The My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic Thread

[The Chronicler]

Just over a week left to go before we get to see the first episode of Tell Your Tale (the 2D series on YouTube), while Make Your Mark (the 3D special on Netflix ahead of the similarly named series later in the year) is less than two months away.

For the comics, while the first issue of the new series is still some time away, the second issue was revealed not long ago, and let's just say the primary cover of it has really gotten fans talking about what it means regarding the connection between G4 and G5.
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2022/03/my-little-pony-generation-5-2.html

Personally, I wouldn't look too deeply into it. After all, there were several G4 comics that ended up conflicting with later episodes of the FiM series, and since the TV show always took priority for canon, that left those certain comics being regarded as no longer canon, and I believe there's a real possibility that could eventually happen here with this new comic series.

[Daddytops2021]

The final countdown

[The Chronicler]

And just earlier today, the first official trailer for Tell Your Tale was released:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2MCGxrqBpI

Yes, I'll be posting links to the YouTube videos of each episode when they come out. (It'll certainly save me the effort of writing summaries under spoilers, so the only thing I'll be posting under spoilers will be my thoughts on each episode.)

[HotelValleyfornia]

Well, The Chronicler suggested I should come here, since I stated before I'm a fan of MLP in the short time I've been here so far. So here I am.

I've always been pretty fond of this series, though I haven't taken the time to watch it in forever. For ages my favorite fluctuated between Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity, though it's Pinkie Pie right now. I always like the eccentric, bubbly characters.

I wanna try and see if I can watch A New Generation sometime, I'd like to get to know the new generation. Though I have a lot of nostalgic attachment to Friendship is Magic, and I don't think any MLP media will replace it anytime soon.

Also, Silverstream is best Friendship School student

[The Chronicler]

I would definitely recommend watching A New Generation, and not just because of all the new content that follows it that'll be coming out later this year. I've heard some fans say it was even better than the 2017 MLP movie, not to mention that it was one of the most popular movies on Netflix when it first came out.

Among my favorite FiM ponies are Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Starlight Glimmer, and Sunset Shimmer. I'm also quite fond of the Friendship School students (the official name of their group is "Young Six"), with my favorites among them being Gallus and Silverstream.

By the way, @HotelValleyfornia , have you ever seen the spin-off series Equestria Girls? I figured that with your obsession for those FreshTV cartoons, you might enjoy it for it's high school setting.

[HotelValleyfornia]

I've heard pretty good things about A New Generation from other MLP fans. I'll try checking it out at some point.

Oooh yes, I love me some Equestria Girls! I really like how it crosses the fantasy atmosphere of MLP with a classic high school setting, and the ponies' personalities are translated to high school students really well. "Under Our Spell" from Rainbow Rocks is perpetually stuck in my head. The shorts are pretty fun too. I should probably rewatch some of the Equestria Girls stuff at some point. A lot of my fondest memories of MLP are tied to the Equestria Girls stuff

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

I know I'm being nitpicky, but I just can't get over the CalArts mouth. It doesn't normally bug me, but it just really doesn't work with how a pony's head is shaped

[The Chronicler]

I've heard pretty good things about A New Generation from other MLP fans. I'll try checking it out at some point.

Oooh yes, I love me some Equestria Girls! I really like how it crosses the fantasy atmosphere of MLP with a classic high school setting, and the ponies' personalities are translated to high school students really well. "Under Our Spell" from Rainbow Rocks is perpetually stuck in my head. The shorts are pretty fun too. I should probably rewatch some of the Equestria Girls stuff at some point. A lot of my fondest memories of MLP are tied to the Equestria Girls stuff

Trust me, you'll want your first impression of the Gen 5 main ponies to come from watching A New Generation (I have a feeling I know exactly which of the main ponies will very likely become your favorite ). Although Make Your Mark (the 3D Netflix series) is still months away, Tell Your Tale (the 2D YouTube series) will release its first episode later this week, so now would be a good time to get caught up with the movie.

Lately, regarding the upcoming Tell Your Tale series, I've been hearing some fans making unfavorable comparisons to Pony Life. I don't know what your thoughts are of the Pony Life series, but although I did watch every episode, I have no intentions on watching any of them ever again, as that kind of wacky show is just not for me.

