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KYM Pony General VI: Return of the Poni

Last posted Apr 19, 2013 at 12:20AM EDT. Added Jul 01, 2012 at 04:43PM EDT
10166 posts from 235 users

PopperFett the Mandalore wrote:

Poppin' in to ask a question:

Who got vibes of the Dark Side Cave from Empire Strikes Back in Crystal Empire arc?

You're not the only one…

Verbose wrote:

I will say that Verbose’s wish from the previous page came true because this episode was written by Dave Polsky (the writer of Feeling Pinkie Keen) though.

> this episode was written by Dave Polsky (the writer of Feeling Pinkie Keen)
>Dave Polsky (the writer of Feeling Pinkie Keen)

>Dave Polsky
>(the writer of Feeling Pinkie Kbjfobfslogbdoglohsdfbfjiabsfbusifnbssfhuifhssssssss

In this freakout, I will be playing Rairty, and everyone else will be playing Rainbow Dash.

ITT: Verbose ships Raridash.


And this was certainly one of the best episodes ever, especially for a person who find Pinkie best ponu due to her randomness like me. Dave Polsky makes such master tier episodes.

(I'm also drunk atm, Twins would wish she could lift on my level.)
Last edited Nov 17, 2012 at 09:02PM EST

El gavilán luchador wrote:

today was your standard clone episode, but do you think they got alright….well, yes.

sure there was some repeated animation from previous episodes, but…thats kinda of ok, its pretty common when making clone episodes

i give 9/10

likes

1) was really funny

2) tons of cameos

3) fancy pants in ponyville….fanfics will be made

4) pinkie beings pinkie, but showing something more of her sad part.

dislikes

1) no faulty clones

On the repeated animation bit, that's just what Flash does. I've taken to analyzing the animation as I go along, just to figure out how they do what and when they reuse symbols and trying to spot errors. I have to say that this one might literally be the most well-animated episode yet, seeing as Pinkie is, by far, the most interesting pony in the show in terms of animation, and an entire episode of Pinkie means an entire episode of Pinkie.

Here are some visual representations of best pony, after the season premier and after the third episode, using an arbitrary number system:

After the season premier

After the last episode

As you can see by the data, Pinkie Pie is clearly best pony, well outside this study's margin of error.

Last edited Nov 17, 2012 at 11:54PM EST

Finally just watched the new MLP. I can say that I liked it, I liked it a lot. Much better than last weeks episode.

My feelings right now: This has got to be one of the best Pinkie Pie episodes, if not the best.

>Poni started November 10th
>K-State started to play a lot worse November 10th
>Coincidence?

Yeah, probably.

Anyways, back to poni.

I wouldn't be terribly surprised if Pinkie got a best pony boost from that episode, but personally, I just can't put her there. I'm a lot like Twilight (except for her borderline OCD), and a lot of my good friends are similar to her, too. Which makes it really weird that Rainbow Dash is one of best pony since I don't really like her type in real life… ANYWAYS. I have one close friend who is somewhat like Pinkie, and she doesn't even get close to Pinkie's hyperactivity. She still gets on my nerves occasionally, and Pinkie more so, it feels like. Yet Pinkie episodes are way up there on my best episode list – Party of One is arguably my favorite episode (I don't get why Lesson Zero is so popular, it was okay, but not great IMO), and this one will definitely still be up there when I look back in a few weeks. Of course, I don't want the happiness of new pony cloud my judgement, but it was still really enjoyable.

And I wrote way more than I thought I would. Typical.

Daft Punkjet wrote:

For some reason, during that blue paint sequence, I was thinking about the blue paint happy cultist group from Earthbound.

Yes….I'm serious.

Not these guys?

@Bruno on crossovers

I couldn't disagree more, that video is awesome. Ponies+everything ever? Bring it on.


@Too Many Pinkie Pies

So, how about that new episode, right? If you haven't seen it yet, well, what's stopping you, go do it now! I have to say I absolutely loved this one. It's wonderful when they explore the more complex side of Pinkie, rather than only her constant randomness. Time for some personal highlights.

