So I just watched To Where and Back Again Part 2 and I was really enjoying the episode. I had finally gotten over not liking Starlight, Trixie was there and I loved her banter with Discord. The changelings were great (not counting Thorax, there is a special place in Tartarus for him) Chrysalis was a badass and everything I wanted to see, what's not to like. And then the ending happened.

Now I was expecting them to reform the changeling in some way, and as long as Chrysalis' character was left alone I would have been fine with it, but could they stop at just that NOOOOOOO. They don't just reform changelings they turned them into something that's no longer a changeling to begin with. What where they thinking? The only small up side is that Chrysalis wasn't reformed, but still I hate this some much. They have basically killed the changeling race, because those are not changelings!

I'm already dreading seeing stories about those colorful things and be treated the same as changelings. Like with most things in the show I don't like I'm going to purge it from my mind and pretend it never happened.

Sorry if this feels a little ranty I just needed to get this out before I could sleep, otherwise I would brood over it all night.

5543288

I'm going to purge it from my mind and pretend it never happened.

I think we all are, believe you me.

They completely eliminated everything that makes changelings changelings to the point where they're not even changelings anymore. I think this is going to be acknowledged in show canon about as much as EQG, likely even less.

5543300 I read another comment that said they turned them into toy to sell. It's times like these I really hate Hasbro.

5543288 Yeah. I haven't seen the whole thing yet but I saw the spoiler for... well those.

I don't like it one bit either. Sort of a bad president as well. Changing them to not look like they were because back and fangs and stuff are supposedly evil is, well kind of racist.

Ideally what I wanted to see was the ponies and the changelings ending up with a mutual disadvantage to one another. Having to negotiate and reason with the "villain" with out them strictly speaking reforming.

5543303 You're not alone, that's for damn sure. I find this just as bullshit as you do, maybe more—if you've ever seen what I find sentimental value in, this affects me a little too deeply.

5543288
Well there are the ones that she had impersonate the Mane Six, Spike, and the rest of the Royal Family...

And there could be some changelings that were still outside at the time...

5543326 That's true, so I guess Chrysalis just has to round up the survivor and then 'deal' with these traitors.

5543328
I don't really mind the change THAT much... but the fact that Chrysalis and more changelings might be out there does set up ideas for future conflict...

5543288 Welp everyone...
Keep calm and break out those Alternate Universe tags.

Honestly though, I don't think this was such a terrible thing. Yes it happened way to fast, and I don't like how it was a "Oh hey, we can do a thing now. We're instantly not evil anymore." moment for the changelings. Also the new designs are garish, with way to many clashing colors for me to look at.

But come on! This was going to happen at some point, and let's be honest... headcanon obliterating as it was, it could have been way worse. For example, the love-sharing could have turned them into regular ponies! Then canon changelings would be dead forever! But thankfully they're still around, just different.

Besides, Chrissy is still evil, and has now sworn an oath of vengeance (which I'm extremely giddy about).

I know it's a big deal to a lot of people, but we're the fandom! When have we ever let the canon get in the way of writing awesome stories?

I'm just waiting to see where this all goes from here.

it could have been way worse. For example, the love-sharing could have turned them into regular ponies!

For a moment I thought that's what was happening, but still I'm not sure which is worse.

5543334

Yeah of the things that I was worried about this was at the top of the list. I knew they were going to reform the changelings in some way but this is the way I was feared the most. I was hoping that rather than reforming Chrysalis we saw her side of the story. Perhaps the reason they did all these things was another enemy that threatened both changelings and ponies. One of my favorite aspects of Chrysalis as a villain was that while she did horrible things it was for the protection and comfort of her people, but with this it just kind of makes her pure evil.

My best case scenario was that Chrysalis didn't trust the ponies to help them but thanks to the counsel of Trixie, Glimmer, and Discord they convince the two sides to work together. After beating what ever the big bad was a bit of trust was planted between them with Thorax chosen to be an ambassador, not the new leader of the Changelings.

5543288 I knew there was going to be drama. This fandom never changes.

5543328 Technically the changelings that replaced the Mane 6 and Princesses arent reformed. I hope Chrysalis builds a new hive with them and slowly plans her well-deserved revenge (kill those...those things)

5543399

(kill those...those things)

Except this time, the kebab is second on the list...

Idk, I kinda felt it fit where they were going with the changelings. When they mentioned Thorax's wings, I knew something was coming. They still look vaguely like their original design, but with a more colorful side to it to go along with their apparent discovery for love sharing—sort of as a nod to how taking love made them twisted and left them wanting while sharing it could have made them whole.

Also, the new design seems to have more of a Seelie Fae compared to the original. Alien, but not so threatening. Either that or I've been on my Dresden kick for far too long.

5543414 It's changeling holocaust bois, get your pitchforks ready

5543416

It's changeling holocaust

They are no longer changelings, they are... dead things.

5543419 They are sub-insectoids. Unworthy of living I say!

5543431

Quite. To the gallows with them! They aren't even fit to carry my luggage across the Orient!

I have nothing against changelings reformation. But this design! Really, it's just horrible.
Shhhh, Night Rider, I will not allow this to happen to you...

