Thoughts on Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks

The short spoiler-free review:
Go watch it, it's fun.
A very definite improvement from the last movie. Feels like the evil marketologists have more or less left the show staff alone, allowing for some actual storytelling and character development to occur.

The drama's pretty believable. I loved that they haven't forgotten what happened in the first movie. The girls' unique personalities really shine through here, even through body language.
The animation is much smoother. There are some surprisingly fun nods to the main series. The antagonists actually have a neat backstory and the music isn't half as annoying as it could have been!

So, go check it out.

It's not as scary as this image suggests, I promise.

Additional spoilerific thoughts:
I wasn't expecting much, but this movie won me over from the very start.

* Let's face it, the Equestria Girls world is painfully dull compared to actual Equestria. I love when characters point it out.
Naturally, I was absolutely delighted to find out that it's used as a place of banishment. Presumably, more "serious" than Tartarus. So from that we can draw a very amusing conclusion - Canterlot High, and the bizarre little world it's in, is considered worse than hell.
I think there's a beautiful amount of honesty in this.

* Sunset Shimmer is great. She really stole the show. I had a nagging suspicion until the very end that they'll just use her as a plot device - the villains will corrupt her and the mane6 will show off their virtues by turning her back with yet another rainbow blast. But no. She maintained her integrity throughout and made Twilight and the gang realize they were being selfish jerks to a degree.
As it was said on Bronyville, Sunset's sudden change of character at the end of the last movie went like a "lame wrestling face-turn". Well, I'm happy to consider it redeemed.

* Other things I liked:
- New monsters. That's always cool.
- The girls have more personality. They're not the smartphone-dependant idiots from the first movie.
- Maud Pie. That was excellent.
- The "local" Twilight. I think she looked exactly the way she should have.

Were there any faults I could pick?
Sure, but I don't even want to go into it. It's a movie commissioned by Hasbro's evil toy sales department. It exists so MLP could rival Monster High somehow.

All that considered, the studio did a truly amazing job. They didn't break anything in the MLP universe. You can see that they care, both for the show and the fans, including us "non-target audience". And that's all that matters in the end.

I think I've killed a pony

But it's okay. The critter re-spawned ...and wants more of the same. how odd!
Care to aid her to her doom? If you like racing games of the button-tapping variety, that is.

To quote the creator himself:
"Retarded concept?
Half assed animations and scripting?
Probably hundreds of errors and problems?
Sounds like best game!"

So whatcha waiting for? Click here to Go Fast!

Oh, Flufflepuff... You're one crazy speed demon!

Pony Theme Songs

For a little while now I've been wondering, if each of the mane six had a theme song, what would those be?

The ideas I've got so far are not exactly solid and I do welcome suggestions. I might come back to this post later if I think of something better. But here we go regardless:

Twilight Sparkle - "The Educated Fool" by Iron Maiden

A flawless match if you ask me.

Applejack - "Dani California" by Red Hot Chili Peppers

A runner, a rebel and a fighter swinging hammers in Alabama. Sounds like good old AJ to me!

Rarity - "Vanity" by Lady Gaga

She might not be all that vain, but you better not even think of messing up her hair

Fluttershy - "Papillon" by Editors

It's a lovely song that could tell a timid, insecure character to keep fighting. Plus, the name means "butterfly"

Pinkie Pie - "This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm On This Song" by System of A Down

Okay, okay. It's a placeholder. But still... Pinkie has her moments.

Rainbow Dash - "All Fired Up" by Judas Priest

A burst of speed is all she needs. RD loves racing and she's got a lightning bolt mark for a reason!

Cool Scratch art by xXMioXx

A Pony Sunday

Pony time!

This Week's Episode: Baby Cakes

I have to confess, seeing that the episode began in a maternity hospital and knowing it must be the one where Pinkie babysits... well.. that made me groan. I'm one of those awful people who think that babies are scary drooling little monsters whose high-pitched squeals bring plenty of pain to the ears. 

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. I actually liked the fact that nobody was trying to show babies in a flattering light. The Cake twins were the drooling, screeching, clumsy monstrosities they would have been in real life. And I could totally sympathise with Pinkie when she shoved Twilight out the door for the "Some ponies aren't that responsible" line.

I liked the very distinct Tom & Jerry vibe going through the episode. And I also liked the small horror scene. It kept me on the edge of my seat as I expected poor Pinkie to go into Pinkamena  mode driven insane by the children.
So to wrap this up, even if you don't like babies, it's a good episode! Go watch it if you still haven't!

Community Highlights

I'm not gonna give a full list as it hasn't really been a week since my last pony post. So here's a "light" version for you.

