Whitehawke

More traitors?!? WHAT IS GOING ON?! IS EVERYPONY GOING CRAZY?

"!"

A TRAITOR APPEARS.

Only 1 hour and a half left and it's still nearly a tie! The tension is making me go crazy!

Possible Season 2 Episode 1 Title + Description?

Just a rumor, but the ponies might be back in less than a month (September 17 apparently). Might be plausible, but keep your hype in check.

Imagine if it ends up a tie again.

Tie-tie breaker?

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v134/ ... t=lv09.mp4

Commercial containing footage of season 2 (and various other shows)! Only about 2 seconds worth of it but still.

Celestia looks angry...or sleepy, maybe? I can see Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rarity behind her just before "20 % cooler" comes up. Presumably the others are there too.

I actually really like Look Before You Sleep...

Didn't mean it that way - Look before you Sleep was a pretty low-budget episode, but I don't think it's a bad one for what it attempts to deliver. What I meant was that Rarity was portrayed as an opposing force (much like Applejack), and therefore as someone who needs to learn a lesson about friendship.

I don't see the correlation. Applejack doesn't have enough episodes so no more Dash episodes for a while? I'd rather see more episodes for both of them, personally.

Sorry, my bad: I was gonna end my post at "not being a problem", but decided to continue it after some pondering. There is no correlation: the "And" was just poorly placed.

Really, Dash is as bad off as AJ. Sonic Rainboom is her only real shining moment. The only other episodes she really stars in are Griffon the Brush Off, which is easily more about Pinkie and Gilda than it is Dash, and Fall Weather Friends, which is split evenly with Applejack.

In retrospect, you're right: Rainbow Dash had a pretty big drought after her spotlight episode too (Along with AJ): episode 17, 18 and 20 all had her (nearly) absent.

What I was thinking of was Rainbow Dash's fanon rep: she's got a lot of fanfics, music themes, several mini-games after her, tons of art, etc. She's one of the more popular ponies in that area, much moreso than Applejack, at the very least.

Of course, it's a flawed way of thinking to say that a pony's need of an episode should be reflected by both their canon and fanon representation: by that logic, Luna shouldn't even be anywhere near Season 2 due to all the attention she gets outside of the show.

As far as an RD episode goes, I hope it delves on her background more. We haven't even seen the inside of her house yet, not to mention she might actually have a pet for all we know. There's also the Junior Speedster stuff, or just her younger years in school in general. Personally, I'm still hoping for a chance to see her parents. What kind of combination gives rainbow hair?

Just no more Sonic Rainbooms. Anymore would undermine its "rare" status.

Pinkie even has more of a spotlight if you think about it, due to the better part in Griffon the Brush off, Party of One and Feeling Pinkie Keen (and maybe even Swarm of the Century, if you want to count it).

I don't remember implying Pinkie as being in need of spotlight. She gets a lot of attention both inside and outside the show.

Heck, she's given extra spotlight by Hasbro personally: her toy is commercialized way more often and she got to star in the Equestria Girls promo as well as the "Summer at the Hub" commercial.

Unfortunately, at least for the former, I think this has less to do with Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie and more to do with Pinkie Pie being...pink.

I just don't think certain characters should be featured less because they're more popular. I'd like to see the spotlight as evenly split as possible. Again, Applejack's my favorite, but even I don't want to see her pushed on us all repeatedly in the second season just to up her popularity. That seems like the wrong approach.

The last thing I want is for the situation to be reversed. What I hope they're aiming for is a balanced cast. That being said, if I had to choose between giving AJ or RD a spotlight episode first, I'd choose AJ, no questions asked.

Ah, not much to say here. Same as before. Party of One. I encourage ponies who favor another episode not listed in this poll to just go ahead and choose one anyway, or we'll get similar results to last time.

Vote for:

:Pinkie:

:Pinkie:

Holy crap, I thought you just posted a random assortment of smiley faces, but I just realized that you spelt out "Pinkie".

GENIUS!

I personally like the way Rarity is shown in Sonic Rainboom. A lot of the episodes rely on one off characters like Trixie or Gilda to antagonize the cast and then go away; I actually think it's cool when they instead use a main character that we like and are attached to and write them into the antagonizing role, only for them to learn the lesson in the end.

There's nothing wrong with using the one of the mane cast as an antagonist, although in Sonic Rainboom's case I'd argue the bullies were the real antagonists as opposed to Rarity who was more of a...plot device that doubles as an obstacle, let's say.

