Welcome to the last week of my Month of Negatives. While doing this ‘Month of Positives’ and ‘Month of Negatives’ has been fun and neatly organised, I do not feel I will be doing it again. Why will I not be doing it again? Because after writing about pairings I wanted the following blog to continue discussing pairings or I had a sudden interest in MLP games ideas in which I think it would be fun to debate which video game company would be best to develop one. Basically, I found myself being motivated to write about certain subjects which I did not because I wanted to keep to the schedule. Anyway, before I move onto my Fanfiction progress and then my bottom ten least favourite characters of MLP:FiM, I would like to explain something about the character list, namely, that the characters on the list will only be ones who canonically have names or have generally recognised fan-names, so despite how much I hate nearly every one of the teenage dragons in ‘Dragon Quest’ you won’t see them here.
Now for the Fanfiction progress which I will go over quickly as I have different, fanfic related discussion for this week’s segment. My progress on ‘Magnetism’ is not what I’d call great, 4-5 pages, but it’s a lot better than the previous two weeks. As I write though I get the sense that the second chapter of this fanfic will probably be the weakest of the eight, partly because as I write it I’m constantly feeling eager to start chapter 3 which will have some of my favourite moments that I’ve thought of for the story. Anyway, as I mentioned last week, I would like to get the opinion of my small numbered blog followers on the current summary of ‘Magnetism’ which is as follows; ‘When sorting through a horde of artefacts Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash accidentally activate the magical powers of a pair of bracelets which force the wearers to be in constant physical contact with one another. Stuck together until Twilight manages to find a way to remove the bracelets, the shy and timid pegasus must cope with remerging feelings, while the athletic and rash pegasus must cope with the various antics of a bunny rabbit out to get her.’ So this is the current summary, and yes, I have already implemented some of the ideas I received from Ugugg93 last week when he mistook the posting of the short summary for today’s long one but I still feel it could be better and such I would like to hear what you all think about it and ways you think it can be improved.
10) Daring Doo – Those of you familiar with my opinion on ‘Read it and Weep’ probably won’t find the listing of this character to be a surprise. I find her to be bland and I could never invest any interest in the character, leading me to not care about what happens to her. Really, the only thing I care about this character is her colour scheme.
9) Vinyl Scratch – What infuriates me about this character is her popularity, popularity unwarranted by a character who until the last episode of season 2 had a total screen time of four seconds. FOUR SECONDS! Also worth taking note of is that in those four seconds most of her face is obscured by her sunglasses, she has but one facial expression on her, and she never talks. The majority of other background characters are usually somewhat warranted in their popularity due to multiple appearances, wordless interactions with the main cast, and facial expressions and actions that present possible emotion and character traits but Vinyl Scratch has none of that.
8) Celestia – This will come as a surprise to one of my blogs readers in the fact that I have criticised Celestia many a time in the past and yet she is only at position number eight. To be fair, for a long time she was in the bottom three, managed to move up to bottom five, and after ‘A Canterlot Wedding’ managed to move out of that zone and into spot number eight.
Celestia is an immortal ruler of her country with seemingly no personality flaws, the power to raise both the sun and the moon, and is liked by everyone. Does that make you think Mary-Sue or is it just me? The character comes across as too perfect, she doesn’t have the emotional failing of her sister (Luna succumbing to her jealous emotions) and was apparently able to raise the moon no problem after her sisters defeat. She was also to wield the elements of harmony by herself, seemingly the strongest weapons in all of Equestria, on her own. There is nopony who dislikes her, and there has never been a case where somepony has disagreed with her (with exception to Luna but in that case she was evil). As far as more canonical fan depictions go she is also often casted in an enchantress role, and in cases such as ‘The Best Night Ever’ this does seem a fitting role, but then that is another reason I dislike her, I have never liked enchantress characters.
The reason why I have softened my dislike of this character is thanks to her failings in both parts of ‘A Canterlot Wedding’. In part 1, she was wrong about the fake Candence, and in part 2 she got beaten by Chrysalis showing she was not an overpowered god-like entity (they also had a good explanation for why someone as strong as Celestia lost to Chrysalis). In fact, if she had apologised to Twilight at the end of ‘A Canterlot Wedding’, instead of saying Twilight learned a lesson about trusting her instincts (this moral makes absolutely no sense given the episode, and why would Twilight, the one who was right the entire time, learn a lesson from being correct the entire time) she would have gone up all the way to spot number ten.
Overall I just dislike the character of Celestia and the role of her character. For me, such characters exist for only three reasons, for backstory, The Worf effect (check TV tropes for the explanation), and the “Did you just punch out Cthulhu?” trope (again, check TV tropes for the explanation). Though I will say, an episode where Princess Celestia learns a lesson and writes a friendship report to Twilight will certainly be an effective means to make me dislike the character less.
7) Twist – Surely, while I feel there is nothing about the characters personality to dislike, I find myself displeased with her character design and pained by her voice. I feel like they were trying too hard to make an adorkable character, and Twist is the result of this, a character without much substance and a voice that would simply be hard to understand if it didn’t sound so very painful. Many people state ‘The Cutie Mark Crusaders Song’ as being unbearable to listen to, my equivalent is the voice of Twist.
6) Snails – One of the first recurring male characters of the show, and he looks and sounds like this. To be fair, he does come across as seeming like someone with a mental handicap and this does deter most criticism, and his stupidity does lead to some frequent but below average humour. Ultimately though I am left wondering, what kind of talent does a snail cutie mark represent?
5) Philomena – I will give her this, she was funny, however she was a jerk who went too far in her desire for humour. Depending on how you interpret the character’s actions, and the reasoning behind them changes how you’ll see Philomena and though I can easily see someone arguing Philomena’s as a lack of choice (Fluttershy did take her away in the bird cage, and some of her reactions were simply the medication and medical methods failing on her) I see her trouble making and foolery as a matter of choice thus, if Philomena was ponified she would be the incarnation of the fandom’s Trollestia. I know she wanted some fun, but the moment Fluttershy began crying while holding Philomena’s ashes in her hooves is when you realise the phoenix took things too far.
4) Silver Spoon – With ‘Ponyville Confidential’ Diamond Tiara stepped up from being a bully to being a villain, Silver Spoon has not made that advancement and continues to play the role of the follower to Diamond Tiara in before episodes. Usually the assisting character has some quirk which makes them likable but Silver Spoon does not, she acts based upon Diamond Tiara and in turn doesn’t have much character herself (there was that one exception in ‘Family Appreciation Day’ but that strays her from development into an antagonistic character which the show really does not have enough of).
3) Hoops and Dumbbell – Just because a character is a bully does not mean they can’t have some depth to them…this is not one of those cases. Again, these characters have so little to contrast or even tell them apart that I once again have them sharing a spot, and other than offering backstory/development to the characters of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash they don’t serve any other purpose.
2) Snips – Think of the faults of Snails, stupid voice, stupid design, and just being plain stupid, but don’t do it to the extent in which humour may arise from it, and you have Snips. I find there is nothing interesting about this character, and he offers nothing in the comedy department either, he has also now been overshadowed by plenty of much more likable colt characters with much more interesting designs (Pipsqueak, Rumble, Featherweight, even that one chubby pony at the back of the class).
1) Owloysius – This pet feels like nothing more than a plot device, he exists so Spike could be jealous of something, and in turn made to look bad. The “who” joke has a slight dab of charm, but only towards the end of his debuting episode where it is overplayed to a comical fashion. Also, in one of the most WTF moments of the show, this owl is apparently able to take on a fully grown dragon, seriously undermining that race, and just overpowering a seemingly ordinary animal with seemingly little personality (at least in comparison to the other pets in the show).
Something I feel is worth mentioning for this list of disliked characters are those that could not be placed on the list due to my ruling against having characters who have no official/commonly regarded fan-name, and characters who were formerly on my bottom ten least favourite list but have managed to escape it’s clutches. Those of you familiar with my views on the episode ‘Dragon Quest’ will know that I hated the teenage dragons for their lack of depth and for being stereotypical jocks.Garble I find as a slight exception, but even he is close to being in my bottom ten, the other teenage dragons I did not consider due to a lack of consistent fan-names for them. Another group I’m not fond of is the royal guard, an army so pathetic, I seriously debate over who would win in a fight of Equestria’s royal guard and Goombas. One character formerly on my list and one who I’m still not overly fond of is Trixie. In fact she was even at one point in my bottom three though I soon found that almost the entirety of my dislike for her arose from her bizarre popularity that undermined several other characters. True, I still feel the other one-shot antagonists of Gilda and the Diamond Dog trio are better than her, and I still find Trixie’s voice annoying, but otherwise I like her canon personality and role, it is only when I consider fanon that she begins to reach levels of dislike rather than neutral zone. Another character, who for the briefest time I disliked enough to consider them my tenth least favourite character, is Big Mac, all because of ‘Ponyville Confidential’. His scolding of the Cutie Mark Crusaders still infuriates me, and my disdain of him would remain today if his appearance in the opening of ‘MMMystery on the Friendship Express’ hadn’t amused me so. I then went back and watched some clips he was featured in as well ‘Hearts and Hooves Day’ and ta-dah, he regained my liking.
Well, with nothing left to say concerning my least liked characters I believe this is a good point to end things. What will be here next week? Well, as the next season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has not started yet it means I still need to think of topics for discussion. Perhaps I will talk about game ideas or things I wish to see in the third season or future of MLP. Maybe I’ll go back to babbling about pairings, analyse the current state of a pairing like I once did for FlutterDash, another neat thing would be to list my favourite FlutterDash/OTP of your choice moments from the cartoon. A discussion on the antagonists would be a good one to have, I could always analyse the Brony community, or even share my thoughts on what I have seen of G1, and I have plenty of opinions concerning the possible character roster for Fighting is Magic. There are tons of things I could decide to discuss as next week’s topic, my one problem is deciding on one, the positive to this scenario is that I am unrestricted in what I choose to discuss. Whatever I end up discussing I hope you can all look forward to it and I hope you will all be able to enjoy it but until then, cheerio!
Sunday 24 June 2012
Monday 18 June 2012
Month of Negatives: Week 3 - Pairings!
I find it rather amusing that one of the main arguments anti-shippers have against shippers is that you wouldn't go about shipping people in real life. I find this so amusing because back in school I actually had a shipping chart of my classmates, and would actually spend my time observing their interactions with one another. Enough of my old past time of real life shipping, it's time I began discussing the MLP: FiM ships that I do not like.
After I talk about my fanfiction progress of course. This week was another slow one in which not a great deal of progress was made, I'm hoping that the following week I will be able to focus myself enough to get the second chapter of 'Magnetism' finished, and I'm also thinking of getting round to editing and improving 'Thank You Cider'. I have also pondered the possibility, that once I have polished 'Thank You Cider', of trying to submit it to Equestria Daily, for if I'm successful that will surely boost its popularity (then again I'm still amazed at my first fanfic managing to get 54 comments, 57 likes, and only 2 dislikes). Of course my priority is on 'Magnetism' and in fact, there is something I wish to ask of this blog's readers/followers. In order to entice a reader into reading a fanfic, one needs a good summary for their fanfic. My short summary for 'Magnetism', currently "Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash must be in constant physical contact because a pair of magic bracelets", I feel is satisfactory, though I have doubts over the longer summary for the fanfic. So next week, within the fanfiction progress section, I shall be posting the current idea I have for the long summary of 'Magnetism' in order to ask you, my blogs readers, opinions on it and to see if I can improve it in anyway. With that said it is time we get onto the topic of the week, my least favourite pairings/shipping’s/whatever you want to call them.
10) FancyFleur (Fancy Pants and Fleur-de-lis) – My reason for disliking this pairing comes down mostly to Fleur-de-lis, in the fact that she seemed no different to the other upper class ponies hanging around Fancy Pants because he is well respected. For instance, when we first see the two characters Fleur-de-lis takes note of each action Fancy Pants does and imitates it, similar to how the other class ponies try and follow Fancy Pants example in order to get his approval. A lot of fans also seem to suggest that Fleur-de-lis is Fancy Pants trophy wife but I’m not buying that, the guy doesn’t seem like the type to have a wife simply for the purpose of showing off his status and class.
9) SpitDash (Spitfire and Rainbow Dash) – I can understand where this paring comes from, Rainbow Dash wants to be a Wonderbolt and admires them and Spitfire happens to be a Wonderbolt, which in turn I dislike. When it is for that reason alone I dislike SpitDash, I personally think that Rainbow Dash isn’t the sort to think of things on a romantic level and so her admiration is simply admiration. I also do not think she is shallow enough to be in love with a pony simply because they are a Wonderbolt, other cases of possible love for a role model such as TwiLestia (Twilight Sparkle and Celestia) and ScootaDash (Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash) are okay because they are admiring an individual, not a group, the ‘because Spitfire’s a Wonderbolt’ can be applied just as easily to other Wonderbolt members such as Soarin. Also, as far as I’ve seen her depicted, Spitefire usually comes across simply as a mature, more sensible version of Rainbow Dash and that makes the pairing kind of boring.
8) SpiLight (Spike and Twilight Sparkle) – I am probably one of the most tolerable people when it comes to what many would term as incest pairings and I figure this is because I see the case of incest to be more with how the characters interact with one another and less to do with their blood. If they happen to be brother and sister simply because of genetics, oh well, love is love, but if their interactions and pre-existing relationship make them feel like they are brother and sister, regardless on whether or not they are related, then it becomes awkward. Such is the case I find with SpiLight, because I see how Spike and Twilight interact to be like that of a younger brother and an older sister, so despite not being related, or even the same species, I see them as brother and sister.
7) GildaShy (Gilda and Fluttershy) – I shouldn’t really need to explain myself here. I can understand GildaDash (Gilda and Rainbow Dash) on the basis of either a former relationship or one-sided feelings on Gilda’s part for Rainbow Dash, and I can sort of understand GildaPie (Gilda and Pinkie Pie) as Pinkie Pie did go through a lot of trouble to try and make Gilda less of a grump…also I find Pinkie Pie works in pretty much all pairings but GildaShy just puzzles me. I know Fluttershy is kind and all, but Gilda made her burst into tears, and that was the entirety of their interaction.
6) DumbShy (Dumbbell and Fluttershy), DumbDash (Dumbbell and Rainbow Dash), HoopShy (Hoops and Fluttershy), and HoopDash (Hoops and Rainbow Dash) – I try to list each rank with only one of said thing I’m ranking, in this case, only one pairing/ship per rank, but this will be the exception for my reasons for disliking these pairings are the same and they are thankfully not large enough to credit a position individually. Unfortunately Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash being paired up with their bullies has occurred, at least in the realms of fan-art, and it baffles me as to why. Hoops and Dumbbell can’t even make up for being bullies by being interesting characters, they are simply bland character types made to serve the purpose of story events in ‘Sonic Rainboom’ and ‘The Cutie Mark Chronicles’ as well as forming possible parts of both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash’s personalities by seemingly being consistent bullies of the two (they hadn’t changed much in the time between ‘The Cutie Mark Chronicles’ and ‘Sonic Rainboom’).
5) RainBurn (Rainbow Dash and Braeburn) – Rainbow Dash was on the side of the buffaloes and I don’t think she has a single interaction with Braeburn. Now RainHeart (Rainbow Dash and Little Strong Heart) makes sense, and TwiBurn (Twilight Sparkle and Braeburn), RariBurn (Rarity and Braeburn), and FlutterBurn (Fluttershy and Braeburn) all make more sense than RainBurn. The pairing just feels like an attempt to ship Rainbow Dash with a male character simply for the sake of shipping Rainbow Dash with a male character (and considering how often Braeburn is considered gay and shipped with male characters, the opposite probably applies as well).
4) SpikeBloom (Spike and Apple Bloom) – There are many reasons I dislike this pairing, and each of these reasons for disliking this pairing quickly add up to my distaste for it. First, I do not like the reasoning for this pairing, rather than being based on their personalities or interactions it is simply based on the fact that Spike was the first young boy character of importance and Apple Bloom was the first young girl character of importance. Second, I feel that the other two crusaders work better in a pairing with Spike, Scootaloo’s personality works better alongside Spike’s than Apple Bloom’s while the fact that Sweetie Belle is Rarity’s sister generates an interesting situation/relationship without much effort needed. Finally, I dislike the pairing because of how popular it is despite these two previous factors, and in being so popular it detracted from SpArity (Spike and Rarity), a pairing which should not have had to wait until ‘Secret of my Excess’ for it to gain an above average following (furthermore, outside of SpikeBloom, SpArity, and SpiLight, the other Spike pairings aren’t all that popular because of the overwhelming popularity of SpikeBloom).
