My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic FINAL SEASON |OT| I used to wonder what friendship could be...

SigmasonicX · Aug 2, 2019

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/08/bronycon-press-conference-with-lauren.html

This is an interesting Q&A overall, bad transcript aside, and Bonnie got a decent amount of questions too, even if I got a real, "... I don't know what to ask her," vibe from them. Still, she made the most of those questions. However, the thing I imagine most people will find most interesting is the bit below.

Lauren Faust: I think for me, I had no idea that the show would ever last this long. And I stayed for the first two seasons. I wish I had on that second season I decided let's just tread water, because I had a ending in mind, and I didn't know is the second season going to be our last season, or are we going to have a third? They're like, we don't know. We don't know yet. So I just decided to tread water and I wish that I had taken into it to my ending. I think that's my ... and then it could've lived on after that. That's actually a big regret for me. I wish I could have told the whole story the way and the way I wanted to.

TJ Carson: I assuming you get this question a lot. You can answer if you want. How would you have ended it?

Lauren Faust: Oh my goodness. I think I've talked to some people about it and I think it's leaked, so I might not be getting a whole lot of information. But I wanted ... I have this idea for elements of discord that characters like Trixie and other characters knew more kind of bad guy characters would come into and the girls would have to go off on like this bigger adventure to find the elements of discord, and then eventually find out that discord himself was the one who put them around, and he's back. And during this whole time they would've still thought that he's stone.

Lauren Faust: This kind of bigger, grander adventure where their relationships went on as they went on this adventure and grew, and what were those elements of discord? What are the offices of the elements of harmony? Ultimately culminating in a big battle. Discord versus Celestia who wins. That was the vague sort of concept that I wanted to take it to like the beginnings of the ideas. And with ultimately Twilight becoming the [inaudible 00:19:52]. That was like another rough baseline of what I was interested in doing.

Note these plans would have been from before "The Return of Harmony" was even made. I have to imagine if they chose to go this route, that story would have gone differently too. So this isn't as simple as remove "A Canterlot Wedding", insert this. Plus she's at least somewhat being influenced by later events, as shown by her saying the show would continue from there, after Twilight becomes the [inaudible].

Still, it would have been neat to see a season long story like this. I assume the idea is that they'd journey around and come across different people with Elements of Discord, like Trixie in one episode, Gilda in another, etc. Well I say etc., but it would basically just be Diamond Tiara after that. I suppose you could have a good episode with Luna being targeted but rejecting it. I'm surprised they didn't do an evil Elements thing for the entire run of the show, excluding them maybe showing up in the last episodes.

Who knows if this story would have happened even if she chose to do it, though. Or at least as a season long story. It could have been forced to become a two parter.

Twilight becoming the [inaudible] would have been better received if handled this way than how it initially was when it actually happened. I like "Magical Mystery Cure", but it more or less happened out of nowhere.

I imagine if the story did happen in season 2 and as planned, that would have had a huge influence on how later seasons were handled. So much so that you can't really go, "Under this plan, this episode would have been like this."

AgPhoenix · Aug 2, 2019

SigmasonicX said:
Thanks, put in the OP.

Both episodes sound interesting, though about the first one, I already know the way it handles Rarity's character has gotten a mixed reaction, to say the least, mainly because it's potentially the last Rarity episode of the entire series. Even aside from how Rarity's handled, it will be a shame if her final episode, and in fact her only focus episode this season, is about Spike instead.

I need to watch the show post Tanks for the Memories, but none of this surprises me. You could write long form articles on how the show wasted Rarity's potential. If this is her final episode, it'll be a nasty dark cloud on how I look back on this series.

SigmasonicX · Aug 2, 2019

AgPhoenix said:
I need to watch the show post Tanks for the Memories, but none of this surprises me. You could write long form articles on how the show wasted Rarity's potential. If this is her final episode, it'll be a nasty dark cloud on how I look back on this series.

There have been plenty of great Rarity episodes after "Tanks for the Memories", to be clear. Heck, checking, that's before Rarity even opened her second shop, in "Canterlot Boutique". Her being a successful owner of three stores with practically her own supporting cast between her employees is a pretty good use of her potential, I think. Only really have an issue with this season and the last in particular being light on Rarity episodes, us still not getting an episode with her parents, and so few Rarity and Twilight friendship moments.

I'd recommend you check out:
Season 5:
Canterlot Boutique
Rarity Investigates!
Season 6:
Saddle Row Review
Season 7:
Just this scene from Honest Apple
It Isn't the Mane Thing About You
Equestria Girls:
Dance Magic
Rollercoaster of Friendship

And she's fun in other episodes too.

Andrew J · Aug 3, 2019

That's a Laugh

I didn't expect there to be an episode about capitalism alienating people from their labor.

SigmasonicX · Aug 3, 2019

The Last Laugh
Pinkie eating the paper cupcake got me.
Surprised it took this long for a Willy Wonka parody to show up, in retrospect.
I'm glad that Sans Smile didn't turn out to be the reason why Cheese lost his smile, and that he didn't have to undergo a big personality change in the end.

I thought this was an interesting episode, and a pretty natural development for Cheese. He wants to bring a smile to more faces and does what he thinks will accomplish that but loses sight of what he enjoys in life. Then in the end, Cheese is happy, Sans is happy, and the factory workers... well, can't expect this show to go all the way in criticizing late stage capitalism.

I connected with Sans a lot for whatever reason, so I'm glad he was treated well by the episode.

Biggest weakness of this episode is that the gags aren't all that funny, which is a problem with a lot of Pinkie episodes involving the concept of humor. Heck, even "Pinkie Pride" was carried more by the songs than the gags. Plus there is actual scientific research into humor, but despite that being a big part of this episode, we don't see much of the real thing besides the rule of three. That was one gag I liked, actually, along with the super slip banana. That said, I didn't find the gags bad enough to get annoyed at or anything.

I recall before this episode that there was some concern about the premise of Pinkie finding her place in life, when she should already know it's where she is now. I think it was justified well here, especially in light of Pinkie learning about Cheese's new job.

Lastly, the song in this episode was alright. I liked the chorus, and the bits with Pinkie singing backup, but the rest was eh.

Overall, if this is Pinkie's last episode, like the title implies, I think it was a good send off.

~~~

So it looks like Discovery Family is going to pull a Cartoon Network and put episodes up early on their app. Next week's episode is now officially available. You guys can feel free to talk about it, but I have a schedule and will wait until next week.

~~~

Looks like while they're continuing The Retro Show, it won't be G1 focused anymore. Assuming this wasn't the plan all along, it makes sense after seeing how few views the G1 videos had compared to even normal G4 show clips on that channel, and given there wasn't a video last week, it's possible they put this together over a few weeks (a stretch, admittedly). Anyway, this is a pretty fun fake opening with a mix of reused and new animation, like that Full House intro parody from last year, though I'm not familiar with the Beverly Hills 90210 intro so it didn't connect with me as much. And Twilight, I know you enjoy school, but you don't have to sit with the students.

New Daniel Ingram cover, which even ties into the new episode. That bit at the end was cute.

AlexFlame116 · Aug 7, 2019

Just saw that Wario tweeted this and I thought that maybe it might interest some of you here.

SigmasonicX · Aug 8, 2019

Already filled in the gaps with previous Humble Bundles.

MLP: Feats of Friendship #1
Before the previous miniseries even ends, we're starting this one, written by Ian Flynn. Twilight's school is holding a series of friendly competitions and the Student Six are a team of course, but Twilight introduces a transfer student into the group: Swift Foot. Sandbar immediately gets a crush on her, but she starts sowing discord among the rest of the group, leading to a reveal in the last panels.

I thought this was a pretty good issue, especially in how it brings up things the students should rightly be upset about. From the fact that the ponies didn't bother to help the hippogriffs until after the Storm King attacked the ponies, to how no one bothered to learn how to speak Yak after Yona went through the effort of learning Ponish, to how no one brings Smolder gem snacks. Well, some more rightly than others. Still, they all felt like in-character reasons to get upset.

This does all feel reminiscent of Cozy Glow in "What Lies Beneath", but oddly more individualized despite Swift Foot knowing them for less time (as far as we know). Still, Cozy was absent from that episode aside from the start and very end, while Swift Foot will be around the entire time. The fact that the Students are going to start fighting during a competition is reminiscent of Rainbow Rocks, and Swift's actions are like Sunset's in the first EQG but without the outright lies.

It's revealed at the end that Swift Foot is the Storm King's daughter and I'm curious how that would work.

The art was good. Yona especially has more moving parts (her fur and her blanket) depicted than either the comics before or the show. Swift Foot has a cute design. There were some people upset about Sandbar falling for her when the show has shipped him with Yona, but he's a teen colt. And of course, on surface level, that was always a story about just friendship.

Tony Fleecs has drawn for the comics before, but his stuff feels different now. That's almost certainly due to Lauren Perry providing the flat coloring, as noted in Silver Quill's review. I hadn't noticed all the digitally added details in the art, so I don't have the same problem he has.

