Random Stuff III

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I'd pronounced it Chick-ah-shah too. It really should be pronounced like that. I guess it's a Southern thing.

 

At least that's a city name that could conceivably be pronounced a number of ways. Spokane is pronounced Spo-can, but out-of-towners usually pronounce it Spo-cane. I even heard of one guy who kept calling it Spo-can-ee until someone said "You idiot! It's Spo-cane!"  

[ThirdGen]

There's a Versailles, Missouri... pronounced ver-SALES.

 

If your facepalms right now could be hooked to a power grid...

[Kaymyth she/her]

There's a Versailles, Missouri... pronounced ver-SALES.

 

If your facepalms right now could be hooked to a power grid...

 

I was deliberately not bringing that up because it just breaks my soul.

[Kobold King he/him]

Has anyone else seen "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" yet? 

 

 

...yes.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

...yes.

I take it you had some of the same reservations I did?

[Mistrunner]

At least that's a city name that could conceivably be pronounced a number of ways. Spokane is pronounced Spo-can, but out-of-towners usually pronounce it Spo-cane. I even heard of one guy who kept calling it Spo-can-ee until someone said "You idiot! It's Spo-cane!"

I have one word... Puyallup. Whenever people in California made fun of those who couldn't pronounce Spanish words I asked them to spell it.

[Kobold King he/him]

I take it you had some of the same reservations I did?

 

I don't know if they're the same reservations, but I do have a few. A few strong ones.

 

Ah well. It's nothing show-ruining.

 

 

This is the"random stuff" topic, and now I am going to do the amazing: Say something that is both random and relevant.

I know, mind blowing.

Anyway, I was just in the same aisle as Brandon Sanderson. And this is a Sanderson forum.

So there.

 

 

 

Seriously? That's awesome!

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I don't know if they're the same reservations, but I do have a few. A few strong ones.

Ah well. It's nothing show-ruining.

Episode spoilers:

My biggest beef was with the way the Diamond Tiara thing was handled. Fantastic idea. Needed another ten episodes to develop. They crammed an entire season's worth of character development and foreshadowing into one episode, and it showed.

And as for Diamond standing up to her mom....what should've been a powerful moment was ruined by the fact that it would have never happened that way in reality. A woman who dishes out that sort of verbal abuse for minor infractions and failures would NOT be cowed when her daughter stood up to her. A more realistic take would have been if her mom listened to her spiel, sweetly let her know that she had already been planning to agree to her request, and watch her deflate. Then, when Diamond already felt like an idiot, she would have taken her home and reminded her that not only was she a fool, but she was an ungrateful one to boot. This would have torn down Diamond's self esteem for the foreseeable future, ensuring she did everything her parents wanted. Diamond's mother, were she played realistically, would NOT have just given in like that.

I did enjoy how the Crusaders received their marks in such a way that didn't end their journey, but began a new one, though. I was worried that the writers would just drag it out.

[WayneSpren he/him]

I don't know if they're the same reservations, but I do have a few. A few strong ones.

 

Ah well. It's nothing show-ruining.

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously? That's awesome!

I found out from the Sanderson himself that Wayne likes Hoid!

...Also, that Brandon likes signing books with an orange sharpie.

[Kobold King he/him]

Episode spoilers:

My biggest beef was with the way the Diamond Tiara thing was handled. Fantastic idea. Needed another ten episodes to develop. They crammed an entire season's worth of character development and foreshadowing into one episode, and it showed.

And as for Diamond standing up to her mom....what should've been a powerful moment was ruined by the fact that it would have never happened that way in reality. A woman who dishes out that sort of verbal abuse for minor infractions and failures would NOT be cowed when her daughter stood up to her. A more realistic take would have been if her mom listened to her spiel, sweetly let her know that she had already been planning to agree to her request, and watch her deflate. Then, when Diamond already felt like an idiot, she would have taken her home and reminded her that not only was she a fool, but she was an ungrateful one to boot. This would have torn down Diamond's self esteem for the foreseeable future, ensuring she did everything her parents wanted. Diamond's mother, were she played realistically, would NOT have just given in like that.

