Bellosh

Can anyone think of anything from the show that contradicts this map?

No obvious contradictions; Ponyville, Canterlot, and Cloudsdale are located in their correct spots as per the map featured in Family Appreciation Day. But that's not what concerns me.

But what really matters is this: does the show move from here on out with this as the guide? I'm ok with the world changing to this if it stays consistent once they draw a line in the sand.

And that's the big question. With all the Chaos Geography present in the show already, I wouldn't trust anything less than an in-show map of Equestria pinpointing all the periphery cities surrounding Canterlot/Ponyville. Unless we see such a map in an episode though, I would prefer it if the RP stuck with BrianblackBerry's map (which I admit I have become rather fond of).

Pardon me for wearing my sceptic hat, but should we really consider this map canon if it hasn't been featured on the show itself? Unless FiM's creative staff had a hand in developing the map (which I somewhat doubt given the nature of how merchandising), this map may end up being no more official than the current RP map. For a prime example of a franchise's merchandising featuring inconsistent geography, just look at The Simpsons. In every Simpsons game that allows you a chance to roam or drive around Springfield, the street layout and location placement change in every single game. In other words, unless we have confirmation that the FiM crew will commit to a geographically-consistent Equestria as depicted in this map, I feel there is no reason yet to scrap the current RP map.

With that said, I hope a clearer image of the map shows up in a few days; some of the names are kinda hard to read in the image.

I, for one, never understood the appeal of making peace-loving pony friends fight each other.

The only fighting game I've ever played was Super Smash Bros. Melee......

Excellent! Don't let my character give you too much grief, hehe.

If you don't mind Satohai, I'd like to make a request too. I was wondering if you could draw my upcoming Mane RP OC, Dr. Spin Tale? Aside from the physical details in the app, I'd like Spin Tale to wear a dark blue necktie that's attached to a white collar. Hope you take this request on, and good luck with your future artwork and jewlery (your jewlery is quite nice, indeed).

I'm not all that sure if FiM should get a big-screen motion picture or not. While the animation crew is probably up to the challenge, would there be enough families out there willing to pay tickets for a 2D-animated movie these days? It would probably be less financially risky to do a TV special or straight-to-iTunes* release instead.

* Take that, DVDs!

I've previously been active in the South Park, Minecraft, Sonic, Pokemon, Half-Life, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars online communities. After a while, I've stopped actively participating in each of them and I know that one day, I'll leave MLP behind when I find a new primary fandom to belong to (but not today, though ). In my experience, MLP stands out the most for the extremely high-visibility of fanwork; no other fandom as a whole seems to value and promote fanwork as much as MLP's. No other fandom seems to value proselytizing to potential 'converts' as much as MLP's as well; one of my long-time online buddies (the one who encouraged me to watch the show, in fact) takes great pleasure in finding others willing to give MLP a chance. I believe MLP fans and other fandoms benefit from more interaction as long as we are not acting like we've just come out of 4chan, hehehe.

Well, the Changeling invasion would have happened whether Chrysalis was revealed by Twilight or not (Chrysalis was not in a position to either summon or call off her minions while disguised as Cadance). However if Twilight and Cadance hadn't escaped from the crystal mines, Chrysalis would probably have had more freedom to sabotage Canterlot's defenses "from the inside". After causing more of a mess of things, Chrysalis would then choose her own time to go into her villian monologue. That's my two bits, anyway.

The text is a bit hard to read, but the actual image is pure awesomeness. 4.5/5

Hmmmm, griffins are 'French' so Applebloom was speaking in (fancy) griffin? Which leads to ideas of having 'upper class' french/griffin (similar to 'upper class' way the snooty Canterlot ponies spoke).

Eh, I wouldn't jump the gun on Griffins having a mostly French-based society. Gustav the Chef most likely cultivated his own French accent to give himself more 'kitchen-cred', just like how Rarity develops her posh accent.

Oddly enough, what I'm kinda thinking about the most is where the Crystal Kingdom might go on Brianblackberry's map. That, and if this Crystal Kingdom has a more..... official name. It still bugs me that the Mushroom Kingdom from the Mario games only has that one name. It's like calling the USA "The Hamburger Country".

One last bit of randomness: Daring Do and the Kingdom of the Crystal Ponies, anyone?

Being a fan of the Portal videogame series, I nominate Ellen McLain (GLaDOS), Stephen Merchant (Wheatley), and J.K. Simmons (Cave Johnson, not to mention J. Jonah Jameson from the Spiderman film-trilogy).

