My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic:: READ POST 11156/PAGE 558

[Applejack1973]

I gave the S3 opening a standing applause.

On saturday there will be an army of Pinkie Pies.

http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Too_Many_Pinkie_Pies

[Snatcher2047]

Right through gravity, just right through what Earth planned...

EDIT TO PREVENT DOUBLE POST:

Frickin' D'AWW

Edited November 11, 2012 by Snatcher2047

[TheGerkuman]

What I liked about the two-parter is that it's some important character development for Twi.

Twilight's fear of upsetting Celestia has led her to do some pretty weird stuff in Season Two, and those actions lean towards a kind of selfishness. But in this, she learns to put that aside. Doing the right thing came above trying to do what she thought would make Celestia happy.

In effect, Twi's become a stronger person/pony because not only has she accepted friendship but she's also putting trust in Spike.

Edited November 11, 2012 by Gerkuman

[Snatcher2047]

As much as I loved Spike stepping up and being the hero, my main problem with it was I felt there wasn't a proper buildup to it, nor to Twilight's self-sacrifice situation. Spike was just kind of along for the ride during the search for the Crystal Heart and really had no "I have to prove myself to everyone" motivation or something like that in this episode or previous episodes to build upon that made the end result satisfying. It was kind of like, "Here ya go, Spike! You do the work since you're the only other one here." Right place, right time I guess. After going back and watching it again, this episode really feels like a hurried mess. Not the first time I've said that about this show, btw.

#YOU'RETHENEWRAINBOWDASH

[gato]

Oh boy, here we go...

Overanalysing is... I just... I don't even know what to... There are no words...

Is it wrong that I constantly forget about the posts format and I always have to look at the previous one to remember how I did this?

Episode 53 and 54: The Crystal Empire

Oh my, season 3! YAY!

GAK!GAK!GAK!GAK!GAK!GAK!GAK!GAK!GAK!GAK!GAK!

Okay, now that we got that out of the way we can begin! The episode begins with Celestia doing royal duties when a guard comes running (was that an earth pony guard? That's a first. o.o) Mentioning that IT has returned (Ha! There is a Phantasy Star connection that could be made there... I'll try to gush too much about that though and if I do I bet you won't even notice... mwahahahaha)... Without further delay Celestia order the guards to get Shinning Armor and Cadence while she summons Twilight...

BTW that was probably the shortest opener in the show, wasn't it? Not really complaining but I could see that probably sucked for those who were watching it live.

Anyway, after that we have Twilight having one of her episodes, her friends are there with her... And Spike is there too!... Ahem... I kind of like how they:

a ) Got used to this

b ) Learnt to like Twi despite this

c ) Care enough to be there

d ) Know things are still bellow a level where things would go out of control

She still blew up her house though.

One scene later we see the royal sisters having an... Interesting conversation... Luna wants to directly intervene in this business but Celly seems to be plenty confident that the ponies will be able to handle things themselves, there is also a mention of a new level in her studies... hmmm... This season... Looks interesting... Anyway, Twilight arrives and Celestia proceeds to explain her about her mission, but first let's get a story lesson!

The empire is a place where a very special kind of ponies live, ponies who have a special power to indirectly influence Equestria it seems (either positively, negatively or not at all for not being there XD)... TBH the differences between the empire doing well or not doesn't seem to be so heavy, drastic or noticeable, or well, let me rephrase... It seems to be something more related to magic and the kind of energy that could flow in Equestria, I mean, if the Crystal Ponies are happy light energies flows in the sky, if they aren't dark energon energy grows from the ground.The kind of things that do nothing by themselves but could enhance or reduce someone's powers.

Point is, the place is better left with happy ponies, sadly that wasn't the case when Celly and Luna found it, apparently a Unicorn called King Sombra was ruling the place and making ponies lives miserable... Hell.. he was outright enslaving them. Then got his flank kicked by the sisters turned into shadow and enclosed in the cold north. Problem is, the king pulled some magic and took the whole kingdom with him!

GREEN EEEEEEYES!!1!

Now I wonder if this happened to have some influence in Luna's fall, since the empire's presence seems to influence the flow of magic and this happened around the same time Luna went omnicidal crazy, give or take a few years, depending the current show timeline and how exact Celestia's words were about how much time went,,, (Which I guess they weren't since otherwise it would imply this happened 2 years after Luna was banished. :V )

Anyway, years has passed and now the empire seems to be back, and it's Twilight's duty to assist Cadence and Shinning Armor to ensure the empire stays safe.

Now i'll take a little time to mention how much I love the whole scene that I just described, first of all, Sombra's kingdom was... Far from pretty and I like the way they showed it, I also love how badass both Celly and Luna looked here... Especially Celly!

I mean look at this!

I also got to sing praises to the background music, did you hear those different versions of the same piece when Celly was telling Twi about the curse and what could happen if the Empire fell in despair? That was good...

The introduction of the concept of true dark magic is also really interesting and it seems like it could be a theme as far as the season goes, oh man I really hope this happens.

Back to the episode, Celestia express her full confidence about Twi success while Luna just looks disapprovingly Celly mentions that she must be doing this by herself and wait a minute... Isn't the whole point of the show friendship and isn't the story about the 6 bearers? Uuuuuhhh... Oh look! A song!

(And yes, that was pretty much my reaction XD, and something that was bugging me during a big chunk of the episode)

So Twilight decides it's time to live up to her name and face full life consequences!... I mean... She takes her friends and goes to the Crystal Empire. Where she meets with her brother Gordon,..

No... I'm not implying that I would want A Canterlot Wedding and this one to be re-edited as "something else"...

