My Little Pony |OT| An adventure that never will end

SigmasonicX · Jan 3, 2019

About Big Mac's romance, one thing to keep in mind is that for a side character like him, the only way his personal relationships would be developed is for the sake of a story. That is to say, he only got a girlfriend at all because they decided to make "Hard to Say Anything". They didn't make that episode to develop his love life.

Let's break down that episode. The story is that Big Mac falls in love with a mare from another town that neither he nor the CMC know well. The CMC help him try to win her over, without knowing much about her, and a love rival gets between them. The key part is that they don't have a personal connection to the mare or anyone the mare knows which knocks out Cheerilee and Marble. Now as to why they chose Sugar Belle, (1) it allowed them to showcase Starlight's Village in a one-part story, (2) she's established as a baker, providing a reason for them to connect, (3) Sugar Belle's VA (Rebecca Shoichet) is already a regular (though this is true for Cheerilee and Marble too), and (4) with Belle in her name, they could make Beauty and the Beast jokes.

With Marble, I get the feeling they did intend for her and Big Mac to be a thing, but then they realized pushing how Applejack and Pinkie may be related would mean Marble and Big Mac may be related. With Cheerilee, despite the hinting at the end, the entire point of "Hearts and Hooves Day" is that the CMC were going too far in trying to get them together. Especially for kids, it would be confusing to say that then go ahead and hook them up regardless.

Art dump.
1.「radical accelaration」/「マリア・Clars」のイラスト [pixiv] - Rainbow
2.Princess Luna's dream by RaikohIllust on DeviantArt
3.The Grand Galloping Gala by CCKittyCreative on DeviantArt - Mane Six
4.Look who caught the cat! by LooknamTCN on DeviantArt - EQG Rarity and Applejack in Miraculous cosplay
5.My Little Fluttershy by Jeremywithlove on DeviantArt - Human, younger

1.Magic Sparkle by Darksly-z on DeviantArt - Twilight
2.Fluttershy redo by ShroomBanan on Newgrounds
3.EQG Twilight and Sonata at cafe by xp_r6
4.Princess dress glimmy by Marenlicious on DeviantArt
5.T35 by Hierozaki on DeviantArt

1922319__safe_artist-colon-xp_r6_aria+blaze_sonata+dusk_twilight+sparkle_equestria+girls_female.jpeg

1.School Girl Aria by TheBrokenCOG on DeviantArt - There's also a similar image for Sonata, but that has a panty shot.
2.KDA Scootaloo by yourfavoritelove on DeviantArt
3.Her Biggest Fan by WanderingPegasus on DeviantArt - Rainbow X Pinkie
4.Rarity by Feathers-Ruffled on Newgrounds - Anthro
5.Rarity by poneko-chan

1.Oleander posing by ginsengandhoney
2.Oleander with open book by ginsengandhoney
3.In her shadows by CastASpellLiana on DeviantArt - Sunset and Celestia
4.Golden Oak Library by Nemo2D on DeviantArt - Twilight
5.Burger eating Twilight and Sunset by tjpones

1922645__safe_artist-colon-ginsengandhoney_oleander_them%27s+fightin%27+herds_classical+unicorn_cloven+hooves_community+related_fred_leonine+tail_unico.png

1.Commission by Holivi on DeviantArt - Anthro Cadance making graffiti
2.boooring by mirroredsea on DeviantArt - Lyra
3.Hi! by mirroredsea on DeviantArt - Twilight and Rainbow
4.coffee by mirroredsea on DeviantArt - Pinkie
5.Concern by yuyusunshine on DeviantArt - Rarity X Spike

1.Poniess 2018 by Mickeymonster on DeviantArt - Mane Six
2.Maud about to get wriggity wrecked by tjpones
3.horse by WanderingPegasus on DeviantArt - Fluttershy
4.Fluttershy dressed as Seabreeze the breezie by tsitra360
5.Pinkie pie in the garland by Jun1313 on DeviantArt

1.Gallus by Starlord-wannabe on DeviantArt
2.Pinkie Japanese New Year by bbtasu
3.Happy new year, Twilight by Margony on DeviantArt
4.-New Year!- by Heddopen on DeviantArt - Rainbow
5.Twilight New Year by colorfulcolor233

1.Sunset animated desktop wallpaper by howxu
2.Princess Cadance by little-pancakes on DeviantArt
3.Autumn Blaze - White by SambaNeko on DeviantArt
4.Fluffponk by Madacon on DeviantArt - Pinkie
5.Without exceeding by PyroPk on DeviantArt - Celestia

Fan-focused 2018 recap

Animation using song from The Lion King musical, covering an AU where Celestia turns evil instead of Luna.

Starlight traps Discord in a bunch of mobile games.

Conkersbadfurday · Jan 3, 2019

Got a friend asking me where some good places to start are with the MLP IDW comics. Since I hate like 80% of them I figure I'd ask here. I don't tend to remember the 20% I don't hate :P

SigmasonicX · Jan 3, 2019

Conkersbadfurday said:
Got a friend asking me where some good places to start are with the MLP IDW comics. Since I hate like 80% of them I figure I'd ask here. I don't tend to remember the 20% I don't hate :P

The MLP comics should be fine to start anywhere, just like the show. But if you mean what issues are good to read, then... shit, I can't find my old posts. Well, I guess I'll go through them again. I'll just say the ones I strongly recommend and the ones I strongly recommend avoiding; just assume the others are alright. NOTE: The issues should be read in rough release order, since they'll sometimes reference things from other comic lines.

Main series - Friendship is Magic
RECOMMENDED:
1-4. The Return of Queen Chrysalis
Great art, threatening changelings, interesting situations, but a rather weak ending.

9-10. Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair
Good comedy with Big Mac trying to navigate through Ponyville's crazy ponies.

17-20. Reflections
Though the ending leaves a bad taste in my mouth, this is by far the most intriguing story arc of the comics, and the first two issues are fantastic.

41-42. Rainbow Dash and the Very Bad Day; A Pinkie Pie Story That Pinkie Pie Kinda Sorta Remembers
Two stories that both involve heavy art style shifts.

57. Apinkalypse Now
A tie in to season 7's "Discordant Harmony" where Pinkie takes control of Discord's realm, which is pretty fun.

64. Everything Old
A surprisingly good story about Rarity's history in fashion and Fluttershy's animal shelter.

67-68. Tempest's Tale
A really good look at what Tempest is up to after the events of the Movie.

AVOID:
25-26. The Good, the Bad and the Ponies
Wanted a story where Applejack wrangles up some outlaws? Nope, get convoluted legal arguments with Twilight saving the day.

27-28. Root of the Problem
ENVIRONMENTALISM. With My Little Pony for some reason, some really smug but dumb elf deer, and even more convoluted legal arguments that prevent Twilight from solving everything right away!

I assume you wanted a quick response, so I'll post now and edit in the other series later.

Conkersbadfurday · Jan 3, 2019

SigmasonicX said:
The MLP comics should be fine to start anywhere, just like the show. But if you mean what issues are good to read, then... shit, I can't find my old posts. Well, I guess I'll go through them again. I'll just say the ones I strongly recommend and the ones I strongly recommend avoiding; just assume the others are alright. NOTE: The issues should be read in rough release order, since they'll sometimes reference things from other comic lines.

I assume you wanted a quick response, so I'll post now and edit in the other series later.

Thanks! Though I enjoyed The Root of the Problem alright. It ended poorly but most of the comics do. Wish they had just started a fucking brawl.

There was one issue where Pinkie and Rarity wrote a book, and the art shifted nonstop. I can't remember which number it was, but man, that one was great. The Power Ponies annual was also pretty solid.

SigmasonicX · Jan 3, 2019

Conkersbadfurday said:
There was one issue where Pinkie and Rarity wrote a book, and the art shifted nonstop. I can't remember which number it was, but man, that one was great.

That would be issue 42, which I recommended.

And since you posted, might as well post the rest here instead of editing.

Micro Series AKA Pony Tales
RECOMMENDED:
3. Rarity
Rarity goes to a spa that turns out to be more hippy than she'd like, but she makes the best of it and even improves their business in a great showcase of her character.

10. Princess Luna
Before "A Royal Problem", this story showed what would happen if Luna ruled during the day. It's presented as much more wacky than that episode, and introduces some Luna-related comic only recurring supporting cast.

AVOID-ISH:
1. Twilight Sparkle
This story is alright, but the coloring REALLY messes up the inking, making the entire issue look quite ugly.

Friends Forever
RECOMMENDED:
2. Cutie Mark Crusaders and Discord
Now this is a pairing (or collection) that really should have been explored in the show proper, with Discord helping the CMC figure out their cutie marks with outlandish suggestions.

6. Rainbow Dash and Trixie
Rainbow and Trixie make for a fun pair, with their egos clashing. We saw a bit of this in a Rainbow Rocks short, but nowhere else in animation, unfortunately.

12. Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle
Really cute art in this issue about tasty snacks.

13. Rarity and Babs Seed
Surprisingly good issue about an unexpected pairing.

20. Discord and Luna
Great look at Discord's character.

Huh, fewer great issues than I would have thought.

AVOID:
1. Pinkie Pie and Applejack
This issue is an absolute mess. I don't even know.

There are some issues I'm very meh about, but I'm not sure I'd say to outright avoid them.

FIENDship is Magic
RECOMMEND:
1. King Sombra
Really interesting backstory for Sombra. It gets resolved in an arc in the main series in a not very satisfying way, but this beginning is great.

5. Queen Chrysalis
Twilight being dumb aside, this is an interesting look at Chrysalis's history.

AVOID:
3. The Sirens
Besides being a dumb story that doesn't even demonstrate the personalities of the Dazzlings well, it's hyper contradicted by "Shadow Play".

4. Nightmare Moon
Boring story that tries to explain how ponies could be afraid of Nightmare Moon when she seems to have only existed for a few minutes according to "Princess Twilight Sparkle", which isn't really something that needed to be explained.

These next few miniseries have to be read in their entirety, so I'll recommend them or not as a whole.

Legends of Magic
RECOMMEND
This series made me disappointed that we didn't get more of the Pillars of Equestria in the show proper, especially Somnambula, who's a ton of fun here.

The Movie Prequel
RECOMMEND
An interesting look at many of the Movie-original characters before we see them in animation.

Ponyville Mysteries
AVOID
Boring and somehow more childish than the normal MLP comics.

Nightmare Knights
RECOMMEND
Still ongoing, but unless it really flops at the end, this is entertaining enough to recommend.

Specials
RECOMMEND:
1. Annual 2013 (Equestria Girls)
Well, I recommend this just for "The Fall of Sunset Shimmer", the short story at the beginning which is our only glimpse at what Sunset was actually doing before the events of Equestria Girls. The main story is eh, and particularly meaningless because it's a story of the Humane Five growing distant but then rekindling their friendship... right before Sunset breaks them up again in time for the movie. Note that the Equestria Girls volume collection doesn't include "The Fall of Sunset Shimmer"; you need to specifically get Annual 2013 for that.

2. Annual 2014 (Power Ponies)
A fun look at an alternate universe with some particularly wacky 60's Batman style villains.

