Blog Post Extravaganza: Season Three's Two Part Premiere Review, Magnetism's fifth chapter Fun With Magnetic Ponies discussion and two deleted scenes! · 5:20pm Nov 10th, 2012
Now I was going to post something, something non-pony related that has me excited but I'm pretty sure everyone here can't stop thinking about ponies at the moment so I'll save it for next week's post. With season 3 starting I'm back to doing what I was originally doing with my profile blog, first-hand impression of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic episodes. In less than 24 hours of the episode's airing I guarantee you a review, based entirely on my first time watching the episode. Sure this may result in some change of mind later on but that always happens as time goes on and as people look back on the episodes. This does not mean I won't have my usual Fanfiction progress stuff; my talk of Fanfiction is here to stay. Usually my blog's go introduction, Fanfiction progress, and then either an article or an episode review but as it's the season 3 premier I've swapped the last two around. First up is my review of both parts of The Crystal Empire and then it is my chapter development discussion on the latest and most recently chapter upload of Magnetism. I hope you all enjoy this!
I’m feeling a little giddy and I’m not sure if that’s because I’ve had the livestreams ready on my laptop since I woke up to watch the season 3 premier or because of my BBQ chicken wings, calzone, Pizza, and diet coke I had while watching the episode. Anyway, it’s been a while since I did one of my first-hand impression reviews (though I did two of G3 MLP episodes) but let’s see if I’ve got it all together. What did I think of the season 3 premire? There were ups, there were downs, and all round it balanced itself out into an average two episodes just like season 1 and season 2’s two part openings.
I’ll start on a high note and start by simply stating the truest fact about the two episodes; Spike was awesome! I did not expect this, I did not expect him to get so much attention, I did not expect him to have such great interactions, I did not expect him to be the greatest thing of the two episodes but he was, Spike was awesome. He was not the only character who came out well as I found myself warming up to both Shining Armour and Princess Cadence, the former not by much but I liked him more here than A Canterlot Wedding and I actually like Cadence now. She’s shown to be strong but not so strong that she doesn’t struggle or need to put effort into what she is doing, and the fact that she needs assistance for something’s makes her even more likable. There were some great humour moments, some great action moments, and some great dark moments. The part with Twilight throwing her house into the air in part 1 was great, and the door of your worst fears was a neat little moment that helped make Twilight’s choice near the end seem more grand, more sacrificial.
I do have like some heavy criticism for this two part premier, there is a reason this episode is only average (for newcomers, my ranks go from poor, average, good, fantastic, and top 10). The two big things I find they got wrong with these episodes are the villain and pacing. King Sombra was, well, did he even exist? I mean seriously he was seen quite a few times but he had no presence, no personality, nothing. I’m sure he was supposed to come across as scary but I just feel no impact from the guy; he might as well have been replaced by a catastrophic natural disaster. The second problem is pacing, which at first doesn’t seem like a problem but does when you get to the second part. The first part focusing on getting to the kingdom and finding out about the fair, and setting up the fair, this all takes longer than it needs to and got boring in places. This wasn’t too bad by itself but when you see that this two part special once again rushed the final action moment and gave us an anti-climactic moment I realised that they should have better paced the first part to allow the second part’s big action piece more time. Speaking of which there are two things which makes these problems infuriate me even more; first in how close they came to having a non-anticlimactic action piece (King Sombra chases Spike and the other elements help him run by playing pass the parcel with crystal heart and then gets it where it needs to be, somewhat intense and promotes friendship) and second; both of these two things were done better in the 20 minute G1 special, Rescue From Midnight Castle (Tirek is still the coolest villain in MLP). There are some other nit-picks I could make but I guess I’ll only point out one; Celestia. I’m no fan of her but I started to get a better opinion of her in A Canterlot Wedding when she came across as more normal, capable of mistakes but here she fufils my most hated role in the history of ever; the enchantress. Oh look, an entire kingdom is possibly doomed; let’s make it a test for my pupil… what is wrong with you? Back to the bottom three you go Celestia; I seriously hate you once again.
