Friendship is Card Games: My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) · 11:18am Oct 7th, 2017
Just in case you thought I’d be addressing the movie that brought us the Smooze, the flutterponies, and Danny DeVito as the lord of Fraggle-Diamond Dog crossbreeds.
… actually, Diamond Dogs evolving from Grundles would explain a lot, especially if Discord got involved.
But I digress. We’re not here for the warrior god trinity of the Paleopony Period or Fairy Wind being super effective on Mega Muk. We’re here for the latest instance of pastel ponies on the silver screen. And in my summarized, spoiler-free opinion, it’s definitely worth seeing.
Below the cut, I go into further detail... for a given definition of “further.” As I feared the theater was too dark for proper notetaking, and without my usual sources for rewatching, I didn’t want to miss a moment. As such this will have to be a bit more “broad swathes” than my usual deep analysis/nitpicking/getting distracted and overthinking everything that catches my fancy.
Not to say that there won’t be any of that.
First thing, the visuals are amazing. Every set piece is a feast for the eyes. Canterlot’s especially nice, since Luna finally gets her own throne.
I’m not making a card of the opening song. It already existed ahead of time, and it was hard enough coming up with half a dozen verse counter designs I haven’t made yet.
Poor Twilight. If you think arranging your holy day will be stressful…
What? Celestia has the Summer Sun Celebration, Luna has Nightmare Night, and Cadence has presumably claimed Hearts and Hooves Day. The Friendship Festival may not be explicit worship of Twilight, but we all know what’s going on.
Interesting to note that Cadence’s crystal magic can create aurorae.
The character introductions are done fairly efficiently, especially with how the music changes styles during the first song. Also, good to see Cheese Sandwich still exists. And I admit, I laughed at Big Mac’s Boolean contribution. Really, it was great to see the animators work in gobs of character-appropriate secondary cast for each of the Mane Six: Twilight’s Canterlot friends, Apple family members who we haven’t seen since the reunion, Rarity’s various proteges (and Fashion Plate of all ponies!) That whole song’s a treasure trove of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments.
Weird to see the Pulp Fiction stallions act as bodyguards, but I suppose Jules Whinnyfield has already experienced his honest-to-Celestia miracle and turned his life around to shepherd the weak through the valley of darkness. Even if his cutie mark still says Bad Mother—
Ahem. Moving on.
Party Favor’s cameo was as brilliant as it was in the trailer.
First thing I thought of when the villains arrived? “Oh my God, the Legion of Dusk has airships!”
I’ll be honest, I hated Grubber. He did perhaps two things of actual import, both of which could’ve been handled by someone less irritating. The rest of the time, he did nothing more than disrupt the atmosphere of any moment he appeared in. I’ve heard some say he’s the Spike to Tempest’s Twilight, but we never see the support, respect, dignity, or any other redeeming features Spike has in that obnoxious little hedgehog.
Tempest, on the other hand? Her I like. She’s an edgy OC done right, bristling with emotional scars and a hardened heart without quite going overboard. She also feels like a much more legitimate threat than the Storm King for most of the movie.
I’m aware of the Misfortunate Malachite, from which the petrification grenades are presumably made. I’m… okay with the princesses getting Worfed like they do. These are some high-level artifacts getting thrown around. Though seeing them actually fight back rather than panic would’ve been nice. The same could be said of the Mane Six, especially since the Storm Guards have the whole “terrifying, insurmountable foe up until we actually try” thing going.
That being said, the Royal Guard is apparently so useless that it stopped existing.
I’m just going to take a moment to appreciate that were it not for Best Pony, the villains would’ve won in Act One. I think we know who the truest hero in all of this is. 
Seriously, the Storm King does not impress. He’s an oaf. An ambitious, physically capable oaf, but an oaf. He has no understanding of the power he seeks, only that there’s power to be sought. He isn’t nearly as interesting as Tempest from an authorial perspective. He’s evil for the sake of evil. What am I supposed to do with this? And, indeed, how did this buffoon manage to cultivate the regime he has at the start of the film? I guess I need to read the prequel comics to get a sense of that.
That said, I did appreciate the modem sounds of the message potion booting up. Anachronistic? Yes, but in a way that tickled me.
Grubber, this isn’t Deadpool. Stop trying to reenact the avocado scene.
I’m pretty sure the sun just hung where it was for three days. Think about it; was there a single nighttime scene? Not overcast, not in the oceanic depths, actual night?
Also, apparently the Mane Six covered the majority of the continent in the time it took for the Storm Guard to secure control of Canterlot.
Did it bother anyone else than Spike was suffering as much as the ponies in the desert? You’d think dragons would handle a hot, dry climate a little better. Of course, this one can sweat, so what do I know?
Fascinating to see so many different sapient species. Fish, lizards, cats… and a surprising absence of ungulates. Granted, deserts aren’t friendly to much more than camels. Still, it’s a bit disconcerting to go from the usual assortment of hoofed sapients (and Diamond Dogs) to Mos Eisley by way of Zootopia.
I do love the theme of the Mane Six leaving friendship in their wake just by being themselves. Twilight of all ponies being the doubter… does make sense. This is her tunnel vision coming into play. When Twilight’s in crisis mode, she has trouble seeing past the problem and the need to solve it. Oblique solutions, even ones that would fall under her domain as Princess of Friendship, aren’t going to come to mind while all of her processor cycles are locked in a loop of “Need to fix it need to fix it need to fix it.”
By a similar token, on the one hand, I kind of wish Applejack and Fluttershy got similar chances to truly shine; they didn’t have much to do this movie. On the other hand, the “search for help” arc was busy enough as it was. On the third hand, it makes sense that the homebody and the introvert wouldn’t be at their best in the wider world.
How much of a market is there for Storm King merchandise, exactly?
I do love seeing Dash inspire others. I especially love that she manages to save the day and ruin everything inside of a few minutes.
How did everyone survive the explosion? Including Tempest?
I wonder if namedropping Celestia would’ve helped convince Novo to offer aid. Heck, was Celestia aware of the hippogriffs’ plight? Was she aware of the Storm King? Equestria’s looking surprisingly insular at the highest levels. I suppose their reasoning is that no one else is going to mess with the planet’s celestial mechanics… unless they’re an oaf who can’t consider the consequences because he stops thinking the moment he sees pastels. Huh. That does make sense.
Let’s review: Airships, piracy, more global scope, Twilight making and implementing successful plans on the fly, Twilight making terrible decisions that seem like the only thing she can do when she makes them…
Are we sure iisaw didn’t help write this? This feels like The Twilight Enigma all over again, and I mean that in a good way.
Holy crap, Novo barely gave them enough time and space to make it to the surface.
Pinkie Pie is amazing in the confrontation. Seriously, this is some the richest, most complex characterization she’s gotten in canon, full stop.
