Alicorn Twilight is the beginning of the end (and no, I'm not panicking) · 11:39pm Jan 30th, 2013
Yesterday, the fanbase was treated with the news that the finale of the third season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic will end with Twilight Sparkle becoming an alicorn and be crowned princess. Since then, I've been on feeling depressed. I feel like the show mutated into something unrecognizable. Yes, I haven't watched it yet and, yes, it could be a good episode in and of itself. But here's the problem: why? Hasbro knows it has a strong adult fanbase. Hasbro is also squish about controversy. So much so they removed the Derpy reference from "The Last Roundup" and, if rumor is true, Derpy will never been seen on anymore episodes starting in season 4. So, why spit in the face of so many fans? It's the toy line, and that's why FiM will go down in flames. When FiM started, Lauren Faust and the writers for FiM didn't have pressure from the Hasbro sales department since they were just starting to sale the toys, but now that Faust has left the show and all of the current toys have been sold, Hasbro wants to sale new toys. And there lies the cancer killing FiM. Even if the season finale doesn't bomb, it doesn't matter. Because eventually, they'll sale all of the Alicorn Twilight toys they can, and when that happens, the Hasbro sales team will look on to the show with cold, calculating eyes and say...
There are still five more characters to make into princesses.
The next to become a princess will probably be Rainbow Dash.
That is why the show will crash and burn. The show may not end with Alicorn Twilight, but Alicorn Twilight will mark the beginning of the end. To paraphrase the president from Independence Day-the Hasbro sales department is like a plague of locust. They travel from franchise to franchise devouring everything until nothing is left.
An intelligent, long term investment in a franchise shapes the toyline around the show, not the show around the toyline. The Hasbro sales department, if it actually cared, would have looked to the fandom and see what is popular and what isn't and market their toys around it, and it doesn't have to be just the brony community either. The younger demographic probably have their favorites. In fact, I believe there is overlap between the bronies and the original targeted demographic of young children. Instead, they push alicorn Twilight on the viewers and tell us to take it or leave it. And even if the fans accept Alicorn Twilight, they will over come back with another sales gimmick and another and another and another until the fanbase can no longer tolerate it and leave in disgust. Then, they'll cancel the show and, with barely uttering a "Oops! We derped", move on the next franchise to run into the ground.
Make no mistake about it. Hasbro plans to run the show into the ground and pimp as many alicorn Mane 6 as they can.
Here, take a look at this.
(zoom in on the pic)
I just saw this today, and it calmed me down from my oh-my-bejesus freakout.
774770
I thought the same as well until I read the following: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/01/press-release-reveals-finale-information.html
This pretty much says Twilight's transformation is a result of reversing the spell wither by proving she's "worthy" or she goes SSJ alicorn and sprouts wings via magic limit breaker. But like I said, all signs are pointing to Hasbro using gimmicks in the show to sell toys at the expense of the series.
776344 True, but perhaps it'll only be temporary.
...I hope.
774770
Even if it was temporary(and it looks to be not temporary), that wouldn't be the point.
The point is that Hasbro is going its normal route of draining a show of everything it can like a freaking vampire. Even if Alicorn Twilight was only temporary, that's long enough for Hasbro to make toys of it.
So they'd keep editing characters to draw more toys out of them, basically.
777486 Well, they are a toy making company. Plus, they realize that MLP has a ridiculously large fandom.
So more toys = more profit. Of course they'd try to do this!
I just wish they'd realize that the only people that will buy the alicorn Twilight toys are the alicorn hard-core enthusiasts or the actual 5 year old little girls who like sparkly pony dolls.
779033
The thing is, Hasbro is sort of famous for running shows into the ground in this exact manner. They know that even if they get rid of the vast majority of the FiM fandom, there will always be another show for them to use. It was well known that Friendship is Magic would meet its death at the hands of Hasbro's toy producing shenanigans, we just didn't realize it would come quite so quickly.
779057
That might have been why they were pushing Littlest Pet Shop so much. Well guess what, Hasbro-bronies aren't going to turn into petties or whatever you thought they would become. You don't kick your customers in the groan and then hand them a box with a turd in it and think they'll stay your customer.
