Does anyone know if there is a DVD of "Rescue From Midnight Castle" in its entirety? Even if (and especially) if that is the only episode on the DVD?

I have the DVD that shows all episodes of G1, and I love it, but it shows the edited version of RFMC, which is very disappointing to me, as that is my favorite G1 episode, and it looks very butchered as the edited version, in my opinion (they even cut out the most adorable G1 scene ever, in my opinion. ^_^)

So yeah, is there a separate DVD that shows the full version?

Season 3 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was going to be the final season, and that "Magical Mystery Cure" was going to be the series finale, but at some point they found out they'd be doing more seasons.  Was this a widely known fact at the time, like was it common knowledge the show was supposedly coming to an end?  I didn't find this out until years later - I just thought "Magical Mystery Cure" was a normal finale, and the show would continue.

There's a chance I'd do better asking bronies this question, as it's their reaction I'm looking at, but I suppose if it was, it would explain why Equestria Girls got so much drama when it was announced - I remember bronies acting like they thought it was going to replace FiM, so if it had been announced it was ending, they probably thought it was.  I actually remember not understanding why there was such a fuss about a spin-off, because I had no reason to believe that FiM was ending.

There's also a small chance that this could explain why hardly any of them seemed willing to wait until next season to see how the Princess Twilight storyline went, as they thought this was simply how it was ending, but this is doubtful, as I remember them moaning about how the Mane Five would have to treat Twilight differently, so it sounded like they thought more season were coming.  For the record, I never understood any of the fears about Princess Twilight, and was not surprised they never happened.  None of them fit the show.

So yeah, was it actually more commonly known than I thought?  Because I genuinely had no idea at the time.

Note: I am both early and late in doing this, as, believe it or not, I only started watching Season 9 on Friday, and who knows when I will actually end up watching the finale (but I will make sure that it's this year – it will be fitting that I see the end of my favorite show in the last year of my favorite decade.)

Well, here we are ponyfriends – My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, has reached its final episode.  Although my relationship with the show has not always been perfect, FiM has meant a lot to me since 2011, and will always hold a very special place in my heart no matter what happens.

The first episode I ever watched was “Show Stoppers”, and I loved it pretty much instantly, but believe it or not, I didn't realise that it was a real television series at the time, for I watched it on YouTube, and assumed it was some kind of fanmade My Little Pony series, but after some investigating, I found that it was actually a real show.  I initially felt that this would have to be another show that I would have to love in secret (I already loved shows aimed at girls by this point, but was not really confident to admit it), but of course, I soon discovered that it had a big following, which was (at times) one of the best things I could have discovered – I now no longer have any desire to hide what I like, regardless of whether it has a big following.

When I first started watching the show in full, I soon realised that I was dealing with something that was beautifully written, and didn't talk down to it's audience – it felt to me like I had already grown up with the show, since seasons 1 and 2 had a similar quality and writing style to shows that I could picture watching as a child (this could be because it was close, in places, to the previous generations, but I wouldn't know this yet) and the characters had so much personality and character that it felt like I could really know them, and be friends with them, if they were real.  The show was so well written, that I didn't care if the storylines had been done before, and although the morals were outright stated at the end of each episode, it never felt like they were beating me over the head with them, and as I would later discover, they always fitted in to the episode, and didn't feel thrown in at the last minute.

I have a lot to thank the show for; for one thing it inspired me to create a fanseries, based ultimately on an alternative future for FiM (I came up with the idea during season 2 at the latest), the show motivated me to check out the earlier generations of My Little Pony, which I end up loving in their own way (I had actually watched and loved some of the first G1 episode as a kid, but forgotten it), and found them to be very similar to G4 in places.  Most importantly of all, MLP led me to one of the best friendships I've ever had.

Seasons 1 and 2 are definitely the most perfect seasons for me, with season 2 being the first, in my opinion, in my opinion, to produce an actual bad episode, in the form of “Putting Your Hoof Down” (my apologies to those who liked/loved that episode), but while I felt that some of the cracks were starting to show in season 3 and especially season 4, they too are very enjoyable seasons, and I definitely appreciate them more now that I know what was coming up.

