My Little Pony XCVII: Cheerilee's Lonely Hearts Club

[DigoDragon]

Trailer for the movie is out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2N7SRBDa2I

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Does this need to be spoiled? In any case. Not sure what to think. Don't like the idea of adding the sea pony thing in there. The sarcastic joke train in the trailer seemed way too..."Disney"...

Spoiler: My Initial Thought

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Anyone else suddenly wanting to play a Ponified Skies of Arcadia?

Liking Tempest. Disney-level villainy in style and that's an awesome thing in my book. :3 Interesting that her broken horn 'leaks' magic sparks. That... can't be healthy. Overall looks like it be a cute movie with magic and friendship and cake. I'd watch it.

Added a new game to the Pony TRPG list! Seeds of Harmony is a Fantasy Adventure RPG from an Italian GM who is now translating it into English. The original design used anthropomorphic characters, but there is also a full Pony variant (and hey, with the movie there are more anthros in the Pony world, right?).

I'm gonna have to download it later and see how the mechanics work. I'm always in the market to test new pony systems.

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I'm still kinda getting used to the animation. It's better animation, to be sure, with more fluid movements and shading, but it still feels weird after roughly five years of the same animation and models.

More like close to seven years. :o

Spoiler: Trailer

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The animation is a little uneven (in particular between the ponies and the backgrounds), but doesn't look too bad overall, just somewhat different to the show style. At least they have remembered to pack the humour.

Interestingly, they have remodeled the throne room - two thrones now? And a Celestia/Luna statue?

Spoiler: Movie Trailer

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Guess Celestia finally got around to bringing out Luna's seat from storage.

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So, we're just going to Worf Celestia and Luna and ignore Cadance... Again?

Why is the griffon bipedal?

Spike is, at least present, if once again, getting the short end of the stick from the magic transformations...

Tempest's sidekicks strike me as being a bit too Disney. Not that I don't trust the staff, but I'm looking and I'm seeing Cliche Bumbler That is Stupid and Obsequious that I've seen far too many times before there.

Spoiler: Movie Trailer

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I am curious to know how short the screen time for the alicorn sisters will be.

Maybe a different breed of griffon? Or not a griffon but something else?

Yep, good ol' butt end of the jokes Spike seems back. >.>

[Pilum]

Spoiler: Movie Trailer

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Maybe a different breed of griffon? Or not a griffon but something else?

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Ive seen a picture of them on derpibooru which makes them look more like anthro tropical birds than griffons as such. Or, if you'd prefer, they're p-yaarrrrr-otts....

[DigoDragon]

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Ive seen a picture of them on derpibooru which makes them look more like anthro tropical birds than griffons as such. Or, if you'd prefer, they're p-yaarrrrr-otts....

Spoiler: Movie Trailer

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Yup, parrots. I figured it on the second viewing.

Also, I feel like there's a lot of bipedal characters here, and lacking in quads. I wanna see ponies in the pony movie, so I'm kind of... apprehensive(?) that Tempest is the only new pony so far.

[Topaz]

Spoiler: Movie Trailer

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Yup, parrots. I figured it on the second viewing.

Also, I feel like there's a lot of bipedal characters here, and lacking in quads. I wanna see ponies in the pony movie, so I'm kind of... apprehensive(?) that Tempest is the only new pony so far.

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Apparently the wider world outside Equestria has more bipedal species than just the Diamond Dogs and Minotaurs. Plus, don't forget the Sea Ponies!

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler: Movie stuff

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Apparently the wider world outside Equestria has more bipedal species than just the Diamond Dogs and Minotaurs. Plus, don't forget the Sea Ponies!

Spoiler: Movie Trailer

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Right. Seems like pony world isn't primarily about ponies, and I'm a little sad of this revelation. At least sea ponies look part horse, so I'm fine with that.

[Aotrs Commander]

Bleakplays Plays EUIV: Necrolantis Rises!

Spoiler: What has gone before

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Right. Job One: Get personality trait.

Job Two: Suppress Rebels.

Job Three: Stuff Britain...

*many reloads of suck personality later*

Nikandros became a Free Thinker. That'll do...

Late March brought the "honourable people" event, so I burned 20 prestige placating Telesphoria to reduce their liberty desire before clicking okay and thus keeping my prestige at max...

14th of May 1636 and the next innovative idea came along (a relatively useless -10% of inflation reduction costs.)

June brought a diplomatic insult from Portugal (are they daft...?) and more rebels.

By November, both we and Theronis had crushed a rebellion, a claim was made for the British colony of Fernando Po... And Castille made themselves the next target, trying to colonise right into Borneo. The mission to improve relations with the Commonwealth was donem and a new mission (to colonise Sumbawa in the Moluccas undertaken.

The rebels were being slowly dealt with as tyhey occurred. We were not far off from being able to tackle Great Britain, but I wanted Necrolantis' income to be back positive again, and that meant waiting for the colonies to ease off.

Late April brought native assimlation in Flores, which was almost complete - good!

September, and another claim on Britain was forged...

At the dawn of 1637 Flores was complete (immeditaly pushing it into the green - must make sure to only run at about six colonys now, since we'll be more likely to be taking them from other people than rushing as much now). Another revolt was being crushed (realising that pehaps the 30 year interval for raising autonomy may have been a bad idea and that maybe I should have waited to get the age power that reduced the interval by 50% might have been smarter... Nevermind!)

Native assimilation in Ambon... Followed a few months later by having to move the colony (for more base tax).

In May 1638, there was a challenbeg to the devotion of Paramount Priest Ephron - shortly followed by a careful military explanation as to why he was still devout (for a net of +2 absolution, which was now at a respectible 54/77).

We could now afford an idea, but for the moment, I was banking Admin.

One more rebellion put down... As soon as the next colony finished and we were squarely in the green, it would be tome to deal with Britain!

Time to recall our diplomat, ready!

At the dawn of 1639, all was almost in readiness. The next age power had finally come in. I debated whether to take the autonomy cooldown or the +5% administrative efficiency. I decided in the end to opt for the latter. With +1 per year absolutism from the last power, I was slowly ticking up anyway, and now I was a larger chunk of the way there. I figured better to take more territory now and then worry about increasing absolutism more down the line was best. I could forge another claim, but I was holding on to see if I culd actually maybe use a Steal Maps soon, since I was planning to land fall directly on England.

