Ginger Mint

hi hi It looks like somepony is having trouble controlling the volume of her voice?

hi hi "Cutie Mark Crusader sleepover at Grannie Smith's house, YAY!"

hi hi I was playing cards with some friends last week and I started humming the evil enchantress song without really thinking about it. I got some laughs out of that one, but I'm not sure who all was laughing with me and who was laughing at me... On the other hand, its no big deal.

hi hi Those are some pretty neat effects, though I can't imagine the mane thing would be very kind to anypony's video card. Anypony who is doing modeling work for a game, I highly recommend taking a look at tigr3ss' models for some ideas on how to reduce polycounts. wire-frames textures texture with flats I know today's best processors can handle a lot, but I guess my modeling philosophy is: Unless you're going for cinema quality, why put stuff in that you don't need to? If you've only got a few characters on the screen, usually its ok, but if you're going MMO style, you can count on multiplying ever tri by the number of players. (I was astounded when I did a poly-count of one of League of Legends champions, it was almost as high as characters in World of Warcraft but with a much smaller fill ratio) I guess I'll have to model my own low-poly pony and see how they compare, if I can make some time here and there...

Sometimes words just aren't enough... I hope you can find your way, and if you manage that, please let us know how.

hi hi It is so simple! Why didn't I think of that? There was something I thought of randomly today, in the "I'm getting something out of the freezer and it suddenly hits me," sort of way. In the scene where everyone is watching the meteor shower (Amazing voice acting here by the way) there are several groups of background ponies all watching the same thing. It is like a reference to the moral of the story from the previous episode. I can picture others looking up at the same sky, experiencing the same sense of wonder, separated only by distance at that moment.

hi hi L1, L2 and L3 are stable in the distance axis, but not with the side to side movements. However, I imagine it would be relatively easy for a being who can control the rising and setting of the moon to nudge it back into place every day, even if she doesn't have to keep it suspended against the downward force of gravity all the time. I've been trying to find the calculations to determine how distant the planet/moon pair would have to be from the star in order to achieve a planetwide eclipse, but so far no success. I figure if a distant galaxy can be eclipsed, then a single star might be as well. I dunno, maybe I'm completely wrong and it is totally impossible regardless of distance, but that doesn't seem intuitively correct...

hi hi There's been a bit of discussion on this topic here: Episode Authors - but I got the impression from it that people can have significantly different opinions on what episodes count as top tier. I think it would be more useful to plot the distribution of people's ratings of different episodes rather than just looking at the straight mean. As for Feeling Pinkie Keen, I have to mention this thread: Feeling Pinkie Keen: The Debate - I don't think at all we are supposed to take Pinkie Pie as an allegory for a religious figure, quite the opposite actually. Pinkie Pie's sense is in Predicting Future Events, which is the exact and specific definition of science.

hi hi I think i was referring to the first one more than the second, but now that I think about it, some breeds do have a sticky outy portion on the back side, just above the hoof, but that's not important now! I liked the shaggy look of the coat, I think it was just the mean distribution of squiggles varied a bit from hoof to hoof... if that makes any sense. (Inkwell already covered for me, but yeah, Final Fantasy Tactics is pretty epic in my book and its the only place I've ever seen that name before.)

