MLP: Onto a comical new season

TetraNitroCubane

Tangentially pony related, but the thread isn't moving all too fast these days:

Them's Fightin' Herds - the once-pony, then C&D'd, then reborn with Lauren Faust as character design lead fighting game - now has an official release date of Feb 22nd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV1FNzORTRs

I backed the crowdfunding for the game, but the betas have always felt a little threadbare to me in the past. I'm going to check it out tonight again to see how far along it's come, and I'm excited for the official release.

Not sure if a game this small would warrant it's own thread over in G&T, but once it launches I'd be down to discuss and play it with anyone else who's interested!

TetraNitroCubane

Sorry for the double post, but Big Jim just revealed the season eight premiere date!

https://twitter.com/TheBiggestJim/status/961657687082545152

TetraNitroCubane

Lots of stuff to talk about lately:

Season 8 promo was released! It's kinda spoilery, so it's under the cut.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Npgub0HzdQ

The latest Equestria Girls longform (~1 h) broadcast went out this morning. It's called "Forgotten Friendship". It snuck up on me, so I haven't seen it yet and I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. But apparently it involves

Sunset Shimmer going back to Equestria as a pony and seeking out Princess Celestia

As a last note, I've been playing the beta for Them's Fightin' Herds pretty much every day for the last week or so. And I can say that it... is a fighting game. It's really well done, and has awesome characters and worlds and voices. I like that it feels really solid in the gameplay, and there's a lobby system that's extremely fun as a way to do matchmaking - You get a little pixel avatar that can walk around and interact with all the other players, rather than there just being a static menu.

But that being said, it's still, at it's heart, a fighting game. A fighting game where a very small sliver of people who backed the beta have been playing for MONTHS. People who are so good that when someone like me tries to play the game, I am viewed as an annoyance and a waste of time, since I'm not nearly as experienced. Every game against an opponent has literally been over from the first hit landed on me, because I just get in the corner and get pummeled. Hopefully the game winds up finding more players and a better community on general release, because right now it's not very welcoming or fun.

Werewolf2000ad

Blimey.

Riokenn

Getting 2012 flashbacks over here...

TetraNitroCubane

So today was the retail release of Them's Fightin' Herds! I've been dabbling in the beta, but now that the full game is released there are a TON of people of all skill levels playing. Since I'm not trying to go up against absolute experts, I've actually been able to have fun with the game and it's awesome! There may not be as many features as most fighting games (six character roster, each character may not have as many moves as you'd imagine, etc), but it's all done really well and extremely solid. Plus, those have pixel lobbies they have to hang out in are super fun with more people around, and there are some PvE type events that you can be a part of.

It's still considered "early access" at the moment, because there were some hiccups with their story mode and a few straggling animation assets to fill in, but it plays like a very complete game right now.

It may not be strictly pony, but you can absolutely see the pony mannerisms in each of the characters. Plus, the art is super cute.

Werewolf2000ad

I'm not much of a multiplayer person, but I'll probably get it once the story mode is in.

shoeboxjeddy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWSML-xZnmI&list=WL&t=532s&index=27
There's the Super Best Friends giving the game a workout. There's a lot of work it still needs, but that animation and character design is VERY nice. Oozes personality.

Werewolf2000ad

Also, bear in mind the version they're playing there is apparently an earlier version than was released.

TetraNitroCubane

That's basically the version that was released, actually.

There was a patch today that adds in most of the missing animations. Though there are still some "cardboard" frames left in there. The mechanics of the game are SOLID, though, despite a few frames here and there being missing. Nothing about the game really feels too terribly far from finished. The poor devs just had the rug pulled out from under them after announcing the Feb 22 release, and didn't want to disappoint everyone so soon after giving the release date.

But seriously, even the music is amazing. I'm still having a blast with it, despite getting constantly bodied!

shoeboxjeddy

TetraNitroCubane wrote: »

That's basically the version that was released, actually.

