Q & A Follow-up (Ten Years)

You asked 'em, and now it's time for me to respond to them. Enjoy.

First up we have the following ten questions asked in a PM from mlpanddisneyfan1, who asks the following:

Q1: What is your favorite and least favorite MLP Episode/Movie/Special/Short

Q2: Who is your favorite and least Favorite MLP Character (Can be chosen from both G4 and G5

Q3: What was the very first story you've read on this site (Which you remember)

Q4: What is your favorite story from this site

Q5: If you had let MLP FIM continue how many more seasons would you have made

Q6: What is your most favorite story you've written on this site

Q7: What is your favorite song in the G4 and G5 Franchise

Q8: What other medias do you like

Q9: Who is your favorite MLP Villain G4 and G5 only

and

Q10: Who was your first friend in this server

1. My favorite MLP episode is "The Perfect Pear" for reasons I've made obvious on prior occasions. But to sum it up, it was a fantastic story about the Apple's parents that also made good use of its celebrity cast. My least favorite episode is "Secrets and Pies" which I've also made obvious my reasons for not liking on prior occasions. But again, to sum it up, it's riddled with filler that isn't entertaining, sees Rainbow Dash resort to immoral things like poisoning pets or gaslighting Pinkie rather than tell the truth, and implies that Pinkie Pie wouldn't understand her friend not liking her pies even though it's been established that Pinkie values true happiness above all else. My favorite MLP movie is the 2017 FiM one. Even with A New Generation doing some things better, I give a slight edge to the 2017 movie simply by virtue of it being 2D animated in a day and age where even Disney doesn't do that anymore, plus A New Generation hits a little too close to home and it's kind of like how people watch movies and play video games to escape reality instead of being reminded of it. Plus, A New Generation is merely the launching point for G5, so depending on how G5 turns out that might affect how its pilot movie is perceived over time. My least favorite MLP movie is: "Equestria Girls" The fact that it was meant to be the grand finale for G4 originally only further makes everything it was look bad, taking everything G4 was praised for not being during FiM and turning it into a cliche high school story solely to try and cash in on the success of Monster High. My favorite MLP special is "Equestria Girls: Forgotten Friendship", the reunion between Sunset Shimmer and Princess Celestia alone would probably be enough to justify it being the best but it's not like everything else was irrelevant because it wasn't, it was a powerful reminder that redemption is an ongoing process and that there's always something you can improve on whether you realize it or not. My least favorite MLP special is "Equestria Girls: Rollercoaster of Friendship, it's just insufferable and proved that the Rainbooms were not developed enough to hold the spotlight on their own. It also featured by far the worst antagonist in all of G4 in the form of Vigenette Valencia, a whiny control freak who got rewarded for throwing a tantrum when someone told her no. My favorite MLP short is "The Science of Magic", the first prequel short for "Equestria Girls: Friendship Games", largely because it included Sunset Shimmer whereas previous shorts had mostly excluded her but also because it allowed Sunset to further develop as her own character. And my least favorite MLP short is shared among all the "Best Gift Ever" encore shorts. They feel more like glorified fanfiction ideas than actual shorts, especially with stuff like age regression potions being canon or trying to "fix" "Non-Compete Clause" by having Rainbow Dash and Applejack ask Fluttershy why she keeps winning Teacher of the Month all the time. Plus, five minutes just isn't enough time to tell a good story with established characters. It hasn't worked no matter how many times Hasbro has tried to apply it to the MLP license (Equestria Girls, FiM, G5).

2. My favorite MLP character is Princess Celestia. Again, as much as I love Pinkie Pie I admit that she can sometimes be too much and doesn't always know when to back off. Princess Celestia is such a misunderstood character that gets bashed, flanderized and otherwise mistreated by the fandom far too often. I guess the idea of actual competent leader in most circumstances is something that people have a hard time accepting, so they feel the need to "correct" the problem by painting her as things she is not: A tyrant, a troll or lazy. She really is like a mom, particularly towards Twilight. And she's not the overprotective kind either. In fact, it's because she so often believes in others that she makes her mistakes, overestimating their abilities and underestimating the threat they're up against. Thus, she doesn't always step in even when she probably should. Plus, Nicole Oliver's voice acting performance of her is fantastic. My least favorite MLP character is Cozy Glow. I was sorely tempted to pick Alphabittle from G5 since he was so underdeveloped and made into the unicorns' leader completely out of the blue, but the Netflix series could potentially flesh him out still so I want to give him a fair chance (same goes for Sprout). Cozy Glow, on the other hand, had a chance to be developed into something beyond what she was originally and she never did. It seems like she was created specifically to be a middle finger to fans who complained about the overuse of redemption of villains, a twist villain solely for shock value and nothing more. Everything about her makes no sense at all, especially her being a child since all it does is make our heroes look hypocritical for punishing a child for treason while having previously excused adults for similar crimes (Starlight, Tempest, Neighsay and Discord). I don't even know why they thought she was good enough to be considered on the same level as established villains like Tirek and Chrysalis. Sombra should've been used in Season 9 instead of her.