As for the confrontation itself… it does feel a bit obligatory. The story needs Twilight isolated, so hoof goes in mouth. She’s under a lot of stress, but it’s hard to believe her ever saying that. However, the events leading up to it definitely work when one takes into account what Twilight does and doesn’t know. Aside from the tunnel vision issue I mentioned earlier, SoloBrony's analysis does a great job of analyzing the themes that led up to that moment.
Holy crap, Spike actually set someone on fire. 
Tempest’s backstory is… interesting. It’s closest to Cheese Sandwich of all ponies, leaving an unappreciative town to strike her own fortune. The difference, of course, comes in her mutilation and where she went. Though she does kind of have herself to blame for the first part. Facing an Ursa Minor for the sake of a ball? There’s brave, and there’s stupid. She was lucky to survive at all.
Then there’s the aftermath. Where were the adults? Did nopony care about the amputee? Parents? Doctors? Concerned citizens? Heck, we know horns grow (cf. unicorn maturation, horn filing.) Was the horn bed somehow bruised or something?
In any case, it appears that my “unicorn horns are full of brain” headcanon has been soundly jossed. Didn’t think canon would touch that one.
So… how did the assorted saviors get back to Canterlot fast enough to actually do something? I suppose they took the same shortcut the Mane Six took to get to the southern coast.
Also, no resistance efforts? From anypony? Anywhere? It was just grunts for a while. I can understand seeing the princesses get petrified can be demoralizing, but still. Starlight and Trixie were there, and they have experience with dealing with horrifying threats that defeated the tetrarchy.
Powering up the Staff of Sacanas is interesting. Putting aside the question of how long an “insert four alicorns to play” artifact has been around, there’s the matter of what was lost. This clearly isn’t the same degree of drain as Tirek; Twilight still has her cutie mark and flies a few times between powering and retrieving the Staff. And yet, the Storm King’s goal is a massive application of pegasus weather magic. What’s the story here?
Also, do I want to know why there’s apparently an entire magical power grid flowing through the streets of Canterlot? Or is that just part of the local leyline network?
You’d think Discord would’ve taken notice when the Storm King started playing with the sun and moon. I know, I know, the cast was overstuffed as it was and they might not have been able to get de Lancie, but still. I suppose he figured he’d let it play out a bit more to confirm that he actually needed to do something. (And he was in the credits animations, so he was definitely in the area.)
Very impressive breath control on Spike’s part when he’s acting as the cake topper.
Again, the Storm Guard being unsurmountable until they suddenly weren’t bothered me something awful. Still, there’s something wonderful about a cat gleefully using a small dragon as a flamethrower.
One nice, subtle undercurrent in the story is the toll this adventure takes on Pinkie. There are multiple cases of her laughing like a madmare, to say nothing of the stab in the gut Twilight delivers with her outburst. By the time she's loaded everyone into the party cannon, she is on the absolute edge of sanity. That last laugh after she gets shot out of the cannon seems to carry an unspoken “This will either work or kill me, and at this point, I don’t care which.”
Really, Tempest, you were betraying your own personal philosophy by trusting the Storm King. What were you expecting?
I’m going to choose that Tempest’s raw blasts matching the combined power of four alicorns is a combination of her training, the Storm King’s incompetence, and the incomplete drain I mentioned earlier.
Welp, second confirmed villain death right there. Not quite as brutal as Sombra exploding—no, I’m not counting the comics, the Siege of the Crystal Empire’s been invalidated by Flurry Heart—but still pretty nasty. Plus, given the Rainbow Waves of Fix Everything™, I’m pretty sure he becomes a pile of bloody chunks a few minutes later.
I’d like to think that when the camera was no longer on her, Twilight said, “So, about those sun and moon angles we discussed earlier…”
Fizzlepop Berrytwist is a pretty fantastic name. And actually fairly descriptive given what Templepop Berryshade can do with that unshielded thaumic reactor growing out of her forehead.
I greatly appreciate Twilight's dance from "Sweet and Elite" making a triumphant return in the credits.
In all, the movie was good enough that I can’t help but latch onto the flaws, especially the troubling implications regarding Equestria’s insularity in relation to the rest of the world, or at least the southern hemisphere. I hope the prequel comics will help clear up some things. Given what I’ve seen of them, that seems to be the case.
Still, this one was pretty firmly aimed at the target audience, and some of that includes some narrative streamlining. If nothing else, this might well be the sanitized, state-approved version of the attack that went out after Equestria recovered. Goodness knows news moves slow in this world.
In any case, time for the second reel:
Preserve Hope 1W
Instant
As an additional cost to cast Preserve Hope, sacrifice your commander.
Until your next turn, your life total can’t change and you have protection from everything. Shuffle your graveyard into your library.
”Compared to you, anypony’s expendable.”
—Ditzy Doo, to Twilight Sparkle
Songbird Serenade 2WW
Legendary Creature — Pegasus Band
Flying
Finale — Whenever you sacrifice a Song, you may return another target enchantment card from your graveyard to your hand.
”The show’s not over until I say so.”
2/2
Songbird’s Security 3W
Creature — Unicorn Soldier
Songs you control have indestructible
2, T: Target legendary creature gains indestructible until end of turn. This ability costs 2 less to activate if it targets a commander.
”The canary is on the branch. Repeat, canary on the branch.”
2/2
Dragonpuffer 1U
Creature — Fish
U: Dragonpuffer gets +0/+1 until end of turn.
U: Switch Dragonpuffer’s power and toughness until end of turn.
They may look cute, but their poison burns like any dragon’s fire.
1/1
Hauler Crew 3U
Creature — Harpy Serf
T: Add CC to your mana pool. You can’t spend this mana to cast creature spells.
Raid — 5R, T: Transform Hauler Crew. Activate this ability only if you attacked with a creature this turn.
”It’s a living…”
1/3
Celaeno’s Swashbucklers
(UR) Creature — Harpy Pirate
Menace
Whenever Celaeno’s Swashbucklers deals combat damage to a player, create a colorless Treasure artifact token with “T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.”
”… but not a life worth living.”
5/4
Ocean’s Embrace 2UU
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has hexproof and islandwalk.
The hippogriffs’ greatest treasure provides adaptations for any environment.
Pearl Guard 3U
Creature — Jellyfish
Whenever Pearl Guard blocks or becomes blocked by a creature, tap that creature. It doesn’t untap during its controller’s next untap step.
”We can’t afford to leave anything to chance, even here.”
—Queen Novo
1/7
Novo, Hidden Queen 4UU
Legendary Creature — Hippogriff Merfolk
Defender, hexproof
Other creatures you control have hexproof and can’t attack unless defending player controls an Island.
Tap two untapped Hippogriffs and/or Merfolk you control: Target land becomes an Island until end of turn.
4/4
Scuttling Bonepicker B
Creature — Insect
T: Exile target card from a graveyard.
