Season Six Finale Review/Rant (spoilers, obviously) · 12:03am Oct 10th, 2016
!!! SPOILERS HERE !!!
!!! ALSO, I ASSUME YOU'VE WATCHED THE EPISODES, SO I DON'T RECAP ANYTHING!!!
I was originally going to start this out by saying my first impressions of the finale were 'meh' and 'very disappointing'. But more I think about it, the more I realize the truth: I hated it.
Ever since the changelings first appeared, there were all sorts of fan theories about them: they were flutterponies, they were cursed, etc. There were also stories where getting enough love would 'heal' the holes in their bodies.
I hated all those ideas. I hated the idea that the changelings had to, well, change. I liked them, they had some of the best designs in the show, and I hated the idea that they would be gone.
And now, exactly that has happened on the show, and it's as bad as I thought it would be. Maybe I'm biased, since as I said I liked the old designs, but these new designs are just terrible. Where are the awesome holes, the tattered wings and tails? That was cool, and interesting, and alien, and now we just have green butterflies.
But I really hate it for two reasons: it's lazy, and it reduces potential, not creates it.
The deus ex (ha) machinas that resolve all the villain fights have always been a bit of a complaint among fans. But at least they made sense before. They were foreshadowed in some way; we knew the elements would defeat Nightmare Moon and Discord, we knew the Crystal Heart was a powerful relic that protects the Crystal Empire, they'd spent the whole season trying to open that box from the Tree of Harmony, and so on.
But this time, out of nowhere, we get 'Thorax, your wings look kind of different' followed 30 minutes later by 'oh, giving love causes changelings to metamorphize into a completely different form that doesn't need love'. It's lazy.
You know what wouldn't have been lazy? Thorax actually teaching the changelings that they could live off friendship, that they didn't have to steal what they could be given freely. Which I thought was the whole point of Thorax's story, not the lead-up to some lame magical transformation.
And speaking of lazy, you know what would have been hard? Trying to introduce the changelings into Equestria as they originally looked. Having the characters spend time trying to get other ponies to overcomes their reservations and befriend creatures that had attacked them. Maybe even having a moment where the changelings are getting discouraged and find it tempting to backslide into the old ways.
But you know what's easy? Boom, changelings are bright and cheerful now instead of dark and mean! No need for any story development, it all just happened right there. The end.
That's the other part that I hate: there is now less potential for the changelings. I mean, they're fully, magically good now. You can't really have any conflict with them. They're just slightly different looking ponies now.
What I really wanted (which, obviously I'm biased about, since this is what most of my stories are about) is to have episodes about the changelings trying to assimilate into Equestria as frightening-looking bugs. Maybe exploring their culture, learning about how thy do things differently, what their history was like to make them the way they are.
But now all that is gone. For all intents and purposes, they've killed off the changelings. All that potential to explore a different society just went up in a puff of smoke and magical solutions to the problem.
There was a great possibility here to teach the lesson that it doesn't matter what someone looks like. That you can be mean and scary looking, but you can still be a good person. I think the closest they've ever come to this was with Zecora in season one, and changelings looking like changelings would have been the perfect opportunity.
But now it's gone. Because you can't be good if you aren't brightly colored.
I hate to be this cynical, and also to bang this drum, but I have to wonder if this is another example of Hasbro wanting more toys. But of course, they can't be dark, because little girls wouldn't play with them then, right?
Of course, what makes that argument not work, and which also makes everything that's happened even more confusing, is the launch of the Guardians of Harmony toyline, which has changelings as the main antagonists. I'm really confused at how those toys are being released at the exact same time the changelings are being taken away.
Also, way to make me not like Starlight Glimmer anymore. She'd been growing on me throughout the season, but now all that is gone. I'm basically at zero again right now. I mean, sure, what happened with the changelings wasn't really her fault. Chrysalis had stopped listening, and Starlight had to do something to save Thorax.
But to just arbitrarily proclaim Thorax as the new leader of the changelings, and then try to to get Chrysalis on her side? What was her end game there? How did she think that was going to go? (oh, I know... lazy writing).
As much as I'd like to see Chrysalis in a role like Discord, I'm glad she spit in Starlight's face. Starlight walked in out of nowhere, took her changelings away, her kingdom, the beings she'd been doing her best to lead—however you might disagree with her exact methods—and then wanted to be friends? She couldn't have maybe said 'look Chrysalis, there's another way to lead, and if you give it a try, the changelings will give you another chance'? (oh look, lazy writing again—she didn't do that because the changelings have to be good now, but we still want Chrysalis as a villain).