The show's portrayal of friendship was beautifully done – the characters had a lot of chemistry with each other, and it felt like their friendship was genuine, leading to some very heart-warming moments, as well as well written moments where the friendship strengthened and overcome what it faced.  Again, this is likely because I was watching the wrong things, but with many (not all) shows I watched before FiM, friendship seemed to be a kind of joke – something to not really be talked about, and for characters to be comically shut up if they do so, lest the show becomes too sappy.  Such shows aren't bad, per say, but it had gotten a bit old for me at the time – Friendship is Magic was definitely not the first show to portray friendship in such a cute way, but it was definitely one of the best examples in my opinion.

Various flaws would become more obvious in season 5 onwards (though were present at times in season 4), I am sorry to say.  In the previous seasons, comedy definitely existed, but it was included naturally, felt like part of the episode, and at no point looked like it had been thrown in without thought – the later seasons however had the tendency to try too hard to make us laugh, in my opinion, and at times seemed to be building the whole episode around the joke or humorous situation, some of which seemed out of place in this show for me. 

The show would also have a tendency to give the characters freaky faces at random times, which were never needed before, and did very little other than take me out of the scene, and at times make serious scenes look less serious.

Another flaw, that sadly crept in during season four was that the show felt really “diluted” at times, like it was afraid to show the characters in danger – I am aware that the main target audience is seven year old girls, but previous seasons and generations had more guts.  This whole thing seemed kind inconsistent though, so it may have just been how I saw it, or it may have depended on the writer at hand.

In fact, that is another thing that I need to acknowledge – the show seemed to change more and more, the less original writers remained (which is another reason season 4 may have been better than I gave it credit for being at the time, as it still had a decent amount of original writers.)  Whereas, it felt like the new writers had a different direction in mind for the show, and hence, the show really didn't seem to know what it was at times – even the friendship seemed all over the place, and didn't really develop at times, and even went backwards depending on the episode.

The morals also suffered in the later seasons in my opinion, and I feel that it may have been a better idea to drop the morals, or at least make them not an every episode thing, during season 5 at the latest, as now the morals did seem added on at the last minute, and often seemed disconnected to the episode, even if the episode itself was good (this would at times lead to the moral being hard to even understand, or forgotten about by me or other viewers.)  The characters also tended to learn morals that they really should know by now, and would at times suffer from breaks in their character to make the episodes actually work – it felt like other cheats were made for the episodes to work as well, but that's another story.

It is also worth noting that season 5 onwards, I actually forget what episode was in which season at times.

I think that's enough negativity for the time being though, so let's get back to the positivity;

Although the later seasons paled in comparison to the earlier ones for me, they were not all bad, as some of them I loved, and they are still nostalgic to me in their own way – and I am sure that season 9 will be part of my 2019 nostalgia (it may already be starting to be so.)

Aside from a few bad moments (one of which, my friend warned me about) the movie was awesome in my opinion, and a big part of my 2017 Nostalgia.

While I didn't like every direction the show took, it was interesting to see what happened to various characters – I never really hated Diamond Tiara for example, but I never expected to actually care about her, yet she was shown to be sympathetic and likeable in the end, and I adore her now (it seems pretty wasted that she has done next to nothing since that episode, as far as I can see.)

Although I still feel that the “School of Friendship” was a silly idea (how do the Mane Six have any free time?)  I did end up liking the Student Six, and am happy they exist as characters.  I do however feel that maybe it would have been better if the show had simply introduced the school (with other characters being made teachers, and the Mane Six simply creating/funding it or something, and occasionally helping out) and the Student Six at the beginning of season 8, and then just done a spin off series for them to run along side FiM, with characters from each show occasionally appearing in the other.

I have every faith, that while the show itself has ended (though season 10 will be produced in comic form), it will not really “die” - its fans, be they bronies/pegaisters or ponyfans will no doubt continue to love, watch and discuss the show, as well as create things for it.  As alluded to earlier, my friend and I have had a big pony project in the works for several years, and one day it will be produced, regardless of what the current generation is at the time.  The project, which can't be revealed in great detail at this stage, will ultimately be an Alternative Future to Friendship is Magic, focusing on new characters with the FiM cast making appearances – in addition to being a “sequel” to G4, the fanseries will honor generations 1 to 3.5 as well (and who knows if the later generations will inspire something?) so ponyfans of all types should get a few nostalgia trips while watching the project, and even see many familiar faces...

