#research bin

[glapplebloom]

Literary Cross: Napoleon Vs Jack Merridew (Animal Farm Vs Lord of the Flies)

Linking to an attempt at a Vs Series of my own. Mostly because of one Rap Battle.

[glapplebloom]

Especially if you don’t show anything to prove it.

(Sonic.EXE Series by BoomBuster)

So on Twitter, apparently people believe that various Sonic.EXE Characters can’t beat Canon Characters. One even goes as far as saying no Fanmade Character can defeat a Canon Character so even a Chao can solo the strongest EXE a person can come up with. Another replied that if they created a character that defeated a Sonic who defeated all the big bads Sonic did (The End, Solaris, Infinite, etcetera...) that means his Character is stronger than Sonic. But it does not work that way.

(Dorkly's Fan Fiction Dragon Ball Z)

You created a character with the intention of beating a Canon Character. But despite that mentality in creating it, you don’t really show off anything worthy of being on that level. The Sonic defeated Solaris. What’s saying that Solaris is as strong as the Canon one other than you saying “that’s how it goes”? Nothing because you don’t care about that. You just wanted to make a character that is stronger than Canon without putting in the work to make them stronger than canon.

Using my works for example, I stated things like “My Sonic naturally knows Ultra Instinct” and “The Satsui No Hado and the Power of Nothingness are basically God Ki from Dragon Ball”. But do I have feats that put them on the same levels as such? Honestly, no. I have Sonic going against UI Goku but only briefly. And even then, I don’t think my Sonic’s stats can reach what Death Battle gave Goku in GvS3. Same goes for those who use those in my comics. My only saving grace is saying my Akuma (who has the Power of Nothingness) being able to face reality warpers without making a comic highlighting that (yet... Unless you count the non-canon ones with Discord).

Another thing is I recall a Sonic.EXE character (Sonic.OMT) having the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emeralds and calling them toys. The problem is he does so because he controls the Game fully, so to him those Chaos Emeralds are toys. Not the same Chaos Emeralds that defeated Solaris or the Time Eater. If this thing were to actually fight someone using the Chaos Emeralds, the roles will definitely change since it can control its world, but the Chaos Emeralds can counter such things. So no, your Fan Character can not beat a Canon Character unless they actually have feats that can allow them as such.

Its the same logic as trying to use Crossovers to discredit or boost up a character. Spider-man hurt Superman, so Superman is much weaker than you think ignores various things like in-universe where Spider-man was radiating Red Sun Energy or out-universe things like "there wouldn't be much of a fight if we played it straight." Same for Batman beating Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic losing to Batman isn't because he's weaker than you expected its to make Batman look good despite being the weakest person in said crossover.

So I’m not saying any Canon Character can beat any Sonic.EXE Character. No way a Chao can survive long and Chris Thorndyke (a different canon) is the type of victim that those EXE Guys go after. But if your characters’ best feats are a list of names they defeated and nothing else, you don’t get the right to scale to those canon characters.

[glapplebloom]

The answer may surprise you...

Yesterday, you saw an article that was a response to a video. (Scrapped it. Wanted to stop the negative feelings.) But one thing I mentioned is that despite what people think, Friendship is Magic is not about Redeeming people. Now why do I know this? Because to answer a comment, I decided to find out exactly how many people have Friendship is Magic redeemed. I will be using the MLP Wiki Antagonists Listings to talk about how many are reformed or not. I’ll also keep a scorecard. I’ll be keeping the show (and movie) separate from the extended materials like comics, books and Equestria Girls.

Redeemed - 0 (Show Redeeded) | 0 (Show Total) | 0 (All Redeemed) | 0 (All Total)

The As

Only two exist in this section: Adagio Dazzle and Aria Blaze. They’re 2/3rds of the Sirens and are they redeemed? Nope! The next time you see them they have a nice music video but in truth they still hate it here and hate that they don’t have magic anymore. If they found magic that could restore them, they would likely try to be adored again. Sadly they only have technology to do it the old fashion way.

Redeemed - 0 (Show Redeeded) | 0 (Show Total) | 0 (All Redeemed) | 2 (All Total)

The Bs

Big Boy and Runt from IDW Comics. Blue Moon and North Star from the Books and the Boy Bullies from that one episode. Let's start off with the Gremlins. Nope. They blasted off again and outside cameos didn't make a significant appearance again. But what about the remaining guys? Sadly, this spoils the books for me because outside finding stuff for Discord I didn't look much into it so Blue Moon was possessed by Eclipse so I don't think that should count as a reformation. More like freeing someone from a curse. I won't include him but North Star does as he was part of a gang that attacked Daring Do. And the wiki has no mention of him reforming so he's not reformed. 

But now the Boy Bullies: Hoops, Dumb-Bell, and Score. Would you count them as reformed when they want to hang out with Dash after they win? Would you even call them Antagonists? The worst they do is tease ponies and we’ve seen in this show bullies who have done WAY worse! I won’t include them in this list because they don’t do anything significant that even suggests they need to be reformed. But if they had to be included, they would not be reformed because other media like the books and comics continue them teasing Rainbow Dash.

Redeemed - 0 (Show Redeeded) | 3 (Show Total) | 0 (All Redeemed) | 8 (All Total)

The Cs

Cozy Glow is the only named one in this section. And you know she ain’t redeemed. But also under this section are Circumstantial antagonists. The wiki states it as "a character who performs an antagonistic role for reasons that cannot be attributed to malice on part of his or her usual self. This category applies if the character would be considered an antagonist only because of external magical influence, the actions of his or her counterpart from an alternate universe, or another impetus entirely beyond the character's control." There are six named: Babs Seed (who was bullied and became one to avoid more bullying), Larry (who got magically zapped good but nothing suggest this was against his will), Celestia (exactly how?), Rarity (her fashion takeover after Spike gave her a book), and the Equestria Girls Trixie and Twilight, who got magically turned bad via mind control or peer pressure.

Now Twilight and Trixie are not going to be included because their turn to evil is because of outside influence. While IDW said the Shadow Creatures were originally influenced by Nightmare Moon, the way Larry acts in the story suggests otherwise, so I will call him reformed but with the Zapped Asterisk. Now Babs Seed had a reason (more than we got for Cozy Glow) and did it on her own accord, so I will include her as part of the reformed people. So they got one on the board!