Even dragon scales struggle in the heat of the Bone Dry Desert, but life still finds a way.
1/1
“I’m the Friend You Need” 1B
Enchantment — Song
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a verse counter on “I’m the Friend You Need”.
1B, Sacrifice “I’m the Friend You Need”: Search your library for a card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library. You lose X life, where X is that card’s mana cost minus the number of verse counters on “I’m the Friend You Need”.
“Open Up Your Eyes” 2B
Enchantment — Song
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a verse counter on “Open Up Your Eyes”.
3B, Sacrifice “Open Up Your Eyes”: Put target creature card with power X or less from a graveyard to the battlefield under your control, where X is the number of verse counters on “Open Up Your Eyes”.
Throw Overboard 2B
Instant
Destroy target creature without flying.
The Storm King’s law is very clear on the punishment for stowaways.
Capper, Provisioner 2BB
Legendary Creature — Cat Rogue
When Capper, Provisioner enters the battlefield, each player may search his or her library for a card and put it into his or her hand. Each player other than you who does reveals that card. Then each player who searched his or her library this way shuffles it.
2/2
Malachite Strike 3B
Instant
Target creature gains deathtouch and indestructible until end of turn. Whenever a creature dealt damage by that creature this turn dies, create a colorless Treasure artifact token with “T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.”
Misfortune is relative.
“Time to be Awesome” 1R
Enchantment — Song
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a verse counter on “Time to be Awesome”.
2R, Sacrifice “Time to be Awesome”: Attacking creatures get +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is the number of verse counters on “Time to be Awesome”. If X isn’t 0, those creatures gain trample until end of turn.
Cannon Gambit 3R
Instant
Reveal a creature card from your hand. Flip a coin. If you win the flip, put that card onto the battlefield. Otherwise, discard it and Cannon Gambit deals damage equal to its power to each opponent.
Whether or not it would work, Pinkie knew it would be fun.
Lunch Break 1G
Instant
Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn. Each player gains 3 life.
The Storm King’s mercy is rare, and should be appreciated for every moment it lasts.
“Off to See the World” 1G
Enchantment — Song
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a verse counter on “Off to See the World”.
1G, Sacrifice “Off to See the World”: Up to X target creatures you control explore, where X is the number of verse counters on “Off to See the World”.
Maul 2G
Sorcery
Target creature you control gains wither until end of turn. That creature fights target creature you don’t control. (Each deals damage equal to its power to the other. A source with wither deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)
“One Small Thing” 2G
Enchantment — Song
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a verse counter on “One Small Thing”.
3G, Sacrifice “One Small Thing”: Double the number of each type of counter on each of up to X target permanents, where X is the number of verse counters on “One Small Thing”.
“We’ve Got This Together” 2G
Enchantment — Song
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a verse counter on “We’ve Got This Together”.
1G, Sacrifice “We’ve Got This Together”: Until end of turn, creatures you control gain “T: Add X mana of any one color to your mana pool,” where X is the number of verse counters on “We’ve Got This Together”.
Storm Guard Brute 4G
Creature — Yeti Soldier
Hexproof
Most of the Storm Guard follow their king for the same reason they always have: He is the strongest of their kind.
4/4
Queen of the Hippos 4GG
Creature — Hippo
Other Hippos you control get +1/+1 and have trample.
Whenever a nontoken creature with power 4 or greater enters the battlefield under your control, create a 3/3 green Hippo creature token.
Still not the strangest of Ungula’s creatures.
3/3
Celaeno’s Flagship 3
Legendary Artifact — Vehicle
Flying
Whenever Celaeno’s Flagship is crewed by one or more Pirates, Celaeno’s Flagship gains double strike until end of turn.
Crew 2 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 2 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
4/2
Storm Guard Airship 4
Artifact — Vehicle
Flying
When Storm Guard Airship enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a card named Storm Guard Airship, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
Crew 3
5/4
The Staff of Sacanas 5
Legendary Artifact
Indestructible
The Staff of Sacanas can’t have counters put on it.
Sacrifice a creature with alicorn: Until end of turn, The Staff of Sacanas loses “The Staff of Sacanas can’t have counters put on it.” Put a charge counter on it.
As long as The Staff of Sacanas has four or more charge counters on it, you may cast spells from your hand without paying their mana costs.
Half-Bake WU
Instant
Counter target spell unless that spell’s controller has you gain 8 life.
”Calibrator? I barely know her!”
—Cheese Sandwich
Arrange the Heavens GU
Instant
Scry 3. Untap up to two target lands you control. (To scry 3, look at the top three cards of your library, then put any number of them on the bottom of your library and the rest on top in any order.)
Twilight couldn’t help but think of how she could do it more efficiently.
Fizzlepop, the Wanderer BR
Legendary Creature — Unicorn
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control no other creatures, Fizzlepop, the Wanderer explores. When it does, if its power is 4 or greater, transform it. (To have it explore, reveal the top card of your library. Put that card into your hand if it’s a land. Otherwise, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature, then put the card back or put it into your graveyard.)
2/1
Commander Tempest Shadow
(BR) Legendary Creature — Unicorn Soldier
Whenever Commander Tempest Shadow attacks alone, it deals damage equal to its power to target creature defending player controls.
Whenever a creature dealt damage by Tempest this turn dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Tempest.
3/3
The Storm King 2UBR
Legendary Creature — Yeti Warrior
First strike, haste
The Storm King gets +1/+0 for each artifact you control.
(ur)B, Sacrifice a creature: Gain control of target noncreature artifact for as long as you control The Storm King.
”I rule this world. You just don’t know it yet.”
3/3
Captain Celaeno 3UR
Legendary Creature — Harpy Pirate
Raid — When Captain Celaeno enters the battlefield, if it was cast and you attacked with a creature this turn, untap all creatures that attacked this turn. After this main phase, there is an additional combat phase followed by an additional main phase.
UR: Return Captain Celaeno to its owner’s hand.
3/3
Skystar’s Assault 3UR
Instant
Skystar’s Assault deals 2 damage to each of up to two target creatures. Create two 0/2 blue Oyster creature tokens.
”Shelby and Sheldon always were a bit unstable.”
—Princess Skystar
Inspiring Rainboom 4GW
Instant
Converge — Untap all creatures you control. Those creatures get +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of colors of mana spent to cast Inspiring Rainboom.
A beacon of hope visible for miles.
Klugetown Market
Land
1, T: Put a currency counter on Klugetown Market.
T, Remove X currency counters from Klugetown Market: Add X mana in any combination of colors to your mana pool.
Everything has its price.
Road to Klugetown
Land
T: Add C to your mana pool.
T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if you control a Desert or there is a Desert card in your graveyard.
All sands lead to Klugetown.
Wow
Didn't read much, because I wanted to avoid spoilerifying myself, but I saw this and couldn't help but grin. It looks like Celestia might not want Nightmare Moons after all.