I'm not always crazy about Pinkie's physics-breaking antics, but this was one was priceless. Now that I'm staring at this shot, I must say she's looking a little pudgy there. Good thing running at nearly sonic speeds burns so many calories.

More dark and creepy locations and legends to play with? Excellent. Pinkie's grandparents certainly played an interesting role in her life. In the second episode, she mentioned a "Granny Pie", and now we hear of "Nana Pinkie". Huh. Another interesting thing about this pool is that it is yet another thing of magic that can be used by earth ponies. Suck it, unicorns.

I guess Harry's cave thingy really does look like a house. And to think everyone thought those two were just making all that stuff up about bears and volleyballs and seashells.

Poor Pinkie, even she doesn't realize she's the only version of herself capable of being depressed. And yet again, we have pony legs bending in weird directions. Pony anatomy is completely beyond my comprehension at this point.

This is a shot from the end, when the clones were all being sent back to the pool, and it is a bit disconcerting. Is this clone really that concerned for her existence? I assume this is the first one Pinkie made, since it seemed like the closest to her real self (though still imperfect). I've argued in other places that the clones weren't really alive, but rather just very good magical automatons created by the pool, but still, the way they were dispelled was kind of freaky, as was lampshaded by the characters themselves.

Even still, the whole thing was a ton of fun (yes I just did that) and gave us an interesting look at Pinkie's deeper side, so I give it 4 bouncing Pinkies out of 5.


And now, how about a little dose of headcanon, eh? I couldn't help think, based on Twilight's warning that Pinkie could be banished to the pool and have her essence basically absorbed into it, what if that was how the pool was formed in the first place? What if some cruel conjuror used the life essences of ponies to make this strange, legendary mirror pool? It's sort of a grimdark idea, but it kind of makes sense.

Last edited Nov 18, 2012 at 02:24PM EST

chowzburgerz wrote:

Question: can you be a Brony without watching the show?

I would say it's possible. The culture got me into the show, for example. I didn't qualify myself as a brony, but MLB was a daily site before I started watching the show, and I followed some of the culture.

Also there's this:

That's from Verbose and opspe's first survey. Note the "brony, neutral towards the show" and "brony, do not like the show" areas.

Last edited Nov 18, 2012 at 03:37PM EST

Derpy Vaz wrote:

synchtube is now open. (not the official synchtube)
GET IN HERE

Daniel decided to make a SynchTube channel for…now, I guess. But the one set for today at 7pm Eastern is still on. I figured that was the time that others might have been moving some tasks around for, since some of us agreed to that time. So I still plan on being back to start that one.

I don't mind if someone wants to get started a little early and make a room, but having it at unplanned times takes away from getting into a schedule that everyone can meet (or at least say they can't meet so we can reschedule. That was my only aim here.


So yeah. 7pm Eastern time, this evening.

Now I'm going to go back and do work for the few hours.

chowzburgerz wrote:

Question: can you be a Brony without watching the show?

Me? Brony? MEH.. Dunno.
I do not see myself as a brony. I am not watching the show.

No offense. But show is kinda boring. I were enjoy to watching random cartoons (like spongebob, fairy old parents, exc).. But i have grown up for these things.
But still, i am netural, i like to see bronies work hard to do stuff. Captions, fanarts, fanfictions.. They are leaking all over the internet.
You guys are totally in it. This culture is really amazes me.

Last edited Nov 18, 2012 at 05:46PM EST

In order to watch this week's episode, I had to leech off of every wifi I could find until I got to the end of the episode. I watched a majority of it in a hotel room I was in with my mom and one of her friends while they talked, but the last five minutes had to be obtained through free wifi near red lights. It was worth it. I don't know if Pinkie Pie or Rarity are best pony now. WHY IS THERE SO MUCH DOUBT AAAAAHHHHHG.


Yeah, new episode comes out and I have to go on a giant 250 mile (each way) roadtrip over the next two days.

Anyway, this episode had all kinds of great stuff in it.
As Fifths said, Twilight's magic does seem to be getting more hardcore.

Who didn't think "Holy crap, Twilight just killed a bird!" right there?
That was quite surprising.

