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Why do you write meme
Posted 9 years agoWell this took me long enough to get around to, 
turanic tagged me in his journal quite a while ago, and it's about time I get a new journal up as well.
Rules:
1) please re-post the rules and questions!
2) answer at least 5 of the questions!
3) tag as many people as you know, there is no limit.
Questions for the wordsmith:
1) why do you write?
I guess for the same reasons I draw, I just get an idea stuck in my head and want some way to put it out in the real world. It's mostly just for fun, I certainly don't think I'd ever be able to become a good enough writer to base a career around it, and I tend to shift over to writing (at least in terms of those short fetish descriptions for some of my pictures) over just drawing something when I really fall in love with an idea and want to expand (harhar) on it.
2) what do you write, and why?
Well, mostly Fallout Equestia, as is probably obvious with one glance at my gallery. Though, fun fact: I've never read the original, I've just never had enough will to plow through it all at once. :P
the-furry-railfan tends to be the fact-checker on lore. It mostly started out as just an idea he and I had on making a short series of Fallout related things and it just kind of blew up into the massive stories that they are. I pretty much fell in love with Fallout after managing to get a foothold when I first started 3 and have played every game (except Brotherhood of Steel) related to it, the retro-futuristic style and post apocalyptic worlds are a ton of fun to explore. I also write a little bit of fetish related things, though that's really just been, as stated before, longer descriptions of an idea I become obsessed with for a period of time.
I also write a lot of lab reports, because chemistry and physics are hard :P
3) how long have you been writing for, and what sparked your passion?
Oh jeez, I don't know, since elementary school? Now, when did I start writing well... um... in a couple years, maybe?
In all seriousness, I generally enjoyed doing the creative writing assignments I got in school, while I was never the best writer around (in fact, I'm sure looking back at some of my 5th-8th grade projects would make me curl up into a ball of self-loathing), I had fun thinking up an idea and just running with it, especially since it felt somewhat rare to be given so much free range on what we could do with it. I didn't really get into writing big projects outside of school until Occupational Hazards, though. I tried writing a few stories on my own, but I generally lost interest with the idea or didn't feel like I was making progress and they sort of petered to a stop.
4) what forms of writer's block do you usually get?
I think it's usually just either a lack of energy/motivation or a complete dry up of creativity. Occasionally I might get that kind where you know what you want to write, or have a really cool idea and just have trouble getting the words onto the paper the way you want it, but that generally never lasts as long for me.
5) what causes your writers block? how do you try to break the block?
Well, I mean, if I knew what exactly caused it I probably wouldn't deal with it as much as I do. Energy and motivation is probably just when school ramps up a bit, a midterm or a lab report is due soon so I spend my energy doing that and just feel like switching my brain off and playing games after a while and not writing or drawing. And creativity, pffft, I don't know, the goddess Muse just wanted to screw around with me that day. Though, while I enjoy writing most things, I tend to get more writer's block when we reach a section in, say, OH or EQ where I'm really just writing us returning to a town and killing time to help not make pacing between big events feel like it's rushed. Those are always the hardest to write because I always feel like I'm repeating myself with each section.
6) what/how do you wish you could write, other than what you write now?
I've actually do want to write more straight up fetish stories at some point, I like doing the short stories with the pictures, but I think it'd be fun to go all out and just try to write a full fledged (or at least a short 5-10 page) story involving balloons/padding and the like. The main problem with that is it just tends to take a lot longer and my motivation can fluctuate for no apparent reason sometimes, even if I really like the idea. I've also thought about trying a solo Fallout: Equestria story loosely based on the events that happened to me when I played through the Fallout: Dust mod. That probably wouldn't start until EQ is a lot closer to finishing, but if I ever do something with it, expect a darker atmosphere, lower survivability, and (hopefully) a general feeling of hopelessness as the character tries to piece together what happened to the land he's exploring.
7) who are the creators that inspire you, and why?
I'm not sure I can really say I've been inspired by anyone. There are definitely artists I enjoy and those I might like to try and write more similar to, but I don't know if I can really point to any single writer (or writers) and say "this person has really driven me to take up writing and keeps me going whenever I feel stumped."