6. Deviations
What if Blueblood was sent to Ponyville instead of Twilight? Also Nightmare Moon decided to show up a few hours early for reasons? This is a pretty fun story with a lot of dunking on Blueblood.

AVOID:
3. Holidays 2014 (Equestria Girls Holiday Special)
A way too mean story where everyone is terrible to Sunset, and then the culprits behind her cyberbullying are forgiven way too easily. Given we haven't seen any after this, it's safe to say this killed off the Equestria Girls comics.

Conkersbadfurday · Jan 3, 2019

I remember liking the 2014 holiday special. I think in part because I like Sunset but hate most of the EQG stuff, so when she's somewhat well written it's a treat. I don't remember much of it to be honest. Also goddamn that was four years ago D:

Going to pass on some of these then. Appreciate the help.

SigmasonicX · Jan 4, 2019

Read two fanfics--something I didn't do at all during the winter break. And both of them are newer ones, so they don't help with my backlog at all.

The Last Hearth's Warming Letter is a new one-off story by Monochromatic that doesn't feature Rarity or Twilight at all, instead focusing on Derpy (referred to as Ditzy Doo here) and Daring Do. Here's the review I posted.

That was a sweet story. I think you mentioned somewhere that someone said your non-Rarity narration was starting to sound like Rarity, and yeah, I can see a bit of that here, haha.

Friendly Fire by Aragon is the first Student Six fanfic I've read, and it's pretty good. It's a wacky comedy where the Fire of Friendship grows too big and burns the school down. Here's the review I posted.

This was great! I'm pretty sure the first fanfic I've read with the Student Six, and you've got their voices down pat. I love the concepts of the Fire of Friendship growing large enough to be a threat, Ocellus tricking (maybe) Pinkie with a Hearth's Warming miracle, and griffons arguing about the politics of other nations.

Stream announcements!

On Friday, we're watching
1. Street Fighter (US) - 9 - The Medium is the Message (the episode with "Yes! Yes!")
2. Street Fighter (US) - 25 - Final Fight (crossover with Final Fight)
3. Haruhi - The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00
4. Haruhi - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya I
5. Haruhi - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya II

Going with the English dub of Haruhi.

For Haruhi episode order, I'm going with what's in this post, which attempts to combine the benefits of the original airing order and chronological order.

Unknownlight said:
The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya I

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya II

The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya III

Mysterique Sign

Remote Island Syndrome I

Remote Island Syndrome II

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya IV

The Day of Sagittarius

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya V

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya VI

Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody

Endless Eight I

Endless Eight II

Endless Eight V

Endless Eight VIII

The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya I

The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya II

The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya III

The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya IV

The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya V

Live Alive

Someday in the Rain

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

(fine with quoting him here because he already visits these threads)

However, I will only play three "Endless Eight" episodes and I intend to skip the entire "Sigh" arc, for a total of 18 episodes and one movie.

On Sunday, we're watching the next Equestria Girls movie.

1. Equestria Girls: Friendship Games
2. Big Hero 6 - 18 - Big Problem
3. Kaleido Star - 5
4. Super Gals - 29

BTW, the upcoming pony airings in future streams are:
1. Friendship Games (this week)
2. The Cutie Re-Mark
3. Legend of Everfree
4. The Juniper Montage Saga

And that last stream will also have a Yuru Yuri marathon it seems.

Unknownlight · Jan 4, 2019

SigmasonicX said:
For Haruhi episode order, I'm going with what's in this post, which attempts to combine the benefits of the original airing order and chronological order.
(fine with quoting him here because he already visits these threads)

However, I will only play three "Endless Eight" episodes and I intend to skip the entire "Sigh" arc, for a total of 18 episodes and one movie.

Haruhi nerd here. I'm happy to see you're using my order! :)

That said, if you're going to skip the Sigh arc, then I think I'd recommend plain old broadcast order instead. That way, Endless Eight leads directly into Disappearance, which works quite well.

Nali · Jan 4, 2019

SigmasonicX said:
Friendly Fire by Aragon is the first Student Six fanfic I've read, and it's pretty good. It's a wacky comedy where the Fire of Friendship grows too big and burns the school down. Here's the review I posted.

Not his best work, I think, but Aragon's got a knack for absurdist humor. I think I've recommended him in general before.

Conkersbadfurday · Jan 4, 2019

SigmasonicX said:
Snip

But the sigh arc is great :(

Will probably bebop in for the movie when that airs though. Wish I had a good place to rewatch it, and this is as good as any.

SigmasonicX · Jan 4, 2019

Unknownlight said:
Haruhi nerd here. I'm happy to see you're using my order! :)

That said, if you're going to skip the Sigh arc, then I think I'd recommend plain old broadcast order instead. That way, Endless Eight leads directly into Disappearance, which works quite well.

I feel like "Someday in the Rain" would make for a better series ending (before Disappearance) and "Live Alive" before that would make the ending set feel more positive than "Endless Eight", but I'll think about it.

Conkersbadfurday said:
But the sigh arc is great :(

Will probably bebop in for the movie when that airs though. Wish I had a good place to rewatch it, and this is as good as any.

I remember that story being kind of a drag, and in a stream format, I don't think watching five episodes of it would work well.

But wait, that makes me think. Perhaps I could intercut "Sigh" and the other season 2 episodes I plan on showing. Unknownlight , you think that could work?

As for the movie, it being three hours means I'd probably show it on a Sunday afternoon instead of Friday night.

Sciz said:
Not his best work, I think, but Aragon's got a knack for absurdist humor. I think I've recommended him in general before.

Yeah, you've recommended "In Hindsight" before.

Unknownlight · Jan 4, 2019

SigmasonicX said:
But wait, that makes me think. Perhaps I could intercut "Sigh" and the other season 2 episodes I plan on showing. @Unknownlight , you think that could work?

Well, the only other Season 2 arc is Endless Eight. I personally don't think Sigh is a drag, but alternating between Endless Eight and Sigh episodes really would drag things out.

Honestly, I don't know. I've never considered splitting up Sigh before.

SigmasonicX · Jan 4, 2019

Unknownlight said:
Well, the only other Season 2 arc is Endless Eight. I personally don't think Sigh is a drag, but alternating between Endless Eight and Sigh episodes really would drag things out.

Honestly, I don't know. I've never considered splitting up Sigh before.

Hmm, true, that would drag it out even more. I haven't seen Sigh since the initial airing, so I'm just going off memories, and I only really remember Haruhi being a terrible person during it. I was mainly worried about spending more than a single week (or a full stream) on a story besides Melancholy; if Sigh was just three episodes, I'd be just fine showing it.

Well, it's still some time before I'd show those episodes, so I can gauge how willing people are to watch them by then.

SigmasonicX · Jan 6, 2019

Friday stream followup.
1. Street Fighter (US) - 9 - The Medium is the Message
2. Street Fighter (US) - 25 - Final Fight (crossover with Final Fight)
3. Haruhi - The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00
4. Haruhi - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya I
5. Haruhi - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya II

Street Fighter was... weird. I mean, I already expected it to be silly, but it was a weird mix of game accuracy and things from the movie and its own oddities like Ken having Rattrap's voice and Blanka's terrible terrible voice. There were bits where the art looked decent and surprisingly accurate to the game designs, but then there were bits where it looked horrible. Bison was the highlight, with his hammy acting.

The first episode was the one with the "Yes! Yes!" scene. If you somehow don't know about it:

I had always assumed that music was Bison's victory theme or something, but no, it plays at random points all throughout both episodes.

The second episode had no Bison, but I found it more entertaining. Despite initially looking nice enough, the animation and art became terrible. It was a crossover with Final Fight, and the characters from there were all pretty weird, particularly with that one guy sticking wires in his mouth to take out the power and a guy in a wheelchair spinning around and firing lasers.

As for Haruhi, reactions seemed alright enough, given these are the early episodes. However, with the reactions to "Melancholy II", I think it's safe to say I'll be skipping the "Sigh" arc in the stream after all. People really didn't like Haruhi harassing the Computer Research Club and Mikuru, and she does stuff that's arguably even worse in that arc. Kyon does call her out about it in that arc, at least, but still.

Of course, without that arc, there's less to see in "The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00". The arc is all about the filming of the short film in that episode, and there are a ton of moments when I rewatched that episode in the stream where I thought, "Oh, so that's what was going on there!" Reaction to this episode was that it would have been funnier if they didn't stretch the joke out for the full episode, which is pretty much how everyone reacts the first time. It's only really good in retrospect.

With that episode, we can already see KyoAni's trolling with this series. They put an immense amount of effort into making this episode look like a bad student film. Bad lighting is only apparent if they go all out to establish the lighting. Everyone's little fidgets and eye movements wouldn't have been there in the first place if they were animated normally. And there's all the camera problems, before that became the style for AAA games, which they had to draw.

The first two "Melancholy" episodes were all character introductions, and were much slower about revealing the actual story than you'd think. Reactions weren't too enthusiastic, but nothing of note has really happened yet. The big Haruhi Harassment moments of "Melancholy II" left a bad taste for the end of the stream, though. Thankfully, it does seem like people are fine with continuing.

However, the discussion did remind me of something: I had completely forgotten about showing the Utena movie. But Chained is a must for when we show that, and he still doesn't have his Internet situation figured out, so we're going to have to wait regardless.

~~~

After a long break, we got back to the RP.
RP 305 - The Shattered Realm 4 - The Headless Curse

Trixie - Cappy

The party is Trixie, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Lyzolda the yak.

Lyzolda leads the party to an entrance to the tunnels, which leads them to a mine cart railway. They encounter a pony and a human there, knocking them out of the carts. They talk to the human for a bit, but Trixie yelling when the pony tries to sneak away results in Lyzolda charging into them and knocking them far up the tunnel.

The ponies take the carts down, leaving Lyzolda to run behind them since she's too big for them. The third of the three carts is filled with rocks, and Trixie enchants them to glow, so they can be left behind for Lyzolda to follow. Carts being ridden by the Headless Horse and the Diamond Dogless Head come alongside them, but Trixie manages to trick them into thinking nothing's wrong. However, the carts reach the end of the tracks and stop next to each other, whereupon the enemies realize what's going on and attack.

The Head uses a magic artifact on Applejack to copy the Headless Horse's curse to her, making her head fall off. It's fine, the head can still talk and everything, and she can remotely control the body. Applejack gains enough control to knock the enemies far away with her body.

Continuing on, they find a large chamber with a crystal structure the size of Canterlot Castle, with rocks being sent to it and imprisoned ponies and diamond dogs working at the bottom.

They find Maud, who it turns out had been willingly working on the rock-based weapon of mass destruction due to that overriding her survival instinct. Lyzolda arrives and crashes into the party (minus Maud), sending them down to the bottom of the chamber.

The session ends with them falling.

~~~

There was a Jeopardy question about the MLP Movie.