I hope Chrysalis does get revenge on Starlight, and I hope it's satisfying. She just took away the only thing in Chrysalis's life that mattered to her, and I think she deserves some payback.
All that being said, everything Chrysalis did was amazing in this episode. Coming out from behind the cocoons, having an actual rational argument with Starlight about how she knew best when it came to leading the changelings—since, you know, Starlight actually didn't know anything about leading the changelings... oh, and back-flipping off the top of the castle at the end? Epic.
Also, nice to have confirmation that Chrysalis is invulnerable. That explosion blew the top of the castle, to the point where Starlight felt she had to shield herself and Thorax. But Chrysalis was right at the center of the blast, and just stood up afterwards like it was nothing.
Chrysalis, of course, is the part that worries me the most. She's clearly being setup as a recurring villain, one specifically aimed at Starlight. Which does make sense, considering how closely their actions resembled one another.
But what worries me is how all of that is going to end.
First option is, she keeps trying and failing. Which only works for so long before a villain turns into Team Rocket and become a joke.
Second, kill her off, like Sombra or, basically, Tirek. Not an option I want, obviously.
The last is to reform her like all the other changelings, which is by far the worst in my opinion. I said the changelings have an awesome design, but Chrysalis has, by far, the best design in the show. Everything about her is just so cool. I have one of the design books about the show, and one of the quotes about Chrysalis's design is, 'when I first saw the design, all I had to do was approve it'. It would be an absolute shame, a crime, to get rid of her look. To get rid of all the changeling's looks.
I'm also nervous/curious about how Chrysalis's story will she continue. Will everything in the future with her involve her running around by herself? Is she still a Queen? I mean, I find it hard to believe every single changeling was in the hive at that moment, let alone in the throne room. The ones imitating the Princesses and all them had to have still been out there. Maybe she's going to regroup with them and form a new hive? Or maybe changelings have a haplodiploid sex-determination system like honeybees, and she'll just make more? (that actually does seem likely—I don't think we ever saw any females besides Chrysalis)
There are some possibilities, of course. Maybe having too many 'good' changelings is actually a bad thing, and you need the others to balance things out. Maybe there's a way for the rest of the normal changelings, Chrysalis included of course, to live in peace without them turning into... I believe the term I saw someone use was 'a neon moose'.
But...
I don't think any of that is going to happen.
I think the show is too held back by the fact that it's a 'kids' show. I think that's going to obliterate any possibility of seeing the shades of gray that would make things interesting. I think the writers are too held back by the fact that they essentially have to work on each episode in isolation.
I think, maybe, after almost six years, I've hit that point a lot of fans did long ago. The point where I want something more out of the show, something more than what it can give—more than it's being allowed to give.
Because there are shows out there, even shows for kids, that do so much more. That explore actual issues, that deal with bad guys in ways besides 'make them into bright colors and now they're good'.
And I think now, maybe, I finally understand why so many people hated it when Twilight became a Princess.
I, personally, loved that change. I thought it was the perfect advancement for her, the reward she had earned after working so hard for so long, and accomplishing so much. I never thought it would change her in all the horrible ways people thought it would, and for the most part I don't think it did. (although it feels like she gets fewer episodes now, which makes me sad...)
But now I see a change that I was afraid of, a change who's very idea I've loathed ever since people started talking about, and... yeah, I get it now.
In any case... we'll see how things go. These episodes mark the first time I've actively disliked the majority of an episode, the first time something has negatively affected my love for the show, and, well... we'll see how things go.
No fear for my stories, though. Like any good fanfic author (much like the ones who have refused to acknowledge Twilight's ascension) I will be utterly and completely ignoring all events of this finale.
*One little point about laziness I forgot to make. The intent here is clearly to make Chrysalis a future, possibly ongoing antagonist. But as we've seen, an army of shapeshifters make her unbeatable in any situation where she makes the first move. The only reason she's failed has been, literally, two separate miracles from out of nowhere. It would be a lot easier to write her as a villain without that army (or with a much smaller one), wouldn't it?
I'm with you. This finale was terrible, and I too am ignoring it (along with the season), though the setup wasn't outright terrible (minus Celestia getting captured/defeated AGAIN
) I'm really disappointed this is the return of Chrysalis
Maybe the show's writers decided the fandom was oversaturated with stories doing exactly what you suggested this episode do, and decided to use canon to put a stop to an overplayed, often poorly-done setup.
Not saying they were right in doing it, but it's a humorous possible explanation.
Ah, someone who thinks mostly the same about that finale as me.
I think another primary reason for the changelings popularity is what you've mentioned - they don't have it easy fitting in, they're not bright and colourful, but dark, alien, sinister and predatory. This provides innumerable opportunities for stories about never judging a book by its cover, about always looking for the good in people. And now it's all gone.
