Why Isn’t There An Openly LGBT Pony?

…Yeah, I’m just gonna come out right here and say something: This article is about My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, and talks about whether we should have an LGBT pony. If that doesn’t appeal to you, do us both a favour and don’t read. Don’t read, don’t comment, and I will have no problems with you whatsoever. I know it can be seen as a strange subject, and even if not strange, if there’s one universal constant I’ve found in my lifetime, it’s that nothing is for everybody, so no hard feelings, really.

So, something caught my attention a while ago. Apparently, there was a writer working for IDW who said that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy being in a romantic relationship should be canon. I’m not gonna get into that discussion much more, other than stating that, despite being an outed Flutterdash shipper in the past, I know that having the obvious tomboy and the introvert come out as a couple could be seen as a stereotype. Rather, instead, I find myself wondering why, whether it’s these two or anyone else on the show, is there no openly, canon, LGBT pony. And I know, there are other shows out there with positive depictions of LGBT characters. I’m just saying, not everyone who watches those shows watches MLP, where they would like a positive depiction of an LGBT character.

Now, there might be some of you out there saying “But wait, Jyger85! There IS an LGBT couple on MLP!” Well, first off, you can call me Jeff, we’re all friends here. And second off, NO. That is not canon. You THINK it is, and I not only know why you think it is but actually agree that it should be, but it isn’t. And for those of you wondering what I’m talking about, I’m talking about Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon…or Secret Agent Sweetie Drops, or whatever her name is now. lol Point is, these two have been background ponies showing up together for YEARS now, but anytime they’ve talked, they keep saying they’re best friends, and according to the MLP wiki…

“And I quote…”

“Sweetie Drops frequently appears with Lyra Heartstrings, which has been explained by a layout artist to be mostly coincidental and based on aesthetic considerations, as far as season one is concerned”. However, here’s why a lot of people think these two are a couple…

1. Admittedly, fans of a show will sometimes try to dig deeper to try and see if there are elements of the story and characters beyond what is shown to us, and will oftentimes ship people for reasons others might not be able to see.
2. There’s a list of evidence on TV Tropes showing all the reasons presented in the show why fans might believe these two are a couple (among others, lol), but for me, it boils down to one episode: Slice of Life. Listen to their dialogue in that episode, watch their body language and facial expressions, and listen to the emphasis they put on the words “best friends”, hammering it in to the point of sounding forced, and tell me that these two do not come off even the SLIGHTEST bit as a couple.

What’s hilarious, though, is that, in the same episode I just mentioned, we find out that DJ Pon-3 (once known as Vinyl Scratch) and Octavia Melody actually live together. Now, whether they’re just room-mates or a couple has never been made canon. My own thoughts? Well, I don’t know if I believe in the romantic pairing of these two, but they are most definitely a pair, and one I’d love to see playing off each other in the future. Still, I wouldn’t mind if these two came out.

But back to Lyra and Sweetie Drops. Personally, here’s what I would do. You have the finale (whether it’s a season finale or the series finale, I don’t know, but maybe it’d work better if it were the latter) include a scene where the Mane 6 are running through Ponyville. They’re running in great urgency to stop something, and it’s a very pulse-pounding affair, and you see everything in the background rushing by, and at one point, they run past town hall, where you see the two exiting right after getting married. That’s how I would out those two, and here’s why: Because a lot of fans love to watch the background and freak out over stuff they see in it, and I guarantee that would get a TREMENDOUS reaction. Just have it in the middle of the episode, and watch what happens. lol

Anyway, that’s all I had to say about this. Lemme know what you all think in the comments, and keep watching the background, because you never know what might pop up. Ja né!

My Thoughts On Crusaders Of The Lost Mark (WARNING – SPOILERS)

So, earlier today, I was taking a nap, and when I awoke, I got a message from my friend Teagan telling me rather joyously about today’s episode of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. And, once I learned of it, I was rather joyous too, as it marked the end of a ongoing story arc that I personally thought should’ve ended a LONG time ago. However, as usual, because this episode marks a big change, people’s opinions on it will likely differ, and since I came out a while ago and stated that I like the current MLP series, I thought I’d give my thoughts on it. So, for those that haven’t watched it yet and don’t wanna be spoiled, please go do so now.

…Okay, so I’m assuming everyone still reading saw the episode, and can therefore address the big change: The Cutie Mark Crusaders have their cutie marks. However, they get them in a way that I honestly didn’t see coming. Instead of finally realizing their individual talents, which have been hinted at for YEARS, the three instead discover their talent as a team: To help others discover/remember their true selves. As such, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo gain similar-looking cutie marks that represents their unity and ability to help others, and so they set out to do just that from now on.

