA stuff because the official upload got taken down and I want to rewatch it.
Lastly the Season 8 intro is sweet, it's nice seeing all of the big accomplishments that the Mane 6 have had recently being shown off like Rainbow being a Wonderbolt and Rarity in her store. I'll talk about it more when we move on to discussing Season 8 leaks.
With any luck they'll use Toomboom for the new show. The bits and pieces of season 8 look like there's a ton of new models and assets being made, so they might have the budget for it. Plus if they do plan on making the show more action-focused, moving away from Flash is going to be a REALLY good idea since Flash does that kind of stuff poorly.
I hope they move on from Flash for G5 too. I'd love to have action scenes at least on the level of what we get out of recent Disney cartoons like DuckTales and Star Vs. In any case, from The Movie, I got the impression that they intended to use at least the pony models in future productions, which is why I'm surprised there wasn't any opportunity for that in the scenario 1 schedule.
Lastly the Season 8 intro is sweet, it's nice seeing all of the big accomplishments that the Mane 6 have had recently being shown off like Rainbow being a Wonderbolt and Rarity in her store. I'll talk about it more when we move on to discussing Season 8 leaks.
Well, if we're talking openly about it, then yeah, I really like the changes they made to the opening. It's certainly far too busy for the early seasons, but it's great as a celebration of everything that's happened that will only last for two seasons. It reminds me of when they updated the intro of The Simpsons, except not handled as badly.
EQG short followup, with just GIFs. I guess you can rewatch it vicariously through this, Sylvee .
Undecided Rarity - The biggest shame of this is how nothing bad happens when the timer reaches 0.
I hope they move on from Flash for G5 too. I'd love to have action scenes at least on the level of what we get out of recent Disney cartoons like DuckTales and Star Vs. In any case, from The Movie, I got the impression that they intended to use at least the pony models in future productions, which is why I'm surprised there wasn't any opportunity for that in the scenario 1 schedule.
I feel like the show always avoided having conflict solve problems to sort of push home the whole "Friendship is Magic" kind of thing by having the main characters usually solve the problems by talking things through or using a Friendship laser. They talked about having an unambiguously evil force for the ponies to go up against, which means that they might feel more comfortable showing the Mane 6 triumph over evil by having the Magic of Friendship manifest as them using teamwork to defeat their enemies instead of using instant-kill elements or talking things out. Stuff like the Mane 5 chasing down Rainbow in Return of Harmony is a good example of the kind of stuff I would like to see more of. Obviously befriending enemies is cool too but sometimes it can come after they get a can of whoopass unleashed on them first. We've had a couple scenes over the years but it's usually just restricted to 2-parters and often the fighting ends in the ponies losing and having to do something else. It obviously shouldn't just become the central part of the whole show but it would be cool to see at a higher frequency then it is in the show now.
Applejack's family and their business is the core issue of writing her into anything because she basically always needs an explanation for why she does anything with or without them. Beyond that the only thing really holding her back is probably Rainbow Dash because she covers a lot of the same tropes, and the writers seem more interested in using Rainbow for any/everything possible.
I am aware of the leaks but have not really followed the community reactions so far. I personally feel like the time to restart was a few seasons ago, but how has the more intense fandom in general reacted?
I am aware of the leaks but have not really followed the community reactions so far. I personally feel like the time to restart was a few seasons ago, but how has the more intense fandom in general reacted?
The 4chan thread I used to find out about leak information had a lot of people complaining and posting greentext, but it didn't seem to be about anything in particular, and it seemed to be the normal state of the board, really. Focus shifted to the leaked season 8 episodes after a few hours, whereupon I stopped reading it.
Everywhere else I've checked has a general sense of acceptance. The show had a good run, and what we know of G5 is potentially interesting. I imagine there would be more panic if G5 had more of a G3 tone, but it instead appears to be going more for a high fantasy adventure. Granted, I haven't checked Equestria Daily comments.
Applejack's family and their business is the core issue of writing her into anything because she basically always needs an explanation for why she does anything with or without them. Beyond that the only thing really holding her back is probably Rainbow Dash because she covers a lot of the same tropes, and the writers seem more interested in using Rainbow for any/everything possible.
In general I think there's a lot of stuff that AJ could do that could reasonably be covered by another character. She's usually the "sensible and practical" one but when Twilight's not going crazy she can fill that role too. She's a bit stubborn and has a competitive streak but Rainbow fills that too. Across the board there isn't much for her to call her own and so I feel like anytime there's some scenes with the whole Mane 6 it's hard to find things for her to do. The other big thing is that if Season 7 and 8 are any indication, I feel like they are going to have a larger focus on character development next time around, and AJ doesn't really jive well with that. Her character is more or less identical to how she was portrayed back in Season 1 and nothing has really changed in her life either. She's still the person that runs the farm with her immediate family. Pinkie is in a similar boat, but at least with Pinkie you could try to add in some development where she becomes more mature and responsible. (which they've kind of done in single episodes but they are pretty much instantly forgotten about after the fact) With AJ I'm not really sure what you could do to give her much of an arc without radically changing her character. Granted not EVERY character needs to be super deep and have changes over time, but AJ has just always felt like the most disposable of the Mane 6, both in terms of covering demographics and in service to the overall plot.
I am aware of the leaks but have not really followed the community reactions so far. I personally feel like the time to restart was a few seasons ago, but how has the more intense fandom in general reacted?
Given Season 7 and what I've seen with the descriptions of episodes in season 8 I feel like the show is as fresh and interesting as it's ever been. The show has certainly had a tonal shift over the years, especially if you compare Season 1 to Season 7. That alone I think might turn some people off of the show but I don't feel like they've had a lasting drop in show quality at any point that would warrant it being past its prime. At any rate 9 seasons is a really damn good run, especially if seasons 8 and 9 are around the level of 7. I don't think anyone can really complain that it ended too early, and with the showrunners knowing when it's ending well in advance I have confidence that whatever the ending to the show will end up being will be satisfactory. Plus depending on which scenario they end up going for the new series will start either when Season 10 would have started anyway, or a year and a half later, so "worst case scenario" we get some big movie to close off the series and we have to wait a year for the reboot movie and another half year for the show. I think I'll live.
Generally I've seen the initial reaction either be some sadness as it indicates an end of an era and something that for many has been a massive part of their life, or general acceptance that it was a good run. At this point I think the initial surprise has worn off and people are starting to think about the new series replacing it more. For me the ending is still a little less then 2 years and 52 episodes out so I'm getting too emotional about it until it starts getting closer.
Everywhere else I've checked has a general sense of acceptance. The show had a good run, and what we know of G5 is potentially interesting. I imagine there would be more panic if G5 had more of a G3 tone, but it instead appears to be going more for a high fantasy adventure. Granted, I haven't checked Equestria Daily comments.
You can honestly say this about any character. Going into season 1 you would never assume Rainbow would turn into a bookworm or that Twilight has a brother she loves but they found ways to handle these because they wanted to. A lot of the time it comes down to writers seemingly not wanting to do much individually with Applejack and it sucks because it has gotten to the point that it just feels like character bias.
It also does not help that they have seriously given her probably the worst secondary characters to work with. The Flim Flam Brothers should have been a one off thing but they just keep returning. Coloratura was fantastic yet has only appeared in the main show once. Cherry Jubilee is similar too.
I am still not caught with the show but the season 8 intro makes it look like she becomes a teacher; Is that something they were hinting at beforehand? I always figured she would eventually become something like a sheriff in another town or even the next mayor of Ponyville, but a teacher is cool too.
I am still not caught with the show but the season 8 intro makes it look like she becomes a teacher; Is that something they were hinting at beforehand? I always figured she would eventually become something like a sheriff in another town or even the next mayor of Ponyville, but a teacher is cool too.
I'd prefer not to go into too much detail about the contents of season 8. Suffice it to say that it's more she and the rest of the Mane Six are all doing the same thing here.
I suppose I should set an official spoiler policy. G5 discussion is fine, as what we've seen won't fully reflect the end product. Season 8 and EQG leaks can only be discussed with great care.
March 2018 comic solicitations My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #64
Thom Zahler (w) • Andy Price (a & CVR A) • Sara Richard (CVR B) • Tony "Pencils" Kusisto (CVR RI)
Fluttershy and Rarity travel to Manehattan where Rarity is shocked to discover old ugly fashions are back in style! Can Rarity find a way to push her creative instincts past... the past?
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Bullet Point:
A touching story of growth and creative renewal!
My Little Pony: Legends of Magic #12
Jeremy Whitley (w) • Tony Fleecs (a & CVR A) • Brenda Hickey (CVR B) • Meaghan Carter (CVR RI)
The most legendary ponies are all gathered, and now they must face the might of the Sirens! The future of Equestria is at stake, and hidden danger looms in the group's midst!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Bullet Point
The thrilling final issue to this year-long adventure!
Rarity having to deal with the fact that something she finds unappealing is in style could be fun, even if we know that she's more than capable of overcoming bad taste. Sad to see Legends of Magic end. I thought it was quite good. I hope we get a replacement series, because it will be a shame to go down to just one MLP comic after all this time.
That reminds me, I wonder how the comics will work with G5. In the past, I would have wanted the G4 comic to continue for some time into G5, so then the writers could have time to get acclimated to the new series. However, Legends of Magic and The Movie Prequels have shown that they are perfectly capable of adapting characters that haven't appeared in animation yet. I expect that G4 comics will continue after the show ends, and the G5 movie will get a tie-in miniseries, but otherwise won't get anything. Then, shortly before the G5 show starts, the G4 comic will end, and the G5 comic will start.
You can honestly say this about any character. Going into season 1 you would never assume Rainbow would turn into a bookworm or that Twilight has a brother she loves but they found ways to handle these because they wanted to. A lot of the time it comes down to writers seemingly not wanting to do much individually with Applejack and it sucks because it has gotten to the point that it just feels like character bias.
Rainbow Dash becoming a Daring Do fan feels like a natural evolution of her character and was something that I feel was foreshadowed a bit in Fall Weather Friends. FWF establishes that Rainbow thinks that reading is for "eggheads" and is something that cool people and athletes such as herself should never be caught doing. Then in Read it and Weep she's injured and Twilight recommends her a book that she thinks she'll enjoy due to Rainbow's similarities with Daring Do. Rainbow insists reading is for eggheads, but eventually reads it and finds she actually really enjoys it. She eventually accepts that reading is something anyone can enjoy and there's books out there for her. Additionally it isn't emphasized that much but Rainbow also grows to respect Twilight and her reading habits a bit more since her previous perception that books are just for nerds has been shattered. It's an effective character arc and is one that by no means detracts from Twilight's love of books, since Rainbow only really shows interest in one book series whereas Twilight reads both fun fictional (or assumed to be fiction) stories in addition to reading nonfiction for the sake of learning. Additionally it's an arc that is extremely befitting of Rainbow Dash and would no doubt feel less impactful if it were Rarity or Pinkie learning that books can be cool.
