tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post3962861873163044978..comments2023-05-08T04:26:41.949-04:00Comments on My Little Po-Mo: I've finally figured out why you're having so much trouble being liked! (The Crystal Empire)Froborrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08782366056731381450noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post-85174153971599585022014-01-06T21:44:35.673-05:002014-01-06T21:44:35.673-05:00Well, they were "unlucky" given that the...Well, they were "unlucky" given that they had no real way of knowing. The Crystal Ponies had forgotten, and the history book had that page torn out.nullhypothesishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11784779286499862559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post-81330305042266687602014-01-06T20:42:06.233-05:002014-01-06T20:42:06.233-05:00Nah, it didn't seem like they were going for t...Nah, it didn't seem like they were going for that at all; they didn't really seem to be portraying the mane 6 as "wrong" so much as "unlucky". This is still a show for little kids. Even if they can afford a little subtlety, if they're trying for a moral they're going to at least spell it out a bit more than that.Brickmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05205279994171209511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post-14471146585824928942014-01-06T20:39:25.469-05:002014-01-06T20:39:25.469-05:00Also his name is a dead giveaway...
In all seriou...Also his name is a dead giveaway...<br /><br />In all seriousness, it's a theory I've seen before and it seems pretty plausible to me. The important clue is it seemed like the writers couldn't care less about the big floating shadow wraith, they're just interested in the effect he had on the crystal ponies. That certainly suggests a metaphor to me.Brickmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05205279994171209511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post-8269585309697170612014-01-06T19:28:36.915-05:002014-01-06T19:28:36.915-05:00Speaking only for myself, I also saw it in that tr...Speaking only for myself, I also saw it in that trap he left for intruders behind the door, that illusion that shows them their nightmare... partially because it wasn't just their <i>worst</i> nightmare, it was actually a <i>specific</i> nightmare: being rejected by someone you deeply care about and look up to.<br /><br />(the fact that he chose that specific illusion is an interesting bit of indirect character development for past!Sombra)<br /><br />What I noticed in the Crystal Ponies was the "flashes" and flickers of memory. Like, remember when Twilight was talking to that one pony, who suddenly twitched and cringed as she saw Sombra glaring at her out of her memories? And on a large scale, this was repeated in the way the shield flickered. Those twitches are normally associated with trauma (and they've certainly been traumatized, if the flashbacks are any indication), but certain types of depression have them too.<br /><br />(I also noticed the twitches during Pinkie Pie's breakdown in "Party of One," which was also written by McCarthy...)<br /><br />As for Sombra himself, well, there's a long history of fantasy stories using that creeping corruption ("why is the ground turning dark? And it's spreading...") to represent hopelessness and despair, and how Sombra "leaked" past the barriers, growing from a fragment of his horn, seeping in with those tendrils that turn everything dark... it's probably a bit of a stretch (after all, the plunder seeds have similar imagery), and I'm probably overgeneralizing (after all, it affects everyone differently) but it's a surprisingly apt visualization of how it can feel to have that crawling through one's head.nullhypothesishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11784779286499862559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post-10446843119229328492014-01-06T18:49:06.278-05:002014-01-06T18:49:06.278-05:00Well, the reason they didn't ask the locals is...Well, the reason they didn't ask the locals is because the locals had forgotten, which was the whole point of the fair.<br /><br />Also, possibly because the show wanted to send that exact message, about making sure you know what you're talking about before trying to use cultural iconography in a work of art.nullhypothesishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11784779286499862559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post-2531792944604445982014-01-06T17:02:09.123-05:002014-01-06T17:02:09.123-05:00Well, that and Farenheit 451.Well, that and Farenheit 451.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post-74579511666150852662014-01-06T15:55:43.682-05:002014-01-06T15:55:43.682-05:00Very true... which leads me to suspect the real re...Very true... which leads me to suspect the real reason they didn't ask the locals is extradiegetic, to create that time limit. Kind of makes it worse.Froborrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08782366056731381450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post-73003260521659167312014-01-06T15:54:49.219-05:002014-01-06T15:54:49.219-05:00Also, please don't use "insane" that...Also, please don't use "insane" that way on this site.Froborrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08782366056731381450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post-63955513380415846042014-01-06T15:51:14.270-05:002014-01-06T15:51:14.270-05:00Interesting. Certainly his effects on the Crystal ...Interesting. Certainly his effects on the Crystal Ponies fit, what with the timidity, reduced affect, and general air of hopelessness. I don't really see Sombra himself that way, though? Would you care to elaborate on how you see