Good job? with what exactly this was nothing but a painful exertion from beginning to end.
No this episode could have been good, if and I say IF, they had taken more time focusing on the switch, used a more hilarious combination and skipped the terrible ending altogether.
Dash and Fluttershy should have had their marks switched and Rarity should have gotten Pinkies. Also the marks should have affected them more, especially have effected their personality.
No what MA Larson did was to take something that had potential, completely destroy it and then throw in something completely different in the end that had nothing to do with the rest of the episode and effectively negated the lesson of the first part.
See this: [link]
No this episode could have been good, if and I say IF, they had taken more time focusing on the switch, used a more hilarious combination and skipped the terrible ending altogether.
Dash and Fluttershy should have had their marks switched and Rarity should have gotten Pinkies. Also the marks should have affected them more, especially have effected their personality.
No what MA Larson did was to take something that had potential, completely destroy it and then throw in something completely different in the end that had nothing to do with the rest of the episode and effectively negated the lesson of the first part.
See this: [link]
The requirements for this episode were that Twilight has to become an Alicorn, the cutie marks get switched (and fixed), and it has to be a musical. Spreading it out over two episodes certainly would have made more sense, but there could have been technical reasons for not having done that, such as Hasbro declaring it so, budgeting, planning, etc.
Yes requirement, meaning that the evil corporate overlords dictated how the episode were to be, in which case it could never have been good which it by the way wasn't.
The alicorn thing should not have happened, not only because it is wrong in and of itself, but also because it was non sequitur to what came before. It was literally trown out of nowhere. You did see this [link] right?
The alicorn thing should not have happened, not only because it is wrong in and of itself, but also because it was non sequitur to what came before. It was literally trown out of nowhere. You did see this [link] right?
Yes, I did see that. However, I don't entirely agree with it. You have to remember that Equestrian society is very, very different from what we're used to. Everyone has a destiny as indicated by their cutie marks. If you accept that alicornification / princessification is a natural step in the study of friendship, then the transformation makes sense. In a sense, the episode was about all of the Mane 6 "re-discovering" their destinies. The destinies are determined by what someone is good at, and thus by extension what they find the most joy in doing (this episode clearly illustrated that point, as none of them were happy trying to do things they weren't "meant to do."). After Twilight helped her friends rediscover their destinies, then they all "helped" her to discover the next step of hers.
It is as logical that that was her next step as it was logical that it was any of the other main sixs next step.
And for that matter if being an alicorn is something that you can just become with a spell then why isn't everypony one. The entire concept of the races breaks down here.
And Twilight you must remember is a unicorn, not only is she a unicorn she is an archetypical unicorn. It isn't a matter of her getting closer to something or being better at something she had trained at, it is a radical and fundamental change that came out of nowhere. Not only had it no build up storywise but it made as much sense of her growing wings as it would be for ME to grow wings
And for that matter if being an alicorn is something that you can just become with a spell then why isn't everypony one. The entire concept of the races breaks down here.
And Twilight you must remember is a unicorn, not only is she a unicorn she is an archetypical unicorn. It isn't a matter of her getting closer to something or being better at something she had trained at, it is a radical and fundamental change that came out of nowhere. Not only had it no build up storywise but it made as much sense of her growing wings as it would be for ME to grow wings
Actually, some of your questions have pretty good answers.
"It is as logical that that was her next step as it was logical that it was any of the other main sixs next step."
No, because Twilight was the only one of them under the explicit training and guidance of Celestia. You'll recall from the Wonderbolt Academy episode that it's mentioned that Celestia has Twilight working on some sort of new spell. Twilight is also the only one "tested" by Celestia. While the rest of the Mane 6 do write letters to Celestia, Twilight is her primary focus. The Elements of Harmony parallel this. The elements are powered by all of them, but the power is exercised and manifested through Twilight. This is emphasized multiple times. At the beginning of Season 1, Twilight's friends are positioned around her, with Twilight in the middle with a large crown. This quote makes this more evident:
"You see, Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the... the spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element: the element of... magic!"
Twilight's power and position is entirely dependent on her strong relationship with her friends. She is the element of magic, and since friendship is magic, it makes sense that Twilight is the central character. She's a manifestation of the magic of friendship. Thus, her status is indicative of the power of the elements of harmony and the strength of her friendships. In a way, all of the Mane 6 is the alicorn princess. A possible future episode might involve a disruption in her friendship (like what happened at the beginning of Season 2), causing her alicorn status to become lessened.
