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[draetenth]

I don't think Twilight even had any interaction with

Spoiler

Trixie

in the first meeting. Her friends were outright assholes and Twilight was worried they would have the same reaction to her, but I don't think she ever actually talked to

Spoiler

Trixie

.

Spoiler

Trixie's

ego got the better of her for the second time and wrongly placed the blame on Twilight for (unintentionally) showing her up during the end of the first meeting even though Twilight never did anything prior to that and was just trying to stop any harm from coming to Ponyville.

I suppose what

Spoiler

Trixie

did in the second encounter was bad, but was her

Spoiler

being under the influence of an evil artifact

any worse than what any other villain did when they weren't under any outside influence? Heck, is

Spoiler

Trixie under the effects of that Alicorn Amulet

really that much different than Luna as NMM?

Starlight wasn't under the influence of anything when she practically enslaved a whole town and took away their free all because a friend left her. Starlight then tried to rewrite history in her quest for revenge on Twilight, but she was forgiven really quickly. Honestly, I would be more worried about Starlight being the troublesome one in the episode simply because what she did was just as bad/worse and she wasn't under any influence.

This just seems like it may be an episode where Twilight's paranoia gets the better of her and she stresses over nothing.

 

[Fat4all]

This just seems like it may be an episode where Twilight's paranoia gets the better of her and she stresses over nothing.

I hope that's what they elude to, but then she turns out to be super evil at the end.

 

[PaulloDEC]

I don't think Twilight even had any interaction with

Spoiler

Trixie

in the first meeting. Her friends were outright assholes and Twilight was worried they would have the same reaction to her, but I don't think she ever actually talked to

Spoiler

Trixie

.

Spoiler

Trixie's

ego got the better of her for the second time and wrongly placed the blame on Twilight for (unintentionally) showing her up during the end of the first meeting even though Twilight never did anything prior to that and was just trying to stop any harm from coming to Ponyville.

I suppose what

Spoiler

Trixie

did in the second encounter was bad, but was her

Spoiler

being under the influence of an evil artifact

any worse than what any other villain did when they weren't under any outside influence? Heck, is

Spoiler

Trixie under the effects of that Alicorn Amulet

really that much different than Luna as NMM?

Starlight wasn't under the influence of anything when she practically enslaved a whole town and took away their free all because a friend left her. Starlight then tried to rewrite history in her quest for revenge on Twilight, but she was forgiven really quickly. Honestly, I would be more worried about Starlight being the troublesome one in the episode simply because what she did was just as bad/worse and she wasn't under any influence.

This just seems like it may be an episode where Twilight's paranoia gets the better of her and she stresses over nothing.

I guess the distinction is that Starlight ultimately came across as this big tragic figure, whereas

Spoiler

Trixie is kind of just a local nuisance who rolls into town, acts like an asshole, gets defeated and then slinks off again.

That last line of yours though? It'll probably just end up being that, and I'm totally fine with it.

 

[Gold Coins for Cats]

I don't think Twilight even had any interaction with

Spoiler

Trixie

in the first meeting. Her friends were outright assholes and Twilight was worried they would have the same reaction to her, but I don't think she ever actually talked to

Spoiler

Trixie

.

Spoiler

Trixie's

ego got the better of her for the second time and wrongly placed the blame on Twilight for (unintentionally) showing her up during the end of the first meeting even though Twilight never did anything prior to that and was just trying to stop any harm from coming to Ponyville.

I suppose what

Spoiler

Trixie

did in the second encounter was bad, but was her

Spoiler

being under the influence of an evil artifact

any worse than what any other villain did when they weren't under any outside influence? Heck, is

Spoiler

Trixie under the effects of that Alicorn Amulet

really that much different than Luna as NMM?

Starlight wasn't under the influence of anything when she practically enslaved a whole town and took away their free all because a friend left her. Starlight then tried to rewrite history in her quest for revenge on Twilight, but she was forgiven really quickly. Honestly, I would be more worried about Starlight being the troublesome one in the episode simply because what she did was just as bad/worse and she wasn't under any influence.

