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

[Celestia]

All of Turnabout Storm is fantastic, but I think the Stinger of the finale blew my mind even more than the last bit of the trial.

 

So, if I understood correctly, Celestia tried to summon the greatest lawyer, only to end up with Mia's ghost? So Twilight had to cast the spell again to bring Phoenix? Out of all the explanations there could have been for Celestia knowing about Phoenix, I wasn't expecting that, yet it probably makes more sense than any other theory I had seen, haha.

 

Also Big Mac's rant was incredible.

 

It's a shame we probably won't see a sequel, but hey, it was a great experience.

 

On another note, SMALL DORKY HORSES. I love the comics so much. Not really spoiler-y, I guess, but yeah.

 

 

I just noticed "My Tiny Gecko" omg

[GreatAndPowerful]

I should really catch up on Turnabout Storm one of these days…

 

In other news, let’s see what Fluffle Puff is doing for Nightmare Night this year.

 

[Snatcher2047]

Turnabout Storm FINALE.

 

 

WOW.  Worth every second of wait for this one.  This is one of the absolute best fan projects for the series in my opinion, and can only imagine the amount of time spent on it.  I'm glad they decided to finish it despite some of the troubles earlier on.  All those involved deserve a huge ovation for what they did.

[Arcade Racer CC14]

Season 4 prrrrrrrrrrromo!

Looks like one of the final opening shots is going to get a bit more crowded.

[Applejack1973]

Here we go again!

 

Brandnew opening and only one month to go.

[Tornado]

Giant stained glass mural hung up in the castle does a really great job convincing that it's not "The Twilicorn Show With Some Other Assholes."

[Kevin]

My thoughts on the Turnabout Storm finale:

 

That was simply amazing! The wait was completely worth it! Just when I think something is going to happen, the series throws a curveball at me and takes me by surprise. I was not expecting Ace's death to be accidental nor was I expecting Mia to be the one to tell Celestia about Phoenix Wright and the others. It was great to see a lot of depth to Trixie's character shown and I absolutely love Big Mac's rant at the end. A great conclusion to a great fan made series!

[Applejack1973]

 

 

 

« Today, I’ve been impressed by the strength of your dreams and by the sacrifice you made to realize Rarity’s. As a reward, I’m inviting you at a private banquet. Rarity, you’ll be able to dance all night long with … my nephew Vladimir. I heard you’d like to meet him, wouldn’t you? » The princess adds with a smirk.

[Gabz Girl]

Giant stained glass mural hung up in the castle does a really great job convincing that it's not "The Twilicorn Show With Some Other Assholes."

 

Sheesh pessimistic much? I know the fandom has been divided since Twilicorngate but come on.

 

Personally, I think Twilight is fine with wings and I don't think it'll ruin the show at all, even if she's a princess. I'm looking forward to this season and I hope there's not only more episodes but also some great storylines. Some of the Season 3 eps were lacking.

[Tornado]

Saying "stop being so pessimistic" isn't a rebuttal. We've had it forced down our throats for months now that "this totally isn't going to change anything about the show, so stop whining" or "It won't change the show dynamic" (ignoring that that is impossible). "Twilight will still be the same as she always was" (even though she's already a drastically different character than she was before the Season 2 finale). "The show isn't going to start focusing more on her" (and the hilarious incompatible argument, "The show was always about her, so you have no reason to complain") Or, my favorite, "That happened months ago. Shut up about it already." Blah blah blah.

Just like we were told that the Season 3 finale would be "totally super awesome so stop judging it" as soon as Twilicorn was first leaked even though it turned out... exactly as many expected. Everything of importance glossed over, everyone who isn't Twilight being pushed into the background while she does everything, with a extremely lazy Deus ex Machina to tie the thing together where she was rewarded for... some reason that the writers didn't actually know when specifically asked about it.

 

 

And the first promo for Season 4 proper suggests that... um... yeah. Twilight is likely the most important one by far now, to the extent that they are memorializing non-achievements. Everyone else is incidental (which EqG already pretty much stated directly). So forgive me if, after already derailing her character entirely throughout Season 3 before elevating her to a position that she is singularly unsuited for, I don't consider what little they've shown amounting to "here the Twilight have a trophy" to be something that assuages my concerns. You're certainly allowed to hope for the best by all means, but I'm struggling to find reasons to do so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway:

[Celestia]

Funnily enough, my main issue with Season 3 was actually the lack of focus on Twilight outside of the premiere, Magic Duel, and finale stories. I still wish the season had been longer, partly so they could build up to MMC a lot more. It's like, the premiere hinted at it, and...that was it.