So I'll just talk about some writers I enjoy.
I've always found
theconflicted 's work to be fun, and I'm sure when I get around to trying out more fetish stories, I'll likely be using it as a reference, and hopefully be able to ask for some advice from him. Same goes to 
thebackup, he's been really helpful in pointing out ways I can improve my drawing, I'd love to get some help from him in the future.
Of course, working with the-furry-railfan on Fallout Equestria, I kind of have to like his stuff; either that or hate half of a story I helped write for some reason :P
And I've most certainly enjoyed
pablote 's and turanic 's stories, they're always fun little puffy tales to read~
8) do you like writing for others, or just yourself? or both?
That's kind of hard to say. I definitely take ideas from others and like to hear when others have enjoyed my story, but I know I wouldn't be able to write anything if I wasn't at least a little interested in whatever the ideas were either, and I'm not trying to reach internet fame with my writing either. It'd be pretty neat, yeah, but I don't think I'm specifically writing in hopes of being the next original "Fallout: Equestria" or "My Little Dashie" or whatever popular stories there are (I actually read very little pony stuff outside of fetish fuel >3>).
9) do you like the writing style that you have created? why or why not?
Do I have a style? I guess I sort of ramble and write too many run on sentences in my stories, but I'm not entirely sure if I can call that a definitive "style". I try to throw in more description than dialogue when I can, perhaps? In which case, yeah, I like that, I don't want to have characters talking non-stop, I prefer if they can get some of their emotions/idea across non-verbally. Like I said, though, I'm not sure if I can really say I have a full style.
10) small challenge! post a "then and now" extract! Doesn't have to be long, just a small example of something you produced when starting out and how you would stage it now.
Eeeeh, just go and read my introductory pages for Minty and OH, then jump over to Static and EQ, I'd say those are a fine enough comparison of how I've changed. Just be warned the OH one might be hard to sit through, and keep some eye bleach for the art :P
Links for the lazy
OH: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11495401
EQ: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15440279
And for tagging, I guess I'll go with the-furry-railfan and theconflicted, if they want to answer some of these questions.
turanic tagged me in his journal quite a while ago, and it's about time I get a new journal up as well.Rules:
1) please re-post the rules and questions!
2) answer at least 5 of the questions!
3) tag as many people as you know, there is no limit.
Questions for the wordsmith:
1) why do you write?
I guess for the same reasons I draw, I just get an idea stuck in my head and want some way to put it out in the real world. It's mostly just for fun, I certainly don't think I'd ever be able to become a good enough writer to base a career around it, and I tend to shift over to writing (at least in terms of those short fetish descriptions for some of my pictures) over just drawing something when I really fall in love with an idea and want to expand (harhar) on it.
2) what do you write, and why?
Well, mostly Fallout Equestia, as is probably obvious with one glance at my gallery. Though, fun fact: I've never read the original, I've just never had enough will to plow through it all at once. :P
the-furry-railfan tends to be the fact-checker on lore. It mostly started out as just an idea he and I had on making a short series of Fallout related things and it just kind of blew up into the massive stories that they are. I pretty much fell in love with Fallout after managing to get a foothold when I first started 3 and have played every game (except Brotherhood of Steel) related to it, the retro-futuristic style and post apocalyptic worlds are a ton of fun to explore. I also write a little bit of fetish related things, though that's really just been, as stated before, longer descriptions of an idea I become obsessed with for a period of time.I also write a lot of lab reports, because chemistry and physics are hard :P
3) how long have you been writing for, and what sparked your passion?
Oh jeez, I don't know, since elementary school? Now, when did I start writing well... um... in a couple years, maybe?
In all seriousness, I generally enjoyed doing the creative writing assignments I got in school, while I was never the best writer around (in fact, I'm sure looking back at some of my 5th-8th grade projects would make me curl up into a ball of self-loathing), I had fun thinking up an idea and just running with it, especially since it felt somewhat rare to be given so much free range on what we could do with it. I didn't really get into writing big projects outside of school until Occupational Hazards, though. I tried writing a few stories on my own, but I generally lost interest with the idea or didn't feel like I was making progress and they sort of petered to a stop.