This just seems like it may be an episode where Twilight's paranoia gets the better of her and she stresses over nothing.

It could also be that Twilight is afraid that

Spoiler

Trixie Lulamoon

is simply pretending to be friends with Starlight as an excuse to be a bother or being nebulously evil, at least in Twilight's mind. There wasn't really a reformation afterall. And it's complicated by the fact that

Spoiler

Trixie Lulamoon

would still probably be petty towards Twilight even if she was truly friends with Starlight.

Spoiler

Trixie Lulamoon

and Twi are

Spoiler

polar opposites

in terms of

Spoiler

power vs. showmanship

, anyways.

Still, I look forward to it.

Edit: this spoiler thing is fun.

 

[DrForester]

I fear this is going to be like Discord where the comics handle the character so much better than the show. So far,

Spoiler

Trixie

has been handled great in her few comic appearances.

 

[SigmasonicX]

11. Flutter Brutter - June 4
When Fluttershy tries to convince her freeloading brother to move out of their parents' house, he moves in with her instead, forcing Fluttershy to stand up to him and help him get over his fear of failure.

The story sounds similar to "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies", but presumably Fluttershy will stand up to her brother fairly quickly and most of the episode will be about getting him a job. I wonder if this story will be targeted at bronies in particular, given the cliches about them.

Fluttershy's brother seems to be around her age or older, which is older than I expected. So that still leaves the question, who the hell is Pop Fly?!

 

[draetenth]

I wonder if this story will be targeted at bronies in particular, given the cliches about them.

First thing that came to mind. Second was the occasional thread that pops up here on GAF in Off-topic about people still living with their parents.

 

[Strider_Blaze]

Second was the occasional thread that pops up here on GAF in Off-topic about people still living with their parents.

I still do. ;P

Meanwhile, I'm still very much behind on season 6 (I still haven't even watched the season premiere lol). Been mostly busy with school, so I haven't found a reasonable time to check out the episodes; the weekends go by pretty fast.

Well worst case scenario, I'll likely be binge watching whenever new episodes are available for streaming on Netflix.

 

[SigmasonicX]

First thing that came to mind. Second was the occasional thread that pops up here on GAF in Off-topic about people still living with their parents.

<_< I still live with my parents, though that's not unusual for the San Francisco Bay Area.

Though speaking of GAF threads, I wonder if the story won't so much involve getting a job as going to a meetup or even a convention.

On another note, here's a surprise. For the sci-fi and fantasy focused Hugo awards, "The Cutie Map" is one of the nominees for best short form dramatic presentation. Though given at least two of the competitors, I doubt it will win. The Hugo Awards last year were infiltrated by Sad Puppies (anti-SJW group), but as far as I can tell, there's no big controversy this year. Here's how works are nominated, by they way.

 

[DrForester]

<_< I still live with my parents, though that's not unusual for the San Francisco Bay Area.

Though speaking of GAF threads, I wonder if the story won't so much involve getting a job as going to a meetup or even a convention.

On another note, here's a surprise. For the sci-fi and fantasy focused Hugo awards, "The Cutie Map" is one of the nominees for best short form dramatic presentation. Though given at least two of the competitors, I doubt it will win. The Hugo Awards last year were infiltrated by Sad Puppies (anti-SJW group), but as far as I can tell, there's no big controversy this year. Here's how works are nominated, by they way.

Oh yes they were...