Plus, best Dash moment:
"Found one more!"
"Put her with the rest."
looks around

FWUMP!
Good work, Dashie…

null wrote:

In order to watch this week's episode, I had to leech off of every wifi I could find until I got to the end of the episode. I watched a majority of it in a hotel room I was in with my mom and one of her friends while they talked, but the last five minutes had to be obtained through free wifi near red lights. It was worth it. I don't know if Pinkie Pie or Rarity are best pony now. WHY IS THERE SO MUCH DOUBT AAAAAHHHHHG.

JOIN THE CULT OF RARITY.

WE HAVE ADORABLE LITTLE SISTERS.

Windigo With Salad wrote:


Funnily enough, the Hot Diggidy Demon comment is within the realm of possibility. Sibsy admitted to being a fan to the series and she story-boarded this ep.

One problem with the Episodes 3 being completely continuous from season to season in the manner presented: The para-sprites already ate the barn once.

…They could have done a bad job at repairing it, but eh.

Also, Applejack was painting a new barn during the Smile song. So they already had a barn up.

Shrug

Did The barn get destroyed after? I don't know.

But I get the feeling the Barn in S3 E3 was a barn for one of Applejack's nearby cousins rather than for herself.

It's also nowhere near any apple trees from what I can see.

Okay, a sparse amount of apple-trees, but still only on the edge of the property at best. And not even on the main property at more reasonable estimates.

Last edited Nov 19, 2012 at 12:20AM EST

Okay, anyone else think of the Pinky and the Brain episode "Funny, You Don't Look Rhennish" when AJ talked about barn raising as a "fun" activity? The Amish in that episode have a daily morning and afternoon barn raising.

So… Who wants to bet that the Untitled and un-synpos-ied Episode 8 for Season 3 is… Oh wait, despite this being just an educated guess, I'll need spoiler tags won't I?

Another X-mas Special!
Think about it, it airs around December 22. 3 days before X-mas. It is incredibly likely they timed it this way.
… Or not…
But either way, the numbers don't lie.
However, it does bring to mind the question of why they wouldn't let us know its a X-mas special until it airs, despite it being so glaringly obvious to anyone that bothers to check.

Read that or not: now is the time to place your bets!

So I finally got around to watching the new episode late last night. All I can say is… wow. This one already ranks among my favourites! Heavily Pinkie-Pie centered episodes seem to be fairly few and far between, but this one more than makes up for it!

DeadParrot:

Who didn’t think “Holy crap, Twilight just killed a bird!” right there?
That was quite surprising.

Yes! But then it turned into an orange, and I laughed. And then that poor frog too…

And did anyone else notice Tank in that cave? So that's where he's been hiding for so long! Then again, Opalescence is there too, so maybe Ranbow Dash just brought him along. Still, nice to see him again.

The theory that the other "Pinkies" were nothing more than magical automatons and not actually alive occurred to me as well as I watched the episode. They all seemed to be single minded clones of the real Pinkie Pie who reflected what she was feeling as she first used the mirror pool. Clones who can then clone themselves… kinda scary, actually. The fact that only the real Pinkie was capable of changing her mood seems to prove this.

Great episode though. So far, season three is well worth all the waiting!

Commodore 64 wrote:

So I finally got around to watching the new episode late last night. All I can say is… wow. This one already ranks among my favourites! Heavily Pinkie-Pie centered episodes seem to be fairly few and far between, but this one more than makes up for it!

DeadParrot:

Who didn’t think “Holy crap, Twilight just killed a bird!” right there?
That was quite surprising.

Yes! But then it turned into an orange, and I laughed. And then that poor frog too…

And did anyone else notice Tank in that cave? So that's where he's been hiding for so long! Then again, Opalescence is there too, so maybe Ranbow Dash just brought him along. Still, nice to see him again.

The theory that the other "Pinkies" were nothing more than magical automatons and not actually alive occurred to me as well as I watched the episode. They all seemed to be single minded clones of the real Pinkie Pie who reflected what she was feeling as she first used the mirror pool. Clones who can then clone themselves… kinda scary, actually. The fact that only the real Pinkie was capable of changing her mood seems to prove this.