4) what forms of writer's block do you usually get?
I think it's usually just either a lack of energy/motivation or a complete dry up of creativity. Occasionally I might get that kind where you know what you want to write, or have a really cool idea and just have trouble getting the words onto the paper the way you want it, but that generally never lasts as long for me.
5) what causes your writers block? how do you try to break the block?
Well, I mean, if I knew what exactly caused it I probably wouldn't deal with it as much as I do. Energy and motivation is probably just when school ramps up a bit, a midterm or a lab report is due soon so I spend my energy doing that and just feel like switching my brain off and playing games after a while and not writing or drawing. And creativity, pffft, I don't know, the goddess Muse just wanted to screw around with me that day. Though, while I enjoy writing most things, I tend to get more writer's block when we reach a section in, say, OH or EQ where I'm really just writing us returning to a town and killing time to help not make pacing between big events feel like it's rushed. Those are always the hardest to write because I always feel like I'm repeating myself with each section.
6) what/how do you wish you could write, other than what you write now?
I've actually do want to write more straight up fetish stories at some point, I like doing the short stories with the pictures, but I think it'd be fun to go all out and just try to write a full fledged (or at least a short 5-10 page) story involving balloons/padding and the like. The main problem with that is it just tends to take a lot longer and my motivation can fluctuate for no apparent reason sometimes, even if I really like the idea. I've also thought about trying a solo Fallout: Equestria story loosely based on the events that happened to me when I played through the Fallout: Dust mod. That probably wouldn't start until EQ is a lot closer to finishing, but if I ever do something with it, expect a darker atmosphere, lower survivability, and (hopefully) a general feeling of hopelessness as the character tries to piece together what happened to the land he's exploring.
7) who are the creators that inspire you, and why?
I'm not sure I can really say I've been inspired by anyone. There are definitely artists I enjoy and those I might like to try and write more similar to, but I don't know if I can really point to any single writer (or writers) and say "this person has really driven me to take up writing and keeps me going whenever I feel stumped."
So I'll just talk about some writers I enjoy.
I've always found
theconflicted 's work to be fun, and I'm sure when I get around to trying out more fetish stories, I'll likely be using it as a reference, and hopefully be able to ask for some advice from him. Same goes to 
thebackup, he's been really helpful in pointing out ways I can improve my drawing, I'd love to get some help from him in the future.Of course, working with
the-furry-railfan on Fallout Equestria, I kind of have to like his stuff; either that or hate half of a story I helped write for some reason :PAnd I've most certainly enjoyed
pablote 's and turanic 's stories, they're always fun little puffy tales to read~8) do you like writing for others, or just yourself? or both?
That's kind of hard to say. I definitely take ideas from others and like to hear when others have enjoyed my story, but I know I wouldn't be able to write anything if I wasn't at least a little interested in whatever the ideas were either, and I'm not trying to reach internet fame with my writing either. It'd be pretty neat, yeah, but I don't think I'm specifically writing in hopes of being the next original "Fallout: Equestria" or "My Little Dashie" or whatever popular stories there are (I actually read very little pony stuff outside of fetish fuel >3>).
9) do you like the writing style that you have created? why or why not?
Do I have a style? I guess I sort of ramble and write too many run on sentences in my stories, but I'm not entirely sure if I can call that a definitive "style". I try to throw in more description than dialogue when I can, perhaps? In which case, yeah, I like that, I don't want to have characters talking non-stop, I prefer if they can get some of their emotions/idea across non-verbally. Like I said, though, I'm not sure if I can really say I have a full style.
10) small challenge! post a "then and now" extract! Doesn't have to be long, just a small example of something you produced when starting out and how you would stage it now.
