2021 Movie Thoughts + 1 Question · 3:58pm Sep 24th, 2021
Super Short Answer: I really enjoyed it!
Longer Answer: From the very first scene the movie sets its tone of how it's going to interact and live with the history it shares with G4. And it's a tone I can get behind. We still don't know how the world changed so much since the time of Twilight Sparkle, but it's a mystery the movie embraces. It's a mystery that at least a few characters have a vested interest in uncovering, so I have a feeling we'll get tidbits of answers, at the very least.
Beyond that, the ponies have been well adapted to their new 3D medium. I know 3D rendered shows tend to have a step down compared to 3D movies, but I'm hoping the drop won't be too steep. The ponies are just so fuzzy and the little details in some of the animations are amazing. I know some would bemoan the advanced technologies, but I can understand that the show wants to be familiar to a generation that has grown up with that sort of stuff. That and I feel the technology was something given at least some solid consideration because of the fact that the three tribes/species of pony each were working with very different technology. The unicorn's technology is mechanical and driven by animals running on wheels, which is a stark contrast to the pegasi with their smartphones and streaming services.
But in all, the movie made me smile and laugh. Yes, they undeniably baited the hook with G4, but the movie pulled me in beyond that with music, character interactions, jokes, and an all-too-familiar sense that a small group of ponies can change the world through the magic of friendship. So I give the movie a solid recommendation and am curious to see more of our new generation.
The One Question: It is the stupidest, littlest, non-spoiler thing from the movie. Why are cutie marks only on one side now!? I doubt a movie with so many visual details would "half-ass" something like that on purpose. My current conspiracy theory is that they did it so that the ponies would match their toys. A lot of the MLP toys from the G4 time tended to only have cutie marks on one side, likely because it reduces costs in some significant fashion.
As for your last question: who knows? Perhaps the upcoming series resolve that issue regarding the Cutie-Marks.
Above all, I give it 4/5 stars. Hasbro needs to work a little bit more regarding the plot, the rest was incredible.
I've been out of the loop for so long that I didn't even know the movie had been released. I'll have to try to find it.
The mystery as to how everything went back to pre-Heartswarming Eve prejudice could be explored in the first season.
Badum tss.
Yeah, the fact that the cutie marks weren't addressed at all does kinda bug me, but it doesn't really seem to be crucial to the plot (badum tss). Hopefully they'll give us something in the show.
But yeah, I enjoyed it, too! I think Sprout was a little over the top and basically got away with destroying somebody's house with no consequences that we could see, but aside from the cutie marks, that was really the only big thing that bugged me.
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It's on Netflix.
I mean, comparable to the cutie mark question, one could also ask why unicorn horns and pegasi wings no longer match their coat colors, or why ponies now have visible eyebrows. It is of course possible these changes could have in world lore, but most likely it's all just a matter of stylistic change.
Otherwise, yeah, the new movie is great, a worthy successor to the legacy of Friendship is Magic. Heck, in some ways I might like this new generation even more. I had to learn to like some of the old ManeSix, but this new ManeFive, I already like all of them right from the start.
still say this should have be Pre Equestria era not post season 9. Its a huge sell and with nexflix's track record recently I have no faith on them pulling irt off
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Yeah, Sprout's whole power trip was rather comically fast. That and now Sunny shares something with Twilight Sparkle when it comes to home destruction.
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Right? And at that point I also couldn't tell if she actually was becoming an alicorn or if the horn and wings were just temporary, since they stayed kinda translucent and didn't solidify on her. I feel like that would have been a bit much if they'd actually gone that route, but heyâ bring ponies together in friendship, become alicorn. Seems to be a pattern.
Also, completely unrelated, but did anyone else catch in the credits that they spelled 'Twilight' as 'Twighlight Sparkle'?
I give it a solid 8/10. Animation and songs were top notch. The characters I enjoyed and hopefully will get to know them more in the future. Story was nice and simple, nothing extraordinary but thatâs fine by me. Kinda wish there was more a government structure for the unicorns and earth ponies though, weird that they let one pony take charge over an army and the unicorns donât seem like they have much of anything in terms of structure. Regardless, I genuinely canât wait to see what the future holds!
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A lot of thing seem compressed that way. See also how quickly the pegasi royals go from not just pariahs, but criminals with warrants out for their arrests after their secret is revealed.
