Paper Moon

Unless you're living under an internet rock, you've probably heard by now that the upcoming season finale of My Little Pony features our heroine Twilight Sparkle powering up to her alicorn form. Which means, in MLP terms, that she becomes a "princess."

Hasbro wisely chose to let Entertainment Weekly leak the news first instead of giving the exclusive to any of the Brony news outlets:

But don’t worry, Pony fans — though Twilight will undergo a physical transformation, her personality will remain the same. “What we didn’t want to do was change who she is as a character, because she’s certainly someone that everyone’s proud to know and love,” McCarthy says. “I don’t think becoming a princess really changes her; I think it’s going to introduce some new challenges for her.” Those challenges will include living up to that lofty new title. In MLP‘s Equestria, “princess” is a designation that’s earned, not freely given — and though princesses have specific leadership roles in pony society, being one really means “being a good pony who shares the gifts that they have been given with others,” according to McCarthy. “We’re building a very unique mythology around being a princess,” she continues. “Every little girl wants to be a princess, and not everybody can get to be a princess — but you can live up to the ideals that should come along with being a princess.”

The amount of raaaaaaaaaaaage that this news has generated from the male-dominated Pony fandom spaces astounds me. I mean, just look at the comments on the EW article for starters. Or better yet, don't look, if you don't want to raise your blood pressure. The comments on the promos that the Hub has posted to Youtube are hardly any better, and the comments on Equestria Daily are even worse. Over and over again we get: Twilight is ruined by becoming a princess, princesses are icky and gross, the only reason this is happening in the show is because Hasbro just wants to sell princess toys to little girls, and it's sexist for MLP to be selling the "princess" shtick to little girls. The fact that this last objection is so far coming EXCLUSIVELY FROM MEN trying desperately to appropriate feminist arguments in order to conceal their misogynistic revulsion because of the whole but-princesses-are-a-GIRLY-thing!!1! mindset makes it all the more hilarious.

But what really floors me is how many Bronies seem surprised by this - and how many of them decried the EW article as a "fake" when it first hit the internet earlier this week. Twilight becoming a princess should have been an OBVIOUS plot point from the first episode of season 3, if not all the way back in the very first episode of season 1. This has been foreshadowed for a really long time and it's the logical result of three seasons' worth of actual character development for Twilight.

But leave it to Bronies to have an internet conniption about a My Little Pony character getting an actual power-up. I mean there's just almost no way to parse the backlash against Twilight becoming a princess that doesn't immediately reveal the sticky, writhing mass of misogynistic goo underlying all of it.

Man, remember three years ago when Bronies were like, cool? And not disgusting?

I miss those days.

Here it is, holy shit, the actual fucking trailer for Mysterious Cities of Gold Season 2:



I know, it's in French. I know, the Golden Condor still looks ridiculous and Mendoza is still ridiculous and the parrot is still annoying. I know, the flash animation that worked so beautifully for Wakfu and My Little Pony just looks weird and awkward when combined with Cities of Gold's retro, rounded, semi-realistic character designs. I know, I know, I know.

And yet.

When that theme song starts playing at the end of the trailer. Oh my flash animation-loving God. I hear that and suddenly I'm three years old again, sitting on my dad's lap, either crying because the aliens in this cartoon are terrifying the shit out of me*, or freaking out because for some reason my dad (who is from South America) has the brilliant idea to attempt to EXPLAIN THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THIS SHOW to his toddler daughter and I'm just like WHUT WHUT what do you mean that Zia was sold into slavery and what do you mean the Spanish dudes and the native people didn't get along and what do you mean that Tao isn't even a "real" native because his entire race is fictional. I mostly didn't get any of what my dad tried to explain to me. I didn't get it at all. But I did pick up the word "conquistador" from those conversations. My dad was super-proud when he finally taught me how to say that word, even though I didn't really understand the meaning or the weight of the word. All I knew was that my dad called Mendoza a "conquistador," therefore he was a conquistador. Whatever that meant.

I am absolutely not exaggerating when I say that some of my earliest memories are of watching this show. Heck, I barely remember anything about preschool, but I remember watching this show with my dad. And being mostly confused about the historical context and the conflicts between the Spaniards and the Incas and the Mayans and the Olmecs. And being completely terrified of those scary aliens that showed up in the final episodes. Hey, I was three years old, okay?

But despite being confused by some parts and outright terrified by others, I still loved that show. Oh my God, how I loved that show. Maybe it's because I was three years old at the time and I didn't have much in the way of discerning taste, or maybe it's because I just loved having that bonding experience with my dad, I don't know. But I definitely remember that I freakin' LOVED that show.

Oh, and if Cities of Gold returning to television later this year isn't enough of a nostalgiagasm for y'all, check this out:

Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld is getting a reboot in DC's new Sword of Sorcery monthly.

Hell. Fucking. YES.



* Looking back now I have no idea why I was so terrified of the aliens in Mysterious Cities of Gold. I mean, they were just pointy-eared little bald men. I do remember having a pretty horrifying nightmare about them, though. In my nightmare they had red glowing eyes and were definitely a lot scarier than they appeared to be in the cartoon. So I think it's possible that my three-year-old brain confused my nightmare version of the aliens with the cartoon version of the aliens, and then got legitimately scared whenever the cartoon aliens appeared onscreen. I dunno.

