Post of the Day #425

edited 2nd Jul '13 7:41:16 AM by ApplelightLimited

Vinyl never grew up.

edited 2nd Jul '13 7:42:47 AM by edvedd

edited 2nd Jul '13 7:42:57 AM by AceOfScarabs

• The generally increased level of continuity in S3, suggesting that Hasbro are becoming less reluctant to tie episodes together (or that the writers have just stopped listening to them). In addition to everything else we've seen, Meghan Mc Carthy has stated via her Twitter that she considers the S3 finale and the S4 opener to constitute a three-parter. Furthermore, M.A. Larson has become one of the show's most influential writers, and he's pretty much Mr. Continuity, if the episodes he's written so far are any indication.
• The gradual-but-definite shift toward more worldbuilding we've seen from the show in general.
• The Return of Discord. It's possible that it was just fanservice, but if not, they're definitely setting something up.
• Twilight's development has been a central theme of the show. Now that she's "ascended", it would make sense to shift things at least somewhat. In fact, if they had such a major change and then went back to business-as-usual, it would be kind of bad writing. You could argue that Princess Twilight was just a marketing gimmick decreed by the Executives-That-Be, but this is a team that made a thoroughly entertaining show out of a franchise that was previously a punchline. They know how to work around real-world complications and maintain the story quality. The S3 finale was the only time they didn't quite succeed, and doing what they had to do in 22 minutes without serious problems was honestly impossible. Frankly, I think they did better than could be reasonably expected.
• On a similar note, Celestia's speech at the end of S3 seemed to be indicating that things would be capital-D Different from now on, at least in some respects. In particular, the fact that Twi's apprenticeship to Celestia seems to have shifted its nature and become less strictly mentor-student (as stated by 'Tia herself) seems like a Really Big Deal, as her status as Celestia's pupil has been a keystone of not just her identity, but the structure of the whole show. Now that she's "graduated", there's a hole where there was once a unifying theme of the show. They're either just going to leave the hole there or fill it with something else.
• And finally, I think it might just be necessary. The slice-of-life format has served the show well, but I don't know if it can run exclusively on that for much longer. After 65 episodes, things are probably going to get stale, no matter how good the writing is.

edited 2nd Jul '13 9:33:18 AM by Hsere