My Little Pony XCIX: Leakier Than A Changeling Bathtub!

[DigoDragon]

This thread needs more great and powerful pony posts!

Spoiler: Best Tag-team

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[digiman619]

This thread needs more great and powerful pony posts!

Spoiler: Best Tag-team

Show

Not actually a wrestling tag team 0/10. Admittedly, the only pics of Glim Glam and Trixie I can find are anthro and/or suggestive, so I guess I'll have to give you a pass.

[t209]

Anyone here a member of discord?
Just trying to look for pony discord that all of us can talk on.

[Aotrs Commander]

Yay for having to spend basically the entire day (and probably some of tomorrow) looking for alternatives to Shapeways because they are making every indication they are going to bump their prices up something of the order of 200% (at the bottom end) to 50-100% at the other! (So pricing the Shipyards out of business at some point in the future when it goes live for everyone!)

It seems like the new CEO is tacitly trying to get rid of the little consumers and go for big business orders (you know, like Youtube and all the rest). While bafflingly still trying to encourage the shops... But not really customers TO those shops. Or whatever else "sustainable growth" means in a real sense.



I finished the Elf campaign in Age of Wonders 3. Aside from it being at Civ IV levels of gotcha (and I REALLY HATE that you can't quit to the main menu during a battle, that's just stupid), it's holding my interest better. I had a lot more fun with the draconian druid hen he was in charge - actually the elf rogue and human dreadnought (dreadnought especially without the top-teir stuff that make it work) is, I think, the paffest combination I have found so far. Which is a shame, since the elf and human campaigns are centred around those classes, but whatever.

[meto30]

As I've yet to begin my watch of season 8, and almost all discussion occurring in this thread is about current episodes, I find myself scrolling through a series of spoiler boxes that I choose not to open. I've just returned from a business trip in Sydney, and I've come with... not news of Sydney (unless you want to hear about what scholars of Social Studies of Science are up to), but news of a series of artwork I've just completed.

Spoiler: Sunset Shimmer in various canon outfits

Show

[Pi Pie]

As I've yet to begin my watch of season 8, and almost all discussion occurring in this thread is about current episodes, I find myself scrolling through a series of spoiler boxes that I choose not to open. I've just returned from a business trip in Sydney, and I've come with... not news of Sydney (unless you want to hear about what scholars of Social Studies of Science are up to), but news of a series of artwork I've just completed.

Spoiler: Sunset Shimmer in various canon outfits

Show

Sure, I'll take information about what scholars of Social Studies of Science are up to.

I like the bikini outfit the best. I think it is the pose with the wind blowing in the air that gives Sunset a strong leadership look.

The Legend of Everfree outfit seems off to me. Overall, I think that all of your images have Sunset's thighs and lower legs as being bulkier than I imagine. The Legend of Everfree outfit makes the bulk stand out more than the other outfits.

The Legend of Everfree left image also seems like Sunset's chest is larger than in the other images.

[meto30]

Sure, I'll take information about what scholars of Social Studies of Science are up to.

I like the bikini outfit the best. I think it is the pose with the wind blowing in the air that gives Sunset a strong leadership look.

The Legend of Everfree outfit seems off to me. Overall, I think that all of your images have Sunset's thighs and lower legs as being bulkier than I imagine. The Legend of Everfree outfit makes the bulk stand out more than the other outfits.

The Legend of Everfree left image also seems like Sunset's chest is larger than in the other images.

There were a lot of interesting presentations to watch at the conference. My favourite has to be the one about Nominal paradigms of pesticide governance not effecting the actual practice of pesticide regulators much, in a comparison study between Canada and Australia's respective pesticide control regimes. There was another one that argued that successfully giving robots a social personality requires giving them social vulnerabilities that allows them to communicate non-verbally (the "tells" of human communication). I myself presented a case of Korean bioscientists routinely and consistently pointing towards international consensus building projects as both evidence that there exists consensus that somatic gene therapy is desirable and sufficiently safe to try, and that a double-bind restriction on research in the way the Korean Bioethics and Safety Act does is not necessary. All in all, 4S being so big, there were so many panels going on at once (like, 20 at a time, I think) so at most I could only watch about 5% of all the presentations given at the conference. I went to five panels, the one on visualization technologies as a persuasive tactic being tackled and "democratized", the one on socialization of robots and AI in the context of human society, the one on air pollution governance and citizen science activity regarding them, the one on the transfer of science governance systems across national borders, and a last one that I don't particularly remember the topic of (it was a mix).

