Don’t forget that we’re mostly seeing exceptional ponies in action, who are not necessarily typical examples of their types.
Twilight wields some serious magic, it’s true, but her talent is far enough from the norm that Celestia–a goddess in all but name–not only took notice, but elected to train her personally. I think Rarity’s magic is more typical of unicorns; she has a general telekinesis effect plus one spell connected to her special talent. At least, I haven’t seen her use anything else. Those are advantages, certainly, but earth ponies seem to manipulate things well enough with hoof and mouth, and they each presumably have some particular talent as well.
Pegasus ponies have a much more substantial edge. All of them can fly and manipulate the weather. If an elite class were to form, I would expect it to be the pegasi lording it over both the earth ponies and the unicorns. Still, Rainbow Dash is no ordinary pegasus. While still a child, she pulled of a feat of speed the others considered no more than a myth, which implies that she’s the fastest pegasus in history. She also engages in weather manipulations we never see from others; it may be that most pegasi can’t create tornadoes at will.
Of course, none of that really matters much, as they’re all ruled by an immortal God-Queen who values cooperation and egalitarianism among her subjects.
Quite. It’s the IMO ideal form of government, benevolent absolute monarchy. The trouble with putting that into practice in RL is assuring the benevolent part, so it’s purely idealistic, but in fiction it’s entirely workable. For all the jokes about Trollestia, Celestia really is a good and wise leader, so the society reflects that.
It’s implied that Earth ponies are, generally speaking, much more physically capable and dextrous than their flying or magical counterparts. Applejack is the obvious example, but even Pinkie Pie is apparently capable of building a complicated flying contraption at a moment’s notice.
I like the idea put forth in one of the comments from that article, which suggests that Earth ponies might also be the most versatile of the three types. Their gifts as a race/ subspecies seem more subtle, and thus less specific. Pegasus ponies, for example, will almost always have “natural talents” that reflect their ability to fly - Fluttershy is sort of the exception that proves the rule, as her more “earthbound” talents are considered a rare exception among pegasus ponies. Similarly, unicorns seem to have talents focused around their magic.
In contrast, earth ponies seem to have a broader array of skills - I don’t think it’s any coincidence that they seem to have the most diversity in occupation. Photo Finish and Hoity Toity are fashion mavens, Pinkie and the Cakes are skilled pastry chefs, Sapphire Shores is a singer, Applejack and Big Macintosh are farm ponies, the Mayor is a politician, and Octavia is a musician. It’s important to note that many of these don’t fall into the “laborer/ service worker” category that you might expect if you assume that Earth ponies are necessarily a “lower class” race - Photo Finish and Hoity Toity, in particular, are obviously among the highest class of citizens in Equestria.
The One Where Twilight Loses it.
It was most noticeable in this episode but also in others: When Twilight is at a loss, her mane becomes disheveled. Is this done with other characters?
Anypony else notice that Twilight’s number in Fall Weather Friends is 42? C’mon, that’s exacly the number Twilight would choose.
Yep. Most notably, Rarity’s hair gets more and more disheveled over the course of “Suited For Success.”
Spoilers for “Lesson Zero”:
[spoiler]I’m of mixed minds about the new episode. One the one hand, I loved the story and most of the gags. But I think they went a little too far with the “Twilight goes nuts” aspect - specifically, her expressions during the latter half of the episode went from adorably crazy (a la Pinkie Pie in “Party of One”) into serious nightmare fuel. In particular, the gape-mouthed grins with giant teeth kind of freaked me out. And I’m an adult. If I were a six year old, I don’t think I’d sleep for a week.
That being said, scary Twilight expressions aside, holy cow, did the animators outdo themselves on this episode! We get scenery moving backwards in “true 3D,” gorgeously executed depth of field, massive background pony carnage, Fluttershy MURDERING A BEAR, and of course, the Atomic Rainboom. Great stuff.
