/pone/ - World of Equestria

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 >>/6837/
> I wasn't present for much of the early show discussion, so I might well end up repeating those discussed elements unintentionally.
as if that were a problem really. I mean, look at this board. Do you see this review  >>/6452/  >>/6453/ right here?  Maybe I mentioned something similar in the season 8 thread yet after watching it in hindsight with a certain period of time, you might not arrive exactly at the exact same words in the way that you would do back in the day. What matters is that your perspective follows a logic in order to deconstruct the episode and analyze it. 

 >>/6839/
> From just Wafuing to deep, almost religious bounds.
and when you don´t encounter waifufags, those other fans can even reach further than them.

> I mean, I may find it very odd, possibly unhealthy
I was going to mention that said extreme has...left me quite shocked, to the point where I question if an obsession could be all that bearable to follow all that often. 

Besides, reading the backstories coming from each user...I can´t tell what this fanbase is. MLP supposedly should reunite happiness and smiles yet the circles who follow it display exactly the opposite. I sometimes wonder if all the board displayed in other fan sites and on this board are proper of a fanbase dedicated to little girls toy commercial or if we are reading testimonies coming from alcoholics anonymous.


> I'll see what L23 says and I'll be thinking if some sort of in between model can be made.
 hey, that´s me and look at how my post displays Anon for magical reasons! 

Now, seriously, let me see if I can think about what I need for it and what you exactly propose over here. 

Personally, speaking, I still have two episodes spotlights left to set up over here before this year ends and fortunately, none of those two are related to the first 3 seasons (there isn´t any problem in terms of overlapping) so you have a free ride when it comes to that early material.

> There has been times where I thought all that could be said of one of those episodes has and than I rewatched it and did come up with some new angle
this. Absolutely this. 

And this thread is the prime example of that statement.

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 >>/6840/
> This is what I and L23 do mostly (don't know about CB). Often we found it just easier to find images on derpi when fitting a particular theme with what we were discussing or when having the random urge to post something odder.

actually I must confess that preparing images of a specific character (like Celestia, Luna, Cadence or Dolores) and/or pictures dedicated to a peculiar theme/species (bat ponies, seaponies) costs me way less effort to compile than searching for random material because there is SO MUCH to download that one doesn´t know what one should pick and you end up spending way more time for that with a directionless mindset than you would expect at first.

 This, by the way, should help for getting a better understanding why certain threads are relatively easier to handle in the end, therefore, those can have a faster posting rate.

> Whatever you feel best at doing.
whether the thread happens or not, those two spotlights are going to be shown in this thread. 

Now, for 5050´s plan, I need:

< An Image for the OP (a one picture that stands the test of time for seeing it for a very long time if possible)
< The paragraphs dedicated to the OP which should describe the thread´s intentions
< The mediums (aka websites) for watching/streaming the episodes 
< The time set for watching said episode(s) together or the period of time for watching and analyzing said episode(s)
< Structure/focus of the reviews (if they are more/less in depth than the ones off this thread according to the pace)

Well, more than personal requirements, these points are meant to portray an idea of how it should go in order to carry it out in an organized manner. You´ve got time to think about it really, so I am all ears. Just that I am raising these issues beforehand in case that you want to pull it off.

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Well, now that I have managed to end up with a few pending things that I had to do for these last few days, maybe I will have time to dive properly into another episode spotlight pretty soon.

Don't think that we've got to move all that far from A Health Of Information because I am covering another episode from the 7th season...




And yes, Celly. There is a wrong way to fantasize, in very different matters actually (not just when it comes to NSFW content alone)

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 >>/6839/
> I mean, I may find it very odd, possibly unhealthy
I'm unhealthy in more senses of the word than just that, but I've chosen most of it, so I have no regrets. As for policing my speech IRL, I tend not to have to, as I speak so quietly I have to actively raise my voice for any parts I want other people to hear, so I'm content muttering pony and anime things to myself most of the time.
> I think you are. You, in spite of the limited posts you have made here, have a certain familiarity of a kindred spirit from what you have told me and such a spirit isn't someone who is worth having one if you ask me.
That's very nice of you to say so. All the same I don't like celebrating myself and my birth, and haven't done since I was quite little, so I'll probably stick with celebrating my waifu's second birthday on it.
 >>/6840/
> Out of curiosity, is there anything particular that you may want?
I generally prefer fanart to screenshots, and I'd rather not have too much of Twilight, but other than that I'm very open. 
> You have a lot of choices now as well if you decide to go that route.
my immediate thought was "what about rainbooru", but on further consideration I think I understand why not, heh
> /pol/tards or ultra belligerent oldfags would be my first guess
The former, for sure. I don't really mind the ultra belligerent oldfags, even when they're railing against me. It can be surprisingly easy to convince them that you're a fellow oldfag, too - enough familiarity with old wordfilters has done the trick for me before.

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 >>/6840/
> ultra belligerent oldfags
Fuck you, belligerent oldfags are the heart and soul of chans.

And ultra belligerent is not an apt description. Thats just oldchan normal. More like new posters are a bunch of frilly fru fru faggots in general.

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 >>/6868/
> belligerent oldfags are the heart and soul of chans.

are you sure about that though? Perhaps that statement could have worked back in the late 2000s-early 2010s... 

but nowadays? Not even /b/ manages to be even a shadow of its former self and /pol/ (to an extent /v/ and /tv/) have become so involved in the political scene that they claim themselves to be the heart and soul for the memes and the edge of anonymity. 

The political subversion of chans  that has been occurring for the last decade has made that old spirit left a little bit in the underground and not even those oldfags might behave in the same as they did back in their 20s (or they might not even use any imageboard anymore). 

I might not have as much experience lurking around there but even /mlp/, which has been one of the most stable and consistent boards (a detail that I have to admire by the way), has suffered those subtle details. To the point where...

> More like new posters are a bunch of frilly fru fru faggots in general.
calling other people faggots might even be an affectionate nickname for some users. 

Still, that lost of edge might have been because 4chan got too popular for its own good and the internet has become so accesible that the American weirdos who were watching anime around that period and lurking on /b/ have been left aside (hence the gatekeeping concept of trying to preserve that spirit that has failed for the most part because of the influx of newfags who got that internet connection and weren´t as seasoned/dedicated to that hobby).  Also, I should add over here that replacing the term fag with cuck has been attempted as well and not even /pol/ has managed to shoehorn it all that well. 

And just because the new posters don´t sound edgy...doesn´t mean that they can´t be edgy. 
Watch out with that detail because you can´t tell either if the fierce bear is hidden inside the sheep or in reverse.

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 >>/6868/
and I forgot to add that if you try to replicate /b/ or the old chan spirit in an altchan, while you can deliver that throwback in this current age, yeah, you can do it perfectly in a small scale. 

However, that attempt will be flawed by itself because of the traffic that /b/ had and the board in which you recreate doesn´t, the idiosyncrasy of the site (what people call board culture) and even by getting rid of these previous factors...it won´t be new. 

If you managed to be successful at bringing back completely the heart and soul of the original chans, it would be a movement like the Renaissance was for the Greek and Roman knowledge but translated to the current times.   Either those memes/ways of shitposting stay completely timeless among the people you interact with (or are recycled with a sense of freshness), or the likelihood to bring it back will be basically impossible.  Even the word Anon feels so alien to a few anons these days out there that they only think of the OC of /mlp/ and not the original word itself! 

It would like playing an old video game with an emulator. It plays the same, the levels are the same, everything is the same (even more polished with updated textures/graphics, typos corrected, fan translations and so on) but... the medium which you are using in order to play it is NOT the same because you are not playing with the original cartridge that would make it so valuable and nostalgic. 

Hence, replicating it... seems to me mostly useless even though I have a certain amount of respect towards those who are looking for that past and still try to bring it back....but even that reaction of claiming that old sense won´t work in the same way as it did back when the internet was younger and more innocent.

The same can be applied to  the golden era of MLP by the way (even though this one is in a smaller scale and it is more communal (and even intimate) than the popular channer boards)

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 >>/6869/
 >>/6870/
Yeah, I know what you mean. I was just being facetious.

Modern chan culture is so far removed from the way it was that i would argue anybody from before 2016 is an oldfag now. That being said when I talk about old chan culture i'm really thinking of the archaic chan culture from 2009-2012 anything before that probably counts as prehistoric.