The Legend of Everfree picture has a lot of flaws in retrospect - the thighs were a bit over-done on that picture, which is a problem I tired to rectify in the following two pictures (especially the Bikini one). I might redo that picture - I don't do that often as these failures serve as reminders for me to constantly improve ( I prefer not making the same mistakes in similar future pictures) - although the redo might suffer the same problem as the current one did, namely that I don't particularly like the outfit and thus my motivation is relatively lacking.

[Rogar Demonblud]

As I've yet to begin my watch of season 8, and almost all discussion occurring in this thread is about current episodes, I find myself scrolling through a series of spoiler boxes that I choose not to open.

To be honest, that might be for the best. I haven't seen a lot of positivity towards the series this year, and am personally debating if I'm going to jump ship myself at the end.

You art's more interesting than several episodes this year.

[Pi Pie]

To be honest, that might be for the best. I haven't seen a lot of positivity towards the series this year, and am personally debating if I'm going to jump ship myself at the end.

You art's more interesting than several episodes this year.

I would recommend this season. Overall, I'd give it a B. There are not any real standouts but...

Spoiler: S8 Spoiler

Show

the friendship students are fun and interesting and we have some nice continuity nods such as Starlight and Trixie's road trip.

[t209]

Well, sad news for my favorite MMO Wildstar, ponies.
I had fun with it for Rp and lore, but at least it had a good run.

Spoiler: Reaction

Show

[DigoDragon]

To be honest, that might be for the best. I haven't seen a lot of positivity towards the series this year, and am personally debating if I'm going to jump ship myself at the end.

At least, in my opinion, there haven't been any huge stinkers in the season. Just a lot of luke-warm and average episodes with a few gems worth talking about.

Well, sad news for my favorite MMO Wildstar, ponies.
I had fun with it for Rp and lore, but at least it had a good run.

I keep hearing about this, but I have no idea what that MMO is. ...I guess that's a hint on why it's shutting down.


Is it just me or are like... 90% of OC pony couples comprised of one unicorn and one pegasus? Apparently no one brave enough to date earth ponies.


Need to watch this show.

Spoiler

Show

[Aotrs Commander]

Spoiler: Luna!SuperDreadnought

Show

Okay, time to pick ponythread's brains, especially them As Can Art (and most especially Meto).

As I have done little useful work this week (thanks to Shapeways) and I just did not feel like starting a moderns thing, I decided I will look ahead to what I would be doing in the convention in March - which is nominally the Phystyulon ground force.

As a break from tradition (and partly becauses sizes), I have thus been attempting to start with infantry.

Relevant description of elenthnar phsiology.

Spoiler

Show

An elenthnar stands about two metres tall. They have four legs, placed at four “corners” of the lower body and structurally similar to a spider’s or insect’s, with a wide span. The legs end with six vestigial toes on the feet. They have two arms, with a five fingered hand and one opposable thumb.

The head is characterised with a foreshortened muzzle, beneath which is a wide, strong maw. There are two small nostrils in the muzzle. While elenthnars have a sense of smell, it is somewhat basic and they rely more on their eyes and ears. They possess two large eyes, which function well in both very bright and very little light, due to a complex series of iris muscles and lenses. They also can see further into the IR and UV spectrum than most baseline HPE races. Eye colour is typically a shade of brown, but may also appear in shades of green, red, orange, pink, grey or blue.

The head has four ears. Two, placed atop the head, are conical and are similar to mammalian ears in form and function. They are fringed with small hairs, the length and thickness with various by individual - and style, since these are sometimes dyed, cut or otherwise adorned. A smaller pair of ears are not as visibly external, but located on the sides of the head, towards the rear. Elenthnar hearing is both more acute and more robust than most humanoid species. In concert with their voices, with effort and training, elenthnars can even use a form of echo-location, though the individuals with these skills are uncommon. Unlike many species with sensitive hearing, elenthnar ears have a high pain and damage threshold and they can tolerate much louder sounds than a most humanoids without discomfort (almost three times the human threshold).

Elenthnars are covered with a thickened skin, but otherwise lack body hair. Their skin is typically a dark-to-tan brown, depending on racial stock. Varying by ethnicity, elenthnars have spots, stippling or striping patterns of muted green. Plain individuals are rare, but not unheard of, though this can be linked to deleterious conditions, including albinism. The elenthnars wear a wide variety of clothing styles, varying by culture and personal preference.

