Finale... · 1:11am Feb 18th, 2013
Yeah...
If you don't want to read anything negative, or any spoilers about the season 3 finale, you can skip this blog. You can also skip it if you don't want to read it too. Just fine.
Let's start by saying... Great episode. A really good one, if not rushed. The animation was amazing, the songs (plenty of them) were top notch. The story was cool, but could have been put over two episodes.
And then... and then it happened. They wrapped the most tasteless ponypoo in the most sweet wrapping. For lot of people, that's enough. If the sugarcoating is thick enough, they can accept anything. It was so obvious they were pushing a marketing agenda that at some point it became awkward. "Everything is fine"? Seven songs in a 22 mins package? The most twisted display of "feeling" filled scenes? At some point I was wondering if I was not watching some ads or something.
"They managed to do it!" and "Thanks M.A. Larson!" was shouted on the stream just as the episode ended. They managed to do what? To make you eat it and like it? So, beside that it was an obvious marketing plot to sell some more toys with complete disregard for this show integrity, there's also plenty of other things that make this just plain wrong.
Because Hasbro automatically assume they can feed their targeted audience any kind of horsecrap and they would accept it without a second thought.
Young girls can also be intelligent and can also expect their favorite show to be designed as such.
That's something I said lately on Reddit. Some might say it sounds a lot like what Faust said in an interview while season 1 just started. While back then I dismissed it for some feminist rhetoric; I'm afraid I came to agree on this too. Two minutes to turn Twilight into an alicorn and two more to make her a princess and as little explanation as possible. Taking your audience for idiots with a capital "I".
Then someone else came around and said:
It's not so much that it is horsecrap but that younger children have tighter attachments than older children to the bodies of parents and family. Their emotional bonds are more based on body-touching relationships. Twilight's body changing shape is pretty dramatic for them in ways it isn't for older audiences. I think it might just be a mismatch of demographic, as this is kind of a 6-10 year old show mostly I am thinking, right?
I didn't think about it, but I have to agree on that too! I try to imagine myself when I was young... if one of my hero was to undergo such drastic changes in four minutes flat with no background story and no real explanation. How would I had felt? Terrible... disturbed. And back then I wouldn't have known how to express that weird uncertainty. We often take the younger audience for granted, for idiot that doesn't understand and can accept anything. But they aren't stupid, if something doesn't make sense or is lacking a logical structure, they can "feel" that even if they can't explain it.
We all came to like the show because it was good. Not just the animation, the song or the joke, but also the mythological aspect built in background and the characters attached to it. Now... We had Cadance that came from... No one knows. And now Twilight have been changed for... Again, no good reasons. And to me, it creates some terrible precedent. I'm afraid season 4 will end with Twilight wedding to an unknown prince. After all, every girls dreams of being a princess, right? The step after that, is every girls dream of their white knight, their strong prince by their sides. And after that, everything married girls dream of is having babies!
It's a huge mountain of stereotypical idiocy; something I was happy to not see in this show until the wedding. It makes no sense on so many levels. For me, it makes me slightly angry. For a kids who might not be able to word it properly, it would make them disturbed, conflicted. But let's dig a bit deeper in the message passed in that episode. You might think that I'm seeking too far, but I wrote "Never Judge" for something as small as the name of Celestia's school.
"Twilight wrote her own magic." Does that mean that unicorn are once more "special"? That pegasi or earth ponies cannot ascend to alicorness? Another strange tiny bit of racism that tick me off.
"You're an alicorn, so you're now a princess." What is the link between the two elements there? Of course we never met a princess that is not an alicorn, but the link between the two is insane. The message passed is that a special physiological aspect of a pony is enough to grant political power. Terrible things happened on this planet when a group of people think they are genetically or physiologically superior. The link between the two, for me, makes no sense. Celestia and Luna are leader of the country because of their thousand years experience, not automatically because they are alicorn. All princesses are alicorns, but should all alicorns be princesses? What if by a freak accident Trixie grows some wings? Might make a good episode, but the link between the two is disturbing. What if a pony's special talent is political leadership? They are out of luck because you got to be a unicorn and grow some wings at some point?