779057 True... the words I just read are like stones in my heart.
But in my heart - in all of our hearts - we know it is true. We can only hope that our show won't disintegrate, because I don't know how I'll be able to deal with the pain.
I fear the day that comes.
You know...Hasbro has been beaten by fans before.
When Optimus Prime died, that was a corporate decision.
"Hey kids! You like this guy? Well, BAM! He's over. You like this guy now! Hot Rod!" (yes, I am quoting Moviebob. Who is an asshole.)
The fans actually did get Hasbro to revive Optimus. Not only that, he's kind of been in every Transformers reboot ever since.
...On the other hand, Twilight's immortality is a lot stickier to reverse than Optimus' death. In fact, I might state that the Alicornification of the other elements might become an actual goal of Twilight's (eventually), just because fair really is fair. Not only that, but it was their elements that sent Twilight to Pony Asgard, so its possible to make the case that they can also be uplifted by the power of the elements themselves.
Technically...even in our wildest fantasies of what we can do now, we can't win. Now that this episode has happened, there's only three outcomes, and each one has its own poison:
1-All the mane six get Alicorn upgrades and Hasbro takes all our money. (ALL our money! This is totally not an overdramatic statement in any way shape or form!
) Why is there not a segment about only a few Elements becoming Alicorns? Because that is guaranteed not to happen. While if it stays at Twilight then it...stays at Twilight...but the INSTANT a second member of the Mane Six becomes a member of the master race, you can safely bet all your life savings on them being Alicorns before the end of the season. Its kind of a Maho Shojo upgrade mini-story-arc that way.
This is obnoxious, and has the effect of all freaking six of them adjusting to their new bodies and powers and all the haters smirking with smug satisfied looks on their faces at how far we've fallen and that everypony who remains has basically proven themselves to be Hasbro's bitches now. BUT! Before you sell this option short, wait until you see the others.
2-The buck stops at Twilight. Now, personally I've always found that the show has been doing a delicate balancing act on trying to keep Twilight down to earth in spite of her many, many strengths and general "main characterness" (A crown instead of a necklace element, a unicorn whose special talent is magic itself, apparently immune to that ragequit thing Discord did to Fluttershy hence why he had to break Twilight through her friends, etc.) but the Elements -supposedly being all about friendship and equal recognition for everypony- only bestowing this upon Twilight and only Twilight seems to take the Mary Sue cake. Not only that, but it seems awfully cruel that the Elements would give Immortality to Twilight...
...but not her friends.
What could be crueler than to have this inevitable separation built into their function? The Element of Loyalty is itself disloyal to its bearer? The Element of Generosity doesn't necessarily have to help Rarity, but it only helps advance Twilight, and ONLY Twilight, except in the fashion where it doesn't allow Twilight to help the others? This is
ed up.
3-Twilight's transformation is temporary and reverses itself. Ah. Sweet, sweet status quo! We'll never abandon you again! Hold on there, buddy. Remember that depressing youtube video I linked too in option 2? And how sad the prospect of Twilight's friends leaving her in death seems?
Aren't you forgetting about somepony?
Yes. Its time to drift away from Cliches and cached Wisdom. Its time to say something controversial. Living longer than your friends is not a side effect of being immortal. Its a side effect of death. It has always been Death's problem, not Life's. Celestia had to endure 1000 years of watching ponies go from cradle to grave, without anyone to anchor herself. But she did it. For Twilight to give up her immortality (or worse, outright commit suicide) would seem...weak...in comparison. Hell, with Luna's redemption, Cadence's birth (and that birth WAS recent for her to be foalsitting Twilight), Discord's release and REFORMATION (!), and Twilight's ascension...Celestia is making out like a BANDIT this generation!
But if Twilight (and even the other elements) leave her because of who they might leave behind...that might be a downer note to end this story on that Celestia really didn't need.
But...since this is a kid's show that's not supposed to focus too much on death, let's add another, less heavy objection. In "Boast Busters," we already established that its okay to be awesome, so long as you don't beat everyone over the head with it.
