Bradel Reacts to the Season Finale (with Spoilers, Obviously) · 5:46pm May 10th, 2014
Guys.
Guys, guys, guys!
Oh my gosh, that was awesome. Okay, maybe some of you are gonna be all, "Bradel, you crazy. You need to stop smoking the rainbow crack." But I don't care! I loved these episodes so much!
Slow down, Bradel. Breathe.
So what about these episodes made me dig them enough to show up and write a blog post? Well, there are a couple things—but I think the big one is Discord. Now, I've always had a bit of a weird relationship with Discord as a character. I'm not the fan most pony followers are. I like him (and I like John de Lancie, and I've always liked Q), but I'm much more interested in the ponies. I think they're stronger characters, across the board. Fanfiction does some nice stuff with Discord at times—take for example "Games" by CCC—but he's not much better than Celestia and Luna in show terms. My interest with all three of them mostly goes with how the fandom has expanded on what the show gives us.
The Season 4 finale, though, finally gave Discord a decent character arc, and one that made "Keep Calm and Flutter On" a much better fit for the rest of canon, in my opinion. Now, I have a reason to actually care about Discord as a character. He's more than just a one-note immortal spirit of chaos. His personality probably isn't much changed, and I'm totally cool with that, but he's got some motivation behind him now. And that's fantastic (and makes me a lot more likely to bring him into stories, moving forward).
Also, how about that storybook sequence!? My headcanon has always been wobbly on the whole question of when Star Swirl was around, relative to Celestia and Luna, and this finally provides a hint of an answer, and in a way I really like. I was listening to a "Writing Excuses" podcast a few days ago, talking about including art in novels—which is something I really like—and Howard Tayler (of Schlock Mercenary) raised what I thought was an interesting point. Some people complain that having pictures limits their ability to imagine characters and scenes in the ways they want. He was contending that for him, having a picture actually increases his ability to imagine characters and scenes, because it gives a jumping-off point, a reference that makes building further mental pictures easier. The storybook sequence was like that for me. Knowing that Star Swirl was a young unicorn at a time when Celestia and Luna were both around could be a limiting idea, because it restricts some options about how one can portray the Equestrian past. But on the other hand, it also raises a lot of interesting questions like: what were Celestia and Luna doing before the pony tribes came together to found Equestria?
Those are probably the two biggest reasons this finale has left me feeling so excited, but there was a lot to love all around. I'll admit I was feeling a little wary about the new castle, and the magical girl pretty pony transformations, but I felt like they wound up being executed in a way where I had absolutely no trouble with them, once the episode got to that point. It really did an excellent job hooking me and pulling me along for the ride, and I don't think I've been quite this pleased with an episode (or a pair of episodes) since Season 2. I've actually liked quite a lot of Season 3 and Season 4 (after all, I only joined the fandom at the start of Season 3), but this was, I think, pretty clearly my favorite outing since "Canterlot Wedding". Also, I loved Tirek.
Seriously, this show has some amazing villains. Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, and Tirek? Thank you, sir, may I have another? When your villain low point is the pony who's based on Sauron, you're probably doing something right.
That said, though... I was talking with bookplayer on Skype after the episode, and she mentioned that she's getting tired of having all these two-parters revolving around Twilight, and at this point I think I'd have to agree. I really like Twilight, but after this episode, I think I feel pretty content with her story. I'd much rather see a two-parter on Rainbow Dash joining the Wonderbolts, myself, or the CMC finally earning their cutie marks in a suitably awesome way, or any number of other stories centered on ponies other than Twilight.
What do you all think? After this finale, where would you like to see the series go next, either in general or in it's season endcaps?
I would like to see a new cast up to play. Because, really, Twilight has pretty much achieved everything she could possibly do, which kind of puts a downer for everyone else to achieve anything. I dunno, maybe a time skip with the CMC being the new ponies who have to save Equestria would be cool.
2096238
My first reaction is, "Well that's not going to happen."
My second reaction is, "Wait, I didn't ask people where they thought the show was going to go, I asked them where they wanted it to go." And yeah, you have a point. Though I think I like the Mane Six a little too much, personally, for me to be content with them slipping into princess-like background roles. I think. But you could do a lot of cool stuff with them there, TBH. Rarity episodes are fun, but Rarity in the background of Sweetie Belle episodes is almost more fun.
2096238
Why not a kids-save-Equestria, Goonies style thing? They could even earn their cutie marks along the way.
As for the regular episodes, I still want them to be focused on the mane six. I seriously suspect a "new mane six" story line would be a jumping-the-shark moment.
