Ginger Mint

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A friend of mine was telling me the other day about how she could generally tell if an episode of Dr. Who would be good depending on who the writer was. I thought maybe I could find a correlation in MLP, but it turns out some of my least favorite episodes and some of my most favorite episodes were written by the same people.

• 1- Friendship is Magic (Part 1) - Lauren Faust

• 2- Friendship is Magic (Part 2) - Lauren Faust

• 3- Ticket Master - Amy Keating Rogers & Lauren Faust

• 4- Applebuck Season - Amy Keating Rogers

• 5- Griffon the Brushoff - Cindy Morrow

• 6- Boast Busters - Chris Savino

• 7- Dragonshy - Meghan McCarthy

• 8- Look Before you Sleep - Charlotte Fullerton

• 9- Bridle Gossip - Amy Keating Rogers

• 10- Swarm of the Century - M.A. Larson

• 11- Winter Wrap Up - Cindy Morrow

• 12- Call of the Cutie - Meghan McCarthy

• 13- Fall Weather Friends - Amy Keating Rogers

• 14- Suited for Success - Charlotte Fullerton

• 15- Feeling Pinkie Keen - Dave Polsky

• 16- Sonic Rainboom - M.A. Larson

• 17- Stare Master - Chris Savino

• 18- The Show Stoppers - Cindy Morrow

• 19- Dog and Pony Show - Amy Keating Rogers

• 20- Green isn't your Color - Meghan McCarthy

• 21- Over a Barrel - Dave Polsky

• 22- A Bird in the Hoof - Charlotte Fullerton

• 23- Cutie Mark Chronicles - M.A. Larson

• 24- Owls Well That Ends Well - Cindy Morrow

I loved "Look Before you Sleep," and "Suited for Success," but I didn't care quite so much for "A Bird in the Hoof." I liked "Boast Busters," but "Stare Master," was lower on my list. I liked "Winter Wrap-up" a lot more than I liked "The Show Stoppers." So for the most part it is all over the place. One thing I did notice though is that Dave Polsky seems to have written both of the "controversial" episodes.

I'm a bit curious as to what other people's thoughts are.

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You're not alone Manestream, your post reminded me of something I read only a few days ago.

'Imagine, going to work each day knowing a great deal of what you are doing is fraudulent, knowing in no way are you preparing your students for life in an ever more brutal world, knowing that if you don't continue along your scripted test prep course and indeed get better at it you will be out of a job.'

- an anonymous public school teacher in New York City.

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Hey, Derpy can solve complex calculus equations in her head as well as perform over 28 simultaneous internal discourses... its just that she sometimes forgets to float the decimal point or loses one of the trains of thought, thats all.

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When it comes to issues of psudoscience, I am obliged to point out that Myers-Briggs is about as accurate as horoscopes, in that they are vague enough to apply to anyone, and they fall victim to the False Dilemma Fallacy pretty hard core. You would be better off using lateral thinking rather than black and white thinking (one of the many flaws of Holism) in regards to personalities. In 1991 the National Academy of Sciences committee reviewed data from MBTI research studies and concluded that only the I-E scale has any adequate construct validity.

That being said: I got Zecora.

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Sad luna pictures always make me sad. The one with Luna's diary on the moon made me want to hunt down the artist and say "Why would you even do that!?"

Celestia and Luna taking turns.

Filly Luna and Celestia

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I dunno about Earth Ponies (or Pegasi for that matter) not being able to get into a school for magic, I just don't think it would come up very often. Given how much magic stuff Twilight reads in books, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a non-unicorn that was a brilliant magic theorist, inventing all sorts of useful new spells, even though she couldn't use them herself. (It might even be easier for her to look at the big picture, since she wouldn't be connected to a specific type of magic)

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I think they should have put in a disclaimer. "Warning: do not watch Applejack's flashback without someone to hug nearby."

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There was definitely some cheesiness involved, and indeed they did hang the lampshade regarding it. However, it is true that common ground and by extension, common experiences are one of those things that helps making friends easy. In spite of whatever difference you might have, if you have something in common, it is possible to get along with anypony.

