[MLP FiM] Bridle Shores Out of character thread 6

[TheAmishPirate]

I'll be on a retreat this weekend, and I don't think I'll be having internet access. Neither would I really want to; rather defeats the whole point of a retreat, doesn't it?

Anyhow, this means I'll be gone from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. I'll be getting that Time Bubble post in order sometime tonight or tomorrow. Things are a mite busy on my end.

[TheAmishPirate]

I'll be waiting for reactions/passes from Grills, Fox Trot, and Silverpine before advancing with the Time Bubble.

[TheAmishPirate]

I'll be waiting on the other two stallions before replying, but Benson has told me that Fox Trot will be going with the odd stallion out to ensure there's an even split. As such, I won't respond to his question just yet, as Soarin and Spitfire will give different answers.

[Deme]

So, Foxglove now has her own Ask Blog-type-madoohickey.
Ask Foxglove!

If you can help me think of ways to promote it, or even if you just support it or ask questions or so on, I'd appreciate it a lot!


....Also, man. I need to think of something for Foxglove to do.

[Orzel]

So, Foxglove now has her own Ask Blog-type-madoohickey.
Ask Foxglove!

If you can help me think of ways to promote it, or even if you just support it or ask questions or so on, I'd appreciate it a lot!


....Also, man. I need to think of something for Foxglove to do.

Sugar still has to get sick and be taken to Foxglove for examinations.

[Deme]

Sounds like a good plan.

[Orzel]

Once Grills is done tutoring Garion, he'll go see the sickly puppy, freak out, and rush to Foxglove's.

Freak out. I can handle my puppy being ill.

Sugar ate a pepper that was a little too hot. It made her sneeze.

Hnnng..Ermmm... BAAAAAAAAAW!! I'm a horrible pony! It's all my fault. BAAAAAAW!!!

[Grif]

Is it me, or only Sandy's subplot is still running in this RP?

[TheAmishPirate]

Is it me, or only Sandy's subplot is still running in this RP?

Yeah...the problem is that it seems like everypony else is waiting on the day to switch, and a good chunk of the players are in the Time Bubble.

There's still Garion/Grills/Gwyn going on, as well as Smoothie/Pyrite, and a few things going on in the cafe, but I'm really trying to think on how we can move things along and keep the Time Bubble, y'know, an actual Time Bubble.

[PurityIcekiller]

I've noticed that. Personally, I've been waiting for other people to start things, since I'm not much of an initiator.

I do have an idea for an event to start the day, but I'm going to wait on it, since Night Jewel already has possible scenes with other characters.

[TheAmishPirate]

Waiting on Silverpine in the Time Bubble.

I'll be skipping over certain future, non-critical events and leaving them as a proper Time Bubble so that I can stop holding everypony up.

[PurityIcekiller]

I'm sorry, but at this point, Alicorns are only allowed on a "By group approval" basis.

If you want to make an argument for the character being allowed, you can do so in this thread. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...php?p=15077198

Otherwise, your character won't be allowed, at least as an alicorn.

Say, while the site was out, I had time to think, and I realized that I should ask something. Namely, what do people have against alicorns? Really, we've allowed several kinds of ponies who weren't actually in the show in the past, so a unicorn with wings isn't too much of a stretch.

Of course, the character that brought this up doesn't seem very suitable to me on account of having no personality, but it could have been an earth pony with a similar lack of characterization.

In other news, I think I need to get some Flower Tail action on, and see if I can bring a bit more life into this RP.

[Mystic Muse]

Say, while the site was out, I had time to think, and I realized that I should ask something. Namely, what do people have against alicorns? Really, we've allowed several kinds of ponies who weren't actually in the show in the past, so a unicorn with wings isn't too much of a stretch.

An alicorn has a whole host of things associated with them that the normal types of ponies don't. I personally have nothing against alicorn OCs (If I did, it'd be awfully odd that I'm playing Gleamy in FO:E), but at the same time, I have to have some sort of experience with the person to believe it will be done well.

It's probably mostly due to the show. Being an alicorn is basically a huge deal. I even talked it over with a few other users while the site was down, and they both agreed with me that if somebody is going to play an alicorn, they need a good reason.

This should not be read as "You can never play an alicorn." but you're going to need to convince a fair number of people that you should be allowed to if you want to.

Naturally, this being a group RP, if people don't like it they can say so, and we can try and come to some sort of agreement regarding it. I'm not unwilling to shift on things like this, I just got the impression from a few people that it's better that alicorn OCs are nonexistent, or stay few and far between.

[Hawkflight]

Basically, it's a matter of the subtle difference between bringing up non-canon things that could exist, and bringing up canon things that do exist. For example, kelpies and hippocamps. There's nothing about them in the show, aside from the sea-ponies which may be entirely different. So there's license to go crazy there. But there's already alicorns in the original work, so you'd have to tread carefully and not only not contradict canon, but also work to maintain everything that makes them 'special'.

Am I making sense? Or is it 2 AM?

[PurityIcekiller]

It's about midnight here. You're fine.

I see your point. When you create any kind of "special" character, you need to make sure you know what you're doing and are aware that the more of a special race there are, the less special they become.

Personally, while I think they should still be rare, I would kind of like to see a well-executed alicorn character at some point. It could be fun to see the implications being addressed. I don't know who would be both willing and able to pull it off, though; I'm concerned that if I tried, I'd end up making a Mary Sue.

Anyway, thanks for explaining. Onward to good judgement!