3. I think the very first fic I ever read on this site was a crossover/ponyification of the Total Drama franchise entitled "Total Magic Pony Island" by Tailslover13. I found it via a recommendation tab for pony fanfics on T.V. Tropes.

4. My favorite fanfic on this site actually changed just recently to "The Underlying Love in Your Heart" by stillwedding. It's simply beautiful, a more in-depth look at Princess Celestia's motivations in regards to Twilight over the course of the show. And it's told from the perspective of Princess Luna. You should really check it out. You can find it in my favorites tab on my account page (just have to scroll down a ways).

5. That's actually a tricky question. Given what the "Season 10" comics ultimately achieved I'm not entirely sure if another season would've been good for FiM. Especially given the faster turnaround rate for Seasons 7-9, leaving the writers with no time to gauge feedback or reception to their ideas, I don't know if more seasons would've been a good idea. But I suppose maybe I could see one last season just to wrap up a few remaining loose threads: Such as how Spike's egg ended up in Princess Celestia's custody, giving Pinkie Pie and Applejack some end goal to work towards even if it would just be taking over where they live/work, and allowing each of the main characters and some side characters one final episode in the spotlight before the events of "The Last Problem" when Twilight is on the throne. Ideally, I would like it to run for more than 26 episodes and allow for more multi-parters than just the premiere and finale. But even though it seems to be an unpopular opinion, I still believe that "The Last Problem" was as good a send-off for FiM and G4 as could've been asked for. It really does feel like the quality of the show couldn't get much better and would only go downhill from there. And I don't think anyone would've wanted to see the show become another "The Simpsons" where it became a shadow of its former self. All good things must come to an end eventually.

6. My all time favorite story that I've written here ultimately has to be the very first "My Little Pony Friendship is Magic What If?". I don't believe it's my strongest written or my highest quality work, but I feel like it's the story that gave me my own identity on the site. A few individual episode rewrites or extensions had been written before then, but no one to my knowledge ever considered a full on rewrite of entire episodes of the show from multiple seasons. And I've since gone on to write fourteen volumes covering I'm pretty sure more than half of the total episodes of the show.

7. My favorite song in all of G4 and G5 remains "Pinkie's Lament". It's a sad but ultimately uplifting song that truly features the golden rule for writing Pinkie Pie. It paints her in an almost tragic light: She desires to bring happiness and joy to others, even if she herself isn't happy. It almost sounds like Pinkie is forcing herself to work through the pain and depression she's feeling, like she isn't giving herself a chance to properly grieve. Her own happiness isn't important to her even if it should be. And that's why she is who she is. Her parties aren't just something she likes to do, it's how she feels she's best able to bring joy to others. A chance to make them feel special, wanted and appreciated.

8. A lot of them, really. Too many to list here, but to name a few there's: Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Power Rangers, Super Mario, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro The Dragon, Sly Cooper, Kirby, Thomas The Tank Engine, Spongebob Squarepants, almost everything Disney and even a few live action shows like "The Weakest Link" or "The Hustler".

9. My all time favorite villain remains Gladmane. He is the villain who came the closest to being a villain who didn't see himself as one, and would have good reason to think so. He was careful not to reveal who he really was to anyone but himself, so you could believe why nopony ever suspected he was a bad influence or was undermining his workers. Plus, he's a really good mix of Elvis Presley and Biff Tanner, even down to the mannerisms. And unlike Flim and Flam, Filthy Rich (moreso his human counterpart) or Iron Will, he isn't used to demonize big business for no reason at all other than because they need an antagonist.

10. I don't know for sure, but according to my "Followers" tab that would be rasta-gringo who has not been on the site for almost a decade now.

Next we have Sparkle91 who asks only:

Who would you like to foalsit: Flurry Heart, Cake Twins, or all three?

I assume I'm not being assisted by anypony else, I'm filling in for whoever is normally the foalsitter. And in that regard I would have to go with the Cake Twins. Yes, I know that's two ponies compared to one. But from what we saw of them in the show, it seems like they were much better behaved after their debut in "Baby Cakes", whereas Flurry Heart was not only crazy powerful but also seemed to be much more prone to mischief and to misbehaving. Plus, eventually, the Cake Twins got out of diapers (the only indication they were at all aging during the show) so there's that.

