Feb
10th
2017
More MLP The Movie news is out · 8:23pm Feb 10th, 2017
And...
Spoilers under the break.
Oh boy.
I'll just let the pictures talk for themselves.
I don't even know some of these people.
Guess I'm old.
I've also found the first serious crack in my pollyanaish optimism about the show. Some of these characters just scream cliché shortcuts. I guess we're getting sea ponies, and the official appearance of broken unicorn horn angst. She's not quite black and red, which is something.
I'm not one to loudly declare the death of a thing from a few previews...
But on a lighter note:
The Storm King looks legit, some kind of yeti beastman. Great villain design.
"Capper" seems to be a creature of a similar race as Katarina from the classic MLP, but I have no idea what to expect (He's very fluffy).
The Sea Pony looks fine, I like the design.
Donut SteelTempest Shadow seems a bit over the top with the edgy OC look, but I kind of dig that they're willing to make a go at something like that. She actually has a very pleasant smile on her face, and it'd be kind of great if she was a non-edgy character with an edgy design, and the name and design is a deliberate red herring to mess with us older fans. I suppose we'll simply have to wait and see.I won't lie; I find myself concerned. Still, we'll see what happens.
(And for what it's worth, I don't recognize any of those names.)
that last pic had me singing "Tongue Tied" in my head
Yeah...
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I recognise exactly 25% of these people. And I'm not sure why I recognise them. So maybe that's 12.5%?
And jesus christ, yeah, that Tempest Shadow character. Broken horn, eye scar, mohawk, dark colour scheme, armour... I find myself concerned by this design choice. She's also got alicorn-like proportions, which is another thing that concerns me. I'm hoping she's just like Fleur in that regard, but even then, Fleur was like that because she's supposed to be super pretty, or whatever. Is Tempest supposed to be an ass-kicking warrior who looks badass but is also a supermodel?
The Storm King looks legit, the sea pony seems alright, and the catman might be like Katarina or whatever her name was from the early stuff, so that might be good too. But holy hell, Tempest is a bad one.
4417042 Tempest is a Bad OC design made canon. Looks like it came out of a contest.
Since the promotional materials already show Tempest Shadow with a broken horn, odds are this is an older injury providing Tragic Backstory, leaning me more to the idea that she's a Tragic Victim who has turned into a Badass Girl, overcoming her injury while struggling against some sort of unidentified evil. Normally, the dark colors (and dark armor) would indicate a villain role, but she's *smiling* in a nice (not evil) fashion, so I'd be less certain.
CRAAAAWWLING IN MY SKIN
The only one of those I have concerns about is Capper; so far, the sapient creatures in the show have been either ponies and pony-alikes (zebras, mules, donkeys); or straight from myth and Monster Manual (griffons, dragons, changelings, sirens...).
I had forgotten that catpeople have pedigree in MLP, but I'm a little cautious about how they're going to fit him in. Still, the showrunners have shown they can tackle unpromising cliche storms and come out with something good (see also: Equestria Girls), so I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt, and wait to see what's going to happen.
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I'm kind of hoping it won't become Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Hundreds of New Celebrity-Voiced OCs.
There's a Flutterpony, though. And so long as the seaponies happen, I think I'll be able to forgive a lot. :B
Major takeaway: furry trash in this movie.
100% more likely to see it. My people will be there.
"Princess Skystar" mfw Glinda from Wicked is now pony royalty.
I was first looking at this blogpost on mobile and when I saw Skystar my first thought was: "Wait, Coco? What the heck did they do to you?"
"I'm going to eat you little fishhorse~"
I suspect that the concerns over Tempest Shadow are overblown. I don't think that they "accidentally" created such a clear stereotype, and I don't think that they misunderstand their fans so much that they think that we actually desire such characters. My money's on it being a subtle (or not-so-subtle) nod to the fanbase, putting an edgy design on what is probably a perfectly nice character, a subversion and an inside-joke of sorts with the adult fans.
Now, some folks might not like it anyway, just as some folks didn't like episode 100 or other clear fanservice/nods to the fans. But I think it's all in good faith and good fun.
I'll hold my judgement until I actually watch the movie. Only problem, though, is that I am a trekkie. As a trekkie, I happen to know that once movie become canonical, the TV series is over.
Whatever. 6 seasons plus the seventh already in production. I can live with that.
MLP G4 TV series production team: So long, and thanks for all the memories.
Musical interlude: "What you leave behind"