My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know

[Deadly]

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Am I the only one who found the Piggy song kinda jarring? I think it was those voices that aren't Pinkie's. They were... uncanny.

Pone says you're wrong.

Oh? We all have talents, strengths and weaknesses. Just because I could get better at it doesn't mean I'll ever be as good at it as I am or could be at something else. Realizing where your particular strength lies, I think, is a very important thing.

It's also a matter of what I enjoy more. I could be wrong, but I think I enjoy writing more when I can focus on one or two characters.

I wish to address that one last bit because I've already become tired of the joke:

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The implication that Carrot is not the father doesn't hold up to twin ponies split between a pegasus and unicorn. What are we to suppose Cup Cake had an affair with not one but two other stallions and managed to have half-twins (or whatever the proper parlance is) on each.

And it still requires fantasy pony magic genetics anyways.

I think that just as crazy. Though yes I do get the joke I worry its going to be rampant fanon.

New episode, silly speculation

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Obviously Mrs. Cake had an affair with a gender swapped princess! Explains the super powers too.

[Thanqol]

- Ponies are a stupid shape.

Urgh, yes.

Oh? We all have talents, strengths and weaknesses. Just because I could get better at it doesn't mean I'll ever be as good at it as I am or could be at something else. Realizing where your particular strength lies, I think, is a very important thing.

It's also a matter of what I enjoy more. I could be wrong, but I think I enjoy writing more when I can focus on one or two characters.

Identifying your core competencies is important, yes But so is recognising areas of potential improvement. When you set out to improve on something then you start looking for ways to improve. If you've made up your mind to improve your dialogue, say, then you'll remember to ask questions and take notes when you encounter well written dialogue. It's remarkable what active study can do for one's own writing.

New episode, silly speculation

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Obviously Mrs. Cake had an affair with a gender swapped princess! Explains the super powers too.

This is my fanon now.

[Deadly]

This is my fanon now.

New Episode, Silly speculation, continued

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That "appointment with the mayor" in A Bird in the Hoof? Just an excuse

[Nameless]

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Sure it is... an ear-less teddy bear

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Those fillies are sick. SICK!

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...it's a space station!

Wait, that was a Star Wars reference you were making, right?

Zevox

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No, but if it makes you feel better, I'll go ahead and pretend that I was.

[Thanqol]

New Episode, Silly speculation, continued

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That "appointment with the mayor" in A Bird in the Hoof? Just an excuse

It's all coming together in a great and terrible tapestry

[Deadly]

It's all coming together in a great and terrible tapestry

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"While Carrot Cake is left to clean up after the tea party, 'Mayor' Cupcake has an 'audience' with 'prince' Celesto out back. Some months later... the Wonder Twins!"

There, free fanfic for the takin'!

Edit: You'll notice a couple of things in that scene when Celestia leaves the party. One, Carrot Cake is the only one seen cleaning the tables. Two, those wings!

Also, why do you think Celestia left her bird behind? She knew what Fluttershy would do, and it served as perfect distraction for her guards. "Oh, I forgot my bird can you please go fetch it while I... talk with the mayor?"

[Thanqol]

Oh, by the way, I drew this.

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[Kyouhen]

"Also, Thistle, you're pretty cool."

I smell a ship!
*Flees*

- Ponies are a stupid shape.

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- Jaerkyleons' (Can I just call them Jägerponies?) heads are hard to make a helmet for, especially considering the previous point.

I vote Jägerponies.
It helps that looking at your picture I can see the resemblance too.

Oh, by the way, I drew this.

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Pretty...
Note to self: Make a filly Pinkie seeing sonic rainboom ponymote.

[Dexam]

Episode thoughts.

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I'm a bit confused by this episode. I'm not sure why. I think it's the ending. She breaks down and cries, and that solves everything? Or is it that she accepts that she can't do it and tones down her energy some? Someone help me out here?

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Not a great one for me. Pinkie wasn't nearly as funny as she often is (I can think of only two good jokes: "Tough crowd." "Tell me about it." and the suction-cup shoes), the resolution seemed rather contrived (Pinkie cries and the babies take care of themselves? What?), and the babies were only somewhat entertaining when their wings/magic kicked in near the end.

Zevox

Thoughts on new episode, in particular the ending:

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After a little bit of thought, the ending does make sense. Look at this from the foals' perspective - Pinkie Pie is the fun pony, where everything is a joke or a game, and nothing is ever serious. However, now Pinkie has to get serious because she is totally responsible for the foals; but the foals don't know this - everything is still fun and games.