Art of the week

Clydell Elmerson Pie A very unique style indeed! Go check out this rather psychedelic rendition of Pinkie's father.
Cant read my derpy face And something a bit more light and humorous to balance things out! Derpy's gone Gaga and is bluffing with her muffin. 

Music of the week

The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well I should stop shamelessly taking the weekly music suggestions from Bronyville. But this one is just so good that I couldn't resist! Makes me think of some soundtracks to "The Matrix".

Video of the week

Derpy Loves her Lava Lamp Okay, this is just adorable! I hear it's available as a screensaver somewhere, too. I don't have the link though.
Gundam Stop Motion : Love & Tolerate... I love how well this video has been put together. I'm quite a big fan of stop-motion animation anyway, especially videos where toys "come to life". This one is great for how seamlessly the pose transitions happen and the special effects blend in. And the 2D Fluttershy really looks like she belongs in the scenes. I dare say that even if you don't like ponies that much, you should see it!
I'm not sure how much I liked the character saying he's gonna love and tolerate the crap out of his opponent before starting a fight.. I'm sorry, but a fight is a fight. Yes, you should fight back. No question about it. But you love and tolerate later, when the guy you've beaten to a pulp is in a body cast and willing to listen to reason. ..Okay, I'm not saying go overkill if you've started fighting... but hey. It takes as much violence as it takes. I suppose the brony thing to do is to know exactly when to stop. 

Foxy's rant of the week...

Have you seen Epic Cupcake Time? Well, it honestly is epic.
It's a parody of a youtube show called Epic Meal Time where guys cook things with bacon, booze and a great deal of swearing and it's actually pretty funny.

So we've got Dash and Pinkie making cupcakes with a sick amount of sugar. It's very well animated, the voices for Pinkie and Dash are spot on. There's an unmistakeable "home movie" air about the whole thing. Plenty of references to both the show and Epic Meal Time. If it wasn't for some mild swearing (which I didn't even notice during the first view) it might as well have been one of the Hub's parody adverts and some parents might have even shown that to their kids ("See, son! Ponies are awesome! You can stop telling your friends now that you were adopted by a couple of psychotics!") We got proof that Pinkie and Rainbow can make cupcakes without getting gory, Derpy mysteriously appeared out of nowhere in the end. Everyone's happy!

And now there's Epic Pie Time. Well... There's more swearing. And there's booze. I started to cringe as these looked like omens of bad taste. But then Vinyl Scratch made an appearance and it all started to seem worthwhile. But not for long. Pinkie's decided to add more booze to the pie dough and broke a bottle. This followed by a buy-our-stuff advert for a cartoon site. Then more swearing and an inappropriate reference... in the end Rarity of all ponies appears, dives face-down in the pie and starts eating it....

Well... I am a disappoint... Because "mature content", I hear you ask? Nope. I couldn't help but feel slightly shortchanged, if that's the word I'm looking for. The first cartoon had set my expectations quite high. And the latest one... well... it seems both less intellectual, less tasteful and much less entertaining altogether than a "Cow & Chicken" episode and they have a fat red guy with no pants in the show . Basically before we had ponies in-character and the whole thing mimicked the show very well. At the time I assumed it was the author's intention. Now I'm not sure they know where they're going with this. I don't see the motivation behind spending hours animating something that looks like a cheap cry for attention. 
Surely Epic Pie Time would appeal to some teenage fans. Which brings about another point. Think of the drunks! You hear people say "think of the children" all the time, but children are not that dumb. Drunk teens are. It's a bad idea to eat a pie that has broken glass bits in it. You can actually die from having ingested small glass shards.

Do I think that there's no room for toilet humour in the fandom? Well, not really. If it's done well for what it is, and doesn't give you any false hope, why not! I'm sure you've seen these, but they are pretty iconic examples (and yes, the language, obviously, is inappropriate):

Friendship is Magic B***h
APPLE.MOV

DRESS.MOV

A Very Pony Wednesday

I've decided that Sunday is gonna be my day of choice to relax and talk pony. Cause, well... being a brony and all, if I don't talk about the show I'll surely explode! ...due to some technical difficulties encountered earlier I'm posting this now.

This week's episode: Family Appreciation Day
I really enjoyed it! I must say that so far I love season two as a whole. There hasn't been a single episode that disappointed me. And the latest one might just be in my top 5.

Zap apples are awesome! I absolutely adore this show for using mythological creatures the way it does and now it seems to be developing a mythology of its own as well. Studio B are definitely heading in the right creative direction. Or is it just me finding lightning-related things cool? Well, I'm happy either way!

