Friendship is Card Games: Top Remodel · 11:51am Jun 18th, 2023
My adherence to the Old Ways continues (by which I mean treating a Netflix content dump like the episodes are coming out weekly.) Let’s see what new wonders and horrors, if any, await.
Oh good, the writers finally remembered that the Canterlogic building still exists. Now if they would just consider the economic consequences of the town’s primary employer collapsing overnight. (Though I suppose all the earth pony immigrants in Zephyr Heights had to come from somewhere.)
I am amused by the echo gag. I know it’s just retreading the same ground as “Castle Sweet Castle” rather than a deliberate, but it still made me smile.
Ah, of course. Where most ponies see mortal peril, or at least things best left undisturbed, Pipp sees unexploited potential content.
Who left that radio there? This place has been abandoned for a year at most, not decades.
Okay, good to hear Hitch acknowledge that. It’s honestly kind of sad that I’m relieved to see callbacks to the movie. Maybe Sprout will show up in this episode.
Pipp loving spooky stuff is a nice character wrinkle, and one reinforced by that haunted house in Tell Your Tale. Good to see some degree of interplay between the two series (even if, based on Hasbro’s 2024 forecast, Make Your Mark will be quietly phased out by the end of this year and the future of G5 animation will be exclusively Tell Your Tale. I certainly prefer it to the alternative. If they’re not willing to invest the budget necessary for good 3D animation, better that they don’t bother.)
I have to wonder what Haven thinks her ancestors think of her if she’s still avoiding the allegedly haunted wing of the castle.
Very interesting that the Cloverleafs (Cloverleaves?) were the ones who shut down Canterlogic. I suppose Phyllis just couldn’t find a way to pivot the business model away from products preying on pony paranoia. (Certainly not fast enough for the shareholders.) Also that nopony else both had an idea for what to do with the place and could afford it. This honestly does work, but implies quite the story.
“It’s like we all just forgot it existed.”
Remember, folks, having the characters acknowledge your mistakes doesn’t excuse those mistakes, it just draws attention to them.
“I’m not afraid of no ghosts!”
Just distinct enough to avoid getting sued by Ray Parker Jr.
Pipp would be concerningly good at spreading conspiracy theories.
Sigh. The writers remembered the Canterlogic building. Good. Great. When will they remember Hitch’s original characterization? You know, when he was equine Javert and not a bumbling laughingstock? (Okay, a bit of a laughingstock, but at least he had some dignity.)
Looking at the theme song again, Sunny banishing everything she wears when she spreads her wings has actually been established for a while. I guess that excuses the instance at Bridlewoodstock, even if it raises further questions.
It does make sense that Izzy’s nervous in the possibly haunted building. Who knows what superstitions Bridlewood came up with around ghosts over the centuries?
I’ve been in Izzy’s nonexistent horseshoes. Sometimes a random, half-joking suggestion turns out to be the best option. That said, I guess Maretime Bay didn’t really have any kind of dedicated community center until now? There’s the garden, but that’s not really suitable for non-horticultural activities.
… Does this town not already have a town hall? I feel like that’s kind of important, especially when there isn’t any sign of higher levels of governance beyond the hypothetically extant mayor.
On the one hand, Sunny’s right that they should ask the ponies who will actually have to live with whatever the factory becomes. On the other, I get the feeling she’s going to get far more answers than she anticipates.
(Also, do they even have the right to refurbish the place? I suppose the answer is implicitly yes if Hitch is on board.)
Ah, they also remembered Twilight’s message to the future. Looks like someone actually watched Chapter 2 at some point. That poor soul… 
Okay, Pipp getting Hitch on task is at once amusing, a welcome sight to see, and weirdly sad. No squatters’ rights for restless spirits.
Very considerate of Zipp to rewatch the Twilight footage from somewhere where Misty can easily eavesdrop rather than, say, anywhere reasonable.
I do appreciate Zipp’s frustration with the conveniently timed interruption in Twilight’s message. It almost feels like the characters are starting to notice the narrative constraints imposed on their world and long to rebel against them. I know that’s not the case, but it’s helping me enjoy the episode.
