Aug
11th
2019
Random thoughts and trivia · 6:41pm Aug 11th, 2019
This random grab bag includes interesting bits and bobs I’ve figured out or encountered in various places. Some of them the reader also may have encountered, especially if familiar with my stories, while others may be new.
- Ever notice how hard EG and to a lesser extent FIM work at avoiding uniforms? What few we do see tend to be in service occupations such as waitstaff or hospitality staff. I can think of only one instance of a police officer in EG, the traffic-directing (really?) cop notably missing a service pistol in “Music to My Ears”. No military personnel at all, even passersby. No ship service crew in “Spring Breakdown”. I genuinely am surprised they showed security guards in “Sunset’s Backstage Pass”. At least FIM does occasionally show military uniforms of one sort or another, and even a smattering of law officers, but . . . spears? Argh.
- EG works even harder at avoiding the Mane Seven’s families other than siblings and Granny Smith, but I’m pretty sure that hasn’t escaped anyone’s ken. For a franchise aimed at adolescents passing through the “establishing independent identity” stage of life that makes sense, but gosh, what I wouldn’t give to see those families at least once. That goes double for Sunset Shimmer; there’ve been vague hints she does in fact have one, but of course nothing specific. To be sure, she lives the teen’s dream lifestyle in her own studio apartment (complete with empty take-out cartons everywhere), but after three years doesn’t she miss her family at all? Don’t they miss her? What did Celestia tell them about her abrupt disappearance? What will Celestia tell them now that, in theory, they could see her again?
- Sunset Shimmer’s presence as a teen
of the same age asa couple of years older than Princess Twilight and the Human Mane Six is retconned with a passage in the chapter-book adaptation of the original featurette; I suspect the explanation might have been cut from the latter for time, though admittedly I haven’t seen any confirmation of that. Celestia continues her explanation before the mirror by adding “She started her studies not long before Twilight”(which I take to mean “close enough to be in the same school year”). Twilight responds, “I don’t really know her. But now I think I remember seeing her in Canterlot. . . .” - By now I’m convinced Canterlot City is Vancouver, BC in disguise, possibly explaining why the official Web page about it never got beyond “Coming Soon”—and apparently, after several years, finally has been removed: visiting it now generates a 404 error. Landforms, vegetation, and wildlife all have that “Pacific Northwest coast” look to them, and the architecture of the neighborhood RD zips through delivering invitations during “Legend of Everfree” I’d bet is a dead giveaway. The transit livery of white with red midline stripe echoes paint jobs (past or present, I’m not sure) on Vancouver buses. The movie industry’s mushroomed in Vancouver, handily explaining the presence of a studio in “Movie Magic”.
- Originally “Dance Magic” was supposed to be a prequel, not a sequel, to “Legend of Everfree”, taking place late in the school year before the summer break. However, for unspecified reasons the production staff was requested to swap delivery (and chronological) order, resulting in something of a storytelling—and, I suspect, production—mess.
- There’s an inherent timing problem in “Anon-a-Miss”. Sunset and Princess Twilight are shown corresponding via journal, but according to DVD audio commentary, “Rainbow Rocks” takes place six months after the Fall Formal, which would put it during the spring after those winter holidays! I’m sure the explanation is that Mr. Anderson was unaware of this and assumed “Rainbow Rocks” was a few weeks, not a few months, after the Fall Formal, and may have failed to confirm it. On the other hand, judging from other incidents, it’s possible he did inquire and the contact at Hasbro provided erroneous information.
- Speaking of that last point, a young Trixie appears with her mother, in a queue leading up to the School for Gifted Unicorns, in issue forty of IDW’s FIM comic. Ms. Faust in an early Q&A session tossed out the tidbit Trixie had attended but dropped out; with this in mind, Mr. Anderson initially wrote Celestia a line greeting her and Ms. Hickey drew her into the queue. The Hasbro contact, apparently unaware of Ms. Faust’s statement, vetoed the line but seemingly didn’t notice Trixie’s presence in the art.
- Speaking of that, I realized after a few seasons an astonishing number of characters were presented as drop-outs from SGU—Trixie, Sunburst, Sunset, even Twilight herself! I’m sure I’ve forgotten others.
- Celestia’s title and rank originally were queen, but someone at Hasbro insisted on the old Disney canard about princesses being good and queens being bad. Incidentally, only a king or queen merits the style of “Majesty”; for a prince or princess the proper style is (in descending order of rank) “Royal Highness”, “Illustrious Highness”, “Serene Highness”, or just plain “Highness”. Right from Ms. Faust’s original pitch, Twilight was supposed to get her wings and, at the end, succeed Celestia to the throne—and I strongly suspect the sisters weren’t supposed to come back from their disappearance.
Equines and other hoofed creatures don’t have fur—they have hair instead. What’s the difference?
- Fur skin grows at least two different kinds of hairs, guard hairs and awn hairs, and has few or no sweat glands. Guard hairs are longer and stiffer to, you guessed it, guard the shorter, frizzier awn hairs that act as heat insulation.
- Hair skin grows only one kind of hair, which resembles guard hairs more than any other kind, and tends to have more sweat glands. The apocrine sweat glands on those animals are not as efficient at heat dissipation as the eccrine glands covering most of the human body, which is why a sweaty human is merely uncomfortable, while a sweaty horse may be in genuine danger. (It seems likely to me that candy-colored magical ponies, anthropomorphized as they are, also have eccrine glands.)
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Dave Bryant · 173 views
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I always figured Sunset was an orphan, if not as an infant probably as a young age, for all the reasons you've mentioned about her not caring or ever mentioning her own family. That and her attitude/actions up through the end of the 1st movie make a lot more sense if she sees Celestia as a mother figure more than anyone else.
5104334
The only explanation I can recall seeing is Sunset’s statement in “Anon-a-Miss” that she “wasn’t very close” to her family. Whether that’s an extrapolation on Mr. Anderson’s part, or reflects information provided to him, I have no idea. However, in the absence of any other reference, and given the generally sunny and lightweight nature of the franchise, I’m inclined to go with it.
5104352 I remember her mentioning that her family never cared about Hearth's Warming. Whether she was referring to a living family, a family that passed away, or Princess Celestia, I'm not sure of.
5104779
Huh. I haven’t run across that one; can you tell me where to find it? I’m always eager to slurp up any world-building I can get.
As for the quote I dug up, the full word balloon is from page two, panel two of the Equestria Girls Holiday Special:
In the absence of anything more definitive, I tentatively have been going with that one.