Elenthnars display moderate sexual dimorphism. Males and females are not disparate in size, but have different secondary sexual characteristics.

Like many of Urrot’s creatures, elenthnars are capable of bioluminescence. The primary usage in the elenthnar’s family is for sexual display. Both males and females have two organs which create a bioluminescent pattern on their upper chest areas (the organ is called a nacr in Zoxyriat ), which (in the case of the elenthnars specifically) fluoresces during arousal. The female organs (nacri when being specifically referred to) are larger and more elaborate. These organs are part of the defining features of the elenthnars and their closest relative’s official taxonomic classification (as can be seen in their biological species name).

This is, then pass one.

Spoiler

Show

This is a human torso, albeit with the proportions changed a tiny bit (more of a suggestion of a chest-bulge, especially if viewed from the side). The legs are approximately spider-formet, though again, I used (for ease) the humananoid leg components, just added and re-scaled a bit.

I know the hands are occulding into the legs a bit, but you can chalk that up to the hands being ina human resting position, combined with the fact that this is, after all, full body armour and sized for 144th scale, and thus chunky proportionately for minimum thicnkess (ditto for the feet looking thick).

Things like the leg joints will a) barely be visible at 144th scale and b) likely covered with extra armour plates (as I do with most body armour), so the joint will be better at finish.

I am... Not terribly happy with the ears on the helmet, but I am not quite sure how they would accomodated. Being sort of fennik-fox-like ears, I doubt the elenthnar would especially appreciate them being pused flat like human hair, but... Well. My first attempt made them look more like MLP pony heads. (Thicking the maw - it's supposed to be wide, after all, helped a bit.) But... I really could use some suggestions on making it look less... Like it is.

(For what it's worth, considering the head fits inside a 2mm cube...)



Edit:

The pause for thought making this post gave me an idea for a different approach for the ear thing:

Spoiler

Show

Better, maybe...?

[Topaz]

Is it just me or are like... 90% of OC pony couples comprised of one unicorn and one pegasus? Apparently no one brave enough to date earth ponies.

Can't be 90%, I see way too many OC couple pictures with bat ponies in them.

Speaking of "is it me"...

Spoiler: ...or is there a new waifu around?

Show

[Pi Pie]

Spoiler: Luna!SuperDreadnought

Show

Edit:

The pause for thought making this post gave me an idea for a different approach for the ear thing:

Spoiler

Show

Better, maybe...?

My immediate comment after looking at the body was that something else should be done with the ears. The ears seem to be the most interesting feature of the Elenthar and should be emphasized.

I like the second option for the ears more than the full body.

For alternatives, consider the armor for the bat ponies although this leaves the ears exposed.

Spoiler: Bat pony armor

Show

Or consider Nightmare Moon's armor although it has the same issue.

Spoiler: Nightmare Moon armor

Show

Or also consider Batman's armor

Spoiler: Batman armor

Show

Can't be 90%, I see way too many OC couple pictures with bat ponies in them.

Speaking of "is it me"...

Spoiler: ...or is there a new waifu around?

Show

That's a nice waifu but not the best. I do not have a waifu, but if I did, she would already be taken.

Spoiler: Best waifu, much better than Trixie

Show

[DigoDragon]

Can't be 90%, I see way too many OC couple pictures with bat ponies in them.

So... like 80% then?

Am I in the ballpark?

Speaking of "is it me"...

Spoiler: ...or is there a new waifu around?

Show

Oh there is and she's so gosh darn cute! I love this episode.

My Shadowrun players have no idea that she's essentially what they found lurking in the storage room and took with them. Hee.

[meto30]

Spoiler: Luna!SuperDreadnought

Show

Okay, time to pick ponythread's brains, especially them As Can Art (and most especially Meto).

As I have done little useful work this week (thanks to Shapeways) and I just did not feel like starting a moderns thing, I decided I will look ahead to what I would be doing in the convention in March - which is nominally the Phystyulon ground force.

As a break from tradition (and partly becauses sizes), I have thus been attempting to start with infantry.

Relevant description of elenthnar phsiology.

Spoiler

Show

An elenthnar stands about two metres tall. They have four legs, placed at four “corners” of the lower body and structurally similar to a spider’s or insect’s, with a wide span. The legs end with six vestigial toes on the feet. They have two arms, with a five fingered hand and one opposable thumb.