Best short story (2,451 ballots)
Asymmetrical Warfare by SR Algernon (Nature, Mar 2015)
The Commuter by Thomas A Mays (Stealth)
If You Were an Award, My Love by Juan Tabo and S Harris (voxday.blogspot.com, Jun 2015)
Seven Kill Tiger by Charles Shao (There Will Be WarVolume X, Castalia House)
Space Raptor Butt Invasion by Chuck Tingle (Amazon Digital Services)

Best related work (2,080 ballots)
Between Light and Shadow: An Exploration of the Fiction of Gene Wolfe, 1951 to 1986 by Marc Aramini (Castalia House)
The First Draft of My Appendix N Book by Jeffro Johnson (jeffro.wordpress.com)
Safe Space as Rape Room by Daniel Eness (castaliahouse.com)
SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police by Vox Day (Castalia House)
The Story of Moira Greyland by Moira Greyland (askthebigot.com)

The right wing wacko who runs this campaign got nearly all his nominees on the ballot, and the MLP Episode (likely due to portraying Equality as a negative) was on his list. It's a shame the show was dragged into this. Even if I thought the episode deserved to be nominated, I would hate for it to win and give fuel to those people.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Safe Space as Rape Room by Daniel Eness (castaliahouse.com)
SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police by Vox Day (Castalia House)

Yeesh, that's pretty blatant. I didn't actually look at the other nominees, but I searched for any recent news about the Hugo Awards and didn't find any, so I figured the controversy had died down. I guess it's just not considered newsworthy anymore.

As for how MLP got dragged into this, I get the impression that many anti-SJW people use it to say, "See, I'm not against women, I like this show with a mostly female cast!"

 

[draetenth]

As for how MLP got dragged into this, I get the impression that many anti-SJW people use it to say, "See, I'm not against women, I like this show with a mostly female cast!"

That's always been my impression and why I hate that people on the gaming always try to refer to Gaming Gators (another anti-SJW group) as bronies as some form of insult (and justification as to why bronies are bad).

 

[PaulloDEC]

Ugh at the Hugo Awards drama. Hopefully the organisers get their shit together sooner rather than later.

11. Flutter Brutter - June 4
When Fluttershy tries to convince her freeloading brother to move out of their parents' house, he moves in with her instead, forcing Fluttershy to stand up to him and help him get over his fear of failure.

The story sounds similar to "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies", but presumably Fluttershy will stand up to her brother fairly quickly and most of the episode will be about getting him a job. I wonder if this story will be targeted at bronies in particular, given the cliches about them.

Pretty surprised at that summary, not what I was expecting at all. I wonder if Flutters' brother will meet Discord while he's hanging out at the cottage?

 

[DrForester]

Yeesh, that's pretty blatant. I didn't actually look at the other nominees, but I searched for any recent news about the Hugo Awards and didn't find any, so I figured the controversy had died down. I guess it's just not considered newsworthy anymore.

As for how MLP got dragged into this, I get the impression that many anti-SJW people use it to say, "See, I'm not against women, I like this show with a mostly female cast!"

The show basically being their "black friend" does seem likely.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Movie news!

Slated for next November. But given it's releasing around a bunch of potentially big films (animated Grinch, new Disney film for example) it could be delayed. But it could be Hasbro plans a limited release for it like EQG and doesn't expect much from it.

It looks like Hasbro was feeling the heat and changed the date, but thankfully, it's been moved up. The movie is now releasing October 6. Looking here, the competition is X-Men: Gambit (lol) and Blade Runner 2. Both are potentially big movies, but there don't appear to be any other movies targeted toward children.

EDIT: Michael Pena (Ant-Man side character) and Uzo Aduba (Orange is the New Black's Crazy Eyes) joining the film.

 

[Strider_Blaze]

Great movies news! They are winning me at Michael Pena; he was definitely one of my personal highlights in Ant-Man!

Meanwhile, I've been very much meh with Fox's X-Men films; I didn't really find DoFP all that special IMO, though it was better than the X-Men films released prior to DoFP and I had a great time watching Deadpool! Not sure about watching X-Men: Apocalypse seeing as it will release 3 weeks after Captain America, but I shall see when word-of-mouth comes by.

But besides all that, it has made it easy for me to choose the MLP film seeing as it won't be directly competing with Thor: Ragnarok now.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Movie news!