Eeeeh, just go and read my introductory pages for Minty and OH, then jump over to Static and EQ, I'd say those are a fine enough comparison of how I've changed. Just be warned the OH one might be hard to sit through, and keep some eye bleach for the art :P
Links for the lazy
OH: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11495401
EQ: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15440279
And for tagging, I guess I'll go with
the-furry-railfan and theconflicted, if they want to answer some of these questions.Christmas
Posted 12 years agoI'm heading out to my dad's house for the next week, so unfortunatey I won't be getting much, if any art done and I'll be online less. I hope you all have a great Christmas, or whatever you celebrate!
For Shame
Posted 12 years agoI forgot it was National Plushie day a couple days ago! As soon as I can, I'm getting something done for that.
School
Posted 12 years agoSo... school's starting again. It hopefully shouldn't interfere too much with drawing, but I'll certainly be online less.
Friend Meme
Posted 12 years agoFound this, thought it might be fun.
1. Who are you?
2. Are we friends?
3. When and how did we meet?
4. Do you love me?
5. Give me a nickname and explain why.
6. Describe me in 1 word.
7. What was your first impression of me?
8. Would you hug me?
9. What reminds you of me?
10. If you could give me anything, what would it be?
11. How well do you know me?
12. Are you gonna put this in your journal and see what I say about you?
13. Would you meet up with me?
14. Do you enjoy having me as a friend?
15. Would you spend some quality time with me?
1. Who are you?
2. Are we friends?
3. When and how did we meet?
4. Do you love me?
5. Give me a nickname and explain why.
6. Describe me in 1 word.
7. What was your first impression of me?
8. Would you hug me?
9. What reminds you of me?
10. If you could give me anything, what would it be?
11. How well do you know me?
12. Are you gonna put this in your journal and see what I say about you?
13. Would you meet up with me?
14. Do you enjoy having me as a friend?
15. Would you spend some quality time with me?
Freaking FINALLY!
Posted 12 years agoOk, sorry for the long wait, we finally have our furniture (two weeks without it >.<) and have everything set up. I should finally be able to start drawing again.
Move
Posted 12 years agoOk, so kind of big announcement, I'm moving to Oregon over the summer. What this means for you guys is, unfortunately, I won't be drawing for at least a week or two. I'll definitely be back eventually, and I thank you for being patient with me doing less art recently, but it will be awhile before I'm settled and until then little to no art will be coming from me and I won't be on Skype as often.
I hope to be able to start again soon!
I hope to be able to start again soon!
I'm back
Posted 12 years agoYep, back from Forensics, had a lot of fun and I should hopefully be able to start drawing again.
Forensics
Posted 12 years agoSo tomorrow I'm going to be leaving with a small group of my school's Forensics team (Which, for those of you who don't know, is speech and acting) to Pennsylvania to compete. This means I won't be drawing between now and Tuesday, and aside from the car days (Wednesday and Monday) I won't be online a lot.
I should be able to start drawing when I return, as most testing is over for me so I won't have a lot to do.
I wish you all a great week!
I should be able to start drawing when I return, as most testing is over for me so I won't have a lot to do.
I wish you all a great week!
Mary Sue
Posted 12 years agoJust something I thought would be fun to try
Character: Minty Candy
Name:
[ ] Is it your real name? (+5)
[ ] Is it your real nickname?(+3)
[X] Is it a pony name at all? (+2)
[X] Does it have to do with their cutie mark? (-2)
Appearance:
[x] Does it have a canon character's mane? (+2) ((I suppose it’s kind of Derpy’s style, but that’s a fairly generic style, I’ll say +1))
[ ] Is it Rainbow Dash's? (+4)
[ ] How many colors does its mane have? (+2 for each color past 1)
[ ] Does it sparkle or glitter? (+5)
[X] Unicorn? (+3)
[ ] Pegasus? (+2)
[ ] Earth Pony? (-1)
[ ] Alicorn? (+10)
[ ] Does it's base coat have more than 1 color? (+4 for each extra color, a gradient counts as 1 extra)
[ ] Are its eyes deeply moving to other characters? (+3)