Overall, I'm looking forward to the other two parts of this series.

~~~

Big Jim answered some questions a couple days ago, and here are the ones I want to highlight.

Full tweet chain in the quote block

Rayve
@RayveReviewsYT
·
Aug 3
What is something you wanted to do with MLP, but couldn't?

Big Jim
@TheBiggestJim
Replying to @RayveReviewsYT and @BronyCon
A full, interconnected season of stories. We've done it subtly with key seasonal episodes, but one where every episode leads to the larger story. But honestly, we got to try a lot of what we wanted.
6:56 PM · Aug 3, 2019·Twitter for iPad

Rayve
@RayveReviewsYT
·
Aug 3
Replying to
@TheBiggestJim and @BronyCon
Was that a Hasbro decision, or was it some other reason?

Big Jim
@TheBiggestJim
·
Aug 3
It's a combo. Hasbro was already concerned that the level of continuity made it difficult for new viewers to understand what's going on, not to mention it's a crap ton of work to write a season that way.

Though this is part of a tweet thread, I'm only including this last part.

Mister Fantastic Super Handsome Strong As Steel
@GreenRangerDon
·
Aug 3
Really now. I always assumed you guys would get a higher budget with each season.

Big Jim
@TheBiggestJim
Replying to @GreenRangerDon and @BronyCon
The budget has been the same since S1.
7:18 PM · Aug 3, 2019

So the budget of each season hasn't changed much if at all. This is honestly a big surprise to me, especially when you look at the improvements in art and animation from the first season. I suppose it really is just a matter of building off of what's already been made, and getting used to working on this show.

~~~

We got some more fan art from Bevin Brand that was made before she stopped working on the show, so it's going here. First is a long comic showing a cute moment between SciTwi and Timber. As a reminder, this is a couple that actually was heavily supported behind the scenes.

https://bevinbrand.tumblr.com/post/186826892223/another-old-comic-exploring-some-timber-twi

And one image with Rarity, Applejack, and Aunt Orange, who I'm pretty sure hasn't been in EQG. And hasn't appeared in the show since season one, which goes to show people who worked on the show have their random pet characters too.

https://bevinbrand.tumblr.com/post/186827996223/ajs-extended-family-would-probably-love-to-host

~~~

"The Last Laugh" stuff coming tomorrow.

SigmasonicX · Aug 9, 2019

Well, I've waited days and still no more fan art for "The Last Laugh". Well, Cheese Sandwich never really had much art, and the major new character of this episode is male, so not a huge surprise really.

NOTES
There was a tweet saying that getting Weird Al to return was just a matter of asking him, but I can't find it at this point.

Osaka Jack
@OsakaJack
Aug 5
Huh. Just noticed something in the last MLP episode. @AndreaLibman
is credited as Pinkie, obviously, but... nobody is listed as "Pinkie singing voice." Did Andrea sing for Pinkie? #MLPSeason9

Big Jim
@TheBiggestJim
Replying to @OsakaJack and @AndreaLibman
The singing parts were brief, so it made the most sense budgetarily (and creatively) to have Andrea do it.
9:09 AM · Aug 6, 2019

I didn't even think about this.

SCREENSHOTS
Not much. All GIFs
1.Cheese mask
2.Boneless 2 turns his back on Cheese
3.Pinkie deep analysis
4.Pinkie conveyor belt

FAN CONTENT
Not much art.
1.Cheese Sandwich [MLP] by Shad0w-Galaxy on DeviantArt
2.Fanart - MLP. Season 9, EP 14. Wonka Sandwich by jamescorck on DeviantArt
3.Lelly-Baugh tout suit (Pic of the week MLPS9E14) by JonFawkes on DeviantArt - Humanized
4.Cheese Sandwich Gets His Laugh Back (pixel art) by SuperHyperSonic2000 on DeviantArt
5.Willy Ponka by Underpable on DeviantArt - Life of Brian reference
6.Pinkie pie and Cheese sandwich Party EQG by TheRETROart88 on DeviantArt

SigmasonicX · Aug 10, 2019

No new Retro Show video today or yesterday. Have they been moved to Saturday?

Maud's VA singing for Diamond Tiara, which is interesting.

And hey, we got a remix of the song from "The Last Laugh", mixing it with music from some game I've never heard of.

And here's tomorrow's episode.

15. 2,4,6, Greaaat - August 10, 2019
The School of Friendship is starting a buckball team and Rainbow Dash has to come to terms with the fact that she won't be coaching the team.

I figured this would be Rainbow's final episode, but "Daring Doubt" later on shows that isn't the case. Though perhaps this will still be the final episode concerning Rainbow's character development.

SigmasonicX · Aug 10, 2019

2, 4, 6, Greaaat
This is one of those episodes where everything was pretty great... except for the actual focus character. Rainbow was insufferable here, though I suppose less so than in "Grannies Gone Wild" and "Non-Compete Clause". But then again, this episode didn't have Applejack goading her, so this is the biggest example of her base level insufferability. Oh wait, forgot about "Spring Breakdown". She's probably better here than in that EQG special, since one can at least buy into Rainbow's logic here.

I liked the lessons here, both the main one about bringing enthusiasm to something you may not care about if you care about the people involved, and the one about not assuming that because you don't like something that means no one does and don't be such a wet blanket. And I loved seeing Twilight pull a Celestia at the end with teaching Rainbow a lesson being the intention of this all along, to Celestia's approval.

I was waiting for some reference to "Sonic Rainboom" and Rainbow trying to get Fluttershy to cheer for her, especially with Ocellus's problem being her softspokenness, and was surprised none appeared. Like this is the one moment they choose not to reference "Yay"? Hell, they could have mixed it up and done something like this scene from Blackadder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42WFxAtoM-g

I liked the new characters in this episode, with those two ponies apparently already going around everywhere in cheerleader uniforms and then changing into different ones for the routine. We got something I've wanted for a while: the Student Six being friends with someone other than themselves! Even if we don't see them talk with those other ponies outside of the cheer lessons, it's nice to see them together. I liked Yona, Ocellus, and Smolder here, and how this ties into Smolder's interest in girly things. I liked seeing some of Celestia's current Magic School students, which has always been an oddly unexplored element of the show. Good on a bunch of NERDS for winning against the School of Friendship's team. And how about that cheering from Celestia, huh? Clearly they won through fear.

Overall, I adored this episode outside of Rainbow being insufferable. Oh, and Snips wasn't too great either.

SigmasonicX · Aug 10, 2019

Just going to emphasize that Lighthoof and Shimmy Shake have pretty top tier designs.

Getting Sailor Uranus and Neptune vibes from this

The Magic School team is also good, the last one especially.
Plain unicorn
Earth pony unicorn
Pegasus unicorn

Oh hey, it turns out they actually showed up in "The Point of No Return".

The library is in Canterlot, so it checks out. Really neat that they showed up together like this before.

fony · Aug 11, 2019

The Last Laugh

I thought this was a great reverse episode of sort where we get the answer to Pinkie's destiny without having the episode focus on her searching for it the entire episode. Sans Smile was great (who served as a red herring villain).

2, 4, 6, Greaaat

I didn't find this one so great, or at least the plot itself. Having characters going about doing things the wrong way feels a bit too overdone by this point for me.

Not sure about the lesson for this one (about caring about things you don't care about). Twilight doing Celestia-style planning was pretty cool.

SigmasonicX · Aug 14, 2019

New In a Nutshell video. The knock knock jokes are actually pretty clever, in a dumb way.

Episode GIFs
1.Snips pulling Rainbow's tail
2.Celestia cheering
3.All the flips
4.And all the flops - Yona is one of those Mega Man bosses that shake the ground.
5.Ocellus chant - No embed. So when the show says "friend", we say "ship". Got it.

And art. This first bunch from before the US airing.
1.Cheerleader Smolder GIF by rockset
2.Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof by notadeliciouspotato
3.Lighthoof and Shimmy Shake by nancy-05
4.Cute Mare Cheerleader by LOCKHE4RT on DeviantArt - Shimmy Shake
5.Dragon Ocellus Cheerleader by dashingjack

1.Cheers by uotapo on DeviantArt - Smolder and Ocellus cheerleaders
And post-US airing art starts here
2.Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof [MLP] by Shad0w-Galaxy on DeviantArt
3.Best Friends [MLP] by Shad0w-Galaxy on DeviantArt - Lighthoof and Shimmy Shake
4.Smolder cheer by Celebi-Yoshi on DeviantArt
5.Fanart - MLP. Season 9, EP 15. Smolcheer by jamescorck on DeviantArt - Smolder

1.Cheerleaders (Pic of the week MLPS9E15) by JonFawkes on DeviantArt - Humanized(ish)
2.Pony pyramid with Yona, Lighthoof, and Shimmy Shake by mightyshockwave
3.2 4 6 greAAAt by AmarthGul on DeviantArt - Humanized Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof anime style
4.Happy Cheerleader Horse by LOCKHE4RT on DeviantArt - Lighthoof
5.Naked Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof by cheezedoodle96

1.Cheerleader Ocellus by chibichangeling
2.Cheerleader Smolder by (looks) cpenguin, I think
3.Cheerleader Pones by Banquo0 on DeviantArt - Lighthoof and Shimmy Shake
4.Cheerleader Rainbow by seidouryu
5.Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof by violyre
6.Dance for All Our Friends by Chopsticks-Pony on DeviantArt - EQG Lighthoof and Shimmy Shake
7.Other, and other, and other again...!!! by PyroPk on DeviantArt - Lighthoof and Shimmy Shake

And comics

The Budding Volunteer by bobthedalek on DeviantArt

Student Six #278 by Sintakhra on DeviantArt

SigmasonicX · Aug 15, 2019

Spirit of the Forest #3 (end)
And here ends a miniseries, after its replacement already started.

I enjoyed this issue for a healthy dose of good Diamond Tiara. It was nice to see her be the one to resolve the conflict here with her father.

This story has a nice speech about how if there isn't a spirit of the forest protecting it, then we (ponies and humans both) have to do it. Like I said before, I don't think we can rely on shaming each individual industrialist, though.

The art here is really cute.

Overall, this miniseries was better than I expected, and worth checking out, I think. It isn't one I'd push hard, though.

Silver Quill's review doesn't add anything I want to bring up, I think.

~~~

https://www.npr.org/2019/08/14/7505...years-bronycon-calls-it-quits?ft=nprml&f=1008

Pretty good NPR article about Bronycon. It helps that the writer is a fan.

