This seems interesting, looking forward to see where this is going.
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So I was totally hyped for the episode this morning
And then I discovered
It airs next week
At least I found that out before I stayed up until 1:30 in the morning to watch it live I guess
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Yeah @AvohkahTamer and I did the same thing this morning. xP
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Okay so I watched an episode of this show and it wasnât that bad. I actually kinda liked it. Iâm not going to go out and buy all of the Merchandise or flood DA with pony drawings, but I think itâs a good show.
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yeah not everyone who watches the show does that. I just watch it, I donât interact with the fandom or buy their merchandise at all.
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I on the other hand interact with the fandom to a fair degree and have bought way too much merchandise - but yeah, that doesnât really matter overall. If you thought it was a good show, cool! Iâm glad you enjoy it, even if youâre not ready to really interact with it beyond watching that one episode.
May I ask though, do you happen to know which episode it was that you watched? Iâm quite curious.
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It was the first episode of season 1. I do not remember the title, sadly.
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Yeah, those first few episodes technically have two titles each (that one is both âFriendship is Magic: Part Iâ and âThe Mare in the Moonâ, IIRC); itâs pretty hard to remember the titles without being obsessed to a worrying degree.
That was the episode I started on, too - itâs kind of the natural starting point, isnât it? I remember when I first sat down to watch it, going âOkay, well Iâve heard this show is a big deal so I guess I may as well see what itâs about; I hope it turns out to be bad so that I can just forget about it and move on.â Three guesses as to what I ended up thinking of it, and the first two donât count.
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Exactly my thoughts watching that two-parter for the first time.
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So I had this whole big spiel planned out, but on second thought, I think I can condense this all to a much shorter list of bullet points.
-MLP, I have recently realized, is not the show I keep wanting it to be. To be brutally honest, itâs pretty shallow.
-The characters do have some depth to them, but itâs not as much as people claim, and they donât develop so much as their personality shifts depending on the writer and the season.
-The setting is vast but shallowly explored and inconsistent.
-Thereâs no real direction. Sure, things change between seasons like Twilight becoming a princess and the castle appearing, but itâs never actually going somewhere, itâs just merchandise support.
-Thereâs an overabundance of redemption plots, and EVERY SINGLE ONE of them has been rushed at best, an absolute disaster more often.
-Most notably Discord, who has become so much of a meme that he actively derails episodes he shows up in nowadays. The God of Chaos has fallen far since his debut appearance.
-Thereâs nothing wrong with being merchandise-driven, btw, (after all, Bionicle is) but they set a high bar for themselves by handling it so subtly back in Season 1 that the new style of making the âarcâ of a season revolve around that feels lazy by comparison.
-I donât want to sound like one of those anti-Twilicorn reactionists, because Iâm not, but now that weâve had a couple of seasons to see what they would do with her, I really think that move was a major misstep and that sheâs gotten blander since getting the wings.
-The show is so lazy about continuity that when it does remember something from a previous episode, it merits a full-blown celebration!
https://derpicdn.net/img/2015/9/18/982341/full.jpeg
-Donât get me wrong. I still enjoy the show, and I feel Season 5 has brought about a marked improvement in many aspects, but it has been severely stagnant for some time now, changing details without making any meaningful change to the status quo, aimless without an overarching plotline to tie things together, and with characters that are passable but not outstanding. The slice-of-life episodes, while much better than the two-parters by a long shot and still expand on the setting, fail to develop the characters much and usually revolve around pretty trivial conflicts.
-And the kicker is, it didnât have to be like this. Season 1 felt like the setup to a pretty great story, Season 2 felt like it could still take things in an interesting direction, but then everything went off the rails with Season 3 and itâs not gone anywhere meaningful since.
-But yeah, I still enjoy the show - itâs harmless fun, but nothing to read too deeply into anymore. Season 6 looks like itâll be fun.
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Seconded.
Sometimes I prefer what the Fandom creates over the actual show, sometimes the show surprises me. Iâve come to accept that Friendship is Magic is, at the end of the day, meant to sell toys to little girls, not cater to twenty-something guys like me. But that doesnât stop me from enjoying for what it is, or from wishing it to be greater than it actually is. The show has great possibility, but I feel that far to often the writers feel the need to play it safe. They stick to what they know, and donât create things that will upset the greater status quo of the universe.
âTwilightâs an Alicorn Princess?â not much changed. âShe has a Castle?â Itâs just a fancy replacement for her old home that was destroyed in the same/previous episode. âNew Villain?â Meh, weâll cut her from the story until the season finale, and then give her a half-hearted redemption story.
