"The Crystalling" Review
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ต.ค. 2024
- So much change to the status quo in only the first two episodes of Season Six...
Support DRWolf on Patreon: www.patreon.co...
DRWolf artwork created by Flaminbunny: flaminbunny.dev...
EQD Feature: www.equestriada...
My Little Pony Characters and Images belong to Hasbro.
While the redemption of Starlight Glimmer was rushed, this episode did the same thing for her as Rainbow Rocks did to Sunset Shimmer. It made me go from wanting to strangle them to wanting to give them a hug.
+Alex Braunberger
i can agree with you on both parts that the redemtions were rushed however i believe there is some justification to both of them
starlight glimmer was ready to take whatever punishment they were willing to give her and with twilight being the princess of FRIENDSHIP sho chose that her punishment should be redemption because FORGIVNESS is a part of friendship
the same case with sunset shimmer, while i intially thought the enging was rushed i changed when i started thinking of twilights words and how she gave her the CHOICE of being forever left alone or be redeemed
just my two cents
Now we have Princess -McFlurry- I, I mean Flurry Heart
XD
Hehe >.
XD
+All Hail The Mighty Glow Cloud! definitely
imgur.com/LS1rgaq
What I think impressed me the most was that the three major male characters (Spike, Shining, and Sunburst) were all well-written and *gasp* COMPETENT when the plot demanded it!
That's a first for the writers! XD
TWILIGHT'S PARENTS HAD SPEAK ING ROLES!
I KNOW RIGHT ?!?
it seems lesson zero runs in the family
+Michelle Rogers
I noticed that too when i saw how FREAKED out Shining was XD. I even point it out in my own video on this.
"Mommy, why did you name me Flurry Heart?"
"Well, when you were a baby, you destroyed the Crystal *Heart* and nearly drowned our entire kingdom in the outside blizzard, or, a *flurry*."
"...Can I change my name?"
I'm actually kinda glad that Flurry Heart's powers are able to be controlled... before the spell, she overpowered everybody in the room, and having that aspect be a constant part of Flurry Heart would get stale pretty quickly. Plus, they had to establish that her powers could outdo princess magic, so how would Cadance and Shining Armor even be able to handle Flurry Heart on their own without the spell? It would be reckless for the other princesses to leave them alone with Flurry Heart when she could break the Crystal Heart again (worst case scenario) or destroy the castle or something. I guess I could see how diminishing her powers could be disappointing but for the sake of the show's sanity, I think controlling her powers was a wise decision. And besides, I don't think that the spell will last forever. :)
+Sailor Sally Rockin Rarity very true on your last sentence. I do believe it could have a time limit to which he will have to do it every so often
Sunburst is adorable!
I didn't imagine his voice sounding like it did.
You forgot one very important detail about this episode of twilight's parents speak for the first time in six seasons how is that not a major news?!?
IKR?
+thealchemist51 I agree with you, will we see them in other episodes to come or is it just a one time deal?
+thealchemist51 Well, if we wanna get technical, Night Light neighed while nodding, in _The Cutie Mark Chronicles_. I took that as horse for 'yes!'. ;)
+thealchemist51 Your no kidding they have voices omg.
+thealchemist51 While is is major news, it seems to fall by the wayside against more interesting news. For instance the fact that the princess sisters weren't born alicorns. But yes, I am very happy to see someone else who noticed! :D
Princess Flurry Heart is going to be an awesome villain, if she isn't already. :)
I agree with DRWolf. When I saw Celestia and Luna fighting off the storm, I was party happy, I kept on saying "Go Tia, Go Lulu" after all who doesn't like a go fight between good and evil. And when I saw Twilight and Shining Armor's parents I was kind of surprise to hear them actually talk. Because when we saw them in the canterlot wedding episode they didn't say a thing, but smiled with pride as they watched their only son marry a princess. And now look, the mom and dad of Shining Armor gets a royal grandfilly.
If that's a changeling...Oh b0i, I'm excited.
I liked Sun Burst's character. It's nice to see they didn't end up in some conflict that felt really forced. There was kinda a lot going on but luckily the two parts kinda helped pace it out a bit. Overall I enjoyed it.
Sunburst said that the parent-whatever spell would "control" her fluctuations, not diminish them. She probably still has that uncontrollable amount of power, but we're probably going to be seeing it less often. (There's also other things, but I think I'll leave that for the other people to address.)
Spike was awesome in this episode!!
REALLY! I'm a big fan of spike so that's good news! (I haven't seen it yet) also one of the upcoming episodes starring spike sounds like a legitimately good episode involving other dragons 😀
Jkop Really. He's supportive and helpful, to someone OTHER than Twilight.
+Djinsin yay! 😊
Certainly an episode that opens up a lot of doors for the rest of the season. Spike is my favorite part of the episode, helping out Starlight who herself gets some great development as she tries to move on by starting from square one with her old friend Sunburst, who is a strange take on the booksmart wizard when compared to other characters we've seen, including Twilight. Baby Flurry Heart's story was also hilarious and interesting and the fact that she has all but been confirmed as the first natural born alicorn has a LOT of questions that I'm sure people will be debating. It was nice to see Celestia and Luna helping out, Twilight's parents coming to see their grandkid was sweet, and Shining Armor got a LOT more characterization shown in this episode than he has in any other. Nice to see he can get as paranoid and nerve wracked as her sister. XD The only two things I can gripe about here are these, Cadence actually is sidelined a bit more and I really wish she could have gotten to do more than just help Twilight with a spell, and since the conflict is treated as a lot more low stakes since the ponies are not in any real mortal danger due to being able to be evacuated and under the watch of their rulers and guards, it can be hard to drag people into the season. But there is a lot of possibilities for what could happen in the future here so I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next. Good start, just not quite as engaging as some of the other starts from previous seasons. Definitely a lot more to keep you watching though even if this episode itself doesn't completely grab your attention.