I loved the finale. I sorta, almost agree about the new castle (though maybe I should wait and see what they do with it in season five [AND it might just be that I'm sad over the library tree being demolished
]). And while the Rainbow-Power thing looked a little goofy, I think they handled it well.
And, like you, I enjoyed seasons 3 and 4. Some people give them a hard time (especially season 3; season 4 seems more well-received, overall), but for my money, the show's as good now as it's ever been.
2096238
I just thought of a logical, real world reason this could happen, and it's been staring us in the face all along.
TOYS
My little Pony was, is, and always will be about selling toys. Its essence is that of a twenty minute commercial.
Swapping out the mane six for a new and improved version would give management an excuse to roll out a brand new set of money making plastic molds.
(for the record, I thought the finale was okay, if a bit rushed, and I liked Tirek).
2096269
I'm finding myself reminded of the halo effect right now. I know I liked Season 4, but I've got a feeling I'm going to remember the whole thing more favorably after watching this finale. There were a lot of episodes I enjoyed this season, though not like Season 2 (which was basically just a hit parade for me)—but I already find myself feeling better about them as a whole.
What's weird is, the rainbow key episodes are probably some of my least favorite episodes this season, all in all, with only "Pinkie Pride" feeling like an unabashed success. But given that those are the ones most likely to get a carry-on glow affect from my positive feelings toward the finale, that probably means I'll wind up ranking Season 4 right alongside Season 1 in terms of how much I enjoyed it.
It's really nice to go into the break feeling like this fandom is making me just as happy as it did when I started watching the show.
Everything is wonderful. Great season, great season finale, great new knights-of-the-round style throne room. The only thing I'm sad about is that the hiatus just started.
But to actually answer the question, what I would like to see is more character progression for the CMC. Twilight Time was a great start, but I want to see them finally achieve their marks.
My immediate thought after the end of this was that Twilight's story is done, and the next "big" thing I'd like to see is the CMC get their cutie marks (or just one of them, which would make for a pretty powerful story).
I fully agree with everything you've said about this episode. It was REALLY nicely done, and it makes me like and believe in Discord as a reformed character much more than Keep Calm and Flutter on did.
Yeah, one of my first comments to SPark after we finished watching the finale was "Man, now I wonder what they're gonna do in Season 5, because Twilight's arc is really wrapped up now."
I think they'll almost have to do more with the rest of the Mane 6. The only boxes left unchecked on a classical character arc for Twilight are to lose Celestia and to surpass Celestia, but if they do those, they'll practically have to put Twilight in the same place that Celestia now fills, structurally.
Honestly? I neither know nor care. The direction of the series doesn't matter to me as much as the fodder it provides for fan fiction. Any idea touched upon by the show can yield dozens of promising stories here.
Well, that's not entirely true. There is one thing I'd like to see explored, and that's Cadance's history. Tirek was expecting three alicorn princesses, which means that Cadance existed when he was banished, back before the Nightmare Moon incident. Combine that with the "It's the Crystal Princess!" line from part 2 of the Season 3 opener, and Lovebutt clearly has a lot of history behind her... which makes her babysitting even stranger. The "Cadance of Cloudsdale" cycle offers a potential explanation, but that seems a bit heavy for the show. In any case, Cadance's continuity raises questions I'd like to see answered.
Oh, and more Derpy, but that goes without saying.
2096238 2096353 2096434 Throw my vote in for needing an epic CMC episode. My own main story series (Three Wishes) is basically that. The CMC become the focus, discover powers and more as they grow up, and the Mane 6 become kind of background characters.
I did love the finale, and seeing Twilight kick butt was awesome. It reminded me a lot of the recent season finale of Legend of Korra, which I also love, or the finale of The Last Airbender. And the plot actually moved too, unlike a lot of episodes where it's just slow setup until the "lesson" in the last five minutes.
I was also kinda smirking how many things in this finale matched stuff from the second of those CMC stories I'm writing, "The Hole In The Sun." Korra was obviously an influence in what I was writing, and it's not like the finale was my exact plot, but the details are... quite similar.
Ex: It opens with the ponies facing a returned ancient evil in the form of a giant demonic equinoid who drains magic out of ponies and the world, and is allying himself with Discord. Then Discord ends up turning the tide due to his friendship with the ponies, but mostly because of how much he cares for Fluttershy. All the Mane 6 "level up" using an ancient artifact, and their combined power is enough to banish the giant demon horse-thing. Oh, and there's also (in the first story) a giant tree that grows in a single magical moment right outside ponyville.
The best part is that I originally got a lot of comments that a big, super-powered battle like that wasn't really in fitting with pony. Now it most definitely is! On the downside, I just hope new readers note the publication date (which was before the premier of this season), and don't think I just ripped off the show.