Also, I never really took a close look at these 'card games' blogs until now. Now that I'm aware they're specifically related to MtG, I may have to take a closer look at the prior ones to see how you interpreted everything in the game compared to myself. That Staff of Sacanas card looks incredible, although I dunno if my conscience would let me sacrifice four alicorns for the sake of the tactical advantage (or if I could ever manage to draw four alicorns in the same game).
4689692
Technically, given the right combination of proliferate, Surge Nodes, Vedalken Infusers, Energy Chambers, and so forth, you'll only need to sacrifice one alicorn for Omniscience on a stick.
Also, glad to hear you chose to take a look! The index page has links to every Friendship is Card Games thus far.
4689696
Alas, my card collection is currently collecting dust. Haven't played a game of Magic in over a year, and all my games were strictly with family. I used to buy new cards regularly until my real life made it an unaffordable extra hobby.
As for the index... bookmarked! I wanna see if I can use the creator to make these, should I decide I like them over my own interpretations. Someday I'll get me some card stock and actually print the custom cards. Someday.
Whoever made that stuff was the real villain of the movie. I mean, the staff had to be made recently, since it uses four alicorns and, the more important thing, it uses the relief in the Throne Room to work, then in turn span something like a network over Canterlot to get Mana. At least it looks like that. All of which - including the network - were already there. Which would mean that whoever made it either renovated Canterlot recently or was present when it was build. While knowing that four alicons exist/will exist.
So either that person is a time-traveling mage with strange motivations that don't make sense...
... or Discord (Which may or may not be the same thing)
Hear me out on this one. Who Could remodel an area as large as Canterlot easily to have these little reliefs in them without anypony noticing? Discord. Who would know of these four princesses? Discord. Who could make a staff - or have someone make it - and hide it on the other side of the world? Discord. And who was mysteriously absent the whole time? Discord.
This whole thing looks suspiciously similar to the incident with Tirek: Discord does something seemingly villainous only to, in the end, teach Twilight a lesson. (The whole thing with getting the key to the chest is in the end a lesson.) And the villain looks kind of similar to Tirek as well. And kinda does the same thing.
Okay, so, there was a long time where "changelings are actually Flutterponies" was a popular headcanon -- and there's really nothing to say it doesn't still hold up -- but why in the fuck have I never heard this before? :O It's fantastic!
Also, this reminds me that I need to draft a Storm King villain deck for Sentinels now. <.<
I have no particular love for the "Siege of the Crystal Empire" arc after how the comics treated Iron Will, but I'm curious as to your reasoning on why the fact of Flurry Heart invalidates it. Man, that arc was disappointing, even if it did give my baby Cady time to be the big damn hero for once.
The prequel comics do not say this explicitly, but it is strongly implied that the Storm King had a Nightmare Entity, if not a Full-on Primordial Spirit on his side who totes betrayed him shortly before the Misfortune Malachite incident that kicks off the plot. The Storm King is seen talking to a Lovecraftian "second in command" creature named "Strife" who is clearly actually running the show, the evil Jeeves to the Storm King's Evil Wooster. The name is suspiciously portentous to me; it's a big chunky word like "Discord" who obviously exists in an anthropomorphic form. Anyway, as stated, Strife appears to be the main reason Stormy's been so successful before now, and when Strife literally jumps ship, our buddy goes out and recruits lesser henchmen who he feels won't betray him, with the negative side effects being that they are either cowardly and stupid (Grubber) or powerful but emotionally wrecked and thus presumably desperately loyal (Tempest). Canterlot was always going to be Stormy's last hurrah without a powerhouse like Strife behind him, but he was too oafish to realize this.
Practically every note you just made basically was my take on the movie down pat (most especially including Best Pony being the reason the rest of the movie even happened). You even caught one or two things I missed (I didn't see Starlight anywhere until the very end, unless that's what you're talking about).
Overall, it was fun, and though it had plenty of flaws, it definitely was more focused on the target demographic, so there was really only so much for the older audience to be able to legitimately complain about.
Cheers!
I enjoyed the movie, but I quickly realized that the established fanbase would have a ton of reasons to complain about it.
It's not just that it's aimed at a child audience - it's aimed at a new audience, the general movie-going public that hasn't been following the show for seven years.
One consequence of that is that it doesn't rest on the established canon of the show, because the new audience doesn't know or care. Hence, no teleporting, no Twilight being able to carry the whole gang with her magic while they fly, no Discord snapping his claws to make everything that bothers Fluttershy go away to another dimension, no grand alliance of yaks, dragons and changelings coming to support their friend Princess Twilight, and so on and so forth.
Another consequence of that is that the characters are written as if they haven't been growing up together for many years, because the new audience doesn't know or care, and can still have their faith in one another shattered by adversity.
In light of that, my prediction, which seems to be borne out by the response, is that it was a good movie for the movie-going public, but not for the fandom
4689731
I think the idea is that flurry broke the heart and there was no umbrum invasion as a result but I'm pretty sure that required someone to also open the door they were trapped behind.
As the for the movie I loved the Storm King I just wish there was more of him because he was a blast whenever he was onscreen. It's not really explained how he came to power but we don't really need to know. Besides he seemed plenty intimidating he's big, crazy and he moves in way that seems like he could probably rip your head off before you could blink. He's basically a combination of Discord's craziness and Triek's lust for power and control which is great. Too bad he's underutilized.
4689754
It's important to remember that they started working on this movie before season 5 which is why there is no Starlight involvement and why we don't have a more assertive Fluttershy. It's just the consequence of making a movie while the show is still going.
The princesses, Twilight especially, better give Derpy a medal, make her princess for a day, and personally wait on her fulfilling her every whim. And put her in charge of the Royal guard since she's the only one around who actually seems to know how to do the job!
All hail Derpy, saviour of Equestria!
Give me a playset of that flagship. Forget the copter, an 8 power flyer for 3 mana that dodges boardwipes is stupid.
Grubber is one of those "comedy relief"characters whom I strongly suspect gets added to a story like this because some Executive somewhere says "This is for kids. We need to have someone to just be silly-evil."
This almost never works.
My in-universe explanation for Grubber is that he's some sort of sycophantic servant of the Storm King who the Storm King inflicted on Tempest to watch her and report to him if Tempest seemed to be trying to seize the power for herself. A political commissar, in other words. Even for that sort of role, he seems too stupid.
I mentioned to my wife that Grubber reminded me of Toady (from Gummi Bears) and my wife pointed out that Toady was a heck of a lot smarter and more competent. "All Grubber does is eat cake." And she's right.
Grubber may well have survived the Movie. Which is really a shame. I hope he never shows up in the series.
