season 9 Official Discussion Thread - S09E08 - Frenemies

[szalhi]

Spoiler

 

When Grogar deploys his legion of doom on a mission to become allies, his plan works too well and they almost become friends.

 

This thread is dedicated to discussing the episode before, during, and afterwards. As the thread is now open it may indeed contain spoilers. I ask that potential spoilers talked about or shown before the episode airs stay within the spoiler tags please, after the episode you no longer have to use the spoiler tags, but warning, if you haven't seen the episode yet after it airs, this thread no doubt will have all sorts of spoilers in reviews, images, etc. So tread at your own risk

 

 

[szalhi]

Man, this episode just restrengthens my love for Cozy Glow even more. She's quite the master of the cheeks. 

 

The Talisman must have been placed in an expository sense for the audience otherwise I find it hard to believe that Grogar might not have noticed it there. 

 

I get that Chrysalis was the Changeling Queen and she's supposed to be real good at magic and stuff, but I'm not sure how I feel about the increasing notion that changelings can basically transform into whatever they want. There must be some limitations unless just pure magical power is enough. 

 

 

[NiktoBarada]

Quote

I get that Chrysalis was the Changeling Queen and she's supposed to be real good at magic and stuff, but I'm not sure how I feel about the increasing notion that changelings can basically transform into whatever they want. There must be some limitations unless just pure magical power is enough. 

 

She does know a lot of forms - Roc, Ursa Minor, ophidiotaurus, cragadile, slinky sloth (to cross the rope) …  Nice to see her actually CHANGE forms like the queen she is.

 

The limits might be based on power and time.  Chryssi obviously still has power (given how much bigger Tirek got from borrowing it), but only changed into something truly big for a few seconds (a Roc, and an Ursa Minor ?!).  Pharynx did something similar by turning into that gigantic spider-thing when he and Thorax were little - that critter was huge (relative to a Changeling nymph), but he only held that form for around six seconds.  So maybe they can maintain a different form roughly their natural size indefinitely, but bigger forms can only be held for a short time, with how much bigger dependent on pure power.

 

Chrysalis, being a millennium old queen, has a lot of power, and can change into truly monstrous forms; drones might max out at something smaller.

 

I'd guess that merely looking like a rock (with eyes - ala Ocellus and Pharynx), or an ice stalagmite (ala Thorax) isn't the same as being a rock or ice stalagmite (ie, they're not altering their chemical compositions) .  If you can reshape the matter of your body to look like other critters, why not be able to look like objects ?

 

Spoiler

 

Still, I gotta give a thumbs up to Tirek for being smart enough to NOT go out and try to get that bell on his own.

And that dig at Cozy Glow - 'at least now we see you for who you truly are'.

 

Oddly, keeping Grogar away from his bell may be the best thing anyone could do to help Equestria - Team Evil did the right thing for the wrong reasons !

And at least Chrysalis is almost over her isolation sickness - I'd think that, for a changeling, being ALONE would be unnatural.  To the point that they'd start

talking to inanimate objects just to break the silence if solitary for too long.  Even yelling at 'idiots' would be interacting with someone.

 

 

[tacobob]

By far this was one of my favorite episodes of the season so far...

 

Loved the bit with Cozy and the guard..I still think she's not a real kid, but something far worse...The real 'big bad' of the season...

 

Also, it looks like Chrysalis still has these remains of the evil Twilight clone. Wonder if she can restore the clone?

 

Although I hated the bit where the guard pops out and shouts, "I'm okay!" after being knocked away by the snow. It's an old cartoon trope I always hated as a kid. Basically it was needed for the censors to show that character was not killed or injured. A character would fall into a hole or vanish, but shout, "I'm doing okay!" or even worse "IT WAS SENT TO ANOTHER DIMENSION!" when clearly that guy is dead. This old trope would have been more fun if Grogar just blasted him after he unwisely popped out so soon..I probably would have waited until the bad guys were gone..

[SteelEagle]

This was an awesome episode. I enjoyed the song, the tango nature of it was very appealing, and it was fun seeing how the three play their roles so well off of one another. The conclusion sets us up nicely, and Chrysalis breaking free from the influence of the magic of Friendship was a nice turn on what we'd normally expect. 

[tacobob]

I sort of felt bad for the Ophiotaurus. He went from...I might have a meal...To...I might get lucky...To whoops! My life-force is being drained out of me.

 

[SteelEagle]

Chasin' tail rarely works out.

An important lesson!

[tacobob]

I doubt we're going to see it, but I'd love to see some of Tirek's backstory animated....Lots of fun races, and his family is pretty interesting...A mixed centaur/gargoyle family.