Okay, this comment is getting too long. I should probably just go write up my own blog post.
Personally I still think Nightmare Moon was the weakest villain so far, but my headcanon for that is by the time she was released, Luna was actively fighting back in her mind, curbing NMM's power. Sombra I really liked, despite is less than stellar presence, if only because he ended up being the cleverest villain by a long shot.
I wrote some time ago in a comment that Discord's redemption was still an ongoing process, because adding together the previous Discord episode it still felt incomplete; guess I was right
And it's now, IMHO, a quite well done redemption to boot. The writers took their time and made it a longer process, one where Discord sees why he would want friendship over chaos at each step, ending with his betrayal and himself being betrayed in turn, driving the point home quite effectively
(And he is the only villain that I consider to have actually been "redeemed", since I see Nightmare Moon as more of Luna succumbing to some external influence, and her true self already being repentant by the time she was hit by the friendship blast. I'm also not counting mere antagonists, so Trixie doesn't count.)
2096647
My thoughts also. Nightmare Moon literally knew the mane 6 were coming (she spied on them as they were making plans) and could have defeated them easily, as early as back at the library if she wanted.
One thing for sure, there's going to be more stories in the Badass Twilight group now. Bring 'em in, Monster needs company.
The thing to remember is that Friendship is Magic HAS always been about Twilight as the main character you know. From the very beginning. The other characters aren't any less important, and they're main characters as well, but what I'm trying to say is... You have goku and then you have characters like Vegeta or Gohan. (If you're familiar with BBZ/
Essentially, there's usually a main main character in many shows.
I won't argue your point about wanting to see two parters on any of the other characters, as I agree, but you can't argue that There's a reason there's always been a focus on Twilight.
Also I'm quite happy with this since Twilight hasn't had a lot of screen time this season.
2097727
Oh, I in no way object to what we've gotten so far. I'm really pleased with it, and I agree that Twilight has always been set up as the central character. But I think we've hit a point, and for me I think that point only came after this episode, where I've clearly got more interest in two-parters about other ponies. I had interest in seeing them before, even if it didn't really happen, but my interest in those stories has now surpassed my interest in seeing more Epic Twilight.
Which isn't to say I'm going to be unhappy if the show keeps going back to that well. I'm confident I'll keep enjoying those, too. But I have more interest in seeing other things now.
One idea bookplayer mentioned elsewhere that I thought sounded good, if we keep going back to the epic well (which I assume we will, even if it's no longer what I'm most interested in seeing), is having Twilight be the one who's rendered powerless and making her friends save her. I could definitely get on board with that sort of story. Actually, I've got a story idea waiting in the wings that I really want to get to where that's a central plot point, but it's got a prequel that needs writing first ("Meanwhile, Back at the Palace" on my far-too-motionless progress bar).
It is actually worth noting that this directly contradicts canon established in Hearth's Warming Eve AND in Magical Mystery Cure, as:
A) Starswirl the Bearded was the mentor of Clover the Clever, who predates the sisters (or at least, they aren't mentioned, AT ALL, in the Hearth's Warming Eve play)
B) Starswirl was actually depicted as a very old pony in that picture, despite calling him a young wizard. Assuming it was Starswirl; it is worth noting that he lacked all but one bell. Perhaps that is how all the unicorn wizards dressed back in the day. Clearly Twilight still thinks it is cool. And everyone else thinks she looks like a clown. (Don't tell her that she does)
C) Starswirl did not understand the magic of friendship.
Also, regarding:
First off, the finale didn't center around Twilight, honestly; it really centered around Discord, as he was the one who actually had a real character arc in the episode.
Secondly, Twilight got zero focus episodes this season. Everyone else got at least one, including the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Spike, but Twilight didn't really get any. Indeed, I was kind of hoping this episode would focus on Twilight. It did, to be fair, but it felt a little bit... superficial? The whole "I am now the Princess of Friendship" thing felt very out of the blue, as it didn't really resolve the start, and indeed, it was an external answer to "what am I supposed to do?"
Honestly, I'd rather that they didn't go all crazy with the villains like this. Like, first off, the solution to this problem was ultimately pretty boring. Yay, blast each other with magic. Oh boy! Well... I've seen that before. A lot. I like creative things. I liked tricking Nightmare Moon. I liked Discord's chaos magic. I am much less fond of "blasting things with magic to solve problems". It is very DBZ. It can be entertaining, but it doesn't really stick with you, as it has been done a billion times before. It is okay for that to be the culmination, but really, I'd like it to be more creative. Tirek using Discord's powers for evil would have been much more interesting than the power struggle they ended up having.