[ ] Are they purple? (+2)
[ ] Are they described in thought out metaphors such as "The fiery red of deep passion" (+3)
[ ] Are they known throughout Equestria for their beauty? (+2)
[X] Are they male? (+1)
[X] Is their occupation something other than scout, guard, or carriage puller? (+1)
Cutie Mark
[ ] Does it ever change? (+10)
[ ] Do they have more than 1 special talent? (+4)
[ ] Does it cover the entire flank? Ex: Luna's (+2)
[ ] Is it something lame and not very impressive? Ex: cleaning windows (-3)
[ ] Is it something totally amazing that nopony else can do? (+2)
[ ] Are they the best at what they do? (+5)
[ ] Is it similar/same in appearance as one of the mane characters? (+3)
Relationships:
[ ] Are they in a romantic relationship? (+3)
[ ] More than one? (+3)
[ ] With a canon character? (+4)
[ ] With Luna or Celestia? (+8)
[ ] With any of the Mane 6? (+4)
[X] Are your character and a mane character friends? (+1) ((Eh, I suppose, they’re in pictures and RPs))
[X] Is it one of the mane 6? (+2)
[ ] Are your character and the Mane 6 pony better friends than she is with the rest of the mane 6? (+2)
[ ] Are they related to a well known/canon/mane character? (+5)
[ ] Is it royalty? (+3)
Personality
[ ] Do they seem to have the same personality as one of the Mane 6? (+2)
[ ] Is it Rainbow Dash? (+1)
[ ] Are they extremely nice, and never really do anything wrong? (+3)
[ ] They are loved by everypony? (+5)
[ ] Except one? (+2)
[ ] Are they hated by everypony? (+5)
[ ] Except one? (+1)
[ ] Do they have a serious personality flaw that hinders them significantly? (-6)
Total: +9
0-8 Your character is kind of boring, spice it up a little!
9-12 Well balanced!
13-18 This is good for canon characters, but is really stretching it for an OC
19+ you might have to start over, your character seems to be a little too perfect to be credible.
So Minty’s no Mary Sue/Gary Stew, but I could add some traits to make him more interesting.
Character: Minty Candy
Name:
[ ] Is it your real name? (+5)
[ ] Is it your real nickname?(+3)
[X] Is it a pony name at all? (+2)
[X] Does it have to do with their cutie mark? (-2)
Appearance:
[x] Does it have a canon character's mane? (+2) ((I suppose it’s kind of Derpy’s style, but that’s a fairly generic style, I’ll say +1))
[ ] Is it Rainbow Dash's? (+4)
[ ] How many colors does its mane have? (+2 for each color past 1)
[ ] Does it sparkle or glitter? (+5)
[X] Unicorn? (+3)
[ ] Pegasus? (+2)
[ ] Earth Pony? (-1)
[ ] Alicorn? (+10)
[ ] Does it's base coat have more than 1 color? (+4 for each extra color, a gradient counts as 1 extra)
[ ] Are its eyes deeply moving to other characters? (+3)
[ ] Are they purple? (+2)
[ ] Are they described in thought out metaphors such as "The fiery red of deep passion" (+3)
[ ] Are they known throughout Equestria for their beauty? (+2)
[X] Are they male? (+1)
[X] Is their occupation something other than scout, guard, or carriage puller? (+1)
Cutie Mark
[ ] Does it ever change? (+10)
[ ] Do they have more than 1 special talent? (+4)
[ ] Does it cover the entire flank? Ex: Luna's (+2)
[ ] Is it something lame and not very impressive? Ex: cleaning windows (-3)
[ ] Is it something totally amazing that nopony else can do? (+2)
[ ] Are they the best at what they do? (+5)
[ ] Is it similar/same in appearance as one of the mane characters? (+3)
Relationships:
[ ] Are they in a romantic relationship? (+3)
[ ] More than one? (+3)
[ ] With a canon character? (+4)
[ ] With Luna or Celestia? (+8)
[ ] With any of the Mane 6? (+4)
[X] Are your character and a mane character friends? (+1) ((Eh, I suppose, they’re in pictures and RPs))
[X] Is it one of the mane 6? (+2)
[ ] Are your character and the Mane 6 pony better friends than she is with the rest of the mane 6? (+2)
[ ] Are they related to a well known/canon/mane character? (+5)
[ ] Is it royalty? (+3)
Personality
[ ] Do they seem to have the same personality as one of the Mane 6? (+2)
[ ] Is it Rainbow Dash? (+1)
[ ] Are they extremely nice, and never really do anything wrong? (+3)
[ ] They are loved by everypony? (+5)
[ ] Except one? (+2)
[ ] Are they hated by everypony? (+5)
[ ] Except one? (+1)
[ ] Do they have a serious personality flaw that hinders them significantly? (-6)
Total: +9
0-8 Your character is kind of boring, spice it up a little!
