MLP: FiM Thread 421: The Season 6 Lag Begins

[Eunös ✈]

Lightning Dust and Suri Polimares turn in Season 6

Not c*** though, no redeeming that motherf***er.

[CMWaters]

Dec 10, 2015 14:39:24 GMT -5 Eunös ✈ said:

Lightning Dust and Suri Polimares turn in Season 6

Not c*** though, no redeeming that motherf***er.

What about Wind Rider?

[Eunös ✈]

Sure

Wonderbolts backstage politics is quite something.

[Deleted]

The probles with redemptions in this show is that they are like RKOs...like right OUTTA NOWHERE!

Of all of them I think Sunset Shimmer's was the most successful one because it actually turned her into one of the best characters in the EQG universe.

Discord was decent because he still retains a bit of his evilness he had and did not turn into 100% Cena Goody-Two-Shoes mode.

Starlight Glimmer's and Diamond Tiara's was too rushed.

Gilda and Trixie are uninteresting.

As for Luna...I love the Princess of the Night.

[Nikki Heyman]

A Wild MD appears!!

Does he use WRITE?

quiet you

Do YOU use WRITE?

[Mr PONYMANIA Mr Jenzie]

SLAP 'IM NIKKI!!!

[Nikki Heyman]

I would never slap MD

and I fight back

shoo

[Deleted]

*huggles Onee-sama*

[Mr PONYMANIA Mr Jenzie]

not even a noogie ..... a particularly wet willie???

[Nikki Heyman]

*hugMD* not during the holiday season

[Eunös ✈]

You know who's been absent since Season 1?


Your Mum



Ok seriously, Fillamena or however you spell it.

Where be Celestias pet Phoenix?, did she die again?

[GreyScaleLJH]

These ponies are awesome.

[Eunös ✈]

Needs more Apple Fritter

Just like life does

[Red Impact]

Dec 10, 2015 9:50:02 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

Morning all.

Gonna be back to the grind soon for me, but first, new roundtable (and this may be an interesting one).


VILLAIN REDEMPTIONS!

Since the debut episodes of the show, on average more villains have been redeemed than have been killed or imprisoned in some way. This season added 3 more to the ones we already had via Diamond Tiara, Gilda and perhaps most controversial of all, Starlight Glimmer.

With a show title like "Friendship is Magic", I feel that redeeming villains is more likely to happen than any other way of defeating them, but I would like the thoughts of everyone here on the matter.

Of all of them, the one that makes the least sense to me was Discord, just because he's on a completely different wavelength and doesn't fit the same way. It'd be like trying to redeem The Joker (I guess, more literally, Q). It doesn't really work well because he just doesn't fit as a hero or someone learning about friendship, but more as a random plot device to create weird situations, which is when he's at his best. His reversion in the Tirek episodes was especially strange to me.

For the others, like you said, with the show being entirely about Friendship, you sort of have to redeem characters when you can. Trixie is still farily unknown at this point, Gilda's makes sense (although Fluttershy should have been present). Starlight Glimmer's backstory could have been better developed but what we got at least gave some insight as to why she wanted equality.

The only problem I have with Diamond Tiara's is that they should have shown her family being demanding more episodes in the series prior to that. Other than that, I think hers was actually the best redemption story. Her redemption plot was needed for the CMC to get their marks (which, for sappy reasons, is my favorite moment of the series) since forgiving and trying to help their biggest enemy was the catalyst they needed to realize what they were supposed to do. I think they made her redemption arc a more complex one (for a kids show) than the others by making her go back and forth with her decision. I do understand the notion that it was rushed, but I also think that if you did make it a two parter, the final moment would have been dead obvious. It helped that the animation has been really on point, so there was a lot of background animation that sold that entire episode.

[LastCall]

Dec 10, 2015 9:50:02 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

Morning all.

Gonna be back to the grind soon for me, but first, new roundtable (and this may be an interesting one).


VILLAIN REDEMPTIONS!

Since the debut episodes of the show, on average more villains have been redeemed than have been killed or imprisoned in some way. This season added 3 more to the ones we already had via Diamond Tiara, Gilda and perhaps most controversial of all, Starlight Glimmer.

With a show title like "Friendship is Magic", I feel that redeeming villains is more likely to happen than any other way of defeating them, but I would like the thoughts of everyone here on the matter.

Right, right. Almost forgot about this one.

Honestly, the only redemption stories that I enjoyed were Luna and Sunset Shimmer. Nightmare Moon, of course, was the villain to get the ball rolling for the show. Since she was the sister of the supreme ruler of Equestria, it was pretty much a given that she'd turn after it was all said and done. Plus it's lead to some nice moments with Luna throughout the series.

Sunset Shimmer was good because it switched the main focus of the EqG movies from Twilight to her. After she was defeated in the first one, she had to struggle to fit in with everyone else in the second one, and finally had to take charge with no help from Twilight in the third film. If the EqG spinoff series ever does materialize, Sunset Shimmer's story would have made a good intro.

I was okay with Gilda. There wasn't really anything too spectacular with that one.