Look at how Pinkie responds when they're upset, or hungry, or need a bath: she makes jokes, sings songs, or does something silly. So when the foals misbehave, to them it's just a continuation of the fun and they expect Pinkie to respond in kind. It takes her being genuinely upset for them to realise that it isn't a game anymore, so they try to cheer her up in the same way that she cheers them up.

[Beacon of Chaos]

Hi, I've been lurking in this thread for the past... month or so? Felt it was time to say hi, so hi!

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Pretty close, actually. I think that the eyes there are a bit low. You've put them sorta where a pony's would be, except as they're so much smaller than cartoon pony eyes, it looks odd. I think they'd be better if they were moved back and up a bit, with the horns to match (I saw the two pairs being much closer together)...

Okay, I had a quick scribble myself (not that I can post anything without nicking the upstairs scanner!). If we go from MLP pony proportions (which is sorta half-implied), the eyes want to be about half the size (area) of a pony's, and nearer the top of the head, and eye horns are too far away from where a unicorn's horn is (looking at Twilight verses my scribble), with the back pair more-or-less a horn's width behind them.

Ah. I think I figured it out. Your jawline is parallel to the ground, and most creature's jaw line slopes down a bit (horses in particular, and the muzzle of the ponies is downward, too). That's put your mouth at the wrong angle, (which has made the eyes a bit low) and that's why it looks a bit off to me, being the natural history buff that I am! (In fact, if the mouth itself was at an angle, the jawline would probably look okay, as it would look like a deep jaw for a powerful bite.)

(My scribble had a slanted jawline which I did automatically, which is why it took me a moment to twig. Aside from drawing starships in my youth, I did draw a lot of dinosaurs and animals and stuff (and yes, I still have a few of those pictures squirreled away as well!))

Ah, okay, see what you mean about the jawline. Welp, I got close, so that's fine. May give it another shot sometime.

(And, generally, you can only kill a guy once...)

Says the Necromancer.

My crack at it. Mostly based off what you said about Diego's work:

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Looks good to me!

A little late (as always... I still haven't gotten around to making your skull a splode ), but I've attempted a rendition of one of your little critters, with a quick attempt at what weapons would make sense for them. Armor and "saddlebags" to hold replacement power cells pending.

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I think it's still looking too much like a pony. I should've kept your description of them open when drawing.

For the weapons, I figured simple buttons would suffice, but there are four of them, on different sides of the weapon. For a TK user, pushing them all at once is as simple as slightly contracting the holding field - the weapon will not move, but all movable parts on the surface will be pressed in. For anyone with fingers or even tentacles, aiming and firing would be a nontrivial task at best. The same goes for the cell reloading mechanism (six little buttons to release). The folding blade is largely useless, I agree, but it sorta made sense at the time. You can consider it to simply be a holder for the blade rather than a permanent mount.

Nice!

Oh, by the way, I drew this.

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Awesome!

[otakuryoga]

New episode, silly speculation

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Obviously Mrs. Cake had an affair with a gender swapped princess! Explains the super powers too.

New Episode, Silly speculation, continued

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That "appointment with the mayor" in A Bird in the Hoof? Just an excuse

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except it cant be true...she was already pregnant in that episode
based on how she was drawn with a "chubby" body(like snips)
while in this episode she looks to be a normal pony body type

[PrinceAquilaDei]

Oh, by the way, I drew this.

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Since you are spreading pretty pictures around, shameless self promotion! http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228920

On an unrelated note for those lacking all techsav, how do I post a link with any name I want rather than the URL?

[Aotrs Commander]

EDIT: confound it! I second-guessed the initial pronunciation, and assumed I was being dyslexic. Since I can't find/paste, assume every instance of Jaklyr is Jaelyrk, and every instance of Jak is me being dumb and coming up with a pet name...

Ja-lyr-kie-on. Broken into it's components, as cribbed from FiM pony names.

(I actually saw this very late last night, but I looked at your post and thought, "yeah, no... Words are now not making sense. Have to wait until morning and coherent thought...")

I see a discrepancy here, and it's based on language conventions. See, while we are all saying "it would be cool because Nopony else could use them" the real core of the concept is this; after the basic "this end go boom" folks worked on getting the boom end stable. We have butt stocks, weighted barrels, tripods and bipods, magazines and feed which work best with human hands, and ergonomic designs that specifically work with the human distribution of weight in a gun and human hands on a handle. And a lot of this stems from a tradition so deep that "gun" is a universal cultural symbol. Anywhere in the world except deep Australia, you hold out a finger and raise your thumb, and you're 'shooting' at someone. Raise two hands, supine at hip height and slide them together, you've just cocked an invisible shotgun. The L shape is part of how humans conceive of 'gun'.

