The My Little Pony: Frienship Is Magic Thread

[Ganthan]

All I want to know is how the hell did Featherweight get that picture of Celestia stuffing her face with cake? My theory is that she was celebrating her 1116th birthday (She doesn't look a day over 1050) and Luna smuggled him into the party to take the picture as a bit of counter trolling for that whole moon thing.

Also, that pic of drunk Pinkie Pie dancing in the punch bowl? That is crazy awesome.

[Ganthan]

Nopony has mentioned the new episode yet? Nopony at all? Really? Alrighty then, I guess I'll have to do it.

MLP: FIM Season 2 Episode 24 MMMystery on the Friendship Express

Another solid gold episode with lots of funny over the top references like James Bond, Sherlock Holmes and Julia Child, a plot that did not use the cheap/obvious resolution, and a very important end lesson.

However, it's now two weeks until the double episode season finale and then no more new episodes until Season 3.

[Happygun]

Wanted someone else to do it. 'Sides, it seems like only you, me, and Kris frequent the forums these days.

Figured out who'd done it about half-way through the episode. Entertaining nonetheless, particularly the way Twilight insisted on taking both the bubble pipe and the hat from Pinkie when she took over the investigation. Also, that's some DAMN dense frosting on the cake if it can tire Big Mac.

[bar1scorpio]

I personally would have liked more in the way if detective parodies. Nero Wolfe, Cadfael, Poirot, Remington Steele, etc.

[Happygun]

Everyone here looking forward to the Canterlot Royal Wedding? Coincidentally, it's the same day as Picnic Day () here at UC Davis. So I'm given a choice between watching a pair of cute cartoon horsies get married or a bunch of drunken fratboys and out-of-towners from Sacramento make idiots of themselves while over 100,000 people flood campus, which is a mile in diameter, tops. Guess which one I'm picking.

[Kris@WLP]

[Kris@WLP]

[Happygun]

I wonder what Prince Cadence's dark secret is...

Possibilities:

She's not really a Pegasus unicorn.
She's really...a COLT!
She's Discord in disguise.
She's Trixie in disguise.
She's princess Luna in disguise (THAT'S why she's been missing most of the time)
She eats babies.
She's republican.

[bar1scorpio]

Argh! Next time they're doing a mystery episode, Rarity could be Nero Wolfe. Sewing an Orchid Dress.

I just want to hear more people screaming "THE POLICE GET NO SANDWICHES!"

And those were the few sleuths that immediately popped into mind. I remember an old Benny Hill skit when he did an Orient Express bit, that involved him doing impersonations of just about every show at the time, including Kojack and Jake & the Fat Man.

[Happygun]

Just saw A Canterlot Wedding...

...holy shit...

This was, without a doubt, the best two episodes in the series. Seriously.

SOOO many good bits. SOOO many patently obvious fanservice moments. SOOO many fanfic opportunities. I don't know where to start.

A fitting end to a glorious season. The only problem is...now we have to wait months for new stuff...

*whimpers*

[Kris@WLP]

I'll get a chance to watch my recording of the wedding soon, I hope.

In the meantime, I've updated wlpshirts.com for a sale to see if several designs can be saved from the chopping block...

... and I've also put this one up for pre-orders.

http://www.wlpcomics.com/shop/index.php ... cts_id=762

(My first idea on this design wasn't quite so friendly, but asking customers persuaded me this would be better.)

[Happygun]

Careful with that T-shirt. Hasbro has licensed out a lot of pony shirts to other companies but they can be very touchy about IP if you don't get permission.

[Kris@WLP]

[Kris@WLP]

SPOILERS
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Having watched the eps now, I gotta say... not my favorites, and definitely NOT something I'd show to a non-brony for a first exposure. Both episodes singularly lacking in the random insanity that's the main draw for me. The script, with very few tweaks, could have been a G1 script. Especially part 1; part 2 is MUCH MUCH better, part 1 actually made my head hurt.

Still, there were some definite good points:

(1) The first song- the BBBFF song- was sweet without being vapid and saccharine, and the reprise at the end of part 1 was a real kick in the gut.
(2) The escape from the mine: minor Moment of Awesome for the Princess there, looked beautiful, very well paced.
(3) Bridesmaid joke. Yes, it was lame, but it worked and they got past it quickly.
(4) "Meh, I've seen better." followed by Pinkie using Twi as a machine gun.
(5) Luna. "Did I miss anything?"