Let’s not end this on a negative note, as while I deem both of them to be average there are still some noteworthy stuff. There’s Spike, the brilliant animation, Spike, Applejack and Rarity’s interactions that border on shipping (did you hear AJ’s comment to Rarity? Is Rarijack the FlutterDash of season 3?), Spike, Spike’s interactions with both Twilight Sparkle and Rarity, the scenery, the jousting, and did I forget to mention Spike? I should also comment on the songs, the first two were kind of meh but the reprisal of Twilight’s failure song was superb (I saw that FlutterDash there), absolutely brilliant way to end the opening. So that there is my opinion on The Crystal Empire Part 1 and 2.
The next episode is Too Many Pinkie Pie’s, an episode I certainly look forward too for it’s off the wall cartoony wackiness and to see my favourite character’s mind shatter into a thousand pieces at the sight of hundreds of Pinkie Pie’s. I have high hopes for this one, and this is normally where I say cheerio but lookout below because there’s still my Fanfiction progress section to enjoy.
Well folks, its time I talk about chapter 5 of Magnetism, Fun With Magnetic Ponies. Long time followers of my blog will recognise the chapter name, for at one point it was to be the title for the first chapter of Magnetism, now Binding Bracelets. Even longer followers of my blog (which as far as I know means just Ugugg93) will also recongise chapter 5's title as the original title for the entire fanfic, Magnetism was originally going to be called Fun With Magnetic Ponies.
Surprisngly I have a quite a lot of ground to cover in regards to the development of this chapter and I'll start with what you are probably already aware about. First, just like chapter 4, this latest chapter was supposed to be a short one at only around 4000 word. I failed spectacularly at that... again. Secondly, as also mentioned in my last chapter development discussion, the opening of chapter 5 is not it's original opening. The beginning scene involving Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash was written for chapter 4, while the dream sequnce opening of the previous chapter was intended for chapter 5. I swapped them around because I felt they would fit in the story's timeline, giving Twilight an extra day to rest, recover, and become less crazy.
Next I will speak of thepranks, a key element that had always been planned for the chapter. Honestly, pranks are not a forté of mine and by the time I had uploaded the first chapter of this story for your viewing pleasure I still had yet to come up with any. Chapter 6 and 7 had each scene roughly planned but chapter 5 had only the two scenes thought up. As I continued to write the story though I came up with an opening for chapter 5 and eventually three pranks. I was uncertain about my ideas and as such I beeseeched my dear readers for assistance... only of you helped. Once again I thank Sidewayz for his assistance, as while I did not truly use any of his pranks ideas, simply having someone to discuss the ideas with helped me to generate my own and better present my already thought of pranks.
The next point I should raise up is one that will most likely become an entire blog post of mine in future but it is relavent now and needs to be talked about at least a little bit. This is due to chapter 5 being the first story of mine to feature background ponies. The first two focused on are Flitter and Cloudchaser, two I wanted to include because Flitter is my favourite background pony and has my favourite mare design (for those wondering my favourite stallion design is Mr. Cake and my favourite overall MLP character desgin is Rover). I also like Cloudchaser a lot as well. For their characterisation, I used what little we know of them from their canon appearance in Hurricane Fluttershy and then based the rest off of the styles of their manes. Then comes Time Turner, who you'll know better as Dr. Whooves. Why do I not have him as Dr. Whooves? Because I have little to no interest in Dr. Who and as such know next to nothing about the series or character. His presentation as Time Turner came more from canonical sources such as the show and the MLP trading cards, with a little humorous exaggeration of course. Finally there is Lyra and Bon Bon, and I will confess now that I have no feelings towards LyraBon, I'm neutral to this pairing. The only reason LyraBon was featured is because I wanted to take advantage if humour best served by married couples. There's nothing too unique about either character's depiction and I regrettably relied on fannon in this instance rather than interpret things from the show and toy information like I do with all the other characters. As you can tell though I did decide to expand Lyra's human obession and branch it out to an obsession with all things G1 My Little Pony, to which both humans and seaponies were a part of.