9-12 Well balanced!
13-18 This is good for canon characters, but is really stretching it for an OC
19+ you might have to start over, your character seems to be a little too perfect to be credible.
So Minty’s no Mary Sue/Gary Stew, but I could add some traits to make him more interesting.
Return
Posted 12 years agoI'm back from Florida, I had a wonderful time and I hope all of you had an amazing spring break as well!
Spring Break
Posted 12 years agoSo, as many of you are undoubtedly looking forward to, spring break is coming up. (Or just leaving for some of you) Anyway, my school band is planning a trip down to Florida... and we're performing in the Disney World Parade! :D
What this means for you guys, unfortunately is that you won't be seeing any new artwork for me for a little over a week. I'll be leaving this Friday and be coming back the 30th, so between then I will be unable to draw anything. I should still be able to keep up with notes and comments via phone though, so those I'm RPing with, don't worry!
It'll be nice to get away from all this snow, and I hope you guys a fun spring break as well!
What this means for you guys, unfortunately is that you won't be seeing any new artwork for me for a little over a week. I'll be leaving this Friday and be coming back the 30th, so between then I will be unable to draw anything. I should still be able to keep up with notes and comments via phone though, so those I'm RPing with, don't worry!
It'll be nice to get away from all this snow, and I hope you guys a fun spring break as well!
Season 3 Finale
Posted 12 years agoOk, this probably isn't the best thing to be putting as a first journal, but I need to get this out of my system, and I'll probably end up just deleting this later.
This will get fairly rant-like and probably a bit rage-filled. You have been warned.
Alright, so I just saw the MLP FiM Season 3 Finale about half an hour ago and the most prominent thing in my mind afterward was... What the fuck just happened? This episode is more rushed than a dog on a new carpet making retching sounds. This seriously needed to be a two-parter, and promising only 13 episodes kind of shot the animators/writers in the foot. Plot points come and go like mad, and I was just blindly following along trying to find something to grasp onto.
Secondly, a couple of plot holes (Stop that snickering). If the ponies' Cutie-marks changed, shouldn't their special talent as well? And the friends just go along with their talents, despite the fact they're miserable at what their doing. Let's ignore the idea that they forgot their real talents (Because it seemed odd only Twilight could remember they swapped), and just look at that. Yes, I know Cutie-marks are supposed to show what a pony is good at, but I don't believe that they nail them down to that thing only. A pony is supposed to relate to their special talent, that's kind of what the whole CMC business was about: If you just try random things hoping to get your Cutie-mark, your missing the whole point that the cutie-mark is supposed to be about you.
Next, one word: Destiny.
Oh my Celestia, stop using that word. I know a lot of writers like to say their character's future's are predetermined, but I swear this word is dropped more often than expensive vases in comedy movies. (Boy, that was a tortured metaphor)
Now, the biggy, Alicorn Twilight. So, at first I was dubious about the whole thing. The writers making Twilight an Alicorn? Come on, their not that desperate for ideas. When it became apparent that this was definitely going to happen, I tried to remain optimistic, but that's hard to do, as I find when writers turn to "Destiny" and making their main characters really powerful, they've run out of ideas. For this episode alone, sure it seemed fine enough, she wasn't really around long enough to piss anyone off, but the end almost seemed like a show ender. There's still another season to go (possibly more), and I think the writers have painted themselves into a corner on this.
