More things I don't understand: WTF Canada edition (also, changelings again) · 1:16am May 26th, 2017
Seriously Canada, what's up with this? It was bad enough when England aired the season six finale like three weeks early. But that wasn't supposed to be a challenge. What's your goal here in releasing two episodes a week in season seven?
I mean, this is actually a serious problem for the show. If we were talking about something like Game of Thrones or Twin Peaks, there wouldn't be a problem. those are story-heavy shows, with overarching plots. Even if every episode of a season got released in one day, there'd still be plenty of speculation and so on for the fans to do.
But this is My Little Pony we're talking about here, an amusing, lighthearted slice of life type show. I don't want to speed the season up; I want to have one episode a week to look forward to. I want it to be dragged out. Because when the season's over... that's it. There's actually quite a lot of people who don't think about the show in between seasons, and some of them never come back. If you remember the hiatus between season three and four, that was over a year, I believe, and it definitely had a noticeable affect on the fanbase.
Two episodes every week cuts the length of the season in half, which means this season will be done somewhere around... July, I believe? Giving us about nine months until season eight. Sure, there's the movie to look forward to in October, but that's still quite a bit of a wait.
I'm still amazed at the shenanigans Hasbro lets go on with this show. There's the whole thing where the studio can't actually control when the episodes air; after DHX sends them completed episodes, someone at Hasbro rolls dice to decide what order the episodes will air in, meaning the writers can't do any real story progression during a season. And now apparently they just send entire seasons to other countries, and then those channels can just do whatever they want with the episodes. I'm actually really surprised there's no pushback or consequences from Hasbro on these types of things. You'd think the airing schedule would be in a contract or something.
So WTF, Canada?
***EDIT***
I have this amazing ability to make posts that immediately get shot down by news. Not five minutes after posting this, I checked EQD. It turns out that this weekend the Canada channel that was showing two episodes a week is doing a marathon of all the episodes so far. Then the week after that, they're starting over at episode three. So maybe Hasbro did put pressure on them? Or maybe someone just decided the whole thing was a bad idea? Or maybe they're just going to start showing two new episodes a week in two weeks? No clue, but I love the timing on finding this out exactly as I post this blog.
WARNING: spoilers ahead.
Okay, now onto my favorite past time, complaining about the new changelings.
I kind of want to apologize to start off here, because I've been doing this a lot. Like, a lot. The whole thing just... set something off in me. I'd been looking forward to the return of the changelings since pretty much the moment that first episode ended. And I would have been fine with any other outcome of said return. But their 'reformation' into ridiculous butterfly ponies was the one thing, the one deal-breaker, the one straw that would break the camel's back... and they did it.
This season has actually been exactly what I'd always hoped for; there are three episodes, so far, with friendly changelings playing a major role... but the simple fact that they aren't really changelings anymore has completely ruined it for me. The whole point was that they were black and full of holes. Making them friendly when they look 90% like ponies makes it all moot. It's so close to what I wanted, but that one thing ruins it all. And I think that frustration of it being so close to perfect is why I've reacted like this.
Anyway, onto more interesting stuff. Here's the synopsis for episode twenty two:
To Change a Changeling
Starlight Glimmer and Trixie try to get Thorax's brother Pharynx to accept the new way by sharing love and transforming so he doesn't undermine Thorax's leadership, and that the hive will ultimately accept him.
So, this actually gives me a lot of respect for Thorax. I can really see myself in him. I mean, if I seized leadership of a kingdom in a coup, purging dissenters is also one of the first things I would do to consolidate my power. Also, big props to the changelings for not being afraid to be blatantly racist and exclude changelings who don't look like them.
(Another apology. I'm sorry, but it's really hard not to make a racial analogy here. I mean, you had a race of black characters, and they became 'good' by turning into brighter colors, so that they look basically the same as the majority race in Equestria. That's almost literal whitewashing. Obviously it wasn't intended, but it's terrible optics, and I'm really surprised no one said "Hey, maybe this doesn't exactly look good.")
Now obviously, I'm painting as bad of a picture of Thorax and the changelings as I can. And it's a two sentence synopsis summarizing a twenty-two minute show. There's not a lot of detail being given. But let's look at what's being described here.