 

So yeah, the focus on Twilight doesn't bother me and I love the show as much as ever, but I'll admit it could have been handled better. *shrug*

 

That being said, seeing Twilight's friends be more important in premieres/finales would be really interesting. In fact, I really want to see another Season finale that focuses on the mane six as a whole, like The Best Night Ever.

[AdventChild]

Saying "stop being so pessimistic" isn't a rebuttal. We've had it forced down our throats for months now that "this totally isn't going to change anything about the show, so stop whining" or "It won't change the show dynamic" (ignoring that that is impossible). "Twilight will still be the same as she always was" (even though she's already a drastically different character than she was before the Season 2 finale). "The show isn't going to start focusing more on her" (and the hilarious incompatible argument, "The show was always about her, so you have no reason to complain") Or, my favorite, "That happened months ago. Shut up about it already." Blah blah blah.

Just like we were told that the Season 3 finale would be "totally super awesome so stop judging it" as soon as Twilicorn was first leaked even though it turned out... exactly as many expected. Everything of importance glossed over, everyone who isn't Twilight being pushed into the background while she does everything, with a extremely lazy Deus ex Machina to tie the thing together where she was rewarded for... some reason that the writers didn't actually know when specifically asked about it.

 

And the first promo for Season 4 proper suggests that... um... yeah. Twilight is likely the most important one by far now, to the extent that they are memorializing non-achievements. Everyone else is incidental (which EqG already pretty much stated directly). So forgive me if, after already derailing her character entirely throughout Season 3 before elevating her to a position that she is singularly unsuited for, I don't consider what little they've shown amounting to "here the Twilight have a trophy" to be something that assuages my concerns. You're certainly allowed to hope for the best by all means, but I'm struggling to find reasons to do so.

Pretty much this. 

 

Also, the princess aspect is becoming more onto the forefront than friendship in general and feels so shoehorned into the show especially after Faust left and wasn't that well implemented. If there is one thing worrying about this is the storytelling within the series at this point, as it feels that Hasbro's marketing team is more in control of the story than the writers themselves. Heck, when was the last time you've seen a pony toy commercial that does NOT promote the princess angle recently? Even EG commercials with parts of the crappy live action music video have been more prominent than most. Executive meddling seems to be more apparent as of late and it doesn't sound like a good sign if it is affecting the series. Also, it is disappointing how MLPFiM could have become a trendsetter (esp. when Faust was still on board), but became a trend follower as Hasbro gave into the whole Disney Princess shtick where Princess = Good and Kings&Queens = Evil/Bad and hopped onto the Monster High train with EG. Of course, the writing has been coming off a bit stale lately with S3 despite having fewer episodes, which doesn't help matters if the quality continues downhill. 

 

Another thing is how well they handle the princess aspect. It'll seem pointless if all this means is FiM being the same but Twilight with wings and nothing more other than being used for plot convenience/contrivance and Deux Ex Machina. They should definitely try to turn the princess trope on its head in some way and that is to say "Princesshood isn't easy" or "It requires sacrifice". Also, it should at least have a long lasting impact and long term consequences than just having Princess Product Placement Twilight accomplish something, get a congratulatory comment, and quickly move on, making it seemed as rushed as the redemption plotlines (or just plotlines in general) of S3 and EG. It should definitely shaken relationships with her friends, other ponies and even princesses and that royal duties would become overbearing to the point that she is willing to resign her princess status or that she doesn't feel ready to be one or just feels uncomfortable as royalty. 

 

Though it leads to the question about where this growth would lead to and the only way this princess could go anywhere is unless one of the princesses steps down, most likely Celestia if they're sticking with the whole 'Twilight as successor to the Sun' as Faust wanted to do, even though nothing entailed Twilight to become an alicorn to do so. Yet there is another reason why I like Twilight as a changeling more as it can continue her royalty growth. If you think about it, there is no queen in the Equestrian/Pony hierarchy yet there is one in the Changeling one. Twilight can be able to grow from changeling princess to changeling queen, surpassing Celestia, Luna and Cadence in royal status. Also, Twilight having to struggle with shapeshifting, flying and adapting to other changeling abilities sounds better than just Twilight having issues with flying, which is already inconsistent with how she flies well in MMC's ending and in the S4 premiere yet failing in EG.

Edited October 30, 2013 by AdventChild

[Emperor Robrainiac]

Pretty much this. 