As I noted back in the “Growing Pains” review, Twilight saying ponies are “exposed to the world once again” is a fascinating bit of phrasing. It might also explain the absence of every other sapient species. I maintain that they were all able to uphold the utopian lessons of friendship and harmony and left Equestria to flounder in its own recurring tribalism.
Oh, Misty, sweetie. Never threaten to deny an addict their fix… though in this case, it seems more like she’s suggesting Opaline’s original plan before she learned of Sparky’s existence.
Seriously, this whole episode feels like someone actually took the time to review what had already been established and followed up on it. What a concept. Looks like the writer of this episode, Leore Berris, also wrote the season finale. Something to look forward to, hopefully.
Well, good to know that Opaline has enough sense not to risk destroying all pony magic… though there’s a question of what would happen to it if the crystals shattered. All aspects of G5 insist magic would be lost forever, but that feels wrong on a thermodynamic level. Energy can’t be destroyed, only changed. Potentially changed into a form with no utility, sure, but the heat death of magic doesn’t feel right here. But that’s just my rather eccentric viewpoint.
The Unity Crystals are synthesized Elements of Harmony? That… actually makes perfect sense, yes.
Opaline’s very proud of being a fire alicorn. Hopefully we find out what that actually means at some point, beyond the obvious answer of “an alicorn with a talent for pyromancy.”
The town already has an art gallery, Toots. Also, Sunny and Izzy are going to learn a valuable lesson about the wisdom of the crowd today.
“Everypony should all have an equal say and be able to enjoy the new space. Right?”
A very valuable lesson. Also Izzy learning that you sometimes have to tell your friends “no.” Especially the alicorns going off half-cocked trying to fulfill their self-assigned purpose in life. Sparky’s still too young to be the voice of reason there.
It’s starting to whiff of member berries, but I do still appreciate the general awareness of continuity.
Okay, making a guess from the briefly glimpsed figure in the shadows: That’s Sprout, lurking here for some petty and kind of sad reason of his own.
Sunny is so desperate for somepony to stop her, because she can’t bear to stop herself. Unfortunately, she has a mare who grew up even more socially isolated than she did, and is thus even more afraid to lose friends by not smiling and nodding her way through their madness.
Most of the ponies sincerely want to contribute. Posey does too, but making Izzy squirm is the cherry on top.
Also, it does honestly make sense that nopony’s tried to refurbish the factory before now, despite so many of them having ideas on what to do with the place. There’s a big difference between having an idea and having the time, resources, and willpower to actually see it through. Finding out that someone else has put those together? It’s open season on the suggestion box.
“It’s just like in the Spooky Stables series when Esmeralda Houlington searches for the old Whinny Mansion looking for her great-grandpony’s spirit!”
Honestly, this is just me writing this down for future reference. I love hearing about in-universe fiction like this.
Yup, called it. Though Sprout’s reason is… somewhat reasonable. Though by all appearances, his family legally forfeited all claim to the factory given how long it’s been abandoned. As I said, petty.
“I thought we all agreed to move past that?”
You wish, mama’s boy.
“Yeah. What happened in here?”
Nothing, Sprout. This is what a building looks like after it’s abandoned.
“Oh, hey, the lights work!”
They never even tried. Also, the place can’t have been left abandoned for too long if it’s still getting power. (Or it was built such that the electricity can’t be cut off. I wouldn’t be surprised if Canterlogic built Maretime Bay’s unseen power plant.)
Ooh, the book from Winter Wishday. This really is bringing all of G5 together.
Zipp needs a unicorn willing to do magic science, eh? A shame the mirror isn’t an option.
Interesting how Zipp’s mark reacts to her resolve to protect ponies from thieves. There is a crown on that thunderbolt. She may not like to think about it, but that mare is destined to rule. Also, probable hint on where else Twilight stored magic. After all, ponies even getting cutie marks when magic was lost suggests something funny going on there.
And Misty creates her own Señor Butterscotch to rubber-duck her doubts. Though she should probably close her door first. Not sure if this is influence from spending time with Izzy or if the urge to create mockeries of life is an intrinsic part of the unicorn condition.
Where did Izzy get the life-sized golden statue? Or was that already there?
Oh hey, the Hitch calendar. I wasn’t sure if they still had that asset.