Thorax's brother was apparently not at the hive when all the changelings transformed, and he still looks the same. Black, full of holes, etc. Thorax, as one would expect, is concerned about this. Because it means his brother hasn't accepted friendship as a way of gaining the love he needs to survive? No. He's upset because his brother not being transformed is undermining his authority. He calls in Starlight and Trixie to reform his brother, not because he's concerned about his brother's well being, but because it would be politically advantageous.
I mean, talk about hitting the ground running when it comes to learning about being a king, huh? And, hmm, you know, that sounds familiar. Running a kingdom, making everyone in it do what you say and do things your way or else... oh yeah, isn't that exactly what Queen Chrysalis was doing, and the whole reason the changelings rebelled against her? Either Thorax was daydreaming during that whole thing where he was almost killed and then became a king, or he's just being blatantly hypocritical here.
And don't even get me started on the other changelings in the hive. "He doesn't look like us, so he isn't one of us." Admittedly, they at least have an excuse for that, seeing as how that's pretty much how they've lived their whole lives.
Now, obviously, this synopsis doesn't tell us everything. It's completely possible Pharynx is running around being a jerkass and actively and purposefully undermining Thorax's authority. But they way I read it (obviously with a rather large bias), that isn't what's happening. Specifically, the part where the hive isn't accepting him. It doesn't seem like he's actively doing anything bad, the hive just won't accept him because he hasn't transformed. Really, it sounds like the dude is just comfortable the way he is, and the hive is trying to pressure him into conforming to their way of doing things.
The way I see it, there are two basic story lines possible in this episode.
The first one is Pharynx is the bad guy here. He's evil because he hasn't accepted 'the new way' (wow, I just noticed how cultish that sounds) and he needs to be shown the light so he can rejoin his brother (again, kind of cultish). The end result, of course, is that he sees that friendship is magic and turns into a neon moose.
The second is that Thorax and the other changelings are the ones in the wrong here. Pharynx doesn't have to change everything about himself to get along with them, he can do things his own way. It becomes a lesson for Thorax and the changelings on accepting others if they want to do things differently, and a lesson about peer pressure. (Bonus points if some of the other changelings turn back because they like their original forms better.) (More bonus points if one of them says "I just really missed having holes in my hooves.")
The thing is, I can't really decide which of these I think is more likely to happen.
The first one is, frankly, boring. They go there, they make Pharynx realize friendship is magic, the end. It's a pretty cut and dry, formulaic episode, the kind of thing we've seen a thousand times. My general opinion is that the show's moved beyond such obvious and plain episodes. See, for example, the Maud episode and the Celestia and Luna episode this season. Both ended up going off in somewhat unexpected directions. My general pessimism about such things, though, makes me think this potential episode might be what happens. It's "typical kids' show", and the show has the tendency to veer off in that direction at the worst times.
The second possibility, obviously, is what I'm rooting for. It's a much more interesting episode, for one. The swerve of 'the person who asked for help is actually the one in the wrong' makes for a nice change of pace. Not to mention 'just be yourself' and 'don't just do what others want you to' are fairly common lessons, plus they can add in 'you should accept others even if the way they look and the way they do things is different', which is a somewhat lacking lesson on the show. After all, wasn't 'accepting and working together with the other races of your species' literally how Equestria became so prosperous in the first place?
And, of course, it's a nice way to compromise with the people (such as me) who prefer the original changelings. Don't act like they haven't done things like this in regards to fan backlash before. Remember when Flash Sentry was Twilight's love interest in the first EQG movie? Remember how he showed up a few episodes into the season right after that and made sex eyes at Twilight? Remember how quite a few fans lost their shit over that? And remember how pony Flash Sentry was never seen again? Yeah, they don't have any problem walking back unpopular decisions like that. Well, when they can. Princess Twilight is obviously kind of a big exception. (Okay, yes, I'm fairly sure we saw pony Flash Sentry again once or twice. But I don't remember it being as anything other than a background guard pony, and I don't think he was even animated.)
