Hawki said:
I can't say I'm that fond of the opener. That said, I think it's more to do with the saccharine approach. That's part of MLP, true, but let's just say there's a reason I gravitate more towards the "wacky" episodes more than the "Twilight and/or friend(s) learn a lesson about friendship" episodes.
That aside, with this point, while it's handled clumsily, there is a precedent for this behaviour. All of the non-pony races have had iffy relations with Equestria to some extent or another in the past, with the exception of the hippogriffs. So xenophobia is something I could see existing. Naysay is a stock character with stock arguments, but it at least tries to deal with the subject.
Yeah, well so has the real world. Australia's been involved in more active conflicts in a direct fashion than any other military force of the 20th and 21st centuries. Yet lo and behold we have a FTA with both China and Japan (both countries we've gone to war with), China is practically letting Australian medtech firms to establish for profit hospitals and other direct healthcare enterprises in their domain and we're leasing out entire port systems to their companies in return.
I mean ... it's a pretty blatant sign of trust when a country gives you access to its
blood and organ supplies. Which ranks a solid '4' on my top 5 strategic reserves during a time of war.
When we went into a purely stupid conflict with North Vietnam, but lo and behold although Australia doesn't have an 'official language' Vietnamese is considered high priority for translating government documents, directives and proclamations into. On the sheer time scale of things Equestria has better neighbours than we do (or more so Australia has been an incredibly bad neighbour) ... you get over it, correct the problem, realize nothing is to be gained by it keeping ahold of manufactured hatreds.
More over it doesn't really satisfy my
adjoining complaint that despite Equestria being this fairly utopian place, it seems to let what would otherwise be
incredibly public scandals slide. I buy the idea Celestia isn't exactly 'hands on' ... but Christ, if you're going to have a benevolent dictatorial Duumvirate you might as well nudge elbows and correct
obvious problems.
I mean the Yaks show-wise recently agreed to a '1000 Moons' peace treaty, so assuming the same lunar calendar as here that's about, what? 81 years and change? Frankly it's better than what the Belgians got (or at least in the
end what they got). The worst the Hippogriffs did was pull a Switzerland when Equestria has been actively imperiled (though I would argue that the hippogriffs not warning Equestria of the threat is probably a graver diplomatic error than anything the Yaks may even possibly threaten).
About the only real groups one might be able to reason as having a grudge against is the Changelings ... but
Starlight performed extrajudicial regime change and secured that problem away for the
foreseeable future. Speaking of certain things I don't like about the show ... how they handled the changelings ...
The griffins already had students
in Equestrian schools. Such as Flight Training Camp. So quite specifically you have non-pony characters being educated by
ponies in what I can only imagine is 'EEA approved' institutions...
So even if you take the idea of some 'natural baseline animosity' you might expect some internal memo from Princess Celestia and Luna to all other departmental heads with a simple; "I'm watching you... don't fuck this up."
Granted, Celestia does seem to let a lot of things slide. Like her 'diplomat' not keeping her apprised of dangerous situations...
You had
one job, Twilight.
Eh, maybe.
Look, here's the thing. I do like MLP, even if my level of enthusiasm for it has diminished over the years (no real issue, just that at 8 seasons, it no longer has the "oomph" it once had. But let's be honest, it's still a show for kids, and as a show for kids, in a setting where the "magic of friendship" is a literal force, this isn't the kind of place that one can expect weighty themes from an adult's perspective. So, is the episode meant to be an in-depth examination of xenophobia/racism, and the sign of a shifting political/social climate within Equestria, as the races of the world come together? Is it a comment on the school system, and a critique of rigidly following guidelines? Or are these backdrop plot points to be used as a catalyst for wacky hijinks?
I'll give it this though, it does at least make sense in the context of Twilight's arc. I commented way back in the day that Twilight teaching Starlight did seem like the natural progression for her character, as she transitions from student to mentor. So taking numerous students on and doing the same thing does feel like the next logical step in her career path.
Might be I'm actually incredibly new to the herd, like about 5 months ago. But I've pored over the show, books, comic books, etc ... Single issues to all the comics. Multiple copies of each for certain ones I just needed the cover art for, and I practically preorder the fan series models themselves. I even managed to get my hands on the 2013 Comic-Con exclusive Vinyl Scratch. Lighting effects and all, and to my surprise a scratch free display case.
I still love it, to put it mildly. Either that or I have more money than sense. I find the characters charming, I like the different speeds between the comics and the show/movie. I think it's a perfectly charming still, and the characters are still delightful as ever. I will say it feels like they're wrapping things up, and I'm actually tentatively excited about
some aspects I've heard about G5 Ponies they're thinktanking.
