We have some pretty interesting topics for you all this week. Hope you are all ready for it!
Expect these posts every Tuesday at 2:00 PM PST (3:00 EQD Time). To submit your own, see this post.
This week we dive into the following:
- Equestria Girls and the Monster of the Week format
- Spike's Friendship with Fluttershy
- The Problem With Too Much Character Development
- Star Dreams: Toyline to Screentime
And get your soapboxes below!
(Article #1 Taken down at authors request)
Equestria Girls and the Monster of the Week format
By: Slashyx
If the series wants to predominantly be a slice of life series with occasional monster battling then fine. This post is meant to point the problems and a solution to Equestria Girls taking on the monster of the week format,
If EQG does take on the monster of the week format, it is going to get very stale very soon relying on essentially two types of villains humans who get corrupted by magic and Equestria rejects who want to use magic to take over the world. The series is best off just relying on conflicts stemming from its own world.
I don't necessarily mean that the series needs to have boring high school drama as a focus nor do I mean that the tie to Equestria should be gone completely due to how important of a role magic plays in this series, but I do think the series should start introducing conflicts and villains from its own world. We know so little about the EQG world that we don't know much about it besides the fact that it resembles ours and doesn't have magic (or at least not Equestrian magic), so there is so much potential to explore what that world has to offer.
Robots, mutants, crazy lab experiments, aliens, and Pokémon-esque monsters could exist in their world. Relying on the tie to Equestria to provide any interesting conflict only serves to make the EQG world look so dull and prevents it from having more of its own identity. It allows more varied villains to arise and allows it to work without an overarching plot unlike most magical girl series.
Spike's Friendship with Fluttershy
By: ShroomsFilmBonus
Remember in the first episode of the show, Fluttershy was really fascinated over Spike over him being a baby dragon! However, even though Fluttershy was Spike's first friend in Ponyville, their friendship was barely explored. They had bonded for a few episodes, like in Magic Duel and Just for Sidekicks, but their friendship was never really explored as deep as Spike's relationship with Rarity. In the first episode of the show, there looked to be some story potential between Spike and Rarity, and himself and Fluttershy, but the writers only seemed to pay attention to his crush on Rarity rather than his relationship with Fluttershy. It's not too late for it to be explored, and maybe Fluttershy's deep fascination with exotic creatures such as baby dragons can be explored a bit, as well as a deeper explanation of Fluttershy's fear of grown-up dragons. Over all of the Mane Six, Spike has only shared episodes with Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity, and there is that famous episode he shared with Discord and Big Mac as well! But let's hope in the incoming seasons, his relationship with the other Mane Six, CMCs, and Starlight could be explored more in duet episodes!
The Problem With Too Much Character Development
By Fluttershypegasus
A while ago, I saw a video by DrWolf001 called "Fluttershy's greatest weakness is her greatest strength". In this, DrWolf makes the point that although Fluttershy's shyness is often a detriment to her, it's also a strength-it gave her the humility needed to resist and ultimately reform Discord.
However I noticed in later seasons, Fluttershy has gotten less shy and more assertive. She's still the most shy and introverted of the group, but I think that it is possible her character developed too far at some point-she was made less weak, but this was at the cost of a small part of her character.
The same effect is also seen in Twilight-her snarkiness and sarcasm is what made her popular among many in her unicorn form. After becoming an alicorn, she seems to have lost a large amount of her cynicism, especially in regards to friendship. Her cynicism may be something of a flaw, but it also made her endearing. So although she and Fluttershy have become more "perfect" characters, this may not be a good thing.
Try to imagine two perfect characters-not perfect in the sense that they're your favourite characters-but perfect as in they're perfectly moral, they have perfected every strength and lost every weakness. These two characters would be almost indistinguishable, and really not very interesting. Although I think every member of the mane six remains an interesting character, and Fluttershy is still my favourite since she still retains the important aspects of herself, I do think that sometimes development can go too far, and that in order for a character to be enjoyable, there must always remain some insurmountable weaknesses that also work as great strengths.
Star Dreams: Toyline to Screentime
By: Nightmare Muffin
What would've been done with Star Dreams, if she'd been in the series of FiM? Seems strange that this pony was packaged with significant characters that were manes or CMC.
Going off her toy packaging, with the first set she came out in- Sweet Slumbers w/Applejack, I feel like they were meaning to set up abilities for her that resided in the dream realm. Hence, sweet slumbers, and her color scheme being cooler hues of turquoise, teal, and magenta.
There was her second set release, which packaged her with like blank flanks, the CMC. I assume that she was meant to be part of their group in the series, but for some reason, it never came to fruition.
Finally, her last appearance in the pony spa set with more of the mane 6, Rarity and RD. Again though, her relation to the members of the mane 6 and CMC make me suspicious of her intended importance, if she had been introduced to the animated series.
Is there any scrapnfo on Star Dreams that we can glean from her toyline appearances that would have spelled out her destiny in the cartoon series?
