My Little Pony XCV: I am (Finally) Become Pancakes!

[b_jonas]

New episode is out. I haven't posted about the previous one (S6 E20 Viva Las Pegasus), but I did like it. It wasn't perfect, but it was among the better episodes this season. The nice part was that I actually enjoyed Fluttershy's role in it. Fluttershy is definitely getting better and better.

Anyway, as for the episode that came out yesterday.

Spoiler: S6 E21

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S6 E21 Every little thing she does, thoughts as I watch.

• At this rate, they'll be out of their magic for the day, and they won't be able to use magic when the real trouble strikes.
• Starlight Glimmer must complete a friendship lesson by the end of the afternoon when Twilight will review her progress. If she doesn't complete the friendship lesson, then she'll be tardy and will be sent back to magic Kindergarten and Princess Twilight will never trust her ever!
• Starlight just said "no time for a song" to Pinkie Pie? I thought Pinkie Pie would be the easiest part of this, because she'll go along with any crazy argument Starlight thinks up, but oh my, Starlight has a talent to annoy Pinkie in just worst way. I'm scared now.
• They still have tiny pupils. But I didn't listen!
• Wow, Pinkie is quick.
• This is getting creepy.
• Every animal? Where are the skunks and bees from S1 E11?
• Why is Pinkie more upset about the cake than about the song? Starlight wasted a perfectly good song, and now we have an episode without the song. You can always just bake another cake, and Starlight offered to help her clean up.

Update: replies.

Spoiler: New Episode

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Twilight spent a lot of time working herself up into a frenzy and only considered using magic after exhausting every other option from her perspective. Starlight, on the other hoof, didn't seem nearly as stressed about the issue and went to magical mind-control as a solution almost as soon as she encountered any real difficulty.

Spoiler: S6 E21

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That's because Starlight Glimmer is actually competent at mind control magic. Twilight wasn't.

Spoiler

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It's an arrogance in the way she's presented as this inexplicably and suddenly all-powerful mage, effortlessly matching (even exceeding) Twilight. It's the effortlessly that really irks me more than anything. And as has been pointed out, it doesn't even quite jive with what we saw of her back in Our Town. Talented and good at studying, perhaps, but this amazing, Rainbow Dash level of natural ability out of nowhere ... it's just extremely irksome to me.

Spoiler

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It wasn't effortless. At least it wasn't portrayed as efortless in S5 E25..26. After her defeat in S5 E2, Starlight has spent a whole season preparing for her revenge plan. I beleive she actually spent time in libraries and used references and index cards and whatever else ponies use to find the right scroll, and found Starswirl the Bearded's scroll about time travel. Twilight never bothered to do that, she's instead just made books fly all around and browsed them at random. ("It was under E!") Starlight even went to a seminar Twilight held and actually listened to her, because maybe the hero who's defeated her once knows something. Very few villains admit their mistake that way and do that. They usually ignore the hero and continue to peruse whatever path they used to think would bring them the most strength. That's what made me like Starlight after S5 really.

Now of course in most of S6, the writing is just bad, but I'd rather ignore that than let it ruin my image of Starlight.

[DigoDragon]

I'd call her the Cousin Oliver of MLP but I get the feeling that the writers don't actually care about her that much. I wouldn't be surprised if the season finale has her schlepping off the stage, never to be referred to again.

Spoiler: Season 6 Finale

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That's gonna be jarring considering she's supposedly the star of the finale.

"Hey, Starlight saved Equestria!" *puts her on a bus before Season 7*

I am sure some will ask, but what about her village and her interactions with ponies there? That is exactly the reason she is socially retarded. Her interactions with the ponies there had one and only one way to go and that way was her way. Look at the villagers, there wasn't options. You either had to follow her will or get jailed until your will was broken.

Some good points on why she is socially inept.

Spoiler: New ep

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Neat. I'll probably forget it, like most episodes with Glimglam (except the s5 intro, because NGE nod is too awesome). Still not enjoying the direction she's heading in - it feels very much like we'll get a "Behold, Princess Starlight Glimmer" and everyone will let out a unanimous groan that threatens to collectively banish our ability to care at all to the Land of Stumps and Dismay.

Spoiler: Every Little Thing new ep

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I've already forgotten most everything about it that wasn't Applejack giving one-liners on her photos or Applejack having a hangover. I hope there's no princess Starlight. They're just giving away alicornhoods...

Anyway, as for the episode that came out yesterday.

