My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic:: READ POST 11156/PAGE 558

[Kuzu]

Yeah, this was.....kinda lackluster.

[Dark Qiviut]

[Vertekins]

I thought that was a damn fine pair of episodes. Very interesting how Luna and Celestia are hinting at a higher purpose for Twilight. Sombre made for a pretty underwhelming villain personality-wise but then you still get a really distinct sense of malevolence from him that previous MLP villains lacked, more of a force of great evil than a developed character.

Pretty nice how Spike got a real chance to shine.

[Kuzu]

Ok, the opening wasn't as spectacular as Mare in the Moon or Return of Harmony, but it still had it's moments. Like Verte said, it seems Celly and Luna are hinting at a hidden destiny for Twilight(which the Hub makes no secret in hiding), but time will tell what it is. As for the episodes themselves....they're alright I guess, the focus is mainly on Twilight trying to pass a test and please Celestia, but I feel that plot has been touched upon quite a lot already so it comes as meh. Sombre isn't really much of an evil character, and more of a force of nature, which there's nothing wrong with, it's just hard to swallow after the likes of Discord and Chrysalis, who are wonderfully evil characters.

But, it was still a nice pair of episodes regardless, I loved the usual banter between the mane cast, and it was nice seeing them all get their moments even if they didn't have much impact on the plot. Plus, it's awesome how Spike was the one who saved the day. I'd say it's about on par with Mare in the Moon. Overall, a decent opener.

[Applejack1973]

Sleepless in Ponyville synopsis at last!

[Phantomime]

Yeah, Trixie's not back to make friends.

Edited November 10, 2012 by The Prestigious Phanpy

[Emperor Robrainiac]

Sadly, due to lack of transport, I wasn't able to make it to the meetup like I planned... I did however managed to catch it.

It was pretty good. It was no Mare on the moon, Return to harmony or heck, even the Canterlot wedding (Which I thought was great personally.) There was something I felt that was missing in it... And as much as I hate to say it, King Sombra had no development whatsoever. At least with Chrysalis, you could argue that she's taking over the kingdom to feed her Changelings. Say what you want about her but at least Chrysalis had some character. Still, It was a good way to begin the season. It's good to see Spike play an important role, and he even got a stained glass window! That's pretty cool.

Though it surprised me to see King Sombra get killed off on screen.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Lyra Heartstrings

[AdventChild]

It was an alright two parter and some parts felt slow and disappointing.

King Sombra was a generic villain at best sadly, barely said anything than just growled out a few words and showed up near the end just to get offed with the power of love. Pretty near the same level as NMM than higher like Discord and/or Chrysalis. As said before, design wise he wasn't that much interesting as well. Even though we see him implode at the end, he might become a recurring character in some way or another. Still nothing from what we see makes him that interesting of a villain. Maybe he has a hoof with Trixie's powerful Ponyville uprising? Still a maybe though it makes Trixie look like a superior villain by comparison. Though if he doesn't return, I wouldn't care and just will be more excited to see Discord or Chrysalis returning.

Shining Armour and Cadence didn't much in these two episodes only at the end with the whole 'power of love' thing destroying the villain. Kinda what I predicted of them being incapacitated until the very end while most of it focused on the others especially Twilight. I seriously hope the next two parter doesn't involve them again and more of Princess Luna or some other chars and villains.

The things I do like is Twilight doing dark magic which is something they should touch more upon. Brings more of a possibility of an evil Twilight. Also, I do like some of Pinkie Pie's antics esp. the whole spy thing, Fluttersuit, etc. and that Spike gets his claw into saving the day and get his own stain glass window. Though the singing at the end was a bit much honestly.

Though all in all a pretty weak opener and nothing like the other season openings, but still have its moments. Definitely anticipating multiple Pinkies in next episode.

Edited November 10, 2012 by AdventChild

[Fuzon-S]

Fare thee well Sombrero.. I mean Samba.. I mean Simba.. I mean-oh forget it. .__. *walks away*

By the way, did Ditzy Derpy get a cameo? Just curious since the stream I went with kinda lagged once or twice.

[gato]

Guys.... Guys... So I was watching that S3 commercial over and over again (because I actually like the music... giddy up giddy up giddy up up, giddy up giddy up up up... Don't judge me! >_>)...

But then I noticed this:

>Magic

OHMAFAAAADDDUHQDQIODJQNUNJQOIFNJAIJDQUFRHBGFWUWBNCWUICNUIXWNIONMAKOSMQO¨KQ...

Edited November 10, 2012 by gato

[Crystal Slave]

I wasn't able to watch the season 3 premiere when it aired, and honestly I was extremely upset. So, in my distress, I wrote this song, inspired by my love for the series as a whole and season 3, which I still haven't been able to see... enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEGLL6OTc3U

[Blue Wisp]

Alright, just finished watching the new episode...s.

