But I did just watch the movie thanks to good ol' Redbox. Still not quite sure where my thoughts align. It was okay? I had fun with it, and it's certainly pretty with some fun tunes, but plotwise, the characters seem a bit off and the lack of Discord was strange. I kinda assumed it took place around season six though, which is why I wasn't surprised no Changlings or dragons showed up.
Taking information I've learned about the development of Magic: the Gathering sets and the Star Wars prequels, I've reached the conclusion that big creative endeavors need a
lot of pre-production time before things get locked in. It seems clear that the movie was planned to be a throwback to 80's adventure cartoon films like those made by Don Bluth, and they tried to make that work for a while, and got locked into it before they determined it just wasn't a good fit for FiM. And make no mistake, this isn't an obvious conclusion to reach until after seeing the final product, at least to the level where you can clearly lay out the problems.
For that sort of film, there are too many characters, too many things that have to be left unexplained to both new and established audiences, too few opportunities for celebrities to appear, too few ways to tie in marketing, etc. It's no wonder that their next planned movie is a reboot.
It's still a fine movie, but it wasn't the best it could be either as a throwback adventure story or a FiM movie.
==
EDIT: Whoops, forgot to post stream follow up. Coming up.
It was just me and Trig this time, but it was enjoyable. First of all, instead of "The Gift of the Maud Pie", we watched the G3 special "Positively Pink", which has a similar story to "Party of One", but less crazy and more dumb. We watched the following YouTube videos mixed in.
Play Like Pinkie Pie - YouTube
PMV - Party of Four (Pony Animation) - YouTube
Rhythm is Magic: Peckish Pony 2 - YouTube
Party in the PIA - YouTube
The Legend of Zelestia: Navi Pie - YouTube
Good Intentions Gone Wrong - YouTube
Epic Cupcake Time - YouTube
Do Your Thing [PMV] - YouTube
Smile song - Tombstone Mix [Typography Animation/PMV] - YouTube
PMV - Pink Party Pony Pandemonium - YouTube
I hadn't seen "Feeling Pinkie Keen" in a while, and it struck me how many unique animations and settings were used in this given that it was season 1. This episode has great animation and humor, and some neat music, but the moral is still a huge lodestone. Even ignoring the potential religious aspect, it just isn't right that Twilight believes Pinkie only because she gives up and is too worn out to fight back. It would have been better if she did that out of appreciation for Pinkie.
"Party of One" is still a lot of fun, and it occurs to me it's a great showcase of Applejack. Pinkie's party is pretty weaksauce just in comparison to her party from "Sweet and Elite" just one season later. One small thing from season one that I now feel sad we don't get anymore is Twilight's yelps from slapstick moments with her.
From those episodes, both Rapidash Twilight and Pinkamena are examples of things from season one that still come up pretty often. The former being more impressive, given its small screen time and lack of follow up.
"Too Many Pinkie Pies" is pretty similar to "Feeling Pinkie Keen" in that the resolution really could have used a second draft, but everything else is a ton of fun (fun! fun! fun!).
For "Positively Pink", it was the episode with this
Besides that, this episode featured multiple characters with Trixie's VA, including Puzzlemint (the one someone thought looked like Punk Rarity) with her British accent. There was a lot of dumb, but it wasn't as interesting in that regard as "A Very Minty Christmas".
"Not Asking For Trouble" was the worst of the G4 set. Pinkie herself was presented pretty well, and I still like the episode before the conflict is introduced, but god are the yaks presented badly after that.
==
I had intended to do this during the holiday break, but it didn't happen. However, as it so happens, there's a different long weekend now, so here's my look back at how people reacted to PRINCESS TWILIGHT and EQUESTRIA GIRLS. I'll have to see if I include the actual episode/movie or not from how much content the initial reaction provides.
First of all, links I already found in my "Double Rainboom" post:
*
Post - http://www.**********/forum/showpost.php?p=47484339&postcount=13858 - Ha, if we only knew what was coming. This post is about an announcement for a My Little Pony TV movie, and that there would be a new IP aimed at older girls. The quote, presumably from Equestria Daily, suspects this might tie into the rumored Equestria Girls trademark. Surprisingly, this gets no responses.