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/08/my-little-pony-toy-my-baby-mane-6.html

Bunch of Flurry Hearts.

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/08/burger-king-is-getting-on-my-little.html

Burger%2BKing%2BMy%2BLittle%2BPony%2BTransformers%2Btoys.jpg

Those MLP toys look pretty nice. What is it with fast food chains getting oddly good looking MLP toys?

~~~

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/08/new-possible-episode-24-reveal-big-mac.html

So the last normal story (barring a scheduling twist) seems to be about Big Mac proposing to Sugar Belle. It should be a fun story. Oddly, we still don't know what episode 23 is. Hopefully it's a Rarity episode.

Lastly, here's an odd one

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/08/polish-tv-site-lists-my-little-pony.html

https://programtv.naziemna.info/program/audycja/My+Little+Pony:+Equestria+Girls+Holiday+Unwrapped

This Polish site lists for September 22 a special called Equestria Girls: Holiday Unwrapped. In normal conditions, I wouldn't be shocked by this, but we were told there were no more specials after Sunset's Backstage Pass. However, it would make sense if this was made before SBP but was saved for closer to the holiday season.

SigmasonicX · Aug 17, 2019

A Trivial Pursuit
So TwiPie is now canon.

This episode was an (intentional) exercise in frustration, both on the "Jesus Twilight it's just a game" side and the "Jesus Pinkie get a clue" side. It's hard to criticize when that's clearly what it was going for, but nonetheless, I didn't have a great time with this episode. Part of it is probably that I connected to Twilight a lot and I was thinking, "Someone, please, save Twilight (and me) from this stress!" Twilight goading Pinkie into cheating was a step too far, of course.

There were great Twilight expressions here, feeling like something more from Adventure Time and the shows that followed in its wake, and I enjoyed seeing all the trivia participants interact. It was interesting seeing how the characters view each other in this context. Fluttershy is a filthy cheater for taking answers from Angel.

I might like this episode more on a rewatch, but for now, I need a nap.

~~~

Huh, there was a new G1 Pop Up Music Video, which Equestria Daily never bothered to report.

This one feels more mean-spirited than the last, but it's fun.

~~~

So according to Simple Ponyclock, although the Chinese airing of the series finale has been delayed to September 26, Australia will pick up the slack and air part 1 on September 5 and part 2 on September 8 (September 6 and 9 in Australia itself). The US airing will likely be October 19. Well, a month and a week and a half difference isn't as bad as what we thought it would be.

SigmasonicX · Aug 19, 2019

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I found myself enjoying the episode more on the second go around in the episode stream.

Bunch of expressions this episode. I follow people who worked on the show on Twitter, and basically all of their talk about this episode resolves around praising each other for storyboarding a particular expression. I'll generally just say which character's making the face, not bothering to describe each one.
1.Pinkie and Twilight
2.Fluttersmug and Angel
3.Twilight and Spike
4.Twilight hopping GIF
5.Twilight

1.Twilight and Spike
2.Pinkie eating a plate GIF
3.Twilight and Pinkie
4.Twilight
5.Twilight

1.Twilight and Pinkie BANANA GIF
2.Derpy trying to pull the door GIF
3.Twilight
4.Twilight rules GIF
5.Twilight with chart

As for art, there surprisingly isn't any from before a day ago.
1.Pinkie face by cowsrtasty
2.Nuts (Pic of the week MLPS9E16) by JonFawkes on DeviantArt - Humanized Twilight and Pinkie, bananas
3.Team Sunlight (Sunset and Twilight) by artiks
4.Twilighting More by AssasinMonkey on DeviantArt
5.S9E16 - Rule 34 by luminaura on DeviantArt - Suggestive, Twilight and Pinkie

1.Twilighting by ColdRivez on DeviantArt - Twilight and Pinkie
2.A Trivial Pursuit by KimmyArtMLP on DeviantArt - Twilight
3.Twilight and Spike by jowybean
4.Obsessives by bobthedalek on DeviantArt - Starlight and Sunburst

Comic
Sleepless Night by bobthedalek on DeviantArt

SigmasonicX · Aug 21, 2019

New EQG short has heavy Fluttershy, so of course I had to watch it.

Costume Conundrum
Applejack keeps chickens in her room
Applejack already had the G1 costume
Fluttershy had Rarity put a coin in a jar every time she said "darling", ended up with a full jar
Actually a bit upset that Rarity's short has her make a dress for Fluttershy that she likes, but it's actually for Rarity and Rarity instead has her choose a dress she already made.
Sunset has a hot dog mascot costume
Fluttershy is dressed as Cthulu in the end
Weird that the title screen has Flutterbat, but she doesn't dress as a vampire in any of the shorts.

In a twist, the best one was Applejack's, though we got some new information about Sunset. I assume the way she made money before the events of the first EQG movie is mascot work.

~~~

Well this came out of nowhere

A CG short, straightforward about Pinkie doing Pinkie stuff. The voice definitely isn't Andrea Libman, but she does a decent enough job. The animation is alright. I've seen people try to extrapolate G5's animation quality from this, but at best this is an animation test and the movie certainly won't look like this. I've also seen people complain that fan animations look better, but: (1) most fan CG animations aren't even trying the things in this short; (2) this was made on a schedule with a budget; and (3) this didn't use assets that fans built up over years. In any case, it's hard to read much into this short. If there are more, I expect it to stick to Pinkie, but it would be neat to see how the other characters are handled.

SigmasonicX · Aug 22, 2019

That was a good one
I want to watch it over
And over
And over
And over
And over

Equestria Daily published an interview with Bobby Curnow, former editor for IDW's MLP comics but now the "group editor" handing a whole suite of properties. They ask him about what the comics will do after the show ends, and he can't tell us, but he promises that it will be exciting for both fans of the comics and fans of the show. I can only assume that means the comics will continue on for a fair bit after the show ends.

TIQ: That sounds fantastic. So, with the end of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic TV series coming out later on this year, with the mid-season hiatus starting back up in August, could you tell us possibly what IDW plans to do with the My Little Pony comics after the series comes to an end?

BC: I will not. I cannot. I can't talk about it yet, but there are plans in the works that I think is going to be real exciting for both fans of our comics, and fans of the show. That's all I can really say about it now, but I hope we can talk more about it when we're ready to talk about it, because it's pretty exciting.

My hope is that they go crazy without the bounds of the show and do things like we've seen in the Avatar comics. I'd especially like to see this for Equestria Girls, with the comics providing the ending we know the animation won't get.

SigmasonicX · Aug 22, 2019

We have the final episode titles! Note that the episode numbers are borked. If you look at the actual titles revealed so far, these episodes should be 24, 25, and 26. "The Big Mac Question" is episode 23.

25, Final Rainbows part 1
https://whensiton.com/episode/a/EP013304160274

26, The Ending of the End part 2
https://whensiton.com/episode/a/EP013304160277

28 (???), The Last Problem
https://whensiton.com/episode/a/EP013304160278

No synopses, but now we know the show is ending with a one-off, which is exactly what I wanted. The exact title has been wrong before, so I wouldn't read much into the titles of the two parts of the two parter being different.

EDIT:

Confirmed those are the episode titles, and that they are indeed 24, 25, and 26.

~~~

I liked this more than the previous behind the scenes video. Sheesh, Meghan was such a diva.

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/08/switzerland-gets-my-little-pony-toy.html

Once again the fast food toys look surprisingly good. Weird that both Burger King and McDonald's are getting MLP toys. Twilight stole Celestia's wings.

~~~

Episode followup.

NOTES
So this is actually the first episode with Sunburst but not Starlight.

FAN CONTENT
Not much new art for the episode, but here they are.
1.Twilight yelling "TRIVIA" to Starlight and Sunburst by jowybean
2.Twilight with Vinyl shirt by vultraz
3.Serious Trivia | InuHoshi on Patreon

Comic
No Questions Asked, Please by DeusExEquus on DeviantArt - Suggestive

REACTIONS
And some chat logs to show other people's reactions to "A Trivial Pursuit"

UberTagLast Saturday at 8:38 AM
Suppose I can talk about this week's episode now.
It's definitely the "wacky reaction" episode of the back-half of the season. And while it has some amusing elements as Twilight's obsession over winning trivia gets played up, it comes off somewhat reductive... at least until Twilight learns her lesson of the week.
For an episode so focused around a single trivia contest, it would have been nice to see the internal logic of said trivia contest developed instead of simply being background noise. We're shown a bunch of teams that we're told pose threats as Twilight's competition and then almost all of them seem to do poorly or similar to all the other teams.

Ogodei-KhanLast Saturday at 8:45 AM
Aw, they don't get into the trivia itself? I'd watch an episode of that. Loredump.
Also we now have the canon pairings: Appledash, Twipie, and then Rarishy by elimination.

SigmasonicXLast Saturday at 1:46 PM
They show plenty of trivia

UberTagLast Saturday at 2:01 PM
They do indeed.

SigmasonicXLast Saturday at 2:03 PM
Posted my review. I found the episode stressful via connecting with Twilight too much.

UberTagLast Saturday at 2:05 PM
We're going to have an all-Flip Girl stream tomorrow if you keep trimming shows out of it due to anxiety.

UberTagLast Saturday at 2:19 PM

https://derpicdn.net/img/view/2019/8/17/2120679.gif

If I didn't know better I'd think the new studio animated this week's episode as a test run.

[...]

SigmasonicXLast Saturday at 8:15 PM
You know, I appreciate the dorky, "Technically, Tirek attacked Equestria with Scorpan, regardless of the latter turning good before he did anything," part.

Wait, is this the first episode to have Sunburst but not Starlight?