"You're now a princess." The whole episode is about seeking your destiny, but name me one moment in the last three seasons where Twilight express the wish for political power or even to become one princess? Her goals never been that. It was terribly out of character, she's a book worm! A nerds that prefer the darkness and silence of a library over doing sport. Because she got friends didn't change that! Did Twilight even had the choice in the matter? Celestia sure didn't ask her opinion. When her friends bowed before her? Awkward is definitely not strong enough.
"You display great leadership." No, she did not. She was appointed the leader of the group da facto because she was the envoy of Celestia, not because of her leadership, which at some point was down right dangerous. She's a great manager. But great managing skills doesn't automatically means great leader. And even great leadership doesn't make you a great political figure. Most army's generals are great leader, but for most, I wouldn't put them in the president's seat.
"You accomplished a lot." True... but did she do much more than five other ponies? Favoritism much?
"Twilight will continue to live in Ponyville. - Tara Strong" Right! A princess who lives in a library. Unless this "princess" thing is just a title with no meaning and no political power. Then why do it in the first place?
The last four minutes of that episode were, for me, terrible.
Now I'm afraid of what kind of idiocy Hasbro's marketing department will manage to infuse in the next season finale and how much sugarcoating they will need to pass it to the "gullible" audience.
For the records, I'm not against Twilight alicornification. However, I am against that princess no-sense and the way they handled the whole thing. They could have had a whole season of buildup towards that; releasing information here and there. Building some kind of background story, maybe even some historical views on how Celestia/Luna and maybe even Cadance came to be. But it did not happen; we got two seconds view on a mysterious black book in the opener, and that's it.
Well, according to the writer's, it's going to be a technical 3-parter, with S4E1/2 being the follow up. Whatever happens there, no idea. If this mess gets resolved by those, then I will be a very happy person.
Also, every time 'write own magic = become princess', I keep thinking of 'write own computer code = become CEO'. It honestly seems that stupid.
One more thing: I believe you meant 'Finale'.
841045 Oups! Yes, I did. Should have checked the spelling of that.
If you don't want to read anything negative, or any spoilers about the season 3 final, you can skip this blog. You can also skip it if you don't want to read it too. Just fine.
cool
Let's start by saying... Great episode. A really good one, if not rushed. The animation was amazing, the songs (plenty of them) were top notch. The story was cool, but could have been put over two episodes.
no the episode had good moments but and there were a lot of good stuff, but wrapping ponypoo in the most sweet wrapping doesn't change the fact that is crap
"Everything is fine"? Seven songs in a 22 mins package?
this is fine with me because i took the entire episode as one big musical
They managed to do what? To make you eat it and like it? So, beside that it was an obvious marketing plot to sell some more toys with complete disregard for this show integrity, there's also plenty of other things that make this just plain wrong.
the problem with alicorn twilight is that we all should have expected this to happen the problem with this is that the execution it feels to much like real life some major life changing catastrophe coming out of left field and blindsiding us
I didn't think about it, but I have to agree on that too! I try to imagine myself when I was young... if one of my hero was to undergo such drastic changes in four minutes flat with no background story and no real explanation. How would I had felt? Terrible... disturbed. And back then I wouldn't have known how to express that weird uncertainty.
i was a stupid kid growing up and believed that spontaneous transformation was cool so yeah it will work
We all came to like the show because it was good. Not just the animation, the song or the joke, but also the mythological aspect built in background and the characters attached to it. Now... We had Cadance that came from... No one knows. And now Twilight have been changed for... Again, no good reasons.
this is technically blasphemy because they are going against Faust by having more alicorns
And to me, it creates some terrible precedent. I'm afraid season 4 will end with Twilight wedding to an unknown prince.
oh damn he's figured it out
After all, every girls dreams of being a princess, right? The step after that, is every girls dream of their white knight, their strong prince by their sides. And after that, everything married girls dream of is having babies!
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It's a huge mountain of stereotypical idiocy; something I was happy to not see in this show until the wedding.
I've given up watching the two-parters because the do crap like this
But let's dig a bit deeper in the message passed in that episode. You might think that I'm seeking too far, but I wrote "Never Judge" for something as small as the name of Celestia's school.