Overall I would say the most important thing to explain about this chapter, even if it is more of a sideplot, is Applejack and her perception of homosexuals. Since the beginning of Magnetism I have always wanted to explore one of the characters having a problem and in effect being homophobic. I decided to use Applejack as the vehicle for this because I feel she has a grounded source for such a view, her devotion to family and the concepts of family. Obviously this is not the only interpretation but I feel it is a logical one, for someone whose beliefs stern almost entirely on the basis of a traditional family to be uncomfortable with something that disrupts that structure. In presenting Applejack as homophobic though I also did not want to present her as hateful and I also wanted to do something a little more unique and in turn came up with two ideas. My original, comical idea was to have Applejack as homophobic, in the more tranditional sense of term 'phobia'. Applejack would have a fear of homosexuals that would cause her to react much like most people do when I run up to them and ask them to look at all these live wasps I'm holding, she would shiver, panic, and become frantic. The second, current idea was to simply have Applejack uncomfortable, not against it but finding it strange and abnormal (like how some cultures find eating insects or dogs disgusting because they've been brought up to think of it that way while these other cultures find it perfectly normal because they've always been doing it). The current idea isn't as over-the-top hilarious but it allows me to present the idea of a sympathetic and understandable homophobic in a more serious light. I will admit that I probably didn't do the greatest job with conveying Applejack's point of view, and in fact relied on my proof-reader quite a bit in the wording of that scene (you were right, I did not self edit that scene). I say the two problems that I came across in conveying the message was trying to make it come out in the character of Applejack, and not some emotionless list, and also trying to convey it with an accent. I hope you were able to understand what I was trying to put across with Applejack and if not, I hope this explanation helps.
The last thing I will talk about is both an intended scene for the chapter and a removed scene from the chapter. Originally I was going to have a part, following on from RD's and FS's talk of sexaulity, about Fluttershy's dating experiance. This is a background detail that I still consider part of the story though I am unsure where I will place it, but it was to have Fluttershy tell of how she constantly attract's stallions rather than mares and her two dates with mares which wern't actually dates with mares. The first of these not-dates with mares was to be with Rarity, as Fluttershy explains how when she first met Rarity she thought Rarity was asking her out (Rarity complimenting Fluttershy's style and looks and saying how they should chat about this while having tea). The second of these not-dates with mares was to be with Derpy (inspired by that one scene in Fall Weather Friends) which was to hint at my headcanon regarding Magnetism's Derpy which would in turn get me butchered by the Brony community more so than the fact that I dislike the Smile, Smile, Smile song. I will not outright say it but I got this head-canon from the words of Tabitha St. Germain, which you will find in the link. When coming to that moment though I also thought of a different scene I could have instead, which I wrote down but felt there was something off about it and so didn't include. I then went back to trying to include Fluttershy's dating experiance idea but didn't have enough time and felt it would stretch the chapter out longer than I wanted to so did not write it. So then, while I do not have the past dating experiance scene to show you I do have the other idea I had thought of for that chapter in written form and shall post it below.
Chapter 5 deleted scene
“So you find mares to be… attractive, right?”
“Yes,”
“Do you find me attractive?”
Rainbow Dash’s question caused every molecule in Fluttershy’s body to freeze and let out little shrieks of fright. Such a question was unexpected by the mare, and she found her fears to confessing her sexuality were nothing in comparison to answering the question before her.
“Now, now, it’s okay to admit Rainbow Dash is attractive. It’s not like I’m in love with her and it’s perfectly normal to not love a pony and still find her attractive.” Fluttershy’s thoughts bounced about her head as her wings unfolded, ”Just tell her that yes, you find her attractive and that you wish to push her onto your bed, tie her down with rope and”-
“Fluttershy, do you need to fly. Your wings are flapping faster than a humming bird?”