I did enjoy how the Crusaders received their marks in such a way that didn't end their journey, but began a new one, though. I was worried that the writers would just drag it out.

 

More major episode spoilers. Also, pretty long, winding, and barely structured rant:

 

Agreed wholeheartedly. My brother insists that DT's redemption was beautiful and heartwarming, and I won't begrudge him that appreciation. But he goes on and on about how Diamond Tiara's musical numbers "truly showed her emotions," and how the songs gave her "great characterization for the first time ever!"

 

Uh, no. Musical numbers are not, themselves, characterization. Diamond Tiara has not once in the show's history been shown to feel strong desires to be a different kind of pony. Not once. If the writers wanted to bring her down the path to redemption, by all means! More power to them. But do it slowly. Have some respect for your audience--we know darn well that the villains in our lives aren't going to suddenly drop everything to sing an impassioned musical number about how they wish they could be different, BUT THEY JUST CAN'T BE GOOD PEOPLE BECAUSE OF THINGS THEY HAVE NO CONTROL OVER...

 

Ugh. I like that Diamond Tiara has an abusive mom. I mean, it's awful, but I like that as a piece of character backstory. While I would have preferred for Suri Polomare to be DT's mom, Spoiled Rich was perfect as an antagonist to DT's good side and a bad influence on her worst impulses. The only thing I hated was how easily she backed off at the end, though I suppose that just shows how powerful Diamond Tiara's special talent truly is. (Though that just raises further questions and concerns, if DT is now powerful enough to cow her abusive mom with a single angry rant. )

 

I guess my biggest beef with this episode is the rushed, musical format. They tried to use a progression of shoddy, lackluster songs as a shortcut to where they wanted to be. Instead of having Diamond Tiara slowly realize she doesn't want to be the kind of pony her mom wants her to be, she realizes this in her first song and spends the rest of the episode being sung at to do something about it. The music casts an illusion of character development when no development at all has taken place. (It doesn't really help that I hated the songs.)

 

 

So in summary: the episode leans heavily on Diamond Tiara suddenly manifesting fully thought-through emotions and desires that have not once even been hinted at in the last five years, and through a series of songs in which nothing actually changes inside or out of our snobby pink heroine, her entire character is flipped upside down and changed for good.

 

Again, ugh.

 

 

But a single bad episode isn't that bad, right? I mean, I didn't even enjoy Diamond Tiara as an antagonist anyway, so what am I losing? I'll just sit through this last song and hope that that ridiculous "spoiler" I saw earlier was just a fanboy's joke like it sounds like...

 

 

OH CALAMITY'S CUPCAKES. THEY GAVE THEM THEIR CUTIE MARKS AND THEY'RE AWFUL.

 

Alright, alright, that's a bit of an overstatement. They don't 100% suck. More like... 95% suck.

 

I have seen dozens upon dozens upon dozens of potential cutie marks for the CMCs, and almost any random selection of those would have made me happier. Maybe I'm just being ridiculous and hard-to-please, but those cutie marks... well, I feel like I've been cheated out of what could have been a legitimately impacting story arc in favor of a cheap, corny soap opera.

 

First of all, whose idea was it to have the CMCs get their cutie marks in an episode that's not even about them? Yeah, they appear, but they're not the focus! Diamond Tiara is indisputably the star of this episode, and the CMCs don't really do anything except sing "You can be a good pony!" while running backwards. It's like if Twilight had become an alicorn at the end of a Derpy-centered episode, in which Twilight gives Derpy a new muffin recipe and suddenly sprouts wings. This is a massive change that should have come at the end of a massive and personal story arc for each of the CMCs, but instead the single defining goal in their lives has been reduced to the epilogue of bit character's badly rushed redemption plot.

 

What. The. Tartarus.

