My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

[jeriddian]

EDIT: We're only allowed to link one video per post? :/

Errrrr. Okay. I'll have to look into this one. Sorry about that, 'chutes. I'll see what I can do.

[campy]

This article seems relevant here. What do MLP fans think?

link

[jeriddian]

Interesting article. I am intrigued by the concept that enforced equality is not equality.

[TransWarpDrive]

This article seems relevant here. What do MLP fans think?

link

"Forced equality" is simply a euphemism for conformity. IMHO, the creators of MLP:FiM weren't making a political statement, left or right, as much as they were speaking out against the pressure to conform in order to "fit in" with the "in-crowd" that we've all felt at times in our lives - in school; with certain groups of friends or acquaintances; at work, etc. I was pressed to conform (mostly through ridicule from my peers) in high school and when I worked on the staff of our Boy Scout council's summer camp for two seasons in the mid-70's. It was not a pleasant experience, let me tell you. But I stuck to my guns and stayed true to myself, and that's all that mattered to me. Anyone who wouldn't be friends with me because I didn't conform was not someone I wanted for a friend, anyway.
The author of this article seems be projecting ultra-conservative politics onto what's simply a message to the show's viewers to simply be themselves and not let anyone force them to change who they are in order to gain acceptance. And I'm not sure how he can compare leftist politics to forced equality - a lot of the left-leaning political messages I've seen and heard promote the celebration of diversity and acceptance of others who are different, not forcing anyone to change.

[jeriddian]

And yet some of those conservatives say they are being forced to change to accept things they feel morally obligated to oppose by those left-leaning positions. Yes, we should celebrate diversity and acceptance of others, but there are those who truly believe in certain values which when they feel when violated, they cannot morally accept. For example, the pizzeria owners who refused to cater the gay wedding. I do not agree with their position at all. Yet these are closely held beliefs by these people who believe their faith (religion, if you will) dictates the 'evil' of such a thing. At what point is it the secular government's job (especially in a country whose government professes to respect freedom of religion as ours does) to tell people that what they believe cannot be practiced without violating secular law? Sure, it's easy to see you aren't going to allow ritual human sacrifice or other such human rights violations. But it starts to get murky when you get into a lot of areas like homosexuality. Granted, it should be illegal to discriminate. At the same time people are often granted exemptions from certain statutes in law or regulation due to religious belief for various things. However, this consideration is not extended to commerce, thus the dilemma. Is it really right to make these people, however misguided we may feel their beliefs are, to suffer through doing something they will actually loathe and detest doing, feeling that they are violating their own moral beliefs, because the of severe financial penalties that will be levied upon them if they refuse? Again, I do not agree with the pizzeria owners' position. At the same time, I have to respect that their beliefs are sincere. Are we right to force them to change to gain acceptance by secular law? This is an example how some people think that the left is indeed trying to force conformity on those who do not agree with them, by forcing them to do things contrary to what they believe is right, whether we agree with them or not. This is not just a 'left' problem either. God knows many ultra-rights try to do exactly the same thing.

[lunchmeat]

Funny thing about the pizzeria: they don't, and did not, previously, cater anything, regardless of other factors. This sort of thing has become all too common in news media since Ted Turner inaugurated the 24 hour news cycle.

"If it's not illegal, it's mandatory"

[TransWarpDrive]

Funny thing about the pizzeria: they don't, and did not, previously, cater anything, regardless of other factors. This sort of thing has become all too common in news media since Ted Turner inaugurated the 24 hour news cycle.

Ironically, founding CNN is the best thing Ted Turner's ever done!

[Rob]

I dunno, I think I liked the stunt he tried to pull with Andy Messersmith with the Braves back in the 70s, which would've had him wearing "CHANNEL" as his name above his jersey number, 17 (in reference to WTBS).

Anyway, on to this week's episode. Nice to see them show Twilight having to deal with the move to her new castle and the loss of her old home. I have to say I was surprised with how the others resolved the situation to make Twi feel more at home, and I thought how they did it turned out pretty nice. Unexpected, but nice.

[Fireand'chutes77]

Just caught up on “Castle Sweet Castle.” So many feels. :’)


Lots of great callbacks, laughs, Rarity freakouts, and songs. I really liked RD’s singing voice. The deeper themes of home, memory, loss, and avoidance were good too - I got teary-eyed by the end.


Ponies + Pancakes is probably the best thing ever.

"Eventually we ran out of time, so we just went with every-berry-any-chip surprise! _{The surprise is I lost a measuring spoon in the batter!} Somepony's gonna get a very special pancake!"



"Rainbow Dash, are these... your trophies?"
"I prefer to think of them as everypony's trophies! With my name permanently etched onto them."

[Rob]

Well, time to catch up, now that we're in a break between episodes...

"Bloom & Gloom" - Well, after Scootaloo in season 3 and Sweetie Belle in season 4, it figures we'd get an Apple Bloom dream episode. This one was a bit weird, though.
"Tanks for the Memories" - Definitely a great episode, even if Rainbow Dash did go a bit nuts with how she tried to stop winter from coming.
"Appleoosa's Most Wanted" - Decidedly the weakest episode of the season thus far. Not that it's bad; it's just okay.
"Make New Friends but Keep Discord" - The Gala, the Smooze, the return of Maud, the debut of Tree Hugger... and, of course, Discord. I think this one tops "The Best Night Ever".
"The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone" - Six episodes past the premiere, and we finally get a map episode - though, that's right on pace compared to season 4's key arc. Nice to see Gilda again, and to get a follow-up on her, as well as getting a little world-building with the griffons.

Incidentally, "Griffonstone" marked the 99th episode of the series, which means MLP:FIM has surpassed The Transformers (98 episodes) as the longest single series based on a Hasbro property. The second longest was the Sunbow-produced G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, which lasted 95 episodes; DIC produced a sequel series a few years later, which ran 44 episodes (thus, to surpass the 2-series total, MLP:FIM would have to complete a 26-episode season 6).

And now, we have to wait until the 13th for the 100th episode. Time to get hyped, though, since they've already aired a commercial and a preview clip (be warned, as there are spoilers):
Promo: https://youtu.be/Ya-iHgt04EU
Preview clip: https://youtu.be/DSW7Ave6tcA