NoGiantRobots1983

Oh, got some good news. I finally finished a draft of my latest Surprise Days story. I want to go ahead and post it, but my beta-reader is busy with school stuff. But if anyone else wants to critique it, PM me and I'll send you a Google Docs link.

Two guesses: 1) She was sleepy and not performing as well 2) She was literally drunk or high (perhaps oats are a narcotic?) IIRC, Sweets had slept, Scoots had not. Or there simply aren't that many chores to do, or Luna is hyper-fast and just has that much time.

Okay, some of my peeves... * Clop. I actually had to leave another forum not long ago in part because some people obsessed so much over clop, wouldn't stop talking about which pony they'd get in bed with, etc.--despite knowing it disturbed some of us. Worse is the people who think its okay if they say they don't see the ponies as animals or if they only clop to humanized, hey, I don't care about your private life! I don't wanna know! Quit telling me about it! * On that note, humanizations. Most of them, anyhow. There are some I find are well-done, but for the most part humanizations leave me asking "why?" The characters lose something if they're not cute ponies, IMO. And I really don't agree with some interpretations. Specifically: ** Twilight as black. Sorry, just can't see it. I can see Asian-Twilight though. ** Pinkie Pie as adult and tubby. In my imagination, Pinkie would be more like a little kid. ** Any of the ponies being exaggeratedly well-endowed. * On that note, not really into "real pony" style, except when its done as a joke. * Evil/corrupted versions of the mane six or the Elements of Harmony. Just something about the premise rubs me the wrong way. I think its because they have personalities and aren't defined entirely by binary morals, so the idea of what they'd be like as "evil" is just a non-sequiter (probably one reason I didn't like "The Return of Harmony") * When the G1 counterpart characters are drawn/written/otherwise interpreted as basically being just like the mane six, but with minor differences.

Theories: 1) RD wanted to use something that would be easy to get across. "I'm afraid of failure" is kinda abstract for a kid Scoots' age (however old she is). "I used to be scared of those stories too" is something she'd understand. 2) RD might find it easier to admit to something she used to be scared of rather than something she currently is afraid of.

Sadly, I've rather lost inspiration at the moment. The latest chapter of "Surprise Days" is... giving me a hard time. Most of the problem is that, when I'm high on inspiration, I just write and go. But then when I have time to cool down, I realize either the pace is too hectic, or else the POV jumps around too much, or some other form-factor issue. And there's always some important plot point I just realized I forgot to set up. Gets kinda irritating.

True as that is, in the past I was always able to overlook the meanings and morals, because they always felt to me like they were tacked on last-minute. "Over a Barrel" and "Lesson Zero", among others, for example, I need to meet my comma quota, came off to me like the writers were saying "Just ignore this part. We're just pretending this show is educational to get funding from the CEO." Part of the problem with this episode is that the message is front-and-center, so you can't just ignore it. Whatever the case elsewhere, they were clearly serious this time. As other people have said, its a cartoon for little girls. Fine. But that's not an excuse for mishandling the message. That's more like a reason the episode was just a bad idea. It's offensive to people like me who actually have been bullied--and in fact tried the very thing the episode itself suggests--and got bad or no results from it. Might as well make an episode about the sinking of the Titanic which says everyone on board would've survived if they just swam to shore. Really, I sometimes wonder about Western Animation writers who say things like "Hmmm, its a cartoon about magical ponies who sing and dance and go to galas and have stare-downs with dragons... We should totally have an episode that features a serious discussion of a hot social issue!" Totally waiting to see if they ever do an anti-drugs episode.

Well, a couple days ago my internet got fried by a freak lightning storm, so I wasn't able to post an opinion on this episode until now. Here it goes. My well-thought out, in-depth critique of this episode: Scootawoo wa kawaii desu yo!!! I love Scootaloo. I love her so so much. ... Incidentally, later that day I also finally saw Inception, and I couldn't help thinking the movie would be better if Luna was in it (good movie all the same). Also, kinda gives a new dimension to Nightmare Moon, doncha think? Might even be how she got her name. I wonder: can Luna only be in one dream at a time, or can she be in multiple dreams at once? (I personally suspect the latter and that she told Rainbow Dash about Scootaloo, thus why Dash was there to rescue Scoots at the end).

