I woke up at 4:30 and couldn't get back to sleep · 2:32pm May 5th, 2017
So for a little while now, the discourse on the Eyeball comments page has shifted into a critical discussion of Shimsham v. Glimglam (Dawn of Friendship), with opinions being split over whether Glimmy is a dime store knock-off of Shimmy who isn't fit to hold her merkin, if there's nothing wrong with her and she's Just Alright With Me, or if she's a decent character who's been poorly handled, and is also Just Alright With Me. Personally, I fall into the latter camp, but whatever.
I like Glimmy; I like her in spite of all the ways she's been handled and written which should have made me dislike her, and I think I like her because of what she could be, the idea of Glimmy, rather than the way she's portrayed on screen. I understand why people dislike her, though, but rather than pin the collective blame on the team of writers and directors who're handling the show in the absence of McCarthy and Thiessen (who stepped away to focus on the MLP film, iirc), I think Glimmy is just symptomatic of a larger problem that the show's been facing for years.
So here's my thesis: MLP:FIM could have ended after season four, and it would have been just fine.
Fuckin' fight me.
I don't mean because the show has become stale, or bad, or unwatchable in the proceeding years; it's still an all-around good cartoon that brings me plenty of laughter and pony feels. But the longer this show goes on, and the more that the characters age, achieve, and develop, the less relatable they are to the primary demographic (although perhaps they become more relatable to older viewers?). Take Twiggly-Wiggly Sparkle, for example; she starts the series as a socially awkward nerd with no friends besides the little kid who lives in her house who she kinda treats like shit. She spends a few years making friends and growing up, learning life lessons and gaining real-world experience. Suddenly, boom, she's a princess, and she wields tremendous political and cosmic power. She is no longer that relatable punk-ass twentysomething who first slithered out of Canterlot to reluctantly eat apple fritters and be irritated by Pinkie Pie; she's a well-rounded individual who also holds political office. This all culminates in the finale of season four, where she becomes the living avatar of alicorn demigod magic, defeats Horse Satan, and achieves rainbow apotheosis.
I'm not saying she stopped being likable or relatable. She's still the same Twilight as ever; she's just older, wiser, more mature, has wings, and is the face of friendship magic. But she has, more or less, arrived at the end of her story. There's not much in the way of hardcore friendship learning she can keep doing without making it seem like she's regressing as a character. She's donezo. Where do you take her after that?
Or, more saliently, what do you do when your socially awkward shut-in nerd protagonist grows up and loses that down-to-earth, shut-in nerd charm that made her such an endearing protag? You get another socially awkward shut-in nerd, and put her through the same crucible as the first.
Enter Glimglam. For better or for worse.
Let me again stress, I'm not saying that the show is bad now, and it should have ended before it got stale and unwatchable (although it should; I just don't think it's reached that point yet). And if the show had ended at season four, then we would have missed out on some quality hours of horse-entertainment, including two good EqG films, one preeeeetty decent one, and my favorite standalone episode of the series (the last one, incidentally, penned by my favorite writer for the series and perennial husbando, M.A. Larson).
But for a show that's supposed to be about naive young adults learning valuable life lessons about friendship and whatever, a turn like this is inevitable. Twiley might fundamentally be the same person deep down that she started out as, but she's not someone in whose horseshoes little girls can place themselves as easily. They need a character who's going to grow, and learn, and develop, right alongside them. Twilight edging out of the limelight and taking on the role of elder statespony is just sort of a natural effect of the show's whole ethos.
And I think that's okay. Life changes, and it changes people too. That is a lesson that MLP shouldn't shy away from. Do I think that their execution leaves a great deal to be desired? Yeah. Yeah, I do think that. Strongly. And I might end up eating my words if Glimglam gets a pair of wings and a crown in the not-so-distant future. That would genuinely irritate me. I may or may not have started thinking up ways to branch off the Bonnieverse into a separate timeline in case something like that happens.
But, y'know, until then, Glimmy is just alright with me.
>Liking Glimglam
>Ever
GG no re
...why would sunset have a merkin
You keep dropping shipping hints. I'm expecting a story now where BESPECTACLED twilight finds sunset's merkin collection and finds out about sunset's dark past in fetishes photoshoots to help make ends meet
4520824 Sunset emerged from the portal with her genes improperly sequenced, and as such, has zero body hair below her head. This happens to any pony who crosses over to Equestria (why else could Twilight get away with wearing skirts for days on end without shaving?). Some sexual partners find this uncomfortable, so Sunset bought a collection of pubic wigs to keep them from discovering the horrible, baby smooth truth.
...I don't like how easily that came to me.
Also, I have no specific ships to speak of, I'm afraid. Though I do sorta lean toward pairing Big Mac and Cheerilee (although I think there's an upcoming episode which torpedoes that). As for Sunnybuns, I think the writers'll pair her back with Flash sooner or later, but to be honest, I can kinda see her winding up with Original Flavor Twi. For a couple of reasons that I might lecture on in a future blog.
4520823 it's shameless, the way we flirt
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Agreed. Some of Starlight's actions leave a lot to be desired, but the concept is sound, especially given the inevitability of time and its impacts on Bookhorse Classic. FiM has never been afraid to shift the status quo, but that means introducing elements to replace that which changes beyond viability. We can't expect the same ponies to learn the same lessons seven seasons in, and so we have a new class coming in as the old one graduates to answering
Gondor's call for aidthe Friendship Signal. And that isn't a bad thing.And yes, DWK is one of the greatest things to happen to the fandom.
4520827 that's actually not a bad idea for a story.
As for my end, the last times I've written fics tagged romance have involved an apocalyptic yandere as I like to remind people, so those are kind of my thoughts on shipping, I guess? Like, I've read romance stories that I've liked but it's not actually something I seek out or do in my spare time.
