State of the Lemur - 04/10/2015 · 1:55am Apr 11th, 2015
Ah yes. New seasons of poni poni poni. Where even the silliest of episodes can inspire one to make glorious spaghetti abominations. Abominations like this one:
"Come on in! I've got towels! Bitches lurve towels!"
All week, I was struggling to think up a fanfic that "I could do in 2k words or less." Granted, it wasn't a very spectacular week. Still, on the way to work yesterday, this idea came to mind, and the rest is history. I'd say that I was sorry, but, f'naaaa... you've all read these blarghs before.
Still, it was a very good episode. A dayum good episode. In my opinion, it's the second best Season Opener, following on the heels of "Return to Harmony."
It was also really fucking dark. Not just for pony, but for cartoons in general these days. No offense to any felines reading this, but modern day kid shows kinda fritter around pussy territory. It's gotta be super tough for writers to manage provocative and thoughtful material. After all, the 90s are well-behind us.
I'm not in the least bit bothered by how "un-epic" the storyline was. In so many ways, I yawned through the S4 opener, and that all dealt with Luna and Celestia getting kidnapped, Discord being a troll, the Tree of Harmony, yadda yadda yadda. I think we've grown past enjoying story threads that involve "destiny" and "princess this" and "princess that." The show's having to deal with what Twilight has learned. The pupil has become the master, so to speak, and now it's all about her and her buddies traveling across the kingdom and spreading the light of their companionship... or something. F'naaa. Considering that S4 was all about the characters re-learning their shiet, this is a progressive step in the right direction. And I think this was best embodied by how the four newly-created OC ponies saved the day... instead of something lame like the Mane 6 going all Rainbow Supersaiyan on Starlight's ass. If the rest of the season follows this formula, I'm totally on board. But, then again, I was on board from the beginning.
But this is the first time I've watched the show and legitimately felt "Yeah... this isn't for little girls anymore." Cuz... seriously... what little girl would sit through a philosophical analogy of utopian fallacies and be legitimately entertained? I'm not trying to say that kids these days are dumb or that young females shouldn't think. It just seems very unmarketable to pitch this as the idea for a season pilot. I'm trying to imagine the four year old squatting before the t.v.: "Uhhhh... Mommy? Why's everypony in town smiling? Is there a bad guy in this episode? Where are the pew-pew rainbow lasers?" Everything was a great deal more emotionally involved and cerebral. Assuming the intended audience started watching this back in 2010, then I'd say they've grown up enough, and it's nice seeing the show grow up as well.
Marsupials left and right have made constant "communism" jokes about Starlight's village. I know this, cuz I have too. In all fairness, however, this is not an episode about communism. It involves a commune, for sure. But let's be honest with ourselves: this is a straight-up commentary on cults. Cuz... look at that shiet. It's a fucking cult. Starlight Shimmer is a common charlatan who takes advantage of "wandering ponies in search of something missing from their lives." She preys upon their knowledge of cultural artifacts and adds her own apocryphal "evidence," in this case the complete paper moon of a "staff of sameness." To this end, by manipulating each of the ponies and dominating them with her own philosophy, she has "created harmony."
But, y'know, Starlight's society is doomed to crumble--through the sheer fact that the show was contrived to analyze it from the get-go. And if you're broadcasting anything on television that deals with the archetypes of a "cult," then the expected course of action is to deconstruct said image. Cuz modern society.
To this end, Starlight--a very interesting and foreboding character upon introduction--necessarily devolves into a two dimensional "mwa ha ha" villain. Granted, I'm very impressed by her intelligence, her insistence that what she's doing is Harmonic, and the very obvious implication that she'll be returning later in the season as an antithetical parallel to Twilight Sparkle. But still, imagine how much more thought-provoking and badass it would have been if there was no glaring fault or villainous backstory to the mare whatsoever. Imagine if she believed enough in the legitimacy of her philosophy that she was willing to sacrifice her own cutie mark as well. What--then--would the Mane 6 be battling? If Starlight had never forced their hooves, would they have ultimately dragged the rug out from underneath the town's cultural foundation? Just because the substance behind their belief was total and utter bunk? Or would they have just... let things be the way they (harmlessly{?}) were? It would have meant a completely different lesson on tolerance and coexistence altogether... something so complex that there's either no single lesson... or else there are several... and it would have taken way more than just two episodes of a twenty-minute kid's show to analyze. F'naa.
Alas, Starlight had to be an evil flankhole for simplicity's... just like every villain in her diabolical!cult!leader place has to be. And if there's any moral to be taken from the story, I think AJ says it the best: "You just can't force friendship. It don't work that way." Yaaaaaaay AJ. Best pone and best countryist:
So, tomorrow, I'm going to this stupid thing again.
