• Pony Community Soapbox #103 - Pegasus Backstabbing, Keeping the Fandom Fresh, Episodes Per Pony, and More!


    Community soapbox time, where opinions from around the fandom are dropped down below for you all to discuss and debate! Expect these posts normally when not late every Tuesday at 2:00 PM MST. To submit your own, see this post.

    Headlines for the week:

    • What happened to Mr. Cake and Owlowiscious?
    • Marks for Effort: Saying "I'm Sorry" in Words or Actions?
    • Pegasi: Nature’s Rogues
    • Experimenting to Keep the Fandom Fresh
    • Theory on how many episodes each character gets

    And get your soapboxes below!




    What happened to Mr. Cake and Owlowiscious?
    By: MegaSean45



    There have been a long stage of absence between two characters that used to be so recurring in the past. The first I'd like to talk about is Mr. Cake. We've seen his wife around several times, and even a cameo from the twins every now again (why are they still babies?). But we've had a long gap of absence of Mr. Cake since 28 Pranks Later after he took a bite from the burger. I understand that Brian Drummond has been busy with other shows to voice him, but he comes and voices every so often, and not even a BG appearance from him? I don't understand. He could be busy with the Cake twins, but even we have seen them every now and again!

    The other character that has been absent is Twilight's owl, Owlowscious. I've seen plenty of opportunities for him to appear throughout the Castle of Friendship, but he was completely forgotten about. Either that or they know the fandom are annoyed by him so they killed him off. He didn't perish in the library explosion by Tirek and he was in the castle one time in What About Discord, which was his last appearance. Ever since Starlight showed up, he hasn't been around. Is Starlight allergic to owls perhaps which is why he hasn't been around?

    Have you noticed their absence? Do you miss them?

    Marks for Effort: Saying "I'm Sorry" in Words or Actions?
    By: ElementOfFaith



    Many of us pointed out one particular gripe in Marks for Effort: Twilight's lack of a verbal apology to the Crusaders for judging them without having them speak for themselves. According to writer Nicole Dubuc, Twilight allowing them to become tutors at her school was the apology and that actions always speak louder than words. I disagree with that statement because for one, speaking IS and action; second, there have been times when words can be just as loud as actions if not louder. Especially when intended to cause harm. But I digress. Twilight's gift of allowing the CMCs a place at her school could also be interpreted as "buying them off" without addressing the issue. An apology does require action; speaking and making up for the mistake, but could it also be said that in order to make up for something done wrong, saying those two little words is a good place to start? Starlight certainly learned that in the past.


    Pegasi: Nature’s Rogues
    marleyLVI

    After watching ‘Marks for Effort’, I wondered about how pegasi are quick to bend the rules into a pretzel, or lie, to get their way. At first, I thought it was just RD but other pegasi do it too.

    First up, Rainbow Dash. In ‘Super Speedy’, if she hadn’t been stopped, Flim & Flam would have left town injured. In ‘Tanks for the Memories’ Dashie goes full blown criminal. There are many examples for Rainbow. Now for other pegasi.

    Spitfire/Fleetfoot: Spitfire throws Soarin under the bus to make room for Dash. She and Sith Lord Fleetfoot also have no qualms about deceiving Rainbow.

    Wind Rider acts to protect his legacy by destroying the life of a talented flier. Despicable.

    Rumble exhibits the same behavior as his older brethren when trying to avoid a bad cutie mark.

    Cozy Glow uses extreme cute to manipulate the CMC and throws a test to get her way.

    Even Fluttershy does this sort of thing, if only to be kind.

    Non-pegasi can be guilty of all this too but stay alert if there’s a pegasus around because they regard the Rule Book as nothing more than toilet paper.


    Experimenting to Keep the Fandom Fresh
    by: FMABrony

    I've been in the fandom for about 6-7 years, but as I got older I realized something, we need to find a way to experiment with different ideas or genres if we wanna keep the fandom from being to stale and repeatitive. For example, have musicians that experiment with different genres like emo rap, noise rock, and vaporwave gain more recognition. Also, incorporate stuff like fan films into the fandom, similar to Star Wars and Star Trek. By using these techniques and methods, we can keep the fandom fresh and new while also keeping the fandom the way it is and if you don't like it, that is okay, most ideas are not for everybody.


    Theory on how many episodes each character gets
    By: Tadashi (a.k.a. FirePuppy)

    After looking carefully at each season of the show, there's a theory that came to my mind on how many episodes each character gets every season. Every season, there's always a 2-episode premiere and a 2-episode finale. However, there are exceptions. In Seasons 1 and 3, there's no 2-episode finale, and Season 7 also didn't have a 2-episode premiere. Other than that, each Mane Six pony usually gets two episodes with main roles, plus two more extra episodes to make 14, the extra ones usually shared by two or more members of the Mane Six, for a total of 18. Then there's two CMC (Cutie Mark Crusaders) focused episodes to make 20.

    In the first five seasons, there's also two Spike episodes and four miscellaneous episodes either focusing on all the Mane Six or any other characters besides the Mane Six, Spike, or the CMCs. As of Season 6, it's now one Spike episode, three Starlight episodes, and two miscellaneous episodes, for a total of six all together either way, making a grand total of 26 episodes for each season (except Season 3, which only had 13).

    And sometimes, episodes can be shared. When this happens too often, we're in for more miscellaneous episodes!