Ogodei-KhanLast Saturday at 9:12 PM
You can't mention trivia to her

UberTagLast Saturday at 9:48 PM
SigmasonicX That's a 10-4.

[...]

SigmasonicXLast Sunday at 12:55 PM
Huh, this episode had zero art before yesterday

UberTagLast Sunday at 2:03 PM
:sgpopcorn: Nopony watched the leaked episodes.
:sgwut: Except for me. Because I had to watch MY episode.

NoteWiseLast Sunday at 2:29 PM
Looks like i really gotta watch this episode

SigmasonicXLast Sunday at 2:29 PM
We'll be streaming it in a bit, if you want to watch it there

NoteWiseLast Sunday at 2:30 PM
If I'm home anr stuff sures ^^ if not I'll find it

SigmasonicXLast Sunday at 2:31 PM
It'll be in about an hour
The stream itself is starting now, but we're watching two other episodes before the new one

[...]

NoteWiseLast Sunday at 10:42 PM
I like twi's shirt

SigmasonicXLast Sunday at 10:42 PM
Missed opportunity for a Rarity shirt

NoteWiseLast Sunday at 10:43 PM

hooves off, twi!
Nice touch with the hooves holding of maud and mud

SigmasonicXLast Sunday at 10:44 PM
7-legged pony race practice

NoteWiseLast Sunday at 10:45 PM
THIS
IS
TRIVIA
TROTTTT
facial expressions seem on point

SigmasonicXLast Sunday at 10:45 PM
You've got no idea

QueenLast Sunday at 10:47 PM
You can buy Twilight's shirt

https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/5644635-pon3-tee-pj

NoteWiseLast Sunday at 10:48 PM

SigmasonicXLast Sunday at 10:48 PM
Works as a reaction to the shirt

NoteWiseLast Sunday at 10:48 PM
Okay
I wanna know about poor Glimmy and trivia now
I like how these seem like questions the fans also know
Don't choke
Lmao
I love how granny is just PEEVED at aj for asking the question again

UberTagLast Sunday at 10:52 PM
Tabitha doesn't get enough props for her Granny Smith delivery.

NoteWiseLast Sunday at 10:53 PM
At least somepony knows her apples..
SLEEPINGGGGG

UberTagLast Sunday at 10:54 PM

https://derpicdn.net/img/2019/8/15/2118329/thumb.gif

NoteWiseLast Sunday at 10:54 PM
That disqualification delivery

10/10
I like how maud and mud blink together

UberTagLast Sunday at 10:56 PM

https://derpicdn.net/img/view/2019/8/17/2120611.gif

NoteWiseLast Sunday at 10:57 PM
God these dang facial expressions

UberTagLast Sunday at 10:57 PM

https://derpicdn.net/img/2019/8/19/2122016/small.gif

NoteWiseLast Sunday at 10:58 PM
"I'm sure i know some of these!"

breathing faster
Course dash gets the daring do answer
That's some hardcore scrunching

and thinking about that Daring Do question..I wonder how that's even actually answerable honestly. Cause if every book is a real adventure my Daring, wouldn't the holes in her hat change with every book probably

UberTagLast Sunday at 11:06 PM
The only thing that would have made that scene better would have been if Stellar Flare was in the crowd cheering Team Sunlight on.

NoteWiseLast Sunday at 11:06 PM
I like how they didn't have Twi win

UberTagLast Sunday at 11:08 PM

NO 3-PEAT FOR YOU, TWILIGHT! HAH! I GOT MY REVENGE!

Vicariously. Through other ponies.

NoteWiseLast Monday at 1:51 AM

KillstealWolfLast Monday at 2:07 AM
Twilight gets the three-peat by successfully answering the 200 point bonus question at the end. But since Pinkie was the one who buzzed in and answered, she claims it was her victory all along.

UberTagLast Monday at 8:31 AM

LIES!

cube earth ahoyLast Monday at 9:11 AM

https://derpicdn.net/img/view/2019/8/18/2121520.png

NEW YUM EMOJI

SigmasonicX · Aug 24, 2019

November comic solicitations, meaning these will be the first comics to definitely come out after FiM ends.

Friendship is Magic #84

(W) Thom Zahler
(A/CA) Tony Kuusisto

It's exam time at the School of Friendship, and Ocellus has come up with an idea for a stellar project that's sure to impress all her teachers-a history of Equestria shown through her own unique Changeling abilities! But as deadlines loom and Ocellus finds herself taking on a bit more than she can handle, it's up to Twilight Sparkle to help her young student realize that sometimes, perfection is overrated.

In Shops: Nov 06, 2019

Holiday Special 2019

(W) James Asmus, Trish Forstner
(A/CA) Andy Price

When Rarity is invited to three parties on Hearth's Warming Eve-one in Manehattan, one in Canterlot, and one at home in Ponyville-she is loathe to miss out on any of the fun, and decides that instead of deciding, she'll just go to all three! But between train rides, avalanches, and general distraction, this plan doesn't work out as well as she'd hoped...

In Shops: November 20, 2019

Nice to see Twilight and Ocellus interact more, and the story sounds interesting. Plus Pencils drawing yet another issue; he's doing really well for himself.