It looks like Hasbro was feeling the heat and changed the date, but thankfully, it's been moved up. The movie is now releasing October 6. Looking here, the competition is X-Men: Gambit (lol) and Blade Runner 2. Both are potentially big movies, but there don't appear to be any other movies targeted toward children.

EDIT: Michael Pena (Ant-Man side character) and Uzo Aduba (Orange is the New Black's Crazy Eyes) joining the film.

Great news on the release date (though I seriously doubt I'll be seeing it in cinemas). Less competition can't hurt.

I'm not familiar with the two new actors there, but they've both been in quality stuff by the looks.

 

[tomtom94]

Aww, I was kind of hoping to see it and Ragnarok in the same weekend. But I guess that makes more sense.

Those are some weird, but entertaining, cast additions.

 

[Andrew J.]

Really great episode today, probably one of my favorites. You really understood everyone's point of view, even when they were clearly in the wrong. Funny stinger, too.

 

[Jay RaR]

Great episode today. A lot of surprise cameos in this episode as well as another episode on Trixie. It was amusing to see Twilight out of her comfort zone seeing Trixie and Starlight hang out and being a little too cautious with them.

Spoiler

And surprise surprise "DJ-Pon3" shows up with her fanon name announced on screen but alas she did not speak! If there was any convenient time for her to speak, this was it! Dang it!

 

[DrForester]

Kind of a meh episode for me. Lots of nice stuff in it, but doing just like "What About Discord?" and having Twilight Paranoia end up being right just kind of ruins it.

They also retconed the heck out of the end of Magic Duel.

 

[Dennis]

I have not watched the episode but it is a Trixie episode so you know it is going to be good.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Before I watched the episode, I was surprised to see that no one had posted about it in this thread. Of course, now several people have, but in the past, that indicated that the episode was dull or bad.

I enjoyed a lot of the episode, but there was one aspect I didn't like as much that I think will upset people: I don't actually like Trixie's voice. Like, it's not grating or anything, but I didn't really enjoy the long segments of Trixie talking.

So basically, I liked the episode a lot up until Trixie got involved, whereupon I just liked the episode. It was fun seeing Starlight continue to be forceful with making friends, and of course Angel would fall in love with a former dictator. Oh, and confirmation that ponies apparently disapprove of magic-made food even though it's just as good, like how the crew of Deep Space 9 disapproves of replicated food.

I was pleasantly surprised by the cameos of "Slice of Life" characters, including Cranky speaking and them remembering his new toupee. Looks like marriage hasn't done much to improve his mood. Twilight trying to make them Starlight's friends was pretty funny.

I thought the conflict of the episode was handled well, besides how odd it was that Trixie was trying to make Twilight upset from the start (if we believe her). Twilight was wrong not to trust Trixie and Starlight, but those two had lessons to learn too. It was amusing that they managed to basically sneak in Trixie attempting suicide with her performing the trick without Starlight's help, or at least not caring what happens to her; these ponies sure react to broken friendships in extreme ways. By the way, I was surprised they were allowed to get away with showing the manticore chewing up and swallowing Trixie.

I'm surprised that I don't really have much else to say about the episode. Maybe later.

 

[draetenth]

Kind of a meh episode for me. Lots of nice stuff in it, but doing just like "What About Discord?" and having Twilight Paranoia end up being right just kind of ruins it.

They also retconed the heck out of the end of Magic Duel.

I agree with this so I don't really have much to add.

I enjoyed a lot of the episode, but there was one aspect I didn't like as much that I think will upset people: I don't actually like Trixie's voice. Like, it's not grating or anything, but I didn't really enjoy the long segments of Trixie talking.

TBH, I didn't really care for her voice either.

It's one of those episodes where I thought was meh, but I can't really explain why - it just felt off.

 

[wookieofdoom]

Best episode of the season so far. I loved it. Mrs. Cake is a jerk.

 

[PaulloDEC]

I'm not the biggest Trixie fan, but I enjoyed this.