I had to pause the show and go do something else for a bit when Applejack was at the dinner party... so embarressing.

I liked filly fluttershy, I think her awkward proportions were perfect for somepony who was supposed to be kind of clumsy anyway. So many kids ought to be able to relate to a time in their life when they didn't quite fit in with everypony else, just part of growing up really. All you haters out there must have never been the unpopular kid who got made fun of because they looked different.

I liked pinkie pie's straight hair too, but I get the feeling that she was embellishing her story a little bit, especially the "and that's how Equestria was made," bit.

Did anyone else get at Space Odyssey 2001 vibe when Rarity was face to face with the big dumb rock?

Also: The Summer Sun Celebration, when Princess Celestia raised the sun, I was in total awe. I thought that bit was incredibly epic. (then they followed it up with a cute studying filly Twilight, too good!)

I also liked how they're giving each of the cutie mark crusaders a more unique character.

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I tried to do this, but the only thing I learned was that I have way too much music that I never listen to, which I should probably just delete.

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•Ã‚ The Conservation of Energy and Evocation Magic, How it Effects You.

•Ã‚ Teleportation and Time Dilation, The Unsolved Mystery. (anyone else notice how when she teleports in ticket master, it is suddenly night time?)

Also, this makes me wonder something. Just what kind of books do you think Twilight might someday write? I'm guessing there will probably be something like "Making Friends and Resolving Conflict, the Collected Letters of Twilight Sparkle." and maybe "A Survey of Flora and Fauna Native to the Everfree Forest, by Professor Twilight Sparkle."

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Ticket Master is kind of like a second pilot, in that it introduces all the characters and explains their motivations. Still it must depend somewhat on the personality of the person involved. Someone who is shy may feel a bit uncomfortable during Griffon the Brush-off or A Bird in the Hoof, when it might seem like a bunch of awful stuff is happening to one of the characters for no good reason. They might be more inclined to like some of the more slow paced episodes like Ticket Master, Fall Weather Friends or Look Before you Sleep. Someone who is more outgoing might like the reverse better.

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We know she has:

• The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide

• Supernaturals

Other possible books:

• Bigs-Beak's magical prestidigits.

• Edible Flowers, volumes 1-8

• Master Pokey Poke's Manual on Joust-Fu for Unicorns

•Ã‚ Jr. Astronomer's Almanac of Celestial Oddities

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These are just a few that I pulled together from music that I like, for the mane six I tried to find pieces that were instrumental. Some are kind of off the beaten path, others I think are right on the nose. (I am often told that I have odd taste in music, so I can't really guess if anyone will like these.)

• Twilight Sparkle:

- Dave Brubeck

• Fluttershy:

- Christophe Héral

• Rarity:

- Carlos Gardel

• Rainbow Dash:

- Naoki Sato

• Applejack:

- Moby

• Pinkie Pie:

- Aram Khachaturian

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Heres some other ones that I thought of.

• Luna: Who You Were - Jamin Winans

• Vinyl Scratch:

- Cynic Project

• Grannie Pie:

- Vienna Teng

• Derpy:

- Cartoon Planet Band

• Spike and Twilight:

(poor spike)

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I really want to know how they do their animation. I've done some animation in flash myself and sometimes when you've got thousands of keyframes, you can make a change and miss one. I'm betting it is that, because if it is just an animator having a laugh, it isn't a very good one.

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So wait, Celestia was trying to free her sister from her prison all along and she needed Twilight to focus her attention on the myth in order for her star to align? We've got to go deeper!

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*puts on hipster glasses* These skits used to play all the time on the university TV station, back when I was in school. They're a little rough around the edges, but I still think they're hilarious. But you've probably never heard of them.

e-kWUfTO9-w

UmZDtQIMFas

ovuu6GX0eJI

*takes off hipster glasses*

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From the looks of this, they're twins. (or just lazy animators?)

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I must admit, I am a bit of a web-comic addict. So some of the ones I read on a regular basis that haven't already been mentioned:

• Gunnerkrigg Court - Science-Fantasy school kids growing up.