 

And then the marks themselves. They seem almost intentionally designed to be generic. The same shield with the same stripes and the same colors on each of them, with a frustratingly vague outline within that makes the marks barely distinguishable. It's like the writers were aware that there were hundreds of different concepts for CMC marks floating around the Internet, and so they created the most basic marks they could to try to appease as many fans as possible. In the process, the marks don't come across as unique to the destiny of the characters at all. There's a nod to Sweetie Belle's singing, despite the fact that her musical ability wasn't even specifically mentioned in the episode. There's a lightning bolt on Scootaloo's flank--nice and generic, can fit either her daredevil tendencies or her relationship with Rainbow Dash! And of course, Apple Bloom's got an apple, so she won't have to move off of Sweet Apple Acres and change her name to "Bloom."

 

Am I sounding angry? I'm not angry! Do I look angry?

 

 

...Well, I guess I might be a little flustered.

 

 

...

 

...

 

...

 

It's getting late... I should be getting to bed. I considered erasing everything above and going to bed without posting, but I guess I'll feel better to have my rant fully off my chest. If anyone cares--well, mainly if I care--I might post a more rational, less gut-reactional review of the episode.

 

But for now, I'll just close by saying I wish Apple Bloom had kept her derpy dolphin cutie mark.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

More major episode spoilers. Also, pretty long, winding, and barely structured rant:

 

Agreed wholeheartedly. My brother insists that DT's redemption was beautiful and heartwarming, and I won't begrudge him that appreciation. But he goes on and on about how Diamond Tiara's musical numbers "truly showed her emotions," and how the songs gave her "great characterization for the first time ever!"

 

Uh, no. Musical numbers are not, themselves, characterization. Diamond Tiara has not once in the show's history been shown to feel strong desires to be a different kind of pony. Not once. If the writers wanted to bring her down the path to redemption, by all means! More power to them. But do it slowly. Have some respect for your audience--we know darn well that the villains in our lives aren't going to suddenly drop everything to sing an impassioned musical number about how they wish they could be different, BUT THEY JUST CAN'T BE GOOD PEOPLE BECAUSE OF THINGS THEY HAVE NO CONTROL OVER...

 

Ugh. I like that Diamond Tiara has an abusive mom. I mean, it's awful, but I like that as a piece of character backstory. While I would have preferred for Suri Polomare to be DT's mom, Spoiled Rich was perfect as an antagonist to DT's good side and a bad influence on her worst impulses. The only thing I hated was how easily she backed off at the end, though I suppose that just shows how powerful Diamond Tiara's special talent truly is. (Though that just raises further questions and concerns, if DT is now powerful enough to cow her abusive mom with a single angry rant. )

 

I guess my biggest beef with this episode is the rushed, musical format. They tried to use a progression of shoddy, lackluster songs as a shortcut to where they wanted to be. Instead of having Diamond Tiara slowly realize she doesn't want to be the kind of pony her mom wants her to be, she realizes this in her first song and spends the rest of the episode being sung at to do something about it. The music casts an illusion of character development when no development at all has taken place. (It doesn't really help that I hated the songs.)

 

 

So in summary: the episode leans heavily on Diamond Tiara suddenly manifesting fully thought-through emotions and desires that have not once even been hinted at in the last five years, and through a series of songs in which nothing actually changes inside or out of our snobby pink heroine, her entire character is flipped upside down and changed for good.

 

Again, ugh.

 

 

But a single bad episode isn't that bad, right? I mean, I didn't even enjoy Diamond Tiara as an antagonist anyway, so what am I losing? I'll just sit through this last song and hope that that ridiculous "spoiler" I saw earlier was just a fanboy's joke like it sounds like...

 

 

OH CALAMITY'S CUPCAKES. THEY GAVE THEM THEIR CUTIE MARKS AND THEY'RE AWFUL.

 

Alright, alright, that's a bit of an overstatement. They don't 100% suck. More like... 95% suck.

 

I have seen dozens upon dozens upon dozens of potential cutie marks for the CMCs, and almost any random selection of those would have made me happier. Maybe I'm just being ridiculous and hard-to-please, but those cutie marks... well, I feel like I've been cheated out of what could have been a legitimately impacting story arc in favor of a cheap, corny soap opera.