“No more Mr. Nice Sheriff” apparently means “I’m going to start asking politely.” Oh, Hitch…
An abandoned factory is more entertaining for the winged rats than an entire city? I suppose when they’re restricted to the city’s alleys…
Also, Izzy isn’t having any issues unicycling the place with the rats still there.
For goodness’ sake, Sprout, at least take them outside before you consider the job finished.
“I’ve made so many promises to the community, but I can’t keep them all!”
Well, Sunny’s well on her way to becoming a politician.
Elderflower is indeed wise. And Izzy waiting for an opening when Sunny seemed receptive to advice rather than just telling her “No” holds with my previous read on the situation. She knew the solution, she just couldn’t bear to ruin a friend’s mood with it.
Pipp, they were bored in Zephyr Heights. Your voice has been background noise for generations of these rats. You can’t Pied Piper your way out of this one.
Ha! Wrote that before Hitch got the confirming testimony.
I feel like there are several leaps of logic in Zipp’s deduction, but I can’t argue with the results. (An alternate route would be how Twilight Sparkle warning the indeterminate future of a threat that would still be at large would at least suggest that threat was effectively immortal… but do ponies even remember that alicorns have incredible lifespans?)
I’m pretty sure the mother-and-son portrait was there before they started refurbishing.
The sheer fury in Hitch’s voice with that “That’s against code!” is a welcome contrast from his usual flailing. Sprout does seem to bring out the best in Hitch… if only because it’s necessary with Sprout in the vicinity.
Ah. A new song working on the entertainment-starved rats does seem like a logical solution. And given my experience with RPG groups, I can absolutely believe it would take a good six minutes for a group to come up with it. Though shame on the lyricist for that “lending a hand.” (That said, it does bring us back to the matter of the mirror…)
Ha! They dug out an emergency escape balloon pack.
Why do the factory lights even have a rave setting? Was that a union demand? (What am I saying? Of course Phyllis wouldn’t allow unionization.)
Oh, there’s Phyllis. Is she even aware of all that’s been happening in her factory today? Seems like there are even odds of Sprout telling her about the mean rats who wouldn’t listen to him or never informing her of the embarrassment for as long as he lives.
Ooh, nice touch with the Unity Crystal emblem on the factory’s front doors.
A film studio. Interesting. Not at all what I expected.
“It is still mine!”
Is it? I normally wouldn’t think too deeply about the question of ownership, but the episode’s raising it directly. Hitch, feel free to cite any relevant rules and regulations to your former deputy.
I don’t think this Madame Taffytail is a good influence on Misty. Never mind that she’s an echo chamber for all the negative influences Misty internalized in her upbringing. 
The fact that Misty voices her with Opaline’s accent is a genuinely great touch.
This was a genuinely enjoyable episode. A bit heavy on the callbacks at times, but I’ll take that over aimless filler that barely gives the characters any kind of concrete long-term goals or growth. It would have been nice to see how the community reacted to the new studio, but I’m still happy with this, especially the side plots actually developing otherwise abandoned plot hooks.
Now, on to how I can build on this foundation:
Cleanse Hostility 1W
Instant
Choose one —
• Return target spell to its owner’s hand.
• Counter target spell with one or more targets its controller doesn’t control.
Geists and grudges feed into one another. Remove one and the other will dissipate in time.
The Unity Contingency 2W
Enchantment — Saga
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after III.)
I — Destroy all other enchantments.
II — Creatures your opponents control lose all abilities until your next turn.
III — Choose up to three target noncreature, non-Saga permanent cards in your graveyard. Return one to the battlefield and the rest to your hand.
Sheriff of the Afterlife 3W
Creature — Pony Soldier
When Sheriff of the Afterlife enters the battlefield, exile up to one target Spirit, Zombie, or card from a graveyard.
“You know the rules, everypony. We already had our chance.”
3/3
Serve the Community U
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
When Serve the Community enters the battlefield, tap enchanted creature.
Enchanted creature doesn’t untap during its controller’s untap step unless that player pays 1 for each other creature they control.
Clear the Clutter 2U
Sorcery
Return a nonland permanent you control to its owner’s hand. If you do, each opponent returns a nonland permanent they control to its owner’s hand. You may repeat this process any number of times.
“Let’s trim things down a little.”
—Sunny Starscout
Traumatic Vestige 2U
Creature — Spirit
Flying
Ward — Mill five cards. (Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player mills five cards.)