Admin efficiency was now at a nice 37%!

New general recruited... And an admiral, though our naval tradition was crap; but nevermind, he was only there to give the transports in the far east an edge over the oe or two light ships the British had there.

And we were ready! Everyone was in position of British coasts - time to cause some damage! 48k troops were poised to strike England itself.

*sigh* But because EUIV, it seemed likely that Aragon (allied to both of us and unwilling to fight either of us last time I checked) now might be willing to join the British. Because of course.

No... No, we got lucky. None of Britian's allies joined in, but Kongo was joining us. Neat.

Heh. No Nelson was going to save the eight British light ships in Dogger Bank and forty-eight transports and eight heavy ships obliterated them and nearly fifty thousand troops marched on London.

The frst battle of London was over quickly - 2000 British troops destroyed, for the loss of merely 54 Necrolantic Legionaries!

By August Fernando Po - the war goal - was captured. That should help the warscore...!

Woo! We can steal maps! Rather than steal the paltry maps for England, I went ahead and stole the ones with the most gain germany for a total of 42 provinces revealed.

Okay, Aragon decided to wade in. Annoying.

And then the RNG decided to start throwing a wobbly again in the middle of the war. No RNG. No.

The war went steadily towards us. Our colonies did okay against the British ones. As England and Ireland were entirely occupied and the warscore hit 66%, I had completed another couple of colonies and thus dispatched the colonist to Sumbawa.

March 1642 - rebels had quietly appeared in London and a couple of other places. Once again, no notification... Still troops were on their way.

I was nearing the admin cap again, so I picked the next idea.

As I moved one army to help mop up the colonies (and the main fleet to see if I could hit Aragon and force them out of the war), I dispatched colonists to Lombok and Poso and they became available.

RNG was fighting me with crap events every single step of the way. Give it up RNG, you're not having it.

Colonist to Manado and Palu...

Finally, all of Great Britain and her colonies were occupied. Rebels were being suppressed and all that was left was the siege of Valencia in Aragon, which would tick the war score to 100% (at freaking last).





Nope. I did manage to peace Aragon out (making them break their alliance with Britain, giving us money and war reparations, but nothing else (they ARE our erstwhile allies, after all...!), but we were still at 99%.

GRRRRRR. Of fracking course. The stupid little OPM Alsace, sat right in the middle of the Holy RomanEmpire, where I absolutely cannot get at it. FRAG. Dammit.

99% it will have to be then. On the 8th of May 1644, Great Britain was forced to surrender.

Good job I kept banking my points! I'd spoent a large chunk of diplo points culture converting, just to burn some off (I was saving development for institutions spreading), but by the time I was done, the war demands requried 830 diplo points and nearly 500 admin!

I forwent again and money, and just took territory. I took away of of their island colonies, the whole of British Jeneralpattern and half of British Poytrek - and, of course, London and East Anglia!



I still had enough left, though, for the last innovative idea, formalised officer corps. Not really hugely useful (it would allow me another leader without upkeep, but now with the ideas complete, advisor costs were reduced by 25% having completed the group. I could have taken the tech, instead, but I held off. I also could now afford the next military tech upgrade, so Mil tech 20 brought in Swivel Cannons.

Refractory and rebel splatting period. I had seven years before the remaining claims on Spain ran out... But, come to that, if all else failed, I could fabricate some more.

Castille would be the next victim, though.

I could aslo now afford to spend some more money, both building a few more troops and on a load of buildings, since with my war taxes, cash was very high.

I needed to replace a few ships (the fight afgainst Aragon had not gone entirely my way, so I figured I might shunt the heavies up a little larger as well (by four). I bought another two sets of 12k troops in the far east (to bring them to the new 24k standard) and another dozen merchants to carry them. I then blew a load more on various manufactories.

And, in the last bit (because of course it has to throw one last RNG wobbly as I finish, Ephron became Midas touched (+10% tax).

In December, the many cores finished. I stated East Anglia (this is why I was saving some states, for the nice high-vlaue one in Europe!)

As we come to a close at the start of January 1646, our colonisation mission was complete, accelerating the colonies. Necrolantis got Admin 20 (and a much needed extra five states!) Ephron made English an accepted culture as - as I had expected! - after the conquest, they were now the largest majority at 7%. (And why I had been saving these culture slots!)

And the Poytrek cores now enabled us to form a new colonial nation: Ephronis!

Another two and a half years, and the next splendor age power would be purchasable - and at THAT point, I would drop the autonomy of some of the remaining areas, since it would only last for fifteen years, not thirty!

But we will leave that for next time.

[Pilum]

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Personally I share Digo's misgivings. Seeing so many anthro types is a bit jarring, feels almost lazy in the same way Ice Age 4(?) did with their bringing in apes, rather than keep with 'normal' animals (granted that ended up being the least of that film's problems personally, but still). And yet Topaz has a valid point regarding Iron Will and the Diamond Dogs. I feel they're different though; minotaurs slot in easily to the show's general riffing on Greco-Roman mythologies and 'looks', and the Dogs looked appropriately animalistic. So far the 'new' species look a bit too Zootopia/Zootropolis, in comparison, if you get me? And that cat on the posters flicking up his jacket lapels like he's trying to be in Paula Abdul's video for "Opposites Attract"... hmmm.

[Pendulous]

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Personally I share Digo's misgivings. Seeing so many anthro types is a bit jarring, feels almost lazy in the same way Ice Age 4(?) did with their bringing in apes, rather than keep with 'normal' animals (granted that ended up being the least of that film's problems personally, but still). And yet Topaz has a valid point regarding Iron Will and the Diamond Dogs. I feel they're different though; minotaurs slot in easily to the show's general riffing on Greco-Roman mythologies and 'looks', and the Dogs looked appropriately animalistic. So far the 'new' species look a bit too Zootopia/Zootropolis, in comparison, if you get me? And that cat on the posters flicking up his jacket lapels like he's trying to be in Paula Abdul's video for "Opposites Attract"... hmmm.

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I told you, they're going Disney.

Although to be fair, the show is all about a fantasy environment, where anything could feasibly exist.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Spoiler: Movie/Trailer Comments

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While I understand the "Anthro" concerns, I'm still reasonably optimistic about the movie.

The ponies themselves don't seem to be heading down the antro route, and - with the exception of the cat - I can't really tell if the other characters should be bipedal or not.