Art dump.
1.Commission: New Years Kiss by SilFoe on DeviantArt - Rarity X Celestia
2.Happy New Years 2019 by SilFoe on DeviantArt - Cast of Royal Sketchbook fan comic: the princesses, Starlight, Tempest, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Shining Armor, Twilight Parents, and Spike, plus OC babies
3.MLP:YL - Older Ocellus by InuHoshi-to-DarkPen on DeviantArt
4.Rarity kissing Pinkie by anonhatter
5.PIERCE THE HEAVENS WITH YOUR HORN!! by AleximusPrime on DeviantArt - Gurren Lagann cosplay with Shining Armor (RIP), Twilight, and Cadance

1.BEST DEMON BOOP by OgaraOrCynder on DeviantArt - Oleander and Fred
2.Applejack Painting Paint by AssasinMonkey on DeviantArt
3.Pony Twi and SciTwi by ciciya
4.Sunset in winter clothes by asimos
5.Fluttershy and other animals in glasses by tohupo

1.EQG Rarity by qaq
2.EQG Rainbow by qaq
3.EQG Applejack by qaq
4.EQG (Pony) Twilight by qaq
5.M6 by mirroredsea on DeviantArt - Mane Six

1.Spoik by thegreatrouge on DeviantArt - Spike
2.「トワイライト」/「スピカ」のイラスト [pixiv] - Pony Twilight and Human Pony Twi
3.Human Fluttershy by odiiette - Reminds me of Utena
4.Snowed On by InuHoshi-to-DarkPen on DeviantArt - Trixie and Starlight
5..:NEW YEAR! 2019:. (MLP:FiM) by The-Butcher-X on DeviantArt - Mane Six

1.Pinkie X Rainbow by pinkablue
2.Swap: :Cadence and Chrysalis: by SoundwavePie on DeviantArt - Species swap
3.Scribbly Flutters by Fawnshy on DeviantArt - Fluttershy
4.Fluttershy laying down by artnya - Artist forgot wings
5.Celestia and Twilight in second Gala dresses by noupu

SigmasonicX · Jan 7, 2019

Sunday stream followup. We watched the following.
*.▷Compilation | MLP: Equestria Girls | Friendship Games (All shorts!) [HD] || ☆El Brony Mendivil☆ - YouTube
1. Equestria Girls: Friendship Games
*.What More Is Out There - Duet (Song) - MLP: Equestria Girls [Friendship Games] - YouTube
2. Big Hero 6 - 18 - Big Problem
*.Equestria Girls Friendship Games Deleted Scenes - YouTube
3. Kaleido Star - 5
*.Mlp Equestria girls, bloopers - YouTube
4. Super Gals - 29
*.MLP: Equestria Girls - 'Unleash the Magic' Friendship Games Stomp - YouTube

So I was wrong. There was, in fact, a live action music video for Friendship Games. And all the girls are back to being white.

Anyway, we had a pretty packed house for Friendship Games. My opinion of the movie remains the same: the bits with SciTwi making friends with the girls were good. Midnight Sparkle is a fantastic design and concept, if unearned here. Many of the Shadowbolts are pretty fun with good designs, and should appear more. However, the story is hot trash. SciTwi's stupidity could have been largely fixed if the magic detector wasn't created by her, but rather was an Equestrian artifact she found like with later EQG villains, so then her not knowing how her own device worked would have made sense. One person watching with us actually did assume that was what was going on, until informed otherwise. Of course, there's still a lot more to fix after that.

The deleted version of "What More is Out There" is still probably one of my top Pony songs. It's a shame they couldn't find a way to justify using it, with Sunset's subplot being really under-cooked from the deleted scenes.

We got back to Big Hero 6 after a big absence. The most impressive part of the episode isn't the main plot itself, but rather that part of the story involved Karmi impressing a scientist that Hiro couldn't and Hiro getting upset about that, and it didn't have Hiro get his comeuppance. Instead, it's Karmi who saves the day. Also, the most confusing part is the villain making random Shakespeare references (The Tempest) and this episode not being written by Greg Weisman. I thought he had a monopoly on that.

Also back after a long break was Kaleido Star, where everything went wrong with Sora and people were having heart attacks left and right (well, only one person, and not the guy with the known heart problem). It was a good dramatic episode.

And back after an even longerest break is Super Gals! This episode featured Mami and Second Place hooking up, as strongly hinted at by a certain poster for a while. Mami came around to the idea much more easily than I would have thought. This was a fun episode with an extended contest between Ran and Mami. There was some weirdness with the tan girls deciding not to tan themselves anymore, which was awkward even with the knowledge they weren't naturally tan.

On another note,
Deltapony (MLP x Deltarune) by TyScope on DeviantArt

2018 PMV montage

If this style and premise seems familiar, it's from the same guy that did that Shelter PMV, which was... shit, about a year and a half ago.

Strider_Blaze · Jan 7, 2019

Yeah, the SF animated series was weird.

Having only watched the Final Fight episode (as it was an unlock I FF Double Impact), I honestly never imagined Cody sounding like a dumb muscle after having long gotten use to his laid-back voice in the main series games. These days any interaction between SF and FF isn't so much as a crossover given that FF shows up all the time in SF games (the first FF was originally going to be called SF '89 btw).

The wheelchair guy (who is called Bledger) is weird admittedly, then again he was fought that way in his original boss battle.

SigmasonicX · Jan 9, 2019

Mainly footage from that cruise special, but we do finally have footage of that short where Sunset and Fluttershy play a video game, which was leaked over a year ago. Not feeling the song, but we already know that special has a better one. Also a shame that PonySciTwi definitely doesn't have her hair up.

Nali · Jan 9, 2019

I am apparently months late to the party and had no idea we were getting more legit pony in EQG and I'm over the moon about it, especially since they made the right call and didn't give Twilight wings or change her cutie mark like fanfics tend to do.

SigmasonicX · Jan 9, 2019

Sciz said:
I am apparently months late to the party and had no idea we were getting more legit pony in EQG and I'm over the moon about it, especially since they made the right call and didn't give Twilight wings or change her cutie mark like fanfics tend to do.

Yeah, we learned this back in... shit, July.

I am glad they didn't give her wings, despite her "ponied up" form having them, because she didn't really do anything to warrant it. I actually wasn't aware changing her cutie mark was a thing. It would be odd when she has PonyTwi's cutie mark on her clothes pretty often.

More details.

The Equestria Girls are back with hours of new adventures and specials! Season 2 of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls kicks off with a series of influencer videos, featuring your favorite DIYer (Applejack), YouTube chef (Pinkie Pie), street magician (Trixie) and more!

The Mane 7 also give viewers helpful tips and tricks for getting through Spring Break and music festival season with some hilarious videos – even some where you can choose the ending!

And it wouldn't be Equestria Girls without music - Season 2 BRINGS IT with 10 original new songs and 6 new music videos. Get your squad together for the best Equestria Girls season yet!

The girls acting as influencers gives context for the leaked Sunset game streamer short.

Six music videos and ten total songs sounds like two specials with two songs each.

Strider_Blaze · Jan 9, 2019

Sweet! More EQG. And best Sunset clothes back! With new shoes, though the boots that came with it weren't bad. Then again, this was leaked as mentioned.

And SciTwi would certainly leave stretch marks in her face, because she definitely look like she's stretching her face too hard!

SigmasonicX · Jan 10, 2019

Strider_Blaze said:
And SciTwi would certainly leave stretch marks in her face, because she definitely look like she's stretching her face too hard!

Not sure where they got this information, but Equestria Daily is under the impression season 2 will start tomorrow.

More images.
Oh no

BTW, that dark skinned background human has fan art already, see the last fan art below.

Really didn't expect this from Fluttershy

Apparently a tiny ewe is involved in the climax. Unless they are native to Dougworld, I suppose this means we do get more crossover between worlds than just three going to Ponyland.

Trailer for new (to the US) mobile game with chibi pones.

~~~

Stream announcements!

On Friday, the first hour is going to be old black and white shows that somehow predicted Donald Trump.
1. Trackdown - The End of the World
2. The Twilight Zone - It's a Good Life
3. Haruhi - The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya
4. Haruhi -The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya III

The first due to this tweet from Alex Hirsch.

If you're like me and haven't heard about Trackdown, it's a western. This will actually be the first TV western I ever watch. And the Twilight Zone episode is a classic.

If you think I messed up with the order of the Haruhi episodes, then I didn't. When the series was broadcast, episodes were aired out of chronological order. I'm not entirely convinced it made for a better viewing experience on a week to week basis, but there is some fun in having "Boredom" be really confusing and getting an explanation the very next episode, and I generally approve of the idea of moving "Melancholy VI" as close to the end of the series as reasonable, to provide more of an action climax.

And on Sunday, we shall witness Starlight's indoctrination of Fluttershy.

1-2. MLP - The Cutie Re-Mark 1 & 2
3. Big Hero 6 - Steamer's Revenge
4-5. Kaleido Star - 6 & 7
6. The Promised Neverland - 1

There's been some interest for a while in watching an anime as it aired, and it looks like The Promised Neverland is it. I'm a big fan of the manga, and the first episode of the anime adaptation has impressed, so I feel pretty comfortable this won't suddenly go downhill. It is a pretty dark series, but it also reminds me of MLP in some ways. Well, the fanfic "Nine Days Down", but still, MLP. There's hope in the darkness.

~~~

Art dump
1.「ふらた」/「KUROGE」のイラスト [pixiv] - Fluttershy
2.Tempest X Twilight by kaijojomlpmasa
3.What are you doing!!? by Marenlicious on DeviantArt - Adagio and Sonata, in siren form
4.Happy New Year 2 0 1 9 [+Speedpaint] by TokoKami on DeviantArt - Sunset
5.Oleander by Marbola on DeviantArt

1.Vibrance by LolliponyBrony on DeviantArt - Skystar in hippogriff form
2.Happy New Year 2019 by Yanamosuda on DeviantArt - Mane Six
3.Octavia in Starbucks cup by ayahana
4.Rara by Alina-Brony29 on DeviantArt - Coloratura
5.Applejack by alina-brony29

1.Roseluck by alina-brony29
2.Luna by xoxobellatrixxx
3.Rarity by lalou
4.Twilight by lalou
5.Enraged Chaos by InuHoshi-to-DarkPen on DeviantArt - Discord and injured Fluttershy

1.Till There Was You by MustLoveFrogs on DeviantArt - Rainbow and Fluttershy adopting Scootaloo, I guess
2.Twilight Sparkle by tyuubatu on DeviantArt
3.Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare by tyuubatu on DeviantArt
4.Sunset Shimmer by tyuubatu on DeviantArt
5.Pinkie pie by tyuubatu on DeviantArt

1.This Pink Bat by Miniaru on DeviantArt - Pinkie
2.It's Showtime! by RenoKim on DeviantArt - Trixie
3.Bookhorse by RenoKim on DeviantArt - Twilight
4.Distance by mirroredsea on DeviantArt - Marble
5.luna by mirroredsea on DeviantArt

1.Sweetie Belle singing by typhwosion
2.Twilight in uniform by duop-qoub
3.EQG Pinkie in kimono with tiny Pony Pinkie by sasa
4.Trixie and Starlight in glasses by k-nattoh
5.「ラリティ」/「スピカ」のイラスト [pixiv] - Human and Pony Rarity

1.Ember by QuadRog on DeviantArt
2..:Agent of The Technological Consortium:. (CO) by The-Butcher-X on DeviantArt - Sunset
3.Deltapony Poster by TyScope on DeviantArt - Expansion of previously posted image, adding Rarity, Pinkie, and Scootaloo
4.Pearls by VanillaGhosties on DeviantArt - Rarity in an outfit from "Rarity Investigates" (not the detective outfit)
5.Punkie Wunk by punzil504 on DeviantArt - EQG Starlight

1.Sister by LooknamTCN on DeviantArt - EQG Rainbow and Scootaloo
2.Rainbow Dash X Applejack by raika0306 on DeviantArt - EQG
3.Oleander by MeowDoodles on DeviantArt
4.Applejack by ponimu
5.Evening Report by imDRUNKonTEA on DeviantArt - Unicorn Twilight

1.Pegasus Snuggles by GrapheneDraws on DeviantArt - Rainbow X Fluttershy
2.twiley gorl by WanderingPegasus on DeviantArt - Twilight
3.Hair by its-gloomy on DeviantArt - Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon
4.A lonely Princess by RenoKim on DeviantArt - Skystar as seapony
5.Art of that woman from that top GIF I posted by The-Butcher-X - Yes, trailer art of a background human.