 
 

( Fanart behind the cut. )

Hasbro edited that horrible, horrible scene from "The Last Roundup" and just made it a thousand percent better:



Of course the internet has been exploding today with bronies pissing themselves with rage over the fact that Hasbro "killed" Derpy. And sending death threats to Yamino and other fans who spoke out against the original version, etc.

Jesus pony-collecting Christ, the grossness of this fandom sometimes. If this had been the original scene in the first place you know the bronies would have been creaming themselves over how much they loved it. Does changing the voice and removing one mention of her fandom nickname from the scene really "ruin" it in any way?! The new voice is way cuter and who the fuck cares if your (arguably quite offensive) fandom nickname is mentioned in the show or not. This edit is probably the best possible way that Hasbro could have fixed the problem - it barely changes anything about the scene at all, but still makes it way more adorable and way less ableist, so hooray because EVERYBODY WINS - yet the bronies are really determined to throw an internet temper tantrum over this, aren't they.

Oh well. Hasbro is great, this show is pretty great, but the fandom has gotten horrible over the past year, news at eleven.

Because I apparently stan hard for cartoon ponies, I guess.

In the wake of last week's My Little Pony episode I've seen a lot of people on LJ, DW, and Tumblr bemoaning how Season 2 has gone downhill, is catering too much to Bronies, sucks compared to Season 1, and how the show just isn't the same without Lauren Faust at the creative helm. There's also been not a few people quitting the show altogether. Now, "The Last Roundup" was an undeniable stinker of an episode - not just for its squeamish depiction of "Derpy Hooves" but for being a boring episode all around - and I absolutely can't fault anybody for having their I am DONE with this show! moment, because hey, sometimes when you're done with a show, you're done with a show.

But I would like to point out that Season 1 had its share of stinker episodes, too. And has the show really changed all THAT much since Season 1? Other than the Derpy scene I can't find any evidence of outright pandering to Bronies - at least not any more so than the previous background pony shoutouts from Season 1 - and heck, the episode "Babycakes" even mocked the overinvested Brony fanbase at one point.

So, in a kinda-sorta defense of the idea that Season 2 actually hasn't been going downhill so far (with "The Last Roundup" acting as an admitted gigantic asterisk to that notion), here are five episodes from Season 2 that I absolutely love:

Episode 3, "Lesson Zero"
Hands-down the funniest episode of the season, possibly of the show overall, and one that presents an unusually complex moral to boot. Yes, Twilight Sparkle was clearly wrong for losing her perspective and blowing the horror of being late with one of her letters all out of proportion. But the real moral of the episode was that, when you have a friend freaking out about something utterly trivial, it's important to listen to them sympathetically and help them with their problem, NOT laugh at them for freaking out about something trivial. That's a pretty complex moral to have in a show for little girls, and it's a beautiful example of how MLP refuses to talk down to its audience. And yeah, in addition to the moral of the story, like I said, this is possibly the goddamn funniest episode of the show so far, from the depiction of Twilight's slow descent into madness to all of the bizarre comic touches like Big Mac running off with Smartypants at the end. Definitely one of the best episodes of the season.

Episode 4, "Lunar Eclipsed"
Even if it weren't for Luna's return to the show and the awesomely hilarious storyline involving her awkward attempts to fit in with Ponyville ponies, this episode would still rank among my favorites if only for the fact that it brilliantly displays how gorgeous and detailed the animation for this show is, on every possible level. The backgrounds! The costumes! The colors! The lighting effects! All of that and: PIPSQUEAK THE PIRATE. Best. Baby. Pony. Ever.

Episode 7, "May the Best Pet Win"
There's something deeply satisfying about watching Rainbow Dash actually learning a lesson, something that happens far too rarely in the series altogether. There's something equally as satisfying about watching the turtle that nobody thought could do anything finally proving himself to have actually been the best pet all along. It's a classic underdog story and I have to admit I am a complete sucker for a good underdog story. Plus this episode had a great musical duet by Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Tank the Turtle's story is epic and so is this episode.

Episode 10, "Secret of My Excess"
Every single moment of Rarity's final confrontation against Spike was not only hilarious but sweetly touching as well. Rarity is hands-down my favorite pony, and although she's gotten a few great episodes completely focused on her this season, this episode - which is much more about Spike than Rarity - is the episode that actually provides my favorite "Rarity moment" of the season so far.

Episode 12, "Family Appreciation Day"
Loved loved loved everything about this episode. The bond between Granny Smith and Apple Bloom, the Cutie Mark Crusaders starring in a story that wasn't about their Cutie Marks, the bizarre magical apples, the epic story of how as a filly Granny Smith saved her family from starvation and freakin' FOUNDED PONYVILLE while relying on her smarts and courage alone, the fact that the show finally remembered that Twist and Apple Bloom are still friends, and all of the comical moments actually being quite funny. A perfect episode.


