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

[Powerogue]

Finally, an actual trailer!

Different tone, but seeing it in action finally, I'll give it a watch.
Pony: THIS ISN'T MY KID! D: had me rolling. Also I think they're implying this is either far future or alternate universe but there are FIM references in it.

[Pendulous]

Huh, ok. Didn't realize it was just a movie, and was produced by Netflix.

[Dontrike]

Huh, ok. Didn't realize it was just a movie, and was produced by Netflix.

It's also going to be a show, pretty sure it will also be CG

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

Finally, an actual trailer!

Different tone, but seeing it in action finally, I'll give it a watch.
Pony: THIS ISN'T MY KID! D: had me rolling. Also I think they're implying this is either far future or alternate universe but there are FIM references in it.

Honestly the things that stick out to me are this. I'm not a fan of the faces, don't know why, but the way they contort just seems off to me, and the celebrity voices are weaker than the voice acting we had for G4.

I believe your spoiler is in fact correct, though that makes you wonder if the G4 Mane 6 in the background is just an easter egg or means something else.

[Dontrike]

Finished the 3rd draft of my book, decided to take a character out and leave their story for another book, at least in this one. Equaled taking 40 pages and 22,000 words out.

I will probably have to make a 4th draft with some of the changes I made and minus some others, just to see how it reads in either version.

[Dontrike]

Didn't know those little dog things had wings, for some odd reason that makes it perfect.

[Dontrike]

Looks like we have a bit of details about where the movie/show will be located.

[Dontrike]

Well that's fucking fun. Did a little searching and found crack in my step-brother's room. Don't know if I mentioned this the past 7 months he moved back in after getting out of jail, getting sober, and moving out of his mothers (and this is his father's place). So lo and behold I found some nice white powder in a tray with a straw next to it and a small baggy of "rocks" under it.

I am in no way fucking surprised and it definitely adds up with more of his attitude lately. Now I just have to wonder how to break it to my step-dad in a way that might get my step-brother out of here.

[Powerogue]

Another preview clip for the G5 movie, definitely a new vibe from it but they're selling me on it bit by bit, some great gags in this one.

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Did a little searching and found crack in my step-brother's room..

Yeah I have no words besides good luck with that. o_O Makes me feel lucky my family only ever had that one distant cousin that got brought up out of thankfulness none of us turned out like that.

[Dontrike]

[video=youtube;gfeij6tjJyU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfeij6tjJyU[/vido]

I look forward to watching it, will probably have to get Netflix just for a month to see it, 'cause a guy like me going to see a movie like that solo will put me on a list.

Yeah I have no words besides good luck with that. o_O Makes me feel lucky my family only ever had that one distant cousin that got brought up out of thankfulness none of us turned out like that.

We'll see what happens. My step-dad seems to be hit hard by this, but he's been known to protect his son (my step-brother) like nothing I've ever seen, it's amazing how far he takes it. I showed my step-dad the pictures and another person confirmed it was at least cocaine, likely meth in addition.

All I can do is see what happens. I hope at the very least he gets out of this house, it will be peaceful again, and I can shove my bike in that area and make it a stationary bike and work out a bit. I doubt it's even a 50/50 chance of him getting out, that's how much my step-dad protects him.

Hopefully I can also, at the same time, make the other guy here start paying actual rent, but I doubt that will happen.



After that book wise things are going somewhat smooth, choosing between a 3rd and 4th draft (one excludes a character). After this I'll run it through something like Grammarly and in the mean time start looking for folks to review it and maybe give it to publishers and see where that takes me.

[Powerogue]

Finally got back from watching Generation 5's movie....

I loved it.

LOVED it.

They did good. I got used to the new artstyle fairly quickly. It's new, it's different, but it brings everything to the table that I wanted. Fun characters, quality animation and musical design, great jokes with the ability to get emotional when it needs to.

I want a full series.

And apparently I'm not alone!



(And a side-note for anyone going "hmm, not sure if I want to get Netflix for just one show," Avatar: The Last Airbender, Legend of Korra, The Dragon Prince, Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts, Centaurworld, She-Ra, Carmen Sandiego, Hilda, and Little Witch Academia all get my stamp of approval. I was busy in the post-G4 haitus!)

Think we can get Pendulous to start a new thread? Even with technically one "episode" I think it's high time.

[Dontrike]

So I watched the movie three times in the first day. The 2nd time I was practically urged to do so, that's how much fun I had with the movie, the 3rd was to notice the smaller things.