Redeemed - 1 (Show Redeeded) | 5 (Show Total) | 2 (1 Zapped) (All Redeemed) | 11 (All Total)

The Ds

The Diamond Dogs and Dragons. These are species, not characters. I am going to count all unnamed Dragons as 1 because they were antagonistic to the ponies but thanks to Smolder they got reformed. But the Diamond Dogs it does seem some were already good. So Rover, Fido and Spot, who were apparently banished from Dimondia for being more rough than the rest of them are not considered reform because they don't really seem redemptive as well as the fact they continue to be villains in the Mobile Game.

Redeemed - 2 (Show Redeeded) | 9 (Show Total) | 3 (1 Zapped) (All Redeemed) | 15 (All Total)

The Fs

There are no Es so it's on to Fs. Filthy Rich, Flim and Flam. Pony Filthy Rich is not an antagonist. Maybe misguided in the Elections and that one mini-series, but I wouldn’t consider him an antagonist. His Equestria Girls counterpart, definitely. And meanwhile Flim and Flam are not only not redeemed, they’re the worst villains according to Twilight Sparkle. Yeah, they show up during the final battle but that’s more of a self-preservation kind of deal. And nothing suggests they were actually worthy of being in the Applejack Group Shot outside being an influence on her (for things to NOT do).

Redeemed - 2 (Show Redeeded) | 11 (Show Total) | 3 (1 Zapped) (All Redeemed) | 18 (All Total)

The Gs

Two only remain in the Gs: Gladmane and Grogar. Gladmane did not reform, he got his life destroyed. As for Grogar, the show was in fact Discord in disguise. But Grogar was real in the distant past. Gusty the Great stole his magic and he was never seen again. Considering Discord probably knew who he was, he probably based his impersonation on him, so I think it is safe to say not reformed.

Redeemed - 2 (Show Redeeded) | 13 (Show Total) | 3 (1 Zapped) (All Redeemed) | 20 (All Total)

The Is

No Hs, so onto Is. Iron Will is in this and if it was just based off Putting Your Hoof down I would not consider him an antagonist. Even with the IDW comics having him work with Chrysalis and others. But then Once Upon a Zeppelin happened and cemented him as antagonist. Since it ends with him having the only real lesson learned from Fluttershy is not to offer refunds, he’s definitely not redeemed.

Redeemed - 2 (Show Redeeded) | 14 (Show Total) | 3 (1 Zapped) (All Redeemed) | 21 (All Total)

The Ks

No Js, so onto Ks. Two kings are in this thing: King Longhorn and King Sombra. Man, talk about an easy layup. Neither of these ones reformed. In fact Sombra got killed twice (three times if you include the Transformers Crossover) and Longhorn is part of possibly the worst MLP Story. 

Redeemed - 2 (Show Redeeded) | 15 (Show Total) | 3 (1 Zapped) (All Redeemed) | 23 (All Total)

The Ls

Lightning Dust and Lord Tirek. Tirek, we know he ain’t reformed. But what about Lightning Dust? You could argue she isn’t really a villain considering she was just being overly competitive and wanted to create her own Wonderbolts with Flapjack and Fishing Gear but I think what cements her in the Antagonist Role is forcing Scootaloo to continue the act when she was second guessing herself and saying she’s Rivals for Life against Rainbow Dash. So No.

Redeemed - 2 (Show Redeeded) | 17 (Show Total) | 3 (1 Zapped) (All Redeemed) | 25 (All Total)

The Ms

It's Mane-Iac and her henchponies. I am not going to include them because they are fictional characters within the world of MLP. It’ll be like saying MLP has failed to reform Robotnik despite being in a completely different continuity. We know Daring Do is real, but we don’t know if these guys are.

Redeemed - 2 (Show Redeeded) | 17 (Show Total) | 3 (1 Zapped) (All Redeemed) | 25 (All Total)

The Ps

No Ns and the only one in O is Opaline, who is a Generation 5 villain. This is only counting Friendship is Magic. In the Ps we got Parasprites, Plunderseeds, Princess Eris, Principal Cinch. Considering Parasprites are a species that act on instinct and Plunderseeds which are plants, I will not be counting them. Principal Cinch definitely is a villain who was not redeemed and in fact lost her Principal Job. And Princess Eris is definitely still a bad guy who got blasted off again. So no reformations for them.

Redeemed - 2 (Show Redeeded) | 17 (Show Total) | 3 (1 Zapped) (All Redeemed) | 27 (All Total)

The Qs

Queen Chrysalis. Do I really need to say anything?

Redeemed - 2 (Show Redeeded) | 18 (Show Total) | 3 (1 Zapped) (All Redeemed) | 27 (All Total)

The Rs

I bet you’re wondering, there are definitely names missing on this list, so what gives? That’s because they’re on a separate list: the Reformed Antagonists. 38 Entries so let’s see how fast the numbers go up! Ahuizotl was never a villain. He was an antagonist because Daring Do was the hero and was stealing the stuff he was trying to protect. Babs Seed and the Boy Bullies were already mentioned. Buck Withers was definitely a worse bully than the Trio mentioned, so I'll count him since he is friends with Shining now. Chancellor Neighsay and the Changelings count. Diamond Tiara, Discord, Dr. Caballeron and his Henchponies count so that's a nice big number to add. 

Should I count Double Diamond though? He was doing his job, so he didn't know until it was later revealed. I'll count it. Garble, Gilda, Gloriosa and Grubber definitely are in the reformed side. And yes, Grubber reformed thanks to the books. Indigo Zap, Juniper Montage, Kiwi Lollipop and Supernova Zap, Lemon Zest... All reformed. When were the Method Mares considered Antagonists? Was it because they were uppity on the stage? Again, G4 only so Misty and Posey won't be included. Also, Misty I think had the best redemption arc of the two generations.

Princess Luna definitely got the Zapped good treatment. And honestly she's the perfect example of why that method isn't as good as you think. She was good, still had issues that she blamed herself for her actions, but the resentment between her and her sister still exists. If it wasn't for the Map and Starlight Glimmer, we may have seen the return of Nightmare Moon or possibly Daybreaker. And Shadow Lock definitely is on the reform side.