I mean ... Ponyville already has a school and honestly Cheerilee is best teacher. Show needs more Earth pony love, and Cheerilee is already best science mare. "Learn potential energy physics, students ... by
tomorrow..." She was planning to teach them about light cones, speed, relativity and observational relationship if that blackboard was telling us anything. And apparently those colts and fillies
learnt from some of it. Celestia's school can suck it. I know where I'd send my kids, and Cheerilee's schoolhouse they use
hay as a floor material. I was singularly disappointed that there was a clear excuse to have her play a role in the starting episodes, but it never eventuated.
I think Cheerilee deserved that school grant more, don't you? Speaking from a position of having worked in education, Starlight's advice is
terrible. So Twilight already knows two good teachers. Celestia, but most importantly
Cheerilee ... who lives right around the corner. A teacher who knows what it's like to give not merely tutoring, but class instruction.
So why wouldn't you, I don't know ... maybe approach that
incredible teacher you know for pointers, or advice on how to engage with her students?
So I ... ehhh ... yeah I see the argument about Twilight's character growth, but at the same time it feels weirdly neurotic. And I get that, that's part of her character. She likes to follow written instructions, she likes lists, she likes decorum and protocol. But at the same time
surely by now she knows ponies that can help her not only meet the demands of Equestrian regulations but also how to engage her pupils?
But the show has already made jokes about Twilight's .... let's call it "Helicopter friendshipping" ... as in
Helicopter parenting but somehow creepier. It's funny, and kind of adorable, and it is a
definite character flaw that the show sort of hammers home that Twilight is kind of coming into her own in these regards. Now she knows she has this problem, and she knows she has to deal with it in her own way ... but geeze ... how often do we need that idea that Twilight needs others as a crutch rather than as a means to be better on her own?
A clear example of this was Season 7's episode
Royal Tensions (S7E10). Where arguably Twilight through her incessant need to observe, be an intelligencer, a constant lookout of her charge ... and she inevitably makes the situation
worse. Stressing Starlight out. And this was intentional on the part of the writers to hammer home that
Twilight still has 'creases' she needs to iron out. Another example would be EqG's
Forgotten Friendship special ... where we
finally got to see Sunset apologize to Celestia ... possibly something that she should have done
3 movies ago... ultimately Twilight kind of makes things worse (albeit temporarily).
I think the show has plenty of fun ideas to play around with. But I say that as a person that recently discovered it, and fell in love. Not as someone that has been watching it over a period of so many years. I remember watching the first two episodes like 5 years ago... someone told me to watch more, and by episode 7 I was thoroughly hooked. I kind of 'got it' that idea of the charm.
And I'm pretty sure that charm is still there. In spades. As you'll notice I'm giving examples majoritively of just the last season of why I think this show still has a lot of potential to create new, touching, charming storylines. But S8 is off to a kind of lackluster start. I'll still eat it all up. A lot of seasons start off as kind of ... meh? I mean
S1 starts off as
meh. Still delivers some fun moments, and some cute dialogue ... particularly between Nightmare Moon and Twilight. I think the way to approach it, at least the two starter episodes, is merely as a
springboard. "This is the set up, this is the stage, now all of those is out of the way ... time for some fun!"
But kids' shows can be nuanced. Plenty of kids' shows that have that character development, and explorations of existential angst, conflict, diminished expectation, and compromise...
I think a lot of the problem, squarely, has to do with how Hasbro has sort of ... see, there's events where Hasbro did things right, but then cracked the whip on other issues to the detriment of character development. To give you an example, frankly I'm surprised
Rules of Rarity (Canterlot Boutique, S5E14) went through without Hasbro batting an eye. It was quite obviously not only a complaint about an artist's alienation to their work due to overbearing pressures from figures outside creative production, but also how this might drive one to creative bankruptcy regardless of initial successes that drove its popularity.
And it's a
phenomenal episode.
Another example would be
The Perfect Pear (S7E13) where, holy shit ... an actual confirmation (kind of sorta, pretty much, yeah) that
Applejack and her siblings are essentially orphans. Which is a lovely touch that was only hinted at with Scootaloo about the fact that there are kids that don't have conventional families, but says nothing as to the validity of whatever family they do manage to create for themselves. Which is obvious, but it was handled
incredibly well. It's probably one of the best portrayals of an unconventional family unit and familial discord, and it's told in a really touching, loving way to handle what is both traumatic but also heroic, and very human.
Plus Day and Shatner ponies...
But the problem is we couldn't exactly have this character development or these insights into character portrayals well until Hasbro actually started relinquishing a part of the carte blanche chokechain of 'no dead ponies'.
So there are big ideas in this "kids' cartoon" ... and it's real things people encounter when they start having to pretend to be an adult.