> calling other people faggots might even be an affectionate nickname for some users
It is. But by in large its considered offensive to many people and its probably more offensive now than it was back whenever it started. But if you're ingrained in the culture somewhat it is affectionate. Almost mandatory. 

> if you try to replicate /b/ or the old chan spirit in an altchan, while you can deliver that throwback in this current age, yeah, you can do it perfectly in a small scale.
Absolutely, I think it only works on a smaller scale. I first stumbled into /pone/ when it had 17000 or so posts. I've seen lots of places die, and i'm sad to see that its all but gone coming back from a long hiatus. It's like lightning in a bottle. You can't force it to happen and once let loose you can never get it back. There will be another, we just have to go find it.

> The same can be applied to the golden era of MLP by the way
/pone/ will be forgotten by all except the few who were there to experience it. I'm rewatching the show again now and i'm just back to shitpost for a bit while i work on a greentext and relive the glory days.

As for bullying users though, I can't remember which chan had /AM/ (anime and manga) on it. But I think my favorite thing I ever accomplished and is a perfect example of how I think boards should be run comes from there. There was some nerd who was trying to argue that we needed more quality for our banners, so I made an awful banner that just lampooned his points and offered it to the board owner. It was subsequently made a banner much to his dismay. I even caught him trying to ask that the board owner take it down months later. I guess what I'm trying to say is that as long as you're trying to have a good time regardless of your behavior its good chan culture.

And I know it was him because I confronted him so I could make fun of him for being a whiny bitch. He denied it, but 7-8 posts later he said something referencing his previous statements from our previous argument about it. I was going to post it, but my hard drive crashed and I lost most of my files from that time period. Lucky for me I had an older backup with most of my pony folder still in tact

Don't mean to dump ass text on you or anything, TL;DR have fun I guess.
> 3rd webm is basically 4chan users at this point

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 >>/6877/
> Modern chan culture is so far removed from the way it was that i would argue anybody from before 2016 is an oldfag now.
with those standards, I would fit as one (2014). Technically, the classic standard timeline would establish that I am a bananafag (or cancerfag, though if I am not wrong those are the ones for 2012), while the oldfags are those who lurked before 2007. 

For this board standards, yes, there have been two waves of users and one of those who appeared in the first one (when the board was created) is actually writing the FoE fic in the other thread. In a relative sense for this board(and the site itself), he is an oldfag.

> That being said when I talk about old chan culture i'm really thinking of the archaic chan culture from 2009-2012 anything before that probably counts as prehistoric.

well, I wasn´t there when that happened although popular boards such as /co/, /v/ and /pol/ have changed drastically and  I have to agree that their old spirit is far away and almost like a myth that said idiosyncrasy existed.

> But by in large its considered offensive to many people and its probably more offensive now than it was back whenever it started. 
heh, you haven´t seen the insults that you can say in Spanish. Those actually shock people and you have almost all the warranty that you will offend someone with those words. That word is nothing to me in comparison to what I get to hear everyday. 

But indeed,  the snowflake generation has made everything controversial and even worse, full of ideology. Though this is more due to the social media circles rather than the chan culture itself.

> But if you're ingrained in the culture somewhat it is affectionate. Almost mandatory.
hell one of the main users of this board has adapted it as part of its nickname and I expected him to change it over time. After three years, he still calls himself like that (even though that was provisional for him). Are you reading this post, Bridgefag? I know that you are... 

> I think it only works on a smaller scale. I first stumbled into /pone/ when it had 17000 or so posts. I've seen lots of places die, and i'm sad to see that its all but gone coming back from a long hiatus. It's like lightning in a bottle. You can't force it to happen and once let loose you can never get it back. There will be another, we just have to go find it.

any idea what you can find out there? How can you expect that you will find another one if many boards have tried and failed to stay all that long for that spirit that you are looking for?

Because this board isn´t exactly competing for conveying that sense coming from /mlp/. What brings you over here, aside from creating the Twilight thread with the glass of chocolate milk?

> /pone/ will be forgotten by all except the few who were there to experience it. 
then, it did its purpose for fulfilling the wishes and entertainment for those people. Nothing lasts forever and...well, one should be glad that it happened. Although the lightning in a bottle can be applied to the 4th gen and the phenomena behind it in general, not only for /8pone/

> I'm rewatching the show again now and i'm just back to shitpost for a bit while i work on a greentext and relive the glory days.
hey that´s cool. By the way, as you are talking about /8pone/, were you lurking over here in the past before this year? Because it sounds that you might have made  a thread or posted back when /endpone/ was created.

 By the way, if you want to drop a few thoughts in hindsight of an episode or something specific  that you want to tackle, you know that this thread exists for that purpose. No need to rush anything though.

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 >>/6877/
> I think my favorite thing I ever accomplished and is a perfect example of how I think boards should be run comes from there. There was some nerd who was trying to argue that we needed more quality for our banners, so I made an awful banner that just lampooned his points and offered it to the board owner. It was subsequently made a banner much to his dismay. I even caught him trying to ask that the board owner take it down months later. 

> I guess what I'm trying to say is that as long as you're trying to have a good time regardless of your behavior its good chan culture

well, I think that everyone should read this line that I am highlighting over here. 


> And I know it was him because I confronted him so I could make fun of him for being a whiny bitch. He denied it, but 7-8 posts later he said something referencing his previous statements from our previous argument about it. I was going to post it, but my hard drive crashed and I lost most of my files from that time period. Lucky for me I had an older backup with most of my pony folder still in tact

well, if you feel like complementing the whole story with those screencaps, that would complete the whole story of yours. Like me with the 7 digits of /mlp/, I think that these little fun stories should be delivered with more patience and when you want to express every detail of the whole story.  
 
> Don't mean to dump ass text on you or anything, TL;DR have fun I guess.
 what if I told you that the reply is the fun (and vital) part of the whole process?

Although perhaps we have different concepts of fun because I am not one of those people who would be giving all he energy for a party (but more like leaving a few reflections after the main event). So my concept of fun is more laid back than what you are presenting over here.

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Okay, Proof of Life Shitpost (PoLS) tonight because I have been watching the episode that I am going to expose this week over here. 

I think that I have all the images prepared and a few notes taken. There are 2 problems: https://www.phanact.com/poni/index.php doesn´t work for me so I´ll have to give a couple of links coming from Dailymotion. If anyone can provide a replacement for nightmaremoon.de, I will appreciate it. As for now, it´s what I am sticking with so far.

The other problem is that I am not sure if I am going to accidentally forget about a few details or points worth mentioning (despite taking a few notes and the timings). The episode, while easy to milk for several topics, might turn out to be quite hard for bringing up all that I want to deliver so, perhaps the end result might be less than what I have been thinking about while watching it. The content itself, while not difficult to tackle, the organization and the approach that I take out of it are the main challenges that I find complicated while writing the essay. 

In the meantime, I leave you wondering what season 7 episode I am talking about...

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 >>/6867/
> I generally prefer fanart to screenshots, and I'd rather not have too much of Twilight, but other than that I'm very open. 
I will arrange something after turkey day  and possibly a chaotic surprise visit from family. that may last a few days  Same applies for the watch thread. 

> I don't really mind the ultra belligerent oldfags, even when they're railing against me.
Belligerent oldfags play a part in keeping a chan healthy. Though I do find some ultra belligerent ones to do stuff, like going after stuff that has the slightest hint of  hetrodox to be potential bad for a board's health.

 >>/6910/
>  If anyone can provide a replacement for nightmaremoon.de, I will appreciate it. As for now, it´s what I am sticking with so far.
What about downloading from yaponies?
https://yayponies.no/videos/episodes.php

> In the meantime, I leave you wondering what season 7 episode I am talking about...
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOh, someone has a "secret"  Look forward to it. 

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 >>/6916/
> What about downloading from yaponies?
yeah, I am going to include it but I have always preferred the links that give you instant access for watching it without having to rely on Yayponies. I used to give the links for nightmaremoon but it seems that I am going to provide both mediums and then, it´s up for the user to decide in the end. 

> someone has a "secret" Look forward to it.

I have just finished the essay. Almost 3800 words= 7 full posts.

I might have forgotten about a couple of details along the way while writing it but I think that, as a balance for not accomplishing completely what I could bring up on the table, the whole spotlight follows a more linear path. 

As for the episode in question, I have said earlier that it had to have enough material in order to be milked. Said episode isn´t A Royal Problem. So there you have one episode less to think about off the episode list. 

