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

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A thread to discuss My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and the tie-in media.

All of the usual forum rules apply. In addition, please remember that the thread is discussing a kids' show, and it's primarily focused on the work itself, not the fanfic — in particular, we don't want to see lewdness creeping in.

     Original OP text 
I don't know WHAT the Hell happened (I blame shenanigans) but we're going to start from scratch. Post your feels for this awesome show again! Naow!

Edited by Mrph1 on Aug 26th 2024 at 10:24:26 AM

darkabomination Since: Mar, 2012
#76901: Jun 17th 2014 at 12:26:17 PM

Whoa.

My brother and I watched an episode of The Amazing World of Gumball and described the insane art styles.

And I thought Panty and Stocking was nuts...

kegisak Element of Class Since: Feb, 2011 Relationship Status: In Lesbians with you
Element of Class
#76902: Jun 17th 2014 at 12:33:09 PM

In my headcanon it's a combination/tossup between what you choose, and 'oops, I accidentally bound my soul/had my soul bound to this object/place/aspect/concept in a moment of duress'.

Like, based on Cadence's book it seems like a natural combination of her own love and that artefact of hers kinda defaulted her goddess-hood to love, and with Twilight it's kind of vague whether she chose her aspect or whether it was always there and she just discovered it... either way, for the most narrative interestingness, having an even combination of gods who ascended to their aspect through choice and will, and those who ascended trough circumstance or being raised up in reward for something is best.

[up]I think I've seen clips of Gumbball. Seemed pretty weird. combination of animation and real-life stuff.

edited 17th Jun '14 12:34:05 PM by kegisak

Birthright: an original web novel about Dragons, the Burdens of Leadership, and Mangoes.
Sereg Since: Jun, 2010
#76903: Jun 17th 2014 at 12:49:50 PM

Admittedly, that response of mine was overly simplistic.

Someone can't just ascend to alicornhood and decide, "Hmmm ... I think I'll be the Princess of ... let's see ... couches!"

They are automatically assigned a nebulous mix of concepts to draw power from (kind of ... This is a bit difficult to explain in summary) and they basically choose how they wish to represent that ... conglomeration and what they wish to primarily represent. Sort of.

Basically, there are "slots" (seats, as they are known) for them to fill and to which they're automatically assigned. Each seat is associated with a heavenly body and its ... associations.

kegisak Element of Class Since: Feb, 2011 Relationship Status: In Lesbians with you
Element of Class
#76904: Jun 17th 2014 at 12:52:12 PM

Ah. So they're given a concept as a whole, and can choose from an aspect of that concept?

Like, the Seat of Mars could be the god of either War, or, say, Sports(Representing the aspect of competition)?

Birthright: an original web novel about Dragons, the Burdens of Leadership, and Mangoes.
Seraphem Since: Oct, 2009
#76905: Jun 17th 2014 at 12:58:20 PM

Yeah, like with his latest fic. Cadance is the Alicorn of Venus, and represents romantic love of others. the main villain is morning Star, a former holder of the seat, who represents hedonism and self-love.

To me it's more. Yes the ascend because of becoming living embodiments of a virtue. But what they wish to do with that, it's up to them to decide. it's just, given who they are, and what caused them to ascend, they;ll most likely choose something related to what ascended them.

JapaneseTeeth Existence Weighed Against Nonbeing from Meinong's jungle Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Mu
Existence Weighed Against Nonbeing
#76906: Jun 17th 2014 at 12:59:03 PM

I'd assume that whatever the case, you wouldn't be able to ascend if you didn't gel with whatever it was you were ascending to.

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kegisak Element of Class Since: Feb, 2011 Relationship Status: In Lesbians with you
Element of Class
#76907: Jun 17th 2014 at 1:03:45 PM

Well, Twilight ascended through the use of a spell. While it was her connection to her friends that allowed her to figure out the missing piece of the puzzle, and while she herself embodies the virtue of friendship, now that it's complete it's possible that anyone with enough magical power to cast the spell itself would be able to do a 'default' ascension.

Depending on how the spell actually works, of course.

Birthright: an original web novel about Dragons, the Burdens of Leadership, and Mangoes.
darkabomination Since: Mar, 2012
#76908: Jun 17th 2014 at 1:17:30 PM

It seems the pony needs to embody and believe in a concept completely, and have a sufficiently powerful spell to do it.

Seems rather simple if rare in the extreme.

@Keg. Medium Blending up to eleven, basically. Flash characters are the norm but even they're drawn in different styles, live action backgrounds, and art shifts. And anything can be a character, anything.

One episode has a new student who's a photorealistic picture of a slice of toast with animated noodly hands and feet drawn in flash.

Just as easily one of the cast is a finely detailed cgi t-rex, a goldfish with feet, a stop motion bunny, a stickfigure pig, and a crayon sketch of a pineapple with legs in 8 bit sprites with choppy frames as it walks.

