My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (Live Reactions & Discussion)

Well, that's sort of always been the case for Mac. He's quiet, AB calls him outright shy, he likes dolls, etc. It's pretty much been known that he's at least much more mellow than his sister since early Season 1...

@Wryte: I'm not disputing that, I'm just pointing out that in Tumblr's case it comes across as especially bad because the reblogging system means the content spreads further. On most other sites, any single blog's posts tend to stay on that blog, whereas on tumblr you could be following something for completely unrelated reasons and still end up with a bunch of "SPORTS AUTHORITY IS RACIST BECAUSE THE BLACK SHOELACES ARE BELOW THE WHITE ONES" stuff on your dashboard anyway. The proportion of jerks isn't any higher, but I think the way the site is set up makes you more likely to run into them.

I don't know how you used the site that you found that a common occurrence, because the only times I ever got posts like that popping up on my dash was when someone had reblogged it to explain why the OP was full of it.

Speaking of things suddenly popping up, I just checked my usual Totally Legal Means for new episodes of any of the shows I follow, and there happened to be the first episode of some new Gundam series up. Something called Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. I loved Gundam when I was younger, but I dropped off keeping up with it when Seed was airing because it was just lame to me, and what little I'd seen of what followed didn't convince me I'd like any of it any better.

Still, there it was, and I've got the time, so why not. Let's give it a go for old times' sake.

AND IT FRIGGIN' ROCKS. It's got a much more 08th MS Team vibe to the world and characters, with kind of a toned down Kamina/Simon vibe from the two main characters and their relationship. The animation is fantastic, and that ending theme kicks ass, even with the Engrish bits. My only complaints off the bat are a couple of the characters' hairstyles are kinda stupid, and I think they jumped the gun introducing a couple characters who didn't actually have anything to do with the events taking place yet.

Definitely looking forward to more of this.

...and he cross dresses so his sis can look up to him. Still love the fact that no one thought, "That's a guy in a dress.", but rather, "That's Big Mac in a dress....*everyone shrugs*"

I've considered the idea of a fanfic where Fluttershy is recruited as a member of the Batpony race, since she temporarily assumed the form. Which in their customs meant she qualifies.

Which would follow Flutters as she explores a tribalistic nocturnal society of cave dwellers.

Finally caught it, not nearly as cringe inducing as I thought it would be.

Tried drawing. I seriously tried. Two crumpled up bits of paper, shattered remains of confidence and a mountain of frustration remain. Celestia, why must I be so useless at this?

Even the best artists have started out bad. No one has things right the first time they try something new. Keep at it, I'm sure it will turn out beautiful.

^^ Like the dog said: sucking at something is the first step to not sucking.

I don't know. What I managed to spawn was worse than sucking. I couldn't even get past the basic shape making part and it was already looking like a lost cause

@Wryte: I dunno, maybe I just had bad luck with following people or something.

Re: Batponies. I think they exist, but inhabit their own region of the world mostly separate from Equestria, kinda like the Crystal ponies. Although the "Bats!" raises all sorts of questions regarding their origins.

Producing crap isn't bad as long as you use it as an opportunity to make it not-crap. Also, a good idea is to set yourself some sort of a goal so you have something to motivate you. And it needs to be something achievable and not quality-related, not like "I want to be able to reproduce the Mona Lisa within the next six weeks". Just something like drawing one pony a day for a month or something. Don't worry about what it looks like. Just draw. Get used to the process. Learn how you like to hold the pencil/tablet/whatever. Getting discouraged about not being able to do something after failing at it once or twice is like a baby trying to walk, falling over, and deciding to crawl for the rest of their life. Sure, it might take a while, but if you want to improve, you eventually will.

edited 4th Oct '15 5:02:55 PM by JapaneseTeeth

@dark: I'd actually really like to see that episode now. Like, Twilight needs to go on a diplomatic mission, but bat ponies are a really insular society, but they're more welcoming of Flutterbat, so she has to go in instead.

I would be completely on board with a bat pony episode.

Are ya sayin' all Batponies are apple-chompers?

Sauce.

(chainsaw is thrown through head off body, body collapses)

She's already got a basic start on their secretive tongue. with her complex array of squeaks.

Turns out "eeep!" roughly translates as "Greetings, how fair thee upon this moonlit night?".

Final Fantasy 6: Time to try Phantom Forest again.

I forgot to mention that while at Cabin, Sabin bought 87 potions. That should last a while.

WTF? I was walking through the forest randomly trying to find my way, and suddenly there's some sort of town or train station and no sign of forest.

I have a bad feeling about this train. Also, Sabin's probably going to try to Meteor Strike it.

