Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Nothing to See Here, Move Along

In case any of you were unaware, It's a Dangerous Business, Going Out Your Door is really freaking long.  So I'm taking a break from reading to tell you that the review is postponed until Friday.  In the meantime, here are a few random tidbits to keep you all entertained:

-Over the weekend, I discovered that my sister, who watches MLP but isn't really involved in the fandom, ships FlutterMac.  I don't know how I feel about this.

-After watching MMMystery on the Friendship Express, I've come to the conclusion that the griffons have their own kingdom, and it is France.  I can't prove it, but I think there's enough evidence to give the theory credence.  Observe: we know that there's a country called France in Equestria, because Fluttershy says "French haute couture, please," in Art of the Dress.  Since haute couture is characterized by incredible detail, it would make sense for France to be primarily occupied by creatures who either were capable of using magic, or who had hands/claws with opposable thumbs.  We know the french language exists in Equestria (though admittedly, we don't know that it's called french, but it seems a reasonable supposition), thanks to Applebloom in The Cutie Pox.  And Gustav speaks with an obvious french accent, of course--not to mention that his specialty is eclairs, a French pastry.  Throw in Gilda acting, in retrospect, like a stereotypical Parisian teen, and the realization that Fleur-de-lis's cutie mark could represent her talent as an ambassador to the griffons, and it seems to me that there's sufficient evidence to at least consider the possibility that France is the griffon homeland.

-I have an unshakable premonition that Trixie's going to show up in the season two finale next weekend.  I don't know how I feel about that, either.  But it's probably not going to come to pass anyway, so I guess it's mostly irrelevant.

-There's probably something else I should put here, but instead I'm going to get back to reading.  Free time is precious and all that.

14 comments:

  1. *Throw in Gilda acting, in retrospect, like a stereotypical Parisian teen,*

    The image of Gilda doing the Apache is never going to leave my mind now, thank you very much.

    Although if the griffin kingdom is France, does this make Equestria, America and the Everfree Forest, Canada?

    *I have an unshakable premonition that Trixie's going to show up in the season two finale next weekend. I don't know how I feel about that, either.*

    Chris, you know better than to suggest dangerous ideas. Hopeful, this won't come true.

    I do, however, hope for seaponies to make an appearance.

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    1. Actually, no. If you look at the Equestria World Map, you'll see that there is a town, Vanhoover. There are also Neighagra Falls. So, there is a border traced roughly along the Crystal Mountains. In the far northeast is Manehattan, the ponified New York. And, as exhibited in the Cutie mark Chronicles, as filly Applejack was walking to Aunt and Uncle Orange, you see a ponified Statue of Liberty. Manehattan is obviously Manhattan, aka New York City. As you know, the Statue of Liberty was given to America by France, as a gift.
      France. :0

      Also, Trixie DID make an appearance. If you look carefully, she obtained new employment as a trumpeteer at the wedding.

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  2. I hope that's "not sure about her shipping FlutterMac" instead of "not sure about FlutterMac shipping," though it is interesting that she has (evidently) paired the two on her own. So it's not just spread by various works in the fandom, then!

    About a few—more relevant—points, your suggestion for the griffon population of France seems sound. I'm not sure it's going into my headcanon immediately, but I can see it there eventually. And my scale might be slightly skewed, but I'm not sure I'd call IaDB,GOYD "really freaking long". "Long" certainly, but after getting through both FO:E and Project Horizons (or as far as possible, for the latter), I am mentally unable to talk about anything with only the word count of a book using the terms "really" and "freaking." Anyway, don't worry about not posting until later. Reading is a valid excuse for postponement in this case.

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  3. Yeah, I was a little irked about Fluttershy actually using saying "French," as it seemed a little lazy at the time. I didn't think of it until you said it, but your points make sense to me. France it is!

    As for FlutterMac...seems like a logical enough ship. Fluttershy is designed to be protected as a character, Big Mac is the large, strong, but quiet and protective brother. Which, now that I mention it, reminds me to mention how much I loved the AJ/Mac role-reversal scene in 'Ponyville Confidential'. Hell, if I was forced to choose a ship, I'd go with FlutterMac too!

    As for being tardy, Chris, don't you contractually owe us all a full-English breakfast baguette now?