Next up is Bronycommander who managed to ask the four following questions:

1. Hmm..when it comes to other known background foals like rumble, pip, Noi, Ruby and Tootsie, did you ever have any headcanon about their respective families/parents?
2. Might be asked before but what made you love pinkie the most?
3. On that note, who's your favorite of the g5 main characters and did it catch you off guard there was a male main character?
4. Did it feel weird to create your account on April fool? And ever fall for one of the April pranks here?

1. Not really. About the only headcanon I have is the relatively popular one for Ruby in that she's Berry Punch's daughter due to their similar coat colors, and that Berry is a single mom. Other than that I haven't really considered any headcanons, not even for Rumble. I know a lot of stories involving him and Thunderlane also tend to involve the Cloud Twins (Flitter and Cloudchaser), but I've never really considered anything in regards to that, and whether that means Thunderlane and Rumble are orphans (as in they have no parents, Thunderlane is thus Rumble's designated legal guardian).

2. Probably just because her happiness so contagious. But at the same time she's also a lot smarter and understanding than most people tend to give her credit for. She's child like but not childish. She isn't stupid or immature. In a way, like I mentioned above, she's almost like a tragic figure. Almost like a sad clown if you will: She brings happiness to others even if she herself may not be happy.

3. It's probably not too much of a surprise that Izzy Moonbow is currently my favorite of the G5 main characters, given how much I love Pinkie Pie. Yet Izzy is distinct and different from Pinkie Pie. As I mentioned in my mane five character rankings list, Izzy is a lot more "kinetic" in her approach to happiness and also a bit more restrained. So far, I hear she has been pretty heavily dumbed down in "Tell Your Tale" which isn't helped by her being the most noticeable VA change. But I'm hopeful that the VA will improve for the Netflix "Make Your Mark" special and series later this year, and that those will do Izzy more justice instead of hitting her with the stupid stick over and over again. And yes, it was most certainly a surprise to see a male character as part of the main cast from the beginning, and he turned out to be one of the better characters of the batch when almost everyone expected him to be a joke or a butt monkey.

4. Maybe a little bit, but I'd wanted to make an account on the site for a long time after I discovered it but never got around to it until then. And I don't believe I ever fell for any of the April Fools pranks on this site or on Equestria Daily.

MLPFollower, a long time reader of my What If? series asks the following ten questions:

1. Besides Chrysalis, Sombra, and the Storm King, who else will be joining in Grogar’s Legion of Doom?

2. What loose ends do you intend to wrap up in your What-If series?

3. Will Sunset Shimmer make an appearance for the What-If?

4. If My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic got a sequel spin-off series detailing life after The Last Problem, what did you want it to focus on and why?

5. Any movies and/or shows that you’d like to see this year?

6. Do you wish that some of the scrapped episodes of My Little Pony were not cancelled?

7. If you were in charge of the show, and the company wanted you to make a special that celebrated the My Little Pony franchise as a whole and brought together all four generations of ponies, what would you like to happen?

8. What do you think happened in between Friendship is Magic and A New Generation that resulted in Equestria going back to square one?

9. Are there some My Little Pony comics that you wish were canon? If so, which ones and why?

10. If he didn’t suffer from stroke and was still healthy, do you think Tim Curry would be a good casting choice for Grogar?

1. I'm gonna tag this with a spoiler warning even though it's not gonna be until at least 2023 that I'll even begin to get around to doing more with Grogar's Legion of Doom in my What If? series. Spoiler!: Lightning Dust, Wind Rider, The Washouts, Suri Polomare, Svengallop and Gladmane as well as The Dazzlings.

2. I think I already cleared up the biggest loose end with my rewrite of "Father Knows Beast", how Spike's egg ended up in Equestria and in Princess Celestia's care. As for other loose ends, I think the only real loose ends left to clear up are related to the mane six's professions: Particularly what Pinkie Pie and Applejack are going to do with their lives going forward.

3. Spoiler!: Yes. Although, technically she already has in my rewrite of "Celestial Advice" since that included her falling out with Princess Celestia and her fleeing through the mirror portal to another world.

4. I would want it to focus on the "Next Generation" but in the literal sense of the generation that comes after Twilight and her friends. That would thus be the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the student/young six, though for the CMC it would also included some of their classmates. I've stated before that their generation would be living through the first transition of power in over a century, and the first willing one at that. Plus, they would be living in an Equestria that would be rapidly changing, as would its allies. It's kind of like how those who came of age in the late 80's and early 90's witnessed the greatest change in world history since the end of World War II when the Cold War abruptly ended, or how the supposed innocence of the 90's was permanently shattered by the 9/11 attacks.