I want off Phantom Train's Wild Ride.

?????? just joined the party. And it's not Terra this time.

And ?????? has left the party. That was fast. This must be the possess ability that someone used to one-shot Kefka.

Wonder if I can get another ?????? to join.

I knew I shouldn't have gotten on the train, but I just couldn't resist going a little bit fartehr before turning back...

?????? recruited again. This time they're only using physical attacks.

Why do all the other ghosts attack on sight? I just want to be friends.

Shadow's dead. I think I may intentionally die this time so I can get off the train.

Sabin just keeps loudly stating the obvious. There are more of them over there!

Apparently there's a bomb on the roof of the train for some reason.

Apparently Sabin can superjump.

Why is ?????? scared of the ghosts?

?????? just got attacked for the first time after all these battles, by a monster apparently named Cloud. Then he got attacked by an Angel Whisperer which actually healed him? I have no idea what's going on any more.

Found the dining car.

Well these guys look like waiters at least.

Apparently, Sabin being a pig not only healed everyone in the party, it also brought Shadow back to life somehow. Even thoguh only Sabin actually ate anything.

Found a second earring.

Apparently the enemies I thought were called Clouds are actually Angel Whisperers and vice versa.

Also, that random enocunter had the train roof background even though I was standing on the platform when it happened.

Well I could go back for more free food, but chugging potions is faster.

Hi Siegfired! Which one is Grandpa again?

This looks like a boss battle. Guess I have to get serious and actually use blitzes and crap. Well I'll test out Shadow's throwing ability first.

Siegfried ran away just because Shadow lobbed a sword at him. Guess that wasn't a real boss fight.

Someone devised a new blitz technique I think.

The apparation nearly one shotted ??????. Luckily he was nice enough to spread hte lighting love out instead of going for the kill. Also I got a Hyper Wrist, whatever that is.

Aww man, ?????? just left. I was hoping he could one shot the Phantom Train once I fugred out how to fight it.

I want a refund on those last 3 potions I used to heal ?????? back up.

Sabin just killed the train at the cost of Cyan and Shadow dieing. Though they barely contributed anything. Sabin got to try out three of the four blitzes, including Meteor Strike for obvious reasons.

I noticed Shadow hasn't gotten any scripted dialogue. I guess because the writers can't be sure if he's in your party at this point or not.

I was going to talk about finding it odd that Cyan and Shadow are walking around talking on the platform when you get off, but it makes sense since it's a ghost train. Also, Shadow appears to have been turned into some sort of green thing. Cyan got over his poisoning at least, thoguh he's still dead.

Now that I'm out of the forest and in the overworld, I can use a tent. It brought Cyan and Shadow back to life, as well as undoing whatever it was that happened to Shadow.

Ok new strategy: Just have Sabin use Rising Pheonix every fight. That thing just one shotted all three monsters. Probably faster than using attacks from multiple characters. I wish I could remember how to wait in battle.

Looks like the town I walked past is actually just Doma Castle. And it's off limits now. :( Guess I didn't miss much by going for the forest first.

Barren Falls. Whatever that is.

Shadow runs off. Not like he was contributing anything anyway.

Baren Falls is still a dead end. Not really sure where to go now.

Cyan learned a new Bushido technique. Not like he's ever going to use anything but Fang in practice though.

Oh, you're supposed to try to walk off the edge of the cliff. I guess that kind of makes sense, playing as Mr. Dumb As Bricks.

Well that was an easy fight. Wait, there's more of them? Come on.

That wasn't the poisoned river we just fell down was it? Sabin appears to be floating dead in the water. Nice music though.

Who's that character?!

It's Gau!

Well that was weird.

Is he going to be doing this every fight?

Oh great, a Satellite? Confusion/rage attacks are the worst. These things are like zubats or ghastleys except 10 times more annoying.

At least it went a lot faster than the time Sabin slowly sractehd one to death and ended up with 6hp.

A ghost? WTF is a ghost doing on the Veldt? Also, why is Cyan wearing sunglasses now?

Oh, he must be blind. Sorry I mean darknessed.

I love the smell of Rising Pheonix in the morning. It smells like YOURE ALL DEAD HAHAHA.

Apparently I'm at "Entrance to Serpent Trench". As far as I can tell, it's a dead end though.

Sabin's usual tactic of diving off tall cliffs isn't an option.

Sabin heads off to Mobilz to see if anyone there knows how to jump off a cliff. There is a dog there.

I just accidently bought 11 bucklers. Oh well, I have way too much money anyway.

"The entrance to the Serpent Trench lies in Crescent Mountain, near the southern tip of the contient." <- Thanks, but I kind of already figured that out.