Ahem... The ponies arrive to the station (I'd like to think Rarity's scene here was related to Dragonshy's one with her scarf) and they meet with Shinning Armor there, he warns them about something luring in the dark and hurry to the Empire it appears that King Sombra or whatever was left from him came back and wants to reclaim his land, and just while the big brother was mentioning this that... thing manifests itself and tries to attack the ponies, they manage to run away but at the cost of Shinning's magic who tried to pull a "You Shall Not Pass" against the amorphous mass of darkness...

Admit it, you thought he got possessed at this point and we were going to see Canterlot Wedding all over again.

So they arrive at the great castle where they find Cadence, who has been protecting the Empire for the last few... Days? I'm not sure how much earlier they got there. Point is, she has been protecting the city at the cost of her own health and so far it seems like she is the only one able to protect the city from Sombra's magic (to make things worse, Shinning just rendered himself unable to help her), there must be a way up there to stop Sombra once and for all but they hadn't have enough time to look for it, so Twilight decides to pull all her nerdy self into discovering this.

She and her friends try to ask the Crystal Ponies (well... Most of them... Rarity was... uhhh... eh... *shrug* ) about what happened to the kingdom and how could they defeat Sombra, but the recently awakened residents don't seem to be able to remember anything, after more fruitless search Applejack suggests that maybe they would be able to find something on the library, Twilight (definitively) thinks this is a good advice and off they go! They search all over the place and just before they also label this as a lost cause Twilight (surprised it wasn't Pinkie... Again) manages to find a history book that tells about one of the most important traditions of the Empire, there is a fair that happens each year to renew the spirit of love and harmony in the Crystal Ponies...

I'll take another paragraph to mention this whole fair thing is... Odd... I mean, it feels like a way to make the crystal ponies look more sellable, you know, LOOK AT ALL THE THINGS THEY DO!

Of course, once we got that out of the way and start thinking about how any of this would make sense in show it can mean 2 things, either the fair works as a way to remember the Crystal Ponies how glorious their empire was or this is an extremely alien race that needs to be remembered each year that they are happy. Common sense dictates it's the first one but the way things go in the episode and how... Sudden the Crystal Ponies revert themselves doesn't really rules out the second one >_> ... But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Twi decides she and her friends should make the fair happen, and they do it in a Winter Wrap Up esque song... Maybe more popish and not so epic, but still good nevertheless.

Anyway, they manage to set up a whole fair taking in mind every single thing it said in the book, heck, Twilight even made a crystal heart by herself (that apparently it's the most important piece of the fair)! So after an arduous day of work the mane six are more than ready to... Work Harder I guess. XD

Twilight gets Cadence and Shinning (BTW; nice of them to remember he is royalty now) to the balcony of the castle and announces the fair's opening! (with a... Particular instrumental from Pinkie... Actually, I think she was screaming Flugelhorn XD. Or was I just hearing things?)

The fair goes smoothly and Rainbow is doing her best to ensure the Crystal Ponies are feeling the love and unity, until an offhand mention of the crystal heart remembers everyone that the whole purpose of the fair was to make the ponies feel positive enough so they can power up the Crystal Heart, which is actually an incredibly powerful relic that was hidden by Sombra.... Uh oh...

Twilight tries to figure out what happened to the real Crystal Heart but then Cadence faints, the whole barrier crumbles and the whole land is starting to get covered in shadows...

Well, that escalated quickly...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=jnBHK34SUvM-*brick'd*

Ahem... Part 2 begins with Sombra advancing upon the kingdom but being interrupted in the nick of time thanks to Cadence restoring the shield out of sheer... love power?

Point is, Sombra is out again, but this isn't going to last long, Twi (thinking this might have been the test Celestia put on her) decides to rush and find the crystal heart while the rest of the mane 6 should stay in the fair and keep the Crystal Ponies spirits high enough to power the thing. And it's like this that Rainbow goes and tells Rarity something (probably updating her about the recent developments), who tells Spike, who goes running (in an actually odd animation IMO) and finds Twi. He offers to go with her but the Unicorn insists she must do this by herself but after the dragon promises he won't do anything she accepts.

Meanwhile back in the fair the rest of the mane 6 are doing their very best to prevent the Crystal Ponies to find out the heart is missing...

For some reason I really love the way they showed their necks here, makes them feel more tridimensional.

So yeah, inside the castle Twi finds herself back in the throne chamber when she notices something... Sombra's castle shouldn't look the way it is now when he was in power, so she manages to summon dark magic in order to reveal a hidden passage with a looooooong set of stairs. Twi decides to go on her own and manages to find a door... A door that doesn't seems to want to be opened, frustrated by this turn of events Twi ends up using more dark magic and manages to stop the thing from moving and opens it, she goes past it and enters in... Celestia's throne chamber? Not only that, but it seems like she failed the test! D:

Now let me tell you something, in another moment, maybe in another series... Definitely in another less dire circumstances this would have made an awesome twist, you know, I can't really remember specific examples but this kinds of secret character tests can end like this, with the protagonist in question wondering what it did wrong, latter figuring it out and managing to gain the master's approval. But since if this actually happend the Crystal Kingdom would have been *BUH SUM APPLES!* we never got to see any of that. But once again, I'm getting ahead of myself.