It radiates the terror of its last moments at those who get too close.
2/2
Unsettling Air 1B
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has menace.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, if it entered from your graveyard or you cast it from your graveyard, return Unsettling Air from your graveyard to the battlefield attached to that creature.
Factory Rat 2B
Creature — Rat Mutant
Flying
When Factory Rat dies, return target artifact card from your graveyard to your hand.
Starved for entertainment in Zephyr Heights, they found the perfect playground in the abandoned Canterlogic building.
1/1
Canterlogic Line Worker 3B
Creature — Pony Artificer
When Canterlogic Line Worker enters the battlefield, create a token that’s a copy of target artifact token you control.
Disturb 5B (You may cast this card from your graveyard transformed for its disturb cost.)
“It’s a living.”
3/3
Lingering Assembler
(B) Creature — Pony Spirit
Menace
Whenever you sacrifice a token, put a +1/+1 counter on Lingering Assembler.
If Lingering Assembler would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead.
He put his soul into his work. This is just repaying the loan.
4/4
Resonant Fracture 1R
Sorcery
Destroy target artifact and each artifact with the same mana value.
“Ancient relics don’t say ‘handle with care’ because back then, ponies didn’t need such obvious warnings.”
—Opaline, the last alicorn
Patron of Vagrancy 2RR
Creature — Spirit
Whenever you cast a Spirit or Arcane spell, each player sacrifices a nonbasic land.
To combat the homeless problem, the city council introduced hostile architecture. The city responded with equal hostility.
3/2
Scrap Reclaimed XXRR
Sorcery
Return X target artifact cards from your graveyard to the battlefield. They gain haste until end of turn. Exile them at the beginning of the next end step. If an artifact returned this way would leave the battlefield, exile it instead of putting it anywhere else.
Bygone Beliefs 1G
Instant
Put target artifact, battle, or enchantment on the bottom of its owner’s library.
Yesterday’s fight for survival becomes tomorrow’s embarrassing reminder.
Rain of Glitter 2G
Sorcery
You gain 6 life. Proliferate. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there.)
“Izzy’s my friend, but it’s a good thing unicorns never handled the weather.”
—Sunny Starscout
Eager Crowd 6G
Creature — Pony Citizen
This spell costs 2 less to cast if an opponent controls more creatures than you.
Trample
Summoning is a form of magical invitation. With a herd species, inviting one is the same as inviting a dozen.
6/6
Opaline Equunculus 3
Artifact
Sunburst (This enters the battlefield with a charge counter on it for each color of mana spent to cast it.)
Remove a charge counter from Opaline Equunculus: It becomes a 4/4 Unicorn Homunculus artifact creature until end of turn.
3: Return Opaline Equunculus to its owner’s hand.
Scrounge for Supplies X
Sorcery
Roll X d6. Do the following for each result.
1 | Create a Food token.
2 | Create a Blood token.
3 | Create a tapped Treasure token.
4 | Create a tapped Powerstone token.
5 | Investigate.
6 | Incubate 2.
Unprompted Input UR
Instant
Counter target spell with one or more targets unless its controller has you choose new targets for it.
“You know what would you should do with that…”
Streaming Medium WUB
Creature — Pegasus Cleric
Flying
When Streaming Medium enters the battlefield, return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. If that card has disturb, you may return it to the battlefield transformed instead.
She calls to one unseen crowd for the approval of another.
2/1
Bridlewood Shadestalker 1BG
Creature — Unicorn Assassin
Deathtouch
Fear (This creature can’t be blocked except by black creatures and/or artifact creatures.)
BG: Target creature becomes black until end of turn and blocks Bridlewood Shadestalker this turn if able.
Darkness is alluring even without magic.
2/2
Sprout’s Iron Reign 1RW
Enchantment — Saga
I — Create two 1/1 white Pony creature tokens.
II — Create an X/X red Construct artifact creature token with trample, where X is the number of creatures you control.
III — Up to one target creature gains double strike and indestructible until end of turn.
Student of Ancestry 2RG
Creature — Pegasus Shaman
Reach
When Student of Ancestry enters the battlefield, you may discard your hand. If you do, draw a card for each creature you control.
Zipp is far from the only one exploring the undercity for forgotten history.