And speaking of mythology, there's also the timber wolves! How cool were they? I actually physically squeed like a little fan girl when I saw those, which hardly ever happens to me. Are they a reference to something or just one of the many clever puns found frequently in the show? Very Grimm Fairy Tales I think. Either way, if this hasn't been done before, it had to be done! A fantastic addition to the FiM's ongoing monster list if you ask me.

It was nice to see an episode centred around Granny Smith, even though the lack of a solid AJ episode in this season is becoming a joke at this point.
I quite like how it started with her being a crazy old lady Applebloom's ashamed of and then we got not only the reasons for all her strange actions, but also an interesting background story. Though it confused me as I assumed that Ponyville, Cloudsdale and Canterlot were founded at the same time, as covered in the previous episode. And I couldn't help but wonder what interest Princess Celestia had in checking out the Apple family's seed collection. Surely a bag full of random seeds is more of an assortment than a collection. And how do ponies starve when surrounded with grass? Am I over-thinking it? Perhaps. But what are bronies for after all.

I also giggled at the fact that Diamond Tiara's dad is actually called Filthy Rich and his "I prefer Rich" response to being addressed as Filthy.

One more thing I liked was a lack of a friendship report at the end of the episode. I thought that was a nice touch since it makes the show less predictable and we don't have to have Spike around each time (don't get me wrong, I like Spike. But I don't think he should appear just because a letter needs sending while there's nothing for him to do in the story). The lack of a report, however, didn't mean that nopony learned anything as Applebloom voices this week's lesson at the end. I like how natural that was.

Community Highlights
The Bronyville Podcast kept me sane while I was forced to spend hours upon hours in 3DS Max (I think I can actually say that I've learned to model though! Yay!). Go check it out. It's great!
I was pleasantly surprised at how professional it is. The two co-hosts are very likeable characters, each with a fantastic sense of humour. And they tend to have awesome guests, too! Now Bronyville is my number one choice for keeping up with the fandom. EQD is great, of course, but I personally don't like the fact that you just end up covered with an avalanche  of news posts and you'd have to spend hours on the site to go through them all and figure out what everypony's been up to.

Art Of The Week:
Since this is my first post, I'll throw a few of my recent faves at you:
The Stars Will Aid In His Escape No one is safe from Rule 63 it seems. And though normally I don't pay much attention to gender swaps, this one has caught my eye. I'm liking the blocky and pointy armour here. I sense a certain Transformers vibe, which seems to fit pretty well.

Mistress of the Eternal Night Very beautiful, nicely stylized. I think the artist has done a great job with the palette she's chosen to work with and I absolutely adore Luna's pearly skin as well as the starry mane.

No Title. Still a great image though. It's a very cute animated picture. It takes me back to the days when we didn't know what Flash was and I was searching the web for pretty gif animations (Yep. Way back when Windows didn't freak out at the sight of those and kindly played them in the Windows Picture and Fax View). But that's enough nostalgia there. Go check it out. Very pretty, quite tasteful, the animation flows seamlessly from what I can tell and it has pretty twinkling stars, too.

MLP - Happy Holidays Once again, not normally a big fan of humanized ponies. I really like this image though. The artist has actually taken care to preserve the characters' personalities and present the viewer with a likely-to-happen situation. I think the style is lovely as well. Makes me think of some children's books' illustrations.

Party Hard This was just too funny not to share. Very well-done for what it is I think.


Music Of The Week:
Fluttershy's Lament When I first heard it I thought it was the most awesome fan-made track I've ever heard. I don't know if it was the sleep deprivation, the prolonged exposure to 3Ds Max or the fact that the song sounds different through speakers rather than headphones. I've downloaded it for my mp3 player and I've noticed it sounds a bit too harsh for me. But if you like Fluttershy, do check it out. Her voice is adorable and seems like the perfect choice for mixing. And yes, if you're not aware, the "Fluttershy is a tree" and "Scootaloo is a chicken" are both things in the community. And no, there's nothing more to back those up than Fluttershy saying "I'd like to be a tree" and Applebloom calling Scootaloo a chicken in the show.
Mistress Zecora Moving on to a more sane choice of mine... The lyrics, the melody and the singing are all done reasonably well to say the least. In fact, it's much better than half the crap on the charts these days. Or is that not saying much? Either way, check it out. I have downloaded this song as well and I love it.

Fic Of The Week:
I haven't actually read any fan fiction up to this point. Apart from the infamous fic that shall not be named...
I have however got my eye on one. "Canterlot Follies" by LadyMoondancer looks like great fun to me. It's something I've never expected to see : a MLP and "Jeeves and Wooster" crossover. I haven't started reading it, but I have glanced over it a few times and, to my absolute delight, it looks very well written. Can't wait to start!