Feb
16th
2013
Thoughts on Alicorn Twilight [spoilers] · 4:02pm Feb 16th, 2013
And...
...yeah, it was pretty good. A little faster-paced than I'd of liked. I'm certain there's one or two episodes from this season we could have cut in order to make this into a 2-parter, which would have helped the pacing issues. Also Jesus they weren't kidding when they said Daniel Ingram took over the episode.
But...yeah, they basically stuck the landing.
Most importantly of all for my own selfish reasons, not only did they not explain Celestia, Luna, and Cadance's origins (
), but they actually implied that this has never actually happened before. So basically the Lunaverse's canon gets to remain untouched.
Apparently Starswirl wanted to be an alicorn, though. Interesting.
Report
RainbowDoubleDash · 908 views
·
Speaking of songs...
Dear sweet lord, Princess Celestia's singing voice is beautiful.
I was pretty happy with it as well, (some bit's bothered me) but I was happy largely for your reasons regarding the princess's,. but also because Celestia can do more amazing stuff than we thought and she finally got a song! Still wondering ho this will affect the next season, but yeah, as it stands -applause-
oh and Alicorns are a thing now! EDIT and spoken magic is also a thing huh.
The songs made this episode awesome. They're just really, really good songs. The animation is great, too, and I do feel this was a well-handled episode given their time constraints.
I've originally thought that Twilight was going to refuse her reward from Celestia, but nope, she's a alicorn.
Let's see how bad it can get.
I honestly was wondering what the fuck I just watched. They made Twilight a complete Mary Sue. I like the idea of Twilight as an alicorn, but not at the expense of doing it in a way that made no Goddamned sense and making her a complete mary sue like that.
Just a little?
I think that the episode could have been three times longer and still felt rushed.
832922
Being an alicorn doesn't make Twilight a Mary Sue. If phenomenal cosmic power were all it took to be one, then Superman, Darkseid, Galactus, et al, would be Mary Sues, but they're not.
Batman, on the other hand...
832974
Cue the pissed off Batman fans.
Seriously, you don't want to mess with those guys, their the FGC and Bro-Army all in one with the dash of Toby's Audience back at London mixed with stereotypical bronies.
832974
Yeah, but Batman has so many issues.....AND HIS PARENTS ARE DEAD!!!!
....if I killed off Heavy Roller, would Scootaloo become Bat Mare?
832974
Her becoming an alicorn doesn't make her a mary sue. The WAY she did it on the other hand.....
Oh, I loved this episode. That was just awesome.
Reposted from elsewhere:
No wonder they were so upset about all the spoilers, its like 2 ounces of plot in a 10 pound bag... Just knowing the synopsis of the episode basically spoils the whole plot. They just fill in the remaining time with as many songs and montages as they could. That said, it was alright. Nothing grand or spectacular as they rushed through the whole destiny swapping thing since they didn't have the time to explore it and make Twilight an Alicorn for the thinnest of reasons "Oh you made a new spell, okay you get wings now." Thought it does continue to the feel of the entire writing for the show getting weaker. Hopefully the movie and Season 4 will be better.
The songs are nice, but when its song, tiny bit of plot, song, bit more plot, song, plot resolution, song, princessing, song, end it just feels like they were trying REALLY hard to stretch this out to 22 minutes.
833047
Alternatively:
Hasbro Execs: MAKE TWILIGHT PRINCESS PONE
DHX: Okay, sure, we'll just put together a two-parter....
Hasbro: NO! NEEDS ONE EPISODE TO PUT ON CHEEP DVD WITH TOY
DHX: Fine, but if you want to keep your periphery demographic happy and buying expensive licensed merch it can't suck. So... *Sticks Hasbro with bill for a musical*
You've got the Spring and Summer to get your rump going and get through as much of the Lunaverse as you can.
Better get writing...
Yeah, this episode was rushed, just goes to show you why 13 episodes does not a season make. What really got me, however, was how happy everything was at the end; it's not that I hate happy endings, I personally think happy endings should be a requirement, I mean there's no hook to it other than Twilight's now a Alicorn and a member of royalty. There's no silhouette of some mysterious figure overlooking everything, planning some evil scheme; there's no evil eyes in a dark room; no wicked cackling; just "Twilight is made a princess and everything's just fine." There needs to be a hook for season 4.
833161
Still could have found a better plot that actually had substance to it, rather then the thinnest plot they could think of at the last second.
832993
who else was supposed to solve the problem?
833323
That's not the issue. Her solving a problem is fine. And while being turned into an Alicorn for it is stretching it, that's still not my primary issue with it.
833217 Don't forget Celestia's Big Hall of TVs where she apparently sat on her flank and ate popcorn while watching Twilight do all of the above.
"Hey Luna? Did you bring the Dr. Pepper? Yeah, I'll Tivo it until you get back."
832899 Yeah, what was up with that? I mean, I'd yell at Twilight for being stupid enough to read from a book of spells out loud, but it's not like that ever cast a spell before.
