starswirlthebearded

I'm a germaphobe too, but i do more to practice good hygene...is that still a fear?

If you are constantly worried about germs, yes. Otherwise no.

And learning microbiology ruined any chances of me being a germaphobe. That textbook basically told me "everything you do to fight germs is pointless" while laughing manically.

Also the fact that I want to work with microorganisms kinda makes being a germaphobe hard....

On topic of my irrational fear of wasps! I had a dream where I was stung by a giant wasp . It hurt it also woke me up 5h before I wanted to.

So...many...videos... at...once...

If I was able to take in all of that and actually watch it all the way through does that make me like Ozymandias? (OK! So I couldn't take all of it in at once, but I was able to piece everything together once it hit the third loop.)

Ugh... my head hurts now... Can I not do that again?

I did think about the pilot as well, Starswirl, but I think the direction it was taken wasn't really about addiction, it was about Twilight torn between making some new friends or protecting everypony. She later found out she could have both, which resolved the story and set the tone for the series itself.

While we're talking about cartoons teaching morales, I think it's important to realize that nothing, absolutely nothing, can replace involved parenting. Kids will learn more from their parents watching something with them and discussing it, answering questions, and really making their kids think about it than any show can do by itself with a little blurb at the end, period.

Which is exactly why I said "kinda sorta." They never said it out right, but obsession has been a problem for all the ponies at some point. While it wouldn't surprise me that they would do it, I get the feeling they are running out of things to do without creating something new.

And yeah, nothing replaces actual parenting. NOTHING. Tv should never bring up kids, and parents seem to forget that now a days.

We have now learned that rosewind is for the exploitation of hamsters. Discuss.

So in essence, this theory sort of follows Star Trek universe physics (dilithium crystals for power).

The only problem with that theory is, IF there are stones/crystals that can STORE or GENERATE magic, why hasn't a villain arose who stockpiled these power gems and tried to take over the kingdom? There are SOME evil/bad/shady characters in Equestria already (like Trixie, Flim and Flam) who could really put 'magical crystals' to work for their evil goals. And what about the dragons? They have at the least, primitive intelligence and are (by definition in "Secret to My Excess") naturally greedy (and the BIGGER the size, the GREEDIER they are) then if there were magical gems wouldn't these dragons use them to 'take over' parts of the world?

Wow! The more we try to answer the questions of Equestria, the more questions we get!

Are we 'overthinking' this thing? If so, then I plead GUILTY as charged and throw myself on the mercy of the Princess sisters!

Pretty much yes. That is where I got the idea from tbh. The only difference is that a pony's special ability is to charge them. Not just any magic can be used because magic is an extension of a pony's special talent. And unless you have the ability to charge or have the ability to learn that (twilight/princess sisters) you are out of luck.

I think I'm going to buy the ticket soon... Within my next two paychecks probably (gotta buy books first ).

I'm actually looking forward to this. Hopefully I can meet some of you and Faust and De Lancie especially (the latter being the main reason why I'm going). At a larger con I wouldn't be able to see him, but I think BroNYCon may be small enough to allow for ability to actually see the man.

I look forward to meeting those of you whom are going. We should make a topic about meeting up when it draws near.

While drugs and alcohol are totally out of the scope of the target audience, I think the writers could hit a bigger lesson with addiction itself. Maybe one of the Mane Six will pick up an unhealthy hobby or habit and become obsessed with it; she'll end up giving up a lot of other stuff -- even friendship. This is a good lesson to learn, and I would not be surprised if we see it later this season, or next season.

I could see that, but technically they kinda sorta already touched on that... albeit not outright. And right there in the first two episodes. Twilight Sparkle was obsessed with studying to the point of being a near recluse. She didn't go out with friend (she had none, save Spike), she never went to any parties, and only studied. And Celestia intervened by throwing her into the situation she reported on. And at the end she realized her obsession with studying was overwhelming and prevented her from enjoying life and having real friends. Actually... I think that MIGHT have been part of the moral. "Sometimes I think she is more interested in books than friends" "Stop reading those dusty old books and make some friends" ... "But you said it was just an old ponytale" ... "I never said that, only to make friends, nothing more." Read that as differently as you like, but to me Twilight learned not to be obsessed to the point of being a recluse and to enjoy friendship and life.

However, I could see them doing that more succinctly and making it more obvious than the current undertones. (Fluttershy's obsession with animals, and effective shyness keeping her away from other ponies, Rarity's obsession with everything being just so, driving away her sister, and also being obsessed with being accepted by high class...) There is plenty obsession in this show already. Is it obvious and stated in the moral? No, but I don't think the writers want that to be the exact point of the moral. Obsession is something everyone has to deal with, and it isn't always bad, but it can be if not kept in check.

Unfortunately, yes:

I personally don't think they meant around the room, so much as around Equestria which is why they mentioned underground. We see no visible wires around Equestria, and we have seen quite a bit of Equestria.