With Applejack the biggest character flaws I can think of that they could base a character arc around is that she's too competitive, (which would be a more fitting arc for Rainbow then her, and was also tackled in Fall Weather Friends) she's stubborn, (which was addressed in Applebuck season, although I feel like it could have been done better) and that she's a bit old-fashioned and doesn't appreciate the finer things in life. (Which was largely dealt with in Look Before You Sleep) And going back and trying to address them now would just feel like she's just learning something that she already "learned" again and people don't want to see the writers retreading old ground. As for possible changes in occupation you brought up some things but the trouble is that she's a farmer and that is never going to change. At the very beginning of the show she was already established as the head of her family's farm and was already capable of doing the job with the help of her immediate family. They might give her other auxiliary things on top of that to do but there's no real way for her to have any sort of dreams and achieve them.
I don't think it's a coincidence that my two favorite appearances of Applejack is in Mane Attraction and Sisterhooves Social, where she is largely there to use her skills and experience to help others figure out their own problems. She's a generally well-adjusted character and the few "flaws" she had were addressed in the very first season. She can work as a vehicle for others to play off of (Like in Simple Ways, which I think is a decent episode despite all the shit it gets) but having an episode where she's forced to confront her own problems is hard to make IMO just because she doesn't have many. I feel like the big reason why AJ doesn't seem to get as much love as the other characters is because the writers have a hard time coming up with stories for her. And I feel like that's largely due to her character more then a lack of effort. I don't think she's an inherently terrible character overall, just that she can be tough to write for at times since there isn't as much to work with as there are for other characters. Due to that I can understand why they are looking to make some fairly substantial changes to the character in Gen 5.
Idle thoughts about G5, expanded from what we've talked about in the chat. Note that nothing about G5 is set in stone, but I'll go ahead and act under the assumption that some details will remain, just so I don't have to say "if it stays the same" all the time.
* Only after learning that none of my top 3 Mane Six will have wings in G5 did I truly come to understand how much I like wings on ponies
. Top three is Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy, BTW. No more fluffy wings on Fluttershy will especially be a big loss.
* If they reboot Equestria Girls alongside G5, then I don't think they'll do the entire crossing dimensions thing, and will just have there be this other dimension with the characters as humans going to school and there's magic. Looking at what has actually been done in EQG, the dimensional travel has been a lot of convolution for not much gain after the first movie. Now that EQG is established as a thing, they can have the reboot be standalone from the start. Given that, I wonder if they'd still have Sunset be unique to EQG. With how much fans have wanted to see pony Sunset, I think they'll have her appear in the G5 pony show, but will go in a different direction than having her cross dimensions. Maybe she's still a dark contrast to Twilight who turns good, but it's hard to say what form that would take now.
Transformers and comic adaptations have a history of taking known characters and going in new directions with them for new shows, so there's precedence for using Sunset in this way instead of making a new character. Even with big differences, people get excited about being able to see old characters again. Plus, you know, G4 Rainbow is completely different from her G3 version already.
* With season 9 being the last, I think back on a comment from one of the show crew that Friendship is Magic and Equestria Girls influence each other. It seemed odd because while FiM influences EQG certainly, there has been no sign of the other way around. I didn't think the show would reference EQG, but with it known to be ending, I assume they'll go ahead and finally do it.
* With Twilight being an earth pony in G5, a neat idea could be that she's still an expert on magic, but she needs to rely on Rarity and Fluttershy to actually cast the spells. Incidentally, this would allow more opportunity for Twilight and Rarity to spend time together.
* Before the leaks, I figured that they would change things around for G5. Maybe just keep Pinkie and Rainbow, and swap in Sunset for the lead unicorn role. However, they clearly feel the entire Mane Six (minus Applejack) is worth keeping around. Although previous generations have changed up the main cast, this isn't something they were deliberately doing. They were trying to find a core set of characters to focus on for each generation after, just like they had with Transformers. This can be seen most clearly with the Core 7 of G3: Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Cheerilee, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Toola Roola, and Starsong. And six of those characters did show up on G4, four as major recurring characters (sorry Cheerilee), so there's precedence already.
* As for returning villains, Discord, Chrysalis, and Tirek all seem likely. The can go in all kinds of directions with Discord, from repeating his FiM story arc, to removing all of his menace, to him being a pure evil force like he was often presented in fan content before "Keep Calm and Flutter On". In any case, I think they'll want to avoid repeating too many villains used in G4, and won't use all three.
* I feel like part of what made G4's fandom grow so much is how easy it was to create fan content. Not only were the main characters pretty easy to draw, but you could create OCs that fit in reasonably well. We wouldn't have Belle Eve if it wasn't for that. Compare to, say, Steven Universe OCs, which just don't seem to fit in the same way. I hope they keep this in consideration for the final art style.
* Way too early for this, but final season OT title:
My Little Pony: FiM FINAL SEASON |OT| I used to wonder what friendship could be...
The final movie, if it happens (fake title)
My Little Pony: The Movie 2: Journey's End (FiM Finale) |OT| And magic makes it all complete
And the G5 movie
My Little Pony G5 Movie |OT| Here we are, best friends, about to start it again
* Since the opening is widely considered one of the hardest parts to get through for a new viewer, it's hard to say if they'll keep the "My Little Pony" jingle for G5. Equestria Girls already provides precedence of going without it, with a short snappy theme in the shorts. Transformers doesn't always use a remix of the famous Transformers theme. I imagine something like the start of Adventure Time's opening, with the camera zooming through the three pony realms and showing the main characters, before showing a group shot, and singers say, "My Little Pony World" or whatever the title is.
* If Equestria Girls ends around the same time as Friendship is Magic, I wonder if they'll have them graduate. The world outside school is so undefined, that it's hard to say what the characters would actually do after they go to college. I imagine they'll go to a community college together, since SciTwi hardly needs advanced education, and I'm not sure they could go much higher while still sticking together. Dash could get a sports scholarship, I suppose. In any case, we haven't seen any ambitions from them that require more advanced education than that.
Stream this Sunday despite it being Christmas Eve. Ponies take precedence, duh. It is going to be a tad shorter though with only three episodes. Check the discord community for more information. Happy Holidays Hearth's Warming!
Yes, G3 at last! And I notice that you specifically left out the FiM episode that depicts Hearth's Warming Day and not just Hearth's Warming Eve. Makes sense for watching on Christmas Eve. inb4 you pretending that was the intention.
Bunch of chat stories.
In this first one, I went out of my way to avoid the premise that Sylvee was setting up, of Rarity asking me why she wasn't my waifu, which led things in an odd direction. Also starts with an EQG GIF edit.
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 2:42 PM
But why would Twilight throw herself out the window?
Sylvee-Last Monday at 3:27 PM
Is it SciTwi's or Rarity's waifu?
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 3:29 PM
Explainingthejoke: The POV character for that statement is ambiguously either me or Rarity.
Sylvee-Last Monday at 3:32 PM
Rarity's not your waifu?
Also kinda doesn't work because it isn't Twilight
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 3:37 PM
Sad as it is to say, if I had to pick one pony waifu, it would be Twilight.
(Though I don't do the waifu thing anyway)
Sylvee-Last Monday at 3:38 PM
It's the wings isn't it? I can have wings too you know...
TWILIGHT! CAN YOU CAST THAT WING SPELL ON ME AGAIN? I NEED IT FOR SOMETHING!(edited)
(Pretend the guy is Rarity yelling)
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 3:39 PM
Hoo
(carries
)
Sylvee-Last Monday at 3:40 PM
THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 3:41 PM
(Marshmallow!)
(
is translating)(edited)
Sylvee-Last Monday at 3:44 PM
My hair is being all messed up too. Fluttershy, be a dear and TELL THE BIRD TO PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT.
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 3:45 PM
Rarity, make me your waifu first!
Putting together an art post, and it occurs to me that the fan art situation is going to get awkward come G5.
Sylvee-Last Monday at 3:52 PM
Fluttershy, now is not the time for jokes
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 3:56 PM
I'm serious, Rarity. I've loved you ever since you put on more clothes when we went to the spa for the first time.
Why? Why wear more? And why is it so hot when you do?
Cappy-Last Monday at 3:59 PM
Because clothes keep us warm!
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 3:59 PM
Oh, that explains it!
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 4:00 PM
I feel betrayed! I thought you were seducing me, but you really just wanted to get warmer?!
Go ahead and feast on her, Twilight's grandkids!
Why is Owlowiscious being Twilight's son still a thing?!
Sylvee-Last Monday at 4:03 PM
This is all a bit much... Now is really not the time to be talking about this Fluttershy, if you tell the owl to put me down we can discuss this
Cappy-Last Monday at 4:05 PM
Never negotiate with terrorists!
I'm not sure if this counts.
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 4:05 PM
Fluttershy, terrorize! (Transformer noise)
Sylvee-Last Monday at 4:10 PM
I should have known you're not the real Fluttershy. Will somepony else save me?
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 4:10 PM
Sorry Rarity, but I agree with the robot! You're dead!
Sylvee-Last Monday at 4:12 PM
Licks new Fluttershy revealing a changeling
How did you know?
I didn't know, I just like licking Fluttershy
Cappy-Last Monday at 4:13 PM
She tastes like lemon drops!
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 4:13 PM
(flaps arms and comes to Rarity's rescue)
Even she can fly now...
Sylvee-Last Monday at 4:15 PM
Thanks Sweetie Belle. Now lets stop those Fluttershies (Or is it shys?)
(Jumps off building and bodyslams the robot)
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 4:16 PM
Rarity, I heard from these other Fluttershys that you were only wearing a robe at the spa to get warm!
Sylvee-Last Monday at 4:19 PM
(Takes out the changeling)
(Licks new Fluttershy, nothing happens)
I'm afraid that is the reason. I apologize if I gave you the wrong idea. I would never intentionally try to lead you on like that Fluttershy. You're a dear friend of mine and I would never want to hurt you like that
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 4:19 PM
That lick felt nice. I'm satisfied.