So, first off, THANK FUCKING GOD, they have their cutie marks! Like I said, we’ve been waiting for this for a LONG TIME, and it’s been really aggravatingly repetitive. We’ve known what their unique talents were since The Show Stoppers, which aired in March of 2011, and damned near every episode to focus on them as a group has shown them to be completely oblivious of these talents. So, thankfully, that’s over and done with. However, therein lies a slight problem: While the end of their journey to get their cutie marks is a neat twist, unfortunately, there’s not much in the way of hints suggesting this was how it would end. Not to say that they’re never helping ponies, but in terms of helping somepony learn who they truly are, the only other example of that is in Appleoosa’s Most Wanted, which was earlier this season. I’m just saying, it would’ve been nice to see some more hints of that from time to time, instead of repeating the same formula for their episodes over and over.

The other major thing I suppose I should talk about is Diamond Tiara. First off, like the twist involving the CMC, the reveal of why Diamond Tiara behaved the way she has since her debut episode unfortunately comes out of nowhere. We’ve never seen or heard about her mom before this, and had no reason to think Diamond acted like she did other than typical schoolyard bully crap. If we saw tiny glimpses of her before this, woulda worked a lot better… … …Having said that, knowing this and what her special talent is now, it DOES explain pretty much every single thing she’s done since her debut: Her ability to make others do what she wanted was purely used for selfish purposes, but that ability was thrown out of balance when the Cutie Mark Crusaders came into the picture. Suddenly, there was someone resisting her. And when she tried to compensate by mimicking her mother even more, trying to replicate the success her mother obtained in life, the Crusaders just continued to oppose her more, and eventually, so did everyone else, finally culminating in even Silver Spoon having had enough. Once they figured her problem out, though, they managed to help her grow past her mother’s influence and everything balanced itself out again. That all makes sense. I just don’t understand why it took until the latter half of season five to get to this point.

…Speaking of Diamond’s mother, though, can I ask…what the hell does Filthy Rich see in Spoiled? She acts just like Diamond Tiara, except without the excuse that she’s a kid and listens to that kind of talk every day. Even if it turned out that she might have lived with it when she was a kid, that doesn’t necessarily excuse her now that she’s an adult. Filthy, on the other hand, is shown to have respect for people of different social standings and class. The only thing I can see as being similar between them is that they’re higher class. That’s it. It really makes me wonder and cringe about what their private lives must be like.

Oh, and one last thought: Can I just say how glad I was to see Twilight Sparkle helping to set up the new playground equipment in the end. I wasn’t aware that more damage was done to the town during the fight with her and Tirek (although, as my proofreader would say, “In retrospect, DUH!”), but it was good to see her trying to undo the damage done there. Now, if only we could maybe see Superman do the same in the aftermath of Man of Steel. lol

So, I guess in short, I think I liked this episode, and a lot of the musical numbers were good, and thank God we’re finally moving onto something new to do with the CMC. I just wish that some of the story elements in this episode had been hinted at prior, and that it didn’t take us until now to get to this point. Still, at least it did give us a good milestone story for the fifth anniversary episode (Happy Anniversary to all Bronies and Pegasisters, btw), and I most certainly don’t begrudge anyone that adored this episode. I only nitpick because it’s kinda what I do on here. But anyway, if you have your own thoughts on the episode, by all means, leave them below. Ja né!

Viewcount Totals for October + Plans for the Future

So, final total for the month of October on my blog: 2,262! Now, a lot of people know I feel bad about the mass number of views that came in for the Starslip post and why, but guess what? I checked the total amount of views the Starslip post had in October and subtracted it from the total views for October, and even without it, I still got way more views than I generally do on my blog. Yay! ^_^

I’m pretty sure part of what has brought in these higher numbers are my extended talks on comic books, in particular my short text reviews on the comics I buy every week. So with that said, expect me to keep doing that. I’m sorry if that annoys anyone and prefers to watch for my talks on Pokémon or the like, but don’t fret, I AM doing that too. In fact, my next video review will be on a classic episode of the show.

By the way, if you’re wondering where that episode is, it’s been put lower on the priority list because my YouTube reviews had to be taken down. So what am I doing now? I am reworking and tweaking the multi-part review of the Turbo: A Power Rangers  Movie review. That said, I would also like to release the following list of reviews I plan to release on Blip, in no particular order. And no, I’m not releasing dates since, as most of you have figured out by now, I am TERRIBLE at keeping up scheduling dates.

Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie
Pokémon – Mystery at the Lighthouse
Requested Review: Justice League – Hereafter Part 1 & 2
Digimon – Our War Game (Just that one movie, not the three that were combined for the North American Digimon Movie)
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic – The Cutie Mark Chronicles
And of course, more random Pokémon episodes ^_^ lol

Oh yeah, and you’ll notice that one of those is a requested review. I AM open to requests, people. Now, will I review everything requested of me? Not necessarily, but if it’s something animated or tokusatsu, I will at least consider it.

Anyway, that’s all from me for now. Ja né!