I personally think that it makes sense that electricity is from magical reserves, either crystals or otherwise. The usages of electricity is quite sporadic. EKGs, cool, some lights, cool, Twilight's strange technological devices (which could have been powered by her), Flim Flam's machine (powered by flim and flam).... But not having wide spread lights, and a lot of lights being from elsewhere (candles and fireflies) to me says that only certain important things use electricity means limited availability (stores, aka batteries). Everything else is used sparingly if at all unless a unicorn is powering the things themselves (or they have other method of power, like good ol' fashioned hoof work (ie conveyor belt)). It just screams limited availability. So perhaps they have an underground system of crystals that are recharged through some way, that permeates electricity to wires. (again this is all theory) Perhaps certain buildings have crystals that are in the basement that are recharged periodically by unicorns specializing in magic that powers (the equivalent of electrician ponies). I'm not sure, but the fact that none of this is wide spread and we know they have dams (that could easily power the area that they are in with the amount of power that they apparently use) means that they don't have a method to produce electricity without magic).

I voted all of them, but honestly I could do without the video game. Soundtrack is #1 on my list. The series on Bluray would be nice though. I like physical media and hate iTunes. I want to support the show, but cannot due to lack of ability to buy media. I watch the episode on the hub, which supports them through ad revenue, and I watch episodes on hubworld, which does the same. But the fact that I cannot buy anything is irksome.

I'm not much of a collector of toys, so me buying a figure would be out of place. But I still want to support the show, whether it be the OST or purchasing the episodes (not from iTunes).

I'm not really offended on a minority's behalf. I'm just saying if they are, we should be able to respect that. I stress again that we have so few facts at hand that for anypony to get sanctimonious or defensive over the matter is at least a bit hasty.

I agree with this statement. I signed that petition, but that was before I took a step back and surveyed the situation. We know nothing at this point. Everything is speculation. Until we know something a bit more concrete, I don't think we should do anything hasty.

I personally do not think it will happen ever. Here are my main reasons:

1) MLP focuses on friendship and associated things, but always tries to stay positive and all issues are created by people, not things. Even Super Cider Squeezy 6000, it was really the Flim Flam brothers, and not really the cider that created the issue.

2) The current time. PSAs were a thing of the 80s and 90s. They started to die out in the early 2000s. The PSAs now have to deal with a lot of things, but drugs and alcohol are seldom one, unless it involves driving. Even smoking seems to be focused on the stopping of smoking rather than prevention.

3) Most of those aforementioned PSAs had nothing to do with characters. Those that did seem to be forgotten... Does anyone remember the Cartoon All-Stars PSA? Or Just One Beer from the Tiny Toons? What about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' PSA? What about Thundercats? Yeah, I didn't either until the internet reminded me. Personally I think producers realized, even if the intent was good, associating characters with negative things was not beneficial in any way. Hell the only ones I think most of us remember were the GI Joe ones and Sonic sez segments at the ends of their episodes. And does anyone remember the content of any of those? Me neither (except that one Sonic Sez on being touched, but that is due to the internet).

4) Age of target audience. Really this is the kicker. Drug PSAs are aimed at 12-18 demographic, preteen and teenage audiences, because they are most likely to be exposed to drugs and alcohol. And every study on the effectiveness of PSAs have been done using those demographics. The target audience of MLP:FiM is 5-12 (at least that is my understanding).

5) Studies on the effectiveness are highly polarizing. No one knows how effective they are or are not. And almost every study has said that PSAs are effective also say they need to be repeated constantly to be effective. One episode isn't going to do much, and it is probably too risky to try.

Now could they write it well and make it work? I have no doubts that this creative team can do almost anything. Will they do it? I have zero doubt in my mind that they will leave it well alone. It just isn't done anymore. It was a product of the times than anything. The last time that characters were used in an episode for an antidrug PSA that I can recall was the Tiny Toons one, and again that got banned and quick back in 1991.

So to answer the OP's question, no I am not worried. It isn't going to happen. I highly doubt I'll be proven wrong because the last time it happened was over 20 years ago. And I am happy about that. Cartoons should be about having fun. If you can insert a meaningful message or moral and even possibly educate, awesome, but it shouldn't be heavy handed as a anti-[insert issue here]. That takes all the fun out of it, and really makes you feel like you are being preached to. I don't want that, nor do I think anyone else does. It would hurt MLP:FiM than anything.

If you are still not convinced, let me to put it to you another way... Just look at the Derpy debacle. That was pretty harmless, and yet people are up in arms over it. Now imagine if they did an entire episode on drugs or alcohol, even with a positive ending... Do you really think some vocal people won't react negatively?

Rainbow's bed, totally looks like:

Also, patient on bed at night robbery, looks like a pony under RadioTherapy... Cancer in Equestria canon? I expect not, and him being just that plastered up pony roomie from early in the episode (I imagine the mane would be shaved before plastering) Yep, never got a plaster.

Naw, not cancer. He was far too energetic for that imo. So yeah, his mane was shaved for other reasons, and there are no shortage of those in a hospital. They could also use a rubber hat for plastering though, but I'm not sure how that would work with a mane.

There are military bronies around. If all goes well I'll be one too.

I'd personally tell him with conviction. I'm no less of a man from before I started watching to now.