I'm not saying that the finale was bad; it was, at the least, actually entertaining all the way through, in sharp contrast to Meghan's other outings (ACW, TCE, and PTS all have major pacing issues). But I'd still put Return of Harmony above it.
I don't have a problem with focusing on someone other than Twilight for those episodes, though Twilight is their leader so it is kind of... weird. And frankly, I don't think that the CMC going on an adventure like that would be a good thing, because they are just kids and it always feels a bit out of place in the world - the slice of life/adventure aspects of the show feel increasingly disconnected.
If they were going to do it, I'd have it be an episode about Rainbow Dash being put in charge, and Twilight struggling with "why can't I go?" and Rainbow Dash learning a lesson about leadership and Twilight learning a lesson about letting others grow.
Which is actually a story idea I had, then shelved about hearing they were going to throw Discord at the problem, then... well, didn't really address the issue of such.
I've got 2097756 hanging out in my blog. What possible reaction can there be to this, other than arguing on the internet!
This has been one of the iffiest things about show canon to me for a long time—when precisely did the princesses show up. I've seen a number of people put together stories or interpretations where the princesses are around, but they don't have the place in society they do in the show's present. PoweredByTea has written some fun (unpublished) stuff about Celestia and Luna running around in the ancient past being awesome but not important. Given that "Hearth's Warming Eve" implies the unicorns were still responsible for raising the sun and moon in Star Swirl's time, that seems to suggest that Celestia and Luna weren't doing it yet—or that the play is an unreliable source for Equestrian history. But I don't think we actually have any direct contradictions here. We've got a few pieces that don't seem to mesh smoothly, but like I was saying in the blog, I personally think pieces that don't mesh smoothly make for some of the most interesting areas to write stories.
Y'know what? I was going to argue this point and say that the beard doesn't necessarily mean he was old, but I took another look at the shot in question, and he's got standard age lines under his eyes, too. So I think it's fairer to just agree on this point and acknowledge that the storybook pictures don't match up perfectly with what Celestia is saying. Which, again, I think potentially makes for good fic fodder. Why does Celestia mention a young unicorn wizard when the story book shows an older Star Swirl the Bearded?
Technically, what Celestia says in MMC is that Star Swirl couldn't complete the spell because he didn't understand Friendship like Twilight does. That doesn't mean he didn't have friends / understand friendship, just that he wasn't a Twilight-level exemplar of it. Given that the spell gets presented as something like Star Swirl's unfinished masterpiece, it even seems possible he might have been trying to learn about the magic of friendship, too, but he never mastered it to the extent Twilight has, which is why she was able to finish the spell and he wasn't. I certainly don't think Scorpan being friends with Star Swirl majorly messes with this.
Anyway, just figured I should do that.
As for the rest, I tend to agree that the particular resolution of the fight wasn't terribly interesting, but the story had hooked me well enough in the first 30-40 minutes that I was perfectly content to take what it was offering at the end. That remains true. I don't think the episode is perfect, I do think things like that could have had a bit more storytelling panache in them, but for me, this episode did a better job sucking me in and carrying me along than any other since ACW, which I really, really dug. And that makes me pretty darn happy.
2097837
Oh, the episode made me happy as well. I may sound bitchy, but I was actually entertained by it and enjoyed it the whole way through.
As far as Starswirl goes... let's come up with some fun explanations, shall we?
1) Celestia thinks of everyone (other than some very ancient villains) as young, even if they are old, because she is over a thousand years old, so Granny Smith is young to her. So is anyone, really. She just slipped up. Starswirl really was old back then (ancient, even) but she called him "young" because, well, she's a thousand years old. He was a hundred. He's just a kid!
2) Starswirl the Bearded is a very ancient conspiracy by unicorns. Back in the day, Starswirl the Bearded was a position that archmages attained, and the reason he had a gigantic beard was not because he actually had a beard, but because it was a fake. If they jammed a gigantic beard, hat, and ridiculous outfit on a pony, everyone would look at the outfit, and not notice the subtle differences of the pony beneath it. The unicorns kept up the pretense to pretend to be more powerful than everyone else - one of THEIR number was immortal (or at least very old), and had come up with all sorts of wonderful things. Clearly he was the most important pony in existence. Once Luna and Celestia arose, though, the purpose of the pretense went away; there was no reason to pretend like Starswirl the Bearded was an eternal wizard, and so when the last Starswirl died, he was gone. He is an obscure part of unicorn history because the pretense is a source of embarassment. Alternatively, he may have simply been a method of control within the unicorn tribe, and gone away for the same reason, or it could have just been a title for their chief muckamuck. Could also just be the wizards trying to push back against the royalty/nobility and exerting power of their own independent of the crown.