"It isn't a matter of her getting closer to something or being better at something she had trained at, it is a radical and fundamental change that came out of nowhere."
Remember, an alicorn is still arguably a "unicorn." An alicorn possesses characteristics of all three races. Remember, she is studying under Celestia for a reason, so she is in fact "getting closer" to something. Lauren Faust envisioned her becoming Celestia's successor. An alicorn is a balance of all three races AND uniquely magical, which makes it a good fit for such a position.
"Not only had it no build up storywise"
While it is certainly arguable that her transformation was rushed and premature story wise, it's not possible to argue that there was no build up at all. The Elements of Harmony are the biggest buildup, as it establishes a framework under which her ascension makes logical sense. Additionally, every single episode resulted in her learning more about friendship. Friendship is magic, so massive amounts of friendship (and knowledge of) --> massive amounts of magic, to the point where she was able to write her own novel spell which activated the transformation process. There is deep magic in the Elements of Harmony, and it has been shown time and time again that they are powered solely by friendship. Twilight's spell was the ultimate friendship spell, so it makes sense that it would activate the Elements of Harmony in a unique way (they are after all literally the things that zapped her).
"It is as logical that that was her next step as it was logical that it was any of the other main sixs next step."
No, because Twilight was the only one of them under the explicit training and guidance of Celestia. You'll recall from the Wonderbolt Academy episode that it's mentioned that Celestia has Twilight working on some sort of new spell. Twilight is also the only one "tested" by Celestia. While the rest of the Mane 6 do write letters to Celestia, Twilight is her primary focus. The Elements of Harmony parallel this. The elements are powered by all of them, but the power is exercised and manifested through Twilight. This is emphasized multiple times. At the beginning of Season 1, Twilight's friends are positioned around her, with Twilight in the middle with a large crown. This quote makes this more evident:
"You see, Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the... the spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element: the element of... magic!"
Twilight's power and position is entirely dependent on her strong relationship with her friends. She is the element of magic, and since friendship is magic, it makes sense that Twilight is the central character. She's a manifestation of the magic of friendship. Thus, her status is indicative of the power of the elements of harmony and the strength of her friendships. In a way, all of the Mane 6 is the alicorn princess. A possible future episode might involve a disruption in her friendship (like what happened at the beginning of Season 2), causing her alicorn status to become lessened.
"It isn't a matter of her getting closer to something or being better at something she had trained at, it is a radical and fundamental change that came out of nowhere."
Remember, an alicorn is still arguably a "unicorn." An alicorn possesses characteristics of all three races. Remember, she is studying under Celestia for a reason, so she is in fact "getting closer" to something. Lauren Faust envisioned her becoming Celestia's successor. An alicorn is a balance of all three races AND uniquely magical, which makes it a good fit for such a position.
"Not only had it no build up storywise"
While it is certainly arguable that her transformation was rushed and premature story wise, it's not possible to argue that there was no build up at all. The Elements of Harmony are the biggest buildup, as it establishes a framework under which her ascension makes logical sense. Additionally, every single episode resulted in her learning more about friendship. Friendship is magic, so massive amounts of friendship (and knowledge of) --> massive amounts of magic, to the point where she was able to write her own novel spell which activated the transformation process. There is deep magic in the Elements of Harmony, and it has been shown time and time again that they are powered solely by friendship. Twilight's spell was the ultimate friendship spell, so it makes sense that it would activate the Elements of Harmony in a unique way (they are after all literally the things that zapped her).
1) Twilight's logical ascension.
You must remember that the main five is all paragons of their respective virtues while Twilight is merely the conduct that puts it all togetter. Unlike her friends she is not a paragon of a virtue. It could be said that she is the least important element just as it could be said that she is the most important one.
2) No an alicorn is not essentially a unicorn. What gives Celestia her legitimacy is that she (and her kind) is the perfect balance of all three races. By having somepony ascend due to a mere spell, due to being "the best kind of unicorn" We could call them winged unicorns but if that's what they truly are then the unicorn supremacist gets a pretty strong case.
3) I won't argue much about the last point because you partially agree with me, but you must see that her getting gradually smarter doesn't result in getting wings. You see her getting wings weren't something that gradually happened due to improvement, just like leaning and evolution goes, this was a radical change that came out of nowhere.
And if a spell can give a unicorn wings, then it will only be fair that Trixie will also be an alicorn the next time we see her.
