The Last Problem, the End of "Friendship is Magic", and Other Ramblings · 10:52pm Oct 19th, 2019
Hello, everybody. It's certainly been a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong time since I last made a blog post here. I'm not even sure how many people will read this since I've been mostly inactive here for so long. Don't worry, I've tried my best to get around to replying to PMs and I've seen all of the comments that come my way. But this site definitely hasn't been on my radar like it used to.
Anyway, the day has finally come. Well, it actually came last week but I decided to sit down and discuss this now. Friendship is Magic has officially come to a close. Now I know it isn't technically over. We still have an Equestria Girls holiday special and a Season 10 being given to us in comic form. Not to mention Generation 5. So there's still plenty of Pony to look forward to in the future. But as far as Friendship is Magic the show is concerned...yeah...it's actually over.
I'll admit that I was actually one of those people who watched all of the leaked episodes when they came out, well over a month in advance. Yeah, I was one of those impatient people. So I've definitely had plenty of time to mull over the finale and what happened in it. This blog isn't really going to be like a review that I used to write back in my old days of writing daily reviews and such. More so just a stream of thought on my thoughts with how the show concluded and other rambling sentiments...as the title points out.
Let's get my thoughts on the finale out of the way, I loved it. And, yes, I did cry...the day after watching it. It took a little while for the whole thing to sink in for me about how this really was the end of the show and that this chapter was over. The final song was fantastic, I love where all of the characters ended up, the whole episode was just beautiful. I have mixed feelings on the whole "Discord was Grogar" twist but "The Ending of the End" was still a fantastic 2-parter in spite of all that. The Avengers Endgame-style climactic battle where so many characters, including movie characters like Tempest, showed up to aid the Mane 6 really was an awesome moment. Not to mention that Chaos Pinkie was horrifyingly hilarious. But, back to "The Last Problem", I just really loved that episode. I personally don't understand why people were sending hateful messages to Jim Miller and everyone. Of course, you can't please everyone and I'm sure people got upset about certain ships being confirmed or not being confirmed and what not. All I'll say is that if you didn't at least tear up while listening or relistening to "The Magic of Friendship Grows" there is a dried up raven's nest in the place where your heart should be.
So, yeah, the finale was perfect in my opinion. I do wish we could have gotten one more season. Mostly just to get more time with the school and the Young Six because I really loved those characters. I also think it would have been perfect for the series to get a perfect ten seasons and end somewhere around the 10th anniversary of the start of the series. But, regardless, Season 9 was a fantastic way for the show to go out with in my opinion. It was an overall solid season and the finale left me incredibly satisfied.
But...yeah...it's really over. There's a debate going on, I think, about whether this or Adventure Time is the defining animated series of the 2010's. I haven't seen Adventure Time but I'm sure there are solid arguments in its favor. For me, it's definitely MLP. There wasn't a single year in the 2010's without Friendship is Magic. Seeing a show that I've been watching since I was in high school end is...really something. I haven't felt this way since "Once Upon a Time" ended. Which makes sense as this and Once were two of the longest running shows of the decade that I followed. But FiM ending hit me just a few notches more than when Once did. This show opened up so many doors for me. It allowed me to start openly loving animation and cartoons. Which, granted, isn't all that big nowadays but, remember, all this was sort of a big deal back in 2010-2012 when all of the hooplah about men watching ponies was at its peak. I became a fan of Doctor Who because of this show. I wrote fanfics because of this show. I've read so many awesome stories, seen so many awesome animations, made some awesome friends, and been introduced to so many fun content creators because of this show. This show was my yearly regular. No matter what, there was FiM. And...now it's all over.
Of course, this doesn't mean that the fandom has to end or anything. Like I said several years ago in an old blog post when I was thinking about this exact moment, the fandom will survive. Just look at the fandoms for Harry Potter, Avatar The Last Airbender, Gravity Falls, etc. Shows may end but the fandom lives on. And, plus, there will be more MLP to look forward to in the future. And, who knows? Gen5 may prove itself to be just as good as Gen4, if not better.
I'm not sure of what else I have to ramble about here. To everyone who followed me back when I was regularly writing fanfics and blogs and all that...I just want to say thank you. Thank you to the creators of the show, thank you to all of you here in the fandom, just thank you for all of the wonderful memories. And especially thank you to anyone who takes the time to read all of this. I look forward to hearing whatever thoughts any of you have to say about the ending of FiM, the show's impact on your life, or anything else you wish to say.