Sylvee-Last Monday at 4:21 PM
Thank goodness, it is great to hear that. Now I don't know about you, but I've had quite the day. I was thinking of hitting up the spa, you're welcome to join me if you like. As friends, of course.
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 4:21 PM
"And then at the spa, things got steamy, and..."
"... I was invited too, and..."
Sylvee-Last Monday at 4:22 PM
(edited)
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 4:22 PM
eats scroll
[The End]
One from yesterday. For context, we were talking about what would happen to the Equestria Girls characters after they graduated, and were on the subject of Dash getting into college with a sports scholarship. Somehow this led to a story about Twilight spying on Raritys in different dimensions.
Trigonometrize-Today at 2:55 PM
Dash can get a sports scholarship and then lose it immidiatedly when she realizes she has to do well in classes
SigmasonicX-Today at 2:55 PM
There was actually a Tumblr blog called Ask Nerdy Dash or something, which was about the EQG characters going to a community college, where Dash discovers that she's actually a huge nerd.
It was cute for much of what I read, with Dash having a one sided rivalry with SciTwi. But I checked it out recently and it looks like it 100% switched to an AppleDash blog.
Trigonometrize-Today at 2:58 PM
The great separator of the weak from the strong: ability to resist urge to ship AppleDash
Cappy-Today at 2:59 PM
SigmasonicX-Today at 3:01 PM
Cappy-Today at 3:01 PM
*shaking intensifies*
SigmasonicX-Today at 3:02 PM
It's a shame we didn't have room for Rainbow's "Daring Don't" face as an emote.
Sylvee-Today at 3:44 PM
There's like 50 Rainbow emotes we're missing. Also you're assuming that the teachers wouldn't just fudge her grades so she could keep playing
SigmasonicX-Today at 3:45 PM
This chair? Not a dress
Astonishing! You pass Calculus!
Sylvee-Today at 3:46 PM
It would be so jarring that Scitwi would transform into a pony so she could facehoof instead
SigmasonicX-Today at 3:48 PM
Clearly you're watching these Dougworld events through a magic window in Ponyland that translates everyone to their pony equivalents
Sylvee-Today at 3:52 PM
So it's like Equestrian TV but they watch alternate dimension versions of the Mane 6 do their daily stuff? You think that Twilight would watch human Rarity sleep? Would she even be into the non-pony Rarity?
SigmasonicX-Today at 3:54 PM
If she watched through the window, it would look like pony Rarity wearing clothes
And we've established that's even hotter for ponies
Sylvee-Today at 3:56 PM
Would that be cheating? Do you think the Pony Rarity would@be bothered that Twilight was watching a different version of her?
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:01 PM
It would be cheating, but Twilight has become corrupted by her own power
Sylvee-Today at 4:03 PM
Twilight creates inter dimensional travel so she can creep on infinite numbers of Rarities. And finds other Twilights so she can creep on as many as possible
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:04 PM
Ooh, this Twilight is an earth pony.
I must analyze how that influences intimacy when paired with a pegasus Rarity
Daaaaa-har-liiiiiing! (flying around)
(crashes into wall)
Maybe giving her wings is a bad idea
Sylvee-Today at 4:09 PM
Hold it, Rarity would never drink and fly. She is graceful and has higher standards then that
(That wasn't me continuing the story, just stating something)
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:11 PM
Oh Sweetie
Sweetie Sweetie
Sweetiesweetiesweetiesweetie
You'll understand what love does to a mare when you grow up
(hiccup)
(flies off cliff)
Sylvee-Today at 4:13 PM
Did she realize that her Twilight was cheating on her with all the other Rarities?
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:16 PM
Oh Rarity, why'd you have to go and do that?
Well, there's always another Rarity
Aha! I thought so you so and so!
Rarity! You're alive!
Indeed I am! You think I'd just get drunk and fly off a cliff?
I can hold my liquor better than that, darling, or should I say the opposite of darling!(edited)
Sylvee-Today at 4:19 PM
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:20 PM
Twilight, I want to break up.
Seriously?
Break up your body and soul, that is!
You wouldn't!
Sorry Rarity, but I have a grander perspective now
Sylvee-Today at 4:26 PM
I have uploaded my consciousness to a Twilight database, and I have also mastered the art of cloning myself. There are hundreds of perfect bodies identical to mine. If you kill me a process will be triggered that will upload that consciousness to another body. My research on you will never be stopped.
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:28 PM
(licks server)
(creates chain reaction that destroys all the clones and databases)
Well crap
Rarity... I love you!
In the end, a bit too much, darling.
"And thus, the Raritys of the other dimensions decided Spike was a way better special somepony."
"Even though he's a dragon."
Meh.
[The End]
And after mentioning my previous post in the chat, this story came into being. On mobile, there wasn't a timestamp above the post where the story "starts", but there is one now, so eh. Also contains a fun image about Rarity reacting to the leaks.
FAKE EDIT: Hitting character limit, so next time, I guess.
A new Hearth's Warming mission in the Gameloft game goes in an unexpected direction, with Lyra, Bon Bon, and Dr. Hooves having to save the day from time traveling windigos. Since there was some question about this before, I'll just go ahead and say it, this isn't based on a season 8 episode.
And lastly, I'd like to showcase some fantastic humanized art from the artist Ponut Joe. He's great at drawing the characters in really nice dresses. He also makes some great art of the characters not wearing dresses >_>. Though real talk, I appreciate that this artist makes so much safe art and puts a lot of effort into them. This is just art from October on.
1.Applejack - This and Twilight were actually made before the two hair-down Raritys above, but putting here for grouping.
2.Twilight - Based on her dress from "Suited For Success".
I expect that G4 comics will continue after the show ends, and the G5 movie will get a tie-in miniseries, but otherwise won't get anything. Then, shortly before the G5 show starts, the G4 comic will end, and the G5 comic will start.
What they end up doing with EQG I think is going to mainly depend on what the world for G5 ends up looking like. If it's an open world with different dimensions already established as existing then maybe they might not need to change it at all. If it's closed off then maybe EQG might not even make sense. Whatever ends up happening to it I feel like it should be figuring out what works best for the main show, and then trying to get EQG to work into that afterwards. And until that's figured out it's hard to really guess what will happen.
* With Twilight being an earth pony in G5, a neat idea could be that she's still an expert on magic, but she needs to rely on Rarity and Fluttershy to actually cast the spells.
If the races start off not knowing each other then there would be no way for Twilight to even have knowledge of Unicorn magic. And I feel like having Twilight be focused on magic would largely draw attention to the fact that she would basically just be G4 Twilight but worse. If they're going to make her an Earth Pony then they need to make it clear that it's a different Twilight that fills a different role in the story compared to the original one. Her growing an interest in it later on makes sense, but having her become an expert of the subject of it over the actual magic-users in the group to the point of teaching them how magic works messes up the dynamics too much.
* Before the leaks, I figured that they would change things around for G5. Maybe just keep Pinkie and Rainbow, and swap in Sunset for the lead unicorn role. However, they clearly feel the entire Mane Six (minus Applejack) is worth keeping around.
I think it's important to reflect on the fact that we're (likely) all 18+ dudes talking about a show that previously was only really watched by young girls. The show has enjoyed a lot of widespread attention in areas that are way outside of the demographics that you would expect, and given what the stuff we've heard so far for G5 is about it looks like they have every intention of keeping those groups. Back in previous generations it would make more sense to try and reinvent the brand to make sure that it's still popular with young girls but with this reboot I'm guessing the goal is to try to expand the audience further while retaining the people that they've already gotten interested. Any major changes to the formula runs the risk of alienating people and causing them to bail. At this point it's really important to remember if things aren't broken, then they should probably stay the way they are. Some of the mane 6 might have some changes to them to have them make more sense in the context of the world they created (for example there might not be a "wonderbolts" in their universe so Rainbow can't aspire to be one) but overall with the exception of AJ I feel like the core of each character (Twilight's a bookworm, Rainbow's an attention-seeking athlete, Fluttershy is quiet and likes animals, Pinkie is hyper and likes to throw parties, and Rarity is obsessed with outward appearances and melodramatic but is hard-working and generous) should remain intact.
* I feel like part of what made G4's fandom grow so much is how easy it was to create fan content. Not only were the main characters pretty easy to draw, but you could create OCs that fit in reasonably well. We wouldn't have Belle Eve if it wasn't for that. Compare to, say, Steven Universe OCs, which just don't seem to fit in the same way. I hope they keep this in consideration for the final art style.
I remember reading that they're trying to keep the designs simple because they look cleaner and better that way. So hopefully that stays a part of the series.
Reddit did a villains week recently. Here's a collection of the art that I liked from it:
I saw this at a Gamestop yesterday. Feels like half of the shelf space in Gamestop is taken up by toys now. Not that I really care that much since I don't shop at Gamestop normally anyway.
If the races start off not knowing each other then there would be no way for Twilight to even have knowledge of Unicorn magic. And I feel like having Twilight be focused on magic would largely draw attention to the fact that she would basically just be G4 Twilight but worse. If they're going to make her an Earth Pony then they need to make it clear that it's a different Twilight that fills a different role in the story compared to the original one. Her growing an interest in it later on makes sense, but having her become an expert of the subject of it over the actual magic-users in the group to the point of teaching them how magic works messes up the dynamics too much.
That would be really cool. They could actually have Zecora play a significant role in the series like she was originally intended in G4, and maybe include more zebras besides her. Alternatively I feel like alchemy could actually be something that the Earth Ponies just naturally are able to do that no other race can. It would at least be something to make them unique and cool.
First of all, posting this chat story now that there's space.
Sylvee-Today at 11:00 AM https://img00.deviantart.net/98a4/i...but_rarity_says____by_chilebender-dbxefqp.png
SigmasonicX-Today at 11:28 AM
Remake of The One Where Pinkie Pie knows where there's a leak and she desperately has to keep the information to herself
Really, this Discord has been a huge help for that
SigmasonicX-Today at 12:54 PM
Made post more or less collecting the G5 thoughts I've had in the chat.
Ugh, how do you get the timestamp to appear? It's been more than an hour!
Yay
Cappy-Today at 1:01 PM
SigmasonicX-Today at 1:13 PM
Even Fluttershy can breathe fire better than me...
What they end up doing with EQG I think is going to mainly depend on what the world for G5 ends up looking like. If it's an open world with different dimensions already established as existing then maybe they might not need to change it at all. If it's closed off then maybe EQG might not even make sense. Whatever ends up happening to it I feel like it should be figuring out what works best for the main show, and then trying to get EQG to work into that afterwards. And until that's figured out it's hard to really guess what will happen.
