Mono-Pon(e)y! · 12:50am Dec 7th, 2014
Sorry for the blog spam over the last few days, but I just got the most awesome gift.
In many countries, people give each other gifts at Christmas. Over here in the Kingdom of Willem-Alexander (by the grace of God, King of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, etc., etc., etc.) things work a little differently. We do celebrate Christmas, but the gift-giving aspect has traditionally been relegated to a different holiday: December 5, the feast of St. Nicholas, or "Sinterklaas". (Well, okay, officially St. Nicholas's Day is on the 6th, but we celebrate on the 5th for some reason.)
This year, the good bishop saw fit to bestow upon me a pony Monopoly game.
The more astute of you may notice that the text on the box is in French. Why French? Well, my aunt – from whom I received this beautiful gift – spent a weekend in Paris with her boyfriend a few weeks ago, and she seized the opportunity to do most of her Sinterklaas shopping there. That's right, I am now the proud owner of an MLP-themed Monopoly Junior game straight out of the City of Light! I've been trying to improve my French as of late, so the fact that the entire game is in this language is a bonus.
As can be seen on the (admittedly somewhat vague) image below, the different spaces aren't locations but characters. This gives us some interesting insight as to Hasbro's opinions on Best Pony:
1. Celestia
2. Twilight Sparkle
3. Rainbow Dash
4. Pinkie Pie
5. Rarity
6. Applejack
7. Fluttershy
8. Sweetie Belle
9. Shining Armour (only male character on the board – sorry, Spike)
10. Cadance
11. Scootaloo
12. Applebloom
13. Luna (underrated!)
14. Trixie
15. Photo Finish
16. Vinyl Scratch
The board
Detail of the board
You can play as Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack or Pinkie. Little rainbows ("arcs-en-ciel") are used to indicate who owns which space.
Règles du jeu
So, if anyone is planning to swing by the Netherlands – pardon me, les Pays-Bas – in the near future, wanna play Mono-Pon(e)y with me? Rudimentary knowledge of French required.
De l'amour et de la tolérance, vous souhaite le Rambuleur.
No no no, you've got this all wrong. This is clearly an implicit endorsement of pairings, not rankings. That's why Shining and Cadance are together. We've got Twiliestia (ew), PinkieDash (boring), Rarijack (best ship), Flutterbelle (ew), Scootabloom (k), Truna? (Lixie? That's a new one), and PhotoScratch (
). You might argue that it's all friendshipping, but the brown, light blue, and orange pairs don't follow that trend.
Or maybe they based it off color contrasts as well as value. Or maybe they just put some of them somewhere to mess with people who overanalyze things. Who knows.
I also like how the "money" is hearts. "I'll give you 1 heart to be my friend, Princess Luna." "Hmm, that seems fair."
"Okay, I traded Trixie and 5 hearts for you Rarity. Now make out with Applejack."
"What? Why?"
"To increase your rent?"
Well I do live next door in Belgium, and have a rudimentary (this being the key word here) knowledge of French, so if I do ever end up in the Netherlands I'd be up for a game.
2638461 Oh, cool, I had no idea you lived in Belgium. I've grown jaded, assuming everyone here is American unless otherwise specified...
Anyway, my condolences on the passing of Queen Fabiola. To her memory:
2638545
Sorry about the mix-up. Though I have spent more years of my life in Belgium than anywhere else, so I guess I'm kind of an honorary Belgian? I don't know. And it is sad about the Queen's death. She was a very dignified and kind lady from what I know of her.
Actually, I'm a Brit.
...there is no escape from that single piece of Pinkie clip art.
I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of 'I take your property using my love'. Your flimsy, fake, cardboard love.
2641376 Which Pinkie do you mean? The one on the box?
2641379
Yes. In the States, you see that pose a lot. It's the go-to image for a lot of the toy packaging, the seeming majority of the coloring books, stickers, blind bag packs... Every member of the Mane Cast has That One Pose which appears over and over and over until it doesn't mean anything any more: visual hash. That's Pinkie's.
Put all of them together in one image and listen for distant screams.
2641394
Now that you mention it, Twilight's pose on the box looks awfully familiar as well...
I like how all the playable ponies are also spaces in the game.
"Hey, uh, Applejack! I'll trade you you for me!"