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 >>/4894/
> It was a dynamic partly explored in the season 8 final and it felt clever but could use some more work. There could have been a much more interesting personal conflict other than Twilight losing hope do to the situation being dim from sheer power of villeins and having no elements of harmony.
eeeyup, this is probably the lowest point in terms of writing here. We have seen that helplessness several times (the movie, Twilight´s Kingdom, Friendship Is Magic...) and the closest thing for getting a different ending with those setups was Shadow Play actually. This is where the plot falls into the same situations that we all know and one doesn´t need to predict its resolution.It´s become almost an inherent tradition. I do like a lot of parts that have happened during the action scenes despite using the same motivations though.

> More of an ideological or philosophical bend to it, like TS having doubts on what friendship is if it can be used for evil or something that I think would be easier to set up with what we had: Cozy Glow, Crystalis and Tirek having discovered the bounds of friendship but still being an evil threat that needs to be naturalized. Even if they couldn't go that far it felt like there could have been a little bit more.
you will have to see that in the comics (Swift Foot in the latest issue) or with other villains whose high stakes aren´t actually that high.Nonetheless,I cannot deny your good suggestion in this concept. The counterargument that I can find to your idea is that they made it clear that they only wanted to be better villains while they were singing their song in Frenemies. 

> it does feel pretty reasonable that they formed a somewhat shaky alliance and it really did not go much beyond that. 
they didn´t obey Grogar´s advice, they rebelled against him and his discourse.It seems that the little light they saw in Frenemies was ruined as soon as they perceived a huge power level in Grogar´s bell, much more after obtaining Discord´s powers (also the royal sisters´in the second part).

> I think too there is a point to be made with the nature of the fact that this was the final itself. They were going to try to squeeze as much in as possible. Would exploring such a theme draw too much time away from the main cast? This is the stronger line. 
this is important as well. How would you write a finale of this kind with spicy elements such as powerful villains (including a "new" one) and making it as grand as possible without rushing the pacing too much? This could also apply to that conflict between the pony races, we would need extra time or deleted scenes in a DVD or a director´s cut in order to stack up everything at the expense of not airing in the time constraints. The finale was a huge deal and despite being my main complaint that this sort of falls into a generic motivation for Twilight, I understand why one would pick the safest option here.

> Anywhere to just have a giant battle and tons of fanservice in a checklist style format the final is probably the most justified. Putting too much of an overarching theme could've messed that intention up and this choice may not be best to view as a screw up on the writers but a conscious choice on the writers to do it like this. This is why I say I am only slightly conflicted. T
eeeeyup, basically this. 

> hey still fit in some interesting stuff with the trio (Chrissy vs Dolores, Tirek's father). Even if it's a thematic element that I think should have been explored better I'm not sure how critical I can be on it
they put it genuinely so it´s a sign that they were aware of more potential than the one established. But again, this is like the map, they stopped expanding it after the 8th season and strengthen what´s been established instead of going further and beyond.