starswirlthebearded

I've often spoke out about who is the best princess (vs favorite princess). This isn't going to be about who is my favorite princess (but it isn't wholly unrelated), but rather whom I feel is the best overall princess and why. I'm going to take into account everything I've read and seen across all media for this. Starting from the bottom... Princess Luna, probably the most popular princess, is also, in all likelihood, the worst princess. To start with she is overly tied to emotions. While this makes for a very engaging character, it makes for a poor leader. It has caused her issues in the past and present. Her emotions are what lead her to be taken by the nightmare force, and try to kill her sister. Furthermore, she nearly cancelled a popular holiday merely because she disliked it. Yes, she helps individual ponies with nightmares, but that does not help the overall masses. She also lacks the experience her sister has (though that is mostly the fault of being banished which was her fault for letting her emotions get in the way of doing her duty for the ponies she guards) Cadence would probably be next, but it is rather close with Twilight, but that is mainly due to lack of information, so a lot of this will be conjecture. Even in the book explaining her ascension to princesshood, we really don't have much to go on. That said, she has been shown to be at least a somewhat effective leader in the Crystal Empire, putting the well being of her subjects before her own. In fact she nearly passed out trying to protect them from Sombra. While she hasn't had much screen time it is clear she places great value on those around her and will do anything to help, whether it is individual or group. Twilight would be after... While her time as princess is short, we have seen her attributes countless times over the course of the series. From each of the main big bads from season openers and closers to times like the Winter Wrap Up. She has shown that not only can she lead but she's willing to when it is required of her. Naturally though she is reluctant, and we have yet to see where the "Princess of Friendship" path will go, and we likely won't until Season 5. But still, she has shown that she is a true leader and will put the well being of others before herself. The only reason she exceeds Cadence is due to the plethora of information as the lead character. And at the very top is Celestia. This isn't even really a contest. From the start she was exalted above all others as a great ruler, all the way back in the first episode. But let's forget hearsay and focus on what we actually know of her. First is that she thinks of everyone, even when it is painful to her. She continued the Summer Sun Celebration as if nothing was wrong despite it being greatly painful for her as it was a reminder that she had to banish her sister. It can be postulated that she had similar feelings about Nightmare Night. Though Nightmare Moon was just a character to many ponies from an old ponytale, to Celestia it was always her sister that went astray. She kept peace and prosperity, alone, for around 1000 years, and was in a position of power long before that in all likelihood. She is also the princess most likely to make decisions and stick by those decisions even among other princesses, even if that decision is tough or possibly controversial (eg Having Discord face off against Tirek, knowing full well that sending anyone else would have likely lead to disaster, despite it being a decision that did not sit well with the other princesses). She may not be seen doing much anymore in the way of actively protecting ponies, but it is clear that she acts as an ambassador personally to other lands, having gone to Saddle Arabia and likely heading the talks with Maredonia. In short Celestia is an actual leader. If something happens in Equestria she is the one everypony runs to, including Luna, Cadence and Twilight. She has the experience, poise, and most importantly she has all the qualities of a great leader, including ability to inspire, confidence, commitment and a positive attitude (not to mention that she has a sense of humor). While it is easy to see why others prefer one princess over another as a favorite being characters, however the question of best princess is a simple answer. Celestia is clearly the leader of Equestria, other princesses defer to her, her subjects are most likely to come to her for issues concerning Equestria. While it can be argued that the other princesses may be better characters, or at the very least better developed (most of Celestia's characterization is from hearsay rather than from what we actually have seen), it cannot be argued that she is not the true ruler of Equestria, and therefore the best princess.

"What if those were the droids I was looking for?"