I'm not too fussed about the lack of new ponies (I counted 2 named ponies: Tempest and Songbird Serenade). Equestria is overstocked with ponies that could be used in a movie.

In fact my major fear is that they will try and put too many cameos in to the film - this worked for Slice of Life (indeed, it was the whole point...), but if they do it in the film we may end up with something like Double Rainboom, where there were whole sections of cameo for the sake of cameo. In the trailer I saw Berry Punch, Trixie, Bulk Biceps, Party Favor and Photo Finish all doing something (as opposed to, say, Treehugger, who appeared, but was definitely background).

I'm out on Spike as the butt of the group - it has been done badly before, but it has also been done well. If they don't overdo it (and remember to give him some good parts) we might be OK.

With Bleakbane, I don't recognise any of the guest talent (this seems like a familliar discussion...). On the plus side it means that I will approach the characters with a refreshing lack of preconceptions.

EDIT: My daughter immediately recognised Sia and Zoe Saldana. I'm old...

So overall, still optimistic. I know I've said this before, but the staff have managed to pull off a lot of things where there was an expectation that they were going to crash and burn.

The worst they have done so far is EQG, and that was still good enough to go on to produce a genuinely delightful set of films and shorts. And really? This trailer looks an awful lot better the Equestria Girls trailer did.

[DigoDragon]

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I told you, they're going Disney.

Although to be fair, the show is all about a fantasy environment, where anything could feasibly exist.

Spoiler: Pony Movie Discussion

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Except zebras.

I think zebra sky pirates would be great. Honorable knaves of the sky, flying free and doing as they please.

Spoiler: Example

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[Aotrs Commander]

Bleakplays Plays EUIV: Necrolantis Rises!

Spoiler: What has gone before

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Okay, war exhaustion is down, cores are done, rebels are suppressed - time to gear back towards dealing with Castille!

First job: re-ally with Aragon (since the last war apparently broke it). Means we'll have to feed Aragon some land to get them into the war, but I don't mind that particularly.

I burned a load more pennies on a new 24k army, just for good measure.

In March, the first round of autonomy increases ceased, which meant there would now be no futher rebellions to worry about. Neat.

The highly trustworthy Necrolantic people meant that state maintenance didn't require as much oversight, reducing costs for the next ten years.

Mmm. Problem. Castille was now allied to the Commonwealth, which was both rather large and far away, which would make stomping on it difficult... Maybe get them through Portugal...?

Aragon isn't interested in that, though. Still, let's see what it looks like in another few months...

Oh ho... Dionysis just declared war on Colonial Yasina! Good job lads! That gives us a potential in, and maybe just against Castille... Mmm. Maybe not.

Ahahahaha! Telesphoria just declared war on Colonial Snedsted! Excellent work, chaps! I knew slowly picking away at the enemy CNs would be useful eventually.

Okay, you know what? I'm going to let the lads alone to do their work. We're ready if Castille or Portugal jump in, but otherwise, I'll just leave 'em to win those wars on their own. Less warscore for dealing with the main pair, plus freer minions, am I right?

We've still got about five years before we lose the claims on Spain from the old mission, so I'm okay holding off for a bit. We'll take the mission to improve relations in Kongo while we wait, and I'll just keep trying to nic maps of Castille with my spy.

Heh. Colonial Yasina is being occupied faster by its own rebels then Dionysis...!

Ahahahaha! Colonial Snedsted is reduced to a single province.

Let's forge some documents for some extra admin...

Dangit. Once again can't steal any more maps. Eh.

September 1647 and Diplmatic tech 20 came in - more trade range and a little more trade efficiency.

Fracking FINALLLY! We triggered one of the trade good boosts (we've missed every other one), but now tea and sugar are more valuable, as it has become widespread among our people. (I also used the bonus prestige to recover from a quick placate rulers to keep my CN's liberty desire nice and low!) Followed a month or two later by a coffee boom! Huzzah! I elected to bank the cash, rather than start anything, since we wre but three years for the next potential instituions spawn and things could... Expensive.

Heh. England is busy with a civil war...

February 1648 and the mission to improve relations with Kongo was completed!

Right. Just do little last minute troop movement, and I think we might as well have a proper go at Portugal (and possibly through them, Castille.)

Ouch. Just before we started, the military advisor died. The last one was a -10% maintenance cost +1 leader, but none of the rest were very good, so I swallowed my pride and bought a full-price level 3 one (which will drive our monthly costs up a lot, but oh well).

'Kay - let's do this! As we do, we'll accept the mission to protect our breathen in Ceres (the Portugese colony in the Moloccos) for good measure! And now the new miltary advisor is in, let's make use of by inpmementing the policy that gives us another +20% infantry combat ability. We now have 23% discipline, +50% infantry combat ability, and +10% to cavalry and artillery combat ability. Space Marines indeed...!

Ah, screw it, let's go for straight conquest this time - not like there's a lot of colonial territory to take, so we'll use Algarve as the wargoal.

Okay, Castille is in, as is Holland - but that's it - their last relucatnat ally apparently refused and broke the alliance. Great!

Now we can get the autonomy decreasing power (and once this has settled, make use of that...!)

Ahahahahaha! Looks like Aragon is in the war, since Castille is fighting another war at the same time! Fantastic!

During the steady slog against Protugal anbd Castille, I managed to slip my force through to hit Holland.

The colonbies were starting to complete, so I pulled one of the colonists back and dispatched him to East Timor, Gorontalo and Poso. Everyone was (finally) starting to colonise the unihabited islands of Jaqo Sepri (the largest island in that group still being bitterly fought over by the Nauhuatl nations), so that would be next target fairly soon.

And we will be leaving it very shortly, as it is too late tfor the game to be - one again - playing silly RNG buggers. No game, you are not killing ANY character until the point I can replace them.

60 ducats afor two extra manpower in a province as cantonments are built, yeah, I'll have some of that.

And I think we'll have to call it there in May. Holland is halfway down (I sieged the capital down once, but apparently, I wasn't the first there and they apparently peaced out, so I've got to do it again. Portugal and Castille are crumblng fast.

But with the RNG throwing a wobbly again, I don't have the next half-hour/hour of faffing to bring this to a close, so we'll have to call it there.

[Appleshy1973]

S7E13 was not so bad.

[Topaz]

Spoiler: Movie Trailer

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Right. Seems like pony world isn't primarily about ponies, and I'm a little sad of this revelation. At least sea ponies look part horse, so I'm fine with that.