3) RariTwi (Rarity and Twilight Sparkle) – Rarity knows that Spike has feelings for her, and Twilight Sparkle is practically Spike’s older sister, so this pairing probably feels like a dagger in the back of a certain baby dragon. If it weren’t for this factor (and how I consider Rarity to be straight) I wouldn’t find this pairing all that bad, but being a fan of SpArity, I have to say no this pairing, and if it does appear in any story it needs to address Spike.
2) TwiXie (Twilight Sparkle and Trixie) – If you watch the episode 'Boast Busters' Trixie and Twilight actually had very little interaction and barely even a proper conversation with one another. Trixie’s interactions were focused much more on Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. The only thing really going for this pairing is how none of the two characters interactions were particularly negative, and if it were to spur from Trixie’s side, Twilight letting Trixie off and with no ill will towards her could be used to explain Trixie having romantic feelings for Twilight. Unfortunately it is usually done the other way around and both the characters usually have to stop acting like themselves in order to get the pairing to work.
1) FlutterMac (Fluttershy and Big Macintosh) – One of the quickest ways to stop me from reading a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fanfic is to have this pairing featured. Sure, there are exceptions, both ‘Gravity’ by Tealove and ‘Piano Mare’ by Aegis Shield feature this pairing though if you were to read said fanfics you would understand why I’m okay with them being featured. My dislike comes down mostly to personal taste but also includes; a befuddlement with how two shy characters could possibly make a romantic relationship work, a head-canon that dictates Fluttershy being lesbian, a dislike of several of the ships fans due to the small FlutterMac vs. CheeriMac argument that sprung up from ‘Hearts and Hooves Day’, and an irritation with its absurd popularity (it is the most popular heterosexual pairing in the fandom) which is to the point that some fans believe the pairing to be canon despite how they have only appeared in the same scene about four times and have never once spoken to each other.
Like with my last pairing discussion I do not plan on finishing here, as there are other pairings that I dislike that I wish to discuss. You may have noticed within my list that my head-canon dictates Fluttershy as being lesbian (something I considered since the first episode and had pretty much set in stone with ‘The Cutie Mark Chronicles’) and as such, with exception to a rule 63 Rainbow Dash or ponified Angel Bunny, regard all FluttershyXMale Character ships with either a neutral opinion or a dislike opinion. I don’t get ChrysalCandence (Chrysalis and Candence) or ChrysalLestia (Chrysalis and Celestia) and for reasons I’m not too sure of myself I am not fond of TwiShy (Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy) or ThunderDash (Thunderlane and Rainbow Dash). I’ve seen all three of the PipsqueakXCutie Mark Crusader pairings, PipBloom (Pipsqueak and Apple Bloom), PipBelle (Pipsqueak and Sweetie Belle), and PipLoo (Pipsqueak and Scootaloo), in fanart, and found myself not liking all three pairings, and I also dislike VinylTavia (Vinyl Scratch and Octavia) for its flimsy basis of the two character being paired together simply because they are musicians, even though there style of music have little to nothing in common. All this talk of shipping today kind of makes me want to talk about it more, maybe one of my future posts should be about my primary ships and secondary ships, or simply stating my opinions on some of the popular and/or weirder shipping’s, for instance, did you know that DiamondBunny (Diamond Tiara and Angel Bunny) is an actual shipping. Alas, I still have one more week of my Month of Negatives to go, and next week shall concern the characters of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic that I dislike...now I just need to think of ten characters from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic that I actually dislike.
After I talk about my fanfiction progress of course. This week was another slow one in which not a great deal of progress was made, I'm hoping that the following week I will be able to focus myself enough to get the second chapter of 'Magnetism' finished, and I'm also thinking of getting round to editing and improving 'Thank You Cider'. I have also pondered the possibility, that once I have polished 'Thank You Cider', of trying to submit it to Equestria Daily, for if I'm successful that will surely boost its popularity (then again I'm still amazed at my first fanfic managing to get 54 comments, 57 likes, and only 2 dislikes). Of course my priority is on 'Magnetism' and in fact, there is something I wish to ask of this blog's readers/followers. In order to entice a reader into reading a fanfic, one needs a good summary for their fanfic. My short summary for 'Magnetism', currently "Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash must be in constant physical contact because a pair of magic bracelets", I feel is satisfactory, though I have doubts over the longer summary for the fanfic. So next week, within the fanfiction progress section, I shall be posting the current idea I have for the long summary of 'Magnetism' in order to ask you, my blogs readers, opinions on it and to see if I can improve it in anyway. With that said it is time we get onto the topic of the week, my least favourite pairings/shipping’s/whatever you want to call them.
10) FancyFleur (Fancy Pants and Fleur-de-lis) – My reason for disliking this pairing comes down mostly to Fleur-de-lis, in the fact that she seemed no different to the other upper class ponies hanging around Fancy Pants because he is well respected. For instance, when we first see the two characters Fleur-de-lis takes note of each action Fancy Pants does and imitates it, similar to how the other class ponies try and follow Fancy Pants example in order to get his approval. A lot of fans also seem to suggest that Fleur-de-lis is Fancy Pants trophy wife but I’m not buying that, the guy doesn’t seem like the type to have a wife simply for the purpose of showing off his status and class.
9) SpitDash (Spitfire and Rainbow Dash) – I can understand where this paring comes from, Rainbow Dash wants to be a Wonderbolt and admires them and Spitfire happens to be a Wonderbolt, which in turn I dislike. When it is for that reason alone I dislike SpitDash, I personally think that Rainbow Dash isn’t the sort to think of things on a romantic level and so her admiration is simply admiration. I also do not think she is shallow enough to be in love with a pony simply because they are a Wonderbolt, other cases of possible love for a role model such as TwiLestia (Twilight Sparkle and Celestia) and ScootaDash (Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash) are okay because they are admiring an individual, not a group, the ‘because Spitfire’s a Wonderbolt’ can be applied just as easily to other Wonderbolt members such as Soarin. Also, as far as I’ve seen her depicted, Spitefire usually comes across simply as a mature, more sensible version of Rainbow Dash and that makes the pairing kind of boring.
8) SpiLight (Spike and Twilight Sparkle) – I am probably one of the most tolerable people when it comes to what many would term as incest pairings and I figure this is because I see the case of incest to be more with how the characters interact with one another and less to do with their blood. If they happen to be brother and sister simply because of genetics, oh well, love is love, but if their interactions and pre-existing relationship make them feel like they are brother and sister, regardless on whether or not they are related, then it becomes awkward. Such is the case I find with SpiLight, because I see how Spike and Twilight interact to be like that of a younger brother and an older sister, so despite not being related, or even the same species, I see them as brother and sister.
7) GildaShy (Gilda and Fluttershy) – I shouldn’t really need to explain myself here. I can understand GildaDash (Gilda and Rainbow Dash) on the basis of either a former relationship or one-sided feelings on Gilda’s part for Rainbow Dash, and I can sort of understand GildaPie (Gilda and Pinkie Pie) as Pinkie Pie did go through a lot of trouble to try and make Gilda less of a grump…also I find Pinkie Pie works in pretty much all pairings but GildaShy just puzzles me. I know Fluttershy is kind and all, but Gilda made her burst into tears, and that was the entirety of their interaction.
6) DumbShy (Dumbbell and Fluttershy), DumbDash (Dumbbell and Rainbow Dash), HoopShy (Hoops and Fluttershy), and HoopDash (Hoops and Rainbow Dash) – I try to list each rank with only one of said thing I’m ranking, in this case, only one pairing/ship per rank, but this will be the exception for my reasons for disliking these pairings are the same and they are thankfully not large enough to credit a position individually. Unfortunately Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash being paired up with their bullies has occurred, at least in the realms of fan-art, and it baffles me as to why. Hoops and Dumbbell can’t even make up for being bullies by being interesting characters, they are simply bland character types made to serve the purpose of story events in ‘Sonic Rainboom’ and ‘The Cutie Mark Chronicles’ as well as forming possible parts of both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash’s personalities by seemingly being consistent bullies of the two (they hadn’t changed much in the time between ‘The Cutie Mark Chronicles’ and ‘Sonic Rainboom’).
5) RainBurn (Rainbow Dash and Braeburn) – Rainbow Dash was on the side of the buffaloes and I don’t think she has a single interaction with Braeburn. Now RainHeart (Rainbow Dash and Little Strong Heart) makes sense, and TwiBurn (Twilight Sparkle and Braeburn), RariBurn (Rarity and Braeburn), and FlutterBurn (Fluttershy and Braeburn) all make more sense than RainBurn. The pairing just feels like an attempt to ship Rainbow Dash with a male character simply for the sake of shipping Rainbow Dash with a male character (and considering how often Braeburn is considered gay and shipped with male characters, the opposite probably applies as well).
4) SpikeBloom (Spike and Apple Bloom) – There are many reasons I dislike this pairing, and each of these reasons for disliking this pairing quickly add up to my distaste for it. First, I do not like the reasoning for this pairing, rather than being based on their personalities or interactions it is simply based on the fact that Spike was the first young boy character of importance and Apple Bloom was the first young girl character of importance. Second, I feel that the other two crusaders work better in a pairing with Spike, Scootaloo’s personality works better alongside Spike’s than Apple Bloom’s while the fact that Sweetie Belle is Rarity’s sister generates an interesting situation/relationship without much effort needed. Finally, I dislike the pairing because of how popular it is despite these two previous factors, and in being so popular it detracted from SpArity (Spike and Rarity), a pairing which should not have had to wait until ‘Secret of my Excess’ for it to gain an above average following (furthermore, outside of SpikeBloom, SpArity, and SpiLight, the other Spike pairings aren’t all that popular because of the overwhelming popularity of SpikeBloom).
3) RariTwi (Rarity and Twilight Sparkle) – Rarity knows that Spike has feelings for her, and Twilight Sparkle is practically Spike’s older sister, so this pairing probably feels like a dagger in the back of a certain baby dragon. If it weren’t for this factor (and how I consider Rarity to be straight) I wouldn’t find this pairing all that bad, but being a fan of SpArity, I have to say no this pairing, and if it does appear in any story it needs to address Spike.
2) TwiXie (Twilight Sparkle and Trixie) – If you watch the episode 'Boast Busters' Trixie and Twilight actually had very little interaction and barely even a proper conversation with one another. Trixie’s interactions were focused much more on Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. The only thing really going for this pairing is how none of the two characters interactions were particularly negative, and if it were to spur from Trixie’s side, Twilight letting Trixie off and with no ill will towards her could be used to explain Trixie having romantic feelings for Twilight. Unfortunately it is usually done the other way around and both the characters usually have to stop acting like themselves in order to get the pairing to work.
1) FlutterMac (Fluttershy and Big Macintosh) – One of the quickest ways to stop me from reading a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fanfic is to have this pairing featured. Sure, there are exceptions, both ‘Gravity’ by Tealove and ‘Piano Mare’ by Aegis Shield feature this pairing though if you were to read said fanfics you would understand why I’m okay with them being featured. My dislike comes down mostly to personal taste but also includes; a befuddlement with how two shy characters could possibly make a romantic relationship work, a head-canon that dictates Fluttershy being lesbian, a dislike of several of the ships fans due to the small FlutterMac vs. CheeriMac argument that sprung up from ‘Hearts and Hooves Day’, and an irritation with its absurd popularity (it is the most popular heterosexual pairing in the fandom) which is to the point that some fans believe the pairing to be canon despite how they have only appeared in the same scene about four times and have never once spoken to each other.
Like with my last pairing discussion I do not plan on finishing here, as there are other pairings that I dislike that I wish to discuss. You may have noticed within my list that my head-canon dictates Fluttershy as being lesbian (something I considered since the first episode and had pretty much set in stone with ‘The Cutie Mark Chronicles’) and as such, with exception to a rule 63 Rainbow Dash or ponified Angel Bunny, regard all FluttershyXMale Character ships with either a neutral opinion or a dislike opinion. I don’t get ChrysalCandence (Chrysalis and Candence) or ChrysalLestia (Chrysalis and Celestia) and for reasons I’m not too sure of myself I am not fond of TwiShy (Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy) or ThunderDash (Thunderlane and Rainbow Dash). I’ve seen all three of the PipsqueakXCutie Mark Crusader pairings, PipBloom (Pipsqueak and Apple Bloom), PipBelle (Pipsqueak and Sweetie Belle), and PipLoo (Pipsqueak and Scootaloo), in fanart, and found myself not liking all three pairings, and I also dislike VinylTavia (Vinyl Scratch and Octavia) for its flimsy basis of the two character being paired together simply because they are musicians, even though there style of music have little to nothing in common. All this talk of shipping today kind of makes me want to talk about it more, maybe one of my future posts should be about my primary ships and secondary ships, or simply stating my opinions on some of the popular and/or weirder shipping’s, for instance, did you know that DiamondBunny (Diamond Tiara and Angel Bunny) is an actual shipping. Alas, I still have one more week of my Month of Negatives to go, and next week shall concern the characters of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic that I dislike...now I just need to think of ten characters from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic that I actually dislike.
Month of Negatives: Week 2 - Songs!
My internet connection has been a bugger for most of the day but hopefully I'll be able to finish this here post before it acts up again. Anyway, welcome to the second week of my month of negatives in which I will be discussing my ten least favourite songs of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Speaking of songs, though in a positive light, I happened to stumble upon the following the other day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bXDKExMtfY. If the link doesn't work just type in 'A Shipper's Lament (The Shipping Rap)' into YouTube and find the video by Gryfinz. I'm not a fan of rap music but this one is an enjoyable one and explains the mind-set (as well as pokes a little bit of fun) of shippers, and should be pleasing to two people who read this blog (well, the only two people who read this blog) for a certain thing we have in common that the song mentions several times.
Moving on from that it is time to discuss my fanfiction progress...or it would be if I got any of it done. Well to be fair I got a little bit done but then the rest of the week my attention has laid elsewhere, setting up my DeviantART account (as a means to store fan-art I like, not to draw, despite my average Art GCSE grade and well received final piece I suck at drawing) and of course, watching E3. I think I'll talk about that a little instead then. E3 this year was a little disappointing and a little underwhelming, part of this blame lies with myself for having too high of expectations but the other problem I believe lies in the lack of surprises. At least in regards to the big three, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo revealed barely anything that we did not already know of from last year, or before E3. It wouldn't have been so bad if we had only known of them via spoken word or rumours but no, we had already seen footage of most of the games at this year E3. Still there were of course games I am looking forward to at this year’s E3, although I was already looking forward to Dead or Alive 5, Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing Transformed and Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, but one new title caught my interest, Project P-100 for the Wii U (I much prefer the name Cafe but Wii U does role off the tongue smoothly). So this year’s E3 was not nearly as enjoyable as the two before it (2010 when Nintendo dominated, and 2011 when Sony showed off the Vita and Nintendo announced the Wii U and several 3DS titles) but they can't all be winners; here's hoping that the next Expo will be able to keep some big secrets long enough to surprise everyone at said Expo.
10) Evil Enchantress (Pinkie Pie Version) – Before I begin let me just say that I like this song, it’s humorous, and while not all that good it doesn’t last long enough to hurt and Pinkie even comments that it is a work in progress so it has reason to not be as good as other songs. The reason it is here is that, in part, I needed a tenth song to make a ‘my ten least favourite songs list’, but another reason it is here is that the Pinkie Pie version of this song is overshadowed in the very episode it appears in by Flutterguy’s version. Pinkie Pie’s may be the original but it can’t compare to the version sung by a deep and manly voiced Fluttershy.
9) Smile, Smile, Smile - So let’s see here, I just put my head through this noose and jump, and this will give me a less painful death than what the bronies will once they get a hold of me. Fair enough.
I’ve probably angered anyone who is reading this simply by stating that I dislike Pinkie Pie’s Smile, Smile, Smile song, but before you raid my floating castle and bludgeon me to death, allow me to explain why. It has its positives, explains the character of Pinkie Pie well and pretty much fits as her theme song, and the tune is rather catchy, but I’m still not too fond of it. I remember enjoying it the first time I listened to it, before I watched the episode, but in the episode it felt too long, I got bored of it, and now the song is over-hyped and over-done. So yeah, it’s a well-made song, but I find it too long, a bit boring, and not nearly as lovable as many of Pinkie Pie’s other songs.
8) So Many Wonders – This song starts off well for about the first 15 seconds but then becomes overly energetic and annoying. Luckily it’s short but I don’t like Fluttershy’s voice in this.
7) Pinkie’s Gala Fantasy Song – It doesn’t feel like a song, has too much talking but unlike the other talkative songs doesn’t feel like a musical piece or a conversation, and lacks quality humour to make up for its poor song quality. I’m also not the biggest fan of the music that plays along with it.