Strider_Blaze · Jan 11, 2019

First EQG season 2 short up.

SigmasonicX · Jan 11, 2019

Strider_Blaze said:
First EQG season 2 short up.

Watched the short and it was eh.
It's literally just an unboxing video, with the "funny" part being that it's dog stuff. And the punchline is that Twilight forces him to return it.

On another note, we got our first Tridashie Friendship is Musical videos in a while.

Sylvee · Jan 11, 2019

People that use the word "hashtag" in their dialogue unironically should have something mean happen to them. Trixie's expression in Sigma's first video's thumbnail is my reaction to seeing people say "hashtag."

Also I swear that Berrow can write good stories.

SigmasonicX · Jan 13, 2019

Friday stream followup, none of the anime viewers showed up, including the person who wanted to show that Trackdown episode, so we just watched the Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life". Sylvee seemed to be way more into the episode than I would have thought; this was his first Twilight Zone episode. People make jokes about it, but the Twilight Zone could be legit creepy when it wanted.

And then Cappy was too busy for today's RP, and I couldn't work out another time today. We'll try it out on Thursday, since I'll be busy with Magic next Saturday.

Hopefully tomorrow's stream goes better.

On another note, it looks like Sunset's hairstyle has changed for the spring special. Old, new.

This is easiest to see with how on the left of the image, Sunset's hair doesn't have that sharp corner, and where her hair parts isn't as "hilly". Also, that's a cute dress.

Art dump
1.Applejack by tohupo
2.Almost Christmas Reindeer by XeniusFms on DeviantArt - Twilight, Tempest, and Lyra
3.Snowplant by Tsitra360 on DeviantArt - Scootaloo and CMC
4.Autumn Blaze by ponimu
5.A frisbee game by chedx on DeviantArt - Gabby, Sunset, and Skystar

1.School Daze Review by TheSoleil on DeviantArt - Student Six
2.Twilight redesign by Marbola on DeviantArt
3.Long Neck Pass by Taurson on DeviantArt - Fluttershy with long neck
4.Hello - Diwata Aino (Crystal Prep background human) by the-butch-x
5.Hello - Sophisticata (EQG1 background human) by the-butch-x

1.Twilight Sparkle by OhieKhe on DeviantArt - Human SciTwi
2.Fluttershy isn't decent by tjpones
3.The Wielders of the Keyblade by CCKittyCreative on DeviantArt - Mane Six Kingdom Hearts crossover
4.[Comm]cAll's fair in Love and Friendship Game by iojknmiojknm on DeviantArt - Human Lyra and Bon Bon
5.Luna by magnaluna

1.Fluttershy X Rainbow New Year by horatio_kun
2.Gabby by ponimu
3.Sonata Dusk by aetherionart
4.Memories We Share by mirroredsea on DeviantArt - Pinkie and Sunset
5.Twilight sparkle 1 10 2019 by tohupo on DeviantArt

1.Dragon Lord Ember by RaikohIllust on DeviantArt
2.Sunset Shimmer by reijisakamoto on DeviantArt
3.Fullmetal Horse by midnightpremiere on DeviantArt - Sunburst and Starlight in Fullmetal Alchemist crossover
4.Demon Shimmer by iojknmiojknm on DeviantArt - Sunset
5.Gilda portrait by el-yeguero on DeviantArt

1.Commission 23 : A little cozy by Marenlicious on DeviantArt - Sunset pony
2.Let me help you by LooknamTCN on DeviantArt - EQG Rarity and Applejack, in spring break outfits from trailer. A bit suggestive.
3.Commission: Samurai Tempest by SilFoe on DeviantArt
4.Gala Drago Dash by GrapheneDraws on DeviantArt - Rainbow as dragon
5.Yawning Twilight by luciferamon

1.Collabuary: Sweet Comfort by EmbersLament on DeviantArt - Fluttershy
2.Celestia faceplanting while Luna and Twilight watch by greyscaleart
3.Shattered Wishes by DebbyGattaTheBeast on DeviantArt - Tempest
4.Tempest Shadow and her Edgy Look by DebbyGattaTheBeast on DeviantArt
5.Letting That Mane Down by InuHoshi-to-DarkPen on DeviantArt - Cadance

1.Roseluck with cat bells by quetex
2.Jolly Ol Saint Nicholas by JustSomePainter11 on DeviantArt - Spike
3.Sneaky Peek by bobthedalek on DeviantArt - Sunburst, Starlight, and Twilight

SigmasonicX · Jan 14, 2019

Stream followup, we watched
*.MLP:FIM [Animation]: The Cutie Re-Mark Prequel - YouTube
*.[PMV] Be Prepared - YouTube
1-2. MLP - The Cutie Re-Mark 1 & 2
*.You must remember [Animation] - YouTube
3. Big Hero 6 - Steamer's Revenge
*.[MLP Comic Dub] Starlight's Birthday (comedy) - YouTube
4-5. Kaleido Star - 6 & 7
*.MLP:FIM - My Past Is Not Today - Starlight Glimmer - PMV (200S Special) - YouTube (after first)
*.[MLP Comic Dub] Starlight Learns to Be A Good Friend (comedy) - YouTube
6. The Promised Neverland - 1
*.Starlight vs Mane 6 - YouTube

This was ahoy's first time watching "The Cutie Re-Mark", with no knowledge of what happens other than Starlight being redeemed. Like many reacted when it aired, he went through the episode wondering how Starlight could possibly be redeemed for her actions, and wasn't satisfied in that regard. In any case, it seemed like he had fun watching the episode, and I still think it's one of the stronger two-parters.

The Big Hero 6 episode was alright. There are two more normal episodes of this season left, and then a three-part finale. While the normal episodes are good, I honestly wasn't a fan of the finale. I'm considering not showing it in the stream, since it would take up over an hour.

After that, we watched two Kaleido Star episodes. The first introducing a friendly seal, and the second introducing a girl skilled at using the diabolo who is THE MOST BORING PERSON EVER. I love how savage the theater continues to be. Anyway, these were both fun episodes.

Lastly, we started The Promised Neverland, which is less happy. Reactions were positive, so we'll continue watching it in the stream. I read the manga, so I'll try not to spoil anything.

~~~

So the Twilight variant cover of FIENDship is Magic is way rarer than I thought. By the calculation in the article, there are fewer than 300 out in the wild. Sara Richard, the artist, put up one of these issues for auction and it's at over $300 as of this post. There are two days left in the auction, if you want it.

Ponified versions of these poses.

SciTwi, Fluttershy by jhayarr23

And more art.
1.[MLP]twilight velvet by Choyamy on DeviantArt
2.Fluttershy redesign by Marbola on DeviantArt
3.Sunshine Cruise by uotapo on DeviantArt - Sunset in cruise outfit
4.Twilight is watching you by Kaliner123 on DeviantArt
5..:Dark Web Mystery Box:. (EqG Shorts) by The-Butcher-X on DeviantArt - Spike the dog, based on the "Reboxing w/ Spike" short

1.Fluttershy fairy (collaboration) by Zefir-ka on DeviantArt
2.Rarity 1 14 2019 by tohupo on DeviantArt
3.Twilight and SciTwi taking a bath together in a not awkward way by tjpones
4.AGDQ2019 Killed the Animals by luminaura on DeviantArt - Young Fluttershy reacting to Games Done Quick 2019.
5.Bridle Gossip Fanart by pyroprye on DeviantArt - Mane Six with poison joke afflictions.

1.mi amor by WanderingPegasus on DeviantArt - Cadance
2.Rarity dressing up Tempest by dstears
3.Silverstream by (artist needed)
4.Curled Up by InuHoshi-to-DarkPen on DeviantArt - Fluttershy X Discord
5.EQG Sunset and Pony SciTwi by yakieringi014

EDIT: Whoops, forgot the main reason I made this post. WatchMojo made a list of 10 Dark Facts About My Little Pony That Will Ruin Your Childhood. As you'd expect, the list is pretty silly.

This is a list that includes Tyrant Celestia. At least they have Cozy Glow being sent to Tartarus at #1, as it should be.

Sylvee · Jan 15, 2019

SigmasonicX said:
This was ahoy's first time watching "The Cutie Re-Mark", with no knowledge of what happens other than Starlight being redeemed. Like many reacted when it aired, he went through the episode wondering how Starlight could possibly be redeemed for her actions, and wasn't satisfied in that regard. In any case, it seemed like he had fun watching the episode, and I still think it's one of the stronger two-parters.

It still is one of the best 2-parters that the show's had. (As far as Starlight-centric 2-parters she's 3 for 3 at this point) It does continuity-based fanservice extremely well, the alternate timeline stuff is fun to think about and feels well-intergrated into the story. They're given enough time that they get the attention they deserve and aren't a tacked on thing that is only included because people want it (Looking at you Sunset returning to Equestria) but at the same time they don't detract from the main story being told. And it's been said before but Starlight is one of the most interesting and compelling villains the show's ever had. Her motivation in this episode just being her trying to hurt Twilight as much as possible is unique among all of the 2-parter antagonists, and it's executed much better here then in Magic Duel. I never really felt like Starlight was irredeemable in the episode as most of the negative outcomes of her actions were incidental and once she actually figured out the consequences of what she was trying to do she was visibly extremely shaken and was fairly easily talked down. She's not on some kind of quest for power, she just wants to get revenge on Twilight for ruining her life.

The most frequently complained about the episode weren't really enough to detract from the experience for me. The ending montage is easily the worst part of the episode, not because I think it's poorly made or anything but because it really gives off the wrong vibe and ties things up too neatly. I understand that it's largely due to the assumption that the episode might be the final one ever but it's really jarring that she goes from "how do I friendship" to instantly making friends and causing her old village to instantly forgive her despite all of the crap she put them through, and then to have her being portrayed in The Crystalling as still not being remotely confident at all in making friends. The other thing is the explanation for why she decided to be evil, and although I can understand people's problems with it I think it still works. Starlight across the history of the show is shown to be extremely bad at coping with things not going her way and doing drastic things to fix them. Every Little Thing She Does is a great example of this. I think the show does a good job at showcasing why Starlight would have that bad of a reaction to Sunburst moving away. But in the context of the episode it comes off as pretty weak, and usually the big "this is why I'm evil" moments are more impactful then Starlight's.

SigmasonicX said:
The Big Hero 6 episode was alright. There are two more normal episodes of this season left, and then a three-part finale. While the normal episodes are good, I honestly wasn't a fan of the finale. I'm considering not showing it in the stream, since it would take up over an hour.

The episode is one of the most flagrant examples of "Why is Obake even in this episode?" so far. He does almost nothing in the context of the episode (The group figuring out Steamer's plan was something that they could have found out another way) and just eats up a decent amount of screentime for little reason other then I guess to set up the finale a bit. Once again I feel like aside from the animation quality the biggest problems with the show stem from the massive focus on Obake and the supporting members of Big Hero 6 getting very little love in favor of focusing mostly on Hiro. Fred in this episode started out feeling inadequate compared to his father's legacy, but by the end they kind of forget about it and give some weak resolution to it.

I think Celestia keeps those slippers on to use them as makeshift shivs if need be. Otherwise they feel impractical, the one on her hind leg looks like it's about to slip off:

SigmasonicX · Jan 17, 2019

Nightmare Knights #4
For the past three issues, Eris has been the least interesting part, and unfortunately, this issue focusing on her and her backstory continues this trend. The best part of her is her nightmare powers, and even those were just stolen from Luna.

Her backstory felt oddly convoluted. Let's not forget that last we saw this universe's version of the Pony of Shadows, he tried to capture our Celestia and Luna and was in a world where he already defeated the Pillars of Equestria. This issue adds in a ton of other details of how that universe's Luna and Celestia were stashed away, and PoS capture Eris and used her powers for something, and then later used her powers to find the princesses, then raised them to be his successors, then Nightmare Moon betrayed him, then Daybreaker defeated her, then PoS turned to Eris to get Daybreaker under control, then Eris betrayed him, then yadda yadda yadda, there's a big casino of villains now. Like you could have made an entire miniseries just based on all that expo-dumping! And unless this universe's PoS pops up in the final issue, a big chunk of it is irrelevant.

Further adding to Eris's lameness is how Daybreaker is able to work around her control pretty easily. It is nice that Tempest was the one to convince her to turn good, though. Luna talking to Stygian in his dreams was a nice scene too, though it was odd to reveal that even without her dream powers, she can still go into dreams (she just can't control them). Capper betraying the group is pretty obviously going to lead to him double-crossing Eris.

The highlight of the issue was the conclusion of Trixie's duel with Twilight.

Silver Quill's review reminds me that, like him, I had assumed that Daybreaker was incapable of anything but following orders, making her sudden autonomy here odd. And Luna moving the moon in issue 2 is still super weird.

Overall, this was probably the worst issue, but hopefully #5 brings it all together.