• Fey Winds - A fox, and elf, a prince and a warrior on an adventure.

• Girl Genius - Mad science, retro-future high adventure.

• Wapsi Square - Ancient Aztec Gods meet semi-average Minnesotans. ((Some Language and Adult Themes))

• Dead Winter - Zombies vs Waitress. ((Some language and moderate horror themes.))

•Ã‚ Red Moon Rising - Magic, Airships and an evil empire? Sign me up. ((Kinda dark in places))

• Paradigm Shift - Two cops, a werewolf, and a conspiracy ((Crime drama level imagery/themes))

• Earthsong - High fantasy, forces of good vs forces of evil and the newbie thrown in the middle.

•Ã‚ The Dreamland Chronicles - High fantasy, looks like it might be wrapping up soon.

• Errant Story - Dark Fantasy ((Strong language, violence and adult themes))

• The Meek - Alternate world fantasy ((Some language, violence, aboriginal toplessness.))

• Freefall - Refreshingly accurate sci-fi about a bio-engineered sentient wolf, an alien prankster and robots.

•Ã‚ Galaxion - Life. Love. Hyperspace.

• Our Intrepid Crew - Space opera, just started but looking good so far.

• Command Kitty - Science fiction comedy.

•Ã‚ Dawn of Time - Prehistoric time-travel goodness.

• Dresden Codak - Transhumanism themed webcomic. ((science fantasy rather than predictive IMHO))

• Goblins - The Classic Adventure from the other perspective ((Language and very strong violence/imagery))

• Evil Diva - Angels. Demons. High School.

• Sweet and Sour Grapes - A jungle guardian and a spirit from a long lost civilization.

•Ã‚ Wasted Talent - A typical real life inspired comic, but funny none the less.

Web-comics that have run to completion, but I still go back and re-read because they are awesome:

•Ã‚ Demonology 101 - This is my favorite web-comic EVER!!!

• The Phoenix Requiem - Spirits and plagues and conspiracy oh my!

• Garanos - Ancient demon vs disenfranchised princess and humble monk.

• Ozy and Millie - Cute little comic, reminds me of Calvin and Hobbes.

Web-comics that update infrequently, or go on hiatus frequently, but I enjoy enough that I don't mind.

• No Rest for the Wicked - Princess and the Pea goes on a quest.

• Outsider - Blue space elves... Updates reeeeeaally slow. ((PG-13))

• Kukuburi - Dreams vs nightmares...I think.

Some that have already been mentioned: Lackadaisy, Sequential Art, Questionable Content, The Order of the Stick.

Some that died before their time, and that makes me sad: Edwitch, Return to Sender

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Thats a tough one. A lot of things in Equestria sparkle so it is hard to pull out a specific theme. Maybe everything has its essence represented by a star somewhere? Or perhaps the four stars were just whatever elements (opposite of harmony) that nightmare moon was using, that had been scattered to the four corners when she was defeated the first time.

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I'm not sure I understand the intent here, but I'll throw in my two bits. At the end of episode 2 when you see Luna laying on the ground in defeat, you can see the shattered remains of her magic items sitting right next to her and there are little wisps of tacky blue smoke rising up from them quite a lot like Nightmare Moon's mane and tail. What I gathered from that is that their larger size is not their true form, and I suppose if you smashed Celestia's artifacts, she would revert back to her original pink haired self.

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A My Little Pony MMO is going to have a challenging time coming up with gameplay mechanics. They're not going to be able to rely on the standard tropes. Most MMOs involve teaming up, destroying things and taking their stuff. A MLP/MMO is going to have to reverse that: teaming up, creating things and through that creation increasing their wealth/reputation.

There are some other games out there that have gameplay kind of like that, but they're usually more single player events (sim city, sims, dwarf fortress) and the one that I can think of that is multiplayer has lots of problems with griefers who just want to destroy everything you create (minecraft). But there's more to it than that, because all of those kinds of games tend to focus on gathering and hoarding material wealth, where as MLP:FiM doesn't. It emphasizes resource scarcity to a point, but you don't get the same kind of opulent monuments to personal vanity like you would in those kinds of games. You know, that whole "king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" sort of thing.