Seriously, the new designs look like pokemon OCs. Or Xerneas was seriously sleeping around. It took away all the mystique, all the uniqueness. The new form are so... Generic. Horribly generic.
Heh, neon moose.
The way they defeated Chryssie was nonsensical as well. The banishment spell for the wedding made sense, since live was only powering it, having been converted into magic energy. But here they just gave their love. It should've only made her stronger.
We've seen the flashback in Thorax's episode, Chryssie was caring for the grubs on her own, like a mother. And ask the changelings have had male voices. This brings another thing the authors didn't think about - the transformed changelings are all male and the just ran out the only female... How are they going to prolong the species?
Nice point about Starlight basically taking Chryssie's entire life away and then asking to be friends.
And yes, we have no idea what happened to all the other changelings. The transformation was clearly limited to the throne room.
Also, didn't Thorax say that all other channels were evil? And didn't we see them enjoying attacking and replacing ponies in a manner that could not be explained by orders? And now they're suddenly ask good... Methinks the magical transformation includes magical brainwashing.
And the way they all turned on their mother, who cared for them and led them for who knows how long and gave birth to them all... Basically without a moment's hesitation. Wow, that's cruel and cold. And puts any kind of loyalty they might have to anyone in question.
I hope they won't just convert or kill Chryssie, she looks simply epic. I'm personally going for a deal with the devil type of thing, where the heroes actually have to seek her out and ask for her assistance. I doubt the transformed changelings retained their full abilities, or perhaps a foe that original changeling magic is effective against.
I didn't mind many fandom origin stories for the changelings.
And yes, Chryssie was epic in the episode. That Exorcist walk on the cocoons, just awesome.
If Hasbro wanted to sell more toys, they done goofed. Do you know which Guardians of Harmony sets are most difficult to get? You guessed it, the two sets with changelings. People are buying them like hot cakes.
I have an easier time dealing with the finale because I came here for the fandom, I was drawn in by griffins and then feel in love with changelings. I watched few episodes of the show, mostly those showcasing these two races. Fanon was always more important to me.
One more nonsensical thing - the heroes just left Chryssie go like that. I mean, I like that they did, but it's nonsensical. Authors just wanted her to remain free but couldn't think of shy in universe solution.
All in all, the finale was an even bigger ass pull in terms of the ending that the Canterlot wedding.
There were only two things I liked about the finale. Chrysalis came back, and I like Trixie a little bit more now. But quite honestly, it just made me hate Starlight and Thorax even more than I already did, not to mention the fact that there is no way a single changeling managed to overpower Twilight, or the other princesses and mane six, for that matter. It was just a bad episode. I even found the castle design lackluster.
I give the season as a whole a three out of ten. This was, by far, the worst, most watered down season, with basically no engaging plots, only a few good episodes, and it seemed like everyone but Spike was OOC for almost the entire season.
The only good thing to come from this season is that season seven will have to be better.
4248787 You're giving the show's writers far too much credit. They apparently don't care what new canon they introduce. That tidbit about alicorns not having been born that way before? That meant nothing in the end. It was just a throwaway line to explain why the two oldest alicorns didn't have a clue what to do. It completely ignored existing canon, which Josh did not care about. They are just making shit up for the sake of entertainment, they don't care how it affects the overall lore.
4248964 CHANGELINGS DIDN'T HAVE LORE BEFORE SEASON 6.
Design, abilities, Chrysalis. That was literally everything we had on changelings before Season Six. You want to bitch about what this does to the lore? They had nothing.
All the changelings were until this two-parter were a collection of widely accepted headcanons that the show staff didn't bother to disprove. All you people are bitching because they don't have hive minds, they don't get to be your perfect analog for race oppression, and they don't get to infiltrate pony society and force an idyllic utopia to behave like post-911 America.
This isn't like the show constantly shaking the boat on what the power level of alicorns is. The changelings were, in the show, just a featureless, foreign, dull species of evil. This finale? Gave them architecture. Gave them observable pattern behavior. Gave them an armor design. Gave them oppression, and anti-magic stronger than Discord. Gave them a purpose in life.
So boo-hoo, changelings aren't whatever you want them to be anymore. Changelings are now (gasp of horror) defined by canon.
Changelings, in a word, have changed.
If it makes you feel better, the Thorax intro episode confirmed that yes, its the Queen laying eggs that produces the new changlings, so Thorax and his hive full of traitors are going to last for a generation and then die out. Meanwhile Chrysalis just needs to find 1 loyal drone (or maybe none, depending on changling biology) and she can just spit out a new hive/army ready to go in another decade or two.