Spoiler: S6 E21

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• Why is Pinkie more upset about the cake than about the song? Starlight wasted a perfectly good song, and now we have an episode without the song. You can always just bake another cake, and Starlight offered to help her clean up.

Spoiler: Every Little Thing new ep

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If you don't know why Pinkie is so upset, they you don't know Pinkie. Songs are a fun thing, but baking is her passion. Burning a cake is the ultimate insult to her skills.

[Dexam]

Spoiler: Every little thing she does

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Well, I for one really enjoyed the episode. Entertaining, with some good laughs, which meets my criteria.

Some things I found especially entertaining:
- Spike does a fantastic "Kif Kroker" sigh when asked to help colour-code the cards.
- Starlight has a portrait of Trixie on her bedroom wall, along with a "no equality" sign.
- Best VA Award for the episode goes (unsurprisingly) to Tabitha St Germain for mind-controlled Rarity.
- Those one-liners and pop-culture references from AJ.

[Beacon of Chaos]

EsperDerek returns, brings ponysanity with him. It's like 2011 all over again.

Spoiler: Starlight Glimmer

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[DigoDragon]

It's like 2011 all over again.

Blech. That was a terrible year for me. Darn near had a case of bench hoboness.

Heck, I'm still feeling the effects of it today. Well, hopefully by the end of this year I can finally put the last of it six under and get back to where I should of been. *Determination*

Spoiler

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[Inspector Valin]

Spoiler: Season 6 Finale

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That's gonna be jarring considering she's supposedly the star of the finale.

"Hey, Starlight saved Equestria!" *puts her on a bus before Season 7*

Spoiler: S6 Finale and Ace Attorney

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Ahahahahaha.... yeah, that's pretty silly. Imagine a story making a character the focal point right as they're getting written out. Can you think of something so jarring and awkward? Ahahahahahaha! Ahahahahaha!

*looks to 3DS* Man, Spirit of Justice... *sniffs quietly in corner*

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler: Ace Attorney

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*looks to 3DS* Man, Spirit of Justice... *sniffs quietly in corner*

Spoiler: Objection?

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There's a poll going on over at Equestria Daily about which one event in the show you could undo (such as Discord never being reformed, no Flurry Heart, no Equestria Girls, etc.) and I found it amusing that so far the winning vote is going to the Golden Oak Library never having been destroyed.


Speaking of EqGirls, my daughter and I got to see Legend of Everfree early~

Spoiler: I'll keep it lightly spoiler'd

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It was pretty good. Sunset by far was the best character, everything Starlight wished she could be. SciTwi kind of holds things back a little, but everyone else gives a good A-Game. There's three songs (I think 3?) and they were nice. The third is by far the most catchy. Overall I say it rates better than Friendship Games, but less than Jake Rainbow Rocks. And y'all know I absolutely adore RR as my favorite one of the series.

Also, I'm expecting there will be a new Trixie ship.

[DaOldeWolf]

/me blows DaOldeWolf a kiss

Few things are more dangerous than a layman with a copy of the DSM.

Spoiler: I think I've got it!

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Glimmer equated friendship with teamwork, so by extrapolating from that, we can fully justify her mind controlling ways:
Magic=Friendship. This is established with the series' title. Sure it's usually worded the other way around, but the reflexive property says if A=B, B=A. So there.
Friendship=Teamwork. Because you spend a lot of time working on similar goals with your friends, especially if you're working with them for friendship lessons.
Teamwork=Having a leader. Coaches are essential to all team sports. You need someone to decide on strategy and having one leader helps build team cohesion.
Having a leader=Being in control. This goes hand in hand with leading; if you have no control over your teammates, are you really a leader?

Putting it all together: Magic=Friendship=Teamwork=having a leader=Being in control, so using magic to take control of your friends makes perfect sense!

Spoiler: Small quibble

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That should be Friendship > (implies) Teamwork, and Teamwork > Having a leader> .

Because logically you can be in a team and not be friends and you can be a leader and not have any teamwork.

Why do I bring this up? Because it changes the logic to
Magic = Friendship > Teamwork > Having a Leader = Being in control.

Starlight was in control which means she was the leader. But her teamwork was bad which means she clearly lacks a Friendship with the Mane 6. And thus she shouldn't have used magic on them because they aren't her friends.

Basically, it's not Starlight's fault things go wrong when she brainwashes ponies. It's their fault for not being her friends. Otherwise it'd work perfectly!