I still think Luna and Celestia's statement about "it's never been heard of an alicorn being born in Equestria History" is still open for debate since we still get this: twitter.com/KeatingRogers/status/713887118448177154
Plus what you said afterwards, it's still up in the air for me. *Sighs* I love the magical aspects of this primere, and it got me thinking on some new theories on magic's limits!
+Lightning Bliss I look forward to seeing your ideas on these subjects Lightning.
*****
I plan to share my thoughts later on when I get the time ^^
+2300ism they were supposed to be goddesses. But in this episode, alicorns were doing that crystal heart repairing magic spell with a unicorn (starlight). And that baby looks more powerful than Celestia.
+caglayantilsim I think we passed the "they are goddesses" believe in the fandom, didn't we? I mean we did see them fail time and again. Sure they raise the sun and the moon, somthing that otherwise only many unicorns together could accomplish but they CAN! Ponies actually could still live wout the sisters around, and they did.
By now Alicorns are mostly more powerfull and live longer, but looking at Granny's age, which is at least over a hundread years old (shw was there when Pony Ville was foundes after all) so Ponies already live way longer than we expected.
I interpret them more like "leves" or other creatures that, in fantasy worlds, seem way powerfull but are far from being gods!
And yeah, why wouldn't the baby be more powerfull? We only know Alicorns are way more powerfull that other piny races but within the Alicorns we have clearly differences of powerlevels. Celestia (was) is the strongest of the known Alicorns, I'd assume Cadence the weakest at least considering magic power alone. So why shouldn't there be an alicorn surpassing Celestia?
really? it is stated somewhere that she actually rejuvinates when she moves the sun? I never read any of the books so it must stand in there (know fairly many comics)
any way, yeah it depends on the definition of god. Still we saw that she is not all powerfull and we do know she is not the only one who can move the sun, though it takes more than one pony to move it, it is possible.
Well it's open for debate ^^
I was more interested in Starlight's story than in the main story of the episode.
+FlufferNutters same here
I think that what Celestia and Luna said means this:
1. They WERE born Alicorns, but it might not have happened in Equestria, or else before Equestria was founded.
2. The only alicorn birth they witnessed was their own births. Should we really expect them to remember what happened when they were infants? Only a Small margin of people can remember that far back, so it's entirely likely that they just don't remember. As for Celestia witnessing Luna's birth, She was probably a young filly and was kept away from the birthing. Still would not allow her to have much experience in this field.
I liked this episode, I didn't love it but I liked it. The Sunburst/Starlight story was great and I hope we see those two together again and I also really liked her interactions with spike too. The alicorn part was confusing but hopefully we'll get more information alicorns. And the changeling. If changelings are returning that would be awesome!
Those who wanted Starlight to be punished? I think having to endure an unfiltered Twiloght and her OCD like Spike is a punishment in of itself
Agreed on
***** I mean, think about it:
a Death Pentalty? I think if people want her to be punished, something longer would be esier XP Plus sticking her to Tartarus? May as well gift wrap her as a new henchman for Tirek. Or hell, make his escape a lot easier why don't you.
+Dejay Page . . .
***** That's to people who were wanting the darker punishments ;;;
oh. Poor Starlght
that was a CHANGELING!?!?!?!?! ..... LORD I HOPE SO! ♥♥♥♥♥ =D
Hopefully she shall return...
+Jake Tucker again....
I'm making an Equestria Girls fan fiction including Starlight. And seeing Starlight and Sunburst in this special opens up the inspiration for new ideas for me.
And the part with Flurry Heart and the Crystal Heart is a very entertaining adventure subplot.
Season 6 is so far off to a good start.
I didn't notice that object in the background. I don't think it's a changeling.
But as for the episodes, I didn't really care for Flurry heart and the storm sequence. I was more invested in Starlight's story than what was going on.
I felt the two main conflicts of the story really meshed together well. They're problems that begin unrelated yet cannot be resolved without each other. The premiere also did a great job of giving everypony something to do, even if some had smaller parts than others. Overall, I greatly enjoyed this episode and am looking forward to whatever comes in the new season.
I was concerned about Starlight Glimmer from the start. After watching the premiere, I think they did a good job with her. I also think it will be interesting to see more of her in the future and I'm glad we will. For a moment there, I was wondering if they would end up having her stay with Sunburst or something like that for some strange reason.
Spike was great and on form this time and I really liked it. He also gave us some good humor as well. I liked the scene where Starlight caught him flexing in the bathroom. I loved how Starlight tried to get him distracted, but it only worked for a little while before he got back to the task. I hope we see more of Spike like this in Season 6. Another thing I really liked was the visual humor they used with Twilight's checklist. I would like to see more of Princess FlurryHeart in the season, but not too much. I'm also wondering about Princess Celestia and Princess Luna now as well.