First, let me say that this is easily far better than the FIM movie. Where that felt like a giant toy commercial this actually felt like a movie. With that let's look at each section.

Characters - I liked them, Izzy is probably the best, felt like a more even Pinkie, and Sunny is great as the more or less moral and inspirational center of the group. Zip and Pip are enjoyable, though the later gets very few lines and kind of doesn't do anything once joining the group. Hitch is the nice foil to Sunny at first and feels more like the realistic character of the group that, while a little quick, sees that he was wrong with his racism.

I like how, outside of unicorns, we had one character actually want to be on the adventure while another was more apprehensive.

The only problems I'd say is the villain. They weren't Storm King levels of bad, and this one at least had a build up it was definitely a little lame. Honestly, I kind of expected the villain to instead be the corporation owner, seemed like that's how it was building at first so there's some points of ruining expectations.

Voice cast - Thanks to the the Mario cast being announced just before I saw this I thought I was going to not enjoy the usual celebrity voices, most of whom I do not know outside of Phil LaMarr, at least just by listening to them. Liza Koshy definitely knocked it out of the park as Izzy, so much I had no idea that it was her (I only know her from when they brought back Double Dare this past year.)

Makes me wonder how they show will sound when that comes out.

With that said I don't look forward to Mario even more now that I know the cast. I mean Christ Pratt as Mario? Jack Black as Bowser? Are....are they kidding?

Story/Plot - This worked quite well. Yes, we sort of saw the "ponies are racist to ponies" thing in G4 a couple of times, but those barely lasted longer than half an episode and it had no time to breathe. This worked it in well and, while a bit quick, the characters do get over their racism, notably Hitch when he starts actually talking with Izzy and stop being a bit of a grump.

With the mystery of "How did it get like this" hanging in the air for those who watched G4 you sort of expect at least a little bit of a tease, but you don't get that. There's a lot of questions in the air for those that liked G4 and with putting G5 so far away from G4 this movie definitely felt familiar, but different enough with its own story.

I like how there are plenty of "nope, doesn't work that way" moments, though one is unnecessary.

I appreciate the actual world building we got here. Was it a lot? Not really, at least compared to other series like Avatar or One Piece, but this G5 movie is a FUCK LOAD better in world building than the entirety of G4.

Music - Outside of the more modern stuff in a couple of moments the songs were great and fairly memorable, even the villain's song was catchy and reminded me when Disney actually paid attention to villains. All but one song is worked into the movie well with that singular song just cutting away to it randomly. "Fit Right In" is easily the best song, though I wasn't a huge fan of the genre change in the middle of it, but that's me personally.

What did I not like? - I wasn't a huge fan of the pegasus city being nothing but references. Thankfully, none of them are in your face, outside of a quick 10 second joke and background stuff, but it wasn't for me.

The villain was a bit lame as I mentioned before.

There are a few moments that kind of don't go anywhere. Zip saying "don't tell anyone I'm here" was a big ".....Why?" It wasn't explained. Another was near the end with that pedestal in the light house that does a thing that looks like it's important and yet does nothing and yeah it earns a good messing with expectations, but it really did nothing.

The biggest problem I have is definitely the ending in general. While I get it's a kids movie it would have been nice if the villain and the action taking place were about 10-15% more aggressive. While I can get past that, it's no big, the largest problem is the last three minutes when the crystals pseudo make Sunny an alicorn and everyone knows how to use magic and fly right off the bat. The Sunny alicorn thing is definitely the worst though, feels like that could have been saved or just not used. Honestly, I think that's the first huge mistake G4 made by doing that to Twilight so early.



Ending - With that said the movie is largely enjoyable, likely even if you are not into MLP or G4. I'd definitely say it's a 7/10 if you're dragged there, and 8.5/10 if you're into the franchise or G4. I certainly look forward to the show and also the mystery of how things got this way and where the various ageless characters from G4 went to.


Now, finally, I can finally do a bit of theorizing, but only a small one. I am sure that the pegasus queen actually might know more about history and why some things may be the way they are. I come to this conclusion by her wanting to take Sunny's book. I don't think it was to protect the lie of her country, but instead she noticed the symbol on the book and thought it meant more.