BAD ENDING

Twi is trying to get answers about why did she failed but it turns out all of this was an illusion made by the door itself, apparently is empowered by dark magic (the one Twi just used I guess) and can leads you to your worse fears. Spike manages to snap Twi out of it and also gets a taste of the door but then he also reverts back, Twi uses normal magic this time to open the door and leads them to... More stairs... (Somehwere, on the dark and vast gulf of the internet, a brony is making a joke about Sombra having a stair fetish)

Twilight hurries to the top of the tower (and she better does, since her friends are running out of time, options and materials), seeing as she doesn't seem to go anywhere she decides to hax and pull a reverse gravity switch (I'll post a Sonic pic here, but I think I'm already dangerously nearing the picture limit... Also I wanted to post a pic of Berry Punch :< ) and slide her way through victory! Hey! She was prepared for this after all! :V

There is something to be said about Unicorns who hide things in places a Pegasus could easily reach, also, here is a little evidence that Twi could have won this faster if she had let Dash help her, good thing the new Rainbow Dash was there. :U

Twilight arrives at the chamber just to see her friends facade fall apart (thanks Pinkie) and Sombra corrupting the whole kingdom from the inside thanks to that piece of horn Cadence cut from him... You know... The thing I totally didn't forgot to mention... Yeah.

Anyway! Twilight tries to reach the heart but in that moment the last trap of the fallen king is activated and the purple unicorn gets trapped with no way to get out and with the heart out of her reach, the situation looks grim since Sombra's retake of the empire has already begun and Twi is left with little option but to forfeit her test and let Spike be the one to deliver the relic, Spike agrees and tries to escape but he falls, with little time to react and with the evil unicorn on his way Shinning grabs cadence and throws her to the crystal (she also got a wingboner)! Taking it away from the evil overlord's horn!

Cadence grabs the crystal and commands everypony (including that stallion that sounds like a filly) to deliver their power to form the spirit ball save their kingdom! The Crystal ponies moral is reinvigorated for this last actions and manage to pull it off! The magic of the kingdom is finally restored and King Sombra is literally blown to pieces! o.o

Including his horn... That went flying through the camera...But I'm sure that isn't going to be important in the future so let's ignore it!

As mentioned before, the magic of the kingdom is restored and we get a pretty aurora (also a bit of a heartwarming moment between the royal sisters)! o/

Of course, this leaves Twi's test... You know? The one she just threw to save the kingdom..

it turns out she passed! She didn't save the kingdom directly, but she made the decisions that ended up saving the day, she was also willing to sacrifice her own pride, well being and future for that of the others, and that was what Celly was hoping for, of course there were some bumps here and there... But she passed right?

The episode concludes with a really heartwarming reprise of the failure/success song.

Oh, and Luna summoning a book and nodding to Celly... hmmm...

Oh man we are back with this,ones...

I'm going to copy the format I had in my last episode review and start with Cadence who... Didn't really get to do a lot in this episode, she was just there doing her job and that's it.

I'm going to state though that I was disappointed about how she seems to have received some developments but most of that goes off screen or just named and never explained, I'm talking about all the royal duties she just took, she was summoned by Celestia and first time we see her in the season she's already sitting in the throne of the Empire, and somepony even goes and calls her the Crystal Princess already... Like if there was a whole story behind this and we never get to see it, it's kind of annoying.

Love the little details in her secret handshake with Twilight though. (she was a little out of synch)

Shinning Armor falls pretty much in the same place, also I wish I we could have seen more of his fight with Sombra... oh well, if anything both he and his wife seems to be pretty competent leaders. (also, yay for him not being possessed)...

...

Who am I kidding? I love what he did in this episode.

Dear Princess Celestia:

Today I learned that if a situation looks grim the best thing you can do is grab your wife and toss her out of the balcony.

Your totally faithful nephew in law...

Shinning Armor.

*image limit forbids me of using dat shinning face*

Which leads us the the mane 6, Twilight was... hax... I kind of like and kind of hate how hax she is, copying spells by just seeing them and being able to play with physics like your average Pinkie Pie... It's kind of ridiculous. XD

Other than that, this episode dealt with her test in a pretty odd way, I mean, she didn't seem to be so wrapped up in following Celestia's advice until she was alone with Spike, her idea of keeping Dash in the fair was pretty leveled and kind of smart since she didn't know the heart was at the top of the castle and most of her actions didn't seem to hold the "I must do this alone" attitude she had in the pilots. But then she get's like that the moment Spike offers to help her... I don't think it was handled so well (though I'm not sure if I prefer the alternative of her trying to do everything by herself during the whole thing).

Her comedic moments were awesome though, both her nerdgasm and freak outs about the test at the beginning.

The rest of the mane 6 behaved in an odd way too... Not saying bad, but it felt like if they were in their own little slice of life episode.

Rainbow was boastful and pushy but it was made in a subtle way (kind of, failing to get the right word here), she still manages to understand Fluttershy enough to go easy on her but not enough so the Crystal Ponies can get a good show, she tries too hard to be as likable as possible to the Crystal Ponies (which TBH I found rather adorable). She also looked to be the one who was the most concerned about the mass of darkness surrounding the castle

Oh, and she was in a pranky mood, which I also loved.

And yeah, I was kind of annoyed at how absent she was when it came to catch the heart. (Fluttershy might count too, but Dash is the most prone to pull this kind of rescues)

Applejack... Lying!?

Na'h, if you pay attention you can tell she spend the whole second part changing topics, more like hiding the truth than lying, and when she lied she still sucked at it. XD (as pointed by Rarity). Also, I must confess that I loved her seller approach to the issue, seriously, she was in her game trying to sell the Crystal Ponies everything the fair had to offer to prevent them to see the heart.

And yeah, dat pun...

Fluttershy was... Shy... There were some cute moments here and here (this) but she did little more than that. If anything, at least she got over her performance anxiety a little (and it only required the whole country being threatened :V)... And yes, Rainbow guilt tripped her, but just like in Hurricane Fluttershy she was aware enough of her attitude to hold herself back.

Also, her voice when freaking out is so... Can't find the words... It's a mix of incredibly adorable, weird and graceful (lady like)... Like... If she turned into a yellow Rarity. XD

Pinkie stole the show, most of the golden moments of this episode came from both her spy and jester acts!