The appearance of these grenades, with their strangely-shifting, apparently higher-dimensional shapes, reminded me the moment I saw them of Balefire Bombs (the tactical kind, not the megaspell city-busters) from Fallout: Equestria. It reminded me of them so strongly that my reaction on seeing them pulled out was "Oh, crap!"
The effect, of course, was different. But I like to think that they were related arcanotechs. In both cases the point is to pack an extremely powerful spell (artificial area Dragonfire fireball in the case of Balefire, petrification strong enough to work right through an Alicorn's shields in the case of the petrification grenades) into an extremely small container. They look higher-dimensional because the solution to the problem is to extend them into higher-dimensional spaces.
This is relevant to me because since reading Fallout: Equestria I've decided that Balefire technology is one of the things which Equestria employs in the Last Battle against the Night Shadows.
I had exactly the same problems with the Storm King that you did. He seems to be foolish, ill-informed and motivated purely by malicious ambition. His "empire" seems to consist mostly of a bunch of cities and merchants he's terrorized into paying tribute, rather than something he actually administers in any real sense.
It has occurred to me that the Storm King may be modeled on Kim Jong-il and Grubber on Kim Jong Un. The Storm King's backstory (mutually-incompatable origins including divine birth and having appeared from a magic egg on a mountain) are very much like the absurd propaganda the North Korean regime put out about Kim Jong-il. Grubber -- short, fat, gluttonous and obonoxious -- is a lot like Kim Jong Un (or, at least, as the Fat Leader was before he succeeded to the North Korean throne).
If the Storm King is an analogue of Kim Jong-il, then it explains why the Storm King is such an incompetent yet a powerful villain. For, in that case, the Storm King would be the less-competent successor to a more-competent predecessor -- the "Kim il-Sung" of whatever culture produced the Storm King. It would have been this more competent predecessor who assembled the original warband, conquered a city or two and started building the army and fleet that now serves the Storm King.
I haven't actually read the prequels, so I don't know how close this guess is to the truth. It may also be the case that the Storm King edits the "approved" version of his own backstory, to his own glorification. I have heard that Tempest had to do a lot with the Storm King's gaining of the artifacts (the Staff and the petrification grenades) which he uses to subdue and vampirize the Alicorn Princesses. That would make a lot of sense, as Tempest is far from stupid.
It's a disguised tribute system. The cities and towns subject to, or dominated over by, the Storm King "buy the merchandise" to "prove their loyalty," giving the Storm King hard cash. And, probably, the Storm King pays them for supplies he buys from them in "Stormbucks," in part a fiat currency, inflated by "take this money or we gruesomely kill you and your family."
Also, colorful flash-leprosy is a plausible thing outside of Equestria.
Considering the ailment that drives you insane and transforms you in a tree, I'm not surprised.
By the time that I saw that scene, I was already very impressed by Tempest. Despite her broken horn, she is a very powerful mage -- her brain has obviously adapted to the damage to her effector organ to enable her control over that magic, though she has permanently lost a degree of telekinetic dexterity.
Then I saw the scene where she confronts the Ursa Major, and ... holy crap.
The reason why Snips and Snails survived was because they ran away. Very very fast. Also, as I detail in Fools and Drunks, they are very agile Ponies with lightning reflexes (the only reason why they survive any of the stupid, deadly situations into which they get themselves).
The reason why Tempest survived, very obviously, was that she threw up a telekinetic shield. But the thing is, she was just a little filly. And she was facing a creature the size of a large house. It should have splatted her into something resembling raspberry paste, but nowhere near as appetizing (save for obligate carnivores).
Of course, her shield couldn't stand up to an impact like that. It gave, and enough force got through to maim her, destroying her horn and possibly also inflicting the scar on her eye. But the point is, she lived, where very few other Unicorns would have survived such a strike.
She was probably also the brains behind the Storm King: the one who researched and found the Staff and found out or figured out how to make the petrification grenades. All and all, she's far more impressive than the Storm King, whom I imagine as the incompetent heir of a far more competent predecessor.
Under other circumstances, she might have become a great mage in Equestria.
I was glad to see Spike getting to use his breath weapon against living foes. I was a little sorry that most of the time it was at someone else's direct behest. Though given Spike's strong and understandable inhibitions against using his dragonfire against living sapients, ones which he absolutely has needed to develop in order to fit in among Ponies and not randomly kill them, I can see why Spike didn't like doing it himself.
And now, for a full dive into headcanon land:
Regarding Equestria's lackluster military, I think that nobody interested in governing actually will ever declare war. I suspect there may be a pact (implicit or explicit) that Equestria stays isolated and doesn't bother any other nation, and no other nation will ever try to conquer Horseland. The instant they try the other states will dogpile them. It's in the interest of everybody that Sun and Moon stay under the control of a third party with a millennia-long record of not being expansionist.
That leaves insane sorcerers, demons, Gods and parasites, against whom traditional guards have a questionable effectiveness.
I also imagine the debriefing.
And so we found the hippogryphs, which after being attacked by the Stormking a couple of years ago fleed underwater--
Fleed underwater? I talked to her Queen last week!
I checked the records, that was ten years ago.
Oh...
4689711
I wouldn't put it past him to instigate the whole thing... though if you really want to don your tinfoil hat, imagine if Harmony orchestrated this. There's no single point of failure for the state of the world outside of Equestria, no convenient friendship problem that a map mission can address. Therefore, it needs to make its agents aware of the disharmonious situation through more general means. The net gain visible from Harmony's extratemporal perspective is more than worth the cost.
4689721
I suspect it's because Grundles are far less well-known than flutterponies... which is kind of odd. You'd think Danny DeVito having a speaking role in a My Little Pony movie would lodge more firmly in the collective consciousness.
But yeah, I think I accidentally gave myself a new headcanon.
"Grundles good!"
"Not for much longer."
4689731
I was going for what 4689774 noted regarding the consequences of shattering the Crystal Heart, but I suppose that there is a point about the physical gate needing to be opened. One might say that a stronger argument could be made for the Sombra Triumphant timeline, where he fielded an army of mind slaves rather than eldritch horrors and Radiant Hope was nowhere to be seen... though even then, we see he doesn't have a cutie mark. I admit, this could just be wishful thinking on my part.
Today's episode spoilers: Of course, Iron Will apparently having nothing to do with shadowy resurrections after the bottom fell out of the motivational speaking market may do more to invalidate that storyline than any episode with Sombra.
Also, good to know about that bit in the comics. I was familiar with the character in question, but not the extent of his involvement. It does explain a lot.
4689754
Both you and 4689779 make excellent points regarding how much continuity a general audiences picture could get away with. Of course, that doesn't help when critics come in determined to hate it, but c'est la vie.
4689819
Dodges board wipes but dies to Slash of Talons. The life of a harpy pirate is a strange one.
4689788
Seriously, if she doesn't at least get the Pink Heart of Courage for this...