6) My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Opening Theme Song (Short Version) – I’m really hoping for a new opening theme for season 3, or simply the use of the much better, extended version of this song for the opening as I’m tired of skipping the opening to each episode. It hurts to listens too and feels rather uncreative.
5) At The Gala – Bring on the hate! I have previously said before that I disliked this song and shall stand by my dislike of the song. It’s dull, not nearly as catchy as the other long songs, and the only part which feels fitting to the character (and is enjoyable to listen to) is Rainbow Dash’s small part.
4) Oink, Oink, Oink – Short, repetitive, and I’m not a fan of the music in this. Considering the Cake twins reaction in this I assume this was supposed to be bad but that still doesn’t excuse it, as I have liked (and in one case you may know of, loved) other songs that were purposely intended to of poor quality but not this one.
3) Junior Speedsters Chant – I never even considered this a song but it’s listed as one on the wiki so fair enough. Neither Rainbow Dash nor Gilda seem like there singing it, there is no music going along with it, and it just feels plain and boring. The contrast between Rainbow Dash and Gilda singing the song also does not strike me as much, as while Dash is enthusiastic about it, it still feels like she is just reciting something of a piece of paper like you would a set of instructions.
2) The Heart Carol – The first time I heard this song I could not tell what was being sung, but even without knowing what they were singing I could tell that it didn’t sound like the Mane 6 voices. I’m not a fan of the choir music and it in turn has an annoyingly hymn vibe to it which I’m not a fan of either. Luckily it is so short that I only had to bear with it for 40 seconds.
1) I’m at the Grand Galloping Gala - The fact that I couldn’t even remember this at first until I looked up all the songs in the show says a lot about it. It’s unmemorable, short, and the pitch of Pinkie Pie’s voice in this song is one of the few times I find her voice annoying.
Going into even more detail regarding the rank of these songs and my opinions of them, the song ranked number 10 is one I like however it is over-shadowed by its superior and there are many songs that I can name to which I consider better than it. The songs ranked from place number 9 to place number 7 are ones that I'm not fond of, but I can easily understand why others may like them and only feel the urge to skip them if I want to get round to watching the rest of the episode quicker. The bottom 6 songs on the other hand consist of those I really dislike and prefer to skip said songs in the episodes they appear in. Like before, please feel free to comment on the songs listed and you can even mention the songs of the show that have caused pain to your ears that I may not have listed, cheerio!
Moving on from that it is time to discuss my fanfiction progress...or it would be if I got any of it done. Well to be fair I got a little bit done but then the rest of the week my attention has laid elsewhere, setting up my DeviantART account (as a means to store fan-art I like, not to draw, despite my average Art GCSE grade and well received final piece I suck at drawing) and of course, watching E3. I think I'll talk about that a little instead then. E3 this year was a little disappointing and a little underwhelming, part of this blame lies with myself for having too high of expectations but the other problem I believe lies in the lack of surprises. At least in regards to the big three, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo revealed barely anything that we did not already know of from last year, or before E3. It wouldn't have been so bad if we had only known of them via spoken word or rumours but no, we had already seen footage of most of the games at this year E3. Still there were of course games I am looking forward to at this year’s E3, although I was already looking forward to Dead or Alive 5, Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing Transformed and Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, but one new title caught my interest, Project P-100 for the Wii U (I much prefer the name Cafe but Wii U does role off the tongue smoothly). So this year’s E3 was not nearly as enjoyable as the two before it (2010 when Nintendo dominated, and 2011 when Sony showed off the Vita and Nintendo announced the Wii U and several 3DS titles) but they can't all be winners; here's hoping that the next Expo will be able to keep some big secrets long enough to surprise everyone at said Expo.
10) Evil Enchantress (Pinkie Pie Version) – Before I begin let me just say that I like this song, it’s humorous, and while not all that good it doesn’t last long enough to hurt and Pinkie even comments that it is a work in progress so it has reason to not be as good as other songs. The reason it is here is that, in part, I needed a tenth song to make a ‘my ten least favourite songs list’, but another reason it is here is that the Pinkie Pie version of this song is overshadowed in the very episode it appears in by Flutterguy’s version. Pinkie Pie’s may be the original but it can’t compare to the version sung by a deep and manly voiced Fluttershy.
9) Smile, Smile, Smile - So let’s see here, I just put my head through this noose and jump, and this will give me a less painful death than what the bronies will once they get a hold of me. Fair enough.
I’ve probably angered anyone who is reading this simply by stating that I dislike Pinkie Pie’s Smile, Smile, Smile song, but before you raid my floating castle and bludgeon me to death, allow me to explain why. It has its positives, explains the character of Pinkie Pie well and pretty much fits as her theme song, and the tune is rather catchy, but I’m still not too fond of it. I remember enjoying it the first time I listened to it, before I watched the episode, but in the episode it felt too long, I got bored of it, and now the song is over-hyped and over-done. So yeah, it’s a well-made song, but I find it too long, a bit boring, and not nearly as lovable as many of Pinkie Pie’s other songs.
8) So Many Wonders – This song starts off well for about the first 15 seconds but then becomes overly energetic and annoying. Luckily it’s short but I don’t like Fluttershy’s voice in this.
7) Pinkie’s Gala Fantasy Song – It doesn’t feel like a song, has too much talking but unlike the other talkative songs doesn’t feel like a musical piece or a conversation, and lacks quality humour to make up for its poor song quality. I’m also not the biggest fan of the music that plays along with it.
6) My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Opening Theme Song (Short Version) – I’m really hoping for a new opening theme for season 3, or simply the use of the much better, extended version of this song for the opening as I’m tired of skipping the opening to each episode. It hurts to listens too and feels rather uncreative.
5) At The Gala – Bring on the hate! I have previously said before that I disliked this song and shall stand by my dislike of the song. It’s dull, not nearly as catchy as the other long songs, and the only part which feels fitting to the character (and is enjoyable to listen to) is Rainbow Dash’s small part.
4) Oink, Oink, Oink – Short, repetitive, and I’m not a fan of the music in this. Considering the Cake twins reaction in this I assume this was supposed to be bad but that still doesn’t excuse it, as I have liked (and in one case you may know of, loved) other songs that were purposely intended to of poor quality but not this one.
3) Junior Speedsters Chant – I never even considered this a song but it’s listed as one on the wiki so fair enough. Neither Rainbow Dash nor Gilda seem like there singing it, there is no music going along with it, and it just feels plain and boring. The contrast between Rainbow Dash and Gilda singing the song also does not strike me as much, as while Dash is enthusiastic about it, it still feels like she is just reciting something of a piece of paper like you would a set of instructions.
2) The Heart Carol – The first time I heard this song I could not tell what was being sung, but even without knowing what they were singing I could tell that it didn’t sound like the Mane 6 voices. I’m not a fan of the choir music and it in turn has an annoyingly hymn vibe to it which I’m not a fan of either. Luckily it is so short that I only had to bear with it for 40 seconds.
1) I’m at the Grand Galloping Gala - The fact that I couldn’t even remember this at first until I looked up all the songs in the show says a lot about it. It’s unmemorable, short, and the pitch of Pinkie Pie’s voice in this song is one of the few times I find her voice annoying.
Going into even more detail regarding the rank of these songs and my opinions of them, the song ranked number 10 is one I like however it is over-shadowed by its superior and there are many songs that I can name to which I consider better than it. The songs ranked from place number 9 to place number 7 are ones that I'm not fond of, but I can easily understand why others may like them and only feel the urge to skip them if I want to get round to watching the rest of the episode quicker. The bottom 6 songs on the other hand consist of those I really dislike and prefer to skip said songs in the episodes they appear in. Like before, please feel free to comment on the songs listed and you can even mention the songs of the show that have caused pain to your ears that I may not have listed, cheerio!
Wednesday 6 June 2012
Month of Negatives: Week 1 - Episodes!
Recently my video games of interest have been Asura’s Wrath (more of an interactive anime but a mind blowing anime at that), Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights (Professor Layton puzzles + Legend of Zelda stealth sections + Pokémon battles + Sherlock Holmes personality protagonist + Indiana Jones adventuring) and Kirby’s Dreamland 2 (Despite being my favourite series I had regrettably never played this or its sequel) and what would you know, I found something interesting a while back. You see, in Asura’s Wrath Asura and his former master Argus are about to fight but because Argus does not want anyone to interrupt them he and Asura go on over to have their battle on the moon. Being a brony I immediately thought how funny it would be if Luna was watching their battle on the moon, and then I came across ‘Asura's Wrath: The Final Lesson...with Luna.’ By Tom2rules, a fanfic of the exact thing I thought of. A well written and neat read though it is neither the longest nor most eventful but I suggest people to have a looksee, may interest you in the game itself.
‘Magnetism’, chapter 1, is complete. It will need some editing before I upload it in late August but at over 7000 words the first chapter of my roughly 8 chaptered FlutterDash fanfic is complete. Work on the second chapter has also been going well with the first scene being almost complete, I just need to iron out some details in the Angel Bunny charade scene due to the removal and addition of differing minor details (although one minor detail I had in chapter 2 is actually becoming a larger detail that is important for both the back-story and for the conclusion of the fanfic). The rest of chapter 2 will be a little rougher, my plans for the rest of the chapter aren’t quite so polished and as Angel Bunny is becoming a more important character than he was previously in ‘Magnetism’ I need to think of more ways to involve him in already planned scenes (at a later point I will post a rough full summary of ‘Magnetism’ and my change in Angel Bunny’s screen time will become clear). Working on ‘Magnetism’ is great fun at the moment, what isn’t is that my brain is going into overdrive with story ideas. Playing Kirby’s Dreamland 2 has got this one one-shot story stuck in my head (non-pony related), and looking up Applejack’s truck jokes and comics keeps on making me think of a comedy one-shot revolving around Applejack having a cardboard cut-out of Twilight. Most prominent currently are RariPie ideas, one where Pinkie Pie, knowing Rarity is straight, disguises herself as a rich and posh stallion (complete with a bushy moustache and a monocle) and another based off the Youtube video ‘PMV â„›ariᕈie - The nicest thing I've ever seen’ by MartaPD2 because the song that goes with it truly feels like it is being sung by Pinkie (I guess that would mean I’m basing it more off the song thus making it a song fanfic…never thought I would feel the urge to write one of those). I’m trying my hardest to stick with ‘Magnetism’ because I want to actually be able to upload it according to my schedule but gosh, these ideas haunt my dreams. Moving on from that today is the first day of the Week of Negatives wherein I shall talk of my ten least favourite things of certain things from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, this week being my ten least favourite episodes.
10) S2E24: MMMystery on the Friendship Express – This episode was a last minute addition to the roster for you see, there was another episode I was considering for this spot but upon trying to write out negatives I realised the weak points to it were all rather weak themselves and I overall liked the episode (provided I ignore the obsessive fandom around one of the characters). So instead I chose MMMystery on the Friendship Express possibly the most bizarre case of all the episodes on this list. As the case of this episode is so bizarre, for this one only, I will talk of its redeeming values first and then go onto its negatives (just to be clear, with 9-1 I will talk about what I disliked first and then say what can or tries to redeem its negatives).
The opening is brilliant, involves each of the Mane 6, looks lovely, and has absolutely brilliant humour, particularly from Mr Cake (a character high up on my favourites list). Then it continues to keep the ball rolling with a moustached griffin, the return of Pony-I mean Doughnut Joe, and a tribute to the mystery novel the episode is based off in the form of Mulia Miles. Proceeding from that there is Pinkie flavoured humour and the cutest sleeping position ever, which is then followed up by one of the funniest and all-round greatest moments in the entire series, Pinkie's imagination sequences.
Now you're probably thinking, why is this episode on your bottom ten list, it sounds fantastic? Well after the imagination sequences the episode is like a cricket game wherein after half time they replace the cricket ball with a football, the bats with katana's, relocated the pitch to Atlantis, and every time you hit the football Cthulu pops out and shoots the players kneecaps with a banana bomb...to put it simply the rest of the episode goes horribly. The humour dries up with exception to one scene involving Rarity, three of the character act (dare I say it) out of character, Applejack disappears from existence, and the mystery is just boring. Half this episode is so good that if it kept up the quality I would consider it for my top ten, but the other half is just such a let-down that it ends up being balanced out into an Average episode. I do not consider this a Poor episode, only the bottom four do I consider that, but it is an Average one (though I do recommend watching it for the amazing first half alone).
9) S1E23: The Cutie Mark Chronicles – This episode is an oddity for I am not able to define that which I disliked to a truly clear degree. I found the episode to be rather boring, the least boring of the three episodes I have found boring, but boring all the same. I never felt fully engaged with the episode, but my biggest gripe with this episode is the moral and connecting back-story. The whole thing comes across as a concept of fate and destiny, being linked to your friends before you met them makes it seem like your friendships are predetermined, and I hate concepts such as destiny, prophesies and the like, it undervalues freedom, free will and choice.
Redeeming values include the opening (Spike zip-lines in his free time, that is just awesome), Rainbow Dash defending Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash being the cutest filly, and Rarity’s entire flashback.
8) S1E26: The Best Night Ever - Now I shall make people ha-tolerate me, by actually giving a negative opinion to the season 1 finale. I am not a fan of this episode, Twilight feels left out and underused through the entire episode (that’s Spike’s job), it all feels rather disjointed, and ‘At The Gala’ is one of the few songs I dislike (I find the only worthwhile part to be Rainbow’s moment). I also hate how Celestia set them up to go there so they could ruin it for everyone else so she could get entertainment from it. Some people find formal, posh parties fun, they don’t all have to be loud and energetic.
To redeem this episode nearly all the moments before the song were entertaining, ‘Pony Pokey’ does a good job of trying to make up for ‘At The Gala,’ Fluttershy setting up her traps are my favourite parts, and this had the one and only interaction between Applejack and Soarin’ which lead me to ship SoarJack
7) S2E11: Family Appreciation Day – This here I find to be the second most boring episode, and while my overall rating of this episode is Average, and it is not ranked poor, I believe that if I did not like the Cutie Mark Crusaders so much I would probably rank it even lower. The negatives stand at it not being very entertaining and being rather weak in humour.
Redeeming factors however are almost entirely Cutie Mark Crusaders base, I love their interactions and Scootaloo in particular has some memorable moments (calling Apple Bloom a dictionary, hitting the light bulb with her head, telegram). The other thing I liked was the Timber Wolves, one of my favourite creatures in the show.
6) S1E5: Griffon the Brush Off – Being honest, the only reason this episode is below Family Appreciation Day is because it lacks the entertaining interactions of the Cutie Mark Crusaders which said episode had. As for why I find myself not enjoying this episode quite as much as others…I’m not too sure, I can’t exactly define a particular moment.
Overall I feel the episode is weak, the prank based humour was not nearly as funny as the comedy in the episodes before it and after it, though they had Pinkie doubt herself they already made Gilda obviously mean (so the idea that Pinkie was simply jealous, while neat, felt wasted), and I just don’t find the episode as immersive as others. I also dislike the awkward vibes that can be felt upon Gilda’s outburst, it’s good that the mood of the scene is conveyed so well, but also makes it hard to watch.
Redeeming values would be one or two truly funny moments (such as when Gilda says she’ll be watching Pinkie like a hawk and then Pinkie asks why Gilda can’t watch her like a griffon), and the introduction of Gilda. She’s the first antagonist character outside of Nightmare Moon, is the first ‘intelligent’ non-pony outside of Spike and that one mule, and has a back-story that links her up with Rainbow Dash (and possibly Fluttershy as well). There is so much to this character that there is too explore, and in my hopes for a Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash filly episode, I’m hoping it will explain how Rainbow Dash and Gilda became friends. I guess that this here would be another criticism; there was a lot of wasted potential involving Gilda that could have been explored in the episode.
5) S2E8: The Mysterious Mare Do Well – Ah, this here is a famous episode, known mostly for being the most disliked episode in the brony community, hated to the point where half the livestreams don’t include it in their line up for fear of bringing up arguments. While not considering it the worst episode I did at one point consider it poor, but now I consider it average, just managing to escape from the ranks of the four episodes I dislike. The reason for this change in opinion is due to later episodes proving me wrong in my interpretation of this episode, as I originally considered the characters in the episode to be coming across as jerks until I saw a later episode where the characters really did act like jerks and I gave this episode a more favourable interpretation, the characters did not act like jerks but like idiots.
