Magical Mystery Cure. Ho, boy... *Spoilers* · 4:36pm Feb 17th, 2013
I am pretty much copy/pasting from the discussion thread at the anti-TCB group. Anyway... I hated this episode. And here's why.
1. Too rushed. Way, way too rushed. Things just kept happening, piling up and up and up.
2. So let me get this straight, Twilight. You get shown a spell, no idea what it does, it's not even finished... and you cast it with no preparations or even check beyond a simple look from side to side. Fuck you. FUCK YOU! Good lord how I HATE Twilight Sparkle sometimes. This is the completely irresponsible, treasures books more than living beings, book smart but has negative common sense asshole you want in charge? NO!
3. So... you basically use Ponyville as a testbed for this, not caring how many ponies you've made miserable and how it could've backfired spectacularly. Yeah... fuck you too, Celestia.
4. I'm opposed to her being an alicorn to begin with. Twilight's already got way too much power and is a pretty big gamebreaker. Now this?! Ugh!
5. Celestia manipulating things like this gives me pretty damned bad vibes. Molding Twilight like that for so long. Gives me the creeps.
So... yeah. I really, truly hated this episode. I'll check out season four, but I have got a Han Solo-class bad feeling about this. *Sigh* And season three started out so well, too...
And of course, that means there is pretty much NO CHANCE IN HELL of there being alicorn Twilight in the hasbroverse.
Rk.... I'm extremely disappointed in you.
anti-TCB?
839010 Why? I didn't like the episode. It was really bad with some really bad implications and some really dodgy actions on the part of Twilight and Celestia.
thank you! that ep was crap and anyone who thinks other wise is suffering from a huge case of lobotomized brain syndrome.
RK, did you even see Derpy in the episode? If not, here you go!
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Yep, 5 instances of our favourite derp eyed mare. In that last pic, when the episode was rolling, she winked at us. Honestly, I thought it went fine. To take an example from part of your universe, it's like Hot Rod becoming Rodimus in the 80's. At first, people hated it. But now, or in this case, eventually, people either won't care, or will tolerate it.
Question!
Apart from now being able to fly, do we actually know that Twilight being an alicorn in any way affects her power? Not to mention she can teleport willy-nilly anyway, so it's not like being able to fly gives her any actual advantage she didn't, for all intents and purposes, already have.
Me, I choose to view this as basically being the same as Twilight getting the Matrix of Leadership and becoming Twilighticus Prime. Maybe there's a power boost from it, but it's not like her core personality or faults have changed, she's hardly become a god, and sooner or later she's still going to run the Autobots right into the ground and she'll need to bring Optimus Prime back to life to fix her problems.
Celestia has faith in the capabilities of her student, whom she's known for years and years on end. You should have a little faith as well.
Meaningfully distinguish it from a carpenter teaching his son all about carpentry in the hopes that his son will be a carpenter, too, and then this might be a legitimate complaint. Or show that Celestia actively prevented Twilight from pursuing some other direction in her life.
...
...I do agree that the entire thing proceeded a bit too fast, but the songs helped with that; it's no worse than the sense of rush that I get from watching The Lion King or Aladdin. At the end of the day, we have to remember that this show is targeted at little kids. For them, it was probably paced just fine.
839056
dood, don't you think you're being a bit harsh?
I think you might be a bit harsh... but I honestly can't mention "Shining Armor" and "Cadence," and "Royal Wedding," without wanting to spit, cuss, and punch something (not all at the same time, thankfully, spit would get everywhere), so I can kinda accept that you really hated this episode.
Yes, I too thought that it was far too rushed. I thought it could have been split in two.
In fact, all the points are ones that I agree with... though perhaps not with the level of vitriol that you have. I would have honestly liked a scene where Twilight rejected it, but then we're shown like, a hundred years in the future when she's old and wise enough to handle the responsibility and she IS an alicorn. Best of both worlds!
Plus, I honestly don't think it'll last. All the promotional material that we've seen coming from Hasbro still shows her without wings, like the upcoming books. So my friend and I think that she gives up her princesshood to stop the Monster-Of-The-Season at the start of next season. or at the end of the two-parter opening.