Spoiler: Movie and History

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The original MLP had Catrina, an anthro feline witch, so in a way this is another callback to previous generations of Pony.

[DigoDragon]

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The original MLP had Catrina, an anthro feline witch, so in a way this is another callback to previous generations of Pony.

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Yeah, I remember. But there were sea ponies, flutter ponies...
Basically most critters were at least part horse.;)

[Derjuin]

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Yeah, I remember. But there were sea ponies, flutter ponies...
Basically most critters were at least part horse.;)

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There were lots of not-horses too, you just gotta look hard enough

Like this hippo:

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and this duck:

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Seriously though, there was also Princess Porcina and the raptorians, Hydia/her daughters, Grogar, Megan/her friends, the bee people, giant spiders (G1 and G4, not sure about G3), trolls...etc.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Since I have been reading too much¹ Girl Genius lately:

Mare Genius: Agatha
Mare Genius: Gil and Tarvek
Mare Genius: Da Boyz
Mare Genius: Violetta and Zeetha
Mare Genius: Baron Wulfenbach
Mare Genius: Othar Tryggvassen
Mare Genius: Bangladesh duPree



¹ - Ov courze, hit can be argued dat dere his no sootch ting has "too much" Girl Genius.

[Aotrs Commander]

I was - before I posted the next installment of Necrolantis Rises (which I'm 50% no-one is really reading, but given that as you know, once I start something, I bloody-mindedly finish it regardless) - going to post the pictrues for the Glimmership I've been doing the past week.

However, I am not uploading anything to photobucket until I can ascertain exactly what is going on (and get on their website). (If you haven't heard, they abruptly hanged their temrs of service so that if you want to hotlink from their site (the only reason you use photobucket in the first place), they want you to have a $400 per year account now. $400 dollars up from free. That is such a completely assinine maneouvre, it cannot be anything but a debilbeate attempt to drive the company to the wall. It is utterly disgusting.)

I can, for the moment, still see my own pictures - but the moment I can't, I will be getting them to give me a refund, especially since they fracked me about so much even getting THAT right.

Ye gods. You cannot go a single solitary day without some stupid excrement cracking off, can you, humans? This planet doesn't need taking over, it literally needs an omnipresent, omnipotent, unstoppable, unkillable unavoidable force standing over the shoulder of evey human and setting their thoughts and feelings on fire everytime they start even thinking on The Stupids. I tell you now, when m time finally come, you had better be afraid, because I remember everything that happens and when that day comes, death is NOT a far enough place to hide.

Right, now I've vented, I'mma go kill some Castillians a lot.

[Topaz]

I've wiped and removed my Photobucket account and set up an imgur one, starting with my avatar for here.

[Aotrs Commander]

I've wiped and removed my Photobucket account and set up an imgur one, starting with my avatar for here.

Given as I have two accounts (which I frag-dang paid for - one of which is the work-related Shipyards account), I am not going to do anything just yet. I'll likely give it a couple more days (see if there's any kind of retraction/clarification) before I start emailing them.



Bleakplays Plays EUIV: Necrolantis Rises!

Spoiler: What has gone before

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So, literally the first thign that starts is the coldest perod of the little ice age notifcation dropping the price of fish and stuff for ten years.

By February 1651, Castille was subdued. Holland was still holding out. Annoyingly, Castille's warscre was only at 55%, so we were going to have to wait for them to peace out with Aragon (and then hopefully stomp them down) while out troops kept them behaving. (Fortuitously - or maybe not - I had dispatched my troops to sit on the Aragon-held land and that had killed one rebellions right away. In hindsight, a shame it didn't trigger before I got there, else I could have let the rebels have it and then took it, but never mind.

Another coloy finished and I sent the colonist out to the Moluccos - just two more provinces to go, and that would be solidly in our hands). I was not pulling any back yet, since I was expecting to get one or two from the war.

I was forced to burn some admin on development, since I was at the cap abnd the new instituion was not in yet.

In March, Holland was finally down. I debated what to do with them. I could take both provicnes for some over-extension... Or I could vassalise them. It would bring me over my limit, but influence idea were next and thne -1 drain was still less than the cost of integrating Songhai before getting the idea group (35's year's worth at 422).

June, and Castille peaced out of the other war - jst in time to be occupied by the waiting Necrolantic forces!

By April of 1652, I was ready to force them to peace ut myself. I opted, in the end, to only take Sevilla on the mainland (that would give me access to Portugal) in addition to the colonies in the far east and instead to take more land from the two Castillian colonials nations in Mammuyskin and Rat Cove (putting mine in a better position for next time.) My spy network was at 100, so I fabricated three claims (to replace the mission ones which had now timed out).

As soon as the diplomat got back, it would be Portugal's turn!

I took all of their colonies, finally eliminating the last vestiges for Sofis and Telesphoris - which left me enough to take all for state of Alentejo in Portugal itself, and another three states from north Africa - and I was at only 82% overextension! Nice!

I also had about seven thousand cash in the bank, too. Neat.

Next job would be another round of autonomy decreases (and rebellions) , but hopefully this time, they wouldn't last nearly as long, thanks to the splendor age power!

Down to five colonies, so I swiped a couple back and sent them to the Moluccas (dang, I miscounted - one more to go!) Double whoops, bit too hasty, I forgot a colonist was one the way. Nevermind, the extra cost will hurt for a bit, but it's not like we're short of cash - and now we want a bit of a refractory period (though the next conquest will be Malacca in the far east anyway). Also, the diplomatic points were well in the negatives!

Took the mission to get 100 opinion with the Commonwealth (again), because it would likely not take long.

At the dawn of 1653, the new instution, Manufactories, started in Anqing in Ming (because of course, I had no bloody chance, thanks guys who made it impossible for islands to get it). But never mind, as it spread automatically from manufactories, I had is started immediately. And - hilariously - thanks to Cape Verde's insane development, that got it at 9% per month. So, I could afford to give it a year or few to get it started. I would JUST be able to get Mil tech 21 early next year - befgore the penalty kciked in, and Admin was going to come very shortly this year as well. (Diplomatic was going to lag but never mind.)

Admin 21 came in in March, for another +5% production efficiency.

One more claim on Castille (since I'd only need to add 10 to the network after the 100), and then the diplomat could go to the Commonwealth.