The Shadowbolts I am not going to say are reformed because we only really know a few of them. So only the named and focused ones will be included. Silver Spoon is a plus. But can we really blame Snips and Snails for their infatuation with Sunset? Eh, might as well. Sour Sweet is added. Sprout is not. Starlight Glimmer is honestly the best example of how redemptions work. It's not something to give, it's something to take. If you're not willing to hear the other side, you are not redeemable.

Stygian is a case where I would argue that Starswirl was more in the wrong. So consider this more symbolic that Stygian or Starswirl are the one added. Sugar Coat and Sunny Flare are added. And of course Sunset Shimmer with the Zapped Asterisk. Tempest Shadow technically thanks to being around the person who told her working with the Storm King was a bad idea. And Vignette Valencia and Wallflower Blush are included.

Trixie I am going to stand by and say she is not an antagonist. In her first episode, she was a braggart and used her magic to make fun of other ponies, but nothing on the same level as above since she was basically taking it out on hecklers. And it ain't her fault kids don't understand Kayfabe. Her second episode was magically induced evil. And every future appearance was more along the lines of that one college friend who wasn't really mature. So I am not going to include Trixie. She did nothing wrong.

So 17 canon reformations with 1 Asterisk and 33 total with 2 Asterisk all from this section. So adding it to the score...

Redeemed - 19 (1 Zapped) (Show Redeeded) | 35 (Show Total) | 36 (2 Zapped) (All Redeemed) | 60 (All Total)

The Ss

Shadowbolts are Luna's creations and not real. Sludge, Sonata Dusk, Spoiled Rich, Suri Polomare and Svengallop are definitely not reformed. But who is Sunflower? That's Babs Seed's older sister. But why is she listed here? That's because she was a jerk in Equestria Girls. Like honestly, outside being neglectful to her pet and wanting to be popular, nothing really stands out compared to other bully characters.

Redeemed - 19 (1 Zapped) (Show Redeeded) | 39 (Show Total) | 36 (2 Zapped) (All Redeemed) | 65 (All Total)

The Ts

The Dazzlings and Trixie's Band are not going to count because we already included all the Dazzlings and Trixie's bandmates were also influenced like Trixie. The Timberwolves are a species so they are not going to be included. The Storm King, get in here!

Redeemed - 19 (1 Zapped) (Show Redeeded) | 40 (Show Total) | 36 (2 Zapped) (All Redeemed) | 66 (All Total)

The Ws

The last letter. Windrider and the Windigos. Windrider definitely didn’t get redeemed. In fact his career was ruined. As for the Windigos, you would think I would put them under the animal thing like the Parasprites or the Timberwolves, but considering they exist only when there’s disharmony kind of shows they can’t be redeemed. It's in their nature. And there is a reformed Windigo in the game...

Redeemed - 19 (1 Zapped) (Show Redeeded) | 42 (Show Total) | 36 (2 Zapped) (All Redeemed) | 68 (All Total)

Missing

I’ve noticed there are some characters missing in the Antagonist side. I don’t blame them, I would prefer to not remember some of them, but for completion sake they got to be included. Braze, a Zebra who was an antagonist in the Rainbow Dash book. Lord Goldstone, the guy who tried to take all of Canterlot and tried to prevent the truth from being revealed. Bad Apple, evil Apple who controlled other Apples. Cosmos, the one who "totally did all the bad things Discord did during Celestia's time". Swift Foot, the wanna be Cozy Glow who actually deserved to be reformed. Her family, Blonn Di, King Diomedes, Shining Light, Terri Belle and King Thrace.

Shadow Storm, Black Belle and Violet Shiver who did get reformed. I'll throw in Grackle and Dyre too since they are definitely more EQ inspired than G1. Evil Celestia and Luna from the comics, who were Zapped Good, and finally because I can't be bothered to find anymore, Shadowfall and Scarlet Petal, with Scarlet manipulated by Shadowfall.

Redeemed - 19 (1 Zapped) (Show Redeeded) | 42 (Show Total) | 45 (4 Zapped) (All Redeemed) | 87(All Total)

Another POV...

I asked Discord about this and someone came up with a list of those who were redeemed. Some I didn’t include because I mentioned above why but there are a few names I didn’t seem to bring up. But there were some I didn’t consider. The Manticore, The Cockatrice, Princess Platinum, Chancellor Puddinghead, Commander Hurricane, Coco Pommel, Scorpan, Prince Rutherford, Moondancer (if you count this you're horrible lmao), Sassy Saddles, The Hooffields, The McColts, Countess Coloratura, Snowfall, Zephyr Breeze, Quibble Pants, Sky Stinger, Grand Pear, Sable Spirit, Pharynx, Thorax, Rumble, The Army of the Storm King, Capper, The Parrot Pirates.

The Manticore and Cockatrice I wouldn’t consider them antagonists because they are more animal than free thinkers. Not to mention the Manticore was only attacking because of a thorn in its paw. Princess Platinum, Chancellor Puddinghead and Commander Hurricane I probably wouldn’t call them antagonists. Wars are tricky because unless it's really obvious, you don’t know which side is right. In this case, those three were distrustful with the other ponies because they all felt the same way. Same for the Hooffields and McColts and also not mentioned Buffalo and the APPLEOOSA people. 

I do not consider Moondancer an antagonist because she really wasn’t one. Same for for Coco (more of a victim of abuse), Scorpan (who honestly seemed like a good boy), Prince Rutherford (culture differences), Sassy Saddles (who was trying to help), Coloratura (who didn’t know her manager was doing these things), Snowfall (because as of right now they are considered a fictional character), Zephyr Breeze (who was just lazy), Quibble Pants (who was just highly opinionated), Sky Stinger (who was overconfident), Grand Pear (who was a rival and wanted to do what was best for the Pears), and the Parrot Pirates (who were pretty much forced into this situation.

Thorax was always good but in a bad crowd. Once he left, he did nothing bad, Pharynx is a tricky one. On the one hand, he does seem stuck in the Changeling way. On the other hand, he was there for his brother as well as always having the best for the Changelings in mind. Even with Chrysalis leaving and Thorax taking over, he was loyal to the Changelings, not the Queen. So I am going to consider him part of the Changelings because he was reformed the same way they were: they saw a better way and chose it.

Rumble is an interesting case. He was an antagonist on the show because he was afraid. You could say he was giving an alternate Point of View but he was basically ruining their camp as well as others chances for a Cutie Mark. So he should count. The Army of the Storm King were dancing at the end, but that could just be for show. Nothing really indicates they are good or waiting for the next ruler to take command. Not like Grubber with the books. So I am not going to include them in the redeemed. You could add it to yourself but it doesn’t really change my point.