4690016
If you'll indulge me for a moment, the "higher-dimensional explosives" concept is especially interesting to me, given the Magic: the Gathering magitech called powerstones. Each one is effectively a dwarf universe, higher dimensions compressed until they radiate incredible amounts of energy. Indeed, one can charge a powerstone by collapsing a universe into it, as the planeswalker Urza did to power one of his greatest weapons against the horrific, H. R. Giger-esque menace known as Phyrexia. And yes, powerstones are incredibly potent explosives if compromised.
As for your analysis of the Storm King's regime, it's excellent stuff that's sadly based on incomplete information, though I see Alex Warlorn's been providing infodumps on your blogs. Still, the veiled tribute system should be compatible with the full picture. As for Spike, note that the first time he sets a Storm Guard aflame, it was by his own initiative. Yes, he was driven by his need to escape and somehow get to Twilight, but still, he was the one who chose to remind the brute that it was trying to contain a dragon.
4690069
Capper had a point; anything that bright is probably poisonous, diseased, or both.
4690143
I figured Twilight just gave the entire guard the day off for the Festival of Friendship. Friendship and spears don't exactly mix well. (Of course, that doesn't excuse the Wonderbolts. Could've at least tried to puncture those gasbags, boys and girls. Storm King doesn't have much in the way of anti-air fighters.)
Celestia losing track of time with Novo would certainly explain why the latter ignored the Gondor Calls for Aid moment.
4689788
Derpy is a classic example of a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass. The more so if you add The Saga of Derpy and Carrot Top to your headcanon. She plays a crucial role in defeating the Windigo Queen, and she helped save Equestria from the Storm King. Derpy is awesome!
The Storm King's stone pieces can be seen reassembled in a jumbled, messy stack in the credits. And I'm pretty sure I saw his eyes moving briefly, so... I think he's actually still alive, in a way.
4690295
This may count as a Fate Worse Than Death. On the other hoof, the Storm King might wind up reassembled and revived, either by a loyal follower, or by another villain with his or her agenda. Someone like Tirek or Chrysalis, for instance.
4690439
I think he should be held together by a wire frame and put in Celestia's garden.
4690239
I am reminded of the Exalted-verse's protoshinmaic vortices, which are essentially all the potentiality of a universe-just-about-to-form-from-primal-chaos squished down into a bright ball of a handy desktop size, such that you can skim a few tiny fractions of fractions of its power - which is still incredible cosmic power by most standards - off its corona. (And so, they can also serve as incredibly powerful explosives, being basically a Big Bang in a jar.)
Naturally, this being Exalted, we then pause for a meditation on the morality of taking what could have been a universe and all its wonder, and turning it into a battery for your vibro-massage chair.
I haven't even had time to watch today's episode yet, much less the movie. But if the movie is like a long, good episode, I'll be satisfied.
And if the songs are less than stellar, I'll be sorely disappointed.
4690286
That reminds me, I do need to work on that story idea where one of my instances of Best Pony stumbles upon your corner of probability space.
"Pbbtthhp."
"Pbbtthhthhp?"
4690439
Odd that he was spared from the depetrification effect that swept through Canterlot. I can only conclude the the Storm King was spared by that transcendent force far greater than any alicorn: the Motion Picture Association of America.
4690589
Or enslaving the denizens of another universe to power your car.
It was at this point that I realized that Rick Sanchez is essentially a Twilight Caste in a state of perpetual Limit Break.
4690619
I enjoyed them and have found myself humming them a few times over the weekend. I doubt you'll be disappointed on the musical front.
Having just seen it, i think the oddest bit is the beginning.
>"I have a plan for doing thing but it needs some help from the three of you."
>"How about no?"
>Not twenty seconds later a song about how friends will always help you out
I've actually seen this one! I went out Friday and watched a noon showing.
Over all I found the movie very visually impressive but I kept having trouble with the way the Mane Six looked, especially when we got close shots of faces. Twilight's face looked overly round compared to the show's animation. She had the worst of it to me but Pinkie, Dash and AJ all looked a little off as well. Tempest had a good design but I couldn't help but notice she looked a little 'stallion-ish' with her more square muzzle, but maybe that was only in comparison to the super rounded Twilight.
That throne room was awesome and one of my first thoughts was indeed "Oh, look, Luna has a throne now." as well.
I found him to be a minor annoyance but I'll agree that he could have been removed from the movie and I think it would have been a better experience.
Wait, he's a hedgehog? I did not notice that at all.
I am not aware of this unlucky gem, but that's really because I don't keep up with comic canon very much. (Google search is your friend.)
Cadence's fall was done really well, but when a magic shield meets an anti-magic projectile it's a good bet the projectile will win. The "I can't stop it!" line on her trying to control the dark crystal was a good touch as well. (Paraphrased, I can't remember the real line.)
Celestia I can also understand. She was too busy delegating to protect herself. Twilight almost being caught (and let's be fair she'd have been caught if not for a timely delivery by Equestria's Number One Mailmare) was fine as well in that her whole world is coming undone so she was understandably shell-shocked.
The only one I had a real problem with was Luna, but she could maybe be justified by still being a bit out of practice what with the long moon vacation and all.
I really wanted to go with the justification of there only being four orbs because that's all they could make but then there was another at the end. If you have four targets you should bring at least eight things you want to hit them with at a minimum. But I get it's probably a limited resource.
What's better: to show up and fail or to never show up at all? Though, really, at this point I would understand them having been disbanded.
Also, where is Discord during this whole thing? I get his 'snap my claw and make the problem go away' power kind of kills the drama but that's easy enough to work around by having him just enjoying the chaos or something. His cameo in the 'everyone dances ending' just makes it worse really.
Yeah, he did leave a lot to be desired. Though I think he was around for just the right amount of time, enough to be threatening in a funny manner but not so long to over stay his welcome.
Well, he did have a book of rules, so he can probably be serious at least some of the time. But then again that was probably only for comedic effect.
Well, considering that the one being who normally does move it is encased in stone and her sister who very likely could do it if needed is also out of action as well it is understandable why it hasn't moved. Twilight was also super busy to bother with something as minor as moving the sun and likely can't do it with her power alone. And Discord is MIA so there wasn't anyone around to do the celestial tasks.
It does mean Tempest's 'three days' kind of never happened. Though how many times did the Storm King swap the sun and moon at the end? Did time 'catch up' or did he go over? I didn't think to count at the time but I'm rather sure he went over. By a lot.
Well, they are quadrupeds so I'm guessing their walking pace is pretty fast. And I'm thinking maybe Pinkie bent space for them all a bit without the others paying too much attention. Every pronk is a mile! (I need to try and use the word 'pronk' more often.)
Yes, that bothered me as well. You'd think someone that can belly-flop into lava wouldn't be too bothered by the heat but then it wouldn't be as funny. Maybe.
Enough of one apparently. Or maybe he just makes people buy the stuff, a sort of 'honest' theft over normal theft.