839026
TCB, aka The Conversion Bureau, is a rather infamous fanfic in the community. Essentially, Equestria arrives on Earth as a bubble of some other dimension and begins expanding, obliterating every human artifact and human being in its path. Celestia "generously" offers to turn human beings (which, from the fic's point of view, are universally shitty) into ponies (which, from the fic's point of view, are a perfect nonviolent Mary Sue Race), which can pass through the Barrier into Equestria without disintegrating. Humans, being horrible horrible people and ashamed of themselves, agree to let themselves become completely brainwashed in the process and line up in droves to throw away their personality and humanity because Shut Up, That's Why. Nothing is ever treated as odd about this, and the humans are universally treated as the Bad Guys. Most of the hate comes from a spin-off parallel universe fic written by Chatoyance (also known for the non-pony bad webcomics Unicorn Jelly and Pastel Defender Heliotrope), which takes everything I've written, turns it up all the way to eleven, and is generally completely batshit. I don't have time to discuss the full craziness here.
Anti-TCB is a group which is attempting to write stories which are the opposite of TCB: I.E. where genocide is not a good thing, humans are not evil, and the ideals of TCB are generally turned on their head. Because it's a group of people getting really serious about fanfic and being geniunely offended, it tends to produce a smaller but still roughly equal proportion of Bad.
It's your story. We're not going to tell you what to write.
Also you have only seen the negatives which can be easily ignored. And what about the positives like the songs? It is a purely musical episode and is meant as a part 1 of a 3 parter (the next 2 parts will be the pilot of season 4), which is the reason it feels rushed. Also, all 22 minute episodes feel rushed, I thought you already know that by now.
And I think you read too many tyrant!Celestia fics to think that she was manipulating Twilight and planned for the her to curse Ponyville. If your lifelong teacher sees you exceed in many tests and growing up, I thing s/he would compliment you for your achievements and trust you not to screw up. And no, it was neither Twilight, nor Celestia, who turned her into an Alicorn. It was the EoH, if you have watched carefully. Don't bash someone for their earned achievements, it makes you sound jealous or something.
Just my 2 Euro cents, take it or leave it.
839219
oh. Conversion fics.
I know what those are, but I never heard it shortened to TCB.
..I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of TCB fics.
839056 I think that sounds like an insult from a person intollerant of every different opinion.
I get that you don't like it. But it's the way that you donkt like it that comes off as judgemental and petty. Twilight as alicorn doesn't chage the way that she already was on a fundamentally higher level than the rest of her friends from day one (see throwing a bear that weighs sevral hundred tons out of town out of sight.). The biggest difference is that she flies now, and will get dragged into affairs of state. She wasn't being irresponsible with that spell, as Celestia outright said 'I can't get this to work. It's harmless as far as I can tell, though. Play with it Twilight, see if you can get it to do something'. Celestia wasn't intentionally using Ponyville as a test subject, and almost certain couldn't have seen the mess that happened coming. Twilight has had a few irresponsible moments with her magic, but has been nowhere near as bad as you make her out to be, with one Discord-fueled exception (lesson zero). She might need time before she's ready to officially lead, but keepin her in Ponyville will keep maturing her. Your only point of contention that I can agree on is the rushing, and we have more than enough proof to say that the execs were the cause (just like most of the rushing this season). Even so,they did do one hell o a job stuffing it in.
I'm with Richardson on this RK...this attitude is really disappointing.
I'm currently writing a story about how being an alicorn affects Twilight, so I've been giving the matter a good deal of thought.
Bottom line: Twilight's wings only make obvious something that everypony already knows but usually overlooks: Twilight Sparkle is an extraordinary unicorn. Twilight is usually so modest and unassuming that folks forget that she's the personal student of Princess Celestia and has always been a likely candidate for high office (although possibly more Fancy Pants-level than Princess-level). That she could correct a spell written by Star-Swirl the Bearded (the Merlin or Gandalf of Equestria) suggests that she is much, much more capable than she believes herself to be.
As others have already noted, the wings don't especially empower Twilight. They do, however, serve as a reminder that there is "more than meets the eye" about her. Although I don't agree with your post, I appreciate your opinion, since it reinforces my own idea about the change: it's less about Twilight herself, but more about how others view her and the feelings that she provokes.
839219
Thank you for your explanation. The Conversion Bureau sounds like a poorly executed version of Friendship is Optimal, a story which handles the ambivalence of Earth/Equestria interaction very well. (FIO also gets my vote as the best MLP:FIM story ever.)
839497
Friendship is Optimal? Huh. Just checked it out, looks "interesting."
839250
And Derpy appearing 5 times!
839497
839255
For one of the most bearable version of the first TCB 'fic, I'd recommend checking out the MST of it: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ERvIakzNX5y1zeIgLYZZKVtAYO8d6_YQNVHl9CK_WMM/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1.