Rarity stories are always fun, so looking forward to that holiday special.

~~~

Tomorrow's episode is
17. The Summer Sun Setback - August 24, 2019
Twilight is determined to make Celestia and Luna's last Summer Sun Celebration memorable, but things start going horribly wrong.

A bit odd to get an episode about Twilight panicking right after "A Trivial Pursuit" seemed to be the Twilight panic episode to end all Twilight panic episodes, but we'll see how different it is.

SigmasonicX · Aug 24, 2019

The Summer Sun Setback
I have to say, I didn't expect the Grogar Gang to be involved in this episode. I enjoy Grogar being a grump and slowly walking to whatever he's doing because the others are too useless to help.

This entire "Twilight's not panicking!" thing and the lesson about listening to Twilight when she says she can handle it feels weird because they've done this exact thing before, notably in the season 8 premiere, only for her to start panicking anyway. Plus, even though they reference it to brush it aside, "A Trivial Pursuit" did just happen. I wish there could have been more show not tell regarding this earlier in the season. Speaking of which, remember when season 3's "Games Ponies Play" aired and people thought for sure Twilight would never freak out again after she learned Cadance's breathing exercise? Good times.

I was surprised to see the castle security from "Sparkle's Seven" is still around. Funny how the Grogar Gang end up searching the castle, don't find anything, and instead go to the open to the public Canterlot Library. Also funny that they just find the book about Grogar's bell in the Starswirl the Bearded section instead of the secret archives established in "Forgotten Friendship". I suppose it'll literally just be Flash Sentry and the Sirens for things first established in Equestria Girls appearing in the show proper. Nice gag with Cozy breaking the lock with a key book, by the way.

I enjoyed Tirek stealing that pie. I like that panicking weather pony too, and the design of that fireworks pony.

The ponies hiding that things were going badly from Twilight reminded me of "Saddle Row Review", except this time they weren't able to fix things before the other pony found out. And because they were caught and couldn't solve things without the other pony, the lesson was that they should have told the other pony from the start this time. I suppose the way you can resolve this is that they should have told Rarity in "Saddle Row Review", and Rarity should have let them be to figure things out (like she said she trusted them to do in the resolution), but she should be ready to jump in to help if needed.

While the entire "unicorn master race" thing has certainly been there in the background forever, if that's really going to be a major part of the final episodes, like the ending of this episode implies, I would have preferred more explicit set up, or acknowledgment from the Main Six that it's a thing many ponies feel.

I was surprised to see a bunch of stuff I thought was from the final two-parter in the series finale trailer was actually from this episode, particularly the Grogar Gang going into Canterlot Castle.

This was a good episode, despite the oddities with Twilight's character arc.

Amibguous Cad · Aug 24, 2019

Complete shot in the dark, but is "the last problem" perhaps a reference to "the last question," an Isaac Asimov short story?

SigmasonicX · Aug 24, 2019

Amibguous Cad said:
Complete shot in the dark, but is "the last problem" perhaps a reference to "the last question," an Isaac Asimov short story?

There's also "The Final Problem", the Sherlock Holmes story where he and Moriarty fall to their (later retconned) death. So either Twilight dies or becomes a god...

On another note, best part of "The Summer Sun Setback"

SigmasonicX · Aug 25, 2019

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/08/netherlands-drops-rest-of-season-9.html

Welp, there it is. All of season 9 has been released, thanks to a Dutch streaming service. For now, it isn't in English apparently.

Like I mentioned before, I'll create a separate topic for the final episodes only when they air in the US.

Sylvee · Aug 26, 2019

After the episodes started leaking onto the internet today, some people decided to harass Jim Miller on Twitter and I think also a personal work email given that it was linked in a /mlp/ thread. This culminated in him making a couple tweets complaining about all the personal attacks he was getting and that he was going to take a break from Twitter before privating his account.

Before I get into the controversy itself, I will say that in response to this a ton of fans have been trying to counteract this harassment by using the #ThankYouJim and #ThankYouBigJim hashtags on Twitter. You can see more info about that effort here: https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/08/the-new-thankyoujim-and-thankyoubigjim.html

While there have been a handful of complaints about the final episodes, it seems like there's one big plot point that people seem to be focusing on. I am about to describe the plot point for completeness' sake, but I will warn you that it gives away an extremely massive twist and is also completely not necessary to understand the controversy:

Discord appears to have been disguising himself as Grogar and the real Grogar isn't actually around anymore

There's a couple things I want to point out though. Firstly, all the episodes so far aren't available in English and haven't been dubbed in addition to the fact that people are largely just reacting to a gif and haven't seen how that plot point factors into the overall story. For all we currently know there very well may be a perfectly good reason for things to have played out the way they did, as of right now people are operating under very little information and people are just assuming the worst. I really want to emphasize that most these people haven't even watched through the episode fully even in a foreign language, let alone watched the episode in a way that insures that they actually know what's going on.

Secondly, as someone that was frequently refreshing the /mlp/ thread about the leaks as they were happening and more screencaps where being revealed, I can tell you strait up that despite it getting most of the focus now, the thread was flooded with comments saying that the finale ruined the show and that Jim Miller was responsible for ruining everything way before this plot point was revealed. I can guarantee you that if the thing they're complaining about didn't exist, they'd be harassing Jim Miller for some other thing. Coming from someone that occasionally checks out /mlp/ before realizing it's become an even bigger cesspool of negativity and depression than the last time I saw it, the vocal majority of people that browse that board seemed to have completely fallen out of favor with the show over half a decade ago but seem to have nothing better to do with their time then to hate-watch the show so they can try and 1-up everyone about complaining that the show is terrible now. Most of the actual show discussion that goes on there is largely people circlejerking about how the show hasn't been good since Lauren Faust left/Twilicorn/whatever, and since Jim Miller took over Director at the beginning of Season 4 I guess it's convenient to put all the blame on him.

The big takeaway that I want to emphasize is that this whole thing isn't a genuine backlash to the finale or anything. It's a bunch of people that already hated the show looking for an excuse to call the show bad and harass Jim. And I think it should go without saying but these people can go fuck themselves.

Lord Vatek · Aug 26, 2019

Sylvee said:
After the episodes started leaking onto the internet today, some people decided to harass Jim Miller on Twitter and I think also a personal work email given that it was linked in a /mlp/ thread. This culminated in him making a couple tweets complaining about all the personal attacks he was getting and that he was going to take a break from Twitter before privating his account.

Before I get into the controversy itself, I will say that in response to this a ton of fans have been trying to counteract this harassment by using the #ThankYouJim and #ThankYouBigJim hashtags on Twitter. You can see more info about that effort here: https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/08/the-new-thankyoujim-and-thankyoubigjim.html

While there have been a handful of complaints about the final episodes, it seems like there's one big plot point that people seem to be focusing on. I am about to describe the plot point for completeness' sake, but I will warn you that it gives away an extremely massive twist and is also completely not necessary to understand the controversy:

Discord appears to have been disguising himself as Grogar and the real Grogar isn't actually around anymore

There's a couple things I want to point out though. Firstly, all the episodes so far aren't available in English and haven't been dubbed in addition to the fact that people are largely just reacting to a gif and haven't seen how that plot point factors into the overall story. For all we currently know there very well may be a perfectly good reason for things to have played out the way they did, as of right now people are operating under very little information and people are just assuming the worst. I really want to emphasize that most these people haven't even watched through the episode fully even in a foreign language, let alone watched the episode in a way that insures that they actually know what's going on.

Secondly, as someone that was frequently refreshing the /mlp/ thread about the leaks as they were happening and more screencaps where being revealed, I can tell you strait up that despite it getting most of the focus now, the thread was flooded with comments saying that the finale ruined the show and that Jim Miller was responsible for ruining everything way before this plot point was revealed. I can guarantee you that if the thing they're complaining about didn't exist, they'd be harassing Jim Miller for some other thing. Coming from someone that occasionally checks out /mlp/ before realizing it's become an even bigger cesspool of negativity and depression than the last time I saw it, the vocal majority of people that browse that board seemed to have completely fallen out of favor with the show over half a decade ago but seem to have nothing better to do with their time then to hate-watch the show so they can try and 1-up everyone about complaining that the show is terrible now. Most of the actual show discussion that goes on there is largely people circlejerking about how the show hasn't been good since Lauren Faust left/Twilicorn/whatever, and since Jim Miller took over Director at the beginning of Season 4 I guess it's convenient to put all the blame on him.

The big takeaway that I want to emphasize is that this whole thing isn't a genuine backlash to the finale or anything. It's a bunch of people that already hated the show looking for an excuse to call the show bad and harass Jim. And I think it should go without saying but these people can go fuck themselves.

Honestly knowing bits of what happens, that wasn't even remotely the first thing I guessed that people would latch on to complain about.

Seriously though, screw those people.

Sylvee · Aug 26, 2019

Lord Vatek said:
Honestly knowing bits of what happens, that wasn't even remotely the first thing I guessed that people would latch on to complain about.

Seriously though, screw those people.

That seems to be the general reaction people have upon hearing about it. Like this whole thing makes the harassment of Rose's actor from Last Jedi seemed reasonable. Not only is their reaction ridiculous, but the thing they're reacting to isn't even that big a deal. Like I said before, I'm pretty sure that the whole thing isn't a genuine reaction, it's just their personal justification for doing something they already wanted to do.

Sylvee · Aug 26, 2019

I watched a dubbed version of the final episode. (as in just episode 26) Without saying literally anything that might allude to anything, the finale's fine. I don't feel like it's a particularly amazing ending but it doesn't retroactively ruin the show and it should make most people happy. Again, without going into any details at all I just want to emphasize that the episode is fine, you can relax.

It is essentially an epilogue that tries to give the show closure, however all of this is framed through the episode's plot. The plot is so familiar and overdone that I feel like it's not something that you can seriously get invested in, and despite largely just existing to frame exposition and other things I feel like it took up a bit too much of the episode's runtime. As for the stuff geared towards giving the show and its characters closure, I don't think there's anything particularly inspired but at the same time I don't think that there's anything in here that will really piss anyone off.

And I think it's worth mentioning that series finales are very volatile and important episodes. A great finale can really solidify a show's quality, while a bad finale can potentially retroactively ruin the whole series. I'm saying this because although the finale is far from the best I've ever seen (12 Monkeys is a super good show would highly recommend) it doesn't retroactively ruin the whole show and there's some moments that will get people fairly emotional. It seems to be largely focused on trying to give the fans what they want, and I think it does a good enough job at that. There's a couple things I wished they did and some things I'm not 100% happy with, but it's good and I think most people are going to be happy with it.

SigmasonicX · Aug 27, 2019

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/08/the-dutch-my-little-pony-season-9.html

So it turns out the Dutch streaming service uploading all of season 9 was a complete accident. They only were supposed to upload the first half of the season. Whoops. Well, Australia was going to get through the rest of the season by September 8 anyway.

Concerning Jim Miller, it really sucks that he was attacked like that, especially since he probably didn't have a chance to mentally prepare for series finale reactions. I saw the email he received, and given the lack of content other than insults, and what's been posted here, it definitely does seem clear that the people who attacked him were going to attack him regardless of what happened in the finale. These guys are punks who think it's hilarious to attack people who are still involved in the show, yet still keep up with the show if only to complain about it.

As for the finale, the reactions have led me to guess what happens. Don't respond to this until after the finale airs in the US.

It's pretty clear to me that the show ends with the other Mane Six becoming alicorns. Really, this was the only way it could have gone after the season premiere emphasized the Mane Six working together to rule Equestria. It's a shame that means we can't get semi-canonical drama of Twilight having to deal with her friends dying and then being a super cool godlike figure in the future, but I'm not too hung up on that. You know, I feel like we haven't actually gotten much fan exploration of all the Mane Six being alicorns, so this should hopefully open up whole new territories for fics. Now Applejack can watch Apple Bloom die!

And oh, right, the episode that aired two days ago. Well, there's still very little art. Somehow even less art than "The Last Laugh" and that was a Cheese Sandwich episode while this one has Chrysalis taking on a new disguise and Tirek stealing a pie and a mare that people are headcanoning as Sunset Shimmer's mother. And with this series finale leak, I imagine we aren't going to get much more art. Well, at least JonFawkes made this really cool animation. It's a WebM, so it can't be embedded here. But here's that animation combined with a time lapse drawing and an episode review.

SigmasonicX · Aug 29, 2019

Friendship is Magic #81
This is the story of Scootaloo and Rumble learning about the only earth pony to join the Wonderbolts. It isn't a good story. One earth pony had a glider, there's a contrived situation where only he can help, and he does. The pony telling the story is the pony he rescued, but the earth pony isn't around for an unexplained reason, and none of the other Wonderbolts have heard of him. And this glider can be used to make an earth pony, or injured pegasus Rumble, fly, but Scootaloo never considers using it herself.

Much of the art is cute, but it's confusing at points, and pretty egregiously, it straight up uses show vectors and otherwise reused art. I didn't even realize how much until I read Silver Quill's review.

First image in this set makes it really confusing who injured Rumble, and the second image uses a stock Rainbow Dash who obviously isn't drawn in the same art style as the others.

This story is fine, but I don't recommend going out of your way to read this.