I love Sunburst he's my favourite stallion.
+Star Pit I love his beard. Someone's already posted an idea that he'll go back in time at some point and become Starswirl the Bearded
weldonwin That would be cool.
Star Pit
Also, his future self as Starswirl, needs to be voiced by Ian McKellum. Oh and we need a future, adult Spike, voiced by Peter Cullen
weldonwin If he does travel back in time to become Starswirl maybe they will explain more about alicorns and Celestia and Luna i think they was hinting it in the newest episode.
+Star Pit Which one is that as we've only got the titles for the first seven of this season on TV Tropes, so I'm curious which episode that could be.
I hope Starlight and Spike keep getting paired up in the future.
+JackofAllSpadess My Shipping scenes are tingling.
i mostly freaked out when we really had interaction with the sparkle parents and i too noticed the changeling, along
with details that can have great stories of their own. like the pinkie flurry and starlight spike friendships/connections.
Isn't Cadence the only alicorn who has had a foal though? I think Flurry Heart being an alicorn isn't a big deal because of this-there won't be more natural-born alicorns if Celestia, Luna or Twilight don't get foals. Which I really doubt.
I've never thought about that but you're right.…
+HulluRichie And there is secret of Prince Blueblood.
+HulluRichie
Why the last one? Twilights is shown that she does like colts with the colt who must not be named unless you get a dozen comments on why they hate him, aka Flash Sentry. And if Cadance can hock up with Shining Armor, why can't a colt hook up with Twilight? Assuming she is not bisexual and dosen't hook up with one of her friends, which isn't likely to happen with hasbro in charge. So why can't Twilight have a family of her own, or more importantly, why can't Cadance not have a second foal?
P.S. (This is assumption you meant to put unless instead of if).
raw666
That's not what I meant. I do not believe that Twilight, or any of the mane six, get children in the show while it's still running. Maybe in the future when FiM is over, yes. I don't think Cadance will get another foal just yet, or ever. My first comment was confusing, sorry.
Also, you're ignoring the fact that asexuals and people who simply don't want children exist.
I honestly think that Starlight and Spikes and Sunbursts interactions were the best deeper character moments of the episode where the Flurry heart parts of the story was more humorist than a deeper story telling. And the royal sisters actually taking part of something to help..... FINALLY! And Spike's lesson comparison was epic!! ^_^ Overall, good episodes
"The birth of an alicorn is something Equestria has never seen."
Equestria might have not seen it before, but whatever land that the Two Sisters came from probably has.
"It is beyond even our understanding."
It has been discussed many a time among fans that there are two types of alicorns: Natural born alicorns (Celestia and Luna) and ponies who *became* alicorns (Twi and Cadence). The first can live for a very long time, and the latter age like normal ponies (we see this in A Canterlot Wedding as Cadence had grown significantly since the flashbacks when she was Twi's babysitter).
What I think that Luna means is that they had no idea that a pony who *became* an alicorn could give birth to a natural born alicorn.
+Nicholas Lozano Well, they could've coneyed that better. As it stands, it seemed like the writers basically admitting they didn't know how to explain this so they weren't going to try. I think maybe if Larson or someone more strongly suited to worldbuilding took a crack at it, we'd get a good explanation.
+Nicholas Lozano That would make sense. And explain the confusion.
It cracks me up to hear Dr. Wolf of all people say, "They're ACTUALLY doing something!" about the diarchs. xD
Well I said that myself when watching.
But I cracked up when we saw the clouds surrounding them because it looked like they were just waving flash lights back and forth.
+Alpha121198 At that point, their efforts were becoming futile. They were trying to still squeeze as much extra time as they could buy out of their efforts before finally giving up and escaping to avoid Equestria being left leaderless without them.
Here's how I interpret the naturally born alicorn confusion. I still hold onto the saying that Celestia and Luna are naturally born alicorns. What they are shocked about is a naturally born alicorn was born in Equestria from two mortal ponies, which originally was thought to be impossible as normally a naturally born alicorn comes from Equestria's equivalent of heaven from divine parents. That's my head-canon. But if that turns out to not be the case later on, I'm not one to get angry when established canon renders my head-canon impossible.
I think the line of Celestia means that Celestia and Luna are the last of their kind...
Think about it: They are the only two "natural" alicorns in all Equestria, they have who knows how many milenia of years, and if you throw the "Celestia should know since Luna is the little sister" its true, but at the same time, there really is no big difference of ages between the two sisters...
But if I am right, that means we had an alicorn massacre at some point in the past...
Huh... How come I still find War undertones in almost every season of MLP?
Also, I don't understand why people ask: "Why is Flurry Heart an alicorn?" I mean, her mother is also an alicorn... An artifical alicorn, but an alicorn nontheless, and since we can assume her DNA is already messed up for how many years she has been an alicorn, I can indeed see part of that DNA go into Flurry Heart...
What I wonder is: Is Flurry Heart inmortal?
that is a bigger question. i also wonder, are made alicorns immortal?
I really liked the tempo of this episode. Usually in a story-heavy episode we have to put up with Twilight Sparkle doing a massive info-dump at a train station before the episode even starts, or they tend to be a total mouthful when trying to explain how some aspect of their world works.
But this episode started off kind of quiet, and nothing was on screen for longer than it needed to. The character interactions seemed on point as well.