Chatoyance's version probably has an MST somewhere.
839556 That too.
Not to mention that word on the net is that this is the first part of a three part episode. Hopefully when we get the other two you'll feel better about the episode.
I do not think the Twilight not being an Alicorn princess will negatively effect the Hasbroverse in any way. I also don't think incorporating princess twilight would hurt it either.
I personally enjoyed the episode, it had its faults (it did seem a bit rushed) but I liked it over all. (I'm a sucker for musical numbers) but If you choose not to use it for your stories which has already deviated from canon that's fine with me. I'll wait and see how this shakes up the status quo next season.
Well, in my view the episode could actually have been done much better. For example, as you said, stretching it out more. If I do it, Twilight is likely going to spend hours slowly preparing and placing every safe guard that she can before the spell is cast, hence why she was the only one there. But, of course, one way to work it in was that Twilight never expected that the EoH would react to a spell not even cast at them when they've never been affected before. That way, the events of the episode could still take place without descending into "Twilight, you are completely idiotic and unsafe."
As to Celestia, if she has an idea that the spell if completed can transform a pony into an Alicorn, then it could make sense as to why she gave the spell to Twilight. There are only three Alicorns in existence as of this time. Celestia has likely had many, many friends pass away through one thing or another. If only she could get the spell to work then she could give a gift to her friends and to the rest of Equestria. Of course, she realizes that she's been working on it for far too long and likely cannot see any way to make it work, stuck in her ways. But Twilight... well, perhaps somepony not quite as stuck and used to things, who can look at things in a new light and with imagination not tainted by thousands of years worth of life might manage to succeed where she had failed.
Then maybe her, Luna, and Cadence wouldn't have to be so lonely ever again and her niece wouldn't have to suffer the inevitable heartbreak of Shining Armor dying of old age...
So, a few comments of my own in response.
1. I agree with this one completely. The episode felt like it was running along at breakneck pace the whole time and it suffered, badly, as a result.
2. If I was a unicorn who practiced magic on a near-constant basis in the middle of the library I lived in, I'd have rather permanent protections set up over the whole thing - and frankly, why wouldn't she have such things? With only herself there, there shouldn't have been any chance it would affect anypony else - there was literally know way she could have known it might work on the Elements of Harmony, particularly when not targeting them specifically. They're, as far as anyone can tell, the most powerful artifacts in Equestria. For an unfinished spell to affect them so strongly would certainly come out of the blue.
Further, why the hate for Twilight? Even if you're not much of a fan of her (and I can understand that one), why would you hate her? The reason you listed? That's really just insisting that absolutely nothing else can be at work except exactly what you see, and refusing to give her any credit or benefit of doubt at all.
3. Celestia didn't know what the spell would do. Nopony did. By all appearances, it wouldn't do anything, since it apparently needed to be used on the Elements themselves. Ponyville wasn't a "testbed" - she sent an unfinished spell to her student, who's done nothing but study magic for quite a long time. Celestia clearly had an idea that "friendship" was involved, as Twilight's only apparent difference from Starswirl would have been the magic of friendship itself, but she didn't know what the spell would do, exactly. And how could she? The show doesn't state that she's a goddess or anything of the sort - she's certainly not all-knowing.
4. There's no indication Twilight gets any kind of real change in power yet. Fanon might usually include it, but it doesn't mean canon does. All we know is that she has wings and a title now. Wings seriously don't mean much, in the long run - she already had enough magic to let her fly and teleport, and a title of some kind was pretty obviously going to happen at some point. And a gamebreaker? How? Because she's magically powerful? It's a TV show, not a game, for one, and for two, it's been pretty clearly shown there's a lot of stuff she can't do and doesn't understand. Look at Pinkie's Pinkie Sense as a primary example.
5. Uh, Celestia wasn't really manipulating things. At least, there's no real overt manipulation there, no more than any long-term teacher might have for a particularly gifted student. She was helping Twilight realize her full potential. Beyond teaching and friendship letters, what has she really done with Twilight that's so manipulative?
Don't get me wrong, the episode was not perfect, not in the slightest. I have serious gripes about it, starting with the fact that it was a very squashed-together episode, but also pointing out that Twilight really should have finished the spell through serious work and effort on her own part, not in a burst of Element-fueled inspiration. The episode also brings up some very awkward questions - like how much free will ponies really have, what happened to the rest of the Apple Family and weather team during the show, and just what kind of effect the presence of the Elements has on the town itself... not to mention how cruel it was for her friends to think that they'd vaporized Twilight for a period of at least half a day. I also don't like that Twilight apparently gets to know how to fly instantly. I also wasn't in instant love with the songs like most people were (which is a shame since I usually love Daniel Ingram's songs). Also: The dresses and Celestia's crown were ugly as sin.