~~~

Looks like we won't just be getting CG shorts. Fans seem to be responding to this short much better, even if the YouTube algorithm doesn't seem to like it quite as much. There isn't much to it, and it doesn't even have any dialogue beyond laughing, but it's fun enough.

~~~

In the leak mess, I forgot to post about this. You know what, just going to embed these, since who cares.

Let It Rain
This is a pretty decent song, with some neat visuals. That said, I forgot the song until I relistened to it just now. Good to see the security guard got his kitty, and we get a better look at Wallflower's new outfit. There's also shipping.
1.UNLIMITED POWER Sunset
2.Wallflower outfit
3.LyraBon shipping
4.CurlyWiz shipping

And already more art for this than for "The Summer Sun Setback".
1.Let it rain by Anonix123 on DeviantArt
2.Sunset Shimmer Let it rain by TheRETROart88 on DeviantArt
3.Wallflower Blush by danielitamorales on DeviantArt
4.Snow Flower (background human) by the-butch-x

SigmasonicX · Aug 30, 2019

More like TikToks than Instagrams, really. Or Vines, considering when this was probably written. Weird that this is a brand new one, and not one from the Discovery Go app. Also, no episode title card. Is it because the original title was different? Anyway, it's cute. It switches to outtakes of the Rarity and Applejack music videos toward the end, which is neat. Also has a lot of Rarity in general.

And on another note

This was alright. And has good trivia.

SigmasonicX · Aug 31, 2019

She Talks to Angel
We finally got a body swap episode!

This was a fun enough episode, though I was disappointed Angel-as-Fluttershy didn't actually talk to any of the major characters, just the vet and the other animals. Angel was also just lazy and uncaring as Fluttershy, rather than a prankster like even the beginning part of the episode portrayed him. Really, in general, the lack of other characters reacting to this made the entire episode a wasted opportunity.

Kind of interesting that we finally get an exploration of how the predator-prey dynamic plays out with Fluttershy. Trying to get a wolf to eat carrots is odd, but giving the snake vegan treats made sense as a pony innovation. In the real world, we're on the cusp of vegan food that feels like meat, and it would be interesting for ponies to explore vegan food that appeals to meat eaters, especially with the griffons and hippogriffs moving in.

Actually showing a baby elephant swallowed by a python is a bit... way beyond what I ever expected from this show and I'm not that comfortable with it, haha.

I liked the relationship problem Fluttershy and Angel had. Though the question of how much free time the ponies have remains ever in flux, within the context of this episode, it made sense for Angel to act up due to Fluttershy being too busy, and I liked the solution of Angel helping out at the sanctuary and also actually talking to the other animals.

Can't go without Angel mentioning that Fluttershy wants to marry Discord.

Overall, good enough episode but it didn't do as much with the concept as I would have liked.

~~~

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/08/china-pulls-several-early-airings-from.html

Looks like the Discovery Family airings will be the first English versions of the last episodes to air. It's hard to say if this is because of the Dutch leak, but it seems without that, there wouldn't have been an early airing of the final episodes after all. Whoops.

Also, wow, there's still a ridiculously small amount of "The Summer Sun Setback" related fan content. I'll just combine what is there with "She Talks to Angel" stuff

SigmasonicX · Sep 1, 2019

Cheer You On
I liked this. Besides the song being cute, I think this is the only time in EQG they've actually fought someone and defeated them using their powers instead of a rainbow blast.

Bevin Brand posted this.

https://bevinbrand.tumblr.com/post/187413195423/well-the-last-thing-i-ever-worked-on-for

Well, the last thing I ever worked on for Equestria Girls is out now. It was an honor and a privilege to be a small part of it for three years, and I am profoundly grateful that this was the one I got to go out on. Insane respect to an incredibly talented crew. <3

~~~

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/09/equestria-girls-holiday-unwrapped.html

Another random early release, this time before we even knew for sure this was a thing. Judging from the comments, "Holiday Unwrapped" is actually a series of 7-minute shorts packaged together, which does explain why the crew said "Sunset's Backstage Pass" was the last special, if they weren't aware the shorts would be together like this. This makes it a lot like a Disney holiday special, then. Seven minutes actually does sound like the perfect length for the sorts of stories I wanted from the EQG series, where it's slice of life but there's still room for stuff to actually happen, so I'm looking forward to this. Right now it's only in Ukrainian, not in English, but it did air properly on TV, so it isn't a leak.

~~~

This is finally on YouTube! I figured after "Sunset's Backstage Pass" aired would be the best time, but what do I know. Song's still just alright.

~~~

And in news where I'm probably the only person on Era who cares, Japan has finally been dubbing season 3 of FiM! It's being put on this Disney streaming service, and apparently airing on a network, but I don't think I can access episodes from that streaming service and people haven't been putting the episodes online. Release dates are listed for the episodes on that site, but they're odd. "One Bad Apple" and "Sleepless in Ponyville" are both listed for September 7 (former at 8:29 AM, latter at 9:00 AM), and "Magic Duel" is listed for September 14 (which is how I know the dates are in month-day order), so they aren't quite in order. Plus, linked below, the "Babs Seed" song is available dubbed in Japanese, so I don't know what's going on there. In any case, the season is in progress, so we don't have the "Magical Mystery Cure" songs yet, but we do have two online so far.

"Ballad of the Crystal Ponies" is good, though it has the "too many syllables for the beat" problem a lot of previous dubbed songs had, and the voices are modified pretty heavily.

https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm35603339

And here's "Babs Seed"! Note you might need a Nico Nico account.

EDIT: Oh wait, found it on YouTube

EDIT:
Oh, found more season 3 Japanese songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7IV4YvnvIk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2iB0761apU

But note this account has songs from the leaked season 9 episodes, so you shouldn't explore.

EDIT: I actually really like that "Failure Song" dub. Spike definitely sounds like he has a new voice.

fony · Sep 2, 2019

A Trivial Pursuit

I still feel like this is a missed opportunity to ask obscure questions for fans to try and answer. Too much idiot ball all over for my liking though.

The Summer Sun Setback

I was expecting to not be that interesting but quite liked the villain trio bits and callbacks to Sparkle's Seven were nice.

She Talks to Angel

I was hoping there'd be an Angel episode at some point. It was unfortunate they didn't do much with it. Like a lot of the other episodes this season, feels like a good wasted opportunity. It was alright overall though.

Still finding it odd that they say Fluttershy is the only creature Angel can talk too. We've definitely seen other rabbits, there was even a whole stampede!

SigmasonicX · Sep 3, 2019

fony said:
Still finding it odd that they say Fluttershy is the only creature Angel can talk too. We've definitely seen other rabbits, there was even a whole stampede!

I viewed it more as Angel didn't want to talk to any creature but Fluttershy. Even disregarding this episode, I never really thought Angel bothered talking to the other bunnies.

Though since you bring it up, it is interesting how this episode seemed to establish that different animal species can't actually talk to each other, since Fluttershy needed to translate during the predator-prey meetup. Often all animals are able to talk to each other except for the "sapient" ones, but this makes way more sense (as much as it can make sense).

~~~

Bunch of tweets

[link to "Do It For the Ponygram!"]

K.Hadley
@isitlunchyet_t
Replying to
@DanielD29511696
Oh yeah! We made these to be potentially broken up and put on social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram. They're meant to be like Vines or boomerangs etc.
7:16 AM · Aug 30, 2019

Toon4Thought
@Toon4Thought
Aug 30
So I guess Hasbro decided to package them together after the fact?

I actually quite liked this in that it basically went entirely for broke.

K.Hadley
@isitlunchyet_t
Replying to
@Toon4Thought
and
@DanielD29511696
Well, to produce the clips we linked them all together like an episode. Because we budget for 2 min of animation with Top Draw, and also to get them to work within our production schedule. I guess Hasbro just released them in the chunk we made instead of breaking them up.
8:01 AM · Aug 30, 2019

The intention of "Do It For the Ponygram!" was for the segments to be broken up and uploaded individually on social media platforms. For the production pipeline, they were animated together in the form they ended up uploading it.

RainShadow
@RainShadowMLP
Aug 31
.@nickconfalone
Soooo, exactly how much input did you have in doing an EG episode full of Vine references?

🤔🤣

Nick Confalone
@nickconfalone
Replying to
@RainShadowMLP
Haha we literally just had some extra animation budget to spend and decided to have some fun!
9:27 AM · Sep 1, 2019

And from last week after Big Jim left Twitter (he's back now BTW)

Dan
@buttonspony
Aug 26
@isitlunchyet_t
Lunchey....just want to say....thank you for all the fun & great stories..the great art..the great people...I'm sorry this won't offset a lot of the hurtful garbage thrown at you & your wonderful staff, but I LOVED every second of my ride in the world you all made

K.Hadley
@isitlunchyet_t
Replying to
@buttonspony
Actually after RR we didn't see much hateful stuff. The people who like EG like it, and the people who don't, don't watch it. I think it's different case for the main show. But I'm so happy we made something you enjoy so much!
9:03 AM · Aug 26, 2019

It's interesting that the FiM crew has apparently been getting hateful comments on Twitter more often than the EQG crew. Anecdotally, it does feel like the people who stick around just to start shit focus only on FiM and ignore EQG.

https://twitter.com/nickconfalone/status/1168309354430259200

Alex Inman
@InmanAlex
Sep 1
The "last special", huh, @nickconfalone
?
Quote Tweet
Equestria Daily
@EquestriaDaily
· Sep 1
New Post: "Equestria Girls Holiday Unwrapped" Special Releases Early in Ukraine https://ift.tt/2ZKFu9m #brony #mlp #Mylittlepony
Image

Alex Inman
@InmanAlex
Sep 1
I'm not watching it until it comes to the US, of course. I'm a good bean.

Nick Confalone
@nickconfalone
Replying to
@InmanAlex
Well after you watch it you tell me if you think it's a 44 minute special
4:47 PM · Sep 1, 2019

Basically, Nick Confalone (who wrote "Holiday Unwrapped") doesn't consider "Holiday Unwrapped" to be a special.

And comments in this ED post

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/09/japan-time-four-japanese-season-3-songs.html

say that everyone in the show was recast with less experienced VAs. Funny that with this clearly cheaper dub, they are actually dubbing all the songs so far, even if they are heavily autotuned, when the first dub skipped a lot of songs and didn't dub any Equestria Girls songs until the shorts.

SigmasonicX · Sep 3, 2019

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/09/spoiler-alert-episodes-22-26-in-english.html

The remaining season 9 episodes have been leaked in English. This is apparently the same guy behind the 2017 leaks, using the same methods. I'm surprised Hasbro never caught him; they really need to up their security. He also released the unedited scripts for every episode, including scenes that were cut for broadcast.