The head is characterised with a foreshortened muzzle, beneath which is a wide, strong maw. There are two small nostrils in the muzzle. While elenthnars have a sense of smell, it is somewhat basic and they rely more on their eyes and ears. They possess two large eyes, which function well in both very bright and very little light, due to a complex series of iris muscles and lenses. They also can see further into the IR and UV spectrum than most baseline HPE races. Eye colour is typically a shade of brown, but may also appear in shades of green, red, orange, pink, grey or blue.

The head has four ears. Two, placed atop the head, are conical and are similar to mammalian ears in form and function. They are fringed with small hairs, the length and thickness with various by individual - and style, since these are sometimes dyed, cut or otherwise adorned. A smaller pair of ears are not as visibly external, but located on the sides of the head, towards the rear. Elenthnar hearing is both more acute and more robust than most humanoid species. In concert with their voices, with effort and training, elenthnars can even use a form of echo-location, though the individuals with these skills are uncommon. Unlike many species with sensitive hearing, elenthnar ears have a high pain and damage threshold and they can tolerate much louder sounds than a most humanoids without discomfort (almost three times the human threshold).

Elenthnars are covered with a thickened skin, but otherwise lack body hair. Their skin is typically a dark-to-tan brown, depending on racial stock. Varying by ethnicity, elenthnars have spots, stippling or striping patterns of muted green. Plain individuals are rare, but not unheard of, though this can be linked to deleterious conditions, including albinism. The elenthnars wear a wide variety of clothing styles, varying by culture and personal preference.

Elenthnars display moderate sexual dimorphism. Males and females are not disparate in size, but have different secondary sexual characteristics.

Like many of Urrot’s creatures, elenthnars are capable of bioluminescence. The primary usage in the elenthnar’s family is for sexual display. Both males and females have two organs which create a bioluminescent pattern on their upper chest areas (the organ is called a nacr in Zoxyriat ), which (in the case of the elenthnars specifically) fluoresces during arousal. The female organs (nacri when being specifically referred to) are larger and more elaborate. These organs are part of the defining features of the elenthnars and their closest relative’s official taxonomic classification (as can be seen in their biological species name).

This is, then pass one.

Spoiler

Show

This is a human torso, albeit with the proportions changed a tiny bit (more of a suggestion of a chest-bulge, especially if viewed from the side). The legs are approximately spider-formet, though again, I used (for ease) the humananoid leg components, just added and re-scaled a bit.

I know the hands are occulding into the legs a bit, but you can chalk that up to the hands being ina human resting position, combined with the fact that this is, after all, full body armour and sized for 144th scale, and thus chunky proportionately for minimum thicnkess (ditto for the feet looking thick).

Things like the leg joints will a) barely be visible at 144th scale and b) likely covered with extra armour plates (as I do with most body armour), so the joint will be better at finish.

I am... Not terribly happy with the ears on the helmet, but I am not quite sure how they would accomodated. Being sort of fennik-fox-like ears, I doubt the elenthnar would especially appreciate them being pused flat like human hair, but... Well. My first attempt made them look more like MLP pony heads. (Thicking the maw - it's supposed to be wide, after all, helped a bit.) But... I really could use some suggestions on making it look less... Like it is.

(For what it's worth, considering the head fits inside a 2mm cube...)



Edit:

The pause for thought making this post gave me an idea for a different approach for the ear thing:

Spoiler

Show

Better, maybe...?

As I did some work on Elenthnar physiology before, I decided to give the ear issue a try, although I confess I am not much of a sci-fi buff to really come up with really creative "sci-fi-esque" designs. My concept is more historically grounded in some distant past when the Elenthnar were not spacefarers.

Spoiler: Historical evolution of the "protective crest" in Elenthnar helm designs

Show

The idea is that a vertically placed plate element was developed to protect the ears from frontal attack while allowing them free access to sounds coming from many directions. Over time this very distinct element became a more visual than a functional element, as the convenient piece of the helm to decorate and put distinguishing elements on. This was retained in the powered armour designs, although it now functions as a convenient place to put sensory equipment into. It makes the head a lot larger visually, but powered armour isn't really subtle anyway, so I guess it was not much of a negative thing. The ears are housed behind the plate in a confortable, cushioned compartment of the helmet, and the additional sensory equipment in the helmet feed the information back to the wearer in audio cues, so that the wearer is able to gather various combat information through his very sensitive ears.

[Aotrs Commander]

My immediate comment after looking at the body was that something else should be done with the ears. The ears seem to be the most interesting feature of the Elenthar and should be emphasized.