4248994 We had comics. And no, the show writers do not care about canon. They barely care about continuity.
4249083 Okay, now you're just fabricating sentences. I never claimed the show writers care about canon. Never claimed they care about anything other than toy sales.
What I did claim is that there's no sense in all of you pricks feeling like you're entitled to your chaotic evil oppressed shapeshifters, or saying that what the show writers did was objectively wrong.
You don't like colourfull equines?(bug ponys)
I think after 6 seasons of the show, you should get used to it.
And after 6 season I know show too well, and see that coming. I mean realy, has anybody thought changelings will reformed without "magic mystery cure"?
4249090 I could care less about changelings to be frank. I care about canon. The writers don't.
4249110 So you initiated this conversation so that you could have someone to bitch to about your feelings on the perceived flaws of the show staff, when literally everyone else is just talking about changelings?
4249123 Well, on fairness, you responded so you could bitch at someone about changelings. It's not my fault you misinterpreted my point.
4249128 So it's my fault for assuming you were thinking along the same lines of literally everyone else in this comments section?
4249132 You didn't care what my point was. I'm just another asshole. Remember?
4249142 'Remember'? What would I be remembering? I never said you were just another asshole.
You say I don't care what your opinion is, meanwhile you're fabricating sentences and putting them forth as though I said them so that it seems like I'm accidentally supporting your point.
At least when I want to act self-important to someone who I think I'm smarter than, I have the decency to throw their own words back in their face. But you can't even manage that.
4249147 I don't care enough, sorry. But to summarize, you mentioned the writers having a plan. I simply said they don't, they don't care. So what if changelings changed? If they don't care, why should we?
4249157 To summarize, no. I didn't mention the writers having a plan. Stop putting words in my mouth, you dipshit.
4249166 I don't care enough to show you otherwise. Read your own posts.
4249157
This seems disingenuous.
4249168 I have. Based on your shouting at a wall of your own design, I'm the only one reading my own posts.
Also, you are just going to keep responding to me until I give up because you can't stand to not have the last word on this.
And if you were honestly as apathetic as you claim to be, you would have stopped responding by now. But you can't stand to, because that would mean you showed weakness. Despite the irony that if you just don't respond to this comment, it'll probably amass more respect from anyone observing than constantly claiming you don't care.
4249173 Shouting? My friend, we're not even having the same argument. I suppose I'm just enjoying whiling away a slow night talking about how pointless it is to worry about changelings when the show's creators don't. We lost the real talent ages ago. But no, I don't have enough investment to copy and paste your own words back to you. Sorry.
4249180
The last word is mine.
4248994
4248964
I honestly agree with both your points here, in a way.
KingMoriarty is right, there was no canon about changelings anymore. 'They take the place of your loved ones to feed off your love' is all we ever got.
But that's my, and I think a lot of other people's, exact complaint: There was no lore, and now there never will be, because the changelings are gone. There were a lot of people that like changelings and wanted to know more about them, and all we got was fifteen minutes of the inside of the hive before it was all obliterated by an utterly nonsensical transformation that no one asked for.
And at the same time, Steel Resolve has a point in that the writers tend to ignore everything because 'meh, sounds good for this episode'.
I'm not saying they need to read through everyone's fanfics and do what seems most popular (because legally they can't even admit they do read fanfics), but it's clear they know what's going on in the fan's minds. I mean, we even got official mailmare Derpy at the beginning of episode one here.
That's where he's coming from here, because all that stuff's out there, they have to know how popular the changeling's are, and they have to know that the entire reason people like them is because of how creepy and awesome they look.
So to ignore all that fancanon, to ignore it so hard you literally wipe the species out just so you can make a sappy ending to an episode, is just infuriating. It's not that they just ignored fancanon or said it was wrong, it's that they completely destroyed the point of even making it anymore. That's a rather large difference.
4249413 You say this as if destroying a species that was literally nothing but overplayed done-to-death fancanons is a bad thing.
The freshest thing to happen to changelings was Kevin, and that just gave us a buzzword to attach all the old storylines to and a confirmed changeling sympathizer in Cranky. Nothing new has come out of changelings for years, both in the show and in fanfictions.
If anyone with the kind of influence in the fandom to rock the boat like this cared about changelings, something like this would have come out in fanfic form last year. From the standpoint of everything except 'I wants my dark black changelings', this makes sense.
Heck, they threw you guys a bone. Those fifteen minutes of inside the hive? None of that ceases to be just because the changelings are rainbows. They can still probably change shape, they have no reason not to keep using their shapeshifting architecture, they're insectoid enough that the armor designs will probably stay, and the capability to build draconequus-blocking anti-magic artifacts probably remains.