The issue I have is that Rarity's personality conflicts not just with previous episodes but also within the episode itself: She's the one who suggests that they be there for Rainbow Dash's competition, except she then proceeds to completely forget about it once they reach Cloudsdale and becomes self-absorbed with her wings. In the end she serves as a plot device for Rainbow Dash to do the Sonic Rainboom, and she has to learn a lesson she was supposed to already know in the first place: "I learned how important it is to keep your hooves on the ground and to be there for your friends". That's what she suggested at the beginning of the episode!

It felt like really weak writing, because we already had the whole shtick with Fluttershy needing to learn how to cheer properly and Rainbow Dash's school bullies as the antagonists, but somewhere along the line both of these plot points, though not forgotten, got sidetracked at Rarity's expense. I think it would have been better if they stuck with the former and made it work.

I still think it's a great episode otherwise, though.

It emphasizes the flaws of that character, and one of the things I most appreciate about FiM"s characters in general is that they all have flaws. It also give the impression of character development. It's something I actually wish they'd do more often.

Truth be told, the mane cast don't have to be antagonists to show their flaws: Applebuck Season showed Applejack's stubborness, Swarm of the Century and A Bird in the Hoof showed Twilight's unhealthy obsession and interpretation of her mentor, Dragonshy and The Stare Master had Fluttershy overcoming her, well, shyness, Suited for Success demonstrated Rarity's overly-generous need over getting her friend's dresses exactly the way they wanted them and Fall Weather Friends showed both Rainbow Dash's and Applejack's overly competitive sides.

(Pinkie Pie is hard to pin down, since she is so random. )

Although you could say that they were antagonists in a few of those episodes, I think it shouldn't have to come at the expense of another character's personality (mane cast or not.)

And Dash does need episodes. She actually has the least screen time of any of the main ponies, I believe. And I'm pretty sure she also has the least number of episodes centered around her. She's popular, yes. But I don't think that should mean she should be featured in the show less.

Rainbow Dash (and Pinkie Pie too, while we're at it) are some of the more popular characters because they make excellent use of their time. Even in side episodes, they tend to dominate the show because they do things, as opposed to, say, Applejack and Twilight, who serve far more often as support characters when not in the spotlight of an episode.

This especially goes to Pinkie Pie, who gets a bunch of songs every few episodes. By all technical means she only needs one minute of air time per episode to maintain popularity.

Moreover, the problem with the lesser popular characters of the mane cast (Rarity and Applejack) is that their scheduled episodes were poorly handled:

Applejack had one of the earliest spotlight episode: Applebuck Season. She also had shared spotlight in "Look Before You Sleep" and "Fall Weather Friends". These were all in the first half of the season (4, 8, 13). Over a Barrel probably should have been an AJ episode(It was at the very least a great opportunity), but another look will show that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie upstaged her, due to them spending time doing stuff (Clashing with Little Strongheart, "You gotta share, You gotta care") instead of simply talking to their tree.

Oh, also, all 3 of AJ's episodes portray her in the wrong, needing to learn a lesson. Fun.

Rarity has it the other way around, all her episodes were in the second half, except Look Before You Sleep, but it wasn't a great episode for her and it was shared spotlight.

Suited For Success, A Dog and Pony Show and Green isn't your Color(shared with Fluttershy) were all great episodes for her, portraying her qualities as good things, even Green isn't your Color underplayed her jealousy, and it had her learn her lesson by herself (more or less).

Best Night Ever also gave Rarity a good boost of popularity.

The other ponies don't have this problem; Twilight, although usually the straight mare, is in every episode and Fluttershy had a good balance of episodes for the season.

Right now, Rarity just needs a decent balance of episodes in season 2 and she should be fine, although she's playing catch-up because of her early season drought.

AJ, on the other hand, is starving for another episode, and it should portray her overcoming a problem, not being the problem.

Rainbow Dash isn't in much need of a new episode. That doesn't mean I think she shouldn't get one, I just think that she can survive on the polls without an episode for quite a while.

Also, despite everything I wrote, the easiest way to fix AJ and Rarity's popularity problems is by just writing them into more interesting situations. Like Best Night Ever with Rarity, that was great.

Oh god, wall of text.

Law bending is Pinkie Pie's power, and hers alone!

