I rather enjoyed that. Obviously foreshadowing too.

(((All posts about the New Season Premiere have been moved to this thread. I'm sorry I didn't do this sooner. -- LADY TEVAR))))

---

Superior Moderator - BotM - HAB [Drill Instructor]-Writer- Stardestroyer.net's resident Star-God.
"We believe in the systematic understanding of the physical world through observation and experimentation, argument and debate and most of all freedom of will." ~ Stargate: The Ark of Truth

Sombra was a smoke monster and laughed lots. A bit of a downgrade from NM, Discord and Chrysalis.

Greatly enjoyed the episodes.

The mental invasions, slavery (at some point I thought he said "Crystal Slaves") and anti-teleportation cage were fairly potent. But not quite a reality bender or demigoddess, no.

I'll have to wait for the high quality release to confirm, but was there a symbol on the book Celestia and Luna had at the end?

This was more about Twilight and her friends than the villian anyway.

And yes, Twilight, we can't wait to see what your destiny is.

Also those songs were good back when I first heard them, but seeing them in the context of the episode added so much to them, especially the Failure Song. And the visuals...God damn they have stepped up their game on the animation. And those backgrounds with Celestia, Luna and Twilight's cutie marks? Yeah, that was awesome.

So much to say, so little time. But I definately give these episodes a combined 10/10. Season 3 looks like it'll be epic for sure.


He did in fact say that.


Definately something on that book, but I couldn't see what it was.

EDIT: Oh and I totally expect the fanart community to positively explode in the next few days. Can anyone say Crystal Mane 6?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpCcAXyWTH8

gleee.

I wonder when twilight will get her wings?

---

"Aid, trade, green technology and peace." - Hans Rosling.
"Market forces are a good servant but a poor master." - Zaune

I loved it. Twilight takes the lead, but it doesn't single her out. I like how they gave lots of stuff to do for the others. I especially liked the interaction between Spike and Twilight.



He was formidable enough though. For one, it is clear that he might be somewhat immortal (if for nothing else, he lived over a thousand years). That, and it's one thing to hear what they did and see evidence of it first-hoof from actual ponies that experienced it. Not the kind of villian you'd want to show up on a lazy Saturday night evening certainly.

Apparently, I missed that, where was this?

I'll be damned, Cadance and Shining Armor weren't one-off characters. More later.

Was I the only one to notice these?

I think the best way to look at Sombra is just that. A monster, not a villain. He doesn't have much of a personality or motives. And that's a good thing. Monsters aren't as scary if you know too much about them.

I get the impression that the villain wasn't characterised to leave more screen time for the Mane6 + royal couple. Which is fine. I thought it was a solid episode with nice visuals although not a high point of the series.

Fine then they could have gone all the way and removed all of his lines save the slave line. Remove the laughs and make him a pure force. For sound effects how about something like The Evil dead chase effects. Make Sombra the sound of wind and crackling rocks and shattering crystal. Keep the eyes and the face but have it only smile not laugh until he's fully back. 90% of his sound effects was his laugh over and over again. If you want to play up the menace (And don't say kids show) play up the minimalism.

I meant to do this before the Season Premiere, but I forgot
I'm going to try to post all of today's posts over to this one, since we have topped 50 pages in the original thread


MOVE SUCCESSFUL!!! Continue Discussion!!!

BTW: I also would rather a student who places the safety of a Empire over her own self-importance...

---

agentfisherSDnet: You're as brilliant as you are beautiful.
Librium Arcana, Where Gamers Play!
"We're cooler than an iced frappicino -- On the Planet Hoth!"

---

agentfisherSDnet: You're as brilliant as you are beautiful.
Librium Arcana, Where Gamers Play!
"We're cooler than an iced frappicino -- On the Planet Hoth!"

Here I thought it was Gak.

I wonder whether they are just foreign dignitaries or something. Interesting how they may be another pony variant.

The combination of spoilers, promotional materials, and foreshadowing from this episode is painting a very interesting picture of the season to come. Exciting!

Re: Sombra, he may not have had much development, but at least he'd read the Evil Overlord's Handbook.

It's at the very end of Twilight's briefing with Celestia, after she leaves the throne room and looks back to see Celestia and Luna standing behind her. Starts about 5:16 on the YouTube link madd0ct0r posted.

Also low-res screenshots because I'm lazy:




So yeah I'd say that it's important enough to have the cutie mark backgrounds like this, and we know Twilight has a destiny and such. I wonder if the fact that Twi's CM is a little more difficult to see is a visual clue that her destiny is still very much up in the air?

Also, I just loved the shading and lighting on Twilight right after the door closed:



Like I said earlier, the animators are definately stepping up their game.

And finally, a shot of the book Luna brought out at the very end:



Ah, and others have noted that when Sombra was defeated, they did make sure to show us that his horn actually survived. I'm pretty sure that was very intentional on their part and it wouldn't surprise me at all if this isn't the last we've seen of him or his influence.

That looks like a star and a swirly symbol to me, Star Swirl the Bearded?

Unless it's the Black Book but I don't think they go there. FoE gets a nod or two this season but I don't think that.

Guys guys...

Princess Cadance's cutie mark is a crystal heart.

Also, it glows for a few seconds after she lands and smashes the fake crystal heart.

Score one for plot continuity.

Also, amazing music this episode. I'm not talking about the songs, but the background music. The soundtrack for the entire sequence at the climax was perfect, right up there with the end of A Canterlot Wedding.

Obviously Cadance gets the best music.

Retitle the series My Middle Management: Delegation is Magic

---

lol, opsec doesn't apply to fanfiction. -Aaron

PRFYNAFBTFC
CAPTAIN OF MFS SAMMY HAGAR

Lol. Shining Armour obviously knows his marvel comics. Fastball special on the Crystal Heart!

Pretty unremarkable compared to the other openings though. And I swear Luna's voice changes with every appearance.

When she flew overhead, the Crystal Ponies cries out "Look! The Crystal Princess!"

---

agentfisherSDnet: You're as brilliant as you are beautiful.
Librium Arcana, Where Gamers Play!
"We're cooler than an iced frappicino -- On the Planet Hoth!"

Which might mean something, like Cadance being heir of previous ruler or (being alicorn) looking like her, or might as well be generic title given to the pony who handles crystal heart. We don't know, sadly.

Given that she is a Princess by title, has the heart as a cutie mark (even though appearently the Crystal Empire was gone beforehand), I'd wager that she's Crystal Royalty.

Has anyone made a video counting how many times the word "crystal" is said in the two episodes?