No, I won't be trying to meet with anyone this time. Truth is, I'm really not that horse famous, and besides I'm a major (and hairy) douchebag in person as well as online. Problem is, I've long suffered the delusion that I was somehow something or someone worth shaking hands with across the digital protein webbery. And while I've enjoyed meet-ups in the past, I like to think that I'm starting to lose some of my grip on such a self-inflated ego. This year... all I wanna do is walk around, waste money, and attempt avoiding awkward nerd!boners over seeing awesome things in public.
Still, it should be fun, and it's one way I can go about working on my future shrine. I mean... it's not like I can feasibly begin a "Pimp Skirts' Bedroom" Kickstarter and get away with it.
Phweeeeeee... Move over, Moot
I feel like I've been too low on my "push my best friend for Summerslam" quota. So, here's the announcement of the week.
This guy did a thang. A smexy EP thang.
And for a minimum of $5 bucks, you can invite such soul-saving music into your heart. If you then get baptized in Provo, you win a free coaster! For real, though, this stuff is Grade A studio quality shiet, and it really shows off the Fuzzhead's vocal range. As if hot robots in lacy aprons didn't do that to him enough.
Oh mama...
FRAK
-SS&E
Not when nostalgia keeps bringing them back to me.
2970071
Holy... I remember watching that episode when it came out. I almost completely forgot about it.
Actually now that I think about that show had many dark episodes, just like the TMNT cartoon also did.
That bit with AJ running right in and randomly breaking a jar is one of my favorite parts of the whole episode (which is saying something, because I really dug the episode). And that little smile as she does it. It's like, "Fuck Starlight, and fuck this thing in particular. I'm helpin'!"
I thought the subject matter was too ambitious, even for the older kids they’re now targeting. Besides the problems you pointed out, Starlight Shimmer’s actions with regard to the Mane Six are idiotic.
She wanted the cutie mark of a princess? Huh? And do what with it? Put it on display in her cave and look at it now and then? How would that ever come in useful?
But more to the point: What the hell made her think it’s a good idea to mess with an alicorn princess ruler of Equestria?! Did she think that Celestia would never notice Twilight’s disappearance? Did she plan on taking the sunbutt cutie mark also? Did she then plan on raising the sun herself?
The writers can get away with this because the target audience are still kids who won’t know any better. It’s still impressive they can take a serious political and philosophical subject and make it all about friendship, but something is definitely lost in the translation.
I liked it more than Princess Twilight Sparkle as well. Sometimes smaller is better.
2970165
It isn't unusual for a television show to try something ambitious, to push the status quo a bit and to get their audience to think more.
There are going to be people who, on the first watch, won't be able to make head or flank of what they just watched - I, for one, imagined a lot of parents got some interesting questions from their little ones after the Season 5 two partner - but, as they grow older, they'll start to make sense of the message the show was trying to broadcast.
I adored the two-parter, personally. Starlight Shimmer as a character is incredibly interesting, both as a cult leader and personality wise. Right now, we really have no idea who she actually is, aside from headcanon. So it'll be really cool to see who is Starlight Shimmer over the course of Season 5.
Oh, yes. Also, Sugar Belle is best pone.
S4 wasn't so much about the mane 6 re-learning their "shiet", but reinforcing their "shiet." They did learn some things sure, but it wasn't to the degree that it was in early seasons. It didn't have to be, and each time it was reinforced they demonstrated it to others. Showing others the magic of friendship.
I dunno about the subject matter being too complex. I don't underestimate the ability for kids to learn and understand things. Even with the dark undertones, the message was still pretty clear to a kid. It's pretty much what AJ said.
After Tirek in the S4 finale, I heard several people talking about "spectacle creep" as the show continued on. Having this season start out with a slow burn stomped out that worry in an instant. Though I suspect things will get more intense later. People are hasty to compare Starlight to other villains - if I see one more Amon comparison I'm gonna pull my hair out - but I think that's a bit premature. I'll wait to see how the season plays out, then make the judgement.
2970269 I agree Starlight Shimmer is potentially very interesting, but the need to dumb it down forces her to act like an idiot. She ought to have persuaded Twilight to join her, or at the very least, persuade her to let this social experiment continue (expressed in those terms, it might have even worked).
For the same reason, I think it's unlikely her motivations will ever be explored—except in an insultingly token fashion. Has Trixie's or Discord's motivations for their antagonistic tendencies ever been explored?
Starlight probably will turn up again, eventually, but it will be just more of the same.
That was my favorite Gadget episode next to the one where she fought against her more 'giving' Hawaiian counterpart fake. Certainly do miss the good old 90's. Later cartoons just became uber flat and minimalistic... more about how to shell out 'safe' and 'non-confusing' tv shows.
