MLP G5 Discussion and Speculation Thread

@Wiimeiser
Meanwhile, French dubs for kids shows seemingly have no problems mentioning death or the words being more violent than the original version, haha. Robin says “we’re still alive” rather than “we’re still here” in Teen Titans’s The End, and I think it was Horde Prime who straight out said “kill them both” in some She-Ra episode.

Bonus points for Aladdin and the King of Thieves; the second line in “Imagine the fear on their faces/When we drop by for cookies and tea” from the song Are You In Or Out was translated as “when we slit their throats in their sleep.” Sure, the thief was holding a dagger to begin with when he said that, but damn.

I’d need to rewatch G4 to check if the French dubs mentioned death there though.

Argyle got sent to the dungeon

If you can’t pay the cash, you’re out with the trash.

@Roseluck
The French probably doesn’t know what taboo is or that they are the most brave and daring. More than Japan was.

Is that extra T in the video title intentional? The credits ditches it, and bae’s name is “Star”scout, so I’m guessing it’s a typo.

Sunny’s bio during the film did say roller-skating is her hobby. It doesn’t come up that often but hey, nice continuity.

Another pony in a hat. I miss the days when everything got like a billion pieces of art because I really want Pipp in a tophat to be a thing.

How did they not find the blanket and projector before? I can buy they weren’t really looking at the things they were moving since they’d be far more focuses on building a place to live, but you’d think someone would’ve seen the projector during packing anyway.

Ooh, we’re hitting a feels episode.

Weird ancient artifact, and weird that he knew where the other pieces were.

“This smells…like a mystery!” Zipp will use any opportunity to larp as a detective.

More Haven. Cool. She gets a surprising amount of screentime.

I’m guessing they didn’t really need their respective magics. Looks like a forklift would’ve done the job just fine.

Sir Snipsalot doesn’t appear much in Hitch’s squad anymore.

Sunny finally uses Earth Pony magic, but she doesn’t dance a jig beforehand. This would’ve been my Joker origin story, except she did it alongside Hitch and I’m filthy shipping trash. Gotham is spared another week.

Intriguing design on the new blanket…

The fact that her daughters are involved in Haven’s suffering this time makes it extra funny. But this does mean Izzy is still 3/3 in being involved.

Was the Bridlewood puzzle magical or mechanical? Maretime Bay’s portion was supposedly an heirloom, Zephyr Heights was the equivalent of hiding it under your bed, but this one was the only one really hidden.

A lot to unpack with that completed blanket’s design.

On my first watch I thought it contrived how there was still more to the film, but on rewatch I saw that Zipp shut it off the first time. Still weird but okay.

Filly Sunny burrito. You can’t drop cute like that, that’s illegal.

Oh boy, a whole lot to unpack for this episode. I was expecting all the real lore stuff to be in MYM but then this happens.

So Sunny and friends are the chosen ones. Okay we’ve already known destiny is very much a thing since G4. But how much did Argyle know? Obviously he knew Sunny was destined for greatness, but how much did he know about Hitch? How much was he involved in grooming a friendship between them? Was he completely hands off, was the reason they met, or was he actively pushing their friendship every step of the way?

How did each blanket piece end up where they were? It’s clear nobody found the other ones so there’s that. I approve of how each character was in a different location that their hometown on the design. That’s a pretty artsy way of saying that yeah, ponies are supposed to live with each other. But is there any deeper meaning over the fact that Bridlewood is just a field of gems in the tapestry? Like maybe the forest only recently grew there.

Also, Hitch’s squad is on the tapestry. They are chosen ones too.

This episode has a lot of implications going forward and I’m pleasantly surprised with that.

@Dustcan
Most lore in a slice of life show than the movie.

@Phoenixflambe
Not really a fan of the “lore” we got in this one tbh.

elt way too contrived with the ponies on the blanket being Sunny and friends and i prefer it if it if they didn’t do the whole “chosen one” thing

@Dustcan
They’ve fixed the typo.

I don’t disagree.

It worked in G4 because magic and destiny and prophecy et al were upfront and obvious.

Here it felt like it could’ve gone either way with the Mane 5 being either the chosen ones or just in the right place at the right time.

But now it’s pretty apparent that yeah, they all are the chosen ones. Including the critters.

I liked the lore dump but ambivalent on the implications.

Neat.