EQG is an established toyline now, and I don't think Hasbro would drop it with G5. Now this doesn't necessarily mean they'll have an animated tie in, but I think what's most likely is that there will be one, but they won't feel the need to directly connect it to the pony show.
If the races start off not knowing each other then there would be no way for Twilight to even have knowledge of Unicorn magic. And I feel like having Twilight be focused on magic would largely draw attention to the fact that she would basically just be G4 Twilight but worse.
I was thinking like Twilight discovers she can visualize magic in a way the others can't, or reads ancient books that Rarity and Fluttershy wouldn't. So she'd be like, "
Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Cast Avada Kedavra for me!"
Ooh, actually relevant Zecora would be nice. I wonder if it might be better to just straight up make her a pony, rather than leaving that odd, "Wait, are zebras supposed to be black people?" question lingering in the air.
That choice of screenshots for the back of the box. RariTwi and no Applejack.
Other things from the home release are:
* The deleted scene is a fully animated alternate opening, where Twilight explains Equestria and the roles of the princesses. Considering how little that matters to the final story, it makes sense that they'd cut it. Oddly, this means that the trailer scene of Tempest confronting a soldier that painted their nails isn't included.
* The Equestria Girls short is "Road Trippin", about Granny Smith driving the girls on a bus to Goldie Delicious's farm for a gig, and she decides to take them on a shortcut. Thus far, this hasn't been released on YouTube.
* Baking with Pinkie Pie is indeed a video where Pinkie teaches you how to bake, with new dialogue from Andrea Libman.
* The two behind the scenes videos are brand new, and not taken from that TV special. One is short cast interviews, and the other is about the movie's production.
* The "I'm the Friend You Need" music video is just footage of Taye Diggs recording the song in the studio, cut together with movie footage.
* No director's commentary!
* One neat thing is that Tabitha St. Germain wears a Rarity cutie mark necklace given to her by a fan.
Fanfics Physiology of Equus Alicornyus by GMBlackjack - Fimfiction
This was recommended in the Round Stable fanfic thread, so I decided to check it out. It's a short farce about Twilight visiting Nurse Redheart right after she becomes an alicorn and the weird things her body does during checkup. Not much to it, but it's cute.
For the original story, you might recall that I didn't like the first two chapters, where it turned into a big old fantasy battle, but then I decided to give it another chance, and finished out the last two chapters. I didn't like how Rarity and Twilight were only together because of destiny and such, but then the last two chapters actually went into that, with each character's concerns about whether this will really work out. Because of that, I decided to check out this sequel after ED posted about it (in an updates post).
The story went more into the lore of the world, which was a bit odd to me, until I reached the end and the author's note mentioned that he intended to expand this into a full epic series. And then in the comments, I discovered that this is the author of that "The Alchemy of Chemistry" series I've often seen updates for on ED, meaning writing big complicated AUs is his entire thing. Now everything makes sense!
Anyway, this story starts out with Twilight and Rarity sparring, which was kind of neat, and then they just take a romantic walk. Unfortunately, Twilight and Rarity's interactions for the most part just weren't that interesting. Rarity acts flirty and Twilight blushes. And blushes. And blushes. Every exchange ends with Twilight blushing in a different way, and there isn't really any variety. I did appreciate their interactions more toward the end of the second chapter, when they once again talk sincerely about their concerns.
I might continue to check out slice of life stories from this series, but I don't think I'll read the planned epic stories.
Physiology of Equus Alicornyus by GMBlackjack - Fimfiction
This was recommended in the Round Stable fanfic thread, so I decided to check it out. It's a short farce about Twilight visiting Nurse Redheart right after she becomes an alicorn and the weird things her body does during checkup. Not much too it, but it's cute.
Now that someone else said it, I'll agree that the comedy doesn't work. But it's still decently charming. I liked the gag of Redheart putting on gloves to inspect Twilight's horn, but she didn't to check her butt a moment before, which undermined it a bit. Leaving out the butt check would have made that horn thing funnier.
The Discovery Family Go app added a bunch of the Equestria Girls Choose Your Own Adventure shorts. They aren't otherwise on the Internet at the moment, and the fan uploads of the previous CYOA have been super awkward anyway, so I think I'll wait until the official YouTube uploads of these. Note that apparently according to the leaked emails, and the copyright date on "Best Trends Forever", they aren't supposed to be released until February 2018.
Rarity Investigates: The Case of the Bedazzled Boots
Driving Miss Shimmer
Stressed in Show
Text Support
Fluttershy's Butterflies
They do seem pretty interesting, though. More Detective Rarity, and apparently Twilight freaks out in two of them.
As a reminder, today's stream is in an hour and a half, and it will include something special.
I was thinking like Twilight discovers she can visualize magic in a way the others can't, or reads ancient books that Rarity and Fluttershy wouldn't. So she'd be like, "
Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Cast Avada Kedavra for me!"
I'd just rather that they find something else for Twilight to be super interested in and have Fluttershy and Rarity be accomplished spellcasters in their own right (Although not at the level Twilight or Starlight is) instead of them being at roughly the same level they're at in G4 and having to be coached by someone that can't even use magic to get better. Also Twilight being super into magic feels like it's a setup for her to become an Alicorn later which I REALLY don't want to happen again. One of the big advantages of them doing a reboot is that they can put all of the Mane 6 on an even playing field both in terms of power and relevance to the story. Unless the other members of the Mane 6 get arcs that are on the same level as that I don't think it should happen outside of maybe a series finale. As Sciz suggested make her good at alchemy or something. She can be the leader of the group and she can have knowledge of magic but she shouldn't be telling unicorns how to unicorn.
Today's stream went pretty well, though no one else joined in besides the usual three. "Hearth's Warming Eve" is still good, with the writer's usual tendency to make everyone jerks working well in the play sections. For "A Very Minty Christmas", here's what I said in the GAF thread back... oh hey, almost exactly a year ago, minus a few days.
A Very Minty Christmas
And now we reach the movies that were released by themselves. These movies are about 44 minutes long. The singing in this one is already better than in the previous one, though it still isn't great. Wait, Santa is still a human here?! Anyway, everyone is getting ready for Christmas, but Minty is messing everything up. She has gained an obsession with socks, which some cite as the source of the sock meme for G4 art. She destroys the candy cane that shows Santa the way to Ponyville and decides to get socks for everyone as a make-up present, pretending to be Santa and doing it in secret. She's caught by Pinkie Pie, who advises her to go to the North Pole and talk to Santa. Minty rushes off on her own before Pinkie can go with her, so Pinkie gathers everyone else to go help her. Indeed, Minty needs to be saved by everyone else. Getting to the North Pole is a quick and easy trip, but Santa is already gone when they get there. When they get back, Santa has fixed everything up; it turns out he's drawn by the magic of friendship, not candy canes. From Minty, Santa gets the idea of using stockings to store presents. At the end, they repeat a song from the beginning, despite it saying that Christmas is almost here. Also wait, they have a big castle, but no one seems to live in it.
Anyway, the songs are decent here for what they are, but it's all still pretty dumb.
We had a lot of fun watching and riffing on it, especially with Rainbow Dash saying darling at a level far beyond what we were used to with Rarity. Minty is voiced by Tabitha St. Germain (voice of Rarity), and her acting was the highlight, though that's only in comparison to everything else. We also though the main song, "That's What I Love About Christmas", was pretty decent.
After that, "A Hearth's Warming Tail" was a breath of fresh air. The faces being cute again, especially.
The "MEP" videos are super flashy with random visuals, including lots of fan art. The first was more chaotic than the latter, and I did kind of like the latter. I like "All I Want For Christmas", but not the cover / remix in the first video that much. We learned that Trigonometrize had never heard "Days Gone By" / "Auld Lang Syne" before.
For those that have been keeping up with all of the new info that was leaked a bit back, this should be old news for you. In addition to all of the talks about a new generation of pony they also leaked the descriptions for all of the new episodes for season 8. (Names can be changed easily so I'm not putting to much effort into thinking about those) Some episodes also had incomplete versions that have since been uploaded and making the rounds. Just so everyone's on the same page, make sure that you're labeling which stuff you're talking about. If you're talking about one of the episodes that was uploaded early and you've already seen, make sure people know that. And since it's so early and isn't official description discussion should be spoiled as well. Without further ado:
Episode 1-2:
School Daze
When the Friendship Map grows bigger to reflect the world beyond Equestria, the Mane Six realize they'll need a way to spread the message of friendship far and wide. Luckily Twilight knows just what to do-- open a School Of Friendship!
With her School of Friendship closed by the EEA, Twilight Sparkle must reunite her students, inspire her friends, and buck the rules to stand up for what she knows is right - everycreature, pony or not, deserves to learn friendship together.
Episode 1 apparently has a yet-to-be-named song.
Gives me a bit of a Princess Twilight vibe, in that the primary focus seems to be largely focused on exposition and establishing a new status quo. We've already seen a lot of images for the new school that is being built so it makes sense that the first 2-parter is built around creating it. Initial impressions is that this feels a lot more low-key then most of the season openers in the past given that there's no world-ending threat and the big conflict is "oh man can we save the school?" One thing that kinda bothers me a bit is that the Friendship Map has quietly gone from this artifact tied to the elements and something that signified the Mane 6's bond and importance to some friendship pager that seems to contact everyone now. EEA I'm guessing stands for Equestrian Education Agency. Maybe it's just a weird choice of words but I'm getting some Civil Rights vibes reading the description of the second episode. Looks like the school is closed down because it's teaching non-ponies?
One other thing is that it signals that the new season will have a much larger focus on non-pony characters, something that you can get an impression of reading through other episodes. It's a welcome change for me as I like that it's opening up the world more, and I hope that we get to see more new races too.
Episode 3:
The Maud Couple
Pinkie Pie's super-best-friend-sister bond is challenged when Maud gets a boyfriend that Pinkie can't stand.
Sounds like something out of a sitcom. More Maud is welcome, although I feel like this episode also could have worked as a Rarity/Sweetie Belle or AJ/Appleboom episode. I guess those ones would be changing the status quo too much since they're bigger characters then Maud. Hard to really comment much on this one because it could go in a variety of ways depending on the personality of Maud's BF. I'm guessing that Pinkie eventually learns that she has to deal with it.
Episode 4:
Fake It 'Till You Make It
Fluttershy is the only pony available to look after the Manehattan boutique while Rarity is away and takes on a series of characters to cope with the intimidating clientele. But as her characters get more and more exaggerated, Fluttershy learns that she was already the best pony for the job just by being herself.