First off, most of the characters come across as idiots, they mean well but their way of getting Rainbow Dash to learn the lesson is incredibly convoluted and it would have made more sense if they had tried to tell her she was being too much of a show off first. Second, the moral is a weaker version of Boast Busters, weaker in the fact that Boast Busters also presented how pride can also be a good thing, this is a purely negative interpretation and one that I have seen so many times it is irritating. Third, Rainbow Dash had every reason to be allowed to act the way she did because she was saving people’s lives, if a doctor or a fireman/woman or a lifeguard bragged about their accomplishments I wouldn’t stop them, they have earned the right. In fact, I would actually prefer it if, like how Rainbow Dash was getting all the media attention in the episode, if such people also got such media attention instead of the thousands of celebrities who are not nearly as worthy at being brought to attention. Finally, and the reason I originally thought several of the characters to come across as jerks, is how much Rainbow Dash suffers in this episode. The pain she is shown to go through is far more than she, or pretty much anyone deserves, and though the episode tries to cast Dash in the wrong, ultimately it makes her more sympathetic.
Redeeming values do exist, the episode is not nearly as bad as three others that follow, I love super heroes and comic books so the jokes and references had me grinning, and Scootaloo made what I believe is her first and only non-crusader appearance. Also, while also noted as a negative, there is the case of Rainbow Dash’s suffering. When Rainbow Dash stated that she hated being all alone I was not teary eyed like I was in Sisterhooves Social…I cried, just a tear, but that scene is the only moment in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to make me cry to any extent, and is to me, the saddest, most miserable scene in the show. It’s placed as a positive because of how well such emotion is conveyed.
4) S2E19: Putting Your Hoof Down – Now we finally get onto the episodes I consider poor, the episodes to which I truly dislike. The first of these, Putting Your Hoof Down, I struggle to pinpoint my exact reason for disliking it as it’s more a culmination of things and a lack of positives.
For negatives, well first, several characters act like jerks (no this is not the episode I was referring to when talking about The Mysterious Mare Do Well, that comes later). I mean, that is sort of Angel Bunny’s role but even he seems to take it a little too far, but if it was just him I’d be okay but the entire town. I know that someponies would take advantage of Fluttershy’s timid and kind nature but I didn’t think they would be so cruel about it, literally throwing her out of their way and such. The humour was rather weak with one or two exceptions that I will mention later, and the whole thing feels confusing. Iron Will, simply through motivational speaking, not only manages to make Fluttershy crueller than Discord managed to through hypnotism, but also makes her possibly the nastiest character in the entire show. The things she says to Rarity and Pinkie Pie, short of Discord’s hypnotism and Chrysalis starting a war, is the most evil deed in the show. I would probably dislike it if I wasn’t too puzzled by how little of it makes sense.
The best redeeming quality comes in the form of Pinkie Pie and Rarity, the two funniest characters in the show, and also the funniest interactions in the show. While most of the humour was bland, when these two interacted, laughs ensued. I found the new Fluttershy, old Fluttershy joke to be amusing, and the some of the animation in this episode is simply astounding.
3) S2E16: Read it and Weep – Some things we dislike because of the negative emotions they invoke in us, others because of the lack of emotions they invoke in us. I find Read it and Weep to be the later, as I find it the most boring episode of the series and if it invokes any emotion from me it is disappointment. To be fair, I had different expectations of this episode, I was hoping for a Rugrats styled, imagination episode where in Rainbow proceeds to imagine herself and her friends in the roles, preferably of multiple and differing books she was reading, but no, we got an Indiana Jones parody that can’t compare to the very same thing parodied before in Rugrats (I think I should stop trying to compare FiM to what I consider the greatest cartoon in all of existence, it’s only lead to disappointment so far).
Other than finding the entire thing boring, which I blame on half the episode focusing on the bland Daring Doo who I cannot invest any interest in, and the other half focusing on a moral that has been done before in tons of shows, and one I dislike. If people don’t like to read, nothing wrong with that, same if people don’t like to do sports, nothing wrong with that.
There is also little I see that can redeem this episode with only a few comical moments such as “Rainbow Dash! What in the world is going on? Why are you stealing slippers?” and the cliché death traps occur simultaneously, as well as cute moments such as Rainbow’s expressions and Fluttershy and Twilight speaking at the same time trying to make up for it. They are few though and often missed as I have usually fallen asleep before I can see them.
2) S1E24: Owl’s Well That Ends Well – Hooray! Spike receives his first, fully focused episode…and it casts him in a horrible light. Not hooray. There are few funny jokes here, Spike comes across terribly for his first fully focused episode, you really do feel sorry for him, and Owloyuis feels like a mere plot device.
This poor episode has a few neat moments, some Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash interaction, a joke I’m amazed they got in the episode, and Spike with an evil villain get-up. Otherwise this is a poor episode, was the first episode I ever disliked, and the only season 1 episode I rank as poor.
1) S2E23: Ponyville Confidential – Now we move onto my least favourite episode, the one to which I wish to never watch again, and the one I mentioned earlier as having the characters act like jerks. This episode makes me seethe with rage, and is the only time watching this show that I have ever wanted to hurt a character within it.
Like with The Mysterious Mare Do Well I end up sympathising more with the characters who we are supposed to consider to be in the wrong, in this case, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, which is done by showing that the Cutie Mark Crusaders know what they are doing is wrong and consider stopping only to continue because they know how much the ponies are liking their articles. Furthermore, while in The Mysterious Mare Do Well the characters were unintentionally causing Rainbow Dash great emotional agony, this time round the character purposely inflicts it, and at that they are inflicting it on children. If a child does something wrong you do not lash out at them, you sit them down and calmly talk through with them what they did and why it was wrong of them to do so. How the ponies reacted to the crusaders had me boiling but Big Mac’s little rant got me so angry that for hours afterwards the only thing I wanted to do was grab a crowbar, find a way to Equestria and pummel the guy in until all four of his legs were broken. The humour was generally weak with only a few exceptions and the secrets were dull, the most interesting one being Fluttershy having tail extensions and that’s if it is even true.
To redeem this episode there are two characters who come out well. The first is Rarity, who not only recognises her hypocrisy but is the only one who does the right thing, she sits Sweetie Belle down and explains to her what she did wrong and why it is wrong, even using an example that she could relate to. The second oddly enough is Diamond Tiara, who goes from simply being bitchy to outright evil and you know what, I like it. I like the idea of their being an antagonist towards the crusaders but even more so an openly sinister and downright evil antagonist. Why is it okay for Diamond Tiara to be cruel to the crusaders but not the Mane 6, Spike, or Big Mac? Because Diamond Tiara is an antagonist, her role in the show is to be antagonistic, while the other characters are the good guys that you expect to know better and to treat the crusaders better. In the end, while the redeeming qualities increased my liking of two characters it did not help this episode much, my least favourite episode.
There is little that cannot be found enjoyable in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, though like I have shown, there will always be the odd moment or episode that you can disapprove of. So my readers, what episodes do you not like, which ones do you tolerate but hope secretly you never have to watch again? You don't have to list a bottom ten, heck, six of these on this list are not even episodes I consider poor thus meaning this list should be a mere bottom four list, but I would like to know your views and I would like to discuss your views. Are there any episodes that you disagree with on this list or believe you can point out more redeeming values too? Who knows, maybe you'll be able to change my mind on some, it's been done before. Next week is another time of negatives, I shall reveal to you my bottom ten songs (and upon doing so I will be murdered horrifically by the brony community) but cheerio until then.
‘Magnetism’, chapter 1, is complete. It will need some editing before I upload it in late August but at over 7000 words the first chapter of my roughly 8 chaptered FlutterDash fanfic is complete. Work on the second chapter has also been going well with the first scene being almost complete, I just need to iron out some details in the Angel Bunny charade scene due to the removal and addition of differing minor details (although one minor detail I had in chapter 2 is actually becoming a larger detail that is important for both the back-story and for the conclusion of the fanfic). The rest of chapter 2 will be a little rougher, my plans for the rest of the chapter aren’t quite so polished and as Angel Bunny is becoming a more important character than he was previously in ‘Magnetism’ I need to think of more ways to involve him in already planned scenes (at a later point I will post a rough full summary of ‘Magnetism’ and my change in Angel Bunny’s screen time will become clear). Working on ‘Magnetism’ is great fun at the moment, what isn’t is that my brain is going into overdrive with story ideas. Playing Kirby’s Dreamland 2 has got this one one-shot story stuck in my head (non-pony related), and looking up Applejack’s truck jokes and comics keeps on making me think of a comedy one-shot revolving around Applejack having a cardboard cut-out of Twilight. Most prominent currently are RariPie ideas, one where Pinkie Pie, knowing Rarity is straight, disguises herself as a rich and posh stallion (complete with a bushy moustache and a monocle) and another based off the Youtube video ‘PMV â„›ariᕈie - The nicest thing I've ever seen’ by MartaPD2 because the song that goes with it truly feels like it is being sung by Pinkie (I guess that would mean I’m basing it more off the song thus making it a song fanfic…never thought I would feel the urge to write one of those). I’m trying my hardest to stick with ‘Magnetism’ because I want to actually be able to upload it according to my schedule but gosh, these ideas haunt my dreams. Moving on from that today is the first day of the Week of Negatives wherein I shall talk of my ten least favourite things of certain things from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, this week being my ten least favourite episodes.
10) S2E24: MMMystery on the Friendship Express – This episode was a last minute addition to the roster for you see, there was another episode I was considering for this spot but upon trying to write out negatives I realised the weak points to it were all rather weak themselves and I overall liked the episode (provided I ignore the obsessive fandom around one of the characters). So instead I chose MMMystery on the Friendship Express possibly the most bizarre case of all the episodes on this list. As the case of this episode is so bizarre, for this one only, I will talk of its redeeming values first and then go onto its negatives (just to be clear, with 9-1 I will talk about what I disliked first and then say what can or tries to redeem its negatives).
The opening is brilliant, involves each of the Mane 6, looks lovely, and has absolutely brilliant humour, particularly from Mr Cake (a character high up on my favourites list). Then it continues to keep the ball rolling with a moustached griffin, the return of Pony-I mean Doughnut Joe, and a tribute to the mystery novel the episode is based off in the form of Mulia Miles. Proceeding from that there is Pinkie flavoured humour and the cutest sleeping position ever, which is then followed up by one of the funniest and all-round greatest moments in the entire series, Pinkie's imagination sequences.
Now you're probably thinking, why is this episode on your bottom ten list, it sounds fantastic? Well after the imagination sequences the episode is like a cricket game wherein after half time they replace the cricket ball with a football, the bats with katana's, relocated the pitch to Atlantis, and every time you hit the football Cthulu pops out and shoots the players kneecaps with a banana bomb...to put it simply the rest of the episode goes horribly. The humour dries up with exception to one scene involving Rarity, three of the character act (dare I say it) out of character, Applejack disappears from existence, and the mystery is just boring. Half this episode is so good that if it kept up the quality I would consider it for my top ten, but the other half is just such a let-down that it ends up being balanced out into an Average episode. I do not consider this a Poor episode, only the bottom four do I consider that, but it is an Average one (though I do recommend watching it for the amazing first half alone).
9) S1E23: The Cutie Mark Chronicles – This episode is an oddity for I am not able to define that which I disliked to a truly clear degree. I found the episode to be rather boring, the least boring of the three episodes I have found boring, but boring all the same. I never felt fully engaged with the episode, but my biggest gripe with this episode is the moral and connecting back-story. The whole thing comes across as a concept of fate and destiny, being linked to your friends before you met them makes it seem like your friendships are predetermined, and I hate concepts such as destiny, prophesies and the like, it undervalues freedom, free will and choice.
Redeeming values include the opening (Spike zip-lines in his free time, that is just awesome), Rainbow Dash defending Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash being the cutest filly, and Rarity’s entire flashback.
8) S1E26: The Best Night Ever - Now I shall make people ha-tolerate me, by actually giving a negative opinion to the season 1 finale. I am not a fan of this episode, Twilight feels left out and underused through the entire episode (that’s Spike’s job), it all feels rather disjointed, and ‘At The Gala’ is one of the few songs I dislike (I find the only worthwhile part to be Rainbow’s moment). I also hate how Celestia set them up to go there so they could ruin it for everyone else so she could get entertainment from it. Some people find formal, posh parties fun, they don’t all have to be loud and energetic.
To redeem this episode nearly all the moments before the song were entertaining, ‘Pony Pokey’ does a good job of trying to make up for ‘At The Gala,’ Fluttershy setting up her traps are my favourite parts, and this had the one and only interaction between Applejack and Soarin’ which lead me to ship SoarJack
7) S2E11: Family Appreciation Day – This here I find to be the second most boring episode, and while my overall rating of this episode is Average, and it is not ranked poor, I believe that if I did not like the Cutie Mark Crusaders so much I would probably rank it even lower. The negatives stand at it not being very entertaining and being rather weak in humour.
Redeeming factors however are almost entirely Cutie Mark Crusaders base, I love their interactions and Scootaloo in particular has some memorable moments (calling Apple Bloom a dictionary, hitting the light bulb with her head, telegram). The other thing I liked was the Timber Wolves, one of my favourite creatures in the show.
6) S1E5: Griffon the Brush Off – Being honest, the only reason this episode is below Family Appreciation Day is because it lacks the entertaining interactions of the Cutie Mark Crusaders which said episode had. As for why I find myself not enjoying this episode quite as much as others…I’m not too sure, I can’t exactly define a particular moment.
Overall I feel the episode is weak, the prank based humour was not nearly as funny as the comedy in the episodes before it and after it, though they had Pinkie doubt herself they already made Gilda obviously mean (so the idea that Pinkie was simply jealous, while neat, felt wasted), and I just don’t find the episode as immersive as others. I also dislike the awkward vibes that can be felt upon Gilda’s outburst, it’s good that the mood of the scene is conveyed so well, but also makes it hard to watch.
Redeeming values would be one or two truly funny moments (such as when Gilda says she’ll be watching Pinkie like a hawk and then Pinkie asks why Gilda can’t watch her like a griffon), and the introduction of Gilda. She’s the first antagonist character outside of Nightmare Moon, is the first ‘intelligent’ non-pony outside of Spike and that one mule, and has a back-story that links her up with Rainbow Dash (and possibly Fluttershy as well). There is so much to this character that there is too explore, and in my hopes for a Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash filly episode, I’m hoping it will explain how Rainbow Dash and Gilda became friends. I guess that this here would be another criticism; there was a lot of wasted potential involving Gilda that could have been explored in the episode.
5) S2E8: The Mysterious Mare Do Well – Ah, this here is a famous episode, known mostly for being the most disliked episode in the brony community, hated to the point where half the livestreams don’t include it in their line up for fear of bringing up arguments. While not considering it the worst episode I did at one point consider it poor, but now I consider it average, just managing to escape from the ranks of the four episodes I dislike. The reason for this change in opinion is due to later episodes proving me wrong in my interpretation of this episode, as I originally considered the characters in the episode to be coming across as jerks until I saw a later episode where the characters really did act like jerks and I gave this episode a more favourable interpretation, the characters did not act like jerks but like idiots.
First off, most of the characters come across as idiots, they mean well but their way of getting Rainbow Dash to learn the lesson is incredibly convoluted and it would have made more sense if they had tried to tell her she was being too much of a show off first. Second, the moral is a weaker version of Boast Busters, weaker in the fact that Boast Busters also presented how pride can also be a good thing, this is a purely negative interpretation and one that I have seen so many times it is irritating. Third, Rainbow Dash had every reason to be allowed to act the way she did because she was saving people’s lives, if a doctor or a fireman/woman or a lifeguard bragged about their accomplishments I wouldn’t stop them, they have earned the right. In fact, I would actually prefer it if, like how Rainbow Dash was getting all the media attention in the episode, if such people also got such media attention instead of the thousands of celebrities who are not nearly as worthy at being brought to attention. Finally, and the reason I originally thought several of the characters to come across as jerks, is how much Rainbow Dash suffers in this episode. The pain she is shown to go through is far more than she, or pretty much anyone deserves, and though the episode tries to cast Dash in the wrong, ultimately it makes her more sympathetic.
Redeeming values do exist, the episode is not nearly as bad as three others that follow, I love super heroes and comic books so the jokes and references had me grinning, and Scootaloo made what I believe is her first and only non-crusader appearance. Also, while also noted as a negative, there is the case of Rainbow Dash’s suffering. When Rainbow Dash stated that she hated being all alone I was not teary eyed like I was in Sisterhooves Social…I cried, just a tear, but that scene is the only moment in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to make me cry to any extent, and is to me, the saddest, most miserable scene in the show. It’s placed as a positive because of how well such emotion is conveyed.
4) S2E19: Putting Your Hoof Down – Now we finally get onto the episodes I consider poor, the episodes to which I truly dislike. The first of these, Putting Your Hoof Down, I struggle to pinpoint my exact reason for disliking it as it’s more a culmination of things and a lack of positives.