~~~

Smaller art dump.

1.Ladybug by Evehly on DeviantArt - Fluttershy
2.Egghead by Rabbitorena on DeviantArt - Human Rainbow and Twilight
3.Silverstream by RacoonKun on DeviantArt - Human
4.Over the Horizon by uotapo on DeviantArt - Smolder
5.Fluttering by Aureai on DeviantArt - Fluttershy

1.Sky Full Of Tears by Queen-KittyKat on DeviantArt - Fluttershy
2.LOOK WHAT I FOUND by Celebi-Yoshi on DeviantArt - Sweetie Belle and Rarity
3.NATG VII - Day 3 - Going batty by Pirill-Poveniy on DeviantArt - Fluttershy as a bat (not Flutterbat)
4.Life as a DragonLord by Kenisu-of-Dragons on DeviantArt - Ember
5.The Dazzlings by croakgua

1936034__safe_artist-colon-croakgua_adagio+dazzle_aria+blaze_sonata+dusk_equestria+girls_arisona_clothes_cute_female_heart_hug_one+eye+closed_pigtails_.png

1.So Much More To Me by Riouku on DeviantArt - EQG Fluttershy and Fluttershy
2.Twilight by tohupo
3.Fluttershy by tohupo
4.Rarity X Twilight Tangled "I See the Light" by lilfunkman
5.Downpour of Pinkie Pies by mirroredsea

1.Spike by jeglegator on DeviantArt
2.Gallus by Spritedude on DeviantArt
3.EG-MLP Wallpaper - Pony Swag by jhayarr23 on DeviantArt - Ponified version of EQG cruise special trailer
4.Spike the dragon 1 16 2019 by tohupo on DeviantArt
5.Commission - Swoop and Dash by RaikohIllust on DeviantArt - Rainbow and the Transformers dinobot Swoop
6.... Hey by Patty-PLMH on DeviantArt - Tempest X Twilight

SigmasonicX · Jan 18, 2019

No RP today after all, since I was busy at work. We're having it on Monday.

New Cutie Mark Crew set has some interesting toys

Statue of Liberty and Smolder are both firsts, I think. FAKE EDIT: Actually, that's just Rarity in a Statue of Liberty outfit, not the SoL from the Manehattan episodes.

3-page preview of the MLP comic 20/20 special, and it's going in a much different direction than I expected.

Also, no confirmation yet that this is 20 years ago in the comic itself, just the synopsis.

New Crimson Lips chapter. No link, as the story is now M (though no content of that level has appeared yet). Here's the review I posted.

Great chapter! I recall you mentioning before that you were going to write a fluffy Hearth's Warming story in Crimson Lips, so it's funny to see that it's been fused with potential high-octane drama. Assuming Rarity is telling the straightforward truth, it's sad that the story is coming to a close soon. It feels like there's a lot more to do in this setting. Minor thing, but it was a bit of a surprise to see Sunset as a childhood friend for Twilight. I was also surprised that Blueblood is going to be involved later; I sort of figured we were past the significant character introduction stage. Also, if I'm understanding the dialogue correctly (here and in previous chapters), Applejack doesn't work for Luna but Big Mac does? [This was confirmed in a reply]

Oh, the Lauren Faust DC Super Hero Girls shorts started.

That's straight up Tara Strong's Twilight voice, haha. Barbara is even written like Twilight at points, like her complaining to Kara that it's a school night.
These are pretty fun.

Stream announcements. On Friday, we're going to check out Miraculous, which I have been interested in for a while. I doubt this will be something we watch more of, to be clear. I know the origin story is actually in the season one finale, so we'll check that out, and hopefully that will work. Here's the incredibly catchy opening (longer version).

1-2. Miraculous episodes 25-26
3. Haruhi - The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya
4. Haruhi - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya III

Then on Sunday, we're watching the final full-length Equestria Girls movie.

1. EQG - Legend of Everfree
2. The Promised Neverland episode 2
3. Kaleido Star episode 8
4. Super Gals episode 30

The Promised Neverland moved earlier to not end the stream on a depressing note.

In related news, Tangled the Series will be coming back on February 10! It will rejoin the stream then, replacing Big Hero 6. We'll get through the remaining episodes, minus the season finale (which we're skipping), the week before.

Art dump.
1.Twidash by dustyMunji on DeviantArt - EQG Twilight X Rainbow
2.[Commission] Fortnite Sunny by iojknmiojknm on DeviantArt - Sunset
3.EQG Applejack X Rainbow by dcon
4.SciTwi ponified by 1drfl_world_end
5.SciTwi (EQG human) by howzih

1.Twilight Sparkle by Kapootoei on DeviantArt - Human
2.Sunset Shimmer Maid by Rockset on DeviantArt
3.Maud Punch by RYURED on DeviantArt - One Punch Man crossover
4.SpikeLuv by YewDee on DeviantArt - Spike, Mane Six, Starlight, and Ember
5.Bad girls by LooknamTCN on DeviantArt - EQG Starlight and Trixie

1.Derpy by tsitra360
2.Sunset n Aurora by Mn27 on DeviantArt - And Starlight (EQG)
3.shim glam by Mn27 on DeviantArt - Sunset and Starlight (pony)
4.Cadance by amarynceus
5.Twilight by n_thing

1.MLP:YL - Princess Cadance by InuHoshi-to-DarkPen on DeviantArt
2.For the Dancing and the Dreaming by CCKittyCreative on DeviantArt - Ballerina Twilight
3.some long overdue twishy for the soul by WanderingPegasus on DeviantArt - Twilight X Fluttershy
4.Lyra and Bon Bon by danli69
5.Unknown world by Yakovlev-vad on DeviantArt - Twilight meets Spyro the Dragon
6.I found you by Yakovlev-vad on DeviantArt - Young Luna and Celestia

Cheerilee · Jan 18, 2019

SigmasonicX said:
Stream announcements. On Friday, we're going to check out Miraculous, which I have been interested in for a while. I doubt this will be something we watch more of, to be clear. I know the origin story is actually in the season one finale, so we'll check that out, and hopefully that will work. Here's the incredibly catchy opening (longer version).

I was excited for Miraculous before it came out, and then I watched a couple of episodes and quickly gave up because I felt it was disappointing.

Sometime later, the DVD fell in my lap and I was bored so I tried it again, this time with a larger number of episodes, and it sort of "clicked" and grew on me, and I found myself enjoying it much more than I did the first time around.

Just saying, at least in my case, a larger number of episodes seemed to help me figure out and appreciate what they were going for with the show.

Sylvee · Jan 18, 2019

SigmasonicX said:
Oh, the Lauren Faust DC Super Hero Girls shorts started.

These shorts remind me a lot of the first season of MLP, and unfortunately not really in a good way. There's a massive emphasis on slapstick and wackiness that generally doesn't really appeal to me and is one of the main reasons why I'm generally not a big fan of MLP's first season. Also I generally don't really like shorts that much as a format as I think they're extremely limited from a storytelling point of view which just makes me wish this was an actual show and not high budget shorts.

SigmasonicX · Jan 18, 2019

New short

This was alright, mostly thanks to Rarity. Applejack is surprisingly wasteful with trees.

Another year, another brony convention feature on a show. It's apparently positive, but it's getting old to have every feature go, "What the heck are bronies? Here's a convention! Oh, they're a bunch of weirdos, but they're having fun."

Deleted member 36135 · Jan 19, 2019

So I've always been intersted in the show and various parts of the fan community and it kinda bums me out to see things are winding down. Apparently this year will be the last year for Brony Con and I was wondering if it would be worth the trip. Has anyone here attended BronyCon or any of the larger MLP conventions? Any positive feedback, tips, or tricks to have a good time?

SigmasonicX · Jan 19, 2019

Skwinglos said:
So I've always been intersted in the show and various parts of the fan community and it kinda bums me out to see things are winding down. Apparently this year will be the last year for Brony Con and I was wondering if it would be worth the trip. Has anyone here attended BronyCon or any of the larger MLP conventions? Any positive feedback, tips, or tricks to have a good time?

