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

[Powerogue]

Managed to finish Steven Universe Future. It had some rocky moments but I think they nailed the ending few episodes. You know it's good when I had to stop a few times and just reflect on stuff. Reminded me of the first time I watched "Mindful Education" and it got me to think on mistakes/regrets/shames I was clinging onto from the past.

[Dontrike]

Managed to finish Steven Universe Future. It had some rocky moments but I think they nailed the ending few episodes. You know it's good when I had to stop a few times and just reflect on stuff. Reminded me of the first time I watched "Mindful Education" and it got me to think on mistakes/regrets/shames I was clinging onto from the past.

[video=youtube;dHg50mdODFM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHg50mdODFM[/vido]

I think the final episodes were fine, but I did have some thoughts.

The entire last four episodes are under the guise of Steven being angry at himself because of how he thinks and how he killed Jasper. This I find rather strange as the thoughts of harm are only shown as he is trying to get help from the Diamonds. I think with this they boiled down his thoughts a bit too far. Really his issue was the usual teenager/human stuff that we've all gone through at least once in our lives; unsure of where we're going, who we really are, tackling things in the past that we now have knew information about.

Most of the final season is him coming to grips with him no longer needing to be the hero everyone needs him to be and now he gets to choose and as he is now ready to do so many of those around him are leaving and doing things while he's still struggling with the idea of who he really is, what he wants, and what happened in the past. Really you can call that "teenage angst", which it was a tad grating as Steven was learning mostly the same lesson repeatedly and we sat through the same "Everything's fine, don't worry" that we all went through as teens, for one reason or another.

Him turning himself into a monster was something we have seen him do before, like almost aging himself to death, so it makes sense, but for him to believe he's such a monster does seem a bit of a leap. I can certainly relate to Steven in this regard, I still think myself a terrible person after having hit my mother towards the end of her sickness. (Various personal stuff here that isn't necessary to read.)Times were rough and my anger and stress hit peaks near the end. It wasn't daily, but the few times it did happen has really put a nice shadow over my head. I stayed to watch and take care of her and in the end I did the opposite of that. Was it right for me that I did that? Absolutely not. However she did the same far more often while I was growing up and while I was taking care of her. My father told me that she tried to kill me when I was an infant and she tried pushing me down the stairs a couple of times, that's not to mention her smacking my testicles and hitting me with her cane and walker just because I wouldn't top off her drink she only took one sip of. With that I wonder if maybe I was karma doing against her, but really in the end it still wasn't right.

This was also true with the previous Pearl episode. It really made me think just how often I made excuses for my mother after she would hit me or my brother. I don't think I did, but it's possible I thought it was okay.

He has similar thoughts, of wanting to hurt others and letting go for the first time ends horribly for him. Problem though is that some of it kind of comes out of nowhere and would have been far better had they explored that throughout the season, perhaps even reordered some episodes. For instance with Jasper's death had it happened early on in the season and Steven had held that in it would have more explained that idea of hating himself for it, but since it happens literally just before he goes to ask for help it doesn't feel as warranted as the show makes it out to be. That's true as well with the anger towards The Diamonds as we never actually see him hate or be angry when talking about them all that much it kind of comes out of nowhere. Yes, it's true he has feelings about his past he's still dealing with because we are not seeing it feels a little random.

What takes the randomness further is because a lot of what he is feeling is normal teenager/young adult/coming of age issues it feels strange to relate his diamond powers to anger rather than fear. He's afraid of losing people, not knowing what to do, of life, and of the future. He's scared and yet the pink glowing tends to be the anger of being unable to properly communicate what he is going through, which it is odd that he's so adamant on not doing that as we can see a lot of his issues would have been far better talked through. Of course we as teens and humans don't always do that and we can see why he does so as well. It's just a little strange that they used the glowing for anger rather than the confusion and fear he is going through instead.