Fluttershy snapped out of her thoughts and immediately stopped flapping her wings. Faking a smile, she thanked her friends sexual obliviousness and scolded herself for flapping to her friend in front of said friend.
I haven't watched the episode, so I had to skip to the end. That said, as an editor, I'm glad that you cut out that part. Not only does it kinda make things a little too awkward, a little weird, and it takes Rainbow's sexual obliviousness to a whole different level of... well... stupidity. What you have going now is nice, and is more in line with someone that is way too sheltered. Going any further... well... it will end up looking like Rainbow has absolutely zero libido at all. I mean, seriously, Rainbow's gotta know what extended wings mean!
Still doing interruptions wrong.
I'll do a follow-up response on your episode review when I actually see it.
Yeah, I still haven't! XD But so far I've heard positive responses, so, I guess we'll see!
And like I said, I am glad that you decided to take the homophobic stance in terms of Applejack a little more seriously. I know the stereotypes of her likely being homophobic are off the charts and annoy the hell out of me, but I'm glad you went the middle ground. I can see why you wanted to take a more funny approach to it, but that's very hard to do. But at the same time, I'm glad you wouldn't have made her hateful, THAT is where I draw the line. But overall, I'm glad you, in a way, treated it more seriously. Sometimes, yeah, we all want to go for the hilarity and the cheap jokes, but there are times that you really have to consider how you present something. As a homosexual myself (yes, I admit it! 8D), it's nice to see that people are trying to be a little more attentive about it. So like I said, I give you points for actually taking it to a better level instead of just going all "Applejack is homophobic and HATES anyone who's homosexual". She just needs to understand that you don't need to be able to reproduce to be together. After all, there are even straight couples who never have kids!
Anyway, enough of that rambling. XD
That little deleted scene bit for chapter five is pretty cute. I hope you'll address it maybe sometime later, it would be interesting to see that kind of admittance, and all of Fluttershy's backstory elements within the (Failed) dating world. 8D Interesting theories, I think! While I do take slight issue with assuming a character is gay even though they've never bedded nor kissed another character of the same gender and instead going on characteristics which is of course not how being gay works, but I digress. I do admit I'd like to see where it all comes along for Fluttershy there.
Hee! That bit of her thoughts! XD Ha! Well, Fluttershy may deny having feelings for her, she does indeed feel sexually attracted to her. Meow!
Overall, great as always, my friend!
I was most impressed by the music of the season intro. That classical blending was just astounding
Whoa, you wrote lots here.
I totally agree; Shiny was much better in the S3 episodes.
The deleted scene was a work of art. I never thought that somepony could be attractive without being loved by that person/pony. You are awesome.
Like with the comments on Magnetism it's a bit early for me to be commenting on this blog post but I do need to mention to my first two loyal commenters that I now await their views on my review, after all I'm pretty sure they have seen the episode by now.
489998 I'm glad to see I made the right decision regarding the removal of that scene, I did feel there was something a little off. As for your comments regarding the extent of Rainbow Dash's sexual obliviousness, well, you're not far off with some things you said. Let's just say that Dash's sexual obliviousness is more than just a joke, though for Magnetism it will probably remain at that stage.
Anyway I'm sure you've watched, The Crystal Empire by now and as such I would love it if you came to comment on both your own opinion and mine. Still I thank you for your current comment regarding my Fanfiction progress; usually it is this that is uncommented upon so it's nice to have people focus on it a little more. Thank you as always Ugugg, I appreciate it.
490024 Well I do believe you've seen the episode by now so I shall eagerly await your second comment in the coming hours/days... but hopefully hours.