You can sleep for free in the Relic Shop owner's bed? Seriously? Of course I figured that out after staying at the inn.

Sabin already managed to waste half of his considerable fortune on useless crap. Time to buy something important, like 40 more potions. And also some postage and dried meat I guess.

Sabin just sent a letter to Lola. Of course Injured Lad is too weak to actually write anything, so who knows what Sabin sent.

Cyan just ate the only dried meat right in front of Gau. Well that wasn't what I meant to do...

I also accidently overwrote yesterday's savestate. Oh well, not like I'll need it.

Gau uses caveman speak? This is really shaping up to be Team Dumb As Bricks.

Sabin lies about the meat being all gone. He actually has 4 more in the invetory but doesn't feel like sharing.

They seem to have gotten into a jumping contest.

His present is... a dead mouse.

Gau demonstrates his moonwalking skills.

WTF? Musical interlude out of nowhere!

And there's the weird green creature that Shadow got turned into. Apparently it's called a Kappa.

Well that's an intersting sounding mechanic. I wonder if any of the monsters on the Veldt have worthwhile abilities.

Wonder if I'll be lucky enough to face a ghost again.

Huh, Gua apparently already has a large list of Rage abilities available. Including Magitek, somehow.

None of them show up on the status menu though.

Sabin sees a dirty glass bowl. It fills him with determination... towards further idiocy.

Seriously, how the heck is that supposed to work? A) there's only one bowl and three people in the party. 2) It's not like it would actually help anyone breathe.

Washed up in Nikea. Thought it was South Fiagro until I checked.

Wait, Gau is the child of that Aged Man, isn't he.

And now Dancer hits on Cyan.

Ok, that was pretty funny.

Just accidently bought 11 silk robes too. Why am I spending so much on junk I can't even use?

Chocobo stables on an isolated island? Seriously?

It appears that the kid knows the meaning of isolated but not island.

Well there doesn't seem to be much to do here, so South Figaro it is.

Choose a scenario, kupo! Well it isn't really a choice if there's only one option, is there? Or is this like one of those Spec Op The Line choices where the choice is to stop playing the game?

Mog tries to use one of the party's sleeping bags but is unable, despite standing on a save point in the magical void of "Scenario Selection".

Well I guess this is a good stopping point.

Well... that was certainly a Polsky-penned episode, wasn't it?

Okay, that came out a little meaner than I'd have liked, but I'm afraid I'll have to conform to convention and say that I don't really care for most of Polsky's scripts. I'll say this: they're often much more ambitious than your typical MLP script - maybe even than a few season openers/enders - but they get sabotaged a lot by his tendency to just spend a big chunk of the episode hammering away at a single joke. Sometimes the joke is funny enough for this to be forgivable ("Feeling Pinkie Keen" would probably be my Exhibit A), but when it isn't...

Case in point: the middle of this episode was pretty much built around Cringe Comedy, though I'll readily agree that it wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been. But the opening and ending were absolutely aces - the extrapolation of Big Mac's inferiority complex was, in particular, a surprisingly mature thing from this show. And the judges booting them for poor sportsmanship had me nodding along all the way.

(But the old judge falling in love... really? That gag was growing whiskers when Bugs Bunny did it.)

Celestia got her portrait done! Luna, you so talented!

And how was it 'cringe comedy' when, the only one the least put off by this was Applebloom, nothing about what big mac was doing was portrayed as the least bit odd or awkward... nothing about this was meant to be 'cringe' inducing.

I don't really mean Cringe Comedy in the SJW sense; more in the sense that watching Big Mac and Apple Bloom Epic Fail literally everything at the Social got really old really fast. They're not even creative forms of Epic Fail, like Homer Simpson setting the bowl on fire when he tries to make cereal.

Because it went for ones that made sense. It wasn't failing due to, just random sucking, but ones that made sense due to Big Mac.. being Big Mac, and the lack of time to practice together.

So I went through the "Arizona Cow" tag on Derpibooru. She's so cute X3 Definitely gonna be my main when TFH comes out.

Story: The green creature status effect is Imp. It completely wrecks your stats (unless you're using very specific pieces of gear), making them totally useless and if it lands on a magic user, said magic user can only use the Imp spell.

Fun fact: if you go onto the train without Shadow, you can recruit two of the ghost NPCs. A second wouldn't be more useful than him, though.

Magitek!

I like to think that the Old Stallion recognized Big Mac too.

@ storyyelle: You can run into any normal enemy you have previously encountered while wandering the veldt, and when you're on the veldt, Gau can learn their special attacks. Most of them are worthless, but there's a few gems that are most definitely worth learning.