Copy/pasting from elsewhere:

I liked that ultimately there was no great betrayal between Trixie and Starlight; just Trixie stumbling back into her old ways a little. It was interesting to see both sides to Twilight and Trixie's situation; just as Twilight has forgiven Trixie but can't fully trust her, Trixie has changed her ways but can't completely delete her old self.

Lots of fun character interactions too, and some nice dialogue. Twi got a bit pushier than I'd have liked, but I guess she's still learning to teach.

Kind of a meh episode for me. Lots of nice stuff in it, but doing just like "What About Discord?" and having Twilight Paranoia end up being right just kind of ruins it.

They also retconed the heck out of the end of Magic Duel.

I mean, she sorta was and she sorta wasn't. She was right to not fully trust Trixie due to Trixie's well-documented history of being a dick, but on the other hand the friendship actually was real, despite that.

Also, what's the retcon you mentioned?

 

[Gold Coins for Cats]

Having actual magic makes stage magic seem redundant.

Now one could compensate by being a excellent showmare or storyteller, but sadly that wasn't really explored in this episode.

That is, unless, 99% of unicorns truly cannot do any magic other than levitation and a few token cutie mark related spells, which make Twilight and her clones who have magic cutie marks truly in a superior class just by luck.

Also, they probably tweaked Trixie's voice and justified it by her not talking in her stage voice so that you'd not immediately identify her in the spa scene.

Also also, I don't believe Trixie went in with the full intention of being Starlight's friend just to one-up Twi, it just kinda evolved to include that. I can't help but think she may be hiding psychological issues from how she likes to hide behind a stage persona. I'll admit I'm just basing the fact that she has a stage persona from the fact that she doesn't act hammy all the time, but it sounds plausible.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Having actual magic makes stage magic seem redundant.

I don't think so. It's kinda like saying that watching a genuine card trick on TV is redundant because the trick could easily be faked or surpassed with modern visual effects.

The impressive part of the real trick is knowing it isn't fabricated, and wondering how it was done.

 

[DrForester]

Also, what's the retcon you mentioned?

While not buddies, Trixie and Twilight parted on friendly terms in Magic Duel. Trixie apologized, and even helped out with Twilight's performance as an apology. Twilight just pretends like that didn't happen and that she wasn't under the control of an evil artifact the whole time.

 

[Gold Coins for Cats]

I don't think so. It's kinda like saying that watching a genuine card trick on TV is redundant because the trick could easily be faked or surpassed with modern visual effects.

The impressive part of the real trick is knowing it isn't fabricated, and wondering how it was done.

Except you can just have a shill in the background who does the magic for you so your horn doesn't glow.

Although I guess it's irrelevant because one can clearly see the teleport effects and noone seemed to care.

Like I said, you could compensate it by making a great show of it. A good magician doesn't just do a trick, they tell a story as well.

You are right, knowing stage magic isn't automatically completely redundant, but it's still a huge spector in the background because there is a universal 'mundane' solution to every trick! (It's magic!)

 

[PaulloDEC]

While not buddies, Trixie and Twilight parted on friendly terms in Magic Duel. Trixie apologized, and even helped out with Twilight's performance as an apology. Twilight just pretends like that didn't happen and that she wasn't under the control of an evil artifact the whole time.

Yeah, I guess Twilight is a bit more hostile than she ought to be.

Then again, maybe that just tells us that she really isn't as good as forgiving people as she claims to be. When things are working out (the end of Magic Duel for example) she's all smiles, but when something threatens to ruin her day, it's all suspicion and doubt.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Concerning why Twilight is hostile toward Trixie from the start when they parted on good terms in "Magic Duel", I imagine it comes down to: (1) Twilight hasn't seen Trixie in a while and doesn't constantly interact with her, so her immediate emotional reaction is disdain over what she did in most of that episode; (2) the realization that Starlight is hanging out with another pony that did bad things in the past; and (3), like I suggested before the episode aired, Twilight isn't as good at forgiving as she likes to think.