I also loved how she learned to play the Flugelhorn through the episode. XD

Rarity was... Kind of creepy. X_x

And freaking hilarious!

She was presented in an odd light in this episode, we get to see both her incredibly frilly side (she went delusional at moments O_o), her more deceiving side (or at least that she's a better liar than AJ, which isn't saying a lot) her appreciation for beauty and everything sparkly, her talent in manuality and crafts (something that wasn't touched upon since Winter Wrap Up!) beyond costumes... This one in special deserves a mention, since I don't think the show will go this route but it feels like she could teach Apple Bloom a thing or two.

Anyway, they also showed a bunch of freindship (ship... HUEHUEHEHUEHUEHUE) moments, like taking gracefully the prank Dash pulled on her (I loved her voice there), a cute moment with AJ and the reprise of the Failure/Success she pretty much starred... And yes, the Spikey Wikey nick.

What is that animators? I should ship Rarity with all the ponies? Don't mind if I do!

All of this presented in little scenes. A little slice of the unicorn's life.

Contrary to what some people might think I don't really think what Spike did was that note worthy but yeah, it was really awesome he got his time to shine, one of those moments that make you fist pump if the right conditions are met.

Something people don't seem to have pointed out though is the focus the episodes gave to the dragon and the way he was being treated, he pretty much had a line or a scene at every single moment, like the way he handled Twilight's anger to his scene with Rarity's scarfs, his singing, the way he worked with the other ponies on the fair, he was like... The completely opposite of most of the episodes in the series XD. The spotlight was clearly on him and after a second or third watch you can tells this was leading up to that final moment.

Also, another thing worth noticing was the time he faced his worst fear... Something that literally drove him to tears... And it looked awfully familiar...

Yeah... That either makes that episode gain a whole dimension of sad or makes it even worse.

EDIT: Adding this because Snatcher made a pretty good point, when I say Spotlight I don't mean they showed he had a willingness to help nor that he wanted to be in the position he ended up in. It was more like a neon sign pointing "HEY, THIS DRAGON HERE! HE'S ALSO A CHARACTER IN THE SERIES AND COULD DO SOMETHING!"

And last but not least let's talk about Sombra... The... Villain?... Of this episode?

Let's get this over with, it was a freaking disappointment, not because he was a dark force or an amorphe mass of darkness that only wanted to consume everything, because those things can be cool if treated right. It was because he wasn't presented like that at all!

He was presented to us as a character, with name, as a dictator, as a chessmaster! As a run of the mill unicorn who was pure evil and destroyed the lives of ponies for the heck of it. As someone who performed the dark arts (like... to make a contrast with Twi) and went corrupt with it. As a dangerous "pony".

What we got was an odd mix between Nemesis and the Smoke Monster.

Maybe I wouldn't mind that much if they did more with IT, if they didn't rub in our faces how genre savvy the guy was, heck, even if anypony mentioned he used to be like that but now he was no longer there...(Basically, what Stingray said)

Now, I (like many) have the feeling that it's not the last thing we see from IT, but I'm going to feel a little annoyed if the next time we hear from him is just as a power up device for other antagonists. (for some reason, I feel like I'll feel a little annoyed if he is an actual character too since that would make his performance in this episode even more awful... Oh well, beats the alternative of not showing up anymore and making him even more lackluster).

Also...

There was a lot of little things to like about the episode (most of it being comedic little visual gags, and AJ making horse noises was great), but the main plot thread fell afoul of Show, Don't Tell hard. Sombre is bad, and Twilight needs to stop him by herself, because he's bad, and... he's bad. Grr.

TBH Discord received pretty much the same intro, it just happens that right after that we got to see he was SO MUCH MORE than that... While Sombrero got nothing.

EDIT: More things to add, Sombrero laid a trap that is activated by using the very same magic he employs... I mean, he could have put that to avoid another evil overlord wannabe to enter but that shows he really wasn't counting with a good natured pony showing up. XD

...

(Dialogue doesn't make a character)

Also:

And I shall simply remake the Empire... TWICE AS FABULOUS!

(brony points for those who get the reference)

So... What do I think about the episode?

I feel like slapping Toro, but not for his review, it's just that he coined the term I tried to use to describe this episode since I started writing this last night.. And that term is Different.

This one is just so different to the other 2 parters (I could compare it to Mare in the Moon though) since it doesn't seem to be able to stand on it's own... let me rephrase that. Take Canterlot Wedding and Return of Harmony and switch their places in the episode list and you will notice that there are little to no continuity problems with them, both chapters deal with a villain and a conflict that gets resolved in the very same spot, this one in the other hand was made to start season 3 and constantly hints to bigger things to happen and that alone might be the saving grace of it, because on it's own this is a pretty... tame 2 parter, with a disappointing antagonist (not for what it is, but for the way it was treated) and a side story that felt like it was there just to show the other characters doing something, I wouldn't say it was bad but it was certainly worse than the last 2 (and yes, as a reminder, I liked Canterlot Wedding >_> ) in pretty much every aspect. It also had the same flaws the other 2 parters did, like not expanding enough in certain subjects (in this case, things like Sombrero, that door of nightmares, and Cadence and Shinning's status as rulers of the tiniest empire I remember seeing).

This one was also different for being the first time we see the Mane 6 trying to avoid an antagonist instead of attacking it.

And like I mentioned before, this one was also different for introducing a new concept that seems like it's going to be employed through the whole season... Think of the gala, but instead of using all the cast and a slice of life situation they are just grabbing Twi and making her do something of a bigger scale. (I think it's better than what they did with the last season finale, but the focus on exclusively Twi disappoints me a little)

Of course... Depending of who you ask, different doesn't always means good. Personally, I like what I saw, it's something I've been fanwanking thinking for a while now, it's kind of noticeable if you read some of my previous reviews, like... Dragon Quest.. Where (if memory doesn't fails me) I'm half wishing things developed in a different way but I'm resigned that since this is MLP we will never see anything like that.