The unicorn folks whose name I can't pronounce would have one similarity in their guns to ours. A tube shape to funnel the pressure. They could not develop the L shape because they couldn't brace the gun the same. Part of the firing mechanism would have to be on the back of the handle, unless extra 'arms' were dedicated to stabilization (I assume the Jaklyr require what is colloquially known as Line of Effect, up to the point of contact when te mental 'fingers' can slide around walls?). Heavy weapons would probably be a T shape, as two points of stabilization in addition to levitating would be best, giving you a cannon held on either side, with lift coming from the center underneath. Or a bazooka style weapon.

TK tactile feedback is normally very basic - am I holding something, and how hard - but the Jaklyr have functional TK sonar, like Starry. Finding your way into a hole in the outer casing too big for living hands, gripping the area specially tactilely marked for "trigger" (because it is entirely touch based, not visual) and squeezing. This has the benefit of putting load distribution closest to the center, even what others would consider "within" the gun even if the concept is closer to a basket hilt. With ballistic weapons, free floating, and no attached arm the kick is going to be dispersed into the air unless braced, so a heavy weapon will fire slower for a Jaklyr than for a humanoid, unless they are content to allow the weapon to fire without resetting to the ready position. Not sure how to counter that quite well, except...

As weapon kick went up, and need to fire went up, folks started using bursts. A free-floating gun with a burst is going to have a HUGE bloom, because there is no brace; humanoid will lose some accuracy to the sides while riding high, where a Jaklyr is going to send their gun into a death spiral. Having an 'internal' handle apparatus (which works akin to a monkey sticking its fist into a tree and grabbing a bean, really) and then backing the gun into a bracing emplacement attached to the Jak or to a nearby cover thingy, gives them the ability to turn their heavy rifles into shielded turrets, especially since the minor disconnect between Jak and gun gives more ablative safety room.

Some miscommunication at this end as well. I never imagined the weapons as having a stock or being "L" shaped, but more like what a gun would look like if took the handle off completely. Your point about having an internal "handle" - internal, to the shape, but not actually "inside" the centre of the mechanism, i.e. a handle that isn't sealed from the outside (as Jalyrkieon TK shouldn't be so powerful it can reach into stuff - and least not at the modal level or power - as that would be far too powerful).

I really like the idea of a recessed "handle" - I've been wondering what shape it would be - something like a ball on a stick, as it were (as opposed to just a stick) so you could get a solid grip across the whole surface and tilt it around easier, or, even, "the handle" nothing more than a cylindrical hole in the base of the weapon, leading up to a sphereical hole, in which the Jalyrkieon grip by exterting force on the whole surface of, a bit like pressure in a balloon, if you follow my meaning.

The trigger would probably be designed in a way that the entire handle has to be squeezed at once instead of a lever, for the simple fact that Jak TK doesn't have the benefit of a human hand; when firing small arms you're supposed to push forward with the hand and pull back on the trigger. A Jak would use the same TK node to both hold the handle and pull the trigger, fighting itself without bracing, and slow down trigger speed while also throwing off aim. There are similar examples I could cite from human tech, and recreation. With boffed creation, you want nothing between your hand and the core, especially not something squishy. Adding foam to the handle is a rookie mistake because it DOES noticeably affect performance, even at the non-lethal noodlebat level. Today, I am wearing thicker, woolen socks, and they have a noticeable difference in my ability to accelerate and brake while driving, because thy change how much force needs to be exerted to mechanically alter the pedal position. It's slight, it's subtle, and it's the difference between life and death.

The Jalyrkeion TK would be plenty good enough to do anything a human with fingers can do, so holding something and moving another one bit would be within the capabilities. So I'd guess than in the recess there would be a slidey thing, or maybe a lever (it may vary from weapon to weapon of course.) Actually, come to think of it, if you have a button on the INSIDE surface, you could probably get away with it much more than on the surface, so for energy weapons, handle-surface-and-button could arguebly be something like a joystick or a gamepad... Interesting...

One common scifi method of dealing with recoil, especially in single shot weapons like shotguns, is to have a second gun whose recoil counters it. You're even more of an engineer than I, so I'll leave how effective t is to your discretion,

Not heard of anything using the rationalisation (and it is a rationaliseation) myself, I must admit, and the answer is "not very" since recoil kinda doesn't work that way. Two guns - unless they are facing the opposite direction and firing simultaneously - firing is twice the recoil, not negating it. I'm not even sure how the sci-fi writers came to that conclusion, aside from maybe thinking that it would stabilise the.. you know what I don't even know, as they say, RECOIL DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY.