*
Post - http://www.**********/forum/showpost.php?p=47545625&postcount=13925 - First rumblings that Equestria Girls is a high school human spinoff. Haha, I forgot this happened right after Fighting is Magic got C&D'd. No wonder fans were getting upset!
Here's the original image we all saw.
Equestria Daily would
post about it on February 12, 2013. Wait, that date... "Magical Mystery Cure" aired only a few days later. Guess I have to go back, then.
God, the GAF redesign and avatar reset makes everything so weird. Plus, the search is all gunked up. If you search just in a particular thread, you can't sort by date. Thankfully, "alicorn" only comes up in so many contexts, so searching in all of Off-Topic Community provided the solution. I was at first surprised by the first use of "alicorn" apparently being in March 2013, but that was just because GAF now only loads eight pages worth of results and then has a "View older results" button that's hard to notice at first.
*
Post - /threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot-we-will-love-and-tolerate-the-shit-outta-you.434850/page-105#post-29524617 - Actual first use of alicorn on GAF, in 2011 like you'd expect.
But anyway, that coincidentally landed me to reasonable place to start looking for the first reaction.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/page-238#post-43744899 - Season 3 premiere preview (link down) leads to speculation from
Orcastar that Twilight will become an alicorn. This is just one day before the first big hint.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/post-43774601 - Neat
Twilight art from
Paipuru, who unfortunately didn't draw much else MLP art, and her
Deviantart stopped updating in 2015.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/page-239#post-43796002 -
Second issue of Twilight's First Day by muffinshire. He's still slowly---very slowly---updating this series, with
the latest issue being in April 2017. Funny how a series that started in 2012 now prominently showcases Twilight's interactions with Moon Dancer.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/post-43796278 - And here it is, how we first learned about Alicorn Twilight! I completely forgot it happened this way! Just some random pictures people at a convention took.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/page-240#post-43837617 - The
Slice of Pony Life (Egophiliac) comic with Snails and Diamond Tiara. It's funny how season 3 and then season 4 kept contradicting this series until she just gave up.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/post-43849664 - Neat art from purplekecleon for
Discord and
Chrysalis. The artist has deleted their Deviantart account and their last art on
Derpibooru was in March 2016.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/post-43901337 - This post links to art from
Doxy. It's
busty Fluttershy wearing a bikini, so not explicit, but still don't look at work. While I hadn't heard from him since that ill-advised crowdfunded game,
Questria: Princess Destiny, he's still been drawing the occasional MLP art, including some collections in 2017. He's been far more focused on his original art, though, which is still seeing active releases. And also Zootopia hentai.
* And I reached the point where discussion is split between the community thread and
the season 3 thread ( https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-season-3-ot-the-fun-has-been-tripled.498258/ ). It's interesting seeing the insistence on not posting any fan art or pony rankings in the thread. I'll be mixing posts from the two threads below. My route will be to read from both posts through the reaction to "The Crystal Empire", then stick to reading the season 3 thread and checking the Community thread when Alicorn Twilight comes up in the former.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-season-3-ot-the-fun-has-been-tripled.498258/post-43999399 - This post mentions a Belle Eve hype train, but unfortunately every single image is gone.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-season-3-ot-the-fun-has-been-tripled.498258/post-44003609 - I forgot that a lot of people were expecting Twilight to become a princess in "The Crystal Empire", and thus "Magic Duel"'s synopsis could be considered evidence that it wasn't going to happen.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-season-3-ot-the-fun-has-been-tripled.498258/post-44045108 - There are also already a ton of people tossing around the term "jump the shark", based on the descriptions of "One Bad Apple", "Magic Duel", and surprisingly only once for "Too Many Pinkie Pies".
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/post-43987866 - Has
this art from
My-Magic-Dream. This artist had continued making pony art for some years, but ramped down by early 2016, and the only recentish pony art is
this "create this again" art where they say in the description that, "I'm sorry to say it but I found it very boring to watch after season 2 ha ha! I still kept drawing mlp drawings since I was good at it and it was easy to do."