And it's not like the whole season is going to be a big Twilight arc, only the main event (let's say, this opener the ending and maybe one of the incoming episodes.

So yeah, I like what I'm seeing, I like the potential this season has and I'm pretty positive about it. As an episode alone though? Eh... mid tier I'd say.

ps: Forgot to mention, I loved the humor here! Especially Pinkie, the running gags and 2 little lampshades by Cadence and Shinning (and I guess the rest of the royal guard XD ).

EDIT: Totally forgot to make a Butt Stallion joke.

EDIT2: You fail me again Google spell checker.

Edited November 11, 2012 by gato

[Dark Qiviut]

Sombre, you're a cool villain, but for over forty minutes, you got less screentime than all that gak! Great design and potential, but flat.

And speaking of gak…

[Tornado]

TBH Discord received pretty much the same intro, it just happens that right after that we got to see he was SO MUCH MORE than that... While Sombrero got nothing.

Discord was introduced by Celly saying outright he did some pretty shitty things well before we actually saw him, going so far as to pseudo visualize them; then he showed up soon after and proceeded to start doing really shitty things that progressively got nastier. To wit, even she was visibly shaken the entire time she was running down what was going on to the Mane Six; nevermind her reaction when the Elements were missing or when he started screwing with everyone in the throne room.

Meanwhile, Celly and Luna (particularly the latter) basically treated Sombre like he was just an annoyance rather than a threat before he showed up. Then he was introduced as being a bad guy for no other reason than he looked the part (dark, smoky, bad guy-looking), and when he actually went to do bad guy things (nearly 40 minutes later, with no tension whatsoever building up to it) he was limited to scowling menacingly and making Dr. Claw noises when he went after the mystical MacGuffin that was needed to defeat his nondescript evil. And then he didn't get it, and he lost immediately.

Also:

Edited November 11, 2012 by Tornado

[Snatcher2047]

Yeah... this sums it up quite nicely:

[gato]

Discord was introduced by Celly saying outright he did some pretty shitty things well before we actually saw him, going so far as to pseudo visualize them; then he showed up soon after and proceeded to start doing really shitty things that progressively got nastier. To wit, even she was visibly shaken the entire time she was running down what was going on to the Mane Six; nevermind her reaction when the Elements were missing or when he started screwing with everyone in the throne room.

Meanwhile, Celly and Luna (particularly the latter) basically treated Sombre like he was just an annoyance rather than a threat before he showed up. Then he was introduced as being a bad guy for no other reason than he looked the part (dark, smoky, bad guy-looking), and when he actually went to do bad guy things (nearly 40 minutes later, with no tension whatsoever building up to it) he was limited to scowling menacingly and making Dr. Claw noises when he went after the mystical MacGuffin that was needed to defeat his nondescript evil. And then he didn't get it, and he lost immediately.

Okay, 2 things.

1) I disagree about being any differences about Discord and Sombrero's tale, the black unicorn was also introduced as being able to do some shitty things and we didn't have to visualize anything because they actually showed us how his kingdom was.

The only differences I see here is that they (by the way they acted around this issue) added that Discord/NMM were higher in the power scale and how the lack of princess action was explained by Celestia thinking the ponies can do the job just fine on their own (heh, Sombrero is like a Dragon or the Diamond Dogs) instead of being just useless (or in NMM case, not wanting) to vanquish the evil of the week.

But yeah, Celly did show us how evil he was, what the show didn't... show was what he was able to do (nor what his powers really consisted about) but that was demonstrated through the episode in the way of little but mischievous traps here and there, maybe the scale of his evil really falls short compared to a queen of a locust army, an omnicidal Alicorn and the God of Chaos but still... It showed us that at it's best Sombrero was cunning and could have been (and kind of was) a competent opposition.

2) But that's it! And here is where we agree... Sombrero was nothing more than a fluff, we never got to see him do bad things in the present, he came and went before he could even do anything but growl and that was where my disappointment comes from.

Which brings me to the very paragraph you quoted, the only difference between him and Discord/Chrysalis/nightmare Moon is that the other 3 got to show us a lot more about themselves, their powers, their abilities and all in all how evil (and what kind of evil) they were in the present (also, they had personality but that's not the point you were trying to make).

Also...

... and when he actually went to do bad guy things (nearly 40 minutes later, with no tension whatsoever building up to it)

I don't get this part, so the black cloud thingy constantly hanging near the city and slowly but surely infiltrating it didn't built up anything?

That doesn't really look all that different from the other "things are progressively getting worse" situations the other villains presented (except with Nightmare Moon, where I felt the tension was almost nonexistent).

Yeah... this sums it up quite nicely:

Pffft I knew I was forgetting something, love that comic.

EDIT: Man... I could swear I mentioned all this reply post covers in my review but it turns out I didn't...

Edited November 11, 2012 by gato

[Tornado]

I don't get this part, so the black cloud thingy constantly hanging near the city and slowly but surely infiltrating it didn't built up anything?

That doesn't really look all that different from the other "things are progressively getting worse" situations the other villains presented (except with Nightmare Moon, where I felt the tension was almost nonexistent).

I'll let CoffeeGrunt speak for me:

This episode didn't have a fight sequence. It didn't have a big boss monologue, nor any form of battle against him. It didn't have a rising tension or imperative feeling for Twilight to grab the Crystal McGuffin, Cadence just sorta blew a fuse in her horn, and the bad guy rolled in. It even had only a couple of really feelgood or sappy moments. It just lacked a flavour.