To add a bit more about depth to her actions, you have to analyze the most important part of her actions. For what reason is she doing all of this?. We have to define the motivation. In this case the motivation is related to efficiency and impressing Princess Twilight. By this point, everything she does completely falls apart. She is worried about completing the sewing, the cake, etc not about hurting their feelings or making a bond with Twilight´s friends.

By this point, she is doing the right thing for all the wrong reasons. Now, you add the points of lack of knowledge and experience in the field of interaction (including friendship).

And you get a pony that doesn't know what she did wrong. She tackled the problem looking at it the wrong way and when things went south, she unconsciously goes back to her all habits. Familiar territory is always going to feel more desirable than scary unknown. And a mixed spell later, we get this disaster. It all actually makes sense when you remember the line. "You know, I might have missed the point here."

I know you might be thinking that its all so obvious and that she should know better than this but the reality is that she doesn't. If you know better, its because you have the tools to deal with the situation and properly though what the friendship tasks were all about. She didn't.

Some good points on why she is socially inept.

Thanks but I am sure you guys would have pointed it out sooner or later. This is the Giantitp forums, where speculation and overanalyzing run wild. I just spoke up because a psychologist word was requested.

[Forum Explorer]

I know you might be thinking that its all so obvious and that she should know better than this but the reality is that she doesn't. If you know better, its because you have the tools to deal with the situation and properly though what the friendship tasks were all about. She didn't.

Spoiler

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I know better because I have basic moral common sense. If you need to be told that mind controlling your friends is bad, then something is profoundly wrong with you. Maybe she isn't a full blown sociopath (You could argue that her distress was more from things going wrong and failing, or because she was disappointing Twilight), but she still needs to be locked away from society before she harms someone.

Like someone who doesn't understand that murder and theft are bad, she is a menace and very active threat to everyone around her. She should be isolated until she does know better. Then she can tackle the more difficult things like 'friendship'.

Actually here's two things that really bother me about Starlight.

1. She isn't treated as evil. She isn't the first reformed villain, after all we have Discord. But Discord was mistrusted, and feared by other ponies, besides Fluttershy. He gets glares, muttered comments, and in general everyone is on guard around him. And he doesn't really get away with his crap. Ponies get angry at him, frustrated at him, and he doesn't get easy forgiveness as seen by Tree Hugger.

2. Sunset Shimmer did/does it better. Every part of it too. She was evil, but her plan (while silly) wasn't really that petty. She didn't get away with being evil scotch free. And she's developed actual friendships with the EG cast. She even has a better name and color scheme.

[EsperDerek]

For all horse enthusiasts in the audience, I was lucky enough to watch the play War Horse and thoroughly recommend it.

Both the movie and the original novel are both solid, if you haven't sought them out. It's well worth doing so.

I'm certainly in agreement with you there, as evidenced by my 1900 page book, IF I WAS KING OF THE CARTOON HORSE PROGRAM.

But you know what they say, 'missed potential is unguarded potential'.

In all fairness, if any of us were Kings/Queens of the Horse Program, it would probably have to be run on HBO. Or maybe Showtime after dark.

EsperDerek returns, brings ponysanity with him. It's like 2011 all over again.

"Whoa, wait a minute, Starswirl. What are you talking about? What happens to us in the future? What, do we become ******s or something?"

"No, no, no, no, no, Esper. Both you and Midnight turn out fine. It's the ponythread, Esper. Something gotta be done about the ponythread!"

Blech. That was a terrible year for me. Darn near had a case of bench hoboness.

Heck, I'm still feeling the effects of it today. Well, hopefully by the end of this year I can finally put the last of it six under and get back to where I should of been. *Determination*

Putting the ghosts of the past to rest fills you with Determination?

In all seriousness I know what it's like to have some terrible years. Heck, arguably having a terrible year right now! Put that stuff to bed, and keep moving forwards. Best of luck to you.

2. Sunset Shimmer did/does it better. Every part of it too. She was evil, but her plan (while silly) wasn't really that petty. She didn't get away with being evil scotch free. And she's developed actual friendships with the EG cast. She even has a better name and color scheme.

Honestly, this right here is my biggest problem with Glimmsville. Everything they're doing with her, they did with Sunset already, except way better. Plus her motif is fire and that's just cool and a departure from the usual 'unicorns are night/dark themed'.