I could post it right now but...I am going to let you guys have a nice time out there with your families first and share this spotlight tomorrow instead so you can take your time.

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Well, despite revising it a couple of times, I am not sure if everything is redacted correctly. These next 7 posts will focus on the third episode spotlight. It´s longer than the one exposed for A Health Of Information and if there is anyone who can provide more links for streaming the episodes, it will be welcome. One of the links  has the episode in 1080p (TVRip) but the subtitles aren´t in English to be precise.

Anyway, here it is...

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Who hasn´t established a few headcanons in his mind and then, the canon show decides to tear them into pieces? What if the concept that you had implied before didn´t turn out in the way that you expected? 
What happens when someone decides to invest some time for characters that need more development but you simply decide to hop on that partial concept that is yet left to be defined?

These questions can be asked for many things about the show and not even the writing staff knew what ideas there were behind and what actually happened in execution, much less the fans who decided to dive into concepts that...while the show was meant to end with 65 episodes, the generation ended up with more than 200 episodes. Considering that there have been 9 seasons in order to define the entire world, for this spotlight, I am venturing into one of the biggest turnarounds that has been delivered in this generation.

The changelings...live up to their name, not only in the practical terms but also, they have turned out to mark one of the least expected twists when it comes to reaching a full transformation that would make them absolutely different from the sample that we had. This has caused very extreme mixed reactions when the season 6 finale: To Where and Back Again, decided to surprise fans and strangers with the butterfly design. Even their own philosophy has been completely subverted, from using the disguises in a tactical way for accomplishing their objectives to display their original true selves. 

However, for this change to occur, we need some context. Fans have been used to the old design, not because of the screen time of this species, but because of the huge amount of time between the airing of A Canterlot Wedding and the 6th season (a difference of 4-5 years since the production between ACW and The Times Are A Changeling). The map of Equestria has been expanded because of deeper exploration of said established species and then, use them in a more recurring manner. This didn´t simply happen to the changelings, the dragons suffered this treatment as well (without any change in their designs). All this build-up would lead to what we got in the last two seasons. How did everything manage to happen?


For starters, do you remember any speaking roles from Chrysalis´ minions at the time (without using any disguise)? There is a factor that the community was hungry for cool stuff and the changelings, like many other things at the time, got a lot of hype in the early years of the 2010s. Despite not getting much more information about them, they would gain an incredible amount of popularity...except that there was one big problem with that: 

They were a "Show, don´t tell" species. There was some room to subvert their concept and DHX decided to stay 4 years completely silent, except for a little cameo in Slice of Life. (Episode 100). When the staff decided to reintroduce them, they went for a very different direction from the one that everyone was expecting…

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As soon as one would see that little changeling flying in the background at the end of The Crystalling (Season 6 opener), in the middle of said season, the fuse would turn on with the first changeling (and the only one who differed in views) that would get a huge role without being neither a villain nor an antagonist: Thorax. Furthermore, said design and explosion of love that would surprise anyone else was given to the overwhelming amount of love that he would get from Flurry Heart. Two big twists happened: his leadership would change the direction of the species by overthrowing Chrysalis and the transformation which would turn out to be the indicator for not needing to feed with love sucked from others.

So, for this episode, we´ll get more or less the same treatment that we had in The Parent Map: first, reformations/concepts thrown directly and then, the context in hindsight in order to justify them. This has happened several times in this generation, just that the changelings stand out for reaching such a huge extreme that would unsettle everyone at the time and still hold the disenchantment from sectors of the fanbase. Given that the twist has already been executed, let´s see what happens once you get to see their new ways of integrating them into this world.  Before Ocellus showed up, there was a transitional process of adaptation and said peak of lore and changes would be shown in the 7th season with...


TO CHANGE A CHANGELING (Season 7, Episode 17)

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5zbctb
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5z9dya
https://yayponies.no/videos/episodes.php

So, the average fan would think about the 7th season and you get to ask them for an arc. What arc would they think about? All of them would mention that the main arc for season 7 was The Pillars of Equestria. All of them would answer correctly except that there is a little downside by mentioning this alone... because there was a very small arc intended for season 7.

To begin with, keep in mind that the season 6 finale consisted in the transformation of the changelings and they would show up several times after that. There was a little arc that would follow the radical change, both visually and conceptually: Celestial Advice, Triple Threat and this spotlight: To Change A Changeling. This arc accomplishes how the changelings would integrate themselves after getting rid of the authoritarian regime of scarcity in terms of resources (love) and so, this transition would display how Thorax would become a leader (despite having no previous experience at that whatsoever) and how said species would follow his lessons according to what he had learned in season 6 from Twilight, Spike and The Crystal Empire as a whole.

With the advice in terms of confidence coming from Ember in Triple Threat, he would succeed at convincing the rest of the changelings except for his brother Pharynx. With this long backstory, let´s dive into the episode itself...

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So, in case that one wonders about needing to watch this episode with the previous ones in mind, while this episode needs some plenty of context in order to understand what´s going on, one has to keep in mind that the episode is...actually quite simple to follow because of the clear plot device. In addition, we are talking about a slice of life episode and as soon as you start watching it, you will realize that there will be quite a few antics dropped throughout the entire episode. While it expands and normalizes the traditions and concepts after their reformation, the episode relies a lot on comedy. 

Despite being set completely in the changeling hive (a mostly unfamiliar place for the viewer), it managed to convey that this is FiM episode as you know. Many people cherish Frenemies for featuring the villains only but To Change A Changeling... doesn´t feature any of the mane 6/CMC whatsoever. There is also the detail that the main 4 characters are all relatively new. We are talking about characters that have been defined and developed from season 6 onwards when it comes to the interactions shown here. Now, before anyone comes over here and replies to this post with this question: "Hey, what about Trixie and Dolores? You are omitting the fact that the debuted earlier in the show" You would be correct by stating the fact that these two appeared earlier. 

HOWEVER, just because they appeared earlier, it doesn´t mean that said impact would affect to their development shown after their reintroduction in their concepts. Imagine that an outsider or any new fan came to binge watch the show, Trixie, despite her insane fame within the community, doesn´t show up beyond two episodes before the writers decided to hit the reset button with her role in the show with No Second Prances. As for the pink unicorn, she would only show up in the premiere and finale of season 5 (she has had more screen time than Trixie!) but her change of focus started to flesh out when she had the will to visit Sunburst in The Crystalling. Meanwhile, Thorax, as explained earlier, would make his debut in The Times Are A Changeling and from there, he would end up getting the leadership (with this flaw of not convincing Pharynx yet)

So, this previous paragraph clears up that this episode, doesn´t feature exactly the oldest characters or aspects that would remember at first from the show. Perhaps Trixie but even in that case, she wasn´t all that well defined either because... and here it´s the main moral of the episode: 

They had to adjust their roles in this world

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The main moral of the episode isn´t thrown at the end but in the conversation that both Trixie and Dolores have with Pharynx around the 7th and 8th minute. Both unicorns explain their own pasts in order to convince Pharynx but they don´t apparently get any outcome by explaining them. This message is also complemented around the 12th minute, when Pharynx is disguised as a rock, listening to the whole conversation that Trixie and Dolores had about him being a lost cause. There is a key line that Dolores says about Thorax: he doesn´t only have to deal with his brother but with his duties as a leader as well.

This means that Thorax has actually found his role and he has managed to figure out how to act diplomatically and make significant reforms with his people (while receiving huge complaints from the rest of the changelings for disrupting them in their business). In his defence, Thorax tries to put a vote of trust towards his brother, hoping that eventually, Pharynx makes things easier for him in order to establish properly all the changes and work out nicely. However, Pharynx hasn´t found his role because he misses the old days as the head patrol, with his conviction that there will be enemies coming up to the hive (he is true about the fierce Maulwurf though)

Now, there might be a belief that Pharynx transforming into the new design means that he has lost his edge and charismatic attitude (which works pretty nicely in this episode. There are some huge slaps thrown from his mouth to the rest that deliver a chuckle and his attitude is hard not to fall in love with, the contrast between the good vibes from the rest of the cast and his actual way of thinking without caring what the others think about him (in short: he is based) causes a very funny experience at how he breaks the schemes out of everyone). 