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With that said the last episode is a bit annoying. The whole cliche of "we didn't want you to feel bad so we didn't express our emotions" was a bit of a slog. One thing that oddly stuck out was the Jasper bit, her saying "but who's going to protect you" felt strange because we had not yet seen her want to take care of Steven outside of her thinking of him as her Diamond after she died. An episode of those two actually connecting in that regard would have helped a bit there.

Overall the season was not bad, the new characters were a bit fun, the way the characters and the town had changed was enjoyable. Seemed like a lot of the characters kind of took a back seat to Steven's issues, which was a shame but only because Steven's issue was the same throughout the whole season, a a couple of story threads went nowhere. That other Lapis coming in was suddenly forgotten about, which is weird as when she showed up at the end of the episode there was an ominous music tone to it.

I think the other Pearl episode also was a bit of an issue. We kept hearing so much about what Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond did. Without seeing a lot of it as they continued to add more and more for this character it oddly felt like too much. This also was the case as Steven just kept attaining newer and newer abilities. Since we never truly met Rose the writers were allowed to keep adding to the character it seemed like a "clever" writer's attempt at being allowed to do whatever they want. That only opens up the question of what Rose, and even the Diamonds, could actually do. Steven can do normal gem stuff, shapeshifting, fusion, and summon a weapon, but then he can also heal everything, float, increase weight, near fly, read minds, transmit thoughts and feelings, super speed at slow motion levels, super strength, create life, and can even raise the dead. At this point the question really becomes what can't he do? We barely know much about what Diamonds can do and I'm sure if the seasons rolled on Steven's abilities would have only increased.

This episode also has a pretty big problem in the "show, don't tell" area. We are showed that Rose was abusive at one point in time, but that doesn't seem to fit with anything we've seen about her character. While I can relate to being abused, this does come out of nowhere, and that's another issue with not knowing Rose as a character. We are only told who she was and it doesn't seem to add up when you think about it even for a bit.

The episode where Steven learns more of his human family was a bit of an odd one. While I do understand this is the point where Steven wonders how his life could have been and feels like he missed out not having a normal life I find the whole episode a bit forced. He doesn't understand a life of strict living and kind of forgets that he wasn't normal and for the most part probably couldn't have done a lot of it. His parents came from strict living, in one way or another, and I can see why they thought freedom was the best. Yes, how his dad came across the last name and doesn't understand the basics of child rearing, even after so many years, is definitely on him, but I honestly thought Steven came across in the wrong here, even if I can relate to him hating how he missed things (that happened to me as well), but to flip the van over in anger is just....wow. This goes further when Steven is put off by the idea of finding himself, like his Dad did, by roaming around and at the end of the season he literally does that.

I will say I find the intro to the show odd in one spot; the villain shot. Jasper, the other Lapis, and the fusion aren't really villains since Jasper is in no way a villain in the season, the twins are there for one episode and their story thread forgotten about, and the fusion is in one episode. It is rather smart to show off the Steven Cactus, a Steven controlled White Diamond, and even Monster Steven. It feels like if they wanted to push the "Steven believes himself to be a horrible person" it would have been better to have his taller version against Jasper in there as well as a shadow, at least then it would have fit more into the theme that they were trying to build at the end of the season.

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The show overall was definitely a success on a few angles. It took a nice look at LGBTQ themes and stories, great characters, animation was fluid, voice acting was top notch, and it had no problem showing other stories and themes throughout its run time. The show was great and it certainly had its ups and downs, both in quality of the show and the emotions that you could feel from it. It's fanbase was certainly hit or miss with many things, but honestly that seems to be the case a lot over the last decade.

I'm certainly glad this show got its shot to be a real thing. I remember seeing the pilot long before the show came out. While I think the final season needed another episode or two to explore a bit more of what it was trying to portray the shows quality is top notch. I'm glad I watched it throughout the whole thing.