Since this is a legit leak, the usual places are refusing to link to the episodes.

SigmasonicX · Sep 4, 2019

Wake-Up Shake-Up
This was put on the Discovery Go app a while ago, but watching it for the first time now. I was wondering how they were going to handle there being so many more EQG shorts to put on YouTube than FiM episodes remaining, but it seems they'll upload more than one a week now. Looks like the actual title is "Wake Up!". There was already a short called "Make Up Shake Up" so way to repeat a rhyme.
Sunset sleeping is cute.
Applejack - Wait, did AJ travel back in time? Oh no, checked the previous video, and it was early in the morning then too. Though everyone else disappeared. Well, my tangent was more interesting than this ending.
Pinkie - ~~High As Fuck~~ Sugar Rush Sunset is great.
Rainbow - Ah, so this is the yoga stuff I've seen so many screenshots of on Derpibooru.

That was alright. Pinkie ending was the best. Derpibooru has so many shots of the yoga stuff, but no one said anything about how great ~~High As Fuck~~ Sugar Rush Sunset is.

~~~

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/09/the-toys-that-made-us-season-3-my.html

The Toys That Made Us season 3, with its MLP episode, is going up on Netflix on November 15th

Announcement video below

~~~

Ishi Rudell
@ishiH3Art
Damn!! I go away camping for a weekend and miss the release of "Cheer You On!"
So excited everyone finally got to see this video! We had so much fun making it... in fact @isitlunchyet_t and I wanted EG to be more like this! The girls fighting baddies!
🤖

8:42 PM · Sep 2, 2019

Ishi Rudell
@ishiH3Art
It wasn't necessarily about being more action heavy... we just felt like it would have been nice to take advantage of the girls super powers more often.
Quote Tweet
Alex Inman
@InmanAlex
· Sep 2
Replying to @ishiH3Art and @isitlunchyet_t
Even though she was against humans, I'm sure Lauren would be at least glad to know you wanted it to be more action heavy.
9:11 PM · Sep 2, 2019

Looks like the EQG show crew would have liked to have done more with the super powers.

~~~

Sheesh, "She Talks to Angel" doesn't have much fan art either. I guess the final episode leaks are distracting people even more than I could have imagined.

I'll have a post for both this week's and last week's episodes probably on Thursday. Also EQG. Probably no art for "Wake Up!" since it's all of the yoga.

About the leaks, I fully admit to being interested in the original scripts, especially since they include things like the Rarity scene that was cut out of "Luna Eclipsed", but I don't think I'll find any analysis that doesn't include season 9 spoilers.

SigmasonicX · Sep 6, 2019

It's up on YouTube now, which means I can post this

(Sunset's ending is pretty good too)

~~~

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/09/starlight-glimmer-and-spike-joining.html

Oh hey, for once Starlight is part of a fast food toyline

~~~

Two episode (and shorts) art dump

Well, first things to note from "The Summer Sun Setback"

Some people have decided this mare being Sunset's mother would be interesting, and it would fit. Her appearance is similar enough, and her personality would explain why Sunset was initially so full of herself and also why she hasn't felt a desire to visit her.

Shipping intensifies

Good edit by wissle

Now the art

1.Fire Flare by cowsrtasty
2.No one listens to Applejacy by mkogwheel
3.Chick Tract - Ponies rejected Applejack's message by eddy original
4.Savior Discord | InuHoshi on Patreon
5.Chrysalis as Crackle Cosette and a guardsmare by xbi
6.MLP FIM - Fire Flare by Joakaha on DeviantArt
7.Fire Flare by vultraz

Comics for the episode
Freak Out by bobthedalek on DeviantArt - This comic is kind of weird because it appears to be missing the joke the episode itself made

17 Leaky Pipes 3: At World's End by BJDazzle on DeviantArt

"She Talks to Angel" art mainly focused on the Discord line.
1.I'm Fluttershy by GamblingFoxinaHat on DeviantArt - Humanized
2.Fluttershy talking to Angel about Discord by mightyshockwave,
3.Discord asking Flutershy and Angel about what she said by pixelgrip94
4.Flutterbunny (Pic of the week MLPS9E18) by JonFawkes on DeviantArt - Humanized
5.Carrot Awoo by AssasinMonkey on DeviantArt - Fluttershy and wolf

1.Tea Time Questions by bobthedalek on DeviantArt - Rainbow and Fluttershy
2.Angel-as-Fluttershy talking to Discord by reiduran
3.Angel-as-Fluttershy saying that line by Stupid Works-Stuwor
4.Mixed Up by InuHoshi-to-DarkPen on DeviantArt

And EQG "Do It For the Ponygram!" art.
1.Messy hair Applejack by jumblehorse
2.Messy hair Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity falling over by 5mmumm5
3.Soaked Rarity by zuki

SigmasonicX · Sep 7, 2019

Dragon Dropped
While it kind of sucks that Rarity's last episode ever is a "Rarity is a jerk" episode, I enjoyed this.

Come to think of it, have we gotten a real "Rarity is a jerk" episode before? Closest that comes is "Rarity Takes Manehattan", but the moment in that episode doesn't feel quite as central to the premise of the episode.

It's nice to see Gabby again, and it's neat that she and Spike get along. It wasn't a surprise since I saw this nice Gabby and Spike art, saw it wasn't on Derpibooru, tried to upload it, and learned it was already there but I had it filtered out due to being from a future episode.

Rarity was the source of a ton of great gags throughout the episode, especially her leaving behind couches that Twilight has to throw out. I did think this felt padded at points, though, particularly with the montages.

I have seen complaints about Rarity's characterization, but I thought she was in-character here. Rarity would definitely make a big drama out of Spike choosing not to spend time with her and the slight inconvenience this brings to her daily routine, and yes, she probably would do things to distract Spike from Gabby to get things back to normal. It reminds me a bit of "Forever Filly", with how she was in denial about Sweetie Belle growing up. Rarity sabotaging Spike's relationship with Gabby isn't exactly something we've seen Rarity do, but we've seen similar things in "Simple Ways" with Rarity trying to draw Trenderhoof away from Applejack, and even back in "Green Isn't Your Color", where Rarity was laughing at Fluttershy when Twilight was helping her mess up until she saw ponies making fun of her.

I know this episode is upsetting both for those that wanted a full confirmation of Rarity x Spike and those who, well, didn't want Rarity's last episode and only episode this season to be about Spike, but I liked it.

SigmasonicX · Sep 9, 2019

Inclement Leather
Rarity standing there miserable during the countdown is hilarious.

Applejack - Applejack doesn't help at all. They just stand there in the mud while Applejack talks about sneaking up on pigs and fishing.

Twilight - Twilight helps give her the idea of trash bag ponchos. Not the funniest, but she did the most to actually help Rarity. It was also the cutest ending.

Vignette - Vignette thinks Rarity got her hair wet intentionally and makes wet hair a trend. Weird that Rarity's all friendly with Vignette but sure. It's at least nice to see a former bad guy return.

You know, none of them helped with Rarity's leather already getting wet.

~~~

The pun at the end got me

~~~

Well would you look at that, I make a big deal out of combining art for two episodes because there was so little for both, and then more art comes out for "She Talks to Angel" since that post.

1.Fluttershy or Angel and Sandra in MS-Piant by sallycars on DeviantArt
2.A Mare and her bunny by OinkTweetStudios on DeviantArt
3.Fluttershy and Angel not fully back to normal by jcosneverexisted
4.MLP FIM - Fluttershy And Angel Best Friends by Joakaha on DeviantArt

18 Pain in the Neck by BJDazzle on DeviantArt

~~~

I mentioned in my "Dragon Dropped" review a piece of fan art that tipped me off about Gabby being in this episode. Well, here it is.

Look what I found! by Tijopi on DeviantArt

I saw there were a ton of images for this episode, but there was still little fan art before this US airing. A chunk of the images were memes based on Rarity on Spike's bed and such.

Anyway, I'll hold off other art for later, and post screencaps now.

1.Mane-iac Rarity
2.Lyra and Bon Bon sharing a drink
3.Rarity drama and Twilight cheek smoosh
4.Rarity destroying a gem
5.Rarity pushing a box while Gabby is surprised and Derpy closes the post office

1.Gabby going through Rarity's box while she pushes it
2.Rarity climbing up to her box
3.Power Ponies poster - So one alicorn could be Masked Matter-Horn, but who's the second alicorn?
4.*inhales*... DARLING
5.Rarity mumbles her crimes to Twilight
6.Twilight dramatically reacting to the two drama couches - My vote for gag of the episode
7.Rarity begging for forgiveness from Spike - So does that count as a crotch close up, or...?

SigmasonicX · Sep 11, 2019

Lost and Pound
This dog looks weird compared to Spike. Interesting that the one choosing is actually a dog instead of a real character.

Spike - SciTwi's face when Rarity said Spike had a crush. Seriously, this dog is weird looking. What's with that guy in the big scarf?

Rarity - Interesting running animation for Rarity. The part that stuck out to me was the parts where she runs away from the screen, but no one GIFed that. Wait, so is this before they learned Su-Z and K-Lo were jerks, or did Sunset never tell them?