Sable Spirit on the other hand was definitely a bad guy who turned good. Because if Mistmane is real, so is Sable Spirit. So 2 more added.

Redeemed - 21 (1 Zapped) (Show Redeeded) | 44 (Show Total) | 38 (2 Zapped) (All Redeemed) | 70 (All Total)

Conclusion

There is a possibility I did my math wrong somewhere. But if I did not, Out of the 44 Antagonists of the show, only 21 (or 22) of them got reformed. In total, a little better since they are over half. But considering how close to 50/50 it is, it really shows you that it is not really about redemption. You can only redeem people who would want to be redeemed. You could give them the chance but ultimately they have to take it to make it work. 

Are you surprised by the results?

[glapplebloom]

Yep, doing this one more time...

So I have defended Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood twice before so why am I doing it a third time? Well, Firebrand returned to MLP Reviews and his first new G4 episode features these two. It's just a shame they definitely have a strong dislike for the two. So I figured after you see their review I would give counter arguments for some of their thoughts. 

The Episode in General

Let’s start off with something I do agree on: the episode is good in a bubble. My review on the episode was more positive but a good number of their criticisms are on the nose. It’s way too late in the game to introduce Scootaloo’s parents and to do so by making them basically the antagonists of the story? It’s trying to jam in three things in this one episode: revealing Scootaloo’s parents, being an episode about moving and a tribute to the Crusaders. Any one of these could be an episode on its own and maybe the tribute alongside them could work, but trying all three didn’t give it the room it needed, especially since they mostly focused on Scootaloo’s side and not giving the parents a fair shake.

Which is why I am okay with Shutter and Allgood unlike Firebrand and Aramau. I am blaming the writing on it, not the characters themselves. The writing didn’t present them much outside saying they are Scootaloo’s parents, why they weren’t here and saying they’re gonna move. They give a reason but not show why it is so important to them. The writing wants you to favor Scootaloo without giving their side a good argument. Which is why I was hoping there would be a comparison to the Bluey episode “The Sign” outside one clip.

The Sign is an episode about Bluey not wanting to move when her parents do. We don’t have to worry about the sudden introduction to Bluey’s Parents because they were always part of the show. We didn’t have to suddenly switch from liking them to hating them because the previous episode, Ghostbasket, set up this episode. And we didn’t have just Bluey’s point of view to see this through. We got Bingo’s POV who was naive until much later. We got Chilli’s POV of someone who understands wanting to move but really not wanting to either. And we got Bandit’s POV where he feels like he has to move but is slowly realizing that maybe it's not what they need.

That episode gave us multiple Point of Views and showed Bluey eventually accepting it because everything will work out in the end. Luckily for her fate had it so the people who originally bought the house changed their minds and seeing the move and how it made him feel made Bandit change his mind about moving at all. So we get one more episode to end the season and a movie in the works. The MLP episode, in contrast, just said why and not show us. So we sympathize more with Scootaloo because we know her more and we follow her more this episode. The episode would be stronger if it focused on both sides, but for that to be effective we couldn’t have new parents.

The Wild Thornberrys are not Good Examples

When explaining why Scootaloo’s parents couldn’t take them away, they brought up the Wild Thornberrys since they brought their kids along on their world trotting adventures. The thing is, they’re not really a good example of what they want to express. Yes, they did bring their two kids and adopted a third so they can spend time with them but they’re in the same universe as the Rugrats, which means parents are not very good at parental supervision. While the parents are off doing their jobs, Elisa is off doing who knows what wherever they are. I don’t remember much of the series outside her trying to help two Tortoises get busy, but a look at the Wikipedia dedicated to the show you get the Trivia note “Eliza has had several near-death encounters both with animals, other humans and nature itself.”

But we don’t know what Scootaloo would be like out there... Except we do in the comics. In an issue where we see Scootaloo visit her parents, we see what she would be like when they do their job. And she was miserable. And this is in a controlled environment, where they already know a good deal about the animals there but need further research. Imagine what would happen in the wild with an unknown animal. Yet if she went with her parents, she would have been used to it naturally... Then she wouldn’t be the Scootaloo we know. Which leads to the other half of the Thornberry Kids: Debbie. This video highlights how miserable she is during all this. She loves her family but she’s a teenager. This is a time to develop into her own person and she can’t because she’s stuck with them. 

So taking a child with you to a dangerous place would at best mess with their development and at worst put them in a situation that no child should be put under. And we have a third example of that in the very same show: Donnie. His parents took him with them and they died, leaving him to be raised by Orangutans. So yeah, the Wild Thornberrys are not the parents you want to emulate. They’re the perfect example of why Scootaloo’s parents were in the right. Scootaloo grew up to be the Scootaloo we know and love. But this is where their criticism could have worked if they used a different Nicktoon: Hey Arnold.

Miles and Stella Shortman are similar to Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood as their jobs are important for science. Specifically, Miles is an Anthropologist and Stella was a Botanist. They were basically adventurers but when they had a child, they decided to give up their life so they could raise their child in a normal environment. This is a much better example of what some parents would do for their child so they can grow up to be healthy and develop into their own person. But they’re also an example of why Snap and Mane had to leave Scootaloo behind. 

A previous adventure had them help the Green-Eyed People deal with a sleeping sickness. They were infected by it once more and the only people who know how to cure it are the Shortmans. Knowing the possible danger this could be, Miles and Stella left Arnold behind with a support system so they could help those people in need. And they were never seen for 9 to 10 years because they too fell to that Sleeping Sickness. If they took Arnold there, he would either be sleeping alongside them (being a baby in a 10 year old body) or being raised alongside the Green-Eyed Kids, making him no longer the Arnold we know. So considering how dangerous their jobs are but also how important it is (apparently), they couldn’t rightfully take Scootaloo with her.

Daring Do is a Joke

When the parents brought up how important their job was to Equestria, the Firebrands countered with Daring Do. There are two problems with this. First, the thing another commenter brought up, she’s not in the same field as them. They study animal and plant life. Daring Do is an Archeologist. She deals with animals but it's not because she wants to understand how they work. It's usually because they’re attacking her. If she could deal with animals as well as zoologist, she wouldn’t need Fluttershy to help with the map Spiders in the IDW Comics. It’ll be like asking Lara Croft to help with a Tyrannosaurus and we know how that ended up.