 

First of all, whose idea was it to have the CMCs get their cutie marks in an episode that's not even about them? Yeah, they appear, but they're not the focus! Diamond Tiara is indisputably the star of this episode, and the CMCs don't really do anything except sing "You can be a good pony!" while running backwards. It's like if Twilight had become an alicorn at the end of a Derpy-centered episode, in which Twilight gives Derpy a new muffin recipe and suddenly sprouts wings. This is a massive change that should have come at the end of a massive and personal story arc for each of the CMCs, but instead the single defining goal in their lives has been reduced to the epilogue of bit character's badly rushed redemption plot.

 

What. The. Tartarus.

 

And then the marks themselves. They seem almost intentionally designed to be generic. The same shield with the same stripes and the same colors on each of them, with a frustratingly vague outline within that makes the marks barely distinguishable. It's like the writers were aware that there were hundreds of different concepts for CMC marks floating around the Internet, and so they created the most basic marks they could to try to appease as many fans as possible. In the process, the marks don't come across as unique to the destiny of the characters at all. There's a nod to Sweetie Belle's singing, despite the fact that her musical ability wasn't even specifically mentioned in the episode. There's a lightning bolt on Scootaloo's flank--nice and generic, can fit either her daredevil tendencies or her relationship with Rainbow Dash! And of course, Apple Bloom's got an apple, so she won't have to move off of Sweet Apple Acres and change her name to "Bloom."

 

Am I sounding angry? I'm not angry! Do I look angry?

 

 

...Well, I guess I might be a little flustered.

 

 

...

 

...

 

...

 

It's getting late... I should be getting to bed. I considered erasing everything above and going to bed without posting, but I guess I'll feel better to have my rant fully off my chest. If anyone cares--well, mainly if I care--I might post a more rational, less gut-reactional review of the episode.

 

But for now, I'll just close by saying I wish Apple Bloom had kept her derpy dolphin cutie mark.

 

Hey, an episode where Twilight gets her wings after Derpy gives her a strange new muffin would have been a masterpiece.  

 

…joking aside, I do agree with you. I feel it all a little less strongly, and I don't know why, but I think Diamond Tiara's redemption was….well, it reminded me of a show where I saw it done extremely well, and it feels like the writers ripped it off. 

 

Gravity Falls spoilers (although I don't think knowing how it turns out ahead of time would ruin the episode): 

 

Remember Pacifica Northwest? From the moment she appears in Season 1, it's obvious she's Mabel's foil. The fem!Draco to Mabel's fem!….not Harry, since Mabel is more the Luna Lovegood sort. Point is, she's Mabel's antithesis in every way. Spoiled rotten, filthy rich, and a real stinker about everything. No matter what Mabel does, Pacifica has to one-up her somehow. Be it a karaoke contest, a game of mini-golf, or even just a random appearance in front of a crowd, Pacifica can't let Mabel win. What a horrible person, right? 

 

Well…yes, but that's only the very tip of the iceberg. During her game of mini-golf with Mabel, we see her parents remind her that winning is everything, hinting that she came by her harmful competitive streak through no fault of her own. And as we learn in "Northwest Manor Mystery," Pacifica's parents are not two loving parents who spoil her rotten. Her mother insults her for wearing the wrong shade of blue-green evening gown. "But I like it," Pacifica protests, so her father rings a small bell, which causes her to immediately comply. 

 

If your alarm bells aren't ringing (pun very much intended) they will be. When Dipper and Pacifica are on the run from a vengeful ghost, Dipper tells her that they can trap the ghost in a silver mirror. Lucky for them, there's a small room in the basement with white everything—and a giant silver mirror. It's perfect! It can save their lives! It's right where they need it….

 

….and Pacifica stops Dipper from entering with his muddy boots, answering his disbelief with "That's my parents' favorite carpet! They'd kill me if it got ruined!" 