Equestria Girls, on the other hand, I definitely enjoyed watching, in some ways even more that the main FiM series, probably because it's setting is a more relatable modern world. In fact, I've spent several years writing a fanfiction series which is basically an alternate version of the events of the entire Equestria Girls series, where the key difference is that its alternate world setting is not a human high school but a world made of Lego and populated by Lego Minifigures. If you're interested in reading it, I had posted a topic in the Written Word section (or simply follow the link in my signature) where I've provided links to all these stories on the MLP fanfiction site, fimfiction.net.

I have to say, it's kinda nice to have an actual discussion in this topic rather than just me reporting the latest news.

[HotelValleyfornia]

I can't wait to dip my toes into the world of My Little Pony again. It's been a LONG time. I wonder if one of my family members has a Netflix account? Cause the more we here talk about it, the more I really wanna get into Gen 5. I'm gonna miss Friendship is Magic, but MLP definitely has a bright future.

[Daddytops2021]

The 1st G5 episode is leaked

[HotelValleyfornia]

The 1st G5 episode is leaked

It appears so!

[The Chronicler]

The day has finally arrived, and the first episodes of Tell Your Tale have officially released. That's right, multiple episodes, as in a total of four episodes in a single day. If this is the rate these episodes will be released in, then I'm calculating that we'll get all 70 episodes by the end of July at the earliest, which I suppose would sound reasonable to have this first season completed shortly before we would get the first few episodes of the Make Your Mark series in late September.

From what I've seen in these first four episodes, I can't help but suspect that the full context of the setting would not entirely make sense until we see the 44-minute Make Your Mark special that'll be coming in late May, so some of you might be tempted to regard this series as possible spoilers for that special. I personally don't mind that much since I'll be watching all of it eventually, but for those of you who would rather avoid spoilers at all costs, I think this might count as a probable word of caution.

Okay, with all of that out of the way, time to share the links to these first four episodes, along with my thoughts on each of them...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoYcb5bUYHI

Spoiler: ShowHide

So it seems the main ponies will all be living in the same place, which is the "Crystal Brighthouse". (Perhaps a magically rebuilt version of Sunny's destroyed old lighthouse?) I guess you can see right away why I'm suspecting possible spoilers for the upcoming special just over a month from now. Anyway, I somehow totally expected the problem and solution of this episode, that everyone randomly doing their own things resulted in a big mess, but then actually working with each other allowed them to achieve a much better result. Also nice to see Sunny still has that picture of her late father.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp-UBT_d75w

Spoiler: ShowHide

I'm not surprised that so many pegasi are still struggling to fly well, considering that all magic had returned relatively recently, which makes it all the more impressive just how expertly skilled Zipp happens to be this early on. Even though it's so obvious that Zipp would be the one who could help some pegasi improve their flying, her disinterest in bringing any attention to herself meant that her friends practically had to force her into teaching those lessons. Zipp eventually changes her mind for the better when she watches a pegasus foal struggling to fly, which gave us a nice flashback to when Zipp was a filly struggling to learn her parkour moves. Also, I got a little amusement from those running gags of that one pegasus who was terrified of daisies, and Hitch constantly getting fruit splattered in his face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAhpZJbsxzs

Spoiler: ShowHide

Again, it's obvious most of the pegasi are still very inexperienced at flying. And it seems the royal family of Zephyr Heights has remained in power despite the fake flying scandal from the movie (and Queen Haven apparently got a new crown that's an exact replica of the original, except a different color). Interestingly, Zipp is still officially first in line to inherit the throne of Zephyr Heights, even though she and her sister are leaving that city to live with their friends (and not surprisingly, Pipp just has to be the one who overpacks an absurd amount). In addition, While Zipp and Pipp got a huge send-off from Zephyr Heights, Izzy got practically no send-off from Bridlewood, which really says something about her being such an outsider among the other unicorns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4XP_aqbjYk&t=7s

