The Ending of the End

By the time of this post, the series finale to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has already been out for quite some time and perhaps you're wondering why I haven't written about it sooner? The Reason is simple; other things have demanded my attention, that includes other series, whose siren-song had a stronger hold on me than that of the horse-show's. Still, better late than never.  Now, for the purpose of this post, I've decided to focus on what I consider to be my favorite and least favorite aspect of this finale, starting with the latter.

Spoiler-warning, in case you, like me, are late to the party and haven't watched these episodes yet.



My least favorite part of the series finale was easily the whole reveal that Grogar was just Discord the entire time. I will say this, I did not see this coming. Its highly possibly that I missed or misread some really obvious foreshadowing, but I did not expect it all, so I guess the writers deserve some credit for managing to surprise me. However, just because something is a surprise does not mean that you have to like it. Say that you are walking down the street and a random stranger comes up to you and kicks you in the shins. That too would be quite a surprise, wouldn't it?

I'm sure that there are people out there who liked this twist and they're entitled to their opinion. Personally though, I would've preferred it if the show had actually given us the real Grogar and had him be the final threat for the heroes to face.

See, throughout this season I honestly thought that Grogar was aware that the other villains were plotting against him and had taken precautions against it. Or, alternatively, that Grogar didn't care about the betrayal, because trying to use his own bell against him would only serve to make him stronger, meaning that Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow had been played into his hands (well, hoofs) all along.

That's not what we got though. Instead of having the real Grogar be one step ahead of his associates, the show gave us a Discord who is so confident that he has the other villains cowed that it comes as a complete surprise to him when they end up stabbing him in the back and stripping him of all his powers. Than again, I suppose I can't be too hard on Discord, its not like this sort of thing has ever happened to him before.
Oh, wait.

Speaking of which, why even send the evil trio after the real bell in the first place? Why not just create a replica of it? Maybe Discord did not expect for them to actually retrieve the bell, much less learn how to use it, but why take that chance?

Look, I get that in order for the real villains to be an actual threat and for the finale to have real stakes, Discord's whole scheme needs to blow up in his face. However, I can't say that this makes me look more favorably on the twist in question.

Enough negativity, let's move on to what I consider the high-light of these final episodes: Namely, the Magic of Friendship Grows, a truly touching song that sums up FiM's central theme and served as a great note to end the series on.

So, now that it has reached its conclusion, what are my thoughts on the show as a whole?
It does not happen often, but I'm always pleasantly surprised when I find a work of entertainment that exceeds my expectations and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is, in my mind, the perfect example of this (at least as far as TV-shows are concerned).

I went into this show with what can best be described as grudging curiosity, figuring that I'd watch the original two-parter to see what all the fuzz was about and although I can't say I was immediately vowed by the series premiere, it did keep my interest and by the end of it, it had awoken in me an interest in seeing more of the world presented by this show and the characters that inhabited it.

So I continued to watch and as I delved deeper into the show, the more I found myself enjoying it. There was even a time when I ranked it among my favorite animated series. In later years, my enthusiasm began to cool down, though never to the point where I completely lost interest in the show, as was the case with some other cartoons from this decade that I used to be into.

Although, Friendship is Magic may not count among my favorite animated shows these days, it is a show that I will always retain a great deal of fondness for and I can certainly see myself returning to my favorite episodes every now and then, just as I sometimes return to favorite episodes of Batman: The Animated Series (to name one example).

For now though, the time has come for me to bid Equestria and its denizens a fond farewell. Last but not least, I would like to offer my gratitude to Lauren Faust and to all the voice-actors, animators, story-boarders, song-writers, etc, who made this show possible over the years. You managed to make me, a grown man, invested in a show that chronicled the daily lives of a group of cute, talking horses and that, in my opinion, is something that deserves  respect.

Thank you.

The Beginning of the End

As you may or may not be aware the final season of the Horse Show begun airing a couple of weeks ago. Now, I'm way behind on it, but I have seen the season premiere; appropriately titled The Beginning of the End and so, I thought I'd write something about it.
This was an interesting premiere. While The Cutie Map remains my favorite MLP season premiere, this one was definitely enjoyable and it gives me hope that the show's last season will be a good one. It really deserves it.

Discord was in top-form these episodes, being far portrayed in them than he has been in quite a while. Because I do feel that Discord's character has gotten a bit stale in later seasons. With the exception of Discordant Harmony, most episodes featuring him have tended to follow the same formula: Discord throws a fit because he's not at the center of attention, learns not to be such a spoiled brat and apologizes (except that one time when Starlight apologized to him, for some reason). Lather, rinse repeat. My point is, it's gotten quite old and predictable and predictable is not a word that should be associated with the Lord of Chaos.

So, its with great pleasure that I can say that I loved Discord here. This is exactly the kind of reformed Discord I want to see, someone who is snarky and self-absorbed, but nonetheless has his heart in the right place and genuinely has his friends' best interest at heart. Bravo to the writers and, as usual, a bravo to Mr. DeLancie for a great performance.

That said, my favorite part of these episodes were definitely the scenes spent with the villains. I just love villain team-ups like this and I really do hope that we get to see more of Grogar's Guild of Calamitous Intent as the season unfolds and that this isn't kept on the back-burner until the series finale. Basically, I want there to be at least a scene every other episodes showing the bad guys just hanging out, plotting their evil schemes. Or, even an entire episode centered entirely around the villains, with the heroes only being mentioned or, at the most, having a cameo.