"Fluttershy learns that she was already the best pony." DHX trying to tell us something? This one was briefly mentioned somewhere, the place escapes me. Kinda weird that the description of this episode literally spoils the whole thing whereas the other ones don't. This one I feel is going to live or die on how entertaining Fluttershy pretending to be other characters is. It could work pretty well because Fluttershy pretending to be stuff she isn't can be really cute, but then again Newbie Dash exists so obviously that kind of stuff can be done super poorly too. I'm hopeful because Discordant Harmony's Fluttershy parts were really good and if the Fox Brothers can make that sort of thing work then anyone can do it. (That may or may not be true)
Episode 5:
Grannies Gone Wild
Granny Smith and her elderly friends are headed to Las Pegasus, and Rainbow Dash tags along as a chaperone so she can ride the best rollercoaster ever before it closes. Unfortunately, following Applejack's caretaking rules for the "Golden Horseshoe Gals" keep Dash so busy, she doubts she'll even get to see the rollercoaster!
This was mentioned by Berrow as her favorite episode she ever wrote in an interview. It sounds like a really fun idea, although the idea of Rainbow needing to be responsible for other people kinda scares me. I'm looking forward to all of the grannies and seeing what kind of shenanigans they can cause. Also it's cool that we're going to be seeing Las Pegasus again, hopefully things haven't gone to shit now that it looks like Flim and Flam are taking over. It seems like an unusual situation to put Rainbow in and it's one that I don't think we've really seen before so I'm interested to see how she reacts to it.
Episode 6:
Surf and/or Turf
The Cutie Mark Crusaders try to help a young Hippogriff figure out where he belongs. With family members on Mt. Aris as well as Sea Pony relatives in Seaquestria, he can't decide where to live. Unfortunately, the CMCs are so taken with both places, they can't decide either!
Well here's the Hippogriff/Sea Pony episode. Going to be weird having one focus on them without Novo or Skystar in it given that they're the leaders of both races presumably. Maybe we'll see them in the background but obviously they're not likely to have any speaking roles. It's interesting that they're given a choice between the two races and they're both going to continue to exist side-by-side. Maybe they'll leave one of them to be ruled over by Novo and the other will be managed by Skystar, that'd be pretty cool. Either way it's an interesting idea and I'm curious to see how they'll end up resolving it.
Episode 7:
Horse Play
Princess Celestia's fillyhood dream of being in a play is realized when Twilight Sparkle casts her in a production, only to discover Celestia's talents lie elsewhere.
Cool episode concept on several levels. First off, more Celestia is welcome, and I like that it shows off a more flawed side of her that seems like it would fit well. It makes her a more rounded character and I like that it's a chance for her character to grow while not simultaneously raising questions as to how she was able to actually rule Equestria for so many years. It's also going to be the most personal we've really gotten to see her since Royal Problem was about her duties as a leader and we didn't get to see that much of her as a normal person. In addition it's an episode that feels like it's a long time coming for Twilight. Episodes like Royal Problem and Shadow Play have set up how highly she thinks of authority figures like Celestia so I feel like having an episode where she has to not only deal with the fact that Celestia can be extremely bad at something but also that she has to directly confront Celestia about it. It's a chance to show off more personality for Celestia and for Twilight to learn a lesson that was set up fairly well in Season 7. Definitely one of my (and I'm sure many others) most anticipated episodes for the season.
Note that those last three episodes were among those that were leaked, so be careful about speculation, and people perhaps choosing to sneak in actual information about the episodes.
In the news, it appears that two 44-minute Equestria Girls specials are coming at some point. It's possible that one of those will be the story of that EQG: A Friendship to Remember novel, with Sunset's friends losing their good memories of her; and with time running out, I hope the other is the big "humans go to ponyland" story fans have wanted for years.
EDIT: You know, I don't think we've ever had an official vote on which default EQG outfits are better.
Not a huge fan of either design, really, especially with the odd lack of color variety, but I like the big skirt and ribbon of the first design.
Again, not a particularly huge fan of either, but the boots are better in the second, I guess.
Pants and running shoes make the new outfit automatically superior. Her pants are also more interesting looking than her skirt. Why did the old outfits have so much white?
New outfit is so much better it's ridiculous. The first one is just so boring looking and doesn't reflect her personality other than... she's a lazy dresser? Also, another white-heavy outfit.
Rarity's first outfit was alright, I guess, but it was still pretty boring. It was like the only thing stopping them from making her blouse white was her white skin. Her new outfit is much more interesting looking.
Crystal Prep uniform is superior. Regular pony Twilight's look is second best, but still good. Not a huge fan of the newest two outfits, but of the two, I like the newest one the most.
Sunset's generally pretty good. Her outfit didn't change between the first movie and Rainbow Rocks, right? It's hard to decide between the second and last outfits. I guess the last one is more interesting to look at.
So what are your thoughts? And maybe other ones you like.
Almost across the board I prefer the original designs more. I like the skirts from the originals a lot they remind me of those 50s poodle skirts. I also like the jackets that they wore too.
Pinkie: I would probably combine the skirt and jacket of the first one with the ribbon and shoes of the second. The boots are a bit silly so they feel a bit out of place, other then that I like the first one quite a bit.
Applejack: Neither seem like attire that a farmer would actually wear so strikes on both of them. The first picture looks like AJ is being mind controlled though.
Rainbow: The first one I would say looks more cool but the second is more practical. I'm really not a fan of the striped pants though so they kinda kill the outfit for me.
Fluttershy: I kinda like the simplistic design of the first one a bit more. The sandals on the second are really distracting and I don't like the giant dress either. It seems a bit too noticeable which goes against something that I feel Fluttershy would wear.
Rarity: I like both of them a lot, although Rarity is sort of the opposite of Fluttershy and demands a dress that really pops and attracts attention. As such the shirt in the first one is too plain and kinda ruins the outfit. The second one makes her look a lot older IMO which I think is nice.
Twilight: The OG one I feel isn't "nerdy" which I guess kinda fits where they're going with the pony Twilight, but due to that I feel like there isn't really any distinct "look" that they're going for. It doesn't really give me any sort of reaction and feels a bit bland. I feel like the final design takes it too far with the unflattering striped shirt, and I don't like how much stuff is on the skirt either. The shirt's primary color matching the mark's color for the CHS SciTwi design looks cool, and I feel like there's not too much going on with the skirt. Crystal Prep is ok but I don't like the tie.
Sunset: The only one I really don't like is the new design, I really don't like all of the spikes everywhere combined with the sleeveless jacket and it tries to make her look like a bad girl which really doesn't fit how she's portrayed on the show/shorts now. The other two look great and I can't really pick one, they both work well.
Yeah personally I was kind of glad that the whole high boots look was more or less ditched from the original designs. And I just realized neither Twilight has technically worn high boots, aside from the Fall Formal outfit.
Though the only OG designs I will miss are AJ's and Pinkie's. And Sunset's post-RR design is a personal preference for me, though her newest look isn't too bad either; I commend the makers doing a slight redesign of her hair.
Sort of debated on the Twilight outfits, but if I would have to pick one, it would certainly be Pony Twilight's.
With the season premiere, I knew the show crew said that the Movie took place between seasons 7 and 8, but I was surprised to see it have such an immediate effect. After defeating the Storm King, the map cares enough to expand itself. As I've said when that official guidebook (Annual 2018) mentioned Twilight opening a School of Friendship, this is long overdue. It's the perfect next step for the character. I imagine a significant chunk of the story will be spent introducing the new students, particularly the hippogriff/seapony and dragon characters, since we know they play significant roles in later episodes. I know on 4chan, people were complaining about this episode sounding anti-Trump, by being about accepting other races, and now I hope they play that up.
"The Maud Couple" - Maud liking stallions is sure to upset people. Funnily, this sounds a lot like the original premise of "A Canterlot Wedding", before it was turned into a two parter. Originally, it was just about Twilight not liking Shining Armor's fiancee, but learning to accept her. I guess this will be like a reverse "Maud Pie", where Pinkie's the one who learns she doesn't have to be friends with the people Maud likes. Wait, that's like "A Friend in Deed".
"Fake It 'Till You Make It" is one we've seen screenshots of, via previews from an official guidebook (Annual 2018), but it's still hard to tell much about the episode's quality. It's potentially really fun. In any case, it's nice to see the Manehattan shop again.
Not much to say about "Grannies Gone Wild". It is interesting to see Rainbow have to be the responsible one in a group, though.
"Surf and/or Turf" is interesting, especially with its strong tie-in with the Movie. It will be neat to see the two locations again.
"Horse Play" is a weird concept. It's nice to see Celestia in a more small scale story, instead of always making it a big event, though.
Fluttershy: I kinda like the simplistic design of the first one a bit more. The sandals on the second are really distracting and I don't like the giant dress either. It seems a bit too noticeable which goes against something that I feel Fluttershy would wear.
Ideal for me would be a big old sweater/sweatshirt and jeans, like she's often drawn in early humanizations, but if not, a nice flowing dress is my preference. Wearing a tank top doesn't seem right for Fluttershy not standing out.
The deleted scene has some great art, and the effects for Tempest's magic are amazing, but it's a lot of unnecessary exposition, so I can see why they cut it. The other videos are fun enough, but there isn't much new information.
I checked out a SciSet Tumblr (a different one!) called Sunlight Horizons. Not too many updates, and it doesn't update that frequently, but there's a lot of cute art.
Pinkie went from a fairly small white shirt with a heart on it that was covered by her blue jacket to a white tank top with some balloons on it and full-length white stockings.
AJ stayed mostly the same
Rainbow went from a barely visible white undershirt and some white stripes on her skirt to a white undershirt that is slightly more visible.
Fluttershy went from a white tank top to no white at all
Rarity shows more skin in her redesign so there's more white there
No white in any of Twilight or Sunset's designs
FINAL VERDICT: Amount of white is more or less the same
It doesn't really pop much and is fairly subdued. Much more so then a full-body dress and some super intricate ribbon sandals that probably took like 50 hours to put on.
Also, there was talks about some new CYOA EQG stuff that was released on the Discovery Go app. I found some uploads of them onto dailymotion. I'll be discussing them in a bit when I finish watching all of them, but in the meantime you can find here: http://www.dailymotion.com/dm_7a55fed06dcf9c3ee50a93bca261d16b/videos
Sunset's generally pretty good. Her outfit didn't change between the first movie and Rainbow Rocks, right? It's hard to decide between the second and last outfits. I guess the last one is more interesting to look at.