[Mystic Muse]

Well, not to try and alarm anybody, but I would actually like Smoothie to become an alicorn at some point. I'd probably be asking people for help preventing me from making her a Mary Sue and making sure her storylines are good.

If people don't want her to though, I'm perfectly okay with that. It's one possibility for her out of a half-dozen, so if it's not doable, no problem.

[Grif]

For many reasons, I'm not comfortable with anypony becoming an alicorn, at least in this RP or any sort of RP that tries to stay true to the show. Most of the reasons have been stated, but I'll reiterate my primary concern: it's just too easy to screw such a character up and make him/her in a way that is interesting to the rest of participants. Hero-worship and admiring his/her powers gets very old, very quickly.

FO:E and to a certain extent, FWM, would be able to get away with alicorns much, much more easily because of how much the world is expanded and how high the power level is in their respective universes. Being an alicorn isn't so much a big deal any more in a nuclear wasteland, after all.

[Hawkflight]

For many reasons, I'm not comfortable with anypony becoming an alicorn, at least in this RP or any sort of RP that tries to stay true to the show.

I would point out how much we've already deviated from the show, but as of recently the only odd pony I can think of is Mystic Muse the zergpony. (Also Heartflight the mare-turned-foal to an extent. Hmmm.)

FO:E and to a certain extent, FWM, would be able to get away with alicorns much, much more easily because of how much the world is expanded and how high the power level is in their respective universes.

Vegeta, what does the scouter say about his power level?

NO.

[Grif]

Vegeta, what does the scouter say about his power level?

NO.

No to...?

[Hawkflight]

No to...?

No to me making an overused DBZ reference.

[TheAmishPirate]

I'm pretty much the same as what has been said. If it was done extremely well then I'd consider it, but in most cases the same narrative effect can be accomplished with a normal pony.

[PurityIcekiller]

How much could it hurt an already good character if you give them wings? I think as long as no too-drastic changes (like becoming the ruler of the town) happen, I can accept it. I doubt most of my characters would become hero-worshippers over such a thing anyway.

[Grif]

How much could it hurt an already good character if you give them wings? I think as long as no too-drastic changes (like becoming the ruler of the town) happen, I can accept it. I doubt most of my characters would become hero-worshippers over such a thing anyway.

The same question also applies in reverse. Why does such a good character need a crutch like alicorn status?

[TheAmishPirate]

How much could it hurt an already good character if you give them wings? I think as long as no too-drastic changes (like becoming the ruler of the town) happen, I can accept it. I doubt most of my characters would become hero-worshippers over such a thing anyway.

It's what Hawk said above; if it were just giving a character wings, it wouldn't be so bad. However, as we know from the show, it is not just as simple as giving a character wings and a horn.

S3 Spoilers below:

Spoiler

Show

It represents them taking their talent to new heights as well as their ability to lead others. Essentially, an outward representation of their aptitude and leadership potential. Alicornification is not something so freely given, as much as it is earned. And judging how we only know of two ponies who have ever won their wings, so to speak, it is an extremely difficult task to accomplish, and one that not everypony can even do.

If I were to give my vote of approval to an alicorn character, I would need to see their backstory in great depth. I'd need to know what their talent is, what they've done and accomplished, how they've grown, and what they did to earn their wings/horn. I'd also need to know what they intend to do now, as it would be all too easy to say that their character arc was over at that point, now come and worship your new pretty princess. And it would all have to be well-done enough to convince me that this character has indeed earned their title and my interest in hearing more of their story.

EDIT: Also what Grif said. If the character does just fine as a normal pony, then I see little inherent reason to slap wings on them.

[PurityIcekiller]

Understood. So they have to have proven themselves first.

Of course, there are nobility who aren't alicorns, but that means you still have a point in that they might be a little superfluous. I'm certainly not going to make one myself, at this point - I don't see a good enough reason to other than "I want to see if someone can do it well".

[TheAmishPirate]

Understood. So they have to have proven themselves first.

Of course, there are nobility who aren't alicorns, but that means you still have a point in that they might be a little superfluous. I'm certainly not going to make one myself, at this point - I don't see a good enough reason to other than "I want to see if someone can do it well".

I hear you there. If there was such a story that came to this RP, then I'd be thrilled to bits to have it.

Additionally, I do apologize for the delay with the Time Bubble. Things are wrapping up with work here, and I should have a non-rushed, non-stupid post up tomorrow. We're getting into the endgame here, and I don't want to mess it up.

[Mystic Muse]

We should probably determine how changelings are made for this RP since there are a fair number of interpretations.

[Benson]

So who has their ideas on about changelings? I myself don't really anything so I'm trying to blatantly steal ideas here.

[TheAmishPirate]

There are two options that I know of. Fairly basic, but I'm too tired to write up proper descriptions:

Slightly darker route:

Spoiler

Show

New changelings are made when a pony is completely drained of their love, and placed in a specialized cocoon. As time passes, they slowly morph into a new Changling.

More bug-like route:

Spoiler

Show

The queen of the hive gorges herself on love - possibly delivered by the drones - and lays eggs when enough is gathered. Changelings must nurture these grubs with spare love to ensure they grow up healthy and strong.

Naturally, please label spoilers from comics as such.

[Mystic Muse]

Okay, the main interpretations I know of are

1. Fey Changelings (Strange beings of wild magic. Iron adversely affects them)

2. Bug Changelings (Just another race, but buglike.)

3. Vampire Changelings (Monsters that turn others into their own kind)

4. Demon Changelings (Scary things from the depths of Tartarus.)