And there was lots to love about the story as well. I like that we won’t necessarily be seeing the friendship reports shoehorned in anymore (and I like that they dedicated a whole episode to revamping that particular story mechanic). They worked great in the first season as a way to set up the show’s structure, but now that the show is established, I think it’ll work just fine without a “Dear Princess Celestia” segment to tie everything up in a neat bow.
I also like that this episode was as much a Spike episode as a Twilight episode. Dude deserves the spotlight more than he gets. And apparently he’s been taking fourth wall-breaking lessons from Pinkie Pie over the summer break. ;)[/spoiler]
Yeah, I guess. I have to admit, though, as much as I love me some Tiny Toons, that style of animation was never really why I enjoyed the show. The Spielberg cartoons were great for their whimsical tone and hilarious writing more so than being exemplars of animation, IMO.
In any case, I found Twilight’s expressions more off-putting than entertaining, which wasn’t the case for Pinkie Pie’s “Party of One” shenanigans. YM(obviously)V, though.
Whoops - didn’t see MichaelEmouse’s post until now, and missed the edit window to boot - double fail! Sorry dude.
“True” 3D may have been overstating it a bit, but I was referring to how the background shrinks in an approximation of perspective during the face-on shots of Twilight Sparkle walking through Ponyville. In these shots, the camera is pulling back from Twilight, matching her walking pace, while the buildings and other ponies around her recede into the distance in a realistic way that’s very difficult to do with Flash.
The best example I can think of is when Spike is listening in on the conversation between Twilight and Celestia. The camera “refocuses” between him and the two speakers, blurring the “out of focus” parts of the scene to give it the appearance of depth. It’s a neat effect we usually don’t see on the show, and well-used given the context.
Same. That episode felt like they were trying to give the bronies what they thought the bronies wanted, instead of giving them what they came for in the first place.
I cannot possibly be the only one with a burning need for plushy of Pinkie Pie dressed as a chicken. That is some weapons-grade cute, right there. See also, Peewee the Pirate, with his gangly movements and his little baby-foal bottle-brush tail. I love the little touches they throw in to acknowledge the characters’ essential horsiness.
I had a thought while watching the latest episode. Most residents of Ponyville are easily scared by things they don’t know about or understand, like the Everfree Forest, Zecora, and Nightmare Moon/Luna. Then I realized that horses are easily scared/startled in real life. Makes perfect sense.
My kid and I were laughing so hard at today’s episode that I missed half the lines. Fear not, as I am quite sure we’ll be watching it again and again and again and again.
My favorite line was “Then I’ll go do what I do best: lecture her!”
Man, Luna was awesome. I really enjoyed the direction they went with her - the archaic speaking style and royal “we” were very funny, and you can see the insecurities that made her susceptible to being Nightmare Mooned. Great stuff.
The running joke about Twilight’s costume had me in stitches. Especially after summoning the mental image of Gandalf the country singer. Actually, all the costumes were wonderful. Spike’s choice of costume was delightfully absurd, while Rainbow Dash’s Shadowbolt getup meshed with the return of her prankster tendencies.
I’d write more about Pinkie Pie the Chicken, but it’s sort of self-explanatorily glorious, and my typing would probably just devolve into incoherent paroxysms of amusement and delight anyway. God, that was awesome (SHE LAID A FRAKKING EGG FOR CELESTIA’S SAKE).
Overall, probably my favorite episode of the new season so far (despite the painful absence of Rarity). Much as I loved the character of Discord, the opening two-parter suffered a bit from its breakneck pacing. And last week’s Twilight Sparkle Freakout was fun, but not among what I’d consider the better episodes of the show. “Luna Eclipsed” has the potential, with rewatching, to end up in my top five.
Hey, Luna! But, boo, no Rarity. I kept expecting Twilight to realize that Princess Luna needed a costume and then they’d go see Rarity. Particularly since they had a shot with Rarity’s boutique in the background.