As for Trixie's antagonism, I think much of it was her getting upset that Twilight never acted friendly again after that point and correctly guessed that Twilight didn't trust her.

Having actual magic makes stage magic seem redundant.

Now one could compensate by being a excellent showmare or storyteller, but sadly that wasn't really explored in this episode.

That is, unless, 99% of unicorns truly cannot do any magic other than levitation and a few token cutie mark related spells, which make Twilight and her clones who have magic cutie marks truly in a superior class just by luck.

Also, they probably tweaked Trixie's voice and justified it by her not talking in her stage voice so that you'd not immediately identify her in the spa scene.

I'm pretty sure it was outright stated in "Boast Busters" (Trixie's intro episode) that most unicorns can only use simple magic and magic related to their talents.

As for Trixie's voice, maybe? It did sound off in the spa scene.

==

Remembered what I was forgetting to write in my first post! Fluttershy's reactions to the manticore were odd, considering the second episode, but having just watched "Scare Master", it makes sense that she'd be upset at the possibility of Trixie being hurt. Plus, she probably didn't like the manticore being chained up, though he seemed fine with it given how he bowed.

Again, image roundup tomorrow, but I just want to note that this was made soon after the episode aired.

And bingo update! Trixie returns, of course. Also went ahead and added "New Breakout Ship" based on Spike X Ember and Starlight X Sunburst before that. I expect Starlight X Trixie will be a thing now, too. Maybe I should add "Emotional Episode" too? I don't know, what do you guys think?

NOTE: Link the bingo cards unless you get five in a row, don't embed them, particularly since the images tend to be huge.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Remembered what I was forgetting to write in my first post! Fluttershy's reactions to the manticore were odd, considering the second episode, but having just watched "Scare Master", it makes sense that she'd be upset at the possibility of Trixie being hurt. Plus, she probably didn't like the manticore being chained up, though he seemed fine with it given how he bowed.

I think someone on the production team suggested it was the chains that Fluttershy wasn't keen on. That bit definitely leapt out at me too.

And bingo update! Trixie returns, of course. Also went ahead and added "New Breakout Ship" based on Spike X Ember and Starlight X Sunburst before that. I expect Starlight X Trixie will be a thing now, too. Maybe I should add "Emotional Episode" too? I don't know, what do you guys think?

NOTE: Link the bingo cards unless you get five in a row, don't embed them, particularly since the images tend to be huge.

Oh hey, I got one too! I could be particularly hard on myself and say that Trixie doesn't count because she appeared in S3 as well, but eh. I already took that loss on the storybook/urn thing.

 

[Village]

Then again, maybe that just tells us that she really isn't as good as forgiving people as she claims to be.

While I think that would be an interesting avenue to explore, I don't think this show is ever going to do that.

 

[SigmasonicX]

While I think that would be an interesting avenue to explore, I don't think this show is ever going to do that.

Uh, wasn't that a big part of what this episode was about? Trixie even outright complains that ponies say they forgive you, but don't forget what you did. While this isn't directly connected to Twilight in dialogue, she was clearly meant to demonstrate this.

 

[Village]

Uh, wasn't that a big part of what this episode was about? Trixie even outright complains that ponies say they forgive you, but don't forget what you did. While this isn't directly connected to Twilight in dialogue, she was clearly meant to demonstrate this.

Edit: shorter non rambly version

I think there is a larger discussion to be had, that doesn't end so neatly about this subject. Those weird episodes that make you think were always my favorite episodes as a kid watching kids cartoons.

 

[draetenth]

Uh, wasn't that a big part of what this episode was about? Trixie even outright complains that ponies say they forgive you, but don't forget what you did. While this isn't directly connected to Twilight in dialogue, she was clearly meant to demonstrate this.

Forgive doesn't equal forget. You can forgive someone, but not forget what they did and vise versa. It seems that was true for most ponies, they may have forgiven Trixie (but we don't really know though since they were brief scenes), but they didn't forget what she did with the Alicorn Amulet.