For negatives, well first, several characters act like jerks (no this is not the episode I was referring to when talking about The Mysterious Mare Do Well, that comes later). I mean, that is sort of Angel Bunny’s role but even he seems to take it a little too far, but if it was just him I’d be okay but the entire town. I know that someponies would take advantage of Fluttershy’s timid and kind nature but I didn’t think they would be so cruel about it, literally throwing her out of their way and such. The humour was rather weak with one or two exceptions that I will mention later, and the whole thing feels confusing. Iron Will, simply through motivational speaking, not only manages to make Fluttershy crueller than Discord managed to through hypnotism, but also makes her possibly the nastiest character in the entire show. The things she says to Rarity and Pinkie Pie, short of Discord’s hypnotism and Chrysalis starting a war, is the most evil deed in the show. I would probably dislike it if I wasn’t too puzzled by how little of it makes sense.
The best redeeming quality comes in the form of Pinkie Pie and Rarity, the two funniest characters in the show, and also the funniest interactions in the show. While most of the humour was bland, when these two interacted, laughs ensued. I found the new Fluttershy, old Fluttershy joke to be amusing, and the some of the animation in this episode is simply astounding.
3) S2E16: Read it and Weep – Some things we dislike because of the negative emotions they invoke in us, others because of the lack of emotions they invoke in us. I find Read it and Weep to be the later, as I find it the most boring episode of the series and if it invokes any emotion from me it is disappointment. To be fair, I had different expectations of this episode, I was hoping for a Rugrats styled, imagination episode where in Rainbow proceeds to imagine herself and her friends in the roles, preferably of multiple and differing books she was reading, but no, we got an Indiana Jones parody that can’t compare to the very same thing parodied before in Rugrats (I think I should stop trying to compare FiM to what I consider the greatest cartoon in all of existence, it’s only lead to disappointment so far).
Other than finding the entire thing boring, which I blame on half the episode focusing on the bland Daring Doo who I cannot invest any interest in, and the other half focusing on a moral that has been done before in tons of shows, and one I dislike. If people don’t like to read, nothing wrong with that, same if people don’t like to do sports, nothing wrong with that.
There is also little I see that can redeem this episode with only a few comical moments such as “Rainbow Dash! What in the world is going on? Why are you stealing slippers?” and the cliché death traps occur simultaneously, as well as cute moments such as Rainbow’s expressions and Fluttershy and Twilight speaking at the same time trying to make up for it. They are few though and often missed as I have usually fallen asleep before I can see them.
2) S1E24: Owl’s Well That Ends Well – Hooray! Spike receives his first, fully focused episode…and it casts him in a horrible light. Not hooray. There are few funny jokes here, Spike comes across terribly for his first fully focused episode, you really do feel sorry for him, and Owloyuis feels like a mere plot device.
This poor episode has a few neat moments, some Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash interaction, a joke I’m amazed they got in the episode, and Spike with an evil villain get-up. Otherwise this is a poor episode, was the first episode I ever disliked, and the only season 1 episode I rank as poor.
1) S2E23: Ponyville Confidential – Now we move onto my least favourite episode, the one to which I wish to never watch again, and the one I mentioned earlier as having the characters act like jerks. This episode makes me seethe with rage, and is the only time watching this show that I have ever wanted to hurt a character within it.
Like with The Mysterious Mare Do Well I end up sympathising more with the characters who we are supposed to consider to be in the wrong, in this case, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, which is done by showing that the Cutie Mark Crusaders know what they are doing is wrong and consider stopping only to continue because they know how much the ponies are liking their articles. Furthermore, while in The Mysterious Mare Do Well the characters were unintentionally causing Rainbow Dash great emotional agony, this time round the character purposely inflicts it, and at that they are inflicting it on children. If a child does something wrong you do not lash out at them, you sit them down and calmly talk through with them what they did and why it was wrong of them to do so. How the ponies reacted to the crusaders had me boiling but Big Mac’s little rant got me so angry that for hours afterwards the only thing I wanted to do was grab a crowbar, find a way to Equestria and pummel the guy in until all four of his legs were broken. The humour was generally weak with only a few exceptions and the secrets were dull, the most interesting one being Fluttershy having tail extensions and that’s if it is even true.
To redeem this episode there are two characters who come out well. The first is Rarity, who not only recognises her hypocrisy but is the only one who does the right thing, she sits Sweetie Belle down and explains to her what she did wrong and why it is wrong, even using an example that she could relate to. The second oddly enough is Diamond Tiara, who goes from simply being bitchy to outright evil and you know what, I like it. I like the idea of their being an antagonist towards the crusaders but even more so an openly sinister and downright evil antagonist. Why is it okay for Diamond Tiara to be cruel to the crusaders but not the Mane 6, Spike, or Big Mac? Because Diamond Tiara is an antagonist, her role in the show is to be antagonistic, while the other characters are the good guys that you expect to know better and to treat the crusaders better. In the end, while the redeeming qualities increased my liking of two characters it did not help this episode much, my least favourite episode.
There is little that cannot be found enjoyable in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, though like I have shown, there will always be the odd moment or episode that you can disapprove of. So my readers, what episodes do you not like, which ones do you tolerate but hope secretly you never have to watch again? You don't have to list a bottom ten, heck, six of these on this list are not even episodes I consider poor thus meaning this list should be a mere bottom four list, but I would like to know your views and I would like to discuss your views. Are there any episodes that you disagree with on this list or believe you can point out more redeeming values too? Who knows, maybe you'll be able to change my mind on some, it's been done before. Next week is another time of negatives, I shall reveal to you my bottom ten songs (and upon doing so I will be murdered horrifically by the brony community) but cheerio until then.
Friday 25 May 2012
Month of Positives: Week 4 - Characters!
Welcome to the last week of Month of Positives, updating early because I felt motivated to do so after reading three to four other Fimfiction.net blogs, and because my hay fever's making it hard to think so writing 'Magnetism' is proving a little troublesome. In the case of this post however, while I have to create my fanfic progression section fresh on the spot, the top ten characters and favourites character trivia was created before I began suffering from chronic hay fever. Oh, and before I begin I would just like to say that you should not worry about my current hay fever problem, though it is annoying and hard to breathe I have had much worse, like that one case where my eyes popped out. Oh how I abused that incident to my advantage.
Now, while recent writing of 'Magnetism' has been slow, before the pollen in Britain spiked I managed to complete all but one section of chapter 1, and though slow, have managed to write up quite a bit of this last section. I also looked over the rough plans of my second chapter of 'Magnetism' and realised that, with exception to some great jokes concerning Fluttershy's animals and a great Angel Bunny charades scene, most of it will be new content. It appears I can't take the easy route on that one but no worries, I've got until August before uploading begins. Also, while my brain went dead with writing of 'Magnetism' I tried to start my edits of 'Thank You Cider'. I only managed to note down some of the key edits, and I'm sure I will spot more things to improve once I begin the editing process but I've got an outline so that when I feel motivated I can fix up the few mistakes of my fanfic. I wonder if I should try and submit it to Equestria Daily afterwards, would be neat to see it on there and it would certainly boost my fanfic's popularity. Enough of my writing progress, it's time for my top ten favourite characters.
10) Apple Bloom – Apple Bloom’s always been one of my favourite characters. Well to be fair, all the Cutie Mark Crusaders have been much loved by me, I enjoy their appearances in episodes and tend to really like the episodes with them as the focus a lot. As for Apple Bloom, I like her enthusiasm demonstrated in ‘Call of the Cutie’ and her open-mindedness demonstrated in ‘Bridle Gossip’. Her skill in carpentry is unexpected and unique for a girls cartoon, and like with all the apple family, I love her accent. Her interactions with the other Crusaders and Zecora also proves to be entertaining as well.
9) Fancy Pants – Monocle! I should probably expand on that but simply put, I’m British, Fancy Pants is the most British character in the show, and it’s nice to see a rich character that is in turn nice. He also has a monocle which as everyone knows makes him a wizard (you get the reference and you are full of win).
8) Rover – My favourite of the diamond dogs, which is in turn my favourite race within My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The diamond dogs, with Rover, Fido and Spot in particular, are the antagonists I most want to see return mostly because I feel they would make good recurring foes. There not too powerful like Discord or Chrysalis and so such episodes won’t rely on a Deus-Ex-Machina to save the day, are nearer to Ponyville than the teen dragons, and are more openly criminal than the likes of the Flim Flam Brothers or Gilda.
But enough of what I’d like to see from the show and the diamond dogs, let’s get back to why I think Rover is awesome. First off he has my favourite design of any character in the series, it fits his personality well and I find it cool. His raspy voice is immediately recognisable; he clearly presents himself as the leader of his group, and has a surprising amount of wit and intelligence despite being fooled a few times by Rarity. It’s easy to see him both as an intimating villain and as a comical one, and is the one-shot character I most want to see again.
7) Sweetie Belle – Originally Sweetie Belle was my least favourite among the Cutie Mark Crusaders, this still meant she was within the top ten, but I preferred Apple Bloom over her, until ‘Hearts and Hooves Day’ which did wonders for my appreciation of this character. I like how, despite being a bit slow and spaced out, she isn’t depicted as being stupid and actually shows a lot of initiative in cases such as ‘Hearts and Hooves Day’. Her interactions with Rarity are the some of the most believable sibling interactions I have seen in a piece of fiction, and while she does cause trouble with her attempts to help you see how she is just trying to be helpful, and does hold a lot of admiration for her sister (for instance, despite having little talent for dressmaking, she wants to be good at it because she wants to be like her sister).
As season 2 has progressed her lines of dialogue have become sweeter, cuter, and funnier with the “Oh come on!” being one of the best executed lines of the entire show.
6) Fluttershy – I like animals. I’m not necessarily good with them but me and my family have always had pets in the house and I generally prefer their company to other people. Thus part of the reason I like Fluttershy, I can respect her preference to spend time with the animals than other ponies, relate to her days of being bullied (although my case was more people stealing my stuff to prevent me from working in the midst of class), and I generally like kind and shy characters in most stories/anime/cartoons/games.
5) Rainbow Dash – Though I’m not usually a fan of fast, athletic characters I do like proud characters. Her personality also allows for some of the better interactions with other characters, either through showing off her good points or through creating conflict and thus producing a more interesting story to follow.
I’ve also been surprised to find out that Rainbow Dash is the character I feel the most sympathy for, her being upset is to me, genuinely sadder than seeing any other character upset, even my favourite. She’s also the character most likely to take a fighting option to solve a problem something that I approve of very much, and her interactions with Fluttershy, even without shipping goggles, tend to be heart warming. Furthermore filly Rainbow Dash is the cutest filly so far.
4) Spike – He’s quite noticeable as the only male main character but is also surprisingly diverse. At times he is the young child he is and at others he is the most level headed probably because he ends up seeing most situations from outside the conflict. I love his charmingly sweet and surprisingly real affections for Rarity as well as his little brother to older sister interactions with Twilight. At times he can be surprisingly effeminate with wishes for greater masculinity, and at others he shows off his masculinity through the finer art of being a true gentleman.
3) Angel Bunny – Anyone here like Bender from Futurama, or Dan from Dan vs. They are jerks but you can’t help but love them. That is what Angel Bunny is, he is a lovable jerk. There is the ironic joke of him being a bully while being a cute little rabbit and the fact that his owner (although at times it seems he is the owner) is the element of kindness. He enjoys being evil as it were, it’s fun to be evil; however he also knows when to limit himself, call it quits, and be kind, particularly to Fluttershy who he is constantly trying to get to stand up for herself and voice her opinion (people seem to forget his moments in ‘Ticket Master’, ‘Dragonshy’ and ‘A Bird in the Hoof’). He just doesn’t like doing it because it’s no fun being the nice guy.
2) Scootaloo – I do not understand exactly why I like this character so much. I can understand why I like Scootaloo, I like her very fitting voice, her personality, her colour scheme (does help that my favourite colour is orange), and a lot of the smaller things such as lines of dialogue, interactions with other characters, and movement an actions I find enjoyable but I do not know why I like her to degree that I place her as my second favourite character.
Even odder, is how I’ve never understood the concept of role models or aspiring towards another person, and yet Scootaloo’s admiration of Rainbow Dash is a really lovable trait and is one of my favourite things to see the fandom effect, such as when they exaggerate it into Stalkerloo territory (which I can completely understand). So perhaps it is the culmination of all these liked factors, and how factors I dislike in other characters I appreciate here, that lead me to love Scootaloo so much.
1) Twilight Sparkle – Pinkie Pie and her ‘Twilight is my bestest friend’ song explains it best, She’s the cutest, smartest, all around best pony, though it was not until episode 8, ‘Look Before You Sleep’ that she became my favourite character and has remained there ever since. I had always liked the character, she was intelligent, had a love of reading, and was an anti-social without the need for some tragic back-story to explain it, she just found everypony else to be bothersome. So I was immediately able to relate to this character, I found her likable, and I enjoyed seeing such a character as the lead protagonist.
Then episode 8 came along and I found out how adorkable she was. Sure, I also found out that she is prone to certain cases of naivety, which makes sense considering she’s been a shut-in most her life, which I liked, and I could relate to her general lack of street smarts, but episode 8 was the first episode which showed just how cute she could be. So on top of a winning personality, she also became the cutest thing in the entire show and well, Twilight Sparkle became best pony.
Normally I would end here but the subject of my favourite characters is one I find myself enjoying the opportunity to discuss. Also, unlike the last time I discussed my favourite characters in which I listed my top 20 in order to flaunt how different my favourite characters list was to everyone else’s (far more male and non-pony characters on it than I expect anyone else to have), this list is missing three very important characters from it and so I would like to clear that up with a little bit of trivia. Many of the characters I love and like I consider equal in how much I like them, the list above was created with the idea of "If I was forced to choose with only one character being allowed in each spot" but if I were allowed to have characters share spots then the list would go like the following;
10) Pinkie Pie, Cranky Doodle Donkey.
9) Apple Bloom, Rarity, Applejack.
8) Fancy Pants.
7) Rover.
6) Sweetie Belle.
5) Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy.
4) Spike.
3) Angel Bunny.
2) Scootaloo.
1) Twilight Sparkle.
Also worth noting, if I wanted too I could list out my top 35 favourite characters without too much difficulty. Where some would be in comparison to others is a little hard to say however I know which characters I like/love before they begin to enter the neutral territory. I could add in how my favourite characters have changed, who I liked before and around what time/episode each character got into the top ten but I'll save that for another day. For now I would just like to ask of your opinions on my favourite characters, and who you consider your favourite characters? You don't have to list them in order, that is a hard task to accomplish with so many great characters in this show, but I'd like it to be the subject of discussion. This here ends the Month of Positives but don't worry, I'm not stopping these weekly blog updates. In fact, to counterpoint my Month of Positives, next week will be the start of the Month of Negatives, where I discuss my ten least favourite episodes, songs, pairings, and characters and I'll tell you now, trying to come up with a bottom ten for this show is really hard. Cheerio!
Now, while recent writing of 'Magnetism' has been slow, before the pollen in Britain spiked I managed to complete all but one section of chapter 1, and though slow, have managed to write up quite a bit of this last section. I also looked over the rough plans of my second chapter of 'Magnetism' and realised that, with exception to some great jokes concerning Fluttershy's animals and a great Angel Bunny charades scene, most of it will be new content. It appears I can't take the easy route on that one but no worries, I've got until August before uploading begins. Also, while my brain went dead with writing of 'Magnetism' I tried to start my edits of 'Thank You Cider'. I only managed to note down some of the key edits, and I'm sure I will spot more things to improve once I begin the editing process but I've got an outline so that when I feel motivated I can fix up the few mistakes of my fanfic. I wonder if I should try and submit it to Equestria Daily afterwards, would be neat to see it on there and it would certainly boost my fanfic's popularity. Enough of my writing progress, it's time for my top ten favourite characters.
10) Apple Bloom – Apple Bloom’s always been one of my favourite characters. Well to be fair, all the Cutie Mark Crusaders have been much loved by me, I enjoy their appearances in episodes and tend to really like the episodes with them as the focus a lot. As for Apple Bloom, I like her enthusiasm demonstrated in ‘Call of the Cutie’ and her open-mindedness demonstrated in ‘Bridle Gossip’. Her skill in carpentry is unexpected and unique for a girls cartoon, and like with all the apple family, I love her accent. Her interactions with the other Crusaders and Zecora also proves to be entertaining as well.
9) Fancy Pants – Monocle! I should probably expand on that but simply put, I’m British, Fancy Pants is the most British character in the show, and it’s nice to see a rich character that is in turn nice. He also has a monocle which as everyone knows makes him a wizard (you get the reference and you are full of win).