3) Starswirl the Bearded is a folklorish figure who has all sorts of things attributed to him which were actually the work of many different ponies. He was an actual historical figure, but he wasn't actually that important from a historical point of view (hence his placement in Twilight's book of obscure unicorn history); however, because of his distinctive appearance, he ended up being frequently depicted in unicorn folklore. ALL ancient unicorn wizards are drawn and presented as Starswirl the Bearded because he was interesting looking and had a distinct personality, even though, in reality, it was many different wizards, and the historical Starswirl the Bearded was but one of them. It is much the same as why we depict all midieval wizards as Merlin/Odin in the real world - there is some archetypical symbol and we see them as such. Thus, Celestia was speaking about another wizard, but the book depicted him as Starswirl the Bearded (or as looking like him) because that's clearly how all ancient unicorn wizards looked, even though they didn't.
2097991
Oddly enough, I was on the EQD pre-reader chat this morning, pitching that very theory. Oh, the details are a bit different, but the core is pretty much the same. I had him as a latter-day invention of the princesses that they could justify their decisions, kind of like all the Confucian references to the mytho-historical Duke of Zhou.
...I've got a rather remarkable ability to frame things in terms of Confucianism, come to think of it.
2098044
I just had a rather dark thought that I thought I would share.
So, you know how Twilight was all "Oh I don't know what to do" and then suddenly at the end was like "I must spread friendship all over Equestria!"
What if the reason that seemed so arbitrary was because it wasn't her idea?
The elements draw their power from friendship. And to gain power, they need more friendship.
So Twilight, after using them, is having the elements... not really whisper in her ear, so much as make her feel compelled to replenish and grow their energy, kind of like how some parasites reprogram ants to make them more likely to get eaten by birds.
Not necessarily malevolent, mind you, but simply manipulating mortals in order to get what they want - more friendship, which gives them more power. Might not even be that they're CONSCIOUS - it is just natural selection. They get more power and persist by spreading friendship, which in turn helps those who help it.
Perhaps all Equestrian society is so nice because it feeds the elements, and the elements feed back into Equestrian society. Not quite brainwashing, but making everything just a little bit better, a little be happier, a little bit friendlier because it suits them, and going against the power denies you the power's protection, which is why ponies have a powerful society and dragons and chimeras are solitary creatures which can be kicked out of their homes by ponies.
2098074
So it's not so much the Tree of Harmony as the Cordyceps Fungus of Harmony.
You're right, that's a dark and disturbing thought...
2098104
There's even some other evidence for such things in world. The Crystal Heart is very similar; makes a nice, habitable area around it for the ponies to feed it positive feelings from.
2096269
Yeah, halo effect.
"Trade Me" just got retconned into one of the most emotional episodes of the series.
i.imgur.com/Mhbyyzm.jpg
2098650
Oh gawd, I hadn't even thought of that.
2097745
Oh wow. I would absolutely love an idea like that. It would be perfect. It also sounds really plausible to happen within the show, since she has more exposure now and thus, will attract more attention, good and bad.
I'll be honest here - I entered watching this two parter with not a grain, but a metric kiloton of salt.
I can number on the fingers of one hand the episodes of S4 that I actually liked. Most made me completely apathetic, and some I consider an utter waste of time. My bronydom was dying a slow but inexorable death. And then I found out they intended Tirec to be the villain? The lackadaisical writing so far left me nearly utterly convinced there was no way they cold do him justice. So yeah, I went into watching the episode(s) fully expectant to never watch another FiM episode ever again.
And I was blown out of my mind. This twoparter gave me almost everything I ever would have wanted (except Celestia's mane going pink when she gave up her magic) out of it. Well, I'll admit the rainbow makeup was beyond cheesy - still I liked it on the guilty pleasure level.
Tirec was awesome and completely appropriate. He was menacing, he was cunning and he was a quite real threat.
Mane six were true to their characters.
Discord was actually well utilized this time which I could not say for any of his other appearances this season. And - dunno why, maybe I'm just projecting - but I figure he was a actually pulling everyone's strings for the entire episode - like a good trickster and instigator of change should and would do.
And the storyline flow was natural, unforced and enjoyable.
all in all I'm giving this finale 6 out of 6 mustaches
and a Derpy for an excellent showing.
That out of the way - I concur that mane six should get a bit of a rest and someone else should be given the spotlight (like maybe timeskip and give each of the mane six their own apprentice/student) - but oh please God, Buddha, Allah, and every and anything else people had ever prayed to for divine assistance, let it not be CMC. Use them is support roles or to comedic effects, but stop beating that poor nag before it expires.