I like the second option for the ears more than the full body.

For alternatives, consider the armor for the bat ponies although this leaves the ears exposed.

Spoiler: Bat pony armor

Show

Or consider Nightmare Moon's armor although it has the same issue.

Spoiler: Nightmare Moon armor

Show

Or also consider Batman's armor

Spoiler: Batman armor

Show

I noticed this too late last night to comment, and by the morning...

As I did some work on Elenthnar physiology before, I decided to give the ear issue a try, although I confess I am not much of a sci-fi buff to really come up with really creative "sci-fi-esque" designs. My concept is more historically grounded in some distant past when the Elenthnar were not spacefarers.

Spoiler: Historical evolution of the "protective crest" in Elenthnar helm designs

Show

The idea is that a vertically placed plate element was developed to protect the ears from frontal attack while allowing them free access to sounds coming from many directions. Over time this very distinct element became a more visual than a functional element, as the convenient piece of the helm to decorate and put distinguishing elements on. This was retained in the powered armour designs, although it now functions as a convenient place to put sensory equipment into. It makes the head a lot larger visually, but powered armour isn't really subtle anyway, so I guess it was not much of a negative thing. The ears are housed behind the plate in a confortable, cushioned compartment of the helmet, and the additional sensory equipment in the helmet feed the information back to the wearer in audio cues, so that the wearer is able to gather various combat information through his very sensitive ears.

(The speed of your artistry (on top of the quality) astounds me, as always. The bottom one, is, more of less, the sort of thing I was aiming for (sort of vaguely Space-Marine-ish), but not doing a terrible good job of, since I don't clothes and I wasn't using a resource to look at. And if you don't know how to do a thing, don't try and do it without a clear idea!)

What I realised is that I haven't really done helmets proper-like. I actually only did the ones for the Aotrs (which I know what they look like) and for the Tarrainian Federation. So, it occurred to me as I looked at Topaz's post (especially Batman), I have not actually looked at any actual helmets.

So first thing this morning, I went and had a look at what Nod infantry wear.

I'm going, I think to try breaking from tradition and scaling the helmet up to three times normal size and then shrink it back down (the skulls on the Aotrs were, after all, done similarly) and have a near-complete redesign.

The crest is a much, muuuuch better way of handling it (I was partly there, I think, with plan B) - and, I suppose, has an added advantage that it can further by altered for future ground forces (since there are at present, four elenthnar powers and a couple more mentioned already).

So that's gonna be today's job.

[meto30]

I noticed this too late last night to comment, and by the morning...



(The speed of your artistry (on top of the quality) astounds me, as always. The bottom one, is, more of less, the sort of thing I was aiming for (sort of vaguely Space-Marine-ish), but not doing a terrible good job of, since I don't clothes and I wasn't using a resource to look at. And if you don't know how to do a thing, don't try and do it without a clear idea!)

What I realised is that I haven't really done helmets proper-like. I actually only did the ones for the Aotrs (which I know what they look like) and for the Tarrainian Federation. So, it occurred to me as I looked at Topaz's post (especially Batman), I have not actually looked at any actual helmets.

So first thing this morning, I went and had a look at what Nod infantry wear.

I'm going, I think to try breaking from tradition and scaling the helmet up to three times normal size and then shrink it back down (the skulls on the Aotrs were, after all, done similarly) and have a near-complete redesign.

The crest is a much, muuuuch better way of handling it (I was partly there, I think, with plan B) - and, I suppose, has an added advantage that it can further by altered for future ground forces (since there are at present, four elenthnar powers and a couple more mentioned already).

So that's gonna be today's job.

Glad to have been of service, Commander, please let me know if there are more visualization tasks that I can serve with.

I am currently working on the preparations for the upcoming fan-comic, which now has a working title: "the Sirens Business". I decided on the comic format because, while it might take a long time to complete, I certainly was more comfortable with my art than I was with my writing. I'll upload all the preparation sketches at once instead of uploading them piecemeal, but right now the Rainbooms are proving to be more difficult than I expected. While they may be "human counterparts" to the ponies, they look rather different, and their faces in addition to their unique outfits required some separate, dedicated practice on my part to draw them comfortably.

Also, Rarity best human.

[Adderbane]

Spoiler: The Washouts

Show

This is probably my favorite episode of the season so far. It was good to see Lightning Dust again, and there was an awful lot of characters listening to what each other had to say, which is rare in most stories. Also, so much great RD/Scoot interaction. 10/10, well done.