And the other problem, the one that came to my mind first, is that nobody outside the Mane Six knows she’s real. Even after revealing it in the Journal of Friendship, nobody knows Daring Do is a real person doing those real things. If you told this to someone who is from Equestria, they would laugh because they would think you probably think the Power Ponies are real as well. So Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood’s jobs are things only they could do. It's just a shame we don’t get a hint of this at all until the Mystery Books.

Sombra being the Last Staw

Why was it Sombra being the last straw and not anyone they listed? Let’s see... Discord by that point was already dealt with before being reported. The Pony of Shadows did nothing to Ponyville. Tempest Shadow did nothing to Ponyville. Nightmare Moon was beaten in a day. Tirek, Cozy Glow and Chrysalis individually threatened everyone everywhere and together were unknown. But you know who directly took control of Ponyville and used those people to invade Canterlot? Sombra. You know who took the best of the Mane Six and still almost won? Sombra. You know who enslaved their kid to make them invade Canterlot? Sombra.

I said Season 9 made Sombra a MUCH better villain and honestly talking like this really highlights it. Outside the finale, he was the closest to winning. He defeated the Mane Six. He took their best shot against him away from them. It was only a last minute speech that gave Twilight the push she needed to defeat him once and for all. He basically was a preview about how the final fight was going to go beat for beat. So yes, Sombra was definitely the perfect reason for them to come back.

Moving without her consent

This is a big flaw with the writing as it doesn’t allow the Parents to give their side. So they are right to feel that way because the writing doesn’t want us to be on their side. I mentioned this above about the Signs episode being an example of handling this story better. Which makes me question their Wild Thornberrys example. Debbie is Scootaloo in this case. She was ripped away from whatever life she had most likely without her consent and honestly for a worse reason than Scootaloo’s parents. And this is what the Wild Thornberrys Wiki says about Nigel...

He considered taking a professorship at Oxford in order to allow his daughters to have "normal" lives and to have human friends (in Eliza's case), but even this honor won't quench the need for adventure in his blood as he continues his journeys to the far corners of the globe in search of one elusive species after another. 

Say what you will about Scootaloo’s parents, they at least are just moving to a place where the girls can still see each other in one location. Any friends Eliza or Debbie had will need to plan a whole trip to a random place every single time in order to do the same. 

Steve Irwin and Jane Goodall

They call them diet Steve Irwin and Jane Goodall since they were inspired by them but that got me wondering: what were they like? I know Steve Irwing was the Crocodile Hunter and sadly passed away from a Stingray incident but what was his family life? "On 2 January 2004, Irwin carried his one-month-old son, Robert, in his arm while hand-feeding a chicken carcass to Murray, a 3.8-metre (12 ft 6 in) saltwater crocodile." I would say this makes Snap Shutter better, but IDW basically recreates this with an older Scootaloo. And like the comic, Steve Irwin was in complete control of the situation. But the one thing I keep noticing is that Steve Irwin has a crew, which makes him much better than the Thornberrys who only have the parents working.

Now what about Jane Goodall. I remember a Simpsons joke about her. But man, she did a lot of stuff. Just check out the wiki entry on her. Honestly, how much they have done for animal research shows just how important people like them are. We don’t get to see Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood do this, but if it is anything like them their job is very important. It is just a shame the wiki doesn't really talk about how they handle their family life alongside their job life. It does seem Steve Irwing does have his family involved with animals, but in safe conditions. In situations where he has to go into the wild, like the time of his death, they were more likely safe to ensure that anything that happened to him won’t happen to them. And to this day, they continue to honor his memory.

Nani’s Parenting Style

They were comparing Nani’s parental style to Shutter’s Cutie Mark Analysis. In their words: “Nani doesn't try to tear down Lilo's quirks and logic. She adapts to it, compromises with her, takes the time to understand her feelings, and makes them feel valid.” And this is true to the original movie. Ignoring the remake, another thing that separates the two situations is intentions. Nani is doing this because they only got each other. Nani is trying to juggle having a job and being a parent shortly after losing both of their parents. She had no help and no plans outside trying to find a job and keeping Lilo.

If there was a job where they would have to move to the States, unlike the remake, Lilo would probably be upset because her entire life was on this island. While Nani would try to make her understand, if Lilo continues to refuse do you think Nani wouldn’t force her into moving as well? In that situation, Nani would likely make Lilo move against her will because that’s the only way they could be together. And in Scootaloo’s Parents’ case, the only way they know of now. They are kids. Unless they’re really mature for their ages, they don’t like changes. See the Bluey episode mentioned above.

Another example is from Doug. Specifically the first of the Disney era. Doug didn’t want to move to the city. But he did, likely against his will, and his life changed for the better honestly. He met his best friend Skeeter. He met the love of his life Pattie. And he went on to have many adventures in the original run and Disney’s version. Yeah, he didn’t want to move but in the end the parents tend to have final say on things regardless of the child’s feelings. It’s because they tend to not understand things and if the show didn’t just focus on Scootaloo’s side we would have more time to understand their reason.

I never thought I'd be the best at anything, because nopony ever told me.

This line came from Parental Glideance. Season 7 Episode 7. The Last Crusade was Season 9 episode 12. That’s 58 episodes apart. Now why did she say that when we see her Aunts doing an excellent job? Well, Parental Glideance was written by Josh Hamilton. They wrote four episodes. 3 Season 7 episodes and 1 Season 8. The Last Crusade was written by Nicole Dubuc. She wrote 12 episodes, became an Executive producer, Co-Story Editor with Josh Haber, wrote animated shorts and most importantly, alongside Michael Vogel, wrote the Ponyville Mysteries.

It is that series that introduced us to Aunt Lofty and Holiday and mentioned Scootaloo’s parents. It should also be noted that Michael Vogel was working on the series since Season 6 and wrote not only a lot of episodes but the movie as well (alongside Meghan McCarthy and Rita Hsiao). So these two definitely have a lot of influence on the show compared to Josh Hamilton. So while the Scorchers try to headcanon why Scootaloo would say this line, the simplest solution is usually the best solution.