I wouldn't call Trixie redeemed just yet. As far as I see it, she merely repaid Twilight from freeing her from the Alicorn Amulet.

The ones I didn't like, however, were Discord, Diamond Tiara, and Starlight Glimmer (for now).

I hated the idea of a Discord reformation ever since the episode synopsis for Keep Calm and Flutter On was released, and nothing they've shown so far has changed my opinion on that. Discord was an amazing villain in the Return to Harmony, with the way he messed with the mane 6 and just the absolute chaos that occurred everywhere he went. He was someone that just didn't give a f*** and did whatever the hell he wanted. Then suddenly in season 3 I'm supposed to believe that he wanted to be friends with all the ponies that encased him in a stone prison? F*** that! What was once a being that was powerful enough to conquer and rule over all of Equestria in absolute mayhem suddenly got reduced to an emotional bitch that cares about other ponies' feelings. He escaped from the stone prison before, so I didn't see why he could just do it again and become a recurring villain for the mane 6 to overcome. That's one of the reasons why I got so excited when Tirek was able to bring him back to the side of evil, but alas it was just a tease. I don't look forward to any Discord episodes at all now. It also doesn't help that he was a big part of my most hated episode of the series. Okay, rant over.

With Diamond Tiara, I didn't like the idea of suddenly showing that her behavior was a result of a terrible upbringing. No way does that excuse her actions up to that point, not to mention that they already used that storyline on Babs Seed back in season 3. Maybe if they slowly built it up over the season it could have worked, but that wasn't the case. It was just a rehashed plot that occurred way to quickly. The only good thing to come out of this was the Silver Spoon face turn. Oh and the CMC getting their cutie marks too, I suppose.

As for Starlight Glimmer, she was the one I hoped would become the recurring villain after the Discord turn, but unfortunately not. They bring up her equality vision again in the episode, but conveniently leave out that she was the only one that wasn't equal, plus they didn't show what could have happened to Starlight Glimmer had the mane 6 not shown up to ruin her vision. That probably would have given Starlight Glimmer a constant revenge motive, but instead we get yet another tragic past and then do the usual "let's just be friends," "uh, okay" route. Yes I know this is a show about friendship, but would it kill you to have a few recurring villains? Plus, if that rumor of the mane 6 becoming the mane 7 actually does happen, that would make her this show's Poochie. It's different for Sunset Shimmer though since she's in a different universe (and series for that matter).

So yeah, that's what I think of your freakin' villain redemptions.

[Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast]

Friendship club.
For
for
for
Life!

[Eunös ✈]

Afternoon

overslept..Oh well

Pony on down.

[CMWaters]

Morning all.

Overslept too, so don't have time to make a new roundtable discussion for today. If someone else wants to, be my guest.

For now, Obliga-Twi.

[Clover Star]

just a small comment on Diamond Tiara's redemption (I still have not seen a season 5 episode and am still in no rush to), but Diamond Tiara's redemption, or at least, the explanation of her behavior being due to upbringing, I saw it a mile away way back in season 2. Her redemption was a long time coming and very much needed (and as a DT mark, much wanted)

[Deleted]

Dec 10, 2015 9:50:02 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

VILLAIN REDEMPTIONS!

Since the debut episodes of the show, on average more villains have been redeemed than have been killed or imprisoned in some way. This season added 3 more to the ones we already had via Diamond Tiara, Gilda and perhaps most controversial of all, Starlight Glimmer.

With a show title like "Friendship is Magic", I feel that redeeming villains is more likely to happen than any other way of defeating them, but I would like the thoughts of everyone here on the matter.

If I'm not too late to contribute to this...

Luna's redemption was fine, and basically the only way a show like FiM could start. They haven't done too much with her character since then but she's had some good episodes; Season 5 in particular did some neat stuff with her. Though I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE at all. 

I like Discord's redemption because, contrary to what was said above me, I don't think he's been softened all that much. He's still a dick who enjoys messing with people for little to no reason, he's just now able to realize when he's going too far. I think episodes like Three's a Crowd and What About Discord (which, IMO, isn't perfect but is absolutely underrated) do a lot in cementing that he's still as chaotic as he was before his face turn. 

Starlight Glimmer's redemption was fine, given that she wasn't some world-conquering supervillain but just incredibly bitter and angry about her life. I just wish we'd gotten to see more of her life before she became a whacko equality cultist. 

Haven't seen any of the Equestria Girls stuff so I can't comment on Sunset Shimmer. 

Diamond Tiara's redemption was kinda' cliched because her backstory was very cliched - asshole bully just acts that way because of parental neglect is as old as time. Nonetheless, it was pulled off extremely well, and the quality of the episode all-around makes up for some cliched writing. 

Gilda's redemption was nice enough but I wasn't particularly invested in her character. Granted, I wasn't expecting her to come back after Season 1. It made sense, though. 

Trixie's redemption was fairly standard but worked well enough, given the quality of both the episodes she appeared in. I don't know if she gets more development in EqG or the comics but for a character with a total of two main show appearances, it was a fine story.