Oddly enough, AJ (who was one of the initial instigators way back in Boast Busters) seemed to have completely forgotten things (at least she seemed fine with Trixie's show).

Personally, I think this is just one of those episodes where everyone's personality was tweaked and dialed up a bit too much in an attempt to prove a point.

The episode reminded me of the Mysterious Mare-do-Well episode. They had a decent point, but imo the way it was done didn't feel quite right. Yeah, it's important to forgive people and there are times when that can be really hard, but it just felt forced in this episode.

 

[Dennis]

Good episode. Twilight seemed a little out of character but that was necessary to set up the drama I guess.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Huge movie news from a Russian MLP convention. There's concept art, but most of it appears to concern merchandise related to the movie. However, there are some big details about the movie itself. Most notably,

Spoiler

seaponies! At least part of the story involves the Mane Six using a spell to transform into seaponies to visit their kingdom. There are also mentions of pirates and hippogryphs. The story will start out with Twilight sending out party invitations, but the party goes wrong when the villains attack and capture some ponies (probably Celestia and Luna), so they have to journey to find the ones who originally defeated the villains.

Incidentally, I find the Rarity poster with "BELIEVE" funny.

Non-spoilery art, note that this probably isn't the art style of the movie.

 

[DrForester]

Someone on the Round Stable brought up that the old sony leaks mentioned...

Spoiler

a search for three stones. The seapony stuff might be the water stone.

villains attack and capture some ponies (probably Celestia and Luna)

This is to Meghan what explosions are to Michael Bay.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Someone on the Round Stable brought up that the old sony leaks mentioned...

Spoiler

a search for three stones. The seapony stuff might be the water stone.

*checks Round Stable*
Ah, the email that suggested making the movie more like The Smurfs. I guess I just forgot about that email mentioning this too. At least so far, it looks like the general story from the leaks still applies.

So I guess

Spoiler

after they get the three stones, they go to another time/dimension where they have to rescue 8 sages. We're finally getting a Legend of Zelda movie, even if it takes ponies.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Aww yeah, movie news.

Loving all that concept/production art, hope we get to see some of it in higher quality sooner or later.

Storywise, I'm cool with a

Spoiler

big, Equestria-wide odyssey involving new realms, creatures and transformations.

Sounds fun.

Also that Smurfs email ought to live forever in infamy. Never before have I seen the tendency for suits to hamfistedly ruin a property they don't understand ever summed up more succinctly.

 

[Lightning_Roller]

Wooohooo, movie news! I'm excited of the prospect of ponies on the big screen. Also the stuff I read seems to be pretty interesting too. Can't wait!

 

[PaulloDEC]

Took a little crack at getting the best possible quality out of the 1080p video we have... I mean, there's really no more information here than in the thumbnails Sigma posted, but I guess they're bigger? So there's that.

 

[SigmasonicX]

I actually really like the art style of the Twilight and Spike picture.

On another note, "The Magic Inside" didn't win a Daytime Emmy, unfortunately, losing to another song from All Hail King Julian (the Madagascar spinoff cartoon), which I'm not particularly a fan of.

Anyway, stuff about this episode:

NOTES
This Round Stable post made me realize that this episode was doing an interesting thing with the way characters use magic. For clarity, I'll refer to stage magic as "stage magic" and magic as "magick" when a distinction is needed. A big part of Starlight's character in this episode is that she uses magick in ways that go against social mores precisely because she's been unplugged from normal society for a long time and doesn't realize that it's wrong. Twilight is obsessed with using her magick only in ways that are acceptable (which we saw back in "Boast Busters" and "Winter Wrap Up"), and Trixie is weak at magick but performs stage magic. The poster also tries to make a connection between magick and taking shortcuts, but it doesn't work well with the end of the episode.

SCREENCAPS
Background ponies! I like the new ones in the last picture.