The thing about recoil is that the kick is equal and opposite to the direction of fire (the fact it pulls a humanoid hand off target is due to the way that the line of fire is above where it's being held and the resistance force to counter the recoil is being applied). An A-10's gatling, for example (which can't do anything but kick backwards) actually appreciably slows the aircraft down when it fires.

The Jalyrkieon, holding their weapons mostly from the centre, ought to have their grip directly behind the recoil zone. The hole to the handle is not actually contributing to the grip, just allowing the TK to reach. It could arguebly be on any surface; I went with "bottom" rather than "back", as it seemed marginally less likely to get stuff in it, but either would suffice. Maybe back would be more intuitive, actually, come to think about it, because that naturally leads you to mentally brace against the direction of fire - which is probably, now I think about it, important for TK. So handle-hole at the back then. It probably means that, overall, Jalyrkieon weapons are probably longer than humanoid ones, since they handle array is likely to be somewhere in the back, but shallower, since they won't have a grip pointing down.)

Stuff like rifles or heavy weapons that require two "hands" probably have either a big grip to put "both" on, or more likely a second grip, maybe a cylidrical one "around" the barrel, further down... actually you probably don't need a second interior grip; just a thickened bit of the barrel, tough enough to hold onto would do, because that would be enough to help balance and keep in on the firing line, and it's not like you can burn telekinetic hands on the overheated barrel or something.

So I see the ideal weapon evolution being a stress-ball trigger in a recessed knot hole in the gun. Other folks not being able to use them is a symptom not a cause, but it is so very obvious very pony has even saying it.

I'm agreeing with you entirely. That's exactly right. As I said to Kyouhen, it was as much everyone's first thought was "no-one else can use our guns" as the causal critieron that I disagreed with, as opposed to what you did, which I was aiming to do, which was work out what the optimum solution would be (which I probably figured (though didn't outright say, which probably would have helped, now I think about it) would not be usable by hominoids in the event). [/color][/quote]

I'm not sure how this interacts with autofire, and I definitely know zilch about beam weapons, so maybe the Jaklyr themselves are still overcoming their image cultural bias in the development of beam weapons? They are sure to have festival design flaws that are no longer necessary.

Festival... I assume you meant vestigal, and your treacherous phone let you down...!

No different. With your ball-in-hole grip, and a solid TK grip around the barrel, they'd be about as stable - maybe a touch more - than a humanoids. Again, autofire's greater inaccuracy stems mostly from the kick cumulatively knocking your hands off the firing line due to the direction the force gets applied to your hands.

Actually, thinking about it, Jalyrkeion (infantry) weapons should always count as "on road" and "fully stabilised" since they're floating and thus not subject to bumps on the deck when running, even if the Jalyrkeion themselves are.

Yep! But phlebitis, thrombosis, and such are all just different anatomically-oriented 'clots moving around breakin' stuff', so I figure if the circuitry is internal enough, calling it a 'button' seemed wrong, as it is one degree closer to "connect these two open wires" than a button is.
Is it a good idea? No. It was different for the sake of difference to illustrate a possibility, since we knew Jaklyr TK is less than the force (no turning on lightsabers with a mental flick) but more than human manual dexterity (able to go places a human would be awkwardly and unergonomically sticking a finger).

As I say, if you have a button on the inside bit, where it's less likely to get triggered accidently, it's probably fine. (I mean, it's not like some humanoid weapons have buttons anyway - *cough*phasers*cough* - 'course, the optimisation of their ergonomics are a different question...!)

Holy wacamole! That's real fine fluff, Commander.

*tips helmet*

'Course you realise that that won't even be everything, since I've the technology to write up, as well as the government (of whatever type it is...) The Jalyrkieon are towards the upper end of what I tend to write, because their YK takes a lot of explaining, though even then not the most.

My crack at it. Mostly based off what you said about Diego's work:

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Yeah, that's pretty good!

Actually, if the forward horn was just a touch more curving foward, that'd actually be near-damn perfect! Very nice, very nice indeed!

(Don't know whether I'll get around to drawing something myself today, or if I do (which is reasonable probably), I may not be able to the scanner - it's panto practise day, and my sister's usually off all day, so she may be doing panto-related stuff on her iron idiot (she's director this year), but if not, I'm gonna try tomorrow.)

Hegemonies and Heirarchies don't get used nearly enough.