All that's standing in the way of even more beautiful changeling stories is hang-ups about the color of their skin, a change in leadership, and the violation of precious, precious headcanon.
4249413 Well... Here's the thing. We saw a single hive get destroyed. Chrysalis ran off. Do you really think that one hive held the entire race? We have our new lore, but we also have the possibility that other hives exist. So, I say again... Who cares? The show isn't exactly fact checking us. Any writer can write around this nonsense.
4249434 You seem rather set on this whole "destroying people's headcanons" thing. If anything, this just adds new possibilities. Changelings are not a hivemind, so Chryssy can literally run off, lick her wounds, and make a new hive, assuming there weren't others out there anyway. This new hive won't have any idea about "the power of love sharing", they'll just know mommy wants love. There, I just applied a patch to everyone's collective headcanons.
4249473 Good for you. Do you feel powerful now? Do you feel like you've won the argument that the opposition doesn't care about having?
I hope you do.
4249482 Heh. Boy, that chip on your shoulder just won't be dislodged, huh? Have a nice day, KM.
4249488 Oh, cute. You think you're allowed to nickname me.
I kind of recoiled in horror the moment I saw the "fluttereindeer" form. Garish and unsightly. Also, apparently mute? Small mercies.
Attempting to find a silver lining: Just because they're no longer going full parasite doesn't mean there won't be some intense culture shock if and when they try to integrate with others. And what happens if they fail to make friends? Can they regress? Or go rogue?
BTW, why didn't you just make a page break for this post?
Have to agree with most of you. The new changeling designs look terrible ( I honestly wonder how Rarity could actually stand to look at them), they are garish, contrast without any sense of purpose behind the contrast; honestly it looks they just drew paint at design art and were to lazy to come up with actual good looking designs. The fact that all changelings in the throne room turn on them so fast is also rather disconcerting; as mentioned Queen Chrysalis is their mother figure and ruler who genuinely seems to care about the Hive, nice touch that she keeps referring to the Hive rather then just using 'me', but also they have no idea of the effects of the transformations; the new paint-splat bugs could very well have a wasting illness for all they know, reduced live spans or dozens of other problems, but they just went with it. Yeah its also more then a little creepy if they are now all good wholesome entities rather than the ones we saw in the throne room cause that is mind control on a pretty horrifying scale. Also I love how Starlight talks about how a leader celebrates what makes their subjects unique while talking them into throwing away their identity.
Edit:
Also just occurred to me that its weird that they just took what Starlight said at face value: your a species that thrive on deception and subterfuge and an enemy of your people starts talking about how you can never go hungry again if you just give in an transform yourself to what they want. Surely your first though should be 'nice try pony but try something more believable next time' not 'totally on board with this'.
4249715
Because I had no idea they worked that way, obviously.
(seriously, I hate text editors like this. I'm actually a web developer in real life; give me raw html please)
4249438
Yeah, we only saw one hive get destroyed and Chrysalis is still running around. And in fact, at one point Thorax said 'this is a changeling hive' when describing the shifting architecture (emphasis mine). But there's two big things that point towards this actually having been every single changeling, no matter how little sense that makes.
1. Everyone seems pretty adamant that every single changeling was affected. Again, despite how that isn't even logical, since we know at lease eleven changelings (plus, I'm assuming, Kevin) are running around impersonating the kidnapped ponies. But there were multiple references to Thorax being the new leader of the changelings, as in all of them. No one seemed to even question that they weren't all transformed.
2. When Chrysalis climbs out of the rubble, her crown is gone. Which seems to be a pretty heavy hint that she isn't a Queen anymore, meaning there are no other normal changelings left for her to rule. And that's on a show that's so obsessed with not changing character models that Luna and Celestia sleep in their regalia, and even when those two turn into crystal ponies it just overlays a crappy filter on them.
All the logic points to there being plenty of changelings left, but everything actually in the show points to them all being gone now.
I added this to the post later, but I think this was all done out of laziness, as a way to add the changelings (or rather, the last changeling) as a more consistently reoccurring villain.
Because, come on, this isn't Battlestar Galactica. No one wants to spend every season wondering if any/all characters are changelings. And, as we saw here, Chrysalis with an army of shapeshifters is pretty much an instant win if she tries. It's hard to write around that.
So, they just wrote the changelings out. Now there's just one shapeshifter, and that's at least reasonable to write.
I mean, I really do hope they walk it back from the direction they seem to be headed in. Maybe if enough people think the neon moose are as stupid as I do (which seems to be most people, at least that I've seen) it will get at least a little changed. Not particularly holding my breath, though.
