Current Events > MLP Social v2434: "I'd like to be a tree"

(+) Yeah! (+)

as much as I want to finish the CYOA update, I fear having my laptop on a wobbly platform has lightly triggered my motion sickness and so I'm too hazy to finish. plus it'll be really late by the time I'd finish it at this point, and I need to get to bed.

therefore, going to bed, later all.
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There's a really low-flying helicopter outside with two search lights looking around. This is really frigging weird.

EDIT: My brother's got a police scanner. Apparently they gave up on... whatever they were doing, but I can still hear it flying around out there.

EDIT 2: The light's back on. I really hope there's not an escaped killer or something.
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Butts
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*borks*

I'm still sick. :(
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Kayiel posted...

I'm still sick. :(

*lays down next to*

Puppy_Twilight posted...

Kayiel posted...

I'm still sick. :(

*lays down next to*

*pets the puppy*
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Hey.
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Malcrasternus posted...

Hey.

Hey Mal.
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Hey man.

Sorry to hear you're sick.

[Hug]

How was the concert?
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Oh.

Well, time for work.
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http://pre01.deviantart.net/0674/th/pre/f/2017/147/7/5/abiduty_by_lunaselenewolfe-dban09j.png
https://derpicdn.net/img/2017/5/28/1448158/large.png
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MegamanXfan21xx posted...

http://pre01.deviantart.net/0674/th/pre/f/2017/147/7/5/abiduty_by_lunaselenewolfe-dban09j.png

how lewd
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MegamanXfan21xx posted...

http://pre01.deviantart.net/0674/th/pre/f/2017/147/7/5/abiduty_by_lunaselenewolfe-dban09j.png
https://derpicdn.net/img/2017/5/28/1448158/large.png

Damn both look good, but which one do you like better mega.
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https://derpicdn.net/img/2017/5/28/1447748/large.png

Rainbow_Dashing posted...

Damn both look good, but which one do you like better mega.

The ones with boobs.
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MegamanXfan21xx posted...

The ones with boobs.

Only one can be picked.
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Rainbow_Dashing posted...

Only one can be picked.

I choose the impossible. I choose both.
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MegamanXfan21xx posted...

I choose the impossible. I choose both.

The impossible can't be picked. Only one may be picked, none is not an options either.
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http://68.media.tumblr.com/62fae9d03a7f1ebb337eb16f4c7de8ac/tumblr_oqobnjrUmO1spedcuo1_r1_1280.png
http://68.media.tumblr.com/0df189b813c4e0252ad4a85ba76bf581/tumblr_oqobnjrUmO1spedcuo3_r1_1280.png
http://68.media.tumblr.com/4cf921aca9c4e106a8ea0a270f8cd779/tumblr_oqobnjrUmO1spedcuo2_r1_1280.png

Rainbow_Dashing posted...

The impossible can't be picked. Only one may be picked, none is not an options either.

Andrew Ryan says otherwise.
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The next EqG should be about Sunset meeting her human counterpart and having to stop her from going down the same path.
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MegamanXfan21xx posted...

I've seen clips, it's about introducing Starlight Glimmer's EqG form. idk if it's her going over there to meet Sunset or it's her counterpart in the same way we met SciTwi
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https://derpicdn.net/img/view/2017/5/28/1448438.png
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MegamanXfan21xx posted...

yeah there you go. that "Teletoon+" logo is the giveaway.
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Cartridge88 posted...

MegamanXfan21xx posted...

I've seen clips, it's about introducing Starlight Glimmer's EqG form. idk if it's her going over there to meet Sunset or it's her counterpart in the same way we met SciTwi

It is about Starlight going over to CHS with Twilight Sparkle. Hence her new form.
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Lesson Zero was a big fan favorite because it contained a rising build on ponies losing their composure and freaking out on the whole town. These kinds of blatant character imperfections was what made MLP fun for adults. I remember at the time, I felt like I could relate because I knew a lot of people my age who were having mental breakdowns over their exams and their papers. A colorful world that admits not everything is perfect and that not everything is a matter of hard work can be a lot of fun when done right.

But by season six, re-watching this episode left me with mixed feelings. Most importantly of all, I got to thinking about how the show will never really go back to what this was, and how it can even if it tried. With all the changes, My Little Pony has gotten so divorced from its idyllic setting, and there's a certain pettiness inherent to placing all the characters at the top of the world so they can "teach" all the other things in the show how to live. In a lot of ways, it feels like Lesson Zero can be used to draw a parallel with modern MLP, where they're flailing for ideas and doing their best to make conflict where there shouldn't be any.

You look at where My Little Pony is today, and all the characters are at their peak. They've realized all their ambitions and their arcs are over, so now episodes involve them traveling to far away lands to condescend to others. It feels condescending because the character arcs weren't concluded gracefully, and the flaws holding the characters back weren't properly addressed. Dash becomes a Wonderbolt, for example, which should be impossible as long as she's still acting out for attention and unable to let go her ego.

Instead of fitting Dash to a tight regiment with a lot of responsibilities, they fit the Wonderbolts around Dash. They deal with her make exceptions for her attitude. The rules of the world changed so that Dash could achieve the dream, and the argument made is that "well she deserved it." But there must be other ponies who aren't on the screen who also "deserve it." Even if they can't fly as fast, they may be less trouble to deal with and their schedules might permit them to actually to go shows and practice more often than once a season.

When I first started doing MAS, I did so in the assumption that the characters couldn't change too much or else they'd lose everything that made the show such a take-off success. Everything feels so different form those days, I don't really know where MAS is going or how to write around what the show has done to itself. If Celestia gets defeated by something once a season and otherwise undermines her own presence, it's not an exaggeration of the character to make her an intimidating and ruthless tyrant. It's become juxtaposition.