"Twilight wrote her own magic." Does that mean that unicorn are once more "special"? That pegasi or earth ponies cannot ascend to alicorness? Another strange tiny bit of racism that tick me off.
why couldn't that be what it takes to be appointed to archmage a title she could have earned with out any whining
"You're an alicorn, so you're now a princess." What is the link between the two elements there? Of course we never met a princess that is not an alicorn, but the link between the two is insane. The message passed is that a special physiological aspect of a pony is enough to grant political power. Terrible things happened on this planet when a group of people think they are genetically or physiologically superior. The link between the two, for me, makes no sense. Celestia and Luna are leader of the country because of their thousand years experience, not automatically because they are alicorn. All princesses are alicorns, but should all alicorns be princesses? What if by a freak accident Trixie grows some wings? Might make a good episode, but the link between the two is disturbing. What if a pony's special talent is political leadership? They are out of luck because you got to be a unicorn and grow some wings at some point?
the question here is why there is no need for twilight actually there is what if celestia is making twilight a princess so it improves the image of royalty im mean think about it with prince blueblood princess luna doing nothing but going into peoples dreams and celestia being defeated by chrysalis they need one good royal with a winning track record
"You display great leadership." No, she did not. She was appointed the leader of the group da facto because she was the envoy of Celestia, not because of her leadership, which at some point was down right dangerous. She's a great manager. But great managing skills doesn't automatically means great leader. And even great leadership doesn't make you a great political figure. Most army's generals are great leader, but for most, I wouldn't put them in the president's seat.
How dare you twilight sparkle is the world's greatest human resources manager in the history of equestria
"You accomplished a lot." True... but did she do much more than five other ponies? Favoritism much?
fluttershy did something the elements of harmony and you failed to do so what does that mean she gets to become a faustacorn
"Twilight will continue to live in Ponyville. - Tara Strong" Right! A princess who lives in a library. Unless this "princess" thing is just a title with no meaning and no political power. Then why do it in the first place?
The last four minutes of that episode were, for me, terrible.
the biggest question is what is she princess of it's the same problem we had with cadence and at least with her we made up that she was the princess of love
841274 the problem with alicorn twilight is that we all should have expected this to happen
I was expecting something like some kind of alicornification to happen at some point. But I also expected it to be properly handled, and I hoped it wouldn't be linked to some princess crap. I would have hoped for a multi-episodes epic story arc that lead to her transformation. Something she could have been aware of, and made some choices about it.
the question here is why there is no need for twilight actually there is what if celestia is making twilight a princess so it improves the image of royalty
She needs Twilight to handle the paperwork. The princess of budget balance.
How dare you twilight sparkle is the world's greatest human resources manager in the history of equestria
I'm sure you meant "pony resources manager", and I did say she is a great manager.
fluttershy did something the elements of harmony and you failed to do so what does that mean she gets to become a faustacorn
Something I failed to do? I think you are talking about Celestia?
841808
I was expecting something like some kind of alicornification to happen at some point. But I also expected it to be properly handled,
wait and this wasn`t act 1 twilight fucks everything up and give up in 8 minutes flat act2 twilight goes through 3 or four differenrt music numbers act 3 in four minutes twilight goes to heven and becomes an alicorn with no explanation
and I hoped it wouldn't be linked to some princess crap. I would have hoped for a multi-episodes epic story arc that lead to her transformation. Something she could have been aware of, and made some choices about it.
sucks to be you
She needs Twilight to handle the paperwork. The princess of budget balance.
on second thought sucks to be her
I'm sure you meant "pony resources manager", and I did say she is a great manager.
lyra agrees with me humans do exist
Something I failed to do? I think you are talking about Celestia?
no you, fluttershy got me to like twilight sparkle
hey i made a group and as my friend you have to join it
Well, I personally think that this episode would be better if they would make it 44 minutes instead of 22, even if in season 4 there will be 2 parts what will continue this story, I see no reason why not make it 4 part episode instead of 3 part, it would give far more space to put more back-story and information to this episode, but considering 22 minutes time they had, they did quite well.
As for not giving us any backstory, information and stuff, lets be honest, it was always weak point of the show, Celestia and Luna backstory was poor from very first episode, we got not much info about Chrysalis and changelings, Crystal empire was not to well explained and Sombra had no talk scenes and backstory, so I must say considering what ship MLP is, they give us quite alot of info in season 3 finale, not much info, but still far more then we should expect.