Let me say that Pharynx´s transformation with the butterfly wings doesn´t represent a twist in terms of reforming him with a 180 in his mind but more as a sign for telling that he has managed to find his purpose within the hive. As much as you have to agree with his points that he brings up in the Feelings Forum or with Trixie and Dolores, he forgets about the little detail that his purpose doesn´t consist in conquering the rest of Equestria but with the defence of his species. 

His actual role changes from thinking that he is the head of a patrol to turning into the Minister of Defence for the entire hive.  

Thorax, while displaying his best with his role as a leader and diplomat (proven in School Daze by the way, he is very peaceful for real), he does display flaws in his way of approaching the military field in which he doesn´t shine all that well. However, his flaw has proven to be characteristic from him since his childhood while Pharynx has always shown more passion towards the matter.  

The transformation means that he actually manages to complement his brother and finds a role within the hive. He isn´t hated among the other changelings because of his way of thinking (in fact, he was given the time to speak in his own defence in the Forum in public), he is despised because his approach doesn´t fit with the current circumstances. It´s not about the way that he acts but the way in which he applies his views in practice. In this episode, he has been through a way to reconsider his own place. Even though he has been in the verge of being kicked and the others have tried to convince him constantly, his purpose has been found because of his own reflections.

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I am going to go even further and state that Pharynx, before reaching the climax by beating the Maulwurf and despite his rude attitude, has had all the ingredients to be as much of a sweetheart as his brother. 

Do you believe that I am kidding about this statement? Perhaps Thorax sets the bar really high but Pharynx proves that he doesn´t fall short either. 

The most obvious moment that the episode exposes that he stood for Thorax in front of the other maggots who were mocking at his little brother. In the episode in question, he says in front of Dolores, Trixie and Thorax that he would have already feasted the two unicorns...but he doesn´t (so this means that either Thorax´s viewpoint has managed to enter into his mind to an extent or he doesn´t have the capability to do what he claims). He claims to not take advice from ponies either but, why did he turn into a rock for listening to both at the back? Why was he taking into account their backstories as villains and claim that they might understand him?

I will say this, the moment where Pharynx is actually the most "out of character" relatively speaking is...right in his presentation (his first two or three lines). Given that I am listening to the original English VA (Ian Hamlin), you can tell differences in his tone at first, sounding very sharp and presenting himself as a really menacing changeling. He does that with other changelings as well but from the 4th minute onwards, his voice sounds deeper, by starting his mindset of mockery and provide very funny contrasts because of his smugness and impish (yet honest) views towards the problem. At his worst, he is actually challenging to deal with but he never goes that far, even though he gained quite a lot of infamy because of not letting others live in peace and grow a sense of weariness about his intrusive attitude.

All of this is even more reinforced towards the end. When he gets to face the Maulwurf on his own, he admitted that he needed the aid coming from the swarm but not from his insect transformation alone. Not only that but he proves to love the hive and his people even if they have opposing views towards the matter. 

One of the biggest reasons why I am picking this episode is because of this: None of the characters here is the villain. No one.

Both opposing views admit their mistakes and frictions that both have had. While Pharynx gives the impression that he is the villain, in reality, what I have exposed here and certain details in his attitude proves that even the most unpopular view have its own rights to be heard and defended. What caused the conflict was the approach at dealing with the problem. Both brothers care about the future of the hive yet time has proven how strong or weak both sides were with their own arguments at handling this dispute. 

The resolution arrives because of the free will that has come out naturally from both parts and despite the constant suggestions at taking one decision over the other, there was an effort in order to understand themselves. Therefore, Pharynx´s transformation means, not only the role for the hive, but also the trophy for finally reaching an actual agreement because they actually feel like doing so (which is quite heart-warming).

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Besides the focus on Pharynx and the compromises that Thorax has to handle, does this episode have anything else to offer? As I mentioned earlier, while watching this episode, you are going to hear tons of lines meant for comedy.

Seriously, since the very beginning, the episode barely stops at delivering comical lines. Except for the backstory behind Pharynx, his confession at the end and the fight against the Maulwurf, the rest of the episode either releases them like rapid fire or they build it up for a specific joke to land. There are two moments worth mentioning here:

The Feeling´s Forum. This one can be interpreted either in a serious way or in a laughable one. The serious one can be interpreted that the writing staff has decided to illustrate the mechanisms of social media. I don´t think that there is anything in particular to mention here because the pattern is too generic to even point at one. 
Considering that they were starker with Fame and Misfortune, they could have been more specific but if one sees the development of the feeling’s forum, there is something really valuable to take out of that scene: how the personal thoughts eventually become political (unavoidable fate in this day and age). This starts at expressing the personal feelings first and then, at some point, certain political topic arises (in this case, displaying their discomfort towards Pharynx and complaining at Thorax for not handling the problem properly).  The scene might look cheesy but surprisingly enough, I think that they have portrayed social media (or well, the entire internet including this board) in general with that tendency.

The other way to interpret it is with comical one: The writers could have decided to set up this scene in order to make fun of the "New Age"/hippie mentality and how it utterly fails at spreading love constantly because of the patience limit. Considering that the episode has kept that tone of not taking itself too seriously, I wouldn´t be surprised that they wanted to parody this utopian mindset of sharing good vibes all the time.

Another highlight that deserves to be praised is how Dolores delivers a very inspiring discourse to the rest of the changelings with a confident thick voice. How such a discourse meant to be inspiring for the masses had utterly failed (at first) at convincing any of them. The whole discourse and the end result that comes right after that scene is absolutely priceless. 

As for Trixie, she brings a very funny delivery in general. Personally speaking, I would say that one of the most shocking moments coming from her is that she went that far at trying convince Pharynx that she even outright praised the figure of Twilight Sparkle. She really did that. The changelings in general, don´t think that they fall all that short at reacting like ponies either. The contrast in the reactions for hearing the good news (Pharynx is gone) and the bad news (the Maulwurf is coming) deserves to be mentioned as well as the changeling who complained about the soup in the feeling’s forum scene.

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The episode in general, while it can be analysed with a very deep perspective, follows a pretty spontaneous flow in terms of pacing and a very casual tone. Just that this episode offers enough material to be judged seriously but it can be taken as a very casual pick too.

So, does this episode need to be watched with the previous ones that precede it? Given its slice of life nature and the fact that the plot device is actually the context that Thorax has been dealing with his brother (shown in Triple Threat), it doesn´t require much context in order to be enjoyed on its own. You need the context in order to warm up with it and reinforce everything that one gets to watch over here. Nonetheless, considering that the plot device for this conflict (a familiar one) turns out to be really standard and given that it relies on comedy pretty often, it doesn´t prevent from its enjoyment independently within its 22 minutes.

I must say that this episode doesn´t depend on the nostalgia factor. That is to say, the cast of characters featured over here is relatively new and that might turn off the people who are looking for the main characters that one has been used to seeing throughout the entire show. In addition, the changelings don´t act like minions (nor look like that, not even Pharynx does with his colour combination with the old design) and put at the forefront a very individualistic mindset/values in comparison with the previous regime. Basically, I am stating here that this episode is anti-nostalgic in the sense that there are no old elements to rely on for this whole episode, trying to test the waters in the sense that you are watching FiM without resorting to the safest options that would make it easier to prove that this is actually Friendship is Magic.

This episode was chosen because, despite its reliance on comedy for the most part, it transcends that spontaneous feel with some undertones and detail worth analysing, especially when it comes to Pharynx and his role within the hive. The episode stands out the most when it comes to building up a very divisive conflict where both parts are right but at the same time, are far from idealistic until those views are combined and come to an agreement in the end.  

The title suggests that the whole objective was the process of changing a changeling, Pharynx. However, I beg to differ because while said objective was accomplished, it might not have been because of a change in his attitude but more like trying to find the right balance and a feedback of his own role. 

In the end, if they finally managed to change him, wouldn´t that process imply that other changelings (and a couple of ponies too) changed their mindset towards him (and Thorax to an extent) as well?

I guess that not everything has to target strictly at one side alone...

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 >>/6937/
It might discourage you to know DWK did this one too. But I've kinda always wanted to watch it so if I don't have it already downloaded I'll go over it this weekend and comment on it, DWK's take, your take, and potentially ramble further after that.

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Hah! Guess what I remembered enough about to find again!

I take it Pharynx doesn't like the moss that's growing around the new hive?

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Well, it turns out that there is something left to do over here...