I knew exactly what she was planning and I was face palming the whole way. ONE betrayal shouldn't have been enough as was stated in the movie, but as you said earlier Twilight does get major tunnel vision at times. Still doesn't mean we can't shake our heads at her being silly.
She was also lucky to keep her eye, with that scar and all. Scars over eyes are all edgy and what not but I'm at a point now where when I see one I can't help but think "How did they keep their eye but got a scar like that?" instead of "Oh, that's a badass facial scar."
Also, I'm trying to figure out the angle of the claw swipe that hits both the eye in a downward crescent motion AND the horn enough to shatter it at the base and I'm not really seeing it. Maybe the horn broke because of feedback from her shield breaking.
I was thinking this same thing as I said above.
Breath in through the nose and out through the mouth at the same time. Bizarre dragon biology.
That part made me laugh out loud.
Her whole "rely on no one but yourself" message really was undercut by that. And his Inevitable Betrayal was inevitable. I was really hoping he'd restore her horn just to subvert expectations and THEN betray her in some fashion because, again, Inevitable.
Yeeeeeeeeeeah. The lack of blood is the only thing saving that from a higher rating. Most of the target audience won't really think it though but that's still a bad way to go. Even more so because it looked to me like his eyes were still 'aware' of what was going on when he cracked up.
I was rather disappointed by the reset button, I expected it but was still disappointed. Considering he was still the broken stone during the ending I'm guessing the reset didn't work on him because he wasn't whole enough for it to do so. Cleaner at least.
The thing I liked most in the ending sequence was the Queen of the Hippos in the dance line. A nice little call back there.
Unless it needs to move fast for comedy. Such as the printing of the Book of Friendship Letters and the whole thing with ruining Darring Do's name and so on.
As for the card it's a nice set as always and I only have one minor comment on Celaeno’s Flagship: The wording works fine as it is but when comparing it to the wording on Pilots ("Whenever [Cardname] crews a Vehicle") I think "is crewed by" would be slightly better than "becomes crewed by" for what would go on the Vehicles if they cared about what was crewing them, because it flows more as present action instead of past tense action.
The fact that I had to stop and ask myself "Is that the wording Wizards used?" and double check the list of Vehicles to see if it had been done before may or may not say something.
The movie itself was really enjoyable but it didn't really make me want to get back into watching the show like I was hoping it would.
I made a card! I couldn't help but think of it during that scene. Might be a bit wordy but, eigh, I think it'd fit.
Spike, Fire-Breather 1R
Legendary Creature - Dragon Child
R: Spike, Fire-Breather gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
RRR: Transform Spike, Fire-Breather and attach it to a creature you control. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
1/1
Spike, Draconic Flamethrower
(R) Legendary Artifact - Dragon Equipment
When Spike, Draconic Flamethrower become unattached from a creature transform it.
Equipped creature has first strike
R: Equipped creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
XXRR: Spike, Draconic Flamethrower deals X damage to up to X target creatures divided as you choose.
1: Unattach Spike, Draconic Flamethrower.
4690948
To be fair on that Twilight came to the other Princesses as a peer asking for a favor not a friend asking for help.
There was also the whole "Using the sun and moon as stage lighting" thing but I'm sure that was only a minor factor of it.
4691002
If my analysis of the prequel comic is correct, and SPOILER ALERT Strife is actually a Discord-level primordial spirit, we may be actually dealing with some seriously higher-order politics staying his claw. Either that, or he's literally incapable of using his powers to undo the machinations of another Spirit (who may even outrank him in the Celestial Bureaucracy and thus is furthermore not even hanging around due to a "be scarce, boss is coming" attitude).
Of course, the actual reason is "because then there wouldn't be a movie" but this provides a handy enough explanation for a personal neadcanon, assuming I choose to integrate it. Dunno yet. Jury's still out.
4691002
One very odd thing about Twilight Sparkle's character design in the Movie is that she is the exact same size as her friends. She's supposed to be slightly larger, after having Ascended to become an Alicorn.
Yeah, he was a pretty lackluster villain. I think that may have been due the fact that he didn't really strike me as the main antagonist of the story -- Tempest was the one who provided dramatic tension, drove the conflict and got an in-depth character arc; Stormy's chief narrative purpose was to give a reason behind Tempest's change of heart.
That being said, it does match what was seen in the comics: he never actually set up an empire -- mostly, his modus operandi was to overwhelm a city or nation, rob it blind and move on. He was all about his quest for power -- he openly stated he didn't care about ruling. It's a pity more of his comics characterization didn't make it into the movie; I found him much more interesting there than here.
I find it very amusing that there's a whole bunch of pirate stuff happening with me right after Ixalan's release. Including Captain Celeano here, there's also the DLC case for Phoenix Wright - Dual Destinies, which takes place in a pirate themed aquarium, that I just played through about a week ago. In addition, my Game Night just started game 3 of Seafall, in which rules for piracy were just introduced (and as an extra fun note, the first act of piracy happened right after I found an island and named it "Loguetown").
This doesn't really have much to do with the rest of the posts here, but it's what's on my mind at this point.
4690073
The prequel material establishes Storm King as smart. Smarter in many ways than Tempest Shadow, who blames her friends for leaving her when they honestly tell her they can't wait for her to get better and join them.
The film... throws all of that into the garbage bin. All hail rushed OP Unicorn mare redemption, never mind that she planned to overthrow Storm King anyway!
Blegh.
Well, to be totally fair, I haven't seen the full movie yet. The more I hear about what they did with Tempest and Storm King, the less I do, though. Maybe everything else in it can be fun?
/sigh
I don't know.
4690948
To be fair, Twilight was asking them to arrange the cosmos according to her whim. That's the kind of thing you want to shut down before she decides she can run the universe more efficiently, and that way lies a relatively sane Midnight Sparkle.
4692939
Fate is clearly trying to tell you something. Go grab stuff off the Internet!
4693165
The movie does the Storm King no favors, but I think you'll be happy with Tempest.
And that, in a nutshell, is why I didn't like the movie. Equestria is by no means defenseless, nor passive.
Preserve Hope resonates so well with me. It's an absolute perfect design from any angle.
4693364
What makes you say that? I'm not saying you're wrong, mind, I'm just curious.
Most shocking thing about this movie: Gamora has a really nice singing voice.
Princess-worship has always tickled my fancy. How do you deal with worshipping a being who walks among you, especially when she regularly buys produce from your fruit stand?
I, too, loved Tempest. Or as we later learn, Fizzlepop Berrytwist Her start of darkness felt a lot better to me than Glimmer's did. Also, unicorn horns must be made of strong stuff if it takes something on the order of an ursa minor slam attack to break them. Also, I guess ponies don't have a high opinion of eyeblights?