My other theory is that eventually 5/6ths of the Mane 6 ended up passing on, as time does that, and with that Twilight's thoughts on friendship as ruling took over made things awkward after that next generation finale of G4. How that meant Twilight, Luna, Celestia, and Discord (plus various other villains) that were/are ageless disappeared who knows.

[Powerogue]

So I watched the movie three times in the first day. The 2nd time I was practically urged to do so, that's how much fun I had with the movie, the 3rd was to notice the smaller things.

Fair discussion all around. Two things that came to mind after the fact (and after rewatching the songs like 6 times each, so catchy) were:
* With the plot of the movie pretty much resolved, where will they take the show?
* With the MLP G4 movie being a designed-up version for movie release, would they change the animation style to something cheaper, like how Big Hero Six and Rapunzel changed animation styles drastically for their tv shows? I personally hope not, I think the new style is really nice. It brings that expressiveness that always makes me smile that I was really worried would be lost in the translation to 3D and a new studio.

[Dontrike]

Fair discussion all around. Two things that came to mind after the fact (and after rewatching the songs like 6 times each, so catchy) were:
* With the plot of the movie pretty much resolved, where will they take the show?
* With the MLP G4 movie being a designed-up version for movie release, would they change the animation style to something cheaper, like how Big Hero Six and Rapunzel changed animation styles drastically for their tv shows? I personally hope not, I think the new style is really nice. It brings that expressiveness that always makes me smile that I was really worried would be lost in the translation to 3D and a new studio.

If I am correct the show is supposed to be CG, though honestly it may be more correct to go near the style of G4, at least in my opinion.

As for the plot of G5 while the movie's plot is more or less solved you'd likely end up seeing the general friendship kind of stuff that we saw at the beginning of G4, but this time more on the focus of learning the pony races between one another with the overarching story being figuring out the mystery of how things got the way it did, likely during season premiers/finales though it would be better if that focus was more every few episodes.

We see Sunny's dad was on to a lot of stuff, looking to be that he knew some things many had forgotten about, I'll have to go back to that moment in the beginning the movie focuses on it for a second, lots of it is just scribbles but a few bits of words show up there. Looks like that light house was of some import past a plot device just to get Sunny to realize there was a 3rd crystal. Though it does seem to be more plot device than anything else, but at the very least an inoffensive one.

[Powerogue]

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2021/...ttle.html#more

Interesting to glimpse into some level of what the characters could've looked like in 2D, and some of these cut scenes are just prime meme material.

[Dontrike]

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2021/...ttle.html#more

Interesting to glimpse into some level of what the characters could've looked like in 2D, and some of these cut scenes are just prime meme material.

[IMG]https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W07X0SyARgQ/YVJ0lQkWnqI/AAAAAAADi6w/197h_rfqk-8Ibe1fKEGMPlqVQuhJ1oybQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h304/FATxBJPUUAA-BWM.jpg[/MG]

They definitely should have left in the "I will do anything anyone will tell me" part.

[Powerogue]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...NqxfOn7z4/edit

It didn't have its own dedicated post on Equestria Daily but it's basically an Episode Followup for the movie. I missed those followups.

[Dontrike]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...NqxfOn7z4/edit

It didn't have its own dedicated post on Equestria Daily but it's basically an Episode Followup for the movie. I missed those followups.

Definitely some good emotion in that overview. I have seen that the tree is also the Tree of Harmony theory, but I'm not a fan of it per se. Without knowing the geography of the area of the G5 movie and G4 it's impossible to just say "that's it." Yes, it seems like someone in the know confirmed it and if magic left the area then it could have affected the tree too and changed it from a crystalline tree to a normal one, but I'm not a fan of it.

I can't say I agree with the enthusiasm of Sunny being an alicorn at the end, but that's me. It sort of gives it away too soon rather than possibly building up to it, or they could just not do it in general.

[Gutler]

wonder why they decided to change pipps name to ruby in the french version of the movie.

[Dontrike]

With having Netflix to watch G5 I decided to catch up on She-ra and only four episodes into season four and holy shit S4E3 is so very terrible. I mean.....wow.....damn that's bad. I hope the rest of the season isn't that bad.

wonder why they decided to change pipps name to ruby in the french version of the movie.

Could possibly be a slur or something over there. A quick google search shows it is a breast implant company and currently there's a bit of a scandal with it.

[Powerogue]

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2021/...d-by.html#more

I am loving this concept art. Highlight so far has to be this early version of Pipp that was basically the girl friend from Princess and the Frog.