Checking In - March 2018 · 10:55pm Mar 1st, 2018
Hello everyone! February has ended and so it is time for our monthly check-in. It’s been a weird month and not quite as productive as I’d hoped. Fortunately, the reason for that lack of productivity isn’t an issue of inspiration. More after the break.
[page-break]
February Statistics:
Total Words Written: 7,015
Published Chapters:
Finding a Place: Chapter 45 (10,939 words)
Thoughts:
It would be easy to look at the number above and think I finally fell apart as far as writing speed goes. The actual truth is I ran into two completely unrelated problems. First, my wrist is acting up from a massive data entry project at work. I don’t have carpal tunnel syndrome yet but my work does put me at risk. It makes typing for extended periods a bit exhausting and sometimes painful. I’m going to need a new chair and keyboard to take care of the ergonomic issues.
The second reason is far more interesting. I spent a chunk of this month finalizing some story notes I’ve been putting off far too long. Finding a Place has reached a point where this information needed to be locked down. That was about 10,000 words of writing by itself but it isn’t something you’ll ever see.As such, I’m not going to count them as words written. Still, it had to be done and I think everything is lined up for the next chapters.
I’d love to get two chapters done this month but that might be overly optimistic. We’ll just have to see how my arm feels.
A few More Things:
So we got a new Equestria Girls special. Forgotten Friendship was a solid story and also kind of horrifying. I can’t imagine what a nightmare it would be to wake up one day and have everyone you called a friend forgetting everything you've done to redeem yourself. Without spoiling too much on the off chance you haven’t seen it yet, the moment with Sunset just before the end just about broke my heart. So it was quite solid and far more inspiring than the tiny little short videos.
I’ve seen the season 8 previews and I’m intrigued by the school and the new characters. It will be cool if the series begins to explore the world more. This might also solve a developing problem with the series. The issue is, to have a story you need a conflict but if the Mane Six are always the source of the problems it undermines the long-term growth they should be showing. Twilight’s confidence backslide in the movie is a good example of this but there are dozens of examples where lessons learned are completely forgotten.
Say what you will about Starlight Glimmer but bringing her in as a major character gave room for fresh conflict without forcing the Mane 6 back into season 1 and 2 personality tropes. By introducing more new characters from a diverse set of cultures we get the room for new conflicts where the Mane 6 could act as mentors rather than the source of the conflict. How the writers handle the idea will ultimately make or break the series. I hope this change breathes new life into MLP.
Anyhow, that’s all for now. Thanks for reading and for your support!
So I've seen the newest EQ movie, and something confused me. So I understand Wallflowers motivation, but how would removing other people's memories help her in being noticed? I was watching this with a friend and was joking around a lot so maybe I missed that part.
4808049 - I think her primary motivation was trying to clean up all the times where she felt embarrassed. It sort of came up near the end. The memory stone basically gives her another chance to try to make a first impression but it also means she's constantly starting over. If she always feels like she's tripping socially, the temptation to erase memories over and over again would be a big temptation. Especially for someone suffering from social anxiety as badly as I suspect Wallflower does.
Btw, I found this kind of funny, but at the end when everyone forgives her (it's not a spoiler because when haven't they in an EQ movie?), I can only imagine Cole Marksen saying "so your just going to forgive and FORGET everything she's done?". Is that weird?
Not sure if I want to see "Forgotten Friendship" again! It was too scary for me!
4809371 - Yeah, it was pretty terrifying. To be forgotten by those you care about would be an awful experience.
4808084 - At least she didn't turn into a demon. If they can forgive someone going insane and shredding the fabric of reality, erasing a few memories seems almost trivial by comparison.
4810568
I wonder if they'll meet a foe that they simply can't forgive. A villain who is unredeemable, or a problem that can't be simply solved by friendship.
We kind of saw that in season six when Starlight failed to redeem Chrysalis, but that was the main series. When will we see that in the EQ series? Would the sirens count?
4810572 - It's possible, though the format of the EQG series doesn't favor loose ends very well. If it was a proper series instead of a bunch of larger films it might work. The Sirens could be considered unredeemed since their story only ended with them neutralized as far as we could tell. You could also classify Principal Cinch from Friendship Games as an unredeemed character.
Tirek would be another example of an unredeemed villain in the main series.
4810665
I guess you're right about that, but Tirek is in Tartarus and the sirens for all we know are dead (kinda playing off what you wrote about them.). Also, it would probably make sense that Cinch was fired from Crystal Prep after pushing human twilight to 🎵unleash the magic🎵, which almost killed some people. Maybe I'm overthinking this show meant for little girls, but we did get The storm king and his (let's be honest) gruesome demise in the MLP Movie.
4810671 - Technically it's the second time Tirek has been put there, having escaped once already. Wouldn't surprise me if he shows up again. I believe one of the short films (Dance Magic I think) actually mentions Cinch has been dismissed. Honestly, it's more likely she was terminated due to the use of blackmail and the way she fostered a hostile school environment. Crystal Prep was hell from what little I saw.
When it comes to unredeemed villains, it's just a question of what they want to leave as hanging plot threads. EQG shows are so sporadic an unresolved thread would be a problem similar to TV series that were canceled on a season end cliffhanger. Granted, unresolved stories make for good fanfiction fodder.