My Little Pony Friendship is Magic part 18: We Don't Need No Stinkin Hiatus

[Powerogue]

Brace yourselves for the last episode, boys. "The Ending of the End (Part 1)"

Or, last two episodes? "The Ending of the End (Part 2)" This time for sure.

"The Last Problem" YES, THAT ONE.

Appparently all 3 airing tomorrow?

It's a good thing I've put off buying all the comics because I can't even keep straight which ones I have from buying entirely compilations and bundles of both online and physical copies. Those'll keep me ponied for a while even after this.

[Stormspark]

They sure named the last episode right, lol.

[Dontrike]

Binge watching time!

Episode 1 - Twilight'ing - This episode had some pretty quick pacing, building up the season, the villain(s), and having a random villain doing stuff. It ends with a nice little cliffhanger that does make you want to watch the next one. I do like how they poked fun at Twilight and how previous bad guys were dealt with, finally saying the thing that we've seen since season one. It was kind of nice seeing the show be a bit self referential and acknowledging the past. Not a fan of Sombra's VA choice and Grogar's design is a bit boring.

Episode 2 - They succeed, because...well...it's Sombra - Sombra does some evil shit and and loses, 'cause he's a terrible villain, although at least he had some sort of plan. I was surprised that the team doesn't remember that they physically needed the tree or the elements to do what they do, seeing as they've kind of done that before. Discord plays along to show them this rather obvious fact, although seeing the way Fluttershy reacts probably foretells something. I'm pretty sure we saw Sombra's skeleton.

Episode 3 - Tree House - The tree asks the students to help it out and you go with the usual everyone has an idea and everyone disagrees episode. The song is okay, nothing special, and everyone learns their lesson while the tree is healed a bit. This episode is okay, nothing more.

Episode 4 - Nacho Supreme (A.K.A. The totally not shitty Spike episode) - The fucking geese are the true monsters. This was a completely great idea for an episode. Not only was it some sibling rivalry and gave us some nice character interaction and a heist plot was a nice little twist. The ending is appropriate and menacingly petting a goose is funny. This was a very enjoyable episode.

Episode 5 - Twilight'ing Except With a Book - Twilight forgot a library book to return after the first episode.....and that's it. The whole thing is her freaking out, finding the person she thinks she wronged, and learns not to try and be perfect. We've all seen this kind of episode before and it was enjoyable enough.

Episode 6 - I'm Gonna Learn Ya How to Play Buckball - Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Snails are going to play a championship game of Buckball! And you know what that means? It's time for Rainbow Dash to give dating advice to Patton Osswalt!.....wait....what? Yep, that's where the episode goes and it's a little boring. There's plenty that have had this scenario before, trying to be with someone that also has a kid, but this episode is a little boring.

Episode 7 - Untitled Yak Pun - It's more "dating advice" time! Sort of weird to have two of these kinds of episodes in a row and therefore Rainbow DAsh not just going "no, wait, I just went through this." It's the usual "be yourself" style of lesson, which makes it slightly worse when we just went through that in the last episode. It's not a bad episode, but back to back takes a bit of the wind of of this episode's sails.

Episode 8 - F.R.I.E.N.D.S (5 claps) - Baddies get to know each other while on their ski trip to find an evil artifact for the Blue Goat Group. This was an enjoyable episode as you see the various personalities clash and get to know each other. The song is really catchy too.

Episode 9 - This message brought to you by bongos - Here we go with another "be yourself" message that is a little pushed at the end to make it the reason why it saves the day. Basically another weak Spike episode for the most part. Nothing terrible about it, but definitely a more forgettable episode. Three episodes of "be yourself" in the first ten seems a bit much.

Episode 10 - Witty Pun I can't think of - It's harvest time and Applebloom wants to catch a farmers myth. Applejack has issues, but eventually joins. The couple of lessons here are good to know and the episode is fun enough. If you've worked hours like Big Mac you can easily understand his pain.

Episode 11 - Maud is Horny when Boyfriend is Stoned - It's time for another work balance episode where Starlight learns that she doesn't have to be available at all times of day for the students. Maud steals the spotlight whenever she says anything, like usual. A great episode, actually.