I certainly didn't expect you to reveal your sexuality in this post but if we're exchanging personal information it seems only right that I do the same. Personally I'm bisexual however I do wish I were asexual as I kind of have a thing against the act of sex and a lot of things related to it. Sadly one does not control how the body reacts.
I'm not sure what exactly you're taking issue with though; you worded it a little strangely. From what I gather you're taking issue with my depiction of Fluttershy as a lesbian despite how in my depiction she has not actually kissed or had sex with a mare. This I find a little odd, to be sexually attracted to a gender is simply a matter of how your body compels you towards one or both or none, and by further extent to enjoy such... experiences with those genders. I've never done any of those things mentioned... with anyone (and I never will, no thank you) but I can still confirm my bisexuality based on what annoyingly my body feels compelled towards.
That, that was a lot more serious of a conversation than I was expected. Great to see you commenting though NintendoGal and I'll be waiting on that second comment.
490625 I must admit that the background music has a tendency to slip my mind at times with exception to the rare occasion (Sonic Rainboom, Hurricane Fluttershy, Dragon Quest). Thinking back on it though the music was pretty good although my memory of the BGM is already a little foggy. Thanks for the comment though KnoFear, and if you enjoyed this review you'll be happy to know there will be one for each season 3 episode, cheerio.
494064 By nature two episodes demand quite a bit to be written in order to review them, what truly makes this a long post though is how much more there was to say on Chapter 5's development discussion. Thanks for the compliments, thanks for reading, and thank you very much for commenting. There will be another of my reviews next week but of course on the new episode, Too Many Pinkie Pie’s, for now though I say cheerio.
494334 Oh dear, did I word it wrong? Crap! XD I did it again!
What you said does make sense, and I guess maybe I might have misinterpreted what you'd said before about it. Oopsie.
I don't mind sharing that bit about myself, actually! Because really? It doesn't affect who I am as a person. It's just a certain aspect of me that happens to be part of who I am.
And that's part of who you are! So hey, all right then! XDDD And by the way, you're not alone in that. A friend of mine is like that as well, choosing to be Asexual. And frankly? I can't blame either of you! I wish I was too, since I know I'm going to chicken out if I ever get presented the opportunity of sex. XD Plus aside from reading/writing sex involved in sweet romance between characters and people who love each other, I just don't want anything to do with it.
Anyway! I guess I shall now make my follow-up. 8D I have indeed seen the episode! I wrote a review on it over on my blog, so you can check it out if you'd like.
It was awesome that Spike got some recognition for it, and it all came down to Twilight making a self sacrifice! By putting the good of the Crystal Empire above her own needs, Twilight gets quite a burst of character development! And Spike not only managed to really help save the day, but he gets commemoration for it! That's awesome!
I'm glad he finally gets some respect, because he deserves it.
I liked that they brought back Shining Armor and Cadance, since I did like their characters back in A Canterlot Wedding. And having them utilize Cadance's power like that was very well done and clever, but I also have to say I like the dark element they introduced. In the fact that a unicorn and even an alicorn do have their limits. That just opens a whole new realm of possibility and really shows that, yes, they're not almighty ponies. Even they have limits. And I can't blame Cadance for having been so weak. She was holding her magic, non-stop, of her special talent, for an en ENTIRE EMPIRE, to keep it afloat within the curse. I mean, that has got to be straining something fierce. That was very nicely done.
The interactions of the Main Six and Spike were superb. I like to think, as I said to some others over in my review, that they put little hints of shipping, but nothing that borders too much on romantic territory. That way, it flies over the heads of kids and yet makes the older fans notice and laugh. And yes, of course I saw the RariJack moments, which were just so natural and adorable. And then we get glimpses of RariTwi! Interesting... Oh yes, don't think I forgot about FlutterDash!
Super cute, and I talked about it in my blog a little bit, a la the same way I analyzed their moments in previous blogs. And yet I forgot to mention their closeness at the end of the song! Oops!