[b_jonas]

I am currently working on the preparations for the upcoming fan-comic, which now has a working title: "the Sirens Business". I decided on the comic format because, while it might take a long time to complete, I certainly was more comfortable with my art than I was with my writing.

Wow. That's something I'll be looking forward to.

I haven't posted here for a while, because I'm half a season behind watching MLP and haven't been watching any new episodes yet, plus real life is going on, but I have looked at most of the drawings you posted at least, and I still enjoy them.

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler: Ep 24 - Father Knows Best

Show

Aww, Spike and Smolder are fun together. I really did that Smolder can help Spike learn more about his dragon-self and in return Spike helps Smolder understand pony stuff. Great friendship right there.

As for Sludge... ugh... Like, I can understand him being a jerk and using Spike, because typical butt-head dragon, but the fact he's not even Spike's actual dad?! OMG, someone call Starlight to laser-blast him. That was just beyond jerk move. I'm glad Smolder helped set things right. And you go do you with that pillow embroidery, Spike. A pile of pillows is way better than sleeping on cold, hard metal. ;)

Okay episode overall. Just wish we got an actual answer on Spike's parents.

[Aotrs Commander]

Phystyulon Lazer Trooper v 0.2

Spoiler

Show

Funnily enough, actually looking at helmets (and sacling up to scale down) actually made a massive difference. That actually looks GOOD now, I reckon. (Yes?)

As to the ears, I was trying to work out how to do Meto's crest modelled - and then it struck me. Whay not do two, the other way? I think that worked.

Adding some armour plates also made the whole thing look better (the head actually looked out of place without it).

That seems pretty respectible now. The difficult job then, once i have some weapons, will be posing the damn things. I mean, I have some idea of how to doing walking stuff (from the Yrgynela), but now I have to work out ow an elenthnar would brace. Do they kneel? If so, how? Etc etc. That's a job for next week, though - it took half-an-hour past quitting time to try and get TurboCAD to actually assemble one to try and print that as a test. Every little thing this week.

(I wanted to go try and play C&C Generals, but my new copy hasn't arrived (I lost the old one ages and ages ago and for the last couple onf installs, pinched my mate's copy of the First Decade) - day overdue now. So looks like it's back to trying get that FRACKING MISSION on Age of Wonders 3 that spent two hours yesterday playing "gotcha" - you KNOW how I hate that. Oh, and getbgame design guys - give us a whole campaign where the primary character is a rogue and one with a dreadnought, and then have a long mission in each with the opposite. Because it's not like rogues are basically crap and dreadnought are no flipping use until they get fracking top-tier units which you're not allowed in the first two missions...

*sigh*)

[t209]

Spoiler: Ep 24 - Father Knows Best

Show

Aww, Spike and Smolder are fun together. I really did that Smolder can help Spike learn more about his dragon-self and in return Spike helps Smolder understand pony stuff. Great friendship right there.

As for Sludge... ugh... Like, I can understand him being a jerk and using Spike, because typical butt-head dragon, but the fact he's not even Spike's actual dad?! OMG, someone call Starlight to laser-blast him. That was just beyond jerk move. I'm glad Smolder helped set things right. And you go do you with that pillow embroidery, Spike. A pile of pillows is way better than sleeping on cold, hard metal. ;)

Okay episode overall. Just wish we got an actual answer on Spike's parents.

Spoiler: Father Knows Best

Show

Remember the movie Joe Dirt, Digo?

Spoiler: Joe Dirt ending

Show

Like it turned out that the couple were really Joe's parents, just decided to come back after he turned out to be famous.

[Spamotron]

Spoiler: S8E25-26 School Raze

Show

Damn Cozy Glow is scary.

Ultimately she only loses because the Tree of Harmony freed the Young Six. Some would say that was her own fault because the Tree only bonded with the Young Six because of her machinations in What Lies Beneath. But I'm of the camp that you can only call a person out on mistakes they made based on the information available to them. Cozy correctly identified the Young Six as a potential threat to her plans and executed a low-risk high reward plan to break them up that almost worked if a god like being hadn't intervened. Something impossible to foresee or plan for. It then looks like she made a mistake by losing her cool and ranting at Twilight on her defeat resulting in her being locked up in Tarturus. Then we learn she wanted to be sent to Tarturus to launch her Plan B and her rant was likely partly an act.

So Cozy played everyone involved and made no mistakes, lost only to FiM's equivalent to Divine Intervention and upon losing just rolls straight into her backup plan by again playing the Princesses into doing what she wants.