5. Well, besides the "Make Your Mark" special and series on Netflix, I really want to go see "Sonic The Hedgehog 2" now that it's out in theaters. I absolutely adored the first Sonic movie and am really curious how the second one will turn out, especially since it may or may not be Jim Carrey's acting swan song. And late this year there's going to be "Spider-Man: Across The Spiderverse", as well as "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" which both sound promising given what the MCU has done so far.

6. Yes, I really do. Not all of them sound like winners but some of them sound like they could've been just as good if not better than what we ended up getting. In particular, I'm beyond perplexed that a proper Flutterpie/Pinkieshy episode was scrapped even if it was just a flashback of how they met. And the scrapped episode of Rarity trying to get Pinkie Pie into business sounds like it could've been a great way to wrap up both Rarity and Pinkie's character arcs, painting a way forward for both of them. There's also the one-off episode involving the Crystal Empire's lost customs which would've been interesting to see if it meant Princess Cadence and Shining Armor got to develop more as leaders of the empire.

7. I think the best way to celebrate all of the generations of the franchise, including the toy only G2, it would have to include the fairly cliche "Worlds In Danger" kind of story where it's a threat that requires the entire multiverse to unite in order to defeat it. It would be kind of hard to work with "Tales" and G3" given their overall quality, but I think I could find a way to work around it by showing that even they grasp the seriousness of the situation and want to help because it's the right thing to do. G2 would be included as a sort of "Lost Generation" that no one knew about until now, perhaps the first victim of the threat that now seeks to conquer other universes as well. The threat would probably be whatever "The Darkness" mentioned by The Pony of Shadows in "Shadow Play" is or was.

8. Given how much time supposedly has passed, I'm going to assume that as the generations went by after Twilight, ponies took for granted the accomplishments Twilight and her friends achieved. They thus became complacent, convinced that there were no threats left that they couldn't handle. But as technology advanced and the world became more interconnected, it was easier for ponies and other species to live farther apart. Other leaders either lacked the courage to confront the problem or chose to ignore what Twilight and her friends had left behind, ultimately thinking only of themselves and not trusting others. In a sense, the world fell into decay not because of any traumatic or sudden event but gradually over time from a lack of care.

9. Yes, most definitely. "The Return of Queen Chrysalis", despite its flaws, seems like it could've been a good made for t.v. movie or special between Seasons 2 and 3, and "Manehattan Mysteries" is a story Trixie desperately needed given how badly her character was handled after "No Second Prances". For the most part though, I think the comics I would want to see canon are the side series comics: Particularly many of the Friends Forever comics such as Discord and the CMC, Spike and Princess Celestia, the royal sisters, Pinkie Pie and Granny Smith, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash and Rarity and Babs Seed to name a few, the Legends of Magic series in its second half and the Nightmare Knights five part series (preferably expanded).

10. Maybe, but I feel like Tim Curry being cast for big bads in animation is a bit of typecasting. Yes, Tim Curry was great at voicing villains, particularly charismatic or ruthless villains. But people forget that he had lots of non villains roles in both acting and voice acting. In fact, his most popular voice acting role was Nigel Thornberry in The Wild Thornberries, a role that's about as far removed from a villain as you can get.

Last but not least, we have the following ten questions from BronyRanger:

1. If the My Little Pony/Transformers: Friendship in Disguise comic series got a third entry, what kind of story would you like to see?
2. Since Hitch is more than likely gonna be the "Team Dad" of the G5 Mane Cast, would you consider Sunny the "Team Mom"?
3. Aside from the Mane Six, which Friendship is Magic characters would you like to see appear in Make Your Mark?
4. If you were to add a sixth member to the G5 Mane Cast, how would you feel about adding a unicorn stallion?
5. What are some topics you'd like to see Make Your Mark tackle that Friendship is Magic didn't?
6. Do you think My Little Pony could pull off a crossover with G.I. Joe like with Transformers?
7. Which is your favorite location in G5: Maretime Bay, Zephyr Heights, or Bridlewood?
8. Thoughts on the upcoming Chip n Dale: Rescue Rangers movie?
9. First impression of the Starter Pokemon for Generation 9?
10. Personal best and worst Disney DTV sequel?

1. I don't really know since I've never read the series, so I can't judge how good or bad it is. I suppose maybe I would like to see more interaction on the heroes' side, between the Autobots and the ponies. I don't think they showed much of that during the two other entries.