it?Froborrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08782366056731381450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post-79590532384973608762014-01-06T15:50:04.640-05:002014-01-06T15:50:04.640-05:00Yes, that scene is highly effective, but this essa...Yes, that scene is highly effective, but this essay was already pushing 2000 words and I had a con to get to... Plus I have to leave SOMETHING for the book version... ;)Froborrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08782366056731381450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post-32987604992692414292014-01-06T15:49:24.758-05:002014-01-06T15:49:24.758-05:00It is okay if you split infinitives anywhere, at l...It is okay if you split infinitives anywhere, at least in English. There is no grammatical rule of English that forbids splitting infinitives. For that matter, there's no rule against ending a sentence with a preposition. Both are completely acceptable in formal English prose, and anyone who tells you otherwise is objectively wrong. You can prove it by pulling out a collection of essays by any highly respected prose stylist (I recommend Auden or Orwell) and pointing out places where they've split infinitives, ended sentences with prepositions, used "they" with a singular verb to indicate a person of unknown gender, and so on.<br /><br />While you're at it, you may want to pull out a copy of Strunk & White and throw it in a fire. It is the only book ever written that deserves to be burned.Froborrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08782366056731381450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post-31557953980807680422014-01-06T15:43:56.640-05:002014-01-06T15:43:56.640-05:00That's an interesting view, and one that could...That's an interesting view, and one that could have made for an interesting episode. The problem is that we don't see past-Sombra except very briefly, so our actual impression of Sombra is his shadow in the present. I think the fourth-season premiere does a MUCH better job of conveying that this non-threatening figure in the present was a much greater villain in the past, and those past actions caused the present crisis.Froborrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08782366056731381450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post-81088198377570212362014-01-06T08:28:20.061-05:002014-01-06T08:28:20.061-05:00Stepping away from Sombra for a moment, a thought ...Stepping away from Sombra for a moment, a thought occurred to me. If you look at it from the right angle, the Mane 6's attempt at recreating the crystal heart festival went exactly as well as your hypothetical blind Christmas party. They completely botched the single most important feature, the heart. They failed to understand what it was (a specific item, not just any pretty centerpiece), failed to understand that it was the most important part, and thus pretty much failed to understand what the festival was even about. After a point the entire festival became about distracting everyone from the fact that they didn't have the crystal heart. Asking any local (who remembered things at least) would have let them avoid this blunder and effectively would have removed the strict time limit from the episode's finale.Brickmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05205279994171209511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post-8641964772949319982014-01-05T14:33:56.391-05:002014-01-05T14:33:56.391-05:00Personally, I thought Sombra was supposed to be a ...Personally, I thought Sombra was supposed to be a kids'-show way of depicting depression.nullhypothesishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11784779286499862559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post-17455926774501574572014-01-05T05:17:09.603-05:002014-01-05T05:17:09.603-05:00A point which I've seen brought up with regard...A point which I've seen brought up with regards to this episode (as part of a larger piece on how the show treats international relations and authority figures) is that the Mane Six seem to*, and the audience to be intended to*, largely base their action towards Sombra on Celestia's testimony, and since she is the aunt of Sombra's rival for the throne Celestia is likely to be an extremely biased source on the subject.<br />*Is it OK if I split infinitives here?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05170285046678377379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post-4825405876697285182014-01-05T04:06:40.814-05:002014-01-05T04:06:40.814-05:00You get one hint of the kind of threat the writers...You get one hint of the kind of threat the writers probably wanted Sombra to be in the insane kaizo traps he left guarding the crystal heart. Like Alicorn Priest says up there, Sombra came within an inch of outsmarting Twilight Sparkle despite being, for all intents and purposes, dead for a thousand years.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01543133662906033247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5106243389695628804.post-18875516864447400862014-01-05T00:34:49.056-05:002014-01-05T00:34:49.056-05:00...Well, I had a really interesting post, but afte......Well, I had a really interesting post, but after writing it all out, I accidentally deleted it. So I'll try and summarize it:<br /><br />I think going at Sombra as a Sauron-style overlord is the wrong paradigm. The true villain is not smoky weird current-day Sombra, but the ancient Sombra and the fear in the hearts of the Crystal Ponies that he will come back. Since the Crystal Empire is literally the emotional heart of Equestria, what better way to rule than with insidious fear? Also, it is Past-Sombra who delays Twilight with his tricks in the dungeon. As I put it in my deleted post, Sombra has already won. The mane six are undoing his reign, not preventing him from coming back.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01969070000118488489noreply@blogger.com