Spoiler: ShowHide

Apparently, when earlier episodes mentioned all of the main ponies would be living together, they actually meant only the four mares. While the trope of the troublesome roommate (Izzy in this case) is something I've heard before, I'm actually pleased that even at the worst moments, Sunny, Pipp, and Zipp chose not to confront Izzy but instead first ask for advice from Hitch. That advice of honesty not only allowed them to kindly inform Izzy of how problematic she had been to them, but also allowed Izzy to confess that she was trying to mimic their behavior in a naive effort to fit in, to which her friends remind her that she doesn't need to be anything but herself. In other words, common sense prevailed and prevented so much needless trouble, and I'm actually happy to see such a peaceful resolution. In addition, interesting to not only see a pony locked up in the police station's jail cell, but also Hitch treating him with kindness and respect (if only real law enforcement could be even half as friendly as that).

And that's all for this week's episodes. What are your thoughts on these first four episodes?

[The Chronicler]

So I guess the four episodes at once thing may have been only for the very first week, because this week we got just one new episode. (And apparently, another episode was leaked early in a different language, so I won't bother looking for that one and wait for the official release.) So to continue, here's the new episode, followed by my comments:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQChzQ1dzhg

Spoiler: ShowHide

So it seems Pipp has decided to start her own hairstyling business (called Mane Melody) in Maretime Bay. After the song (which we heard part of in the trailer a few weeks ago) when Pipp freaked out over one customer giving a not quite perfect review (after so many others had given perfect reviews) I was afraid this would turn out like that Equestria Girls short where Pinkie Pie became desperate to get a five star review out of someone who gave only four stars. Thankfully, this episode went in a different direction with the arrival of Phyllis Cloverleaf. (Some fans have pointed out some background details in some of the previous episodes, such as a Wanted poster for Sprout, and the Canterlogic building seems to have fallen into disrepair, so at least this episode assures us that Phyllis is still around.) And it seems Phyllis has a reputation of having high standards and leaving poor reviews if they're not met, which obviously stresses Pipp into making a mistake. What I really liked about this episode is how Zipp pointed out that so many other ponies had been highly satisfied with Pipp's work that she shouldn't get upset over one imperfection (and now that I think about it, I think that certain Equestria Girls short I mentioned earlier would've been much better had it presented this lesson rather than portray Pinkie as a control freak). That gives Pipp the confidence to finish her work and earn a good review from Phyllis.

I have to say, after these first five episodes, I'm already impressed by what I've seen, especially since many of them don't seem to be falling back onto old cliches and instead present rather realistic solutions for the everyday issues that these characters encounter.

[f-22 "raptor" ace]

Tell your tale is not that bad. it's better than Pony Life though.

[The Chronicler]

Yesterday, we got our first glimpses of the Make Your Mark special that'll be coming out just over a month from now.
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2022/04/new-make-your-mark-clip-in-new-on.html
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2022/04/new-still-shot-from-make-your-mark.html

And of course, here's this week's new episode of Tell Your Tale (this is the one that released early in a different language last week, so at least that leak is now behind us):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_hEjvNvl5o

Spoiler: ShowHide

While most of those unicorn traps from the movie have been disabled and removed, it seems a few were missed. And of course it would be too easy to simply press the big red button to free Izzy, so somewhat predictably, that button isn't working on that particular trap. As a result of this incident, we now know that Izzy's magic capability is at least strong enough for her to levitate herself (along with the big heavy metal box containing her). At least we got to briefly see a few interesting places throughout Maretime Bay during Hitch's tour, and considering Izzy's backstory, I would not be surprised if she really was truthful about that being the best tour she had ever been on, despite being trapped inside that box the entire time. In addition, I somehow knew they were going to use the phrase "think outside the box" as a pun for the situation, though at least that allowed Hitch to find the other release button on the bottom side of the box. Probably also worth noting is that (in my opinion based on what I've seen) this is apparently the first episode that really shows Hitch as one of the main characters who actually contributes to the group of friends.

[The Chronicler]

Quite a lot of new stuff revealed in recent days, and since I'd rather not overwhelm myself on Thursday when the next TYT episode comes out, I'll just share it all now...