 

Okay. Well. No emotionally healthy girl with a good relationship with her parents would prioritize keeping her parents happy over escaping certain death, because no girl in that situation would need to. Shortly thereafter, the two chance upon evidence of the Northwest family's sordid history—everything from petty theft to (implied) war crimes against Native Americans. And Pacifica is ashamed. She hates what her family is, but pretends otherwise because her parents want her to pretend. 

 

And then we see the clearest evidence that there is something very wrong at Northwest Manor: At the climax of the story, Pacifica is about to do the right thing. She wants to save the day, because it's right and people will get hurt if she doesn't. Her father, wanting to save the family's skin over most of the town, rings the bell. 

 

And for a moment, Pacifica is literally physically unable to do what she had planned. She reaches for a lever, and her arm trembles. The whole time, her father is ringing that bell, and she has to force herself to grab the lever and pull it. Somehow, he has instilled a Pavlovian response in his own daughter, hinting at some pretty severe abuse. 

 

Regardless, Pacifica saves the day. At the end of the episode, she and Dipper don't quite talk like old friends, but they don't talk like enemies either. They both act as though they want to pursue a friendship—and as a viewer, this is something I would very much like to see. 

 

 

 

Now, why does this work so well? Partly because it was foreshadowed a few episodes ahead. We see Pacifica's competitive streak and where  it came from, and we see her parents insinuate that she has no value to them if she doesn't win. And we see that her two friends are more like sycophantic accessories than anything. During the mini golf episode, Mabel and Pacifica share a moment where it's clear that although she doesn't like the low-class conditions of Stan's car, Pacifica envies the bond the twins share with their uncle. She envies the bond they share with each other. She's not obvious about it, and that is what makes it so powerful. 

 

The entire "Northwest Manor Mystery" episode tears down Dipper's perceptions of Pacifica and her life. We see the rotten conditions she's grown up in through his eyes, and while we don't get everything, what we do see is disturbing. By the end, we're cheering for Pacifica to become a hero and become a friend of the Pines twins. Pacifica was developed ahead of time; this episode is the apex of this specific arc for her. It doesn't cram all of that stuff into a single episode.

[Mistrunner]

I have one word... Puyallup. Whenever people in California made fun of those who couldn't pronounce Spanish words I asked them to spell it.

Now that I think of it, Washington has a lot of Indian names for places. Puyallup, Tacoma, Snoqualmie, Issaquah...

[Silverblade5 he/him]

More major episode spoilers. Also, pretty long, winding, and barely structured rant:

Agreed wholeheartedly. My brother insists that DT's redemption was beautiful and heartwarming, and I won't begrudge him that appreciation. But he goes on and on about how Diamond Tiara's musical numbers "truly showed her emotions," and how the songs gave her "great characterization for the first time ever!"

Uh, no. Musical numbers are not, themselves, characterization. Diamond Tiara has not once in the show's history been shown to feel strong desires to be a different kind of pony. Not once. If the writers wanted to bring her down the path to redemption, by all means! More power to them. But do it slowly. Have some respect for your audience--we know darn well that the villains in our lives aren't going to suddenly drop everything to sing an impassioned musical number about how they wish they could be different, BUT THEY JUST CAN'T BE GOOD PEOPLE BECAUSE OF THINGS THEY HAVE NO CONTROL OVER...

Ugh. I like that Diamond Tiara has an abusive mom. I mean, it's awful, but I like that as a piece of character backstory. While I would have preferred for Suri Polomare to be DT's mom, Spoiled Rich was perfect as an antagonist to DT's good side and a bad influence on her worst impulses. The only thing I hated was how easily she backed off at the end, though I suppose that just shows how powerful Diamond Tiara's special talent truly is. (Though that just raises further questions and concerns, if DT is now powerful enough to cow her abusive mom with a single angry rant. )

I guess my biggest beef with this episode is the rushed, musical format. They tried to use a progression of shoddy, lackluster songs as a shortcut to where they wanted to be. Instead of having Diamond Tiara slowly realize she doesn't want to be the kind of pony her mom wants her to be, she realizes this in her first song and spends the rest of the episode being sung at to do something about it. The music casts an illusion of character development when no development at all has taken place. (It doesn't really help that I hated the songs.)