I couldn't resist doing a "Hitler Reacts" video for this:

Enjoy,

Coder

Pretty funny, though I really lol'd at the Love and tolerance part.

@Ashton, I too was expecting the sandbag. Also a random fear that would hinder the hero. But I suppose they didn't want to milk the Indiana Jones reference.

Dash reads with the same enthusiasm I watch the show with

Btw, the episode was not so lovely, thought the concept sounded intriguing. I'm not happy with the Daring Doo story being on the screen so much, but I guess it was kinda important for the episode. I would love to see some other interpretation of the story, it feels like the screen writer didn't make a plan of the episode. I would give it 7/10.

Ah, and I remember I once wished to see the inside of Dash's house (officially). Well, at least I saw her bedroom

We needed the visual so we could see at the end how much the book impacted her. Remember she was doing things straight out of the book to get the book.

Also, what kind of book is that if someone like Rainbow Dash can read it in one day?

I read several books in a day. The first few HPs, Angels and Demons and the adventures of Sherlock Holmes to name a few. If you get engrossed in a book time disappears.

Rainbow Dash is a ninja.

That is all.

Ninja'd! Was just about to post that XD

Based on these two quotes... we totally need to change "ninja'd" to "dash'd" (or something)

I quite enjoyed this episode. It didn't have as much comedy or impact as the past two, but it was just as good. It was a good episode for RD who is stubborn and won't try something lest she deems it cool.

This was, for me, better than MMDW and MtBPW by far. Granted MtBPW had an amazing song.

But yeah, for being my least favorite mane 6 character, this episode definitely made me dislike her a bit less.

Questions:

Is it worth balancing out the outrage with nice emails to Hasbro?

And if so, to whom should we address them?

#1 I think we need to wait for an official announcement from Hasbro. If there really WAS an issue, do you not think they would have removed the OFFICIAL stream from Hubworld.com? Which is still up (I hope this isn't against the rules since it is a link to the owner of the series site) http://www.hubworld.com/watch/1397754444001/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-episode-14-the-last-roundup-season-2

You would think if there was an issue, that would be one of the first instances they would remove, even before iTunes. Yes?

#2 If it comes to that, we should address the emails to the Hasbro PR team. I'm sure the head of the PR team's name shouldn't be that hard to find.

Who is saberspark and why can’t I add him as a friend so I can IMMEDIATELY and respectfully disagree with him?

Saberspark. Sir. We need to talk. Report to the Chancellor’s office.

This was an obvious and apparent move to begin backpeddling from Derpy’s name to start corporate damage control.

Corporations do WHATEVER IT TAKES to negate legal and financial liability. They perceived a liability and began taking action. If the community sat on its hands like you are suggesting here then we’d never have had a Derpy in the first place.

MLP would be like every other show on tv with one way communication – your video is pleasant and your visual communication skills are flawless.

Your reasoning is complacent and doesn’t serve the best interests of this community.

‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’ Edmond Burke

I wish I could like this post a million times. That video is... amazingly right.

Here it is!

The leave Derpy as she is petition:

http://www.change.or...nge-derpys-name

Please sign it

I did and typed out a reason for signing. Really this is ridiculous, and needs to be stopped.

I think the bigger issue here is that the way Hasbro reacted was unprecedented, especially since (they might) have responded to the screaming minority in this case. I'm hoping very much this won't mean that future episodes (and the series as a whole) end up sanitized by this ridiculousness, as well as Hasbro's policy on handling its "bonus" audience.

This post was recently put up on EqD that highlighted some of the facts surrounding this situation.

I still say ignorance is the root of the problem. Instead of reacting like that, they should have sought to educate and defend their property.

I don't see where people got mentally disabled. Nothing about Derpy's character was mentally disabled, from voice to actions... NOTHING. I think people are pushing their personal perceptions of mental disability, which is really nothing more than ignorance. However that ignorance is pulling on a sensitive cord, and that is not good.

My mother is a special ed teacher, and I have seen and met her students, as well as my second cousin is has mental retardation due to being asphyxiated at birth, and Derpy they are not. I think people need to grab a DSM IV and read up on these conditions and see what mentally disabled actually means. Because apparently the fanbase has no idea, and that is a shame. Derpy was an endearing slow type character. Hell, I have known people that were like derpy and were EXTREMELY intelligent. They were just clumsy and a bit slow in normal situations. One of my professors research fellows was possibly more destructive and derpy than Derpy. And yet he graduated undergrad with a 3.95 and went on to a Ph.D program in an Ivy League college for BioInformatics IIRC.

Update:

Tapatalk has been upgraded on our side which has now fixed issues such as empty forums.

If forums still remain empty, refresh a couple of times, exit and re-open the app.. failing that.. go get support from Tapatalk themselves or simply use the mobile theme for this board.

On android clearing the program cache fixes it.

@hope fox: Technically the brothers stole the apples from their farm. AJ gave enough for one barrel as a demo. But the brothers took more for further barrels. AJ was correct. They did not buy the produce from the apples, so selling the commodity without proper compensation to the farmers would have been illegal even in our world. Denying the sale was well within her rights. Had the brothers purchased the apples, it would have been a different story.