That fair seemed mostly irrelevant, and felt like an attempt to rustle up a culture in a flash. Still, the plot did revolve around "suddenly a magical place appears directly alongside an irredeemably evil force of evil so Twilight must go save the day while the Princesses do whatever they do in the background."

There were moments, but they came and went in a flash with no aftertaste. Pinkie Spie, Spike's vision, those are the only ones that really stand out atm. I mean, the Discord episodes were nowhere near perfect, but the NMM episode did have a nice twist after the Elements were destroyed. This had no twist. Grab a McGuffin to kill the omnipotent evil and save the magical place.

First episode had everyone encountering challenges that suit their personality, then it had the elements failing when Twilight goes to use them (until she later rolled the dice on them anyway).

Discord episode had the Elements being stolen, then him taking out the characters one by one as they search for them, then Twilight being corrupted herself before the letters happened.

Wedding Episode had EPIC BATTLE TIME, then they show up to get the Elements but get ambushed and captured until a Huey Lewis Song plays.

The closest this episode had to their being any similar tension was Spike falling down stairs, which was taken care of with a visual gag (Extreme Wife Tossing) rather than any seriousness put towards it.

It didn't play out like a progression of events. It played out as "Twilight found the MacGuffin immediately before it was actually necessary, so fair dos."

Edited November 11, 2012 by Tornado

[Crystal Slave]

Okay, this is just a theory. But I think it's pretty feasible.

I think EVERYONE agrees Sombra was defeated way too easily. Is there any chance that perhaps he WASN'T defeated, and perhaps the finale of the season will feature him again? Just a thought.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Okay, this is just a theory. But I think it's pretty feasible.

I think EVERYONE agrees Sombra was defeated way too easily. Is there any chance that perhaps he WASN'T defeated, and perhaps the finale of the season will feature him again? Just a thought.

It isn't beyond the realm of possibility; for all we know, he could be pulling a secret gambit and will try to undermine Equestria subtly.

Though it doesn't change the fact that this season starter could have had more meat.

[Speederino]

RIP Tom.

Edited November 11, 2012 by Speederino

[Applejack1973]

This episode that I watched over livestream chat are crystals worth.

PP being her crazy self on a new level, the return of the Friendship Express, new villain, three songs and more.

Shining Armor shows himself after being under the hypno spell under the wedding.

Two episodes are not enough to cover of the history of the Crystal Empire and the Crystal library, but maybe we will see more in a possible two part ending.

The two parters seems to be made in a rush, but that's why we have Fimfiction to expand the Equestria history.

King Sombra was awesome as a mysterious creature who mostly roared.

More AJ and Rarity two best ponies together yay!

That improved animation.

Did not know Spike was so good at ballet, while Rarity makes art only with hooves.

The episode reminded me of Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

At last S3 looks so awesome with those spoiler clips.

[Snatcher2047]

OH GAWD, my sides...

GO MAKE ME A SANDWICH!!!

Still on the fence on whether I found the original scene totally awesome or totally stupid.

Edited November 11, 2012 by Snatcher2047

[Penny]

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that Sombra was probably the coolest villain in the series. Not the best (that's Discord) but definitely the coolest. I'm not entirely sure why, though. Despite getting no character development, I like him a lot more than Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis combined. Not as good as Discord, but he's close. Again, I'm not entirely sure why, I just like him a lot. I really hope he appears again later.

As for the episode itself, it was good. It's no Return Of Harmony, but it's miles better than the mediocre Canterlot Wedding and the slightly better Mare In The Moon. Unlike the wedding, it focused more on all of the Mane 6, despite it focusing on Twilight the most. Also, this episode gave me that epic feeling that was missing from the Canterlot Wedding. And it has King Sombra. That's an important point to mention. However, for some strange reason, as I was watching this episode, I discovered that I honestly don't really like Cadence. As with me liking Sombra, I'm not sure why, I just don't like Cadence. Shining Armor, on the other hand, is good.

[PeanutButterDimond]

You see, as a villain, I think Sombra was perfect. He was threat, menacing and all that. Really, it's just character he lacked and if some of the stuff we've seen in regards to season three are correct, it's not impossible for him to come back. OA and a few others brought up a good point.

His horn is cut off early on. Later on, it's grown back. When Sombra explodes, the horn flies off, still intact. So it really isn't a stretch to say he could come back through regeneration.

We all know the animators are anything but lazy so i could definitely see them doing that on purpose to hint at the isea that we'll see more of him and if a certain piece of art is true, we most certainly will.

I mean, he completely filled his purpose as a villain. He is probably the coolest and most evil villain in the series aesthetically he was less of character and more of a force of nature like the smooze. In a way, it makes him seem more threatening. Unlike Crysallis, NMM and Discord, the whole episode isn't "They're causing trouble. STOP THEM!". it's more like "He's close to causing trouble again. DON'T LET IT HAPPEN!".

Cereal explained it in a really good way.

This is all I'll say about King Sombra, because he's a divisive topic.

From a purely character-based standpoint, there's nothing wrong with this guy as a villain. He comes in, enslaves the Crystal Empire, and that's it. We honestly don't need any more than that, because he does his job and gets out of the way. Sets up the conflict and leaves.

That's nice and all, but it does leave us wanting. I have absolutely no doubts that, given more time, this character could have been fleshed out into something more real and meaningful. The fact is, though, that he wasn't. Not even a little bit. We don't get a whiff of a hint for his motivations, personality, background, or his relationships to any of the other ponies. It can be argued that, even in the episode, he wasn't that threatening because of the way he was chosen to appear- as a shadow and more of a vague 'threat' than something we could grasp onto as viewers.