So far Equestria has been threatened by a Mad Goddess of the Night, a Reality Warper, a Parasitic Bug Monster, an Undead Mage King, a Magic Eating Demon Centaur, a ludicrously overpowered Unicorn Prodigy, a Possessing Shadow Creature from outside reality, the largest and most powerful Army in the world, and of all of them a Small Ordinary Pegasus was the most dangerous.

[Aotrs Commander]

Really, Age of Wonders 3? Really?

After frag knows how many hours to get through mission bloody five of Edward's campaign, the final mission... Is literally the same mission as Sundren's. It's even on the same map! Just you start as Edward, not Sundren.

Well, bollocks to that, then. I'm not fraggin' doing that mission AGAIN, not for the second time THIS WEEK.

Look at the halfling campaign tomorrow, see if the new bits excite me. I might actually play evil, not good this time, for kicks and giggles...

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler: Father Knows Best

Show

Remember the movie Joe Dirt, Digo?

Spoiler: Joe Dirt ending

Show

Like it turned out that the couple were really Joe's parents, just decided to come back after he turned out to be famous.

Spoiler: Father Knows Best

Show

I never saw that movie.

Dragons don't seem to care about keeping up with pony news, so I figure Spike's fame would be the way his parents would track him down after all these years.

[Aotrs Commander]

Well, Generals arrived today (it might have arrived a day or two ago, actually, the package was black (in the black post-box) not typical amazon cardboard (from a seller) and lying on its side - but whatever. After about an hour of faffing about, following the instructions on CNCNZ or how to install/update it all, I finally googled a solution which was as daft as making an options.ini file in the save game folder manually and pasting something into it. Then both Generals and Zero Hour worked fine.

You gotta love, by the by, that RA2, arguably the best in the series in a lot of respects (though personally, ask me to choose between TS, RA2 for story and Generals for gameplay and I'd be very hard pressed) and is, of course, the one that is nightmarishly difficult to get to work, featuring basically you having to do it manually...!

Sorry Age of Wonders 3, I need to blow up some stuff stress-free!

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler: Ep 25/26 - School Raze

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This season finale is a pretty good example of canon becoming inconsistent when you change your writing staff. More on that later...

Rainbow Dash takes her class on a field Trip and Starlight tags along to use the cloud-walking spell (a nice call back). There's a line said by Ocellus that she's never walked on clouds before, so that's a little piece of worldbuilding there; changelings don't have the inherent ability to Cloud Walk. I believe the only character we've seen walk on clouds besides pegasi is Gilda, so I presume griffons can cloud walk. Anyway, the spell fails and we nearly have street pizza Yuna.

Twilight: "Maybe you cast the spell wrong."

Ouch. Right in the pride there, Twi. This is Starlight we're talking about, the oh-so-perfect all-powerful unicorn that doesn't a jail for being evil. Pfft, Starlight throwing the line right back at Twi made me laugh. Nicely played Glim. Anyway, so magic in Equestria is fading out and Celestia has the itinerary for today's apocalypse:

Day 1: Unicorns lose their magic.
Day 2: Creatures lose their inherent magic.
Day 3: Artifacts stop working.

Luna mentions that it's getting hard to even raise the moon at night, so I wonder if these days are absolute or relative? Wouldn't in be hilarious if magic couldn't fully drain so long as Celestia doesn't set the sun? Because the days aren't passing? Someone get on that fanfic idea. I'd love to see that as the means to defeat a prophesy.

En-e-way, so the Mane6 leave Starlight in charge while they go to Tartarus and interrogate Tirek. Cosy Glow butters up to Starlight and well, was nice knowing you Starlight (dibs on her kite collection). The Student6 seem to know something's up so they go spy on Cozy. Surprise, she's causing the magic drain. Well, we probably could have guessed considering... but Naysayer shows up to take control of the school while Twi is away and locks up the non-ponies in a dorm room. Sheesh, like everyone thinks controlling the school is power? Equestria power structures are weird. Remember in A Canterlot Wedding when Twi gets banished to the under-mines at the end of part one, wreathed in flames? I... kinda expected Cozy to do that to Naysayer. But it doesn't happen. Gotta admit, that would be 20% cooler of a "To Be Continued" breaking point, right?