Other positive points: well, the changelings are very interesting baddies well executed, especially the character being called Chrysalis. She gives good gloat.

But the main negative: the main plot in the first episode was handled so conventionally it could have had a checklist. "Fail doppelganger test? Check. Interact with clueless friends in ways that reinforce your suspicions while providing no proof? Check. Be the sole witness to proof positive of your suspicions? Check. Discredited like the scientist in Body Snatchers? Check. Confronted by the imposter at the moment of utter defeat? Check. Well, that's the first half done." It felt like a frog-march to me: no surprises, no twists, and too little MLP:FiM unique flavor. (On the other hand, for little kids who've never encountered the whole doppleganger plot line before, it's an excellent tutorial. And I hope Friendship is Dragons gets round to skewering it SOON.)

If I'd done it, I would have made one major difference that would have made it a lot better: I'd have avoided putting the doppelganger-check scene at the first interaction Twi had with the changeling queen. Twi could have seen how she treated AJ and Rarity, had some suspicions, and -THEN- have them validated when she didn't remember the filly game dance thing. The "trust your instincts" moral would have been retained. Instead my brain is still screaming, "She DOESN'T REMEMBER! You spent YEARS with her and she DOESN'T REMEMBER! IM BLOODY POSTER! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! GET OTHERS WHO KNOW HER TO TEST HER!"

One other minor issue: if Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle were as inseparable as the song says... how come Twilight, who picks up on all sorts of magic, can't do SA's forcefield spell herself? Seems she'd have ample opportunity to learn it... or did I miss something there besides the need for the Power of Love to triumph?

OK, feel better now. Back to sorting through the mountain of stuff I cleaned off my desk and watching Mythbusters.

[Kris@WLP]

[Happygun]

[Kris@WLP]

[Happygun]

[Kris@WLP]

[Ganthan]

I guess the show has done a pretty good job of pulling me into its world on its own terms because I honestly wasn't thinking of any of that crap while watching the episodes. Y'know what I was thinking about? During the changeling fight sequence I thought, "I bet the Fighting is Magic team is taking notes on this stuff." When Shining Armor and Cadence blew the changelings out of Canterlot, the song The Power of Love started going through my head with Back to the Future flashbacks.

Now that Season 2 has drawn to a close, I'd like to do some comparisons between the first and second seasons. Now, obviously the first season was the pilot season and for most of its run Studio B thought that they were mainly just going to cater to little kids. For Season 2 they were well aware of the audience they were dealing with by that point and it shows in the writing.

First of all I noticed that Season 2 didn't seem to contain quite as much of the old fairy tale elements of controlling the weather and seasons that Season 1 had. I only really picked up on it in Hurricane Fluttershy. I also noticed a drop in the presentation of classic fantasy creatures. Season 1 had dragons, a hydra, a cockatrice, a cleverly disguised phoenix, an Ursa Major, as well as a few new critters like parasprites. Most of the fantasy creatures in Season 2 were pretty much just there as backdrops (like the quarray eels and a few more phoenixes) and not really expanded on as much, the exception being the Windigos.

As a result, the show is feeling less like a fairy tale cartoon and more like a sitcom. Instead of going on an adventure through a silly and entertaining cartoon fantasy, it's dealing more and more with the kind of real life places and problems that WE have to. Frankly this difference couldn't get any more in your face than in The Cutie Pox when they went to, of all places, a BOWLING ALLEY. To this day I'm still trying to figure out why ponies, creatures without fingers, design bowling balls that still have the three finger holes.

I'm not saying that all this has made Season 2 worse than Season 1. The exact opposite, really. I think Season 2 was 1000% funnier and more enjoyable. I knew we were in for a fun ride when Lesson Zero came along. Even the episodes that weren't quite as good were still enjoyable. Here's hoping Season 3 can keep up the good work.

[Happygun]

[bar1scorpio]

The Diamond Dogs have fingers. So do Dragons. Maybe they're also into bowling.

[Happygun]

No pony - not even Twilight - knew about the Diamond Dogs, and from what we saw they are less advanced than Equestria. I doubt they'd have developed bowling and even if they had it wouldn't have gotten passed along to the ponies. And they almost certainly do not visit the ones in Ponyville or elsewhere. Same thing for dragons, doubly so.

[Kris@WLP]

And besides, they don't make bowling shoes for dragons.

[Ganthan]