January 1654. The coring was done, Mil tech 21 was in... Now it was a case of waiting, while institutions and monarch points rolled back in.

Finally had to rival Ming (I wanted to keep the power porjection at 50 for the extra point boost).

Uniform regualtion came in, giving a permenant boost to cloth and dyes prices.

*skulldesk*

And we eclipsed France again, which put us well above the 50 power projection. Nevermind...

Paramount Priest Ephron passed some monetary reforms (not that we needed them, since we had no inflation...)

The settlement in Poro was moved for more base tax...

The diplomat in the Commonwealth hit hit max relations, so I recalled him and covered the last four point with a 200 ducat gift. This opened a missiont o build a manufactory in Bendugu, so I figured I might as well!

I dumped a couple of hundred diplomatic points into making Portuguese and Moroccan accepted culutres (maxing us out at five) for the age goal. Both cultures were only going to increase in size, and it would help - with the Portugese at least - in converting.

I noticed Castille - gluttons for punishment - had settled two more colonies in Papua - but they weren't in the trade region, so I cared rather less. Dionysis, on the other hand, has absorbed the last of Castillian Yasina.

And there we shall leave it for today!

The world 1655...




(Good job Steam lets you upload your own screenshots...)

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler: Movie/History

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There were lots of not-horses too, you just gotta look hard enough

Like this hippo:

Spoiler

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and this duck:

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Seriously though, there was also Princess Porcina and the raptorians, Hydia/her daughters, Grogar, Megan/her friends, the bee people, giant spiders (G1 and G4, not sure about G3), trolls...etc.

Spoiler: G discussing

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Grogar was kind of like a goat, so at least four-footed. ;)

(the only reason you use photobucket in the first place), they want you to have a $400 per year account now. $400 dollars up from free. t.

Holy Celestia's cutie mark. That is not a business decision. That is a brain aneurysm.

[Aotrs Commander]

Bleakplays Plays EUIV: Necrolantis Rises!

Spoiler: What has gone before

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Spoiler: Necrolantis Arises! 24

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First thing, I did a little bit of spending, having gotten some idea of how much I needed to burn. I built four universities in varied spots (principally so they would serve as hubs for the final instituion) and a couple more manufactories - and sunk some development in Tarakan in Brunei (which took it from 29 to 30).

Then back to waiting for the monarch points to build, the institution to spread and more cash to come in.

Total income was 314 at this point the by-the-by. (I assume this must be the Ideas Guy goal, since getting a net income of 500/month seems rather... Improbable (or I already achieved ages and ages ago when I got over 500 ducats for a month because of cash taken in a war!)

February 1656 and the Ottomans suffer the Janissary Decadence. That ought to keep them out of mischief for a bit!

After a bit of juggling, the end of the year, I helped suppress a rebellion in Ephronis, before sending the troops back to the far east.

We were back down to seven colonies now, so that increased the cash inflow a good chunk. (Though we HAD been at positive this time!)

April 1657, and we were in position to spend the 6000 ducats to embrace manufactories! (Ouch, but we had enough with some spare!)

Right. We had some monarch points back now - time to start recalling diplomats and looking towards Malacca!

June, and the nexrt splendor power was available. Most the ones left were not all that useful, so we opted for the one which reduced harsh treatment costs for suppressing rebellions by 50%.

Portugal was trying again, now on Austraila...

Guuuh. It was going to take another two years before we could fabricate on Malacca. If I knw it was going to take that long, I'd have started sooner. Dammit. This is the problem with having to fabricate claims instead of having the blanket cassu belli that was the old finishers (though to be fair, I'd have had to pick expansion ideas).

Mmmf. And they are tributary of Ming, which complicates matters.

*sigh* As I don't think I feel like trying to take on Ming for a while yet, we'll abandon that and go for Siak instead. Unforuntately, it means the colonies they have are splitting across our territory.

By the time we've done that, we might be ready to start looking at chopping some more out of Great Britain...

Wonderful. A spy network in Siak would ALSO take two years. In fact, we have an easier time building a spy network in Great Britain. Mmmhmm. This is definitely the point the changes to the number of states and the cassu belli are starting to show, and not in a good way. (As I expected.)

Screw it, then, we may as well leave the spy in Malacca and start a network in Britain. By the time the truce has ended, the Malacca claim should be about done.

Hell, will be getting towards having influence ideas by that point...

The colony at Gorontalo finished (one with a colonist), so I sent the colonist to Hanuabada, the last uncolonised province in Papau. Next job would be dispatching the colonists to Jaqo Sepri, as France was building a CN over there.

I decreased the autonomy in the Portugusese states (apparently, I had't doen that earlier). Absoluteism was as maxed as it was going to get (77), but I figured I mayt as well deal with the rebellions as not.

Built some more manufactories...

At this point, I was going to try and run with just six colonies at once. The bulk of the priority fighting was done, so I could afford to relax a bit, and more money coming in would allow my a larger army. (Something I would so need if I was going to be at war with Ming at any point!)

I was now figuring that Ming would be the principle end-game boss. I was also figuring that I... am probably not going to do as well as Portugal in my first game. The claim checks, institutuions and all the other things were doing a good job of hamstringing my advancement. (The new world being an archpelego, not a continent, probably didn't help all that much, either!)

On 13th November, Ephrod died, making Nikandros Sosiclid 5/6/6 Paramount Priest. As was tradition, the merchant's son Sophocles Zosimid 2/4/2 5/5/5 became heir. I burnt the the windfall of cash on more buildings.

The manufactury mission was completed. The new mission was to colonise Grutbo in Jaqo Sepri (for more colonial speed). As the colony of Manokwari was almost complete, I swiped the settler and sent him out immediately.

Sophocles became a an intricate webweaver (+30% spy network construction). After kvetching about the slow speed, I figured so it, and went with it.

January of 1659 and we fabricated a claim on the British province of Yorkshire (their current capital). Britain at the moment had no allies, so this would hopegully be a nice easy war...! And by the time the truce expired, the claim on Malacca would be done and the diplomat ready to declare.

Morocco sent us a diplomatic insult. Which we completle ignored. Don't worry lads, you time to be absorbed will come - but just not quite yet.

The truce expired, the claim in Malacca was made - now we just had to wait for the diplomat to return.

The liberty desire of my CNs was quite low (my army I think was doing it), so I felt able to start shoving the tariffs up a bit again.