There was a patch today that adds in most of the missing animations. Though there are still some "cardboard" frames left in there. The mechanics of the game are SOLID, though, despite a few frames here and there being missing. Nothing about the game really feels too terribly far from finished. The poor devs just had the rug pulled out from under them after announcing the Feb 22 release, and didn't want to disappoint everyone so soon after giving the release date.

But seriously, even the music is amazing. I'm still having a blast with it, despite getting constantly bodied!

I think it's a lot more forgivable to release in a state like this when you're basically a garage developer. Much less so when Capcom did it with SF5.

Ruldar

Forgotten Friendship was pretty good.

TetraNitroCubane

Ruldar wrote: »

Forgotten Friendship was pretty good.

As much as some of the highschool stuff still bugs me, I won't deny that I kinda got a little emotional seeing Sunset Shimmer reunite with Celestia. That made it all worth it.

Werewolf2000ad

There's a new fighting game bundle on Humble Bundle where the Pay What You Want tier gets you a 25% off Fightin' Herds coupon.

Erlkönig

Ruldar wrote: »

Forgotten Friendship was pretty good.

Dammit! I want to watch this so bad...but I refuse to watch it unless I can throw money at the people who made it (i.e. buy the movie on any of the digital distro platforms (except itunes...eff itunes)).

TetraNitroCubane

For those of you who need your 2 Best Sisters fix... Well, there's not a new episode, but there is a new 2Snacks update!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAaezGI-bMs

TetraNitroCubane

Another season 8 promo has been released. As a reminder, next season starts on March 24th!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LViUgheQfB0

Owenashi

The devs for the mobile game must be running out of characters to add if they're tossing these guys into it.

TetraNitroCubane

Hasbro has released a short animatic in anticipation of next Saturday's Season 8 premiere:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw9Q2nwya1Q

InfamyDeferred

Owenashi wrote: »

The devs for the mobile game must be running out of characters to add if they're tossing these guys into it.

Deer should totally be the forest elves of the MLP universe

Owenashi

InfamyDeferred wrote: »

Owenashi wrote: »

The devs for the mobile game must be running out of characters to add if they're tossing these guys into it.

Deer should totally be the forest elves of the MLP universe

That's what they were more or less aiming for in the comic-book story they first appeared in. Too bad their leader had to be such a sanctimonious, idiotic goose about the story's dilemma. One that he mostly created for that matter.

Fencingsax

I mean, sounds kinda like elves to me.

Owenashi

Sad thing is that that story created Well-To-Do, a businessman-Minotaur that could have been brought into the animated series as a proper antagonistic member of his race. He could have filled the role that Hasbro seems intent on shilling Iron Will in. He certainly could have filled Iron Will's role in the comic-book's 'Siege Of The Crystal Empire' story as I seriously doubt him, the Flim-Flam Brothers and (to a lesser extent) Lighting Dust would have actually thought that aiding a mysterious pony in openly raiding the Empire for the Crystal Heart would be a wonderful idea.

Owenashi

Sorry for the double-post but jeezy petes, look at the effort put into this trailer for the Everfree Deer. It's a bit much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4hpyxVPhsc

Nice that they managed to avoid almost all of the panels that make the Deer (mainly Aspen) not come off so well.

TetraNitroCubane

Holy moly. I'm all for including and elevating pretty much all of Price's work, but that was a touch over the top, even for me.

Edit: Also, the suggested videos on that trailer are linking to that utterly weird, algorithm-derived, mass-produced, automated hellscape section of YouTube. I always knew they'd snap up pony stuff, but it makes me sad to see.

Werewolf2000ad

https://youtu.be/e2r5De0L8P0

Rainbow Dash is Zack Morris. Of course.

TetraNitroCubane

Today's premiere:

I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it, to be honest. It had me a little worried with the direction it was taking, because we were just so inundated with new characters, and the school went from zero to completed in the blink of an eye. I was hoping they would have established a bit of the issues a bit more thoroughly, rather than just a few lines in a song. And it once again feels like the show is doing everything in it's power to be about everything BUT ponies (as we've seen with EqG and the Movie already).