And if no one votes in the next 2 minutes, it's a tie.

Personally, the reason I won't vote for Sonic Rainboom is because it portray Rarity really poorly. It also kinda overglorifies Rainbow Dash, although there's nothing really wrong with that. (It's just that Rainbow is already frickin popular, and as such is one of the ponies who least needs episodes centered around her. Much less one that shows her breaking all odds and laws of physics.)

Party of One and CMChronicles are better at that, although I believe A Bird In The Hoof is the best episode when it comes to representing the mane six. (Rarity is still in character when the context of her attitude is understood. In Sonic Rainboom, she's practically out of character)

Of course, A Bird In The Hoof isn't here. Because you guys didn't vote for it like you should have.

By the way, what happens if there is a tie at the end? Tie-breaker?

Curses, why does everything I love dieeeeeeeee...

Changing my vote to Party of One.

I need to clarify something: when I said that the final Blooper video is almost finished, I meant on a technical level: its presentation is still not done, and will take a few days to work out. The biggest issue I have right now is finding multiple music themes, because the run-time of this video is 1 hour 7 minutes, meaning I will need about 10 different musical themes - possibly even more.

I also need to work on multiple drawings for it. That being said, I'm still shooting for a late-August release.

While I'm at it, here is another mistake that I just found out:

Sweetie Belle's helmet, and probably Applebloom's too, is missing its straps.

HER HORN IS GOING THROUGH THE HELMET!

How in Luna's name do you find these errors XD

Frame-by-frame analysis. Also, since I made the My Little Bloopers series on youtube, users commonly help me find some mistakes I haven't listed yet.

The final season 1 blooper video is coming soon by the way. I'm currently editing the last few episodes' mistakes in.

See it?

Let's take a closer look.

Now do you see it?

Rainbow Dash's left eye's eyelashes and lid don't quite cover her entire eye.

Gotta go with Cutie Mark Chronicles.

Dumb rock!

Download the IPS in the embedded vid.

Another ROM hack from herooftime1000. Only sprite changes once again though.

Twilight is Mario.

Lyra is Luigi

Trixie is Toad

Luna is Peach

The shy guys look like they're wearing pony masks. They're called Shycolts now.

Parasprites replace some of the flying enemies.

Mushrooms have been replaced by apples.

Birdo is replaced by a strange version of Steven Magnet (Sea serpent).

Mouser is replaced by Gilda.

Phanto is replaced by...something, I can't quite tell what. I think it's a Nightmare moon mask.

The Hydra got replaced by...the hydra.

Gripclaw (The crab) got replaced by a diamond dog (Rover).

Wart got replaced by...Nightmare Moon. Yes, Luna can be the one who fights Nightmare Moon.

The ending animation replaces Mario with Twilight sleeping.

If I had to take a guess, it's the extended opening.

Hopefully. I think.

That one was probably done on purpose. You can see Lyra in several scenes of that episode on clouds and she's a pretty commonly used background pony for funny/unusual events.

Here's one that was REALLY hard to catch.

In this scene, the blue and purple flagpoles are behind the roof. Here, let's take a closer look...

See them?

Now here's the thing, on the very next scene, this happens:

The blue and purple flagpoles moved to the front! Why did this happen? I dunno, but it makes you think just how many random inconspicuous background mistakes there are.

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/08/s ... n-two.html

The voice actor of Snails confirmed that he did full voice work for Season 2. Snips was seen with Snails 90% of the time in season 1, so he's practically confirmed as well.

This might also help Trixie's chance of return too, due to the way they worshiped her in episode 6, although episode 12 and 18 demonstrated that they can show up in episodes without her.

Gotta go with Party of One and Suited for Success. Sorry Winter Wrap-Up.

I voted Derpy because I think that Ditzy is a different pony, although I'm fine with any of the name combinations.

Confirmed stuff for Season 2:

-Twilight still reads books

-Twilight still spends time in her library

-Spike is still Twilight's assistant

What shocking developments!

One of the animators got lazy...

You can see that most of Applebloom's hair is missing by looking at the ear hole of her helmet.

A picture I was using for Gala background reference and I noticed a couple weird things...

Who is that pink pony who is copied anyway, kept seeing her in that episode.

Violet. A pretty common victim of copy-paste in that episode.

Anyway, here's another screencap.

The reflection in the mirror is wrong. The shadow is somewhat incorrect as well.