8) Rover – My favourite of the diamond dogs, which is in turn my favourite race within My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The diamond dogs, with Rover, Fido and Spot in particular, are the antagonists I most want to see return mostly because I feel they would make good recurring foes. There not too powerful like Discord or Chrysalis and so such episodes won’t rely on a Deus-Ex-Machina to save the day, are nearer to Ponyville than the teen dragons, and are more openly criminal than the likes of the Flim Flam Brothers or Gilda.
But enough of what I’d like to see from the show and the diamond dogs, let’s get back to why I think Rover is awesome. First off he has my favourite design of any character in the series, it fits his personality well and I find it cool. His raspy voice is immediately recognisable; he clearly presents himself as the leader of his group, and has a surprising amount of wit and intelligence despite being fooled a few times by Rarity. It’s easy to see him both as an intimating villain and as a comical one, and is the one-shot character I most want to see again.
7) Sweetie Belle – Originally Sweetie Belle was my least favourite among the Cutie Mark Crusaders, this still meant she was within the top ten, but I preferred Apple Bloom over her, until ‘Hearts and Hooves Day’ which did wonders for my appreciation of this character. I like how, despite being a bit slow and spaced out, she isn’t depicted as being stupid and actually shows a lot of initiative in cases such as ‘Hearts and Hooves Day’. Her interactions with Rarity are the some of the most believable sibling interactions I have seen in a piece of fiction, and while she does cause trouble with her attempts to help you see how she is just trying to be helpful, and does hold a lot of admiration for her sister (for instance, despite having little talent for dressmaking, she wants to be good at it because she wants to be like her sister).
As season 2 has progressed her lines of dialogue have become sweeter, cuter, and funnier with the “Oh come on!” being one of the best executed lines of the entire show.
6) Fluttershy – I like animals. I’m not necessarily good with them but me and my family have always had pets in the house and I generally prefer their company to other people. Thus part of the reason I like Fluttershy, I can respect her preference to spend time with the animals than other ponies, relate to her days of being bullied (although my case was more people stealing my stuff to prevent me from working in the midst of class), and I generally like kind and shy characters in most stories/anime/cartoons/games.
5) Rainbow Dash – Though I’m not usually a fan of fast, athletic characters I do like proud characters. Her personality also allows for some of the better interactions with other characters, either through showing off her good points or through creating conflict and thus producing a more interesting story to follow.
I’ve also been surprised to find out that Rainbow Dash is the character I feel the most sympathy for, her being upset is to me, genuinely sadder than seeing any other character upset, even my favourite. She’s also the character most likely to take a fighting option to solve a problem something that I approve of very much, and her interactions with Fluttershy, even without shipping goggles, tend to be heart warming. Furthermore filly Rainbow Dash is the cutest filly so far.
4) Spike – He’s quite noticeable as the only male main character but is also surprisingly diverse. At times he is the young child he is and at others he is the most level headed probably because he ends up seeing most situations from outside the conflict. I love his charmingly sweet and surprisingly real affections for Rarity as well as his little brother to older sister interactions with Twilight. At times he can be surprisingly effeminate with wishes for greater masculinity, and at others he shows off his masculinity through the finer art of being a true gentleman.
3) Angel Bunny – Anyone here like Bender from Futurama, or Dan from Dan vs. They are jerks but you can’t help but love them. That is what Angel Bunny is, he is a lovable jerk. There is the ironic joke of him being a bully while being a cute little rabbit and the fact that his owner (although at times it seems he is the owner) is the element of kindness. He enjoys being evil as it were, it’s fun to be evil; however he also knows when to limit himself, call it quits, and be kind, particularly to Fluttershy who he is constantly trying to get to stand up for herself and voice her opinion (people seem to forget his moments in ‘Ticket Master’, ‘Dragonshy’ and ‘A Bird in the Hoof’). He just doesn’t like doing it because it’s no fun being the nice guy.
2) Scootaloo – I do not understand exactly why I like this character so much. I can understand why I like Scootaloo, I like her very fitting voice, her personality, her colour scheme (does help that my favourite colour is orange), and a lot of the smaller things such as lines of dialogue, interactions with other characters, and movement an actions I find enjoyable but I do not know why I like her to degree that I place her as my second favourite character.
Even odder, is how I’ve never understood the concept of role models or aspiring towards another person, and yet Scootaloo’s admiration of Rainbow Dash is a really lovable trait and is one of my favourite things to see the fandom effect, such as when they exaggerate it into Stalkerloo territory (which I can completely understand). So perhaps it is the culmination of all these liked factors, and how factors I dislike in other characters I appreciate here, that lead me to love Scootaloo so much.
1) Twilight Sparkle – Pinkie Pie and her ‘Twilight is my bestest friend’ song explains it best, She’s the cutest, smartest, all around best pony, though it was not until episode 8, ‘Look Before You Sleep’ that she became my favourite character and has remained there ever since. I had always liked the character, she was intelligent, had a love of reading, and was an anti-social without the need for some tragic back-story to explain it, she just found everypony else to be bothersome. So I was immediately able to relate to this character, I found her likable, and I enjoyed seeing such a character as the lead protagonist.
Then episode 8 came along and I found out how adorkable she was. Sure, I also found out that she is prone to certain cases of naivety, which makes sense considering she’s been a shut-in most her life, which I liked, and I could relate to her general lack of street smarts, but episode 8 was the first episode which showed just how cute she could be. So on top of a winning personality, she also became the cutest thing in the entire show and well, Twilight Sparkle became best pony.
Normally I would end here but the subject of my favourite characters is one I find myself enjoying the opportunity to discuss. Also, unlike the last time I discussed my favourite characters in which I listed my top 20 in order to flaunt how different my favourite characters list was to everyone else’s (far more male and non-pony characters on it than I expect anyone else to have), this list is missing three very important characters from it and so I would like to clear that up with a little bit of trivia. Many of the characters I love and like I consider equal in how much I like them, the list above was created with the idea of "If I was forced to choose with only one character being allowed in each spot" but if I were allowed to have characters share spots then the list would go like the following;
10) Pinkie Pie, Cranky Doodle Donkey.
9) Apple Bloom, Rarity, Applejack.
8) Fancy Pants.
7) Rover.
6) Sweetie Belle.
5) Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy.
4) Spike.
3) Angel Bunny.
2) Scootaloo.
1) Twilight Sparkle.
Also worth noting, if I wanted too I could list out my top 35 favourite characters without too much difficulty. Where some would be in comparison to others is a little hard to say however I know which characters I like/love before they begin to enter the neutral territory. I could add in how my favourite characters have changed, who I liked before and around what time/episode each character got into the top ten but I'll save that for another day. For now I would just like to ask of your opinions on my favourite characters, and who you consider your favourite characters? You don't have to list them in order, that is a hard task to accomplish with so many great characters in this show, but I'd like it to be the subject of discussion. This here ends the Month of Positives but don't worry, I'm not stopping these weekly blog updates. In fact, to counterpoint my Month of Positives, next week will be the start of the Month of Negatives, where I discuss my ten least favourite episodes, songs, pairings, and characters and I'll tell you now, trying to come up with a bottom ten for this show is really hard. Cheerio!
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Month of Positives: Week 3 - Pairings!
Sorry for the late Blogspot update, this one has been up my Fimfiction.net blog for a while and I have only just gotten around to posting it here. Enjoy!
My progression with fanfiction this week has been strange. How much did I get of 'Open to Interpretation' written? Nothing this week but 'Magnetism' I got at least two pages written up. Anyway I will explain right now, I do not know when or whether 'Open to Interpretation' will be finished and uploaded. You see, 'Open to Interpretation' is a spur of the moment one-shot written mostly in response to the stream of SoarinDash fanfics being made because of the Canterlot wedding and also as an organised analysis of that one FlutterDash moment that the community has been arguing over. Its basic premise is literally about Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight interoperating the same scene in different ways, and then having Pinkie Pie end it with a great comedy moment. While writing the story I realised it wasn't very good, at least in comparison to my other works, however I've been enjoying writing it. What I have not been enjoying is how it has been distracting me from other works, such as those in the SSB and Kirby sections, as well as 'Magnetism' which I really need to consider my top priority. Basically, I have no set schedule for 'Open to Interpretation', it is a one-shot I will write up when I have the time and when I want too. For me, the focus is back to other sections and of course 'Magnetism' which I have had quite a bit of enthusiasm for. Admittedly my current workings on the story involve re-writing the rough first chapter of the fanfic, back when I planned on calling it 'Fun With Magnetic Ponies', but the scene I am currently on is almost completely new thanks to removing the plot device of a messed up spell, and instead adding something more original to explain the situation Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash get themselves into. Now we move onto my top ten favourite pairings, a subject I have been wanting to discuss since I read Ugugg93's blog post regarding the same topic (can be found at the following link; http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/11233).
10) HeartBurn (Little Strong Heart and Braeburn) – Bronies need more HeartBurn...the pairing of Little Strong Heart and Braeburn, not actual heart burn. I’m actually amazed at how little of this pairing there actually is, or perhaps it only gets featured as a side pairing and never the focus of a story or artwork. Regardless, I like this ship; they were both the most reasonable of their groups, and in turn acted as the ambassadors for each group and heck, when Applejack and Rainbow Dash were pushing the two it looked like they were trying to force the ship to be.
9) ScootaSpike (Scootaloo and Spike) – According to The Cutie Mark Chronicles the two have interacted, and I can see the two hanging out as friends (which could in turn develop into something more). The few times I have seen this pairing depicted I have liked, and I garner enjoyment thinking of their interactions.
8) SoarJack (Soarin and Applejack) – My head-canon dictates Applejack as straight and yet, this here is pretty much the only pairing I like that meets the requirement of a straight Applejack. There’s not much of this pairing but unlike HeartBurn I can understand why, they only had one interaction together (still more than some of the popular pairings of the Brony community), and yet that one interaction was enough for me to ship them. Soarin seems like a simple guy, not the brightest and a bit of a slob, but well meaning and enjoys life more for its basic comforts; the sort of character who would go well with Applejack’s not too ambitious basic comforts of work, food, and family lifestyle.
7) RariPie (Rarity and Pinkie Pie) – I have no idea. I really have no idea why I love this pairing so much other than the two bringing out brilliant comedy and speaking moments when they interact with one another.
6) DisLestia (Discord and Celestia) – This pairing is more of a background detail I like to consider in order to flesh out the relationship between Celestia and Discord, explain Discord as a villain, and give Celestia more depth. The moment Discord said about how he missed her and how grim Celestia used to be and still is was the moment the idea of them dating in the past popped into my head and then the comic ‘Discordantly by CrappyUnicorn’ just made me outright ship it. As I said though, this is more for background and as something for the two characters to look back on when they encounter each other as their opposition, not one I consider likely to happen in present time of the series.
5) DisPie (Discord and Pinkie Pie) – Laughter is Discord’s favourite element after all, and it was that line that also made me ship the two. They are very similar, to the point in which they feel like two sides of the same coin, with Pinkie representing the good side of chaos while Discord represents the dark side of chaos. This in turn allows them to understand one another as they also think on the same wavelength, a wavelength unlikely to be reached by the others. It’s also easy as heck to find adorable fan-art of this pairing, and I really like the works of Mickeymonster in particular.
4) TwiPie (Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie) – You should probably note that I’m a big fan of opposites attract, and TwiPie is a pretty big case of opposites attract. The pairing has a charm to it, they both have features that, if rubbed off on the other, would be beneficial, and they do share the odd similarity such as an inquisitive nature and cases of naivety. Overall it’s just a cute pairing and one that is easy to picture how they get together.
3) SweetieSpike (Sweetie Belle and Spike) – I’m not a fan of pairings in which the two characters have not interacted/have had little interaction however, considering the love triangle that this would cause, I came to like the idea of this. Then I found fan-art of it, mostly sad ones (there was one artwork where a crying Sweetie Belle kisses Spike with her saying "just pretend I’m her"), and I came to like this pairing as a whole. Furthermore with Spike trying to help Rarity all the time, and with Sweetie Belle naturally wanting to help her sister, I could see a bond being formed between them that could spur onto romance from one or both of them.
2) SpAirty (Spike and Rarity) – Rarity has always wanted a gentlepony, someone who would treat her as a lady, and though Spike lacks the pony part he is most certainly a gentledragon. The pairing was always something I considered cute, but not one I considered shipping until ‘A Dog and Pony Show’ gave some greater focus on it and demonstrated Spike’s feelings as genuine, not a mere flight of fancy. Then we had ‘Secret of my Excess’ and ‘Dragon Quest’, which not only made the pairing feel plausible but also showcased the possibility of Rarity sharing feelings for said dragon. A lot stands between this romance and yet it is one of the most plausible, backed up by the show to the point of it pretty much being canon, and has so many possibilities to explore in the realm of characterisation and relationships.
1) FlutterDash (Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash) – I usually hate cases of childhood friends becoming lovers, they tend to feel forced, as if there was no one else they would be with or love. This is certainly an exception as not only is FlutterDash my OTP of MLP:FiM, but is also my second favourite pairing period. Like I said with TwiPie, I do like opposites attract, I believe both characters can share decent characteristics with one another, and the two certainly have a connection the rest of the cast lack. Their interactions are always nice to see and my appreciation of the show has increased even more since coming to support this pairing. Also, nearly all their fan-art is simply adorable.
Now, while I have listed my ten favourite pairings of the series I feel that ending here would make this post feel incomplete. There are other pairings, which while I won't go into much detail, I would like to make note of. First off, the first ever pairing of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic I ever supported was RariJack (Rarity and Applejack), which is rather funny considering my own head canon dictates the two of them as the only straight ponies out of the Mane 6 (I've pretty much always considered Fluttershy to be lesbian and Pinkie Pie to be Bi, while Twilight is Bi-curious and Rainbow Dash never thinks about the subject but probably wouldn't care about the gender of whom she liked). Also, two pairings that almost made it onto the list but got the tenth spot stolen from them by HeartBurn are RovIty (Rover and Rarity) and TrixBlood (Trixe and Prince Blueblood), the first being liked for a Mario-Peach-Bowser dynamic (Spike-Rarity-Rover) and the second because of the fanfic, 'Legion of Gloom'. I would to say that just because there is a lack of yaoi on this list does not mean I do not support homosexual pairings, it's just that few have caught my eye and there are few male characters with significant importance. I also support the occasional crossover pairing, with my favourite crossover pairing involving My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic being PinkieDan (Pinkie Pie and Dan from the Hub cartoon, 'Dan vs.'). Now I feel like I can conclude this post with satisfaction. Feel free to comment on any of these pairings and if you wish, talk about your own favourite pairings. I'm more than willing to reply and discuss other pairings that are not featured on this list of mine, cheerio!
My progression with fanfiction this week has been strange. How much did I get of 'Open to Interpretation' written? Nothing this week but 'Magnetism' I got at least two pages written up. Anyway I will explain right now, I do not know when or whether 'Open to Interpretation' will be finished and uploaded. You see, 'Open to Interpretation' is a spur of the moment one-shot written mostly in response to the stream of SoarinDash fanfics being made because of the Canterlot wedding and also as an organised analysis of that one FlutterDash moment that the community has been arguing over. Its basic premise is literally about Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight interoperating the same scene in different ways, and then having Pinkie Pie end it with a great comedy moment. While writing the story I realised it wasn't very good, at least in comparison to my other works, however I've been enjoying writing it. What I have not been enjoying is how it has been distracting me from other works, such as those in the SSB and Kirby sections, as well as 'Magnetism' which I really need to consider my top priority. Basically, I have no set schedule for 'Open to Interpretation', it is a one-shot I will write up when I have the time and when I want too. For me, the focus is back to other sections and of course 'Magnetism' which I have had quite a bit of enthusiasm for. Admittedly my current workings on the story involve re-writing the rough first chapter of the fanfic, back when I planned on calling it 'Fun With Magnetic Ponies', but the scene I am currently on is almost completely new thanks to removing the plot device of a messed up spell, and instead adding something more original to explain the situation Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash get themselves into. Now we move onto my top ten favourite pairings, a subject I have been wanting to discuss since I read Ugugg93's blog post regarding the same topic (can be found at the following link; http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/11233).
10) HeartBurn (Little Strong Heart and Braeburn) – Bronies need more HeartBurn...the pairing of Little Strong Heart and Braeburn, not actual heart burn. I’m actually amazed at how little of this pairing there actually is, or perhaps it only gets featured as a side pairing and never the focus of a story or artwork. Regardless, I like this ship; they were both the most reasonable of their groups, and in turn acted as the ambassadors for each group and heck, when Applejack and Rainbow Dash were pushing the two it looked like they were trying to force the ship to be.
9) ScootaSpike (Scootaloo and Spike) – According to The Cutie Mark Chronicles the two have interacted, and I can see the two hanging out as friends (which could in turn develop into something more). The few times I have seen this pairing depicted I have liked, and I garner enjoyment thinking of their interactions.