[Gideon Falcon]

Spoiler

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Not gonna lie, I was frankly disgusted with the new episode. I hate negative commentary about the show, but I can't sugarcoat this- the show has a frightening lack of stock in the seriousness of mind control. I understand that Starlight really was sorry afterwards, but this has only been the latest of several incidents showing that she hasn't learned the most important lesson from her time in Our Town- brainwashing and mind control are wrong . Taking away someone's free will is, in my mind, one of the worst crimes short of murder and things you don't talk about in front of children, and Starlight still goes to it as a first resort. I believe in the importance of forgiving, but in this case, I can't help but feel like they're doing it too quickly and too easily for Starlight's own good. When the season premier came out, I thought I might be able to grow to like Starlight as a character, but every other episode about her has simply cemented that she really hasn't reformed except nominally- I still can't help but loathe her. Even if I did like her, I would definitely have been mad at her after that stunt- especially when she didn't notice anything was wrong when Rarity specifically said "Whatever you want me to have in my mind." And yet, all the characters who were so grossly violated just act like she cast some speed spell or minor prank hex on them without their permission, not enslaving them. It's something I really just can't accept.
/rant

[DaOldeWolf]

Spoiler

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I know better because I have basic moral common sense. If you need to be told that mind controlling your friends is bad, then something is profoundly wrong with you. Maybe she isn't a full blown sociopath (You could argue that her distress was more from things going wrong and failing, or because she was disappointing Twilight), but she still needs to be locked away from society before she harms someone.

Like someone who doesn't understand that murder and theft are bad, she is a menace and very active threat to everyone around her. She should be isolated until she does know better. Then she can tackle the more difficult things like 'friendship'.

We don't even need something as complex as morality to speak about this situation. Someone with underdeveloped social skills isn't likely to possess such a complex and well developed system. Her system is more likely to be a lot more basic and a lot less flexible. So, what does she exactly does she fail to grasp in the episode? Empathy. Now, does she lack the capability for empathy? Nope, she is capable of by empathic (just look at the Trixie episode). She just hasn't completed the process when it becomes a second nature like other people.

If we are going by medical terms, there is no "half sociopath". You either are or aren't. She doesn't possess the necessary traits to be an out and out sociopath. I am really sorry but the only reason I spoke, was to give expert view on the matter. In the DSM, there are lots and I mean lots of possible personality disorders that could be used to define Glimmer´s behavior and a lot of them may seem really likely at first sight but there are subtle differences in each of them that most people ignore. This is such a case. During her first appearance, she really seemed to be an out and out sociopath but now with more background and information, it makes more sense that what she has is something else completely.

Dont fall into the trap that disorders can be easily piled up and guessed. People love to incorrectly bring the bipolar card for a person that swiftly changes mood or the depression card just because they are feeling sad. Behavior is a complex subject, it requires to know about the functions of the human brain, knowledge of behavior, how we learn, visual cues, etc. In my clinical advice, she doesn't fit the criteria for someone with sociopathy. Even more importantly, she doesn't even fall into the criteria of someone under the antisocial personality disorder which is a key trait of sociopaths and psychopaths.

Let me put a small case here. A group of wizard apprentices live together in isolation in a tower with their teacher. The most talented and powerful of the bunch bullies other students and uses a combination of magic and threats to have his way. This behavior keeps getting the results he wants all those years. Would you expect such a wizard to be able to interact correctly and morally with people when he finally goes out of that tower? How do you expect the wizard to react when someone in the outside world gives him a "no"?

I personally would expect a disaster. the wizard using powerful spells to bend the will of the people and feeling frustration being unable to fit with the rest of the world. This is just a case of tragedy waiting to happen.

Actually here's two things that really bother me about Starlight.

1. She isn't treated as evil. She isn't the first reformed villain, after all we have Discord. But Discord was mistrusted, and feared by other ponies, besides Fluttershy. He gets glares, muttered comments, and in general everyone is on guard around him. And he doesn't really get away with his crap. Ponies get angry at him, frustrated at him, and he doesn't get easy forgiveness as seen by Tree Hugger.

2. Sunset Shimmer did/does it better. Every part of it too. She was evil, but her plan (while silly) wasn't really that petty. She didn't get away with being evil scotch free. And she's developed actual friendships with the EG cast. She even has a better name and color scheme.

