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2012-01-14, 04:34 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
New episode on pony genetics:
Spoiler(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻Last edited by Mando Knight; 2012-01-14 at 04:34 PM.
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2012-01-14, 04:48 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
XD Fantastic.
Anyway, Commodore. I needed something to draw today, so I had a look at the description of your... Jalry... Jaklyieo... Your alien pony things. Submitted for your approval:
Spoiler
Did I hit the nail on the head, or am I totally off the mark? I think I probably could have done them taller looking, but I'm pretty used to pony proportions by now.
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2012-01-14, 05:11 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Forgot that this was time sensitive.
Pokonic's piston thing is pretty close to what I figured.
How do their weapons work? Mechanical firing mechanisms use levers, so a position would work or a ring to pull an internal lever. More advanced weapons, with energy cores and such, could work on a different but similar principle, where a circuit is physically completed by telekinetic movement.
Telekinetic capacity is a HUGE advantage. Thy can utilize any enemy weapon which doesn't require an organic circuit to verify user, and also use weapons which otherwise could not be used by enemies.
The weapons should have an internal "handle", with a specialized texture so it can be easily identified tactilely, with the trigger mechanism being relatively close. The TK could work it's way through specialized vents to the handle, which would probably be balanced so the weapon remains stable despite not having a body to brace against.
Specialized weapons could also be used, along such otherwise-absurd lines as a U-shaped gun with a handle in the central crook, allowing the two barrels, if fired in rhythm, to counter the weapon's own recoil. Or something equally ridiculous that passes around to WHY ARE THEY ABLE TO SHOOT AT ME SO FAST CELESTIA WHY!? Levels of awesome.
Think that was all I had to say. I'll ruminate.
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2012-01-14, 05:37 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2011
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
This episode.
IT WAS A SCREAM!
And yeah, being the Resident Clown isn't always easy. Some level of humiliation and indignity sort of comes with the job..."Start slackin' off a little, then you slack off a little more, and next thing you know, you've turned all lazy and flabby"
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2012-01-14, 05:58 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
S2E13
SpoilerEpisode is best episode. No really. This is the best one, on at least the same level as Lesson Zero and Luna Eclipsed, not to mention the classics from S1.
Pinkie is funny, the jokes keep on coming but most of all, the kids are adorable. The setup is normally not a favourite but Pound and Pumpkin just steals the show entirely. Pinkie is one of my favourite ponies but she gets completely out-staged. Adding to this, I like the morale at the end.
Complete success. I'm out.Last edited by Weimann; 2012-01-14 at 05:58 PM.
Quoth the raven, "Polly wants a cracker."
Pony avatar by the Great and Powerful DirtyTabs. Lotsa hugs!
Scourge Caste avatar by the illustrious Akrim.elf. Thank you!
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2012-01-14, 06:02 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2011
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
New Episode:
SpoilerI'm glad I'm not the only one who loved it.
Anyway.... this:
Discuss?
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2012-01-14, 06:05 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2009
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
New Episode:
Spoiler
Well, there's one of my fanon pieces disproved (unicorns can't levitate themselves with magic)
Exorcist segment was good. The rest of the episode was surprisingly good for a baby episode. Given the source material and premise, this was probably as good as that episode was ever going to turn out. And accurate, too - I as a man who spent two hours feigning surprise every time a toddler turned a light on and off can tell you this.
Buuuuuut overall I didn't find it hugely enjoyable. What can I say? Babies are predictable and immune to consequences.
Really, when it comes down to it, the best way to fight Jayden is to walk slowly towards her and smother her with a pillow. The louder you come the more she'll kick your ass.
You foals! It's a trap! He wants a Pinkie Party!
Thanks for taking the time to review this. So, finally, my own thoughts and response (spoilers, obviously).
SpoilerI totally agree with your final assessment of the story. It's something that has really made it hard for me to write this story, because I made two terrible mistakes from the start. First, I didn't plan the story, I just went right ahead and began writing.