So what are your thoughts? And maybe other ones you like.
Sunset's second outfit is best, because it perfectly balances soft and powerful. It works both as a complete outfit and as an indicator of Sunset's character. The leather boots and jacket are both great (I would say both of them are individually her best jacket and her best boots), giving off just the right amount of "cool" without going overboard, and they're made for each other (and Sunset, and not in a blatant "my name is printed on my shirt" kind of way) with the simple orange chevrons tying the whole thing together.
The first outfit is too plain, and the boots are kind of awful (although the first outfit did establish that Sunset likes to wear a leather jacket, which is something the second outfit was able to build upon). The third outfit is too busy and yet it doesn't seem to have anything to say.
I agree that Rainbow and Fluttershy's second outfits are much better than their first ones, and Twilight looks best in the school uniform. I get the impression that Sci-Twi would dress casual and comfortable with her hair down like a laundry-day slob when she's not wearing her school uniform, and if Rarity forcefully intervened and gave Sci-Twi a fashion makeover, she'd look significantly better than any of the options currently on display.
Fluttershy: I kinda like the simplistic design of the first one a bit more. The sandals on the second are really distracting and I don't like the giant dress either. It seems a bit too noticeable which goes against something that I feel Fluttershy would wear.
It doesn't really pop much and is fairly subdued. Much more so then a full-body dress and some super intricate ribbon sandals that probably took like 50 hours to put on.
I did misspeak a bit. I mentioned that I'm not a fan of either Pinkie outfit, and prefer the first one, which as you noted, does have less white. The outfits in the second set that still use heavy white feel pretty weak to me. I suppose the point I was making was more about simplicity and the outfits looking boring than just the white.
And Rarity's second outfit being sleeveless and not having giant boots doesn't count as more white!
Sunset's second outfit is best, because it perfectly balances soft and powerful. It works both as a complete outfit and as an indicator of Sunset's character. The leather boots and jacket are both great (I would say both of them are individually her best jacket and her best boots), giving off just the right amount of "cool" without going overboard, and they're made for each other (and Sunset, and not in a blatant "my name is printed on my shirt" kind of way) with the simple orange chevrons tying the whole thing together.
The first outfit is too plain, and the boots are kind of awful (although the first outfit did establish that Sunset likes to wear a leather jacket, which is something the second outfit was able to build upon). The third outfit is too busy and yet it doesn't seem to have anything to say.
Also, there was talks about some new CYOA EQG stuff that was released on the Discovery Go app. I found some uploads of them onto dailymotion. I'll be discussing them in a bit when I finish watching all of them, but in the meantime you can find here: http://www.dailymotion.com/dm_7a55fed06dcf9c3ee50a93bca261d16b/videos
Heads up, after watching them, you need to watch them in the order I listed below.
Equestria Girls Shorts
Weird how the Discovery Go app uploaded the shorts, not with the ability to choose the path, but with the introduction in every video and you choose beforehand.
Fluttershy's Butterflies
Oh, so this is the coal miner's daughter story mentioned in the initial announcement. I didn't expect it to be a play. Oh lame, it doesn't include the indecision sequence! Rainbow Dash path was eh, and Fluttershy was still holding back a lot, compared to things like the end of "Sonic Rainboom". With Applejack, you're really not helping your case for moving on to G5. Applejack's path is lame. DJ-PON3's path was ridiculous, with hologram Fluttershy, but still didn't do as much with that as I would have liked. Overall, eh story. Also, no way for every path to be canon.
Text Support
I keep forgetting that SciTwi is dating Timber. I thought Rarity was going to steal Timber away from Twilight for a second. Her dialogue was cute. Not as funny with a happy ending, though. Twilight's voice acting in Fluttershy's path was cute. Glad to see Sunset took the straightforward path of just calling Timber to see what he meant. Sunset's path was my favorite; and it shows that she's better for SciTwi than him. This was eh except for the Sunset path.
Stressed in Show
Oh hey, they're actually continuing the story of the play about the coal miner's daughter wanting to dance. But WHICH FLUTTERSHY AUDITION IS CANON?! Beastmaster Fluttershy. I saw the GIF of this before, and thought she was going "You're going to love me" mode, so it was a shame that wasn't the case. Woodpecker massage seems... painful. Rainbow, weren't you going to stop using your super speed? Alright, so we have power levels sorted out: SciTwi is much more athletic than Sunset. Pinkie stopping Twilight from stressing out about the play by making her stress out about her suddenly appearing is certainly a way to do it. Rainbow Dash's was the best, but again, it wasn't all that interesting.
I think "Best Trends Forever" set the standard too high.
Driving Miss Shimmer
It looks like the title says "Driving Miss Suimmer" Wait, Sunset doesn't already know how to drive? Fluttershy has a car?! Rarity's advice about driving... is she an Uber driver? Rarity dancing is cute. I liked the ending concept of Sunset being a master parallel parker due to having trained with a limo, it wasn't as punchy as I would have liked. Wait, in Applejack's path, why did reality distort so the tire on the test car went flat? I'm reminded of the classic Sierra adventure game, Police Quest, where if you don't check your car at the start, there's a fault with it and you die. However, if you do check it, it turns out there's nothing wrong with the car and you continue on as normal. Fluttershy's car is cute. As is her song. But why does she have rhymes for everything? That seems more like Pinkie.
Hmm, seeing a pattern here. Yes, Rarity's consistently highlight of these shorts, which means...
Rarity Investigates - The Case of the Bedazzled Boot
Rarity addressing Sunset as redhead is great. Pinkie confessing and then Rarity explaining why it couldn't have been her is cute. Trixie having a monologue too is amazing. Rarity putting on lipstick :blush:. Wait, will Spike being part of the play be canon? I NEED TO KNOW. In Applejack's path, Maud out of nowhere. That dream sequence was great. This CYOA was missing a grand confrontation. Besides that, pretty good.
Not all that impressed by this set of CYOA. They largely just have things work out nicely, instead of going wacky like with "Best Trends Forever". The ones that did go further were pretty fun, though.
==
This video related to the G5 leak and Applejack was released by the VA of Twilight on Friendship is Witchcraft and Kimi Sparkle.
It isn't super serious, but it does have an interesting take on how G5 could go. I admit, I didn't see the twist coming, but I wasn't thinking about it anyway. It's interesting how, even though she read the leaks, she didn't stick much to what we know about G5 other than openness about race changing. The changes are wild in some ways, and sticking closely to the comfort of G4 in others.
But one thing I want to address is the idea of changing Applejack and people who want to keep her the same. Meghan's email mentions the possibility of making Applejack a reformed villain like Sunset, and even putting red in her hair like Sunset. So... how about dropping Applejack from the Mane Six and adding in Sunset?
With precedence of Twilight as an earth pony, Sunset could be an earth pony too. I did like the idea of Twilight being the brains to Applejack's brawn, but if you incorporated Tempest's fighting skills into earth pony Sunset, you could get a similar dynamic. Looking at how Sunset's actually used, her magic skills and intelligence aren't actually significant to her character beyond explaining how she became a villain. I feel like it would be easier to massage Sunset to fit into the Mane Six than to adjust Applejack while keeping her familiar. And she even has a similar color scheme to Applejack, so the color dynamics of the Mane Six are maintained.
There was a massive leak about two weeks ago, including official schedules and emails, which showed that FiM is ending with season 9 in 2019. After that, "G5" will start in either 2019 or 2020, first with a CG movie and then a 2D TV series.
We decided it's fine to openly talk about the G5 stuff, but the also leaked G4 stuff must be behind spoiler tags. That said, we aren't posting any of the leaked images in the thread. The Discord chat, however...
We started discussing it around here, and you can find a bunch more information in Sylvee's post and after. Note that we did most of our discussion in the Discord chat. Also, this is really early in development, and things could very easily change a lot. But this does show the general direction they're exploring.
Things of note are that:
* It's apparently going for a high fantasy feel, with more of an adventure focus. The different pony races, at this point in planning, live on different worlds and are brought together by the events of G5.
* They are keeping the Mane Six, but are open to changing their races. Concept art shows Fluttershy as a unicorn and Twilight as an earth pony. There is also mention of Pinkie as a pegasus. Emails claim that the first was received well, second lukewarm, last badly.
* They don't want Applejack to be a farm pony anymore, and are going in a lot of directions with her, including with Meghan McCarthy proposing to make her a villain turned good like Sunset Shimmer.
There was a massive leak a bit ago about two weeks ago, including official schedules and emails, which showed that FiM is ending with season 9 in 2019. After that, "G5" will start in either 2019 or 2020, first with a CG movie and then a 2D TV series.
We decided it's fine to openly talk about the G5 stuff, but the also leaked G4 stuff must be behind spoiler tags. That said, we aren't posting any of the leaked images in the thread. The Discord chat, however...
We started discussing it around here, and you can find a bunch more information in Sylvee's post and after. Note that we did most of our discussion in the Discord chat. Also, this is really early in development, and things could very easily change a lot. But this does show the general direction they're exploring.
Things of note are that:
* It's apparently going for a high fantasy feel, with more of an adventure focus. The different pony races, at this point in planning, live on different worlds and are brought together by the events of G5.
* They are keeping the Mane Six, but are open to changing their races. Concept art shows Fluttershy as a unicorn, and Twilight as an earth pony. There is also mention of Pinkie as a pegasus. Emails claim that the first was received well, second lukewarm, last badly.
* They don't want Applejack to be a farm pony anymore, and are going in a lot of directions with her, including with Meghan McCarthy proposing to make her a villain turned good like Sunset Shimmer.
Just the Mane Six have been leaked, along with concept art of locations and villains that resemble the anthro characters from The Movie.
Really, I don't think they'll carry over many other characters from G4, at least from the start, so Starlight might take a while to join G5, if she does.
Come to think of it, it would be amazing if this was the premise of the G5 season 2 premiere:
Earth ponies Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer learn the legend of the ancient alicorn princess, Starlight Glimmer.
I doubt that they'll end up having her to start out with. I think the first couple seasons should be primarily focused on the Mane 6, and having their characters develop over that time. Something like Starlight's character progression but for every member of the Mane 6. For example instead of Twilight being in full Friendship is Magic mode after their first outing she still prefers to go things alone. She grows to understand the benefits of working as a team, and then eventually starts actively hanging out with the rest of the Mane 6 due to enjoying their company rather then any sort of practical motive. Fluttershy would have an arc about opening up more and putting herself out there. And so on. Those arcs would take up the first couple seasons, and once they're at sort of their end-games they can start introducing new major characters like Starlight to spice things up. Coming from someone that loves Starlight I feel like she would work better as a later addition after everyone's gotten settled into the new series.