I'm sure there will be either a spinoff show or in another 3-5 years we'll get another sequel season to see how things have gone after another time skip. Wouldn't surprise me to get a situation where the Diamonds go "Hey, um, a lot of our first experiments at the farthest reaches of the universe are running amok" or of course placing another show into the Little Homeschool and exploring how gems interact with the town.

[Powerogue]

I think the final episodes were fine, but I did have some thoughts.

"Here comes a thought" is right, that was quite the essay. :P But I did read all of it.

On the note of other non-MLP shows during this indefinite haitus/quarantine, I've also been watching:
*Infinity Train (2 seasons)
*Owl House (1 season)
*Ducktales (reboot) (3 seasons)
*Amphibia (1 season)
*She-Ra and the Princesses of Power(4 seasons, really looking forward to the 5th and finale)
*The Dragon Prince (3 seasons)

[Dontrike]

"Here comes a thought" is right, that was quite the essay. :P But I did read all of it.

On the note of other non-MLP shows during this indefinite haitus/quarantine, I've also been watching:
*Infinity Train (2 seasons)
*Owl House (1 season)
*Ducktales (reboot) (3 seasons)
*Amphibia (1 season)
*She-Ra and the Princesses of Power(4 seasons, really looking forward to the 5th and finale)
*The Dragon Prince (3 seasons)

I haven't seen much of Ducktales, although what I did see was good, and only three seasons of She-Ra (that first season is not very good).

The essay was necessary, I haven't been able to talk to anyone about Steven Universe for a while, especially during this quarantine. Thanks for going through all of that.

[Pendulous]

I'm watching a mid-2000's anime called Big Windup. I've had sports anime on my mind ever since I watched Haikyuu and loved it, and rewatched Chihayafuru and loved it more than the first time. Been good so far. A little slow moving though, they spent like five episodes on a practice game. I really like the dynamic between the two main characters too, but I'd like to see more from the rest of the cast (notably, the badas coach who seems to not do much outside calling plays during games). Also just been rewatching a lot of stuff since the current anime season is almost a bust with so much being delayed.

[Dontrike]

I'm watching a mid-2000's anime called Big Windup. I've had sports anime on my mind ever since I watched Haikyuu and loved it, and rewatched Chihayafuru and loved it more than the first time. Been good so far. A little slow moving though, they spent like five episodes on a practice game. I really like the dynamic between the two main characters too, but I'd like to see more from the rest of the cast (notably, the badas coach who seems to not do much outside calling plays during games). Also just been rewatching a lot of stuff since the current anime season is almost a bust with so much being delayed.

If you're looking for other stuff I can suggest Food Wars (Shokugeki No Soma) and Demon Slayer (Kumetso No Yaiba). Both adaptations of course, but they are very well done. If you're looking to just burn away the time with what you have you also have access to anime like One Piece, something that might end up taking you a few months to watch fully, although the pacing in the anime goes to shit after 2D2Y.

[Pendulous]

If you're looking for other stuff I can suggest Food Wars (Shokugeki No Soma) and Demon Slayer (Kumetso No Yaiba). Both adaptations of course, but they are very well done. If you're looking to just burn away the time with what you have you also have access to anime like One Piece, something that might end up taking you a few months to watch fully, although the pacing in the anime goes to shit after 2D2Y.

Nah, I got a ton of backlog. I tried Food Wars a couple times, couldn't get into it. But I've felt so unmotivated lately to go through it, even with the extra time and actually enjoying what I'm watching.

[Dontrike]

Nah, I got a ton of backlog. I tried Food Wars a couple times, couldn't get into it. But I've felt so unmotivated lately to go through it, even with the extra time and actually enjoying what I'm watching.

Understandable, even now I know there are things I want to do or could do, but I don't. After a few weeks of this that boredom definitely set in.

[Powerogue]

If you're looking for other stuff I can suggest Food Wars (Shokugeki No Soma) and Demon Slayer (Kumetso No Yaiba). Both adaptations of course, but they are very well done. If you're looking to just burn away the time with what you have you also have access to anime like One Piece, something that might end up taking you a few months to watch fully, although the pacing in the anime goes to shit after 2D2Y.