Episode 12 - Moving Sucks - It's time to meet someone's parents+ and they want to make them move. The usual moving emotions happens, because moving can BURN IN HELL. It's a sweet little episode.

Episode 13 - Ultra Sun & Moon - Episodes with Celestia and Luna are great, since this is basically the second or third one we've gotten. Seeing them actually act like their own people is always welcome. All the while Twilight is learning a lesson that she learned from earlier in the season....so that's fun. Seems like this episode would have been better without the B plot of a swan party. Emo-Celestia and 80's Luna are great little designs, also Celestia is afraid of chickens. Weird, but any extra character stuff for those two are welcome, what with so little there is.

Episode 14 - Prankovic - There's a great lesson in here, about sometimes losing your way while trying to do something greater and sometimes going simpler is the way to go, plus some purpose finding sprinkled in there to boot. Weird Al is always a treat, although the song was a bit weaker. Still an overall good episode.

Episode 15 - I'm Gonna Learn Ya How to Play Buckball 2: NEVER! Tell! Your Parents! - Rainbow Dash has to do something that she's not a fan of, in this case teaching a group how to be cheerleaders. It's a usual episode like this, we've seen this one before. Nothing much to see here.

Episode 16 - Twilight'ing 3: A-Fucking-Gain!? - Twilight wants to win a trivia contest and is teamed up with Pinkie. Shenanigans ensue. Twilight is a bitch. This one is kind of worse than the library book one. Also, three times with the same general idea? Really?

Episode 17 - That Gang Tries to Stop Twilight'ing - It's the last holiday for Luna & Celestia and while things were going right they suddenly don't. The gang tries to stop Twilight from freaking and for once she doesn't, it just took her three full episodes this season and many before it for that to stop. There's a dumb little lesson at the end where the gang goes "We should have listened to you, Twilight, when you said you changed from that habit" only because if it wasn't the literal previous episode then perhaps they wouldn't have not believed her. Much like Discord says in this one "Character growth can be so boring" and this episode is a little bit.

Remember when Twilight had an owl?

Episode 18 - The Keys are in the Elephant that's in the Snake (Also a rabbit's in a horse) - The normal Freaky Friday kind of plot, but it is just enough to keep you interested in what is going on.

Episode 19 - Jealous PILF - This is a nice little episode, even if Rarity is kind of a bitch. A nice little lesson in it and we get classic obsessed Rarity, which is nice after all of the crazy Twilight episodes this season.

[Flutterguy]

It's been quite a ride.

[Dontrike]

Time for some more binge watching to finish it off.

Episode 20 - Phyllis NO! - Starlight is going to get bumped up to leading the school and needs to find some help. It's the usual "can't tell friend they are bad" plot, but this was just enjoyable enough to not feel rehashed. The ending doesn't feel forced in who Starlight chooses at the end and the last joke of the episode definitely got a laugh out of me. One of the better episodes of the season, but a more average episode overall.

Episode 21 - Sides of the Story - This was a rather enjoyable episode. It looked like a "bad guy does the same thing, just to upstage someone" but it really turns into a nice moral about seeing the different sides of any story, even in books. A nice episode.

Rainbow Roadtrip Special - Movie quality animation, that's a nice start. So Rainbow Dash is invited to a festival and the town they head to is greyed out. The metaphor for the grey being for how the town is being colder and grown apart is something we've seen in various other shows and movies isn't anything new. The town having a sort of Minnesota accent thorughout is charming and the small characteristics of some of the ponies is interesting, like one having an artificial leg.

The two songs in the special are nice in their own rights, one solemn and one more up beat, although I feel the second one could have been a bit more grand.

Overall the special was rather nice, had a nice moral, and the side characters were entertaining. I quite enjoyed it.

Episode 22 - Underaged - The CMC wants to grow up and magical shenanigans happen to make it so, so they do everything they were told not to, have a bit of fun, and then more shenanigans happens that teaches them the lesson of growing up proper is the way to go. The song in this episode was catchy enough and this isn't the worst CMC episode.