Alright, so another non-pony pony movie and another review... I'm going to do things a bit differently this time around, for a few reasons. Probably the chief reason is that I feel this movie can be more easily rated on a fair level without compensating for characters and biases going in like I did last time (I gave the last movie a 6.5 due to the characters and novelty of being sort of a pony movie) despite the glaring issues of the movie) So this time around I'm going to give two ratings, one as a fan of the show and another as impartially as I can. I'm also going to try and avoid spoilers. Technical stuff: This movie actually felt more like a movie with it's production values. You can tell Studio B actually put more effort and more money went into it. The best part of the series are the facial expressions. This was one of the highlights of the movie. On top of that, rather than looking like it was an extension of the series, it looked like the production values were increased to make it more separate from that. I'm not going to say it is top flight, but it is certainly low grade cinema level animation. What I mean by that is, it is no Pixar/Ghibli/Disney/Dreamworks animation (For their main movies), but it is closer to that than it is to the TV show animation values. I personally appreciated this increase in production. Likewise, the sound editing remained fantastic, which was needed for the nature of the movie. That said, if I was going to give a rating for this it would be a 3/5 (while the first one would have barely scored a 1/5). If I was comparing this to the show it would be a 5/5 for reference. Characters: Again, these are the characters we all came to love, and nothing has really changed there. The only thing that changed is the new dynamic with Sunset Shimmer and the new villains. That said, I can't really speak about most of the character involvements in this because of the nature of the villains. The good thing is that because of that, Flash Sentry played a far smaller role than he did in the first one. The villains was your typical trio dynamic (think CMC/Powerpuff Girls). This isn't a bad thing, it is a common dynamic and it is used for a reason, because it works. Would I have liked to see something new? Perhaps, but at the same time I can't fault them for using it, any more than I can fault any other trio dynamic from using this common set up. I do like the fact that the villains were Sirens and that was their role in this world and in Equestria. But like with most things MLP does with lore they modified it to suit their own purpose. I find this fine usually. They didn't *******ize the lore, so much as made it work in universe. (3.5/5, fans would give it 5/5 (ok let's face it, most fans would go for broke and break the scale and give it a 6/5)) Plot: The plot in many ways is similar to the original movie, and they even joke about it in the movie. However it was unique enough that it didn't have me thinking about it too much. Though I'm sad they didn't make any references to any other movies that used Battle of the Bands as a goal or a plot point (or even other shows, it's a pretty common thing). But again, save the world, must win to do it. Same song different tune. Not in a bad way though, it was actually a fresh way to do it, and they even made it a point to say that winning wasn't a necessity (it was just implied that it had to be that way). There were still plot holes, the biggest was unanswered questions about the Sirens. Everything else was minor, and honestly everything played out much smoother than before. For me the plot was a 3/5. Fans would probably say at least 4 or 5. It is an average plot told in a better than average way. They could have done more with it though which is why the score is lower than it should be really. The biggest annoyance was really the reusing of the same joke. Music: Ok this is the highlight of the movie. Not for me. Of all the songs, most were average at best, and half the time I thought I was listening to the same song. All the creative ones were pretty bad (possibly on purpose). But honestly, the flair that Daniel usually has was lost here. Most of the songs used a pop/pop-rock base, which made them sound very predictable. And this is just the featured main songs, that are meant to sound good. They featured other bands songs kind of which all had some creative flair but you didn't really get to hear enough of any of them to really make a call on them. Out of 10 songs, only one really stuck out to me, and it was cut short. The villain songs all come in second and the main character songs (save one) all come after that. But again, the biggest problem is that the villain songs all sounded like they were generally the same as did the main character song. While the songs were sufficiently catchy, they really weren't all that inspiring in terms of overall quality and uniqueness. (2/5) Also as an aside, I'll still never forgive Hasbro for not greenlighting a Glam Rock or 80s rock/metal theme for the music (main cast) vs Pop (villains) I think that would have been amazing and could have allowed for more variation and greater musical pliability. MY overall rating is 8/10. That is as a fan of the show and characters. As a movie I'd say this was closer to a 6/10. Slightly better than average. Animation fans could watch this and enjoy it even if they aren't invested in the characters. But if you are a fan of the series and characters that is where it shines. The pitfalls are actually the music and the once again recycled plot, but in an interesting way (I couldn't say that it was the same plot and set up from S1E1-2) Some interesting things were done, plot holes were kept to a minimum and it was an enjoyable experience. Also the after credit scene was awesome. Clearly Hasbro and DHX have been taking notes from Marvel Studios.

"ooooh my hoof is devilishly shiny... excellent...."

Alright, this next month is going to be rough. Between moving, work, and [possibly] going to MD to hang out with friends for a week, my activity here will be sporadic at best. I apologize to anyone who is waiting for me to RP. And I assure you that I will try to get up to date before everything goes crazy here.