I wasn't originally trying to be as opposite to the real show as possible. I was trying to magnify the existing flaws of the characters to comedic levels. If I wanted the opposite of My Little Pony I would have done something else. So it feels especially strange to realize the actual show is frequently the opposite of everything I wanted out of it. It's gotten so saccharine. Every character is a straight man playing off of other straight men to demonstrate that hard is always rewarded by a perfectly just world that revolves around the main character of a story. Nobody has dropped a piano on Twilight Sparkle in years. Now Twilight calmly apologizes for being wrong and nothing funny happens to her.

myzz007 posted...

didn't think about it myself, but it really is to the point where the ponies are just scolding others using their way of life as the justification...
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http://pre04.deviantart.net/56e6/th/pre/i/2017/148/e/1/nope_luna_by_magnaluna-dbaraj7.jpg
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It's like somebody asked, "Why doesn't Tom stop chasing Jerry? Why doesn't the coyote stop chasing the road runner and settle for the dead rabbit on the side of the road?" Because if you take away the most basic conflicts written at the core of your show, you don't have a show anymore, you donks! Your characters can have those moments of self-awareness where they realize they can relax and work together, but if the soul of your show is social conflict, you can't write it out! Rarity and AJ need to fight! Twilight needs to disagree with Pinkie! Fluttershy and Dash need to pull in opposite directions!

They're intentionally designed that way! Six characters with diametrically opposite personalities. Yes, it would be easier in their lives to go in seperate direction and only call each other when their skills are useful, but this is not real life. It's a cartoon. They had hammers for nails, screw drivers for screws, and they threw it all away and somebody who doesn't know anything about construction replaced the tools, and now it's no wonder they can't build a house.

All this has made it so much harder to write for MAS. I can joke Dash won't get into the Wonderbolts because she doesn't have a degree, but eventually the rules will change and she'll get in. Twilight will be a princess, Rarity will open her boutiques, and the kids will get their cutie marks. The most difficult thing about it all is that there won't be a lot of logic I can follow as to how it happened. Dash took an exam and we were told she was a savant for one episode, and it's never come up again - just temporarily had mental super powers so she could pass as test.

myzz007 posted...

can't make a sandwich without the bread.


having an early Memorial Day dinner, later all.
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You'd think a parody could work around stuff like that, but then Dash comes back and just hangs around. She's never at practice and it's not actually comedic to point it out because it's just true. Where's the structure? What was the point of doing it? I just don't understand. If I skipped all the Wonderbolts episodes and never mentioned it, then it would make no difference to every other episode. But that was her life dream. That was the character's thing.

Taking the characters seriously how and asking these questions makes me feel really stupid. Like it's a kid's show and you can't expect that much consistency or structure. You can't assume that the lead character is going to go on acting like herself forever, because the writers change, and the directors change, and the corporate executives want to advertise a toy so a set needs to be blown up and replaced with the toy.

But for a little while, the show had it. There were Emmy-winning staff at work. There was a show that was not only great for kids, but it inspired a lot of young adults to write, and to draw, and to make music, and to learn how to get better at those things. It made people interested in animation, and the process of animation. There was an infectious affection for this cartoon. But there wasn't already marketing data on that, nor a business model for it.

so all the text above is from MAS ep -3 epilogue. it covers partially how i feel about today's MLP versus older MLP.

i think MLP is continuing with a whole new season 8 after season 7 is done. >__>

I agree that the serialization of the show has in part led to the decline of the show's original charm

The characters had differing personalities that still allowed for celebration and friendship based on differences. As it went on, these characters slowly embodied and/or tolerated the very traits they once foiled.

It's what killed Twilight originally. Her character was built on learning new things about her friends and her new surroundings, but over time the nature of a character that is meant to learn meant that she had to eventually tolerate or halt pinkie's antics, manhandle Dash to get her attention, etc.

The ONLY way you can put a hold on that kind of singularity is to introduce new characters that fill those old roles. Either that or retcon/revise the traits and conflicts between the original cast.

EDIT: This is, of course, only my opinion based on S1-4
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Getting a taste of that manager life today. Took control of the store for a couple hours.
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I like ponies.
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https://derpicdn.net/img/2017/5/28/1448071/large.png
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I still don't exactly know how Season 8 is going to play into things after The Movie. But for what it's worth, Season 7 has been really good quality. :D
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MegamanXfan21xx posted...

http://68.media.tumblr.com/0df189b813c4e0252ad4a85ba76bf581/tumblr_oqobnjrUmO1spedcuo3_r1_1280.png

Rarity is best human

Hey.
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Skye Reynolds posted...

Rarity is best human

Truth.
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Head's killing me.

=[
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Malcrasternus posted...

Head's killing me.

=[

Sorry. Headaches stink.

:(

http://pre02.deviantart.net/38a5/th/pre/i/2016/264/6/7/present_by_elzzombie-daie1b7.jpg
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MegamanXfan21xx posted...

http://pre02.deviantart.net/38a5/th/pre/i/2016/264/6/7/present_by_elzzombie-daie1b7.jpg

lewd
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Oh, you've got to be kidding me!
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Kayiel posted...

Oh, you've got to be kidding me!

Pinkie would never put that down.
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Half an hour remains.

Argh.
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MegamanXfan21xx posted...

Pinkie would never put that down.

she could use her tail and front mane curl to keep that thing going 24/7

Malcrasternus posted...

Half an hour remains.

Argh.

*hug*
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