So in summary: the episode leans heavily on Diamond Tiara suddenly manifesting fully thought-through emotions and desires that have not once even been hinted at in the last five years, and through a series of songs in which nothing actually changes inside or out of our snobby pink heroine, her entire character is flipped upside down and changed for good.

Again, ugh.

But a single bad episode isn't that bad, right? I mean, I didn't even enjoy Diamond Tiara as an antagonist anyway, so what am I losing? I'll just sit through this last song and hope that that ridiculous "spoiler" I saw earlier was just a fanboy's joke like it sounds like...

OH CALAMITY'S CUPCAKES. THEY GAVE THEM THEIR CUTIE MARKS AND THEY'RE AWFUL.

Alright, alright, that's a bit of an overstatement. They don't 100% suck. More like... 95% suck.

I have seen dozens upon dozens upon dozens of potential cutie marks for the CMCs, and almost any random selection of those would have made me happier. Maybe I'm just being ridiculous and hard-to-please, but those cutie marks... well, I feel like I've been cheated out of what could have been a legitimately impacting story arc in favor of a cheap, corny soap opera.

First of all, whose idea was it to have the CMCs get their cutie marks in an episode that's not even about them? Yeah, they appear, but they're not the focus! Diamond Tiara is indisputably the star of this episode, and the CMCs don't really do anything except sing "You can be a good pony!" while running backwards. It's like if Twilight had become an alicorn at the end of a Derpy-centered episode, in which Twilight gives Derpy a new muffin recipe and suddenly sprouts wings. This is a massive change that should have come at the end of a massive and personal story arc for each of the CMCs, but instead the single defining goal in their lives has been reduced to the epilogue of bit character's badly rushed redemption plot.

What. The. Tartarus.

And then the marks themselves. They seem almost intentionally designed to be generic. The same shield with the same stripes and the same colors on each of them, with a frustratingly vague outline within that makes the marks barely distinguishable. It's like the writers were aware that there were hundreds of different concepts for CMC marks floating around the Internet, and so they created the most basic marks they could to try to appease as many fans as possible. In the process, the marks don't come across as unique to the destiny of the characters at all. There's a nod to Sweetie Belle's singing, despite the fact that her musical ability wasn't even specifically mentioned in the episode. There's a lightning bolt on Scootaloo's flank--nice and generic, can fit either her daredevil tendencies or her relationship with Rainbow Dash! And of course, Apple Bloom's got an apple, so she won't have to move off of Sweet Apple Acres and change her name to "Bloom."

Am I sounding angry? I'm not angry! Do I look angry?

...Well, I guess I might be a little flustered.

...

...

...

It's getting late... I should be getting to bed. I considered erasing everything above and going to bed without posting, but I guess I'll feel better to have my rant fully off my chest. If anyone cares--well, mainly if I care--I might post a more rational, less gut-reactional review of the episode.

But for now, I'll just close by saying I wish Apple Bloom had kept her derpy dolphin cutie mark.

Do remember that they only had 20 minutes though, and that 2 patters are only allowed at finales

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

Now that I think of it, Washington has a lot of Indian names for places. Puyallup, Tacoma, Snoqualmie, Issaquah...

 

I lovelovelove Tacoma! I didn't get to spend a lot of time there but Chihuly's musuem was....mind-blowing.

 

But Glassblowing aside, agreed Washington does have a lot of names/visible influence there

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Do remember that they only had 20 minutes though, and that 2 patters are only allowed at finales

Yes, but that doesn't preclude foreshadowing. If they wanted to redeem a character like Diamond Tiara, they should have foreshadowed it way back at the beginning of the season. This should have been something that was in the works since the season opener, whether or not Diamond was in the episode. We should have been receiving hints all along so that when it finally happened, we said "Ah, there we go," not "Wait, what?"