 

Also, the princess aspect is becoming more onto the forefront than friendship in general and feels so shoehorned into the show especially after Faust left and wasn't that well implemented. If there is one thing worrying about this is the storytelling within the series at this point, as it feels that Hasbro's marketing team is more in control of the story than the writers themselves. Heck, when was the last time you've seen a pony toy commercial that does NOT promote the princess angle recently? Even EG commercials with parts of the crappy live action music video have been more prominent than most. Executive meddling seems to be more apparent as of late and it doesn't sound like a good sign if it is affecting the series. Also, it is disappointing how MLPFiM could have become a trendsetter (esp. when Faust was still on board), but became a trend follower as Hasbro gave into the whole Disney Princess shtick where Princess = Good and Kings&Queens = Evil/Bad and hopped onto the Monster High train with EG. Of course, the writing has been coming off a bit stale lately with S3 despite having fewer episodes, which doesn't help matters if the quality continues downhill. 

 

I remain cautiously optimistic for S4, but I can see where you're coming from. It seems like when Lauren Faust left, it seems like the show has been more focused on product placement. Hopefully we wont see as much of that in season 4, but at this point it's too early to tell. It's almost as if in Season 3, Hasbro wanted to make it a commercial for little girls but at the same time, try to keep the bronies attention to it. There were times where I laughed, but then there were other times where it just felt awkward... to me anyways.

 

However, I still think Twilight being a changling would only make things worse. That's probably just my opinion though, and I tend to be very picky over dark twists like this. Heck, I'm probably the only person on earth who thinks Adventure Time started to go downhill once the Post Apocalyptic backstory was expanded on and all that teen drama with Flame Princess started.

Edited October 30, 2013 by Dead Robrainiac: Lost Ep.

[Sean]

Season 2 felt like it was shifting Twilight out of focus and I never liked her to begin with so I hated how she seemed to dominate season 3, and I don't think that's going to be changing with later ones. I'm still looking forward to the next season because it should at least have much better pacing and the last one didn't totally destroy my interest in the show, plus I actually liked EQG a lot.

[Dr. Mechano]

Season 2 felt like it was shifting Twilight out of focus and I never liked her to begin with so I hated how she seemed to dominate season 3

Twilight was only really the main focus of three stories in season 3: The Crystal Empire, Magic Duel, and Magical Mystery Cure. The rest of the episodes were all about other characters, so I think it had the same balance, really.

[Sean]

The Twilight-focused episodes in season 3 seemed to have more weight to them, and they were undoubtedly bigger game changers than any previous Twilight-centric stories. Not to mention how much the writers hyped the season 3 finale, which I didn't end up liking one bit. I suppose better wording on my part would be to say that Twilight's influence hovered over season 3 moreso than past ones, rather than her literally dominating the episode count.

[Applejack1973]

Some reports from Comic Con if not mentioned before.

 

http://www.roundstable.com/2013/07/20/san-diego-comic-con-report-my-little-pony-feature-panel/

Edited October 31, 2013 by Applejack1973

[Tornado]

Funnily enough, my main issue with Season 3 was actually the lack of focus on Twilight outside of the premiere, Magic Duel, and finale stories. I still wish the season had been longer, partly so they could build up to MMC a lot more. It's like, the premiere hinted at it, and...that was it.

 

So yeah, the focus on Twilight doesn't bother me and I love the show as much as ever, but I'll admit it could have been handled better. *shrug*

Twilight was only really the main focus of three stories in season 3: The Crystal Empire, Magic Duel, and Magical Mystery Cure. The rest of the episodes were all about other characters, so I think it had the same balance, really.

 

I didn't say Twilight had too much focus in Season 3. I said that the focus she did have derailed her character (which exacerbated the problems with how she was written in the Season 2 finale, and the fact that Season 3 was basically built around her as the framing device much like the Gala was in Season 1), and that carried over into EqG hard and what we've seen doesn't inspire hope to not be the case with Season 4 as well.

 

 

tl;dr: Even if the show was "always" about Twilight, she wasn't always the way they've decided for her to be now; and I really don't much like her as she is now.

 

 

 

Also:

 

[Arcade Racer CC14]

Descriptions for the first three episodes from Zap2It are out:

Season 4 Episode 1

Title: Princess Twilight Part 1

Synopsis: Now a Princess, Twilight Sparkle's Summer Sun Celebration plans are put on hold when Princesses Luna and Celestia go missing.

Air Date: November 23, 2013

Season 4 Episode 2:

Title: Princess Twilight Part 2

Synopsis: In order to save Equestria from the Everfree Forest, Princess Twilight and friends must bring their Elements to the Tree of Harmony.

Air Date: November 23, 2013

Season 4 Episode 3

Title: Castle-Mania

Synopsis: While in Luna and Celestia's old castle, the ponies are convinced it is haunted by the Pony of Shadows.

Air Date: November 30, 2013

Not much new, but the third ep's title pun is quite amusing.