So, it was quite a nice Season start in my opinion. The only major complaint I had is that I felt King Sombra was rather... Weak. Compared to Nightmare Moon or Discord or even Queen Chrysallis, he was rather weak and (pardon the language) a shitty villain. I would say that Flim and Flam were even better villains than him, but I digress.

As usual the animation was top-notch, and the story itself was really great. Seeing Luna having more scenes made me happy, and Cadance being the Queen of the Crystal Empire wasn't something I really expected to be honest, either way the strongest point from this episode was the efforts of the five ponies to keep the Crystal Fair up and running while TWALAH and Spike tried to acquire the Crystal Heart. Lots of funny sections, like the flugelhorn parts with Pinkie or the jousting with Rainbow and Fluttershy.

Also Splinter Pie, priceless.

But yeah overall, it was a nice season starter. Not really the best, personally I liked The Return of Harmony more, but this doesn't fall far behind. Season 3 is shaping to be really good.

[...]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpCcAXyWTH8&feature=player_embedded

[Speederino]

Sombra was a very weak villain, other then that...no complaints, really. I actually think this was a perfectly fine season opener. It's not Return to Harmony, no, but still pretty damn good.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Speederino

[Old dead account]

Well other than the fact that King Sombra might as well have been an innanimate object with the painfully little bit of character development he got. Other than that I really liked this, especially the twist at the end where SPIKE became the big hero and got his own stained glass window! xD I'm surprised at the amount of lines Applejack got too.

[Snatcher2047]

I'm gonna be brutally honest, not too thrilled with this one. Didn't hate it, but as far as all the two-parters are concerned, this is easily the weakest of the bunch. It had quite a few highlights; the Pinkie disguised as Fluttershy moment was GOLD. Also, on a personal level, Applejack got a lot of screen time for once, which made me happy. Lots of great facial exp

ressions, too. And GO SPIKE GO. Seriously. Awesome moment there.

The whole concept surrounding Twilight more worried about passing the test than anything else was kinda... eh. I'm a little curious about the whole use of dark magic by Celestia and Twilight. Possible foreshadowing to something bigger? And the villain could have been so good, but got ABSOLUTELY NO character development AT ALL. Very disappointing.

Gotta say, can't really give this higher than a C+, but I'm hoping this is simply a precursor to something bigger down the line. If that's the case (and if the payoff is good enough), maybe a B-.

EDIT:

Also...

SMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCH.

and...

EPIC BRO-HOOF.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Snatcher2047

[Semi-colon e]

That was pretty good. I kind of wish it was a three parter - it would have given them more time to flesh out the crystal ponies (unless they reappear) and King Sombre (same again, he was essentially dumb muscle, like the Iblis to Discord's Mephiles in terms of character). I did really like how Spike was the one who saved the day and I thought most of the character interactions were great. Applejack was pretty central compared to the rest which was nice after two seasons of being out of focus. Having more Cadence/Shining Armour and Celestia was also good, adds a bit more of a rounded cast. I wouldn't say it was consistent though - Fluttershy barely appeared and Rarity wasn't much better off.

The Fluttershy suit with Pinkie Pie was definitely the best and funniest moment, but Rarity proves once again she is the best and most fabulous pony. And she got trolled by Rainbow Dash and Applejack, looool

Overall, the issues I have with it are mostly because they didn't flesh the concept out enough. Particularly with King Sombre, wasted opportuniy all round, especially considering he barely appeared. Then again, I tend to prefer the slice of life episodes MORE so yeah.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Semi-colon e

[Celestia]

Overall I'd say it was a good episode.

I wasn't expecting Sombra to have much personality anyway, so I wasn't too disappointed on that front, but I do wonder about his origins. I mean, he seemed much stronger than any unicorn other than Twilight we've seen so far, to the point where Celestia and Luna had to deal with him. How did he get that powerful? Or was he just born that strong? I have to wonder...

Oh and it's awesome that Spike was basically the hero, and he even got one of those stain-glass window thingies!

Sucks it had to be the same episode RariJack became canon though. Poor Spike can't catch a break!

Edited November 10, 2012 by elementofchaos7

[PeanutButterDimond]

I'm really surprised that some people actually think Mare in the Moon is better. I mean people have different opinions and I respect that but my gawd Mare in the Moon is one of the worst episodes in the whole show, in my opinion. Granted I usually have problems with series premiere episodes but Mare in the Moon just glared with problems for me. I mean, the whole two episodes were basically introductions(Which isn't a bad thing but the characters get so much better after we start seeing more of them and learn more about them rather than the basics of them) and at least Sombra posed some threat, granted a characterless threat, rather than Nightmare Moon who basically gloated, made a few lines, gloated again, ran, screamed and went back to being Luna. At least Sombra had a cool force of nature kind of vibe.

Return of harmony, I can understand better because of the pure unconcentrated awesomeness that is John De Discord.

Eh, oh well. Opinions.

I can certainly agree with the Sombra complaint but I have a feeling that....