Wouldn't demanding that Twilight turn back be turning our backs on the sentiment expressed there? I know its stupid Toy-selling BS that throws Equestria's theology out of whack...but what's really the alternative?
Besides...you know what they say about genies and bottles. The old and familial is gone. The only hope we ever had of containing this shitstorm was that this would not happen in the show, so we wouldn't have to deal with the fallout.
So we're screwed. All roads lead to Hell.
Technically...I blame Cadence. I hate to say it, since I've learned to like Cadence since actually watching the Canterlot Wedding...but her existence has been a huge hole in the plot of the world, and I felt worried ever since I first heard about her. I wasn't even thinking about toys, I was just worried about how Mary Sue the whole thing sounded. Marrying Twilight's never-before-heard-of-brother too? Come on.
I put those questions from my mind and hoped the writers knew what they were doing. I found out later Cadence existed to sell toys, but just shrugged since the damage seemed minimal. ...but now that you've brought it up. ...my god. WAS CADENCE JUST A WAY FOR HASBRO TO TEST THE WATERS FOR AUDIENCE ACCEPTANCE OF ADDITIONAL ALICORNS? ...AND DID I JUST ALLITERATE?
On the other other hand....if the show can survive all the mane six alicornifying, what else can Hasbro's toymongering do after that?
Would the show have been safe forever if Lauren Faust made it clear that Celestia and Luna were special and the setting simply could not support anymore Alicorns?
What other damage can Hasbro do? Because maybe (just maybe) we can survive. So what other kind of crap can Hasbro throw at us?
More normal ponies? Oh gods no! Please don't introduce us to more Babs Seeds or Pipsqueaks or Fancy Pants! A show about CHARACTERS simply can't handle this much! /sarcasm But seriously, supporting characters and background ponies are not going to have that much demand.
Monsters? Heck, I don't know if they even sell Diamond Dog toys, or how well they would sell (I admit, I don't keep track of the toys myself), but the setting itself can only improve with an incentive to introduce more creatures. Same goes with Villains or any non-ponies whatsoever.
Sea Ponies? ...I could do with an underwater episode I don't think we've even SEEN a beach on this show yet. Now, I know that in previous generations, there were a ridiculous number of pony species, but I generally felt that their biggest flaw was simply the childish dialogue spoken in babyish voices by creatures that live lives devoid of real challenge or character growth in a world that so stereotypically girly and vomit-inducing that it makes Care-a-lot look like Madmax written by writers that seem to know just the right thing to ensure that watching any snippet of the show makes me want to rip out all my sensory organs!
Huff...puff...whew....but, um... that's generally not a problem with FiM. 
More
ing Alicorns? ...ah, there's the rub. But how many more can there be? Cadence was kind of unique as the princess of a kingdom that was sealed away for a thousand but who was somehow a teenager back when Twilight was little. So even Cadence, for all her confusing-ness, is still special. If nothing else, each new Alicorn character would have to have their own special event with a Celebrity host green screened in and other bullshit ("Wow, Twilight! That seems like a Cutie mark Catastrophe!" 
) or else they'll just be another background pony and the kids will save their allowances rather than buy them.
Come on guys, I'm trying to see the bottom of the pit here, and there's always a bottom, even if its the center of the goddamn planet. I need some pessimism, but I need some SPECIFIC pessimism.
I know it seems bad, but really: CAN it get any worse?
And on the optimistic side, maybe they really do have this whole thing planned out.
846624
A lot of interesting points you've made.
1). Fan demand can be a powerful force. But many of the fans like Alicorn Twilight, which means Hasbro can either a). alienate the fans who support alicorn Twilight and/or hate the concept of the status quo just to win back the fans who left because of alicorn Twilight who may or may not come back or b). keep what they have and accept the lost of the anti-alicorn fans. I feel they will choose option #b. Fans are too divide on this issue for Hasbro to hit the status quo reset button.