8) SoarJack (Soarin and Applejack) – My head-canon dictates Applejack as straight and yet, this here is pretty much the only pairing I like that meets the requirement of a straight Applejack. There’s not much of this pairing but unlike HeartBurn I can understand why, they only had one interaction together (still more than some of the popular pairings of the Brony community), and yet that one interaction was enough for me to ship them. Soarin seems like a simple guy, not the brightest and a bit of a slob, but well meaning and enjoys life more for its basic comforts; the sort of character who would go well with Applejack’s not too ambitious basic comforts of work, food, and family lifestyle.
7) RariPie (Rarity and Pinkie Pie) – I have no idea. I really have no idea why I love this pairing so much other than the two bringing out brilliant comedy and speaking moments when they interact with one another.
6) DisLestia (Discord and Celestia) – This pairing is more of a background detail I like to consider in order to flesh out the relationship between Celestia and Discord, explain Discord as a villain, and give Celestia more depth. The moment Discord said about how he missed her and how grim Celestia used to be and still is was the moment the idea of them dating in the past popped into my head and then the comic ‘Discordantly by CrappyUnicorn’ just made me outright ship it. As I said though, this is more for background and as something for the two characters to look back on when they encounter each other as their opposition, not one I consider likely to happen in present time of the series.
5) DisPie (Discord and Pinkie Pie) – Laughter is Discord’s favourite element after all, and it was that line that also made me ship the two. They are very similar, to the point in which they feel like two sides of the same coin, with Pinkie representing the good side of chaos while Discord represents the dark side of chaos. This in turn allows them to understand one another as they also think on the same wavelength, a wavelength unlikely to be reached by the others. It’s also easy as heck to find adorable fan-art of this pairing, and I really like the works of Mickeymonster in particular.
4) TwiPie (Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie) – You should probably note that I’m a big fan of opposites attract, and TwiPie is a pretty big case of opposites attract. The pairing has a charm to it, they both have features that, if rubbed off on the other, would be beneficial, and they do share the odd similarity such as an inquisitive nature and cases of naivety. Overall it’s just a cute pairing and one that is easy to picture how they get together.
3) SweetieSpike (Sweetie Belle and Spike) – I’m not a fan of pairings in which the two characters have not interacted/have had little interaction however, considering the love triangle that this would cause, I came to like the idea of this. Then I found fan-art of it, mostly sad ones (there was one artwork where a crying Sweetie Belle kisses Spike with her saying "just pretend I’m her"), and I came to like this pairing as a whole. Furthermore with Spike trying to help Rarity all the time, and with Sweetie Belle naturally wanting to help her sister, I could see a bond being formed between them that could spur onto romance from one or both of them.
2) SpAirty (Spike and Rarity) – Rarity has always wanted a gentlepony, someone who would treat her as a lady, and though Spike lacks the pony part he is most certainly a gentledragon. The pairing was always something I considered cute, but not one I considered shipping until ‘A Dog and Pony Show’ gave some greater focus on it and demonstrated Spike’s feelings as genuine, not a mere flight of fancy. Then we had ‘Secret of my Excess’ and ‘Dragon Quest’, which not only made the pairing feel plausible but also showcased the possibility of Rarity sharing feelings for said dragon. A lot stands between this romance and yet it is one of the most plausible, backed up by the show to the point of it pretty much being canon, and has so many possibilities to explore in the realm of characterisation and relationships.
1) FlutterDash (Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash) – I usually hate cases of childhood friends becoming lovers, they tend to feel forced, as if there was no one else they would be with or love. This is certainly an exception as not only is FlutterDash my OTP of MLP:FiM, but is also my second favourite pairing period. Like I said with TwiPie, I do like opposites attract, I believe both characters can share decent characteristics with one another, and the two certainly have a connection the rest of the cast lack. Their interactions are always nice to see and my appreciation of the show has increased even more since coming to support this pairing. Also, nearly all their fan-art is simply adorable.
Now, while I have listed my ten favourite pairings of the series I feel that ending here would make this post feel incomplete. There are other pairings, which while I won't go into much detail, I would like to make note of. First off, the first ever pairing of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic I ever supported was RariJack (Rarity and Applejack), which is rather funny considering my own head canon dictates the two of them as the only straight ponies out of the Mane 6 (I've pretty much always considered Fluttershy to be lesbian and Pinkie Pie to be Bi, while Twilight is Bi-curious and Rainbow Dash never thinks about the subject but probably wouldn't care about the gender of whom she liked). Also, two pairings that almost made it onto the list but got the tenth spot stolen from them by HeartBurn are RovIty (Rover and Rarity) and TrixBlood (Trixe and Prince Blueblood), the first being liked for a Mario-Peach-Bowser dynamic (Spike-Rarity-Rover) and the second because of the fanfic, 'Legion of Gloom'. I would to say that just because there is a lack of yaoi on this list does not mean I do not support homosexual pairings, it's just that few have caught my eye and there are few male characters with significant importance. I also support the occasional crossover pairing, with my favourite crossover pairing involving My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic being PinkieDan (Pinkie Pie and Dan from the Hub cartoon, 'Dan vs.'). Now I feel like I can conclude this post with satisfaction. Feel free to comment on any of these pairings and if you wish, talk about your own favourite pairings. I'm more than willing to reply and discuss other pairings that are not featured on this list of mine, cheerio!
Saturday 12 May 2012
Month of Positives: Week 2 - Songs!
It’s getting harder and harder to not see FlutterDash as canon, something that is not new as far as my OTP’s go. In the Kirby section I have never had any doubts that Kirby and Ribbon are in love, while in the Super Smash Bros section, the moment Ganondorf pops up in a story I keep on thinking about how in my SSB fanfics he has a crush on Jigglypuff. Yes, GanonPuff/JigglyDorf is my SSB OTP...it is very disturbing. Now onto other stuff though such as my fanfic progress and my favourite songs, enjoy.
‘Open to Interpretation’ is almost complete; however, even though it should be done before the end of next week, this does not mean I will be uploading it any time soon. I will, as I usually do, leave it alone for a while so I can go back and edit, but this will take longer than usual for I have other things to focus on in the meantime. I have lots of stuff to get to work on over on Fanfiction.net, as well as the edits to ‘Thank You Cider’ which I hope to be doing over the course of the next month. There is also the case of ‘Magnetism’ which I need to keep working on so that when I begin uploading in August, I’ll be way ahead with the fanfic. I’ll say more on ‘Open to Interpretation’ next week, saying what I think of the finished product without spoiling anything but for now just know that I’m still writing fanfics and that below you can see my top ten favourite songs of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
10) Welcome Song – It may be short but it’s also catchy and with wonderful music and sound affects playing throughout. It also has a conversation feel that I love to see in the songs of this show.
9) Cutie Mark Crusaders Song - No, I’m not talking about the BGM or Sweetie Belle’s short, I’m talking about the full length song in Show Stoppers. I genuinely love the song. At some points it reaches the ‘so bad it’s good’ level as listening to (and seeing) it becomes hilarious, while at other times it just really nice to listen too. The singing is cute, not bad enough to hurt but not skilled enough to make you forget that it’s supposed to be sung by children, while both the lyrics and background music are awesome.
8) The Flim Flam Brothers – Another conversational song, the Flim Flam Brothers song is the second catchiest song in the entire show. It imprints into your memory to the point you are able to sing lyrics from it at random, there are several funny moments just in the form of the singing, and never a dull moment. At first I felt this song was too long, and still feel that if this song was shorter the episode would have been able to fit in a slight improvement towards the ending, however the song itself works wonderfully for its length.
7) Twilight is my bestest friend – It’s a short song where in Pinkie Pie sings about how Twilight Sparkle is best pony. Do I need to say more? No, but I will note that this might as well be the theme song aboard the TwiPie fleet, and I love how Tara Strong slips into a Timmy Turner voice when she yells out Pinkie’s name.
6) The Perfect Stallion – When I first heard this song I immediately rewound the episode to listen to it again, and again, and again. Not just lovable to listen too, the things that go on while this song plays had me in hysterics. The little animation details (oh look, Lyra and Bon Bon are next to each other, and Doctor Whooves is next to Derpy), video games and funerals becoming canon, as well as little details such as Scootaloo not singing are terrific. My favourite moment though is the end, Apple Bloom’s question was the funniest part of the entire episode and still one of the most memorable moments of season 2 for me.
5) Art of the Dress – I hate fashion, have no fashion sense, and sucked at sewing...so why do I love this song so much? Easy, because it is sung well. It flows well, the lyrics work with what goes on, fits the episode perfectly, both parts fit in seamlessly with one another, and Rarity’s voice is just wonderful here. Furthermore it fit’s her character so well, if ‘Smile, Smile, Smile’ is effectively Pinkie Pie’s theme song then this here is Rarity’s.
4) Happy Monthiversary – This should be lower on the list but I just love this short piece. It’s one of the most subtle fourth wall breaking moments but undoubtedly one of the best, and the things Pinkie does as she sings is just great. Popping out of the cake at the end has managed to make me both grin and laugh aloud, and I’m not sure how I’m able to do that as one requires my mouth to be closed and the other does not.
3) This Day Aria – I do love a good villain song and this one was simply amazing. It felt fitting for the moment (although I do question how no one thought it was odd that the fake Candance was singing as she walked up the altar), and was sung wonderfully. It presented both Chrysalis and Candance well and I crack up every time I see Shinning Armour’s hypnotised face.
2) Winter Wrap Up – The catchiest song in the entire show, I first heard it back in November and it is still stuck in my brain. It has an excellent tune and as should be noted, is memorable. Furthermore it includes each of the Mane 6 and presents Twilight’s problem and situation very well (and also creates a bit of a downer to the end of the song).
1) Find a Pet – Originally only my second favourite song, this song was initially loved to a great degree for feeling like a musical. It’s a song that could have easily been done as a conversation (and as proof, they have many moments were they simply talk it) but they decided to sing it instead. This makes for some lovely comedy moments and an all round wonderful tune to it. Then I became a FlutterDash shipper, and as this is a Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash duet my love of the song increased even more. Finally I caught myself listening to this song more than any other, it’s tune, humour, and cheerfulness bringing me back to listen to it more and more. Thus, the Find a Pet song is now established as my favourite song of the entire show.
There you go folks, my top ten favourite songs of the show. Are there any that surprise you to see on this list? Are there any not included on the list that surprise you? Furthermore, what are your favourite songs? Feel free to discuss, I love to hear others opinions on such matters. Look forward to next when I will be discussing my top ten favourite pairings, all of which I support. Cheerio till then.
‘Open to Interpretation’ is almost complete; however, even though it should be done before the end of next week, this does not mean I will be uploading it any time soon. I will, as I usually do, leave it alone for a while so I can go back and edit, but this will take longer than usual for I have other things to focus on in the meantime. I have lots of stuff to get to work on over on Fanfiction.net, as well as the edits to ‘Thank You Cider’ which I hope to be doing over the course of the next month. There is also the case of ‘Magnetism’ which I need to keep working on so that when I begin uploading in August, I’ll be way ahead with the fanfic. I’ll say more on ‘Open to Interpretation’ next week, saying what I think of the finished product without spoiling anything but for now just know that I’m still writing fanfics and that below you can see my top ten favourite songs of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
10) Welcome Song – It may be short but it’s also catchy and with wonderful music and sound affects playing throughout. It also has a conversation feel that I love to see in the songs of this show.
9) Cutie Mark Crusaders Song - No, I’m not talking about the BGM or Sweetie Belle’s short, I’m talking about the full length song in Show Stoppers. I genuinely love the song. At some points it reaches the ‘so bad it’s good’ level as listening to (and seeing) it becomes hilarious, while at other times it just really nice to listen too. The singing is cute, not bad enough to hurt but not skilled enough to make you forget that it’s supposed to be sung by children, while both the lyrics and background music are awesome.
8) The Flim Flam Brothers – Another conversational song, the Flim Flam Brothers song is the second catchiest song in the entire show. It imprints into your memory to the point you are able to sing lyrics from it at random, there are several funny moments just in the form of the singing, and never a dull moment. At first I felt this song was too long, and still feel that if this song was shorter the episode would have been able to fit in a slight improvement towards the ending, however the song itself works wonderfully for its length.
7) Twilight is my bestest friend – It’s a short song where in Pinkie Pie sings about how Twilight Sparkle is best pony. Do I need to say more? No, but I will note that this might as well be the theme song aboard the TwiPie fleet, and I love how Tara Strong slips into a Timmy Turner voice when she yells out Pinkie’s name.
6) The Perfect Stallion – When I first heard this song I immediately rewound the episode to listen to it again, and again, and again. Not just lovable to listen too, the things that go on while this song plays had me in hysterics. The little animation details (oh look, Lyra and Bon Bon are next to each other, and Doctor Whooves is next to Derpy), video games and funerals becoming canon, as well as little details such as Scootaloo not singing are terrific. My favourite moment though is the end, Apple Bloom’s question was the funniest part of the entire episode and still one of the most memorable moments of season 2 for me.
5) Art of the Dress – I hate fashion, have no fashion sense, and sucked at sewing...so why do I love this song so much? Easy, because it is sung well. It flows well, the lyrics work with what goes on, fits the episode perfectly, both parts fit in seamlessly with one another, and Rarity’s voice is just wonderful here. Furthermore it fit’s her character so well, if ‘Smile, Smile, Smile’ is effectively Pinkie Pie’s theme song then this here is Rarity’s.
4) Happy Monthiversary – This should be lower on the list but I just love this short piece. It’s one of the most subtle fourth wall breaking moments but undoubtedly one of the best, and the things Pinkie does as she sings is just great. Popping out of the cake at the end has managed to make me both grin and laugh aloud, and I’m not sure how I’m able to do that as one requires my mouth to be closed and the other does not.
3) This Day Aria – I do love a good villain song and this one was simply amazing. It felt fitting for the moment (although I do question how no one thought it was odd that the fake Candance was singing as she walked up the altar), and was sung wonderfully. It presented both Chrysalis and Candance well and I crack up every time I see Shinning Armour’s hypnotised face.
2) Winter Wrap Up – The catchiest song in the entire show, I first heard it back in November and it is still stuck in my brain. It has an excellent tune and as should be noted, is memorable. Furthermore it includes each of the Mane 6 and presents Twilight’s problem and situation very well (and also creates a bit of a downer to the end of the song).
1) Find a Pet – Originally only my second favourite song, this song was initially loved to a great degree for feeling like a musical. It’s a song that could have easily been done as a conversation (and as proof, they have many moments were they simply talk it) but they decided to sing it instead. This makes for some lovely comedy moments and an all round wonderful tune to it. Then I became a FlutterDash shipper, and as this is a Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash duet my love of the song increased even more. Finally I caught myself listening to this song more than any other, it’s tune, humour, and cheerfulness bringing me back to listen to it more and more. Thus, the Find a Pet song is now established as my favourite song of the entire show.
There you go folks, my top ten favourite songs of the show. Are there any that surprise you to see on this list? Are there any not included on the list that surprise you? Furthermore, what are your favourite songs? Feel free to discuss, I love to hear others opinions on such matters. Look forward to next when I will be discussing my top ten favourite pairings, all of which I support. Cheerio till then.
Sunday 6 May 2012
Month of Positives: Week 1 - Episodes!
This blog update is coming to you late on this Sunday because last night I went to watch the Avengers. Go see it. Even if you haven’t watched all of the five films that lead up to it, or any of the five films for that matter, go watch the Avengers because it is mind-blowing. A simplistic story but it has great action, comedy, and character interactions. Anyway, today’s title is a bit of a strange one, and today’s subjects are completely different to what I was previously going to be talking about (though I will discuss those topics eventually). This being the first weekend of a new month means I can start something I’ve been wanting to do, ‘The Month of Positives’ and ‘The Month of Negatives’. Including this post and the three to follow, instead of discussing an episode I will instead discuss my top 10 favourite of a certain thing. This week it’s episodes (including both seasons), then it is songs, then pairings, then characters (note there have been a slight change to my top ten characters and it will also be going into more depth concerning why I like them, same as the ten episodes for today). Afterwards I will have the four posts afterwards address my 10 least favourite episodes, songs, pairings, and characters. With that explained I will now move on.
‘Open to Interpretation’. I had no plan to start writing this one-shot and yet the idea, the story, and the motivation, just came to me. Luckily it is only a one-shot, and is not going to be a very long one at that and so it should not delay the progress of my other story, ‘Magnetism’, which will come out during it’s scheduled time of August. I won’t reveal too many details about it but I will say that it includes FlutterDash, involves more Rarity, Applejack, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie than my previous work, and concerns The Canterlot Wedding. Progress is going well and it should be done soon.