That being said, I actually really warmed up to the whole concept by the end of the two-parter. Evolving into a teaching role is actually pretty dang great for the mane six, because it really gives them a further opportunity for growth without them having to re-tread previous ground. And Twilight basically was born to run a school. I'm feeling pretty optimistic about the rest of the season!

Werewolf2000ad

TetraNitroCubane wrote: »

Today's premiere:

I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it, to be honest. It had me a little worried with the direction it was taking, because we were just so inundated with new characters, and the school went from zero to completed in the blink of an eye. I was hoping they would have established a bit of the issues a bit more thoroughly, rather than just a few lines in a song. And it once again feels like the show is doing everything in it's power to be about everything BUT ponies (as we've seen with EqG and the Movie already).

That being said, I actually really warmed up to the whole concept by the end of the two-parter. Evolving into a teaching role is actually pretty dang great for the mane six, because it really gives them a further opportunity for growth without them having to re-tread previous ground. And Twilight basically was born to run a school. I'm feeling pretty optimistic about the rest of the season!

I was happily surprised by how much I liked the new group of kids, and how un-forced their evolving into friends felt for being done in such a short time.

TetraNitroCubane

Uh, so... Extremely outside chance on this one, but I thought I would ask here just in case, because you guys maintain being awesome all the time:

BABSCon is this weekend in SF. If anyone here is going, there's a dramatic reading by John DeLancie on Friday night (Around 7:00 PM, I think). It's a ticketed event, though, that requires a fee to purchase a ticket.

I've wound up with an extra and non-refundable ticket, but the convention organizers have told me that it is transferable. On the very off chance that anyone here will be attending BABSCon this weekend, would you like the ticket?

Werewolf2000ad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-0hqcgwuss

TetraNitroCubane

Few quick things:

BABSCon -

BABSCon was good this year. The guest list was quite different than in years past - The community guests seemed to be primarily Reviewers and YouTube personalities, which wasn't really my bag. But they had just a ton of great guests of honor. DeLancie was a joy, particularly his dramatic reading. Amy Keeting Rogers was there as well, which was wonderful for me since she was so instrumental in the early days of the show. Kelly Sheridan, voice of Starlight Glimmer, was there too, and she was great as well.

The panels were interesting, particularly some of the fan panels (Like the SFM and 3D Animating panels). I also thoroughly enjoyed the CCG room, which had a variety of formats and enough people to actually play the game. Drafting pony cards is apparently a thing, and it was fantastic because it meant no one had to play against the stale, solved meta decks! I only wish there had been more than one draft.

There were lots of great vendors as well, and I made out with some neat prints of Cloudchaser and Moondancer. Overall, pretty neat.

New Episode -

Okay, I absolutely adored that episode. The amount of Pinkie was fantastic, but the interplay with Maud just made it a joy and a half. The stand-up set at the beginning of the episode might've been one of my favorite lead-ins they've done. It set up the episode fantastically, while calling back to previous continuity, and generally being funny.

Also, we got to see more Pie Sisters! Yaaaaay Pie Sisters.

Werewolf2000ad

Here's a complete set of all the 'Tara and Andrea as murder-ponies' scenes from the Ducktales episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4jqVhipFk4

Ruldar

TetraNitroCubane wrote: »

Few quick things:

BABSCon -

BABSCon was good this year. The guest list was quite different than in years past - The community guests seemed to be primarily Reviewers and YouTube personalities, which wasn't really my bag. But they had just a ton of great guests of honor. DeLancie was a joy, particularly his dramatic reading. Amy Keeting Rogers was there as well, which was wonderful for me since she was so instrumental in the early days of the show. Kelly Sheridan, voice of Starlight Glimmer, was there too, and she was great as well.

The panels were interesting, particularly some of the fan panels (Like the SFM and 3D Animating panels). I also thoroughly enjoyed the CCG room, which had a variety of formats and enough people to actually play the game. Drafting pony cards is apparently a thing, and it was fantastic because it meant no one had to play against the stale, solved meta decks! I only wish there had been more than one draft.