So what ideas do I have for such a thing: Combat that is focused around either evasion, infiltration and misdirection; (inspirations from: Beyond Good and Evil or Metal Gear Solid style sneaking, Metroid Zero Mission's space pirate ship scene or Pac Man) or herding, taming and intimidating. (inspirations from monster training games like Pokemon or FF7s chocobos; thatgamecompany's Flower or lemmings)

Like in Sims or minecraft, building your town would likely be an important aspect in gameplay, but the emphasis would probably be on the utility of construction, and missions might stem from that utility. For example: building a post office would allow people to send letters, and as a mission, you could pick up and deliver letters to get them to their destination more quickly. However, you'd probably have to have some kind of facebook or instant runoff style system in place for determining who has permissions for making changes as a means of preventing griefers from ruining everything.

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I might not have been the best episode in my book, but it was enjoyable. It wasn't until the end brought everything to a screeching halt that I got the inkling like there maybe ought to have been something else in there to tie it all together. I like that the show has something for everyone, and this one certainly had a lot for people that are more into the wacky and zany slapstick mode than I am myself.

I've been to some awkward social gatherings before, so I can definitely relate to that feeling -albeit a bit painfully- and that's really what draws people I think. It is that sense of "I can see myself there," when you watch something you can relate to. It doesn't even have to be a situation you would ever be in yourself, just as long as you can put yourself in that position while you are watching.

For me, the dinner table... when all nine of us are sitting there, and eating together, were and are always the most special times we were shooting the show.

- Adam Baldwin said that in regards to Firefly, and it is a quote that has always stuck with me whenever I'm thinking about telling a story. You can have excitement, drama, danger and action, but it is those bits of every day life that smooth out the rough edges, grounds everything and really brings it to life.

So I guess what I felt was missing was maybe a little bit of extra connection for how the drama related to Fluttershy and Twilight. Getting banished and locked away in a dungeon was a good gag, don't get me wrong, but I couldn't help but wonder what was the the real motivation.

That being said, I really don't mind that they mix things up every now and again, at least in the sense that this is an episodic show. I think it would be a bad sign if the series got into a rut in the first season. I mean seriously, can you imagine if people judged STNG by its first season?

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Most. Awkward. Party. Ever.

Pinkie Pie must have been trying to compensate for everypony else walking on egg shells by being extra carefree. I guess that is a hidden moral of the story in this episode: don't get so worried about being perfect that you can't do anything. I know some people who could stand to learn that lesson.

I suppose since most of Twilight's experience in helping with small critters comes from taking care of Spike, she'd be more used to having to deal with stubbornness.

Luna: Nobody adores the moon like they adore your sun, it isn't fair!

Celestia: Trust me little sis, it is better that way. At least you can have fun at parties.

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The opening narration mentions that harmony is the most powerful known magic, but I'm pretty sure that implies that there are other types of magic as well. Given that there are non-unicorns that embody the elements of harmony, I suppose you might make the case that the various types of magic can be found everywhere in some amount. Perhaps when a Unicorn uses magic, she draws upon some of what is in those around her and her surroundings, and depending on what kind of magic resonates with that particular spell, it might effect its power and success?

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I noticed something of a pattern when it comes to Twilight's magic. When she's just practicing, using it as a shortcut or for selfish reasons, she often has a hard time with it and sometimes it even turns out disastrously. But when she's using her magic to help out her friends to do the right thing, she manages to pull it off, sometimes effortlessly. Perhaps this is due to the relationship between magic and friendship.

She has trouble teleporting every now and again, but when she was trying to convince Applejack to accept her help, she teleports around without breaking a sweat. She tries to fix the parasprite problem, ignoring her friend Pinkie Pie or tries to help clean up winter, ignoring her friend Applejack and things get much worse.

Perhaps that is why Trixie turned to stage magic, because she had never let true friendship into her heart. or something...