Admittedly, going that direction might cause canon problems, in regards to explaining 'friendly changelings who don't transform'. But really, considering what a ridiculous, essentially unexplained asspull the transformation was in the first place, there's no reason they can't just go 'the changelings don't have to transform when sharing love if they don't want to' and then just move on. It's not like they haven't just skipped over explanations to things in the past when they got complicated or made no sense.
Besides, we already have two examples showing that changelings can be friendly without changing: Thorax and Kevin. Actually, the Thorax thing is kind of disturbing. He'd always wanted to make friends, and he finally did in the Crystal Empire... but he didn't transform right then? Meaning he wasn't actually sharing love with them? It seems like that would kind of make him a sociopath, pretending to be friends with people in order to get the benefits of friendship, but not actually returning any of those feelings himself. And while Kevin could have actually been Thorax, he sure didn't seem very Thorax-ish. I would have expected Thorax to be more excited about trying to make friends at that wedding. Plus, he never had a friend until he met Spike, and the explanation for Kevin being at the wedding was that he had befriended Matilda. However, it would be interesting if Kevin was actually Pharynx. It could explain why he wasn't at the hive.
To get back to the main point, both of those potential episode plots have one similar problem: they've both been done before. The first isn't any different than the climax to To Where and Back Again, and the second would be the same as The Times They Are a Changeling. Although, that actually argues a bit for the second possibility being how the episode plays out. A simple repeat of 'changelings transform when they share love!' makes no sense, after it just happened a dozen or two episodes ago. But taking The Times They Are a Changeling and flipping it around on Thorax could work really well. 'They gave you a chance when you looked like that; can't you do the same?'
I think, though, the most interesting part of this episode is that Thorax has a brother at all. It's the first real indication we've had that there's any kind of family structure in the hive.
I've seen people saying that Chrysalis was separating families and raising the hatchlings herself. To be honest, I don't really see that being what happened. The biggest thing is, simply, she's the only female changeling we've ever seen. They've had plenty of opportunity to show others at this point—heck, they could have made Pharynx his sister instead—but all the changelings have been male. I actually expect this episode to confirm that Chrysalis is the mother of all changelings. Obviously there'll be something like 'she uses the love she's gathered, and then there's magic and suddenly eggs appear!'... but we'll know how those eggs really got there.
Two counterpoints against that, followed by rebuttals. One, Thorax said he was 'raised by an evil Queen'. I've seen this taken to mean that, as I said, he was taken away from his real family and raised by Chrysalis. Which could be true, but 'I was raised by an evil Queen' isn't mutually exclusive from 'that evil Queen is my mother'. Avoiding having him call her mother could have just been them saving that for later. Second, Discord said 'Changelings and Changelets' while distracting them in TWABA. But, I mean... Discord. I doubt he even knew the first thing about changelings at the time. And he's not exactly the kind of guy to let reality get in the way of his saying something snappy.
Back to the brother thing, I expect that by 'brother' he means something like what a sci-fi story would call 'clutch-mate', as in they both came from the same clutch of eggs. Which, given that hatching scene, also argues that Chrysalis was their mother, unless multiple changeling females are really good at timing when their eggs get fertilized and then hatch. Which is... a whole other, slightly disturbing, conversion.
If Chrysalis is their mother, and Pharynx ends up retaining his original changeling form at the end of the episode, I could see some really interesting things happening this season.
I think the most realistic 'happy ending' I see right now is a reconciliation between all the changelings. Whatever that male-alicorn-monster thing from the comics is, it attacks in the finale. Chrysalis and her changelings show up, and they all have to work together to stop the big baddie. Because I still think, in the end, Chrysalis cares for the changelings. Maybe her methods weren't the greatest, but she did what she thought was best for them. I could really see them pushing an 'overprotective mother' angle here, particularly given that this season is about family, and we've seen an episode or two already that's about having to let go of someone you care about so they can grow.
To push things further, maybe Thorax isn't really that great of a leader for the changelings. This is reaching a bit, but he did say in the season premiere that leading a whole kingdom was 'overwhelming'. And now we see his authority being undermined by a single changeling that doesn't do what he says. It's possible there will be more hints in the Ember/Thorax episode, too.