I think we all want so much more from the show, but as for me, Iâll stay a fan so long as they donât pull anything downright offensive or stupid. I think you put it best:
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Same here
Aside from her losing her more sarcastic side
And neurosis, mostly
And her episodes revolving more around the responsibility of princesshood than her more intellectual pursuits or learning-how-to-interact stuff
So as someone who was pretty open to the idea at first, I honestly believe they done screwed up with her character. Of all the characters, she was possibly the worst choice to ascend.
And honestly, the destruction of the library really pissed me off
It was so callous, and replacing it with a shiny castle really seemed to enforce the showâs â â â â â and provide some questionable themes. âHey, girls! You wonât need silly books when youâre a princess!â Season 5âs early episodes helped soften the blow, but the subtext is still there, intentional or not.
But yeah, not much ultimately changed.
Eeyup
Iâd argue they already have, yet Iâm still a fan somehow. XD
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Well Iâll probably continue watching the show, itâs only a half an hour out my week anyway. Itâs still enjoyable at some points.
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Maybe I just have a higher tolerance than you do. To each their own! 
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Well, it seems like pretty much everythingâs been said here that I wanted to say. FiM is definitely not an incredible narrative-based epic, but itâs still, I would argue, a good show and one that Iâm happy to keep watching.
On that note:
T-MINUS 90 MINUTES AND COUNTING
Get it, 'cause like, T for Trixie, and⌠yeah Iâll see myself out.
Sadly Iâm not going to be able to watch it live this time around, but soon⌠SOON I shall bathe in glorious Trix. Do not fear O Great and Powerful One, I have not abandoned you, I merely require a better internet signal in order to truly appreciate your magnificence!
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Yeah, Iâm not saying the show is horrible or trying to convince anyone else to stop
Just had to air some personal grievances
Quite so!
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So, Trixie.
TRIXIE.
Episode was pretty decent, not the absolute greatest episode of all time but certainly not terrible. Character development for both Starlight and Trixie (though I felt like Trixie still zigzagged a bit too much on that front), Trixie was there, pandering in moderate measures (Derpy and muffins are still a thing), Trixie was there, Twilight was obsessed with silverware placement, Trixie was there, Celestia appeared again at least marginally, and most importantly Trixie was there.
I actually really liked the character depth the two not-Twilights got this episode, even if Trixieâs did feel a little awkward and ineffectively-handled at times. I especially liked that she talked in first-person a lot of the time - it added a whole lot of humanity (ponyanity?) to the character without the need for too much extra dialog.
In the end, a decent episode, whose flaws I am totally willing to forgive simply because TRIXIE. I know most people probably wonât have that going for the episode when they watch it, so objectively Iâd say it was a decent episode and worth watching but nothing to particularly write home about.
Plus Iâm pretty sure Trixie was totally knowingly about to die for her show, with only the hope that someone who hated her and ran away is still nearby and still actually likes her standing between her and actual real death. Edgiest unicorn.
The Peat and Growerful Triskie will see you next weekâŚ!
EDIT: I forgot about the faces. Oh dear Celestia the faces. So many faces this episode. Someone had fun animating this one.
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So I wanted to say that I probably made my opinion sound more negative than it is.
The thing is, while I do feel there are some legitimate dropping-the-ball moments with shoddy reformations and continuity errors, most of my list of complaints is more concerned with what I want the show to be, rather than what it is. And what it is is fun, clever, and really well written 90% of the time
So yeah
: )
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I admire the scene in which Twilight confronted Trixie and Starlight before Trixieâs show, but itâs taken me some thought to understand. On my first viewing, I paused the video after Trixie proudly declared that sheâd used Starlight for revenge on Twilight.
Trixie: âExactly! Wait, no, I mean⌠I got caught up in the moment. I like you,â
I stopped the video and rewatched that moment. Trixie is overdramatic. I doubt Iâm the first to say that her âGreat & Powerfulâ attitude is a character that she has created for herself. She was acting in that scene, and when Starlight suggested that their friendship was a ploy for revenge, Trixie reacted in character. She didnât realize the meaning of her words until the damage had been done.
So much thought went into that scene, but Crankey Doodle easily had the best line of the episode. He was the brave soul who dared to ask the question that no one else has ever had the courage to ponder: âHow do you get your hair to do that all the time?â
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I loved that line too, but it does remind me - Celestia was so weirdly out of character in this episode. Incredibly stern, unfriendly to her former student (and now equal ruler), not even acting kindly toward any of her subjects - which is like her one constant defining trait. I dunno, Iâm not even that big a Celestia fan to be honest but I guess it just rubbed me the wrong way seeing her act so unlike her usual self.
Happy to be wrong though, if anyone has any counterpoints to make. I always prefer to admire the show-staff rather than criticize them, so if Iâm clearly misinterpreting Iâd love to be corrected!
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