On the 6th of September, 1659, we marched on Great Britain once again!

As we marched through Britain, one of the colonies finished, bt I held off assing them for the moment, since with the British ones, we could easily go over a sane limit.

As the war raged, the colonial nation of Nikandris was formed in Jaqo Sepri.

In February 1661, we had hit 99% warscore. It did not seem worth faffing about occupying Ireland and the outlying islands for the extra 1% (especially as we wouldn't be able to completely take it all anyway. So, once again, we settled for taking all of their colonies (and eliminating British Poytrek), plus Northhumberland and Derbyshire (and the province of Kent) for 75% overextension. Once again, this left no room for cash, but nevermind! We had enough spy network to fabricate a cou7pel fo claims (for next time!) before I recalled the diplomat home.

Now, with Admin 22 and the next idea group not that far away, major wars would have to wait. There were a couple of OPMs left up in Poytrek/Mammuskin, so I figured I'd go deal with them next.

Six more years and we could go at Portgual/Castille et al again!

Burned some more cash on various buildings and then picked one of the closer former British coloines and sent my colonist there to speed things up. Set one of the diplomats off to start work on the Siak netowrk for claims.

I picked up Diplmatic 21 in June 1661. Nothing very useful (which is why I'd left it later).

Whoops, forgot I was going to deal with the OPMs. Ah frack it, can'r be arsed to call the diplomat back, plus it'd likely take just as long to fabricate a claim on 'em.

Having recalled the poither diploamt, I had a nosey, and yes, the spynetwork would be like 0.85-1.5/ month. Not really worth it, sadly. So, while nosing around, I decided to use my Great Power ability to pay of Aragon's national debt (because why not?)

November brought (and crushed) the long-awaited Castillian rebellion.

Proving that the never learn anything, Britain slapped another couple of colonies in Poytrek. Well, if you guys WANT to be settling places for me...!

I decided that as soon as the next couple of colonies finished, I'd invest in another 24k army. With eight on the go, we were still at +38/month.

A colony finished and left a spare colonist, so I sent him to Humbarklan next to Nikandris.

The cores finished in April 1662, so I stated, handed off to estates and reduced autonomy. (I'd got three stacks there at the moment, plenty enough to handle the rebels!)

Started on the new army in August.

I had a lot of sailors now, so perhaps I could afford to build a second heavy ship fleet eventually for the far east. That damn "make the fleet 75% of the force-limit" had stayed consistently every time I got a new mission - but as that would require to more than double the size of my fleets (as the limit was now five shy of five hundred) that seemed... Still pointless. But the fact it reduced my mission choices to two every time irritated me.

Speaking of, colony mission completed - the new mission was to turn the colony of Ninilchik into a colony. (Because the "conquer the whiteskins" mission was a bit pants.)

Next military tech was miles off, now unrest to especially worry about and near-max mil power cap - time to do some miliatry development, I guess!

Ready to forge a claim on Siak...

Whuh? THAT's why I never got 100% on Portugal! The two islands next to Siak I thought were theirs were Portuguese! Dammit, the colour is so similat. Blast it all! Next time, Portugal, next time!

As soon as the heavy fleet arrives - just to give some cover for the transports - we'll deal with Siak!

Perfect timing - the fleet arrived, and the diploat that had been on improve relations with allies was returning! Right, let's do this!

Huh? One of the armies appears to have 8 horse and four infantry, not eight infantry and four horse... Welp, hire some more infantry and the horses can be the basis for another 24k army then...!

And off we go!

January 1664, and as the admin was near the cap (I'd kept it just below until the new year), I grabbed Admin 22! Finally, the next idea group! (Though the ideas would ahve to wait until after this war...!)

Sent a colonist to Africa, still got some provinces to fill in!

November brought a new splendour power - out of the remaining options, I picked the one that allowed an edict to reduce devastation. Doubt I'll ever use it, since I never remember to use edicts, but the other were even more useless.

I got 96K troops sat on Siak's capital. Because Siak was so narrow, they couldn't go anywhere else, so I just had to sit on it until it was sieged down.

Now we were just picking Siak's last fortification... Another colony done, and a new one started in Minang, since Portugul was trying to colonise Austrailia now...

April 1665 - still siegin'...! More buildings...

October, and Siak's last fort was FINALLY down... But their ally Pattani's, was not. As I was near the military cap (new technology next year in January, when the cost came down), I thought "sod it" and used 50 mil power to create a breach.

January brought a rebellion in Kent - 40k troops verses my 24k (and a two star general). We won, but it was close. There was a brief rebellion in Siak (because the war had been going on THAT long)... And Mil tech 22 came in, bringing with it Coehorn Mortars!

Well, the truce expired, so we can go deal with Portugal Castille whenever I feel ready...!

June 1667 and FINALLY we were at 100%. Time to deal with Pattani - and the Siak! After that faff - full annexation for Pattani's two provinces!

It was September before thr diplomatic was back...!

I coud ahve taken all but four provicnes, but that would have dangerously put me to over 100% over-extenstion (and I had about 21% from Pattani).

In the end, I took enough to get e to 98% overextentension - leaving them with six provincess - three either side of a strip of my land - and cash and war reparations. I fabricated a couple more claims for the spy network then called the spy back.

Coring refractory period now...! Dispatched a colonist to Ketchum in Jaqo Sepri, just to keep that ticking over.

First influence idea - +25% income from vassals! (I don't THINK thsat includes CNs...?)

November 1667 (after some time battling the RNG...) and we replaced the dead military adviser with a much more useful -10% maintenance one. The colony mission completed, giving us a well-tomed reduce overextension mission. I also pulled one of the colonists off one of the nearly-done colonies and sent him to Yolngu in Austrailia.

I also recalled the colonist from South Africa cand sent him to the adjacent province, keeping up the six colony level.

I started building some heavys ship to go to the far east, and I considered upgrading my light ships - but thier next upgrade was only another couple of tech levels aways, so I didn't bother.

More armies! (Well, one more.) We can never have enough...! (Actually, this would bring me to within 15 of my maximum force limit. Until I upgraded all my regimental camps anyway...)

November 1668 and Nikandros became Midas-touched (+10% tax).

April 1669, and the coring was complete! Now we can once again start lookign towards Portugal! To that end, with the overextension mission done, the conquer the whiteskins mission conveniantly gave us one more claim. Just as case of moving a few troops around, and we'd be ready!