You Americans are so sensitive. We Europeans have no problem with the subject of death in our comics and stories aimed at children, many of the usual folk tales meant for grown children explain death, heartlessness, moral dubiousness and thieving. But in the European comics, death is rarely shown, as it was more important to have an acceptance for the children to understand, especially when deceased relatives and friends are mentioned by the characters. Therefore, European children are more used to the case of deceased characters and their relatives when they simply disappeared or are noticed in passing. Death is rarely shown, the older the audience gets, the more death will be shown until the moment of death for the character is shown. It happens when the reader is in the teenage years.

G5 is intended for slightly more mature children, the team behind TYT has adopted the “Disney code” where deceased people are only mentioned in passing and shown as flashbacks and during time traveling adventures or when the past is shown. Argyle is treated in the same way as Scrooge McDuck’s father from Don Rosa’s “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck”. The rule is that those who live while the show is going on, must not die - including villains. But Hasbro since the 1980s has their own rule, and it must be said that Sombra had been killed more times than this is allowed! He is constantly revived, and from the IDW comics it was implied that the central characters had lost their lives, even directly when Daybreaker “killed” Eris in the Nightmare Knights Arc.

We will surely find out that the Mane 6 and all G4 characters with few exceptions as “the immortals” have passed away, without saying it out loud in line with the Disney code, an IDW cover has “confirmed” Fluttershy’s death through using the “a picture is worth a thousand words” method. It does not rule out that the dead can return as ghosts or spirits - especially if the Unity Crystals lead to the magical dimension that could be “the Elsewhere”, the cartoon Kung Fu Panda avoided the problem of death with the spirit world, which both living and dead can come to through spiritual ascension.

But the Hasbro rules will probably be used possibly only once, when The Big Bad is to be defeated at the end of G5. The rule that the worst of the worst villains will get a much-deserved end. Sombra is the exception to the rule.

Pony magic. If there is anything that has been learned in the Ponyverse that began in the year 1982, forty years ago, is that the magic of the world of ponies is timeless. Ever since G1, there have been hints that magic in a magical world has no limitations as it seemed to have an eternal substance independent of the laws of nature - including time. In G4 it has been taught that it was possible to see into the future, but this is an ability that only those with special abilities or powerful magic can use, like with the old fortune teller from the IDW comics and the Harmony Tree in the TV series of G4. And even then, the future could not be predicted correctly, which the blanket is a good example of. Celestia could only get glimpses of what will come in the future, and only a few times was it possible to have clairvoyance, but it would be brief. Very brief.

The only sure thing is that the Ponyverse does not fall into the same trap as others like the Harry Potter universe, when predictions about future threats and events could come true because one had these predictions which could be very damaging. In the Ponyverse, this is guided by guesswork and chance, but on the other hand, it has been shown that magic is incomprehensible. It was no accident that Argyle found the part of the blanket and studied it, then discovered that his newborn daughter was on the blanket. Thus begins the process that will make the prediction come true.

Celestia found Twilight’s cutie mark without understanding its significance, but she predicted that her sister will be freed by new element bearers and then searches for the “chosen one” among the many young unicorns as the time approaches. She had seen what the future would bring, but couldn’t get clear vision until Rainbow Dash blasted the sound barrier with a Sonic Rainboom and she saw Twilight’s new cutie mark. She had probably predicted the Mane 6, but not the details. Same thing with the blanket.

Twilight might be able to “see” the future more easily than Celestia, as magic will show her these clairvoyances - and she is the element of magic. So she learned about Sunny and her family lineage. But she doesn’t know who the other members of the Mane 5 were, and could probably only see outlines of Maretime Bay, Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood. But enough for her to have a magic blanket made and split it into three, giving one to the family she knows will breed a future alicorn.

We know that Rarity was probably dead when the blanket was made, but the fact that it appeared to be magical raises many questions, especially since it would be fitting with Rarity’s personality to create some fashion-like “reminders” for the future heirs. Twilight’s personality doesn’t allow for this, she wouldn’t have automatically chosen a blanket to “communicate” with the would-be alicorn and her friends.

@Mr.Myoozik
Yeah that part felt way too forced

By studying the details of the background in the blanket, I have come to a preliminary conclusion about when it was made, it seems that only the living could be glimpsed in the foresight, while the background must have been so vague that the current depiction had to be woven into the background. It explains why the old lighthouse before Sprout destroyed it was displayed along with the crystals in an open landscape and the old throne in Zephyr Heights.