 >>/6843/
> Personally, speaking, I still have two episodes spotlights left to set up over here before this year ends and fortunately, none of those two are related to the first 3 seasons

and i said this sentence over here. Two episode spotlights and one of them was To Change a Changeling. Huh.

There is still one last episode to expose over here and I see that Christmas is getting closer. (with an announcement coming from the board owner by the way).  After two entire weeks of complete inactivity, this surely feels like an actual Proof of Life Shitpost. 

Alright, time to announce the last episode spotlight for this 2020. 

Several posts in which I display a commentary/analysis towards an episode of my unfiltered thoughts about the episode itself, its context and topics/questions that I want to bring to the table. 

I don´t want to look like a liar...A promise is a promise.

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 >>/6958/
sorry CB, I was focusing on other things in the meantime. 

Okay, so what you mention is that...

> It might discourage you to know DWK did this one too.
in reality, CB, it doesn´t matter in the end. My mentality about these spotlights doesn´t consist  in seeing what other reviewers have said (although one could use them as an element of discussion as well) but doing the exercise of thinking about it on your own. And yeah, I perfectly knew that DWK made a video related to it. 

> I've kinda always wanted to watch it so if I don't have it already downloaded I'll go over it this weekend and comment on it, DWK's take, your take, and potentially ramble further after that.

and, how did it go? have you given it a chance? Although I see that  >>/6959/ you have already found a track related to it. Nice.

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 >>/7047/
> Well, it turns out that there is something left to do over here...
 Me as well... 

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Alright, I have the episode spotlight already written. I am about to share it here but keep in mind that this might be the longest one of the bunch (10 posts, almost 5000 words) and there are other aspects that are unrelated to the episode itself so...

It may arrive late and it has been rushed (pardon the possible mistakes) and I have had to watch the episode several times in order to focus on it properly. 

Anyway, here it is...

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When one has to think about certain moments where you believe that everything ends up in pure happiness and joy, does that mean that every single character will have a happy ending forever? If that´s true, for how long? Where does one draw the line for conveying that sense of joy? How would every single character of one of the greatest parties deal with the next day after celebrating it as if it were the ending of that fairy tale?

Well, these are a few questions that one raises after watching the movie released in 2017 and gets to see the whole ending with Sia´s song and all the characters (both old and the new ones introduced in that entry) where they celebrate a huge party in Canterlot after defeating the Storm King. 

For this Christmas period, there are several episodes in the list that are very fitting for spending a good amount of time with franchise: Hearth's Warming Eve, A Hearth's Warming Tail, Hearthbreakers, The Hearth's Warming Club ( >>/1954/) and Best Gift Ever ( >>/2358/- >>/2360/,  >>/3871/); not to mention that one could also include several episodes related to the Winter season. This gen can perfectly provide a couple of hours of entertainment when it comes to this period and in the season 8 thread, you can actually read the reviews about the last two episodes mentioned.  

This episode spotlight will serve just to check how episodes were discussed at the time (back in 2018) and how one can analyse from a distant perspective. This time, the episode chosen for this spotlight comes from the 8th season.

You might be wondering if this episode is Christmas related but as shown in A Health of Information with Nightmare Night, the theme cannot be found in the episode itself. This means that this spotlight could have been reviewed at any other day/period of time. Any user who is reading this post and raises this approach is going to be correct, anyone can point out the seemingly inappropriate criteria for writing this episode spotlight...

However, this review fulfils a very different purpose because today, December 23, the 2nd wave of /endpone/ started all of a sudden with this series of posts: from  >>/272/ and  >>/273/ to  >>/288/. So, as you can guess, this spotlight follows a more meta perspective so, pardon me if this spotlight doesn´t follow exactly the formula that was delivered for other episodes because there is a more personal meta context that I have to address and for this occasion, there are going to be details that you can´t consider normal for reviewing an episode. 

It´s been 3 years….3 years since I pressed the New Reply button on the old Endchan servers where 500 and 502 errors would pop up very often and would have inconsistent periods of maintenance (you could refresh the page several times and the site would sometimes work and all of a sudden, get an error that points out that you are stuck). 

If anyone out there had told my old self what would happen after hitting that button, if anyone had told me that I was opening Pandora´s box at the time, I wouldn´t have believed that person. Only 3 years, yet after 2020, it feels so...distant (I feel older than the actual material time). Receiving a reply from the old Polish Board Owner with a Hi Anon picture that was seemingly innocent at the time and then, the race for the 300 posts for reaching the 1st page on Endchan´s boardlist would become a spontaneous task that would spark the start of this second wave.

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So, what´s the correlation with this 3rd anniversary of that 2nd wave with this spotlight? Well, this thread  >>/6625/ was also created for gen 4´s 10th anniversary so this means that I happened to make this species ""seemingly"" important to the board (when they weren´t) and, how many episodes does one have to work with related to them? Not many, in fact, they arrived really late and the impact for this community has been quite small so far. 

As I intended to point out with those initial questions and the context coming from the movie with that final party, the 4th generation didn´t end with the movie, hence I asked if the happy ending was actually all that happy in the first place. It didn´t turn out to be so happy because like parties and all things in life, everything comes to an end and there is always a tomorrow where you have to keep going and move onto other business. There is always a time limit for these short-lived events. You might be wondering if this is related to any of the characters involved in the movie. Not directly from the cast but the actions that happened in the movie would greatly affect the direction of this episode. Therefore, this episode spotlight marks the actual sequel, the period after the party that would define the direction of a family...

This episode was leaked in December 2017, so it´s been 3 years since it was released as well. Behind the scenes of these posts, one could actually watch this 22-minute sequel to the movie and it was actually reviewed on this board as well. The last episode spotlight for this 2020 is...


SURF AND/OR TURF (Season 8, Episode 6)

https://yayponies.no/videos/episodes.php
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6gpsgv (2017 leaked version, no background music)

Not all the episodes from season 8 aired in 2018 because during the start of this 2nd wave, one could watch certain episodes (basically from the 5th episode until the 13th) such as The Mean 6, Horse Play, Non Compete Clause, The Parent Map and this episode in question: Surf and/or Turf; you could get access (without making much effort) in order to check out this leaked material. This means that we have had this bunch of episodes for 3 years as well and this pick doesn´t simply have its justification because of /endpone/ alone.  

This episode has also been reviewed before  >>/1260/ so one can compare what I thought about that episode back in 2018 but in this case however, I want to bring other matters. So, let´s dive into it...

...literally...

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As soon as one starts watching Surf and/or Turf, the episode already makes clear to the viewer that this episode involves the CMC as the main protagonist with Twilight as a secondary character for accompanying them. The main reason Twilight is doing this is because, not only because the CMC are still fillies for going that far, but also because of this (apparently) simple plot device: the signatures from both Silverstream´s parents. 

The episode also uses Apple Bloom, while they are going to Mt.Aris by train, for explaining to the viewer the whole backstory that happened in the movie. This move serves for both as an introduction and a justification for this species ‘existence for those people who haven´t watched the movie and, in a nutshell, they get exposed to that subverted version that Apple Bloom (putting AJ as the main hero who defeated the Storm king) tells to the rest who are travelling on that wagon (with the help of the initial scene with the map of harmony). When they arrive at the station, everything that was messy in the movie has been either repaired or recovered because of the period between the movie and this episode. Unlike the movie, this episode doesn´t rely on adventures but a slice of life nature instead. 

In theory, what this episode supposedly presents is the typical CMC episode where they argue between each other and cause a conflict or make matters worse until they decide to apologize and thus, things go back on track. This is nothing new and if you want to judge this episode with a simplistic manner without relying on any difficulties, you could sum it up with the average CMC formula and you would get away with it and let´s be honest, this episode doesn´t stand out when it comes to originality in terms of using orthodox formulas of writing. 

So, the conflict happens because the CMC have to decide which place is better: Mt. Aris or Seaquestria. Sweetie Belle leans to the former because she is left amazed by the beauty of the Harmonizing Heights and Scootaloo leans towards the latter and of those reasons that back up her convictions is that swimming almost feels like flying. While water is denser than air and the speed might not be as high as one could move in the sky, the 3d movement and freedom of choice to go at any direction is actually the same, she isn´t technically wrong. However, for those who have watched other episodes related to Scootaloo (such as Flight to the Finish or The Washouts), that line coming from her with so much joy might not leave anyone indifferent. 