Trixie's great art, and out of context screencap.

And the source for Trixie's poster. For the record, it's apparently one of the first results of a Google search for "magician poster", so it's not a case of them digging deep for references.

GIFS
Twilight with a plate in her mouth is super adorable. Rainbow makes some great faces, oddly exaggerated for this series. Derpy derping.

Now for edited gifs/videos.

How hilarious would it have been if this was how Sunset was introduced in the show? She never says anything, all of the dialogue is the same (besides Twilight calling her Sunset), and Celestia even acts the same way at the dinner.

Next, there's this amazing video based on this gif. And this gif combines multiple memes.

FANWORKS
Some line art.
OOC or just tired
Trio of friends

This art was made even before that one I linked yesterday
This canon ship isn't getting enough attention
The Final Trix

Best Friends
And some Never Be Royals art that ties into the episode already. She Ditched You?! Version with text here.

Comics:
The Regret
Starlight's new friend
And why the hell not, have humanized shipping based on the above out of context screenshot. This artist also has a bunch of sketches based on the episode. I guess he's been doing this for episodes the entire time.

And lastly, MrPoniator gif, oddly lacking in Vinyl.

 

[Orin GA]

Whats with some of the fandom talking about suicide in this episode. The manticore takes a bow at the end with everyone else. Clearly it was not hostile. Worse case scenario she gets spit back up. Sheesh.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Whats with some of the fandom talking about suicide in this episode. The manticore takes a bow at the end with everyone else. Clearly it was not hostile. Worse case scenario she gets spit back up. Sheesh.

It's similar to how "Feeling Pinkie Keen" was interpreted as being about religion. Just like then, the crew has confirmed that it wasn't their intention, but it's something that a lot of people picked up. It's not a case of over-analysis (though that can be done after the fact), but rather an instant reaction of, "Wait, is this a metaphor for suicide?" Even if the manticore would just throw Trixie up, everything until the part where he bowed said that he would eat Trixie if she shot herself into his mouth without the teleportation spell prepared.

If I have one major complaint about the episode, it's that it feels like the manticore trick wasn't thought through well, down to things like Fluttershy's reaction.

On another note, I hadn't read much about Starlight's VA, Kelly Sheridan, so this interview was interesting.

 

[UberTag]

On another note, I hadn't read much about Starlight's VA, Kelly Sheridan, so this interview was interesting.

I've been a big fan of Kelly for a number of years. First exposure to her work was probably from that ill-fated FOX Kids dub of Escaflowne back in the 90s but she's impressed me greatly with her work in a number of Ocean anime localizations and is pretty darn talented. She makes a fine addition to the core Friendship is Magic cast.

 

[PaulloDEC]

I actually really like the art style of the Twilight and Spike picture.

Me too. It's hard to see exactly due to the crummy resolution/general picture quality, but it looks to be pretty much the show style with added detail and better lighting/shadowing, which is pretty much exactly what I'm hoping the film will be.

Great roundup as usual, too!

Whats with some of the fandom talking about suicide in this episode. The manticore takes a bow at the end with everyone else. Clearly it was not hostile. Worse case scenario she gets spit back up. Sheesh.

While I can see the thought process behind it, there's nothing in the dialogue or tone of the episode that supports the idea. It's really just Trixie being melodramatic in a "I don't even care what happens to me!" kinda way.

 

[SigmasonicX]

13. Spice Up Your Life - June 11
Pinkie Pie and Rarity discover a father and daughter struggling to keep their family restaurant open, which is cause of tension in their relationship.

Episode 12 was skipped over for whatever reason. Anyway, it looks like they aren't going to have a "mid season finale" like "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" last season.

I'm surprised that we're getting another Pinkie and Rarity episode. I guess they're making up for lost time. The premise sounds fun enough, but I hope there's something interesting about the family or the setting, such as them being griffons.

EDIT: YouTube captions

"No Second Prances" confirmed to be chronologically after the movie.