Backing up a little, the Mane6 are near the gate to Tartarus when Pinkie finds out their food spoiled. So here's another neat little worldbuilding bit--those saddlebags come with magic refrigeration. Neat! Baked goods can spoil pretty quickly where I live, so sign me up for two bags when the magic returns. Anyway, here's where show canon takes a bit of a stumble. Applejack makes a great line to the unicorns with "You just have to think like an Earth Pony." And uses some cream to keep the flies away. So when magic is gone, Earth Ponies still got their science and will be just fine.

Except.

Back when Tirek was eating all the magic in his episode, Pegasi flight and Earth Pony strength were said to be magic aspects by Celestia. But throughout this two-parter, none of the pegasi seemed to struggle with flying. Nor Earth Ponies with being strong presumably, but we don't see an example of it. So what gives? Shouldn't flight be lost after Day 2? So yeah, a bit inconsistent there on canon, and probably because different writers are working this episode pair. So, just wanted to point that out.

The Mane6 get past the gates using a fabled magic key artifact which... can only be used once? So, how do you know it can open any door if it only has a one-use life span? I'm guessing that there are several such keys made and they all claim the name, but eh, it's a head-scratcher. Notice the BugBear is caged in here with a bunch of other creatures we've seen harass Equestria? Yeah, Episode 100 is canon. Ha! The So, the Mane6 talk to Tirek and learn Cozy is behind the magic drain. And without magic the Mane6 is trapped in Tartarus forever. As well as Tirek. Forever. With Pinkie Pie.

...Tirek, you're an idiot.

Twi figures out how to squeeze the last drops of magic from all the monsters here, their "essence" (which splits the chimera creatures into ordinary animals? Um... okay, whatever) and uses it to open the door. Nice plan actually. Meanwhile, Sandbar rounds up the CMC to help free the rest of his friends from being locked in a room (yay Earth Pony crowbar powers!) and while the CMC distract Cozy, the Student6 free Naysayer (pfft, Yuna smashes chair with Nay still in it. That was was funny). Nay goes to get help while the Student6 try to stop the magic drain. Cozy confronts them and tries to seal them in the big ball of magic thingie (and I'm wondering how Starlight goes to the bathroom in there. I mean, it's been like, two days, right?), but their sacrifice gets the other students to turn on Cozy and then the Tree of Harmony does it's Deux Ex Machina thing (that's two points for the tree now saving Equestria).

I wondered if being in that ball of magic thingie when it reverse would hurt Starlight, but nah, she's fine. A little radiation never killed anypony. So magic returns to all creatures and unicorns, Earth Ponies will have to wait to take over the world another day, Tirek gets slapped in the face with his own magic (ha!) and Cozy gets... locked away in Tartarus. Wow. So, Luna is gonna leave a filly in Equestria's highest security prison? Damn, Luna doesn't play around. Twilight must have pulled favors to keep Starlight out of there. What will cozy's parents say?

Naysayer stops being a jerk about non-ponies. That's something I guess. However, I feel like there's something missing... something that bugs me...

Yeah, you know.

Chrysalis.

What they heck happened to her? I guess she didn't get the elements after all? I feel like this should have been her finale, cause Starlight alone at the school would have made for a fine revenge opportunity, and Cozy... I thought she'd be some evil Baby Dahl expy or Chryssi in disguise... but nope. The twist is that Cozy is penpals with Tirek, and Big T doesn't even get out of his cage the entire time. He's thwarted by an annoying pink pony. Eh, an opportunity lost I suppose. We have at one last season to go, so maybe Chryssi will get the big finale of the series. Overall this two-parter was alright. Had some stakes, some good laughs. My one disappointment is watching Tirek chew on the idiot ball when we could of had the Queen of the Changelings doing something cool. I give it a B.

[Aotrs Commander]

Bothing like a sudden BSoD to kill your mood... I was on the last mission of the GLA campaign as well.

As usual, nothing that really gives me any idea what it is... I suspect it might be sound related, to one of the drivers, maybe, or hardware related or I have no idea.

Tedious.



Finale already! Ye gods, this year's schedule is ridiculous to try and work out.

I'm still at least two episodes behind that...

[Rogar Demonblud]

I understand the Mary Dahl/Baby Doll references for Cozy Glow now. Kind of obvious, really.

Spoiler: Not to be read if you haven't seen the finale.

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One of her common tactics in Batman is to work with a bigger villain. Most famously Killer Croc in BTAS. So they were hinting she was an agent for someone else. Chrysalis was a little too obvious a candidate, as well. Tirek never occurred to me.

I might stick around for the next season after all.