Tumbleweed vs. THE LAST OF PONY · 2:27am Oct 13th, 2019
Saturday night, and I'm on the internet talking about the last episode of a magic pony cartoon.
Seems legit.
In my defense, I gotta work early tomorrow morning, so it's not like I can really go out and party and whatever. SO HERE WE ARE.
The first time I really remember being aware of a show's ending and subsequent series finale was Star Trek: The Next Generation's final episode, All Good Things. Which coincidentally also featured John DeLancie, but I digress. It just seemed kinda weird to my little-kid brain that a show that was a staple of my TV viewing habits was just ... over.
Fast forward a couple decades, and here we are again. Huh.
And y'know, I can't really think of how they could've done it better. Season 9 has been pretty solid all around, and they really pulled out the stops for the grand finale. I went into it ... kiiiinda residually spoiled, but it's still impressive they were able to surprise me nonetheless. I mean, shit went down. I think Starlight Glimmer gets definite MVP points for being able to kick a surprising amount of ass. On multiple occasions!
(Meanwhile, Starswirl & Co get to be the jobber squad).
It's funny, as I couldn't help but put my fanfic-writer-goggles on for this episode-- writing being the main way I engage with the fandom, after all. And by the look of it, both Flash Sentry and Carrot Top weren't really ever on camera-- which fits quite well, you know. Ol' Flashy would be content to hide behind literally everyone else in Equestria during the big magic battle, you know. But that's me just being a self-indulgent hack, per the usual.
ANYWAY! Back to the show! As man, just from a comedic/animation standpoint, there's a lot of fun stuff here. You could definitely tell the writers/animators were just throwing in as many little gags as they could for this last go-round. I mean, a Pinkie & The Brain reference, not to mention Roseluck and Dr. Whooves being a thing (man that's an obscure joke these days and I AM ALL FOR IT), plus as much LyraBon as they could work in. And also that random "Marshmellow eating contest gown" joke makes me wonder if they somehow timed it for this RariTwi bombing that Cynewulf & Company are pushing on us these days.
It's a scandal, I tell you.
And after THAT, well ... even more denouement! Neat. Complete with a peek forward into a changed-for-the-better Equestria, which is fun. Even though they apparently threw in a none-too-subtle AppleDash bit which, of course, has me shaking my proverbial fist and no doubt coming up with various overthought ways to fix-fic explainify it. Or maybe there's just an Rarity/Applejack/RD polycule thing going on because Rarity is a unicorn after all.
Also, Giant Princess!Twilight Sparkle is ... weird. But in a good way? Nice to see her literally grow into her role, and all that.
But ultimately, the thing I found most endearing about this final episode is the message behind it. On the barest surface, it's a "what do you do when you have to move away from your friends" moral, suitable for the actual intended audience of, y'know, children. They still watch the show, right? But at the same time there's a deeper message about saying goodbye to the things you love. Because, hell, we were lucky to have the run we did, and I'm glad that the show was able to end on such a strong note. Like, that song at the end actually made me feel feels, just a little bit. Dang.
So yeah. Now I'm just drinkin' a beer and letting the finality of "no more pony" settle in. Except for, y'know, all the fan stuff. And the 'Season 10' comic. And whatever the Equestria Girls finale movie thing has to offer, whenever that drops.
Bet that'll have some proper Rarijack in it.
There... is always gonna be a weirdly amused part of me that looks at what individuals call good/bad and what I call good/bad: especially when it's almost totally reversed. This is one of those moments, though I am glad to see the episode is going over well.
I'll admit it, I kept it to myself among my cadre of mates and watched the last episodes within thirty minutes of them being leaked like a month or so back. I've had a while to calm down and stop my ranting and grumbling and come into that 'acceptance' stage of grief. Cider is also helping that at the moment (and with Canadian thanksgiving company).
What can I say, I adored the AppleDash and Lyrabon (and the earlier background reveals earlier in the season: just about the only thing I actually can say I actively enjoyed in Season 8-9), I loath future Equestria, vociferously against Twiggly Giraffecorn Sparkle and He-Drake Spike, the ending just struck me as imminently sad. Dismally so, and I don't mean for it being the ending of a show that I've been on board with since season 1, but everything just looked like it sucked the mane 6 up and spat them out. It's like getting a look at high stress public figures that you admire and watching them prematurely age from all the pressures of life.
That said, that ending song... oye. Fantastic. General moral, well meant. Animation and attention to detail, terrific. All in all, it's fine, but it left me a lot more hollow rather than fulfilled. I don't even think that's anyone's fault, 'tis simply a case of tempus fugit.
*I ain't no Whovian or what not, but is Roseluck/the Doctor really called obscure these days? Legit, I'm feeling old if it is.
Yeah, I bet it's awkward when Rarity and Applejack come to visit from the human world.
Honestly, I loved "The Ending of the End," but I could have done without "The Last Problem." I mean, I ship CheesePie, but that doesn't mean that I want to see their canon kid thrown at me at the 11th hour. It's much more fun for me to imagine my own next gen kids. There's a lot more I could say about the last few episodes, but I think I'll save it for my own blog.
Edit: Who's the jerk who downvoted the comments?
That Doors song certainly is quite popular now. That is the 5th time I have seen it.
I think I prefer Bravery's This is Not the End:
"So Tumbleweed," we all cry, "since you're the best at writing meta-commentary about ponies, what shall we do now that there is no more poni?"
What does being a unicorn have to do with anything?