Unpopular opinion time

@LightningBolt  
I said equine, not ponies. We’ve got zebras, hippogriffs, griffins, kirin, the horse-like changelings, and actual horses (the Arabians). Following that theme, we might get deer and similar animals, or straying slightly farther wolves or bears. It wouldn’t be too hard to stick with the theme.

@GenericArchangel  

 

 
This site got you covered man

@ILoveMyoozik  
How the fuck did I miss that in my many searches through the relevant tags? Thanks, bro.
 
Glimmer’s redemption is still ass, though. And for an unpopular opinion, so was Discord’s.

@gingerninja666  
THIS

@ILoveMyoozik  
Glimmerism is for figs

@GenericArchangel  
I literally just typed “Che Guevara” in the search bar and it was the first image that popped up. Maybe it’s your filters?
 
Man, Discord’s redemption was not good at all.

@LightningBolt
 
They kinda seem like they are more special, for the most part, though.

@GenericArchangel  
Oh, she deeply and sincerely believed in it. That’s even clearer after seeing what little we got of her backstory.
 
And while I din’t like the plethora of strange creatures, I also have a thing against creatures very similar to ponies but not. So Saddle Arabians have always confused me - if they wren’t nearly as tall as Celestia I’d say they were ponies.

@GenericArchangel  
Griffons have nothing equine about them, they are catbirds. Also you forgot Sirens. Everyone does.
 
Also Deer are not equines, and I have no idea how wolves fit the ‘theme’ as they are as equine line as Griffons, meaning, not even slightly.

Yeah, I’d rather have more unique stuff than either the generic hordes of the movie or more equines.
 
And Discord’s redemption (which is still somewhat ongoing) has been pretty decently done considering his limited availability.

@Latecomer
 
Discord’s redemption is pretty much done after his heartfelt speech in the season premiere, with maybe one or two more things he could do to truly cement it… which might happen, depending on if he has another important role.
 
S4’s finale was really where Discord started redeeming himself, S3, not so much.

@LightningBolt  
I’m not being ultra-scientific here, going along the fantasy horse-ish line of thought. Wolves are quadrupedal generic forest/plains creatures, as are the fictional griffons. It’s not super well defined, but more of an idea of what wouldn’t look out of place alongside unicorns.

Starlight, Discord, and Stygian’s reformations were better than say, Luna’s, because having an element of trying to talk them down/convince them > them being rainbow blasted, and reformed.
 
It would’ve been rather tragic if Sombra was instantly reformed by the power of friendship in the premiere.

@GenericArchangel  
Okay yeah no, that logic is just dumb. If you wanna say “typical fantasy creatures” say that, not ‘equine-like’ and then call Griffons that.

@AC97  
I didn’t like the fact that after that speech he gave, he just went back to his ways after it was shown that he faked getting blasted by Sombra.

@ILoveMyoozik
 
While I’m acutely aware we’re never gonna see eye-to-eye on that, it made me appreciate Discord since he did that because he genuinely believed in Twilight and the others (he was shown to be frustrated on her behalf by asking “how can she not be ready?!”).
 
A classic Trickster Mentor moment, only the “mentor” part wasn’t more of an afterthought, like in say, S4.

@AC97  
Maybe because I’m biased since I’ve always disliked Discord since Season 6, but it just felt like a spit in the face because the speech was genuinely sweet and heartwarming until he pulled the “Lol, I wasn’t dying after all, it’s just a prank bro” card. I don’t see him as that trickster mentor anymore and now he’s an entitled whiny asshole to me.

Discord had the best redemption arc and his speech at the end of the season 9 premiere was amazing. I mean what was the first thing Discord did? He tried to turn the Mane 6 against thier Elements. He had the stones but knew they were pointless and that it was the ponies who were the actual embodiment of them. And it shows how much he cares about them now. Yes he was faking it but that’s because he knew they could do it, it was just thier self doubt that was holding them back and that’s what Discord tends to do, show up a character’s preexisting assumption and fallacies. It just really works for me.

@ILoveMyoozik
 
Ah, that explains it then.
 
Discord has always been a character I’ve liked (with the exception of a… subpar episode or two, maybe); John de Lancie is a great actor.
 
Kinda wish Discord and Trixie would’ve had more chances to interact more, and possibly butt heads, seeing as they’re so similar.

@AC97  
I used to like Discord and he used to be my favorite antagonist at one point until overtime he became less of a mentor and more entitled and passive agressive. The episode “What About Discord?” was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. With all that though, I do find him tolerable in some episodes like “Make New Friends But Keep Discord”, “Dungeons and Discords” and “To Where & Back Again”.
 
Yessss, I would like that very much! Their dynamic was great in TWABA and they look like they have good potential for comedy.

@ILoveMyoozik
 
I don’t think anyone I find worth listening to most of the time is gonna tell everyone that What About Discord? is an example of a great Discord episode, from an objective standpoint, or just a good episode in general.
 
wouldn’t be surprised if I stand corrected later, regarding who says what

@GenericArchangel  

 
The upcoming Ogres & Oubliettes book for the Tails of Equestria RPG is supposed to have a poster world map. It’ll be interesting to see whether they use one of the stock Hasbro maps or create their own.
 
And speaking of Tails of Equestria, (adventure spoiler) they just introduced a new city of shaggy earth ponies living inside a mountain in the Frozen North:
 

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your current filter.

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your current filter.

Discord has mostly good episodes but some weaker ones, which is true of all characters but more of a problem when they’re limited. He also has a couple of narrow lines to walk in that he’s too powerful to be a reliable ally and he’s never going to stop being a trickster.
 
(As for What About, it was the first and perhaps only episode of his I felt didn’t actually need him.)

@Badumsquish  
It’s like they think people won’t buy the redemption unless they tack on a sob story, which feels super cynical and manipulative to me  
I’m not a fan of it either, but to me it really feels more like they know going in that they’re writing a show for eight year olds and trying to keep The Message simple and easily digested.
 
I wish there were more “he’s just an asshole, yo” characters in kids’ shows; adults try to pretend like that’s a bad message for kids or whatever, but every kid in the universe has already learned that lesson and understands the truth of it because almost all bullies are just shitheads who don’t have any real excuse for it.
 
@gingerninja666  
the reason we got to the other reasoning it likely could’ve been, which was her wanting power for the sake of it  
“But such is the way of the limelight, it sweetly  
Takes hold of the mind of its host”
 
History is so full of ideologues who started a revolution for all the right reasons and turned corrupt once they gained power that it can safely be assumed to be the natural order of revolutionary leaders in general, with any exceptions vanishingly rare.
 
@Spinny  
Yeah, she definitely should have had to work for it  
Starlight herself agrees with you; I always thought it was good characterization that she straight up didn’t trust how quickly and painlessly everypony forgave her for being such a bastard.
 
@Anonycat  
And that’s not counting the overabundance of characters, which shafted some character’s screen time at the point they did’t even got the chance to do anything  
Found the Fluttershy fan. She’s not my favorite, but danged she definitely got shafted on the “contributing anything useful” scale.
 
Irrespective of whether any of us thought it was a good thing or not, I thought the whole aesthetic of “it’s not actually a Pony-centric world” fit The Movie’s story perfectly, since the whole thing could have been avoided if Equestria didn’t have its head up its collective rump when it came to international matters; if another nation is on friendly enough terms that you can call on them for help when your capital city is invaded in a decapitation attack, you should bloody well have known about it when they themselves were attacked and driven underwater.

@TexasUberAlles
 
Fluttershy’s only really notable part of the movie was when she talked to the Storm Guard and comforted him. Because she’s Fluttershy, friend to all living things.