I didn't respond before but unless they just take her name and make an entirely different character I wouldn't really like Sunset being in the new series. Her personality in EQG I feel wouldn't jive well in a format where everyone is supposed to be a flawed character that grows as a person/pony as the show goes on. I can't think of any flaws that she currently has that you could really build any sort of character arc around since her role just seems to be the sensible one that always makes the right decisions. You would have to make pretty substantial changes to her personality for her to work well and at that point I feel like you're better off just making a differently named character.
I've done some theorycrafting about how they could potentially set up the world in G5 and this is kinda similar to one of my ideas. The idea is that way back in the day (1000 years ago because why not) there was a world that joined all of the other ones together and everyone lived there in harmony. (all of the pony races as well as Dragons, Griffons, ect) Some big evil showed up and threatened to take over everything. Celestia decided to break the connections between worlds temporarily so all of the different races and species could prepare themselves to defeat the big bad. However the Earth ponies said "screw that" and hid away their portal where they thought no one could find it and then tried their best to cover up that it ever existed. Fast forward to today and Twilight and Not Applejack are going on an expedition to find the portal. Not AJ is hired on by her since she figures that it's too dangerous to go alone and says that reading through ancient texts there was talk of an old artifact that could serve as a bridge between worlds. Her colleagues think that she's crazy though since it hasn't been found yet and make fun of her endlessly for her theory. (Motivation for Twilight not liking the company of others) They eventually find it and Twilight reveals she plans on taking it in to her university so people can study it. Not AJ insists that they should sell it but Twilight refuses. So Not AJ betrays her and runs off with the currently not-working portal. Eventually she settles down and wakes up to see that the portal is working. She touches it and goes through. Twilight eventually tracks down her location and enters the portal as well.
The other races had their portals in more noticeable locations and see it working but at first don't know what to do. They eventually decide to send out the rest of the Mane 6 as scouts to see if the place is safe. They all meet in the new world, which is basically overgrown ruins at this point, hinting at the old world. They all meet (Minus Not AJ who is approached by an evil dude and agrees to work with him to capture the Mane 6 in exchange for the Earth Ponies being allowed to control the world) and the Pegasi and Unicorns know that the world was split to stop some evil force from taking over, which everyone assumes is one of the other races of ponies. Before they can leave and get reinforcements the portals mysteriously close. Eventually they work together and Not AJ sees the error of her ways and they repel the evil dude. The portals open back up again and the other ponies start moving to the new world to live together.
The actual show would begin after the ponies were well on their way refurbishing all of the old settlements and life was more or less starting to settle in and be fairly normal. But Twilight would be wondering what caused the rift in the first place, as well as what caused the portals to open and then close again. She would read about the days before the rift where there was apparently a pony that had the wings of a Pegasus, the Horn of a Unicorn, and the whateverness of an Earth Pony. She theorized that such a pony might still exist, and would try to discover her location with the help of the rest of the Mane 6. It would be a several season long arc where they're on the lookout for artifacts that could open up a new world where the old leader of the ponies is supposed to be waiting. They eventually collect the 7 Chaos Emeralds and travel to the world where Celestia is at.
Celestia reveals that she used to rule over the land of ponies with her sister before she was seduced by a dark power. (The dark dudes would show up every once in a while to cause a ruckus, led by a mysterious pony-like monstrosity that had both wings and a horn) She split up the world, hoping that in time a solution would appear, but none did, and the Earthy Ponies essentially cut themselves off so it wouldn't matter anyway. Now that all of the races have their own leadership Celestia isn't really needed anymore so she just stayed by herself closed off from the world being sad that her sister is gone and she has no purpose in the world anymore. The Mane 6 realize that the big evil creature leading the Darkness is Celestia's sister and they try to convince Celestia to help them sway her sister from the Darkness. Which eventually happens leading to Luna reuniting with Celestia. What role they end up playing after that IDK.
I'm in the middle of writing a post about the CYOA stuff so expect that sometime soon. I made up the Luna stuff on the fly while writing that, although I think calling the big evil Nightmare Moon would be a hella cool callback it would also give the twist away. The big evil wouldn't look much like a pony so it wouldn't be obvious that it was formerly an Alicorn.
I didn't respond before but unless they just take her name and make an entirely different character I wouldn't really like Sunset being in the new series. Her personality in EQG I feel wouldn't jive well in a format where everyone is supposed to be a flawed character that grows as a person/pony as the show goes on. I can't think of any flaws that she currently has that you could really build any sort of character arc around since her role just seems to be the sensible one that always makes the right decisions. You would have to make pretty substantial changes to her personality for her to work well and at that point I feel like you're better off just making a differently named character.
They could easily play up her former villain status, basically exploring what they should have explored in the first place with her. You could take cues from Starlight and even Tempest for how to handle her.
That does sound like it could work. I feel like having everything be because of Nightmare Moon is a bit much, and that it's relying on G4 too much.
New comic is out, but I'll read it tomorrow.
Got around to buying and reading The Art of My Little Pony: the Movie, and here's my write up about it. I'll just post bullet points and then my impressions after. Here's my old GAF post going over images, but many of the images have been taken down. Not sure how Derpibooru's decision making process worked here.
* Comixology makes it hard to read the text on the web, oddly making it a much better experience on mobile.
* Rebecca Dart's introduction to the book includes some art she drew as a teenager, which is pretty neat. When going over the improvements they made to the designs for the movie, she specifically mentions heart hooves.
* A caption mentions that tongues are orange in the show (in contrast to them being pink in the movie), which I hadn't noticed until now.
* The most important image of the book:
* "Several characters had to have legs or necks thickened so the plastic wouldn't break if they were made into toys." - Michaela Martin, Designer
* An interesting detail is how they had to draw the characters at every angle for reference, which they call a tedious but important process. Here's Pinkie, and here it is as a GIF.
* The Equestria title page is really nice, with ponies in the market concept art by Tony Cliff. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it in one piece, and the middle portion is missing.
* Twilight's Castle was going to be a much more significant feature in Ponyville, with it being much larger, and with several buildings right at its base. The image I'm thinking of isn't on Derpibooru, but here's another bit of concept art.
* They explored a Venice look for Canterlot, with waterways sourced from the waterfalls, and swan boats, of course. No image online of that, unfortunately, but it's pretty neat.
* Tempest wasn't originally a villain, but a wild pony living on her own in the wastelands. I suppose the idea is that she would have to be convinced to help them.
* It's presented a bit confusingly, with Cosmos art referred to as Tempest, but I believe Cosmos and Tempest were distinct characters, and design elements from Cosmos were later incorporated into Tempest. Cosmos is presented as a different concept than what we see from Tempest above.
* There is also concept art of Cosmos/Tempest with power armor. The idea was that we would be introduced to the character wearing armor, and it would be a big revelation that Cosmos was a pony.
* Cosmos was originally Celestia and Luna's evil brother. For whatever reason, he's had to replace parts of his body, including with parts of other creatures, in one concept.
* Storm King was originally an elemental being actually made of storms. It appears the idea was that he would be a force unleashed by Cosmos. Unfortunately, none of the concept art is online, so just take a look at him in the background of this poster concept.
* Two prologue concepts were that the Storm King would be shown overthrowing the Arimaspi King (see "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone", the cyclops thing), and that he would steal the staff from Scorpan, Tirek's brother, who has become old.
* Originally the ponies would have been forced to cross through a forest where everything is gigantic. Below are two pieces of concept art. There's a third I liked, but it isn't online.
* At one point, Klugetown was based in a giant dragon skeleton. The people there were mining its crystal heart. They knew this was too metal for MLP the Movie, but did it to see where the boundaries were.
* The Klugetown section was at one point just going to be a tavern the ponies come across.
* Concept artists weren't pressured to adapt their styles to match MLP, which is why we get things like the realistic looking Klugetown residents in the concept art. The idea was to demonstrate the attitude of the characters and concepts first, before seeing if they wanted to adapt them.
* Capper went through a lot of changes. Only this art is online, unfortunately.
* Capper was originally called Mendax, which is Latin for "liar". They went more in a fox direction before going with a cat. Originally he was hiding a part of body he didn't like, and Rarity would discover it and make him see how beautiful it actually is. His tail had a life of its own, showing his true intentions while he put on a false face. In some designs, his tail even had a face and mouth, which oddly does match up to a fad with pony OCs from a few years ago.
* The Pirates were originally pure villains and just minor obstacles, before having their roles expanded. The Pirates section title page has amazing art of ponies fighting the pirates, with Twilight using a barrier spell, but it isn't online, unfortunately. Here's art of when they were villains, and velociraptors I guess.
* Here's Celaeno when she was called Madame Harpy
* Originally, after escaping the pirate ship, they dropped into a forest where they encounter mud trolls that bully them. They are taken to their underground city, which has concept art too. Only art of the first encounter is below.
* The sea ponies imprisoned the ponies in an earlier version of the story.
* One concept for Seaquestria explored it being more of an upside down version of Mount Aris's hippogriff city, but they went in a more organic direction. Not online.
* The original concept of the jellyfish holder for the Hippogriff magical orb had Twilight be contained in the top, the main body of the jellyfish. The final movie instead has her tangled up in the tentacles, I imagine because it was more visually interesting. And also that other thing.
* Skystar originally had two sisters: Haven Bay and Salina Blue. However, it was decided her character made more sense as an only child. They're still in the movie, though. In fact, they're in this GIF!
* The sequence in Seapony Prison involved Fluttershy befriending the other prisoners. I guess this is why she doesn't have a major moment in the final film.
* Spike at one point had a more normal sea transformation.
* This Rarity concept art for the "One Small Thing" number is good.
* That poster I posted earlier is indeed concept art from this book.
* They used CGI to figure out shots.
* The Return to Equestria title page appears to depict alicorn Cosmos facing off against the Storm King. Likely Twilight and the others convince him to turn good. This isn't online, unfortunately.
* At one point, after being kicked out by the seaponies, they were forced to spend the night in the hippogriff town ruins. This concept art isn't online.
* Art of Storm King's throne room shows that final battle maybe wasn't in Canterlot Castle. His throne is in front of cascading lava.
* The gathering of allies was originally longer, including mud trolls and other removed characters. Well, not removed. That mole guy that Capper worked for was originally an ally too, along with one of his underlings.