5543451

i cant tell if you are being your usual sarcastic self or not

is this part of your master plan!?

Mmmm, the amount of butthurt in here is delicious.

5543559 Popcorn?

5543559 Yeah we're butthurt they ruined what made changelings so cool. I could forgive everything else about the episode if the designs weren't so ugly. The finale itself was actually really fun until the last few moments that just left a sour taste in my mouth.

5543581 Can they still transform and shapeshift? Did it say anywhere in the episode they could no longer shapeshift?

5543589 I'm sure they can still shapeshift, or I at least hope they still can. For me, the thing I like about the Changelings was how different they looked to the rest of the world. Black and slender with edges instead of curves and as we saw with Thorax that didn't mean they had to be evil. I was hoping this finale would reform them in a similar way and have them not be evil but have their own goals. I knew one day Chrysalis and the Changelings would be reformed I just feel this finale missed the mark of how good that could have been. At least Chrysalis wasn't reformed, yet, so there's still hope for a better one for her. Overall I enjoyed it except for the final few moments. Trixie and Discord were great, Chrysalis was great, just the ending felt kind of flat.

I know it's a kids show and they need to sell toys but I have never liked that excuse. I think kids are smart enough to see beauty in things that aren't bright. Along with having a villain with motivations beyond being selfish and pure evil. Sadly we got neither of those so far but hopefully in the future. Even with all that, this is probably my second favorite season finale.

I really enjoyed the finale, yeah it was rushed; but at this point that's to be expected. Honestly, my only real complaint is that the new changeling models almost make me want to hurl.

5543361 Drama, drama never changes.

5543645 Their new designs are still unique, though. They didn't look like any creature I know, but they were beautiful and majestic.

5543564

5544319 To each their own. I guess they still look kind of unique to ponies but they're still bright and colorful like the rest of the world. Changelings were that nice little spot of darkness that complimented the rest of the world. Also, most of the color schemes from what we saw look awful in my opinion. Especially Thorax there's almost no color harmony. You have bright orange horns, green body, light green limbs, blue back with indigo wings like the rainbow power-ups all over again, except these are permanent. It just looks like a mess and that goes for most of them like they threw colors in any direction. I guess they were trying to make the transformation stand out a bit more from the darkness of the originals, but I think they went too far.

5544325 Perfect.

5543303 like it or not that tends to be how things happen with hasbro...When they have shows based around toys, or toys based around shows, they gotta make the toys or the shows to match the toyline. I mean back when the ORIGINAL 1984 Transformers series went to it's movie back in like 1985 or 86, they killed off a LOT of the characters. including the autobot leader, Optimus Prime (causing a LOT of hatred by the fanbase cause he had become an icon by then) the reason they did this was simply because those character's toys weren't being sold any more. so, if they kept him in the show, they'd just be advertising toys that aren't being sold any more. much less made.

5543451
Chrysalis is still out there.
You just have to 'help' her make new changelings.

5544475 But...they haven't been selling the guardians of harmony for that long sales can't be that bad.

5544745 i'm not talking about the guardians of harmony line. i'm talking about the my Little pony line in general. whether King Thorax becomes a new toy in GoH line or not I don't know. i'm just referring to the toys in general.

The Changeling Hive with it's opening and closing walls was interesting although it seemed a little empty. Perhaps many of the Changelings were out love-gathering or impersonating important ponies; perhaps the changelings had a lot of space to live in; perhaps many of them had been killed attacking Canterlot; perhaps the living space was on another deeper level.

I assume black changelings are just that way because of their hunger, although the multi-coloured forms seem a bit garish. However, imagine the race row if the reformed changelings had just turned white in colour!

I know how it is to feel hungry-I'm on a diet! and it can't be nice to feel hungry all the time!

5545300 I don't think anyone was expecting that.

5545300

But really, what did people expect?

A tasteful design?

5545996

"Remember those episodes that taught you all that it's not about what you look like, but how you are on the inside? Remember those? Well, ha-ha, fuck that noise, you actually need to be sparkly and colourful to be considered a good creature. Black, black is right out. Also, sparkly and colourful sells toys, just wait until you see the new line releasing in a week!:)"

-The Writers.

5546010 Ok that cracked me up, but It's all true.

Well, at least it was not "changelings are cursed unicorns/crystal ponies, let's turn 'em back into real ponies" BS that some fanfics authors love.

Overall design is fine, but color scheme looks like garish adoptables from deviantArt.

I was so excited watching the finale. The deeper that got into the hive, the better it got. I was expecting a big fight scene. Instead, the ending killed all the excitement I had. I can forgive the horrible writing if the design was actually good. I expected them to be changed a little bit without getting rid of who they were. But no, they fucking fairies nows.

5546010. Right on the head bud.

5555031

But no, they fucking fairies nows.

Well... considering what they're called, I suppose that's rather fitting. In that sense, they just changed from unseelie to seelie faries.

This finale was pretty exciting except for the last few minutes. I don't think I've ever seen something so utterly destroyed story wise. I'm not going to complain much about it visual wise since everyone else shaded the same views of me being it's a eyesore. There is so much of a mess:

Reduces an interesting, darker race to poor widdle things who are completely good themselves, just held back by their mean ol’ nasty Queen!