SpoilerA lot of the problems with the characterizations come from that same mistake; I didn't plan out anything. But I made another mistake. I tried to juggle way too many characters. I've learned that it's a LOT harder to handle more than two, maybe three characters. I think Fillystata had a huge advantage because I had only Trixie and Luna, occasionally Twilight, as main characters. Mare in the Mirror has a lot, and giving them all their share of the stage is HARD.SpoilerLarge groups are hard to appropriately showcase. Part of the reason I've recently become infatuated with small groups as a concept. It's still doable, but you've just got to make sure that every character adds to the core concept rather than the other way around.
SpoilerI became really sorry that I took the animals with me, I constantly struggled to give them a part in the story and they just felt like dead weight. However, I hasten to say that I didn't simply drown them to get rid of them. I'd like to remind you of what every villain should know: Don't trust that someone is dead until you see the body, and even then you should be skeptical.SpoilerOh sure, as a narrativist this is something I'm well aware of. But that's not my problem with their role in the story. The ponies react as though they're dead and suffer accordingly which dilutes the suffering of the 'important' ponies. The only thing that changes if they're alive is an additional happy moment later.
SpoilerYou've given me a lot of good ideas and perspectives. Your thoughts in NMM and the griffons were interesting and not something I'd considered before. My problem is that I know what's going on and all, so I've never had a problem not thinking of canon NMM (who I'll agree is anything but scary).
I also agree that the exposition, especially by Manna, could have been done way better. Again, a problem in part of poor planning.Spoiler
One of the major things Mage: The Awakening has done for my storytelling is getting me to always consider the metaphors and mystical associations behind each image. These symbols have a lot of power that carries through with them, and we've got to be aware of these associations so that we can manage them.
SpoilerAnyway, I'm really glad for the thoughtful review. It's really given me some nice ideas and hopefully will help me a lot with the final part, which I do think will completely outshine the first twelve chapters.
Mask: *Is hugged*
*Reflexively steals Lix's wallet*
Oh, huh, this is surprisingly good! The humans are generally well proportioned, except for top-right ninja's knee. The ponies would look a lot more lifelike if you added the highlights to their eyes - without them they never look right; also, head shape can use some practise. And I'm just not sure about the black-pencil backgrounding method ever.
The explosions are good, and you've got a good handle on shading and basic shapes; a lot better than my Day 1, for sure. Go kick up a thread in Arts&Crafts and let's see this through!
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2012-01-14, 06:11 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
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2012-01-14, 06:16 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
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2012-01-14, 06:16 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
No! Mask, you can do it! Your face is clear, eat your way free!
Corrected.
Mask: Flawless *nom* victory.
Ooh! Ooh! STAY AND POST, STAY AND POOOOOOOOST!
Ponyard. Ponyard.
You need to, like, marry this filly.
You must.
And Filly!Pierce doesn't seem to be around to cause a ruckus. So you've got no excuse.
So many meet-up ponies. Too bad I had to work, but Braz was able to go!
Huh. You know what that looks like?
Oh heavens. Hey, Jayden! I'm just tonna borrow these dots of Forces for a second... Ok, let's see, use this here time magic... Borrow the force o all these future face-palms.... Magnify by the force of indignant outrage... Aaaaand, ready.
Like an inv--
BUCK TO THE MOON!
Dat mane!
This settles it. I am now officially colt!Rarity.
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Thanqol, I considered joinin in on the war effort, I only to see what I could do in a fight against jayden that wasn't "here, have some ammo.", but then I kep rememberi she was a griffon. And so the entirety of the fight would be
*throws fireball*
*dodges lightningbolt*
... Yer pretty.
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2012-01-14, 06:23 PM (ISO 8601)
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2012-01-14, 06:24 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
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2012-01-14, 06:24 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Indeed. At least the next story I have in line is planned from start to finish, all written down looooong ago.
I've come to realize that, for written stories at least, I much prefer focusing on one or two main characters. Some writers can do big groups well, I don't think I'm one of them.
SpoilerI see your point. Ideally up until this point I'd have liked to avoid any deaths or dismemberments except Luna's fake one (which did get a fairly strong reaction from many). Poor planning forced me to deal with the pets somehow. Leaving Fluttershy's wounded leg to have no impact at all seemed weak too, but ideally maybe there should have been no wound in the first place.