Another colony done, so one colonist recalled and sent to Wadjuk in Austrailia...

Okay, in the close of 1669, Necrolantis was ready to strike - and Aragon was quite happy to join us this time. Neat!

This time, it was pretty straight foward. Less to subdue, and with Aragon helping, we marched much fastest through Spain, Portugal and Castille alike falling before us!

The task that would take the longest, unfortunately, was subduing Castillan Rat Cove. So, it bcame a bit of a rush around, while in Spain, the troops suppressed rebellions and a couple of armies marched to secure Rat Cove.

February 1673, and annoyingly, we were having to deal with rebels, just preventing us from getting that 100%. Still, permenant navies was intigated, giving a +50% boost to the price of naval supplies.

The game really, really, really does not want me to have that last 1%, it is throwing such a wobbly...

But to no avail, On 2nd October 1673, we got our 100%. Time to get Castille out of the running...

I took the four privicne in Castille I'd got claims on (since by the time this truce expired, they'd be gone), the colonies in the far east, the Castillain Mammuskin colonies they thought they could sneak past me on a nearby island, and three more provinces of Castilain Rat Cove. I'd have taken more if I could, but that was my limit and at least in included their capital. I had just enough to grab some cash and we were done. 23.1% overextension. Let us see what we can get out of Portugal...!

A lot actually! I ran out of warscore before I needed to worry about overextension. I took all but five provinces - two of them were now landlocked (one entirely within my territory and Ifini was isolated except by sea by Necrolantis and Morocco. I fabricated another three claims before pulling the diploamt out to be sent over to do another rival of my rival mission with the Commonwealth again.



Next would be a period of cooling off. The next victim would have to be Malacca, but first, I wanted to get the influence ideas cracking on with, especially while I still had a leader that reduced their cost.

I had a ridiculous amnount of cash now, so I first made a new army, which took me effectively to my limit. Then I built some more merchants ships. Then I built a metric boatload of builidngs, mostly upgrades, but with a couple of universities and manufactories for good measure.

May 1674 gave us the new influence idea - a fairly useless prestige boost and chance og a new heir - the nect one was the next biggy, though.

Late 1674 saw Morocco insulting us again. That's cute. It's almost like they think they have a choice about what happens to them!

Oh - surprise! Aragon gave us a call to arms to Savoy, Riga and the Livonian order. (And possibly France...)

Well, summat to do, I guess...!

Noep, France decided to break theor garentee with Savoy. This should eb a ncie easy war, then...! (He says hopefully...!)

Rival mission done and a colonial mission to colonise the last province in Austraila started...

Oh, that's nice. Necrolantis botanist have been hard at work, brining some extra amdin and presige with their floral catalogues. (Time to sneak in a libtery desire reduction at the same time...!)

Ha! I occupied the Livonian Order's capital and the immediately peaced out! Grand.

And shortly thereafter, Savoy surrendered to Aragon. We got a bit of pennies out of it, and some favours. But hey, I'm cool with lending them a hand nw and again in a little war like this!

Colonist to Limpopo in Africa... 'Nother one to Jaqo Sepri...

Deceber 1676 and we got the next influence idea - intergrated elites: -25% to diplomatic annexation! Right, NOW it's time to annex Songhai!

And to finish, Admin tech 23 (10% production efficiency, +10% administrative efficiency!)

Not a bad run at all!

[Adderbane]

Spoiler: Happy 4th of July!

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Yorktown

Whoever made this series did a really good job.

[MLai]

Hey, nobody talking about the 3 Equestria Girls specials?

Spoiler: 3 episodes, all out on TV right?

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(1) Dance Magic has got to be the best one out of the 3.
(2) Sci Twi is gonna steal High School Detective from Sunset too?! Is Magic Science Alicorn Genius not enough?! Leave Sunset something~!
(3) If it takes Starlight Glimmer barging onto Earth to make Sunset Shimmer and EQG more canon, then I'll take it.

[b_jonas]

Hey, nobody talking about the 3 Equestria Girls specials?

We did talk about them, although surprisingly little. Talk starts near the end of the previous thread and continue into the start of this thread.

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler: Happy 4th of July!

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Yorktown

Whoever made this series did a really good job.

Sit down, Pinkie.

[Aotrs Commander]

Time to once again ask for some brain-picking!

As part of the quest, at some point, the PCs (the Dark Lord's black ops team, as it happens) will be entering this cave, from which hopefully they may be able to glean some idea about what is going on.

So, let's give this a test. Without any further context (so with less than the PCs would have to go on), what can you get gtom the following:

Spoiler

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The Cave
The trail leads to a deep natural cleft in the mountain, out of which a small stream is trickling. The cleft runs back and upwards into the mountainside for some distance, perhaps eighty feet, before it opens out into a cave about twenty y thirty feet wide and eight feet high.

At the back, there what appears to be an entrance to a deeper cave. This appears to have once been sealed by a rock door – though door might be being generous – which was simply rolled in front of the entrance from the inside.

The door appears to have been relatively recently forced open – you can see tool marks and broken rock and dirt indicate some excavation was required.

The stream runs down the right-hand side of the cave to a bubbling spring, not far from the door.

A DC 10 Search check of this outer cave discovers one or two piles of disarticulated bone (in very poor conditions) in some of the nooks and crannies of the cave.

The cave inside is larger, perhaps forty feet deep and thrity feet wide. At the back, a small stone slab lies near the rear wall. Above it is a crude painting of a humanoid figure with a horns on their head, carrying a spear.

There are further paintings lining the walls of the cave.

Most notably, there are a number of skeletons lying in the cave. Some of them are smaller than the others. Most of them appear to have been laid out in rows near the stone slab, but perhaps three are sat leaning against the walls. Two of these appeared to have been in an embrace.

In one corner are a series of ceramic pots.

A DC 10 Heal check of DC 12 Knowledge (Relihon check) indicates that the way in which the skeletons are partially disarticulated suggests natural decay and that they are unlikely to be animated Undead. There are fourteen bodies in all, four of them smaller (children). A few beads and other non-perishable effect remain, but the majority of anything they had has dissolved with time. A DC 15 Heal check on the smaller bodies indicate that at least two had their neck expertly broken, which would have killed them instantly. (One of the hunters mercy-killed them to save them the horror of a death by thirst.)
The pots contain what appears be dried pigment.