Ooh, YES. We've not got any of those yet; definately be using one of them!

Heirarchy sounds better, I think. So, yeah, we'll go with that. The Jalyrkieon Hierarchy. Oh yes. Definately.

So, haven't been able to watch the new ep because of travel, but on the flipside, San Fran is a cool place to walk around and look at.

After further thoughts on quadruped weapons, I wonder: does their tech allow for TK feedback? In such a case with beam weapons, I can imagine something like a laser emmissive sphere with targeting linked straight to eye movements via TK/psychic tether to the visual cortex perhaps...

Eeeh... Not really, I don't think, since the TK isn't a mechanical system, like you could link an automated turret to your eye movements, say. The Jalyrkieon are already sort linking their TK to the eyes, in the same way your hands are. As if TK is required to move it around, it's like saying you have a system that slaves your hands to your eyes - you could do it, I suppose, if you had power armour on or something, but then your losing control of your own limbs...

If you mean, could you have a gravitic turret floating around with you, whose targeting is slaved to your eyes, then yes, but TK wouldn't be involved.

I suppose you could have a turret that you just held a "handle" for as it were, whose gun motion was automated and slaved to your eyes. I.e. you carry it, but it does all the moving the gun as an automated system...

Hmm. Could be times where that could be kinda useful, actually (say for something like a local air defence system). A hominoid can't carry a cupola turret very easily, but a Jalyrkieon could float one above their back or head. You maybe wouldn't need to have it slaved to your own eyes, in that case, but the idea certainly has some merit. An energy weapon as a LAD instead of a diposable missile has some advantages: though it probably wouldn't be quite as powerful, it's also reusuable...

[color="#660066"]
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It's possible it'll turn into the next big joke, though it has enough competition with Berry Punch and Molestia. I just find the entire thing amusing because as you said, magic genetics are required regardless of who the father is. It's just as likely that he really is the father as the possibility that he isn't.

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If by "magic genetics", you mean "genetics", then yes. Genetics really does work like that. You sometimes see it - to a slightly lesser extent - in humans, due to recessive traits. One of my English teachers at college was of black Carribean decent - I forget whether her husband was black or white - but she said her little boy was quite asian-looking. Basically it stems from the colonical slavery period, where everything and everyone got a bit mixed up (apparently that sort of thing is uncommon back out that way.)

So it's actually very plausible (which is why both me and Bobcat liked the idea). Especially is one imagines that wings and horns are, as it were magical "additions" later added into the pony DNA when they gained them/were given as opposed to evolved naturally. The fact Discord was able to remove them without too much consequence may be supportive of this fact, though that could just be Discord.

A little late (as always... I still haven't gotten around to making your skull a splode ), but I've attempted a rendition of one of your little critters, with a quick attempt at what weapons would make sense for them. Armor and "saddlebags" to hold replacement power cells pending.

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I think it's still looking too much like a pony. I should've kept your description of them open when drawing.

For the weapons, I figured simple buttons would suffice, but there are four of them, on different sides of the weapon. For a TK user, pushing them all at once is as simple as slightly contracting the holding field - the weapon will not move, but all movable parts on the surface will be pressed in. For anyone with fingers or even tentacles, aiming and firing would be a nontrivial task at best. The same goes for the cell reloading mechanism (six little buttons to release). The folding blade is largely useless, I agree, but it sorta made sense at the time. You can consider it to simply be a holder for the blade rather than a permanent mount.

...Duuuude!

Woah! Awesome!

(I'mma never gonna top that, even on my best day!

I'm going to have to make a concerted effort, though ain't I, what with everyone else doing it!)

Trying to make some armor for the jar-of-kibble things:

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Replaced "saddlebags" with an armored mini-backpack. On either side of the pack are "holsters" for the weapons.

Current thoughts:
- Ponies are a stupid shape.
- Don't try designing stuff while suffering from undersleep headaches.
- Jaerkyleons' (Can I just call them Jägerponies?) heads are hard to make a helmet for, especially considering the previous point.

...

...

'scuse me while I fetch my jaw from the floor...

(I think I can safely say, that will be significantly better-looking armour than the models are likely to have. ('Cos I can easily create shapes that complicated in 3D.)



Also, I find it utterly hilarious how everyone is pronouncing/spelling their name.

Ja-lyr-kie-on (pronounced Jah-lyre-key-on) and if you're clever you should be able to work out which syllables come from which ponies...

(Is it just a sign of achievement that I have done so many fantasy/sci-i names that despite an utter lack of foreign language talent I manage to make convincingly hard-to-pronounce names...?)

