The Crystal Empire Misses its Heart

Alright everyone, you've watched the Season Three premiere and hopefully you came away with your headcanons intact.

Did the premiere live up to your expectations? I enjoyed it, but I felt that it was the weakest of the premieres/finales of the series, and missed its opportunity to do something truly special.

Problem One: The rest of the Mane Six don't matter.
As in A Canterlot Wedding, Twilight's friends were relegated to side characters that barely clear background pony status. At least this time around they do something helpful, but they are basically working the subplot the entire episode long. As someone who thinks Twilight is the best pony, I can appreciate a Twilightcentric story as well as anyone, but by cutting her friends out of the heart of the episode and leaving them on the fringe, the writers cater only to fans of Twilight and fail to showcase the power of friendship the way they did in Friendship is Magic and The Return of Harmony.

Last time, the Mane Six had to sit on the sidelines so that Shining Armor and Princess Cadance could have their moment in the spotlight, this time it was for Spike, which was should have been awesome, and would have been if not for...

Problem Two: Spike's friendship with Twilight should have been the heart of the episode.
Not Twilight telling Spike to finish her quest for her because she cares more for the Crystal Ponies than passing Celestia's test. Spike getting his chance to shine was great, and much deserved, but it should have been the relationship between Spike and Twilight, and the power of their friendship, that stole the show. That moment when Spike is caught by Sombra's dark spell and sees a vision of Twilight sending him away should have been the emotional cornerstone of the episode if they were going to give Spike the victory in the end, instead we don't even see it, as we do when Twilight is caught by the same spell. It is touching to see Twilight comfort Spike afterward, but the scene was rushed. Everything leads to the moment when Twilight sends Spike to finish her quest for her. That moment is all about Twilight's sacrifice for the Crystal Ponies instead of her friendship with Spike who has followed her and been by her side the entire time. In the end Spike saves the day. With Cadance. While Twilight is left behind in one of Sombra's traps. It works as a cool fantasy-adventure moment, but does not have the same power as the earlier moment when we saw Twilight promise Spike she would never send him away. I wanted the climax to belong to the amazing friendship that Spike and Twilight have together.

Problem Three: Worst villain ever.
Sombra has no personality. After such amazing villains as Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Chrysalis, this was a pitiful offering. The only thing good about him is that his total lack of canon personality leaves him ripe for fanfiction writers to play with. Whatever they come up with will surely be better than what the show writers gave us here.

Okay, I actually did love a few things about the episodes...

First, I think Twilight is at her best when she is showing her insecurities and adorkableness. We got plenty of that.

There was a bit of foreshadowing for the Chosen One. Celestia tells Luna, "She will succeed at her task, and when she does, we'll know that she is that much closer to being ready." Ready for what? I don't know, but I'm excited to find out.

The moment when Twilight triggers Sombra's trap and faces her fear of being abandoned by Princess Celestia was probably the best moment of the episode. Her relationship with the Princess is such a fundamental part of her character, possibly even the foundation of it, and I appreciated the way the show recognized that here.

Seeing Celestia use dark magic...and Twilight following her lead! That was just plain cool.

Twilight versus gravity.

Fluttershy jousting.

So, I thought that a few moments from the episodes were gold, but what should have been the main event, the friendship between Spike and Twilight, became just one of those golden moments and not the heart of the story that it could have been.

(Thankfully, none of the revelations about what happened a thousand years ago have ruined the plausibility of what I'm doing in Celestia in Excelsis. Headcanon escapes unscathed this time around! Though the conflict between Sombra and the Princesses will have to at least be mentioned now...)

What about you guys? Loved the episode? Disappointed? Think I'm totally off base with my assessment?

Comments

[Trevor Rain]

Most problem I had was mostly sequestered to part 1. The increased pace of the animation and narrative was very unsettling for someone like me who likes the slow moments of the show more than anything else. Having a solo (Technical duet) in the first five minutes didn't help (New pet peave,: People or ponies putting their hands on their chest when singing. Could have made a drinking game this time around).

I also caught the significance of that quote. That means that lal the lessons with Celestia have a purpose beyond simply enriching a mind. She's preparing Twilight for something big (That was spoiled by someone, stay OUTof the spoiler thread and punch iDR when you get a chance). Add this with her learning Luna's darker magic, and we're going to see some rather emotional character changes in the near future, especially if dark magic takes a physical and mental toll on twillight as she learns it.

I also agree on the main antagonist. Fiction writers like me have already noticed the fact that he was banished in shadow, and the shadow it'self was banished moments before his ultimate demise. That's interesting.

There were interactions with the Main six, but none were a focus. They were appreciated when it slowed down enough to actually showing it off. It's obvious that they've become even stronger friends through the tirals they went through in the first two seasons. Highlights being the Flugalhorn part (I WANT A FLUGALHORN!) second, Applejack diverting ponies from the heart in a sociable manner much like I would do. Diversion is fun.

However, Rainbow Dash seemed off to me. Rarity had a shining moment with her personality right after she crafted a hat with a few pieces of straw and drinking straw (I just got the visual pun. STRAW. That's actually real funny when you think about it).

My one main wish for the series is for it to slow down. It was so fast paced that it almost came off as frantic.

[Kolwynia]

495185 Thanks for the warning. I avoid spoilers like the plague. (Didn't watch any of the clips released from the premiere beforehand.)

Interesting to see that Twilight is being prepared for something. Hopefully it won't interfere with any of my story ideas. (Though unless Starswirl the Bearded shows up I think I'm safe.) So far the new canon info has all been stuff I can work with. Dark magic...

Rainbow Dash was okay, I guess. Heh. I actually laughed out loud when she beat Fluttershy in the joust. Just seeing poor Fluttershy go flying through the air like that...

I felt like the Crystal Ponies were devoid of character or anything to make us care strongly for their plight.

I wonder why Luna is always so standoffish to Twilight, when they seemed to really connect over Nightmare Night.

Oh, and I totally missed the Straw pun.