3/4
Arisen Imperator 2RWB
Creature — Pegasus Spirit Soldier
Flying, vigilance
Whenever Arisen Imperator attacks, you may exile a creature card from your graveyard. If you do, create a token that’s a copy of that card and that’s tapped and attacking. Exile the token at end of combat.
Some old soldiers don’t even fade away.
3/4
Canterlove Studios
Legendary Land
T: Add C.
4, T: Another target permanent you control becomes a copy of a third target permanent that shares a card type with it.
Where anypony can be anything.
That's how I come up with all my ideas!
... I never even thought about that.
And cutie marks are different in G5!
Ah yes, "Top Remodel". Also known as "jossing Ghost Mike's G5 Phyllis fic that had proposed Phyllis would revamp Canterlogic towards making gear that benefitted all three tribes and facilitated the reunification."
It was bound to happen, I suppose, and already kind of a given off how Phyllis and Sprout have barely appeared or being mentioned post-movie. This just seals it. It's an odd experience. Guess this is how hundreds of writers of thousands of fics throughout FiM's run must have felt! 
You know, in most episode-by-episode reactions of Chapter 4 I've seen (which have generally been from folks satisfied enough with the episodes in the moment of watching them), this one usually got an indifferent "just faffing around" response, and typically placed low in the final ranking. So I'm happy to see someone other than myself feel it is on the higher end for MYM. The actual dialogue, flow in both writing and visuals, characterisation and voice direction remain insurmountable obstacles, and this one ends up having nothing to it beyond a vague "refurbish the factory" plot line padded by critter shenanigans, with a rote "you can't please everyone" subplot for Sunny and Izzy, and a couple of scenes paying lip service to the Zipp investigation and Misty plotlines. Yet somehow, this cross-cutting actually infused some energy into this one, because I didn't check the remaining runtime until two-thirds in, which has to be some kind of record. That, or I'm just generous after the slog that was "Bridlewoodstock".
The movie continuity nods, and legitimate extensions present in Misty's parts, at least give the effect of someone who is trying and cares about doing what they can there, so I valued them, even if the fact that no one else will bother limited what could be done with Sprout beyond being a petty loser. And Leore Berris does infuse much of this into the chapter's finale too. Sprout's part did lead into a full frontal display of what I consider to be Sunny's worst character trait, present since the movie: total disregard for laws if they don't allow for her beliefs and goals to be followed, with no effort to reach a middle ground, just blindly marching ahead. It's not quite toxic levels of anytime this show tries to present Pipp as an actual role model for children, but it's pretty bad.
Still, between very little absolutely awful beats, a couple of faintly amusing quirks (Pipp liking the spooky I can get behind, sans the content creation part), and an amusing enough ditty in the moment, it was a mildly promising start for Chapter 4, relative to what we'd had up to now. One not really borne out – only two other episodes would surpass this one – and this absolutely continues to regress Hitch further into being a butt monkey by both the plot and the characters. But with Make Your Mark, you take everything you get.
The next episode, though… oh boy!
An important real world lesson many people should learn.
I didn't think the writers had forgotten about the CanterLogic building until they themselves raised that interpretation. Merely not mentioning it in the episodes since doesn't mean it's ceased to exist. But here we are.
My pet theory is that these ponies do not share our concept of private property in the first place. Everything is the commons, and even large industrial facilities run on kindergarten share-and-play-fair rules. If the people who were using it before went away, then it's fair game for anyone else to use it.
I'm convinced pony society, or at least Maretime Bay, doesn't do economy the way we do. Possibly politics too. Ponies will just find something else to do.
Well, nobody said it was always her family that owned the castle. And whoever is haunting it might not have appreciated the whole lying thing. Or some of her other quirks, but we'll get there.
See, normally I'd agree with you. However here they doubled down on the acknowledging in such a blatant way that, while it doesn't fix the problem, it's at least endearing enough.
On the topic of Hitch's character: We know from QnAs with the G5 VAs that episodes were being recorded before ANG was released. We know from QnAs with Imalou and others who worked on it that the film underwent some significant changes late in production (as in the last months). We know from released scrapped material that part of what was changed was Hitch's character (which resulted in the inconsistency of him not agreeing to Izzy's plan after having disguised himself as a pegasus before). It's quite possible the difference exists because this is Hitch's original character, to some degree.