[Kyouhen]

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If by "magic genetics", you mean "genetics", then yes. Genetics really does work like that. You sometimes see it - to a slightly lesser extent - in humans, due to recessive traits. One of my English teachers at college was of black Carribean decent - I forget whether her husband was black or white - but she said her little boy was quite asian-looking. Basically it stems from the colonical slavery period, where everything and everyone got a bit mixed up (apparently that sort of thing is uncommon back out that way.)

So it's actually very plausible (which is why both me and Bobcat liked the idea). Especially is one imagines that wings and horns are, as it were magical "additions" later added into the pony DNA when they gained them/were given as opposed to evolved naturally. The fact Discord was able to remove them without too much consequence may be supportive of this fact, though that could just be Discord.

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Yeah, pretty much what I meant. I just like including the 'magical' part in this case because the odds are slim enough that with two earth pony parents you could end up with two foals who were not earth ponies without including the fact that they're twins who didn't end up being the same race at all. Possible, but still extremely unlikely to happen often.

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[Deadly]

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except it cant be true...she was already pregnant in that episode
based on how she was drawn with a "chubby" body(like snips)
while in this episode she looks to be a normal pony body type

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She looks just as chubby to me in this episode as she's always done.

Bird in the Hoof:

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Looks pretty much the same to me. Here are a few more from the new episode, though not quite the same angle. Still, she doesn't seem to have lost anything to me:

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[Draconi Redfir]

Bird in the Hoof:

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that tea breaks physics.

[Eakin]

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Just hope Mrs. Cake doesn't meet Big Macintosh before she becomes pregnant with your next child.

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Red Velvet Cake, anyone?

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So thinking about it I think I know why I like this episode. It's because we get to see a mature Pinkie Pie. Sure, she spends a lot of the episode being goofy and silly, but there's a few points when she stops and starts acting like a proper adult. Even the less obvious parts, like the part immediately after she kicks Twilight out and realizes just how much trouble she's been having. This shows up in the other Pinkie Pie episodes too, and are why I think she's such a great character. Normally I find a character who's just there for comic relief tends to get old fast, but those small moments add some depth to her that most shows don't bother with and keep her interesting.

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Agreed, most comic relief characters don't hold up well without someone else to play off of, but Pinkie carried the episode on her own. I'm really glad Twilight showed up to help her but I'm more glad she didn't stick around to fix everything. "Responsible character cleans up Pinkie's mess and lectures her on the importance of responsibility" would not be nearly as satisfying as letting her figure it out and fix it on her own.

[Kyouhen]

that tea breaks physics.

Earth pony magic. She's learned to serve guests in ways that should be physically impossible. It helps when the tables tend to be taller than you are.

[Aotrs Commander]

Says the Necromancer.

Generally. I said generally! We're the exception, not the rule!

(Don't know how I missed you post earlier... I blame morning.)



Right, prepare yourselves, ponythread!

Here is my attempt...

So steel yourselves for a) unfathomable horror at my ineptitude b) side-splitting hilarity at my ineptitude or c) both at once.

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Excuse the roughness, I've still not mastered the art of scanning pencil into digital! (Sometimes I'll have a go at cleaning up the excess pencil marks, but I've not got reems of time today - I've got some starships to spray while it's still light!)

Not being a cartoonist by any stretch of the imagination, I thus went for a more "realistic" (sic) look, and starting from real horses (and specifically, the aforementioned Welsh Pony section A which is the supposed size. (So if it look a bit elongated in the back, that's probably intentional because they kinda are a bit, if you look at a picture. Legs were troublesome, since getting the perspective on curves right and drawing them right I find quite hard!

Muzzle is supposed be vaguely horse-shaped, and the "ridge" there is the "pinch", which is sharper and more pronounced than a horse, to accomodate sterioscopic vision (i.e., the eyes, like MLP ponies, are foward-facing). Realised the horns have to be fairly stright, else I'm gonna have difficulty modelling them when the time comes...

Not a bad attempt, if I say so myself, considering...!

Obviosuly a sniper/ninja, this one, given the rifle with scope. (Cross-section showing the (slightly exaggerated) back-tube and sphereical "handle" with a vertical slide trigger (probably pull down is fire, and so it snaps up when released.)

Note blade and kunai, which don't have grips, as such, do but have a smooth, unbladed portion at the back, where you can get a solid grip. (Because you want the force at the back, rather than along the whoe surface, to maximise the lever effect, especially when making a sword slash.)

Stop laughing Hopreaver, or I'll show them your attempt.