Yet another preview image from the Make Your Mark special, along with a rather brief synopsis:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2022/04/another-preview-image-of-make-your-mark.html

Issue 3 of the official comic series has been revealed (which is kinda odd considering that not even the first issue has yet to be released, and the synopsis for this third issue contains a major spoiler for the two previous issues):
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2022/04/synopsis-covers-and-artist-revealed-for.html

And we now know a bit more about the upcoming Maretime Bay Adventure video game, thanks to its listing on Steam:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2022/04/steam-listing-for-maretime-bay.html

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

I really, really don't like that artstyle. And the animation quality is strangely stiff, reminds me of the sort of amateur animations you see on YouTube. I'm probably gonna sit MLP out for a while until we get something that looks better than this or Pony Life.

Edit: Also I guess the racism is solved? Everything's just cool again? Since they're apparently jaunting around Maretime Bay and one of them's the sheriff and nobody's bothering them

[The Chronicler]

I really, really don't like that artstyle. And the animation quality is strangely stiff, reminds me of the sort of amateur animations you see on YouTube. I'm probably gonna sit MLP out for a while until we get something that looks better than this or Pony Life.

Edit: Also I guess the racism is solved? Everything's just cool again? Since they're apparently jaunting around Maretime Bay and one of them's the sheriff and nobody's bothering them

Keep in mind, there will be two series running simultaneously, the 2D series on YouTube and the 3D series on Netflix, and since only the former is running currently, I would suggest at least giving the other series a chance once it eventually comes out (especially since it'll be using the same 3D animation as the movie did). In fact, the "Make Your Mark" 44-minute special that'll be out a month from now supposedly takes place immediately after the events of the movie, so some of your questions might actually be answered in that special.

Besides, I don't mind the 2D animation style that much anyway. The stories presented in these episodes are rather interesting for the most part, with what I consider a remarkable acknowledgement of how some everyday issues can realistically be resolved. Unlike with Pony Life (which was just too wild and crazy for me), I'm actually okay with watching episodes of Tell Your Tale more than once.

Speaking of which, here's this week's new episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jR6gUZ5fsU

Spoiler: ShowHide

While this episode is certainly not among my favorites, I do appreciate the apparent moral that you should express yourself rather than try to copy whatever the latest so-called trend might be. I'm no expert on social media influencer stuff, but I'm pretty sure that mimicking a popular music video will never receive anywhere close to as many views and likes as the original video, so you might as well try something more original. Also, I was amused by how the old rhetorical question "Have you been living in a cave?" turned out to actually be true in this case, thanks to how Hitch got the Main 5 lost while they had been hiking some time ago.

[The Chronicler]

Some more recent news I'd like to share now rather than wait until later in the week...

A couple of videos showing some early gameplay of the upcoming Maretime Bay Adventure video game:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2022/04/first-20-minutes-of-my-little-pony.html

And some more preview images of the Make Your Mark special that'll be out later this month:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2022/04/new-screencap-from-my-little-pony-make.html
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2022/05/another-new-make-your-mark-special.html

[The Chronicler]

If you don't have Netflix, but you do have Prime Video, then the A New Generation movie is now available, for any who might be interested:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2022/05/my-little-pony-new-generation-now.html

And of course, here's this week's Tell Your Tale episode, followed by my comments:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmbpAXpFGtg

Spoiler: ShowHide

With this episode featuring Hitch on the job, we now know quite a few interesting things, such as that he apparently lives in the same building he works in (probably an apartment on the upper floor above the police station). Also, it seems that Hitch no longer has a deputy and only now admits that he could really use a new one (with this episode suggesting Zipp as a possibility), which means that whatever happened to Sprout after the events of the movie, he is definitely no longer deputy (and since he has yet to appear or even be mentioned at all, this is literally the only thing we now know about Sprout's current status). In addition, Hitch being the critter magnet that he is allowed us to see a first appearance of some other various critters which include unicorn raccoons, unicorn bunnies, and pegasus snails (all three of which I find to be pretty weird and unexpected, even by G4 standards, so I guess we'll keep an eye out for any more critters with magical features).