I also must highlight how Sweetie Belle scorns Seaquestria during her stay and speeds up the whole visit because she cannot stand it and prefers much more the Harmonizing Heights. Apple Bloom, while she doesn´t mind visiting any of those two places, she isn´t involved in the conflict but she delivers a pretty funny moment when she has to work as the messenger for both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle when they are sitting next to each other on the beach. 

Despite visiting a new place that has been unfamiliar for basically anyone except for the mane 6, the humour and the whole feel throughout this episode just resembles to the sense of a place that they have been visiting for their whole lives. It´s so welcoming from the very beginning that you wonder for a moment if this is their first visit to this faraway location.

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While this episode can be seen as the standard CMC episode, there is an apparent feel that this follows an easy formula to follow and it actually does that…. apparently. However, the beauty of this episode doesn´t rely on the matters that appear at the forefront but in its subtlety. The episode, while it can be perfectly judging with its linear nature, there is another layer underneath the surface level that makes this episode worth revisiting. 

The distinctive element here is the new character: Terramar. 

While he didn´t appear in the movie, he is Skystar´s cousin/Novo´s nephew, so he is a member of the royal family of that kingdom. He is quite welcoming from the start and while there are apparently no problems in this place, this location isn´t the same as it was before the mane 6 arrived.... neither were its people. What does this mean?

The slice of life nature comes from the fact that all of them were living underwater in Seaquestria and a part of them returned to Mt Aris while the rest decided to stay in the underwater environment. This whole process of liberation was wholeheartedly celebrated, the mood changed for the better and the happiness was greatly increased because they could finally restore their old home.... except for one little aspect.


While everyone has actually ended up living in the conditions that they freely choose to live in the end (no restrictions from the outside for deciding where to dwell), those different interests might not have been free of facing its collateral consequences. No tensions and no interruptions between each other so there aren´t any problems that could actually harm their civilization, not to mention that both places, as shown in the episode, have their own charm and on their own, you cannot go wrong in terms of living a life that can provide a good amount of quality. Therefore, the technical department isn´t exactly the problem here. 

However, this episode decides to expose one possible flaw that ended up forging this whole conflict. More like conflict, a lack of understanding and dialogue from both parts that was unintended. 

The uniqueness of this episode doesn´t come from the CMC´s perspective. Sure, the main protagonists take the screentime here but it´s done for a very good reason that falls into a very grey area here. It comes from the subtlety and while the episode increases the conflict between the CMC, it turns out that the problem came from way earlier their appearance. The episode puts all the ingredients for the viewer so he can focus on the CMC but where the episode hides its whole conflict comes from Terramar and thus, this episode should be watched considering it from Terramar´s point of view , especially when it comes to his psychology and his inner confusions.

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This episode plays with the mind of the viewer, disguising itself with a conflict that falls into an average territory in order to hide another one that Brian Holfield and the storyboard´s staff cannot display so openly in a little kids’ show. What this episode hides from the viewer but shows very subtly so kids cannot notice it is that:

The process of divorce

This is the haunting part that makes this episode so special in comparison with others. It plays with enough subtlety so the basic understanding of the episode doesn´t reach these conclusions so easily. It´s subtle enough in order to leave a few signals so you can tell that both Terramar´s parents: Sky Beak and Ocean Flow; they have been through a process of divorce. Yet they don´t seem to look like that (and they even appear together in season 9 with Uprooted), it doesn´t leave an apparent impression that they are actually divorced. So, why do they smile in the end when they get to see each other?

It turns out that this divorce comes from the fact that both of them have simply decided to live their own lifestyle in the different environments.

So, how can you tackle this concept in a show whose target audience is the little kids? Then, you start to wonder how Hasbro and DHX haven´t been sued and when one takes into account this factor of running risks that could cost a lot of complaints and possible lawsuits that could cause controversy, this episode has managed to pass as a normal one...because all the main ingredients overshadow this concept. 

That is to say, everything that you are going to see in this episode are just excuses in order to put the divorce problem as an obscure theme that isn´t noticeable with a very casual eye. This is because everything shown serves as a filter where it can easily go unnoticed but at the same time, anyone has enough elements and little details to detect that said situation has occurred.


If you want to analyse the divorce, the viewer has to put a lot of effort on focusing on the details, matching the little pieces of the puzzle delivered throughout the entire episode. The episode DEMANDS that if you want to associate this episode with the divorce, one has to nitpick, not as a mentality, but because for analysing this episode with this approach, one must stay watchful as a requirement. 

The episode might seemingly lines of filler such as the "research" or "business" words that come from Twilight (the signatures from the parents and the conversations that Twilight has had with both Sky Beak and Ocean Flow behind the scenes) or when Terramar and Twilight present the lore behind the hippogriffs and seaponies, when that innocent backstory also explains precisely the whole root of said divorce.

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So, if the viewer wants to keep an eye on this episode when it comes to the whole divorce theme, I must say that the episode is really elusive for certain details and how the episode itself keeps a normal nature when in reality, it´s a disguise that happens to stay unnoticed.  You might need to watch several times certain scenes in order to spot these little hints that aim at the same direction but are covered with different other topics on top of them.


For example, when the CMC and Twilight get to see Ocean Flow for the first time in her house, the conversation that the viewer pulls from the clip doesn´t seem to be unnatural at all. However, whenever Twilight talks about the signatures part (which involves the theme behind the parents), Ocean Flow cuts off completely the topic, not because she doesn´t want to talk about the topic, but because of her character and the fact that she was eager to present other things in the meantime. Well, this whole move is an excuse for not dealing with the topic but it´s so well disguised, it follows such a natural tone that the viewer cannot suspect that anything is wrong there. It can only be detected when you analyse this episode with the mindset of trying to detect said divorce with an exhaustive approach.


However, the episode doesn´t want to hide the concept all the time. It just simply makes it more or less obvious but it´s still overshadowed by other elements of this episode. There are little sentences that clear up this whole matter, just that one has to notice where these phrases come from. For example:

> Sky Beak: "There's my boy!"
< Terramar: "Hi, Dad!"
> Sky Beak: "Haven't seen you in days, son. Wish you'd come around more often."


< Terramar: "Mom!"
> Ocean Flow: "Terramar! Welcome home, baby! No excuses. This time, you're staying for dinner."


These two little moments when Terramar greets his parents speak volumes because there is a subtle feel that both have been missing his presence at home and the divorce raises because of the fact of having two houses and that those places aren´t all that near and one has to spend a few minutes for rotating between them.

But...why does this episode hide this concept so much? Well, that´s because the adult stuff is omitted and this approach is focused on Terramar´s perspective, the awareness that a child has towards this matter, without getting to know the adult matters that happen behind the scenes.

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One could actually claim that this whole episode is filler or lacks a lot of meaning because it skips completely the adult matters.

However, one has to keep in mind this: Twilight and especially the CMC go through the entire process of what Terramar has felt since his parents were divorced. In fact, the conflict between both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo is exactly the mental process that Terrramar has been trying to digest inside his head, leading him into a permanent state of confusion. This becomes even more frustrating when they get mad because Terramar has been absolutely reminded by that process of trying to come up with a decision of picking one place over the other.

This also applies to Twilight but with a more pleasant take. Nonetheless, she develops a sense of empathy towards Terramar´s point of view after noticing how complicated is to choose to spend time either in Mt Aris or in Seaquestria. She enjoys her stay at first, then she undermines Terramar´s perspective and finally, she understands his conflicted vision. Read this part of the script in order to notice her change of mindset towards the problem while talking with the CMC about the problem:


> Twilight Sparkle: "Whoever said that he had to choose?"
< Apple Bloom: Well, he did.
> Twilight Sparkle: "Hmmm... Maybe Terramar's making it harder than it has to be."
< Ocean Flow: Yoo-hoo! Princess! We're having a seashell-crafting circle. Care to join us?
> Twilight Sparkle:"Actually, we're right in the middle of—"
< Sky Beak: There you are! The flag-folding ceremony's about to begin!
> Twilight Sparkle: "Thank you, really. I've had a great time in both places today, but... [whispering, to Cutie Mark Crusaders] Wow. This must be how Terramar feels all the time."


So, this whole episode recreates the inner conflict that Terramar has been dealing with, the viewer, while not directly getting to see the main actors of this problem in front of the staging, is actually watching a perfect analogy of Terramar´s mind while he had to face the whole process. The episode apparently seems to work like filler but far from reality, the episode wants to convey his inner struggles and recreate the situations that turned out to be the outcome of this process of divorce.