Parental Glideance wanted Dash to forgive her parents. So what better way is there to show Dash had a good life by comparing it to someone who didn’t have the overly positive upbringing that Dash had. And since Scootaloo seemingly doesn’t have parents and has a bond with Scootaloo, why not confirm people’s headcanon’s by putting that line in. Not knowing months later from the public showing of the episode, a Mystery Book would show Scootaloo has Aunts who do look after her and do take good care of her. We see this all the time in the IDW Comics compared to the show and this is another example of inconsistencies within the franchise. 

They read her letters 20 times

So how do I defend them reading Scootaloo’s letters 20 times yet not realizing how important her job is? Ironically, using this review. They didn’t really appreciate Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood’s jobs because they don’t have a lot of information, just what was told to them. Just like how they had only Scootaloo’s letters talking about it and not seeing the impact they have. There’s a big difference between reading about something and seeing it first hand. That’s why Dead Meat always tells people to watch the movie before their Kill Count because their videos are not intended to replace the experience of watching the movie.

Experience is very important to understanding things. I can write a summary of the Undertaker Vs Mankind from King of the Ring 98 but seeing it for yourself is a completely different experience. You could read or watch someone’s review but seeing it for yourself may give you something you wouldn’t know if you just stuck with the review. It's my experiences that is probably why I am more cool with Scoot’s parents while their idea to improve the episode is based on their experience. 

How do we fix them?

Their solution, other than having them dead, was to be Military Pones. To them, this is a more relatable situation but ultimately doesn’t fix the problem. They also suggest having episodes prior to that to establish it. The problem is two fold. First, they were already established in other media. Like how Maud was first introduced in the Books, so was Scootaloo’s family. Those who follow those stuff probably weren't as surprised as the Scorchers. Second, exactly when? How do you establish something naturally in scenes where there’s no opening for such a subject.

Take Shining Armor for example. Nothing to establish he exists prior to his debut. But exactly when do you bring him up? During the Sleepover? During Winter Wrap Up? During her obsession with trying to find a Friendship problem? It's hard to do. It's why Flutter Brutter worked so well, the episode in question is not only introducing us to Fluttershy’s Family but is focused on a specific dynamic with it. No need for introducing them only to change it to a completely different story that paints them in a negative light. He can paint that himself.

So how do we fix the Scootaloo Parents situation? Make the episode about Scootaloo wanting to impress them by trying to be more like them. It’ll introduce us to them, show us what they specifically do because Scootaloo would try and fix it, make it so they want her to be like herself not to be what she thinks they would want and then show that Cutie Mark Celebration. I know this could work because the IDW Comic Zion was talking about was sort of like that. Granted, it was them trying to show her their life and her wanting to live up to them but in the end they told her she doesn’t need to change to impress them because they love her.

But what if the show HAD to make an episode about moving? Well, it has to be the Crusaders because they’re kids. It should be about the parents wanting to move but the Apples are definitely Ponyville Residents for life (and maybe death) and we haven’t established Scootaloo’s parents yet. If only there were another pair of parents who were already introduced. Who people already had a bad opinion on because despite their introduction we don’t actually see them as much. Oh right, Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumble. They established themselves and showed up a few times in the show. They can be perfect for an episode about moving and Sweetie Belle not wanting to move.

Since we know who they are, there is no need to establish them. Since we know they live in Ponyville, we know they probably have first hand experience and a good reason to move. And with the extra time we can explore their side of the reason for leaving. Also you know who also weren’t there for the Crusader’s Cute-Cenera? Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumble. Scootaloo’s parents were away doing science forwarding stuff. What are Sweetie’s parents' excuses? Another vacation?

My Final Thoughts

I doubt I’m gonna sway people, but I am glad I got to put my thoughts into something more thorough. It is nice to have something to bounce off of. And I doubt I am going to change their minds as I have seen people still think such after reading my previous ones. But I have to at least try because I’ve seen the other side of the coin. My family had to be away at times so they could provide for me. I’ve seen stories of wrestlers missing their children’s moments because they’re away making sure their child can live a happy life. I’ve seen many stories of parents going somewhere and never returning against their will. So them being considered bad parents is just not what I see.

They have an important job to do that is not explored, and they left Scootaloo behind to be taken care of by a rotation of guardians. And I think it was for the better because this episode showed just how much she developed as her own pony. She wouldn’t have done any of this if they took her with them. Instead of making her a doctrinated version of themselves, they gave her the chance to grow up into her own pony. And they showed in this episode and the IDW Comic that they couldn’t be prouder of her.

[glapplebloom]

The evidence presented, and an attempt to debunk it...

Ever since the Amazing Digital Circus came to be, a popular theory is that Jax is an NPC or an AI. You saw it in Film Theory and it continues to even an upload this year. But theories are kind of a lot like a Research Battle: you can take the same source and come up with different conclusions depending on what you want to look for. And while Gooseworx apparently debunked it (not really), I think it's fun to see why people thought that way and see another angle on said thing.

Gummigoo and Caine

Caine can lose track of who is a Human and who is an NPC. So he deletes NPCs before he does so. He claims who knows what could happen while implying this did happen before. Film Theory went with this has happened before with an NPC living among the humans. They took the angle of Caine not being able to get rid of Abstractions as him unable to destroy humans, but is that true? Well, look at Zooble. They can pretty much change their body to whatever they want by mixing and matching things. They’re probably the answer to the Ship of Theseus: whatever the final form takes is the true Zooble. 

So if Zooble can be taken apart and Caine has shown numerous examples of messing with them and fixing them, it should go without saying that he probably did Thanos Snapped a Human by Accident. But why keep the Abstracted? He is an AI so it could possibly be a case of the Three Laws of Robotics to prevent him from fully destroying them. Heck, his accidental destruction could be the reason the Digital Circus is glitching out so much. But that’s a different theory, and all I did was just make it so it could be one or the other. 

Caine making Advanced NPCs

Because Caine is making NPCs more immersive for the adventures, Film Theory believes this is evidence that there could be an NPC in the Digital Circus, even among them. Though considering he made the NPCs in Episode 2 57 times more Immersive, this implies NPCs were not that advanced prior. Of course, we do get Episode 5 showing us what I presume is an NPC looking in the background but we’ll get back to this later. But for now, Caine does leave the opening for NPCs not being as advanced as Gummigoo before Episode 2.