Turnover happened way too quickly, with no debate or conflict in the changelings themselves. It makes it feel like the story told them to be good, rather than that they chose to be good in the story.

Once again ponies show up and "improve" another race who were previously shown as bad or inferior to them. It’s coming to be a common theme, and that nobody is shown as equal – good or bad – to the ponies is getting a little bit old.

Everyone immediately treats the changelings like close friends, even through these are the same creatures that invaded and kidnapped them and their loved ones.

Thorax gets promoted to leader after 1 episode of introduction before this two-parter.

If we had to have a potential changeling redemption, this completely obliterated the predator/parasite-versus-desire-to-be-friendly conflict that would have driven its plot in favor of a boom, slap, instant good guys!

The idea that every changeling could be changed so effortlessly and in mass to utterly nullify their threat, the fact that the very concept of reforming Changelings had only been brought up an episode prior was already pushed to rush out the door because Haber wrote himself into a corner for how to save everyone, the bastardization an interesting race that’s been dramatically underutilized. They should have taken it slowly like they did with the Griffons and Dragons: an evil race realizes a better route and maybe SOME of the hive defects to follow Thorax’ philosophy, leaving some adversity to overcome still. But the idea that all of them were transformed at once simply by ’sharing’, the idea that it was this easy all along over their entire races’ existence and no one tried it, is just… lazy. SO lazy..

Hell, if this’d kicked off a changeling civil war – those who sided with Thorax against those loyal to the Queen – I think we’d have been leaping all over it. But, the totality and immediacy of their complete change-over and the loss of everything that attracted a lot of fans really makes it transparent how the writers are leaning on them and the story to force things to happen.

5555480

Turnover happened way too quickly, with no debate or conflict in the changelings themselves. It makes it feel like the story told them to be good, rather than that they chose to be good in the story.

Of all the turn-arounds we've seen in the show (And there have been many), this one was possibly the most thoroughly established. It wasn't just some quick speech that convinced them. It was one of their own earning enough love to lay the smack down on their queen, while also permanently sating the hunger that had been impossible to fill, and undergoing a physical transformation unlike their normal shapeshifting as a result of it all. All this from what had once been a fairly normal changeling. I'd be more surprised if none of them tried to emulate what he did.

There was a lot more reason here than most of the prior cases.

Not that I'm entirely happy with how it went (I think some things could have been done a lot better), but it's not the horrible abomination of writing that some people are making it out to be.

5555781

......How does them earning love and laying the SmackDown on their queen indicate at all a believable turnaround? Sating their hunger was the only believable part of their turnaround but that shouldn't have in the slightest changed their morals or any moral ambiguity they had. If anything it made them more unsympathetic then Chrysalis due to how fast they abandoned her implying they aren't that loyal in the first place. It was just a cheap copout of having to avoid the changelings showing any remorse for their actions and just made their redemption impossible to swallow. It would've been way more plausible if while some of them changed they still went after Chrysalis while some stayed with Thorax. Thorax was the only slightly believable one but their was zero indication he'd become king at all.

Also Thorax is not in the slightest a normal changeling. He's a complete special snowflake. Not only is he born completely different from the rest of the changelings apparently somehow but he also wasn't even planning on ever returning to the changeling kingdom in the first place implying he wasn't well liked there or he didn't care about the place anymore. Even his magical signature is different from the rest of the changelings.

Nor only but they killed out alot of emotional and story investment in the changelings. It'd be different if the transformation wasn't so instantaneous but due to that any conflict any bad changeling has is completely worthless. They also destroyed the conflict of The Times are a Changeling and made it completely worthless to everyone bbesides Thorax since the only purpose of the episode now was to give a reason to demonstrate why Thorax could share love.

5556044

How does them earning love and laying the SmackDown on their queen indicate at all a believable turnaround?

Because it gives a clear demonstration, which gives good credence to his and Starlight's argument; he tried something different, and appears to have gotten more love and power out of it than their queen. His way demonstrably worked. Compared to most of the prior turnabouts in MLP, this one provided a much more concrete reason.

Also Thorax is not in the slightest a normal changeling.

"Normal" as in "unexceptional". He wasn't some great warrior or valued member of the hive. If anything, he was looked down upon, maybe even scorned or regarded as useless. Then this useless changeling shows up, shows how he's become (possibly conditionally) more powerful than the queen, did the impossible by freeing himself from their eternal hunger, and then shows all the changelings present how they could do the same. And he explicitly stated in his first episode that he planned on returning to the hive one day.

since the only purpose of the episode now was to give a reason to demonstrate why Thorax could share love.

You mean the episode about shedding prejudice, how one-time enemies can become friends, and how a person can be judged on their own merits instead of on the actions of others of their race/species/nationality? Nothing in that episode was destroyed by the finale. If anything, this was an extension of the themes of that episode.

You seem to be reading a lot more into some events, and making some pretty far-reaching conclusions off of very minimal content. There's a lot of unsupported assumptions in there.