Even if it was kinda underwhelming when compared to other season openers, I think the season still has potential to be decent.
+Lori P I think what helped to the lack of an info dump was the fact that the sisters didn't know about alicorns being born, it could have been an overdramatic "every thousand years the planets align and the gods allow the spirit of an alicorn to be born with the right to the crystal throne" bull. When the characters discover things as they go along, so does the audience.
Bay Laugh Exactly! Plus I liked how Spike was the one to explain the Crystalling and using the vase to illustrate his explanation was pretty clever and visually enjoyable for the audience :)
I liked the flashbacks, showing that every trick Sunburst learned faster, Starlight was eventually able to improve upon. Sunburst has a more instinctive knack for magic compared to Starlight's raw power, which later plays a part with him figuring out the particular combination of spells required, without actually being able to stand beside alicorns to perform them as Starlight was.
Honestly, I loved this season premier. It was a different take on a threat. Season 1: Nightmare Moon. Season 2: Discord/Chrysalis. Season 3: Sombra. Season 4: Plunderseeds/Tirek. Season 5: Starlight Glimmer. Season 6: ...a baby alicorn's uncontrolled magic... The season 6 premier's threat was an innocent accident (imagine when Shining and Cadance tell Flurryheart that story when she get's older).
I think Flurryheart's design is off-putting only because it's different. It's been confirmed up till now that foals have that button-eye design (save for Applejack). Although, since the new animation team, we've never actually seen the cake twins. So perhaps the new design has to do with the new artists involved. Flurryheart however is adorable. Perhaps it's just my attraction to innocence thought.
Celestia was actually doing something! Granted, it wasn't much in the long run. But she was actually doing something! But now onto the main focus of the story, Starlight Glimmer. I loved the part with her not being able to find her way around the castle. I loved how she was apprehensive about reuniting with her old friend. I love how she tried her best to stall. I love how when she did reunite with him, it was a failure. And honestly, I didn't think I'd love Starlight Glimmer in this way, but I do. Finally, Starlight revealed the truth about her life after her friend left, and that she ended up becoming evil (and evil for an actual reason, and not just to be evil), and tried to change history. I'm looking forward to more Starlight Glimmer.
And was that really a changeling? Could this be the return of Chrysalis (and if so, I hope they use the proper distortion in her voice, unlike in The Cutie Re-Marked)? Or is it possible that this may be a different changeling hive?
God, I hope the Changelings come back. There's SO much potential for world building based on what kind of culture they have.
So that flying speck in the background at the end of the premier was a changling?
+PhotonTheHedgehog360 Yea. and you know what that means..... CHRYSSI MIGHT GET HER REVENGE :D
+MLPDethDealr32 We'll see Chrysalis again? Yes!
it looks that way, at least we can hope since it was a CHangling. I was kind of hoping Sombra would get his revenge too.
+MLPDethDealr32 Yeah, but let's not forget what happened to him. Then again, his horn wasn't destroyed when he was obliterated, so there is a possibility he might return as well.
I thought it was just a pegasus or an animation error.
I had so many shipping alarms going off as I watched Starlight and Sunburst interact.
+Lobomaru02 Good to know that I wasn't the only one. Starburst for the win! (Yes the pun is intended). XD
I was kinda disappointed that there wasn't a new villain or something, just a superpowered princess. . On the other hand, eh...hoof, StarlightXSunburst forever!
+LadyCeag840 Star Sun? Light Burst? Sun Light? Can't be Star Burst that is copy write.
Russell Dickson
I like Star Sun! ;)
WHOA, I didn't even notice that there was a changeling at the end, good eyes there Doc! And I enjoyed this episode a lot for the same reasons you did. And I did have a few predictions about this episode, but now it would seem I've been proven wrong.
I didn't notice the Changeling. It's pretty small and far away.
I didn't expect it to work out like this. But I am really amazed how the Story worked out by putting together the little pieces of what everypony had to offer to the whole pic.
I'm sad that there wasn't a song
+StarShine22 Exactly.
OHHHHH LARD CHANGELING CRUD
Well it would make sense, Cadence and Shining had a kid this season.
Tbh, I viewed the statement "it's never been heard of an alicorn being born in Equestria History" as Celestia and Luna 's births were not in Equestria/before Equestria which is most likely what happened; their birth might've been so far back before records of history was even recorded and if it's that far back, I highly doubt that they remember their own birth/the years directly following it (which explains why they're understanding of it would be limited). And they're caretakers at that time (as we don't see anything of them) might be long dead, further making it hard to recall anything about the birth/early childhood of alicorns.
I think the statements have muddied up messages. Either a future episode or direct answer from the writers would tell for sure.
+Prince Puri
I agree
There were a lot of surprises in this episode, and among them was Twilight's parents finally having some lines for everyone to hear near the end of episode. With Twilight's parents being little more than silent background characters for the prior seasons the scene where they actually talked with the other characters was a nice little bonus for everyone, since we could only really saw them in speaking roles in the comics and fan works prior.
I don't think people realize the long term consequences of flurry heart being born an alicorn. This means any child flurry heart has could be an alicorn and it will keep going until equestria is full of alicorns XD
+Cybresamurai Doubtful. If this were the case there'd probably be a lot more alicorns. Whatever her case is is either a mutation or a LONG dormant recessive gene.