I will point out that I am not giving any moral or ethical value to her actions. I am just analyzing her personality based on this and previous episodes to form a diagnosis. Whether she is good or evil , I will leave each and everyone of you to decide. She is basically like all the people throwing land turtles into lakes. They are throwing them out of ignorance. She is responsible for her actions though. There is no denying that.

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler

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I know better because I have basic moral common sense. If you need to be told that mind controlling your friends is bad, then something is profoundly wrong with you. Maybe she isn't a full blown sociopath (You could argue that her distress was more from things going wrong and failing, or because she was disappointing Twilight), but she still needs to be locked away from society before she harms someone.

Like someone who doesn't understand that murder and theft are bad, she is a menace and very active threat to everyone around her. She should be isolated until she does know better. Then she can tackle the more difficult things like 'friendship'.

Spoiler: Starlight Discussion

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I'm still reminded of these actions parallel to children. Like recently I saw a kid doing the "pew pew pew" finger gun trick and I asked what they were pretending to be. They said a bad police officer.

So, wow. Sitting down with children and explaining right from wrong and making good decisions is a tough thing to do. I do my best to set a good example, not just for my daughter, but her friends too. I wonder if Starlight ran off from home when she was young and just didn't have anyone teach her simple things like being polite, helping others, and not mind-controlling your friends. She could be locked away, but maybe the show needs to instead sit Starlight down and explain to her why everyone is so uncomfortable with mental persuasion spells.

Another thing--Equestria has devices to lock down unicorn magic, why not slap her with that for a couple days to remove her crutch of using magic to brute force all her problems? Push her to learn non-magic methods of getting things done by taking away the tolls she relies on so much. That could work into a lesson about not relying too much on an easy fix for one's problems. :3

She even has a better name and color scheme.

Only in Equestria can that argument make a lot of sense.

Putting the ghosts of the past to rest fills you with Determination?

In all seriousness I know what it's like to have some terrible years. Heck, arguably having a terrible year right now! Put that stuff to bed, and keep moving forwards. Best of luck to you.

No pacifist route for me. I'm a fighter and survivor. :3
But thanks. Hoping the end of this year will be a good turn of events.

"Never give up! Never surrender!" --Some dude on Tool Time

Honestly, this right here is my biggest problem with Glimmsville. Everything they're doing with her, they did with Sunset already, except way better. Plus her motif is fire and that's just cool and a departure from the usual 'unicorns are night/dark themed'.

And apparently a chunk of the artists in the fandom have made Trixie's motif lightning. Which is kind of cool I think.

[zimmerwald1915]

And apparently a chunk of the artists in the fandom have made Trixie's motif lightning. Which is kind of cool I think.

That wasn't the fandom, that was the show. Trixie's been using lightning since Season 1. So has Luna.

[DaOldeWolf]

Spoiler: Starlight Discussion

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I'm still reminded of these actions parallel to children. Like recently I saw a kid doing the "pew pew pew" finger gun trick and I asked what they were pretending to be. They said a bad police officer.

So, wow. Sitting down with children and explaining right from wrong and making good decisions is a tough thing to do. I do my best to set a good example, not just for my daughter, but her friends too. I wonder if Starlight ran off from home when she was young and just didn't have anyone teach her simple things like being polite, helping others, and not mind-controlling your friends. She could be locked away, but maybe the show needs to instead sit Starlight down and explain to her why everyone is so uncomfortable with mental persuasion spells.

Another thing--Equestria has devices to lock down unicorn magic, why not slap her with that for a couple days to remove her crutch of using magic to brute force all her problems? Push her to learn non-magic methods of getting things done by taking away the tolls she relies on so much. That could work into a lesson about not relying too much on an easy fix for one's problems. :3

Because it is basically what it is. Her social skills are like those of a child. She is basically one that hasn't progressed in an area to where someone of their age should be. She does seems to have underdeveloped social skills.

[Lord Raziere]

2. Sunset Shimmer did/does it better. Every part of it too. She was evil, but her plan (while silly) wasn't really that petty. She didn't get away with being evil scotch free. And she's developed actual friendships with the EG cast. She even has a better name and color scheme.

Yeah, Starlight Glimmer ever since her redemption always felt like a Sunset Shimmer copy. A bad one. One that is supposed to be like in canonical show itself, but really is just poorly done all around. I mean her initial problem of being this equalist was good, and her revenge plan was a good opportunity to showcase some stuff if they failed, but they completely botched her motivation and then it was all downhill from there.

