False. We know him to be cruel and probably sadistic, if only by the accounts of the citizenry.

A villain with no characterization at all would be boring as all hell, and not worth watching.

Like this. Sombra had scarce little characterization as it was, and I daresay the episode(s) suffered for it.

edited 19th Jan '13 6:12:31 PM by KylerThatch

When I first saw the Crystal Kingdom, I was underwhelmed. Now, after how many weeks, I'm starting to actively dislike it. It just didn't do anything!

I think the problem with many of the mentioned episodes is the overhauled comic relief. Not that there shouldn't be comic relief, but they should at least implement it in a manner that it doesn't outright slow the plot to a halt. They spend too much time making gags or exposition about the stuff we already got ages ago and then don't have time to properly resolve and develop everything.

Most of the potential stuff in Crystal Empire was overlooked in favor of the five supporting ponies doing silly stuff in the fair, only a small helping of which actually progressed the plot forward. And those lengthy musical numbers didn't help either. It's not as if Twilight wasn't doing any comical stuff to moderate her action role anyway.

edited 19th Jan '13 6:20:50 PM by Psi001

And we learned all we really needed to about him. He was cruel, nasty, and by far the most compotent and Genre Savvy villain to date. Yes would have liked to see more, but he wasn't bad, just differnt, a much more Sauron like villain then the rest, more force then pony.

And keep in mind that it's intended as a light hearted show and the target demographic. But I kind of just read most of the early issues as them trying to make sure anyone watching that hadn't seen ROH wasn't totaly lost.

In other news, apparently Celestia moonlights as a fairy. (Skip to 2:00 to see what I mean.)

Social Link

The most interesting part was the Secret Test of Character for Twilight. Most of the rest of the plot was blah.

The gags were okay, but the plot was rather blah.

Hahaha, this will make a fine reaction GIF

Someone noticed the connection

edited 19th Jan '13 6:28:06 PM by AceOfScarabs

I thought the Secret Test of Character was pretty underwhelming myself.

edited 19th Jan '13 6:26:40 PM by Mio

I thought Spike's role got underwelmed in particular. His vision in the Nightmare Door wasn't even seen and quickly rushed through in exposition. His conflict over stealing Twilight's thunder could have been done better and for all people compliment his hero role, he barely did anything except klutz trip his way into Cadence's sight (and people complain about SAYS?).

edited 19th Jan '13 6:32:05 PM by Psi001

Yeah, you're right. It was actually the shadow door.

You know, if we're going to learn about Sombra from second-hand information anyway (testimonies from the crystal ponies, wading through elaborate traps to get to the Crystal Heart, etc.), they might as well not have given him any speaking lines. Maybe a roar or two, but no actual words.

So, I just saw the newest episode.

...huh.

It would have been nice to get at least some mild establishing scene for him though, just something that puts him above a generic prop to menace the heroes. Surely a small bit of comic relief or one of the songs could have been sacrificed for that.

Half the stuff he did could have been owed to some supernatural disaster than an actual villain.

edited 19th Jan '13 6:32:53 PM by Psi001

He barely did have any, the the ones he did, simply added to him being just evil and pretty damn creepy.

Also, Mio, are we talking underwhelmed for you, or that you felt about it like you do about everything?

Wait, was that Nabooru at Daffy's feet?

@Psi: The thing with comic relief is that it needs to be incorporated into the existing plot rather than included only in standalone scenes.

I personally found Spike's experience with the Nightmare Door to be a great application of Nothing Is Scarier, creating one of the best heartwarming moments the show has ever had. You know what he saw, but you didn't see it yourself. That allows you to fill in the blanks in the most effective way possible.

Don't forget the stair obsession.

@seraphem: I was talking about how I felt the Secret Test of Character was rather underwhelming and also kind of stupid in The Crystal Empire.

So yes I was acting as I normally do.

So, what did you all think of today's episode?

Reaction seems to be mostly positive, though there are a few who didn't feel it. Personally, I quite enjoyed it. A lot of fun and a good use of both Fluttershy and the character Discord. Great episode, I thought.

You know, one thing I liked about the new episode is that it seemed to have a little Momlestia in that Celly encouraged Fluttershy at the beginning.

I wonder if the plot couldn't have benefited from being in two parts, but I think I liked it, overall.

Yeah, that's been a common complaint, that the ending felt a bit rushed and the story could have benefited from being a two-part episode. But personally, I don't know if there was really enough material for two episodes, and personally, I'd rather have an ending that maybe feels a bit rushed than a plodding two-parter that doesn't really feel necessary. I do know that they often have to cut stuff for length, maybe someday some of that stuff will be released on DVD (or dare we hope for it, Blu-ray?) or online.

I decided to sleep before deciding on my general opinion of the resolution of latest episode.

(Still) surprisingly I still think-feel it's actually not corny. Like it should be corny, but it's just not. This is very confusing mental sensation.

Even just from reading the summary, I expected the resolution to be something like that and actually was prepared to feel underwhelmed because duh.... a god of chaos reformed by friendship is just ridiculously idealistic.

And yet (still shocklingly) I felt this was more emotionally satisfying than that Star Trek episode wherein Q became human, because that one used punishment to reform Q while this one doesn't.

I'm probably going to be conflicted about this for sometime since I totally did not even expect to be remotely impressed by a GP version of "You don't know him like I do. I can change him!"