That's why I choose to believe, having faith in the writers, that King Sombra was never meant as a deep character. He was, instead of a villain like Discord, chosen to be a representation. What exactly that representation is depends on who you ask, but it could be any number of things, even something as simple as just plain 'evil'. I have absolutely no solid evidence for this line of thinking, but I think it explains his role pretty well.

The bottom line is that the story isn't about him. It's not even about what he was chosen to represent. It's about Twilight and her friends, and in storytelling you tend to spend the most time on the important stuff, which is what this episode did. And I think it was a smart choice.

I am not really sure if he was supposed to be a representation but if he was like anything, it was a force of nature. But either way, like Cereal said, the story wasn't about King Sombra. This two parter, unlike the others, seemed to be more about setting up an overarching story rather than the villain.

Speaking of overarching story, also from Cereal's recap of the episodes:

"She WILL succeed at her task, and when she does, we'll know she's that much closer to being ready." - Celestia: 2:25

The symbols behind the Princesses and Twilight: 5:15

"Behold, the Crystal Princess!" - random crystal pony: 37:07

Cadence's Cutie mark IS the Crystal Heart. (This pretty much confirms that Cadence is the descendant of the last ruler of the Crystal Empire before the Evil King showed up. Also begs the question if the throne holder truly remains the same, or if they pass on their rule once in a while.)

The book that Luna's holding in the end: 40:58

The writers and animators are most definitely not getting lazy, in fact this kind of subplot is rarely seen even in more "mature" shows.

Could it be that this was planned the entire series? That her lessons on friendship, her missions to save Equestria with little to no help from the princesses, could this all be one giant story-arch to being ready for "it"?

I also really like this.

And this.

Any Sombra ask tumblrs yet?

EDIT: Saw this in the comments of Cereals recap. I liked it and felt it had to be added to the post.

From what I've seen, most people seem to think the premiere was excellent except for King Sombra. Courtesy of immblueversion from Behind The Voice Actors, here's a really interesting analysis of his character. It certainly changed mymind:

"He did nothing besides roar, scream and snarl, and he barely talked. He hardly showed any personality or clear motivations. He didn't actively plot against the heroes. And he didn't live past two episodes.

But did he really have to?

You see, King Sombra has more of what many MLP villains thus far lack: presence. It was his presence alone that made sure the Crystal Ponies remained miserable. It was his presence that kept them from remembering where the Crystal Heart was, or going to the one place it was hidden because they were too scared of him. Just by being there, Princess Cadance was left to suffer for days on end, even with her beloved Shining Armor by her side.

And even then, he still tried to make sure the heroes didn't have their way. He took away Shining Armor's powers, causing Princess Cadance to suffer even more. He left traps that those without the courage and wits to stand up to them could not pass. And even though he wasn't always physically present, his influence remained, and it left a very heavy impact on everyone who dared to stand against him. He also managed to do what no other villain on the show has done before: make Twilight swallow her own pride as a means to defeat him.

From everywhere he went to everywhere his name was merely mentioned, he caused nothing but pain and suffering. And not a single one of us knows why.

And yet there are those who have called him 'wasted potential,' just because he barely talked or took action, had no clear characterization, and didn't live up to any of our lofty expectations. But I'll be fair; even I expected him to be Sauron as he was before he was slain by Isildur, not Sauron as he appeared in the whole 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy.

Sometimes, less really is more. That is why he is, to me, a far greater villain than any of us could have ever anticipated."

He goes on to say:

"Now that I think about it, each of the major villains thus far represents a different 'element to writing a good villain' and, in a way, makes up for what the others lack in those regards:

Nightmare Moon: Good backstory, makes her more sympathetic.

Discord: Good personality, makes him more fun to watch.

Queen Chrysalis: Good motivation, makes her actions mesh better with the plot.

King Sombra: Good presence, makes his threat more apparent."

And yes, it's very good to be back!

Edited November 11, 2012 by PeanutButterDimond

[gato]

*I just had to repost/reload this thing twice because of a storm over here, so please bear with me...

I'll let CoffeeGrunt speak for me:

*post*

First episode had everyone encountering challenges that suit their personality, then it had the elements failing when Twilight goes to use them (until she later rolled the dice on them anyway).

Discord episode had the Elements being stolen, then him taking out the characters one by one as they search for them, then Twilight being corrupted herself before the letters happened.

Wedding Episode had EPIC BATTLE TIME, then they show up to get the Elements but get ambushed and captured until a Huey Lewis Song plays.

The closest this episode had to their being any similar tension was Spike falling down stairs, which was taken care of with a visual gag (Extreme Wife Tossing) rather than any seriousness put towards it.

It didn't play out like a progression of events. It played out as "Twilight found the MacGuffin immediately before it was actually necessary, so fair dos."

Okay, so you are saying that there wasn't a twist that made you feel at the edge of the seat and make you think the villain had the upper hand at any moment?

I can give you and Coffee some credit for pointing Nightmare Moon had this (I totally forgot about that scene XD). But as useless as Sombrero was this episode also had those moments, each and every trap he put gave the feeling that he still could win the moment Cadence's magic ran out. The moment Twi uses dark magic to open the door and gets into the lotus eater machine (which as I mentioned, in any other series or time I would have eaten that up and wondering how harsh things were going to get for the protagonist) is at the same level as the time Nightmare destroyed the stones since it clearly states Twi failed in whatever she was supposed to do (it isn't until after the commercial when it becomes quite obvious everything is fake because, why the heck would Celly put a stained glass of her epic defeat? ).

And after that Twi gets to the MacGuffin but she still fails to get it because Sombrero had another trick in the place and then you had another moment where (even if you knew everything was going to turn alright) the dark blob was in control of the situation.