There were lots of great vendors as well, and I made out with some neat prints of Cloudchaser and Moondancer. Overall, pretty neat.

New Episode -

Okay, I absolutely adored that episode. The amount of Pinkie was fantastic, but the interplay with Maud just made it a joy and a half. The stand-up set at the beginning of the episode might've been one of my favorite lead-ins they've done. It set up the episode fantastically, while calling back to previous continuity, and generally being funny.

Also, we got to see more Pie Sisters! Yaaaaay Pie Sisters.

Did you happen to see one of the vendors that was selling engraved wood products, coasters and pens and such? Dude is a good friend of mine, he reported doing pretty well on his sales.

TetraNitroCubane

Ruldar wrote: »

TetraNitroCubane wrote: »

Few quick things:

BABSCon -

BABSCon was good this year. The guest list was quite different than in years past - The community guests seemed to be primarily Reviewers and YouTube personalities, which wasn't really my bag. But they had just a ton of great guests of honor. DeLancie was a joy, particularly his dramatic reading. Amy Keeting Rogers was there as well, which was wonderful for me since she was so instrumental in the early days of the show. Kelly Sheridan, voice of Starlight Glimmer, was there too, and she was great as well.

The panels were interesting, particularly some of the fan panels (Like the SFM and 3D Animating panels). I also thoroughly enjoyed the CCG room, which had a variety of formats and enough people to actually play the game. Drafting pony cards is apparently a thing, and it was fantastic because it meant no one had to play against the stale, solved meta decks! I only wish there had been more than one draft.

There were lots of great vendors as well, and I made out with some neat prints of Cloudchaser and Moondancer. Overall, pretty neat.

New Episode -

Okay, I absolutely adored that episode. The amount of Pinkie was fantastic, but the interplay with Maud just made it a joy and a half. The stand-up set at the beginning of the episode might've been one of my favorite lead-ins they've done. It set up the episode fantastically, while calling back to previous continuity, and generally being funny.

Also, we got to see more Pie Sisters! Yaaaaay Pie Sisters.

Did you happen to see one of the vendors that was selling engraved wood products, coasters and pens and such? Dude is a good friend of mine, he reported doing pretty well on his sales.

I did! His wares were really cool, and looked super impressive. I always did see a rather large crowd around his table, too. Quite popular stuff! I'm glad to hear that sales were doing pretty well - It sort of felt like attendance was slightly down this year, but most of the vendors reported doing decent business.

TetraNitroCubane

Spoilers for this morning's episode (including cameo):

I was pretty meh about today's episode. Still not entirely sure what the point of AJ's overreactions were, or if they were legit overreactions. The episode wasn't exactly my cup of tea, story wise, but the worldbuilding was fun in that we got to see more of Las Pegasus.

Additionally, I am legit conflicted about seeing this cameo in the episode:



I mean, it's cool and all - I totally admit that! But holy heck that show is about the furthest thing I'd expect, or want, to mix with pony. Still, it's just a background cameo, so I'm not worked up or anything about it.

Owenashi

TetraNitroCubane wrote: »

Spoilers for this morning's episode (including cameo):

I was pretty meh about today's episode. Still not entirely sure what the point of AJ's overreactions were, or if they were legit overreactions. The episode wasn't exactly my cup of tea, story wise, but the worldbuilding was fun in that we got to see more of Las Pegasus.

Additionally, I am legit conflicted about seeing this cameo in the episode:



I mean, it's cool and all - I totally admit that! But holy heck that show is about the furthest thing I'd expect, or want, to mix with pony. Still, it's just a background cameo, so I'm not worked up or anything about it.

Guess they couldn't get away with an addition of a hip-flask pouring booze into that beaker.

Owenashi

Sorry for the double post but apparently another pony in today's episode got a few fans talking and one of the people behind the show decided to make them talk a lot more.

https://twitter.com/TheBiggestJim/status/985184907855982592

TetraNitroCubane

Owenashi wrote: »

Sorry for the double post but apparently another pony in today's episode got a few fans talking and one of the people behind the show decided to make them talk a lot more.

https://twitter.com/TheBiggestJim/status/985184907855982592

Holy cow, I was thinking there was a strong resemblance there! Not to mention the magic theme, and the patented Lulamoon smoke-bomb exit. That's really fantastic!

