The Mixed Blessings of Expanded Canon (little spoilers for the newest episode) · 5:30pm Aug 21st, 2016
*watching the episode*
First Thought: This is good! A little rushed and predictable, I guess, but good!
Second Thought: Dangit, I thought of fanfictions about changelings breaking off from the hive before this! I just can't prove it because I didn't publish them ... but if I publish them now, it'll look like I'm jumping on! And one of them doesn't work anymore in light of new information! Aagh ...!
So for the most part, I really liked the new episode. However, as with any episode that teaches us new things about the world and creatures, it hurt my poor headcanon and/or 'stole' my ideas. It's an odd dual reaction: part of you says 'Yes! Exploration at long last! Just what we wanted, answering questions! Hooray!' and the other part says 'But if the answers refute anything I assumed on my own, I'm going to be upset!'
You know what? Buck it. I'm putting those stories up even if they don't quite work anymore. I'll just have to find a way for it to make sense.
I didn't like it.
4236473 Yeah? Why not?
4236620
Several reasons.
1) I don't really care about changelings.
2) I didn't like Thorax.
3) I found the guards annoying.
4) And this is the big reason. THE HEAL FACE TURN AT THE END OF THE EPISODE ALL BECAUSE OF A SHITTY SONG.
4236627 Well, I disagree on all but the last point. The complete 180 was my biggest problem with the episode, too. At first, I tried to give it a by, for the usual reasons: It's just a kid's show, they have to make it simple, and they've only got twenty minutes. The second time through, though, the thought occurred that they could've done better even with those restrictions.
Because, why didn't anypony have any hesitations after the song? It would've made it so much better if there'd been a moment of uncertainty that Spike's pleas would actually work; even if they worked in the end, I would've known they had to think about it. And it wasn't a question of time constraints, either. My favourite moment in Rainbow Rocks, if you remember this bit, was when Twilight came through the mirror and Sunset offered to help her up. Twilight - our paragon of friendship who'd offered Sunset a second chance in the first place - hesitated before taking her hand. That's such a telling a moment: you know Twilight's not sure about her, you know Sunset understands that and isn't mad at her for it, and you know that Twilight makes the decision to trust her despite her misgivings. And how long did that take, six seconds? I think they could've cut out six seconds worth of comic relief at the beginning to make room for a moment like that in the end.
Maybe it was because they didn't want to make their characters unlikable, but that doesn't make sense either. They were okay with Shining Armor flatly rejecting the idea, and Cadance putting the whole castle on high alert after Thorax was discovered. And who could blame them? They have good reasons to be scared of changelings, and it's a pretty terrible introduction to have him suddenly drop his disguise when he's right next to their baby. I wouldn't have been mad if it took them a bit to come around. Even a few seconds of hesitation would've helped.
So yeah, that's a major downside and it's undeniably flawed. But ultimately I give it a 'yes', because I love changelings and I've been waiting for them to come back so we could learn more about them. True 'they' haven't come back yet, Thorax is just a lone deserter drone, but he could be a herald of more screentime for Chrysalis and the swarm.