Jax Quirks

Jax being the only one able to keep his head steady during the Rocky Road. Gravity not affecting him like the others. Able to get into places he shouldn’t. Steal the key to the Kingdom Walls. Break the 4th Wall. Interested in food. Yeah, these are interesting quirks... If you’re stuck with the first two episodes like the Film Theory video I’m using was. Episode 3, which came out months after, showed that all of them have wacky quirks that are exclusive to them. The first few minutes was about them holding their breaths and what happens to them.

And honestly, by their nature, all of them have wacky Quirks since episode 1. Gangle is a bunch of strings that forms a body. Zooble can mix and match body parts to their desires. Kinger has no arms or neck but can still move his hands. Pomni was pulling out her eyes and stretching beyond any normal limit. Jax’s quirks seem to be more about adapting to this Digital Circus better than the others. And as Film Theory said themselves, despite saying he was hungry he wasn’t even eating the food. So he probably just said it to be a jerk about it.

Rouge AI

A guy who wants to go on adventures because as long as he gets to see funny things. That’s Film Theory’s thoughts after two episodes. But this could mean he is a jerk which is also obviously what he is considering how often he picks on Gangle. There’s more to this but I’ll save that for later...

Not going to the Funeral and Merchandise

These two were used to explain how he could be AI, but these are related to each other. So this is going to be explained later...

Caine is not able to control the Human Characters This Way

Because of a Vote, Jax is a Vegan for most of Episode 5. Because in Episode 1 he said he can’t control anyone’s mind. But keep in mind, entering the Digital Circus makes people erase the memories of their names and only their names. And since this was done because of a vote, this goes in line with the idea that the Digital Circus can mess with their minds. And considering they can vote without speaking it out loud, this is probably a feature. We see Jax trying to use the Voting System to turn Zooble into a slug and without saying a word, all voted no.

Has No Backstory

Has no backstory because he hasn’t revealed it yet.

What can Debunk the Theory

Episode 4 and 5 to me really sells it to me that he can’t be an NPC (assuming they all are human). Pretty much, this is when he isn’t in control. Episode 4 shows him doing a boring job and breaking down after it was over. And Episode 5 showed him at his most frustrated. He’s angry. He’s confused. He’s flustered. He’s scared. While Gummigoo did show emotions, they weren’t as varied as Jax is showing. The way Ragitha brought up an old friend Jax had really opened up a wound. 

So the merchandise showing how his stuff is ruined and tattered could be an example of his emotions: trying to keep in control as everything goes around him. How he doesn’t show up for the funeral to hide his feelings. How he questions if Gangle could be happy because despite possibly tormenting her for who knows how long is surprised to see how much she changed. For people who still think the NPC theory, the last two episodes showed me how human he is.

Of course that’s implying they’re not copies of humans who entered the thing or the like. Who knows how it’ll end.

[glapplebloom]

Not all of Sonic Boom, just Sticks.

Sticks the Badger is one of the new characters created for the Sonic Boom spinoff Series. From what I can tell, it is a creation of the American Side of Sega, so should be in a similar boat to Sally, Bunnie and the other SatAM Characters, but she has one thing that no other spinoff character has: an actual reference in a mainline game. So by the virtue of being mentioned, she should be canon. Yet despite that name drop, has not yet made an appearance in a recent game or even in IDW. Heck, official winter artwork had her drawn out. So is she canon?

Honestly, I think she is. And long before this name drop. For starters, she has an Official Sega Channel Artwork. That is usually reserved for any Modern Sonic character, including rarely used ones like Gamma and Tikal. Speaking of appearing in official artwork, she was featured in the 25th Anniversary Sonic Channel Comic Strips. She first appears in Act 12 alongside Modern Amy, got her own strip in Act 18, and appeared alongside everyone else in the Special Stage Strip.

In terms of game appearances, outside the Sonic Boom ones, she surprisingly got plenty. Sonic Runners was created by Sonic Team for Mobile Devices. Sticks was one of the playable characters, the only representative of Sonic Boom, and they had a crossover with Puyo Puyo. The other game appearance: Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. She appeared in a major crossover game alongside other Sonic characters as a playable character (sadly only in Archery). 

Now the problem is despite believing so, you could argue she isn’t. As mentioned before, she was taken off official art made by Min Ho Kim in 2023. To be fair, she was replaced by Blaze who was absent in the original. She has yet to appear in the IDW comics, even stated as rejected by Sega during the first story arc. And despite the other mobile games including IDW, Movie and Sonic Prime Characters into their games, Sticks the Badger has yet to appear in a game after 2016. It seems for Sticks to have an actual presence in the Sonic Franchise again, she’ll be needing a new entry point...

That’s where Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds could come in. Rumor has it that it will be a multiverse affair, similar to how the Sonic X Shadow Generations DLC handled the Shadow Movie Version being a playable character. So there is a possibility that we will see a multiverse of characters in this game. Could be the Movie Characters, could be Sonic Prime, and maybe Sonic Boom will be included and give them an excuse to keep Sticks in the main Sonic Universe. 

[glapplebloom]

Just ignore anything related to the Elements of Harmony.

So I saw a Youtube Post I couldn’t find again, but it had an interesting subject. Which of these artifacts are the most powerful: The Alicorn Amulet, The Crystal Heart, the Staff of Sacanas and Grogar’s Bell. So which of these would be considered the most powerful? Let’s take a look at each of them.

The Alicorn Amulet comes from the episode Magical Duel. Despite what some posters say, the Alicorn Amulet does two specific things: give the user untold power and corrupt the user. Of course, between being vague you can make up anything for untold power. But between what we’ve seen Starlight Glimmer do and others, it's safe to assume it lives up to its name: it gives the user the same strength as an Alicorn.

The Crystal Heart is the Crystal Empire’s greatest treasure. With its power, it was able to create a powerful shield that not only keeps the Empire safe from Sombra’s dark magic, but also the weather of the North. Weather so terrible that not even two Alicorn Princesses could stop it. And they have all the attributes of Earth and Pegasi Ponies. So that should mean strength and weather controlling.

The Staff of Sacanas is the Staff used in the MLP movie. According to Tempest, it channels the Magic of the Four Alicorns and will give its user the Power of a Thousand Armies. And It also gives him the ability to move the Sun and Moon as easily as moving a Staff. 

Grogar’s Bell, also known as the Bewitching Bell, is a talisman containing much of Grogar’s magic. It also has this neat feature to not only suck the magic of its target, but grant its user the Magic of those within it. So which of these four objects are the most powerful outside of the Elements of Harmony.