Also, that dang story-tease. Big Jim making the fans speculate wildly once again, in the best way.

Werewolf2000ad

An April Fools joke I missed - A Cincinatti convention company 'revealed' a new line of Hasbro mash-up toys:

Owenashi

Dunno if most of you've heard but Fluffle Puff's creator is deciding to pull FP away from her MLP roots due to personal issues. Explanation by them below, boxed due to length.

I’m sure a lot of you were expecting this, but I think it’s time for this blog to end.
A lot of things have been going on. I won’t bore you with details. It mostly involves severe depression and an existential crisis.
I’ve slowly been putting myself back together.

And now I have so much I want to express.
But I can’t do it with how things are now.
I need to do something new, that’s more my own.
Something that isn’t copying a show.
I’ve always felt held back with copying the show’s style. Eventually, I felt like I hit a wall and couldn’t advance or learn anything else. Like, that was it. What I was doing was the peak of what I could do with that art style. There wasn’t much room to feel motivated when I was staring at a wall.
There were also the thoughts of getting a cease and desist always looming overhead, making me put out even less effort and avoiding anything ambitious. So I’ve been settling for less all this time, just to avoid that. Which only made me feel worse.
There’s a pretty long list of things that chipped away at my interest and enjoyment. But those two and the community are the main three. The community being a very large part and a whole story in itself, which I’m sure a lot of you are painfully aware of by now. The uncountable amount of fake smiles. The sea of lies and cheating. The endless theft and traced artwork. Using ripped or stolen assets out of sheer laziness to do even a shred of work themselves. There are so many big names who genuinely don’t care about their fans and are only using that poor fandom to stroke their ego. I don’t want to be in a community where kindhearted fans are treated like objects and slaves. I don’t want to feel like I’m one of those “big names” who don’t care. I want to work again. To express myself again. If someone wants to follow me, I want to feel like it’s because of my content. Not because I go to conventions, trying to get as much attention as possible for as little work as possible.
In all seriousness, I’m willing to bet that a lot of you reading this right now have done more genuine work in the past year than so many of the people you call “horse famous” will do in their lives. A fandom, especially one supposedly about friendship and kindness and generosity, and full of children no less, should not revolve around selfish, heartless, monsters. I really can’t count the amount of terrible things I’ve see or experienced personally.

So I’m going to move away from all of it.
I need to move away from it.
To start fresh.
Technically, I’m redesigning and reinventing things.
But it’s to the point where it feels pretty new.

It will still be a story about “Fluffle Puff”, but not the pony version you know. Although, she may show up every now and again. I’ve also redesigned “Chryssi” to be more of a unique character. I wanted them to be similar to keep the familiarity of “Fluffle and Chryssi”, but original enough to be their own characters, in their own world, that can stand alone by itself. And hopefully avoid cease and desists.

I’ve been working on this for about a year now, building a new world from the ground up, redesigning characters, and even populating the world. No more ghost town backgrounds. To me, it feels like it’s becoming a completed world. It’s something that’s been in the back of my mind for years, ever since the first EG episode I did.

This story will be told in a more personal way, in a more personal art style I’m much more comfortable with. Just about every episode I’ve written means something to me. They feel pretty similar to the EG episodes. The first three episodes of this new series will be retelling of those, actually.
Those EG episodes meant a lot to me. They came from a very personal place. And it always bothered me that I didn’t do them how I wanted. I rushed them. Took shortcuts. The lack of motivation from everything around me took its toll and I was very lazy. It’s depressing looking at something that came from my life, heart, and emotions, done in such a crappy way. Even more so, seeing how popular those were, and still are after all this time.
But I’m fixing that now. I’m taking my time and going into a lot of detail. More than I probably should. The first three episodes of this new series will be a reboot of an idea I never fully completed. And then from there it’ll start telling a story I’ve been writing for easily 3 years. With an occasional episode of nonsense. I even gave spooky “Big Sis” a bit of a story.