And here's what I was trying to say in my previous post:

The difference between Pacifica and Diamond is that Pacifica's redemption episode made her more complex than she was before. I ended that episode utterly fascinated by her character, going back over old episodes and rethinking them in light of all that new information. I'd argue that Pacifica is now one of the most complex characters on the show, if not THE most complex. I know that she will continue to surprise me, and I look forward to it.

Diamond Tiara ended her episode as a less complex character, and she didn't have much complexity to begin with. When I saw Pacifica being abused, I said "Oh, everything makes sense now. Poor girl." When I saw Diamond being abused, I thought, "Oh, so they're going THAT route." It felt like a cheat. They wanted to redeem her, so they chalked it up to abusive parents. Pacifica's redemption did justice to the concept of parental abuse and Pacifica herself. Diamond's redemption did justice to neither.

[Mistrunner]

I lovelovelove Tacoma! I didn't get to spend a lot of time there but Chihuly's musuem was....mind-blowing.

 

But Glassblowing aside, agreed Washington does have a lot of names/visible influence there

Tacoma really is nice. May I suggest if you go there again you visit Tumwater Falls? They're technically in Olympia but Olympia and Tacoma are right by each other. And the falls are absolutely gorgeous.

[Kestrel she/her]

Made 8th place out of 20 in our marching contest.

Which is better than our usual streak, which is 10th. Just enough to march in finals but we don't progress up.

We made 6th in pre-lims tho? Kinda confusing honestly.

A lot of the bands above us did very poorly, which was also confusing. I mean, we didn't do particularly fantastic but from what I saw we were actually in step versus the other shows. Irritating. I'm going to have to watch our video.

[Curious Anamaximder he/him]

I went to Monitcello and UVA yesterday. They were awesome!

[Silverblade5 he/him]

Yes, but that doesn't preclude foreshadowing. If they wanted to redeem a character like Diamond Tiara, they should have foreshadowed it way back at the beginning of the season. This should have been something that was in the works since the season opener, whether or not Diamond was in the episode. We should have been receiving hints all along so that when it finally happened, we said "Ah, there we go," not "Wait, what?"

And here's what I was trying to say in my previous post:

The difference between Pacifica and Diamond is that Pacifica's redemption episode made her more complex than she was before. I ended that episode utterly fascinated by her character, going back over old episodes and rethinking them in light of all that new information. I'd argue that Pacifica is now one of the most complex characters on the show, if not THE most complex. I know that she will continue to surprise me, and I look forward to it.

Diamond Tiara ended her episode as a less complex character, and she didn't have much complexity to begin with. When I saw Pacifica being abused, I said "Oh, everything makes sense now. Poor girl." When I saw Diamond being abused, I thought, "Oh, so they're going THAT route." It felt like a cheat. They wanted to redeem her, so they chalked it up to abusive parents. Pacifica's redemption did justice to the concept of parental abuse and Pacifica herself. Diamond's redemption did justice to neither.

At least it wasn't as badly handled as do princesses dream of magic sheep was

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

At least it wasn't as badly handled as do princesses dream of magic sheep was

I know some people will disagree, but I actually thought Luna's deal with the Tantabus was handled better than Diamond Tiara's redemption. The dialogue was a bit too on-the-nose there at the end ("I did it so I'd never forget!" would've been far more realistic than "I did it so I'd never forgive myself!") but comparatively speaking, it was the better episode. The new information about Luna felt organic, not shoehorned in like the new information about Diamond. "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" isn't a perfect episode, but it's much better than "Crusaders of the Lost Mark."

[Edgedancer he/him]

Episode spoilers:

My biggest beef was with the way the Diamond Tiara thing was handled. Fantastic idea. Needed another ten episodes to develop. They crammed an entire season's worth of character development and foreshadowing into one episode, and it showed.

And as for Diamond standing up to her mom....what should've been a powerful moment was ruined by the fact that it would have never happened that way in reality. A woman who dishes out that sort of verbal abuse for minor infractions and failures would NOT be cowed when her daughter stood up to her. A more realistic take would have been if her mom listened to her spiel, sweetly let her know that she had already been planning to agree to her request, and watch her deflate. Then, when Diamond already felt like an idiot, she would have taken her home and reminded her that not only was she a fool, but she was an ungrateful one to boot. This would have torn down Diamond's self esteem for the foreseeable future, ensuring she did everything her parents wanted. Diamond's mother, were she played realistically, would NOT have just given in like that.