Ah well, hindsight. Time to move on, do better.
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2012-01-14, 06:30 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Hiding and fleeing.
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
New Episode:
SpoilerWow. I only looked through the most recent page, but there are comments about Poundcake flying long before Scootaloo. That's nothing. Pumpkincake was using magic at a higher level than Filly Twilight. Not even baby Twilight, but "already studying hard on magic and being put forward to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns" Twilight. Wat. I'm overusing italics, wheee!
Ahem.
Several minutes of crying children and Pinkie not being as entertaining as she normally seems to be lets it down a bit, but overall a nice episode. Not one of the best this season, but I didn't have to pause the episode to groan at any point either (as I have more and more recently), so there's that.
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2012-01-14, 06:32 PM (ISO 8601)
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2012-01-14, 06:34 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
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2012-01-14, 06:38 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2007
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- UTC -6
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2012-01-14, 06:49 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2007
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- in my room
Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
OH GOD THAT EPISODE WAS SO PINKING CUTE
Hehe piggy pie.Last edited by Jahkaivah; 2012-01-14 at 06:51 PM.
Steamname: Atheist God, if you're lucky.
Originally Posted by Jibar
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2012-01-14, 06:49 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
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2012-01-14, 07:01 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
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2012-01-14, 07:05 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Last edited by Zevox; 2012-01-14 at 07:06 PM.
Toph Pony avatar by Dirtytabs. Thanks!
"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." -C.S. Lewis
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2012-01-14, 07:52 PM (ISO 8601)
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2012-01-14, 07:53 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Pretty close, actually. I think that the eyes there are a bit low. You've put them sorta where a pony's would be, except as they're so much smaller than cartoon pony eyes, it looks odd. I think they'd be better if they were moved back and up a bit, with the horns to match (I saw the two pairs being much closer together)...
Okay, I had a quick scribble myself (not that I can post anything without nicking the upstairs scanner!). If we go from MLP pony proportions (which is sorta half-implied), the eyes want to be about half the size (area) of a pony's, and nearer the top of the head, and eye horns are too far away from where a unicorn's horn is (looking at Twilight verses my scribble), with the back pair more-or-less a horn's width behind them.
Ah. I think I figured it out. Your jawline is parallel to the ground, and most creature's jaw line slopes down a bit (horses in particular, and the muzzle of the ponies is downward, too). That's put your mouth at the wrong angle, (which has made the eyes a bit low) and that's why it looks a bit off to me, being the natural history buff that I am! (In fact, if the mouth itself was at an angle, the jawline would probably look okay, as it would look like a deep jaw for a powerful bite.)
(My scribble had a slanted jawline which I did automatically, which is why it took me a moment to twig. Aside from drawing starships in my youth, I did draw a lot of dinosaurs and animals and stuff (and yes, I still have a few of those pictures squirreled away as well!))
I might well have to have a proper go myself sometime tomorrow.
(And then everyone, especially Thanqol, can have a good laugh at my ineptitude...!)
It isn't, actually. I'm in no immediate rush. The most important thing was to figure out who the Jalyrkieons were, so I could start IDing the starships properly once I've painted them. The Jalyrkieons themselves aren't going to see any action soon (secret project will be on the table top and in the gaming sessions before they get there.)
Originally Posted by SiuiS
Originally Posted by SiuiS
Not that TK isn't a big advantage, but that said, they're hardly the only race out there with significantly above human/Elf/Orc/Vivrathk abilities (us, for a kick off! Or the Raarg'Ssth, who are basically mostly-erect raptor-like creatures, all of whom have slashing claws and a proportion of whom can spit poison.)
Originally Posted by SiuiS
Originally Posted by SiuiS
(And, generally, you can only kill a guy once. If one blast kills him, seven more isn't going to make him any more dead - and, rarer infantry shields aside, one accurate shot can't hurt him because of armour or something, twenty isn't likely to make much difference (though it might make some). And infantry squads don't sually tend to stand next to each other to be scythed down like in the movies (and if they do, they either don't last very long or they are very heavily protected and you need to be concerned about it.) On the whole, though, one is best assuming one will be spending most of one's time fighting lesser mortals, like Vivrathk or humans or Jalyrkeions, who generally helpfully die when you hit them with most weapons...!)