There was one part that I almost missed when celestia called sunburst here "previous student" and "you might be a great Wizard yet." Leading me to think that there may be some credibility to the sunburst becoming star swirl. And I think Flurry heart's Magic bursts quite done yet.
Am I the only brony, who wanted King Sombra to return ?
+Carson Bobo I did too!
dude everybody in the fandom wanted sombra to come back
He's technically dead
yeah, i know. I just REALLY want to see him again.
+jackie pines gravity falls girl yeah, i know!
We had Queen Chrysalis make a return in one alternate future back in the Season 5 finale. Could we be seeing her again sometime in Season 6? Time will tell...
Also, I'm kind of interested in the new information about Alicorns. When I read the Journal of the Two Sisters, I was certain Celestia and Luna were Alicorns by birthright. If they have never seen an Alicorn naturally born in who knows how many centuries or millennia since they were born, this leaves a lot of interesting facts to consider.
Either way, loved how you ended off on the last clip being of Celestia and Luna in their Crystal Pony states as Celestia congratulated Sunburst on taking what he had learned to heart to help save the Empire, Dr. Wolf. Kudos!!!
Well tbh this episode is what I call a sandwich episode. By that I mean it has good bits and bad bits. At first Sunburst was for too old-sounding and old than he should be and that discouraged me. But then he becomes a far better character by the end. He should clean up a bit first though, can't have Starlight's love interest looking like a homeless stallion.
Flurry Heart was and still is a bitter taste in my mouth, and a lot of her segments reeked of cliche after cliche. Starlight and Spike have a good brother-sister dynamic and I'd love to see that explored. Shining Armour is a lot more competent than he has been before, so it's good to see that. But all in all, the main focus of the episode, and the titular event is...kinda dull. Honestly I felt like snoozing through those sections as they were just a bore to get through.
I really liked Spike helping Starlight. It gave him something to do and he encouraged her. I was worried he wouldn't be involved since we didn't see him in the promo. :)
In fact I'm happy that all the male characters were useful in this. Spike helped Starlight, Shining while he did freak out did all he could, and Sunburst saved the day. Hope this continues. :D
Starlight's story during the premiere was definitely the best thing. I just loved the chemistry between her and Spike. He wasn't cringy or useless at all imo. I didn't really care much about the whole Crystalling thing and I have no feelings for Flurry Heart atm. I don't think she'll contribute much to the show, honestly.
i have respect to who ever review & animate of an episode that just aired today. Congrats Dr. Wolf
iam glad i wasnt the only one to freak out about when celestia said pretty much that she and luna where not born alicorns. becuse ive heard they where.
it's funny how hasbro just contradicted themselves with this episode since the journal of the two sisters said they were born that way
+Mizzium Mortars I think they said "equestria" for that reason. no one ever said that Luna and Celestia were born in equestria.
+Autymn Maas celestia also stated that it was beyond them basically meaning that thete has never been a natural born alicorn before
I thought it would be because cadence was not a born alicorn and shining is a unicorn. It's like the cakes having a Pegasus and unicorn. Equestrian baby rules are weird. I think that Celestia and Luna would have had alicorn parents. Alicorn+Alicorn=Alicorn. Made Alicorn+Unicorn = Alicorn? I mean, since cadence was born a pegasus, it could be weird gene crossing or something. I think that's why they were confused.
Or maybe her being, well concived so close to a strong magical sorce, the crystal heart, had something to do with it?
3:52
Nopony said that the Royal Sisters were born in Equestria. The Journal of the Two Sisters said that Celestia and Luna knew other Alicorns before the founding of Equestria.
To be honest, I think this is the weakest season opener yet. Normally I'm not the one to say "the show is shit now come back lauren" or something similar, but, with the last season finale being, at least in my opinion, on the "meh" side of okay, I can't help but worry. I have had since day one the controversial opinion that I didn't mind Twilight becoming an alicorn and I like it that this show is allowed to stray from the status quo, but there is something that makes me feel like the changes introduced in the last handful of episodes are not for the best (or, at the very least, could not be for the best), because they feel quite rushed to me. My main issue with the Crystalling is that there is very very weak characterisation, while what makes me come back to this show is the strong characters. Not even one of the characters in the episode had a whole lot of personality going on. I hope it is just a bump on the road, it happens...
she's just a baby, of course she doesn't have any personality. In my opinion thought, i love the first episode of season 6 and the last episode of season 5, i personaly think the show is way better than before.
+xbourassa I wasn't talking about the baby, I was talking about everyone else. I agree that, on average, I prefer the more recent seasons to 1 and 2, but I found this bland and predictable, with next to no personality. I hope, as I said, that this is just a bump on the road: they can't all be winners
+Broderick Siz oh ok. Let's hope then to have a clear path.
Don't forget the fact that Twilight and Shining Armor's parents finally have voices.
who else ships Starburst and Starlight?
+sweetsongpinklicious Yes!!! I agree very much. I am also hoping to see them have more episodes together in the future :D
Deep Bluee YAAAAAS ME TOO!
I think you should definitely make a video on the alicorn aspect to Flurry Heart, it confused me very much when I heard that line as well. But still, she's still too stinking plum adorable!!! I love her so much! :3 Also, changeling?! Oh boy! Brony Notion will love to hear this!
I'm glad they nerfed her powers. Sure, there would have been a lot of stories, but they would have been lazy stories, on par with Poof in Fairly OddParents.