If my MSN chat logs are correct, 6/2/2012 was the day I admitted to my online Brony pal that I kept tabs on MLP art. About that night or the next one, I started watching MLP episodes for myself.

Some of my all-time favorite video game scores include the music Michael Giacchino composed for the Medal of Honor series. Personal favorite tracks of mine from the series include Panzer Attack (MOH), Amongst the Dead (MOH: Underground), Panzer Blockade (MOH:U), Operation Overlord (MOH: Allied Assault), Sniper's Last Stand (MOH:AA), Return to Fort Schmerzen (MOH:AA), Arnhem (MOH: Frontline), Sturmgeist's Armored Train (MOH:F), and Wreckage of Nijmegen (MOH: Airborne)

Roleplay Type: World of Equestria RP – OC

Name: Spin Tale

Sex: Male

Age: Stallion

Species: Earth pony

Eye colour: Orange

Coat: Light red

Mane/Tail: Spin’s mane and tail are light brown coloured and kept short. They may not exactly be the best groomed things in Equestria, but they’re presentable enough.

Physique: Scrawny and weak-muscled, but otherwise healthy.

Residence: Canterlot

Occupation: Doctor of History working as the president and curator-in-chief of the Canterlot Army Historical Society; a small, donation dependant institution founded by his parents.

Cutie Mark: A light-blue book with a sword printed on its cover.

While Spin Tale was just a young foal, his father, Corporal Little Horn (an earth pony born to unicorn parents) of the Royal Equestrian Army, suffered paralysis when his unit was tasked with driving off a wayward manticore wandering too close to the small town of Ponyville. However, Spin wasn't sure what shocked him more; the fact that his dad was now permanently crippled, or how the Canterlot newspaper articles covering the incident seemed to gloss over what actually occurred. Seeking to quench his foalike curiosity, Spin badgered his father about the manticore; after much persistence from the inquisitive colt, Cpl. Horn revealed that he volunteered for the dangerous task of baiting the lost monster back into the forest.

Even though a swipe of the manticore's tail sent Cpl. Horn flying into a tree trunk, the soldier succeeded in coaxing the manticore back into the Everfree Forest without anypony else getting hurt. Amazed at his father's story, Spin Tale immediately felt that it was up to him to recount the story to everypony else in Canterlot! To that end, Spin convinced his schoolteacher to allow the colt to tell the class about his father's bravery. Spin's enthusiastic oratory won his classmates over, and Spin knew in his heart that from that point forth that storytelling was right up his alley... his special talent, actually! Spin Tale's revelation awarded the schoolcolt his cutie mark that special day.

History:

Born to two loving and well-off parents, Spin Tale enjoyed a good life during his youth in Canterlot. Spin’s unicorn classmates and playmates frequently jested how he managed to successfully skip magic kindergarten, but the earth pony always knew it was all in good fun. Even after his father’s medical discharge from the REA, the lad’s family remained comfortable thanks to a generous pension awarded to Cpl. Horn.

As the years passed on, Spin Tale's parents went on to establish the Canterlot Army Historical Society, initially conceived as a club of like-minded ponies desiring to spread appreciation among locals for the REA’s accomplishments. Meanwhile, Spin’s love for finding and telling exciting war stories matured into a passion for learning about the history of Equestria. Through several years of hard work and determination, Spin Tale earned a Ph.D in History from Canterlot University... but yet the colt had other designs as well.

Once he started university, Spin Tale started to envision how his parents’ Canterlot Army Historical Society could be more than just a simple monthly meeting in a living room. At his urging, Mr. Tale’s old folks purchased a location to not only run a small museum, but a modest archive and publication too. While Spin personally did much to manage the society during this time, the stallion didn’t quite want to stay after getting a doctorate... his ultimate dream was to become a history professor himself.

Yet after becoming Dr. Tale, Spin’s hopes to obtain an assistant professor position came crashing down as he learned the hard ay that almost all Equestrian universities had no current demand for new history professors. At the same time, the young stallion’s parents couldn’t find anypony else in Canterlot as academically talented and dedicated to military history as their own son to take permanent over the greatly-expanded Military Historical Society. Upon being reminded of how much Spin did to mold the Society in his image, the doctor decided to stay on for good, even if he hadn’t quite abandoned his academic aspirations yet.....