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2012-01-14, 08:42 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Episode thoughts:
SpoilerOn reflection, the ending was kind of abrupt, and the random superpowers should be irking me more than they are. The fact that I'm not really bothered by these and am instead smiling and d'awwing like a madpony tells me this episode did something right. After reading the thread, I say the ending is more symbolic, like we missed a good deal of stuff after that point. The main point of the scene was showing that Pinkie had finally gotten through to them that she wasn't starting up more playtime. That, and giving us all severe organ failure.
As for the foals and their powers, I say hands-down it's Pinkie's imagination. We've seen her give life to rocks and bucket of turnips for Celestia's sake, imagining the foals as a thousand times worse than they actually were is...
...child's play.I'm developing a game. Let's see what happens! Complex.
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2012-01-14, 09:15 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
EDIT: confound it! I second-guessed the initial pronunciation, and assumed I was being dyslexic. Since I can't find/paste, assume every instance of Jaklyr is Jaelyrk, and every instance of Jak is me being dumb and coming up with a pet name...
Originally Posted by AOTRS Commodore
The unicorn folks whose name I can't pronounce would have one similarity in their guns to ours. A tube shape to funnel the pressure. They could not develop the L shape because they couldn't brace the gun the same. Part of the firing mechanism would have to be on the back of the handle, unless extra 'arms' were dedicated to stabilization (I assume the Jaklyr require what is colloquially known as Line of Effect, up to the point of contact when te mental 'fingers' can slide around walls?). Heavy weapons would probably be a T shape, as two points of stabilization in addition to levitating would be best, giving you a cannon held on either side, with lift coming from the center underneath. Or a bazooka style weapon.
TK tactile feedback is normally very basic - am I holding something, and how hard - but the Jaklyr have functional TK sonar, like Starry. Finding your way into a hole in the outer casing too big for living hands, gripping the area specially tactilely marked for "trigger" (because it is entirely touch based, not visual) and squeezing. This has the benefit of putting load distribution closest to the center, even what others would consider "within" the gun even if the concept is closer to a basket hilt. With ballistic weapons, free floating, and no attached arm the kick is going to be dispersed into the air unless braced, so a heavy weapon will fire slower for a Jaklyr than for a humanoid, unless they are content to allow the weapon to fire without resetting to the ready position. Not sure how to counter that quite well, except...
As weapon kick went up, and need to fire went up, folks started using bursts. A free-floating gun with a burst is going to have a HUGE bloom, because there is no brace; humanoid will lose some accuracy to the sides while riding high, where a Jaklyr is going to send their gun into a death spiral. Having an 'internal' handle apparatus (which works akin to a monkey sticking its fist into a tree and grabbing a bean, really) and then backing the gun into a bracing emplacement attached to the Jak or to a nearby cover thingy, gives them the ability to turn their heavy rifles into shielded turrets, especially since the minor disconnect between Jak and gun gives more ablative safety room.
The trigger would probably be designed in a way that the entire handle has to be squeezed at once instead of a lever, for the simple fact that Jak TK doesn't have the benefit of a human hand; when firing small arms you're supposed to push forward with the hand and pull back on the trigger. A Jak would use the same TK node to both hold the handle and pull the trigger, fighting itself without bracing, and slow down trigger speed while also throwing off aim. There are similar examples I could cite from human tech, and recreation. With boffed creation, you want nothing between your hand and the core, especially not something squishy. Adding foam to the handle is a rookie mistake because it DOES noticeably affect performance, even at the non-lethal noodlebat level. Today, I am wearing thicker, woolen socks, and they have a noticeable difference in my ability to accelerate and brake while driving, because thy change how much force needs to be exerted to mechanically alter the pedal position. It's slight, it's subtle, and it's the difference between life and death.