[gato]

...
 
Random thing I thought about Season 4:
 

Do you guys think the friendship letters will go to Twilight now? You know, being her domain and whatnot (but then again, Cadence is the princess of Love and somehow ended up ruling other place)

 
 
 
 
 
EDIT: added some stuff.
 
About the two parter:
 

1) It's probably not going to happen but I'd be really happy if I could hear a reprise of "

What My Cutie Mark Is Telling Me" sung by Twilight. :x
 
 
 
2) Celestia and Luna being out of the picture is sometimes a necessary convenience for the story's sake, but nowadays we have Princess Twilight as a main character to show us what a princess would do in such a situation right?
 
 
 
3) Speaking of which, ever since Canterlot Wedding Twi has kind of became "the problem solver", every time a threat surfaces it's up to her to tackle it and fix it while the rest of the characters just do random stuff.
 
This is probably one of the complaints I can see some people raising. Having said that, at the very least MMC bothered to recognize Twi's bonds were the reason she stands out above the likes of Starswirl and Shimmer, but she was still the one who pushed the rest of the cast in the right direction... ... ... Hey! Kind of like what Celly did to her on the pilot! :V
 
But yeah, I'd like to know how the rest of the characters will handle their problems (if there even is a not-slice-of-life episode starring them) while they have a princess living a few blocks next to them that they could ask for help.
 
 
 
4) Also, unless you do as Meghan and count this episodes as a continuation to MMC (and unless you consider Keep Calm and Flutter On an "important episode") this is probably the first big episode we had in a while that is not merchandise driven (unless Rainbow Power appears somewhere... As a side note, I actually hope Rainbow Power shows up at some point this season, sounds like something I could enjoy depending how it's used)
 

 
 
 
And about that third episode:
 

Seems to be a direct follow up of the first 2 in a similar way as the incoming 2 parter is a follow up MMC, that's... interesting.

 
 
 
Also, it's probably not going to happen but I'd love if the shadow pony were Sombrero, not because it would make him into a better villain (I don't think it would), but because I somehow find the image of Sombrero losing his palace up on the north and being forced to crash into the old sisters one like a homeless guy hilarious. (not to mention the comics that could come from this)
 
Who the hell is the Shadow pony anyway? What legend does it come from and why is it haunting that castle of all the possible places it could living in? I don't feel so confident that they will explain much of it bur I'd appreciate it if they would (maybe it's also related to the Season starter?)
 
 
 
EDIT: Am I allowed to expect for some Scooby-Dooby-Doors?

 
 
 
 
 
EDIT: New synopsis!
 
For episode 4:
 

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic : Daring Don't

S04, E04 (First Aired: December 7, 2013)
Rainbow Dash and friends offer to help their favorite author finish her latest book.



Let me be the first one on this thread to say:

it's going to be so freaking disappointing

when if it turns out the writer isn't Twilight's mom.

(If you don't know what I'm talking about you should read the IDW comics)

But other than that sounds cool, an episode about writing? How will that turn out?

 

Also, I'll be very pleased if there is some mention of the fictions the mane 6 were writing on Spike At Your Services, despite that episode being bad that details was pretty nice.

 

Edited November 1, 2013 by gato

[Arcade Racer CC14]

Fourth episode!

Season 4 Episode 4

Title: Daring Don't
Synopsis: Rainbow Dash and friends offer to help their favorite author finish her latest book.
Air Date: December 7, 2013

[Nix]

Fourth episode!

Season 4 Episode 4

Title: Daring Don't

Synopsis: Rainbow Dash and friends offer to help their favorite author finish her latest book.

Air Date: December 7, 2013

 

If the comics and merchandise are anything to go by, that means Rainbow Dash an co. are going to pester Twilight's mom for the entire episode.

 

Sounds like fun.

 

Edit for reference:

 

 

Ahhh, that feeling you get when speculating.  It's a good feeling to have.

Edited November 1, 2013 by Nix

[Fuzon-S]

I know I'm late for this, but at least I got this done after a couple of sleepless nights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yay season 4 just around the corner. c:

[Emperor Robrainiac]

So uh... Hey, a snip of the script for part 1 of the season 4 premiere has been revealed from the twitter page. Read at your own risk!

 

 

 

 

Well so much for an episode dedicated to Rainbow Dash teaching Twilight Sparkle to fly, we only have a scene of it... That's kind of a disappointment.

 

Then again, maybe Twilight learning to fly is pivotal to the season 4 premieres? Guess it's too early to tell.

[SweeCrue]

We got a Season 4 promo~

http://youtu.be/gZacPOD-zCE

 

The hype is real!