2). Because death isn't discussed in the show overtly (no talk about Granny Smith's parents who are probably dead by now nor talk of the missing parents of the three Apple children who Faust said was dead barring any changes by Hasbro), permanent alicorn Twilight is a strong possibility. And the thought of alicornizing the entire Mane 6 is horrifying as far as story telling is concerned. It would only work had the alicornization taken place at the series finale or a possible FiM theatrical release. And since that can of worms have been opened, making Twilight a unicorn again is not an option. Also, it would be a complete cop-out for them to return Twilight to unicorn form after making such a big deal about how Twilight grew to be such an outstanding pony that she was worthy of being a princess. I mean, how do you reset everything with out destroying her character or not be convoluted and contrived? Have Twilight become a stuck-up noble like Blueblood? It would make me sick to my stomach to see Twilight, somepony who had a high honor bestowed upon her and had supposedly learn the virtues of being kind, generous, friendly, loyal, and honest, throw it away by being an utter Libby. Maybe some spell by Discord that takes her wings away? Sounds better but how do you explain Twilight not getting her alicorn-ness back at the end of the episode? She renounce her royal title because she doesn't want to lose her friends and/or she feels unworthy? Too late for that. It would have made sense if she turned down the offer when it was first made. Quite frankly, the only option is...it was all a dream. And that would only work if the fandom was united in its opposition to alicorn Twilight. If it was, we would take any excuse that didn't draw the character's good name in the mud or was too nonsensical.
3). Cadence was planned by Faust, but she never intended for her to be an alicorn. She was just suppose to be a normal unicorn (who was a member of the royal family). Shining Armor is actually worse story-wise. As one of my friends put it, Twilight, the pony with no friends that had to be taught the value of friendship, had a brother who she called her (BBBF) Best Big Brother Forever (IIRC) and never mention him to her friends. "It's about time" was the perfect opportunity to introduce Shining Armor. How difficult it would have been for Shining Armor to show up as one of the palace guards so that he doesn't come out of the middle of no where.
4). I think the writers are looking after the fans, so I won't worry too much for now. I can say this because they sneaked Derpy into the season finale. She even winks at the audience (an obvious 4th wall break). I believe it's the writers telling the fandom they won't let Hasbro mess things up too much. Also, i wonder if Hasbro didn't make some of their decisions based on their observations of the fandom. Look at the humanized pony series Equestrian Girls. Can you blame Hasbro when a sizable portion of the fan art are the ponies in human form? As outsiders looking it, they must have thought this is something the brony community would SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY
. Then again, I like dark pony fics (to a certain extend) but that doesn't mean I want Hasbro to do grimdark.
5). I kinda like supporting cast ponies. They make the show feel more real. It's like an extended universe-an Equestria that is bigger than the Mane 6. Bigger than even Celestia. But that's just MHO.
848007 (I was notified about your response from this blog. I guess my comment in RatN jumped the gun. Maybe.)
I didn't mean to focus so much on the death part. Its just that the release of that video made it so damn topical. I guess...there's not SO much bad with the situation of Twilight staying the only Alicorn (since we can't pretend Magical Mystery Cure never happened) as opposed to the other options.
Although...I still think its kind of dick move on the Elements' part for us to find out that only Twilight could use the magic she fixed for Starswirl. (This is assuming that the "magic" which "nopony has ever done before" was in fact Alicorn ascension. I mean...I believe Celestia bequeathed Twilight a TITLE of Princess. Not Alicornification. Otherwise, what does Starswirl's stupid thing even do? Twilight fixed the rhyme and the elements sent her to the Celestial Realm.) Still...kind of a Trollestia kind of move not to warn Twilight about what she was getting into. How about a "DO NOT READ ANYTHING IN THIS PACKAGE OUT LOUD, PARTICULARLY AROUND POWERFUL MAGIC ARTIFACTS."