This process of divorce can be devastating for children and this is shown subtly...in a kids´ show. The adult stuff is skipped because it mutes the voices from both Sky Beak, Ocean Flow and even Twilight when they get to meet at the beach. That conversation between them is actually about Terramar´s worries and how they have been dealing with their new routines all this time after the structural change inside the family.

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Finally, Terramar decides to pick neither. He stays on the tree because he cannot stand his constant mental confusion that doesn´t seem to end anytime soon. The ending is what provides the message coming from his parents and more than a friendship lesson...this time around, the whole conflict wasn´t a friendship problem but the support from the parents towards the children, even if said family is theoretically broken. 


> Sky Beak: "Son! There you are! Your friends told us how you've been feeling."
< Ocean Flow: "And we're sorry if we ever made you think you had to choose between worlds. That wasn't our intention, honey."
> Sky Beak: "Your Hippogriff heritage is something to be proud of, certainly."
< Ocean Flow: "But you're more than just where you're from or who you live with. We love you because you're you, no matter where you choose to be."
> Sky Beak: "You don't have to decide. You can keep doing what you've been doing – going back and forth."
< Ocean Flow: "And enjoying both places."


I highly suggest to read/watch these lines repeatedly and come up with certain conclusions because this is the actual message from the episode and it holds a lot of power.

What the viewer can pull out of these lines from both Sky Beak and Ocean Flow is that both, despite being separated, actually display support towards their children no matter the personal circumstances between themselves. They are aware that Silverstream and Terramar could be struggling with this process, especially the latter, and they haven´t been conscious of the potential struggles in his psychology towards this event.

This episode might not be about Christmas at all but…the message displayed for this episode seems like it was fitting for a period in which family support is shown and proven towards them.


In this message, there is an open statement about having a complete freedom for his child to choose and no matter what he does, he will always have the moral support from his parents. Both Ocean Flow and Sky Beak get to meet each other in the future (as seen in Uprooted) in order to convey that they are still together and that nothing wrong has happened between them, just that they have chosen to live on their own. 

However, they convey that feel to their children in order to keep them mentally stable, having both parental figures very present as if nothing wrong happened and thus, showing signs of a strong stable family while said status doesn´t have any compromise between themselves. They both come up with an agreement of making that effort and seeing themselves every now and then so their children don´t develop a homesick sense towards any of the two parents.

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This last episode spotlight is written for this period of time because, while it doesn´t display any apparent correlation with this date, it´s oddly suitable for several reasons. Leaving meta reasons aside, the moral (after a series of constant subtleties and poisonous lines) displayed in this episode is what makes Surf and/or Turf a highlight on its own.  Where does one draw the line for tackling the concept of divorce for a show of this TV rating? How would one approach it without noticing said theme without leaving it all that obvious for everyone?

When you keep these questions in mind, it´s where the episode actually shines above the rest and as far as I am concerned, this deserves a revisit despite knowing the entire development of this episode. It might be seen as one of those average episodes when you approach it as your average CMC episode until you realize that the CMC are the pretty face and underneath them, there is a recurrent them going on. 


Divorce...is a complicated matter to deal with and this episode actually leaves some worthy discussion related to it. Not only that but at how a company can avoid lawsuits from parents who might report that their children might be exposed towards a topic that could actually affect their family status.  Many of these happen IRL because of economic reasons, public status, politics or interests for getting more power.

Moreover, imagine if you were a person/kid who has been dealing with these issues: having your family structurally broken and then, the cartoon that you watch (for pleasure and escapism) reminds you about the harsh reality that you have been living in real life, not to mention that kids can be more influenced because of their early development and thus, one might not be aware of the possible psychological consequences that children might develop because of unstable environments.

The topic is quite tricky and shouldn´t be taken all that lightly. Nonetheless, while difficult, it should be discussed anyway because it exists and it´s becoming even more common in this century….

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Besides, this episode doesn´t simply stick with the divorce. There is also room for moral support and thus, despite talking about a theme that could lead to a lot of frustrating situations, I want to end up this last spotlight with a more positive note. Even if circumstances look complicated and dire, there will always someone out there who, despite the actions that are unrelated to you, will display a certain amount of support and love even when everything is confusing.

Those who have been using /endpone/, those people who might be out there behind the screen while reading this spotlight, hopefully you get your amount of moral support because after facing this awful 2020, at least, someone out there will give signs of love and care towards you for making it and see this whole year end in front of your own eyes. So many devastated people, psychologically speaking, have been facing many troubles along the way (including family troubles like this one) and... I think that there should be a balance and bring a sense of relief for this mental burden. 


So, from my part, I hope that you have enjoyed reading these 4-episode spotlights, the 3 years of constant activity delivered in this board and hopefully, anyone reading these posts gets to have a good time with the family during this Christmas period.

I end this anniversary by saying that it´s been a pleasure to be a user of /endpone/ for these 3 years. I would like to find the proper words for explaining this whole ride but it would require many posts of biblical proportions for wording properly the entire experience. Instead, I can only conclude this simple line for this post and anyone out there deserves to get this message:


I wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy 3rd anniversary, /endpone/.

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 >>/7060/
> It turns out that this divorce comes from the fact that
> both of them have simply decided to live their own lifestyle in the different environments.

 Not having seen the ep (as usual), my first reaction is "maybe there were health considerations"

I mean, you've no doubt heard the tale of the couple, married forty years, had to separate.
The man had developed serious heart issues, and needed to stay close to the main arterial roads in case he needed to be taken by ambulance, and anyway the big city's hospitals were better equipped to deal with his delicate health.
The woman had developed COPD and could no longer breathe in the dense city air, so she'd moved to the mountains, well away from the city.
They had both set up telescopes on their front porch, and would wave to each other if the other was watching them watch the other.

Also, given the filename,
 >>/268/
And the fact I have a file by that name on my work computer's desktop, I'm about three-quarters sure that was me.
But since I don't have the fake-rag about how all reality is actually a kids show, I'll just shove in this image of a trough, this day.

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 >>/7056/
> You might be wondering if this episode is Christmas related but as shown in A Health of Information with Nightmare Night, the theme cannot be found in the episode itself. 
If you count Christmas as family, (as you do point out later) it totally fits, even with water.

My response to this maybe a little different and itself maybe divided into several sections. In particular I may highlight another I remember on the portrayal of divorce from a TV-Y show from my childhood for comparison. This may occur over several days, as I'm not sure how big it'll be. 

> It´s been 3 years….3 years since I pressed the New Reply button on the old Endchan servers where 500 and 502 errors would pop up very often and would have inconsistent periods of maintenance (you could refresh the page several times and the site would sometimes work and all of a sudden, get an error that points out that you are stuck). 
The classic period. 

>  if anyone had told me that I was opening Pandora´s box at the time, I wouldn´t have believed that person. 
Indeed, this board, 3 anons met at just the right time. The misadvatures I've had since then on this board or otherwise I wouldn't have believed. From pulling the plug on another community to getting directly involved in fandom drama. I don't want to overstate any of it but it is all way above anything my lurker mentality would conceive of. 

> Receiving a reply from the old Polish Board Owner with a Hi Anon picture that was seemingly innocent 
Man, BO, you were both so silent yet your influence and contribution to our current state cannot be understated. I don't know if you or your fellow /flutter/fags are still kicking  that mysterious countdown clock on that domain...  but I wish you well and all of /flutter/. 

 >>/7066/
> I mean, you've no doubt heard the tale of the couple, married forty years, had to separate.
No I have not heard of that specific case but I have heard of (and was considering bring up) medical divorce in general.

> They had both set up telescopes on their front porch, and would wave to each other if the other was watching them watch the other.
That almost sounds like a movie, heartbreaking...

 >>/268/
I think it maybe you. In particular,
> I *do* 
You often use forum style markdown text like this. I've noticed it before  As opposed to lynxchan's more wonky ''' for bold text 

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 >>/7066/
> my first reaction is "maybe there were health considerations"

well, that´s quite an outlook that one would raise towards this episode. There isn´t any apparent sign which arises health matters. Although, one could establish a very grim theory with that statement...