I think I've come up with the perfect metaphor to describe what I think about this.
Think of Star Trek.
Think of the Klingons in the original series.
They were just guys in swarthy makeup with big eyebrows. They were 'the bad guys' and that was it. There was no history, no canon, no lore. Just 'we shoot them and they shoot us'. But they were popular, probably mostly because they were the only reoccurring villains on the show. People liked them, I think cosplay might have been invented just for them.
So what happened when there was a bigger budget and more episodes?
We got more Klingons. We got backstory, we got motivations, we got episodes dedicated just to them. We got bat'leth, birds of prey and "You have no HONOR!"
You know what didn't happen?
"Captain, that quasar is merging with that black hole and—wow, that burst of radiation just turned every Klingon in the galaxy into a Vulcan! No don't question it shut up."
Changelings got the second one.
(also, a Romulan/Vulcan vibe between changelings and neon moose would be absolutely awesome)
4252017
That's a scene interpretation. The show doesn't display any sort of widespread mass outpouring of changeling love accross the globe, so you are literally adapting that interpretation as your headcanon. Not a good idea if you wish to write about them again.
Yes, symbols are important. And you're right, she probably lost her symbols of power, but she is still a queen in the biological sense. Even if every existing changeling is converted somehow, she can lay more.
We don´t tknow if these are the only Changelings in existence, perhaps their are other kingdoms that aren´t ruled by insane conquerers
4252366 True, I mean, even if her crown was destroyed, there are probably other Changeling kingdoms. Probably their rulers are more open to ponies, or make Chrysalis look like Mother Theresa, who knows?
Sorry, I'm so late to comment on this one, but for what it's worth... For the most part, I agree with you.
I didn't hate the entirety of the two-parter episode, I enjoyed Trixie and Discord's banter, Starlights sudden loss of her compulsive need to control everything felt a little bit contrived, but was a refreshing change from being a fucking menace. And up until the end, the changelings (but especially Chrysalis) continued to be terrifyingly adept bad guys. Chrysalis' speeches were well delivered and well written.
All that was utterly ruined by the final fifteen minutes, you're right that the writing was very lazy at the end there. It felt like they got to that point, realized that Hasbro wouldn't give them clearance to turn it into a three-parter and thus do it better (not necessarily right, but at least less rushed) and said, "Ah well, them's the breaks."
I felt the same way about season five's ending with Starlight. Who I still think I prefer as a bad guy. Right now she just feels like a piss poor mix of Twilight and Evil! Sunset Shimmer. But that's probably just me.
That being said, we don't know if that was the only hive, we don't know if Chrysalis can't just mass produce more, we don't know if all of the Changelings defected, we don't know if she simply flew off to find Fluffle Puff to have a good cry and then go on vacation in Tahiti. We don't know anything yet. We never knew much about them to begin with, that and their design were huge parts of the reasons that I know I personally was so drawn to them. The were as unknown as they were badass looking.
I wouldn't give up hope just yet, but it really shouldn't stop you from writing whatever the hell you want to write. If the shows creators can just thumb their noses at their own cannon, fans should certainly be allowed to say "Yeah, not paying attention to that, sorry." And doing whatever the hell we want -within copyright boundaries anyway, I imagine Hasbro is not a company we'd want to contend with legally.
Though I actually really liked the season finale, you still made a lot of good points. Well, all good points. You're right. It would have been much better to see the changelings learn to accept freely given love instead of the writers just getting rid of the need.
But at the same time, I thought it made some sense. The changelings are like insects, and metamorphosis is a very common thing within the insect world. Like a hungry Caterpillar they were constantly feeding on love no doubt to store up the energy it would need to go through that metamorphosis.
But there is sort of a plot hole in this, right? If this is a natural thing for changelings, then why exactly are we seeing this for the first time? Is this hive the only one in the world to go butterfree?
If it's natural then surely they can't be. That would mean that Chrysalis would have had to know this was possible, and that she could keep her hive from starving by just telling them to hoof out a bit of love.
But that is NOT the kind of Chrysalis I want. That's just too evil. I don't like full on evil Chrysalis who uses her drones like expendable slaves. I've seen it in some fan fiction and I don't want to think about the show accepting it.
So the only other option is that this new form is some kind of off shoot of magic that Thorax picked up in the crystal empire and it spread to the other changelings like a plague.
I must admit though, that doesn't sound very likely.
Not sure what else to say on that. Other then that I'll be perfectly happy with you ignoring this finale in any of your future writings. Even as I liked the two parter I was still hoping people would still stick with the old interpretations of them.