I think it would've been better if she was like, some pony who wanted to be some great X, and tried her hardest to be that, but then some pony with a cutie mark for that X showed her up easily, despite all her hard work she put into it. like she seriously spent years and years upon something to try perfect it, only for someone who their natural talent was that thing to do it better without even trying, so her motivation would be to get rid of Cutie Marks because then she could make everyone a clean slate and thus have to work hard to get anything of quality- that to her, people with Cutie Marks didn't earn their quality, so it would be unfair from her perspective.

and then if you gone with a sixth season and redemption, you examine WHY she got a Cutie Mark for erasing Cutie Marks. you could do an episode on how the Cutie Marks are the ponies destiny and try to get her to think of why that would be a special talent in a positive light- and suddenly realize, that Starlight Glimmer can rewrite destiny. That her talent could be used to help ponies who want to be good at something else than what the Cutie Marks they were given, and could be a good metaphor for something like transgender people- ponies who feel what they are meant to do and what their Cutie Mark wants them to do doesn't match up and Starlight Glimmer could've help them with that. which could be a better way to redeem her than retreading Sunset's problems but with less quality.

but no, just a bad Sunset Shimmer. ho-hum.

[DigoDragon]

That wasn't the fandom, that was the show. Trixie's been using lightning since Season 1. So has Luna.

Season 1? I remember the fireworks, but the only lightning was a little rain cloud that zapped Dash in the butt. And the Ursa Minor. Doesn't strike me as a motif compared to Sunset with fire wings.

Her season 3 episode is a little closer, with the red lightning-ish magic bolts that come out of her horn.
It was because of the amulet, but kind of still strikes a temporary motif.

you could do an episode on how the Cutie Marks are the ponies destiny and try to get her to think of why that would be a special talent in a positive light- and suddenly realize, that Starlight Glimmer can rewrite destiny. That her talent could be used to help ponies who want to be good at something else than what the Cutie Marks they were given, and could be a good metaphor for something like transgender people- ponies who feel what they are meant to do and what their Cutie Mark wants them to do doesn't match up and Starlight Glimmer could've help them with that. which could be a better way to redeem her than retreading Sunset's problems but with less quality.

Maybe she could get in touch with the CMC, which have found their calling in helping ponies understand their destiny. Could make for a good team up?

[Aotrs Commander]

Ye gods Civ V is SLOW. never mind the loading timnes, even the time between turns is bloody ages. (And it's nowhere NEAR as complex a game as CK2 or EUIV, how can it be so poorly optimised?)

At this point, I'm not sure whether I'm playing XY while I'm waiting for Civ V or Civ V in between the grind of levelling for living dex or breeding...! (And both sets of RNG have been little pains in the posterior all day.)

Well, at this stage, I could see Civ V ramping up for one of it's fantastic "kill the UI, can only alt-tab out and close the game through task manage ****ches, so I think we're done for the night.

...

FRAG DAMMIT! Okay, Floette is a damn Shiny Stone evolution, no bloody wonder I'm not getting there... So far we've had a Fail on Skrelp breeding and on Tyrunt evolution (it's night)... But at least I've got Panchan and Inkay evolved (and wasn't that a pain in the arse, 'cos trust me, try playing with your 3DS XL upside-down for any length of time...)

Oh, yeah, Helioptile is too... (Made that mistake once already...) Right, well I think we're done there, too... Not that many more to go...

XY anime time!

[Qwertystop]

Ye gods Civ V is SLOW. never mind the loading timnes, even the time between turns is bloody ages. (And it's nowhere NEAR as complex a game as CK2 or EUIV, how can it be so poorly optimised?)

At this point, I'm not sure whether I'm playing XY while I'm waiting for Civ V or Civ V in between the grind of levelling for living dex or breeding...! (And both sets of RNG have been little pains in the posterior all day.)

Well, at this stage, I could see Civ V ramping up for one of it's fantastic "kill the UI, can only alt-tab out and close the game through task manage ****ches, so I think we're done for the night.

...

FRAG DAMMIT! Okay, Floette is a damn Shiny Stone evolution, no bloody wonder I'm not getting there... So far we've had a Fail on Skrelp breeding and on Tyrunt evolution (it's night)... But at least I've got Panchan and Inkay evolved (and wasn't that a pain in the arse, 'cos trust me, try playing with your 3DS XL upside-down for any length of time...)

Oh, yeah, Helioptile is too... (Made that mistake once already...) Right, well I think we're done there, too... Not that many more to go...