    Scott
    -Out To Lunch

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  4. Eh. There are worse ships than FlutterMac. That one at least is within natural realms of believability (character's personalities, that is). Whether or not it would ever happen is up to pure speculation - but therein lies the fun!

    Your points about France all make sense, but I have to admit I don't like the idea. It doesn't make sense that there is one country with a real world name. Why? It's lazy writing, really - lazy writing exacerbated by our love to connect dots. Complete and full pictures are pretty, after all!

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    1. Out of every single little teeny tiny bit of work the animators and writers slave over to deliver us 21 minutes of ponies every week, are you REALLY certain you want to call them lazy for not ponifying the word French? Maybe they did it on purpose? Come on, coincidences don't exist. It's not fridge logic- this was purposeful. What do you think they have planned for Season 4?

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  5. The griffons, French? That flies in defiance of every "the griffon kingdom is a warrior society" fic. I like it. That in itself is a fic waiting to be written - Rainbow Dash visits the griffon kingdom to find out that they're actually cultured, dapper creatures, and not muscled badasses...

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    1. I had the idea for a Griffins-live-in-France before I found this article, because of the Statue of Liberty combined with Gustav. I found this article just ten minutes ago, doing research to see if my idea was original. Unfortunately for me, others have seen it before. Fortunately, nobody's posted a fic about it yet. If you're interested, the profile name I have for this page is the same as the one on FIMfiction.net so if you want to read a fanfic about this subject matter, just do a quick Google search and look for the name A Cubed. Unless someone else does it first. Either way, I'm just putting it out there, if you're interested, Mr [or Mrs] Sincerely.

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  6. The French used to win wars all the time. Granted, it was when they weren't being lead by other Frenchies (Joan of Arc Napoleon), or back when they were the Gaul. Still, the idea that the griffon kingdoms are equivalent to France is pretty ingenious.

    As for FlutterMac, well, Mac's already got Cheerilee, who, as we know, is best pony. Wheter or not they're a "couple" is debatable, since they seem to have known each other for a really long time. They probably grew up together, which lends credence to fics like "Crimps and Prance."

    And the last episode? I get the impression that it's going to be chock full of goodies and surprises for the older fans.

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    1. Ahh yes...it's lookin' like Brony shout-outs ahoy! After the recent GAPTrixie reference, and the known Vinyl appearance, it's hard to imagine what silliness they have in store for us.

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    2. Big Mac and Cheerilee didn't grow up together in canon. In fact, there is some timeline error with that theory.

      Big Mac is older than Applejack. Applejack is about the same age as Rarity.
      Rarity went to school with Cheerilee- see the Cutie mark Chronicles (my destiny is a rock? dumb rock!) screenshot where filly Cheerilee was dressed up like a cake. This means Cheerilee is about as old as Rarity.
      Using the commutative property of addition, Cheerilee is about as old as Applejack. So, Big Mac is older than Cheerilee- by looking at bmi scale models, it would be by quite a few years, right?
      Also, this impacts FlutterMac and TwiMac. Big Mac is several years older than the Mane Six. So...

      Well, it's all speculation. I'm just submitting my two cents.

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  7. I don't often use the phrase "OTP" earnestly, but when I do, it's because FlutterMac. <.<

    While I have no idea what the state of Parisian teens is, the "France as griffon kingdom" is really interesting, if only because I like the idea of Fleur being the ambassador to Griffrance. I'll be hard pressed not to accidentally steal that idea.

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    1. From what I know of the exchange students who've come to my high school: they're generally assholes. 'Course, that's just my experience.

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  8. I'm glad I took the time to websurf before working on this. I had the idea in mind to do a Fanfic about how Griffins live in France, that mirrored the time of the French Revolution. Back in the time of the Musketeers. Meaning Griffins with Muskets.
    I wasn't sure if it was original, though. So, I checked the internet- typing in 'Pony griffin france' into the Google search- and found this blog post.

    Thank you for seeing the France thing; I, too, saw every point you mentioned. But, I saw one thing you didn't. The Statue of Liberty in Manehattan in the Cutie Mark Chronicles episode.

    So... I'll get right on that fanfic. [please don't sue, I honestly developed this theory independently of the internet].

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