I'm still curious to see what the fandom will make of the new changelings, but I like the old ones too much to be able to imagine them just fading in the background. It's too sad.
So glad to see you, and what appears to be a majority of the fandom, agrees. The new changelings are awful, and honestly, it teaches a bad lesson, that you need to 'fix' people who are different from you. They did this with the Dragons (what with Spike needing to teach Ember friendship), and now even worse with the Changelings.
You covered all of my points perfectly. What hurts me more, though, is I loved the entire episode, right up until Starlight opened her stupid mouth.
4266124 "But that is NOT the kind of Chrysalis I want. That's just too evil. I don't like full on evil Chrysalis who uses her drones like expendable slaves. I've seen it in some fan fiction and I don't want to think about the show accepting it."
The weirdest thing is, the show itself doesn't want this, as Chryssi is only ever shown thinking about and loving her changelings.
Discord adress the changelings he is distracting with changlings and changelets so I guess they have two genders in the drone rank too, or a don´t different it themself because of the shape-shift ability.
mfw Chryssie made her entrance.
When Thorax gave love freely and changed, I immediately thought several things:
-What the actual f
k has he been doing all that time in the Crystal Empire? Oh, that's right: living, enjoying others' company, consummating friendship, so to speak. He showed love. How was showing it to Chrysalis different? Different kind of love because she's his mother? Which brings up the second point.
-Chrysalis was shown caring for her changelings when they were larvae. She loves them. She is showing them love. She's doing everything she can to help them survive and prosper. Why hasn't she transformed?
-How the hell does sharing love produce an explosion strong enough to blow up the entire top of the castle?
I'm not quite sure why, but it didn't even feel like a finale... Could be just me, though...
I'm gonna quote Starlight on why I hate this finale:
I still don't know how I feel about the finale.
On the bad side, we got... yeah, well, a lot. Awesome changeling-design? Nah, don't need that anymore, here, have some colour-mashing beetle-thingies instead! Awesome Tia/Luna-to-the-rescue? Pfft, nah. By now, your fans would obviously be disappointed if they ever saved the day, so let's just go with the 'got captured again'-routine...! Oh, hey, there's an idea! Remember Thorax, that turned-nice-beetle? We should totally make him the new leader, although he never ever demonstrated any finesse for leadership or any of the strengths a leader should posses.
There was A LOT of bad stuff. But... I think there was some pretty awesome stuff in there, too. For example, we had a nice little adventure. A ragtag-team of ex-villains, of all things! (Although, Thorax probably counts as 'meh, sorta-maybe-kinda-villainy', buuut since Discord betrayed ponykind, he counts for two, right...?) Adding to that: I kinda like the explanation they gave for how Chrysalis protected her hive. Magic-dissipating stone? Awesome! Oh and I just LOVE the design of the hive in general. Ever-shifting with it's ragged spirals and sharp edges, awesome. Looks sooo villainy.
In addition to that: Remember that scene when Discord showed up? I thought it was funny. And then, they told him about how Fluttershy was captured, too - and his reaction? Hooo boy, that guy still has it - I might or might not have *meep*t juuust a teensy tiny bit at that moment.
What I still don't understand, though, is why Discord let Chrysalis leave. Seriously, he freaked out so much, you would've thought he might snap her into his own torture-dimension for later use the moment he's being able to cast again, right?
And the thing that bugged me the most? (Hehe. Bugged. Get it? Because changelings are like-... ah, well, nevermind.)
One can dream, one can dream...
HOW WAS SHE EVEN CAPABLE OF CAPTURING ALL THE PRINCESSES AND ELEMENT BEARERS IN THE FIRST PLACE?!
No, seriously - I don't except the show writers to tell because by now, I'm - sadly - kinda used to them being lazy, but BOY would that make for an awesome, epic-scale adventure or spy-story or something, wouldn't it? I mean, just imagine what Chrysalis had to maneuver around to get to that point! She obviously had to strike at the same time, since the other element bearers would've noticed a changeling in their midst instantly (probably, anyway) - same for Tia and her sister or Shining and his wife. And they were in contact with each other. So she just had to strike at every point simultaneously. That's a tremendous feat on it's own behalf. But how did she do it? The castle in Canterlot, one might think, should be protected from changeling magic by now, right? The guards should have received special anti-changeling-training after that wedding, right? And there are quite a lot of them.
I can see them sneaking up on AJ on her farm. On Twilight in her castle. On Rainbow in her home. Even on Pinkie and Rarity in their respective homes. But getting to Fluttershy must've been hard, too. She's almost always surrounded by animals that, by now, know her quite well.
I still somehow hope that this - how they got captured in the first place - will be the season opener for next year...