Episode 23 - Big Mac's x Taco Bell - Someone's getting married and dating shenanigans happen with Office esque cutaways. This epeisode was pretty cute with Big Mac and Sugar Bell trying to do things right.

Episode 24 - Fuck! It's Ending - Boy is it easy to make ponies racist. It's villain time in the climax of the season and the end of the series. The surprise of how things were set up throughout the season is a tad lame, but that doesn't mean you don't feel the threat that the Villains 3 are throwing out there. I feel if it was Discord trying to make the villains work together in an attempt to do what Fluttershy, by teaching them friendship by working together, did for him it would have been more appropriate and therefore his "good nature'd plan" would have been at least something, rather than just trying to do something for Twilight.

Episode 25 - Fucking Fuck! It's Still Ending! - Twilight loves to turn into a drama princess at every single thing, and this turn sort of felt like what she did in the movie. There's a random Pinkie and the Brain reference. The battle comes to an end after the last and this season reminds us about the power of friendship. An appropriate ending for the villains as well.

Episode 26 - I Promised I Wouldn't Cry - Time skip! Lots of spoilers for this one.

Stained glass has some interesting things in them. The students battling some big lizard. Flurry Heart grown up.

Twilight worrying about friendships ending is something I think we can all relate to. I know I've felt down about this thread ending eventually. Moving and life changing in general is always a pain to deal with, heavens know I still don't deal with that kind of stuff well.

Pinkie gets with Weird Al. Aj and RD end up together. Fluttershy and Discord. Maybe Spike and Rarity (this one's hard to tell.)

In the end we learn just how we started. That friendships change, friendships don't say the same, and some don't last, but that friendship grows and so do we.

I'd like to thank those that were with us, those are no longer with us (in the thread and in other ways), and those that are still here for the last 8 years. I met some cool people, did some sweet things, had relationships start and end, jobs came and went, but this place was always here. We all may not be here together, some may actually hate this place, but to say this place didn't impact me would a huge fucking lie.

I wish I knew of the discord channel to tell those people there too, even if they don't care about this anymore.

I don't know what happens after the show ends for us here or for us outside in the world, but I know I am actually looking forward to it all.

Thanks for being here and sharing the magic of friendship with me.

- - - Updated - - -

It's been quite a ride.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/InOcWbo.jpg[/im]

That it was. I'm glad for every moment.

- - - Updated - - -

Nah I'm ok with that. I just found the epilogue...extremely distasteful and out of character and EXTREMELY forced. And since there are a few things in there that just come out of nowhere, they did some REALLY BAD foreshadowing earlier in the season I guess so fewer people would say "what the fuck". It's a textbook example of how NOT to do foreshadowing. I was originally going to watch the rest of the season and just skip the last episode, but then I saw bad foreshadowing in a couple of the episodes and I was like nope, I'm done. Season 9 (with the exception of a couple of good slice of life pre-hiatus episodes that don't connect to the main arc) chucked in the bin.

With the show ending there really wasn't any fanfiction moment and honestly no real foreshadowing to speak of that you can really point at and go "See! Right there".

It was a weaker season overall. If I remembered enough of season's six through eight I could say this isn't the worst season, but I'm safe in saying that it isn't the worst. Definitely not many great episodes I will admit.

[Very Tired]

Wait. There's an episode 26? Totally missed that.

[Powerogue]

Discord is an idiot. I also was expecting "I thought getting them together to pummel you would teach them the magic of friendship and all that jazz! I'd redeem 4 villains in one arc. I'd be so beloved maybe they'd make ME a princess then!" Definitely would've been better.

Outside of that I had fun. It's not common for a show to manage to go on this long, let alone avoid having too much seasonal rot over time (looking at you Spongebob/Fairly Odd Parents!) It says something that I kept somewhat hoping for the show to end on a new season just because I thought it wrapped up nicely and I was worried it'd fall apart from there.

Thank you all for sharing that magic of friendship with me. Looking back, I was in a pretty dark place when this thread started, but I've grown up and learned to trust people again. I can't believe it's been so long, but I wouldn't trade a minute of it for the world.