Unfortunately, I don't think PonyEra and PonyGAF before it was ever that big on conventions. That said, I think the usual convention tips apply:
* Stay hydrated.
* Plan out what events you want to attend. If it's a popular panel, you may want to go to the one before it just to get a seat and avoid a line.
* Don't be a creep.

UberTag · Jan 19, 2019

The one general piece of advice I'll pass along - and this goes for just about any type of fan convention - is to wear comfortable shoes. You're going to be doing a TON of standing and walking around so it's important to ensure you're not going to be suffering through the experience or at risk of tweaking an ankle.

SigmasonicX · Jan 20, 2019

Friday stream followup, we watched the following.
1-2. Miraculous episodes 25-26
3. Haruhi - The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya
4. Haruhi - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya III

Miraculous was cheese beyond cheese, but I thought it was fun enough, and I can see the appeal. From the fan art I've seen, most fans seem to like the Ladybug and Cat Noire relationship. The flirting as heroes but blushing and awkward around each other in their secret identities situation would drive people crazy (in a good way). Plus Marinette's blushing game is on point. I was worried that this being the season one finale would mean that this origin story wouldn't actually work as starting episodes, but it seemed just like a pilot. The only real hint that it wasn't was Cat Noire turning to the screen and saying, "I guess this is how it'll always go," in response to Ladybug having to save the day after he screws up.

I heard about it before, but it's funny how the villain, Hawk Moth, has the absurdly broken power of being able to turn anyone anywhere who is upset into his slave and give them superpowers, and if they're left alone long enough they can turn other people into slaves with the same powers, but he's stymied by the fact that at most one person in all of Paris is upset at any given time. Also, he's pretty obviously Adrien's father. FAKE EDIT: He is.

As for the Haruhi episodes, they went over better than the first set we watched, but there wasn't much excitement about it either. We start getting more into the story here, and I don't know, I still find the expo-dumping of this show oddly enthralling. The Mikuru abuse was more omnipresent than I remembered, and part of why it's frustrating is that she's pretty interesting as a character when she's allowed to be. There was some confusion about the episodes being out of order. I think there will be fewer issues with that in the future, though.

To make for a better two-episode-a-week experience, I'm going to schedule episodes in these pairs:

February 1

Remote Island Syndrome I
Remote Island Syndrome II

February 8

Mysterique Sign
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya IV

February 15

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya V
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya VI

March 1

Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody
Endless Eight I

March 8

Endless Eight V
Endless Eight VIII

March 15

Live Alive
Someday in the Rain

Not fully happy with splitting "Endless Eight", but I also don't think it would be right to show three episodes in one stream. I was planning on showing Disappearance on a Sunday stream, since it's three hours long, but with both Tangled and The Promised Neverland episodes we have to watch each Sunday, maybe I will just play it on a Friday and see if that works out.

~~~

The first few seconds of this animation reel has unused footage from the Movie, apparently from when the pirates were outright villains. Though you can embed Vimeo videos now, the privacy settings for the video that don't allow it.

Fun song from Round Trip.

This is a fun video. And it has fantastic theories like that just like how humans lose their teeth to grow their adult teeth, ponies lose their eyes to grow adult ones.

Nice remix

Sylvee · Jan 21, 2019

I mentioned it before but I feel like I'm the only person that REALLY likes Legend of Everfree. By that I mean that most people are either indifferent towards it or think it's alright, I think it's one of the better "epic stories" (Meaning 2-parter or longer) they've told. First off, the soundtrack is fantastic, easily the 2nd best EQG soundtrack behind Rainbow Rocks. Only real dud in my opinion is "Embrace the Magic" Opener is more simplistic then the other ones but I think it's great, Midnight in Me I just wish was longer, I'm always a sucker for Ingram's pop stuff so I liked Legend You Were Meant To Be, and the rest are fun too. The main plot isn't super fantastic but I think it does a decent enough job at moving the story along and isn't distractingly bad like Friendship Games. But what I think makes the movie great is the interactions between all the characters. It's easily the most slice-of-lifey of the EQG movies IMO. There's a lot more scenes in this movie compared to the other ones where the characters are just hanging out doing camp stuff, and Lewis and Songco's writing always makes it fun to watch.

And perhaps most controversally I really liked Timber Spruce in the movie and felt like he was one of the best parts of it. I know that he's not particularly popular but honestly I feel like a lot of people strait up got him wrong and think he's fantastic and can only assume that his negative reception is due to him being yet another love interest for Twilight. As a love interest it's really night and day comparing him to Flash. Him and Twilight actually have a dynamic with each other and play off each-other well, the first scene with them in particular I think showcasing why they actually have something in common besides "they're attracted to each other because of reasons" like with Flash. And what I think makes him leagues better then Flash is that he's a character that could easily exist even as regular character and not just as a love interest for Twilight. He has a duality with his sister and works well with her, he has his own agency in the movie and from what we can see does a good enough job at helping run the camp with his sister. And shorts like Turf War I think showcase that he can play off other characters too if they actually gave him a chance to. Probably the biggest thing is that I'm a pretty big sucker for self-depreciating and sort of ironic humor and he does this very well IMO. Him calling himself the Picaso of noodles is just a great line to me.

Glad Rainbow finally got that copyrighted:

SigmasonicX · Jan 22, 2019

Sunday stream followup, we watched the following.
*.Alternate Realities (song) - Ashley H, TPressleyJ, & Friends - YouTube
*.MLP: equestria Girls Latino América - 'Legend of Everfree' Commercial de TV Muñecas - YouTube
1. EQG - Legend of Everfree
*.My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Legend of Everfree : Bloopers - YouTube
2. The Promised Neverland episode 2
*.Equestria Girls Dino Rangers (EG PMV) [Legend of Everfree Spoilers!] - YouTube
3. Kaleido Star episode 8
*.[PMV] Legend You Are Meant To Be - YouTube
4. Super Gals episode 30
*.Legend of everfree : Miraculous Ladybug (PMV) - YouTube

There are several good moments in Legend of Everfree, particularly in the character interactions. Sylvee is right in that this is the closest it's come to a slice of life movie, up until "Rollercoaster of Friendship" if you count that as a movie. However, the movie just doesn't come together well in the end and it feels forgettable.

Timber Spruce and Twilight had cuter interactions than I remembered, but I still have zero interest in ever seeing him again. The real issue with this movie is the time spent on the new powers, which years later, have proven to be completely unnecessary from a story perspective. When you introduce a new power system like this, you'd hope they open up new story avenues, but from a story perspective, the only real effect it has is that Sunset goes up to the villain and gets an expo-dump flashback, which is frankly a terrible story device, and Rarity was able to block Vignette's camera. At most, the other powers have just been used for gags in shorts. Heck, with Fluttershy, no one would have bat an eye if she just talked to animals like her pony counterpart. When they confront a villain, they rainbow blast them anyway, so the powers have no significance.

Anyway, the songs are good, but I feel like they don't tie into the story in a meaningful way, making them less memorable.

Anyway, anime. Moving The Promised Neverland to earlier seems to have worked out, and people are really into it.

The Kaleido Star episode featured more bad parents, and Super Gals was a parade of absurdity with Mami. Both were great.

~~~

Today, we finally got around to the next RP part.
RP 306 - The Shattered Realm 5 - The Rescue Reaches a Head

Trixie - Cappy

While falling, Trixie uses a rope trick to save everyone. Inside the crystal superweapon, they see a leaky pipe, which Maud explains is a time leak and the source of the weapon's power. Lyzolda the yak hits the crystal repeatedly to reach the pipe, but this draws the attention of the warden of the prisoners working on the weapon.

They hide, and after a tense argument, Trixie gets Fluttershy to check what the warden is. It's a headless hydra. Maud explains that the hydra is actually the one creating the weapon. It will knock everyone's heads off, so it can walk around wherever and take a head from the ground to talk through.

They have Lyzolda distract the hydra, running into a tunnel and having it chase after her. Trixie frees the prisoners and the prisoners escape. Maud breaks the crystal to reach the pipe, and Applejack gets to work on it. Unfortunately, the tunnels lead back to them, and the hydra attacks. Trixie fends it off for a bit, but then the ceiling opens up with a sword slice from Flurry Heart. However, she used up too much magic on that flashy entrance. Trixie ties up the hydra and Flurry finishes it off with sword strikes (using the blunt side).

Flurry explains that their multiverse is coming to an end, but that's what's supposed to happen. From their perspective inside, that actually doesn't mean anything. It's only significant to outside observers. In any case, this is causing time leaks, and someone's taking advantage of that.

With the exits blocked and her too low on magic to fly with it, Flurry is forced to reveal her hidden shame: her gigantic wings, proportionally the same size as when she was a baby. She uses a running start to take flight and carries Lyzolda out of the cave. Then Applejack fixes the pipe and they're back in the Shattered Realm, with her neck fixed.