hi hi Why can't I hold all these verbs? ^_^

hi hi As an artist, sometimes I forget that people equate criticism with dislike, when for artists it is often the best kind of response one can get. You don't always have to agree with it, but it is often times more useful than someone just saying "I like it." I hope this conversation isn't getting too heated, I'm not very good at telling these things... Everypony is here, telling everypony else what their reaction to the show was. Regardless of who the target audience was, the message hit you, and me, and anypony who watched it. These are real, truthful feelings and opinions, and I don't think anypony ought to feel threatened because somepony else had a different reaction. One of the things I learned after four years of art history is that the artist's intent is only half of the work, the viewer's perception makes up the other half. This could be a good opportunity to see things from a different perspective, so please try to be sympathetic to other's points of view. (I mean srsly, it is possible to both be right from your own point of view.) I think perhaps we're arguing the same point here, its about how some things in a show would seem out of place. Kids are very emotional and are very empathic. Babies cry when other babies start crying, kids will sometimes fall and bump into something and either laugh it off or start crying depending on the reaction they get from an adult. Kids are very strong reasoners, their conclusions may not always be right, but they are usually reasonable. They might see the leaves on trees blowing and think "leaves cause wind to happen." Thats the kind of thing that I think people are talking about here. Its not about taking a time out for a lesson in calculus, its about making things seem reasonable. Kids may take situational things for granted more easily, but some stories will stick with a kid their entire life, its lessons standing up against all kinds of real life tests. For example: to this day, I still cannot watch Milo and Otis because I burst into tears well neigh immediately. Also, my dad first showed me Star Trek II when I was a little kid in elementary school, but the lesson about looking for different solutions stuck with me for the rest of my life. "Be careful the tale you tell, that is the spell."

hi hi TvTropes Entry on Dastardly Whiplash Also: NN4v5-Z_TR8

hi hi If Celestia can move both the Moon and the Planet (if not also the sun) then Nightmare Moon might have had enough power to move the planet far enough away from its star that the solar eclipse would cover the entire world. Another option would be to tide lock the planet facing away from the sun and place the moon at L2. If the far side was entirely covered by ocean, deep sea currents might make life on the dark side at least habitable.

hi hi I can see why someponies would find it funny, even though I don't find it funny myself. I appreciate a good joke as much as anypony, but when it makes the victim sad, it isn't funny at all.

hi hi Thats how a lot of our games tended to end up. My friend's "Blue Counter Deck," was particularly notorious. It basically taps all your land so you can't do anything, then it gives the other player infinite extra turns while they shuffle cards back into their deck and you get decked yourself.

hi hi That could be why everypony was so relieved to hear the smoke wasn't from a fire in Dragonshy, because a forest fire is a super dangerous occurrence. I'm not sure if even flying creatures would be able to cross "The String," depending on how tall it is, unless they were specialized in high altitudes and strong winds. I'm pretty sure the winds traveling along that ridge, especially at sunrise, would be phenomenally strong. The hight of peaks is usually derived from the ratio between uplifting and weathering. In Ponya, it seems that weathering might even be less of a factor that it is on Earth, due to the dryness; while on the other hand it seems to be more geologically active. That leads me to believe that mountain peaks would be even higher than they are here on Earth.

hi hi I'm not sure if we're all using the same definition of character development, but I don't think character development is necessary at all for a show that is episodic. (as in, doesn't have an over-arching plot line) What is important is that the characters have motivations, emotions, worries, desires, etc. that anypony can relate to and empathize with. They don't have to be new or entirely un-explored motivations etc. etc. in fact I think in some cases it is better if they keep it simple. What they do need, however, is a way to show those feelings to the audience in a way they can understand and relate to. Instead of just having Twilight say "You're #1!" they might have shown in the opening scene the two of them helping each other out so the audience would see first hand (rather than by hearsay) that Spike relies on Twilight and how valuable their friendship is. It doesn't need to be anything we don't already know, it just needs to remind everypony in a way that is relevant to the episode at hand. On the topic of Owloisius: Aloisius, the name I am guessing they used as a reference, is the name of a famous warrior in olden times, so I think he may have more up his sleeve than just wanting a warm place to stay. (though having a warm place to stay is pretty awesome, and most folks don't always realize that until they have to camp out in below-zero temperature.) There were a few scenes where he witnessed first hand Spike's reaction, but never did anything about it. It wasn't until Twilight became concerned that he stepped in. Yeah, he saved the day at the end, but its still owlfully suspicious... The opening was definitely a stumbling block, and I see why people wouldn't be able to get into the episode after that. But I think that the rest of the episode after the credits was pretty much on par with Griffon the Brush-off or Applebuck Season in my book. Good, but not really on the top of the list.