I'd like to point out that many mangaka used shared universes within their own works. And there is a company whom uses the shared universe paradigm [Clamp]. The unique thing about Marvel and DC is that they are shared universes from the start, across many different writers [similar to Clamp, and I am unsure of any other known company that might make the number equal between the two]. But really, those are the only two COMPANIES. And not all of their comics published are shared universe. Hell, they have multiple universes which don't intersect. So not all the comics are even within the same universe of the same hero or villain. And if there were then everyone in Marvel would have been killed by the Punisher (this really happened, he killed every hero and villain (himself included) in an alternate universe timeline). Furthermore, comparing multiple different paradigms is a fools errand in the first place. Manga is very different WITHIN MANGA, Marvel is different from DC, and comparing east to west is just ridiculous. Even for cartoons they are structured differently between them. Also, Shep, you could easily make the argument that certain story arcs ARE focused on individual heroes even within those groups. True, when they are facing the big-bad it is the team [usually] acting together. But individual villains? Not so much. Say for instance Hydra threatens the world. It will have a far greater focus on Cap, rather than the rest of the team. Will they still be involved? You are certain they will, but since that is Cap's biggest nemesis [along with the Red Skull] he has a personal vendetta with them, and thus he will be far more the focus. I remember reading Justice League comics where I was like "Wait, hold up, what are the rest of the league even doing?" This often happens with Darkseid and Superman. The rest of the League involved? Yes, but Superman almost always steals the show for the big showdown. And anyone else gets involved? Usually gets killed or defeated. You have a strange habit of comparing, apples to oranges to grapes to bananas to kiwis. This makes everything convoluted and hard to follow [and nearly nonsensical]. Comparing huge comprehensive universes to a small contained one like MLP doesn't make sense. DBZ was in total 444 episodes [not including GT since that was post]. You had so much history and back story by the time you made it to Z there was a reason for almost everything. And as it progressed it succumb to Shonen Syndrome [main character having a power trip]. On a long enough timeline any shonen series that is action based will likely succumb to that. It is VERY rare that it doesn't. I could probably count the ones that don't on my hands. Marvel and DC have been building [and rebuilding, and tearing down and starting over and... oh hell it's messy...] for the past 70 or so years. And between them have just as many differences as similarities [mostly stemming from HOW their heroes are]. And every mangaka is different as is every publisher. Comparing media is fine when discussing themes and tropes. But using one franchise to the next to prove or disprove validity is never going to work especially when they are so different. And for the record, yes, I would agree that as an overall medium and thematically MLP is in fact closer to Sailor Moon than anything else, that ONE fight, visually and stylistically was far closer to DBZ than Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon was VERY formulaic with their fights and none of them was anything like that fight between Twilight and Tirek. Though honestly if we really wanted a proper comparison we'd have to go to another Sentai franchise where it had a main character with a team, and that main character would be faced with a similar situation. Sailor Moon never really had that. So if you want to create discussion between media, that's fine, but don't use your personal opinion on any of them to validate or invalidate anything. It just doesn't work out nicely. People have varying opinions. Use what you have to make a topic of discussion interesting, rather than disregarding one thing or another or making things up. That said, I've said my peace and won't be responding any further.