Although I'd like to write a story where sunset and flash just act retarded around each other, because that's kind of what I envision a successful relationship to be like
Like bros with benefits, not the usual fare I guess you'd imagine in a shipfic
...I'll shut up now
TRIGGERED.
I actually think the show really picked up after season 4. It had some great moments in the first four seasons, and some of the best music of the show by far, but I really, really like how seasons 5, 6, and, so far, 7 have been handled. I like change, I like the increased continuity and frequency of callbacks (early seasons were kinda depressing because I used to think every new character and worldbuilding aspect was going to be forgotten immediately). And I love Starlight Glimmer - I'm one of those infrequent people who actually thinks she's kinda what Sunset Shimmer should've been, if Sunset Shimmer was an interesting character (which I really, really don't think she is). I'm more than fine with the mane6 shifting into secondary positions and playing the roles of mentors/helpers/friends to new characters, or previously unexplored side characters. Then again, if the writers can actually squeeze good episodes out of the old characters, then by all means. I just don't believe there's much left in them.
I love the comments here so far.
Starlight is an interesting character. And I agree the show writers dont know what to do with her half the time. I like her, or more the idea of her and what she could be. However I just love Sunset, no clear idea why..
The last few seasons have been rather good. I think the show has done better episodes that focus on the background characters. Bringing back past characters and fleshing them out more. Those have been some of the best. The main six really does better for a lot of these episodes as supporting characters.
I watched the Fluttershy episode early and it was good, but just wow Flutters why couldnt you have been like this in past seasons. I like continuity and consistency in my shows. But thats asking a lot from majority american cartoons.
What bugs me about Starlight is she shows up and is instantly better at Twilight at everything except friendship. Like, what gives? The finale managed to present a scenario where the simplest solution for Twilight should be to just outfight her opponent for once, but instead the normal unicorn beats her an arbitrary number of times until she reveals her secret, stupid motivation and is forced to agree how ridiculous her plan is turning out.
When Twilight attempts to solve issues with magic she is humiliated generally until friendship solution, much like how Rainbow never flies well until saving someone. But Starlight demonstrates she can effortlessly do everything via magic and is in trouble for doing it that way because that's not the point or it's immoral.
I joined the fandom at the end of Season 4. So I'm glad the show hasn't ended yet.
And I agree with you about Starlight a bit.
She's a great character with tons of potential. It's just figuring out how to show that that has been the main issue.
Eye was not expecting this level of quality in my Eyeball/Glimglam discourse...
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You know, I was positive that the show was building up to its conclusion during season five, since it got very nostalgic for its early years very early on, and never really let up with it. The library's remnants being uprooted, the constant reminders of early episodes in the form of photos. Slice of Life. Luna Eclipsed felt like a love letter to the show and the fans from the staff itself, to a greater (and more effective) extent than Slice of Life. Then came the swan songs of M.A. Larson and Amy Keating-Rogers; the former was a nostalgic throwback to the first season, and the latter contained a literal swan song, culminating in a season finale where all the previous antagonists return, in one form or another, and the most pivotal moment in the characters' early lives is revisited, again and again.
It felt like a series finale. But the show sort of forgot to end. I'm glad it didn't, but it's... funny. I keep expecting it to finish, and it keeps on going.
Like the world's most virile lover.4521168
I have a headcanon for this, and a story which would address it, which I will someday write. Probably.
The gist of it is that the power disparity between Twilight and Glimmy is far wider than their duel in the season five finale would suggest. Twilight's could've totally kicked Starlight's ass at any time if she wanted to, because no matter how skilled or well-practiced Glimmy may have been, she is nowhere near Twilight's level of sheer power. The same holds true for Celly and Luna, and even Cadance to a much lesser extent.
The fact that she didn't comes from a self-imposed restriction that all of Equestria's alicorn royalty adhere to. The closest comparison I could draw would be Gandalf, and the other wizards, in the Lord of the Rings mythos. They're there ostensibly to counsel, inspire, and lead by example, and though Gandalf gets into the thick of the fighting, he never cuts loose and unleashes all of his power, because that would exceed his mandate. He's very, very careful about when and where he uses his magic, and how much magic he uses. The only time he does really throw down is when he faces the Balrog, which is the same kind of entity as Gandalf and the other wizards, and is capable of matching him.
(Contrary to what Peter Jackson would have you believe, if Gandalf and the Witch-King fought, the Witch-King would have gotten his ass kicked)
So that's what it boils down to; alicorns respond to threats with proportional force, Twilight included. Twilight going up against Centaur Horse-Satan? Dicks out and all in, bro. Twilight going up against a skilled, innovative, above-average magic-user? That calls for a gentler touch.
Personally I wouldn't have minded if the show had ended after season five. Season four would've been fine too, but the crusaders getting their cutie marks makes the show feel more complete to me, plus a follow up to Twilight losing her home and Rarity getting her Canterlot boutique was nice, and an acknowledgement that Rainbow Dash was the top wonderbolt reserve, plus I just really liked a lot of season 5 episodes. Season 6 to me was a decent epilogue, not really necessary, but kind of nice to have. Season 7 needed to wow me out of the gate to hold my interest though, and it didn't. I stopped watching after A Flurry of Emotions. Not that the show has gotten BAD (shudders at season 15 Simpsons memories) but I got everything out of the show I wanted and then some. Now it's like the show is saying "and they all lived happily ever after" over and over, and it's feeling stale. There's nothing left I really want to see.
I love Totally Legit Recap.
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Maybe EqG-verse isn't hung up on stupid notions of body hair?
I'm sure that's a real thing, but I'm at work and can't confirm this right now.
I still need to finish watching season 6 and see if my hate for Glimglam maintains its slow burn, or is extinguished.