The long-awaited Season 3 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has finally debuted today, so at some point I'll start with the critiques, maybe when I'm not so busy. As for King Sombra, I heard that some fans had high hopes for this shadow beast, but didn't quite turn out as expected. Well, I already guessed that the Elements of Harmony wouldn't be used at all, so that's one factor that shouldn't be taken into consideration. But the thing to note is that King Sombra, unlike the previous villains is more no-nonsense and down-to-earth as he wastes no time trying to accomplish his goals and doesn't rant and rave like the others either. He's also serious and is completely devoid of overconfidence. He just pushes on through head on. But all in all, Night Mare Moon wasn't overconfident either and King Sombra, despite his actions speaking louder than words, still just doesn't have the "oomph" effect that Night Mare Moon has. I give him a close second though. Too bad he had to bite the dust in the end, though.
And so at last, Season 3 has begun, with more episodes coming each Saturday or whenever the schedule sees fit.
"It starts."
I liked this two-parter better than A Canterlot Wedding, but I have to agree that Sombra didn't turn out as I expected either.
ReplyDeleteHe has no back-story, other than it being assumed that he stole the Crystal Empire. But it's also possible that he was the legitimate ruler but fell to dark magic for whatever reason... we'll probably never know either way. Sombra = Evil Unicorn. The end.
And it's also never said just how or why Cadence is heir to the Crystal Empire... she just is. I would have liked a bit more information about her (like, how she's an alicorn for one), but it's like the whole story was rushed along.
I'm pretty sure that Sombra, or at least some of his power, survived since it was made clear in the episode that his horn can "infect" things of its own accord and at the very end you can see it being blasted off into the distance (it's the only part of him that didn't disintegrate). Given the similar color scheme and theme of Trixie's "necklace", and the spoiler images released from her episode, it's not a far stretch to say that she's going to find that horn and be given a huge power boost. Whether she still has her free will or not is a mystery at this point, though. If she does, then she'll have crossed into pure villain territory.
Luna's "Starswirl" book at the tail-end of the episode, along with her and Celestia's comments, mean that there's going to be a season-long arc about Twilight "going to the next level". Most likely, this means she's going to become an alicorn and that book is a thousand year-old prophecy describing her. There's a promotional poster image that shows Twilight with wings... some were saying that it was a goof but now I'm not so sure especially since her wings look unique to her (not regular Pegasi wings, Celestia's or Luna/Cadence's). Plus there's the "true destiny" mention in one of the commercials... yeah, it's pretty obvious.
Oh, and Scoot's getting her own episode, finally. It only took three seasons and after both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle have already gotten multiple episodes each.
I'm very suspicious over this season. With a) A Scootaloo episode b) A Rainbow Dash episode that seems to suggest she's finally trying out for the Wonderbolts c) Twilight discovering her true destiny... I'm getting the feeling that this season really could be the last (65-episode rule) and that they're trying to wrap things up as much as possible. Most likely I am wrong but regardless it seems quite odd that "Twilight's destiny" is being brought up this soon.
It's always great to hear from you, buddy. I've been waiting. Indeed, some fans were disappointed with Sombra, but being down-to-earth and serious unlike Chrysalis and Discord, I give the guy a close second to Night Mare Moon as best antagonist, the only thing that prevents him from stealing the spotlight is that he lacks character depth and hardly speaks.
DeleteIt's hard to believe the Crystal Empire story would have been rushed. The whole season's been in production since September 2011. Well, if Season 3 had been delayed, maybe things would have been better, ya know?
I suspect we can find out more if Sombra survived or not from the Trixie episode, "Magic Duel". For some crazy reason, I suspect Celestia will be involved in Twilight's banishment, as she appears to be present with horses, presumably judges, so it may be some kind of magic contest.
All this shit about Twilight is making the "Magical Mystery" music from Kingdom Hearts play in my head. Now the only reason I believe Twilight becoming a Pegasus unicorn would come to pass is that it unifies the three princesses as representing the sun, moon, and stars. But even so, which episodes? And the season was supposed to focus on Twilight, but clearly we've got a Pinkie episode, another CMC episode which is sure to be a waste of time, a Scootaloo episode, a Rainbow Dash episode, an Applejack episode, and supposedly a Spike episode, making up more than half the season already. And the dystopian Ponyville images are hinted to be from the Season 3 finale, Episodes 12 and 13. Where could they possibly squeeze in Twilight's ultimate destiny?
Yeah, Scootaloo is gonna suffer from nightmares after hearing campfire stories. But the whole CMC thing is just becoming nothing but bullcrap seeing as they ain't getting their cutie marks anytime soon. And I have a hunch that Rainbow won't be joining the Wonderbolts because the staff of MLP:FiM has a knack for disappointing fans. Look, we got King Sombra who wasn't all that cracked up and Trixie becoming more evil and dangerous as a start.
You know, I did hear rumors of a fourth season and even a crazy rumor that Disney seeks to buy Hasbro like they did with Marvel and LucasFilms. Man, oh man...
I think the episode with the "horses" could be part of the season finale itself, since it seems to be where Twilight discovers her "true destiny" ("Magic Duel" is episode five, which is a bit too early to reveal it). And yet another sub-species has been introduced (two this season, since Crystal Ponies seem to be their own kind) which makes things a bit more confusing because the "horses" don't seem to have any cutie marks.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Celestia's head shape and eyes are very similar to them... maybe the Princesses (and a few others, like Fleur in that one episode) have horse in their genealogy?
I'm thinking it might be possible that Trixie will flee (again) at the end of her episode and come back with a vengeance in the finale. I've noticed that in all the stuff released for Magic Duel so far, she doesn't have that necklace (or it's well hidden), so after her second defeat maybe she finds it then and completely loses her mind.
Unlike all of the other villains, Trixie is clearly Twilight's nemesis and thus, will be the final part of her "test" where she'll have to ascend to defeat a (horribly corrupted, maybe alicorn-form) Trixie. Since Trixie wasn't meant to be redeemable from as far back as her first appearance, she'll probably end up in stone next to Discord or something.
Or maybe I'm completely wrong about everything and Trixie will end up being good in the end after all. Yeah, right.
Rainbow Dash will join the Wonderbolts at the same time the CMCs get their cutie marks. Her green clone competitor will probably be the one that will get the only available spot, but there will always be "next year". I really don't know, I'm grasping at straws here but I'm very sure that Rainbow won't be joining them.
Out of the mane six and the three CMCs, the only one of them who is really changing from who they started out as is Twilight. The other eight characters are basically locked into the state they were in their first appearances, especially the CMCs. I'd love for at least one of them to get her cutie mark this season, but that probably won't happen (if anything, they'll parallel the mane six when it finally *does* happen and get theirs all at the same time).
But why would commercials show scenes from the season finale so soon? It's only just begun.
DeleteYou know, the artwork of Trixie with the amulet is considered "leaked" artwork, so maybe Hasbro changed things at the last minute somehow as if they wanted us to let our guards down. I swear, I think Hasbro's relationship with its fans is a sham or a setup.
Yeah that's what I'm thinking too. The way Hasbro sets things up, they want fans to think that Rainbow Dash is gonna live her dreams, but my personal golden rule to this is that we must never expect the expected. Due to the title of the episode, now it's obvious that Rainbow Dash isn't gonna get into the ranks of the Wonderbolts anytime soon. But you think if Season 3 would be the last season, that the CMC would get their cutie marks and Rainbow would be on the Wonderbolts. But no, Hasbro never ceases to disappoint.