Not to mention that despite the supposed divide between the three tribes, they all still seem to live no more than a day long walk from each other. Furthermore, Maretime Bay, Bridlewiod, and Zephyr Heights are seemingly not just the main population centers, but possibly the only ones with how the characters speak in absolutes about where each of the three tribes live.
The scope and scale of the word in G5 seems considerably dialed back compared to G4. Although I don't think that's entirely a bad thing. Starting small gives them potentially all the more room to grow. Heck, maybe these three towns might even be more so the exception than the rule and elsewhere ponies never became segregated, or at least maybe not to such an extreme as living in entirely separate cities even if other prejudices and inequalities remain a major theme for the series.
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I heard from a friend that when the alicorn Sunny toy came out, they made a statement to calm the masses about how it's not a permanent form. I forget all the details but take your pick if you want to call it an Avatar state or her going Super Friendship Saiyan. :P
Also yes, oh my god, that typo.
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A pre-G4 version would certainly have been interesting. We could have seen the rise of the sisters and even Luna's fall. But yeah, the first step seems at least a good one. Will have to see if they can follow it up.
This train of thought might end with my room covered in push pins connected with string, but there is a chance that this isn't a 100% sequel to G4. Yes we have the intro to the movie, but aside from Sunny's house/father, the Wonderbolt poster, and what appears to be a symbol of the element of magic, there isn't really anything connecting G4 and 5.
Yes there is the statement in promotional materials of "long after the time of Twilight Sparkle" but that could be a turn of phrase like Arthurian Times, and either the events of G4 didn't happen at all, or are so massively changed by the passage of time as to have effectively not happened.
Either way there won't be any definitive answers till the show comes out.
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I'd certainly be fine if G5 ended up treating G4 less as history and more like mythology, a show within the show, such as it were. It would certainly give G5 a lot more leeway in how to adapt concepts and characters.
Much like how legacy characters such as Tirek were rewritten by G4, someone like Discord could still show up in G5 as a mischievous magical prankster, without needing to be a carbon copy of the one we already know. Sunny could likewise serve as surrogate for all us older fans, questioning whenever things aren't the same as the stories her father told.
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the issue is Hasbro and especially Netflix are not doing well. Masters of the Universe was a disaster, She-Ra was bad, Cowboy Bebop is DOA
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I haven't looked into the Cowboy Bebop live-action or the latest He-Man, but to be honest, I liked She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Wouldn't call it groundbreaking or anything, but great character arcs.
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Arthurian-Like Legends would certainly be an interesting angle, though n the BG of Sunny's home there are a lot of artifacts that, for me, lean it towards real history. My friend has been rewatching this morning and keeps spotting things. Something that looks like Grogar's Bell. Something that looks like the Bloodstone Scepter without the actual bloodstone in it. The destination board in Zephyr Heights listing "Manehatten" as a destination. A drawing of the memory stone from Equestria Girls. One of Zecora's Masks on the wall above a Starswirl The Bearded Portrait.
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they got dunked hard.
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The new She-Ra ran for five seasons and stands at a critical reception of 97% with an 85% audience approval rating. It might have some overly vocal detractors, but was was otherwise wildly successful.
Revelation has been more divisive or at least it's still new enough that the hate mob has been able to push it down to 39% audience approval rating. Critics still love it, however, at 94%, and considering it only premiered as a half season there's still a good chance of it turning around in the second half.
Also, there is the other new He-Man CGI series that premiered even more recently which has garnered a much more even, if not nearly as impressive, critic/audience split of 80% and 82% respectively.
Netflix is doing just fine with these from where I sit.
I finished watching it this morning and wrote my own review on my page. But the short of it is, I also liked the movie. I was surprised that I liked the movie. Even as I noted its flaws, I found it still to be an enjoyable ride - one that didn't feel like it fulfilled several fans' worst fears.
I loved it!
It was just so sweet, and wholesome, and sincere, and just... everything I Love about Pony!On the whole "But it's the same world as G4 and yet so different" Really all we have are a few bits of iconography and not even many of those, and one pony telling those stories who might have gotten them from anywhere. If it is actually the same world still, it is so, so, so far into the future that it's about as much the same world as the Hyborean Age or Middle Earth is the same world as ours is.
And the characters wre just... just so damn good! I knew I would love Izzy and Sunny, Zipp really surprised me with being nothing like I imagined, Hitch is such an amazing himbo, and even the villain isn't really evil..... just kind of an idiot.
Yeah, this is a great start that really does carry on the spirit of FIM well.