Songs, yeah, they're okay! They're nicely done and well-written, even if a bit average compared to some of the other songs from the past two seasons. But regardless, they were still nice. The reprisal at the end of part two was actually the best one, I agree! Kazumi Evans kicked it off beautifully, which I think was the best aspect of it.
Okay, so I know you hate Celestia so much, and so I'm going to try to make a gentle rebuttal. The whole enchantress thing? Okay, that bit was to showcase and illustrate the power and influence King Sombra had over the Crystal Empire. A visual aid, if you will. Then the whole test thing? Yeah, I have to admit I'm one too sure why the writers put it that way. But I guess, the best theory I can come up with is this.
It's meant to be a callback to episode one, when Twilight was told to "make some friends". A lot of fans complained that Celestia should have told her right from the start about what was going on and how to achieve the Elements of Harmony and about the return of Nightmare Moon. Well, that would have defeated the entire purpose. If Twilight knew she had to make friends in order to awaken the power of the Elements of Harmony, she would have done so in the quickest and most impersonal way possible, and not have formed natural friends like she ended up doing.
I think, for this, the problem was the execution of the idea. It was meant to be, overall, a test of Twilight's selflessness and overcoming her own best interests above the rest of the empire. So by planting the seed of it being a test, meant to be passed, it's motivation in order to do so. The result came perfectly and naturally, but the execution and lead-up was not quite up to what it could have been. But then again, what's the alternative?
"Twilight, I want you to make a self sacrifice. This test is to do just that."
They tried to keep it vague and plant a seed, much like with "make some friends". But it didn't quite work out. That was the real problem with it.
But, I digress. You are entitled to your opinion, and I guess we'll see just how much it progresses along. It has been confirmed there may just be an episode focusing on the Princesses. So, hopefully, some of this will be addressed!
Overall, I think this was a very solid start to season three.
Thanks for the mention, short though it may have been. I really do appershiate it! I'm glad I could help get your ideas flowing, as I don't ever get an opportunity to influence fics this much.
I also caught those "canon ship" moments, though it took a second viewing for me to notice that Flutterdash towards the end. I usually watch the episode once for the entertainment, then a second time while analyzing everything, from everypony's facial expressions to little moments like those mentioned above.
Great blog post, I look forward to the next!
494334
Alright, so I FINALLY watched the episode, for I was finally able to get my older brother and I together to watch it. I'll try to be short and to the point, so here we go!
The Good: The character interactions were probably my favorite part, hands down. I think every character interacted with the others in a very big way (with one exception, which I'll get to in a second), and I loved it. Extra props to the interactions with Twilight/Rarity, Twilight/Spike, Fluttershy/Rainbow, and Rainbow/Applejack. That's not to say the others weren't amazing, it's just that these were my favorite. My second favorite part would have to be that, in the end SPIKE saved the day. Seriously, in all of the other episodes, he's just the guy in the background holding the fort while they do their adventure. He was able to be the hero, and get the glory.
However, my favorite moment has to be when Spike goes to the "evil" door. When Twilight went up to it, it was a pretty typical terror thing that I expected from her: her losing Celestia. Was it a good "ultimate fear?" I would say no, but it was good enough. Spike's? Damn... that got me right in the feels. That was probably the deepest part of the entire episode, and I loved it.
The Bad: Erg. The Test. Really? That was lame. Really really lame. I could understand if the reason behind it was that, like in the season 1 premiere, the point was for it to work out naturally (like 494387 said). However, there was no reason NOT to tell Twilight, and every reason TO tell her. In fact, it was absolutely stupid to not send Luna at all! It... erg. I'm not going into it further, for it's already all been said.
The only other major bad part was the final bad guy. NMM was a really nasty baddie, and we got a feel for that in her two parter. Discord was a really bad baddie, and we got a feel for that. King Solomon... was kinda lame. He had only two or three lines, was never in the spotlight, and was gone as soon as he was... what? Destroyed? Banished? Turned into a quiche? Very vague.