Off the Bat: the Staff of Sacanas is out of this picture. It requires the Four Alicorns to be as powerful as it was in the movie. Not to mention a long ritual compared to the Bell’s simple ring and suck. So the Staff of Sacanas might as well be just a Staff unless it can find four different Alicorns. Even giving it the Storm King's power like in the Equestria Girls special isn't enough considering he needed Alicorn Power to be a threat.

The next one out of contention for me is the Alicorn Amulet. Off the bat, the fact it corrupts the user means it’s not going to be very helpful in the long run. But ignoring that, the fact it gives you the strength of an Alicorn when both the Crystal Heart and Grogar’s Bell took out a threat that is the equivalent of two Alicorns. And 1/3 of the Power granted by the Bell took out an Alicorn level threat. Which you can probably see where I’m going with this.

The Crystal Heart is in 2nd place since it was a key feature in Sombra’s first defeat. And the fact it was able to contain a Storm two Alicorns couldn’t definitely proves its strength. Granted, it needs the love from the Crystal Empire to activate but considering how easy it is to get it's not really that difficult like the Staff of Sacanas to get powered up. It's just a shame it can’t defeat Discord.

Grogar (who was Discord in disguise) sent Sombra in the middle of the Crystal Empire. Where the Heart is. And despite activating it again, Sombra was still standing there. That means Discord gave him the means to no sell the Crystal Heart. But you know what Discord couldn’t stop: the Bewitching Bell. It gave the three villains the strength to match Discord (because why would he still keep the act unless his ego prevented it) and stole his magic with ease.

The Bewitching Bell also has Grogar’s Magic within it, meaning it is already strong enough without any extra charge time. And granting its user that much magic that could match or even Surpass Discord’s definitely means this thing is the most powerful of the Artifacts outside the Elements of Harmony. 

[glapplebloom]

Yep, this is a thing for some reason.

Mordetwi, as said on Know Your Meme, is the portmanteau name given to a crossover ship between the characters Mordecai from Regular Show and Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. The couple was first shipped in 2011 from a fanfiction called Earthworm Zim. Honestly, I thought it was because of the Artwork with Airplanes.

Now I have my fair share of Crackships (if you’re reading this article, you probably have seen my comics), but the question is “could Twilight and Mordecai work as a couple”. In theory, any relationship could happen. And the idea of a slacker pairing off with a hard worker is a common trope. But could Moedetwi work? Let’s analyze.

Twilight has two potential canon love interests, and they’re both Flash Sentry. One is a pony that she is physically attractive to, but nothing ever comes up beyond that. The other is a boy she was obviously crushing on. Despite looking like a rocker, he is kind of a dork when trying to impress ladies. So that sounds like Mordecai, at least in the early seasons.

When we see Mordecai with Margaret, he’s also dorkish when trying to impress her. But then we get to CJ, who he is MUCH better when doing date things. So if this were to happen, Mordecai would definitely be smoother than he was with Margaret. And speaking of Margaret and CJ, let’s compare them to how Twilight is.

While Margaret is down to earth at times, she is definitely a career woman. She broke up with Mordecai when she had to go to college and still have that job by the end of the series. So you could say that is similar to Twilight considering she’s so focused on her studies and her title as Princess. CJ, who I honestly prefer, is pretty close to Mordecai as she’s just as laid back as he is. But considering how that ended, that could have been the problem.

Mordecai’s break up with CJ was just horrible. He did it in front of his friend’s wedding and still didn’t end up with Margaret. There’s also the Bat Lady he ends up with in the series finale, but we don’t know much about her to really give an understanding of what she is like. But it does show that Mordecai won’t make a butt of himself again like with CJ.

If Mordecai got anything going for him, it's that each time he’s in a relationship he improves. His dates with Margaret usually had problems. CJ’s were smoother, but the unresolved Margaret issues was the big reason it sank. But with those cleared up, any future relationship should be even better than with CJ. And the Bat Lady proves it.

Back with Twilight, if we compare Flash Sentry to Mordecai, we know they could be dorky and awkward around their love interest. But Flash is also nice. Mordecai is nice as well, but we’ve seen his fits of anger from time to time, even towards Rigby. Granted, Rigby did deserve it at certain times but Twilight may not like that. When she was as angry or did something similar, she would regret it.

We see this with Pinkie Pie. Whenever she gets so angry, she eventually feels bad about it. And in a short amount of time. Meanwhile, Mordecai could be mad for a long time in comparison. She may not like the teasing he does to Rigby. Though I don’t think he does it as much since Rigby proves to be the better person when it comes to relationships. Now the question remains: how well can they handle each other’s extreme natures.

Honestly, I think they can handle each others’ problems fine. Twilight sometimes deals with Monsters, which Mordecai has dealt with before. And Twilight’s over analytical nature could be a help with some of their wacky adventures. See Eileen. So that leaves one question: would Twilight be interested in a slacker? I don’t think she was, but Mordecai isn’t really much of a slacker.

Sure, he does slack off at times and usually at the worst times, but he does try to be a good worker at times. Sometimes it's Rigby’s fault he strays from that. Sometimes it's his own doing. But he tries at least. And he wasn’t as bad as Zephyr was in that one episode. Like Breeze, Mordecai does get better at working to the point he’s a big time artist in the finale.

So could Mordecai and Twilight Sparkle work as a ship? Maybe. Mordecai does get better every new relationship and his issues with Margaret are done. And Twilight does have a thing for Dorks and with a passion for the arts (granted musical over pictures). If someone has an idea for them it could in theory work. But is this enough for me to ship them? Honestly, not really.

I don’t see Twilight dating anyone really. Like she’s all business. Meanwhile Mordecai definitely leaves a bad taste in my mouth after that CJ Break Up incident. And it's not that hard for me to like a ship. Someone told me about a Mina the Mongoose and Manic the Hedgehog ship and I instantly liked the idea because it reminds me of the song Skater Boi. And Mina did leave a bad taste in my mouth after the Nicole incident.

(By DarkSonic250)

Like Mordecai, she did get better at least at the end, but still that incident really makes it hard for me to support them. And yet I like the Mina/Manic ship for one simple reason. Mordetwi doesn’t have that simplicity. If you legit ship them, good for you. But I don’t think I would ever join that boat even for the meme.