The point still stands though: there were ways the message could've been handled much, much better, that would've still been appropriate for kids. The one thing it can't do, apparently, is come up with a message we can all agree on.

Another thing I just remembered: When Fluttershy was nervously biting her hooves... she bit off hoof-chippings. Considering how hard pony hooves are... I do not EVER want Fluttershy to bite me. She'd probably kill me.

I want to be the first to hug Rainbow Dash! She is such a huggy pony.

LYRA: "There's no humans. This is boring."

Errr... I was talking about the story itself, not the structure.

But but it's fun to over-analyze!!! On a more serious note, I feel like saying "remember the target audience" is a cop-out. Especially since we've already had an episode ("Griffon the Brush-Off") that dealt with bullying, did it far more convincingly and it wasn't even the point of the episode. MLP is a show that's shown it can be well-written enough to deal with a subject in a way kids can understand, but that adults can still appreciate. Why should we let it off the hook if it falls short of the standard it set by itself?

So after giving it a night... here's my thoughts. This episode was okay. Not bad, but not great. The opening gets points for reminding me of Team Ranma vs The Legendary Phoenix, but past that it was the standard storyline of "Villain challenges hero to duel, with the loser being forced to leave. Hero loses. Hero finds out villain was cheating. Hero bounces back, reclaims her place and all is well." It's an inherently tired cartoon storyline, which has been used as far back as 1969's Space Ghost. What keeps this episode from being just outright bad, to me, is the following: * Trixie is not evil, just corrupted by the amulet. I honestly always thought that if Trixie returned, she'd be outright evil, and I am pleasantly surprised that she isn't. * Twilight's way of resolving the situation was actually quite clever. * TICKLISH AJ! TICKLISH RAINBOW DASH! * And now I want to hug Fluttershy. So... not a bad episode (certainly nowhere near as detestable as "One Bad Apple"), but its nowhere near as good as greats like "The Best Night Ever."

Using emulators isn't really cheating, unless you use like save states and the like. Today I picked up another Dreamcast game, Grandia II. Don't know anything about it, so it'll be an all-new experience for me. By the way, I read recently that there are ways to play MAME over the internet with multiplayer. I would love to play co-op Bubble Bobble, Bubble Symphony or Bubble Memories sometime. Who thinks they'd be up to it? ... and hey, what old-school games do you guys think the Mane Six, Spike, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders would like?

I actually really liked that ^__^.

I honestly don't see why they can't, as long as they do it in a cartoony way. I mean, the CMC beat the snot out of each other at the beginning of "Return of Harmony." Although I'm guessing its because Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are really more "annoying" than actually malicious, outright bullies.