We'll talk about that at some point.
Misty channeling PoO Pinkie was delightful.
Looking forward to the next one. For no particular reason other than one specific joke that I'm still staggered they managed to put in.
5733920
Would explain a fair bit about G4, too.
Unprompted Input is perfectly elegant.
Is Scrounge For Supplies colorless, or missing a pip? Also, combos with Clear The Clutter in an annoying fashion.
Bonus points for Patron of Vagrancy and Student of Ancestry.
5733939
I missed that, but I love it! If that's not in MtG proper, it definitely should be XD
5733939
Given the similar names, I suspect that was intentional. The word "nonland" appearing as needed is what keeps it out of Play Design Alert territory. (Especially since Cyclonic Rift exists
)
They are now enjoying the peace dividend now they don't have to buy all those unicorn traps and splatapults. Except for Phyllis, but she probably has enough savings to enjoy a comfortable retirement.
I'm having trouble forcing myself to form an opinion or even care about G5, as evidenced by the fact that I've made no effort to watch the episodes ahead of this blog series. For this episode, other than my mild discomfort at being violently thrown into another musical number (smoothly transitioning from narrative to songs has consistently been a weak point for G5), I felt nothing. Here are four unrelated storylines, two of which will (hopefully) be resolved in the future. Okay.
Ultimately, that's what's going to do in this generation. People will hate-watch bad shows, and they'll readily seek out good shows, but mediocrity is what dooms series.
5733916
Honestly? I appreciate her chaotic good "Harmonia Vult" energy. It's one of the more interesting flaws in the cast—especially when most of the G5 writers don't seem sure what to do with Sunny—and at least it's consistent with the drive that got her to shrug off being the town pariah and reunite the tribes in the first place.
Plus, when even the town's sheriff happily lends a hoof to help with Sunny's idea, I think it's safe to assume that this is at worst a legally gray area.
5733929
That is a very intriguing point.
While that is equal parts depressing and horrifying.
5733939
Scrounge for Supplies is deliberately colorless, in the Strixhaven "This is basic enough that anyone can do it" sense rather than the Eldrazi "This is horrifying eldritch magic that does not and perhaps cannot align with any philosophy comprehensible to mortals" sense.
5733957
Fair point. All that "safety" equipment didn't come cheap, and there are demonstrably other businesses in town, especially once the unicorns and pegasi starting setting up shop.
5734027
I don't remember if anything contradicts it, but it's quite possible Haven just marched in and made herself Queen by setting up the whole flying thing. It certainly happened a while ago since Zipp and Pipp were born into royalty and the castle shows sign of having housed her for a while, so if not her perhaps her parents, but she's not young and she does seem like the kind of pony who'd come up with that in the first place. I could see a young Haven in a society that has accepted its loss of flight hatching a scheme to pretend she's got the equivalent of a divine right to rule. Now there's a fic idea. Now it is also possible the crown has been pulling the scheme for generations, but I like my idea better.
5734027
…It is scarily on-brand for you to respond in D&D alignment lingo, mate.
Anyway, I didn't mean the character flaw itself was terrible down to the conceptual bone – of course it could be an interesting flaw. It would just need… not even good execution – not even decent execution! Just not-terrible execution. And obviously, I would never expect this show to ever openly acknowledge such a flaw and tackle it in the direct text – that'd be a tall order even on FiM's quality writing.
But what it really needs is to feel in any way intended, like the writers thought about adding this trait to give Sunny a quirk. One could argue that it was deliberate and carefully calculated on the film's specific context and scenes (though even there, they lose the needle a bit by having Sunny's preaching be the same song-and-dance with little variation), but it is 120% the case (
) in MYM that such moments are just a consequence of the "quality" writing – apart from anything else, they wouldn't deliberately add moments for that trait and then stop at Sunny's super-bland largely-just-there characterisation she's had this side of the film. It doesn't even have the out of Pipp never getting moments of social media and influencers being not being the absolute greatest, on the grounds of selling to the target audience.
Of course, I know for many fans, yourself included, whether or not something was intended on the writer's part, and it's execution thereof, often plays second fiddle to simply it existing, providing inspiration and food for thought for fanwork. And fair is fair, I get that.