Anyway. I can understand disliking the episode. I just think you may be giving it too harsh an eye.
I'd like to ask why everyone is jumping on you for having your own opinion and trying to tell you off... It's your own opinion, you should be entitled to it no matter what. I'll even give my own opinion of the episode here:
1. The episode was rushed. By "rushed" I don't mean it felt like they put too much content into a single episode and had to breeze through it all. I mean that the breezing through of the content that was in the episode (especially using song to do so) made the episode so convoluted and hard to understand that halfway through the episode (about 15 minutes in), I was still trying to understand what had happened at the 5 minute mark. No, I didn't go back and rewatch the episode again to try to understand it, because I shouldn't NEED to do so. I should be able to understand the episode the first time round. I shouldn't have to watch it 10 times just to understand the first 10 minutes.
2. The episode was "Magical Mystery Cure", seeming to play on the fact that the episode was entirely about Twilight mixing up everypony's cutie marks. That would have been for an awesome episode. That was also apparently the first 10 minutes of the episode...the other 20 minutes...I didn't feel were relevant to the plot of the episode. The episode was about Twilight trying to fix their cutie marks, not "Twilight becoming an Alicorn". Had the episode retained its original title "Princess Coronation" it would have been better. Non-relevant summaries and titles do not make an episode great.
3. This was a Season Finale? No, seriously, I put that as a question for a reason. I've been hearing as of late "This was the first in a series of three episodes". So...this was a three parter? That means that someone decided "Oh, we've got a big three parter! Let's only give them the first part!" That doesn't work. This was NOT a season finale. It did NOT wrap up the season. It ended at a beginning, not an ending. The episode had no ending, and I hate episodes, movies, and anything like that that claims to be "the end" of something that doesn't have an ending. If it's the end of the movie, the movie should conclude. Unless there's another part to the movie, it shouldn't end with "And then, there's more...but we'll never tell it to you."
4. A good rule of writing: Beginning, Build-up, Climax, Resolution. That's not only the way a series should go, but unless it's multi-parted, that's how an individual episode should go. So, what happens in this episode? Beginning: Everyone's cutie marks are askewed. Twilight finds out, tries to figure out why, then fix it. Build-up: ... ... ... WAS there a build-up? Cause I saw "Oh, how can I fix this? Oh, I know!" All I saw was a beginning which led to a climax. Climax: Twilight sings and everyone is okay again. Resolution: Twilight fixes the spell that Star-Swirl couldn't write. ... ... ... Beginning: Twilight becomes an Alicorn! Build-Up: Oh wait...the episode is over...
So basically, what I mean for part 4 there is that I saw a beginning, which immediately went straight to the Climax, which then led to the Resolution, and led to another Beginning. There was no end to the episode, and there was never any sort of build-up to fixing any of the problems. The scene where Twilight is wondering what to do is 30 seconds long. That's all it is. That could have been the entire episode, leading to the Climax of her teaching her friends about their abilities again, and finally resolving at "Everyone is okay". Then episode 2, Twilight becomes an Alicorn, it builds up into something, reaches its climax, then concludes again. NONE of that happened...at all...
5. The entire episode was one big song. I had faith that M.A. Larson would be able to make me like the Princess Twilight thing. I really did. I didn't see M.A. Larson's writing in the episode, though. I saw Daniel Ingram's writing in the episode. My assumption is that M.A. Larson wrote the rough draft of the episode and showed it to Hasbro. Hasbro then handed it to Daniel and said "Do it". Of course, he writes music, so what can he do? Write music. Thanks Hasbro, once again you show us that you're willing to screw everything up to sell a cheap toy... If Hasbro just allowed the writers to write, they could sell toys based off of what is written. Instead, Hasbro wants to sell a toy, so the writers have to write that toy in, whether it makes sense or not.
In all actuality, I liked the episode. The plot was awesome, the animation was awesome, the songs fit perfectly, the episode was really well done. The problem wasn't any of that. The problem was simply the fact that you really can't write an entire episode in song, and you really can't cram 3 episodes into a single episode. Also, you can't call a season finale a finale if it's the beginning of something...