What I shouted [not in a theater, as there weren't any I had access to, I swear I'll buy the movie once it hits Google Play or wherever] to my friend when this happened: "You didn't catch her. You caught her stunt double!"
That sentence is magical.
I didn't think of the blast Tempest gave off as being equally as powerful as the staff beams, so much as I thought of it reacting explosively with it. She did spray a good bit of poorly organized red mana there, after all.
Anyone else wondering what that "little thing" Novo was about to suggest doing when Twi was discovered trying to steal the pearl? Also, I wonder what Twi was planning to use the pearl to transform ponies into in order to better fight the Storm King... dragons, perhaps?
My friend and I loved Fluttershy's form of participation in the fight. That poor guard was just doing that job to pay for college!
Wow. Cannon Gambit looks like such a fun card. Are you hinting that Pinkie is part goblin?
I like Maul, too. How did wither feel in standard? I'm rather sad that the mechanic didn't come back (unless you count infect, which I found to be rather, ahem, toxic), but I feel like it would have been interesting to play around with.
Wow. We've Got This Together + Arahbo + a way to give all your mooks vigilance + all of the cat tokens...
I really want to put Fizzlepop the Wanderer in a jund deck with Bow of Nylea.
Um, it would be kinda easy to have infinite combat steps with Celaeno as written. Well, as long as you had access to infinite red and blue mana.
I was about to comment on how Klugetown Market was a bit OP compared to the storage lands, until I realized that it didn't have a "tap for a colorless" mode. You ain't gettin' nothin' for free in Klugetown. How appropriate.
After too much thought, I have a more elegant Staff of Sacanas for you.
Staff of Sacanas 4
Legendary Artifact
Imprint: T, exile a creature with Alicorn you control.
If there are exactly four creatures with Alicorn and different names imprinted on ~, you may cast spells without paying their mana costs.
I thought the movie was okay. I wouldn't call it good, but it had good moments.
I didn't like how insular Equestria was portrayed as, but I did like the new lands. I still don't like Tempest's design (especially the broken horn, which is just pointlessly edgy if it doesn't actually prevent her from doing magic), but her character was mostly fine. I hated the hedgehog thing whose name I already forgot, but I really liked the Storm King, and wished that we'd gotten more of him. And the other new characters like Capper and the pirates were also good, although the Sia pony felt like a really pointless cameo whose role could've easily been handed to Coloratura or Sapphire Shores.
All that said, I deduct major points for the fact that Tempest Shadow actually succeeded in the first act. The last time an invading army tried to take Canterlot, they had a much better plan than this, and they still lost. And back then, there were only two princesses and one powerful unicorn involved in active defense. The princesses may get worfed all the time, but it still annoys me when it happens. Especially to a random unicorn who just tosses grenades. It would've been one thing if the Storm King had been there himself with some ancient magical artefact, but this is pretty inexcusable.
They literally didn't know the dragons had a system of monarchy. I personally embraced the idea that Equestria was isolationist around the point it was confirmed it's been a thousand moons since they communicated with a kingdom whose boorish prince's first reaction is an immediate assurance that he hopes for friendship.
I like how Commander Tempest Shadow is at minimum a 5/5 thanks to Fizzlepop triggers.
I’m just going to headcanon that when the Storm King’s Forces arrived, Starlight just assumed that Twilight and co. would have this, and stuck with a schedul involving a meeting with Sunset and a new journal.
You know, the more I think about this movie, the more I realize it's just Star Wars (specifically, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, with shades of the backstory from the prequels thrown in) but with ponies. Tempest/Fizzlepop is Vader/Anakin- in their past, they were disfigured (ursa attack for Tempest, lost a few lightsaber fights for Vader), abandoned in their times of crisis (Fizzlepop by her friends after her injury, Anakin by the Jedi... well, really the whole time, from the point where they didn't free his mother all the way to Padmé's pregnancy), and promised help by the villains (the Storm King offered to restore Tempest's horn, and the Emperor offered to save Padmé). As a result, they betrayed their civilizations (Equestria and the Republic).
Past the backstory, there are plenty of parallels in the plot of the movie itself. The heroes are attacked at home by the enemy leader's underling, resulting in a major defeat (Tempest leads the invasion of Canterlot, Vader leads the invasion of Hoth). The main characters flee, and are pursued by the enemy, who is looking for one particular member of the group (Tempest after Twilight, Vader after Luke). The villain leader appears in a hologram to communicate with their underling (Storm King and Tempest, Emperor and Vader- this particular bit makes me think at least some of this was intentional) about the importance of capturing their target. Meanwhile, said target(s) encounter(s) a city outside their domain where they meet an individual who acts like he's helping them, but has actually sold them out, but ultimately has a change of heart and joins the protagonists (Capper and Lando), as well as a former ally now living in exile to hide from the villains (Novo and Yoda). One of the protagonists is captured (Twilight and Han), and the remaining protagonists, with the aid of the character who tried to betray them but turned to their side, infiltrate the place where their friend is imprisoned (Canterlot and Jabba's Palace). With the aid of their former enemy, the protagonists attack the villains' stronghold, which they infiltrate by disguising themselves as the the enemy, or at least individuals in their service (disguising as a cake delivery to hit Canterlot and using a stolen vessel to get at the Death Star). The enemy's underling, who is the only one of them to appear onscreen so far, is finally joined by their master (Tempest and Storm King, Vader and Emperor) with the hero imprisoned (Twilight and Luke). The hero is merciful to the defeated underling (Twilight to Tempest, Luke to Vader), and as a result, when the villain tries to kill the hero despite having already lost the larger battle going on, the underling sacrifices themselves to save the protagonists, killing the villain and redeeming themselves (Tempest takes one of those magic grenade things to catch the Storm King in the blast, Vader takes the Emperor's lightning to throw him down the bottomless pit). The underling returns to their original name that they had abandoned when they turned evil (Fizzlepop Berrytwist and Anakin Skywalker).
They don't line up exactly- most notably, all of Return of the Jedi is rolled into the events between Twilight's capture and the end of the movie- but it's pretty damn close.
Finally, finally I saw the movie too. Dodging spoilers all the time is over!
I had kind of the impression that Tempest's unstable magic is essentially anti-magic, and with that I don't mean in the suppressing way, but in the anti-matter way.
I imagine the staff doesn't specify alicorns and is instead a more generic receptacle for magic power. Maybe it is some kind of crucible, fusing magic from a number (potentially a specific number like, dunno, four) of unique magical beings into something new, guided by the subconscious desires of its wielder. What the Storm King wanted more than anything was being a master of storms, and so that's what it gave him, interpreted through the lens of alicorn magic. If he had chosen four elder dragons, or even four completly different creatures, he would have gotten a different kind of storm magic.
4858367
Congrats on the spoiler avoidance! There are some quite good stories out there with the movie characters. I particularly recommend The Sweet Spot and My Kind of Crazy.