XY anime time!

I've obviously never had a chance to look at the source, but my first guess is a poorly-implemented hex grid. Everything can be made to run on Cartesian coordinates with no fudging (treat hexes as cubes in isometric perspective), but that doesn't mean they did think of it, since it's not very intuitive and they'd been working on squares previously - and if they didn't do that, and didn't do some clumsy fudging to make it fit on two axes, the last option I know of is a full list of all connections.

Or it's something with the graphics. It's been a while since I actually played Civ and I have no intention of booting it up again - but there was a simple-map mode, right? Does that help?

[DigoDragon]

I was just recently gifted Civ 5. Maybe I should play it and see how fast it runs?
Maybe look to see if there's a pony mod?


How do high heels even work for a pony?

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Edit--
Neat little Pegasi song.

[Derjuin]

I was just recently gifted Civ 5. Maybe I should play it and see how fast it runs?
Maybe look to see if there's a pony mod?

There are several, actually, and some of them are much better than others.

There are mods to add pony civilizations (IIRC, the only one that's really had a lot of effort put into it is Principality of Equestria, which adds Celestia as a leader and even has her lines from the show put in for interactions when she's played by the AI) and also one to convert a lot of icons, etc. to be scenes from the show depicting similar events (agriculture tech showing the apple farm, etc).

How do high heels even work for a pony?

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Even more awkwardly than they do for a human, I would assume :S

I wonder, is she supposed to be a pirate? The flag makes me think yes, but her attire says "Not really".

[Aotrs Commander]

I was just recently gifted Civ 5. Maybe I should play it and see how fast it runs?
Maybe look to see if there's a pony mod?

There is a pony mod. (At least one.)

I, fact, used it for my first ever ever game, if you may distantly remember.

Also, I note with GREAT hilarity, that "Agent Bonbon" was right on the money, long before Slice of Life was the twinkle in anypony's eye...!



And, on checking, it seems like Civ V has always been that crap at system resources, since I kvetching about it at the time...



(Ye gods, the forums didn't want me to make this post...)

[b_jonas]

Spoiler: Starlight Discussion

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Another thing--Equestria has devices to lock down unicorn magic, why not slap her with that for a couple days to remove her crutch of using magic to brute force all her problems? Push her to learn non-magic methods of getting things done by taking away the tolls she relies on so much.

Spoiler: S6 E21

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I don't think that would work. Starlight Glimmer has proved in S5 E26 that she's such a competent wizard that Twilight can't just defeat it by fighting her with force. If Twilight or some other pony were to slap her with a horn locking spell, she'd just remove it somehow. Maybe he can cast a hornless spell to return to her secret stash where she has a potion to cure her horn, the details don't matter much. The lich has already mentioned this, and I agree with him.

Though to be fair to Twilight (and Starlight), they are sort of trying to "fix/cure" that. Because let's be honest - the ponies don't have any other options other than to do that and ride the storm out. Starlight is WAY too powerful (and unstable) to be just locked up; the only other alternatives are ones that Twilight would simply never consider as morally acceptable.

How do high heels even work for a pony?

Awkwardly (image of Sweetie Belle from S4 E19).

[DigoDragon]

There are mods to add pony civilizations (IIRC, the only one that's really had a lot of effort put into it is Principality of Equestria, which adds Celestia as a leader and even has her lines from the show put in for interactions when she's played by the AI)

*Adds Principality of Equestria to his search list*

Thank you. :3

I wonder, is she supposed to be a pirate? The flag makes me think yes, but her attire says "Not really".

Maybe it's Casual Pirate Day?

(But yes, according to artist's notes, she's a pirate).

I, fact, used it for my first ever ever game, if you may distantly remember.

Distantly. Having not looked since then, I was curious if something better rolled around during the interim.

(Ye gods, the forums didn't want me to make this post...)

I've been saying, ever since that server maintenance was done at the beginning of August, something isn't quite right with the forums. It seems to be a bit more self aware...

Spoiler

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Spoiler: S6 E21

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I don't think that would work. Starlight Glimmer has proved in S5 E26 that she's such a competent wizard that Twilight can't just defeat it by fighting her with force. If Twilight or some other pony were to slap her with a horn locking spell, she'd just remove it somehow. Maybe he can cast a hornless spell to return to her secret stash where she has a potion to cure her horn, the details don't matter much. The lich has already mentioned this, and I agree with him.