A minor negative was the serious lack of Pinkie in this episode. Seriously. She had the spy thing, she had the jester thing, and... that's kinda it. She really wasn't in the episode at all, and she didn't interact with the other ponies either. Made me very confused on why she got pushed to the rear of the story so much while Rarity, Rainbow, and AJ got the biggest parts by far (other than Twilight and Spike). Maybe Pinkie/Fluttershy's voice actress couldn't do a lot of parts in the episode? Weird.
Funniest Moment: Easily the stained glass picture at the end. Seriously. That made me laugh so freakin' hard. Now Spike will forever be known as a hero!!!
Close second goes to when Rainbow takes Fluttershy to do the jousting. My reaction was "...oh dear..."
Foreshadowing: The last thing I wanna point out is this part right here (watch until Twilight's first line):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=XpCcAXyWTH8#t=294s
Maybe the next level deals with Luna teaching Twilight magic? I can't think of any other reason to have Luna right there, especially with that look. We know she doesn't hate Twilight, so why else? HMMMMM!!!!
Check my blog out for a few minor thoughts on the whole episode.
http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/86934#comment/496965
494387 Okay, I'm going to skip onto comments regarding the episode mostly because I want to skip any serious talk, let's have some light hearted remarks about a little girls cartoon about multi-coloured ponies. As for your own review, when I get chance I will comment on it which should be either today or tomorrow (maybe not today as I'm doing quite well with the writing of chapter 6 of Magnetism, want to see if I can keep the ball rolling on that).
Spike getting recognition was awesome, yes, and I believe I may have mentioned Spike in my review, you know, once or twice. I will also admit, while I don't usually care for the morals this one was pretty amazing and actually presented well. It's sad though that no one will recognise Spike as a hero after this, if this show has taught us anything it's that all your great deeds are quickly forgotten even if they include saving the entire country... twice... possibly three or four times even.
I never felt anything towards Shining and Cadence in their debut but like I said in my review, with these two episodes I'm starting to warm up to them, particularly Cadence.
Mane 6 and Spike interactions were indeed exceptional, with exception to one character. Pinkie Pie sadly didn't perform well in this episode, funny yes but she didn't contribute anything to the plot or seem particularly helpful, at least she has the focus for the next episode (and it's the one I'm looking forward to the most so far, although they did just announce the Scootaloo episode). Concerning the ship styled interactions between the characters one of the things I loved is Rarity continuing to call Spike "Spike-Wikey."
That is just so cute. As for Applejack flirting with Rarity, one person pointed out on tumblr that as the screen zooms out you see Spike looking all sad; he knows RariJack is becoming canon. One last little thing about character interactions even though you've probably seen it, is the following;
i.chzbgr.com/completestore/12/11/10/44uMeQPKxUW1Rjm1jYcQjQ2.jpg
I wonder if my sexually oblivious Rainbow Dash is starting to become canon.
Songs were not of the usual standard and definitely not as good as the selection in A Canterlot Wedding but that reprise at the end was wonderful.
I do believe though you are misunderstanding my criticism about Celestia here, the enchantress stands as a role common in fantasy stories, usually as the wise and powerful character who guides the heroes on their quest. Unfortunately they tend to do this secretly, only because fate commands it, often forcing most of the characters into the situations against their will, and never step in to help. It's a type of role I really dislike, and one I felt Celestia began to throw off in A Canterlot Wedding as she proved capable of errors and tried to do things herself (even if she failed, I was proud of her for actually trying). Also, in regards to Celestia sending Twilight to Ponyville, that I also wasn't too fond of because she threw an introvert into a social situation, I'm surprised Twilight didn't go Lesson Zero crazy then.
Overall I feel that while this season opener has some fantastic moments it also has crucial errors both in things they have still yet to improve upon past double episodes (pacing and final boss fights) and things they had previously gotten right but failed here (the villain). Still, while there are some things that make me nervous about this season, if the animation and character interactions are to go by then I can put all my fears at ease. Thanks for commenting on the review NintendoGal, I appreciate it.