Finally, the singing. Now, this is probably my smallest gripe, but it's still worth mentioning. I'm almost certain there's more singing than spoken dialogue, and while I have nothing against an operatic approach, it needs to be done well. The closest comparison I can make to this episode is an old episode of Arthur (Yeah, remember that show?). While there it was more of a collection of music videos (Jekyll + Hyde, The Cooking Song, When You've Got a Library Card) than a cohesive story, the songs were catchy and even now, years after seeing them I can still remember most of the tunes and titles. As for MLP, I have a hard time remembering the tunes of a song I heard this morning. That's pretty bad.
Ok, let's try and find something positive to say.
I really liked the visuals, some of the animation, like when Twilight goes into the ether (I'm sure that's not what it's called, but whatever) to talk to Celestia, that looked really cool, even if it did depend a little heavily on old episode footage. The idea Pinkie would have flat hair when working on the apple farm also made me smile a little. The magic effects were also nice, the element blasts especially, but good effects don't make up for a crappy story. Going back to the bad, I don't remember laughing at a single joke in the episode, aside from "liquid pride", that made me chuckle.
So there, there's my rant on the latest episode, feel free to tell me what you think, where you disagree, and all that jazz.
This will get fairly rant-like and probably a bit rage-filled. You have been warned.
Alright, so I just saw the MLP FiM Season 3 Finale about half an hour ago and the most prominent thing in my mind afterward was... What the fuck just happened? This episode is more rushed than a dog on a new carpet making retching sounds. This seriously needed to be a two-parter, and promising only 13 episodes kind of shot the animators/writers in the foot. Plot points come and go like mad, and I was just blindly following along trying to find something to grasp onto.
Secondly, a couple of plot holes (Stop that snickering). If the ponies' Cutie-marks changed, shouldn't their special talent as well? And the friends just go along with their talents, despite the fact they're miserable at what their doing. Let's ignore the idea that they forgot their real talents (Because it seemed odd only Twilight could remember they swapped), and just look at that. Yes, I know Cutie-marks are supposed to show what a pony is good at, but I don't believe that they nail them down to that thing only. A pony is supposed to relate to their special talent, that's kind of what the whole CMC business was about: If you just try random things hoping to get your Cutie-mark, your missing the whole point that the cutie-mark is supposed to be about you.
Next, one word: Destiny.
Oh my Celestia, stop using that word. I know a lot of writers like to say their character's future's are predetermined, but I swear this word is dropped more often than expensive vases in comedy movies. (Boy, that was a tortured metaphor)
Now, the biggy, Alicorn Twilight. So, at first I was dubious about the whole thing. The writers making Twilight an Alicorn? Come on, their not that desperate for ideas. When it became apparent that this was definitely going to happen, I tried to remain optimistic, but that's hard to do, as I find when writers turn to "Destiny" and making their main characters really powerful, they've run out of ideas. For this episode alone, sure it seemed fine enough, she wasn't really around long enough to piss anyone off, but the end almost seemed like a show ender. There's still another season to go (possibly more), and I think the writers have painted themselves into a corner on this.
Finally, the singing. Now, this is probably my smallest gripe, but it's still worth mentioning. I'm almost certain there's more singing than spoken dialogue, and while I have nothing against an operatic approach, it needs to be done well. The closest comparison I can make to this episode is an old episode of Arthur (Yeah, remember that show?). While there it was more of a collection of music videos (Jekyll + Hyde, The Cooking Song, When You've Got a Library Card) than a cohesive story, the songs were catchy and even now, years after seeing them I can still remember most of the tunes and titles. As for MLP, I have a hard time remembering the tunes of a song I heard this morning. That's pretty bad.
Ok, let's try and find something positive to say.
I really liked the visuals, some of the animation, like when Twilight goes into the ether (I'm sure that's not what it's called, but whatever) to talk to Celestia, that looked really cool, even if it did depend a little heavily on old episode footage. The idea Pinkie would have flat hair when working on the apple farm also made me smile a little. The magic effects were also nice, the element blasts especially, but good effects don't make up for a crappy story. Going back to the bad, I don't remember laughing at a single joke in the episode, aside from "liquid pride", that made me chuckle.
So there, there's my rant on the latest episode, feel free to tell me what you think, where you disagree, and all that jazz.