Great episode though. So far, season three is well worth all the waiting!

I have a slightly more nuanced view of the clones…

Think of the clones as a kind of Rough sketch copies made using more or less the same physical appearance and abilities, but for whatever reason, they only seem to be imparted with a fraction of the mind or soul of the original.

I think they have whatever kind of soul Pinkie has, but only a sort of pale imitation; created using the most "energy efficient" method for creating souls possible, which makes me want to compare them to some kind of new-born. So they are alive, but only just.

I evidence the first clone for this. She obviously gets a little bit of mental distress of her own when she realizes that she has to choose between Fluttershy and Applejack (Applesauce she called her, but not the point).

If the clones had stuck around a bit longer, maybe they might have developed much more. They definitely have the capacity to learn and feel, it's just they are a near mental blank canvas with a few minor construction lines imprinted on it.

I keep imagining a scenario where the first clone may have begun to realize what was happening and skipped town. Possibly to find its own place in the world. If it can go from fun-loving to panicking, why can't it learn how to love, make friends, and most importantly, fear for its life.

Of course, another possibility is that since the mirror pool absorbed the fledgeling, still developing energy of all the clones… and that have probably all developed a small amount of extra experiences from their short lives; their energies returned to the mirror pool gave the mirror pool a net profit from the en-devour of creating them; empowering the pool more than it would have worked on with only background energy to work with.

… meaning, a there's a small possibility of the next clone to come out of that thing being a super-clone, with a much better faithfulness to the original, created by weaving together all the faulty copies of pinkie, their souls, and their minds.

Think of that last thought this way:


→Origional
→Alpha copies (Phase one, prototyping), this would be the first clone, and probably the second clone of the original. Used primarily for developing new experiences, diversifying from a single point of origin. These are the most alive of the early clones. These develop quickly mentally, becoming …almost… functioning individuals for their short time alive. These clones once returned to the pool improve the functional quality of future clones.
→Beta Copies (Phase two,"funding"), the copy's copies. They are created with most of their usefulness coming from being that they are even more energy efficient in creation that the originals. As such, they only need a short time in the world before their act of creation has yielded a net growth of soul, needing only a few basic quirks to have been picked up to develop a net energy profit. As such, when they return to the pool, they mostly serve as "supplies" for the next set of clones; so the pool doesn't have to sort of "Wing it" by Magyvering up a soul from the spiritual equivalent of a roll of lint and a paper bag.
→Gamma Copies (Phase three, testing), these are the next set of alpha Clones, or sometimes the beta clone of an exceptionally developed Alpha Clone. They are likely to be more faithful to the original, and are empowered by the large amount of energy and "Prototypes" that have been returned to the pool. Only a few need to be created. But they need to spend a fair amount of time in the outside world to gain maximum efficiency of their "Production cost" accrued from the Beta copies. These copies soon become incredibly able, rivaling, but not surpassing, the originals. (These would be what would come out of Pinkie trying to make a new clone now.)
→Delta Copies (Phase four, refined), these are the ultimate copies. Once the Gamma Clones have been returned, there is enough resources and "Test data" for these. There is a small possibility they will be what the pool's automated processes have deemed "better than the original", containing ALL the traits of the original turned up WAY past their usual parameters, and the combined experiences of hundreds of copies. The only fault with these copies is that they aren't so much an attempt at recreating the original, but an attempt on improving on them. However, these are likely to be critically unbalanced and unadjusted to their new abilities. As such, these are the most likely to be "insane", and also need the longest time to adapt and evolve (regardless of whether this is so they can return to the pond or to live in the world as the final copy). Also, I'm assuming that great care would need to be taken at this point to ensure that the being this is a clone of is the same one that created all the previous clones. Otherwise, rather than a "Perfect" clone, you get a "Mutant" clone… meaning that if Rainbow Dash ended up receiving a Delta Clone comprised of previous efforts of a Pinkie Pie clone, the result would be Firefly-esque in appearence, and likely to incorporate a large majority of Pinkie's experiences and personality. Stopping the clone refinement processes at Delta is perfectly fine.