So, to get back to that reconciliation ending, maybe the changelings need them both as leaders, just like Equestria needs Celestia and Luna. They need Chrysalis to be tough and protect them, and Thorax to be kind and friendly. 'Now the changelings will be ruled by Thorax and Chrysalis, their King and Queen—' And you can just hear Chrysalis interrupting: 'You mean Queen and Prince.' Starlight rolls her eyes at Thorax: 'Just... go with it.'
Ah, all this speculation based on an episode synopsis is fun. They're like mini writing prompts. If there's one thing I can guarantee, though, it's this: nothing I've actually written here will happen. In fact, you'll be amazed at how much it doesn't happen. I'm like reverse quantum physics when it comes to predicting stuff on this show: if I observe it, it doesn't happen. Some fun examples: when the season four finale synopsis said a villain from the past returns, I thought that was going to be Queen Chrysalis. And when the season six finale synopsis said the ponies' most dangerous foe was returning, I thought it was going to be the Wendigo.
In any case, I gotta say, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how this episode goes.
Okay, you know I was going to say something like this. A third possibility for episode twenty two:
Pharynx refuses to change. Desperate to have his brother on his side, Thorax suddenly shoots Pharynx with a beam from those gems on his chest. Pharynx cries out in fear and pain (picture Twilight getting her cutie mark stolen by Starlight), and is forcibly transformed into one of the new changelings, his entire personality instantly being replace by that of the rest of the hive, his actual self disappearing.
Enraptured by this new discovery, Thorax, and the other changelings with the gems, decide to see how far this new power can go, and turn it on Trixie and Starlight. They are transformed into new changelings as well, then turn back into their normal selves and head back to Ponyville, sleeper agents as Thorax and the hive begin work on plans to assimilate the rest of Equestria...
bit of a nitpick here but I dont think that is what "whitewashing" is.
"whitewashing" can mean taking characters who are historically/originally nonwhite and depicting them as white or by white actors.
I don't think its ever been used to describe actual black-colored characters being turned in-universe into nonblack characters. (I do agree that the transformation was unecessary and weird though)
Got a third of the way in and my eyes glazed over, seriously more writing here in this than there probably will be in the episode script. Need to aim this energy towards Hasbro themselves at the publicity contact email on their MLP page. Have already been voicing my opinions at them on the subject of turning what is essentially a downtrodden pigment enhanced character into a Skittles 'taste the rainbow' venison character already, wondering if they ever heard of discrimination.
One thing I find interesting about the premise is the acknowledgement that not all of the changelings became changedlings.
I want to start by commenting on the 'whitewashing' angle. You might have a point that changelings went from having their own aesthetic to matching that of Equestria's dominant races. At the same time though, note that they went from being uniform, nearly indistinguishable from one another to embodying a wide range of colours. So, I think at least as much of an argument could be made that the change represents embracing diversity as stifling it.
I also think it's worth remembering that the original changeling form was in some ways intended to feed on ponies and other sentient species, and part of this change was to get them away from needing to feed in that way. I'm not convinced it was the best decision to solve it in the way it was solved in the show, and in many ways I would have preferred them to keep their old forms, but I kinda get the reasons behind it. Any other ideas I come up with might be too complex for the way the show is run. I don't think they really know how to do sympathetic villains, with perhaps one exception, but that's a whole other can of worms.
Also, I had this thought for a fourth possibility for how the episode plays out: when he doesn't agree, Pharynx is forcibly transformed...only to hate his new form and resent that it was forced on him. The rest of the episode is about Thorax trying to reconcile with his brother and apologize, being at most only partially forgiven or an understanding is reached but there is still bad blood between them, and the overall message is about accepting others even when you don't agree with them and letting them approach new ideas at their own pace.
The way I expect it to play out of course, is that the real problem will prove to be that Pharynx still sees ponies as food rather than friends, and that's what will really need changing.
I really like the idea of Chrysalis coming back, and accepting joint leadership of the hive. Problem is, that's not really how Chrysalis has been characterized from what I've seen. At no point in the show have I really seen the sympathetic side of her which her concept has so much potential for, instead she seems to be handled as a fairly typical arrogant villain.