Finally, I loved Twilight's hair-flip when she deflected Sombra's magic. Great little moment that.

My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)

Originally I wasn't going to watch this movie until it became available on Netflix. 

However, due to circumstances I decided  to go ahead and watch the film through other means. The reason for this is that this guy I'm subscribing to on YouTube recently put up a blind commentary-video of this very film, as a Christmas special and I didn't watch his video until after I had seen the movie on my own. At the same time, I didn't want to put off watching it for the time it would take until Netflix added it to their library, so here we are.

If you have visited this blog before, you are most likely aware of my opinion regarding My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. If not, then suffice to say that its a show that I have a deep fondness for. 

I went into it with a great degree of skepticism, but it managed to win me over and ultimately, I consider it to be one of the best animated shows to come out this decade. Considering my enjoyment of the show and its characters, you'd think that my expectations for the first movie in this series to take place entirely in Equestria proper, would be pretty high up in the air, but they actually weren't. 

I did not go into the movie excepting it to be bad, but I wasn't expecting it to be a masterpiece either. 

Let me make one thing clear from the start: I do not consider My Little Pony: The Movie to be a great animated feature. As far as animated family-films go, its trounced completely by the best titles that Disney and Pixar have in their libraries (not to mention Ghibli). It is, however, a good deal more enjoyable than the weaker efforts from these titans. I can in all honestly say that I would put My Little Pony: The Movie (henceforth to be referred to as simply The Movie) on the same level as, say, Big Hero 6 and I would definitely take it over the likes of Cars or Dinosaurs any day. 

That said, let's take a look at the film itself.

The Movie begins in Canterlot where our main protagonist Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship is busy preparing for a festival of her own invention. However, the celebrations are quickly cut short by the arrival of an invading army headed by Tempest Shadow; a rogue unicorn, working for the evil Storm King, who has promised to heal her broken horn, if she delivers up the magic of the four princesses to him. Twilight, being the only princess who is not incapacitated by Tempest's weapons, escapes with her friends. Their goal is to find the queen of the Hippos, who hopefully will find a way to help them rescue their conquered homeland. Unfortunately, Tempest and her goons are hot on their trail.

If I was to point to this movie's greatest assets, I'd definitely point to the sound and the visuals. Friendship Is Magic has always been a very good looking show and so, its no small wonder that the movie, armed with a bigger budget and all that, was going to be a feast for the eyes. My only real complaint regarding the visuals is the way that Twilight and the other ponies look. Of course, they have always been cute and I don't mind cute, but here I thought their designs on occasion, strayed too far into the realm of the saccharine for my taste. 

The soundtrack and voice-acting for the show are likewise for high quality, but then I wasn't expecting anything less. The regular voice-actors all do a great job with their characters and are joined by the likes of Taye Diggs, Emily Blunt and Liev Schreiber, (voicing Capper, Tempest Shadow and The Storm King, respectively) who bring their parts to life convincingly. Likewise, the songs are really good and I doubt that I surprise anyone if I say that I consider the villain-song, Open Up Your Eyes, to be he movie's stand-out number.

Character-wise, most of the new characters introduced in this movie are fine. Capper, although he doesn't bring anything new to the role, is a good example of the loveable rogue archetype. Same thing goes for the likes of Captain Celano, Queen Nova and Princess Sky-Star. All of them characters that I wouldn't mind seeing in the show proper.

However, the real star of the movie, even more so than Twilight and pals, is definitely Tempest Shadow, whose ruthlessness and drive makes for a great antagonist. She's not my favorite MLP villain, but she's definitely in my top 5. Her villain-song, which explains her backstory and world-view, helps a lot in this regard. Speaking of Tempest, I will also say that I didn't find Grubber, her second in command, as annoying as I had feared he would be (relatively speaking, he's still one of the weaker parts of the movie).

By comparison, the Storm King is unfortunately, something of a disappointment: I liked his design and, as mentioned, Schreiber did a good job voicing him, but I didn't find him to be nearly as compelling, or competent a villain as Tempest. Its possible to have a villain who is both comedic and genuinely menacing at the same time, but in this case, I would have preferred if the writers had toned down the more comedic elements, as it was, I found myself wondering how this guy became the feared head of a world conquering army. He works as an off-screen presence though.

I suppose I should write something about Sia's character, Songbird Serande, but I can't really think of anything to say about her. She's a celebrity cameo and that's all there is to her. I must admit that I had never heard of Sia before this movie, so I can't say that her being in this movie was a big draw for me.

Ultimately my biggest gripe with The Movie comes down to the fact that while its well-made and fun, its also pretty generic and predictable, especially if you are familiar with the show itself. 

Of course Cadence and the Original Princesses are going to turn out to be completely useless against the new villains. Of course Twilight and her friends are going to have falling out somewhere down the line and of course, one of the villains (no prize for guessing who) will see the error of their ways and be redeemed by the magic of friendship. Don't misunderstand me, I get that this is a movie meant for kids, but it would have been nice to see the writers subvert expectations and take some risks. Perhaps the sequel will be more ambitious, one can at least hope.

To sum it up, if you are already a fan of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, than you're most likely going to enjoy the movie. I did, despite some of my criticisms. If you are not, than I highly doubt that this movie is going to make you into a convert.

Happy Holidays everypo...everybody.