Anyway. Declaring Thorax their new leader was... stupid. Big time. He's got no experience, no spine, no great ideas. All this time, he was more or less just following. This season finale tried to present Starlight as a leader and she did lead them. Maybe not in the best way possible, she still got to learn quite a lot about that - but hey, so did Twilight -, but there can't be a second leader. Not within such a small group, not within a 40-minutes-season finale. Thorax 'leadership' was doomed to fail from the start, from the very concept of the episode. And that's just... sad.
So, yeah. I'm with you on hoping that not all the changelings were transformed. I, too, hope, that they won't scrap their design completely. Maybe the outrage of their fanbase will force some back-pedalling from this disaster next season, who knows...
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I've actually been thinking about this a lot lately, and I'm in the middle of writing a multipart series of blog posts about it, but what you said about Thorax not being a good leader is actually kind of what I'm leaning towards where this is going.
Because Starlight was right, you can't be a leader who just wants to tell everyone what to do and that's it. You need to listen to your people and do what's best for them.
But at the same time, you can't just do what everyone wants. That tends to leave no one happy. A leader needs to lead, and sometimes that means ordering people what to do things they don't want to, and sometimes maybe even being cruel.
So I kind of wonder if what we're heading for is a giant disaster of some kind with the new changelings, where Thorax isn't a great leader because he tries not to just order everyone around and that leaves nobody happy. So they end up needing Chrysalis back, because she's actually a strong leader who can make decisions and give orders. And in the end, they both need to lead (though please God, as Prince and Queen, not King and Queen), because leadership means striking a balance between those two extremes.
It would also fit in nicely with how Starlight was terrified of being a leader, because she thinks she'll slip back into her old ways. Having her learn that giving orders is part of being a leader is a lesson she needs to learn, and this seems to set things up for that nicely.
Oh, and also, the changelings need to change back. Not even all the way; seeing as we're going with a 'balance' theme here, there could be a hybrid form they get. The wings and beetle shells are actually pretty cool, but you gotta keep the black and at least some of the holes. Maybe throw a little gradient on the black, keep the new eye design. It would actually look pretty good.
I've actually started to come around on this episode a bit, because of stuff like this. I feel like they got some kind of advanced notice on season seven (and maybe even beyond) to the point where they can actually leave things hanging and build up to something because they know there's another season coming.
Because if you remember, season three was supposed to be it. Hasbro only ordered 65 episodes when they first started making the show, and it was only the success we brought to the show that's kept it going so long. At the same time, Hasbro only seems to be renewing it a season at a time, sometimes with extremely late notice—I believe season five was only announced well after season four finished?
And if you look at the other finales from season three onward, they've all been potential series enders. Any one of those could have wrapped up the show rather nicely (and in fact Twilight becoming a Princess was supposed to). So the fact that this time it didn't end that way, and we instead got a big change that hasn't been explored at all (we haven't even heard the new changelings talk!) and a villain swearing revenge before escaping, shows there might be a larger narrative in the works. And that makes me think this episode might actually be really good, if what it leads to is good.
On the other hand, my base pessimism makes me assume the worst, which is that we'll see the new changelings about as often as we do griffins, and Chrysalis will become a villain-of-the-week, who shows up every season trying to get her revenge only to be blasted off into the sky and disappear in a twinkle.
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I'm a pessimist myself. 'Acceptance is a first step' my ass, there's, like, millions of steps!
Errrr, anyway.
While I fear the worst, too, I... managed to hope, too. I know that more seasons are coming. I know they talked about season 4 and that chest-arc and how they wanted to do something like that again. Some story-arc, progression throughout the season(s). Can't exactly remember when or where I read that, though.
Maybe this 'finale' was indeed the start for this, the set-up. But since I can't exactly cope with disappointment very well, I'll hold my horses (hehe, got it? Because-... eh, nevermind) and, well, I'll just sitting here, silently hoping for the best. They still make great episodes. They still show us new ideas, potential.
I additionally fear that Steel Resolve might be right. That the writers might indeed ignore canon on a whim, letting ignorance reign. At the same time, I just love the idea of Chrysalis returning and having to take on the mess Thorax accidentally created by trying to rule without experience. I love the idea of hybrids. Aaand maybe someone should pitch that to hasbro, because... well, yeah - those who like the new design, few as they might be, will still like it and possibly have it. Those who liked the old design can keep it, too - and we got a new, third option. Toy sales, anyone? Could be a cheap and easy way to back-peddle after the outcry in addition to create new possible toy lines. You know, making the best out of a bad situation and all that...
Oh and one thing I never thought of before reading the comments here? Yeah, she totally showed she cared for her subjects.
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