hi hi I'm betting we'll see an episode in season 2 where Rainbow Dash has to learn that, while she has dreamed of being admired and respected for her flying in much the same way she admires and respects the wonderbolts, being a role model is a big responsibility; and Scoots has to learn that everypony makes mistakes sometimes, even your heroes. Also, I kinda noticed it the first time around, but taking a second look made me really wish I had seen this in high definition. The actual meteor shower from 3:50 to 4:22 was pretty dang awesome and totally lived up to the hype. More than that, when they panned out in the last few seconds and played that sweet piano melody, and you see everyone standing there together... Thats the kind of thing where, when it happens to you in real life, you realize that it is a moment to remember.

hi hi Sometimes you meet someone in passing and you wish you knew more about them. I know that has happened to me plenty of times. ((It took the CMCs a few episodes to really draw out their characters. Hopefully we'll get more in season 2.)) Double Edit: Anypony else get the feeling like Rainbow Dash is trying to shake Scootaloo's hero worship with her whole "take out the trash," bit? Someponies have been saying it is canonized scootabuse, but I get the impression from this and other episodes that as much as Rainbow Dash likes the attention, she knows that Scoots and the gang need to find their own path.

hi hi They layed it on a little thick there at the beginning, but once the episode shifted gears, it got a lot smoother. Overall pretty good, not the best but certainly not my least favorite. You know, it is kind of funny, but most of my complaints about any episode tend to boil down to: "it was too short, because X could have gotten a bit more screen time," which is pretty tame as far as criticisms go. I think for this episode they could have used just a few more moments showing Twilight and Spike in their element so we'd get a better feel for their relationship. They kinda dropped the ball in establishing Twilight and Spike's relationship at the start of the episode. As Dessa said, it was exposition. I think it would have been better if we were shown their relationship instead of told about it, but as the episode went on they started to fill in the blanks. The ending was good. I mean, the show is about making friends after all, but it seemed a little bit rushed too. The whole episode really felt a bit like they were trying to squeeze stuff into the time limit. It was the same feeling I got when I watched Stair Master, its like there was something else that didn't quite make the cut but would probably make the directors cut version a lot better. Pinkie Pie... I think she was just trying to cheer Spike up. There's no way anypony could mistake quill for quesadilla, but my mouth immediately started watering when I saw it flying through the air. Food is usually a good way to cheer up someone up. Even if there was nothing else in the episode, the evil mustache twisting spike bit would have pushed the episode above neutral into "a good laugh," territory. That laugh, oh man... I just about died when he started ripping up the pillow. If I were spike though, I would have used the mouse to try to lure the Owl into chasing after it and knocking stuff over.

hi hi Ramza is pretty adorable. (Any relation to FFT?) the pose and feel are all good, but if I were to make one suggestion, I would say you might want to bevel the coat around the hooves so that it is further away near the front and closer in the back.

hi hi Confusion in the ranks is one of the cards in his "Chaos Deck," but there are others in there that do random effects that I don't remember what they all are, but I remember there was one that changed the color types of different spells around. I've never played against infinite squirrels before, but I know someone who has that kind of a deck. (She loves squirrels, and its why she agreed to play magic I think.) Other annoyingly hard to beat decks involved the isochron scepter, darksteel forge, and a combo for infinite glacial chasm.

hi hi Here's a couple that I like: http://killthehubble.livejournal.com/ Faith Hicks has been one of my fav artists ever since Demonology 101. http://mattrhodesart.blogspot.com/ Has the kind of VG concept art style that I wish I could pull off more frequently.

hi hi I'm a big fan of the Metroid series, but I've been rather appalled by what they've done to Samus as a character in some of the more recent games. She was my hero when I was little... I still remember that summer vacation when I first played through Super Metroid back in elementary school. When I got to Lower Norfair and that ever so memorable started playing, I turned right around and took the lift back up to where I knew it was safe, and right then and there I wished that I could be so brave when I grew up. So when they turned her into a timid Emo McEmopants in The Other M, I was disappointed to say the least.

hi hi Young Rarity and Fluttershy are pretty awesome. I can just imagine Rarity trying to show Fluttershy the ropes, since she'd never been down to Earth before. "This is called a 'pond,' water collects here when it rains."