Nice to see someone call out the creepy pasta factor of that episode. And darn, I thought it was that
Pony OC generatorNight Glider was the one who knocked over the tea kettle. I'll let Night keep the breaking door bad assery point, but going to have to take away the sheer awesomeness of breaking all breakables in an immediate area away and add it to Best Pone AJ. Dang, I should replay Bloodborne and make an Applejack and go to that delicious room with all the vases and jars. xDPonky has a beautiful voice. It's sad to say I only enjoyed the fifth one. Minus brownie points for starting every song with a title drop. Also, was it just me or did the first song have that adorable beat to the one he made with Derpy so long ago? He should totally keep practicing and working out a few of the kinks in his songs. Not like I'm an expert, but I know he can do better. I just can't see myself really replaying any of them aside from Pockets. Autumn seemed nice, but again, not much replay value in the songs to me. Not like his first two I could replay for hours from way back.
Well, not like anyone needs to hear my opinions on music. But it's there anyways! ;p
2970071 We should all make a petition to bring back the best parts of the 90's, including the level of acceptable media back then. Where dodge ball was still legal and recess didn't suck. And television aired cartoons for 3-4 hours straight of kick ass shows almost everyone watched who didn't have horrible parents who would hijack their TV to watch rednecks arguing over whose sleeping with whose other relatives. xD
2970326
Touché
I'm bummed that they had to dumb her down in order for it to be, well, easily digestable by the core audience. Which is a shame, because Starlight seems like a very intelligent mare, albeit screwed up in the head a bit.
She'll likely be dumbed down the next time she shows herself, too. Which will be dissapointing to many, including me. But hey, that's what Fimfiction is for, right?
Props, Shorty. I had been so caught up on the "communism bad" angle I hadn't even noticed her now-obvious position as a freakin' cult leader—which is disappointing, because that sort of thing is a hobby of mine. Not leading cults, I mean. Learning about the psychology behind falling for that sort of thing. Bravo.
Also worth noting is how utterly tied pony personalities are to their Cutie Marks. Pinkie mellowed out, AJ couldn't speak Country no more, Dash was slow, and they all seemed to weak. I have high hopes for this season's exploration therein.
We may have to opt for the Deluxe On-Board package. Tomorrow will tell.
I'll be there this year as well. I'll keep an eye out for you ;)
2970417
Yep. Too bad the only Starlight Shimmer story in the feature box right now concerns itself with belly rubs. The next one to make it, I'm sure, will have a sex tag. The one after that, too. Then comes a gore tag. And the occasional story that seriously explores these themes in a (legitimately) mature fashion will be down voted into oblivion.
I'll go take my meds now.
My concern for the show revolves less around how they're exploring darker themes (as greater minds than mine have clearly thought it through to great lengths), and more on the deus ex fluttershy. I don't have a problem per say with the logic behind why they chose her as a spy/saboteur (Although I do have a slight problem with the painful lengths they took to make her the obvious choice). My problem is that they seem to be making a habit of relying on Fluttershy to pull their bacon out of the fire when fecal matter impacts on the high velocity air displacement apparatus. It was adorable in Magic Duel, (for the sake of the dangerous mission outfit if nothing else), but it seems like a case of recycled humor to me.
Also, a nitpick (because I've got the itch to do so): If removing the cutie marks of the main six reduced all of their talents to the same horrifically low standards of the rest of the town, why didn't it reduce Twilight's problem solving skills and intelligence to the same average? We clearly saw it remove not only talent related knowledge, i.e. Rarity's knowledge of fashion and fluttershy's ability to comprehend animal speech, but also witness it drain personality traits and physical ability as well. I mean it took Applejack's countryisms and transformed Pinkie into a clone of Maud. wouldn't the same powers reducing their powers naturally have reduced Twilight's intellect by quite a bit as well?
I could totally see myself as a kid loving the episode, and really thinking about it as I grew up. I ate that thought-provoking stuff up. Still do.
2970326
That sort of thing honestly shouldn't be part of the show itself. That's left up to us to consider and chew on as we analyze and bicker over the characters and their motivations. It's essentially fanfic-territory, not something they can fit into even three episodes of the show, still maintain the target audience, and do it enough justice to both be intelligent and accurate, as well as allow the heroines to solve a problem.
In contrast, this next episode will be incredibly marketable.
"Hey kids! We here at Hasbro know the last two episodes taught you about how conformism isn't always the best option, but TWILIGHT WILL LEARN TO LOVE HER NEW FRIENDSHIP FORTRESS AND YOU SHOULD TOO FOR $39.95 USD!"
EDIT: Also
Skirts is an anon. I fucking knew it.
Sunset Shimmer and Starlight
ShGlimmer. Cousins? That would be interesting.Obligatory spoiler:
Applejack! :flail:
Somewhere in Equestria, there is a unicorn who can render an alicorn helpless with a single spell. The alicorn might need to be distracted for that to happen, but Starlight Glimmer is incredibly dangerous if she can land just one good shot. She's also a normal-looking pony who could probably walk into Canterlot at any time with no trouble.
The princesses can't be such fools as to be unconcerned about that.
Actually, I'd suggest that the greatest flaw in "The Cutie Map" was that Twilight Sparkle apparently didn't notify anyone before leaving with the Mane 6 to investigate the town. I don't know what her responsibilities to Celestia might be, but wandering off like that seems strange.