Spoiler: Every Little Thing new ep

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No one was able to undo the horn-locking spell in the Equestria Games episode, not even the alicorn princesses. I'm sure locking out Starlight's magic is an option. She's so darn reliant on spells that there is likely no non-magic contingency in her plans.

[b_jonas]

Spoiler: Every Little Thing new ep

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No one was able to undo the horn-locking spell in the Equestria Games episode, not even the alicorn princesses. I'm sure locking out Starlight's magic is an option. She's so darn reliant on spells that there is likely no non-magic contingency in her plans.

Spoiler: S6 E21

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In S4 E25, they didn't have enough time to remove the horn locking. A guard even says that explicitly. You could lock down Starlight for a few minutes that way, maybe even hours, but I don't think it will work for much longer.

[SKarious]

Spoiler: Horn-locking

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Maybe those horn-locking spells in "Equestria Games" only work within an area. It would be pretty difficult and impractical to surrond Ponyville with anti-magic gates.
The other way to lock unicorn magic shown so far was Sombra's dark crystals. Even if Twilight could use that kind of spell, she'd probably now want to.

In another note, saw "Legend of Everfree" yesterday:

Spoiler: EQG4

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Sunset is adorable. Every animation, every line just made me want a Sunset chibi doll.
She's best princess of empathy.

Other than that - meh. very very meh.
The plot was as cliche as possible. An evil businessman, really? The songs were forgettable.
Gloriosa got on my nerves immediately with her too-chipper attitude.
And was that Vinyl Scratch chatting to Fluttershy in the background? Seems like she's not mute.

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler: S6 E21

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In S4 E25, they didn't have enough time to remove the horn locking. A guard even says that explicitly. You could lock down Starlight for a few minutes that way, maybe even hours, but I don't think it will work for much longer.

Spoiler: Horn-locking

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Maybe those horn-locking spells in "Equestria Games" only work within an area. It would be pretty difficult and impractical to surrond Ponyville with anti-magic gates.
The other way to lock unicorn magic shown so far was Sombra's dark crystals. Even if Twilight could use that kind of spell, she'd probably now want to.

I still got ideas~

Spoiler: Every Little Horn Lock She Has

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Alright then, how is this for locking down Starlight's magic~ Ask Discord to take the horn away for a while. You know he'd do it, because it would be amusing to watch Starlight flounder around without her magic.

In another note, saw "Legend of Everfree" yesterday:

Spoiler: EQG4

Show

Sunset is adorable. Every animation, every line just made me want a Sunset chibi doll.
She's best princess of empathy.

Other than that - meh. very very meh.
The plot was as cliche as possible. An evil businessman, really? The songs were forgettable.
Gloriosa got on my nerves immediately with her too-chipper attitude.
And was that Vinyl Scratch chatting to Fluttershy in the background? Seems like she's not mute.

Spoiler: EqGirls 4

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Did you notice all the times Trixie was chatting with Octavia? :3

They did avoid the part of the cliche where the evil businessman tries to thwart the heroes. Seems like human Filthy Rich held on to his word and let them keep the camp. Too bad he missed all the fun of the Gaia battle. Maybe he'd get an advertising campaign on that and make a little money from the increased attendance wanting to see a magic camp.

[gomipile]

Spoiler: horn lock

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Or they could have Discord remove her horn completely until they deem she's earned it back.

[digiman619]

Also, I note with GREAT hilarity, that "Agent Bonbon" was right on the money, long before Slice of Life was the twinkle in anypony's eye...!

If we're talking about things that are hilarious in hindsight about Bon Bon, I'm going to add psychicscubadiver's The Dresden Fillies: False Masks, which has a great story (it's part 2 of a trilogy; part 3 is currently being written). I joined up with fimfiction just to comment on it.

[b_jonas]

Spoiler: Every Little Horn Lock She Has

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Alright then, how is this for locking down Starlight's magic~ Ask Discord to take the horn away for a while. You know he'd do it, because it would be amusing to watch Starlight flounder around without her magic.

Spoiler: S6 E20

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Something like that might be possible. I'm not sure what would amuse Discord more, watching Starlight without her unicorn magic, or watching Starlight mind control everypony around her. But I'd bet that if Twilight and Starlight had a magic fight again, and Twilight somehow got Discord interested, he would neither just lock Starlight's magic down completely, nor would just sit idle. He'd figure out something better that would annoy Twilight way more, and would probably be inconvenient to Starlight as well.