The only way in which I can imply that there are health matters taken into account for such divorce would be because of Ocean Flow´s state. If you think about it deeply, we haven´t seen Terramar´s mother in her hippogriff, not even once (do we even have any vector of her as a hippogriff?). I could establish the theory that, despite being capable to stay in touch with the air, perhaps she is unable to return to her hippogriff form because she might have grown a reliance over the years confined in Seaquestria and she might be actually limited to stay as a seapony for the rest of her life.

That could actually explain why there is no remorse between the couple and they both agreed that they would do fine by staying separated in both places. Maybe, shortly after recovering Mt. Aris, they tried to pull off the transformation on her and probably concluded that it wasn´t a good idea to change her form at all. 

Now, this headcanon is based on a very specific detail (and a very grim one if it turned out to be true) but given that the closest point where she stays on Earth has been on the beach (this happens in Uprooted as well, we don´t see her visiting Silverstream at the school of friendship, unlike Sky Beak). 

One can perfectly assume that both parents have decided to run two different lifestyles but, are there more factors hidden beyond their own will? One can´t tell...because the episode doesn´t provide you much information about their backstory,except dropping certain subtleties.

> And the fact I have a file by that name on my work computer's desktop, I'm about three-quarters sure that was me.
would you have predicted what that bookmark has offered over the years? 
One thing is for sure: you have surely proven to check it out but...wow, reading that reply in hindsight really makes one think about it. I left a post literally three days after yours and another one two months later for celebrating Christmas (without any expectations of getting any instant answer)

We were both there in October and things could have actually changed if there had been more replies but nope, the 2nd wave of activity spontaneously happened in December. 

I don´t know what to think, really...

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 >>/7066/
> The man had developed serious heart issues, and needed to stay close to the main arterial roads in case he needed to be taken by ambulance, and anyway the big city's hospitals were better equipped to deal with his delicate health.
> The woman had developed COPD and could no longer breathe in the dense city air, so she'd moved to the mountains, well away from the city.

as  >>/7071/ says, those lines sound like the perfect script for making a dramatic production with this little story.  It´s so drastically specific and peculiar that you wouldn´t imagine such situation for a second except watching it in a movie that makes the viewer mournful about it,especially because of...

> They had both set up telescopes on their front porch, and would wave to each other if the other was watching them watch the other.
..this. While there are other cases that are related to this matter, this part is what truly makes the difference from the rest. A very poignant gesture indeed.

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 >>/7071/
> f you count Christmas as family, (as you do point out later) it totally fits, even with water.
well, if one takes it with that perspective, yeah. This episode portrays a message that could be perfectly exploited for any Christmas production. 

> My response to this maybe a little different and itself maybe divided into several sections. 
it´s the longest spotlight that I have written so far.  It´s no wonder one might need more time to digest what I have exposed here. Besides, I have had to reconsider the way of writing it along the way. I couldn´t post it earlier because I noticed details that I hadn´t taken into account so certain reflections were arisen in the last hour (more like 24 though)

> The misadvatures I've had since then on this board or otherwise I wouldn't have believed. From pulling the plug on another community to getting directly involved in fandom drama. I don't want to overstate any of it but it is all way above anything my lurker mentality would conceive of.

I feel older than I should by reading anything related to that event and I don´t always manage to figure out the proper words for describing the most mundane posts that would open up an unreal series of events because of them. The whole thought messes me up. 

> BO, you were both so silent yet your influence and contribution to our current state cannot be understated.  I don't know if you or your fellow /flutter/fags are still kicking that mysterious countdown clock on that domain... but I wish you well and all of /flutter/.

Amen. 
 Although I wonder if he has been lurking at some point around here after his farewell

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 >>/7191/
Oreos right down their throats. That's pretty dark for a children's show, maybe Pinkie shouldn't have the spotlight that often.

>  >snaps fingers_

Now, what was that about 'sarcasm'?

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 >>/7060/
> That is to say, everything that you are going to see in this episode are just excuses in order to put the divorce problem as an obscure theme that isn´t noticeable with a very casual eye. This is because everything shown serves as a filter where it can easily go unnoticed but at the same time, anyone has enough elements and little details to detect that said situation has occurred.
 >>/7061/
> These two little moments when Terramar greets his parents speak volumes because there is a subtle feel that both have been missing his presence at home and the divorce raises because of the fact of having two houses and that those places aren´t all that near and one has to spend a few minutes for rotating between them.
This moment is what made me really think about what you lay out here. 

I maybe about to retread but I'm going somewhere with it:
    Ocean Flow: Terramar! Welcome home, baby! No excuses. This time, you're staying for dinner.
    Terramar: [chuckles] Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, this is my mom Ocean Flow. And this is—
    Ocean Flow: [gasps] Princess Twilight Sparkle! What an honor! You know, Silverstream just raves about you.
    Twilight Sparkle: Well, she is one of our most hardworking students. In fact, I brought this form for you to sign so that—
    Ocean Flow: Both my children are so smart. Would you like to see their baby pictures?
    Terramar: Mom!
    Twilight Sparkle: That sounds adorable! I'd love to! And you know, to find out about aquatic pony early development and, uh...
    Cutie Mark Crusaders: [giggling] Research.
    Ocean Flow: Oh, well, maybe your friends would like a snack while we're gone? Some kelp chips? Fish oil tea?
    Terramar: No, thanks, Mom. I'm gonna go show them around.
 It's really interesting to watch moments like this play out and to think of it from the child's point of view. 

On the one hand, I think it's masterful. Brilliant even to have this subtle moment like this, to have it inferred within the dialog so smoothly. It's pretty rare for media of this level to have it. Heck, media as a whole has moved away from the subtle even in the highest ranks of our arts and culture. From the shrill screams of moral messaging to smacking someone upside the head with existentialism this is perhaps a greater achievement than at first glace.  

I don't want to say MLP was brilliant A+ story telling all the time but stuff like this or even as far back as The Cutie Mark Chronicles do standout to me. Part of me wonder if I am just reading in to it but their really is a fair bit on could go into here, from divorce itself to observations of Seapony/Hippogriff culture. Though I have ultimately decided to go a different rout after a memory from my childhood brought forth something surprisingly relevant...

Another show dealt with this topic, and I'm going to compare the two.

> not because she doesn´t want to talk about the topic, but because of her character and the fact that she was eager to present other things in the meantime.
I actually do wonder if you could take her whisking Twilight away to look at Baby pictures as a way to avoid having it brought up in front of  Terramar.

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I guess there was another leak? The developer of that 3D software I mentioned awhile ago, says everyone wrote all at once to say he needed to add Hornball.

So ... I guess this means you can bang her for ... a buck if you wait a week. Or $20 if you're in a hurry. And in either case if you have a headset, although that software will run on what my coworker has taken to calling "a pancake" (conventional monitor)

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 >>/7349/
> The developer of that 3D software I mentioned awhile ago, says everyone wrote all at once to say he needed to add Hornball.
How many leaks does the MLP fandom have?

G5 looks better than Pony Life though that is a low bar.

#Relateable

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Movie incoming. Major problem -- it's on/from Netflix.
I don't trust those goons. Too much focus on marxism not enough focus on a working story.

Anyway, unicorns lost their magic but I guess pegasi didn't.
Also, fake unicorn horns. That really is cute.

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 >>/7792/
> Netflix

Yeah, netflix is suspect. Though I do not know the level of influence they have on the show. I saw some anons speculate that they were the reason Hasbro moved production. Yeah, the movie may not fully reveal the show's tone either as it's being handled by Boulder Media with the old production team in Ireland but the show's production was moved to Canada being done by Atomic Cartoons (whoever they are) and apparently had a few staff from FiM unexpectedly back (a good sign I suppose). 

> Too much focus on marxism not enough focus on a working story.

Our first announcement for G5 detailing the story also was horrible in this exact way. Fortunately it appeared to just be describing things in the most wokest way possible as oppose for everything being that level of crazy from all other indications we have seen so far, though I suppose one never knows till we see it.

> Anyway, unicorns lost their magic but I guess pegasi didn't

Moderate spoiler:
 The pegasi are faking it 

> Also, fake unicorn horns. That really is cute

Agreed.

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I've just seen as how I need to catch up on my G5.
Opaline was seen wandering around town on Nightmare Night -- or whatever the foals are calling it these episodes.

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 >>/8836/
It is okay, you are waaaaaay ahead of me. Who only just finished Chapter 2. 

Nightmare Night episode with her running through the town might be a pretty entertaining experience. I gotta admit.