833178
Did you not see the worried glances Celestia and Luna gave each other at the line "everything will be alright"? They know more than they are telling, but what else is new.
they really should have it into a two parts , it was very rushed and the two halves werent very related
833708 I wasn't 100% sure if they were worrying or fighting back tears, so I didn't count that.
Pretty much, yeah
Conceptually I really like the idea of this as the culmination of every prior episode, where all Twilight's lessons come together allowing her to do something special that has never been done before. There are scenes and dialogue here that clearly indicate that's what they were going for, but for the most part the episode does an inadequate job of bearing it out.
The whole destiny spell just comes pretty much entirely out of nowhere (in a flashback no less), which is sort of viable as it's all just another one of Celestia's tests, but where are given ZERO insight as to what motives the princess has beyond the most vague of allusions. Then there is idea that Twilight could basically cast such a profound reality warping spell with so little effort as to do it almost by accident... not quite so keen on that, though at least proximity to the Elements of Harmony when it happened helps lend credence to the possibility. Then there is the way the destinies where swapped which came across as a bit lazy and ill-throughout, with all of them basically just swapping jobs, even when their talents aren't always directly related to said jobs in the first place (why exactly would Rainbows talent for speed compel Rarity to create fashionable weather?). The resolution that Twilight just needs to get them all to help each other is a good one, but instead plays out as them just doing their old job until epiphany strikes with friendship as little more than an excuse to get them to try, which is a again a strong concept with week delivery. Finally, the whole "writing new" magic seemingly plays out far too literally and just feels sort of tacked on and unable to bear the wait of such a momentous occasion.
In the end I though, I don't have any problem with where the episode ends, it just that how it gets there is rather underwhelming. I'm eager to see where the staff takes all of this next season, but it's still kind of sad that the THE BIG ONE, the episode that changes everything forever was pretty much shoved out the door and not something all that special in and of itself. Making it a two-prater would have helped, but what they probably really needed was an altogether tighter season, with each episode helping to build to the finale; that would have been a great excuse for the eager 13 episodes we got, but unfortunately despite hints of something more throughout the two-part premier it was something that never happened and the rest of the season was just the standard disjointed hodgepodge of random hijinks. Again, that doesn't make any of it bad, just less than what such a momentous event deserved.
There's the rumor that Discord is the transformed Starswirl the Bearded, which would lend credence to the theory of him not "getting" friendship.
832986
No. Scootaloo would become Robin to Diamond Tiara's Batmare when DT's parents are brutaly killed... or sent on vacation.... or whatever.
Well, at least in DT's fantasies.
835046
nah, if DT were Bat Mare, then Scootaloo would obviously be Cat Mare, who would have a rivalry and some kinda sexual tension.
Again, all in DT's dreams.
If it happened to maneverse Twi will it happen to Lunaverse Trixie?
If it does it can hopefully be done better.
I dont know how closely you will continue to follow the show but I have to admit I would be very interested to see how this change were to play out in the Lunaverse. Assuming for a moment that through some means over the course of two more seasons of stories Trixie 'earned' becoming an alicorn, what sort of dramatic changes would that mean in Trixies life?
I wasnt blown away with Twi becoming an alicorn (though it wasnt bad), but I wuld love to see such a big undertaking being handled by the writers of the Lunaverse. You guys manage to make everything very compelling.
fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/181/7/a/pinkie_pie_joy_by_krazy3-d55dmdx.png
So, Starswirl The Usurper?
836172
The rough equivalent in Lunaverse terms would actually be Trixie ascending into the Night Court as a full noble, probably a baroness or viscountess.
I doubt I'd want her to become an alicorn, but if the Lunaverse ends up heading that way, we'll see what happens.
837435 I doubt myself things would go that way. I was just stating how much I would like to see them go that way if for no other reason than how deep such a story would be with how the Lunaverse is built. Oh well, I can always keep my fingers crossed and enjoy the ride till then.
837435
There is a part of me that wants L!Twilight and L!Trixie to meet "Princess Twilight" in Crisis on Two Equestrias, just to see their reaction.
Maybe it could be a deleted scene/crackfic?
Well, I know I got teary-eyed watching this. It was all sorts of amazing.
I don't think it was rushed as such. It doesn't tell the whole story, but it doesn't skip anything. There are going to be a whole lot of consequences to this, which I expect will be explored in the Season 4 two-part opener. The inter-season wait will be both dreadful and glorious, as we wait to see this stuff revealed, but I don't think we've been short-changed in terms of what we've seen so far. There are some things I'm really looking forward to in Season 4 - finding out just what being a Princess means, socially and politically, and getting some confirmation that alicorns have earth pony magic as well as pegasus and unicorn magic. Lauren Faust said as much, but it didn't show up on the trading cards, and earth magic has never been made explicit in the show.