With her business concluded Celestia bowed her head respectfully to the Apple Family who had shown themselves to be gracious hosts. The princess then backed up politely and turned around to face the ponies that had addressed her. Though she had to return to her duties, she could not ignore ponies who greeted her. The first of which was a tiny filly, who seemed to be coaxed into greeting her by her mother whom was further back in the queue. The adorable little filly brought a smile to the solar princess's muzzle. "Hello miss. It is a pleasure to meet you," the princess greeted the filly who had greeted her but didn't give her name. Still, she was rather nervous and she didn't wish to make the filly do anything that would make her uncomfortable. The other pony was a young stallion named Charming Masquerade... 'Follow their passions?' The princess wasn't even sure what that meant, but she supposed he was thanking her for protecting everypony large and small. And above all, that is what Celestia saw herself as, not as a monarch, but as a guardian who protected everypony and creature under her watch. The princess laughed at the thanks. "There is no need to thank me Charming Masquerade. I do what I can for everypony large and small. It is my pleasure to help and protect everypony as much as I am able." The princess replied to the odd thanks. "I must apologize for the short nature of this greeting, but I must return to my duties back in Canterlot. It has been a pleasure to meet you though Charming Masquerade." The princess did not enjoy quick meetings, she had plenty of them at the Gala every year. Still she had to get back to Canterlot, she has spent enough of her day not attending to her duties. She was certain that there was more than a few ponies who were getting worried. She looked at Miss Presteza, Fluttershy and Princess Cadence, whom all seemed to be conversing. "Miss Presteza, your bat seems to have taken a liking to hanging from my horn." Celestia said playfully to the young painter, as she glanced over at Fluttershy and she smiled. "I'm sure they will be delicious. I just hope I chose the right types for my chefs and bakers. It is not often I buy produce without them or more often a representative buys everything for the castle on my behalf. It was a rather enjoyable experience and a fantastic escape from the duties of the castle, even if it did not go as I had planned." Celestia said with a smile, hiding her embarrassment from the ungraceful kiss she had just given Big Mac. "I do hope to see you and the rest of your friends soon. Please give my regards to all of them." Celestia said smiling. She finally turned to Cadence before departing to rendezvous with the guard whom was sent to protect her. "It has been a pleasure seeing you Cadence as always. We must try and see each other more often. Please give my regards to Twilight. I'm sure I'll see her soon." Celestia pondered for a moment. "In fact I do believe she has an appointment at Canterlot Castle later in the week. And please let her know that I am sorry that I was unable to visit her while in town, but I have spent far too much time in Ponyville as is. I'm sure she would understand." Not only would she understand she'd probably know more than most what sort of schedule Celestia kept. Celestia cantered over to the Lieutenant who had been sent to protect her. He was still probably brooding over what she had said to him earlier. As she got close she whispered into his ear "Is everypony in your family easily excitable" basically telling him that what happened earlier was her being playful. She stood up straight and once again acted as regal as most ponies expected of her. "If you desire you may accompany back to the castle" she said looking at the unicorn guard. "However, if you would like to stay I would understand, especially since your sister is also here." Once again moving into whisper "Also... it is not every day you get the chance to kiss a cute mare like Applejack" Celestia said with a wink, once again being playful with her guard. She could not deny that it would not help having somepony to help with the bushels though. It might be a good idea to send for a chariot with a letter. It would not take long for it to arrive. In fact, the princess was sure that they would rush one over.

((OOC: I've received permission from both Robi and Zoe to do the following post. However I will change it if they so choose.)) It was decided... The princess would kiss Big Mac. Though this was unexpected she did say if it was his desire she would. Not sure on how it would progress Celestia decided that if he was too shy to do it himself she would at the very least kiss him on the cheek. She wasn't entirely sure if any pony would be entirely brazen enough to kiss her on the lips, even though she was in line for a kissing booth, and if Big Mac was as shy as she had heard she was sure he would not do it. As he walked slowly towards her, the fruit bat that she had met earlier, Fresco flew around her head and ended up perching on her horn. Celestia smiled at the friendly creature. "Well hello again my little friend." Celestia said as she looked ahead as did Fresco who immediately flew off her horn and into Celestia's mane. Celestia was curious as to what would cause him to do tha... Before even completing the thought Celestia saw it... There was a rather large rock in Big Mac's path that he tripped on, as he stumbled towards her he completely lost control and planted a falling kiss onto the sun princess's lips. With a look of shock and surprise Celestia accepted it, as it would be rude not to, even if it was an accident from a shy stallion. As he regained himself, Celestia blushed a bit, something she was not often seen doing, but she also rarely received or gave such a kiss from anypony. Celestia still smiled as she, herself, regained composure from the surprise kiss that she was landed with. With a smile and a bow of her head Celestia thanked the stallion for the kiss "Thank you Big Macintosh. And to you as well Applejack for the consideration to choose what I preferred." Celestia couldn't remember the last time she was kissed on the lips, nor the last time it happened like that, if it ever did. Celestia giggled at the thought, this was certainly an interesting memory and she was happy she chose this excursion to take a break from the castle. The fruitbat whom was in Celestia's mane, clearly seeing what was about to transpire...somehow, resumed his perch on Celestia's horn. She'd have to talk to Presteza about this one and see if she'd like to one day meet her pet. Perhaps Fresco and Philomena would get along. They both seem energetic, though Philomena seemed to enjoy playful fun at other's expenses more so than this little one. ((I'll be making another post or two to tie up the loose ends from the line. But this basically ends Tia's reasons for being there))