Considering the mixed bag of bad decisions in the show's development the last few years that they've decided to never fix despite their backlash *CoughtStarlightCough*, I doubt they're going to walk back much the mess they've made of the changelings.
i was enjoying 2 episodes a week as i dont like to wait we have alot of MLP content this year a full season 3 special for EG and a movie
You know what bothered me about the changlings "changing?" The changlings witnessed Thorax overpower Chrysalis because he had found a superior love source and was therefore a better leader at feeding his people, so they switched sides instantly. I can buy that, I'm sure Chrysalis always taught her children to respect strength above all else.
But that's not a moral decision, that's a self-interested follower backing the strongest leader. The fact that the changlings are "good" now because they switched political alliance shows how dangerously naive many ponies can be. What if this Pharynx, or Chrysalis herself, comes to all the changlings with a new way of feeding on infinite love using dark magic or something? Are we expected to believe the drones wouldn't desert Thorax en masse?
Or...you could wait until the episode airs and talk about your thoughts about it then. Maybe?
I kinda have mixed feelings about the Canada thing myself. On one hand does it allow me to quell a bit of my impatience for the new episodes, on the other does it throw everything off-balance. And I can't just ignore the new episodes because then I'll surely get spoiled on them in one way or another.
I just assumed the Changelings grow and evolve during their life cycle. The colorful form in which they share love is their mature, adult form. Chryssy was keeping them as teenagers/children because she's unhealthily attached to her offspring. When new Changelings are born they'll look like the black version. (I sort of hope this is true.)
"Queen and Prince..."
We need a TwiSalis with the "Queen and Princess" stuff too :3
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The funny thing about your fourth option there is it's actually kind of dark. Not only do they forcibly change his body, but then he hates it. Like, that's a really messed up thing to do to someone.
And yeah, I agree there's nothing to really indicate that Chrysalis would accept any kind of joint rulership. But that's where her teaming up with them against an even worse threat comes in. By being forced to work together, she sees how much better it could be, or at least learns to tolerate them a bit. Think Vegeta when Frieza shows up, in Dragonball Z.
And I agree with the whole potential for sympathy never being shown. More specifically, that sympathy being applied to the whole race. They need love to survive. You'd think the solution, especially on a show like this, would be 'then we need to give our love to them'. I think Twilight said a similar line in one of the Courtship Rituals stories that I wrote. Instead, it was 'they need to be the ones to give love'. Rather than their actions being what they needed to do to survive, the way they were acting was because Chrysalis made them do it. And she made them do it because... well, just because. There was never really an explanation there other than 'she bad guy'.
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Ah, but if I wait until the episode airs to talk about it, then I can't post wild speculation and get upset about things that I don't even know are going to happen, can I? And where's the fun in that?
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Oh yes, and one thing about the changelings being all identical to each other. That episode was from season two, and if you'll remember back to those days, I think there were three character models on the show - female pony, male pony, and Big Mac. The only reason the changelings all looked the same was because, well, it's a TV show and resources tend to be strained. So when the bad guys were a swarm of bugs, I don't doubt they took advantage of that opportunity to make a single character model for them and call it a day. The only reason they didn't do it this time was probably 'well, we're killing them all off anyway, why bother?' Plus, they had to make new models for all the new changelings.
That's actually one of the coolest things about the show. It's not a classically animated show, it uses Flash. So once they rig and animate a model for a character, they're done with it forever. Same for backgrounds. So over time, the animators and artists tend to have less and less to do, which slowly results in more variety and quality in stuff. You can see it in the character models, for one - there's a huge variety of pony shapes now compared to even 2-3 seasons ago. And the backgrounds too. I only know this because I saw it pointed out on EQD, but Fluttershy's cottage got a huge quality upgrade at one point. Something which, remember, is completely useless. The assets for her cottage already existed, there was no reason to go back and redo it. But with so little new stuff needing to be made for new episode, it gave the artists time to go back and upgrade parts of the show.
Just something that's cool to think about.
4547628 No no no, you see, when a changeling becomes completely brain dead, it turns into a retarded butterfly moose abomination that I want to strangle to death with all my might.