Ulp.

I know they say "everyone can draw" but really, you are the exception that proves the rule...

You know how Sweetiebelle managed to turn toast into a grey liquid? Hopereaver's like that with drawing.

How you managed to draw a triangle with three and a half sides I am not even going try to fathom...

Shutting up now chief.

Thought so...

[Titanium Fox]

So I haven't read through the recent posts (Read: Since page 7), but I just wanted to throw my thoughts on the new episode. Sorry if it's all been said already. :P

AMAZING REFERENCES:

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Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake are totally Pebbles and Bam Bam.

Poundcake crawling on the ceiling? Trainspotted. And jeez, how randomly awesome of a reference can you make.

Overall:

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I wasn't that much of a fan of this, mainly for the fact that now I'm horrified that they're going to start releasing the baby doll toys for G4 now. And I think that has the potential to ruin things. Yes, my thoughts on episodes tend to be derived from what I think they mean for the future. Same reason I didn't like lesson zero; it just seems like a bad sign to me.

I will admit though, I laughed my flank off. It's a Pinkie Pie episode, how can you not?

that tea breaks physics.

I get the feeling that the handles is actually angled slightly, however from the side on perspective that we have, we just can't see it. In fact, I would imagine most mouth manipulated instruments would be designed specifically this way, for the simple fact that Earth Pony society would be out and out crippled without it.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Generally. I said generally! We're the exception, not the rule!

(Don't know how I missed you post earlier... I blame morning.)



Right, prepare yourselves, ponythread!

Here is my attempt...

So steel yourselves for a) unfathomable horror at my ineptitude b) side-splitting hilarity at my ineptitude or c) both at once.

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Excuse the roughness, I've still not mastered the art of scanning pencil into digital! (Sometimes I'll have a go at cleaning up the excess pencil marks, but I've not got reems of time today - I've got some starships to spray while it's still light!)

Not being a cartoonist by any stretch of the imagination, I thus went for a more "realistic" (sic) look, and starting from real horses (and specifically, the aforementioned Welsh Pony section A which is the supposed size. (So if it look a bit elongated in the back, that's probably intentional because they kinda are a bit, if you look at a picture. Legs were troublesome, since getting the perspective on curves right and drawing them right I find quite hard!

Muzzle is supposed be vaguely horse-shaped, and the "ridge" there is the "pinch", which is sharper and more pronounced than a horse, to accomodate sterioscopic vision (i.e., the eyes, like MLP ponies, are foward-facing). Realised the horns have to be fairly stright, else I'm gonna have difficulty modelling them when the time comes...

Not a bad attempt, if I say so myself, considering...!

Obviosuly a sniper/ninja, this one, given the rifle with scope. (Cross-section showing the (slightly exaggerated) back-tube and sphereical "handle" with a vertical slide trigger (probably pull down is fire, and so it snaps up when released.)

Note blade and kunai, which don't have grips, as such, do but have a smooth, unbladed portion at the back, where you can get a solid grip. (Because you want the force at the back, rather than along the whoe surface, to maximise the lever effect, especially when making a sword slash.)

Stop laughing Hopreaver, or I'll show them your attempt.

Ulp.

I know they say "everyone can draw" but really, you are the exception that proves the rule...

You know how Sweetiebelle managed to turn toast into a grey liquid? Hopereaver's like that with drawing.

How you managed to draw a triangle with three and a half sides I am not even going try to fathom...

Shutting up now chief.

Thought so...

Actually, that's not half bad. The perspective's odd, but all in all it's not too horrifying. If you want horrifying, please refer to the hypothetical unicorpion (scorpion/unicorn fusion) sketch. Warning, may indeed be utterly horrible and revolting.

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Yes, I know I forgot pincers. This thing was scribbled together in under 15 minutes because someone on our forum wanted to see what a "unicorpion" would look like.

[Tectonic Robot]

Unpleasant? What's unpleasant? On the contrary, for a species unused to bifurcated garments harem pants are quite comfy. It's the custom tailoring, I think.

Also there is something wrong with any group of people or ponies where jumping out of a mech suit and assaulting folks violently is considered a strong interview...

So what's up, Candles?[/color]

"I... you guys are fighting about... harem pants? What? And, uh, nothing much, not really, I guess..."

"Oh, this is pleasant. Unpleasant would be much more interesting."

"No, this seems like a pretty belligerent conversation to me..."