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/post-44006543 -
Human Rainbow Dash by
E-X-P-I-E. This artist only ever did this, a
Fluttershy, an
Applejack, and a
Spike in terms of MLP art, oddly deleting only the last two from Deviantart. The artist is still active, but with original content and fan art of other series with no particular focus. Also, can someone help me figure out what's going on with Fluttershy's outfit in her art? Best I can figure is that it's a bikini top that's reflecting off her skin.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/post-44008784 - Rumor that Disney was looking to buy Hasbro. Funny how this comes up every once in a while.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/post-44011490 - The
Brony Thank You Project ad is released. I didn't watch it then and I'm not watching it now.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/post-44017024 - Has
this Fluttershy and Pinkie art from
Jessy. She has a lot of cute art, but there hasn't been a post on her DeviantArt or Tumblr since 2015.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/post-44040963 - Has
the hiccup comic from this collection, by
nattoh. It's always a pleasant surprise when an old artist is still regularly making MLP art. Most recent safe art is
this small comic of Sunset, Starlight, and SciTwi. I also like
this Trixie and Starlight cheerleader (pony) art.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/page-243#post-44114684 - The MLP mobile game from Gameloft is released in the US. Amazed it's still active.
* Also, soon after that: ah, the days when other people cared enough about the IDW comics to post the cover art.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/post-44175456 - I forgot Tara Strong's teasing of fans went
this far.
Posts circa "The Crystal Empire".
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/page-244#post-44186625 - To celebrate Pony Day (season 3 premiere),
this Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Applejack art by
atryl was posted. This artist is still pretty active, with a few pieces of MLP art this year already.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-season-3-ot-the-fun-has-been-tripled.498258/post-44189031 - GAK GAK GAK
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-season-3-ot-the-fun-has-been-tripled.498258/post-44189378 - There are two general season 3 commercials (
one,
two) and the second mentions Twilight discovering her destiny. The linked post connects that two a scene of ponies looking to the sky, which I assumed was from "Magical Mystery Cure", until I watched the video and realized it was a clip from "Magic Duel". Also, forgot the G3 Pinkie from "Too Many Pinkie Pies" was edited so that she was showing it to Rarity and Fluttershy (including replacing the Pinkie clone with them in the shot).
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-season-3-ot-the-fun-has-been-tripled.498258/post-44192922 - Cute
"The Crystal Empire" comic from
Egophiliac, who is still making plenty of pony art, of course.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-season-3-ot-the-fun-has-been-tripled.498258/post-44193427 - Orcastar suggests that Princess Twilight will happen in the season finale.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/post-44204350 -
Various humanized sketches (note: revealing outfits) from
ManiacPaint. Wait, this isn't the same person as Doxy? Huh. I had the two conflated in my mind. Anyway, this artist is still putting out pony art, to my surprise, but most of it is hidden on his Patreon. From what I can tell, he ramped down pony art around 2014, but then started up again 2016.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/post-44205476 -
MrPoniator video for "The Crystal Empire". Huh, didn't realize MrPoniator used to do fan animations for each individual episode.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/post-44236119 -
Crystal Twilight art by Bukoya-Star AKA
solar-slash. No MLP art since 2013, unfortunately, but the artist is still pretty active, mainly with Zootopia art.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/post-44274712 - Guy comes in after watching a Howard Stern bit where he makes fun of Bronycon and cloppers, and asks if people there masturbate to ponies.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/post-44287440 -
Cute Fluttershy by
BambooDog. Even in this image, he says it's been a while since he made MLP art, so it's no surprise that he no longer makes any. However, he did make some art as late as 2015, with
this pony cake series. He still releases art, but infrequently.
*
Thread - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-ios-android-mobile-game-ot-ponyville-in-your-pocket.500096/#post-44402202 - The thread for the Gameloft game, but discussion dies down pretty quickly. Contains a link to a 40-page anti-brony thread, if you're curious.
*
Post - https://www.**********/threads/my-little-pony-fim-community-ot2-i-just-dont-know-what-went-wrong.464686/post-44409942 -
Rainbow Dash's Hot Minute, the series from Hot Topic with pony interviews. It's interesting seeing this start already, because the Twilight one has her as a princess and has a clip from Equestria Girls (we didn't know that at the time). Note to self,
the Twilight one comes out April 12, 2013.
It's going to take forever if I keep getting side tracked. OK, going to stop looking at the Community thread until alicorns or EQG come up in the OT thread.
And I'm approaching the character limit, so I'll break this off here today. Actual reactions hopefully tomorrow.