→ Omega Clones (Final Phases): Theoretically, if one goes further than a Delta Clone, you end up with an Omega clone. They aren't mentally unhinged, they won't have trouble adjusting. They are essentially a brand new being in and of themselves. They could have near- divine abilities, and be so powerful one would not be able to go against them without being similarly ascended in power. The best comparison to anything I can make is that they'd be on par with Celestia or Luna. And in fact, you could probably get a close approximation of Celestia by having the 6 Delta clones that come before roughly correlate to Surprise (Pinkie+Fluttershy), Faust's early concept for Twilight (Pinkie + Twilight), Firefly (Rainbow Dash +Pinkie), a green haired Crystal Pony clone, a horse clone, and some kind of Misty maned pony Clone.

Also, I am now considering it theoretically possible that Sombra is some kind of Delta Clone of a Misty Maned Pony and a Unicorn.

Congratulations, if you read what should be in that button, I want you to know… I feel like i just gave a lecture on Ecto-biology. Which is kinda what this is.

@Commodore
Sorry to break your headcanon, but the clones were not single-minded, emotionless husks.
The very first one broke down in tears (In fact, that first one showed that she was even capable of some decently advanced logic when she ran into the very same quandary that the real Pinkie had at the beginning of the episode.):

And then a lot of them reacted when told they might be sent away at the end:

So, yeah, certainly not quite as simple as just magical automatons.
If anything, I'd see them more as imperfect, one-dimensional imitators.
They are essentially Pinkie, minus her memories and all restraint.
They have only Pinkie's insatiable drive to play without any of her depth.
I wouldn't call that 'mindless' so much as 'immature.'
Heck, their behavior was pretty similar to Pinkie's at the beginning of Baby Cakes really.
Magical or not, even Pinkie herself said that she wasn't sure who the real Pinkie was.
If that isn't a case for their sentience, I don't know what is.
(It's a pretty cool existential thought experiment, too.)
So basically what I'm trying to say is this: "Twilight is a horrible murderer of what were essentially children."
Isn't it fun to over-analyze?

In fact, the test they were given was a little odd (even beside the concept of giving that kind of task to a room full of ADHD ponies).
It wasn't directly testing for 'the real Pinkie,' it was testing for 'a Pinkie with the strongest desire to stay' which was just assumed to be the real Pinkie.
It is a relatively safe assumption since newly formed clones who only learned the other ponies' names a few hours ago would have far weaker emotional attachments to them than the real Pinkie, but it is hardly fool-proof.
What if one of the clones had a sudden epiphany about the tenuous nature of its existence and doubled-down on determination to live, at all costs?
Or what if trigger-happy Twilight made a mistake?
I thought it would have been a hilarious 'bad-end' situation if when congratulating the final Pinkie, the others discovered that she was just sleeping with her eyes open and had in fact failed the test without anyone realizing it.
Cut to GAME OVER screen:

Even in the episode, the winning Pinkie never actually claimed to be the real Pinkie at the end, only that she was happy to be the only Pinkie now.
DUN DUN DUN!

Edit:
<div class=spoiler title="Just found a better test">

See this is a tiny bit of information that the real Pinkie would certaily remember, but that she probably wouldn't have passed on to the others when she was teaching them about her friends.
Easily pick out the 'real' Pinkie with a single word.
It still leaves the ethical decision of what they should do with all of the others, but at least they'd have the answer to the immediate question.

Last edited Nov 19, 2012 at 04:43PM EST

On the moral issues of the duplicates: I posted this video on one of the images, but it worth posting here for people who have not seen it. This video deals with teleportation, but is still relevant IMO to the current discussion.

(Too long, didn't watch: start at 2:20)

I don't know what the right answer is, but discussions about it are fun, even if a bit dark.

Last edited Nov 19, 2012 at 05:00PM EST

@DeadParrot

I wouldn't call the Pinkie clones "Dead" More like "Banished" at a realistic note; or if my "Mega Pinkie Clone" theory is correct, then maybe its more like "fused into a colective ADHD Consiousness, which may manifest in the next generation of clones."

Interesting theories guys, but you're making some big assumptions here.