Four portals remain.

~~~

Interview with the new IDW assistant editor, Meghan Brown. Nothing too interesting here.

SigmasonicX · Jan 23, 2019

Art dump
1.Ocellus (Commission) by JonFawkes on DeviantArt - Anthro, two images
2.Starlight by tohupo
3.MLP:YL - A Mother's Worry by InuHoshi-to-DarkPen on DeviantArt - Older Flurry Heart and Cadance
4.#Shadow of Colossus Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie by hazurasinner

1.G5 Sunset by katakiuchi4u
2.Fluttercord Week - Day One : Cosplay by Kyumiku on DeviantArt - Peach Fluttershy and Bowser Discord
3.Dawn by Plainoasis on DeviantArt - Future Spike, Twilight, and Rarity
4.Rainbow Dash by Petrinox on DeviantArt
5.Grumpy Luna by magnaluna

1.Fluttershy in a sun dress by yanamosuda
2.Till Next Time by mirroredsea on DeviantArt - Pinkie and Unicorn Twilight in Golden Oaks Library
3.B by mirroredsea on DeviantArt - Fluttershy in weird head gear
4..:Magic Summer:. by The-Butcher-X on DeviantArt - SciTwi in swimsuit
5.EQG Rarity trying to nail in a screw while Applejack tries to help by ceitama

1.DIY with Applajack by LooknamTCN on DeviantArt - EQG Applejack carrying sleeping Rarity
2.Small Patch of Sunshine by InuHoshi-to-DarkPen on DeviantArt - Fluttershy
3.Human Zecora by kirinscorner
4.Portrait for Candance the Beauty by Sunsettide on DeviantArt - Human Cadance, based on a classical portrait
5.Commission: Defying more than gravity by Earthsong9405 on DeviantArt - Human Twilight and Rarity, adapting a scene from the fanfic "Crimson Lips"

1.Peach Fluttershy and Bowser Discord by gissel00001
2.Reading Nights by ColorSoundz on DeviantArt - Twilight
3.Fluttershy by Petrinox on DeviantArt
4.Self Discovery by compassrose0425 on DeviantArt - "Dragon Quest" art with Spike
5.Category Yay by compassrose0425 on DeviantArt - "Hurricane Fluttershy" art with Fluttershy

1.Joyride by VanillaGhosties on DeviantArt - Starlight
2.Where in Equestria is Carmane Sandineighgo? by PerfectBlue97 on DeviantArt - Ponified Carmen Sandiego
3.Ladybug [MLP Twilight] by Shad0w-Galaxy on DeviantArt
4.Trixie X Starlight cards by maomao9
5.Starlight with a shark plushie by airfly-pony2014

1.A Rarity of Pony by Aureai on DeviantArt
2.Yummy Donut by ChaosAngelDesu on DeviantArt - Fluttershy
3.Nomnom by mirroredsea on DeviantArt - Pinkie and Fluttershy
4.Happy with you by Marbola on DeviantArt - Fluttershy X Twilight
5.Sonata Dusk Chibi by DreaChu on DeviantArt

1.Pinkie by tohupo
2.Twily in the scarf by deltahedgehog18 on DeviantArt - Twilight
3.Flutterpoke by Loreto-Arts on DeviantArt - Fluttershy pokes Spike, animated
4.Morning kiss by LooknamTCN on DeviantArt - EQG Rarity X Applejack
5.Tree Hugger by arachne149

Comic
Never Been Tried by Pony-Berserker on DeviantArt

I would have preferred if it really was Applejack

Such a negative series v_v

SigmasonicX · Jan 24, 2019

We got two comics today!

Friendship is Magic #74
Our normal issue today is about Zephyr Breeze. He has a good job as a hairdresser, but he's worried about whether he's actually good enough for it, in a case of classic imposter syndrome. Fluttershy brings him and the three hairy Student Six to a hairdresser's conference. There, he befriends an experienced hairdresser, who he learns still suffers from the same worries as him, but she has learned how to manage them. It's a nice story with a lesson that will apply to many adult readers.

It was nice to see Silverstream, Yona, and Sandbar involved in this story, though they ultimately didn't do much after the beginning. It was interesting seeing Fluttershy act more teasing and playful around Zephyr, and Zephyr himself strikes a good balance between being what we saw in "Flutter Brutter" and a pony who has clearly learned from that episode's ending and has developed.

Artwise, there are cute moments, but there are several moments where ponies stick their tongues out, a slam dunk for pony artists, and it doesn't look great. However, the depiction of ponies worrying with black tendrils coming out of them were good. Silver Quill's review points out that the artist is going for a more impressionistic style.

The previous issue seemed to foreshadow this one, with Zephyr coming to Fluttershy's house to borrow something, but no, this doesn't follow up on that at all. Fluttershy came to see Zephyr solely because of her students, and then saw he was nervous. Though I suppose it is possible he came to get something for his nerves then decided against it.

The issue also makes the mistake of having Zephyr address Fluttershy as his baby sister, instead of his big sister.

Silver Quill points out that this is one of the few stories where a pony acts as a teacher without sabotaging themselves. No wonder Fluttershy is teacher of the month so often. The story felt a bit familiar, and he points to an unexpected reason: much of this issue is retreading the story of Friends Forever #1, the one where Applejack and Pinkie get into a baking competition but not really. This story is no doubt much stronger than that one.

IDW 20/20 Special
Now this was a fun one, and totally adorbs. Through shenanigans, the Mane Six find themselves back in time, meeting themselves when they just got their cutie marks. It's an easy breezy story where the fillies all gawk at their older selves, come with them to Ponyville for some reason, go looking for the Elements of Harmony in easy to find places (never mind why the Mane Six had them with them), the adults return to their own times, the fillies have their memories locked away until just after they return to the present as adults.

There are three nitpicks. First, the cutie mark timeline doesn't quite work out, with Applejack shown as having them before she actually returns home and other oddities. Second, filly Fluttershy should be taller than everyone else, but she's the same size as them here. Lastly, Applejack proves she's the worst pony by not even thinking of seeing her dead parents, nor does she warn her younger self.

Also, this comic unfortunately doesn't give an exact number for how far they went back, like the synopsis did (of 20 years), so no age confirmation here.

Other than that, it's a must read if you like adorable pones.

I'll just post a bunch of cute panels.

~~~

Some YouTuber made a pony themed cake video. She had to look up the character names, so I assume this was by request. Still, the cakes look tasty.

Nice remix

Nali · Jan 24, 2019

SigmasonicX said:
The issue also makes the mistake of having Zephyr address Fluttershy as his baby sister, instead of his big sister.

This probably is a mistake, but I can also totally see Zephyr as being the type of person to call her his baby sister no matter what their ages are as part of his overall front.

Sylvee · Jan 24, 2019

Only checked out the 20/20 comic, feels like other people liked it a lot more then I did. The art was fantastic and there was some fun interactions but overall the whole thing felt like a massive waste of potential. The main plot (and I think it's pretty generous to even call it a plot) is that I guess the older Mane 6 have to find the elements that got scattered when they traveled back in time so they go around picking them back up. But that has barely any focus and there's 0 tension with it through the entire issue. They basically just find an element and then acquire it with basically no effort at all and then keep repeating that until they got all of them back. The main focus is on the character interactions, which are both not super exciting but also extremely repetitive IMO. All that really happens is the older versions talk about how awesome their future is and how they're super great friends with each other. I'm fine with that being some sort of residual message but that's all they really talk about and everything else in the comic seems to take a back seat so they can keep reiterating that point over and over. I feel like this setup could have benefited more from it being a 2-3 issue story arc with actual stakes and drama so the characters could go through more of an arc. It doesn't have to be super serious but it needs something to be actually worth investing in. As it is the issue feels like a novelty that has some fun moments and great art but is otherwise a disappointment.

SigmasonicX · Jan 25, 2019

I like that the comic was just the ponies hanging out with themselves and going on an easy breezy fetch quest instead of something more eventful. I do think more could have been done with this premise, but focusing on the cute was the most efficient use of the space this comic provided, IMO.

Stream announcements, on Friday, Sylvee will be playing... something.

On Sunday, we'll be showcasing THE GREATEST MY LITTLE PONY VILLAIN

1448362__safe_screencap_juniper+montage_equestria+girls_mirror+magic_spoiler-colon-eqg+specials_animated_cinema_clothes_cropped_funny_gif_solo_walkie+t.gif

1. EQG - Dance Magic
2. EQG - Movie Magic
3. EQG - Mirror Magic
4. The Promised Neverland - 3
5. Yuru Yuri - 1-2(+?)

Not showing Kaleido Star and Super Gals this time to showcase a comedy anime called Yuru Yuri, which has been requested for a while.

~~~

I don't have time to look through this right now, but this is interesting. A 650+ page webcomic where readers choose the adventure, with dice rolling to determine chance of success. Art is good too. First page, latest page.

Art dump

1.Mrs. Shy in the clouds by mysticalpha
2.Fluttershy by nemovonsilver
3.Gabby by ponimu
4.Derpy by ponimu
5.Tree in a Tree by Miokomata on DeviantArt - Fluttershy

1.Rainbow Dash redesign by Marbola on DeviantArt
2.G by mirroredsea on DeviantArt - Applejack
3.UFO Catcher by mirroredsea on DeviantArt - Apple Bloom
4.Fluttercord Week - Day Three : Seasons by Kyumiku on DeviantArt - Fluttershy and Discord
5.A Gif - Fluttercordweek by Yami-Sempai on DeviantArt - Fluttershy and Discord

1.Skipping Tracks by Sketchiix3 on DeviantArt - Vinyl
2.A special Snowman nwn by Gissel00001 on DeviantArt - Fluttershy and Discord
3.Older Emo Anthro Flurry Heart by flutterthrash
4.Anthro Silverstream by flutterthrash
5.Fluttershy by Huckser on DeviantArt - Anthro

1.Sport Swimsuit Sunset Shimmer (Anthro) by MykeGreywolf on DeviantArt
2.Butterflies by Seanica on DeviantArt - Fluttershy and Discord
3.Twilight by AutumnVoyage on DeviantArt
4.Autumn Blaze Lion Dance by Alexi148 on DeviantArt
5.Love letters by ChaosAngelDesu on DeviantArt - Pinkie and Marble

1.Starlight Glimmer by ChaosAngelDesu on DeviantArt
2.Rarity by ponimu
3.Yukata Pinkie by noupu
4.Trixie getting a new hat by celebi-yoshi
5.Drunken Doodle by Silent-Shadow-Wolf on DeviantArt - Rainbow Dash

1.Rarity saying "Darling" by tohupo
2.Princess Luna 1 23 2019 by tohupo on DeviantArt
3.Rarity in "Sweet and Elite" outfit by tohupo
4.Pom by tohupo
5.Trixie Badge by Ardail on DeviantArt

1.Forest kiss by Marbola on DeviantArt - Fluttershy X Twilight
2.Flutterfly by Marbola on DeviantArt
3.Smirky Sunset by Tony-Retro on DeviantArt
4.The Gift From The Sun by Fluttersheeeee on DeviantArt - Luna
5.Splash by mirroredsea on DeviantArt - Wet Mane Rarity

1.Anthro Sandbar feeding Tank by thegreatrouge
2.Shocked Six by thegreatrouge on DeviantArt - Anthro Mane Six
3.Flutters (2017 art) by thegreatrouge on DeviantArt - Fluttershy
4.#EQG Starlight with "I see..." ice cream by the-butch-x
5.The Dazzlings! by LiaAqila on DeviantArt

1.Rarity date - by Light262 by Light262 on DeviantArt
2.Fluttercord week 2019 Day Five by Waackery on DeviantArt - Fluttershy and Discord species swap
3.Sunset bummed out about her missing horn by katakiuchi4u
4.Join us by Shinta-Girl on DeviantArt - Human Starlight and Sailor Scout Twilight
5.Anthro Fluttershy and Flutterbat by howxu

1.Dark Souls Sunset praising the sun by katakiuchi4u
2.{NextGen}~ Twilight and Tempest by PurpleGrim40 on DeviantArt
3.Fluttercord week 2019 Day Four by Waackery on DeviantArt - Fluttershy and Discord as bunnies

Nice orchestral suite

SigmasonicX · Jan 25, 2019

Cute enough, and I expect many stills from this to be popular, but... it's just Pinkie baking cookies

Only particularly wacky thing was her literally filling a bowl with tortoise kisses. Also I don't know where all the cookie dough on the walls came from.

April comic solicitations, and... there's only one comic. Does this mean they're dialing back on the comics in light of the show ending?

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #77
Katie Cook & Andy Price (w) • Andy Price (a & CVR A) • Sara Richard (CVR B) • Philip Murphy (1:10 RI CVR)

My%2BLittle%2BPony%2BFriendship%2Bis%2BMagic%2B77%2BCover.png

With stars aligning, villains escaping, and princesses out of commission, can Equestria's favorite ponies find a way to defeat Cosmos-before it's too late?! Cosmos is freed, and it's going to take a little bit of magic-and a lot of friendship-to stop her!

Wow, the princesses are defeated?!

Anyway, interesting that Zecora is so prominent on the cover. The synopsis kind of sounds like an ending. The first issue of this arc, #75, is double length, so it being only three issues long is possible.

DrForester · Jan 25, 2019

princesses out of commission

Oh, for fuck's sake...

SigmasonicX · Jan 26, 2019

OH SHIT, evidence there was going to be an official IDW crossover between MLP and Transformers. It was canceled.

I don't think that cover itself looks that great, but it's a shame this never happened.

I've always felt a crossover between FiM and Transformers Animated would have worked great. In particular, Animated ends with Optimus having just become leader of the Autobots and gaining a flight mode he can't quite control yet. Perfect time for Twilight to come in and give advice! Plus, double Tara Strong with Twilight and Sari.

SigmasonicX · Jan 27, 2019

Friday stream followup, we watched the following.
1.Well, I guess SOMEBODY had to read "Trigger Warning"
2.One Small Step

The former is Jenny Nicholson reading and commenting on a conservative wet dream of a published novel where a 24 year old man that acts like an old geezer (because he has an old soul) who is also BIG protects a college campus from Antifa ninjas in a Die Hard ripoff, but what's more interesting is the backstory of the book she reveals after.

The latter is the start of a series of us watching Oscar nominated animated shorts. This looks great, and is good at triggering emotions with zero dialogue. The route the story takes it quite cliche for this type of short, though. Also, the main character is named Luna.