Maretime Bay had probably existed in G4, while Bridlewood was not as densely packed with trees then as in later times. The crystal field in Bridlewood may indicate that the clairvoyance had come before the posters in the airship station in Zephyr Heights, when these were shown dense forests in Bridlewood. This suggests a long time before Equestria’s collapse, and the glass window that gave Sunny the clue she needs to return magic to the world was still bare in the background.

The throne itself is interesting. It is dimensionally fit for a full-grown alicorn rather than a normal pony, meaning that the royal palace in Zephyr Heights was a place of residence for an alicorn, likely Twilight Sparkle. Even if a new throne chair was inserted, the base could not be moved, only an alicorn that can combine all three pony magic or a pony from each tribe working together can move it. And with Sunny sitting in the middle - with the throne to the side - it means that the potential for her to be a princess in the future is there. Have you noticed that she is bigger than the other ponies in the blanket?

Based on what Argyle said, that means the blanket was made over “ten generations ago”. If we go for 20 years per generation, that’s 200 years - but if we go for 40 years per generation, that’s 400 years. And the background suggests that 400 years is most likely. As much as 500 years, perhaps.

We know that Twilight was there when Equestria collapsed, and there are indications that Sunny’s birth happened a thousand years after the end of G4. This then means that she may have ruled for over 800 years, and that is in line with an unconfirmed information about the age of the naturalized Harmony Tree.

For Argyle and Twilight, the blanket was more valuable than all the gold in the world, because it represented hope to them. Argyle could face death with a smile knowing that all his hopes will come true, thanks to his daughter. For Twilight who in the darkest hour when all hope seems lost, especially if Equestria’s collapse is due to an attack from The Big Bad, can have hope for the Ponykind, as her successor will come to the aid of the world.

Sunny gradually becomes the Princess of Hope.

The Serbian dub of My Little Pony: A New Generation premiered today and none of the Mane 6’s previous voice actresses returned. I’m glad G5 is close to having almost the same amount of dubs as G4. It means it is successful.

Opaline sure is getting a lot of art recently. I’d have thought she’d have gotten more around her actual appearance rather than when she got some preview images.

@Dustcan
Her name. It was because of her beautiful name.

Weird flex to make art over a name instead of her looks. But I ain’t complaining.

@Dustcan
I mean it’s boring to call her Shadowy Alicorn but Opaline sounds perfect. Before her name reveal, I was basically meh about her.

I don’t think Opaline wants something from that flower. I think she wants to show Misty what magic can do. Yeah, by destroying the flower with it. Misty probably doesn’t know magic as well as Opaline. Given that Opaline is an alicorn she had lived way more than her.

@Phoenixflambe
Tbf since she was in the shadows (heh) when we first saw her we didn’t really get a good look at what she looked like

Now that we have more, clearer pictures jf her, we can now make more art if her because we have a clear ref fir what she looks like

And she looks pretty.

@Dustcan
Subjective obviously, but I feel there’s something off about her canon, 3D self that I can’t call her pretty or even good-looking… but she certainly can look gorgeous in fanarts (example links not an exhaustive list).

I always have to force myself not to call her “Chevaline” though. Opaline just sounds so close to that word…

Then there’s Misty, who has such a clueless, innocent doofus look to her that I’m not sure whether she’ll be a cinnamon roll obviously destined to betray Opaline because she’s clearly on the wrong side for whatever reason… or the real and definitely evil mastermind, like some kind of psycho Judas Contract Terra wannabe.

@Roseluck
I don’t think Misty will be that evil. Judas Contract Terra is heartless.

@Background Pony #DAC6
Yeah, I remembered just what I described only after posting. Should have said “diet, kid-friendly wannabe” instead.

Anyway, she’s not on the ‘chosen ones’ tapestry, is she? Maybe she’ll be a Radiant “I don’t believe in fate” Hope wannabe instead, if she ends up mattering as much (on the side of good) as the other five despite not being ‘foreseen.’

I should watch Starscout Code to be certain about the context, though.

The voice cast for G5 just don’t have the chemistry that Tara, Ashleigh, Tabitha and Andrea had.

@Dustcan
I’m loving more the fanart of her assistant