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Like I trust critics.
OG fans hated she ra, the hate for motu is filly justified, cowboy bebop is getting railed for its choices, and then there is the live action avatar which the creators abandoned for what netflix is doing to it
Best guess is it has something to do with the lack of magic.
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And that's why I also quoted the audience scores as well.
Provably false. I grew up on on OG He-Man and She-Ra, and I love the new stuff even more. My oldest friend since High School is the biggest OG He-Man fan I know, and he also enjoyed the new She-Ra.
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Nope seen enough. and the simple fact they aren't going back to that series says it all
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Not going back to what series? You mean Revelations? I've seen a few loud mouths trying to make that claim, but no evidence to back it up. Certainly Netflix hasn't made any official announcement themselves and season-1 part-2 is still expected to release... even if for no other reason than they already spent the money to make the episodes.
Now maybe all this backlash will make them hesitant to commission a second season, at least until they see what the final response to the first season is.
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No she ra.
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One of the best scenes in all if Trek. Really wish they would have left it at that and not gone out of their way with a convoluted backstory in the later prequel series.
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...which only became more convoluted in Star Trek: Discovery.
<le sigh>I think ponies always just had a single cutie mark (I mean even in FIM you only ever hear ponies refer to their own in singulars) itâs just I think a combination of NextGen being 3D vs. FIM being 2D where it would have just looked off putting to see ponies half the time without a cutie mark
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Whatever side faces the camera, silly.
I suppose you make a case, even Starlight stealing a cutie mark only did it from one side. Lol, G4 cutie marks? What side is it on?
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Aye, the toys usually only had one mark as well.
Izzy was every bit as fun as expected, and letâs just say I love what the contents of her house say about her intellect.
Sunny was a better character than anticipated.
Zipp was her own pony, not a cheap Dashie knockoff like that one teaser had folks predicting.
Hitch wasnât just a token dude sidekick. He even actually managed to make me like the lawful-clueless paladin type for a change!
And even Pipp wasnât a total ditz!
Plenty of heart there.
My reaction to the movie is utterly positive and everyone should see it.
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Lol, on the second watch I noticed something because I got all the way to the end credits. Twilight Sparkle is spelled right in the credits for all the other languages XD.
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Jesus, seriously? I'm joining a watch party in a bit, I'll see if the streamer is willing to watch all the way through so I can take a look haha.
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It might actually cost a bit more resources to have marks only show up on one side, since like, I'm pretty sure 99% of the time the "other side" is just the character assets flipped over.
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That's probably true for the 2D ponies of G4. 3D it's more just a matter of the texture mapping on the 3D model. So maybe a smidge more memory, but probably a drop in the bucket compared to the hair simulations and lighting calculations. (Sorry for dipping technical, but the day job is game programming so I at least have a grasp of the base level technical hurdles faced when it comes to this subject.)
I know I'm late to this discussion but I think the CM being on kne side is a side effect by whatever destroyed magic and divided the tribes and seemed dtl have significantly reduced the population of the Ponies.
Sunny had a lot of old artifacts from G4 including Grogars bell as well as other such things that would have been secured.
And I'm 90% sure Bridalwood is Ponyville or at least near it as I'm pretty sure that was the Everfree Forest and there are crystals everywhere so Tree of Harmony or Sombra like entity.
I'm predicting the series will be about the tribes learning to work together again as well as following Twilights journal to learn what the hell happened.
Either way I'm hopped, love the new characters and can't eau to see more.
I also enjoyed it a lot!
Regarding cutie marks: Official and licensed toys only have them on one side. They're totally inconsistent about which side it appears on though or its orientation. The cartoons on the other hand have them on both sides. I'd say that it's to make the animators' lives easier. They don't have to keep track of which side the cutie mark should be and can save time by mirroring art assets. Fans of the shows go with a show-accurate design and put them on both sides on fan art, sculptures and plushies. With G5 using 3D models, the animators no longer need to keep track of which side the cutie mark goes on â it's always on the right side. (The Mane Six have them on both sides in the opening though.) I haven't bought any new toys yet and I'm curious to see whether they manage to keep them consistent.
Anyone else get Harmony Theory vibes from the premise?
Well, Cutie Marks are tied to magic, so maybe the lack of magic might have something to do with that. Who knows maybe it will be a "plot point" in the show.
BTW, sorry if it's rude to ask, but might we expect a G5 story from you.