~~~

RP 307 - The Shattered Realm 6 - Old Prench Couture
We leave Applestonia behind to visit new pastures.

Trixie - Cappy

After some sleep, Maud accidentally throws Trixie into a portal. Only two other ponies can travel through portals, like in Chrono Trigger, so Fluttershy and Applejack follow after, with Maud staying behind.

They end up in Old Prance, in the home of Lord D'Cheval. He is using a time leak in the form of a leaky drinking fountain to power a time machine that can send you back one day. There's a party going on downstairs, and he actually did go back and tell himself to enjoy himself there. He has a barrier around the time leak that will only respond to his magic. He's willing to bring it down if the heroes can convince his other self to dance with Lady Crinière.

They go to the party where they find her buried in a book. She's literally a Twilight recolor. Eventually, they are able to convince her that her dance with him would be completely platonic and she and Lord D'Cheval approach.

But then! The other Lord D'Cheval that was upstairs decides he wants to dance with Lady Crinière instead. The two Lord D'Chevals argue, and then! A giant roc that looks like Gallus crashes through the window and snatches up Lady Crinière! The two lords chase after it.

~~~

More keyboard ponies, this time with brony songs.

Art dump. Leaving this one out.
by animesoul - Artist tag also includes close ups

1.Sunset teaching SciTwi to swear by sunsetslight
2.Moonlight Raven by iojknmiojknm on DeviantArt - Human
3.Humane Seven by jirousan
4.Rainbow talking about Twilight in her sleep anthro by tylerdashart
5.Happy Pinkie by ponimu

1.Fluttershy by erkythehero23 on DeviantArt
2.Spike by TheBowtieOne on DeviantArt
3.Pinkie by PlnetFawn on DeviantArt
4.Fluttercord Week - Day Six : Favorite moment by Kyumiku on DeviantArt - Fluttershy and Discord
5.YOU from the past by LooknamTCN on DeviantArt - EQG Applejack and Rarity

1.Photocard 01 by dustyMunji on DeviantArt - EQG Applejack and Rainbow
2.Fluttershy by MoonDreamer16 on DeviantArt
3.Fluttercord Week - Day Seven : Mistletoe by Kyumiku on DeviantArt - Fluttershy X Discord
4.Poplar fluff by mirroredsea on DeviantArt - Fluttershy
5.Water stroll by Marbola on DeviantArt - Rarity

1.Book princess redesign by EpochAii on DeviantArt - Twilight
2.A Little Helper by ChaosAngelDesu on DeviantArt - Rainbow
3.How To Train Your Draconequus by Vantiss on DeviantArt - Fluttershy and Discord in cosplay
4.Fluttershy X Discord by sadistjolt
5.SciTwi alternate outfit by bordogushter

1.Phoenix by its-gloomy on DeviantArt - Fluttershy
2..:The Craft of...Cookies?:. (EqG Shorts) by The-Butcher-X on DeviantArt - Two images, Pinkie and Tank
3.The Goddess Lyra ~ by SarAlieng on DeviantArt
4.F-sh by Xjenn9 on DeviantArt - Fluttershy

1.Rarity redesign by Marbola on DeviantArt
2.Fluttercord week 2019 Day seven by Waackery on DeviantArt - Fluttershy X Discord
3.Reversalis by VanillaGhosties on DeviantArt - Reflections Universe Chrysalis
4.Starburst -Eearly Days- by uotapo on DeviantArt - Starlight and Sunburst
5.EQG Pinkie about to prank Rainbow by erufi

1.EQG background human Mystery Mint by nekojackun
2.TwiSet by Jowybean on DeviantArt - EQG Twilight and Sunset
3.EQG Twilight and Sunset singing by jowybean
4.EQG Twilight and Sunset rocking out with Pinkie by jowybean
5.EQG Twilight by kkmrarar

1.EQG young Rainbow protecting young Fluttershy by dcon
2.Too shy to play doom on public by 0ndshok on DeviantArt - EQG Fluttershy
3.It s morning already? by Xan-gelX on DeviantArt - Sunset
4.Twilight with Books by NinjaHam on DeviantArt - Humanized
5.Crying then happy Twilight GIF by colorfulcolor233
6.Cozy Glow by erufi - She is saying "Help me safe me! I am all alone" and then "Take my hoof. I have friends who gonna love you."

This is a cute video, aside from one point where I was worried it was going in a fetish direction. Note you need to enable captions to get the subtitles.

And hey, we finally got another memoir video. Still a season behind, though.

SigmasonicX · Jan 28, 2019

Hey look, we got more fake season 9 screenshots floating around.

SigmasonicX · Jan 28, 2019

Stream followup. We watched the following.

*.'The Art of Cookies' Original Short 🍪 MLP: Equestria Girls Season 2 - YouTube
*.MLP: Equestria Girls Minis - 'The Show Must Go On Pt.1' Digital Short - YouTube
*.MLP: Equestria Girls Minis - 'The Show Must Go On Pt.2' Digital Short - YouTube
1. EQG - Dance Magic
2. EQG - Movie Magic
3. EQG - Mirror Magic
*.Dance Magic [PMV] - YouTube
4. Yuru Yuri - 1
*.[Japanese] Sunset Shimmer meets Starlight Glimmer | MLP Equestria Girls Specials - Mirror Magic - YouTube
5. Yuru Yuri - 2
*.Beyblade Moses

Way more people showed up to see Juniper Montage in action than I expected. Because of that, I didn't think it was right to watch The Promised Neverland episode 3 with people who hadn't watched the previous two episodes, so I'm holding that off until next week, where we'll watch it with episode 4. Assuming episode 4 doesn't disappoint me as an adaptation more than episode 3.

Anyway, "Dance Magic" was fun but I still find the way Rarity resolves things with the Shadowbolts to be pretty contrived. "Movie Magic" was dumb, but more fun than I remembered. And then with "Mirror Magic", the Sunset and Starlight parts were good, but the Juniper parts were HOT GARBAGE, worse than I remembered. It's quite impressive.

Since Juniper is Trig's thing, I decided it was time to honor his request to show Yuru Yuri. It was really anime. There were some alright jokes, but it really isn't my sort of series.

There really aren't many Juniper related YouTube videos, so I had to stretch in that regard. About the Japanese video, while they stopped dubbing FiM with season 2, they continued dubbing Equestria Girls, resulting in the odd situation where "Mirror Magic" is Starlight's first appearance in Japan.

On the subject of "Mirror Magic", comic by keeerooooo1 based on the part where Sunset's upset that PonyTwi hasn't written back. The Chinese text is just the dialogue from that scene.

Sylvee · Jan 28, 2019

SigmasonicX said:
The latter is the start of a series of us watching Oscar nominated animated shorts. This looks great, and is good at triggering emotions with zero dialogue. The route the story takes it quite cliche for this type of short, though. Also, the main character is named Luna.

The animation was nice, but the main storyline felt very samey and formulaic. It reminded me a ton of Disney's Feast, (Intro video to Big Hero 6) which ignoring artstyle I think does a better job at telling that story.

SigmasonicX said:
Anyway, "Dance Magic" was fun but I still find the way Rarity resolves things with the Shadowbolts to be pretty contrived. "Movie Magic" was dumb, but more fun than I remembered. And then with "Mirror Magic", the Sunset and Starlight parts were good, but the Juniper parts were HOT GARBAGE, worse than I remembered. It's quite impressive.

The coincidence didn't really bother me. Rewatching Dance Magic again I think it might be the best presentation the show's ever had. The episode I think might be Tabitha's best work, the song is fun, the animation for it is great when it's not recycling the same animations. All the costumes look fantastic, (the Daring Do costumes especially are great which is pretty incredible given that they were only used for that one scene) the expressions were on point, and many of the sets are beautiful too like Rarity's room. And the story I think is one of Rarity's best ever. I think it might just be the best thing to ever come out of EQG.

And yeah my big takeaway from Movie Magic and Mirror Magic is that I seemed to have forgotten just how awful Juniper is. I won't say that I got her wrong the first time but due to how long it's been since I've seen these episodes I forgot just how awful she was. I actually decided to try and dig up my old post on the special, and the first main paragraph I think puts it pretty well:

I'll get the big problem I have with the episode out of the way right now: Juniper Montage might be my most hated MLP character ever, and she's certainly the worst villain. Sure crystal guy was kinda lame and only talked about crystals, and Sunset was a generic high school bully with no thought put into having that make any remote amount of sense for the overall storyline of the show, but neither of them could bother me enough to actively hate them. Juniper kills every single scene she's in for pretty much the entire episode. Where to even start with what's wrong with her? As I said in Movie Magic, her main plan makes no sense at all and isn't remotely grounded in reality. She's shown 0 acting skills and all of the sudden she thinks she's capable of playing the lead role in a major blockbuster movie because she likes the brand and is a niece of the director? I was hoping that maybe she actually was qualified for the job and wasn't just being unreasonable but they doubled down on that here, and then doubled down again. She doesn't have any clue what's she's doing the entire episode and is never shown off to be an actual threat. It's hard to be fearful of her because she's mainly just a pathetic and generally awful person. Roughly the first half of the episode she spends the whole time slacking off at her job and trying to come up with excuses for not doing it. She comes off as an extremely lazy person that thinks that she deserves good things to happen to her without putting any actual work into it. And her obsessing over becoming famous comes off as extremely vain and doesn't endear me towards her character at all. Also as Rainbow points out literally all of her problems in her life are entirely self-inflicted so it's hard to feel bad for her when they try to pull out the sympathy card.

Juniper legitimately might just be the worst fictional character I've ever seen. That post honestly undersells just how reprehensible she is. Even after finding out that she was deliberately trying to ruin his movie her uncle still sticks his neck out for her to get her a new job, and she then proceeds to basically do the worst job imaginable with no concern for anyone besides herself. Like some customers show up to get some fucking popcorn and she tells them to go away. They just want some popcorn, Juniper. I really just don't get what they were doing with her.

Need some pony to wash away the bad human:

My Little Pony |OT| An adventure that never will end

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