2. Maybe, but I feel like that role would better belong to either Izzy or Zipp. Zipp largely on account of her already being a big sister, so she knows a thing or two about encouragement and support. And Izzy because I could see her apparent ability to detect a pony's "sparkle" allowing her to sense when others are down and in need of cheering up.

3. Spike for certain and Starlight Glimmer too, seeing as they don't deserve to have their contributions to the group ignored or forgotten. I might also like to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders and maybe some of the alicorn princesses.

4. I wouldn't be opposed to it as long as that new character didn't take center stage or turn out to just be a copy of another character. I'd be all for adding another male character to the roster and balancing out the pony tribe representation, regardless of whether said unicorn stallion was related to Izzy or not.

5. The biggest one would have to be death given how FiM tiptoed its way around the subject. Argyle is already presumably dead, so an episode or even just sideplot involving that would be nice to see. Plus, there's the questions of where Queen Haven's husband/Zipp and Pipp's father is and whatever happened to Phyillis' husband/Sprout's father (I could see Phyillis being divorced given what we saw of her in the movie), not to mention the unexplained absence of Sunny's mother and whatever parents Hitch and Izzy might have had (or still have). Forgiveness is also another big one, which all ties into what they wanna do with Sprout (for the time being it doesn't look like he's gonna be joining the main cast) and how they wanna address his actions from the movie. If it could avoid being preachy, I might even like to see them go out on a limb and tackle issues about inclusiveness and intolerance related to marginalized groups.

6. Probably not since G.I. Joe is a franchise that's predominantly the polar opposite of MLP. I wouldn't say it glorifies violence because it doesn't. But the idea of ponies who have little in the way of direct involvement in military conflicts and military action, interacting with a franchise that's basically all about a military taskforce battling against a terrorist organization, doesn't sound like it would blend together very well.

7. Probably Maretime Bay. Zephyr Heights seems a bit like your typical big city setting in fiction, and Bridlewood was only shown in its gloomy and depressing state. Maretime Bay really gives off that San Francisco vibe with its seaside setting and trolley cars. Maybe that'll change if we see more of Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood in Make Your Mark, and perhaps visit some other locations outside those three cities more or less.

8. I am kind of curious about it, largely because the cartoon on which it was based is arguably among the more forgotten Disney cartoons from their "Disney Afternoon" phase in the 80's and 90's. It wasn't as trailblazing as the original Ducktales and a lot of later cartoons eclipsed it pretty easily. If not for the episode about a cult, it probably would've languished in obscurity until it was brought to DVD/released on Disney+. I'm not sure what exactly the movie could do aside from maybe being a spiritual successor to Who Framed Roger Rabbit with the idea of having cartoon characters in the real world.

9. I'm in the same boat as Chuggaconroy in that I don't really have any strong feelings toward any of the starters right now. We don't know what their evolutions will be like, what their stat totals will be or what their movepool will be. Heck, we don't even know what kind of personality they might be given. I do find it weird that the alligator/crocodile is the fire type starter, though many are speculating that it's actually meant to be like a Chinese dragon given Gen 9's apparent Chinese inspiration. As a whole though, I'm not really looking forward to another main series Pokemon game when we were just starting to see additional content for Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl and Legends of Arceus hadn't even been out for very long, which raises concerns that they'll all be quickly tossed aside and forgotten about. And there's the fact that so far we don't know if there's going to be any controversial content cuts like there have been for the past few generations.

10. The personal best DTV sequel would probably have to be Aladdin and The King of Thieves, even though that's really the grand finale for the Aladdin television show. The animation was given an upgrade, making it feel more on par with the first movie. And it helps that they were able to smooth things over with Robin Williams and get him to come back to voice The Genie again (Robin Williams is just a better Robin Williams than Dan Castellenta is). Not to mention Aladdin finally meeting his father and learning what his father is like really helps to give Aladdin more character. The personal worst DTV sequel would have to be The Fox and The Hound 2 because it's not really a sequel. It's an unnecessary mid chapter that doesn't develop either of our main characters, instead opting to be a cheap cash-in on the popularity of country music singers that they clearly were more interested in getting for marketing purposes. And it contains one of the most annoying and contrived "plot mandated friendship failures" when we all know that Todd and Copper will get back together by the end.

And there you have it. Hope you enjoyed the answers. Thank you all so much for your support, and I hope to continue to make you all proud.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

very nice! Berry, you and me both, many think the father is unknown or that he died, i took the latter. Rumble and THundrelane, there are many ideas but most common is also the parents died. Noi, i took a mix of both and Tootsie, i had a bit of a unique idea..sorry, rambling.

BUt good you never fell for it