In fact, I just had a theory: Starswirl the Bearded....is a lie. The real genius spell-maker was another pony entirely. This mystery pony played with Elements of Harmony, and similar to how Nightmare Moon was banished to the Moon instead of purified, it backfired on him/her. And Starswirl, a good friend and fellow element bearer, got the real genius' cutie mark, place of residence, fame, and memories....but never made another meaningful discovery in magic again! He basically was Apple Pie/Pinkieshy/Flutterdash/Rainity/Rarejack...but replacing the Twilight of the group. Celestia wasn't around (if we believe Hearth's Warming Eve) when this happened, so she only discovered what happened long after it was too late to identify which of the other Element Bearer's were the REAL "Starswirl." /conspiracy theory
Hmm...actually, since they talk about Starswirl in the past tense, and as so old none of the casual folk of Ponyville remember him, I guess the show HAS kind of talked about death...
Er, anyway, I mostly complained about the prospect of Twilight being the only Alicorn because the whole ordeal really was really, really nice to Twilight when you think about it. I mean, she was even immune to the spell's effects. She does get to live with the guilt that she mess up her friends' lives, but by the same token, she also has an unfair headstart on realizing the problem is THERE and therefore fixing it. (Perhaps if Celestia protected Twilight -and her own memories of Twilight so SHE doesn't wonder what's taking her faithful student Pinkie Pie so long to get started- from the effects of the spell, so she COULD fix everything herself and complete Starswirl's work. Er... I mean "Starswirl's" work. Anyway, that would make this whole thing *slightly* less Trollestia.) And then, its intended effects only have enough juice for her, even though she apparently did it with the help of the other element holders?
I get that it might not extend to every single pony. But thinking about the whole thing kind of seems to cross the line from "Mary Suing" to "Slapping everypony whose not Twilight in the face." (Well...some fanfics play around with the idea that the Elements of Harmony might grant Immortality to Twi's friends without granted Aliconifying them. So maybe they aren't getting overly punished for not being the "Red Ranger." But still seems like they are missing out. Also, Rarity BURNS for a princess title.)
For Twilight to be the only Ascender, we're going to have to say that it had very specific qualifications including being a top-rate spellcaster. Which is still kinda elist to non-unicorns but what can you do?
As a matter of fact, you did not recall correctly, it was Big Brother Best Friend Forever. Its BFF with two extra b's.
And actually...its funny. Considering the first thing we the audience hear Shining Armor doing is neglecting to mention his engagement to his own little sister until the last second, he kind of ends up accidentally proving that Twilight was not, in fact, adopted into his family.
Well...actually, the other alternative is to retcon the episode out of existence. Like Derpy's first take in the episode that almost killed her after it caught fire for being supposedly "ableist".
I mean....that's what I do for "Too Many Pinkie Pies". Yes, for the "mass murder" of quite probably sentient clones, but also because it implies that Pinkie has to live with the knowledge that her friends the most expedient path instead of a thousand safer ones. Hell, if Twilight never found that stupid spell, they would be FORCED to do things the hard, right way. The duplicates weren't trying to clone their way to world domination, so its not like that spell saved the world or anything.
Wow. Soo...did Faust mention that she was Celestia's niece the same way Blueblood is supposed to be her nephew, and somebody took that as leeway to make her an Alicorn? (Granted, I kind of did wonder why Blueblood wasn't an Alicorn when I first saw him in "the Ticket Master"...) Because I do recall the preview for Canterlot Wedding saying something about her being Celestia's niece and recalling BB.
Oh, I like them too. I just was building up to the idea of Hasbro trying to release ENDLESS Alicorn toys and why Hasbro (hopefully) might not actually go through with that.
See, I'm engaging in a strange thought experiment and trying to predict how many world-ruining toy ideas can squeeze out the franchise as a whole. I mean, it just doesn't seem like (after Alicorn Mane 6, ignoring rather or not such a dark future would Kill Us All) there's that much more bottom of the barrel to scrape.
I do think that the show is still great. It just lapses sometime. Hasbro's milking, demands from on high, deadlines, and filler episodes with writers from other projects getting conscripted and just "going through the motions" can bring the show down. What I think people sometimes forget is that good things are allowed to suck sometimes without jumping the gun and proclaiming them "ruined" (Not that there isn't a threshold of damage that a world can endure before it dies in multiple explosions like a Final Fantasy endboss.)
We'll just have to wait and see....
...by the way, did anybody catch that date when Season 4's supposed to start?