* Originally, the hippogriffs join them in final battle, specifically mentioning that Applejack convinced them. So there's Applejack's absent moment! Check this awesome concept art.
* At one point, the Storm King's staff came from the Tree of Harmony.
* The movie originally had a final battle where hippogriffs and princesses fight off storm creatures. So yes, Celestia was originally part of the final battle! The final battle was changed to be smaller in scale, because the actual lead characters weren't getting much focus.
* Originally the Mane Six were going to get a power up from the Staff after taking it from the Storm King, which they'd use to defeat him, but they felt this was done too often in the show. It's a real shame, because the concept art for it is pretty. Also, heart-shaped eye highlights.
* The concert at the end takes place at twilight; this was intentional.
* The afterword mentions that they easily could have made the movie much longer, and wanted to be able to give every Mane Six a moment that challenged them, but they couldn't do all that in 85 minutes. Jayson Thiessen encourages fans to explore the avenues they couldn't.
* Lastly, here's some art of Twilight writing invitations to the party.
So to extrapolate from what's presented in the book, originally it was about Celestia and Luna's brother, Cosmos, conquering Canterlot with storm creatures and wanting to release the Storm King, who is an elemental force of destruction. The ponies go on a big adventure, meeting a lot more people than in the final movie. This includes "Tempest" in the desert, who merely doesn't want to get involved until friendship. Things largely go the same way, with Twilight stealing from the seaponies, but then Fluttershy and Applejack get moments that are absent from the final film. The former befriends seapony prisoners, and Applejack convinces the seaponies/hippogriffs to help them. They fight Cosmos's storm creatures, alongside a not-stone Princess Celestia. Somehow, Cosmos is befriended, and he confronts the Storm King after it is released. Cosmos probably sacrifices himself, as these things tend to go.
The leaked Sony emails were presumably from even further before this, because this early concept art and the descriptions don't seem to hint at the three different stones, or Starswirl, or the realm of the alicorns, or a bunch of other things that were mentioned in this email.
It seems clear that from the start, they were filling the movie with adventurous side quests that ultimately only become relevant to the main story when the friends they make along the way come to help them. It was going to be a nonstop "biggest adventure ever" for the ponies, but as they discovered they couldn't fit all of that in while actually having meaningful characters, they cut down from what they had. The newer leaked emails include a mention of how the movie production schedule made it difficult to make major fixes to certain sections, citing Klugetown and Capper. The schedule meant that after starting from a bad foundation for the sort of movie they could feasibly make, they couldn't start over from scratch. While the three year production cycle of MLP: the Movie may seem long, note that Disney movies have much longer production cycles, and even they can have rushed schedules.
In hindsight, it's obvious that they should have gone for something more character focused, but before we saw the end result, there really wasn't any way to know that a big adventure would have been the wrong move. Don't get me wrong, it's still a fine movie, but it didn't work to demonstrate the strengths of the show.
They could easily play up her former villain status, basically exploring what they should have explored in the first place with her. You could take cues from Starlight and even Tempest for how to handle her.
At that point what's the reasoning for calling her Sunset besides name recognition? The only thing she's really going to have in common with the old Sunset is that she would be a reformee. You'd have to change her personality, her backstory, her character arc, her motivation for being evil, pretty much everything, and at that point I feel like the only purpose that would serve is so people can have Sunset in the show. I get that she's probably more popular then AJ but that's under very different circumstances then it would be in G5. Reading around places like Reddit and EQD there's a lot of resistance to the idea of making any real changes to AJ and although it's likely a vocal minority I think that it goes to show that any sort of substantial change is going to be met with a lot of skepticism. Frankly the idea of having AJ get strait up replaced by someone purely due to the other character being "more popular" is going to cause a lot of animosity towards that character even before you get into what their character actually is. I just don't think any of Sunset's old personality would be usable since half of it is "She does the right thing," which isn't particularly deep and the other half either doesn't make any sense if you spend 2 seconds thinking about it or doesn't remotely translate to a new setting. I think you could take the hard-working and family oriented aspects of AJ's character and still make a reformation arc out of that.
I feel like having some sort of catalyst that lead to things getting so bad that the rift needed to happen should exist. And I liked the idea of Celestia still existing somewhere waiting for the Mane 6 to find her, and as things went on she became a convenient explanation for stuff. Why are the portals randomly opening and closing? Celestia did it.
Although I don't think she should be single-handedly responsible for everything going to shit (after all the same group of people is going to still be presented as a serious threat even after she ends up being reformed in the show) her betrayal could be the last straw that led to the rift, especially since it would have affected Celestia personally. Nightmare Moon would definitely be the most prominently featured of the big bads to set up her reformation later on, but even then it would be made clear that although she's a big deal she's not the end-all be-all in terms of threats.
As for being too reliant on G4 I don't think that's really the case. Reusing characters and ideas from G4 I think is totally fine as long as they serve the story and stand on their own merits rather then relying on knowledge of the previous generation to make sense. Sure the whole Celestia Luna feud would be similar to how things were in G4 but you wouldn't need to know anything about that for the story to make sense or for you to be invested in it. Additionally I think there was a lot of improvements they could make to that storyline to make it better the second time, namely having Luna's redemption be her own decision that has buildup to it, and having Celestia play a more emotionally significant role in it.
IDK in general I like the idea of taking old ideas and putting a new spin on it. And I think other people do to, that's why there's 50 million different Sherlock Holmes re-imaginings. As long as it's not used as a creative crutch I don't think that it's a bad thing.
In hindsight, it's obvious that they should have gone for something more character focused, but before we saw the end result, there really wasn't any way to know that a big adventure would have been the wrong move. Don't get me wrong, it's still a fine movie, but it didn't work to demonstrate the strengths of the show.
Most the two-parters in general don't really show off the show's strengths so it's more of an epic story thing. The only ones that I feel do are Return of Harmony, Cutie Map, and To Where and Back Again. (Oh hey what do you know, those are all in my top 5 two parters) Given all the things that the movie needed to be it was destined to fail in some regards.
Was doing some other stuff last night and there's a ton of EQG to get through. I'm a little over halfway done and I'll also respond to the art stuff more.
I can't come up with any particular reason why "conniving, vindictive, power hungry magical prodigy estranged from a wise mentor" as a shtick can't be played pretty much the same. Even if there's no immortal alicorn princess, unicorns are still gonna be big on prestige, and stories about apprentices not getting what they want are old as time. Start from that point and see where the story takes her when it's got some room to breathe for once.
Was doing some other stuff last night and there's a ton of EQG to get through. I'm a little over halfway done and I'll also respond to the art stuff more.
Meadowbrook continued to be the best character of the group so far in this issue. I've said this before, but I'd love to see an episode or comic spinoff of her journeying across the land and fixing problems, Mushi-Shi style. I enjoy her calm but concerned attitude, and her potions are a lot of fun. It's a shame that she stopped journeying after the zombie pony incident, but who can blame her?
You know, the more I see of her, the more it's clear that this is how Zecora should have been presented.
The animal attack was great. I have to say, Rockhoof is surprisingly useless; he just held the door closed and couldn't even do that after the animals got swoll. Stygian becoming concerned about the potion labels was a nice character moment, though really Meadowbrook, you could have labeled them better. Rockhoof falling in love with Meadowbrook was a bit out of nowhere; maybe this ties into how they interact in season 8? In any case, this is another good character moment for Stygian, as those two grow closer together and he doesn't interact with them at all.
This is another story where the character on the cover doesn't actually appear until the end. And even then, we only maybe see him from the back. Still, Rockhoof bonding with that soldier was a nice scene, even if the Flash jokes were a bit forced.
Overall, I thought this was a good issue during the Meadowbrook section, while the Flash Magnus section was just set up.
I hadn't noticed until I read Silver Quill's review, but they dropped all pretense and start addressing the scholar as Stygian now. Not as a grand reveal or anything, but they just start using his name in that first panel I posted. His review also points out that the writer ships Meadowbrook and Rockhoof.
Starcrossed romance between a cookie and cardboard.
Mrmphmrmph can't feel face
Edgelord Twilight
Loudest Fluttershy ever, and just a generally weird mix
Also Edgelord Alicorn Pinkie
==
I learned of a pony blog called Louder Yay., which has some interesting stuff I hadn't seen, or don't remember seeing, at least.
For example, there's this post about an unused Equestria Girls song, which mentions "love and tolerate".
Many people think the first FiM PMV is Trouble is My Friend, as mentioned in this post, But according to this post, the first PMV is actually this. It was made in September, as in before the show came out, and it only uses promo footage. Of course, it's about Rarity being fabulous. It was destiny.
He reviews fanfics, including this post with a fanfic I've actually read: The Stolen Book by Monochromatic. I checked and discovered I hadn't posted about this on GAF, so I'll say it's a short and adorable story about Filly Twilight making a big mistake. It has Rarity, but no shipping. The ending is predictable, as the reviewer mentions, but it's the only way the story should have ended. I also just discovered it has a dramatic reading by DRWolf.
Though it doesn't go into as much detail as I would have liked on certain things, it addresses topics like how news coverage of bronies go out of their way to ignore the actual show, the condescending ways in which bronies are described, how bronies themselves go out of their way to describe the show's appeal in masculine terms, and how bronies claim to be accepting but often leave out female fans. I suppose this will occupy you for a few days, Sylvee .
I can't come up with any particular reason why "conniving, vindictive, power hungry magical prodigy estranged from a wise mentor" as a shtick can't be played pretty much the same. Even if there's no immortal alicorn princess, unicorns are still gonna be big on prestige, and stories about apprentices not getting what they want are old as time. Start from that point and see where the story takes her when it's got some room to breathe for once.
Sunset's entire villain personality is basically just a foil of Twilight. They essentially were the same sort of character but Sunset became evil while Twilight stayed good. Assuming that both Sunset and Twilight were roughly the same sort of deal that would also exist in the new show, and having 2 of the 6 main characters be very similar to each other in terms of backstory and interests with one serving as an "evil" foil to the other feels really bad to me. At least to start off with I feel like the Mane 6 should all be their own separate characters that have distinct personalities and provide unique abilities to the group. Once they get established feel free to add in foils and other stuff to round out the cast but I feel like it's essential that the core 6 are diverse and cover a wide variety of archetypes.
I would not wager that Twilight in particular is going to go down the exact same path, in part because this is a new show with a notably different setting, and in part because they're seriously toying with earth pony Twi which is going to throw most of her current backstory out on principle. All they really need to maintain for her at the start is "comically bookish introvert".