One common scifi method of dealing with recoil, especially in single shot weapons like shotguns, is to have a second gun whose recoil counters it. You're even more of an engineer than I, so I'll leave how effective t is to your discretion, but having a V which fires from one arm then another in rhythm would make up for the fact that unlike a humanoid, a TK gun is going to flail much more wildly. Mini guns would require so much additional bracing because of this (if free floating) that it entirely negates the advantage of being an eight-limbed quadruped. A belt-fed 'regular' power automatic would work because the entire Jak body could hold spools, while the arms and some extended bars brace the guns on the side, but doing so with actual miniguns would introduce new hazards we humanshapes jus. Don't have to deal with.
So I see the ideal weapon evolution being a stress-ball trigger in a recessed knot hole in the gun. Other folks not being able to use them is a symptom not a cause, but it is so very obvious very pony has even saying it.
I also think ignoring the lack of actual, physical hands in coupling with the nonspecific exertion of force - that is, that a Jaklyr's TK limbis like an amoebic tentacle, not a hand, and so (thus far) cannot lever against itself as stabilely as a human can leaves you with an unseen bias; EVERYTHING about a Jaklyr in war is going to be different, from the somatopsychic specs, body mechanics, weapon positioning, ideal sight system, etc is akin to admonishing us for designing a gun for a GI joe toy, while yourself missing something as big as the weapon user not being corporeal.
I'm not sure how this interacts with autofire, and I definitely know zilch about beam weapons, so maybe the Jaklyr themselves are still overcoming their image cultural bias in the development of beam weapons? They are sure to have festival design flaws that are no longer necessary.
isnt that a button?
Is it a good idea? No. It was different for the sake of difference to illustrate a possibility, since we knew Jaklyr TK is less than the force (no turning on lightsabers with a mental flick) but more than human manual dexterity (able to go places a human would be awkwardly and unergonomically sticking a finger).
I hope that illustrates my point! And that I didn't mangle the language to bad. Keep it Simple is like, the maxim for warfare. But remember how 'innovative' turnin the trigger into a lever plate so the Russians could fire with mittens on was? That should have been obvious sooner. That it wasn't is a sign of the cultural bias I speak of, and that you may be operating under yourself. I struggle to shirk this bias; if in doing do I come up with some silly, possibly inane things, can you blame me?Last edited by SiuiS; 2012-01-14 at 09:18 PM.
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2012-01-14, 09:46 PM (ISO 8601)
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2012-01-14, 09:57 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Holy wacamole! That's real fine fluff, Commander.
My crack at it. Mostly based off what you said about Diego's work:
Spoiler
Hegemonies and Heirarchies don't get used nearly enough.
I'm OK with this.
Bracing is an interesting problem. Unless they use maser/laser weaponry recoil could be problem. I can easily see T-shaped weapons, yes.Last edited by SlyGuyMcFly; 2012-01-14 at 09:59 PM.
Truth resists simplicity.
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2012-01-14, 10:19 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Psst, hey Thanqol! Day 1's done!
EDIT:
New Ep Spoiler
Spoiler
Last edited by Kyouhen; 2012-01-14 at 10:27 PM.
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2012-01-14, 10:28 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
Pone says you're wrong.
SpoilerI see your point. Ideally up until this point I'd have liked to avoid any deaths or dismemberments except Luna's fake one (which did get a fairly strong reaction from many). Poor planning forced me to deal with the pets somehow. Leaving Fluttershy's wounded leg to have no impact at all seemed weak too, but ideally maybe there should have been no wound in the first place.
Ah well, hindsight. Time to move on, do better.
SpoilerLuna grabbing her own severed horn in her mouth and using it to stab Trixie in the neck was the most badass thing ever.
Left knee; that leg looks a little short overall.
Otherwise, looking forwards to it
She's happier than a Pinkie in... a pig with chocolate rain... a Pinkie piggie chocolate pie... pink pig.... wont get fooled again.
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2012-01-14, 10:35 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know
New Ep;
SpoilerBaby Power Mysteries -
Plenty of people have picked up on the 'Random Magic Surge' lines. But right before that, Rainbow says "Aah yeah. Just you wait; once little Pound Cake gets his wings going he'll be AAALLL over the place!"
Apparently it very much is a phase.
Also, you guys don't half tend to get rowdy in here lately. Clearly all this Con-visiting is over stimulating you folks cause suddenly it's wall to wall roughousing whenever I turn my back.