Character Summary:

As the president and curator-in-chief of the Canterlot Army Historical Society, Dr. Spin Tale’s mission is to educate ponies on the long history of the Royal Equestrian Army. To this end, the curator makes every effort to display friendliness and passion to museum visitors and maintain a decent appearance; anything to avoid being dismissed as a stereotypical tone-deaf historian. Aside from running his small museum (admittance is free) and overseeing the Society’s semiannual military history journal, Spin Tale employs extensive community outreach to solicit donations, seek out willing REA veterans to speak out on their experiences, and obtain written sources and displayable items for museum use.

Spin Tale’s private persona however can be quite grumpy. When he wants to be simply left to his own devices, he treats interrupting ponies rather rudely. This personality element is most pronounced in situations where he feels powerless or simply far outside his perceived area of competence, such as waiting in long lines or excursions far from the amenities of civilization. During these times, Dr. Tale grows extremely fussy, panicky, and even thinks nothing of behaving snarky and clumsily just to express his utter discomfort. About the only things that allow the curator to withstand such dreadful scenarios are constant thoughts of his home in Canterlot; that and copious amounts of grape juice.

Unfortunately, Spin Tale’s off-of-work grouchy tendencies and his strive to maintain his Society leave him limited time these days to seek out recreational pursuits. Socially, the best places to meet the red stallion are meetings of history and fantasy literature groups; Dr. Tale is a sucker for fantasy stories. Generally, those with the best chance of befriending the curator display both immense academic curiosity and a sense of kindheartedness. Even when feeling at his worst, Spin Tale simply refuses to dismiss the intrusions of those he knows will treat him kindly and respectfully.

As time passes, Spin Tale grows less and less anxious that he'll ever land a professorship, having learned to enjoy his status as a museum curator. However, the earth pony from time to time daydreams about how he could be a renowned history professor. At other times, Dr. Tale even fantasizes about going on quests just like in the classic stories he loves to read. However, he'd never admit that to anypony; who in their right minds would actually throw away their comfortable lives just to go on some dreadful pointless adventure, anyway.....?

*Note: Old app preserved in spoiler box for archival purposes*

Roleplay Type: World of Equestria RP

Name: Spin Tale

Sex: Male

Age: Stallion

Species: Earth Pony

Coat colour: Dark red

Mane/Tail/Markings colour & Style: Mane and tail are light brown in colour. Both the mane and the tail are kept short with only minimal grooming as necessary for day-to-day work.

Eye colour: Orange

Cutie Mark: A light-blue book with a sword printed on its cover.

Physique: Scrawny and weak-muscled, but otherwise healthy.

Origin/Residence: Canterlot

Occupation: Doctor of History working as the curator for the Canterlot Army Historical Society; a small, poorly-funded museum founded by his parents.

Motivation: To one day become a renowned historian who inspires ponies to better appreciate the history of Equestria… that is, if he can pay off his substantial student loan payments and keep the CAHS afloat.

Likes: History, intellectually-minded personalities, miniature wargaming, The Lord of the Elements by J.R.R. Trotkin, grape juice

Dislikes: Historical/scientific ignorance, deliberate attempts to whitewash darker aspects of Equestrian history, paying the bills, losing games

Character Summary:

While Spin Tale was just a young foal, his father, Corporal Little Horn (an Earth Pony born to Unicorn parnets) of the Royal Equestrian Army, suffered paralysis when his unit was tasked with driving off a wayward manticore wandering too close to the small town of Ponyville. However, Spin wasn't sure what shocked him more; the fact that his dad was now permanently crippled, or how the Canterlot newspaper articles covering the incident seemed to gloss over what actually occured. Seeking to quench his foalike curiousity, Spin badgered his father about the manticore; after much persistance from the inquisitive colt, Cpl. Horn revealed that he volunteered for the dangerous task of baiting the lost monster back into the forest. Even though a swipe of the manticore's tail sent Cpl. Horn flying into a tree trunk, the soldier succeeded in coaxing the manticore back into the Everfree Forest without anypony else getting hurt. Amazed at his father's story, Spin Tale immediately felt that it was up to him to recount the story to everypony else in Canterlot! To that end, Spin convinced his schoolteacher to allow the colt to tell the class about his father's bravery. Spin's enthusiastic oratory won his classmates over, and Spin knew in his heart that from that point forth that storytelling was right up his alley... his special talent, actually! Spin Tale's revelation awarded the schoolcolt his cutie mark that special day.