1. We'll see him again by the season's end.

or

2. The comic will touch upon him more.

I'm actually really interested in what the community will do with the character. As has been said elsewhere, that guard in the opening scene probably has his own fanfic now, so I am excited to see what is done with Sombra. If you guys see anything good make sure to post it.

This guy seriously has some badass fan art.

Speaking of the comic, has it been posted that it passed 100,000 sales? Seriously, that's awesome!

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/11/mlp-comic-breaks-100000-sold.html

[Crystal Slave]

I did a new drawing after watching the Season 3 premiere because I loved it so much (I'll write a lengthy review later). For now, here it is!

http://andrewclocksin.deviantart.com/art/Trapped-Twilight-337122136

[NGw00d]

I'm really surprised that some people actually think Mare in the Moon is better. I mean people have different opinions and I respect that but my gawd Mare in the Moon is one of the worst episodes in the whole show, in my opinion.

Agreed here, definitely. I'm also surprised that a lot of you think Mare in the Moon was better. They were the first episodes I watched, and while they interested me enough to watch some more episodes, it wasn't till a few episodes after that I really began enjoying the show. I think if I just started watching the show and watched the Season 3 opener first, I probably would've been hooked from the start. Difference of opinions and stuff, I guess.

Now to actually talk about the episodes, I thought they were pretty damn good, honestly. I'd probably put it up there with the better episodes of the series, but definitely not better than the Season 2 premiere and finale.

While I agree that King Sombra definitely needed some more development, I've got a feeling he'll get some later on, just going by those desolate Ponyville pictures we saw a few months ago. I think they did a really good job making Sombra seem like a serious threat, though. Like something was really at stake, and this is considering we've never even heard of Sombra and the Crystal Empire before. Some really good gags such as Pinkie in the Fluttershy suit among some other things. Rarity once again proves she's best pony. The next few episodes they previewed looked really good, too. Overall, great episodes, not the best, but definitely up there.

[Tornado]

Gonna be crucified for this, but...

That was pretty disappointing. There was nothing really... to it.

There was a lot of little things to like about the episode (most of it being comedic little visual gags, and AJ making horse noises was great), but the main plot thread fell afoul of Show, Don't Tell hard. Sombre is bad, and Twilight needs to stop him by herself, because he's bad, and... he's bad. Grr.

There was just nothing drawing me in to actually... care. This brand new place of never-elaborated-on importance is about to fall under control of said bad guy. Oh, and Cadence and Shining Armor are there too. And Celly and Luna can't do anything to help, because... something that apparently isn't important. And surprisingly, it was really padded in places considering how flat the conflict was. I'd say half of the first episode was practically meaningless in the context of the story, and most of the B-plot about the rest of the Mane Six trying to stall for time was more interesting than the A-plot. This could have easily fit into a single episode.

And having the context for the Hasbro Winter Toy Catalog 2012 song didn't make it any better.

Also really don't like the idea that the show may start basically revolving around Twilight if she becomes a one person wrecking crew who Celly sends out to get things done, if the punch-to-the-face-in-terms-of-subtlety hint dropping is anything to go on. That's not the show I signed on for; and I will go so far as to say that that's not the show that I will continue watching.

It seems like the entire episode was just a setup to justify making the show do something big to her as a character later on, since it was lacking so much substance as a standalone story. And if that isn't the case, then that just makes the episode even worse to me, since a lot of the stuff that wasn't just padding would then be meaningless.

Edited November 11, 2012 by Tornado

[Nix]

You know. I was hoping Derpibooru would get on the ball and have some .gif pictures of the Pinke clones playing with each other so I can watch on constant loop and dawww' my brains out.

Instead I get like, 10 pages of this Gak shit. C'mon.

C'mon.

Anyways, I have come to the conclusion that the best part of Season 3's premiere was:

Sunshine sunshine, ladybugs awake.

The reverse gravity stair slide. That was rather creative I must say; whoever came up with that gets bonus points.

Wife tossing is a close second.

[Semi-colon e]

Now that I think about it they did a good job of making Sombre seem like a credible threat because of the fact he was gonna enslave them all if he won again and the fact that the reason he didn't get to do anything was because he'd already got a crapton of traps ready in the first place. However, it's just a let down coming from a show that generally has strong characterisation for most characters, including villains because he just isn't interesting or entertaining to watch. Maybe he could have been had he appeared for more than a couple of minutes because the effects were pretty cool at the very least. There's also no motive to his actions, he's just evil because he is. From the very start I was expecting a tragic past but alas, nothing.

Edited November 11, 2012 by Semi-colon e

[SuperStingray]

Yeah, I was pretty disappointed by Sombrero as well. I think he would have worked better if he was an "event" rather than a villain; by having a face he merited at least some basic character development, but he could have just as easily been replaced with some kind of impending evilness storm. That actually would have been more interesting because we wouldn't know what the source was, just that it would have to be stopped.

Also, what is it with fantasy villains and glowy, black and purple crystals these days?