And, since I'm here, I want to apologize for not continuing those Doctor Whooves blogs that I started forever ago. I had hoped to detail out all my plans but then just lost track of time and...there's really no excuse. I just got distracted by...things and whatnot. I'd like to hope that I'll get around to just writing out those blogs but my Doctor Whooves notes are scattered throughout so many documents and it's been so long...who knows if I'll get around to it. But if enough of you care...I'm sure I could try to do something. But, if worse comes to worse...this might as well be treated as my last blog here. For the time being anyway. I still check here at least once a day and I do read the PMs and comments. So don't worry about me missing something if you have anything to say.
Anyway, I think that's all I have to say. So, again, thank you all and thank you, Friendship is Magic. It's been an amazing ride and I look forward to revisiting the show many times for years to come.
I'd love to see those Doctor Whooves notes. And seeing you here has reminded me that I stopped reading Doctor Whooves halfway though Episode 23 and I really should go back and finish it at some point (even though that would require reading all the prior episodes again to catch up and as much as I love Doctor Whooves it would be like the forth time through and my Reading List is over 1000 stories and...) Well, you get the idea. Anyway, yeah. Doctor Whooves blogs. Sound good, if you can find them.
5142493
Thank you. I'll try my best to gather those old notes and thoughts. :D
I didn't. I still like to think I have a heart though. I still thought it was the perfect note to end MLP on. Literally.
For me, the finale was... Interesting. I had an inkling that the show would end with a bit of a flash forward. Though I had suspected it would be a thousand years in the future and the Mane 6 are alicorns. That would certainly ruffle feathers. Though the actual ending still surprised me. I was not expecting ending with shipping some of these characters together. I understand how that would ruffle feathers on all sorts of different levels. (I'll admit Fluttercord never made sense to me and kind of weirded me out.)
I will never understand the Grogar being Discord the whole time thing. I can understand having Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow as the villains in the finale, but there were better ways to take Grogar out of the picture. It's still be kind of lame, but it'd make more sense.
I think the finale did a great job of balancing how sprawling MLP has become by keeping the focus on the Mane 6 while also including scenes for Starlight, the Pillars, the Student 6, and even putting some of the movie characters in the background. I did really appreciate the epic final friendship laser that included the Pillars and the Student 6.
Watching the aftermath is kind of morbidly interesting. Got a debate going on with some of the former staff over whether Lil Cheese is a colt or a filly. Miller is like "we wanted it to be vague enough and open to fans' personal interpretation" but Vogel "Fact: LGBT ponies". It's certainly not the aftermath of The Legend of Korra where Di Martino and Konieztko were like "if you think the ending is vague you're a homophobe."
5142537
No worries, man. XD That part was mostly joking around and all. Again, I didn't cry the first time I watched it though I did have to take time to process the whole thing.
Like I said, I'm still mixed about the Grogar reveal and probably always will. Though I personally do understand what they were going for. It doesn't seem that far out for something that Discord could do. If anything, it could almost be implied that he was trying to help the villains out as well. Boost up Twilight's confidence and, in the aftermath, maybe the villains would learn the errors of their ways. They almost came close in "Frenemies" until Chrysalis stopped them. Discord has never really been good at thinking of the big picture. He can be an expert planner but, at the same time, he doesn't consider the potential of things not going his way. So all of this does fit into Discord's character to me.
On the other hand, I am still a bit disappointed that they decided to pull this with Grogar as they were doing a good job setting him up throughout the season. They were on the right track and easily could have kept him as the villain. The rest of the 2-parter was great for me so the twist didn't ruin things too much. But I think it did spoil some potential for a 2-parter with a more interesting villain.
5142814
I just want to see more of the best doctor whooves stories I have ever read.
Edit: I am serious, these are the best doctor who fics that I have ever read.
this comes from a guy from america that has never seen doctor who.
I just want more. You really gave us the (somewhat) cliffhanger at the end of your series, and you left so many questions unanswered
eg.
1 you had the doctor's next regeneration come back to help him, now you at least have to show HIS adventures...
2 where did once upon a time come from? never thought I would see it in a fic like this. That kind of crossover had to be hard to pull off, and you pulled it off gracefully.
3 the doctor's tardis now has the ability to travel the void, this leaves so many more fandoms open! so many opportunities!
There's one Brony analyst in particular who was not pleased with the twist about Grogar at all. So much so that he actually dedicated an entire video running for nearly 50 minutes to this reveal explaining why he feels it completely destroys Discord's character.
5175899
I've heard of that analyst before. Not really all that big a fan of them personally. But, like I said, I can certainly understand people's frustrations with the twist. I personally don't think it destroyed Discord's character but that's just me.