...So those are my highly-biased picks for the best episodes of Season 2 so far, episodes which I would also present as evidence that Season 2 isn't actually going downhill and/or significantly changed from the tone and style of Season 1. Of course not every episode in Season 2 has been great, or even good - but then again, not all of the episodes in Season 1 were either. I also can't deny that the pacing of the episodes this season has been pretty bad (two Rainbow Dash episodes back-to-back? Three Rarity episodes bunched together in the first half of the season? Really?!), nor can I deny that I completely understand why "The Last Roundup" was the last straw for a lot of viewers. But as for me, I'm going to keep watching, and keep hoping that the second half of Season 2 will provide a few episodes as great as some of the episodes that we got in the first half of the season.

Shaenon K. Garrity on CLAMP, the roots of moe culture, and why Chobits is really freakin' disturbing.

I remember reading Chobits in high school and being really disturbed by how Hideki's love for Chi was framed as "pure" both despite of and because she was a) an artificially perfect being and b) had a vagina that could never be penetrated. But this essay really lays out exactly what's disturbing about all of that in a way that I didn't have the vocabulary to do back then.

Come to think of it, the whole "putting Chi's reset switch in her vagina as a test of the 'purity' of her future boyfriend" thing is REALLY disturbing on a lot of levels, not the least of which is the way that it frames vaginal penetration as the only type of sex that matters. The whole point of the "test" was that Chi was supposed to end up with a man who would love her despite never being able to have sex with her, and this is incredibly stupid because vaginal penetration isn't the only way to have sex. Except that in Chobits it clearly is. The whole thing is just another way in which the series as a whole embraces an extremely infantile, immature concept of sexuality: Not once do any of the characters ever consider that physical sex could ever be anything other than "penis goes into vagina." Heck, even that one time that Hideki had to stick his fingers inside of Chi to flip her switch was later hand-waved by the text as being not-actual-sex. Because if it ain't a penis in the vagina it just doesn't count, I guess.

I also kind of love Garrity's essay for calling out Deppey on his asinine assertion that men never fantasize about "sexless love." Clearly Deppey has never met any male otaku. Or any of the freakier male My Little Pony fans, either. (You know, the runs who run around the internet posting "FLUTTERSHY IS MY WAIFU" everywhere yet act horribly offended at the very idea that ponies might have sex or that people actually post pony-porn on the internet.) Or any of the male fans that flipped their shit over the Kannagi scandle. Etc, etc.

So, My Little Pony did a Halloween episode last night. Which in and of itself was pretty awesome.

The episode was all about Luna. Which in and of itself was pretty awesome.

The ponies were all dressed in costume, which gave the animators a million opportunities to add meta-humor to the episode, some of which was incredibly unsubtle (Twilight Sparkle being her usual nerdy self and acting annoyed that nobody recognized her costume of an obscure historical figure; Spike wearing a costume of himself) and some of which was more blink-and-you'll-miss-it (i.e. that egg popping out of Pinkie Pie's butt when Luna scares her).

But the best background joke of all?

THIS PONY, who is wearing a costume of "Steve Zissou being eaten by a shark."

This show, you guys. This show.

I know that I should be super-excited that My Little Pony is back on the air, that the new season of Modern Family starts on Wednesday, and that the new season of Parks and Recreation is starting on Thursday...

But really, what I'm most excited about wrt: fall TV is that the third and final season of Shakugan no Shana finally begins on October 7th.

I mean, it's not like I've been waiting impatiently for this since it was announced three years ago or anything.

poilass liked my help_japan fic!! (*happy dances forever*)

I'm too busy with homework, work-work, and other RL stuff to finish recapping Soul Eater Not! chapter 6 this month, so I'll probably just post chapters 6 and 7 together next month.

And speaking of summer fandom projects.... (*looks at doujinshi scanning queue*) Siiiiigh. I'll get back on the scanning horse next week, after I finish my last week of classes and visiting relatives and stuff.

And sorry, Spike Pilgrim, but this is my new all-time favorite My Little Pony trailer mashup:



ETA: Also, this excellent rant about "womens' comics" by Melinda Beasi is worth a signal-boost. Pretty much the entire thing is highly quotable, but here's a quick sample:

Who hasn’t been put in the position of having to over-explain to a skeptical friend, “I know the cover is pink, but it’s really good, I swear!” We explain because we think we have to, and we think we have to because we’ve been conditioned to believe that something specifically created with girls or women in mind is less well-crafted, less intelligent, and less universally relevant than something that’s not.

Yep, pretty much this. Also highly relevant re: anybody freaking out over the popularity of My Little Pony. Super-duper highly relevant re: the mouthbreathing male otaku contingent's continual insistence that Madoka Magica is groundbreaking/original/revolutionary for doing the exact same things that magical girl shows for girls have been doing for the past twenty years, but not that they would know that because heaven forbid any of them ever actually watch that sparkly pink girly stuff.

Former president Bill Clinton answers My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic trivia questions on NPR.

There's really nothing else I can add to that. It is what it says on the tin.

There's a full transcription at the link for those of you who can't play the audio file.

This show, you guys. This show.