I am really feeling at home here. First of all, so many people have fond memories of Bubble Bobble. You might almost say you all have *gets hammered for making such a terrible pun*And someone mentioned the TurboGrafx. I think I'm in heaven now. Okay, here's my own chops: Technically the first consoles I owned were an Oddysey2 and an Atari 2600, although I was a baby when I had those and they don't leave much of an impression on me now. The NES was where I started to really get hardcore into gaming. Favorite NES games: Bubble Bobble, Legend of the Ghost Lion, Might and Magic, Contra, Super C, Bionic Commando, Dragon Warrior 1 and 2 (haven't played 3 and 4 yet), Final Fantasy, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Totally Rad, and a metric ton of platformers. Oh, and Burgertime. During the 16-Bit wars I was split between the Genesis and SNES. I ultimately favored the SNES, but these days I'm more of a Genesis fan. I wanted a Sega CD back when it was new but never got one until just recently. Favorite SNES games: Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy IV, VI, and Mystic Quest, Super Mario World, Skyblazer, Actraiser, Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, Kirby's Avalanche, Super Mario Kart, Super Metroid, Pac-Man 2 The New Adventures, DBZ Super Butoden 2, Earthbound. Favorite Genesis games: Sonic 1-3&K, Contra Hard Corps, Castlevania Bloodlines, both Ecco the Dolphin games, Super Hydlide, Pirates Gold, Might and Magic 2, Crusader of Centy, the Valis series, Scooby Doo Mystery, Shadow Dancer, Shinobi III, the Thunder Force series, the Shining Force series, Landstalker, Light Crusader. Favorite Sega CD games: Lunar 1 and 2, Silpheed, Vay, Hook, Prince of Persia. I gotta admit that originally I didn't like the Playstation One very much, but it grew on me. Originally I chose the Nintendo 64, but I kinda felt like that was a mistake afterwards because there weren't many good games for it, and all the high-profile stuff was for Playstation. Favorite Playstation games: Resident Evil Director's Cut, Resident Evil 2, R-Types (compilation of R-Type 1 and 2), R-Type Delta, Lunar Silver Star Story Complete, Ogre Battle, Saiyuki Journey West, Parappa the Rapper, King's Field 1-3, Metal Gear Solid. Favorite N64 games Doom 64, Zelda Ocarina of Time, Wave Race. Also I wound up becoming a PC gamer and discovering a lot of classic PC games retroactively. Favorite PC games Pretty much anything by Sierra On-line (Space Quest, King's Quest, Quest for Glory etc.) Warcraft II Tides of Darkness. Elder Scrolls Arena and Elder Scrolls Daggerfall. System Shock 1 (but not 2). the Ultima series. Doom, Heretic, Hexen. Amber Journeys Beyond. the Journeyman Project Turbo. The Chzo Mythos. I tried games on the Gamecube and the Playstation 2 but to be fair I mostly only enjoyed retro compilations (except on the latter console, I loved Metal Gear Solid 2 and the Devil May Cry trilogy). So then I went back and discovered consoles I had missed the first time, like the TurboGrafx (also known as the PC-Engine), the Sega Saturn and the Dreamcast. Also I don't technically own a Sega Master System, but I own an adapter that lets you play SMS games on the Genesis. Favorite TurboGrafx (and PC-Engine) games the Ys series, the Valis series (again), Devil's Crush, Bonk's Adventure, Galaxy Policewoman Legend Sapphire, Cho Aniki, Splatterhouse, Military Madness. Favorite Sega Master System games Phantasy Star, Ys, Rastan. Favorite Saturn games NiGHTs into Dreams, Galactic Attack (actually a home port of Ray Force), In the Hunt, Capcom Generation 2 - The Ghosts n' Goblins Trilogy, Street Fighter Collection (contains Super Street Fighter II, Super SFII Turbo, and a "gold" version of SF Alpha 2) Favorite Dreamcast games Craaaaaaaazy Taxi, the Resident Evil games, Marvel vs Capcom, King of Fighters Evolution Oh yeah, and portable systems: Favorite Neo-Geo Pocket colour games ALL OF THEM Favorite Gameboy/colour/Advance games Qix, Operation C, Final Fantasy Adventure, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. I also have a PSP and again I mostly enjoy it for retro compilations (specifically Gradius Collection and King of Fighters: the Orochi Saga) Favorite retro games discovered through compilations or emulation the Fatal Fury series, King of Fighters, Art of Fighting... I might as well just say "anything on the Neo-Geo" at this point. Bubble Bobble's various sequels, the Ghosts n Goblins series (and for that matter pretty much everything thats in the Capcom Classics Collection, but a special mention must go to Eco Fighters--I thought that game was gonna be stupid due to its name, but its actually awesome and has a ), the afformentioned Gradius. And I'm actually sure there's a lot more.Quite clearly, you and I will have a lot to talk about.