The princess was met with a quandry. She really had intended to just pay her bits and give the farm mare a peck on the cheek (or the otherway around depending on how the situation presented itself). This however caught the solar princess off guard. She had not expected for the suggestion to be made after making a light joke about her older brother to come about. Now everypony seemed to be excited about a kiss between her and Big Macintosh. Celestia had hoped that she would have done as any other patron and not been given preferential treatment. However the situation now seemed unavoidable, as she did not like to disappoint her subjects especially when they went out of their way to try and accommodate her. Celestia looked at Applejack and then at Big Mac, clearly her joking had gotten her into a bind, so she had to become a bit more serious. She saw how coy the stallion was, so she decided to accept under the condition that he be okay with the idea. "I thank you for your kind consideration Applejack, but I believe it is unfair to put your brother on the spot like that. However, I will gladly accept your kind offer if he wishes it." Celestia smiled and nodded at them both. If his shyness dictated that he could not do it, or just as likely he had other work to do on the apple farm, he should be given the choice and opportunity to decline.

Once again Applejack showed a bit of humour to the sun princess. In doing so offered to bill the castle rather than herself, joking that she shouldn't carry large sums of money that bore her own face. "Even a princess needs to be prepared to pay their own way Applejack, her face on the currency on hoof or not," Celestia said smiling. Princess Celestia levitated out two bags from her saddlebag, one empty and one full. From the full one she removed 85 bits and put into the empty one and placed it back in her bag. Celestia levitated the bag of bits to Applejack. "I do believe this should cover the cost of the apples." Celestia looked around at the amount of apples they had, and they had every sort imaginable. "As for which apples I would like... I think I'll take a bushel of Fuji, honey crisp, and some nice big and juicy McIntosh apples," Celestia smiled "Oh and I do mean the apples, not your brother." Celestia added on jokingly. "As for the other twenty, I believe five each of the following will do nicely... Rome, Cortland, York Imperial and Empire should do well enough. I've heard several of the bakers and chefs talking about those." Celestia said with a smile. But now here was the tricky part... the kiss. The way kissing booths normally worked was that the owner of the booth would initiate the kiss, however Celestia was not sure if Applejack's sensibilities would prevent her from kissing a princess. This was not for Celestia to decide though, so she elected to wait for Applejack to make a move, and she would react accordingly. She was used to kissing many ponies, whose custom it was to kiss in greeting, so whatever happened Celestia would not falter. Behind her several ponies were greeting her, however she felt that she shouldn't be rude to her host and elected to give each a nod until she was able to properly greet them.

Over the next week I'll be exceedingly busy so my time on Canterlot will be severely limited. (Also holiday on Sunday and Auto Show the Sunday after) So the days I'd normally post on will be unavailable. If all goes well I'll hopefully not drop off the face of the site but don't expect much. -StarSwirl

As Blueblood walked away Celestia got the feeling that he had learned something. Celestia was not sure what, but she was certain this was a good experience for him. He even commented that it wasn't as bad as he had feared it would be. Celestia smiled at her nephew. "I am glad you thought so." Celestia replied. "I shall see you back at the castle later." Celestia smiled sending her nephew off. Celestia smiled at the confidence AJ was exhibiting. It was always a pleasure to speak with her student's closest friends, and this was no different, even if she was a customer at her farm. "The most interesting ponies always appear in a long queue, and is always a fun experience," Celestia replied with an air of knowing, "Even if the task at hand is not as interesting as kissing" Celestia said jokingly. Celestia laughed at the farm pony and her comment about hundreds of bushels. "I of course will be buying some for myself and some for my castle, but a hundred is a bit excessive without my chef and bakers here to dictate what they need and they most certainly know more than I." Celestia said humbly. "I will be taking twenty three bushels though, three for myself now and some to be picked up later. It may not be a hundred, but I do hope it will suffice for now. I will have a chariot come later to pick up the remainder I leave here, if that is alright with you of course." Celestia waited for the reply before making her official order. She knew what she wanted for herself and for her chefs (at least of what she wanted to be made, and she was confident that they would make whatever she bought be delicious in their culinary creations).