You must remember that the main five is all paragons of their respective virtues while Twilight is merely the conduct that puts it all togetter. Unlike her friends she is not a paragon of a virtue. It could be said that she is the least important element just as it could be said that she is the most important one.
2) No an alicorn is not essentially a unicorn. What gives Celestia her legitimacy is that she (and her kind) is the perfect balance of all three races. By having somepony ascend due to a mere spell, due to being "the best kind of unicorn" We could call them winged unicorns but if that's what they truly are then the unicorn supremacist gets a pretty strong case.
3) I won't argue much about the last point because you partially agree with me, but you must see that her getting gradually smarter doesn't result in getting wings. You see her getting wings weren't something that gradually happened due to improvement, just like leaning and evolution goes, this was a radical change that came out of nowhere.
And if a spell can give a unicorn wings, then it will only be fair that Trixie will also be an alicorn the next time we see her.
1) Actually, while you are right about Twilight being a "conduct," it's also mentioned (right after her transformation) that Twilight herself embodies all of those characteristics. She also does have a unique virtue: leadership. Leadership + all those other virtues would make a good successor.
2) You bring up a good point here. Unicorns seem to be the only ones capable of practicing magic, and thus the only ones capable of "ascending." However, cutie mark logic come to the rescue on this one because we have yet to see an instance where someone wants to do something contrary to "their destiny" or whatnot. Thus, the sense of "oh, look at what those unicorns can accomplish!" doesn't exist, since I'm fairly certain only those that are destined to lead would actually want to. The messaging we've been getting is that destiny determines desires, rather than the other way around. This could be a problem if someone really doesn't want to do what they've been destined to do, but otherwise it's a nonissue.
3) I think a good parallel case for this would be Gandalf the Grey becoming Gandalf the White. It's not really that it "suddenly happened" and came out of nowhere. Rather, there were several factors that had to be built up to eventually result in the transformation. Think of it as a "graduation." In just about every story involving some character developing into something greater, they first better themselves for a long period of time (learning about friendship and such in this case), which is then followed by some physical transformation or acknowledgement of their accomplishment (becoming an alicorn, being crowned king, grey --> white, heck even Pokémon "evolution"). It's pretty much just a level-up.
It's extraordinarily critical that you recognize that this is not just "some spell" that any unicorn like Trixie can use to become an alicorn. She became an alicorn because she was able to *create* her own spell using her knowledge of the magic of friendship. I argue that the Elements of Harmony (because of some ancient magic instilled in them when they were created or something) recognized this as a significant event and began her transformation. This could never happen with someone like Trixie, as she is not involved with the Elements of Harmony nor is she very knowledgeable about the magic of friendship.
2) You bring up a good point here. Unicorns seem to be the only ones capable of practicing magic, and thus the only ones capable of "ascending." However, cutie mark logic come to the rescue on this one because we have yet to see an instance where someone wants to do something contrary to "their destiny" or whatnot. Thus, the sense of "oh, look at what those unicorns can accomplish!" doesn't exist, since I'm fairly certain only those that are destined to lead would actually want to. The messaging we've been getting is that destiny determines desires, rather than the other way around. This could be a problem if someone really doesn't want to do what they've been destined to do, but otherwise it's a nonissue.
3) I think a good parallel case for this would be Gandalf the Grey becoming Gandalf the White. It's not really that it "suddenly happened" and came out of nowhere. Rather, there were several factors that had to be built up to eventually result in the transformation. Think of it as a "graduation." In just about every story involving some character developing into something greater, they first better themselves for a long period of time (learning about friendship and such in this case), which is then followed by some physical transformation or acknowledgement of their accomplishment (becoming an alicorn, being crowned king, grey --> white, heck even Pokémon "evolution"). It's pretty much just a level-up.
It's extraordinarily critical that you recognize that this is not just "some spell" that any unicorn like Trixie can use to become an alicorn. She became an alicorn because she was able to *create* her own spell using her knowledge of the magic of friendship. I argue that the Elements of Harmony (because of some ancient magic instilled in them when they were created or something) recognized this as a significant event and began her transformation. This could never happen with someone like Trixie, as she is not involved with the Elements of Harmony nor is she very knowledgeable about the magic of friendship.
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Well, I'll just state again that I disagree. And that's ok. 
Some like, some don't. When the credits rolled at the end, I felt very satisfied. Just enjoyed it for what it was.
Some like, some don't. When the credits rolled at the end, I felt very satisfied. Just enjoyed it for what it was.Do you also enjoy having needles stuck in your eyes?