+GuthixGodOfBalance1 She was essentially a free-card for the plot of this episode, I don't want a plot device as lazy as this around for the whole season.
Bianca Mayer
Exactly. That's what everyone was afraid of, so good thing they nerfed her.
GuthixGodOfBalance1
Honestly, that's the reason those baby-super powers got introduced in the first place. To have an excuse for all the random crap Pinkie Pie had to deal with in that episode. As if baby sitting wasn't hard enough without superpowers.
Bianca Mayer
It was a plot device, and a lazy one at that.
Yeah I was thinking the same thing. Had they left that, I would've been very frustrated as it would've led to more forced conflicts by random destruction or whatever. Once is fine, but no more.
I already know how the season will end (not really): Chrysalis returns after her changling replaces Flurry Heart which no one notices, Flurry blabbles her tune of "This Day Aria" to get back to the empire and save the day with her untapped magic. XD
+EdXLover1 I actually fear that Flurry Heart might get replaced, not because I dislike the idea, but because it would give the whole season a quite dark setting o.O I personally hope that this Changeling is "just" a spy. But I really hope to see more about Chrysalis and the changlings in the series :)
VanillaCubcake Me too.
i dont care what anybody says, im calling her Skyla!
Skyla McFlurryheart, ;'3
Why Skyla? I've just been Callie' her Flurr.
+Alpha121198 www.amazon.co.uk/My-Little-Pony-Newborn-Princess/dp/B00A91S7DC this is why!
KobraNerd Is that from one of the past generations of MLP?
+Alpha121198 current generation. season 3 to be precise. your a new one arent you?
I liked this episode, I like that starlight is around, and I especially like that but at the end of the episode with what might possible be a shapeshifting season finale
I enjoy the show
3:00 it's called the lio and sitch effect. Where one elements not bad, the other just outshines it
I'm just glad Spike was given the role he's best suited for: keeping ponies focused and helping whenever he can rather than taking center stage and failing horribly because events conspire to make his life a living hell
I liked that Twilight's parents finally got lines and that Celestia remembered Sunburst. (She called him "my old student" or something). Just nice that she remembers even what seems to be the washouts from her school, really a point for her character.
You described my feelings quite well (as usual), Starlight quickly became my favorite pony and seeing her as Twilight's student, facing her fears, and even trying to manipulate spike through her usual charisma was awesome to me... but then the episode continued. The episode gave a few nice visuals, but this was basically "that's magic, just roll with it" moments.
Even the ending, though pretty, didn't give any strong messages like the other seasons.
Somehow I feel the Mane Six will dig the history of an Alicorn in later episodes or maybe Starswirl will be shown in an episode.
Or maybe Lauren Faust's OC will be in the show?! (Nah... Not sure that will happen... ^-^")
I enjoyed the show and somehow I saw some kind of Lion King reference when Sunburst introduce Flurry Heart to the Crystal Ponies...
I have a headcanon that Celestia and Luna actually were created as alicorns, not born, but by magic in some way.
I liked the dual story lines converging in the end. As for the Flurry Heart... One sentence comes to mind:
"I'm the baby, got to love me!"
Not even 10 hours, and you have an review up.
Oh, I can not wait for the rest of the group to put up their reviews, and reaction. Plus, an whole new season, the joy!~
Ok, my thoughts, gods, I have more questions then answers now. I mean,was Tia and Luna born, or were they giving their wings? Or, did they come form another far away land? Are we going to learn more about their past? Now, about Heart, well she have an big role later on in the series?
And about that ending, if it is an changeling, does that mean the (Best) Queen well be returning, and what well she do? Or, is it an new Queen? Like I said, so many questions...
Now, to me, Sunset Glimmer, I am ok how things are turning out now, I do have feeling that she is going to stay with the Mane 6+ Spike now, so we all going to have to get used to her. And I am ok with that.^_^
But, now we play the waiting game until the next episode next week, so yay!~
Wow, and good length comment,
-Taix K. Wolfmore
MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!! I did not notice the changeling! Jeez you are observant.
Your point about born alicorns being new to EQUESTRIA is interesting. If I recall correctly from the Journal of the Two Sisters, Celestia and Luna were alicorns before Equestria was founded. So, it might still be kosher.
I saw that black speck in the background and I couldn't figure out what it was. Although now I know that it's (or at least what Dr. Wolf presumes to be) a changeling, I can't wait to see more of them.
Shining Armor's bit on the train platform had me laughing out loud. It's rare that a show can get more than a chuckle out of me.
Ever since I saw Sunburst for the first time in the flashback scene of the season 5 finale, I knew he'd be an important character. The more I saw of Sunburst, the more I began to like him. I hope we'll see more of him in the future.
Has anyone else noticed just how similar Sunburst is to Rincewind (Discworld)? The look, the speech pattern, 'doing important wizardy work', it's all there.
Wow Doc, not wasting any time are we? I just now finished grabbing stills. I still got the script to write and then all the editing... This review/analyst gig is exhausting!
Well I always took it as Celestia and Luna were somehow embodiments of the sun and moon. Like how Discord is the Spirit of Chaos. That alone would explain how the birth of an alicorn was beyond their knowledge. But the thing is Flurry Heart is not a naturally born alicorn as her mother is an ascended alicorn and thus making Flurry Heart the most artificial alicorn you could probably get. The only way an alicorn could be naturally born would be from an alicorn species.Also, as I haven't seen the episode yet, if the Crystal Heart has been destroyed then that means the Umbrum can escape! That could be what was in the background at the ending scene.