Fluttershy - I like how the Fluttershy ending goes with the obvious solution and it's over in less than 30 seconds.

~~~

Might as well post art now.

First, one more for "She Talks to Angel".
FlutterShy by ColdRivez on DeviantArt

And now "Dragon Dropped". Still not too much for this episode overall compared to things from the first half of the season, but more than the past few.
1.Cuties by CanisRettMajoris on DeviantArt - Gabby and Spike, only other image uploaded before the US airing (that isn't lewd).
2.Applejack with lantern by mkogwheel
3.I ain't Spike! by LooknamTCN on DeviantArt - Applejack and Rarity
4.Sincere (Pic of the week MLPS9E19) by JonFawkes on DeviantArt - Gabby and Rarity, humanized
5.Gabby and Spike selfie by cheezedoodle96

1.Gem to Mine by AssasinMonkey on DeviantArt - Rarity
2.S9E19 - Rarity Vision by luminaura on DeviantArt - With Gabby and Spike, suggestive
3.Kono Gabby Da by mojo1985
4.Gabby and Spike pen pals with Rarity by pixelgrip94
5.MLP FIM - Rarity Spike Forgive Me by Joakaha on DeviantArt
6.In the Gem cave by GlitterStar2000 on DeviantArt - Rarity and Spike

Unknownlight · Sep 11, 2019

Just checked this topic and saw that Sigma posted the last 7 times in a row. Ha.

Not that I really visited the MLP topics here very often in the first place, but I just want to let you know that I've been staying far away from the fandom all season long for spoiler reasons. I imagine a lot of other people are too.

Lord Vatek · Sep 11, 2019

Unknownlight said:
Just checked this topic and saw that Sigma posted the last 7 times in a row. Ha.

Not that I really visited the MLP topics here very often in the first place, but I just want to let you know that I've been staying far away from the fandom all season long for spoiler reasons. I imagine a lot of other people are too.

As someone who has been following the spoiler-y stuff this season, that is very smart.

SigmasonicX · Sep 11, 2019

Unknownlight said:
Just checked this topic and saw that Sigma posted the last 7 times in a row. Ha.

Not that I really visited the MLP topics here very often in the first place, but I just want to let you know that I've been staying far away from the fandom all season long for spoiler reasons. I imagine a lot of other people are too.

That's understandable. Another big reason why this thread has gotten so empty is that most of the thread regulars have more or less given up on Era and are sticking to Discord. But I've been told by people off site that they read my posts and I see that view counter still ticking up, so I'll continue posting here and in the Hangouts thread.

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/09/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic.html

We have a date for the series finale! Not posting the description for that here in a post responding to a post about avoiding spoilers, but the date is October 12. The day before, they're showing a behind the scenes special.

Special Programming: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - A Decade of Pony premieres Friday, October 11 at 5/4c
In this new behind-the-scenes special, the creators, animators and voice actors behind MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC share their favorite memories from the past nine seasons by inviting viewers into the recording studio to witness the magic that goes into making an episode from start to finish. Featuring an historical overview of the series and interviews with Mane Six cast members, creator Lauren Faust and other series creatives, fans will gain never-before-seen access to the making of MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC.

Interesting. I wonder how in depth it will go.

The recent leaks mentioned there was a recap clip show special, so I'm surprised it isn't here. Depending on what it covers, maybe it's intended for countries that haven't aired recent seasons but want to air season 9?

Distantmantra · Sep 11, 2019

My daughter outgrew MLP between seasons 8 and 9. It was fun bonding to watch the show with her, but she absolutely refuses to watch it, so I guess that's it.

SigmasonicX · Sep 11, 2019

Distantmantra said:
My daughter outgrew MLP between seasons 8 and 9. It was fun bonding to watch the show with her, but she absolutely refuses to watch it, so I guess that's it.

Patton Oswalt faced the same situation, with his daughter outgrowing the show between her recording lines for it and that episode airing.

I certainly wouldn't recommend pushing her to get back into the show, but I am curious. Was she interested in Equestria Girls, and if so, did she lose interest in ponies first then EQG? The impression I got is that girls outgrow ponies and become interested in girls in high school instead.

Distantmantra · Sep 11, 2019

SigmasonicX said:
Patton Oswalt faced the same situation, with his daughter outgrowing the show between her recording lines for it and that episode airing.

I certainly wouldn't recommend pushing her to get back into the show, but I am curious. Was she interested in Equestria Girls, and if so, did she lose interest in ponies first then EQG? The impression I got is that girls outgrow ponies and become interested in girls in high school instead.

She still likes Equestria Girls. We were going through some of her toys and she said it would be ok to give away all her ponies and it kinda caught my wife and I off guard.

I'm not gonna force her to watch it, that's just dumb. I won't watch it on my own either, just a painful reminder of her getting older (she's only 7 and in second grade. wtf.).

Illusion · Sep 11, 2019

SigmasonicX said:
The recent leaks mentioned there was a recap clip show special, so I'm surprised it isn't here. Depending on what it covers, maybe it's intended for countries that haven't aired recent seasons but want to air season 9?

I think the recap wil air unannounced.

I believe they're showing the two-part ending and then the epilogue/last episode.

SigmasonicX · Sep 14, 2019

Accountabilibuddies
That first girl that stepped on Applejack's foot is high as hell.

Snips - Snips looks super weird here. Well that wasn't great.

Pinkie - That hill looks nice. That wasn't great either.

Rainbow - Oh, I just realized, this is the Male Rarity that people were posting about on Derpibooru a while ago.

Should have known an Applejack based CYOA wouldn't be good.

~~~

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/09/cut-ideas-and-general-my-little-pony.html

Nothing too surprising, I think.
They pitched Zecora backstory episodes but got turned down.
Same with post face turn Diamond Tiara.
Zecora is probably because they really didn't want to risk trouble by introducing more zebra characters.
She's the only remnant of season 1's different human races are different species thing.

~~~

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/09/my-little-pony-best-gift-ever-perfectly.html

You know, the art of these Golden Books has been cute from what I've seen, but I've never actually read any of them.

SigmasonicX · Sep 14, 2019

A Horse Shoe-In
Funny timing after that college admissions bribery scandal... OK, there isn't much in common besides a school being involved, but I was reminded of that. But in general nepotism is an open secret in schools, both for admissions and hiring.

This was a good final look at Trixie and Starlight's relationship, and I enjoyed seeing the process of finding a vice headmare. It made sense, and it was fun seeing Trixie screw up. Trixie becoming student counselor in the end is a bit of an odd fit, but Sunburst becoming vice headmare (I guess that's just the title now) made a lot of sense, and I was surprised I didn't think of that. I suppose Trixie really is the best for talking out solutions. Speaking of which, I liked Starlight's line that she's a lot of help when she doesn't mean to be.

Well, would you look at that! "Slice of Life" characters got major speaking roles, and we got direct followups of things we saw in that episode, so I'll go ahead and count that as an episode focused on "Slice of Life" characters.

All of a sudden I might actually get a bingo this season. This opens up either "Far future seen" or "Equestria Girls character besides Flash" as a bingo-maker, since we know Celestia's leaving by the end. And there's a possibility part two of the last two-parter starts with Celestia defeated.

~~~

Big Jim
@TheBiggestJim
3h
Be sure to give high fives to @mhmyhre
for directing today's #mlpseason9 episode!

This site is poison.
@mhmyhre
Replying to
@TheBiggestJim
Thanks, Jim! I really loved this ep. it killed me that we had to fully chop 2 minutes from it. There was so much gold in the interactions between @KSheridanVoice & #KathleenBarr it was horrible having to trim it down.
11:44 AM · Sep 14, 2019

[...]

Dustykatt
@Dusty_Kat
2h
Details man!!!!!

This site is poison.
@mhmyhre
Replying to
@Dusty_Kat
@TheBiggestJim
and
@KSheridanVoice
It was mostly just extended takes & lines that are still in the episode but the reads were so good, trimming down was sad.
Starlight's freak-out-into-talking-herself-into-saying-yes was much longer. A more, satisfyingly, emotional & funny apology originally. Teacher stuff.
1:46 PM · Sep 14, 2019

There was an extra two minutes in this episode cut out, made up of extended Starlight and Trixie line reads. Shame we won't be able to see this.

~~~

And Big Jim answered more questions after what was collected in ED's post.

Isseus
@Schmoopiedoo
Replying to
@TheBiggestJim
Why can't Scootaloo fly, and will she learn it later in her life?
3:25 PM · Sep 13, 2019·Twitter Web App

Big Jim
@TheBiggestJim
23h
Replying to
@Schmoopiedoo
We always viewed it as a handicap. She has underdeveloped wings. In our thinking, we felt it meant more to show a character learn to accept her physical limitations and find strength and purpose in other areas of her life. Many real world people with physical limitations...

Big Jim
@TheBiggestJim
23h
Replying to
@Schmoopiedoo
...do not get to over come them at all, just because they really want to. We felt it would be insulting to their experiences to have Scoots simply get to fly because we all wanted it. In my opinion (and fans are welcome to disagree), she would never learn to fly with her...

Big Jim
@TheBiggestJim
23h
Replying to
@Schmoopiedoo
...wings, but learn to experience the same pleasure she'd have from flying in other ways (see Ep. 806 when she was briefly a seapony).

I agree with this reading of Scootaloo's inability to fly. Having her just "get over it" would have felt disrespectful to people with real disabilities they can't get past simply by wanting it. Instead, Scootaloo finds other ways to get the feeling she wants from flying.

Ian Sylvester
@IanSylvester1
Sep 13
Why have their been no friendship missions in season 9? Did the destruction of the Tree of Harmony affect the map in some way?

Big Jim
@TheBiggestJim
Replying to
@IanSylvester1
That was the idea. It reset the tree. And we didn't have time/space to find out how the new treehouse operates.
12:17 PM · Sep 13, 2019

So the Tree of Harmony being destroyed and then turning into a Treehouse reset the Friendship Map (or The Cutie Map I guess), which is why there have been no friendship missions this season. It does something now, but there wasn't enough room to show what it does, or for them to decide what it does behind the scenes.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic FINAL SEASON |OT| I used to wonder what friendship could be...

Prophet of Truth - One Winged Slayer

One Winged Slayer