"You watch cosmic wonders unfold? You are blind. The worst kind of blind: there are none so blind as those who will not see. Do you know what I am, what I study? What the shape of my soul is? I am a Celestial Master, and I walk the path of the stars. Can't you see them, burning above? Don't you know that the universe expands out infinitely in all directions - all that power, all those patterns? Great storms of energy great enough to wipe out our existence in an eyeblink, shattering space and time and death in the process?

"You think that isn't magic? You think that isn't a cosmic wonder?

"That's Forces. Pure Forces. It scales up, and it scales down, but it's all connected, it's all eternal, all cycling through the same system. You see a pipe bomb and a computer glitch; I see the power of heat and light closing a hole in the world. You think that the real world isn't the plane of magic? I see a world where information travels as fast as thought along currents of electricity. I see a world where voices travel, unheard, through the air. I see a world where every star in the sky is an enormous giant of hydrogen burning hotter than we can ever imagine.

"And if you think real power is in old books, old stones, and glowy ley lines then you're blind, frankly. You're blind and deaf even though the universe is singing to you."

*Deep breath*

"OK, yes, blind and deaf, hooray, but could we, uh, have talk in, I dunno, a somewhat more friendly way?"

[the_druid_droid]

"Ooh, look at me, I'm a magical maaaagic fairy who can do things with magic. I can stop people from doing magic, yay! And I can make crap illusions and hilariously vulgar brute-force solutions to problems!" Jayden dropped into a scowl. "So I'm sorry if I didn't waste my Awakening learning how to beat up other Mages but instead learned practical solutions to real-life problems. But who needs to be happy, or be able to make others happy, when you can be strong, right?"

"Also, Thistle, you're pretty cool."

*twitches violently at the word fairy and almost manages a 180° head spin in searching around for hidden assailants*

[Lix Lorn]

New Episode:

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I'm glad I'm not the only one who loved it.

Anyway.... this:

Discuss?

Oh, that's EASY.

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Their standard babysitter? Lyra.

Mask: *Is hugged*
*Reflexively steals Lix's wallet*

(Is a pony. Does not have a wallet.)

Oh, and one more thing,

Uncle?

new ep:

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Also, Twilight was kind of a jerk when she showed up. Poor choice of words, Twi.

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Clearly, she's been taking lessons from celestia. She's trolling pinkie into doing the right thing.

Welp. This sucks. And not a Natalie Portmare in sight.

With any luck, Raz is going to send robots to kidnap me. That's kind of like escape, right?

(KIDNAPS)
(cuddles!)

You can purr? I am jealous beyond all physical capacity. I have simulacra floating around a personal folded space solely to be jealous with me to let off some of the pressure.

I can purr for realz.

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I.O.U. One image; subjects Jayden + Thistle, setting blank, action fistbump.

—S

And then this one;

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I.O.Thanqol one image; Subject Jayden, setting Blank, action Surprised and possibly Annoyed at finding she has been magicked into harem pants while distracted by Starry.


—S

UOLizie one image: Jayden+thistle, action: MAKEOUTS

[TheAmishPirate]

I can purr for realz.

*adds yet another piece to the growing pile of evidence that Lix = Nepeta*

New episode:

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[Titanium Fox]

*twitches violently at the word fairy and almost manages a 180° head spin in searching around for hidden assailants*

All druid sees directly behind him is Jade with a manic grin on her face.

Hiiiiii.

*adds yet another piece to the growing pile of evidence that Lix = Nepeta*

New episode:

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Okay, this is D'awww. Pure, concentrated D'awww.

[Lix Lorn]

*adds yet another piece to the growing pile of evidence that Lix = Nepeta*

:33 'Lixie giggles cutely and cuddles her furrend.' No silly! But I do furrvently wish I was.'

[Pokonic]

:33 'Lixie giggles cutely and cuddles her furrend.' No silly! But I do furrvently wish I was.'

Yeah, guys. There is no way she is a Troll. All the evidence point to a Slannishi Prince(ess?) of terrible power and a small army of minons. You have been warned.

[otakuryoga]

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She looks just as chubby to me in this episode as she's always done.

Bird in the Hoof:

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New Episode

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Looks pretty much the same to me. Here are a few more from the new episode, though not quite the same angle. Still, she doesn't seem to have lost anything to me:

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that bird in the hoof is srtaight from the side so you cant see how wide she is...she used to look like a beach ball viewed from front(like Snips)
now from the front she appears normal

[Lix Lorn]

Yeah, guys. There is no way she is a Troll. All the evidence point to a Slannishi Prince(ess?) of terrible power and a small army of minons. You have been warned.

My philosophy says why choose 'or' when you can choose 'and'.