I must agree that Twilight was not given much of a choice in this, transformation was very fast, but come on, we saw Celestia singing while a lot of pictures of Twilight adventures and accomplishment all over the place, this episode give Celestia more character development then all episodes in 3 seasons, and if Twilight would become unhappy with this change, she would protest to Celestia, or maybe she know that being princess does not mean as much change in her life as we think it will.
Transformation was rushed, sure, but it was totally a reward, Twilight transformation into Alicorn was reward for passing tests and trials, saving world, did Celestia made transformation or did she just watched just how Twilight transformed because of her own magic, did Twilight was destined to become Alicorn or did Celestia just found out recently, there are alot of questions and speculation, but this is what the show was doing all time, it not answer questions letting us make theories and speculations, most fanfics work around different interpretation of stuff in the show, all we can hope for is that many question will be answered in season 4, as this episode was meant to be big cliffhanger, thrown alot of stuff and question on us so that we want to see the answers.
As for "You're an alicorn, so you're now a princess." I must agree with you, it is weird tradition that every Alicorn must be princess, Twilight is after all not a ruler material, she is field leader and skill manager, she can lead group of ponies like a good general or small squad as elite strike team, she can organize small town, but she is not a ruler material, politics and paperwork is not for her, it would be really nice if even with status of princess, Twilight would stay in Ponyvile and do what she do best: help friends, solve problems, lead strike team to solve crisis, read books and study magic or even create a new spells.
"You display great leadership." I think Celestia meant leadership of general or field officer, she is good at leading, but not in politics, if Celestia want her to rule, she will need to give Twilight alot time to study in that field, so I hope she will still be in Ponyvile doing what she did so far until she study this topic.
"Twilight will continue to live in Ponyville. - Tara Strong" - that is not really anything special, Cadance was babysit Twilight and had no political power until Crystal Empire has returned, so you can assume that Princess is more of a title, it mean that this pony is a ruler material and she/he can rule in future, but what he will rule is unknown, maybe Twilight will be princess of Magic and lead magic/science development, who knows, lets think positive.
"You accomplished a lot." True... but did she do much more than five other ponies? Favoritism much?
Well, sure, it looks like Favouritism, but you must consider that mane 5 was following Twilight, they would not accomplish they part without a good leader, and mane 5 are not a good Alicorn material, being Alicorn mean a lot of magic reserves and power, learning to control it, and it is what Twilight would do, she will be more then happy to train her new skills and learn more about magic, others from mane 6 would not take it as well as Twilight, and it was Twilight who had to pass all trials and tests, mane 6 accompanied her, and it will be up to Twilight to reward them as they leader.
So yea, in my opinion Alicorn Twilight is a good think, it give alot of chances for character and power development, it is a fair buff considering how powerful opponents mane 6 fight are and since princesses do not bother to help, and since Celestia is full powered Alicorn and failed so easy again Chrysalis, we can easy see that power is not everything but how you use it, so even if Twilight gain new abilities and will be able to develop her powers, it will be up to how she use it to decide between failure and victory.
The whole become princess is troublesome and confusing, but lets hope it wont get in the way, we do not know much about what princess title mean in Equestria, it can mean CO-rule or just a title, for example, BlueBlood, he is meant to be a prince, and I bet he hardly do anything else then waste time with nobles and talk garbage.
842743 They could have made a whole episode with only the transformation. The biggest character development yet, done and over in 2 mins.
843893
I guess, but MLP show do it quite often so we should be more forgiving.
844109 Really? When was the last major transformation that took place?
844331
I did not mean transformation, I mean that MLP show give very little time for character development and big scenes
" The biggest character development yet, done and over in 2 mins. "
For example, Discord, he got friendly with fluttershy in moment when it would be more believable if it took far longer, Celestia vs Chrysalis was a 15 second fight, Sombra hardly had any good screen time at all, on the Wedding all Twilight friends, Brother and Princesses left Twilight without any hesitation, Trixie turned good and asked for forgiveness far to fast in magic duel episode, what I try to say is that writers of the story give to little time to many important scenes and character development, but it is something we should get used to.
847359 Used to... or ask to be fixed?