I did enjoy how the Crusaders received their marks in such a way that didn't end their journey, but began a new one, though. I was worried that the writers would just drag it out.

Heh, I watched the Herd, especially because I figured that's where discussion about that episode would happen and suddenly it's here. I pretty much agree with the points on the episode but I'd also like to add another thing.

Is it just me or does the nature of the series make the CMC's "special" talent of helping others find the true meaning of their cutie mark very... not special? This is after all an aesop driven show so characters learning or being thaught such lessons is fairly common. Their special talent could just as well be slapped on any of the mane six or a number of other characters and it would fit just as much. Huh, guess a bland destiny gives a bland mark.

Edited October 11, 2015 by Edgedancer

[Silverblade5 he/him]

I know some people will disagree, but I actually thought Luna's deal with the Tantabus was handled better than Diamond Tiara's redemption. The dialogue was a bit too on-the-nose there at the end ("I did it so I'd never forget!" would've been far more realistic than "I did it so I'd never forgive myself!") but comparatively speaking, it was the better episode. The new information about Luna felt organic, not shoehorned in like the new information about Diamond. "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" isn't a perfect episode, but it's much better than "Crusaders of the Lost Mark."

Twi, I'd strongly encourage you to watch this. It does a really good job of detailing my problems with the episode

Edited October 11, 2015 by Silverblade5

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Heh, I watched the Herd, especially because I figured that's where discussion about that episode would happen and suddenly it's here. I pretty much agree with the points on the episode but I'd also like to add another thing.

Is it just me or does the nature of the series take out of the CMC's "special" talent of helping others find the true meaning of their cutie mark very... not special? This is after all an aesop driven show so characters learning or being thaught such lessons is fairly common. Their special talent could just as well be slapped on any of the mane six or a number of other characters and it would fit just as much. Huh, guess a bland destiny gives a bland mark.

Who else did they help? I don't remember. But yes, it's a pretty bland destiny. And it's one that seems....superfluous, somehow. Yes, finding out where you fit in the world is important, but couldn't they also help out in more practical ways? Help failing restaurants renovate their buildings and menus, help ailing old people get around town, help children learn their ABCs. Any one of those would've provided a more interesting mark.

Although, to be fair, "helping mothers with large, unwieldy strollers climb the stairs" would've been a more interesting destiny and mark.

[Edgedancer he/him]

Who else did they help? I don't remember. But yes, it's a pretty bland destiny. And it's one that seems....superfluous, somehow. Yes, finding out where you fit in the world is important, but couldn't they also help out in more practical ways? Help failing restaurants renovate their buildings and menus, help ailing old people get around town, help children learn their ABCs. Any one of those would've provided a more interesting mark.

Although, to be fair, "helping mothers with large, unwieldy strollers climb the stairs" would've been a more interesting destiny and mark.

Eeyore? (That guy from the rodeo, doesn't help that it was such a bland episode that seemed like it shouldn't have been there.) But that's my point. Helping others isn't something special to the CMC but something applyable to pretty much everyone important to the show.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Eeyore? (That guy from the rodeo, doesn't help that it was such a bland episode that seemed like it shouldn't have been there.) But that's my point. Helping others isn't something special to the CMC but something applyable to pretty much everyone important to the show.

Exactly. Everyone else got a cutie mark that was unique to them. Not that it couldn't match anyone else's, but just that it described their own unique brand of helpfulness. Twilight's magic, Pinkie Pie's parties, Applejack's farming--those are all unique. For the CMCs? There's stuff about helping....and vaguely about singing? And other stuff? The CMCs may as well have gotten "opening doors for people" because it's not like that's something everyone can do.

Was this the writers' way of saying the CMCs have no marketable life skills?