In the Journal of the Two Sisters, the first few pages tell us that Star Swirl the Bearded approached the sisters and told them about Equestria; that the new nation needed them to be the princesses because they could represent all the citizens. "They (the ponies) knew that Alicorns stood for everything Equestria was Founded upon."
As for Luna saying they did not know about Alicorns being natural born, well they may not. After all how much do people recall their own birth? There maybe no text or records on Alicorns birthing....maybe?
Also I like to point out that the journal also says "The Alicorns thought---" meaning that there must have been other Alicorns around Celestia and Luna if they were being educated by them.
On the topic of Flurry Heart's unpredictable magic being taken away, I think it would have been a nice touch that her sneeze at the end would have given off a failed spell effect; such as when Twilight tries to cast something hard and fails, you see some kind of star and sparkles fall down. Which would have been better because it would let us know that her magic is still unpredictable but can be manageable. Like a serious illness, kind of thing. That as she grows older, she has to take "medication" to keep her powers in check as emotional outbursts or sudden human functions, like coughing and sneezing, don't end up in disaster, endangering those around her. If this was the case, I could see one path of her growing up being similar to Elza from Frozen.
My thoughts exactly, doctor. I like Starlight's redesign, too, though it's just a small change with her hair.
So we basically get to see the Crystal Ponies' equivalent of a baptism in this episode, which, I've really gotta admit, hit a _lot_ of the right notes with me. Pure, unadulterated love and adoration being funneled into the Crystal Heart with every one of them that is born? Absolutely. Beautiful. ^^
The fact that Sunburst inserted a crystal shard filled with that energy into the broken Crystal Heart is also really interesting, as it implies that the Heart is _made up of these crystals._ If I'm right, that would mean that its entire makeup consists of dozens of these individual crystals, each filled with unbridled love gathered from every single birth in the Crystal Empire. Wow!
It gets even better, too, as the Crystal Ponies' own history explains why there are apparently so few of these crystal shards -- they've been basically sealed in time for hundreds of years, after all. Whatever turned them into the Crystal Ponies, and looking at the number of shards, they probably only had time for about a generation or two to be born before King Sombra came and screwed everything up.
What do you think of _that_ theory? _(Assuming no one else came up with it first, of course.)_
I kind of like how they handled the aspect about how an Alicorn will always have the potential to be extremely powerful no matter what the age and the dynamic I'm looking forward to is the dynamic between Princess Flurryheart and her new Crystaller Suncatcher. Technically the Cake twins were already mobile and causing a ruckus at barely a month old. Flurryheart is technically even younger than the cake twins when her power fluxes and wing testing began making Flurryheart still be an exceptional handful. I'll just note that near the end of the episode when Suncatcher started helping the royal family at the near end of the episode . . . Princess Flurryheart's powers started to ebb off to a more handle-able keel. I'm thinking the happy parents might ask for Suncatcher's help more often when these power storms of Flurryheart's start happen again or better yet when Flurryheart stresses Shining Armor and his wife out again. You sometimes never know who ends up becoming a go-to babysitter.
My first impression after watching the episode was "give us more Starlight and Spike please".
Flurry Heart's powers seem like they were just partially sealed by the reforming of the Crystal Heart. You have to wonder if she is now somehow tied to it in a more significant way that others in the Crystal Empire. The show left a lot to be explored about her character which will no doubt come up again in the season finale if the last few seasons are any indication.
As for Celestia and Luna they were found as children by Starswirl so I doubt they know if they were born Alicorns or became them at a young age. It is outside their knowledge and understanding.
I really enjoyed the episode far more than I was even hoping for. I thought the moments with Flurry were hilarious, I liked Starburst as a character, I enjoyed the pacing this episode took, Celestia and Luna doing something without failing, the new side of Shining Armor, the way the show staff made all of mane 6 and everypony else playing a somewhat major character in the episode important in their own way - even the thing that Rarity did! I was certainly pleasantly surprised by how well this episode turned out. And on the top of that, Starlight's slice of life-y parts were made really well. Definitely made me like her even more. Even Spike wasn't annoying!
To be honest, this was the most perfectly balanced of all the openers aside from Season One. We got an establishment of our new (kinda) main character in Starlight as she made her way around the castle and shared her past with Sunburst with Spike (which excellently foreshadowed what would happen later I might add, by showing that Starlight-once she knew the spells-was a MUCH more talented magic user than Sunburst, which set up great for his character later.) We see Twilight getting her own self-conflict with trying to be the best teacher she can in her lessons, while awaiting news from her brother, and we got to see Starlight adjusting with the others of the Mane 7. Then as we go further we see a lot of character development for Shining and Cadance when it comes to their roles as Mother and Father, as well as learned that the birthing of an Alicorn is a special event, all while Spike brought Starlight on her first lesson, guiding her as the voice of reason as best he knew how and doing wonderfully at it. Like seriously, dude was a fucking Dumbledore style teacher's aide here going on about the stories she wanted to hear and bemusing her interests knowing she wanted to stall him all so she could muster her confidence up, only to push her forward when he needed to most, I REALLY want Spike to be that kind of character with her because it's really freaking great. Then the entire pacing of both main conflicts of the story in such a way that they came together in the end to fix each other was PERFECT. All in all it was pretty much a 9/10, and it really assured me that Starlight's role in MLP is gonna be great from here on out.