I just read that other user's profile for Surprise. I'm feeling like bringing my own interpretation here would be... weird, and might confuse people, because I had a very different concept in mind for the pegasus (for one thing, she comes from Dream Valley, which is a separate country from Equestria. And she's 20+ years older than Pinkie Pie. And she actually doesn't have much in common with Pinkie. Oh, and the whole "she has a pet human" thing). I wouldn't mind giving the Free-For-All forum a shot though. I need awhile to think... wanna be really inspired and have a backlog of ideas to fall back on before I go opening a Human Adoption Shop. ... And now we've completely lost the original topic, haven't we?

For what its worth, earlier today I posted a revised review of the episode on my Fimfiction blog. It wound up being long. If you want to read the full version, here it is, but for those who don't have entire lifetimes, here's the Reader's Digest Condensed Edition: Some of my earlier points are repeated. I still find the whole situation unrealistic ("unrealistic" with regards to the internal logic of the show) and feel like the Cutie Mark Crusaders are out-of-character. I mean, they bounced back from all of Ponyville hating them in "Ponyville Confidential", but one mean cousin from Manehattan and suddenly they're scaredy-cats. A new angle I added was: Scoots is an athlete and Apple Bloom is a farm girl. It's unrealistic that they would be bullied to any extent by spoiled rich kids and a city slicker (when I was in school, it was always the rich kids and city slickers who got bullied by the athletes and farm kids). Also, I feel like the story would've been more believable if, say, Apple Bloom had stopped Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon from even targetting Babs in the first place. Like a "sticking up for your kin" kinda thing. (I didn't say this, but I honestly thought of doing a rewrite where Apple Bloom does exactly this. So instead of becoming a bully, Babs ends up kinda idolizing Apple Bloom and relying on her for protection. And then DT and SS catch her in a moment where AB isn't around) Which brings me to the most major change, I noticed another problem with the episode's "go tell an adult" message: If you can't prove you were actually being bullied, it comes down to your word vs theirs, and bullies will always deny everything, claim its a misunderstanding, or whatever. So really, what AB and co. should've done is tried to convince Featherweight to snap a photo of Babs Seed in action, THEN run to the adults). ... Here's hoping this take is less controversial than what I said previously.

Definition of "Oldschool": Anything before the Playstation 2. Seems like most Bronies are only into newer games--a lot of fanfics I see are peppered with references to Fallout and Halo--but I can't be the only one who got his start with the NES, knows what a Neo-Geo is, and loves ponies. Especially as there's an NES-themed pony out there. So, old-schoolers, speak up! (also, if there's a bro or a pegasister out there who gets the classic gaming references I dropped in Chapter 5 of Surprise Days, I want to friend you, right now)

Personally, that bugged me. I thought it made Equestria unique that it was more or less "France as portrayed in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, but with ponies!" And then they go and modernize it. Now it just feels... wrong. Felt the same way in Mysterious Mare-do-Well when we suddenly had modern construction machinery. Oddly enough, I remember Lauren commenting on this in an interview. According to her, she always resisted making Equestria too modern, and she also didn't like using "it's magic-powered" as a cop-out. I strongly agree with that sentiment. On another note, CMC episodes have been bothering me for awhile. I loved them in "The Show Stoppers" and "The Stare Master," where they were just adorable little troublemakers. But now it feels like they're just the characters the writers trot out whenever they want to make a Very Special Episode. Here's hoping the upcoming Scootaloo ep is an "adorable troublemaker" episode, rather than a "message" ep.

So there's two types of role-playing here? What's the difference? Do I like have to create an alt account for my character or something? (And now we're getting off the subject... although now, I've gotten sidetracked into both finishing "Surprise Days" and working on a new, unrelated story, which will be a crossover with The Slayers)

I've been using the "pet human" shtick for awhile, although recently I introduced that he's only pretending to be a pet because Equestria has never seen humans and Surprise didn't want the Equestrians to get freaked out. I used to role-play on a forum though, where Surprise worked at an adoption agency that gave humans to interested ponies. I honestly wouldn't mind introducing something similar here, but I don't know how role-playing works in this place (I also half-suspect somepony has claimed Surprise)

Actually this bothered me too. I guess Applejack is just selectively oblivious. A bigger question is: how did Big Macintosh and Granny Smith miss it?