The project will also not be restricted by canon, so while we will follow on from some things that the show established for us, there will be certain things will be different to what the end result of Friendship is Magic was (basically, the show doesn't literally pick up with the G4 finale leaves off – it is its own storyline and forms its own timeline with FiM.)

All that is left to say, is that I will continue watching season 9 to the end (I am somewhat aware of what happens in the finale though, but not completely) and will continue to love this show for many years, and I will definitely check out Generation 5 (I can honestly say, I have yet to see a bad generation in my opinion) and offer an epic hoof-bump in honor of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic!

Epic /)!


 

I really love ponies that have some kind of night-time theme to them, in someway or another.  I love ponies who are given night-time themed names, cutie marks/symbols or even colors.  I love the designs of ponies like Princess Luna, both Nightlights (Nachlicht in G1) and Starbeam or the night-time themed cutie marks of Napper or Pillow Talk, or the night-time theme of ponies like the Starbeam (again) with her backcard story, or the whole Slumber Party Gift Pack (Pillow Talk included) - I know some of these overlap, but it makes sense they do in places.

For a long time now, I've loved the idea of how night-time is portrayed in children's media.  My experience of this has shown that night doesn't have to be scary and home to monsters, but a beautiful soothing time of moonlight and twinkling stars, and a time of being tucked into bed, listening to bedtime stories and lullabies, as you begin your soothing journey to dreamland.  There is something very appealing about this, especially when viewed from a child's eyes, in my opinion, so I love the idea of My Little Pony having ponies who are associated with night in someway, or at least bedtime.

Anyone else love the night-time themed ponies?

I've seen people talk about Mimic like she's extremely rare and sought after (I think), but I think I've also seen people say this has been exagerated.

So, does anyone know the truth - how sought after and rare is she really? 

I meant to post this ages ago, but I kept getting side-tracked with other things.

Sometime last month, my family and I visited some friends, and on one day various people visited including their son and his family, and his daughter had brought her collection of ponies with her, and I will admit there were a few I didn't know (and I have a feeling some of them were fakies), but there were some real ponies I recognised - most of which were G4s, but many of the other ponies she had looked to be G3 design (could be G1 design, they look similar, I will admit).

It was really adorable watching her play with them while we all just relaxing doing nothing, she was speaking for them out loud (something that I, remember doing with my toys).  It was actually coherent what was happening most of the time, like she was having "adventures" with them, like getting some of the non-pegasus ponies to find some broomsticks and flying on them (she used pencils, I think) and I think trying to control them. 

She was doing other things, like having some of the ponies steal things that clearly belonged to other ponies; one of them randomly stole Shining Armor's... shirt? Coat? Or whatever it's supposed to be (it was like "Oh, I want that!") and I've got a feeling that she made one of her ponies wear either Twilight's crown or Cadance's crown and act like she was a princess, with another pony saying she wasn't (she had a Cadance, who she brought over the next day or so, but I can't remember if she had a Twilight).

There was one moment where she made her Rainbow Dash say "I'm gonna see what's happening!" and then suddenly scream and fly away out of control - I have no idea what happened there, but I found it funny.    She refered to Rainbow Dash by name as well, which I liked.

Have you ever watched anyone play ponies these days, and how do you feel?  Does it give you a kind of nostalgia feeling?  I'd assume it does so more than me, as you've probably played with ponies when were younger, where I just get a sense of wishing I had done, but I am more determied than ever to get a full collection going.

I wish I could remember the others in more detail - I'll see if I can see them on MLW, but when I asked the parents they said they just got them from random places, and they doubted all of them were MLP.  I am embarressed that I didn't recognise that many, especially if they were real, but I couldn't really look at all of them/  There was a strange one with what look like three or so hazard signs as her (I think) cutie mark, so I would assume she was a fakie.

Hope you don't mind me sharing this with you all.   

Forgive me for asking this, and forgive me if this mistake isn't made here.

But I've seen a lot of this lately, people stating as fact that in G3 Rainbow Dash was the fashion pony, when in reality she never once said or did anything fashion related.  The G3.5 version did, but they both behaved very differently, and were no more the same pony than G3 and G4 Rainbow Dashes were.

It doesn't even seem to be just a brony thing (which would make more sense) I might have seen older fans make the mistake too (unless it's still bronies, but ones who want to respect pre-FIM and haven't quite finished researching it yet?)

Hope no one minds me asking this.