The side story of the fair showed the Crystal Ponies getting slowly more and more desperate to see the heart, the moment the thing is revealed to be fake most of them start to freak out and it isn't until the pink Alicorn gets it that they are able to pull out their trick.

Then you had the Spike little heroic moment and where he almost falls, you mention this as a not so serious situation and I can give you that, since contrary to the other encounters the way the villain was defeated here lacked a meaning... Nightmare Moon showed that the ponies living in harmony with each other was what let them do the impossible, Discord proved that friendship is not something easy to keep but worth fighting for, Chrysalis showed us that love can conquer everything .. While this one had nothing of that.

What did have a meaning was the test, which message was one about being selfless and put the well being of those near to you over your own glory. (which kind of makes me think this whole episode could have been done as a one part without Sombrero at all, and that at the end Sombrero could be seen as more padding than what was supposed to be padding itself XD)

Also, that thing about Twi finding the MacGuffing before it was needed doesn't sound right, since Sombrero was there messing up with everyone indirectly. The need to get the heart was from the very beginning of part 2 when Cadence had her first power failure and the Crystal Ponies began to get restless. I can give you that everything got resolved before Sombrero even got to the city but saying there wasn't any risk of anything happening nor a need to get the heart just doesn't sounds right.

...

Though it would have been cool to see Sombrero doing some curb stomping before Spike got the heart. Just to make his danger more tangible (and you know, make Shinning's hilarious solution feel a little more desperate).

OH GAWD, my sides...

*Finland.gif*

Still on the fence on whether I found the original scene totally awesome or totally stupid.

There is a link in the picture BTW.

Edited November 11, 2012 by gato

[Snatcher2047]

I feel I didn't touch on King Sombra enough in my initial episode review, but almost don't want to now, knowing I'll probably just repeat what a lot of others have already said, but here goes anyway...

Forget character development, forget lack of dialogue, forget motivation. My number one problem with Sombra? Lack of a threat. It may be a little unfair to do so, but let's compare him to previous major (aka 2-parter) villains:

1. Nightmare Moon - Wanted to cover the land in eternal darkness because she digs the dark and hated the light and the love it received. Would have completely changed the world's climate and killed all crops and probably ended all life in Equestria, if you look at it from a scientific view. Probably not her intention in the big picture, but what might have happened. Probably just as powerful as her sister, but probably let her ego be her undoing and Celestia barely defeats her.

2. Discord - Wanted to turn the whole world upside-down and into a world of chaos and insanity because, well... he's a dick. AND HE (temporarily) SUCCEEDED. Temporarily turned some of the closest of friends against one another and if he remained more focused in his plan, probably would have completely succeeded.

3. The Changelings - Oh come on. They wanted to EAT THE F'N PONIES. Their leader completely overpowered Princess Celestia and damn near succeeded in the complete overthrow of Equestria and it's people. Add in the fact that they have the ability to take the form of any other pony, and you have quite possibly the most dangerous villains of all.

4. King Sombra - "OH HI guys! Just gonna crash your party here and take over agai---OH NOES CRYSTAL HEART." *dead*

Yeeeeeeeeah. Didn't really leave much of an impact there on your second go around, did you?

.

Other than that, the whole he's a bad guy so he's evil and he's evil because he's a bad guy thing just doesn't work on me anymore. After seeing what other villains are capable of in this show, he just came up short. I found the literal Timberwolves from a previous episode more threatening and imposing than him.

In his back-story it's revealed he treated the Crystal Ponies as slaves. Well, yeah, that's pretty bad... but why did he do it? I think if there was some reason he did it JUST TO the Crystal Ponies and no others (such as the crystals give him his power) there might have been more reason to feel the impact on the Crystal Ponies from his rule. But they decided to leave out any rhyme and/or reason to his madness, which I feel makes him less threatening. In the long run, he just comes across as a big bully.

Edited November 12, 2012 by Snatcher2047

[-blank-]

Wow, was Sombra really that bad a villain?

And all this season 3 talk has made me realize that I still need to freaking finish season 1.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Wow, was Sombra really that bad a villain?

And all this season 3 talk has made me realize that I still need to freaking finish season 1.

It's more like they could have done more with him if anything. He still has a chance to get better if they decide to use him later on in the season, but his first appearance could have been more meaty if anything.

[Strickerx5]

Well I'm not going to post a long review due to the fact that it be pretty redundant because most of you have already stated what I had to say. To sum it up, I thought it was pretty good. It had a lot of funny moments (which is half of the reason I watch the show) and the animation was great. I think King Sombra was easily one of the weakest villains to date and, because of this, brought down the entire two parter. What the mane six are trying to accomplish is squarely based on this guy and we don't even know how bad he really is. He get's little to no back story and only two lines of dialogue. He could of been replaced with a really bad storm and the episodes would lose nothing of value.

Though, I have heard talk of an actual story line this season so I'll leave my final judgement on him towards the end of it all. Overall though, I did find the episodes enjoyable and it was a pretty good start to the (still too short) season.

OH GAWD, my sides...

GO MAKE ME A SANDWICH!!!

Still on the fence on whether I found the original scene totally awesome or totally stupid.

Dude, when I first saw this gif I was rolling! Why did Shining have to throw her in the first place? XD

[Tornado]

Sombre backstory revealed!

(Warning: There be Molly in that spoiler)

[Applejack1973]

]Wow, was Sombra really that bad a villain?

Not so bad after me.

Sombra had many names in the summer like Donut Steel and Crystallion.

Edited November 13, 2012 by Applejack1973

[Your Vest Friend]

Screenshot from the preview clips.

Looking at these horses again, I don;t think they're actually as jarring as I first thought they were.