As the years passed on, Spin Tale's parents went on to establish the Canterlot Army Historical Society to spread awareness of the seemingly-ignored service ponies of the army, while Spin’s love for finding and telling exciting war stories matured into a passion for learning about the history of Equestria. Through several years of hard work and determination, Spin Tale earned a Ph.D in History from Canterlot University. However, his degree came at a great price; because his family constantly needed him to help run the CAHS museum, Spin lacked time outside his studies to earn money for his own education. Ergo, the young stallion had no choice but to take out loans to fund his studies. Spin’s hopes to obtain an assistant professor position came crashing down as he learned that almost all Equestrian universities had no current demand for new history professors, leaving him with the burden of considerable student loans to pay off.

Regardless of his money woes, Dr. Tale proudly accepted his (now-retired) parents’ offer to become curator of the Canterlot Army Historical Society. Nowadays, the stallion has the responsibility of attracting visitors to his relatively-obscure museum. Nothing in Equestria turns Dr. Tale into a giddy-schoolcolt more than making anypony he encounters interested in Equestrian history. While the ponies the doctor meets are usually won over by his genuine passion and skilled oratory, his efforts are unfortunately barely enough to cover the costs of running the CAHS, while Dr. Tale continually struggles to pay off his debt. As these twin specters goad Spin Tale to become more distant and snarky towards what few acquaintances he has, the doctor increasingly contemplates alternate solutions to make his financial cares disappear…

BTW: I find it extremely unlikely that MLP episodes will become any longer than 30 minutes just because there's only 13 episodes this next season. Standard running times for children's shows simply don't exceed 30 minutes, and I don't think MLP will be an exception to this rule. Besides, extending episode length is actually counterproductive of Hasbro's goal of making MLP suitable for syndication.

I see no reason to panic over MLP's future yet. I'm sure sometime in the next couple of months, we'll hear an announcement that the Hub has renewed their flagship series for another 2.5 seasons or so. Additionally, Hasbro may be considering switching over to a half season format permamently; some distributors sell seperate DVD sets for each half season instead of one set for an entire year's worth of episodes.

I don't think that either the Crystal Kingdom/Empire or "Unknown Villianous-Looking Pony" is connected to the Changelings in any way; a Changling mastermind would have probably taken on a more "fair" appearence rather than something obviously evil. As for Cadance... if she's supposed to be the rightful ruler of the Crystal Ponies, then how come she doesn't have funky eyes like the rest of her apparent subjects?

On that note, what exactly do the Crystal Ponies need saving from, anyway? Do their bodies transform into a more crystalline form due to some sort of curse or something (which could explain the fully-crystalized ponies of the toy line)? Do Dragons find Crystal Ponies very tasty to eat?

Bellosh101 is a reference to Raiders of the Lost Ark; Bellosh is how the Nazi characters pronounce the name of Indy's arch-nemesis, Belloq.

Pffft, Luna Nightmare Moon speaks falsehoods when she claims she loves democracy. Besides, NMM's back is unwhole and gobbled.

The only other animated shows I keep track of these days are South Park and Star Wars: The Clone Wars (I'll always be a SW fan). I'll always fondly remember the The Simpsons (about the first ten seasons or so), King of the Hill, Pinky and the Brain, Sonic SATAM, and the first two seasons of Pokemon.

@Starswirl: I'd like to get my hands on "Rise and Fall..." if I get the chance (and the bookshelf space). My personal favorite WWII book is "With The Old Breed" by Eugene Sledge, who fought on Peleliu and Okinawa.

@Talex: I've heard of Helatia, but I'm not into anime all that much. I hope your grandpa (and rainb00m's) had been able or willing to recount their war experiences with either yourselves or others. Hearing the stories of two Holocaust survivors, a B-29 pilot, and a Korea vet were some of my highlights of my time in univeristy.

Smile would have to be my favorite song from S2, with This Day coming in second. On that note, most of my favorite MLP songs so far have come from S2.....

I have to wonder, if Goofy had new cartoons, would he get at much controversy? He's been doing that clumsy routine for ages.

Goofy can get away with it because he's a hick, and hicks remain acceptable targets in entertainment (unlike the developmentally disabled).

You like history? Do you have a favorite time period?

Earned a Bachelor's Degree in History as a matter of fact. I enjoy learning about wars the most, especially World War II.

And a hello to everyone else, too! The Welcome Song never gets old.