From a character building perspective the premiere was great its just the fact that there was no villain trying to cause havoc or wreack chaos everywhere they went and it was fairly low stakes as there was no major conflict, I mean sure the crystal empire was at risk but they were going to evacuate anyway so the cold was no real threat and with no evil characters introduced who could return again later (like Trixie or Starlight) the story felt bland. But I'm not saying that it was a bad episode as it wasn't it had the right mix of comedy and sincerity and the characters felt so natural, all I'm saying is that the premiere was bleak when compared to the others is all.
Also I completely agree with what you said I just wanted to give my opinion is all. :-)
+The Warner Show I would definitely agree that the overall threat was rather weak, especially compared to previous seasons, but I've noticed that the show has been moving away from the stereotypical "big, evil villain who can be defeated with the power of friendship", to more personal and nuanced villains.
I think this is a good challenge for the writers, and an interesting change for the show, though it does mean that the theatrics suffer somewhat due to the villains being less imposing.
+The Warner Show You do make a good point since even if Sunburst's plan failed, they still would have time to evacuate anyway to prevent Equestria from becoming leaderless without Celestia and Luna, or defenseless without the Royal Family or the Mane Six to protect it.
And I just realized something: They always had Discord to turn to for help with saving the Royal Family and the Mane Six, and Prince Rutherford and his yaks. Since the ponies and yaks are allies now, if the Royal Family and the Mane Six were in danger, Rutherford could send reinforcements to rescue them.
Rutherford: "Yaks learn of ponies being in danger. Yaks send more yaks to save ponies and protect them. Yaks and ponies friends now. When ponies in trouble, yaks will come to help."
My thoughts on the Crystalling were pretty mixed, here and there. I honestly believe this was one of the first episodes where Spike was at his best. I mean, like you said, it seemed like he was gonna get really high and mighty in regards to him being a hero again, but they took it just far enough and knew when to stop. (Even if this isn't a Spike-Centric episode, I personally view this as a beginning for him; a potential sign that he may be doing better).
As far as Celestia and Luna not being born alicorns like we thought, I'm not all too surprised. After all, it was Lauren Faust's original plan to have the sisters be Artificial-Alicorns like Cadence and Twilight, so it not being seen before does make sense in a way.
I'm really happy we got to learn more about Sunburst now, though I think it should've waited a bit longer for us to see him again. I mean, it seems a little odd that he just so happened to live in the Crystal Empire of all places. I can't help but feel like that was just the writers throwing him in as "sheer coincidence".
Last but not least: Flurry Heart: I'm not sure what to think still. I mean, she's the new baby and everything, and she has magic powers and stuff, but I'm still not sure what to think. I'm just going to give her a few more appearances and potential episodes before I can say anything good or bad.
Excellent review DRWolf. Can't wait to see more^^
LOVED IT!!! Just so damn good. Can't say better then others, just, different. And yet so much greatness. The Sisters not getting Worfed or pushed aside, Starlight, Spike being competent, helpful, while still a bit awkward and not quite knowing when to shut up. Flurry Heart being utterly adorable.
Yeah it was a great premier. I also go with the "In Equestria" being the key part of that, since Celestia outright said her and Luna CAME to Equestria, not that they were born there, in Return of Harmony. As to smoothing out her power issues, that works WAY better, with just how powerful, how uncontrolled and how destructive Flurry Heart could be... yeah not finding some way to deal with that would be a lot worse.
i like how they hinted sunburst had either flunked/dropped out
THANK YOU! No one else i talked to noticed the shadow/changeling at the end! I'm more curious about that than anything else this season opener brought!
Gotta admit, the Spike-Starlight dynamic was my fav partof the episode; they seem to get along the best so far.
Thought- I heard that Starswirl the Bearded taught Luna and Celestia, so... maybe HE was the one to recognize their Princess status when they were able to raise the Sun and Moon all on their own, and since they were the first to become alicorns THAT'S what made them the rulers of Equestria?
Also, isn't it odd that it felt like they made Sunburst what sounds like the Crystal Empire's version of a godfather? Maybe that's where Flurry Heart will shine, with those two playing off each other. I'm holding off judgement on Flurry Heart herself, but it would be really interesting if we actually for once get to see a stallion shine with Sunburst being the royal baby's Crystaller (I think that's how you spell it).
+cmsully1 Starswirl the bearded teaching Celestia and Luna is a interesting theory. (Haven't heard that before). I seriously want more info about Starswirl this season! (As well as the Princess's and maybe a Celestia episode!) Because while Luna is my favorite, we've pretty much established everything about her, while we really don't know about Celestia. Which is why we need a Celestia episode! :)
I hope that the whole "an Alicorn has never been born in Equestria" line is up to interpretation, because I will hate the staff forever for retconning out Lauren Faust's MLP bible, and The Journal of the Two Sisters. That is how I feel about that.
Other than that, I love the Starlight, Spike, and Sunburst story; Twilight learned a good lesson; and Flurry Heart was... tolerable... obviously made for marketing, and the future "princess of shelf-warmers", but overall okay. Yeah, a win.