Take that with a cast of mostly kid voice actors in a colorful world looking like a scrapbook with very cynical humour and that's Gumball.

JapaneseTeeth Existence Weighed Against Nonbeing from Meinong's jungle Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Mu
Existence Weighed Against Nonbeing
#76909: Jun 17th 2014 at 1:33:59 PM

That sounds... interesting.

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Sereg Since: Jun, 2010
#76910: Jun 17th 2014 at 1:37:35 PM

Ah. So they're given a concept as a whole, and can choose from an aspect of that concept? Like, the Seat of Mars could be the god of either War, or, say, Sports(Representing the aspect of competition)?

Pretty much.

Yeah, like with his latest fic. Cadance is the Alicorn of Venus, and represents romantic love of others. the main villain is morning Star, a former holder of the seat, who represents hedonism and self-love.

Yeah. Morning Star is also heavily based on the concept of "abusive relationships". When writing him, I have to be careful not to squick myself out while still allowing him to be incredibly creepy.

Crowfall Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Hoping Senpai notices me
#76911: Jun 17th 2014 at 2:51:06 PM

@Keg: The spell caused her to be blasted by all the elements, so presumably they need to be present for the spell to work, and they probably need to be friends with the caster. Its possible that the spell can only be cast by whoever is the element of magic.

edited 17th Jun '14 2:52:16 PM by Crowfall

Seraphem Since: Oct, 2009
#76912: Jun 17th 2014 at 3:27:56 PM

It wasn't the spell that caused her to ascend. It was having a deep enough understanding of Friendship to be able to complete the spell.

kegisak Element of Class Since: Feb, 2011 Relationship Status: In Lesbians with you
Sereg Since: Jun, 2010
#76914: Jun 17th 2014 at 3:34:42 PM

@Seraphem: That's how I'd like to interpret it, but that leaves me with the problem that then Star Swirl's amazing spell didn't actually do anything.

Seraphem Since: Oct, 2009
#76915: Jun 17th 2014 at 3:36:19 PM

Celestia flat out said "You created new magic." And that doing so proved she was ready.

kegisak Element of Class Since: Feb, 2011 Relationship Status: In Lesbians with you
Element of Class
#76916: Jun 17th 2014 at 3:47:08 PM

Possibly implying that the spell itself is what triggered the ascension?

Or is it just that Celestia is the one who triggered it for Twilight? Since, if it was just her understanding of it, then she should have ascended as soon as she figured out what she'd done wrong or what have you.

A possible Golden Mean is that the spell is what triggered the ascension itself, but it wouldn't have been able to if she hadn't been in tune, and harmonious with her friends. It was her understanding of her friends that allowed the spell to work, because she tied herself to them - the incantation implied that she used her friend's destinies(In context, their cutie marks, ie. natural, personal magic) to create an enormous boost of magic - but the spell itself is still what did the tying and boosting of magic.

It's a new kind of magic - she invented a way of using multiple sources of power to create a single, large source of power - and it proved she was ready to rule because obtaining the aspect required understanding and maturity.

Birthright: an original web novel about Dragons, the Burdens of Leadership, and Mangoes.
KylerThatch literary masochist Since: Jan, 2001
literary masochist
#76917: Jun 17th 2014 at 4:00:06 PM

Mental image: Princess of BLT Sandwiches

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...
kegisak Element of Class Since: Feb, 2011 Relationship Status: In Lesbians with you
KylerThatch literary masochist Since: Jan, 2001
literary masochist
#76919: Jun 17th 2014 at 4:12:47 PM

Unless she established a Sandwich Kingdom with little sandwich people.

And then Equestria became Ooo.

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...
NESgamer190 Since: Sep, 2012
#76920: Jun 17th 2014 at 4:14:33 PM

@Ky: Well, that would be something of a god I'd look towards.

Anywho, I'm here for the moment. Have a couple Mayor pics.

Wryte Since: Jul, 2010
#76921: Jun 17th 2014 at 4:16:32 PM

Welp, I just got through creating a new derpibooru tag. What are you guys up to?

edited 17th Jun '14 4:17:24 PM by Wryte

Crowfall Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Hoping Senpai notices me
#76922: Jun 17th 2014 at 4:18:15 PM

I think there would just be a princess of sandwiches in general, and she could have various lesser sandwich holdings. The earl of BLT could have a rivalry with the duke of panini.

NESgamer190 Since: Sep, 2012
#76923: Jun 17th 2014 at 4:21:55 PM

@Crow: I'd think the earl of sandwich would work. -pied-

@Wryte: Just been busy on the whole really, though back from a walk, and if the Mayor mare pictures aren't anything to go by, I'm finding myself more of a fan of her.

Seraphem Since: Oct, 2009
#76924: Jun 17th 2014 at 4:22:01 PM

Except Cadance ascended without that spell. So it's not needed to ascend.

crimsonstorm15 shine on from A parallel universe Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]

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