Food Wars seems like a lot of fun but definitely an anime to watch with headphones.

[Dontrike]

Food Wars seems like a lot of fun but definitely an anime to watch with headphones.

[video=youtube;31xEdSnFvrQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31xEdSnFvrQ[/vieo]

No doubt about that, the show is essentially that orgasm cake scene from Matrix 2 without all of the incredibly stupid philosophy in it.

[Pendulous]

The closest thing to food porn I've seen is Koufuku Grafitti, and Yuru Camp which is one of my favorite shows. Although it's largely about the aesthetics. beautiful nature and music to complement.

[Theklocko]

Been a hot minute since I've been around these parts, sup everyone.

[Powerogue]

Been a hot minute since I've been around these parts, sup everyone.

Yarrr, these parts be a desert as of late, laddie. IDK if the season 10 comic series will spike interest. Hearing something on EqD about a "Friendship Forever" series but I still don't know what that is only that it's premiering in Australia for some reason.

On the note of the prior post on other shows I had been watching I noticed on top of the first episode of Ducktales on Youtube, they also put the entire Della arc as a supercut up, which was one of my favorite parts of a consistently incredible show. So if you've got an hour to kill, it's not pirating if it's on the official channel!:

[Theklocko]

Yarrr, these parts be a desert as of late, laddie. IDK if the season 10 comic series will spike interest. Hearing something on EqD about a "Friendship Forever" series but I still don't know what that is only that it's premiering in Australia for some reason.

Lol yeah, I've noticed that. I've peaked my head in here and lurked a bit over time but not for too long at any given point.

[BloodyAngel12]

This place is the Jundland wastes but with less Tusken Raiders.

[Stormspark]

They just put up issue 88 on my comic download site, so that completes my collection. Issue 89 and later, and the upcoming clip shows are a hard pass for me.

[Dontrike]

Yarrr, these parts be a desert as of late, laddie. IDK if the season 10 comic series will spike interest. Hearing something on EqD about a "Friendship Forever" series but I still don't know what that is only that it's premiering in Australia for some reason.

On the note of the prior post on other shows I had been watching I noticed on top of the first episode of Ducktales on Youtube, they also put the entire Della arc as a supercut up, which was one of my favorite parts of a consistently incredible show. So if you've got an hour to kill, it's not pirating if it's on the official channel!:

[video=youtube;by5wBY3nGPg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by5wBY3nGPg&t=503s[/vido]

One of the great things they did right with Ducktales is putting out a lot of the show on Youtube, helps bring viewers to television to watch it as it came out.

They just put up issue 88 on my comic download site, so that completes my collection. Issue 89 and later, and the upcoming clip shows are a hard pass for me.

I still don't get your hatred for the ending of the show. My biggest issue is that it played it too safe, albeit it understandably so as almost everything ended how I thought it would, and that it could have done with a second episode for the finale.

[Dontrike]

Welp, I won't be going back to work for the foreseeable future. Still get paid. Unfortunately that means being in the house with some housemates that I hate and need to get out of here. From my count one owes like $7000 in rent, another $600, and both don't have jobs right now.

I need to get my friend in my house soon, I can't take this kind of thing for another year.

[Pendulous]

Welp, I won't be going back to work for the foreseeable future. Still get paid. Unfortunately that means being in the house with some housemates that I hate and need to get out of here. From my count one owes like $7000 in rent, another $600, and both don't have jobs right now.

I need to get my friend in my house soon, I can't take this kind of thing for another year.

I'm guessing you don't have the authority to remove them?

[Very Tired]

Quick question for anyone, haven't seen this problem on MMO-champ before. Can anyone go to the last page 296 in the Fallout 76 thread? For some reason it keeps on redirecting me to page 279 and I can't go any further.

https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...out-76/page296