Let me ask this; does having the appearance of being alive automatically equate to life? Of course not. An android may be adequately programmed to seem human, but it is still only an imitation, a farce. It cannot do anything it was not originally wired to do. The clones were very good copies, able to effectively imitate the original, but that does not prove they were alive. All we can say for certain is that some of them did a good job of appearing that way.

And as we can reasonably say that Twilight would not kill a fellow living pony, regardless of origin, and yet she had no qualms whatsoever about blasting the extra Pinkies, the logic of the show itself forces us to assume that the clones were not living creatures.

And as for keeping the correct Pinkie in the test, that should be obvious as well. It wasn't a perfect test by any means, but it absolutely had to work.

Dead, banished, either way they're being erased from existence. Just the thought of Twilight holding all the Pinkie clones against their will and "killing" them off one by one makes me laugh. I also like to think "What if the last Pinkie Pie wasn't the real one?" It's crazy twisted stuff like that which I find so enjoyable in this episode.

Wow the new episode from the guy who brought us those two episodes, which I call the worst and the most awkward episode respectively, did actually quite a good job on this one.

I have to say that Over A Barrel wasn't that bad, I loved the allusions to Sergio Leone's filmmaking style with extreme close ups that were even in cinemascope format, but the subject was just quite difficult so it was all in all an awkward episode in the end.

Bloomberg is best tree. Never forget.

Coming to "Too Many Pinkie Pies":
It's not my favorite episode ever, but it was in fact a good episode, that was really enjoyable. I like Pinkie, when she is a bit more thaughtful and not reduced to do random gags. She is the most cartoonish character and a lot of comic relief relies on her shoulders, but this also transforms her character to just a tool to tell a joke if it is overdone. So I was happy to see some deeper pinkie feelings returning.

Well I can overlook the deus ex machina with the convenient hidden book in the library, which could play a role later in the series, but Twilight's test was just dreadful. Of course a test was needed to identify the real Pinkie, but this test was far too sketchy and risky. There are so many better ways to identify the real Pinkie – Try to provoke the Pinkie sense for instance or ask questions only the real Pinkie could know (well you would have to seperate them perhaps), but the solution "watching paint dry until you have to sneeze" was not fail proof at all.
Keep in mind that Pinkies existance relied on sitting there, not moving a muscle and keeping a straight face.
So I really didn't like the test and the solution, but it was still an enjoyable episode.

Millennial Dan wrote:

Interesting theories guys, but you're making some big assumptions here.

Let me ask this; does having the appearance of being alive automatically equate to life? Of course not. An android may be adequately programmed to seem human, but it is still only an imitation, a farce. It cannot do anything it was not originally wired to do. The clones were very good copies, able to effectively imitate the original, but that does not prove they were alive. All we can say for certain is that some of them did a good job of appearing that way.

And as we can reasonably say that Twilight would not kill a fellow living pony, regardless of origin, and yet she had no qualms whatsoever about blasting the extra Pinkies, the logic of the show itself forces us to assume that the clones were not living creatures.

And as for keeping the correct Pinkie in the test, that should be obvious as well. It wasn't a perfect test by any means, but it absolutely had to work.

Okay, now let's switch that question:

Does Being Alive Equate Sentience? Does Sentience require being Alive?

I'm going to assume they're organic anyways, and I'm fairly certain they have a degree of sentience (or at least Alpha Clones Do). So "Alive" or not, they should probably be treated as such.

But, we all need to remember what Twilight ACTUALLY said.

"I might send the real Pinkie back by mistake."

So naturally, I don't think the clones are dead. At least not really. Because they language used implies they come from somewhere, and they go somewhere when they are banished. And as we see, they are sent all the way back to the pool. Why would that be nessacary if they were just being deconstructed, destroyed or killed.

The real question is "Where do they go?"

As my Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Omega clones theory goes, they may end up reincarnated as a next gen clone. Gamma, specifically. Which would have origional level Inteligence, sentience and self-control.

…Or maybe they just go back to some Doppleganger world. I suspect they have a reason they don't want to go back there though. Such as the possibility that it's a state similar to limbo.

Skeletor-sm

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