I wasn't expecting a musical episode! Those were some lovely songs. I actually almost didn't notice when Celestia started singing, because Celestia's voice is usually rather sing-song as it is. I have a feeling that the exposition of the cutie mark swapping and subsequent restoration was done as a song so that it could move the exposition along quickly. Musical numbers can have lesser burdens of exposition than non-musical scenes. It's a bit of a cheap trick, but it was done so well that I'm not about to complain.
The outfits! The outfits the Mane 6 wore at the coronation were really interesting - I saw some landsknecht influence, maybe? Rainbow Dash's hat was pretty pimping. Luna's dress was... possibly not the best choice of colours, but still pretty. I really liked Cadance's dress, and she had her Crystal Empire headdress on (in some shots, anyway)! And Celestia was actually wearing stuff! So awesome.
Alicorn is a canonical term now! Suck it, people who whine about it only being allowed to mean "the material of a unicorn's horn".
Seeing the ponies trying to perform each other's talents was pretty hilarious. I actually think that Pinkie Pie should have done a better job at Sweet Apple Acres, because we've seen her bucking apples and cherries before and she wasn't half bad at it, but Rule of Funny, I guess. My favourite was Rarity the weather pony. The part of the song when they got their cutie marks restored was just beautiful, because there are few things I love seeing more than the Mane Six engaging in their special talents.
We still don't know quite what was going on. It's pretty clear that Celestia at least suspected that this would happen when she sent Star Swirl's book to Twilight. I like to think that Celestia was born a pegasus, and Luna was born a unicorn, and they're not actually sisters by blood. That's why all of the royal guards look the same - they're descended from Celestia and Luna's original families. It's worth noting, though, that while Celestia was present in the outside-space-place to provide exposition and stop Twilight from panicking, she didn't actually do anything. Whatever happened to make Twilight an alicorn, it's something Twilight did herself, not some kind of reward bestowed by Celestia.
I think this doesn't quite rule out anything we've done in the Lunaverse. If anything, this might actually help. All we know about the alicorns in the Lunaverse is that the alicorns are ancient and of nebulous origin. It's entirely possible that they ascended to their state through magic in the distant past. It's not like they remember their own origins.
As for Trixie? I don't think so. At least, not yet. Not for a while. Becoming a Princess in the Lunaverse would have some pretty massive political consequences as well as magical ones. And I just don't think Trixie is ready.
I wouldn't be surprised if Starswirl was his era's version of Twilight, just minus the amount of Friendship needed to gain alicorniness.
I think this could actually be useful to the Lunaverse...
L!Twilight, looking for ANYPONY to help her, since she's a fugitive, joins Corona in the everfree forest, becoming an extremely powerful demigod servant to her.
842568 Then she betrays Corona and works with the L6 to redeem herself...
Maybe I should become a writer...
842568
Twilight would never willingly join Corona.
Sorry, sorry, I just...I got sick of saying that about six months ago. It's not your fault.
I concur with the thing on Star Swirl the bearded. It IS interesting and it could certainly be used as a plot device later on.
838176 I think the episode pretty firmly suggested that - in fact, Celestia basically said it outright. I don't think Star Swirl was particularly reclusive or self-centered - he did have an apprentice, after all, and one who was advisor to a princess - but he just didn't understand the magic of friendship the way Twilight Sparkle does. He wanted to ascend (probably - we don't know for certain that that was his aim with the spell), but by himself, without his friends being intimately involved. Twilight's revelation was the friends will help each other find their destinies - and, in helping your friends, you'll find your own destiny too.
I, personally, thought the whole thing was pathetic; 833047 nailed the issue for me. Ever since the very first episode, it's been clear that Celestia has been testing Twilight. She's been grooming her from the moment she took Twilight on as an apprentice; Nightmare Moon, Discord, Sombra, and a hundred little lessons she's learned along the way. I was excited; maybe the finale will be good enough to shine above the rest of the muck that was S3; maybe this will make me look forwards to S4. But instead of an epic final test or something, we get a musical episode where the plot is wrapped up with a two-minute song (alongside another half dozen! Gods damnit, I had trouble watching the whole thing because of the sheer number of annoying songs.) The 'final test' was a lousy anticlimatic note to sound the death knell of two horrid seasons. There is fanfiction on this very site that has done an infinitely better job of doing an Alicorn Twilight scenario. I have just the song to explain my thoughts on the matter.
I think this is the time when My Little Pony catches Matrixitis and I pretend there was only one season.
852816
Unlikely.
I can hardly spite you for continuing on, 852959, but I'm looking forward to this next season with nothing but dread.
853350
Well, was there really not a single episode from Season 3 that you thought was good? Sleepless in Ponyville, maybe?
There were a few decent episodes in S3, 853464; my favorite is probably Wonderbolts Academy. The problem is that none of them were good; none of them match up to S1 greatness like Dragonshy and Sonic Rainboom. If S4 is as boring as S3 and the latter half of S2, then I know I won't be the only one to give up on it.