The book may be closed, but the memories of it will last.

[Very Tired]

Well now I'm just sad.

[BloodyAngel12]

I miss all the people that used to come here.

[Gutler]

I miss all the people that used to come here.

Discord is a hell of a drug...

[BloodyAngel12]

[Stormspark]

Discord is a hell of a drug...

I honestly don't know how I ever managed without Discord. I remember using IRC and a single chat program that worked on like 5 services.

[Dontrike]

I miss all the people that used to come here.

You and me both. Have to wonder who just isn't with us anymore, in a different sense.

[Powerogue]

On a lighter note, binging catch-up comics has been great. Reading a holiday special right now.

[Rokom]

Horse-news posted this parody of Baz Lurmann's Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen a while back, and it seems fitting to post it here for this weekend (some bits edited for profanity)

Bronies and Horsefriends near the dawn of Season 9:

Wear. Deodorant.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, deodorant would be it.
The social benefits of deodorant have been proven by normies, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience...
I will dispense this advice now.


Enjoy the power and magic of friendship; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and magic of your friendships until they've faded.

But trust me, in 20 years we'll look back at photos of convemtions and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before us and how ridiculous we really looked...
You're not as fat as you Imagine.

Don't worry about the future of the fandom, or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to keep the show alive by making an online petition.
The real legacy of the fandom lies in the hearts and minds of the fans.
The kind that will still hum the Smile song at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Read one fanfic everyday that scares you.

Sing..

Don't be an asshole on other people's twitters, don't put up with people who are assholes on yours.

Draw.

Don't waste your time on jealousy;
Sometimes you're ahead,
Sometimes You're behind.
The ride is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults;
If you Succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old fanfics, throw away your bad OCs.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your
Life.
The most interesting bronies I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year old fans I know still don't.

Get plenty of sleep.

Be kind to your fan sites, you'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't, maybe its all over next year, maybe we'll dance badly to Discord at the 25th Bronycon anniversary.

Whatever you do, don't Congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either.
Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's.

Enjoy the ride. Enjoy it every way you can... Don't be ashamed of it, or what other people Think of it,
It's the greatest experience we'll ever have...

Dance... even if you have nowhere to do it but in a convention hotel room.

Read the staff twitters even if you don't follow them.

Do NOT read children's magazines, they will only make you feel awkward.

Brother and sister together we'll make it through
Someday your spirit will take you and guide you there
I know you've been hurting, but I've been waiting to be there
For you.
And I'll be there, just tell me now, whenever I can.
Everybody's free.

Get to know your online friends, you never know when they'll be gone for good.

Be nice to your chatrooms;
They are the best link to your past and the people most likely to talk with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Go to cons in Baltimore Maryland once, but leave before it makes you hard ;
Go to cons in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, the show will end, the horsefamous will have scandals, you too will move on, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were on the ride, the show seemed eternal, bronies were noble and furries washed their fursuits

Wash YOUR fursuit.

Don't expect anyone else to continue.
Maybe there will be fanart, Maybe there will be videos; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don't think too much about the length of the ride, or by the time you're 40, you will feel 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the deodorant...

[isi]

wow... so much thread activity

[Dontrike]

wow... so much thread activity

That'll happen when the show ends.

Just have to wait for the next generation now.

[Powerogue]

That'll happen when the show ends.

Just have to wait for the next generation now.

Any day now!

(or apparently there's going to be a "season 10" comic series so that could be interesting.)

It's pretty nuts just how many comics there are. https://mlp.fandom.com/wiki/IDW_comics

[Pendulous]

Is Equestria Girls continuing? I actually have watched parts of that recently.

[Powerogue]

Is Equestria Girls continuing? I actually have watched parts of that recently.

The most recent thing seems to have been "Sunset's Backstage Pass" but I still can't keep track of how many mini things they've made. https://mlp.fandom.com/wiki/My_Littl...ls_(franchise)

I'd assume with the team disassembled following the end of S9 production of that has stopped as well.