495904 Hello Sidewayz, glad to hear that you enjoyed your mention, and I'll say it one more time, thank you for your help with the chapter. As for the canon ship moments, there were so many that it's not hard to miss some of them. It’s funny how some of them weren’t even subtle, like Applejack flirting with Rarity. To think I always considered Applejack heterosexual
. Thanks for commenting and I will look forward to seeing you comment on my next review. 
496914 Good to hear you've finally watched the episode and I will be commenting on your blog soon but I believe that will have to wait for tomorrow (it's getting a little late now and I'm on a role with chapter 6 of Magnetism.
In regards to the good; did I mention I liked Spike in this episode? I liked Spike in this episode, he was epic. The character interactions were indeed supreme and are a good indication that season 3 won’t disappoint. As for the door, the door of fear was a brilliant idea and in comparison to King Sombra, the best villain of the episode. Spike's was indeed heart wrenching, in fact;
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It's probably for the best that we never got to see that. It even added to the creepy, dark, and sad factor. I made you sad so have some happy now;
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King Sombra was indeed lame but I have kind of already talked about that, same with the whole test factor. In regards to Pinkie Pie, that was something I was wanting to critique but I wanted to focus back on the positives for the start of season 3 (I also thought you would get angry at me
). It really didn't feel like Pinkie Pie contributed anything, sure she added some humour and said humour moments were both hysterical and unexpected like that Fluttershy disguise and Fluttershy's reaction to it.
Finally, I believe your blog goes into a little more detail with the foreshadowing (I have skim-read it as of right now) so I'll save talking about that for later. Your suggestion here sounds nice though, a lot nicer than my pessimistic outlook towards this foreshadowing (pessimistic in that I won't like it, not that it will be bad). As always I thank you for commenting Ugugg and cheerio.
497978 XD Okay! I will say a couple things before I move along. In the first episode, well, that kind of had to happen. XD If it didn't, well, there'd be no show. Now I know you might "Well, Twilight could have gone on her own without Celestia telling her to do so", but then to that I say that she wouldn't do that. She needed a push. And she was being enabled by being closed off. Twilight needed a chance to get out there. Now yes, sticking an introvert or someone who's socially awkward into a situation of socializing is far from a good idea. But again, that's pretty much a bit of "doing what the plot needs them to do" and less of what the characters are doing.
But I digress. Sometimes we just have to roll with the punches, even if the execution could've been handled better. But I still stand by that I like the way Twilight is told to make some friends, and no further details are given. Again, it made for the natural development of friendship, and it worked well. The test, however, I'll give you that one.
XDDDDD I totally forgot that Fluttershy is looking right at the camera as that's happening! Hee!
Sexually oblivious Rainbow Dash canon? XD Oh dear! Well, unless she gets her kicks on stirring up Fluttershy that way...Yeah. xD Who knows!
I hope they still manage to retain some of Spike being a hero. :< But you're right though, one of the things that bothers me about the pacing is that the show is episodic. That's okay, you can still keep in continuity despite being episodic. But sometimes they put aside what's not needed despite that it happened in previous episodes. Oh wellies, eh?
Oh well, we can't predict the future, so we'll see how it all goes! 8D
Oh, it didn't just go RariJack, there was even a bit of RariTwi...RariLight??? I don't know! XD Oh goodness.
Good luck with Magnetism, by the way! 8D
498018 I think Twarity rolls off the tongue easier, and I saw it too. I wanted Twi to turn her head and "accidentally" kiss her soooooo bad!
497978 Honestly, Applejack being hetero just makes sense to me. Plus, our shipping goggles most definitely skewed things quite a bit.
Looking back on it, I really think it was just a compliment so it would make Rarity feel better about the situation.
.... Nahh, it was canon shipping. I won't deny that I'm being hopeful.