I don’t know how people are going to react to this new series. And to be honest, I kind of don’t care. That might sound harsh, but I’ve always stayed within the lines just to stay relevant. I don’t want to cut myself short anymore. I want to follow what I want to do. I want to be productive again. To express myself and tell my stories, exactly how I imagine them.

If you like the more sincere feeling of the EG episodes, you’ll probably like this new series. I’ve been wanting to do a story like this since nearly the beginning, but I never had the help or resources. I still don’t have a shred of help, but now I feel comfortable enough that I can do it by myself. So I’m going for it. In all seriousness, if I were to have a life goal it would be to do this series.

I know a few of you are really die hard fans of Fluffle Puff, and I’m genuinely sorry. But I just can’t do this specific blog anymore. There are too many limitations and bad memories attached to it. I want the both of us to be free. I can only hope you like the new Fluffle and continue to follow her.

Beyond that, I don’t know when the first episode will be released.
It all started out with a simple idea of doing an EG 4 in a different art style and turned into “Just do it. Do the whole thing. Stop holding yourself back.” I really had no idea it was going to take this long. Then life things piled up, slowing me down more. But things are picking back up and I’m not going to stop now.

So, the time has come. I’m going to be closing questions to this Ask Fluffle Puff blog and concentrate on her new adventure. I’ll still be regularly active on my Twitter, with the usual nonsense and occasional doodle. Which will also be posted to my personal blog. They’re about the only sites I even look at these days. I also have a Discord group I’m on daily. But I won’t be doing anything else until she’s ready for her first episode. Which I will announce pretty much everywhere when it happens. At which point, her Facebook will also be updated to her new appearance.
There will also be an occasional stream of little parts of this new project, but I don’t want to make that public yet. It feels kind of weird concept arting and experimenting while people are watching. It’s not too hard to find my stream profile, though.

In the mean time, if you’re still a patron, I’ll be posting Patreon only screenshots and stuff on occasion, relating to this new series, in hopes to make up for the lack of content.
Otherwise, I’m perfectly okay if you want to move on and find someone else to support. I haven’t done anything in months. I honestly think you should find someone else to support. So if you feel bad about it, please don’t. I’m the one that should, and does, feel bad. You should be getting your money’s worth. And that’s not me right now.
But by the off chance you want to come back, I’ll be announcing on my Twitter, around when the first episode will be coming out. When that will happen, I really can’t say. It could be another half a year. I’m quite literally building an entire world from the ground up, completely by myself.

But whether you stick around or not, I cannot begin to describe how much it meant to me to have genuine fans among the not so fun experiences in the fandom. The community was rough to the point where I considered stopping and just leaving. Quite a few times, if I’m being honest. But a lot of you helped me through it. Whether it was just a genuine message sent directly to me, or you went out of your way to stop me at a convention. I honestly couldn’t handle some of those encounters. Not in a bad way. But more of a “I’ve never had any kind of attention or praise on such a genuine level” kind of way.
I made Fluffle Puff to entertain myself. She was just nonsense in the beginning. Something to fill the time and help get away from a previous blog. A parody of a show I liked. Nothing more. But then she evolved into a way for me to express myself. I never really had friends. I can’t talk easily. I always feel out of place and alone. But she gave me a purpose. She became a part of me and such a large part my life. She helped me through so many of my mental stops and barriers. I felt happy for the first time in my life. And to see her helping others in the way she helps myself cannot be put into words.
And on a personal level, I loved the whole “Fluffle x Chryssi” thing.
Like, so much.
So she’s not going anywhere. I don’t think I’ll ever let her go. She’s just getting a redesign along side me redesigning my own life.

I really can’t wait to start these new episodes.
And I hope everyone likes them.

But if this is the end and you’re going to move on, I’d just like to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for all the years of support and helping me find true happiness.

The next post on this blog will most likely be the last.
And it will be a link to Fluffle Puff’s new life, in her new home.