10) Secret of my Excess – Though this episode had quite a bit of competition in the form of A Canterlot Wedding Part 2 and Show Stoppers, ultimately this Spike episode won out. It was nice to see Spike have an episode to himself again, but even better to see an all round greater presentation of the character than that of Owl’s Well That Ends Well.
The beginning is a bit slow, but it has charm and paces itself well as build up for the big element of the episode; Spike changing due to greed. It’s a neat and original element concerning dragons and creates an interesting plot for the episode. First it works well as an element of mystery, and sets up some amusing scenes as Twilight goes from doctor, to vet, to witch doctor (as you would). Then it works well as an element of adventure as Spike begins his rampage and the others try to stop him. The episode reaches its funniest during the moments Spike goes from place to place, but not its best until near the end, when Rarity and Spike start to fall from the sky. That scene...teary eyed I was as I watched and teary eyed I become every time I do. The relationship of Rarity and Spike plays out wonderfully, it feels sweet as first but progresses into there being something beautiful and genuine between the two characters.
I also appreciate this episode for another, entirely different reason. This is the episode that made me a FlutterDash fan. I was already a Sparity fan, but the scenes of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash trying to stop Spike, from their good cop, bad cop act, the hug Fluttershy gives Rainbow as Spike smacks them down with his tail, and the way Rainbow just keeps on grabbing Fluttershy, it made me think something could be between them. From there I went on to read a few FlutterDash fanfics and that was that, I was a FlutterDash fan and it is now my MLP:FiM OTP.
9) May the Best Pet Win – My opinion of this episode improved a slight bit once I became a FlutterDash fan but it wasn’t exactly like it needed much urging. As my 5th favourite episode of season 2, it is not much of a surprise to see it on my top ten list, and here it is at position number 9.
The episode starts off with the creepiest moment in the whole of MLP:FiM, and then proceeds into showing a weekly event the Mane 6 (excluding Rainbow Dash) do, thus we get to see the characters having some normal time together. It naturally follows on with Rainbow Dash wanting a pet, one of Fluttershy’s cutest moments, and then Fluttershy kidnapping Rainbow so they can sing a duet together. I am perfectly okay with this. After my second favourite song in the series Rainbow takes on the role of a coach and puts the pets through various trials. Tank’s determination is both warming and amusing to see, and the ongoing joke of Fluttershy correcting Rainbow is memorable (and reminds me of the Monkey, Mankey joke). The canyon chase is well animated and more exciting than I expected it to be, and the episode concludes with an absolutely absurd but pulled off with a straight face ending. I love the song, liked Tank, and enjoyed the interactions between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.
8) Over A Barrel – This episode gripped me with its introduction, and what I still consider the best opening in the entire season. Applejack’s part has me in hysterics and Rarity’s reaction to it was priceless. The conversation the characters have on the train is some of the best writing I have ever heard in a cartoon, and the episode appealed to me the moment it had the factors of them travelling (by train) to a new location, and encounter a new race (the buffalo in this case).
I really like the character of Chief Thunderhooves, his deadpan voice works so well for many of the comedy moments, I found the conflict itself to be both interesting and deep (though how it is resolved, not so much), and the negative reception to Pinkie’s song was such an unexpected twist. I enjoyed it myself but I did not expect anyone outside of a villain to dislike a good guy singing.
7) Party of One - While my favourite moment of this episode is Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash's excuse, and Pinkie actually believing said excuse more so than any of the others, Pinkie going crazy is also a lovable moment. As well as Pinkie chasing Rainbow Dash. Pinkie conversing with Applejack. Pinkie's singing telegram. Rarity going so far as to shove her head in a garbage can to make her lie more convincing. Okay, there is a lot to love about this episode in regards to comedy.
But it is not just comedy where this episode shines, this episode goes to great extents to show Pinkie Pie as a much more deep and complex character than we had previously been given evidence to believe. Pinkie's need for friends and her need to make other ponies happy is an original idea as far as characters go, and is interesting to ponder on.
6) Sisterhooves Social –Now I don’t have a sister, but I have three brothers; two older, one younger, and that’s close enough, so I had an ability to relate to an episode about sibling relationships. In a strange case, this is an episode that stands tall not for its action or comedy (although the later is does feature to some extent via Rarity’s voice and dramatisation) but solely on its character interaction and development.
The relationship between Rarity and Sweeite Belle plays out in a manner where you can sympathise with both sides, Sweetie Belle means well but that in turn causes problems for Rarity. Furthermore it does a great job in demonstrating how different sibling relationships can be by presenting Apple Bloom and Applejack as an alternative sister pair. The moral is one of the few I appreciate seeing and the extent Rarity goes to win back her sister’s favour is another tear jerker.
5) A Dog and Pony Show – We need more episodes like this, adventure episodes with lots of action, lots of comedy, a clear group of antagonists, and world building. It also has some Sparity, and was the first time that Spike’s crush was presented as more than that, as truly romantic feelings.
Spike and Rarity both come across well in this episode, the former for things already said and the later for being able to stand up for herself but not in the conventional way. The diamond dog trio are an interesting group, both as a race and as enemies, they come across at first as simple minded thugs who are easily fooled and this creates a good amount of humour but then they surprise you by catching onto the tricks, and demonstrating that they are smarter than they appear. This episode has all the elements I love, including an imagination sequence, and I do wish for more episodes like this (as well as more diamond dogs).
4) Look Before You Sleep – A lot of people seem to be surprised when I cite this as not only my fourth favourite episode but also my favourite episode of the whole of season 1. I found the interactions between Rarity and Applejack to be enjoyable, particularly the fact that even after the first two episodes they aren’t friends, loved Twilight’s naivety and general adorkableness (this is the episode that cemented her as my favourite character), and I just like the charm it all has. It’s a simple plot but a well told version of it with interesting and likable characters, and many humorous moments (It also brilliant abridged versions of it).
3) The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 – It opens Rainbow Dash breaking into Fluttershy’s room and yanking the bed sheets off of her. Well that tipped it, this was going to be a good and holy heck was it a good one.
My complaints regarding this episode are all minor, and are instantly overshadowed by the positives. The opening, the song, the Flim Flam Brothers, the Rainbow Dash trying to get cider subplot, the FlutterDash hints (oh look, Rainbow let Fluttershy before her in the line), the apple rangers, there is just so much love packed into this one episode.
2) Hurricane Fluttershy – We’ve got Fluttershy hugging Rainbow Dash in Secret of my Excess, the two jumping in a haystack together in The Last Roundup, Rainbow bringing Fluttershy along to get drunk with her in The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, the two going on what is clearly a date in Dragon Quest, and Rainbow Dash kissing Fluttershy in A Canterlot Wedding, all artillery for the S.S. FlutterDash. Then we have this episode. The S.S. FlutterDash is now armed with a nuke.
This show’s not just the best interactions between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, but also the best interactions between any two characters. Rainbow Dash comes across as more likable than any other episode in the series, Fluttershy’s problem is one that not only can many relate too, but is one of the best presented cases of the long term affects of bullying, and even the minor characters are enjoyable to see with a great variety of designs. The only reason this episode isn’t my favourite is that the one following is unbeatable in regards to comedy.
1) The Last Roundup – I shouldn’t even need to explain myself. Too many this episode is remarkable because of Derpy, for me that was only a nice bonus (I prefer her as a Where’s Wally character than having her as a speaking role minor character), my main focus was on the travelling, the locations, the background music (when they are looking for Applejack in Canterlot I just love the music that plays), the mystery, and of course, the comedy. All of the Mane 6 got some parts to them, Rarity only having a small bit and yet each of her moments was insanely funny, and Pinkie Pie shines. Her comedy is even greater than norm for her, Applejack comes across as both believable and realistic in her problem while still keeping in character, and the chase scene, oh gosh that was glorious.
Here I have put a lot of effort into making my top ten episodes here feel fresh as it were. I realise that I have already talked about my favourite episodes a lot so when composing this one I wanted to give a bit more detail to make it worth it, something I will be doing with my top ten characters as well. Next week though I shall tell of my top ten favourite songs, but probably won’t go into as much detail as I did with these episodes in explaining why I like them. Cheerio till then.
‘Open to Interpretation’. I had no plan to start writing this one-shot and yet the idea, the story, and the motivation, just came to me. Luckily it is only a one-shot, and is not going to be a very long one at that and so it should not delay the progress of my other story, ‘Magnetism’, which will come out during it’s scheduled time of August. I won’t reveal too many details about it but I will say that it includes FlutterDash, involves more Rarity, Applejack, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie than my previous work, and concerns The Canterlot Wedding. Progress is going well and it should be done soon.
10) Secret of my Excess – Though this episode had quite a bit of competition in the form of A Canterlot Wedding Part 2 and Show Stoppers, ultimately this Spike episode won out. It was nice to see Spike have an episode to himself again, but even better to see an all round greater presentation of the character than that of Owl’s Well That Ends Well.
The beginning is a bit slow, but it has charm and paces itself well as build up for the big element of the episode; Spike changing due to greed. It’s a neat and original element concerning dragons and creates an interesting plot for the episode. First it works well as an element of mystery, and sets up some amusing scenes as Twilight goes from doctor, to vet, to witch doctor (as you would). Then it works well as an element of adventure as Spike begins his rampage and the others try to stop him. The episode reaches its funniest during the moments Spike goes from place to place, but not its best until near the end, when Rarity and Spike start to fall from the sky. That scene...teary eyed I was as I watched and teary eyed I become every time I do. The relationship of Rarity and Spike plays out wonderfully, it feels sweet as first but progresses into there being something beautiful and genuine between the two characters.
I also appreciate this episode for another, entirely different reason. This is the episode that made me a FlutterDash fan. I was already a Sparity fan, but the scenes of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash trying to stop Spike, from their good cop, bad cop act, the hug Fluttershy gives Rainbow as Spike smacks them down with his tail, and the way Rainbow just keeps on grabbing Fluttershy, it made me think something could be between them. From there I went on to read a few FlutterDash fanfics and that was that, I was a FlutterDash fan and it is now my MLP:FiM OTP.
9) May the Best Pet Win – My opinion of this episode improved a slight bit once I became a FlutterDash fan but it wasn’t exactly like it needed much urging. As my 5th favourite episode of season 2, it is not much of a surprise to see it on my top ten list, and here it is at position number 9.
The episode starts off with the creepiest moment in the whole of MLP:FiM, and then proceeds into showing a weekly event the Mane 6 (excluding Rainbow Dash) do, thus we get to see the characters having some normal time together. It naturally follows on with Rainbow Dash wanting a pet, one of Fluttershy’s cutest moments, and then Fluttershy kidnapping Rainbow so they can sing a duet together. I am perfectly okay with this. After my second favourite song in the series Rainbow takes on the role of a coach and puts the pets through various trials. Tank’s determination is both warming and amusing to see, and the ongoing joke of Fluttershy correcting Rainbow is memorable (and reminds me of the Monkey, Mankey joke). The canyon chase is well animated and more exciting than I expected it to be, and the episode concludes with an absolutely absurd but pulled off with a straight face ending. I love the song, liked Tank, and enjoyed the interactions between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.
8) Over A Barrel – This episode gripped me with its introduction, and what I still consider the best opening in the entire season. Applejack’s part has me in hysterics and Rarity’s reaction to it was priceless. The conversation the characters have on the train is some of the best writing I have ever heard in a cartoon, and the episode appealed to me the moment it had the factors of them travelling (by train) to a new location, and encounter a new race (the buffalo in this case).
I really like the character of Chief Thunderhooves, his deadpan voice works so well for many of the comedy moments, I found the conflict itself to be both interesting and deep (though how it is resolved, not so much), and the negative reception to Pinkie’s song was such an unexpected twist. I enjoyed it myself but I did not expect anyone outside of a villain to dislike a good guy singing.
7) Party of One - While my favourite moment of this episode is Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash's excuse, and Pinkie actually believing said excuse more so than any of the others, Pinkie going crazy is also a lovable moment. As well as Pinkie chasing Rainbow Dash. Pinkie conversing with Applejack. Pinkie's singing telegram. Rarity going so far as to shove her head in a garbage can to make her lie more convincing. Okay, there is a lot to love about this episode in regards to comedy.
But it is not just comedy where this episode shines, this episode goes to great extents to show Pinkie Pie as a much more deep and complex character than we had previously been given evidence to believe. Pinkie's need for friends and her need to make other ponies happy is an original idea as far as characters go, and is interesting to ponder on.
6) Sisterhooves Social –Now I don’t have a sister, but I have three brothers; two older, one younger, and that’s close enough, so I had an ability to relate to an episode about sibling relationships. In a strange case, this is an episode that stands tall not for its action or comedy (although the later is does feature to some extent via Rarity’s voice and dramatisation) but solely on its character interaction and development.
The relationship between Rarity and Sweeite Belle plays out in a manner where you can sympathise with both sides, Sweetie Belle means well but that in turn causes problems for Rarity. Furthermore it does a great job in demonstrating how different sibling relationships can be by presenting Apple Bloom and Applejack as an alternative sister pair. The moral is one of the few I appreciate seeing and the extent Rarity goes to win back her sister’s favour is another tear jerker.
5) A Dog and Pony Show – We need more episodes like this, adventure episodes with lots of action, lots of comedy, a clear group of antagonists, and world building. It also has some Sparity, and was the first time that Spike’s crush was presented as more than that, as truly romantic feelings.
Spike and Rarity both come across well in this episode, the former for things already said and the later for being able to stand up for herself but not in the conventional way. The diamond dog trio are an interesting group, both as a race and as enemies, they come across at first as simple minded thugs who are easily fooled and this creates a good amount of humour but then they surprise you by catching onto the tricks, and demonstrating that they are smarter than they appear. This episode has all the elements I love, including an imagination sequence, and I do wish for more episodes like this (as well as more diamond dogs).
4) Look Before You Sleep – A lot of people seem to be surprised when I cite this as not only my fourth favourite episode but also my favourite episode of the whole of season 1. I found the interactions between Rarity and Applejack to be enjoyable, particularly the fact that even after the first two episodes they aren’t friends, loved Twilight’s naivety and general adorkableness (this is the episode that cemented her as my favourite character), and I just like the charm it all has. It’s a simple plot but a well told version of it with interesting and likable characters, and many humorous moments (It also brilliant abridged versions of it).
3) The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 – It opens Rainbow Dash breaking into Fluttershy’s room and yanking the bed sheets off of her. Well that tipped it, this was going to be a good and holy heck was it a good one.
My complaints regarding this episode are all minor, and are instantly overshadowed by the positives. The opening, the song, the Flim Flam Brothers, the Rainbow Dash trying to get cider subplot, the FlutterDash hints (oh look, Rainbow let Fluttershy before her in the line), the apple rangers, there is just so much love packed into this one episode.
2) Hurricane Fluttershy – We’ve got Fluttershy hugging Rainbow Dash in Secret of my Excess, the two jumping in a haystack together in The Last Roundup, Rainbow bringing Fluttershy along to get drunk with her in The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, the two going on what is clearly a date in Dragon Quest, and Rainbow Dash kissing Fluttershy in A Canterlot Wedding, all artillery for the S.S. FlutterDash. Then we have this episode. The S.S. FlutterDash is now armed with a nuke.
This show’s not just the best interactions between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, but also the best interactions between any two characters. Rainbow Dash comes across as more likable than any other episode in the series, Fluttershy’s problem is one that not only can many relate too, but is one of the best presented cases of the long term affects of bullying, and even the minor characters are enjoyable to see with a great variety of designs. The only reason this episode isn’t my favourite is that the one following is unbeatable in regards to comedy.
1) The Last Roundup – I shouldn’t even need to explain myself. Too many this episode is remarkable because of Derpy, for me that was only a nice bonus (I prefer her as a Where’s Wally character than having her as a speaking role minor character), my main focus was on the travelling, the locations, the background music (when they are looking for Applejack in Canterlot I just love the music that plays), the mystery, and of course, the comedy. All of the Mane 6 got some parts to them, Rarity only having a small bit and yet each of her moments was insanely funny, and Pinkie Pie shines. Her comedy is even greater than norm for her, Applejack comes across as both believable and realistic in her problem while still keeping in character, and the chase scene, oh gosh that was glorious.
Here I have put a lot of effort into making my top ten episodes here feel fresh as it were. I realise that I have already talked about my favourite episodes a lot so when composing this one I wanted to give a bit more detail to make it worth it, something I will be doing with my top ten characters as well. Next week though I shall tell of my top ten favourite songs, but probably won’t go into as much detail as I did with these episodes in explaining why I like them. Cheerio till then.
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