The cave painting start at the left-hand side of the cave and line the walls. There is a noticable difference in quality to the paintings when compared to the one behind the stone slab (altar). They appear to have been done is a rush, and there and definite spots and dribbles, though the images are clear enough.
The cave paintings are as follows:

• A dog-like creature menacing a crowd of crudely-drawn humanoids.
• The dog-like creature being slain by a figure with a spear. The figure is wearing a cloak and has what appears to be a horned-animal skull on his head. This figure appears to be being directed by a second humanoid figure, drawn as if in the clouds, with horns coming out its skull and carrying a larger spear, which is pointed at the dog-like creature.
• The dog-like creature’s body is lyign next to a pool. A dog-like head is painted in the water, with lines to suggest is came from the body.
• A figure with a spear, stooping to take a drink from the pool. The dog-like head is shown to be moving towards the figure.
• The spear-carrying figure from the last painting is shown with the dog-like head painted inside its chest.
• The spear-carrying figure, with the dog-head inside it is painted and standing in the centre of the picture. On the left of the painting, is it touching a stream (from which other figures are drinking). On the right, it is in the act of passing globular objects it to other figures, which are eating the objects. In the stream and the globuar objects are smaller dog-heads. The figures towards the extremities of the picture (shown after eating or drinking) are shown with each having a smaller dog-head inside them.
• The spear-carrying figure with the big dog-head inside it, now leading a group of figures with smaller dog-heads inside them. A group of figures, are shown cowering in one corner. Some of these figures are smaller than the others, and the smaller figures are more numerous. Half-eaten globules lying next to them. The gloubles have smaller dog-heads inside them, but none of the cowering figures do.
A larger figure is drawn, with a cloak and a horned animal-skull between them and the approaching army. The figure is waving his hand over a goard. Above him in the clouds is the horned-figure from the second picture, this time pint his spear at the gourd.
• The cloaked figure is depicted as throwing the gourd at the spear-carrying figure with the larger dog head inside it, and water splashing over that figure and the army behind it. The dog-head is drawn in a fasion that indicates pain, and the figures at the extremities are shown with the smaller dog-heads travelling outwards from the bodies, also grimacing.
• The next picture shows all of the humanoid figures standing on a hill in poses of celebration. At the bottom right, one dog-head is shown looking like it is snarling and moving towards a stream.
• The next image shows the dog-head inside a figure (on without a spear), leading an army of otgher figures which this time includes smaller figures. The cloaked figure is shown kneeling down, an empty gourd and a pool of water beside him, as this figure points and smaller dogheads move towards him.
• The final image shows a smaller group of figures in a cave. The ones to the right of the painting show the figures are shutting the door to the cave. One to the left of the image is depicted as painting on the wall. At the far right of the image, outside the wall, a crowd of other figures is shown, each with a dog-head inside them. A spring next to the door of the cave also contains a dog-head. All the dog-heads appear to be laughing.

[MLai]

We did talk about them, although surprisingly little. Talk starts near the end of the previous thread and continue into the start of this thread.

What? But Wiki said the specials only start airing in July? Wiki was wrong?!

In other old news, seapony queen! Seapony princess! Wooo! "I want to be where the ponies are. I want to see, want to see them dancing~"
Remarkably close to my rendition of them 5 years ago... COOL!
Except without cutie marks... BOOO!

And Mane 6 goes to them for help against invaders?
"Meesa no like da ponies. Da ponies tink they so smarty, they tink their brains so big."
"Once the Storm King takes control of the surface, he will take control of you!"
Wait, that's not a good thing to be reminded of...

Spoiler: S7 Ep 13 Pear

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You know, I just realized how many fanfics/art/headcanons there were about AJ hating pears. Haha, guess all those gotta get tossed out now. ^_^

Spoiler: Just watched epi 13, wow

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In the best way a headcanon-breaker could ever be done, though. Imagine the dramatic inner turmoil of a stubborn pony like AJ ruminating on the fact that for years she has looked down upon ponies her beloved ma belonged to. The cartoon didn't overtly linger on this, ofc. But it's there.

Spoiler: s7e13

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I like that this episode simultaneously canons the long-fan-hilaritied apple vrs pear thing, while at the same time, totally destroying AJ's sense of mental image. Half-pear. Bahahahahah!

Ha, exactly!

[Manga Shoggoth]

Spoiler

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• The spear-carrying figure from the last painting is shown with the dog-like head painted inside its chest.

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Alien! With Dogs!

Something - I suspect the stream/spring - is infecting the people with some form of lycanthropy. A haunted stream. The spring/stream is haunted by the spirit of a werewolf slain in the area.

[DigoDragon]

You've got mail.

I'm sitting here staring at a potato and I don't want to cook dinner, but I gotta eat and have no money to just order out. Sigh, maybe Bleakbane does have it right with lichdom.

I'm kinda beside myself.

Spoiler

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[Pi Pie]

I have been away from pony thread since last thread, page 39. I finally got to see some of the new episodes since then.

Spoiler: S7E7

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I enjoyed this one a lot more than I was expecting. I was afraid that I was going to cringe at Rainbow Dash's parents. However, they were so over the top that it stayed funny.

I also enjoyed Scootaloo's reactions. While I'm 90% sure that she is not an orphan at this point, the lines are written in such a way that she could be. And that makes Rainbow Dash a much bigger jerk.

Spoiler: S7E8

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It was kind of silly buy enjoyable to watch Big Mac try to fall in love. The fact that he wins the girl at the end by performing a practical task after listening to her is a plus.

The song battle was okay. Daniel Ingram shows his versatility, but is doesn't compare to rainbow rocks.

Spoiler: S7E9

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This one kind of felt like an internet forum argument. People were disagreeing on what they liked without really hearing each other.

Rarity's epic guitar riff was very stupid and makes no sense. However, it was still very cool, so I am glad that they went there.

Spoiler: S7E10

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The voice actors in this one seemed to have a problem. I think that they had trouble adding snarkiness to the characters' voices which could have thrown them off.

Starlight Glimmer acts completely in character reaching for magic as the solution to the problem. At least she doesn't mind control the leaders of Equestria.

The Twilight music box was fairly cool.

Evil Celestia actually looked fairly cool and was a reasonably out of control character.

Spoiler: S7E11

Show

Yaks having a festival to smash things is awesome.

I do like the yak stubborness to not ask for help.

Overall a reasonable episode.